Poor in Spirit, Rich in Heaven

Introduction:

Connection:

What is true Christianity? What makes someone a true Christian? There’s a lot of phony religion out there. There’s a lot of people who profess godliness with their lips, but deny it with their actions. A true Christian doesn’t just affirm a creed (though he certainly does that)—he preeminently is a child of God—he partakes in the life that is in the Son of God—he participates in the new life that is in the Spirit of God. Christian is both about confessing the true faith—and possessing saving faith. It is about the truth of the Gospel—and the power of the Gospel. This is true Christianity. This is a true Christian.

Theme:

Poor in Spirit, Rich in Heaven

Need:

We need to know what true Christianity is—and we need to ensure that we are true Christians! Do we know God, or rather, or we known by God? This is our great need this morning. To know what marks a true Christian off from the world—and to know that we are true Christians indeed; but if you aren’t, then I hope today you will become one.

Purpose:

To introduce the Sermon on the Mount, to describe the character of true Christians as poor in spirit, to comfort the saints in the blessings of God’s Gospel & Kingdom, to exhort the disciples of Christ to walk in the blessedness of humility, to rebuke the temptation to be rich in spirit, and to call for examination of one’s heart-relationship to the King.

Recap:

Last Sunday Elder-C Dave and Ty preached the Word of Truth to you all, and I trust you were blessed by our brothers labours in the Spirit. I’m so grateful for them, and I hope you are too. God is good.

Picking up in the Gospel of Matthew again, we left off two Sundays ago with the irresistible grace of the calling of Christ’s disciples, and the majestic power of King Jesus’ miracles and wonders. We gazed at the Gospel of the Kingdom in the grace and power of King Jesus. At the end of the last passage we saw crowds gathering around Jesus. Some with genuine faith, and some who just wanted to experience his physical blessings. And so Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount, the most popular passage of Scripture in the Gospels. And he does so to describe who his true disciples are, who truly belongs to the Kingdom, and how they are to live.

Open your Bibles to:

Matt. 5:1-3 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

(1) Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - v. 5:1-7:29

"Studying the Sermon on the Mount shows me the absolute need of the new birth, and of the Holy Spirit and his work within. These Beatitudes crush me to the ground. They show me my utter helplessness. Were it not for the new birth, I am undone. Read and study it, face yourself in the light of it. It will drive you to see your ultimate need of the rebirth and the gracious operation of the Holy Sprit. There is nothing that so leads to the gospel and its grace as the Sermon on the Mount ... Here is the life to which we are called, and I maintain again that if only every Christian in the Church today were living the Sermon on the Mount, the great revival for which we are praying and longing for would already have started ... May God give us grace to consider this Sermon on the Mount and to remember that we are not to sit in judgment on it, but that we ourselves are under judgment, and that the building we are erecting in this world and in this life will have to face His final test and the ultimate scrutiny of the eye of the Lamb of God that once was slain" - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

(1) Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - v. 5:1-7:29

The Sermon on the Mount is arguable the most popular portion of the teaching of Christ—and I would add—the most wildly abused. It is sometimes grabbed ahold of by liberals who say they want to follow Jesus as a moral example. Good luck. Try for one day to obverse the Sermon on the Mount in your own strength. You would fail at the first sentence. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That immediately knocks you out. You have no chance! I have no chance! We have no chance. But through Jesus Christ, everything changes for the true Christian.

The Sermon on the Mount explains the perfect & righteous will of God through a piercing & powerful explanation of the Law of God. This is a Sermon that describes the character of those who truly belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, through Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Beatitudes aren’t about natural dispositions. They’re about Spirit-wrought-fruits in those who are citizens of the Kingdom. Only those who have the Beatitudes flowing through their veins can claim to truly belong to King Jesus. And so right off the bat there should be a sense of solemnity. Are we truly blessed by the Covenant of Christ? Do we truly belong to the Kingdom of Christ? The Beatitudes crush us in the fact that we can’t save ourselves—and they also assure us, if we bear their fruits, that we have truly repented, are believing, and have the blessings of the Gospel at work in our life. The Sermon on the Mount is meant to crush us; but it’s also meant to free us; and then it’s meant to direct us.

