Jesus and the Upside-Down Kingdom, Part 1
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:16
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· 9 viewsThe kingdom of heaven and comfort of God is available for the spiritually bankrupt and those who bemoan their sin.
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The term that Jesus uses here in what’s called the Beatitudes is used eight times.
It’s the term “Blessed”.
This term could also be translated as “Happy.”
True happiness is not found in autonomous self-rule, but living under His yoke.
Happiness is for those that rest under the favor of God.
Happiness comes from being approved by God.
The kingdom of God is the bookends of the Beatitudes.
When we set ourselves to consider what Jesus says next though it will surprise us.
“Paradox - Truth standing on her head to get attention.” ― G.K. Chesterton
What Jesus is about the tell us is what is described as a paradox.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The Kingdom of God for the Poor in Spirit.
The Kingdom of God for the Poor in Spirit.
The rule and reign of God is for those who are poor in Spirit.
“Happy” is the one who is poor in spirit and are spiritually broken before God.
They recognize their spiritual bankruptcies before the Lord.
This is the person who will inherit the kingdom of God.
This is an oxymoron.
It is a paradox of terms.
The person who will be happy is the one who is broken spiritually before God.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
The Lord is greatly glorified when He comes near to the brokenhearted and needy.
He gets the glory by coming near to those who are undeserving and too poor to care for themselves spiritually.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
The person who is most happy in the kingdom that Jesus is dawning is the person who is spiritually broken.
The person who acknowledges their own spiritual bankruptcy is happy.
Poverty of spirit is not self-hate or self-love.
Poverty of spirit is not self-hate or self-love.
Self-hatred is the attempt to condemn oneself as a way to feel better about oneself.
Self-hatred springs from the reality that people know they are sinners.
They know they’re sinners so they try to “condemn” themselves more as a way to embody what Jesus is talking about here.
“I hate myself, I’m a a terrible person because of my past.”
“I hate myself, I hate the way I continue to sin.”
“I hate myself because I didn’t _________”
“I hate myself because I wasn’t able to ____________.”
Poverty of spirit is not self-hatred because self-hatred is not according to God’s design.
Human’s don’t have the right to hate themselves because God made them.
Poverty of spirit is NOT us trying our hardest to hate ourselves.
Poverty of spirit is NOT hating oneself as a way to become Christ like.
Self-love as one person says could be embodied by a statue by a famous artist of a person hugging themselves.
Poverty of spirit is not self-love either
The problem is our conception of humility is so often warped.
Humility isn’t think bad about oneself, but its actually NOT thinking about oneself.
Christians are the only people in the whole universe with the ability to be “humble.”
Non-Christian
Non-believers will often ask,
“So, you think I’m going to hell?”
“I practice homosexuality, you think I’m going to hell for that?”
You need to hear me very clearly if you’re an unbeliever.
It will not be your homosexuality that sends you to hell.
It will be your self-reliance that sends you to hell.
Since you’re not poor in spirit, God will give you your greatest desire: self-reliance.
Poverty of spirit is not about finances.
Poverty of spirit is not about finances.
The gospel of Luke’s parallel passage does not include the words “in spirit” which has led many to assume that Jesus must be referring to the materially poor only.
It is interesting to consider because often times physical poverty is a reflection of spiritual poverty, but this does not work.
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Now it should be mentioned that physical wealth can easily be a barrier to the kingdom of God.
We see this in people like the rich young ruler from Luke 18.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
The young man’s idol was his wealth which allowed him to continue to trust in his own hands rather than trust the mercy of God.
The same thing could be said for the poor.
It is often the poor which are haughty in spirit.
The term itself cannot simply mean physical poverty but the poverty of spirit is those who realize the depth of their brokenness before God.
“Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”” (Luke 18:26–27).
Public
Social institutions will always try to solve the worlds problems through policies.
These policies are often financially motivated.
As Christians, we need to be clear.
This will NEVER fix the human heart.
Financial solutions aren’t are problem.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Poverty of spirit is spiritual bankruptcy.
Poverty of spirit is spiritual bankruptcy.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Bankruptcy comes from the word which practically means “broken bank”
When I say we are spiritually bankrupt, I mean.
“I am so desperately broken in and of myself, that I could never repay what I owe”
“My spiritual bank is broken before God.”
The Christian is one who is SPIRITUALLY BROKEN, and knows it.
This was one of the hindering markers with the church of the Laodicean’s in the book of Revelation.
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
We see an example of the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation which thought in the exact opposite why of what Jesus presents here.
Jesus tells us what the people are like who inherit the kingdom of God.
But in Revelation we see a people who are on a trajectory away from the kingdom of God.
This churches admission that they are “rich”, “have prospered”, and “need nothing” are evidence that they actually are none of those things.
