BEING LIKE JESUS – “BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT”

Jesus disciples were constantly jostling for position in the Lord’s Kingdom.  They often pondered “who was the greatest” and on a few occasions they even blurted out their concerns on this subject to the Lord.  Our first response is to wave our spiritual hands in discussed at the foolish notion that these guys actually believed Jesus thought any one of them to be greater than another.  But, are we are that far from expressing the same selfish ambition to Jesus?  Jesus response was to sit a child on his knee and in deep concern for his disciples he points out - “Here is the greatest in the kingdom.” God's unique way of growing his kingdom isn't what we may expect from a king.  In fact, many times he flips our expectations completely upside down.   At the very heart of Jesus’ most treasured teaching called the “Sermon on the Mount”   Jesus shares eight Beatitudes, the first of which is “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?”  

·         Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are the poor,”

·         “poor in spirit” does not refer to false _________________

·         It’s the difference between being down to your last ______________ and being flat ______________.

Maybe the best way to describe “poor in Spirit” is to take you into the Word and show you one of Jesus examples.

One day the disciples were discussing “Who will be the greatest?”  Jesus said "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." (Mark 9:35-37)

"What makes a child so great?"

·         First and foremost, children have an uncompromising trust in their fathers.

·         Second, they are incapable of jockeying for position and status.  - They know they are weak.

·         Finally, they feel their spiritual need.  They recognize their poverty.  They understand that without their father’s provision they are flat broke in this world.

Questions to ponder

·         What kinds of things do we do to gain status from other Christians or to raise ourselves to prominence in the church?

·         What are some of the potential consequences if we are not poor in spirit?

·         What kind of a church would we be if we fail to give it all by hanging onto the last dollar? 

·         What is your philosophy of humility? 

·         Let me read Jesus philosophy and then you decide:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Phil 2:5-11)

Heaven Belongs to the Poor in Spirit

Because they don’t deserve it, God gives it to them as a gift. That’s why Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt 19:14)