Beatitudes (2) The Poor in Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)

​Review
Last Sunday, we started a new sermon series about the Beatitudes. In the last sermon, we looked at the biblical meaning of blessing through the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.
 
In the passage, God promised Abraham three things—a nation, a land, and a blessing. Among these three promises, we focused on what kind of blessing God really gave Abraham. What was the blessing that God wanted to give Abraham and wanted to be spread to all people on earth through him and his descendants?
 
It didn’t have to do with worldly blessings such as wealth, long life, and health. Even though it was true that Abraham became rich and lived a long life on earth, that wasn’t the essence of the blessing God had promised to give him. They were just by-products of the real blessing that God gave him, which can be defined as being credited as righteous by faith.
 
Gen 15:6 says that Abaraham believed the Lord when it was hard for him to do so and God credited his faith as righteousness. It was the first time God revealed the relationship between faith and righteousness which became the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
In the books of Romans and Galatians, which are considered to be two important letters in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul clearly reveals the relationship between the righteousness Abraham received through his faith in God and the righteousness Christians receive through their faith in Jesus Christ.
 
Paul says in Romans, “What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness… The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rm 4:3, 23-24).
 
Paul also reveals in Galatians that the blessing that God gave Abraham and wanted to be spread to all people on earth through him was actually the gospel of Jesus Christ. Quoting Genesis 12 and 15, Paul says,
 
“So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Gl 3:6-9)
 
Now, it’s made clear that the blessing God gave Abraham was the privilege to be credited as righteous by faith in God. That was the blessing God designed from the moment He first called Abraham and it was completed in Jesus Christ.
 
To make us righteous before God without requiring us to pay anything for our sins, Jesus came to the world in human form and died on the cross, bearing all our sins. By doing so He opened the way for us to be completely forgiven and reconciled with God.
 
Now all those who believe in Him “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rm 3:24) and they are given “the right to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).
 
There’s no blessing in the world that is greater than this spiritual blessing because every blessing we could possibly have on earth is temporary and only lasts a very short time compared to the eternal, spiritual blessing we find in Christ. As Paul said in Ephesians 1:3-5,
 
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph 1:3-5)
 
It is very important to continue to remind ourselves of the kind of blessing we have received from God so that we won’t be shaken by worldly blessings. What makes me sad is that nowadays worldly concepts of blessings have replaced spiritual blessings in many churches and in many believers’ lives.
 
But if we only ask God to give us blessings that belong to this world without having any interest in the spiritual blessings that He really wants to give us, it’s like worshiping a golden calf. So we should make every effort to stay awake and stand on the firm foundation of the truth of God’s word.
 
What God wants us to have is an eternal perspective. He wants to open our eyes so that we can see what He has in store for us. This eternal perspective is essential in understanding the Beatitudes.
 
Even though it consists of 8 simple sentences, it’s impossible to understand without an eternal perspective. Only those who realize the value of eternal life in the kingdom of God can truly understand the blessings that Jesus wants to give us and seek after them no matter the cost.
 
The Poor in Spirit
All right. Let’s talk about the first blessing. Let’s read Mt 5:3 together. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:3)
 
No one would say being poor is a blessing. But Jesus said “blessed are the poor in spirit” not because being poor itself is a blessing but because of what it brings us—the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that the kingdom of God will be given to those who are poor in spirit.
 
 But what does it mean for us to be poor in spirit? The NLT version helps us understand the meaning of the verse. It puts it this way:
 
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Mt 5:3, NLT)
 
 I think this does a great job describing what it means for us to be poor in spirit. It means that we see our profound need for God and thus rely completely on Him in every situation. The kingdom of heaven is promised to those who have this kind of heart.
 
The dictionary’s definition of the word ‘poor’ is “lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.”
 
Here, words such as ‘lack’ and ‘sufficient’ are important in understanding what ‘poor’ means. Being poor refers to the state of insufficiency. The opposite, then, is the state of being satisfied.
 