You can’t take the morality of the Sermon apart from the Gospel of the Kingdom. You remember that John the Baptist and Jesus have both been preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. They have both been calling sinners to repentance. They have both been calling sinners to belief. They have both been calling sinners to conversion. They have both been calling sinners to salvation in the Messiah. But as we saw last week, many crowds starting following Jesus outwardly for physical blessing—but hadn’t received the spiritual and eternal blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the backdrop for the sermon. The Sermon on the Mount shows us who are truly blessed by God in the Kingdom of Heaven—it shows us the perfect righteous standard of the Law of God for our obedience—and it guides us as we follow Jesus Christ as his disciples, in opposition to the counter-fit example of the Pharisees.

One of the biggest errors in understanding, as I see it, is the way in which we understand the relationship between the OT Law and the Sermon on the Mount. The Judiazers thought there were no changes at all. They still wanted to observe the shadows of the ceremonial law, like circumcision, the feast days, and animal sacrifices. The Pharisees thought they were truly obedient with a mere outward form of godliness. They wanted to obey the letter but not the spirit of the law. And today many Evangelicals think that Jesus has entirely done away with the law so we can now love one another. They think the law is anti love, and that Jesus is anti OT. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Amid all these confusions, the true meaning of the Sermon on the Mount is all summed up by Jesus in 5:17-20:

Matthew 5:17–20 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Murray: Three main lessons from this text: (1) Jesus did not come to abrogate the law. (2) the Kingdom of heaven demands the most meticulous observance of the law of God, not only in its broad principles but in its specific details. And, (3), there is a complete contrast between the righteousness which the kingdom of heaven requires and that which was exemplified in the scribes and Pharisees. [The Sermon is not about the OT law vs NT law]. The contrast is between the pharisaic perversion [of the law], and the true righteousness of the kingdom of heaven … The criterion of our standing in the kingdom of God and of reward in the age to come is nothing else than meticulous observance of the commandments of God.

The true meaning of the Sermon isn’t about removing the Law, changing the moral Law, or giving new laws—the true meaning of the Sermon is about showing us how to faithfully and properly obey the law in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why the Sermon begins with the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes describe those who have entered the Kingdom of Grace through the saving work of the Gospel of Christ. And then the rest of the Sermon shows how true Christians and disciples are to obey the Law of God, as it is exemplified by Jesus, explained by Jesus, clarified by Jesus, and applied by Jesus. The Sermon confirms the morality of the Old Testament. God doesn’t change. God is holy, his law is holy. God is just, his law is just. God is good, his law is good. This is Paul’s point in Romans 7. And this is Christ’s point in Matt. 22. The law is not pitted against love—the law requires love—and love is a true fulfilling of the law.

Jesus shows us that true obedience is heart obedience, and that the Pharisees have entirely misunderstood the meaning of God’s Law. And so Jesus contrasts, not the OT with His own Words, but the Pharisees interpretation with the Law itself—showing that the Law of God requires you to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Abuse of God’s Law for phony righteousness, is not sufficient in the Kingdom of God. True citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven don’t add or take away from the Law, they don’t relax or tighten the law—they seek to know, love, cherish, and obey the Law which requires perfect love for God and perfect love for neighbour. The Great Commandment is not a new commandment—it is the heart of the old commandment which cannot change. What Jesus is doing is showing how Psalm 119 can be in the Bible—which is an extended delight on the goodness, beauty, and glory of the Law of God, which is the aspiration of the true child of God.

This is the goal of the Sermon on the Mount, to teach us the true meaning of God’s Law, so that we may know how to rightly delight in it, live by it, and joyfully keep it in the era of the New covenant—not for salvation, but from salvation. The Sermon shows us how to delight in God’s law as a child of the King, with true righteousness that exceeds the phony holiness of the scribes and Pharisees:

Bahnsen: When we come to view the law as do the inspired writers of Scripture, we will treasure it and revere it as they do, rather than reacting in aversion like so many individuals do today. When we see that the law of God is wondrous, pure, sweet and golden, that God’s commandments are accompanied with genuine life and divine lovingkindness, that the statures of the Lord are the source of good, blessedness, stability, peace, understanding, comfort, strength, honor, hope, integrity, protection, great delight, and true freedom, then we will appropriately respond to the law with joyous song, meditation, love, praise and dedication. This must be the outlook of the one who has been saved by sovereign grace.

This is what it means for our righteousness to exceed the scribes and Pharisees—it means that we delight in the law of God because we have been saved by sovereign grace—it means that the Spirit of God writes the law on our hearts and teaches us to truly love God and neighbour—it means that we seek to observe the commandments of God because we have been saved, not in order to be saved—it means that we hunger and thirst for righteousness, because Christ bled to set us free.

