Big Picture/Beatitudes Intro/Poor in Spirit

Intro

Remember how Jesus’ objective in the Sermon on the Mount is to change the way we think, in order to change the way we live? Well, to start out tonight...

I want to give you a “big picture outline” of the Sermon so that you can see how Jesus’ way of thinking is supposed to permeate every area of our lives.

Then, I’ll introduce you to the Beatitudes and show why they are the foundation of the entire sermon.

And finally we’ll close by looking briefly at the first Beatitude.

Let’s look at...

The Big Picture Outline.

I’ve adapted it from Martyn Lloyd Jones’s book Studies in the Sermon on the Mount—an excellent read by the way.

This outline shows how Jesus’ way of thinking is supposed to change every area of our lives.

First of all, Jesus wants to change your thinking about Who You Are — Who God saved you to be…so He begins His sermon by describing the character of a child of God.

Matthew 5:3-16 — Character/Identity of the Christian (foundation of the sermon)

1 | Who You Are/Who Jesus Is

Key phrases that summarize who you are: “Blessed...children of God"

Secure/Joyful/at rest in Christ & God’s eternal plans; unruffled by other people or circumstances that are subject to change.

Matthew 5:17-48 — Christian Facing the Law of God & Its Demands

2 | What You Do/What Jesus Did

Key phrase that summarizes what you do as a child of God, what you do as a Christ-like individual: “Do and teach [the commandments]”

Live a life truly pleasing to God—from the inside out.

Matthew 6:1-34 — Christian Living in the Presence of God

3 | The Way You Do It/The Way Jesus Did It

Key phrase that shows the way you live as a child of God, the way you live like Christ: "unto thy Father...which seeth in secret"

for Him, under Him, toward Him

Matthew 7:1-29 — Christian Living Always Under the Judgment of God/in the Fear of God

4 | Why You Do It/Why Jesus Did It

Key phrase that shows why you live like Christ: “that ye be not judged”

“because…narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life”

that your life may be “built upon a rock” and ready for testing

Because your loving Father wants to reward you and He holds you accountable; your works will be judged.

Ok, so now that you have the big-picture outline, let’s finally begin studying the Beatitudes. Now, what is a “Beatitude”? (8 of these, depending on how you count)

Beatitude: a state of supreme happiness, utmost bliss

This is the happiness which is possessed by those who have adopted Jesus’ way of thinking. God wants you to be truly happy, but Satan has been deceiving people since the Garden of Eden into believing that God doesn’t know how to make us happy. If you want true happiness, you have to believe God and reject the devil’s lies. You must adopt the Beatitudes as your identity; you must adopt Jesus’ way of thinking as your own…you will never be happy until you do. Let’s explore this idea of aligning our thinking with Jesus’. What exactly does that mean?

The Beatitudes: The Sermon’s Foundation

Who you are determines what you do.

Now, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was showing the Jews what kind of people would inherit the kingdom of God. You see, they had messed-up ideas about the kingdom. A lot of them thought that because they were Jews, they would automatically be granted entrance into the kingdom. But even the religious lot who understood that righteousness was required to enter the kingdom had messed-up ideas about what true righteousness was! So, when Jesus stepped on the scene, He had to show the Jews the requirements for entering God’s kingdom. Now, if you read the Sermon this week, you found out that what Jesus was asking for is impossible from a human standpoint. He literally told them they had to be perfect, just like God the Father. At that point in time, Jesus’ commands should have caused them to feel overwhelmed and incapable. Jesus was saying to the Jews, “This is who you have to be in order to inherit my kingdom.” And they should have felt somewhat hopeless. Today, we might feel the same way toward this sermon, but since we’re living after the cross and we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, we don’t have to be overwhelmed. Let me show you what I mean from the book of Romans, chapter 8.

Romans 8:8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

In the flesh means on your own, your natural/sinful self.

This is why the Jews should have been overwhelmed with Jesus’ preaching, and this is why we read some of these commands and we’re thinking, I can’t do that. I can’t please God. And we’re right! On our own, we cannot please God. His standards are just too high.

