SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Good to see everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Of course to be here and to to worship and it's always a great blessing is what we're gonna be talking about.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of blessings.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be looking at the first beatitude in this sermon new sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go through line by line, but this is the first one.
SPEAKER_00: First one's in chapter 5, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first beatitude that Jesus starts with.
SPEAKER_00: And he starts every beatitude in the same way with this word blessed.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of these are blessed people.
SPEAKER_00: We kind of need to understand what this word means before we go on and we look at these other beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: And it can be kind of tricky, especially when you try to translate this into English.
SPEAKER_00: Some more modern translations will use the word happy instead of blessed.
SPEAKER_00: I can see what they're getting at here.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Happy are the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But then you get to, right, happy are those who mourn.
SPEAKER_00: And then it seems a bit more confusing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is the predicament here?
SPEAKER_00: Let's kind of break it down for us.
SPEAKER_00: There are two main uh words for bless in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at them in the Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the first is brak.
SPEAKER_00: And that is simply that you're proclaiming blessings on someone.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to pray over them.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna shower them with blessings.
SPEAKER_00: If you have like a baby shower or something, or a wedding shower, that is a form of brak there.
SPEAKER_00: We are blessing that person.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna do something to bless them.
SPEAKER_00: We see some examples of this in the Old Testament, right?
SPEAKER_00: The Levites would say when people come into the temple in Numbers 6, 24, the Lord bless you and keep you, right?
SPEAKER_00: Pouring blessings on them.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103, verse 1, right?
SPEAKER_00: And our praise and our service to God.
SPEAKER_00: We are bless the Lord, O my soul.
SPEAKER_00: We bless.
SPEAKER_00: That is brought.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can read the Beatitudes in this way, and we can think that's what Jesus is doing here.
SPEAKER_00: He is, but he's not doing it when he uses this word bless.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where we get to the second main word for bless that we see in the Bible, and that is ashre.
SPEAKER_00: Ashrei is the state of being blessed.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if I walk around, you can see the definition on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: I walk around and I see someone, and I think, oh wow, these people over here, they are well off.
SPEAKER_00: Like they are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm observing and I'm discerning who is blessed here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm realizing these people are in a state of blessedness.
SPEAKER_00: They have blessings.
SPEAKER_00: They're living the good life, you could say.
SPEAKER_00: Some examples of this.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how similar this is in structure to what Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes, right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is following the same pattern, the same psalmist pattern, wisdom literature pattern here.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 32, verse 1, right?
SPEAKER_00: Ashre is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so true.
SPEAKER_00: Whose sin is covered.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Jesus does for us, right?
SPEAKER_00: He does Barak and Ashre.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 112, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And really all the Beatitudes are people full of a kingdom, uh, in a kingdom that fear the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Both blessings happen though when we look at Matthew chapter 5, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: But the order is important.
SPEAKER_00: Ashrei to the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is looking round, he's observing, he's saying that these people over here are living the blessed life.
SPEAKER_00: They're living the good life.
SPEAKER_00: And in this case, it's the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Barak is mentioned there at the very end.
SPEAKER_00: It's the proclamation, even though it's not explicitly mentioned, it's the blessing, right?
SPEAKER_00: For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus blesses them.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is saying, these are those who are blessed, and here is that blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see that pattern because we're going to look at all of these beatitudes really line by line.
SPEAKER_00: When you look at Ashray, though, it's interesting when we try to think of who's living the good life.
SPEAKER_00: Like who's living the blessed life?
SPEAKER_00: And we think about that and try to apply it to our world today.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're scrolling on your phone and you see someone who's just, they just have it all, right?
SPEAKER_00: They have all the things you don't have.
SPEAKER_00: They have the looks and the youth and the wealth and the house and the family and the kids and and all the things, and you're just looking at that and you're scrolling, you're like, that is Ashray, right?
SPEAKER_00: That is blessed.
SPEAKER_00: It's important that we see it that way.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they would have used this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel, though, the weight when you see it that way.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel the weight of what Jesus is saying and just how counter-cultural what Jesus is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: How crazy it is that he's saying, blessed are the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It's good for us to then reflect and ask ourselves, who do we think is living the good life?
SPEAKER_00: Like, who do we think when we look at them is we think, man, they are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: We consider them, they're happy.
SPEAKER_00: They have to be happy.
SPEAKER_00: They must be happy.