And so the Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, those who are truly blessed in the Gospel and Kingdom of God, which has spiritually arrived with the 1st coming of Christ, but won’t fully arrive in until the 2nd coming of Christ. The Sermon then progresses to the Mission of the Church as Salt and Light. It then leads to the thesis of the Sermon about the Law of God in harmony with the Gospel of Christ. From there Jesus contrasts the Pharisees misunderstanding of anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, love, and hatred—and shows what the law actually means, requires, and how it relates to us. Then Jesus shows us what true Christian piety and godliness is from giving, prayer, fasting, and eternal perspective. He then gives us a beautiful promise of God’s protection, provision, and providence in the lives of the true children of God in Christ. Then Jesus shows us what true sincerity and judgment is, what fervent and earnest seeking of God entails, what true love and goodness looks like, what gate we must enter if we are to be saved, what false Christians are who don’t truly know God, and what true Christians are who build their lives upon the Rock of the Word of Christ.

This is the Sermon on the Mount. It crushes us, it frees us, and it guides us. The Gospel of the Kingdom leads to the Law of the Kingdom—because in the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, God has promised to write his law on our hearts, by sovereign and free grace in the Spirit.

Hebrews 10:16–17 ESV

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Revelation 14:12 ESV

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

(1) Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - v. 5:1-7:29

Are you ready for this journey? Let’s begin with the King ascending to teach his disciples the Law of his Kingdom:

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill of the Lord as the King and Lawgiver- v. 1

Matthew 5:1 ESV

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

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill of the Lord as the King and Lawgiver- v. 1

Just as Moses, the Mediator of the Old Covenant, ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God and communicate it to the people of Israel—Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, ascends the Mountain to teach the Law of God and communicate it to the new Israel of God.

RSB: 5:1 Since Jesus reveals the depth of the commands given through Moses, His ascent of a mountain is reminiscent of Mount Sinai.

Spurgeon: This is the natural order of royal action. The King is anointed, comes among the people to show his power, and afterwards acts as a Legislator, and sets forth his statutes.

Isaiah 33:22 ESV

For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.

Here he is, King Jesus! And as I was studying, I couldn’t help but see the allusion here to Psalm 24 as Christ climbs up the Mountain and Hill of God as the Righteous Messiah:

Psalm 24:1–5 ESV

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

And here he is, the King of Glory, ascending the Mountain, the Righteous One, Immanuel, the Christ, our King, our Lawgiver, our Saviour, and our Judge. And he comes to preach the blessings of the covenant of grace for the disciples who are members of the kingdom of God.

The text says that the disciples came to him. The crowds were farther out, able to listen. They heard the sermon too. But the disciples drew near, to sit at the feet of their Lord and Saviour.

France: The audience of the discourse is specified not as the crowds but as “his disciples,” … intended in context to denote those who have been called to follow him.

The presupposition of the Sermon on the Mount is that those who have drawn near to listen to it, have already responded to Christ in repentance and faith—which Jesus will confirm as he gives his beatitudes. His true disciples have been blessed in the covenant of grace. But the crowds farther out are still in need of such blessings and salvation.

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill of the Lord as the King and Lawgiver- v. 1

Here King Jesus is giving the marching orders for the Church of Jesus Christ. So let’s turn to the first words that come out of the mouth of the only Lawgiver and Judge, King Jesus:

(3) Jesus Preaches the Blessings of the Covenant and Kingdom - v. 2-3

Matthew 5:2–3 ESV

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(3) Jesus Preaches the Blessings of the Covenant and Kingdom - v. 2-3

The Sermon on the Mount is fundamentally a Sermon on the Covenant of Grace, the Law of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the old covenant, Moses received and preached on the law of God to the congregation of Israel, which ended with a great emphasis on the blessings of obedience and the curses on disobedience—here in the beginnings of the new covenant, Jesus first preaches on the blessings of God’s grace, and only then teaches obedience to God’s law. The new covenant doesn’t include curses. The new covenant saves from the curse, and then empowers us to be blessed in obedience to the law. Mount Sinai fundamentally preaches law and curse—Mount Jesus fundamentally preaches grace and blessing. Only in response to God’s grace, can we then obey God’s law.

Henry: Christ begins his sermon with blessings, for he came into the world to bless us (Acts 3:26); as He in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, Gen. 12:3. He came not only to purchase blessings for us, but to pour out and pronounce blessings on us. The Old Testament ended with a curse (Mal. 4:6), the gospel begins with a blessing; for hereunto are we called, that we should inherit the blessing!

