Jesus opened his Sermon on the Mount with a lesson on true blessedness. He gave us eight declarations of what true blessedness is, each starting with the words: “Blessed are…” The first of these, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3) is rather surprising. As we noted last week, we do not usually see poverty and blessing mentioned in the same breath. Yet this was the first characteristic Jesus highlighted when he spoke on true blessedness.

Clearly, the kind of poverty that Jesus describes here is not material in nature. He was speaking of a poverty that is felt deeply in the inner man. That is what “spirit” refers to in this context. This is what the Lord referred to when he said to Samuel: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7).

What does a truly blessed inner man or spirit look like? We are told the truly blessed heart is a poor one. When the New Testament uses the word “poor” it often refers to those who are in abject poverty. In Luke 14:21 the poor are listed with the crippled, the blind, and the lame. These were people who had no means of caring for themselves – they were beggars. The poor in spirit understand themselves to be spiritual beggars.

Listen to how John Brown describes the poor in spirit: “He knows himself to be an entirely dependent being; he knows himself to be an inexcusable sinner; he knows himself to be a righteously condemned criminal; he knows that ‘in him, that is, in his flesh, dwells no good thing’; he knows that he has, that he can have, no hope, but in the sovereign mercy of God”.

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus told a parable in which a Pharisee and a tax collector were in the temple praying. The Pharisee looked down on the tax collector. His prayer was filled with condescension and boasting. But the tax collector, we are told “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'” (v. 13). He was justified, not the Pharisee. He was truly blessed.

Psalm 34:18 says: “The Lord is good to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”. The Lord loves the poor in spirit. We are told that he will look to “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isa. 66:2). The Lord does not shun our poverty of spirit, but draws near to it. 

​Augustus Toplady’s famous him, Rock of Ages, expressed it well: 

Nothing in my hands I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Why are the poor in spirit considered blessed? The final phrase in Matt. 5:3 explain that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. The grace that God promised to those who humble themselves under his mighty hand (Jam. 4:6), is that they will posses the kingdom of heaven. You may not have noticed this, but the phrase is in the present tense, not future tense. Future tense would have made sense, if Jesus was just referring to his future kingdom. The new heavens and the new earth, the heavenly Jerusalem descending... this kingdom is considered their present possession. They are already citizens of it. Deserving nothing, in Christ the poor in spirit have everything.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

Have you ever wondered how the Beatitudes got their name? They are so called because of the Latin translation of the opening words, “beati sunt”, meaning “blessed are” (Matt. 5:3). In this passage Jesus explains what true blessedness is and to whom such blessedness belongs.

Reading through the Beatitudes, you may have noticed that true blessedness is not defined the way the world would. The prevailing culture tells us that the ambitions, wealthy, popular, confident or gifted are the truly blessed ones. Parents and children are being bombarded with these messages through social media and the entertainment they consume. Their idols are a far cry from what Jesus describes in this passage.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matt. 5:3). Some interpret this to mean that material poverty is the key to true spirituality. Some professing believers take a “vow of poverty” to grow closer to Christ and sympathize with the poor. However, poverty does not necessarily bring one closer to God. The poor can harden their hearts against the gospel as well as any rich person can. As the Scottish preacher, John Brown, once said: “Extreme poverty is not favourable to religion any more than extreme affluence.”

Some Christians, in their zeal to help the poor, misinterpret or misapply the Bible. They’ll point to passages like James 2:5, which says: “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” This, they believe, proves that the poor are the true people of God. The next verse, however, explains James’ statement: “But you have dishonoured the poor man.” (v. 6). They were showing favouritism based on people’s social status or wealth. The poor are not prevented from entering the kingdom because of their poverty, but they are not guaranteed entrance because of it.

True, there is one occasion where Jesus asked a rich you man to: “sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."” (Matt. 19:21). The next verse explains why Jesus asked this of the young man: “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matt. 19:22). It was not the wealth of his possessions that kept him from Christ, but his love of those possessions that did so.
The Bible warns us against the “love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10). It leads to all kinds of temptation and has ruined the lives of many. Riches aren’t the problem, but setting our hearts and hope on it is. Money has a way of becoming a destructive idol. We so easily convince ourselves that money will solve all our problems. Ecclesiastes 5:11-12 warns that when “goods increase, they increase who eat them” and that “the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” 

Abraham was a godly man and is even called a “friend of God” (Isa. 41:8), and the Lord blessed him with wealth (see Gen. 13:2). Our Lord Jesus Christ never enjoyed such riches during his earthly life. Though he was rich in glory, for our sake he became poor (2 Cor. 8:9). 

Blessedness is not measured by the wealth of our possessions. Scripture is clear on that (see Heb. 11:37-38). True blessedness comes to those who are “poor in spirit”, which we will explore next week.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

The Gospel of Matthew is a true gem. From the opening sentence it has deliberate and direct ties to the Old Testament, bridging the gap between the two. It also presents the teaching of Jesus' teaching in a clear and orderly way, making it the most used Gospel in the early church.

Jesus, the true Prince of Preachers, preached with such clarity and authority that the people were amazed at his teaching (see Matt. 7:28). The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the most famous of his sermons. His preaching routinely drew huge crowds, and this time was no different (Matt. 5:1). On this occasion a hillside served as his pulpit.

Jesus opened his sermon with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3). The Greek word that is used here often appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the LXX or the Septuagint). This is the first time the word is used in the New Testament. 

What is blessedness? It is an important theme in both the Old and New Testament. Thomas Watson calls it “the whetstone of a Christian’s industry, the height of his ambition, the flower of his joy.” Aquinas called it the “ultimate end”.  To help us understand blessedness, we need to understand what it is not. 

First, it is not the accumulation or increase of worldly things. That much is clear from the passage, but that isn’t how many of us live. Much of our time and effort is expended in gathering worldly goods, yet we may miss true blessedness altogether. Solomon understood this very well: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” (Eccl. 5:10-11). Again, Thomas Watson writes: “earthly things accumulated cannot rock the troubled heart quiet”.

Second, blessedness is not the absence of trouble. Our passage makes that clear as well. There is a whole lot of trouble in the Christian life. David understood this, as he explained in Psalm 23:5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

True blessedness, then, includes the idea of being well and happy. Sadly, we’ve so overused and diluted the idea of happiness that we need clarify what we mean. When the Bible tells us that someone is ‘blessed’ it is not telling us how they feel but what they are. John Stott explains that the “beatitudes are not an indication of their feelings but of God’s assessment of them.”

God alone can make a man or woman truly blessed. In doing so, they are made spiritually well or whole. They experience true joy, even when their circumstances are not all that enjoyable. As Don Carson explains: “Those who are blessed will generally be profoundly happy; but blessedness cannot be reduced to happiness.” Their happiness and wholeness are not rooted in their circumstances, but in their God.
​ 
It is only by abiding in Christ that such blessedness is attained. That is why, as we will see, it is found even in the most surprising places.

​Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter