Sermon-2/9/03-Matt. 5:1-3-Poor In Spirit/Dependance on God
The Sermon on the Mount-Vintage Christinianity-Taught on this passage more than possibly any other in the Bible-learn more and more each time.
When we look at the Christian faith as it is practiced today it can appear to be clouded by century’s of tradition, in vintage Christianity going back to the beginning.
Dictionary.com defines vintage as-of or relating to a vintage, characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal, classic.
So in vintage Christianity we are going to go back and look at the core, The way it’s supposed to be. Not what does our culture say it means to follow Christ, not what do I say, not what does our church say, but what did Jesus say it meant to follow Him. When Christ came He laid it out, very plainly how those who follow Him should live their lives.
Address some objections/ways people have mis-interpreted the Sermon on the Mount.
Primary problem is that some teachers have interpreted this entire sermon of Christ to the future. Look at the impossible standards of righteousness here and say that this is only applicable in the future, during the Millenium when Christ’s kingdom is established on earth. I’m sure some of you have even heard that teaching before.
As we begin 4 reasons why I believe the Sermon On The Mount is applicable for believers today.
1-no indication that it is for another age in the text
2-Christ taught these to His disciples who were not living in the Millennium
3-Many of the teachings become meaningless if they are applied to the Millennium (5:10-11, 43-44)
4-After His resurrection Christ commanded His disciples to teach others “everything I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
Christ began His ministry announcing "repent the Kingdom of heaven is at hand"
Natural questions on the heart of every Jew would have been, “Am I eligible to enter Messiah’s kingdom? Am I righteous enough to qualify for entrance?” The only standard of righteousness the people knew was that laid down by the current religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. Would one who followed that standard be acceptable in Messiah’s kingdom?
The sermon showed how a person who is in right relationship with God should conduct his life.
And the most obvious thing should be as we look at Christ’s teachings here-it is impossible for any of us to live this way on our own. Any study of the Sermon on the Mount must bring us to the understanding that the only way we can live the life that Christ is calling us to is through Him, when we come to God through Christ and are indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to control our lives, then and only then can we begin to live the kind of life that Christ outlines in the Sermon on the Mount, the kind of life that He tells us will lead to real happiness.
That is where Christ begins-Beatitudes
Series of 9 statements each beginning with “Blessed are…”
Blessed-blessed/happy/fortunate all at the same time Greek & Hebrew meanings, but all that is actually captured in our English word as well.
Origins of our word blessed-development of the English language
3 different words that sounded similar but had different meanings became our word for blessed
First-set apart, consecrated (Old English-blod (blood) set apart for God by a blood ritual
Second-speak well of someone or something-latin (benedicere)
Third-happy or joyful-Old English word-bliss
Here I believe that Christ is saying that when we live the holy/consecrated/set apart life that He is calling us to here, then and only then will we experience the happiness and contentment that God created us to enjoy. The Bible teaches us that holiness is the source of peace, satisfaction and contentment-all that we include in our word happy.
But once again-and this is the whole point of the first of the Beatitudes-it is impossible for any one of us to live this life-a holy life that Christ has called us to live- on our own.
Look at that as we dive into what it means to be poor in spirit
Understand the word that Christ chose here for poor.
Not simply someone who didn’t have much, that would have been the ordinary poor, (widow-Lk. 21) they at least had some resources they could use to take care of themselves, but the word Christ uses here was their word for the “begging poor”, used of those who had nothing.
The word literally means “to shrink, cower, or cringe” because someone who was a beggar would have been so humiliated to admit that they had nothing, that when they would beg they would crouch or cower as they held out their hand to ask for help.
So when Christ said Blessed are the poor in spirit He was saying “Blessed are the spiritual paupers, the spiritually destitute, the spiritually bankrupt ones”
To be poor is Spirit is for us to recognize our spiritual poverty before God.
This is what happens when we come face to face with the holiness and righteousness of God, it causes us to see the sin and corruption of our own hearts, and we must then acknowledge our inability to please Him on our own.
That is where Christ begins the Sermon on the Mount-we must come to God in total dependence on Him. We must begin by realizing that we cannot live the life that Christ is calling us to live on our own. That is the great paradox of what Christ has called us to-the Sermon on the Mount is only for those who know that they cannot live by it.
3 points of application this morning-
#1-Here and don’t know Christ
-See this morning that you cannot please God on your own. Everything that Christ is going to show us through the sermon on the mount is to show us that, none of us can please God, Rom. 3:10
“None IS righteous, no, not one.”
Come to Christ this morning, poor in spirit, acknowledge your total dependence on Him, you have no righteousness of your own to bring, the only way you can come to God is through the righteousness of Christ, made available to you through His death on the cross.
#2-Here and a follower of Jesus-still called to be poor in spirit, never ends.
What can we do? Take our eyes off ourselves and turn them to God. When we study His word, seek His face in prayer, and sincerely desire to please Him and be near to Him, we move toward being poor in spirit. In the process of being poor in spirit, we do not look at ourselves to find our faults, but we must look at God and marvel in his perfection.
We should ask God for humilty, ask Him to help us be poor in spirit and to see our dependence on Him.
Evidence of being poor in Spirit-spend much time in prayer-Just like the physical beggar begs for physical sustenance, the spiritual beggar begs for the spiritual. We must daily knock on heavens gate because we are always in need.
What reigns in your life? What is it that you rely on? money, power, job, status, car, house, popularity, drugs, alcohol, status,
What is that one thing that you say, if only I had…., I’d be happy, content, successful, satisfied.
The poor in spirit know that the one thing is God and God alone.
The first step in following Jesus is to be wholly committed to Him, Allow Him to rule in our lives, come before Him poor in spirit, realizing your need for Him, bow before Him and Him alone,
We must come before Him broken, knowing that on our own, we can never make it. We can never be good enough, on our own we’ll never get into His kingdom, on our own we’ll never be able to please Him, on our own we’ll never be able to live out the rest of the values Christ is going to lay out for us in the coming verses-the only way we can live out a vintage Christianity is through coming to God poor in spirit, realizing our need for Him, coming broken knowing our need for Him, our total dependence on Him and Him alone.
Your chance now to respond and come broken before Him,
Whatever it is that you have been depending on, relying on in place of God-write that on the crown-what ever it is that you have been allowing to reign in your life come and bow before the lord and give that back to Him, come as one who is poor in spirit and bow before the lord tonight.
