Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Read: Matthew 5:1-12

Context: 
1- The preceding chapter (Matthew 4), Jesus is tempted, begins His ministry, calls his first disciples, and begins having crowds gather as He travels the countryside of Galilee teaching and healing.
2- The historical context of a Jewish people eagerly awaiting the revelation of God's heavenly kingdom (which Jesus announces in Matthew 4:17).

What should we take from this?
Jesus' original hearers of this sermon would be eager to hear what the apparent Messiah would have to say about the nature of His kingdom, and kingdom living. We should be too.

Breaking down the first beatitude
I want to look at the first beatitude, found in Matthew 5:3, by sectioning off three phrases, and the looking at them in reverse order.

1) the kingdom of heaven
what is the kingdom of heaven? The Jews were anticipating a literal earthly reign by a king sitting on a physical throne in Jerusalem. That was a legitimate expectation given OT prophecy, but we see that this has yet to be fulfilled. Jesus here is announcing a reality that does not exclude the future fulfillment of that earthly kingdom, but that is qualitatively different from it. Jesus is establishing a spiritual kingdom here on earth where God not only reigns as king, but is enjoyed and delighted in as king (see John 4).

2) the poor in spirit
what does it mean to have a poverty of spirit? We can have all sorts of poverty, but this poverty is one which is the opposite of pride. One which understands our lowly state in comparison to a holy God and His holy law. We bring nothing to the table with God.

3) Blessed
The Greek word, makarios, can be translated as happy. But what is being spoken of is not a shifty, elusive, transitory, or subjective happiness. It is a happiness firmly rooted in the fact that a man whom God has brought low because of His sin, and who has received the gift of the kingdom which has been offered to those who humbly come to Christ, is indeed a blessed man. He is man who, regardless of whether or not he feels happy, is indeed in a happy state. 

So how should we respond?
We need to understand that brokenness over our sin, being brought low by our shortcomings, having a deep sorrow over sinfulness that allows us to receive the joy of repentance and forgiveness: this is a gift. We want to run from it, but we must understand that this kind of brokenness serves as an anchor  to provide us solidity when the waves of pride would pull us away from Christ.

Love Neighbor

Tying back to last time

Last week we discussed the Great Commandment in the Law, namely, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.

After looking at other texts that paralleled this one (Matthew 22:34-40), we came to understand that the emphasis was not on delineating particular ways in which we love God (heart, mind, soul, strength, might, etc), but rather to emphasize that we are to love God with all of our everything. 

That being said, to think about how we can practically love God, we divided our thoughts into three categories, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

What does loving God look like?

I think it is key to note that Jesus says the second commandment is like the first. Perhaps this means that we show our love of God through the love we way we love those who bear the image of God. 

Love of others is portrayed throughout Scripture as being of paramount importance. (see Leviticus 19:17-18; Matthew 7:12, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8). 

Love sums up everything that God commands of us. How can we love? We have to be in relationship with the God who is love. Apart from Him we can do nothing.

Loving our neighbor in thought, feeling, and action

How can we think more lovingly about our neighbors, those who are around us? How do we look at people? As annoyances, inconveniences, or those who intrude upon our peaceful lives? Or do we view persons as those created in the image of the almighty God? Do we look at others as those for whom Christ came and shed His precious blood?

When our thinking is aligned with God's word, and we are thinking about our neighbors lovingly, this should affect the way we feel about our neighbors. Do I harbor bitterness, anger, jealousy, or prideful spite? Or do I, in humility, consider others better than myself? Do I look upon others as inferior to me, or superior? Do I feel about them the way I would want to be felt about?

Finally, actions. Do I treat others the way I want to be treated? Am I kind? Do I help the needy, or am I more concerned about looking out for my own interests? Perhaps most importantly, do I pray for others?