The End of Me

INTRODUCTION:

In 1943 Abraham Maslow wrote a paper entitled “A Theory of Human Motivation.” That paper eventually became a book called “Motivation and Personality.”

Maslow’s basic claim is that human motivation is driven by certain needs within a hierarchy.

PICTURE: Maslow himself never used this pyramid but it’s how his ideas spread today.

PHYSIOLOGICAL: At the base of the pyramid are physiological needs: food/water, shelter, sleep, clothing, etc. Without these we’ll get distracted real fast. I think we’ve all seen that to be true.

SAFETY: After that come safety needs like security, employment, resources, health, protection from chaos and harm.

LOVE/BELONGING: After that comes love and belonging through friendship, family, and human connection.

ESTEEM: This layer is usually broken into two: lower and higher esteem needs. The lower is social like status and recognition. The higher is self-respect, independence and confidence. Deficiencies in either create a problem.

SELF-ACTUALIZATION: At the top of the pyramid is self-actualization: realizing one’s full potential. This involves growth, autonomy, problem-solving and self-expression through creativity without fear of judgment.

At first glance, this pyramid looks pretty obvious. Intuitively, we sense it to be true.

Most humans looks for happiness through a hierarchy of needs.

The biggest flaw in his theory isn’t what’s included. It’s rather what is missing and the order in which they’re placed.

A vision for human flourishing according to Maslow begins and ends upon the self: self-reliance, self-esteem, and self-actualization.

According to this model happiness begins and ends in ME. Even social interactions are leveraged for building self. All of life is filtered through the grid “getting mine.”

These assumptions of human happiness have been engrained into our culture. Every public educator had to memorized this chart.

As a result, this pattern of thinking has shaped the values within our culture. Charles Taylor calls it our “Social Imaginary.”

Some have described our “social imaginary” as expressive individualism. “All of life is discovering and expressing the inner self. “

On the surface this sounds pretty good but there’s a Satanic lie beneath it.

The point of life isn’t self-expression but knowing and communing with God! Self-expression, from that foundation, is deeper and more life-giving.

Before you can love and “realize” your “self,” you must be rightly oriented to God. Before you can know what God is like you must learn to deny yourself.

In other words, human happiness isn’t found through meeting needs on a hierarchy.

The highest level of human happiness begins with the end “me.”

Set The Table

Nowhere is that core truth better stated than the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.

This morning we’ll examine the first three of nine with a sermon called “The End of Me.”

If you’ve never read the book of Matthew, it’s a biography on the life of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel was written to an audience steeped in the Old Testament.

Matthew’s goal in writing was to prove Jesus was the Christ. The title Christ and Messiah are basically the same. It’s a royal designation of God’s anointed king.

God had promised David an everlasting throne. He promised a descendent who would be enthroned forever. This coming king would bring about the promised “kingdom of God.” That promised kingdom would establish worldwide peace and justice.

When Jesus launched his public ministry he preached “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” But the people he reached and the things he said were upsetting the religious establishment.

All of this culminates in Matthew 5 with the Sermon on the Mount. It’s one of five major discourses wherein Jesus helps people connect the dots.

The sermon is given to Jesus’ disciples while he sits at the top of a mountain. Below the mountain was a very large crowd who were there various reasons.

The focus of Jesus was preaching God’s Kingdom and that is what this sermon is about.

This sermon explains the culture of God’s Kingdom and the pathway for finding “ true life.” Many people think that life is in heaven so we’ll just have to wait until we die.

To me, that assumption, misreads the sermon and misses out on what Jesus came to bring. The kingdom of God is both NOW and LATER. There’s an already, not yet tension.

A flourish life can be found in Jesus and that life can be yours here and now.

Jesus begins his sermon with a series of beatitudes (there’s disagreement on the number and how they’re structured). What isn’t unclear is the upside-down nature of a flouring life in God’s Kingdom.

Matthew 5:1–5 CSB

1 When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

The culture of heaven turns worldly values upside down.

Today we’re going to unpack the first three of nine.

But first, let me remind us of a few things.

These are NOT commandments but pronouncements that describe a life of flourishing. Declarations about “the good life” from King Jesus.

Jesus is giving a philosophical framework just like every philosopher who came before him. What Plato and Aristotle called “Eudaimonia,” Jesus called “makarios” or “A Flourishing Life.”