But look what the next verse says:

Romans 8:9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

So what Paul is saying is, “There’s no way that you can please God on your own, in the flesh. [Or, in our context, we can’t live out the Sermon on the Mount on our own.] But we’re not alone! We have the Holy Spirit of God living inside us to enable us to live a life pleasing to God!” Not only do we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, but our whole identity has changed. Look at verse 14:

Romans 8:14-17 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

God has delivered us from bondage to sin and placed us in His family. He has made us His children, so that we are now free to live like His Son. Look back to verse 2:

Romans 8:2-4 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. “

If you read the Sermon on the Mount this week…Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

He did what we could not do—He perfectly fulfilled the Law, and now He enables us to follow in His footsteps.

Now these are scriptural facts that are settled in the mind of God. “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89).

And we’ve been saying that, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus is trying to get us to adopt His way of thinking, in order to change our way of living. And this idea of us having to align our thinking with God’s is seen in the book of Romans, as well. Turn to Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4:3-5 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

That word counted comes from the same word as reckon, and here it means to “calculate/charge to an account/keep records of debits and credits.” So in the mind of God, once we have believed on His Son, righteousness is on our account. And when God thinks of us, He sees us as saints, not sinners, and thus He expects us to live like it. So, we’re God’s righteous children who have been made free to live like Jesus, and that is forever settled in the mind of God. But here’s our responsibility. Look at Romans 6:11:

Romans 6:11-13 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Remember how we said that reckon means to “keep records” of things? Well, God doesn’t have any trouble keeping records. He doesn’t forget things; He doesn’t make mistakes. But we do! And you know what we often forget, or perhaps have never even understood? Now that we’re saved, we don’t have to sin! We are not in bondage to sin. We have been given a NEW LIFE in Christ—we are God’s children--that is our new identity, and we have the Holy Spirit living inside us to enable us to live like Jesus; He enables us to live the Sermon on the Mount. This is who we are in Christ! And God tells us to reckon these things—to keep record in our minds--that this is true. He’s telling us to get our thinking in line with His. It’s our choice.

So when you initially read the Sermon on the Mount, you should probably feel overwhelmed like the Jews, thinking, I can’t do this! But then, we’ve just looked at truths about who we are in Christ, and suddenly we’re seeing that we can actually have confidence about obeying this sermon. But how do we get to that place of Christ-like confidence? Well, we must let go of all our self-confidence and become poor in spirit.

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

This word poor means beggarly. This isn’t talking about someone with a low income. It’s talking about someone who has nothing.

So, to be “poor in spirit” is to recognize that we are beggars in the sight of God who desperately need His help. Being poor in spirit is to have an accurate (biblical) view of God & ourselves. (Isaiah 6) Being poor in spirit is to be truly humble before God.

It’s to acknowledge that...

Isaiah 64:6 “...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;”

Romans 7:18 “ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:”

Romans 8:8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

On my own I have nothing and I am nothing! Spiritually, I have nothing to offer God—no goodness, no righteousness. I’m a beggar who desperately needs Him.

We must come to this realization in order to get saved, and we must daily acknowledge this fact of our desperate need for God if we’re going to live like Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” We don’t offer anything to God when we get saved. We come to Him as empty beggars and just reach out to receive His gift of eternal life. And then after salvation, this desperate dependence on Him continues...

John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Jesus, the Son of God, lived this way. John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

Galatians 3:3 “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

Conclusion

Jesus wants to change our way of thinking, and it all starts with this first Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

Do you have the right view of God and yourself? Do you recognize that you’re a beggar without God, totally incapable of living a life that is pleasing to Him on your own?

If so, this should leave us feeling desperate. It should put us in a place where we’re clinging tightly to the truth that we’ve been made God’s child, we have His Holy Spirit living inside us, and we can live the Sermon on the Mount…just not on our own.

Practical Assignment

Use the Model Prayer every day this week. Our lack of prayer is one of the greatest evidences of our pride.