Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Blessing of Spiritual Poverty*

*Matthew 5:3*

 

When we compare some of the most popular Christian messages to the words of Jesus in the beatitudes, we come to understand just how counter-cultural the Sermon on the Mount really is.

I talked about the best-selling book by Joel Osteen as indicative of how a large segment of evangelicals view Christianity.

Well, here are some quotes from that book.

/“God didn’t make you to be average.

God created you to excel.”

“…if you will start acting like it, talking like it, seeing yourself as more than a conqueror, you will live a prosperous and victorious life”/

/ /

/“when you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled toward greatness, inevitably bound for increase, promotion, and God’s supernatural blessings.”/

/ /

/“God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner”/

/ /

Lest you think that the book is an anomaly and not consistent with the overall focus of Osteen’s ministry, here are some recent sermon titles from Osteen.

/You Are Pre-Programmed for Victory/

/Expect Good Things/

/Making Plans to Succeed/

/Reaching Your Highest Potential/

/Having the Right Image on the Inside/

/Developing an Overflowing Mentality/

/Encourage Yourself/

/Tuning in to the Voice of Victory/

/You Are an Overcomer/

 

Now if you think I’m just picking on Joel Osteen, you’re wrong.

I am trying to demonstrate to you how out of touch much of evangelicalism is with the core of Jesus’ message.

This kind of self-esteem, self-help message is not consistent with what Jesus taught about being a citizen of His kingdom.

This sort of message has more in common with Tony Robbins than with Jesus.

In the beatitudes, Jesus is giving us a portrait of a kingdom person.

In eight descriptive statements, Jesus shows us the character of those who truly belong to the kingdom of God.

The place where he begins should forever shock us out of any idea that God’s kingdom is about my self-image, prosperity, or success.

Jesus begins by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In this beatitude, Jesus teaches us that those who belong to His kingdom understand their spiritual poverty.

I.

What does it mean to be poor in Spirit?

 

A.

To be poor is to be destitute.

1.

The word Jesus uses is /ptochos/.

In the ancient Greek world,

                the word was associated with the life of a beggar.

The verb

                form of this word referred to one who bowed down timidly

                crouching and cowering to beg for alms.

2.

So, the term Jesus uses for poor refers to the destitute, the

                beggars who are without resources and totally dependent on

                others for their very lives.

B. The spirit refers to our inward attitude of the heart.

1.

The term spirit here refers to the non-material part of man

                which is the spring of the emotions, feelings, and thoughts.

2.

This usage of spirit points to our spiritual disposition or

                attitude.

So, to be poor in spirit is to have an attitude or disposition of spiritual poverty.

Thomas Watson said, “Poor in spirit, then,/ signifies those who are brought to the sense of their sins, and seeing no goodness in themselves, despair in themselves and apply wholly to the mercy of God in Christ.”/

/ /

D. A. Carson put it this way.

/Poverty of spirit is the personal acknowledgment of spiritual bankruptcy.

It is the conscious confession of unworth before God.

As such, it is the deepest form of repentance….From within such a framework, poverty of spirit becomes a general confession of a man's need for God, a humble admission of impotence without him./

/ /

To be poor in spirit is to see yourself as you really are before God.

You have nothing to commend you to God.

You have no spiritual resources within yourself.

You have no claim on God or His mercy.

You are spiritually bankrupt, destitute like a beggar.

Think about it.

Poor in spirit is the objective condition of every person on the planet.

Jesus is telling us that the people who belong to His kingdom are the ones who sense and embrace their true condition before God.

 

C.

Scripture places a high value on poverty of spirit.

/The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

(Ps.

51:17)/

/ /

/For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

(Isa.

57:15)/

/ /

/Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

Where then is a house you could build for Me?

And where is a place that I may rest?

For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being” declares the Lord.

“But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

(Isa.

66:1-2)/

 

ILLUSTRATION:

 

There is one passage in which Jesus gives us a perfect example of this concept both from a positive and negative standpoint.

Look at Luke 18:9-14.

* The Pharisee demonstrates the opposite of being poor in spirit.

He was self-righteous, self-reliant, and proud.

You get the sense that he thought God was lucky to have him on the team.

He rehearsed all the wonderful spiritual achievements he had on his resume.

* The tax collector demonstrates what it means to be poor in spirit.

He wouldn’t look up.

Remember that the root idea of the word poor is to bow down timidly like a beggar.

Here was a man who came to God as a spiritual beggar.

He had no claim on God.

He simply cried out for mercy like a beggar would cry out for bread.

In Luke 5:31-32, Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a physician but those who are sick.

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Those who belong to the kingdom of God are those who realize their spiritual sickness and come to Jesus to make them well.

In Revelation 3:17-18, Jesus spoke to the lukewarm church of Laodicea about their lack of being poor in spirit.

Here was a group of people who did not realize their true spiritual condition before God.

Jesus counseled them to wake up and see the reality of their spiritual poverty.

APP: Let’s get personal about this issue.

How can you tell if you are poor in spirit?

* /You are not offended when confronted with the fact that you are a sinner/.

Like the apostle Paul, you feel that you are the chief of sinners.

Also like Paul, you admit that you have an ongoing struggle with indwelling sin.

Like Paul exclaims in Romans 7, “O wretched man that I am.”

* /You are keenly aware of your own spiritual inadequacy and you do not try to keep up the appearance of self-righteousness/.

* /You place a high value on the mercy of God because you know that you cannot live without it/.