KEY THOUGHT...

True happiness is found only by entrance into His Kingdom…that means we have to become one of his SUBJECTS, acknowledging him as KING of this Kingdom…entering in by submission to his sphere of life, his rule, his authority and his blessing…that is the only place true happiness, according to Jesus, can happen.

INTRODUCTION...

We are starting a new series this week called “happiness is…” which is a look at the first part of Jesus’ first recorded sermon in Matthew (known as the Sermon on the Mount, MT 5-7). The first few verses of ch5 are commonly known as the BEATITUDES…and with these words Jesus gives to us the most profound and at the same time most paradoxical teaching on True Happiness.

- God wants us to be happy (Psalm 144:15 “15 …Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!). God wants our lives to be filled with joy and desires to bless us, to experience a deep inner happiness. Not a happiness that is subject to our emotions or circumstances, but a joy and happiness that is produced by God in our hearts. Each one of these ‘Beatitudes’ starts with this word “blessed” which is just another word for ‘happiness’.

- But the question is…How do we find that? How do we find this blessed, happy, disposition?

- These verses that we will be studying over the next few weeks really are opposite of what the world has led us to assume…he says:

1) Blessed are the poor; the world says blessed are the rich
2) Blessed be those who mourn; the world says blessed are those who laugh and have fun
3) Blessed are the gentle/meek; the world says blessed are the proud and confident.
4) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst; the world says blessed are those who don’t hunger and don’t thirst because they have everything!

Here we see that Jesus, in his first recorded sermon, makes astounding, troubling, paradoxical statements…that we will be truly happiest when we have these attitudes. Not only that, but when we have these attitudes, we will have the Kingdom of Heaven…which is just another way of saying we will have all of the blessings of God.

- If you’ve grown up in church, we all know and love MATT 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It sounds so poetic and idealistic… but I’m going to be honest with you. When I try to really get my mind around that verse, I don’t naturally like it. I’m not sure I want to be poor in spirit — I’ve spent my entire life trying to become anything but poor in spirit. I am guessing that you guys probably struggle with the idea of being poor in spirit, maybe you don’t really even know how to define it. Maybe some of you listening really grew up poor, or went through a “poor season” and being poor is no fun…because when you’re poor, you feel helpless…it takes away your power, and your freedom. I kind of gravitate to wanting to be “capable in spirit” or “competent in spirit…” if anything, at least “middle class in spirit!” ||the paradox is obvious and Jesus was intentional in his teaching to lay a foundation of his kingdom mindset, the very center of the gospel message, with this first attitude, being poor in spirit. Jesus had to reset the standard, he needed to clear away all of the lies and all the errors to get us back to the real core of true happiness!

- As followers of Jesus…this happiness is a result of all of the blessings that God has given to us in Jesus, as his child.

EPH 1:3
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…”

God has given us every spiritual blessing…we are blessed, we can be truly happy, because of all that God has done for us in Christ Jesus!

1. WHY DOES JESUS BEGIN WITH THIS?
“BLESSED/HAPPY ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT”

- This is the first real instruction Jesus gave in the New Testament, first gospel, the gospel of Matthew, first recorded sermon of Jesus, first statement, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And it’s fair to ask why does He start here? It must be significant, it’s the first thing said, first thing recorded in terms of actual preaching from Jesus.

- Why does He begin with this?* Because it is the fundamental characteristic of the Christian. All other characteristics flow from this one. This is where everything starts. This is where happiness begins. This is where entrance into the kingdom begins. Jesus is basically starting with this statement… “You cannot enter my kingdom, you cannot be happy until you realize your spiritual bankruptcy and poverty.”

JOHN MACARTHUR QUOTE:
“As long as I’m clutching my own self-importance and my own self-righteousness and my own accomplishments and my own religious activity and my own morality, and as long as I’m holding onto this as if it somehow gained me access to God, as long as my hand is full of that dirt, it can never receive the gold of God’s grace. Happiness is only for those who are unworthy.”

Everything begins with broken-heartedness. Until someone is poor in spirit, Jesus is never seen for what He really is. He’s never precious. Before you can see how bankrupt you are, you can’t understand how valuable Jesus is. You can never see His matchless worth until you understand the full extent of your own worthlessness.

- And why is this first? Because inevitably what prevents people from entering into the kingdom is PRIDE. And at the very start, pride must be broken.

- Pride means you put confidence in your personal achievement, personal morality, personal religion, personal goodness. You are unwilling to acknowledge the fact that the best that you can do is filthy rags. The only way, then, to come into God’s kingdom, the only way to come to blessing, the only way to be genuinely happy, truly happy both in time and eternity is to confess your own unworthiness, your own utter inability to please God, your own incapacity to meet God’s standard.

The church at Laodicea was deceived.
Revelation 3:17-18, they said, “17 …’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

- So Jesus begins here because everything begins here. You will never enter the kingdom, you will never experience true happiness until there is a deep recognition of spiritual bankruptcy. [good things in your life and the bad…our righteousness is like filthy rags, at our very best!]

2. WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN… “…THE POOR IN SPIRIT”?

- Jesus was not talking about material wealth or being poor from a financial or physical sense. Jesus was talking about a spiritual sense of being poor.

- Two basic words used to describe being poor in greek.
1. One word was the idea of needing to work extra jobs, tirelessly, to make ends meet. Being so poor that you have to work hard every day to sustain your life.
2. The other word had the idea of being destitute…unskilled, your poverty is so deep that all you can do is beg. You are totally dependent on the gifts of others, everything comes from an outside source. The word actually describes a person who is reduced to begging, crouching down, not even willing to look up, pleading for money…they have no wealth, no influence, no position, no honor, no respect.

