Where is my desire?

Alright, we are starting a new series this morning called, / / “Could I Be Happier?”

Now, before we get into it. Looking at the graphics for this series, I want to first make a bit of an apology if you thought, based on the selection of emoji’s that I picked for this, that we’d be talking through the various emotions we go through. Although we may talk about emotions throughout this series, that is not the focus. The focus is on that one down on the bottom of it all, a big smiling face, we are truly asking the question, Could I Be Happier? And what, if anything, does Jesus say about that.

The truth is, I don’t think any of us are going to answer “no” to that question, are we? Even if it’s just for the very least of reasons, I don’t want to limit how happy I could be. No matter how good my life is at any given moment, I’m sure I could be happier. I’m sure it could be better. So, regardless of where you are at, regardless of what you are going through, or maybe not going through, we are going to take a few weeks here and look at just 10 verses from the book of Matthew in chapter 5.

This is the beginning of what we call The Sermon on the Mount, which is basically Jesus outlining his viewpoints on life. We would call it his / / manifesto - a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.

See, Jesus came onto the religious scene as a rabbi, a teacher. You see him called this multiple times throughout the gospels. And when he started out he preaching one main message, really. It was an echo of what John the Baptist had been preaching as well - Mark 1:15, / / “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

So, then when we get to what we call the Sermon on the Mount, it’s three chapters, Matthew 5-7, and it’s basically this manifesto, a declaration of policy and aims, for what, for the kingdom. The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven. And it’s not a new thing. The Kingdom of God wasn’t just created in that moment. It has always been, but it is now being revealed through Jesus Christ.

And ultimately what he is explaining when he talks about the Kingdom of God is that this is a restoration of true authority in their lives. In the Old Testament Israel was led by Moses out of slavery in Egypt, right? Then Joshua takes over, leads them into the promised land. And over time they have Judges and prophets who would basically rule the nation on behalf of God. But they get tired of this and in 1 Samuel 8:4-7 it says, / / Finally all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “For they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.”

So, that’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it? God even tries to warn them, through the prophet Samuel, saying, having a king isn’t going to make things better, it’s going to make things worse. But they’ve made up their minds. They want a king. And we can see by reading the Old Testament how well that went for them. So much of these problems we see they went through are in direct connection to these moments where Israel decided, “We will no longer follow God in this...”

So when Jesus comes in, not only is he bringing the hope of a king returning to the throne of Israel, which they all want because of the Roman occupation. BUT, he’s also redeeming this 1 Samuel 8 moment where they reject God as their King because Jesus is God & King!

And you see it all throughout the way he teaches the people. Even into the way he teaches his disciples how to pray, / / Your Kingdom come, your will be done - What’s he doing? He’s speaking of us coming back under the authority of His rule and reign as the King of all Kings and the Lord of Lords, the God, the King of this Kingdom.

So, Jesus starts his ministry, / / The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.... There is an invitation to join that kingdom. He does not take authority by force. He isn’t coming in with a sword and driving out the Romans so he can be king of Israel. We come into this kingdom by denying ourselves and following Him, by willingly coming under his authority - and what does that mean? it means being obedient to do what he says to do, go where he sends us and all that comes with truly following, truly being a disciple, or an apprentice of this teacher, this rabbi, the King, Jesus.

And then we have this manifesto, so to speak - three chapters outlining what it means to live a certain way, because this kingdom is different.

I’m excited for the 3rd season of The Chosen, because of course, in the life of Jesus you don’t think about certain things, or at least I don’t, and seeing the visual on some things has been really eye opening, literally, but spiritually and just in my admiration and reflection on the life of Jesus. But in season 2 there is this ongoing discourse about Jesus bringing this big message, and it shows regular day life of Jesus thinking about what he will say, writing things down, planning how he will deliver this incredibly important message.

Sometimes we read the bible in such a way that we just put one thing after the next without thinking about the time in between. But of course there was preparation. How many times does it say Jesus went off into silence to pray and spend time with his Father. All part of his being made ready for what he came to do.

So to set the scene. Matthew 5:1 says, / / One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.

And out comes this long message directing and instructing them on what life in this kingdom is meant to look like. First, what it takes to really live in it, and second, as I think we have learned along the way, what it requires of us. The Gospel is good news, and salvation is a free gift to those who believe, but living for the kingdom will cost us everything. Not in a way of having to give, like you have to pay for it, but more in a way of having to give up, so that we can gain all that God has for us.