This is “The Good Life” according to Jesus. It’s recieved through the gift of God’s Kingdom.

For you and I to inherit that kingdom we must posture ourselves a certain way. The people who inherit God’s kingdom are not the ones you might think.

THE END OF ME

For each of these three beatitudes there’s a unique form of self-denial. The end of me is the end of self in three important ways.

Each of these “deaths” are counter-intuitive and contradict most modern psychology.

But I can also say from personal experience they will change your life for the better.

The first beatitude is the end of self-reliance.

The second beatitude is the end of self-delusion.

The third beatitude is the end of self-assertion.

These first three beatitudes lay a firm foundation. Everything that follows will naturally build upon them.

The Helpless

The first phrase we need to get a handle on is translated “poor in spirit.”

Remember, words get their meaning from the context in which their spoken. This phrase is made up of two words: poor (ptochos) and spirit (pneuma ).

When they’re combined they carry the sense of someone who is poor in relationship to their spirit.

The word translated poor is essentially what it sounds like. It means “having little” whether that be money or something else. It conveys the idea of being helpless or dependent. The image is that one who crouches or begs.

The word translated “spirit” is used in many ways. Strictly speaking it just means “breath” or “wind.” (Imagine blowing out your birthday candles.)

Just like invisible energy can move the leaves on a tree, there’s an invisible energy that moves the human person. It’s your “get up and go” or your “vitality in life.” A real but immaterial power that shapes your life.

In your notes, my paraphrase is “Blessed are the helpless.”

The Hebrew word for spirit is pronounced “ruakh.” The best definition I’ve heard is “invisible energy.”

A good example of this is Job 12:10

Job 12:10 CSB

10 The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath [ruakh] of all humanity.

This energy comes from the Lord but it’s also intrinsic to who we are. To use a popular word today, it’s basically someone’s vibe.

As such, the human “ruakh” can change based upon your circumstances. Someone can be X of spirit meaning their “vibe” is of a certain type.

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 7:11)

The word translated “anguish” or “distress” means to be squeezed or enveloped. It’d be like having your “life energy in a vice.” The “squeezedness of my spirit.” (Most of us would call that stress.)

After Esau married pagan wives “They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” (Gen 26:35). The Hebrew literally reads, “bitterness of spirit.”

Or when God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the Israelites he get’s angry and walks away “bitter and hot of spirit.” (Ezekiel 3:14) Like the Hulk!

Proverbs 15:4 describes one who is “broken in spirit.” Their life vitality is broken, they’re at the bottom of the well and they can’t climb back out.

Empty Hands

So when Jesus says the “poor in spirit” are the one’s with a flourishing life, what does that mean?

If someone is “poor in spirit” they are lacking resources when it comes to their life energy. They have “very little” of their “get up and go.”

Like a car without any gas there’s something nothing left in the tank. They’re out of power. The battery is drained. They are unable to move forward.

But Jesus isn’t focused just on individuals. There a sense in which these “type” of people are blessed with a flourishing life.

If you think about the context, these were the people Jesus was reaching. They were the marginalized and alienated, the poor and destitute.

The Kingdom of God is for those with empty hands.

In fact, Luke’s version doesn’t even use the word “spirit.” Jesus simply says, “Blessed are the poor.” (Luke 6:20)

Blessed are the people who don’t have much in the way of personal resources whether social, economic, emotional or spiritual.

The largest commentary on Matthew spends pages and pages on these words. They also show a connection between the religious and the economic. For Jesus, these two things were often interconnected.

Those with empty hands had nothing to offer the Lord. But often those same people had nothing to put on the table. These people weren’t “religious elites” nor were they “well off” financially.

Yet, Jesus says their “empty hands” makes their life really fortunate. The “good life” of heaven belongs to the powerless. Blessed are the helpless because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.

Staying Hungry

How in the world can that be true? Simply put, if your hands are empty they’re free to grab on to something else.

If your hands are empty you’re much more likely to grab God’s Kingdom when it’s offered.

This dynamic holds true in either direction. It’s why Jesus said it’s really hard for rich people to enter God’s Kingdom. Matthew 19:2

Matthew 19:24 CSB

24 Again I tell you, 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.”

Jesus ISN’T saying rich people don’t go to heaven. Obviously, they do; think of Nicodemus and Zacchaeus. Jesus is saying it much harder for them than others.