THAT IS THE WORD JESUS USED!

- This definition of “poor” is where we start. And it’s only when we recognize it that we become a candidate for entrance into God’s kingdom of happiness. When you see yourself as spiritually empty, spiritually poor, spiritually helpless, spiritually bankrupt, you can’t contribute one single, solitary thing to your salvation, you can’t give God anything that in any way qualifies you for any blessing from Him, You need mercy. You need grace from an outside source, from God Himself, because you can bring nothing. You are spiritually destitute, a spiritual beggar, helplessly dependent. That is what Jesus means when he says BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT.

Isaiah 66:2 CSB
“I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Psalm 34:18 CSB
“The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 51:17 CSB
“The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.”

- Q: so…how is this hitting you? I thought this series was called ‘happiness is…’, seems like it is taking a dive quickly!
- The original listeners were having some emotional responses to his words as well…so later he tells this story…

—> TWO TEMPLE MEN: [READ LUKE 18:9-14]…Jesus defines who the righteous man is…the broken humble poor in spirit man…

—> ISAIAH: [READ ISA 6:1-9]...Isaiah had a moment with God…came in to protest and left understanding God and himself in a deeper way. || He says “Woe is me,” and he repeats the word “woe” which was used six times in chapter 5 to pronounce curses on Israel, and he took the same word and cursed himself. He says, “I’m disintegrating, woe is me, I am undone.” And “I’m a man, with a dirty mouth.” And that’s how he assessed himself. And then the Lord said, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?”“I need a preacher. I need a preacher to go to this people that are under judgment. I need a preacher to go call them to repentance. Who will go?” And there’s only one guy there, folks. And Isaiah knows he’s supposed to answer the question. He says, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” I think Isaiah had his head down, probably toward the ground, he wouldn’t even lift his eyes, and he held both hands over his head and said, “Here am I, send me,” expecting God to crush him. And God said, “You’re the man I want. Get up and go.”

And again, it was usefulness out of brokenness.

We see the same thing in Gideon, Moses, David, Peter and Paul…all had a disposition of brokenness, a ‘poor in spirit’ attitude that opened the door of the Kingdom of God to them, to be used of God and to worship him.

- So Jesus says, Blessed (or happy) are...
---the beggars in spirit,
---the spiritually bankrupt,
---the spiritually destitute,
---the spiritual paupers,
---those who cringe and cower because they have nothing to offer.
---Blessed are those who, before the high and exalted and holy God, realize their spiritual bankruptcy.”

3. WHAT IS THE RESULT OF THIS ATTITUDE?

- He says it, verse 3, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” How encouraging! Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Theirs is” in the Greek sense of theirs alone, nobody else’s, except those with a beggar’s heart. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven - not will be...theirs is.

- So whatever it is, it’s present, here and now. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven now. Heaven is really the same as God. You have interchangeably the phrase “the kingdom of heaven,” “the kingdom of God” used in the New Testament. The kingdom of heaven is just another way of referring to God and also to refer to the rule of Christ. Christ is the King over God’s kingdom.

WE HAVE A KINGDOM BLESSING NOW…What does that mean?
-We have kingdom grace,
-We have kingdom mercy,
-We have kingdom peace,
-We have kingdom joy,
-We have kingdom wisdom because we’re subjects of the King.
-We have kingdom sovereignty; that is, the sovereign King takes care of His subjects. We have kingdom comfort for the times of sorrow.
-We have kingdom wisdom dispensed to us through the Word of the living God. All spiritual blessings are ours - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
-All the fruit of the Spirit constitute blessings of the kingdom, the gift of justification, the promise of sanctification until we reach glorification, the promise that everything is going to work together for good because we’re subjects of the King. Everything that is ours in Christ constitutes kingdom blessing.

That’s why you’re happy.[a future kingdom is coming, already not yet] but it isn’t all in the future!

4. HOW DOES ONE BECOME “POOR IN SPIRIT”? HOW DO YOU GET TO THAT PLACE?

—> RICH YOUNG RULER: Matthew 19:16-22
Sad, revealing story…This guy was wanting clarity, claiming he has done all that the scripture has commanded…and Jesus corrects him by saying “Well, look, there’s another standard that I’d like you to comply with. Sell everything you have, take all the money and give it to the poor.” The guy turned around and split, and he went away lost and condemned. Why? Not because he didn’t ask the right question. But there were two things he would not do...

1] He needed to acknowledge his spiritual bankruptcy, and that he had systematically, continuously, unendingly violated the law of God.

2] Admit that he was not willing to follow Jesus. Jesus gave him a simple command, he said, “No way would I do that,” which indicated there was no sense of allegiance and submission to Jesus as Lord, nor was there any recognition of sin. He’s outside the kingdom and he can’t get in because he won’t become poor in spirit. And he left as lost as when he showed up.

What should we do?
---First---
(and this is the best place to start)...compare yourself to God and stop comparing yourself to other people.

Q: Are you as holy as God?
A: You’re not, you’re wretched.
1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy as I am holy.”

Q: Are you perfect?
A: You're not...
Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

To seek these answers for yourself...then start reading about God, in the Bible. And when you conclude that you’re not as holy/perfect as God, you will have concluded the most necessary thing:
* you fall short and you can’t make up the gap.

---Secondly---
Pray (talk to God). When you’ve recognized your condition, it’s time to ASK. And what should you ASK for?
- How about this, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” [Luke 18]

How do you know if you’ve really come to poverty of spirit?
When your pride is gone, your self-righteousness is gone. This will be a result of a spiritual transformation that God, by his Holy Spirit, is doing in you.