So much of the gospel message, the life of Jesus Christ is absolutely full of invitation after invitation to lay something down so we can pick something up. And a lot of times that might just be an old way of thinking, or an old way of understanding things. We have seen that a few times in the last several weeks where we read from Matthew 5 where Jesus says, / / “You have heard the commandment that says.... But I say....” and he brings a new perspective. And for some that would have been very difficult to reconcile because they have spent their whole lives believing a particular thing, and now Jesus is saying, “Well, here’s what it really means, and....I would know. I was there when I said it the first time...” Right? Jesus is the very word of God. John 1 calls him that directly. / / In the beginning the word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God… So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

No mistaking we’re talking about Jesus here.

And sometimes the hardest thing we encounter as a Christian is to hear something different about something we have believed for a really long time. No, that’s not just a Christian thing. That’s an anyone thing. How many have a friend, not you, but a friend, someone else say something to the effect of… “Oh, I’m too old to change...” or “He’s really set in his ways...” or “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks...”

And yet the whole life of Jesus was teaching the old dogs of God’s people a new and correct way to see God. Their viewpoint of God was so distorted that at every turn the teachers of religious law and the pharisees, the religious leaders, couldn’t understand, and were violently opposed to his teaching.

So, for the next 6 weeks we’re going to dig into just the first little bit of this manifesto that Jesus brings. It’s a set of scripture that we give the title of / / The Beatitudes. And that word, beatitude means supreme blessedness, or a state of utmost bliss. And so now you understand why we’re calling this series, “Could I Be More Happy”, because in these verses Jesus outlines for his followers HOW they can become more happy.

We won’t read it every week, but let’s start by reading through this passage of scripture together and we’ll look at a few things this morning.

Matthew 5:3-12

/ / God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

Now, I don’t know about you, but honestly, there’s not a lot about that chunk of scripture that screams, “Hey, this is gonna be fun and happy!”. I kind of feel like if these are the things I’m going through, I’m gonna need something to make me happy.

God blesses those who are poor, sad, hungry, mocked, persecuted, people saying all sorts of evil things about me...

Is there an option for no thank you?

So, we’re going to look at the first verse there, / / God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. And we’re going to ask three questions. And the first is:

/ / What does it mean to Be Blessed?

...or Happier, as we would suggest in the series title. The Good News Translation and Young’s literal translation both use the word happy. GNT says, / / “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.”

Most translations stick to simply saying “Blessed”. So, instead of how the NLT says it, which is what we read / / “God blesses”, it says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit...” And I would say that’s a clearer translation than God blesses… which makes it sounds like a reward for good behavior instead of what it really is, God has created a world and a kingdom where there is really beautiful cause and effect. And although it may just seem like semantics, I think it’s really important to realize because it shows that this is not something available only to some. God doesn’t pick and choose who he blesses in these statements, like he would leave someone out. I think that’s what really makes me appreciate the other translation more, Blessed are those who… because it shows anyone who is going through this, whatever it is he’s outlining, if you take a certain approach to it, or posture in it, you can experience this blessing he’s talking about.

Now, the second thing we want to look at is that word specifically, Blessed, or Happy.

The Amplified translation says it this way, and it’s a great translation to have because it is written with a lot of the definitions, or explanations of what a word would mean in the context it’s written. It says, / / Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous - with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward condition)… Now that I can get behind.

But as often is the case when it comes to scripture, and the depth of the words of Jesus, this is a loaded word.

The greek word that Matthew uses to explain what Jesus was saying is / / makarios, and is translated very correctly in both the words blessed and happy, it can also be translated as fortunate. The word is used 50 times in the New Testament scriptures and most often is translated as blessed. But this was also a greek word in a greek world and it was a pretty common word.

So, it doesn’t really work to just look at what it means for us from a christian perspective, because people have been hearing this word used around town, and it has a certain meaning to it already. And it’s kind of interesting how it was used from a completely non religious / non Jewish context.

First, / / makarios was used to refer to / / the gods of greek mythology. It spoke to the fact that they were sitting up there on their thrones at the top of Mount Olympus and had achieved this godly state of happiness and contentment in life that was beyond all cares, labors and even death - but that also means it is beyond human ability to obtain. So, these “blessed ones” were these otherworldly beings who lived outside of our time and space far away from all the worries and cares and problems that us ordinary people go through. / / To be that kind of blessed, you needed to be a god.