So, being poor in spirit refers to the state in which our spirits are not full. Something is lacking and we are not spiritually satisfied. It may sound negative, but it’s not, because saying that our spirits are poor is the same as confessing our deep need for God.
 
It is to admit that nothing in this world can truly fill our spirits. It is to confess, “Only You, Lord, can truly satisfy my soul. There’s nothing more precious than Jesus Christ my Lord.” I think these sentences do a great job describing what it is to be poor in spirit.
 
This kind of confession comes from the realization that we are not enough. What the Bible says about human beings is that we are totally corrupt. We are so corrupt because of our sins that we can’t become righteous ourselves.
 
As David confessed in Psalm 14:2-3, “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Ps 14:2-3).
 
This is the spiritual reality that all humans face whether they know or admit it or not. We are all lost and we can’t save ourselves from our sins. And the result of our corruption is eternal separation from God’s presence, meaning death.
 
That’s what we need to realize to be poor in spirit. We need to recognize the fact that we are in complete spiritual poverty, that there is nothing we can do on our own to be righteous in God’s sight and inherit the kingdom of God. Those who feel this complete sense of helplessness will go before God with their poor spirits. They completely depend on God and surrender to Him because they know that’s the only way they can be saved.
 
Sometimes, we go before God like we’re bargaining with Him as if we have something of value to give Him. We sometimes say, “God, do this for me and I will do something for You,” or “God give me this and I will give You something in my life.”
 
But we can’t do that with God because there’s nothing valuable we can give Him. Rather than trying to bargain with God, we should go before Him as beggars who have nothing but filthy rags to offer Him. We need to see our spiritual bankruptcy.
 
Those who realize that they are totally corrupt, helpless, and bankrupt will have poor spiritual hearts. And they will love and seek God more than anything because they know that only He can give them salvation and true satisfaction of their souls. That’s the mindset we should have before God to receive true, spiritual blessings from Him.
 
But it’s not easy for us to realize this spiritual need because there are plenty of things that satisfy us temporarily in the world. They blind us so that we won’t notice our spiritual need for God. And those who are satisfied with the temporary pleasure that the world gives them become less interested in their spiritual need for God. They don’t even notice the deep hunger and thirst of their souls.
 
And because their souls are filled with worldly things, they don’t try to seek Jesus. That’s the reason the Bible warns us not to love anything in this world because it will end up making us turn away from Jesus, the true living water that eternally satisfies our spirits.
 
1 Jn 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them” (1Jn 2:15).
 
The Bible says that when we love the world, our love for God loses its ground to stand on in our hearts. Because our hearts are satisfied with things in the world, we don't seek the Lord. The problem is, the satisfaction that this world gives us is not eternal. It can satisfy us for a moment, but it can never give us eternal satisfaction, which only God can give us.
 
Worldly blessings may give us immediate pleasure, but none of them can actually satisfy our souls. Because it was God who put the desire for eternity in our spirits, only He knows how to fill it.
 
Then this is the desperation we need to recover. We need to see our spiritual poverty so that we realize our absolute need for God and so that we may seek and love Him with all our hearts. If we go before God like this, He will surely fill us with every good blessing in Him, satisfying our spirits.
 
The times I most feel like I’m in a crisis of faith is when I lose this spiritual longing. If we have no desire to seek Him, that’s a sign that we’ve drifted far away from Him.
 
As you may know, I met Jesus 12 years ago during a program called Discipleship Training School. The meeting was so intense that even recalling the name of Jesus made me cry. I had a strong desire to lay down everything I had and go out as a missionary. God’s words were sweet like honey and I felt deep fellowship with Him through prayer.
 
But, not long after I went back to Korea, I started to feel my heart for Jesus cooling down. I could still say “I love the Lord” but I found that I sought Him less than before. I still read the Bible and prayed but there was no strong desire left in me.
 
