Sermon Tone Analysis

The 9 Secrets for Happiness, according to Jesus

The word “beatitude” comes from the famous sermon of the Mountain in Matthew chapters 5 to 7.

“Blessed” comes from the greek word “makarios” and means “happy”, or “highly favored by divine grace”.

SOLOMON wrote about the vanity of life and we can see many things that represent WHAT HAPPINESS IS NOT

These lessons are in Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

LAUGHTER - v.2

PARTIES - v.3

MAJOR VENTURES - v. 4-6

POWER - v.7

MONEY - v.8

RELATIONSHIPS - v.8

Solomon concludes with the expression “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

1000 years later, JESUS comes with a new teaching, a new way of “heavenly thinking”, and he presents 9 types of people who are really happy.

Today, we will concentrate on the first Beatitude:

WHO ARE THE POOR FOR JESUS?

Even though the poor and all the less financially favored social class in Jesus’ time, massacred by the Roman Empire and by the religious leaders of His time, Jesus was not talking about that kind of poverty

For Jesus, to be “poor in spirit” is the top priority among the beatitudes, because it is the foundation for everything else, all the remaining blessings

“To be poor in spirit is to have a deep conscience of our most entire and complete necessity of God, it means to live in a constant state of being humble, abandoning all spiritual pride, aiming the spiritual maturity” as found in Matthew 5.48

There is no chance of spiritual progress while governed by pride, and pride always comes before we fall

HUMILITY

One of the most difficult concepts, because humility is seen outwardly, as a manifestation of something that is happening INSIDE;

Humility x Humus

THE PROMISE FOR THE POOR IN SPIRIT

Jesus had already established His Kingdom “inside of us”

Nevertheless, this promise points out to an eternal Kingdom, where Jesus will be the King, with absolute power, with no space for pride or arrogance, but with honor and recompense/reward for the poor in spirit.

FINAL APPLICATIONS

In this world, glory is passing and ephemeral, but Jesus let us an example of how we can follow His steps

Other passages that can help us:

The question remains:

“How rich are you in the poverty of your spirit?”