Good News for the Poor in Spirit

Have you ever had to admit that you didn’t have something that you needed? Maybe I could ask that another way - have you ever been to stubborn to admit that you didn’t have something that you needed? When I was 7-8 years old, I remember my first week away at summer camp - Camp Good News in Charlestown, Nh. On Monday of that week, our cabin went on a hike in the woods, which included walking near the stream that ran through the camp property. Well, at some point in that walk I ended up stepping into that brook with my sneakers and socks. So my shoes were wet. No big deal, right? Well, to make matters worse, it ended up being a pretty rainy week of camp. So rainy that my shoes (which I left outside to dry) never actually dried out. The only other pair of shoes I had with me were sandals. That would have been ok, except for the fact that I had started to get some pretty bad blisters from walking around in wet shoes. Wet sandals only made it worse.

I remember going almost all week before I told anyone that my feet were in pretty bad shape - more like, worn raw. I remember my mom asking me when she picked me up - “why didn’t you tell someone about your problem?” I’m not sure I had an answer - maybe I was stubborn. Maybe I didn’t want help, maybe I didn’t want to admit that I needed something that I didn’t have. Maybe I didn’t want to own up to my own neediness. Obviously, my tough, standalone, independent spirit didn’t help me much that week at summer camp.

But that is just a simple story, maybe a parable for what Jesus is speaking of in Matthew 5:3. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit...” We spent a lot of time a couple weeks ago detailing just what it means to be “blessed” in the way that Jesus speaks of it here. It means, “happy” but not just emotionally. It means “fortunate” but not just in the sense of good luck. It really means “to be congratulated.” The blessed ones are in the good way - in the good life.

We typically don’t think of “poor” or “poverty” in a positive light, but here Jesus says that these poor are blessed, even in their poverty. Not “blessed will be” the poor in spirit, but “blessed ARE” the poor in spirit. And, this state of blessedness includes a future hope as well. According to Jesus, both the current and future state of the “poor in spirit” is blessed.

How are the poor in Spirit in the good way? How are they to be congratulated? Well, to answer that question, we need to answer a few basic questions - and this will be the outline for the message today.

- What does “poor in spirit” mean?

- What does being poor in spirit look like?

- What is the good news for the poor in spirit?

There is good news for the poor in spirit. Only those who understand their depth of poverty before God will experience true riches.

1. What does “poor in spirit” mean?

Another way of saying “poor in spirit” is “spiritual poverty.” It is important to recognize that Jesus is not referring here at all to some special incentive to enter into monetary poverty. I like how James M. Boice defined the term.

The Gospel of Matthew: The King and His Kingdom, (Matthew 1–17), Volume 1: An Expositional Commentary The Beatitudes

To be poor in spirit is to be poor in the inward man, not in outward circumstances, and (which is even more important) to know it. In other words, to be poor in spirit is to know one’s deep spiritual poverty before God.

The kind of poverty that Jesus mentions here is important, too. There really are two main words that were used in Jesus’ day to speak about being poor. One word that is used refers to the “working poor.” That is, those who were in a rough financial lot in life, but were able to at least muddle through and survive - scraping together an income that at least feeds them and their family. They have what they need and only what they need, and they have it by the sweat of their brow. Any stop in effort or any major incident would leave them behind, as they exist on the brink of bankruptcy, as it were. You could call that kind of poor, the working poor, the “paycheck to paycheck” poor. It was quite common, and although a difficult life, was not the most dire situation.

The word Jesus used for poor, or poverty, is a much stronger word. See, you have the “working poor,” and then you have the beggar. And not the beggar who could be working but chooses instead to ask for a handout. This is the real beggar - the kind of beggar who is destitute. The kind of beggar who has absolutely no ability to work. The kind of beggar who is so far from financial hope and so lacking in any ability to earn his way back that the only option he has is to sit on the street’s edge and cry out for mercy.

So when Jesus is referring to the spiritually poor, he is not referring to those who are “just making it” or those who know that life before God is difficult, but by their hard work and sacrifice they can scrape through and satisfy the demands of spirituality. No, he’s speaking of those who are already spiritually bankrupt - and they know it. They are spiritually destitute - they have no ability to earn a spiritual wealth, no standing to become spiritually upright on their own.

