True Happiness through Poor in Spirit (Matthew 5:3)
Every age of our Christian history
even today, there were / are many preachers “who must be silenced” (Titus
1:11); who taught that believing in Christ or faithfulness to HIM guarantees
health, wealth, success and prosperity in our life. But we need to understand
that these things fuel only our false pride, fleshly lust and worldly prestige.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us totally opposite of it.
It is also true that there
are physical needs within us which should satisfy with physical things. When we
are hungry we need food, not a sermon on grace. When we become sick, we need
medical help, not a lecture on Christian ethics. Our body has certain desires
and appetites, which are given to us by God HIMSELF. They are good and
inevitable for being a human, but we have distorted and misused them because of
our fallen nature and eventually it has brought sorrow and ruin in our lives. Scripture
teaches us that human beings are more than just a body – we are a living soul. Gen.
2:7 says -“then the Lord formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.” We
are living not because we have body, but God has breathed HIS life into us.
Therefore, just as a body has its certain characteristics and appetites, so do
a soul has. In the world where we live, we give more attention to satisfy our
physical needs. Consequently, we become physically fat, but spiritually weak.
We become rich materially, but spiritually poor.
Apostle Paul says in 1
Timothy 4:8-9, “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of
value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the
life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.” Paul
didn’t deny the need of training or exercise for our body. It has its own
value. But there is a great value in spiritual training than bodily, so we
should not ignore the need of our soul. In the beatitude, our Lord Jesus Christ
presents the key secret for how to fulfil the need of our soul.
WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN?
Vs. 3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit ...”
There is similar statement made
by our Lord Jesus found in Luke 6:20 – “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours
is the kingdom of God.” Therefore some of Bible scholars maintain that the
beatitude of Matthew 5:3 teaches physical poverty. According to sound
hermeneutics, the science of Bible interpretation, when there are two or more
passages are similar, but not exactly alike, the more explicit passage
clarifies the less explicit one. By comparing Luke 6:20 with Matthew 5:3 we
could see the Matthew account is more explicit than the Luke account. It is not
therefore, material poverty, but spiritual poverty what Jesus is speaking here.
Our Lord has never condemned anyone being a rich. Jesus did not teach us that mere being
physically poor leads us into spiritual prosperity. Matthew makes very clear
that Jesus is talking about the condition of the spirit, not of the wallet. Jesus
never called blessed a state where people live in slums and do not have enough
to eat and where health deteriorates. We, as ministers of the Gospel are
committed to remove this kind of physical poverty. But our blessed Lord Jesus spoke
of the poverty in the Spirit.
Matthew uses the Greek word
‘ptōchos’ [πτωχός (Adjective)], meaning
‘reduced to beggary’ or ‘destitute of wealth, influence, position and honour’.
It is used in Luke 16:20, 22 to refer to beggar Lazarus who was fed with what fell
from the rich man’s table. In Luke 21:2, Luke used word ‘penichros’ (πενιχρός [Adjective]) to refer to poor widow who put
two small copper coins into the offering box in the Temple. She was poor, but not
a beggar. In other words, ‘penichros’
describes a man who is poor, but he can earn his own bread or having some
resources for sustenance, and while the word ‘ptōchos’ to a man who is absolutely destitute physically and
socially; who has nothing for self-support; and completely dependent on other
for sustenance. Classical Greek used the word ‘ptōchos’ to refer to a person who reduced to total destitute; and
who crouched in a corner begging. As he held out one hand for alms and he hid
his face with the other hands, because he was ashamed of being recognized. Thus
the word ‘ptōchos’ (πτωχός) refers to
a man who begs for his own sustenance, but is ashamed to do it.
Our Lord Jesus added along
with ‘poor’ the phrase ‘in spirit’ denotes that HE is speaking of a person, who
is humble, and has recognized his helpless to save himself from sin and has
sought God’s mercy for salvation. Being ‘poor in spirit’ is an attitude towards
self. It means a complete absence of pride and self-confidence; and an
acknowledgment before God that ‘I am nothing and have nothing'.
HOW DOES IT COME IN OUR
LIFE?
In our culture, we call
such men spiritual who have long hair and beard; and wear the saffron coloured
cloths. But we have failed to understand that spirituality never comes by our
physical appearance. True spirituality starts from inside and touches the outside.
True spirituality is the attitudes, not a physical appearance; it is the state
of the heart.