And so King Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with a declaration of mercy and the blessing of the covenant of grace for those who are poor in spirit. Only they are truly blessed and happy in the covenant and promises of the Gospel. To be blessed is to be lavished with the joyful bounty of God’s grace, gifts, favour, and kindness in Christ. We don’t earn these blessings—they are lavished upon us by the grace of the Gospel. Which means that if we don’t have these blessings, then we haven’t yet received the grace of the Gospel. And so…

The first mark of a true Christian, of someone who is repenting, believing, and striving to serve the Lord, is someone who is poor in spirit. The first mark of someone who belongs to the Gospel of the Kingdom is someone who is spiritually poor.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to confess your spiritual bankruptcy, your spiritual poverty, your spiritual emptiness, your spiritual inability, your spiritual lack, and your spiritual ugliness.

To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge that we are dead in our sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1), that nothing good dwells in us, that is, in our flesh (Rom. 7:18), that we aren’t righteous, we don’t understand, we don’t seek God, we’ve turned aside, we’ve become worthless, we don’t do good, we speak death, we deceive with our tongues, we spit poison with our mouths, we curse God and man, we are swift to do evil, we know only ruin and misery, we have despised the way of peace, and worst of all, that we have no fear of God before our eyes (Rom. 3:10-18).

To be poor in spirit is to tremble before a holy God, as those who justly lie under his wrath and cruse (Isa. 6; Eph. 2). It is to cry out with the Apostle Paul, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24). It is to be able to say with Solomon, vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Eccl. 1:2). It is to agree with Jesus that we must be born again, and not by the will of man (Jn. 3:3). It is to be able to lament that we are unable to fix our lives, we are unable to heal, we are unable to help ourselves, we are unable to cooperate with God, we are unable to offer God anything—because the only thing we have to offer him is our sin, transgression, and iniquity (Ex. 34).

To be poor in spirit is to reject anything within us, as the ground of our hope—it is to reject anything done by us, as the ground of our entrance into heaven (Rom. 10:1-4). We must recognize that we are slaves to sin, that everything we do by our free will is laden with sin, that everything we do in our own efforts is stained by sin, and that all our our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6). It is to tremble before the living God and his Word (Isa. 66:2). It is to recognize that we are at the whims of God’s mercy, and that if he doesn’t move toward us in grace, then we are justly condemned and damned forever due to our sin, evil, and rebellion (Rom. 2).

This is the first mark of a true Christian. This is the first mark of a true disciple. This is the first mark of one who has been blessed in the new covenant of grace. This is the first mark of one who belongs to the spiritual kingdom of heaven.

Do you know something of this in your experience? I didn’t ask you if you agreed with the statement. Do you know something of this in your experience? Can you say honestly that you feel what it is to be poor in spirit? That you know what it is to cry out to God for his mercy alone? That you know what it is to feel the weight of his judgment? That you know what it is to realize that if God gives you what is fair, what you deserve, that you would be cast into the lake of fire, and that the smoke of your torment would go up forever and ever?

Do you know in your experience what it is to tremble in your sin? To cry out to God with earnest faith? To trust in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ? To rely upon Him, and Him alone? To flee to the promises of God for refuge? To hide yourself in the Rock of Ages? To put your only hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

This is the beginning of the Christian life. And if you haven’t felt what it is to be poor in spirit, then you aren’t yet blessed by the living God, you aren’t yet blessed by the Gospel of Christ, you aren’t yet blessed by the Spirit of grace, you aren’t yet a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

The Gospel first wounds you, before it heals you. The Gospel first crushes you, before it frees you. Only those who look away from themselves, and look to Christ alone—find the blessings of God’s covenant and find entrance into the Kingdom. The Beatitudes have a definite order to them. There is a reason why this is the first that Jesus lists:

Lloyd-Jones: This, of necessity, is the one which must come at the beginning for the good reason that there is no entry into the kingdom of heaven apart from it. There is no one in the kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit. We cannot be filled until we are first empty. There are always these two sides to the gospel; there is a pulling down and a raising up. It is an essential part of the gospel that conviction must always precede conversion; the gospel of Christ condemns before it releases. If one feels anything in the presence of God save an utter poverty of spirit, it ultimately means that you have never faced Him. That is the meaning of this Beatitude.

