WWUTT 1921 Blessed are the Poor in Spirit (Matthew 5:2-3)

In the section of the Sermon on the Mount that we refer to as the Beatitudes, we see over and over again, blessed are, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, and those who are so lowly,

God will give everything, when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher,

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we just got into the

Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Last week on Wednesday, I read through the entire sermon aloud, so you can go back to that lesson and pick it up if you didn't hear.

Also focusing on verse 1, where Jesus gathered the crowds to himself, went up on a mountain in Galilee, and began to teach his disciples.

And so we're picking up there, with the start of the Sermon on the Mount, a section that is referred to as the

Beatitudes. So let me begin by reading verses 1 through 12, out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth, and began to teach them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This section of the Sermon on the Mount, the beginning here with these eight statements of blessing, this is a section that we refer to as the

Beatitudes, and that we're chosen to title this section because that word means blessed, and that's what we see at the very beginning of each one of these verses.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the lowly. You may not have every one of these

Beatitudes memorized, but you certainly recognize them when you hear them.

It is a very familiar section of the Bible altogether, not just in the

Sermon on the Mount, not just the Gospel of Matthew, but when you start mentioning the Beatitudes, a lot of people will recognize those statements of blessed are, or if you prefer to speak in the more

King James style, it's two syllables. Blessed are, rather than blessed are. But as familiar as the

Beatitudes are, they are also very misunderstood and misrepresented.

And I think of that TV show called The Chosen, which if you've listened to this podcast, you've heard me critique before, how wrong they get their understanding of the

Beatitudes. They create this drama of Jesus preparing the

Sermon on the Mount. And so if you've seen the show, and I'm not recommending it, again, if you've heard me critique it,

I say Christians really should stay away from this. But if you've seen the show and you've seen kind of the buildup to the

Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will go off by himself and he's preparing this sermon, or he'll have Matthew go with him, and he wants

Matthew to write it down. That's one of the more annoying things about the show, is that whatever happens, somebody's always nearby writing it down.

And that's not how this went. That's not how we got the Gospels, because the apostles were walking around writing down everything that Jesus said and did.

Matthew certainly would not have written down the Sermon on the Mount until much later.

But anyway, Jesus in the show, Rumi Jesus, the Chosen Jesus, is telling

Matthew what to write down with regards to this sermon that he's preparing. And when he comes up with his introduction, when he decides, this is how

I'm going to start the sermon, he says to Matthew, I've got it. I know how I want to begin this.

And Matthew says how, and he says, I'm going to give the people a map. And Matthew says, what do you mean by a map?

And Jesus says, it's a map to show people how to get to me, or how to find me,

I think is the way that he puts it in the show. That is so off from what the Beatitudes actually are, and what these things mean.

As Charles Spurgeon said, the Beatitudes do not tell you how to be saved.

The Beatitudes describe the saved. So what we're reading here, in these eight

Beatitudes, is a description of those who are truly followers of Jesus.

And remember, that's who Jesus is talking to. In verse 2, it says, and he opened his mouth and began to teach them, saying, to teach who?

Well, that was in verse 1. His disciples came to him. Now, the crowds are there. That's the way the chapter starts.

Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Disciple means learner. And so they're really the ones that Jesus is talking to.

The crowds are there. They can hear what Jesus is saying, and it's really the crowds that marvel when you get to the end of the

Sermon on the Mount, at the close of chapter 7. They marvel because he spoke with authority, not as their scribes, but as one who had authority even over the scribes.

So the crowds are there, but that's not really who Jesus is addressing. He's addressing those who truly learn from him.

So in verse 2, he opened his mouth and began to teach them, to teach the learners, to teach his disciples, saying, and then what he says is for his disciples.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's the one we're going to concentrate on today.

I'm going to go through each one of these beatitudes and devote an entire lesson to just one beatitude.

So, again, today we'll be on blessed are the poor in spirit. Tomorrow we'll be blessed are those who mourn.

And then Wednesday, blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth. Then we'll come back to the beatitudes again next week.

So devoting a devotional lesson to each one of these that we may understand as Christians, as believers, how we are to be as followers of Christ.

Now, let's start with that word blessed. What does that mean? Beatitude means blessed.

Each one of these beatitudes starts with blessed. So what does Jesus mean by blessed?

Well, the most common definition that you're going to find for this word in the commentaries that you read, you'll most commonly see someone say that blessed means happy.

So happy are the poor in spirit. In fact, I think there are even a few translations that go ahead and translate it that way.

Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Happy are the merciful. But it's kind of confusing if you read it that way and you look at verse 4.

Happy are those who mourn. That seems contradictory. How can those who mourn be happy?