The second way this word was used was that it referred / / to the “dead”. Humans, who through death, had reached the other world of the gods, which brought them past the barrier of the human difficulty and all of the earthly problems they faced in this life. But, / / To be that kind of blessed, you needed to be dead.

And then the third way it was used was to refer to what we would now call the 1%’ers. / / The elite. The upper crust of society. Extremely wealthy and in some ways untouchable. It referred to people whose riches and power put them above what most people endure. Common problems and worries for common people just don’t apply. And obviously we’re talking materialistically here, but you get the picture. There is clearly a certain level of benefit when you’re not thinking about financial and physical difficulties. / / To be that kind of blessed, to not have to struggle and worry or labor in this life, you needed to be very rich and very powerful.

So, that’s how the greeks used this word. And I would only assume Jesus knows this when he’s speaking. Now, we don’t know if Jesus spoke in Greek at the Sermon on the Mount. There’s some debate over the language or languages that Jesus spoke. The gospel accounts along with the rest of the New Testament were written in Greek, and most likely, Jesus was at least bilingual, if not trilingual. Hebrew was the native language of the Jews. But the bible tells us that Joseph took Mary and Jesus as a child to Egypt and were there for quite some time. Aramaic was the dominant language in Egypt. And then the language of the whole region where the gospels take place is surrounded by Greek speaking Romans. And when we read the gospel accounts Jesus communicates with a wide variety of people from all different stages and classes of life. Roman soldiers, government leaders, the elite of that society, religious Jewish leaders, and of course the normal Jews, and then normal gentiles, non-Jewish people from outside of his community came to him and they had conversation. And there never seems to be any limitation on communication, or Jesus using a translator. Man, I have a hard enough time here with just 2 languages in Miami that I encounter. But at least in Jesus case, we can see there was a common ability to communicate - my personal best guess is that Jesus was trilingual, but that’s just a guess.

But what I find really interesting about this word, makarios, and how the greeks would use it, is that it / / represented a way of life that didn’t seem attainable for the normal person. You either had to be a god, or dead, or the 1%...

And then comes Jesus, doing what Jesus does.....

Jesus comes in, talking to ordinary people, dealing with every day stuff, hurting, the ones bringing their sick and dying to him, the crippled, the beggars, the lepers… and Jesus starts his kingdom manifesto, how all of this is going to work, with… / / Let me talk to you about the makarios… Let me talk to you about the blessed.

I wonder how many were ready to walk away. “See, this new rabbi only cares about the elite… I was hoping he was the teacher for all of us, but he probably just wants their money like all the other preachers. Bet he takes up an offering...”

“wait…did he just say poor…blessed are the poor????? ok, maybe I’ll stick around for a little bit.”

I think Jesus could have easily started with, You have heard it said that the makarios are gods, or have died and transcended to an otherworldly plane of existence. You have heard it said that the makarios life is only attainable if you have all the wealth in the world. But I say to you.... makarios.... to be truly blessed, to be made happier… is available to even the least, the poor, and the hurting, not because of anything you have done or could obtain on your own, but because of what my Father sent me here to do...

Now, what we are going to see here is that he’s not talking about poor in body or material things. And I think that is brilliant. We looked at this a while ago, when the rich young ruler walks away from Jesus, sad because he was wealthy, it wasn’t because Jesus turned him away because of his status or wealth. There were simply those who could not let go of their status or wealth to follow Jesus.

So, Jesus isn’t saying that this makarios, is, ....hmm…let’s call it hakunamatata.... yes....what a wonderful phrase… this place of it means no worries, for the rest of your days. It’s our problem free, philosophy....hakunamatata, like somehow the key to happiness is to just ignore there’s anything going on.

And he’s not saying it’s found in money. But he’s also not saying that it’s not available for the rich or 1%’ers either. He’s not basing this on your financial status be that rich or poor.

He’s saying, regardless of your situation in life, you can find true, meaningful happiness and let me tell you how...

Because even the Septuagint, which was the old testament scripture translated into Greek, which was translated 2-300 years before this point, when the greek word makarios was used, it spoke of those who were financially blessed because they did all the right things. Because of righteous living, they were the blessed of God, and we all knew they were blessed because they had material wealth.

So, not only is Jesus correcting their viewpoint from how the greeks use the word, but even how their own rabbis had used this word to distort who God chooses to bless.