If we don’t know experientially what it is to be poor in spirit—to confess that even our works, our prayers, our deeds, our efforts, our singing, our church attendance, our reading of the Bible, our rational discourse, our logical precision, our skills, our gifts, our knowledge, our wisdom, our heritage—that all of it is dung in comparison with Christ; that all of it is worthless in the sight of God; that none of it will free us from our sins—if we don’t know what it is to reject anything in us, or anything done by us, as the ground of hope—then we haven’t yet become a Christian in the first place. To be poor in spirit is to place no hope in your own spirit. It is to reject yourself. It is to reject your heart. The poor in spirit don’t follow their hearts—they plead with God to forgive and cleanse them.

To be poor in spirit is to heed the call of Jesus Christ to the Church at Laodicea who thought they were rich, but needed to know that they were indeed poor. In Christ’s Kingdom—only the spiritually poor become truly rich. Jesus says:

Revelation 3:17–19 ESV

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 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.

You see, the irony of this first Beatitude is that we can’t make ourselves poor in spirit—we already are by nature. To be poor in spirit is not to change ourselves—it is to acknowledge our total depravity and misery. It is to recognize that by nature we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. That by nature we are dead dry bones, unable to come to God, enslaves to the corruptions and desires of our own hearts.

The only difference between a true Christian and an unbeliever—is that the Christian is honest about his own depravity—and he, by the saving grace of the Spirit, flees to Jesus Christ as His only hope in life and death, coming to God as his Father, on the terms of his covenant of grace, on the conditions of repentance and faith. Are you poor in spirit?

Only the poor in spirit belong to the Kingdom of heaven. Only the poor in spirit have true riches. Only the poor in spirit are heirs of heaven. Only the poor in spirit are members of the Kingdom.

Watson: Some think if they can fill their bags with gold, then they are rich. But they who are poor in spirit are the rich men. They are rich in poverty. This poverty entitles them to a kingdom—How poor are they that think themselves rich! How rich are they that see themselves poor! I call it the ‘jewel of poverty’.

And only those who have this jewel, have the riches of the Kingdom. Notice that Jesus says for theirs IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. In the present tense. He doesn’t say for theirs WILL BE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. He says theirs IS the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom has dawned, and redemption is available, in Jesus Christ, the King of the Church. Are you a member of His Kingdom? Have you entered through the Gospel? Have you— as poor in spirit—repented of your sins, and trusted in the works of Christ alone? Then take heart, dear Christian—you are part of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, a Kingdom that cannot fail.

Revelation 1:5–6 ESV

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

And if you aren’t part of the Kingdom of heaven yet—Oh cry out with the man in the Gospels and pray: God be merciful to me, a sinner!

Oh you weary and heavy laden, you guilty and ashamed, come to Jesus, bring your poorness of spirit, and he will give you riches of grace—throw your lust, your anger, your covetousness, your idolatry, your selfishness, your bitterness, your vanity, your addiction, your love of money, your fear of man, your anxiety, your hatred, your discontentment, your theft, your sexuality, your brokenness—throw it upon Jesus, come to Him, poor in spirit—and he will bless you with grace upon grace, by the blood of the new covenant, which washes away all our sin, and which transfers us into the Kingdom of Heaven—which has spiritually dawned, and one day, will physically arrive.

Do you know what it is to be poor in spirit? Then take heart, beloved, your sins are forgiven, and you are clothed in the garment of Christ’s righteousness. You are blessed in the Gospel—now walk in the blessedness of His Spirit.

(3) Jesus Preaches the Blessings of the Covenant and Kingdom - v. 2-3

And so come now to hear our conclusion for this first Beatitude:

(C) The Spiritually Poor are Spiritually Blessed with Spiritual Riches in the Spiritual Kingdom.

Psalm 34:18 ESV

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Not what my hands have done Can save my guilty soul; Not what my toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God; Not all my prayers, And sighs and tears Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin Thy blood alone O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.

Thy love to me O God, Not mine, O Lord, to Thee Can rid me of This dark unrest, And set my spirit free!

Matthew 5:3 ESV

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

(C) The Spiritually Poor are Spiritually Blessed with Spiritual Riches in the Spiritual Kingdom.

Amen? Let’s pray.

Discussion Questions:

(1) Who is the audience of the Sermon on the Mount, and why is that significant for us today?

(2) What is the significance of King Jesus ascending the Mountain to give the Covenant Word to his disciples?

(3) What does it mean to be blessed by Jesus in the gospel and covenant of grace? How does that differ from ‘worldly blessings’?

(4) Describe the meaning & experience of being poor in spirit as a true disciple of Jesus.

(5) In what sense are we already members of the Kingdom, and in what sense are we still awaiting it’s fullness?