As an illustration, I want you to consider Jesus’ parable of the Feast in Luke 14:14-21

Luke 14:13–21 ESV

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

Here, Jesus is giving some practical insight into just living. The gift of hospitality, not just for those in your social class, or your close friends, but for the poor, the lame, the crippled - the outcast and destitute of society. But, as the narrative goes on, someone who was listening to Him says “blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” This man gives his own little beatitude, and Jesus took that as a teaching moment.

He tells of a great banquet where many were invited. The invitees were probably used to this sort of thing, they expected it. They were accustomed to being invited to this kind of special banquet - to the point where they grew indifferent to it. And when it came time to attend this great banquet, they all found better things to do. They gave excuses - “I bought a new field, and I have to go look at it.” “I bought some oxen and i need to go check them out.” “I’m married, and my wife needs a lot of attention.”

These excuses revealed a lack of concern, a lack of the sense of importance in the lives of these invitees. They were all set. They didn’t need this feast, it was just another feast. They could catch the next one. They didn’t care for the preparation and the planning of the host. They had plenty of options in life, and they chose otherwise.

So the host got enraged at these poor excuses - and he made a decision. He told his servant, “Go out into the streets and compel the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame.” These were the destitute. These were the outcasts. These were the ones who would have never been invited to a great feast like this, but ironically, they were the ones who needed the food the most. They would have been shocked at the invitation - shocked at the circumstances. They would have been embarrassed by the invitation - what would they wear? How would they present themselves? Not knowing that it didn’t matter - they host just wanted participants who would be thankful for his feast. Notice the list - lame, blind, crippled, and poor. This is the same word for poor - this is the class of society who were all together with one common thing - begging. Begging because they had no other option. Begging because they had no ability to earn. Begging because they had come to terms with their poverty and could do nothing about it.

This is what it means to be spiritually poor. It means to realize that our condition before God is bankruptcy, but not just bankruptcy - we are lame, crippled, blind, unable. This is so fitting. As Jesus begins his sermon on the mount, the first thing he teaches us is that we can never meet its standards on our own! The sermon to follow is not a list of goals that are extremely difficult, but we can make them if we muddle through and scrape together - no, blessed are the ones who can’t achieve it and they know it.

2. What does being poor in spirit look like?

So what does it look like when we recognize this spiritual poverty, this bankruptcy and inability before the Lord? Well, it looks like brokenness. It looks like brokenness.

Consider a passage of scripture that we looked at a few months ago in our study of Isaiah.

Isaiah 57:15–19 ESV

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.

The Lord, who is referred to here as the high and lofty one, the holy one - speaks to the lowly, the contrite, the penitent one. Notice why this one is lowly - he was lowly because he was unjust before the Lord. He had found himself in the wrath of God because of his sin. His sin was the cause for his low position. But there was something about him. He wasn’t just low and feeling bad for himself - he was contrite. And what does the Lord say he would do for him? He would heal him. Heal him of his brokenness. Heal him of his lowliness. He would revive his heart.

Perhaps another passage of scripture can illustrate it as well.

Psalm 51:15–17 ESV

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

This, of course, is David. And why is David so broken here? Why is he so cast down? Because, again, of his sin. His sin and its consequences have left him in this condition of absolute nothingness - brokenness - poverty. Psalm 51 is David as a beggar. Imagine it, the King as a Beggar. A beggar though, not for financial means - a beggar for spiritual means. Restoration. “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

To be in spiritual poverty is to be broken before the Lord. It is to come to that place before Him where you realize you can never attain, you can never achieve his perfect standards. You are too far gone, too sin-sick. Of course, all the world is this way, but not everyone is broken because of it. Not everyone realizes it. It is a blessed condition to recognize your spiritual poverty.

Earlier I gave the illustration of my stubbornness at summer camp. Well, can I tell you that same attitude has followed me through life? And, if I had to imagine, I would say that many of you would share the same testimony. Stubbornness and independence is sometimes helpful, but oftentimes detrimental. It is helpful when you really are in a situation where you just need to “push through.” But where it comes to bite you is when you are in a situation where you will never be able to just “push through.” Can I tell you that I have been there. I have gotten myself before into the place where I was up against the wall - up against my own sin in a way that I could never just push through, but I kept telling myself I could. I kept telling myself, “just try a little harder. Don’t let anyone see you struggle. You can defeat this and come out unscathed.” Don’t do that!

