Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
We have started a journey through the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon that Jesus himself delivered to his disciples and the multitudes. Just like the day that Jesus preached it, it is a message that turns conventional understanding of God’s Kingdom on its head. It challenges us to put away the cultural norms of our day and dare to peer at our heavenly citizenship through the lens of Christ.
Last week, I told you that this sermon should wreck you. As C.S. Lewis said, the Sermon on the Mount will leave you feeling like you were knocked flat on your face by a sledgehammer. That is the power and the purpose behind Jesus’ words and it goes against much of what is being taught in churches today.
I went through Marine Corps boot camp on Paris Island and the Maryland State Police Academy. Both are some of the most difficult military training in the world. Their first job upon starting training is to tear you down to nothing and then rebuild you because if there are old habits and attitudes that you hold onto, they will interfere with your future.
I also pointed out t you last week that the very first word of Jesus' sermon is Makarios, which is translated as ‘happy’ or ‘blessed.’ And that is exactly what it means - not from a worldly understanding of happiness, but according to God’s definition. That is the foundation of Jesus’s message we will discover today and everything else in the Sermon on the Mount is built on that foundation.
Psalm 144:15 says, “How blessed are the people for whom this is so; How blessed are the people for whom God is Yahweh!” The fundamental truth we need to capture and know is that God wants nothing more than for your life to be filled with joy. He wants you to know and live with a deeper inner happiness that is not subject to circumstances, wealth, or any other outside force. He wants every believer in Jesus Christ to live a blessed life and Jesus outlines how we will just that in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, known as the Beatitudes.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3–12)
In the Beatitudes, Jesus sets forth both the nature and the aspirations of citizens of His kingdom. They have and are learning these character traits. What we find is that the Beatitudes demonstrate a paradox to blessing than the world would assume: Blessed are the poor; the world would say blessed are the rich. Blessed are those who mourn; the world would say blessed are those who celebrate. Blessed are the meek; the world would say blessed are proud and confident. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst; the world would say blessed are those who are full because they have everything.
Unfortunately, the world’s message of blessing inundates our culture and even our churches. Through entertainment, music, media, books, magazines, schools, and a host of other ways, the message is be strong, independent, wealthy, and the one who determines your own destiny. Shakespeare underscores this point by saying, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
Jesus clearly upends this. True happiness is only found by entrance into the Kingdom of God. On the Day of Judgement, Jesus will say, in Matthew 25:34 “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” With that being the case, the opposite of ‘Marikos’ is the word ‘Ouai,’ which is translated in English, as ‘Woe.’
The word Beatitude means “Blessings.” These 8 beatitudes give the believer his “be – attitudes” – the attitudes he should aspire to be in the Kingdom, but are also traits that should be naturally seen in our regenerated life as a believer. Also, All of these character traits are marks and goals of all Christians. And there is a flow to these beatitudes that we should observe. It starts with being poor in spirit, mourning, and being meek and hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It manifests itself in an attitude of mercy, purity, and peacemaking, and it causes the world to react to us with reviling and persecution, and false accusation. But in the end, it transforms us into the salt and light of the earth.
1. Why Did Jesus Begin with Spiritual Poverty?
This brings us to the first Beatitude: Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The first step to blessing and happiness in the Kingdom of God is being poor in spirit; realizing your spiritual poverty. So the first question we must ask ourselves is, ‘Why does Jesus begin with realizing our spiritual poverty?’ The answer to this is significant it must be the fundamental characteristic of the Christian.”
In answering this, it is important to remember the context of Jesus’ sermon. He is speaking to a proud Jewish audience. They are proud of their religious accomplishments, their zeal for the law, their ceremonial adherence, their sacrifices, and their piety. Their stature before God is that of self-righteousness and I would dare say that many in the church see themselves in the same light. There is little humility and brokenness and Jesus tells us right out of the gate with this first beatitude, that if you are going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and find the joy of living the blessed life you have got to recognize that you have to come spiritually bankrupt.
Jesus came preaching in Luke 4:18, quoting Isaiah 61:1 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED” If we are so self-reliant in our own righteousness, our own religiousness, in our churches full of systems and music and messages then we have no need of a gospel to the poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. That’s everyone else.