You can imagine, using this word, makarios, probably brings up some feelings… And like I said, we aren’t sure he was speaking in Greek, but even if he was using a Hebrew, or Aramaic word, it would have been one that meant this, because this is what the writer Matthew chose, along with the rest of the writings of the New Testament scripture that use this word 50 times. So, Jesus uses that word, and everyone must have immediately thought, “He knows that’s not me, right?”

“Why would he say that? He knows I don’t have money. He knows I don’t even like my life. He knows I’ve been down on my luck. The recession has hit me hard. I’ve lost my home, my job, my wife left me, my kids aren’t doing well… makarios, yeah right… Maybe when I’m dead and not dealing with all of this, just like the greeks think.”

But this is the beauty of what Jesus did, and still does today.

These next 3 chapters, this manifesto, is full of setting the record straight.

We’ve already mentioned, “You have heard it said...”

Matthew 5:17, Jesus says / / “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

And the problem is, a lot of people don’t understand the purpose. This is why John 10:10, Jesus has to emphasize exactly what that is. / / My purpose is that you would have a rich and satisfying life. Sounds like makarios to me.

And it’s no different here. Without saying it, Jesus is saying, “you have heard it said that this is what it means to be blessed. This is what it means to be happy. This is what it means to be the makarios, you’re either a god, dead or unbelievably wealthy and have no worries....BUT let me tell you what it really means, first of all, what it means to be happy, and second, how we get there.”

So, over these next few weeks we’re going to be looking at this passage of scripture. Matthew 5:3-12. Because this is the beginning of this Sermon on the Mount, this manifesto, this kingdom creed he’s outlining for his followers… This is the foundation he’s choosing to lay.

And continuing to break vs 3 down a bit. Matthew 5:3, reading it first from the ESV, / / Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Or in the NLT, God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

When we read the whole passage, did you take note that every single line he starts with the same thing. He essentially gives nine different scenarios, but repeats that phrase at the beginning of each line, makarios, Blessed...

After looking at how the world around him would have been using this word, [you’re either a god, or dead, or the elite, or you did everything right and God himself has blessed you] Jesus brings in a new way to view happiness. From a New Testament perspective, how this word was used in these 50 points in scripture, / / makarios is defined as pertaining to being fortunate or happy because of circumstances; pertaining to being especially favored, blessed, fortunate, happy, privileged; a privileged recipient of divine favor.

You’ve heard it said, it’s virtually impossible to feel this makarios, but let me tell you what me and my Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit want to do in and through you, because my purpose is to give you a rich and satisfying life, not like you think, in more money more stuff more things more more more, but true happiness and blessing.

And with each of these nine statements that Jesus makes he splits into three parts, and we can really ask three questions of these parts. / / Who, Why, How?

/ / Who? Blessed are .... YOU, You are blessed, made happier. And I think it is important that we notice he says that every single time. He repeats this phrase every time. He’s really driving this point home, “YOU ARE BLESSED WHEN.... YOU.... listen to me. I know you’ve been living under a warped mindset on the blessing of God. I know you’ve been told by the pharisees that you’re broken because you can’t keep the whole law. I know your greek friends talk about it as this completely unattainable thing, but let’s really talk about why I have come...”

/ / Why? This is because of your situation. Because of what you are going through. In the case of this first verse we are looking at, because you are / / poor in spirit.

/ / How? Either way you look at it, whether it is God chooses to bless you in the moment because you did or are going through something, or this is simply how God has created this universe we live in, with these immutable laws, unchanging laws, just like gravity, it will not change, so, just like when you jump, you come down, when you are poor in spirit, / / you receive the kingdom of heaven. This is the thing that produces in you this happiness.

And each of these nine statements follows this same simple formula. Jesus talking to you, you are blessed, about a situation, when you’re going through this, or choosing to live or act a certain way, because he wants to do this in you, to produce something in you, which will bring happiness.

Next question we ask is:

/ / 2. What does it mean to be Poor in Spirit?

Or as the NLT says it, we are poor and realize our need for God...

As a side note here, this verse is one of the reasons I really like reading multiple translations because both of these, the ESV which says Poor in Spirit, and the NLT which says poor and realize their need for him, both bring very important perspectives to what Jesus is saying.

No one wants to be poor, and we certainly don’t like admitting that we are, so in the first part of this, Jesus is actually confronting two things - / / our self awareness, and our pride.

