The Poor in Spirit (1)

Introduction

Greet and Endear

Camp will be what you make it. Let’s be intentional - Get everyone to go around for 2 minutes to shake hands and meet each other etc. - Let’s make the effort, 1 church, no barriers.

Who’s excited for Camp?

Make fun of Brisbane

Thank Ps Dexter and Demi (tail end of my youth camp ministry - been doing it since I was 18 years old would only do this for them.) Thanks to ALL the other pastors here from other congregations.

Came with our friends Frank and Nicole - please say hi and make yourself known

Introduce myself - LEAD pastor, HFTC, been in FT ministry since I was 22, prior to that I studied Biomedical science with a major in immunology in UWA. (Which is why I grew up loving apologetics)

I’ve been doing camps for a long time - and I always make an agreement with the people at camp; let’s not waste time. We’ve only got 4 days together.

I won’t waste your time by long-winded empty messages. But I also expect your attention for the 20 minutes that I preach.

Don’t waste God’s time - you are here for a REASON (No matter who you are). That reason is RENEWAL. God has brought you here that you may leave changed. Open your mind, your spirit to receive from Him this camp. Let’s be expectant ok?

Pray (hold hands)

Segment 1: Camp verse

Key Verse of camp: Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

You’ll find that the question “why” is always a good question to start with when studying scripture.

In this passage: WHY does Paul have to specify to not be conformed to this world?

Shouldn’t the faith be an all consuming thing that we are immediately fervent and passionate about?

Here’s the thing - No it’s not. In fact the more camps I do, and the longer I am a pastor the more I realise - no it’s not. Most people are nowhere NEAR the level of fervency described in the bible

Because historically a group 1/7th the size of this room who were completely sold out for God went and changed the world for Christ.

And the church is still on the back foot today despite having more members historically than ever before - around 2.38 billion. But where is the impact?

Why? Because we live in a compromised world - and are drawn to compromise our faith every single day.

Social Media, General Media, Education, Peer Influence - name it - the odds are that its values are contrary to faith.

How is the Christian meant to not just survive - but be passionate and on fire for God in this kind of environment?

This is where Paul talks about having our minds RENEWED. Transformation begins in the MIND.

And this sphere covers your worldview, the way you think, but most importantly it reflects an INTENTIONALITY. It is a DECISION.

Segment 2: Introducing the Beatitudes

I want to use the model of the Beatitudes - hallmarks of Christian worldview. Defining Characteristics of a Christian that challenge and often fly in the face of worldly traits.

Really examine ourselves this camp

Beatitudes context

Latin “beatitudo” - blessedness

Concerned with inner life of disciple

8 Beatitudes reflect traits of those who belong in the Kingdom = reflect Christ’s life

This camp I only have 3 sessions - so I will only cover 3 ones that God has placed on my heart.

Here’s the thing - Beatitudes seem pathetic by worldly standards - that’s the point!

There must be a TRANSFORMATION of our mind - to the point that the beatitudes are the normal. The beatitudes BECOME the standard.

We learn to perceive according to Kingdom standards, not worldly standards

Learn to mimic in our lives, learn to celebrate in others

Segment 3: Defining Poor

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Does not mean “poor” as in poverty (or have bad spirited nature)

Poor in Spirit = accepting reality that they can bring nothing to God

Completely incapable of becoming spiritually alive of themselves

Therefore = complete dependence on God

The opposite = Pharisee. Pride in one own’s ability and nature.

More common than we know

Whenever we pride ourselves on anything other than God

The poor in spirit are those who look to God alone for their deliverance.

Want to look at a passage about the Pharisees - those who were considered to be not poor in spirit. Many lessons to learn

This passage lies at the heart of Jesus’ criticism with the Pharisees:

Mark 7:6–9 (ESV)

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Context: Pharisees question why disciples don’t honour tradition

But Jesus points out the Pharisees have replaced relationship with God with religion (human values and traditions)

How many of us have done this today?

Faith = nothing more than rules and traditions/routine

Lost the personal relationship with God, lost our dependence on Him, lost our poorness in spirit because of our dependence on self.

Church is just for show = lost its power because we have perfected a Christless faith (doesn’t mean you don’t love it - but it’s just comfortable b/c of community etc.)

You can’t be rich in self and poor in spirit.

The Poor in spirit have faith grounded in relationship, not rules

Wholehearted dependence on God, not man, not rules

The accusation that Jesus makes in Mark is that faith is all for show

The know ABOUT God, don’t KNOW Him.