First, we need to aware of our spiritual poverty in order
to be poor in spirit. Jesus has already warned us saying, “... for one’s life
does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). No man is
more miserable than he who is in great need, but not aware of it. He is alike
Samson who didn’t know that the Lord had left him (Judges 16:20b). We need to
understand that it doesn’t matter to us how much I earned and possess; and have
satisfied my physical appetites. We still lack the peace, joy, contentment and
fulfilment in our life. “For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), Apostle Paul
writes in the epistle to the Church in Rome. We have sinned against God, our
creator. God is holy and just, therefore He cannot allow us to come in HIS
presence. Consequently, our source of joy, peace, contentment and fulfilment of
life has broken from us and we are in the state of eternal damnation. Jesus
Christ has rebuked the Church in Laodicea for her ignorance saying, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered,
and I need nothing, nor realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind,
and naked” (Rev. 3:18). So we need to aware of it.
Second, we need to acknowledge our spiritual poverty in
order to be poor in spirit. We need to understand that we came into the world
with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing. We are born with nothing and
whatever we have because of the mercy of God. So we have nothing to offer as
ransom to God. Our religiosity and rites are unable to redeem us from the
judgement of the holy God. Job repented saying, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). The
prophet Isaiah cried out saying, “Woe is
me! For I am lost; for I am man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King; the LORD of hosts!”
(Isaiah 6:5). It happens when we acknowledge our spiritual condition. Both Job
and Isaiah had expressed their spiritual poverty before the Lord. As a result,
the Lord restored the fortunes of Job (Job 42:10) and Isaiah was commissioned
for the prophetic ministry (Is. 6:8). The
Lord blessed the poor in spirit because it leads us ultimately to God, who has
provided all the riches in Christ. When we become aware of our spiritual
poverty and acknowledge it, we understand our inability to save ourselves from
the judgement of God, it humbles us; and then we look for the mercy from God.
WHAT BLESSING DOES IT BRING IN OUR LIFE?
Vs. 3 – “... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
What happens, when we become
poor in spirit? It opens the door to the kingdom of heaven. The door to the
kingdom of heaven is very low that only people who come in crawl can enter. Nobody
can ever enter into God’s kingdom on the basis of pride. Proverbs 16:5 says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an
abomination to the Lord ...” Isaiah 66:2 says, “... But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and
contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” God opens the door to those
who are humble and have broken heart because of their own sins. God never opens
the door to those who want to work out for their own salvation, trust in their
own resources, are self-sufficient and proud. William Barclay beautifully
paraphrased it: “O the bliss of those who
have realized their own utter helplessness, and who have put their whole trust
in God, for thus alone can they render to God that perfect obedience which will
make them citizens of the kingdom of heaven!
CONCLUSION / APPLICATION
William Carey was born and
brought up in a humble circumstance. Carey was dropped from school at the age
of twelve, he was sent by his father to learn the business of shoes making. At
that time he had no interest in religion. One day, having spent a shilling of
his master’s, he replaced it with a bad one. His master caught him and put him
into shame in public. This humbled Carey came under the conviction of sin and
his co-worker named John Warr explained him that one does not become a
Christian by attending church and not by being good, but by accepting Christ. All
these made him finally kneel on in the presence of the Lord and cry, “Lord
Jesus, come into my heart and wash away my sins. I want to accept you right
now”. He began to read Bible and to pray for the world by putting his hands on
the map which was hung on the wall in the shop. Later he came in India to
proclaim the Gospel. He laboured 41 years in India and never went back to
England. What was the secret of Carey which made him usefulness and productive
in the Mission? In 1834, he died and a tablet was put in his grave in which “A
wretched, poor and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall” was written. When he
was in deathbed, his friend Alexander Duff came to see him. “After I die, don’t
speak about the Carey and his work, “Added William Carey, “but speak about the
Carey’s Saviour.” He was poor in spirit and God used him such a way that no one
could believe.
Jesus told a parable of the
Pharisee and the Tax Collector to those who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and treated others with contempt (Luke 18:9-14). In this
parable, a Pharisee and a tax collector went to the temple. The Pharisee prayed
saying, “I fast twice a week, give tithes of all which I get and I don’t commit
adultery or do any unjust.” But the tax collector standing far off, did not
even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, be
merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus concluded the parable saying, “... this man
(tax collector) went down to his house justified ... the one who humble himself
will be exalted” (Lk. 18:14). The tax collector was poor in spirit, so he was
justified by God.
Augustus Toplady portrayed
in the hymn beautifully the glimpse of one who is poor in spirit in this way:
Nothing in my hand 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!
Let’s pray together!
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