Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Multiplication

Jesus' Commandments: Spiritual poverty

The "attitudes" expressed in the Sermon on the Mount are deliberately given to crush spiritual pride...for in successive steps, he shows us the uncleanness of our hearts compared to the standard of God's perfection in word, thought and deed.

We call them "beatitudes" not in shorthand for "beautiful attitudes" but in recognition that each one begins with the phrase "blessed are" which is beatitudo in Latin. So calling them this is similiar to what the ancient Jews did when they referred to Deuteronomy 6:4 as "the great sh'ma" (because in Hebrew, it begins, "Sh'ma Yisrael," "hear, O Israel")

For example, our the passage I want to talk about now is "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)

The word "blessed" is full of meaning. Because it has almost lost its meaning in our day, it is sometimes translated "happy" in modern translations. It carries with it the idea of joyfulness not dependent on circumstances. Serenity. So one way to paraphrase it would be:

"Joyfully serene are those who recognize their spiritual poverty before God, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

When you think about it, it's a most ironic statement. But it echoes one of my favorite passages on repentance, Hebrews 6:1, which tells us that the foundation of Christianity is repentance from dead works, a recognition that good works are totally unable to gain us favor with God.

Favor with God is given as a gift; we can't earn it...Jesus already did that for us. Hebrews 10:14 says, "by one offering he perfected forever those who are sanctified." We are fully at rest in Him, as there is nothing we can do to earn God's favor.

It's because we recognize the fact of our need for Him and inability to be virtuous on our own that we are given the Kingdom.

Even among His followers, and after 2000 years of impact on the world culture, Jesus' words have the power to upset all of our assumptions.

The Pharisee who prayed, "God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get." Would have seemed to have built up a great deal of favor with God to if we had known him. But he 'prayed to himself,' according to Jesus.

The tax-collector, despised as a sell-out to the occupying Roman Empire, whose humility wouldn't even allow him to draw close, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:9-14) This one whose spiritual poverty was not hidden, was the one who went away justified, according to Jesus.

I once heard a wonderful song at a funeral. I recognize it as a superb testimony to God because our tendency to lionize the deceased was reversed because of the man's choice of songs for his funeral: "Only the Sinner," by Josh Bales. Here are the lyrics:

Only the sinner, only the weak
Only the man who lies and steals and cheats
Only the woman who runs around
Only the child with a selfish mouth
Only prostitutes and murderers
And crooked business men
Only those who have no alibi
Only those who cannot hide their sin

Only the dirty
Never the clean
Only the beggar men
Never the king
Only the messed up
Never the made, the made
Only the sinner
Jesus saves

Never the righteous, never the good
Never the man who does all the things he should
Never the rich, no never the strong
Never the woman who never breaks the law
Never the healthy, never the wise
Never the man who claims to have some alibi

Only the dirty
Never the clean
Only the beggar men
Never the king
Only the messed up
Never the made, the made
Only the sinner
Jesus saves

We're very likely not to evaluate ourselves as God does. For instance, Jesus dictated letters to 7 churches in the book of Revelation. Among those churches were one which thought it was very rich, and had need of nothing. But Jesus called them wretched, miserable, poor blind and naked (Revelation 3:17)

There was another very poor church, whose members were persecuted and slain for their testimony. And Jesus says, "I know your works, your tribulation and your poverty....(but you are rich!)..." (Revelation 2:9)

The poor church was really rich, and the rich church was really poor! We fool ourselves if we think this kind of thing isn't still going on today. We must beware when we think we're doing all right spiritually, because it may be that we are impoverished....but...and I say this with joy...it's also possible to be mistaken and underestimage the great rewards that await us in His Kingdom.

Let me challenge you to practice spiritual humility this week--recognize that without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) Our humility before God, our honesty about ourselves before Him...will translate into humility and honesty before others as well; and that's one of the attitudes which will begin to point to His work in our lives.

by Study-Leader @ 12:33 PM