ILLUSTRATION: Trying to get backstage

It’s like going backstage at a concert of (pick favourite artist). You sneak your way backstage and knock on the door only to be greeted by a huge security guard who asks you “who are you??” Then you tell them you’re the biggest fan, you own all their CD’s, you have posters, you come regularly to concerts. What are they going to tell you? Get lost! What’s going to get you inside? If you actually know the star. If they pop their head out and go - hey! It’s Jon! That’s how you’re going to get in.

It’s the same with church - you can say “I have a bible, I even read it occasionally, I go to church, I go to youth, I sing your songs” but nothing short of KNOWING God is enough. Everything else is just looking like a Christian - not being one.

ILLUSTRATION: Kinetic + Amos 5

Back when i was leading Kinetic, we did these huge encounter nights - 300-400 kids would come to these nights, there would be lights, songs, music, everything was fantastic. This was when Kinetic was the biggest youth group in the state, and things were just going so well for us, we were growing every week - it was incredible. At this encounter night, I remember I was scheduled up next to go and speak, and so I was waiting for the team to finish “From the inside out”, everyone was worshipping and I was praying for a word from the Lord. And He gave me Amos 5:21-24

“I can’t stand your religious meetings, I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund raising schemes, your public relations and image making. Ive had all I can take of your noisy ego music. When was the last time you sang to me?”

I went up and read that - and a silence fell on the place. The once party like atmosphere dropped to pin drop silence. One by one, kids got on their knees and turned back to God. One person started crying, then before I knew it everyone was on their knees, on their face turning back and repenting to God.

Just because it sounds good and looks good, Just because you come to church and call yourself a Christian - that doesn’t mean anything. DO YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?

Segment 3: Reverence

Can I share with you why this story affects me so much? It’s because this was the moment that I realised my lips were singing one song, but my life was singing another.

You know how I knew that? Reverence. For all the serving I was doing, for all the songs I was singing, for all the bible I was reading - my life was missing reverence.

God did not have the proper significance, the proper weight, the proper heaviness in my life.

The word for God’s glory in the bible is: Kavod. Do you know this literally means weight? Like a heaviness. God’s glory is his heaviness.

Giving God appropriate weight, appropriate heaviness - this is reverence. Treating God as God.

If we live life the way we want, doing whatever we want, saying whatever we want - we are not living in Reverence of God.

We have not realised the WEIGHT of our relationship with Him.

True reverence lives life in such a way that every action, word, thought gives WEIGHT to our relationship with God.

Reverence is a genuine reaction to a REAL encounter with God

And it is also a critical CHOICE that the Christian makes when it comes to living their every day life. Is your faith marked by reverence for God?

Proverbs 9:10 (ESV)

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

ILLUSTRATION: The truck illustration

“It’s impossible to be hit by something as BIG and as LARGE as a truck and remain unchanged - and so I ask you, which is bigger - a truck or God?”

It’s IMPOSSIBLE to have an encounter with God and yet be unchanged.

Segment 4: Releasing the world in exchange for the Word

Pay attention to Jesus’ main criticism of the pharisees in our original passage in Mark: “their heart is far”

He even acknowledges their worship “these people honor me with their lips” BUT their heart is far from me.

Is your heart far from God?

What is at the root of their distance from God?

“You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men”

You cling to the world while releasing the Word

The poor in spirit release the world in exchange for the Word

Those who are poor in spirit make the monumental decision to leave the world behind

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

You cannot say you’re Christians and still cling to past identity

I CHOOSE to believe and obey the Word - come whatever may. It is a CHOICE we make.

If faith FEELS insignificant - it’s probably because it is to you.

There must be a decision in the life of every Christian: Poor in spirit or Rich in self. There is no in between.

Hold to the world and its values? Or cleave and depend solely on Christ

cling to sin, cling to control, cling to your reputation?

those poor in spirit must cleave, not cling

At the heart of the problem is the rejection of the Word

We live in an era of biblical illiteracy

Without the Word governing our lives - it is impossible to be poor in spirit. We will have no alternative but to rely on our own traditions, worldview. Or worse - to take up worldly perspectives, worldviews.

Tonight, I want you to face this question: are you poor in spirit or rich in self?

The poor in spirit surrender what they want in submission to what God wills.

ILLUSTRATION:

When Texas pastor Jim Denison was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church's worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized.

During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. He asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, "Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage."

Altar Call

Rededication - Recalling to Reverence

Salvation

Take camp seriously