Rev. David Holwick R
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 18, 2003
Matthew 5:1-3
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I. Blessed are who?
A. Most of us have the same preference:
Vaudeville actress Sophie Tucker was being asked by reporters
about her early struggles before she became a success,
and whether or not she had been happy in her years of
poverty.
She answered, "I've been rich, and I've been poor.
Believe me, honey, rich is better!" #2477
B. People clamor for wealth.
1) Forbes magazine's "Forbes 400" is eagerly read.
This year you need $550 million to make the cut.
It has been sad lately - Bill Gates has dropped from
$83 billion to only $43 billion.
At this rate, in four years he'll be poorer than you!
2) Money can buy anything - and happiness is under negotiation.
C. Jesus goes against the flow.
1) "Blessed are poor in spirit."
a) What is so great about poverty?
b) And what exactly is "poor in spirit"?
1> Some say it is material poverty. God loves the poor.
2> Others point to a poverty of spiritual awareness,
or a depression of the spirit.
3> These are incorrect.
2) Right answer can be found in a careful study of the Bible.
II. There is more than one kind of poverty.
A. A comparison of two gospels.
1) Luke's version is considered most authentic by many. 6:20
a) No "in spirit", just "poor."
b) Also, a woe upon the rich in Luke 6:24.
c) He makes Jesus sound like a Marxist revolutionary.
2) Does Matthew spiritualize the expression?
a) Is he trying to make it acceptable to a middle-class
audience?
b) Or does he have insight into the true meaning?
B. Key is found in the Old Testament.
1) OT: the materially poor are powerless, and depend on God.
a) We see this in our own culture.
b) Poor people have a more intense faith.
c) Your prayers become more focused when you don't know
where your next meal is coming from.
2) Came to mean a humble (and needy) attitude toward God.
a) "Poor and needy" is synonymous with "upright." Ps 37:14
b) Even King David called himself poor. Ps 40:17
C. Matthew makes explicit what Luke implies.
1) Money, or lack of it, is not real issue.
2) Are we humble and dependent on God alone?
III. Admitting our spiritual bankruptcy before God.
A. We are unworthy sinners.
1) Our status in world doesn't matter.
2) Our accomplishments for God don't cut it.
3) When we come before God, we bring nothing in our hands.
B. "Poverty of spirit" is the deepest form of repentance.
1) Parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector, Luke 18:9.
The wealth or poverty of the two men is not mentioned but
from their professions it is not hard to figure out.
The Pharisee would have been poor, because most Jews
were at that time.
The tax collector was probably rich because his profession
has always been known for its greed and extortion.
But regardless of their financial status, the Pharisee
expressed an inner need for nothing -- and got it.
The tax collector, who realized he was a sinner, expressed
a deep need for God's mercy -- and that is what he got.
Each man received what he felt he needed.
The rich tax collector was actually the one who was poor
in spirit, and Jesus says he received God's acceptance.
He measured himself against God's standards, whereas the
Pharisee was content to measure himself against other
people.
2) Another example is the church of Laodicea. Rev 3:17
The Laodiceans were a wealthy church and took pride in
that fact.
In response to their attitude, Jesus says in verse 17:
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not
need a thing.'
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful,
poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire,
so you can become rich....
The church in Laodicea was rich in pride instead of poor
in spirit.
These are exact opposites.
C. Only Jesus can save us.
1) We cannot fulfill God's standards ourselves.
2) To be saved, we must let him do it for us.
IV. Maintaining our poverty of spirit.
A. It's not just for the day we are saved.
1) Humility of spirit should be a lifetime trait.
B. Walk humbly with God.
1) Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly...
and to love mercy...
and to walk humbly with your God.
2) To walk humbly with God is to do what God does.
a) To be fair and just in our dealings.
b) Give others a break, especially when undeserved.
c) Our humility extends to people as well as God.
V. Possessing the Kingdom.
A. The Kingdom of heaven.
1) Synonymous with Kingdom of God. (used interchangeably)
2) Jews thought of it as a future rule of God on earth.
3) Jesus accepted that, but with a twist.
a) The Kingdom is already here.
b) Where Jesus is, the Kingdom is.
B. The Kingdom "is" ours.
1) This expression brackets the first and last beatitudes.
2) All the beatitudes describe the attitude of a believer.
C. Salvation is something we can have. Now.
1) It is not just something in the distant future.
2) We can have it now, and know we have it.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2477 "Rich Is Better," James Boice, THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, Zondervan
Publishing, 1972, page 21.
This and 23,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Expositor's Bible Commentary, Matthew, D. A. Carson.
I. Meaning of "poor."
A. Luke omits "in spirit" and many commentators prefer it.
1) Jesus is showing concern for the economically destitute.
B. But in OT, "the poor" has spiritual overtones.
1) Become of sustained economic privation, the poor have
confidence only in God. Ps 37:14; 40:17; 69:28-29,32-33
2) Similar to passages which affirm God's favor on the lowly
and contrite in spirit. Isa 57:16; 66:2
a) Poverty itself is not the chief thing.
b) Wealth and privilege entail great spiritual peril.
c) Poverty is not a blessing, but it can be turned to
advantage if it fosters humility before God.
C. Dead Sea Scrolls have similar phrases.
1) "Poor" and "righteous" are almost equivalent in some
passages of Apocrypha.
2) Matthew's "poor in spirit" rightly interprets Luke's "poor."
II. Biblical balance is easy to prostitute.
A. Emperor Julian the Apostate - I confiscate Christians' property
so they might all become poor and enter the kingdom of
heaven.
B. But the rich too easily dismiss Jesus' teaching about poverty.
III. How to be poor in spirit.
A. It is not to lack courage but to acknowledge spiritual
bankruptcy.
1) It confesses our unworthiness before God.
2) It confesses our utter dependence on him.
B. The Beatitudes are gospel and not law.
1) The gospel is for the poor and despised.
2) It is a grave error to be blind to our spiritual
poverty. Rev. 3:14-22
C. Kingdom "is" ours.
1) Brackets first and last beatitude.
2) But present tense can function as future tense.
Other commentaries used in series:
Dale Allison, The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the Moral Imagination.
William Barclay, New Testament Commentary: Matthew.
James Boice, The Sermon on the Mount.
D. A. Carson, The Sermon on the Mount: An Evangelical Exposition of
Matthew 5-7
Robert Guelich, The Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding.
Robert Stein, Difficult Passages in the Gospels.
John R. W. Stott, Christian Counter-Culture.
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"You're God-blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you
there is more of God and His rule." (The Message)
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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