Are we willing to look at our lives and say, “I am poor in spirit?” and are we willing to say, “And I don’t want to be, but I know I can’t change this, God has to.”

the First word in there, / / poor - reduced to beggary, begging, asking for money. destitute of wealth, influence, position and honor. lowly, afflicted, helpless, powerless to accomplish an end, lacking in anything.

sounds fun...

And the second word there, / / spirit - [pneuma], the breath, the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost

Maybe this is why Jesus starts with this one. Because essentially what he’s saying is, / / Can you recognize and admit that you need God?

Can you recognize that you need more of me? ...more of God? ...more of the Spirit? Can you recognize that trading me in as your king all those years ago wasn’t the greatest idea, and can you see you need God as your King again?

Jesus was dealing with the same mentality we deal with today. As humans we are constantly trying to do it ourselves, make it on our own, prove ourselves and take as little help as necessary.

It’s hard to say we are poor. It’s hard to say we need help. I know for me anyway, I would say it’s even harder to ASK for help.

We are proud beings. We live a life of self-reliance, self-confidence, self-determination, self-esteem and self-will, or will-power. We want to prove we can do it. Ever hear the saying, “Jesus is just a crutch for weak people.” implying that we are weak and incapable and that is why we need Jesus, religion is just a crutch for the weak, but the other person isn’t, they are strong and victorious, they can make it on their own and don’t need help.

Even within our faith, we probably gravitate more toward the bible verses that encourage victory over the ones that say things like, John 16:33 where Jesus says, / / “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows...” Who wants to read that one over and over again…Got my memory verse for the week!

But here’s the point that I think Jesus is making here. Coming to a place of knowing that we need Jesus is the very best thing we can possibly experience. Coming to a place where we know that we need more of the Spirit of God is actually a wonderful thing. Recognizing we are poor in spirit, the place of need that ONLY God can meet.

No one looks at someone with a broken leg and says, “Why are you using a crutch? That’s so lame...” So why would we look at our own lives and say, “I need saving, but I’m not willing to use what is available to me to prop myself up. I’ll figure this out on my own...” Jesus actually said in Mark 2:17, / / “Healthy people don’t need a doctor - sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Note how he says that. I have come not to call those who THINK they are righteous. Indicating the issue is not whether they are righteous or not, but that they THINK they are of their own accord. It’s impossible to help someone who is unwilling to recognize they need help.

Jesus isn’t writing off anyone there, he’s saying, / / If you want to experience all that God has to give you, you have to recognize and admit that you actually NEED what God has to give you.

I’ve heard this saying a few times lately. St Augustine said, / / Without God we can’t, and without Us, God won’t. And I think there is a lot of truth in that statement. As long as we are unwilling to recognize our need for God, we will not turn to God for our needs, and God will not violate our free will to force us into His presence, or to force us into his blessing.

Think of the mac’n’cheese example I often use. I make Kaylee some mac’n’cheese. She will be blessed. makarios through and through. I tell her not to touch the pot, she does anyway, and she burns herself. Time to make a choice. Do I turn and run to daddy who can help, apply some healing lotion, run it under some cold water, wrap it in a cloth, whatever the case may be, whatever the situation needs. OR, in my shame, hurt, or pride, run away and try to “deal” with the pain on my own.

Blessing is right there. Healing is right there. I have not left. And that is an incredible point we have to make. Our actions do not cause God to turn away from us.

God isn’t petty. He doesn’t say, “oh, you don’t want it, fine, be that way, I’ll give you the silent treatment.” no, He’s not like that. God is GOOD. So what’s the problem? The problem is as soon as we think we have to do it on our own. Or think we have to fix it. Or think God is mad at us, or like we will get punished or in trouble for our actions, WE turn. We remove ourselves from his immediate presence.

That’s what Jesus is saying, “those who THINK they are righteous”, those who have convinced themselves that they don’t need God. It’s not that Jesus is walking away from them.

The flip side is also true. Jesus says I have come to call those who know they are sinners. Blessed are the poor. You recognize you can’t do it on your own. You recognize you don’t have what it takes. You recognize that you are lacking.

But that word for poor doesn’t just mean poor, it means reduced to begging. So not only have you recognized that you don’t have enough, but you’ve overcome your pride and humbled yourself to the point of asking, or even begging. And this is a common theme throughout Jesus teaching.