Proverbs 3:34 “Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6 “6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
1 Peter 5:5-6 “5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,”
The apostle Paul came to this realization. He describes in Philippians 3 how he lived out his Judaism and put his trust in it. He said, “regarding the law, I was blameless. When it came to my external maintaining of God’s law, I was blameless.” Philippians 3:8 “More than that, I count all things to be a loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” That’s what Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about looking at the best you are and understanding that it’s waste, dung, and manure.
Pride doesn’t just mean that you are boastful and pompous, it means that you put your confidence in your own achievements, morality, and goodness. As we will see, no person can come to the Kingdom of God that way and I believe there are many who sit in churches Sunday after Sunday thinking they’re safe because their hope is in themselves. That was the warning from Jesus to the Laodicean church. Revelation 3:17 “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.” It should be a dire warning to the American Church today.
2. What Did Jesus Mean, ‘Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit?’
That brings us to our second question, ‘What did Jesus mean, “Blessed are the poor in spirit?” What kind of poverty is Jesus talking about? Right away, I want you to understand that Jesus is not talking about wealth or material poverty. There are many who want to make The Sermon on the Mount some kind of Social Gospel manifesto or a basis for liberation theology. If the absence of money or possessions were a virtue, it would be in violation of the Gospel to give money to the poor and we know that the Bible tells us that we are to give money to the poor and feed the hungry. Being rich or poor has nothing to do with entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is talking about being Poor in Spirit.
There are two different words that can be translated “poor” from New Testament Greek. The first is penes (2 Corinthians 9:9). It means the working poor. This kind of poverty belongs to someone who doesn’t have a stockpile of savings. They work as hard as they can, living paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet for a modest life. The other is ptochos. It has the idea behind it is of a beggar cowering from someone; they’re hiding their face in shame. Their poverty is so great they have nothing but the ability to beg just to get a scrap of food.
This is the word Jesus uses. It describes the starting point for entering the Kingdom of God. You see that you are spiritually empty, poor, bankrupt, and helpless to the point that you can’t contribute a single penny to your salvation, but instead, only through the grace and mercy of God, you are blessed. It is a spirit that is broken, contrite, and repentant, knowing they deserve nothing.
?“But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:2)
“Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ (Luke 18:13)
“Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)
This is the hardest thing for a person to do because if he doesn’t worship the true God, he worships the god that he himself has invented. He’s bowing to the shrine that he himself has erected. And he is the god who occupies the primary place in that shrine. Before he can come into God’s kingdom, he must dethrone himself and admit his utter bankruptcy and unworthiness. This is where salvation begins, this is where God’s blessings begin, and this is where true happiness begins.
This is the danger of false teachers in the Word of Faith and NAR movements because blessing and victory is rooted in your faith, your words, and your authority. That’s permeated throughout the Church today. We’ve got to come back to understanding our spiritual poverty. That’s what is driving the revival happening at Asbury University right now. A hunger for God in the realization of their spiritual poverty.
3. What is the Result of This Attitude?
That brings us to our third question today, “What is the result of this spiritual attitude? “There’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.” What a beautiful statement this is and we need to grasp exactly what Jesus is saying here.
First, “Theirs” is the Kingdom of Heaven. In Greek, this is in the present tense imperative. Mean, the Kingdom of Heaven is for them right now and only them (not will be), barring those who refuse to come with a beggar’s heart. To come to God today, as a beggar, means an assurance of reception from God. It’s not a future thing or something that will happen later; the blessing of God’s Kingdom is now. That’s a promise.
Secondly, the “Kingdom of Heaven” is the sense of its entirety. It means that when you come into the kingdom, you inherit all of its blessings through the rule of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” Revelation 1 and Revelation 5 both promise those who enter the kingdom of God to be overcomers.
We have that kingdom now. We have kingdom grace, we have kingdom mercy, we have kingdom peace, we have kingdom joy, wisdom, and every spiritual blessing because we are the subjects of the King. Not only that, no one can take that away from you; no one, nothing, no circumstance can steal your blessedness. Satan and this world can take away your superficial happiness, but he can’t touch your deep-down contentment because it’s already been settled through eternity.
How do you inherit this promise? It begins with coming humbly and praying to God. Beggars have to ask, right? The door to the kingdom is low and no one who stands tall will be able to enter through it. If you come to God, humbly as a beggar, realizing you have no worth or righteousness to stand upon, not even deserving to ask. He will not turn away from you but will welcome you in.
“Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not dread; For Yah—Yahweh Himself—is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2)
