Matthew 5:3-10
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
We all know that Albert Einstein is perhaps the most intelligent human being who ever lived. Once he boarded a train in Princeton bound for Boston. The train’s conductor came and asked the Einstein to show him his train ticket. Einstein looked all over his pockets and briefcase, but couldn’t find his ticket. The conductor said, "Don’t worry Dr. Einstein. Everyone knows who you are and I am sure you have a ticket. Just enjoy your journey".
The conductor moved on to check other passengers’ ticket and after awhile he turned around and found Einstein still keeping searching all over for his ticket. Later, seeing Einstein on his knees looking under his seats, the conductor came back and tapped on his shoulder and said, “Dr. Einstein, I am confident that you do have a ticket. Please stop searching and take your seat and enjoy the trip. Everyone knows who you are.” Einstein said, “Thanks, and I also know who I am, but I just don’t know where I am going.”
I have a spiritual question for you this morning. Do you know where you are going? Every person on this earth is on a journey, but do you know where you are heading? In the Alice in the Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat told Alice that “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” We can’t get to the end of the road and discover that we are the wrong path. Dr. Stephen R. Covey used a ladder as an analogy; he described that some people climb to the top of the ladder of life and found out that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.
Thomas, the disciple, didn’t know where he was going, so he asked, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus came on earth to show us the way. He said that he is the way, and he wants us to follow him. The question is where is he leading us to? It will be nice to know the destination.
Jesus told us in Matthew 6:33 that our destination is “the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” He wants us to make the kingdom of God and his righteousness our first priority in life.
If our destination is the kingdom of God, there are two questions:
What is the kingdom of God?
How do we get there?
What is the kingdom of God?
The Gospel of Matthew uses, “kingdom of heaven,” while Luke and Mark use “kingdom of God.” They all mean the same thing. In the Jewish culture, just like Chinese culture, you are not supposed to use the term God lest it might evoke or offend God. So they use the word heaven to represent God. But when the early Christians talked the non-Jews “the kingdom of God” makes it more intelligible. So the two terms were used interchangeably.
Now, in a traditional sense, the kingdom of God is the future consummation of God’s salvation of the world through Jesus Christ, but there is another aspect of the kingdom of God in Jesus teachings that is untraditional, that is the present manifestation of the future kingdom of God. That means we can experience the future now. It make sense in three ways:
First, this should not be difficult to grasp, if you understand that the kingdom of God is not limited by time and space. So what is future can also be now.
Second, the future kingdom of God has come into human history in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus talked about this explicitly in Matthew 12:28, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” Jesus did cast out demons by the Spirit of God, so what he is saying is that the kingdom of God has already come to us.
Third, this is the aspect of the kingdom we are focusing on this morning, that the kingdom of God is gift from God and blessing that we can experience it now. The future kingdom of God is given to you as a blessing today when you live a fruitful life.
In all three gospels Jesus said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32)
So if you live a fruitful life today, you are going to experience the future kingdom of God here and now.
Now we know the destination, which is to attain the kingdom of God in this life. The second question we want to ask is, “how to get there.”
How do we get there – to attain the kingdom of God
In fact, Jesus began his very first and famous sermon, known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” with a famous message called the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes is a list of eight milestones of blessings on the journey to the fruitful life.
Do you want to receive these blessings? There are eight of them. So starting today, we will talk about one blessing each week. After talking about 4 blessings we will take a break for the holy week and continue with the rest of the 4 blessings. So it is 9 weeks in total including the holy week. You will find a great deal of blessings in this eight week series.
There are also eight weekly small groups to help you process these teaching of Jesus Christ, so that you will touch these miles stones solidly and continue to the next one. Every week you will receive a weekly personal devotional material for your personal devotion.
So every week there is a three-legged stool to lift you up to each one of God’s blessing, a Sunday Sermon, a small group support, and a personal devotional material.
The First Milestone: blessed are the poor in spirit
Let’s talk about the first milestone, or the first blessing. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
One thing you need to realize is that God’s ideas are often different from human ideas. We find it paradoxical when we hear these secrets of God’s blessing. The world would say, blessed are the smart, capable, and competence, but God says blessed are the poor in spirit.
Definition
When Jesus talks about the poor in spirit, he is not talking about those who think poorly of themselves, he is not talking about those who have a low self-esteem, a low self-worth. He is talking about those who are in touch with reality. The Pharisees are not in touch with the reality because they think they are spiritually rich and strong.
King David wrote in Psalm 40:17 "As for me, I am poor and needy..." King David would be the last person in the world to think poorly of himself, or to have a low self-esteem. However, he was, more often than not, in touch with reality. That’s why he was greatly blessed.
Jesus compared his life with a seed, and in that sense each and every one of our life is like a seed. Jesus likes to use a mustard seed to describe heavenly concepts, but I like to use an acorn, because He has better eye sight then I do. So let’s use an acorn as an analogy. A person that is in touch with his spiritual reality—who is poor in spirit—is like an acorn sitting next to an oak tree. A strong and tall oak tree is the potential of an acorn.
As an acorn, if I am not in touch with reality, I would spend my life enjoying my little kingdom within the hard shell around me that insulates me from the reality, never think about becoming an oak tree to make a difference in this world by providing habitats for other creatures. But if I realize that I am but an ingeminated seed, I am in the stage of being poor in spirit.
You might ask, “Sam I don’t see any oak trees around me that you are talking about.” There are many, and forests of them. I will point out some of the tallest ones so that you will know what I mean. If I sit next to Martin Luther King, Jr. I feel poor in spirit because his is like a very tall oak tree, and I am still an acorn. He is an example of what every Christian can be. If I sit next to Martha Teresa, I feel poor in spirit. There are clouds of witnesses and saints in history that stands like tall oak trees around us.
Not to mention the popular ones, when I sit next to my father, I feel poor in spirit because he has contributed much to the society more than I have. I am sure there are many oak trees around you in your life and in your family.
Right now in this sanctuary, you are sitting next to Jesus Christ, the tallest oak tree of all. He is calling you to be like him, because the Bible says God has predestined you to be like Christ to make your life become an oak tree that God design you to be, to bear fruit to realize the kingdom of God. Jesus said, when you are poor in spirit, you are blessed with the kingdom of God, a fruitful life.
I urge you to become a fruitful follower of Jesus Christ, and this is the first milestone, in fact, the launch pad for the journey, which is to be in touch with reality by realizing what God created you to be and where you are right now.
There is much to talk about on this first blessing, but we have communion and the Chinese New Year celebration to follow, so please join a small group during the week and use the personal devotional material for your personal quiet time to get the most out of this series.
May God bless you, Amen.
