I. It is interesting how some people who went through the Great Depression can brag about how poor they were.
A. "We were so poor when I was growing up that the mice that lived in our house always ate out."
1. "You've heard of powdered milk--we were so poor when I was growing up, we had powdered water."
2. Joking aside, the Great Depression was no laughing matter, but at the same time it may have had more happiness than our age of material wealth.
B. Holly J. Morris, "Happiness Explained," U.S. News & World Report (9-03-01), pp. 46-54; submitted by Jerry De Luca, Montreal West, Quebec
1. More than 60 scientists have done research on happiness and here are some tidbits of their findings.
2. Although the U.S. standard of living has increased since W.W. II, there is no increase in the number of people who regard themselves as happy.
3. "Once income provides basic needs, it doesn't correlate to happiness. Nor does intelligence, prestige, or sunny weather. People grow used to new climates, higher salaries, and better cars."
C. Verses 1-2 Jesus is preaching to a large multitude on a mountain. In fact chapters 5-7 of Matthew are called “The Sermon on the Mount.”
1. These few chapters has been called the core of Jesus’ ethical and religious teaching.
2. Many take only these words and try to live by them.
a. They throw out the virgin birth, the perfection of Christ, the suffering of Christ upon the cross, Christ’s atoning death and His supernatural resurrection, heavenly ascension, and His inward dwelling within the believer.
b. But the teaching of Christ can not be ripped from who He is.
II. What will truly make us happy?
A. A new car? A new job? A new body? A long trip to Hawaii? Win the Powerball Lottery? Complete physical health?
1. The world’s notion of happiness comes from the outside.
2. If the circumstances are just correct.
3. If we handle every condition correctly then maybe we will find happiness.
B. Jesus was a counter revolutionary one sense.
1. Jesus gave a whole different definition of happiness or blessing.
a. Jesus definition has to do with our relationship to God and our hunger for Him and Him alone.
b. Circumstances which seem perilous and destructive actually can move us closer to Him and give us something which we could not receive if all external conditions were pleasurable.
2. Behind it lies the clear cognition of sin as the fountain-head of all misery, and of holiness as the final and effectual cure for every woe.
C. A literal Greek translation "happy in the genuine sense of internal joy, not dependent on outside circumstances"
1. This happiness does not diminish when things go wrong
2. Implies inner satisfaction that doesn’t rely on outward circumstances
3. Worldly happiness based on externals; things; circumstances can take away
a. Depending on them can lead to disappointment
b. Jesus is talking about internal happiness, not based on circumstances
III. Happy ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT
A. Jesus is saying that happiness comes from recognizing that we are humanly sinful, in debt to God for everything, and will find our sufficiency only in His grace.
1. By admitting that we are dependent on the Lord for everything, we are giving Christ His rightful place as Lord of our life.
2. When trials come to the poor in spirit they are quick to turn the controls of their life to God’s care.
3. Happiness means Finding True Satisfaction in God.
4. Matthew 5:3, “Happy are those who realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.”
B. We acknowledge our sin and our short comings.
1. By the way, God already knows our sinful condition, He just wants to hear it from us.
2. He will not by the way, give us false adulation.
a. Pride, self-centeredness, ego seal God’s favor and presence out.
b. God communions with the one who is willing to admit not only faults but needs.
C. To receive God’s happiness and blessing we must recognize our sinfulness
1. Recognize we can’t stand before a Holy God, can’t please cause of their sin
2. Max Lucado: "...an acknowledgment of moral destitution, an admission of inward poverty.
a. Those who taste God’s presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy & are aware of their spiritual crisis.
b. Their cupboards are bare.
c. Their pockets are empty.
d. Their options are gone.
e. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy.
f. They don’t brag, they beg."
3. No self-sufficiency, pride, boasting, but a deep realization of sinfulness before God
D. God can not make entry into our lives and into our everyday, until we want Him because we need Him.
1. Many of us say we want God, but really all we want is God to do something we want.
2. We pray and anticipate God answering our asking.
a. Wanting God is understanding we need Him personally in our lives.
b. Our self-sufficiency is a myth.
E. Barrier #1 not acknowledging spiritual poverty:
1. Don’t like being told we’re sinners; that we can’t stand on our own before God
a. Sin isn’t a popular sermon topic
b. Yet it is the reason Jesus came & died
2. Paul Harvey told story about a lady who was overweight who blamed it on the traffic on the city street.
a. Go to bed at night and the traffic outside her window would keep her awake.
b. So, rather than lay there awake, she’d get up and eat.
c. Her reason for being overweight wasn’t her overeating or a physical problem she had, but rather the traffic
3. Rationalize/excuses throws sense of spiritual poverty out the window
4. Offends God and hurts our relationship with the Him
F. Barrier #2: Not calling sin sin
1. If God says it’s sin, it’s sin
G. How to hurdle these barriers
1. Spend time in the presence of God & ask Him to reveal Himself to you
2. Worship, Reading Scripture, praying & being aware of answers
3. Isaiah saw vision of the Lord, angels worshipping & singing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord."
a. Isaiah recognizes His sinfulness and says, "Woe unto me, for I am a man of unclean lips."
b. In His presence we see His holiness and our sin
4. Luke 5 Jesus gets in Peter’s boat & tells him to go out into deep water & let down his nets to catch some fish.
a. Peter tells him they’ve fished all night & caught nothing but because Jesus said to do, Peter would do it.
b. Result was they caught so many fish his boat began to sink. Peter says,
c. "Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man."
d. Face to face with Jesus Christ his power, majesty, awesomeness we become aware of our spiritual bankruptcy
5. Time in His Word, with His people, earnestly seeking Him in prayer - God will show us our sinfulness
IV. "...FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."
A. Romans 14:17 - "For the Kingdom is not a matter of eating & drinking, but of righteousness, peace, & joy in the Holy Spirit"
1. Sequence
a. Recognize & acknowledge our spirit poverty
b. Only by doing that can we come to him for forgiveness & put our trust in Him
c. He credits the righteousness of Jesus Christ to our account
d. We experience "peace that passes all understanding"
e. We experience joy that is found only in Jesus Christ
2. And this happiness is permanent & lasting
B. In the Kingdom, Jesus Christ is the King
1. King takes care of His servants
2. King promises we’re on the winning side
3. King promises His presence & strength during difficult times
4. King promises to help us carry our burdens
5. King promises to go ahead of us, prepare the way, & lead us
6. King promises us bad situations will work out for our good
7. List of promises goes on & on when part of His Kingdom
C. All begins with recognizing & acknowledging our spiritual poverty
V. Peter Marshall: "We are too religious really to enjoy sinning, & too fond of sinning really to experience true happiness Christ. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it."
A. Think right now of sin you are practicing in your life
1. No rationalizing, making excuses, blaming, re-defining
a. First, acknowledge it to yourself;
b. Second, confess it to God
c. Third, tell a trusted friend & ask for their support & prayer,
d. Fourth, begin today, with God’s help, to overcome it
B. Are we heavenly rich?
1. 2 Corinthians 6:10 (NIV) sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
2. When we are stripped of possession and stripped of health, stripped of pride, then we are empty of self.
3. A perfect time for asking God to fill us up.
C. Listen again to Jesus’ first principle of the Kingdom of God: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