In Luke 11, Jesus tells the story of the man who has a friend come in the middle of the night, he has no food for him, so he goes to his neighbor and says, “hey, can I borrow a few loaves of bread.” And his neighbor says, “go away, I’m sleeping" And I still have a hard time wrapping my head around this one, but Jesus says in Luke 11:8, / / “But I tell you this - though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”

And that’s not a cute story about getting what you want, it starts with, “Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story...”

Begging. persistently recognizing that you have a need, and that God is the one who can fill that need.

Admitting that we need help, or that we don’t have enough… that’s called humility. And 1 Peter 5:6 says, / / So humble yourself under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

That’s why I like the NLT translation, except that it doesn’t include the word Spirit, but defines what Jesus is trying to say beautifully, / / poor and realize their need for God…

/ / Poor in Spirit is recognizing that the solution to our problems is not becoming perfect ourselves, but it is falling on the perfectness of God himself.

It’s not picking ourselves up, it’s humbling ourselves to HIS power and being lifted by His grace.

So, what is Poor in Spirit?

It’s recognizing our powerlessness in ourselves.

It’s a sense of spiritual bankruptcy and helplessness before God.

It’s a recognition of our human / sinful nature, in the face of a perfect God.

It’s an understanding that we are unworthy, and yet, he calls us worthy.

It’s knowing that true joy, true happiness, true fulfillment comes from God alone because of His grace.

And it’s not from an approach of, “I’m such a worm..I’m useless…God take pity on me...” No, it’s, “I can’t .... but I know you can… I recognize my need for you. I was never going to be enough on my own...”

I am completely and utterly dependent on God. Without him I am absolutely broke, even if I have all the things this world has to offer. Mark 8:36, / / And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

And when we recognize this, when we become poor in spirit, what does God do? Matthew 5:3 says that we are blessed, and that next question, “how?” is answer in the last part of the verse.

/ / God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs...

/ / 3. What does it mean for the Kingdom of Heaven to be “ours”?

When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, he’s not just talking about a physical location, or a physical thing we obtain. He is talking about the authority, the rule and reign of heaven. So, what Jesus is saying is that when you recognize your lack, your need, your poorness in respect to what God is, and you humble yourself before Him, begging him to give you what only He can give you, what you are doing is placing yourself UNDER the authority of heaven. And what does that mean? It now means that Heaven is looking after you.

You are immediately transported from whatever kingdom authority you were living under, yours or someone else’s, to being under the authority of Heaven.

I’m going to say this again...

When you recognize that you can’t do this on your own, and you are lacking in your life what you need and that it can ONLY come from God alone because of HIS grace, and you humble yourself, you tell him that you need HIS help, you are placing yourself under HIS authority and mercy, so that he can look after you and provide to you what it is you lack.

It’s Kaylee recognizing the pain isn’t going away, and she’s still hungry for the mac’n’cheese, and she turns around, recognizing that I didn’t just shove macaroni in her mouth while she was hiding from my presence, but that she actually had to recognize her need, and humble herself and come back to me, knowing that she’s been hurt because of what she did - she didn’t listen, she touched the pot and got burned.... But she comes anyway, and in her coming realizes my arms are wide open, I have what is needed to make that burn hurt less, and there’s a bowl of mac’n’cheese on the table.

And it might not instantly change the situation. The burn may still hurt for a while. There may be a healing process. This isn’t a free ticket to get what we want, it’s the feeling and connection that changes our perspective. Not having enough with worry and stress breaks a man. But, not having enough but filled with confidence and peace and hope and the love of God covering us makes ALL the difference - even if it didn’t change my physical situation right away!

Listen, you don’t have to always understand it, to enjoy it.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, / / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

As long as we are trying to convince ourselves that we are powerful enough and we can do it on our own, we will inadvertently be pushing away the authority of God in our lives that is what we really need.

Jesus is saying that we will be happier, blessed, step into what only God can provide if we stop trying to do what we were never meant to do, and allow Him to do what only He can do. / / Regardless of whether or not the need changes, the presence of the Kingdom of Heaven brings peace that is unexplainable!

And one of the beautiful things about the authority of God in our lives is that it brings us to a place where we can then rightly discern what we can do and what only He can do. I’m sure you’ve noticed that this is becoming one of my favorite prayers - / / God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Under the authority of God we are able to listen and obey his direction and so whether it is that he says, “you can do this, go for it.” or “you can’t do this. let me take care of it.” We are happier knowing he’s got our back, either in the doing, or the trusting. It’s not about being happier or blessed because our situation changed, it’s that God will literally change our contentment level as we place our lives under his care.