Dear one, if you are in a place in life where you just cannot do it, recognize it! Embrace it! But don’t stop there, come to the Lord! In Him, the poor in spirit, the broken are blessed! There is no beatitude for the stubborn, the hard-headed, the independent. There is no beatitude for the “I don’t need any help” mentality. No, there is blessing for the broken, the bankrupt, those who recognize their great need and inability before God.

Neither is any blessing for an “I’m almost there, just need a little help” attitude. Apart from the mercy of the Lord, it is not that we are 90% or 80% or 50% or even 10% or 5% of the way to blessedness. We don’t need Christ because we are 80% blessed and 20% broken - rather, we need Christ because we are 100% broken. Those apart from the Lord, Jesus tells us in John 3, are condemned already. That is the transformation, from completely broken and helpless to blessed and helped by the Grace of our Savior.

3. What is the good news for the poor in spirit?

Jesus says “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus gives that same promise in the 8th beatitude. A kingdom-inheritance. Imagine that. You think of being poor, you think of being destitute. You think of being hopeless and helpless and lacking daily provision. Then, you get this news. “You are blessed! Your inheritance is the kingdom inheritance!”

Friend, are you spiritually broken? Are you in such a condition of spiritual poverty, and you realize your inability before God? There is a great blessing - for in coming to the Lord in that state, you are promised an incredible inheritance. You see, no one can buy or earn their way into this kingdom - the gates open only for the poor. No well-established self-made spiritual man gets to sit at the prominent table in this feast - the reservations are only for the beggars, the lame, the blind, the destitute. Jesus’ kingdom and Jesus’ feast is a kingdom and feast like no other. It is the only one where you only fit in if you don’t fit in. It is the only kingdom where true riches only come through poverty.

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You may know this parable well. Can I tell you that this is a parable of spiritual poverty versus spiritual pride? And that really is the difference. The Pharisee touted his standing, his accomplishments, his good efforts as his ticket to blessing by the Lord. He held his own righteousness up to God and said “see how good I’ve done, Lord? You must be so happy with me.”

The other man, a tax collector, a traitor and despised in Israel, couldn’t even look up as he prayed. He had only one plea, only one hope. He had come to the end of himself, realized his spiritual bankruptcy, and prayed - “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” That is the prayer of the poor in spirit. And that is a prayer that the Lord answers. This man, Jesus said, was justified before God, rather than the Pharisee. The man who is rich and proud in spirit doesn’t know his own poverty, but the man who is humble and poor in spirit is truly rich.

Psalm 34:17–18 ESV

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Notice what the righteous man does here - he cries for help. He cries out for help. That is the position of the righteous - not that they are self-sufficient. Not that they are independent and bold in their own goodness and ability - no, they cry out for help. Do you cry out for help in your brokenness? Do you admit your own inability? Do you recognize and embrace your weakness and bankruptcy? That is the only way to be helped!

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Are you in that place? Is your heart broken in your sin? Are you crushed in spirit because you simply cannot go on another day? Cry out to the Lord! The Lord does not save those who “just need a little boost.” The Lord does not justify those who “are almost perfect, but just need a touch of grace.” No, the Lord saves the broken - the crushed.

There is a brokenness, then, that takes place when someone comes to faith in the Lord. A realization that apart from Him, there is hopelessness. And in that brokenness and crying out for mercy, there is salvation.

What is the good news for the poor in spirit? Well, these passages that we read and many more show us that There is a great inheritance, there is justification, and there is healing and deliverance.

But there is also a continued state of brokenness that occurs in the life of the believer. We begin in brokenness, realizing our own poverty and inability before the Lord, and we continue in that state - every day as a Christian is a day of being “poor in Spirit,” but that also means that every day as a Christian is a day of blessedness.

If you are here today, and your standing before God is one of effort and pride, then may God crush and break you before it is too late. If you are here today, and you feel that you have arrived at a place in life where you have achieved some sort of personal righteousness, and that is your standing before God, then may God show you the depth of your deception. God blesses the broken, the crushed, the beggar in spirit. Do you realize your poverty before God? Then you are to be congratulated, rather than the proud and the rich - for yours is the kingdom of heaven.