And I started to seriously struggle with this problem. I asked myself, “I really met Jesus and experienced His great love, so why don’t I love Him? Why is it that my faith seems to be withdrawing rather than growing every day?”
 
Then one day, I had the chance to travel to Jeju Island. On the boat to Jeju, I felt like God was telling me that He would let me find the answer to my questions. And while traveling, I went to a church with my friend and listened to a sermon.
 
The preacher talked about being poor in spirit with regard to Matthew 5:3. I remember the sermon because God was speaking to me and showing me what my problem was through the sermon.
 
The preacher said that there are two types of faith life. One is like a cruise ship and the other is like a battleship. Those who have faith like a cruise ship are the people who enjoy their own lives in the world while believing in Jesus.
 
They have faith, but they still can’t give up the pleasure that the world gives them. So they believe in Jesus in moderation. They don’t want to sacrifice what they have to believe in Jesus. They are not interested in joining in Jesus’ suffering somehow. They think they can love both the world and Jesus, which only reveals that they don’t really love Jesus.
 
But there’s also a faith like a battleship. Battleships are different from cruise ships. Their purpose is not to relax. Battleships are made to fight against enemies.
 
So those who live out a battleship-like faith life are the ones who fight a good fight of faith for the kingdom of God. They rely only on Jesus because they know that He is the only way through whom they can beat their enemies. They constantly seek Jesus and love and worship Him in every circumstance. The apostle Paul had this kind of faith.
 
God told me the reason I had become less interested in seeking Him through the sermon. It was because I had cruise ship-like faith. I found that I was interested in and loved things in the world more than I loved God. My love for the world made me lose my love for God. I didn’t seek Him desperately anymore because I was seeking other things.
 
I still believed in God but at the same time I wanted to enjoy worldly things. Because I sought satisfaction from the world, I didn’t seek Jesus. I lost the poor spirit I once had had in Jesus.
 
As soon as I realized this, I repented of my sin. Since then, I always ask God to recover a poor spirit in my life whenever I go before Him in prayer. I pray that God protects my heart so that I don’t turn to temporary things in the world. I pray that I can always experience the true, eternal satisfaction God gives us so that I won’t seek or love anything more than Him.
 
Those who have poor spirits will inherit the kingdom of God because they seek only the Lord with desperation. When we go before God in our spiritual poverty, asking Him to fill us with His presence and love, He will surely do so.
 
 Now, let’s read Psalm 107:8-9 before we wrap up.
 
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” (Ps 107:8-9)
 
 Our God is good. He never rejects those who come to Him with desperate hearts. Whenever we go before Him, confessing our spiritual hunger and thirst toward Him, He will surely satisfy us with His living water and the bread of life.
 
 I hope and pray that we all recover this poor spirit today so that we can sincerely profess that only God can truly and eternally satisfy our souls and so that we can live in His kingdom and not be swayed by anything in this world.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
Heavenly Father, we humbly lay down our thoughts and go before You.
 
Lord, we confess that even though we say ‘I believe in You’ and ‘I love You’ there have been many times when we actually loved things in the world more than You.
 
Oh Lord, we want to know who we really are and what kind of spiritual situation we’re in now. We want to realize that there’s no other name but the name of Jesus, Your Son, who can save us and truly satisfy our souls.
 
Please open our eyes and allow us to see our spiritual poverty. Give us courage to go before You and please help us experience how good You’ve always been to us so that we open our hearts more to You.
 
We want to love nothing but You. We want to seek nothing but You. Please continue to remind us of our deep need for You so that we can always seek and love You more than anything else every single day.
 
Thank You, Lord, for giving us Your salvation and allowing us to live in Your kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the eternal living water, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. What are some things that make you love God less nowadays? What do you think makes you poor in spirit? Is your faith like a cruise ship or a battleship? Why do you think so? What do you think you can do to recover a poor spirit toward Jesus in your faith life?