07-12-20 THE BE-HAPPY-ATTITUDES “Happy are the poor…”

Scripture       Matthew 5:3

Read: p 1 “The Secret of Happiness

Matthew 5:1-16

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:

3 Blessed (Happy) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed (Happy) are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed (Happy) are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed (Happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed (Happy) are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed (Happy) are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed (Happy) are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10 Blessed (Happy) are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

          13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed (Happy) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Blessed (markarios) = happy

Poor (ptwcos) = poor as a beggar

Spirit (pneuma) = spirit / The highest and most noble part of man, which qualifies us to lay hold of incomprehensible, invisible, eternal things. In Other Words; it is the house where Faith and God’s Word are at home.

Heaven (ouranos) = heaven. The fullness of all things seen that are covered by the vaulted sky. OR The dwelling place of God from where Jesus came and returned to and where heavenly beings reside.

OTHER TRANSLATIONS:

Spiritually prosperous are those who are humble and rate themselves as insignificant.

Humble men are very fortunate!

Blessed are those who feel poor in regard to spiritual things.

Blessed are those who know their need of God.

Blessed are those who are broken in spirit.

Blessed are those who are truly subject, willing to be ruled, not rebellious or troublesome.

Oh the bliss of the man who realizes his utter helplessness and puts his whole trust in God.

Spiritually prosperous are the destitute and helpless in the realm of the spirit.

Blessed is the one who realizes he is nothing, can do nothing and has need of all things.

All of these are facets of the same diamond of spiritual truth. We might combine this way:

Blessed, happy, blissful is the man who, seeing himself insignificant before God, spiritually poor, and desperately in need of Him, is broken in spirit and subjects himself to be taught and ruled by God continually. Oh, what bliss. The kingdom of heaven is his.

Winston Pendleton paraphrase: “Happy and content and full of the joy of living are the humble, for they live every day, here and now, and they have found the proper relationship between themselves and God.”

4 Principals of being Poor in Spirit!

FIRST

If you are to be poor in spirit, you must be aware pf your spiritual poverty.  A pathetic person is the one who has a great need and doesn’t know it.

Luke 12:16ff And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Our bodies have an appetite for food, drink, sex, companionship. But you are more than a body. Our souls have an appetite as well which longs for peace, contentment and happiness.

We give so much attention to making our body (physical existence) rich, that we bankrupt the needs of our souls. We are one-sided. We become physically and materially fat and become spiritually weak and anemic.

          The soul demands as much attention as the body, which is met through communion with God through worship, meditation, prayer, reading the words of Jesus.  Wise is the person who recognizes their spiritual poverty. Until you admit you are poor in spirit, you cannot become filled with the spirit. Consider the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. (Explain)

Luke 18:9-14   “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In God’s economy – emptying comes before filling, confession comes before forgiveness and poverty before riches.

          Jesus is saying that happiness comes to the person who can acknowledge the poverty of their soul which opens the door for Jesus to enter in. Rev. 3:20 – (Recite)

          There is a disease worse than caner or the coronavirus that keeps us from admitting our spiritual poverty and it is called sin. The simplest way to describe sin is to answer this question – What is at the center of SIN? “I” We hate to admit we failed or are flawed, but that is the first and necessary step to true happiness.

SECOND:  If we are to be poor in spirit, we must receive the riches that Christ has provided by his death and resurrection. We must humble ourselves at the foot of the cross of Jesus and receive him and him alone as our Lord and Savior.

THIRD:  If we are to be poor in spirit, we must be conscience of our dependence on God.

Children don’t spend time worrying about food, clothing, shelter; instead they spend time simply trusting the parent to provide as they simply spend time in relationship with those parents. We must realize that all we are and ever will be is in direct relationship to God. He created us, He redeemed us, He sustains us, and only He will move us into eternal life. We can’t buy it, earn it or create it – only God is able to grant it and he does through Christ alone.  We humbly admit our spiritual poverty and reliance on God for abundant and eternal life.

FOURTH:  If we are to be poor in spirit, we must willingly deny ourselves that we might better serve Christ.

Consider the rich young ruler (Explain) who could not detach himself from his possessions for the sake of Christ. He was not willing to become materially poor but more importantly admit that he was spiritually poor.

The poor in spirit would be in constant prayer for our COVID 19 world and we would see change:

2 Chronicles 7:14   If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Matthew 5:3 “Happy and content and full of the joy of living are the humble, for they live every day, here and now, and they have found the proper relationship between themselves and God.”

picnic with the pastor - pennies