For they shall be comforted. We typically understand happy as being a conditional emotion.

You're happy because things are going well for you a certain way. And so that makes you happy.

That makes you glad. Joy is something that we say that you should have that's not dependent upon your circumstances.

So happiness is dependent upon circumstances, and happiness is cheap. It can be taken from you like that.

All it takes is a negative comment, something doesn't go your way today that you thought it was going to go for you, whatever it might happen to be, but suddenly your happiness can just be gone.

Joy, however, that is supposed to be the condition of a believer's heart because even when things go bad, even when we're in a state of mourning, for example, yet we still have joy in our

Savior. We can feel emotionally distraught, weighed down, struggling and questioning and wondering how we're going to get through this.

Physiologically, our own bodies can betray us. You don't want to be depressed today, but maybe the physiology of your own body just weighs on you with the stress of everything that is going on.

So we'll definitely go through some difficult things in our bodies that no matter how hard we try, we cannot overcome.

Yet we still have faith in God. We still know what Jesus has done for us.

We still know that we have an eternal reward with Him in glory, and knowing that gives us joy.

So that even though you might be in a state of mourning, you still have joy in the

Lord for all that has been promised you in Christ Jesus. We've been made fellow heirs of His eternal kingdom.

For Christ has died for our sins, risen again from the dead, ascended into heaven where He is seated at God's right hand and is our advocate before the

Father, speaking favorably of us before God. And knowing that brings you great joy.

So that even if you might be in a state of depression, you still have joy in the

Lord. Joy is not dependent upon our circumstances. Happiness, though, tends to be a word that we tie with emotion, and those emotions dependent upon our circumstances.

That's why I really don't like the definition of blessed being rendered happy.

I think that there is truth to that, because the word can literally be translated that way.

Blessed can be translated happy. So I think we still have to pay attention to that. But it's not what's being implied here.

It's not what's being meant when Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit. So what does this word blessed mean?

It rather means approved. Approved are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And one who is approved by God is blessed.

One who is approved by God is certainly happy, in the sense that happiness is not dependent upon circumstances, but dependent upon God who has shown us favor.

So when you understand that the trajectory of this blessedness from God to us is based on his approval of us, not based on circumstances and not based on our own merit or anything that we've done, then in that sense, you can certainly find joy in your heart and happiness applies.

But you have to recognize first the direction in which that blessedness is given, from God to us because of his approval of us.

And he approves of us, again, not because of anything that we've done, but because of what

Christ has done for us. It's because we're followers of Jesus that God has given his approval to us and has even made us followers of Jesus, if you understand it in that sense as well.

Jesus is going to explain later on in Matthew 11, no one knows the

Father except the Son and anyone whom the Son chooses to reveal him. So we have come to know the

Father because the Father has made himself known to us. We are approved by God, by his mercy and grace, not by anything that we have done.

So approved are the poor in spirit. Now, another way to understand this definition of blessed as being approved, let's say you have a young man who desires to marry a young woman, but he has to go to her father to get approval.

What does he go to her father looking for? His blessing, right?

And so if the father approves of this young man, he gives him his blessing. So there you see the connection between a blessing and approval.

God has approved of us. He has given us his blessing. And so blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Let's talk about that now. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Well, it doesn't mean, as John Gill puts it, it doesn't mean to be poor in purse.

So to be poor in material possessions or to be poor in the sense that you don't have much money.

That's not what Jesus means here, especially because we have that descriptor, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Although many take this beatitude and the way that it's worded in the gospel of Luke, many will take it to mean that the poor are blessed.

Those who don't have much, those who are the low and destitute in society, they are automatically blessed by God.

And some even take that as far as saying that a person who is poor, who is destitute, who is impoverished, they automatically have salvation.

They're blessed. They will receive the kingdom of God because that's what it says here. After all, blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I made a comment on social media. This was a few years ago. I was still living in Kansas at the time. I made a comment on social media that the poor are not automatically getting into heaven just because they're poor.

Oh, my goodness. That set people off on social media in such a crazy way that I just did not anticipate that being the reaction.

There was a doctor in West Virginia, and I've since come across him on social media. He's still around.

But anyway, there was a doctor in West Virginia who called my church and left an answer at the church.

He called over the weekend, so he left a message on the answering machine, and he said, I want to talk to the elders of Pastor Gabe's church because he's on the

Internet, blasphemously saying that the poor will not inherit the kingdom of God when that's exactly what the

Bible says. And so he was so incredibly upset that I would say that those who are poor and destitute do not automatically get heaven.

The Bible says nothing of the sort. What do we call that? That would be a poverty gospel.

You've probably heard of the prosperity gospel, you know, that God will bless you with riches.

Well, there's also the poverty gospel that you have to give away all your stuff. And then if you don't have anything, you're automatically saved.

That's a false gospel, too, because that's not how we're saved. That would be salvation by works.

I did something, and so I've earned the kingdom of God. But we only gain the kingdom of heaven by faith in Jesus Christ and no other way.

Jesus is the door. He's the narrow gate. He's how we enter into the kingdom of God.

So a person does not get there by being poor. The poor need the gospel just like the rich do.

Now, I've had people fire back at me when I say something like that and say, oh, didn't Jesus tell the rich young ruler, sell all that you have and give it to the poor?

And then he turns to his disciples when the rich young ruler wouldn't do it. And he says it's easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So the rich need the gospel. Yeah, absolutely they do. But there are poor people out there who are not getting to heaven just because they're poor.

They need the gospel also. It is only by faith in Christ that they can be saved.

That was a lesson for the rich young ruler or those who would be rich. And Paul gives warnings to the rich as well in 1st

Timothy chapter 6. But even the poor man needs the gospel. Even the poor man cannot rely on his works or his condition to get into the kingdom of God.

He must depend upon Christ. We have to share the gospel with all. So what is meant here when it is said, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Again, we understand the Beatitudes describing those who are followers of Jesus.

So a person who follows Jesus is one who recognizes that he is poor in spirit.

There are many who are destitute but still might proclaim their own righteousness by their works.

They are poor in a material sense, but they're not poor in a spiritual sense.

They think they don't need anything. I'm good. I'm good without God. God has to love me because I'm a good person or I'm poor.

So he's automatically promised me the kingdom of heaven. You know, whatever reasoning they may have in their minds. But they are not poor in spirit because they don't recognize their destitution in spirit.

I cannot get into the kingdom of God. I cannot stand in God's presence on my own merit.

I don't have any merit in order to come into God's presence, in order to fellowship with God.

I've got nothing to bring. And so when a person recognizes that, when they recognize, you know, as Augustus Toplady wrote in the song,

Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross

I cling. When you understand that, you understand this beatitude.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who acknowledge, I have nothing.

I bring nothing. I need everything. I need to come to God. Only he can give to me.

And the poor at this particular time in Jesus' day, when they would stand by the roadside and they would beg for alms, they would put their eyes downward or they would cover their faces in their cloaks and they would just hold out a hand.

They were too ashamed, too embarrassed, too destitute to even lift their eyes to those who pass them by.

They would cast their eyes down and just hold out a hand. And it's like that same posture needs to be taken by us in a spiritual sense.

Think of the tax collector, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18.

Jesus describes the tax collector as being so grieved by his own sin, he would not even lift his eyes to heaven.

And he beat his breast saying, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And so it's that same way.

We come to God. We don't even lift our eyes. We would have our eyes downward in humility, reaching out our hands that God would take us and draw us in.

And when that is our spiritual posture coming to God, we are blessed and we'll receive everything.

The kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Now, that's the first beatitude. But this beatitude becomes characteristic of every other one that comes after.

Because look at what our demeanor is supposed to be like and look what God rewards us with.

Blessed are those who mourn. That's a poor condition. Blessed are the lowly. That's a meek condition.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. We're acknowledging our own spiritual famine that is going on in our hearts.

Needing to be fed by God. And what does God give us in every one of these? Blessed are the poor in spirit.

He gives us everything. Blessed are those who mourn. He gives us everything. They shall be comforted.

Blessed are the lowly. They'll get everything. They'll inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

They shall be satisfied. We acknowledge our poor estate before God knowing that we've got nothing and we need everything from him.

And the reward that God gives us is everything. Again, the beatitudes describe the saved.

And those who have been saved by God through Jesus Christ have become inheritors of his heavenly kingdom.

That's where we're going to stop today. We'll pick up on these beatitudes again tomorrow with blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here. And may we take these things to heart. May we recognize the humility that we are to have before God.

We come to you as humble beggars having nothing in our possession.

We recognize we've got nothing to bring to the table. You do not need us.

But we need you. So we come as needy beggars needing to be taken care of by our father who is in heaven.

And when we come with such humility, begging that you would fill our souls, you have promised us even your very kingdom.

For belongs to us the kingdom of heaven. And that fills us up not just with hope for the future, but even in our present circumstance.

Even in our present situation. We have hope. We have joy. For God has shown favor to us.

Such favor. Such approval. That we would be able to dwell with you forever in your glorious kingdom.

Teach us and guide us in these things as we go throughout our day. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt

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