Christians Under Construction
Humility (Poor in spirit)
FUM Carroll 7/21/19
In the weeks to come we will be seeing Jack and his family
every week. Jack has some work to do on himself, doesn’t he? He’s got quite an
attitude, but at least Tom has him thinking.
To be honest, I guess I have a lot of work to do on myself
too. Maybe you do too.
That’s OK though. For the next 8 weeks our church is going
to become a construction zone. I don’t mean like you had here two years ago.
The beautiful remodel of the church was nothing compared to the remodeling we
need in our hearts and lives.
We could just go slap some paint on our attitudes or throw
some cold patch in the potholes of our hearts or prop up our precariously
leaning love for others. But God is not in the patch it up, cover it up, prop
it up business. God is in the business of making us new creatures in Christ.
Paul writes, “So if anyone is in Christ, (if anyone is a Christian) they are a
new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
Hear that? Everything has become new. The problem is that
our old self gets in the way a lot. Paul writes, “I do not do the good I want
to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 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.” Does that sound like you…
I can sure identify with it.
We all have a lot of work to do on ourselves. That’s why I
called this series Christians Under Construction. In a way we are all God’s
fixer uppers. The bad news is Chip and Joanna Gaines are not going to help us.
The good news is that God has a great blueprint for your fixer -upper project.
And God has provided a wonderful general contractor called the Holy Spirit, and
the perfect carpenter, Jesus.
So, strap your tool belts on and let’s get to work.
2 First, let’s build the foundation. A “beatitude” is a literary
form that was used in other ancient documents. These 8 beatitudes are original
to Jesus, but they rely heavily on the Old Testament which Jesus and his
hearers knew inside out.
“Beatitude” means blessing. Some Bibles translate the
beatitudes using the word “happy.” Happiness, however, is based on outward
prosperity or comfort and therefore is temporary. Some have suggested the word
“lucky” … That is an unfortunate translation because luck has a certain
randomness to it. There is nothing random about God’s blessing. No, blessedness
is an inward and lasting joy or contentment in our relationship with God.
I want us to think of blessedness as “divine assurance.”
Maybe we could call it “holy confidence” in God. It is an assurance in God’s provision, God’s
goodness, God’s love, God’s grace, and that God is enough. Biblically we can
see this kind of assurance in Romans 8. “When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is
that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” It is by the blessing of the holy spirit in
our lives, that we can have full confidence in God. To be blessed is to know
…that we know… that we know that God is… and that God is enough.
Fanny Crosby says it better than I could ever say it.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
0 what a foretaste of glory Divine!
Heir to salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood. —
Blessed Assurance is foundational to all the beatitudes.
They all start with “Blessed are.” So, as I studied each beatitude, I was
looking for the quality that Jesus was lifting up that would help us to
experience contentment or assurance that God is enough for us and we are enough
for God.
Let’s say the first
beatitude it together… “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.”
We know that those who are poor in spirit will receive
“blessed assurance.” So, what is “poor in spirit? First, we should note that
the beatitudes are presented in both Matthew and Luke. There are differences
between the two. Luke has 4 Matthew has 8. Luke adds woes, Mathew does not. And
in this particular beatitude Matthew says, “poor in spirit” and Luke says
“poor.” Some argue that Luke is original to Jesus because it is simpler, and
Matthew embellished. Others argue that Luke had a social agenda for the poor
and outcast. That would give Luke good
reason to remove “in spirit” from this beatitude and make it about economics.
However, I ask why isn’t it possible that Jesus preached the
beatitudes more than once and maybe in different forms? This is not only a
possibility, but I think likely and we may just be reading accounts from two
different occasions. So we shall stick
with Matthew’s “poor in spirit” since that is the text in front of us.
So, what is “poor I spirit?” Let’s think back to the video
by the First Church Players. Tom wrote in his letter "The preacher likes to quote a verse
from the Bible -in the book of Matthew, I think. He says, ‘Blessed are the poor
in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ You know, it's kind of funny,
big brother, Jesus had to take away everything I had and put me here in jail,
so that I could find Him and share a part of all the riches He has to offer.”
I don’t think Jesus has to take away everything we have… but
just like a fixer upper show we must start with demolition. That’s why I have
the sledge hammer and crow bar.
We have to knock down
our stubborn self-reliance.
We have to pry lose the “I am my own boss” attitude.
We have to rip out our need to always be right.
We have to smash the illusion that we are strong enough.
We have to crack open the lie that money make the man, woman
or child.
We have to flatten our need to be popular or pushy
We have to blow up our need to get what we want at any cost.
It all comes down to, “People get over yourselves!”
Obviously, in order to be poor in spirit (and therefore
blessed to be part of the kingdom of heaven) we must demolish the illusion that
we are rich in spirit. If we are to be poor in spirit, we may have to tear out
some walls, pull up the carpet and maybe even get all the way back to the
framing of our lives.
The Greek is a word
Jesus used that we translate “poor in spirit” means “to cower, to cringe like a
beggar, to crouch, to bend, to be ashamed, to wretchedly beg for money.” It
describes someone who cannot survive on their own, someone who cannot be
self-sufficient, one who cannot earn a living, one who begs for whatever they
need. It could be literally translated 'beggarly poor', 'Blessed are the
“beggarly poor,” for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. And if you take this
meaning of the word and you combine it with 'in spirit', 'poverty in spirit',
Jesus is saying…
Only people who know that they are powerless can experience
God’s power and be blessedly assured of their place in the kingdom of heaven.
Only those who are aware of their own weakness can
experience God’s strength and be blessedly assured of their place in the
kingdom of heaven.
Only people who give up their tight grip on money can
experience wealth and blessed assurance of the kingdom of heaven.
Only people who can live without popularity or prestige can
experience our amazing God and the blessed assurance of the kingdom of heaven.
Only those who give up on their own strength, their own
goodness, their own worthiness, will know the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who know that they are completely
spiritually bankrupt because only then can we understand that God’s generously,
gracious, loving help is our only hope for seeing the kingdom of heaven.
We are not blessed because being poor in spirit earns God’s
favor. That is pride.
We are blessed because when our hollowness is exposed, when
our pride is proven, when we admit our weakness, and acknowledge our
powerlessness, God can lift up and fill us with Himself. Blessed are you, when
Christ is poured into your emptiness... blessed are you when your emptiness is
filled with the Spirit of God… Blessed are when you have nothing because Christ
will be your everything.
Blessed are you when you admit that you are desperate for
God.
Blessed are you when you confess that you are lost without
God.
Breathe
Michael W. Smith
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you
And I I'm lost without you
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you
I'm lost without you
I'm lost without you
I'm desperate for you
I'm desperate for you
I'm desperate for you
I'm lost without you
I'm desperate for you
I'm desperate for you
I'm lost without you
I'm lost without you
I'm lost without you
I'm lost without you
I'm desperate for you
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