And when we’re able to say, “I can’t do it. I’m at YOUR mercy. As you see fit, let it be done to me.” We allow Him to move in our lives, not because he lacks authority or we give him his authority, but because we’ve given ourselves to that authority.

Bonus question:

/ / 4. Will I always be poor?

Great question. You might not like the answer. Yes. But not like you think.

Again, the whole idea, although not excluding material things, is not directly about material things. We can’t read this like, “if I have nothing I’m blessed.” “If I’m broke, clearly I’m blessed.” “If my checks are bouncing and my credit cards are maxed, I’m clearly blessed.” that’s just awkward. Part of God’s blessing IS provision, but being led by the Spirit under the authority of God, the Kingdom of Heaven will direct us toward what only He can do and what He is showing us we can do. Serenity & Courage…

But, what I believe this verse IS saying, or inviting us into, is / / “Always stay in the place of recognition and need.”

As long as I continue to recognize that without Him I truly have nothing, that I can’t do this on my own, I will continue to place myself under His authority, which causes me to be happier and blessed, because I’m not trying to make it on my own.

The sooner we realize we are absolutely bankrupt without God, the sooner we can experience His rule and reign in our lives.

Now, also, think of it this way. What is it that the most interesting man in the world says, from the Dos Aquis commercials? “Stay thirsty my friends...”

Never have enough of God. Never be fully satisfied with what you’ve experienced. God has an infinite level of grace, mercy, forgiveness, presence, love, you name it, if God has said that He has something, he has it in an infinite, never ending, never expiring, never decreasing amount. Which means regardless of what you have experienced, in the grand scheme of things, in the level of what God has available, you will ALWAYS be poor.

If grace were able to be measured. And you had a million grace. God still has a trillion more.

If love were able to be defined by a number and you had 1000 loves, God still has a trillion more.

/ / Poor in spirit is a constant recognition of our dependence on God to be God in our lives, to receive from him more and more. And this has actually been my experience with God, that the more I encounter of Him, the more I experience, the more I WANT to experience, the more I WANT to encounter. And that keeps me in a place of being poor, of begging for more of what He has.

Who did Jesus say were the ones who would miss this? The ones who think they don’t need the doctor.

As long as you think you’ve got it handled, you won’t actually experience the goodness of God in this way because you yourself are actively blocking it. Humility is the key.

Paul brought this to light in Philippians 4:11-13 and I think was really defining his experience with this first of the beatitudes. / / …I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Clearly he’s going past physical need / desire, because with or without a full stomach, meaning, he’s hungry and lacking, yet he still feels complete, content, IN Christ Jesus. Because whether I have or have not, the answer is not to have more, the answer is to truly find contentment in God. Jesus didn’t say, Blessed are the poor who ask and I’ll make sure they aren’t poor anymore. No, blessed are those who constantly recognize that in of themselves they will never be enough without me, and when they humble themselves and ask for more of my presence and grace they place themselves under my authority and I am able to give them true contentment, regardless of what their physical situation is.

This doesn’t mean God doesn’t care about our physical and material situations. He does. And he is our provider. But what is the first thing we do when someone comes in and they are completely frantic over a situation. Something has happened, they are panicked and completely out of sorts.... what do we say? “Alright, calm down.... calm down.... it’s going to be ok.... I can’t help you unless you calm down...”

Generally speaking, nothing ever works while we’re losing our minds and worried and stressed. The health implications of stress are an increasing focus of medical study because of the impact it has. Think of this as God’s way of saying, “Ok, calm down.... come into my house, come under my protection, tell me what’s going on… It’s going to be ok...”

Because it’s not about finding peace in resolved situations, it’s about finding God regardless of those situations.

Some of the poorest of the poor have a happiness I have never experienced.

And likewise, some of the richest of the rich have a contentment that does not come from their bank account, that I don’t yet fully understand.

It’s not about what they have or do not have, it’s about the one that meets them and covers them as they recognize all the things or none of the things in this world will ever satisfy, but that it is in Christ Jesus that we truly find contentment.

I’ll finish with another quote from St Augustine, who said this of humanities relationship with God, / / “You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests on You.”