The Greatest Question Confronting Mankind

 Read Matthew 5:3-12

This first sermon in the first Gospel deserves the attention of all readers. In sum, the Sermon on the Mount is the constitution of the Christian’s life, desire, and character.

Before we proceed to the Beatitudes, please recall that these are not the way to salvation, but are the by-products of the existing work of God in one’s life. What is said in these verses is said about the true Christian—not about the non-Christian. These verses describe Christian character. They trace the attitudes of Christian disciples. These Beatitudes describe Christian what Martin Luther called, the “Lived-faith” of a Christian. In these ten verses we find the norms for living in the Kingdom of God. Before we look at these Beatitudes individually, note three observations concerning the place of the Beatitudes within the Sermon.

1.     It is worth noting that since the Beatitudes come at the beginning of this discourse they may be seen as a key to the whole sermon. The entire sermon is concerned with telling us how to find God-happiness or God-pleasingness. The Beatitudes are a preview, and if one could hear no more than these verses one could have a succinct replica of the whole sermon. In this initial scan, the character of the Christian is introduced. These are the norms of God—not the values of the world.

Do you see any of this at all in your life? Like the fruit of the Spirit, are these increasing or decreasing in your life? It is not a bad standard. Indeed, these beatitudes capture the essence of Christian living. That standard that is expected in the first century should hold for us as well. Use these as a mirror for your own life.

2.     Next, note that Jesus began his sermon in a rather unusual way. Today, sermons often either begin with an attractive story or perhaps a warning of bad news, gloom and woe. Someone once advised that a sermon should have a good beginning, a good ending, and not much in between. That was not Jesus’ style. Nor did Jesus begin this sermon with “Woe” but rather “Blessing.” How unusual, unexpected, and refreshing. Thus he sets the expectations of the hearers to be concerned with good news or how we can be right with God. Later in this sermon, our Lord would attack false religion, but he begins by comforting his followers who may not have been among the rich and famous, or powerful.

3.     The Beatitudes in a simple way. They can be understood by all ages and generations of disciples. Intellectual sophistication isn’t required. While simple in word, their wealth is of course inexhaustible; they exhibit Divine profundity in thought.

The Beatitudes answer the question posed in the title; that is, what is man’s greatest concern? The Beatitudes show us what it means to be blessed in our relationship to our Creator and his creatures. Gaining God’s approval is our highest end. It is futile only to seek mere human happiness or blessedness.

There are nine of these beatitudes. They have a number of commonalities. Some commentators see these in groups of 3, others in a 4-4-1 framework, but I will take them one at a time. They do, however, have a fixed form.

         A.     The first part of each is “Ascription”—Blessed. This word has been given various translations such as “happy; how fortunate; to be envied; Heaven’s favor rests upon you; congratulations!” “The bliss of;” “prosperous are you if;” or “a divine benediction rests on you if . . .” The supreme blessedness. So with each Beatitude we could substitute the connotation of one of these more modern words. The denotation, however, means to be in excellent standing with God or find approval with God. To be “Blessed” means to have that divine and lasting peace and joy, which is serene, unchangeable, self-contained and independent of earth’s situations. Since the original does not have a verb, some prefer, “Oh the blessedness of . . .”

         B.     The second part of the form is “Description.” In this part of the form we are given a description or identification of what category from humanity is blessed. The Blessed ones are described here. Moreover at the same time, Jesus gives a composite description of the Kingdom to which these subjects belong. These beatitudes are the virtues of the citizen of heaven, the true test of your Christianity.

         C.     The third part of the form—uniquely added by Jesus—is the “Prescription” or promise to be received by the Blessed-ones described. So we have Ascription, Description, and Prescription or in summary “Blessed are those who (description/category) for they shall (prescription/promise).” Many authors classify the Beatitudes differently. I will only explain these Beatitudes as they are found in our Lord’s own order without projecting a scheme or outline on them.

Let us now look briefly at the first Beatitude.

#1.  Verse 5:3-- Blessed, happy, fortunate, etc. are the poor in spirit. The description does not refer to those who are timid, shy, or unambitious. These are the people who are deeply convinced of their own sinfulness in God’s sight. They are not merely poor (as in economic terms) but poor in spiritual worthiness.

Some, unfortunately, have confused economic poverty with the prescription in this beatitude. Liberation theologians, Marxists with clerical collars, taught that the poor were automatically more favored by God. It may be true that being poor increases one’s chances of being dependent on God. However, economic poverty is not itself the road to salvation. If a poor person steals, commits adultery and other sins, he does not receive an automatic pass irrespective of his belief in Jesus. It is not to an economic class that Jesus offers these promises, but to a spiritual class.