This isn’t because money is good or evil. It’s neither. It’s neutral. But the human heart is NEVER neutral, and money can become an idol. It can become your primary source of security and significance. When that’s true of you - you will not get the Kingdom.

Money often births a spirit of arrogant self-reliance. When are hands are full of material possessions we have no appetite for God. We’re good. We’ve got it made. What can God give me I don’t already have?

In that way, it’s a blessing to be lacking in resources. When God is all you have you find God is all you need.

It’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us our ‘daily’ bread.” Never get so full of self that you stop needing God every day.

If you want God’s Kingdom, adopt a posture of unending hunger.

One of my spiritual heroes said to “live from a place of need.” It’s one of the most difficult things to do as successful person in the West. But there’s something about being helpless that positions you for God’s Kingdom.

If you’re hands aren’t grasping the counterfeit Kingdom you can grab the “good life” when it’s offered.

When Isaiah came into the presence of God he said, “Woe is Me, I am undone.” (Isaiah 6:5) When Peter saw the glory of Christ he bowed down and said the same. (Luke 5:8) There are no peacocks strutting around in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Every person humbly bows at the feet of Jesus. As the Old Hymn says, “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.”

The Heartbroken

The next beatitude Jesus gives is “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

The word translated “mourn” isn’t some vague idea of sadness. It’s a deep and lasting grief typically associated with loss or death.

In the Greek OT this word was used when Jacob thought Joseph had died.

Genesis 37:34–35 CSB

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

Notice how the word comfort and mourn are used right next to each other? That’s a common pairing in the Old Testament.

This mourning goes beyond emotional disappointment. It’s more like being devastated because of what’s been lost.

But grieving death is not the only reason for this sadness. The are other losses grieved this way seen in the Old Testament.

One example is Nehemiah and the desolation of God’s Holy City. “4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.” (Neh 1:4)

Nehemiah’s grief is tied to the loss of Covenant privileges. The exile and destruction of the temple had robbed them of what they loved.

In Ezra and Nehemiah God’s people rebuild those walls. Temple worship is restored but each book ends on a total downer. The walls were standing but the glory was muted and the people of God were grieving.

Jesus is preaching to Galilean Israelites living under Roman occupation, heavy taxation, loss of lands and religious marginalization. These were people familiar with grief, personal loss and national diminishment.

Jesus looks at them and says: the good life belongs to you.

Jesus looks at them as says., “Blessed are the heartbroken: the good life belongs to you!” Astonishing.

Grief & Self-Delusion

Any person who has ever grieved, knows there’s a certain process. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross says there are five stages.

Denial: “God, this can’t be happening.” Numbness, shock, disbelief.

Anger: “God, this isn’t fair.” Frustration, irritability, resentment.

Bargaining: “God, if only… God, what if…” Attempts to regain control.

Depression: “…” Silence, withdrawal, heaviness and fatigue.

Acceptance: “God, I’m moving forward.” Not liking the loss, but acknowledging it and living forward.

Some say less, some say more, some put them in a different order. But ultimately the process moves you from denial to acceptance.

That’s why I call this beatitude the “end of self-delusion.” And Americans are prone to this more than most I’ve seen. We do not like to grieve. We’d rather do anything else. Even at our funerals some feel bad for feeling sad.

Some will try and skip the grief through medication and distractions. Go back to work, pull out your phone, numb your mind and body.

But some people don’t get that choice. They’re often the powerless. They’re forced to live beneath the weight of death and brokenness. Jesus says “those people are well positioned for God’s Kingdom.”

Why? Because they can see the world is broken and they can’t pretend it’s not.

Those who mourn all recognize “things are not as they should be.” Which puts them in a posture to find comfort when that changes.

This is how the Old Testament pairs these two ideas. In fact, when Jesus spoke these words his audience probably heard Isaiah 40:1

Isaiah 40:1 CSB

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

Isaiah 40 declares the end of exile and the coming of the LORD. (Isa 40:3-8) Comfort, in Isaiah 40, is the news the tide is turning. It’s a declaration of restoration and fulfillment of God’s covenant promise.