Jesus’ analysis of them is that they are “wretched”, “pitiable”, “poor”, “blind”, and “naked.”
This church in Laodicea does not see their own blindness, nakedness, and ultimately their own sin and corruption.
The Christian is aware of his original sin and corruption.
The Christian is aware that his heart only tends toward evil.
The Christian sees within himself still at war with the old man.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Its not hard to fathom how this church could still see Christ as important but not beautiful.
They may see Christ as important but they relegate Him to being useful more than beautiful because He cleanses their hearts before Him.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Brothers and sisters,
Christ has come for the spiritually broken.
As He says in another place.
Luke 5:31–32 (NLT)
“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 and need to repent.”
It’s impossible to be clothed with the clothes of Christ’s righteousness when we are still trying to wear the disgusting rags of our own.
Jonathan Edwards Sermons No. 13: Poverty of Spirit
He is one that is sensible of his own poverty, sees he has nothing of his own; he strips himself of all that he used to account his riches, and esteems them as dung. When he comes into the presence of God, he comes as a beggar without money and without price.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Poverty of spirit is accurate knowledge of self.
Poverty of spirit is accurate knowledge of self.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Without Knowledge of Self There Is No Knowledge of God
Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
Knowledge of ourselves is not a bad thing.
What ends up happening most of the time when people get knowledge of self….
“Look at how good I am!”
“Look at how strong I am!”
“Look at how happy I am!”
Do you notice how weak and frail most knowledge of themselves are?
Jesus gives a parable that captures this well.
He tells of a situation of two men.
The first being a Pharisee…
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
The Pharisee expresses the opposite of what Jesus says here.
He is thankful that he is not like other men.
Notice, it all sounds well and good because he is thankful to God.
But the problem is this Pharisee is measuring himself by the wrong standard.
He is grateful that he is not like these other people around him.
He is grateful without realizing that the only thing worse than being an “extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” is being proud that you’re not one.
The only thing worse than sin, is the denial of the sin itself.
Its one thing for a person to struggle with sin, its another thing entirely to act as though it didn’t happen.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
But the tax collector on the other hand, wouldn’t even lift his head to heaven because he was so overwhelmed by his sin.
He knew himself rightly and knew how gross his sin was inside.
But Jesus flips everyone’s worldview around and shows that unless you’re like this tax collector, you can never be justified.
To say it another way: the justified person will be poor in spirit.
This is not only how we enter the kingdom, this is also how we grow in the kingdom.
“Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
Christian
We would be impossible to offend, to make angry, to insult, and to divide.
It’s not only entrance into the kingdom of heaven that comes from poverty of spirit.
It is also GROWTH within the KINGDOM of HEAVEN.
I hate comments like,
“What do I need to do to get into heaven?”
It’s almost as if my son would say things to me like,
“What do I need to do to be your son?”
“How far can I go away from you until you disown me?”
It’s the wrong question!!!
Jesus says in another place…
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
To baptize a person, they need to be spiritually bankrupt.
But don’t miss the next thing Jesus also says…
Matthew 28:20 (ESV)
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
It’s not just entrance into the kingdom that requires poverty of spirit but also growth.
Growth in receiving ALL that Jesus commanded requires spiritual bankruptcy.
Poverty of spirit is the posture of faith.
Poverty of spirit is the posture of faith.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is why Jesus will go on to say,
Luke 18:16–17 (ESV)
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
We must all become children to enter the kingdom.
Unless we come in needy spiritual dependance, we will never enter the kingdom of God.
“Salvation is by faith alone … but poverty of spirit is the posture of faith”
The kingdom of God will be filled with people who spiritually depend upon God.
Church
Do you realize the gross divisions that come from spiritual haughtiness?
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
Do you realize the fruit of righteousness that would be sown from individuals that are spiritually bankrupt?
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
The kingdom is available for the spiritually destitute.
The kingdom is available for the spiritually destitute.
The kingdom of heaven is here in the sense that Jesus’ rule and authority is recognized.
Yet it awaits to be fully seen.
Chronicles of Narnia - Eustace the Dragon
Eustace is a nasty little creature of a cousin of the children.
He is so nasty that in Narnia, he becomes a dragon.
A beast that shows his character all along.
But in the book there comes a point where he needs to become a boy again to continue with his friends.
So Eustace the dragon lays down and allows Aslan to rip the scales from him.
“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place.”
Aslan proceeds to peel all of the scaly layers off of Eustace.
As he does so, he becomes a boy again.
This is what must happen for all Christians as well.
Unless Jesus Christ first strip you, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Unless Jesus Christ remove every ounce of spiritual pride, you will not enter the kingdom.
“Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.”
-Rock of Ages
The kingdom of heaven and comfort of God is available for the spiritually bankrupt and those who bemoan their sin.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”