As social programs begin to wear out, people are remembering that “man does not live by bread alone.” It is just as important to have spiritual input as to have economic subsidy. We cannot help people merely by giving them financial aid.

Jesus extends blessing to the ones who admit their own spiritual bankruptcy—not to the Pharisees who thought they were spiritually superior. It is not the ones who thought of themselves as spiritual giants that Jesus blesses, but the spiritually impoverished. Which do you perceive about yourself? These, Bonhoeffer says, “have no security, no possessions to call their own. . . no earthly society. . . no spiritual power, experience, or knowledge to afford them consolation. For his sake they have lost all. Now they are poor. So much so that they have no other hope but him who called them.”[1] The spiritually poor have no wealth or health in their own spirit and must totally depend upon another for it. These admit their total inability or depravity. These are radically sinful people, “without hope save in His Sovereign Mercy.” To be poor in spirit means, “to know that we have nothing to offer, nothing with which to buy the favor of heaven.” These are beggarly in Spirit, in abject poverty.

Calvin said, “He only who is reduced to nothing in himself and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit.” Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and understand this about yourself? God actually wants us to know our own spiritual bankruptcy. That way, we learn dependence on him. How about in day-to-day living: Do you realize that you are unable and spiritually impotent? The spiritually needy and humble exhibit a conscious confession of un-worth before God and show the deepest form of repentance. This is a deep humility. Humility is the very first letter in the alphabet of Christianity. Are you poor in spirit? As a norm for Christians you should be if you are “Blessed.”

I challenge you to seek to acknowledge at least once per day that you are—no matter how long you’ve been a Christian—still spiritually poor?

• Are you a great spouse? Or a spiritually poor one?
• Do you know all there is to know about the Bible? Or do you need to grow?
• What about righteousness? Are you pretty good like you are? Or do you need divine intervention?
• Are you honest with yourself that the theological doctrine we call depravity is also a practical reality in your own life. It is not only abstract but all too real and true that we are spiritually unable? Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Have you fooled yourself into thinking that you control a large measure of your destiny because of your abilities? Are you really in control of a lot of important things? Do you think that you can make it on your own, without prayer, without the means of grace, without other Christians? Do you hold out the myth that you’re really a pretty good Christian, only in need of a little or interim grace?

One who is poor in spirit knows better. He is more realistic. He realizes at the end of the day that without God we do not have breath, joy, life, contentment, or order. We depend on God at all times. We are not self-sufficient creatures. We are always attached to a spiritual umbilical cord.

That may be an admission of spiritual impoverishment, but it is one of the healthiest things you can do. The alternative is to see one’s self as spiritually affluent. Maybe we should discuss that option for a few minutes. The one who is spiritually affluent:

• believes that he already knows all there is to know
• thinks he can make it on his own;
• trusts in programs, methods, or other human success techniques;
• associates outward results with divine blessing;
• may even think that he can store up ‘spiritual capital’ to borrow from later;
• suspects that others will be in awe of him;
• has a difficult time admitting that he is wrong;
• trusts in the past more than in God.

The spiritually rich, like the Pharisees of old, don’t think they really need Christ. They think they can make it on their own. Wouldn’t you rather be among the poor in spirit?

Remember this has nothing to do with economic status, but with spiritual condition. There is, however, a rich blessing awaiting the spiritually poor.

The Prescription for this Beatitude is that your blessed reward is “Kingdom of Heaven.” Here we see the remedy to such poverty. The truly “Great Society” is the Kingdom of Heaven in which none are poor in anyway (especially as to spirituality) for all are children and heirs of the King.”

You are fortunate if you are spiritually needy – yours is the Kingdom of Heaven. Charles Spurgeon advised that the way to increase in the kingdom is to sink in ourselves. In every true Christian there is a consciousness that all my righteousness is as filthy rags. The normal Christian is poor in Spirit—the opposite of haughty, defiant, independent and self-sufficient.

This is the beginning of world-changing Christianity. It starts internally. I don’t for a moment believe that the order of these beatitudes is insignificant. I think this one comes first on purpose; it is the foundational stone of Christianity. Contrary to the Pharisees expectations, Jesus calls for the spiritual poor.     

“Spiritual pride was forbidden here. Pride looks down on others, . . . Spiritual pride is more intense than ordinary pride, for it is woven into the very web and woof of self-righteousness. It necessarily requires a vindication and proof of its superior claims to holiness, and it does so by tearing down the claims of others. It is by false judgments of others that it secures the largest self-laudation and comfort.”[2]