In this beatitude, Jesus draws from that well. The long-awaited comfort has finally arrived. But those who would receive it must have a grieving heart.

The Kingdom of God is for those with grieving hearts.

What Jesus isn’t doing is “romanticizing sorrow.” He’s not suggesting an “Eeyore Spirit’ of constant melancholy.

He’s affirming that God’s people can’t look at sin without real grieving. The Kingdom of Heaven is for those who are willing to grieve.

Just like the self-reliant reject the Kingdom because they’re fine, the self-deluded reject God’s Kingdom because their world isn’t broken.

The mourning isn’t good because it’s good to cry. The mourning is good because it aligns you with what’s to come. It proves your eyes are open to what God wants to do. It shows your discontentment with brokenness and sin.

This true at a personal level and it’s true in a broader sense. We should grieve the deceptive power of sin as well as it’s power to destroy.

Like David, we should mourn the sin within our hearts.

Psalm 51:3–4 CSB

3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

But we should also mourn what sin is doing to our world.

This is why Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. John 11:33-36

John 11:33–36 CSB

33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Jesus also wept over the spiritual state of Jerusalem. (Luke 19:41-42) Hebrews 5:7 says, “During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

We tend to equate flourishing with perpetual positivity. Jesus equates flourishing with honest lament.

Clear-Eyed Honesty

As I’ve said before, grief is the “shadow side” of love.

The deeper the love, the deeper the loss, the greater the grief you’ll feel.

Grieving sin can’t come from hate but love for righteousness.

Those who learn to grieve this way will experience the comfort of God.

To inherit this kingdom blessing adopt unflinching honesty.

The culture of heaven turn worldly values upside down. Worldly culture diminishes sin, hides and justifies it. You’ll never find God’s comfort by downplaying what is wrong. “Confess your sins to one another so you may be healed.” (James 5:16)

Surround yourself with people who are honest about this world. Honest about what sin is doing even in your heart. This is why a D-Group is so life-giving for men.

Reject emotional suppression and embrace honest lament. Until our sin be bitter, God’s grace will not be sweet. The good life, according to Jesus, includes empty hands and a grieving heart.

Die to self-reliance and a spirit of self-delusion. God’s kingdom comes to empty hands and those with grieving hearts.

Do you grieve what God grieves in the same way that God grieves it? Inside of you? Inside your family? Inside our local church?

Do we lament injustice? Do we feel the ache of death? Or have we learned to anesthetize ourselves? Have we chosen constant distractions.

The flourishing life belongs to those with empty hands and a grieving heart. Not because grief is ultimate but because God’s comfort is. Only those who mourn can have their tears wiped away.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Behold! All things are new.” Revelation 21:4-5

The Humiliated

The third beatitude in Matthew 5:5 says “Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.” (Mat 5:5)

Though this one is more familiar it’s probably least well understood!

Where CSB says humble others say “meek” or “gentle.” Unfortunately, the latter words convey softness or weakness.

There’s actually something very different going on beneath the surface. The Hebrew word behind this word means “lowly or afflicted.” It’s pronounced “ani.”

Moses is described as a humble man, more so than any other. (Num 12:3)

The Psalms are filled with “the humble” being vindicated on the day of judgment. (Psalm 24:9; 34:2; 37:11; 76:9; 147:6; 149:4) A similar connection is in Joel 3:11.

In Job it carries the since of affliction or humiliation. (Job 36:15)

It describes the insignificance and affliction of the poor. (Job 24:4)

In your notes, my paraphrase is “Blessed are the humiliated.”

This pairing in the beatitudes is coming from Psalm 37:9-11.

It warned against getting angry when you see the wicked flourish.

Psalm 37:10–11 CSB

10 A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there. 11 But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity.

It’s hard to watch the “bad guys” win or good guys seem to lose. Deep down we know that isn’t right. The wicked never win. (It’s why Avenger Infinity War was so deeply depressing!)

The Psalm warns against getting angry or seeking vengeance. Instead of responding with envy they should leave it in God’s hands.

He will exact true judgment and his judgment will be righteous.

Psalm 37:7–8 CSB

7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans. 8 Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring harm.

This is the moral texture of meekness before the Lord. It’s power harnessed through submission - refusing to take that which isn’t theirs.

