Evening Service for 2/22/2009
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Introduction:
By 1934 alcoholic Bill Wilson had ruined a promising Wall Street career because of his constant drunkenness. He was introduced to the idea of a spiritual cure by an old drinking buddy Ebby Thacher. While in a hospital, Wilson underwent what he believed to be a spiritual experience and, convinced of the existence of God, he was able to stop drinking.
On a 1935 business trip to Akron, Ohio, Wilson felt the urge to drink again and in an effort to stay sober, he sought another alcoholic to help. Wilson was introduced to Dr. Bob Smith. Wilson and Smith co-founded AA with a word of mouth program to help alcoholics. Smith’s last drink on June 10, 1935 is considered by members to be the founding date of AA. By 1937, Wilson and Smith determined that they had helped 40 alcoholics get sober, and two years later, with the about 100 members, Wilson expanded the program by writing a book entitled Alcoholics Anonymous which the organization also adopted as its name. The book, informally referred to by members as "The Big Book," described a twelve-step program involving admission of powerlessness over alcohol, moral inventory, and asking for help from God. In 1941 book sales and membership increased after radio interviews and favorable articles in national magazines, particularly by Jack Alexander in The Saturday Evening Post.
WBTU:
A. In Celebrate Recovery, Rick Warren has developed a program that is similar to AA or other support groups. The difference is that this program emphasizes Jesus Christ and the principles of the Bible. In recent years AA and like groups are talking about a higher power and seem to be drifting away from Biblical foundations. Some in the AA program even seem to think that church is more harmful that good. Church is not a place for hope and healing.
B. In Celebrate Recovery, they talk about the 12 step program (AA). However, they tie it in with 8 choices based on the Beatitudes. Give a plug for Celebrate Recovery- Monday night at 7 pm.
C. This material tonight is adapted from Celebrate Recovery in a book by John Baker called, “Life’s Healing Choices.”
D. Tonight we are going to talk about Blessed are the poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
E. Negatively, what "poor in spirit" IS NOT
1. "Poor in spirit" does not refer to financial destitution or material poverty.
2. "Poor in spirit" does not mean a lack of vitality or courage.
3. "Poor in spirit" does not mean a false humility which is designed to gain the sympathy of others.
4. "Poor in spirit" does not have anything to do with suppressing our personality.
F. I like what Today’s English Version says here, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.” The poor in spirit are those who, unlike the Pharisees of Christ’s day, realize they are spiritually bankrupt. They know that they need grace; they know their situation is hopeless, and so they know they must rely on God completely.
G. Part of our human nature is to refuse change until our pain exceeds our fear- fear of change, that is. We simply deny the pain until it gets so bad that we are crushed and finally realize we need some help. Why don’t we save ourselves a bit of misery and admit now what we’re inevitably going to have to admit later? We are not God, and we desperately need God because our lives are unmanageable without Him. We’ll be forced to learn that lesson someday. We may as well admit it now.
H. As members of the human race, we all deal with life’s hurts, hang ups and habits.
Thesis: Tonight we are going to look at the cause, consequences, and cures of our hurts, hang ups and habits.
For instances:
1. The Cause- (Prov 14:12 NIV) There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
A. Our tendency to do wrong.
1. Our sin nature- (Rom 7:18 NIV) I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Rom 7:19 NIV) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. (Rom 7:20 NIV) Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(Rom 7:21 NIV) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
2. Do Paul’s words sound familiar to us? Look at children.
B. Our desire to be God.
1. Why do we continue making poor choices? Why do we repeat the same mistakes? At the root of our human tendency to do wrong is our desire to be in control. We don’t want anybody telling us what to do. In essence, we want to be God.
2. (Gen 3:5 NIV) “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
C. Our attempts to play God
1. We try to control our image. We don’t want people to see the real us.
2. We try to control other people. We develop a lot of tools to manipulate each other. Everyone has his or her preferred methods: Some use guilt and shame; some use praise and affirmation. Others use anger, or an old favorite- the silent treatment.
3. We try to control our problems. I can handle it. I don’t need any help. I can quit anytime. I’ll work it out on my own power.
4. We try to control our pain. Some eat or don’t eat. Others get drunk, smoke, drugs, etc. Some escape through sports, traveling, jumping in and out of relationships. Others become hermits. Anger, abusive. We’ll try almost anything to control our pain.
Transition: Saturday Night Live- “Hi, I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.” Can we imagine God saying, “Hi, I’m God, and you’re not?”
2. The Consequences of our problems.
A. Fear. (Gen 3:10 NIV) He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." We become fakes and phonies.
B. Frustration. We lick one problem and others come up. We cannot win. Sin can and will manifest itself in more than one way. Bill Wilson, the main founder of AA, overcame alcohol but later in life he became a womanizer. He had an affair and it almost ruined his marriage. At other times he also experimented with LSD and prescriptions.
C. Fatigue- It’s tiring to pretend we have it all together. (Psa 32:3 NIV) When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. (Psa 32:4 NIV) For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. (Psa 32:5 NIV) Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
D. Failure- Playing God is one job where failure is guaranteed. (Prov 28:13 NIV) He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
3. The Cure for our problems.
A. Admitting weakness. (2 Cor 12:10 NIV) That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Our American culture tells us, “Don’t depend on anybody else. Knowing that we are poor in spirit will make us blessed, or happy. We need others and we need God. Must recognize and admit 3 facts:
1. I admit that I am powerless to change my past.
2. I admit that I am powerless to control other people.
3. I admit that I am powerless to cope with my harmful habits, behaviors, and actions.
B. A humble heart- (James 4:6 NIV) But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
12 steps, first 2:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Conclusion and invitation:
In The Message, by Peterson, he translates the Beatitude we are working on today, “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
From Max Lucado- You don’t impress the officials at NASA with a paper airplane. You don’t boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso. You don’t claim equality with Einstein because you can write H2O. And you don’t boast about your goodness in the presence of the Perfect. Mark it down. God does not save us because of what we’ve done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed by our pain. Only a heartless God would sell salvation to the highest bidder. And only a great God does for His children what they can’t do for themselves. That’s the message of the first beatitude.
