Matthew 5:3

Matthew 5:3

Spiritually Bankrupt = Immeasurably Blessed 

1. God’s blessings begin at the end of ourselves, so we must understand and acknowledge our desperate need for Him

1. While the “Beatitudes” with which Jesus begins His sermon describe the characteristics of a truly Christian life, they aren’t a to do list which prescribes all one needs to do to live “Christianly”, and be blessed. Their purpose is to sum up the content of Jesus’ sermon, teach those who don’t know God that it’s impossible to please Him in their own strength and ability, and teach those who’ve been justified in Christ how to live pleasing to God. In the most literal sense, to be “blessed” means to be “happy”, but our subjective connotation of the word “happy” which is contingent on favorable circumstances in life, isn’t what Jesus means. “Blessed” doesn’t describe how we feel, but describes how God feels about us. It means to have God’s approval, affirmation, or even applause for our lives, and thus live contently, fulfilled, and satisfied in life because our core need for approval and affirmation have been met in an objective and circumstance proof way by the only One who can meet our need! But this approval is contingent upon a righteousness which exceeds our ability, so how do we obtain this blessing we so desperately need? Jesus tells us plainly that it’s bestowed on those who are “poor in spirit”. The word He uses for poor doesn’t describe a condition where one struggles to barely get by, but describes the destitute beggar who is hopelessly needy with nowhere to turn, is certain to perish, and who’s only recourse is to beg others for what they need to sustain themselves. However, Jesus doesn’t ascribe this poverty to material needs and their loss, he’s describing the inherent spiritual poverty which infects all our hearts, and separates us from God and His blessing. Jesus is speaking of the need to acknowledge that poverty of righteousness, our inability to resolve it, and our desperate need to be saved from our crushing debt of sin by the only One who is wealthy enough in righteousness to supply our needs. Jesus is telling us that the only way to the blessing, approval, and affirmation of God is to declare ourselves spiritually bankrupt. We must come to the end of ourselves; the end of our strengths, our abilities, and our prideful human nature, and throw ourselves on the mercy of the only just, compassionate, and gracious God who is capable of and faithful to free us from our unpayable debt through Christ! (v. 3; Ps. 18:27; 34:6; 40:17; 51:1-12, 16-17; 69:32; Isa. 57:15; 61:1-2; 66:1-2; Zeph. 3:8-12; Matt. 5:17-20; 11:5-6; Luke 4:17-21; 15:11-19; 16:19-31; Rom. 3:10-26; 7:12-8:4; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21; Gal. 3:10-14; Eph. 1:7-8)

2. God’s blessings begin at the end of ourselves, so we must seek to live pleasing to Him above all else so that we experience the fullness of His blessing in life

1. The world doesn’t exalt weakness or poverty in form, materially or spiritually. The world tells us that blessed are those who are strong, popular, influential, successful, wealthy, rulers, self-assertive, self-satisfied, and self-exalting. But none of those desires ever fully deliver anything but a greater lust for something better, grander, newer, and shinier version of what we already have. None of them address the root of deficiency for which we all inherently seek to satisfy, our spiritual poverty. The antidote which the world and our human nature proposes for our innate spiritual poverty, is pride and spiritual self-sufficiency, but Jesus teaches us that the only antidote to spiritual poverty is His righteousness, and being poor in spirit is the opposite of being rich in pride. So in order to be truly blessed, He calls us to a life that’s completely counter to the world around us. Jesus says the goal of our lives must be to live pleasing to God, which means first submitting our lives to God in repentant faith for salvation through Christ. Then we must submit our every thought, feeling, desire, word, and action to God to seek His will in it. The blessing which is then promised is Kingdom of heaven, which is both the promise of our eternal dwelling with God in sinless perfection, and the blessing of living confidently, securely, joyfully, peacefully, hopefully, purposefully, fulfilled, and satisfied today through His approval and affirmation of our lives. But only God can rule His Kingdom, and each time we allow pride, self-sufficiency, self-affirmation, self-choice, and self-exaltation to creep into our hearts, we effectively dethrone Him from our hearts, enthrone ourselves and the world, and forfeit His approval and the blessings with which it comes. If you’re continually feeling empty, exhausted, anxious, inadequate, confused, worried, overwhelmed, dissatisfied, bitter, or fearful, no matter what you do, it’s a sure sign that either you’ve never submitted to God in spiritual bankruptcy for salvation, or you’ve allowed pride to creep in and dethrone God. We only experience God’s blessing in life when we come to the end of ourselves by coming face to face with God, fully and continually submit our whole lives to Him, and trust fully in His grace, provision, and power for all things. (v. 3; Lev. 18:3-5; Job 40:1-3; 42:1-6; Ps. 51:13-15; Ps. 149:4; Prov. 16:19; 22:4; 29:23; Isa. 6:1-8; 41:10, 17-18; Jer. 17:5-10; Ezek. 28:2; Matt. 5:8, 48; 11:25; 20:25-28; Luke 5:8, 12-13; 15:20-24; 17:33; 22:26; John 16:8-11; 17:17; 20:26-29; Rom. 11:33-12:1-2; 1 Cor. 4:7; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:6-10; Gal. 6:14; Phil. 3:1-16; 4:4-19; Col. 3:1-4; 2 Tim. 3:1-7; Heb. 11:1, 6; 12:1-3; Jas. 4:1-10; 1 Pet. 5:6-11; Rev. 2:8-11; 3:14-22; 21-22)