Self-Assertion & Future Hope

In this way, meekness is the end of self-assertion. Not because you can’t but because you won’t.

Meekness is powerful under submission. Trusting God to act and enact his righteous judgment.

You’ve probably heard the illustration of a horse beneath a bridle: power in full submission to the one who holds the reins. Imagine revving your engine but your foot is on the clutch. All of that power, but waiting for the clutch to drop.

In the OT the “ani” were subject to exploitation. They had no social capital or institutional protection.

Job 24:4 CSB

4 They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are forced into hiding.

Such were the Galilean Israelites under Roman occupation. Many had lost ancestral lands through debt and unjust taxation. Large estates were consolidated into the hands of the elites. Those with former wealth became an average day laborer.

Could you imagine how you might feel if that was you? Not only the humiliation but the injustice of it all. That’s the dynamic that Jesus here describes. Those people are “blessed” The “good life” belongs to them?

Why? Because the Kingdom of God is for those with future hope.

“Blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth.” (Mat 5:5) Or, for that audience, “Blessed are the afflicted for they will inherit the land.

This promise by Jesus isn’t spiritual or ethereal. “The Land” conveyed stability and the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise.

God promised Abraham land in Genesis 12. Israel took that land through the leadership of Moses and Joshua. Eventually they lost that land and were driven into exile. But God has promised through the prophets their land would be returned.

That was their future hope! Amos 9:15

Amos 9:15 CSB

15 I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. The Lord your God has spoken.

Into all of that tension, Jesus makes this statement. “If you’re afflicted your life is blessed because God keeps his Word.” As it says in Psalm 37:34

Psalm 37:34 CSB

34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.

Meekness is not passive resignation. It is disciplined trust in the Lord.

It is the person who could retaliate but chooses not to because God said.

It is the person who sees injustice but refuses to mirror its methods.

It is the person who entrusts ultimate vindication to God.

Willing Humility

We experience God through empty hands, a grieving heart and future hope. Instead arrogant self-reliance we choose to humble ourselves.

Learn to adopt a posture of unforced humility.

Remember that the future belongs to a sovereign God. That God has promised that the righteous will be vindicated.

Unlike humiliation, humility is something you choose. It’s a voluntary act of your will not the imposition of another. It’s unforced humility.

That’s why Scripture commands us to “humble ourselves before the Lord.” The Lord can humble anyone through a process of humiliation but God’s kingdom is for those who choose to humble themselves.

If you think of these three Beatitudes they build upon one another. Through dying to yourself you’ll find your way to God.

Unending hunger is the end of self-reliance.

Unflinching honesty is the end of self-deception.

Unforced humility is the end of self-assertion.

The Kingdom of God begins with ending “ME.” The exaltation of the self will keep you far from God. It’s only through denying self that true life can begin.

CONCLUSION:

God’s Kingdom can give you what every person wants: an abundant life of flourishing and communion with God.

But God’s Kingdom will cost you what nobody wants to give: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.

The disciples were very slow to pick up on this truth. They heard this sermon again and again but struggled to really receive it.

In Mark 8 after Peter rightly confessed Jesus as the Christ. Jesus told them how he would model the very things in these beatitudes.

Peter could not imagine it. This will never happen, Lord! You are God’s Messiah and God’s kingdom must come right now. To which Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking about God’s concerns but man’s concerns.” (Mark 8:32-33)

Jesus went on to illustrate his path into God’s Kingdom. Mark 8:34-36

Mark 8:34–36 CSB

34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. 36 For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?

I would ask us the same question as we close this morning. Are you living for the concerns of man or will you enter the Kingdom of God?

Jesus brought the kingdom through his death and resurrection. On the cross he modeled well these first three beatitudes.

He willingly became powerless and helpless upon a cross. From the cross he said, “I’m thirsty” and was given drink. To the very end, he lived with holy hunger.

On the cross he also grieved for the damaging effective of sin. The people who had tortured him “knew not what they had done.” (Luke 23:24) The deceptive power of sin was destroying the son of God.

Isaiah 53:4–5 CSB

4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

What Jesus demands of us he showed through his own life. He willingly laid down his life with confidence in his future hope.

The hero of heaven showed the way upon a cross.

Jesus is the blueprint for each Beatitude. But he’s also the sufficient grace that empowers such life in us.

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?