SPEAKER_00: They have all of this stuff, right?
SPEAKER_00: They can buy a car on a whim, they can send their kids to college without any debt.
SPEAKER_00: They are ashred.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you can have some examples in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you some ancient examples.
SPEAKER_00: This is a list of Beatitudes from a rabbi 200 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna list them to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to compare them to what Jesus says and what you have in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is from the Apocrypha for you nerds, but this is about 200 years before Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna have them on the screen, but I want you to listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_00: This is a rabbi, right?
SPEAKER_00: Ancient Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: What does he consider the blessed and good life?
SPEAKER_00: He says this blessed as Shre is the man who has not slipped with his mouth, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: Who's not pricked with a multitude of sins, off to a great star.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes, Blessed is the man who can who can rejoice in his children.
SPEAKER_00: Or how about this one?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed, ashre is the man who sees the downfall of his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus say about enemies?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: What is he gonna say about those who are persecuted by their enemies?
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Or happy, blessed, Ashrey is the man who lives with a sensible life, he says.
SPEAKER_00: Or ashrey, blessed, is the one who doesn't have to plow with both an axe and a donkey, whose work and labor is easier.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed, he says, is the one who does not have to serve an inferior.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: And we can see this in the world today, can we not?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the employer, not the employee.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who's in charge, the boss, not those down here, not the servants.
SPEAKER_00: We say that today.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Blessed is the rich person who is found blameless.
SPEAKER_00: Not to give him credit, he says who doesn't go after gold.
SPEAKER_00: But bless is the rich.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's easy to look at some of those and think, even in our modern context, some of that are very similar.
SPEAKER_00: And some that we might have in our own mind as well.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who can grind and hustle, right?
SPEAKER_00: For wealth is theirs.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the proud.
SPEAKER_00: Often do we say that?
SPEAKER_00: Because they have some sort of purpose, and I want purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the aggressive, they get their way.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I had my way.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who do not grieve.
SPEAKER_00: You can see how I'm inverting some of these that we see from the Beatitudes of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't grieve, you must be happy.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the rich, for they have power and influence.
SPEAKER_00: Compare that what the world says, what this rabbi says, what the ancient world says, to what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Read along with me, Matthew chapter 5, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The good life.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Ashray to the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who, right, who beat their enemies down and see the downfall of their foes.
SPEAKER_00: No, those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And blessed are those who revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
SPEAKER_00: When up a completely different story when you look at the words of Jesus here.
SPEAKER_00: And just think about how radical it is to those that are hearing his words.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is doing here is he's pointing out these are the people who make up my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: While the rest of the world sees them and ignores them and treats them as outcasts, I don't see them, I accept them.
SPEAKER_00: I love these are my people.
SPEAKER_00: He says, all of this right after in Matthew chapter 4, we're told he's going out and he's proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven on earth is made up of these people.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we look at the beatitudes like, you know, blessed are the poor in spirit, you have two halves here, right?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed, poor in spirit, and their blessing is in this case the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the flow of our lesson this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this again.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at this idea of poor and spirit, poor and spirit is kind of a tricky phrase, at least at first glance.
SPEAKER_00: It's not as easily understood when you compare it to, well, the next few on the list, right?
SPEAKER_00: Those who mourn, the meek.
SPEAKER_00: Those are pretty self-explanatory, right?
SPEAKER_00: Very plain with the reading.
SPEAKER_00: The real question, though, when you see porn spirit, is you want to ask yourself, am I porn spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is porn spirit, and is that me?
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is doing here is he's really telling a story with two words.
SPEAKER_00: He's taking this Torah and he's taking spirit, and he's putting it together to tell a story.
SPEAKER_00: And that story is the powerless.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we are nothing without God.
SPEAKER_00: And that is how Jesus starts off his sermon.
SPEAKER_00: By reminding people that God's people are those that need him.
SPEAKER_00: They need him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you know that and you realize that, that is key.
SPEAKER_00: If you realize you are powerless, that is key.
SPEAKER_00: The word there for poor isn't just someone with a low-income class, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's not this idea that they make this much and this much, and they're just on the lower end of things.
SPEAKER_00: That's not it.
SPEAKER_00: This is someone who is completely destitute.
SPEAKER_00: Like they are in need.
SPEAKER_00: They have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: This is describing someone who is like a beggar and someone who's on the streets completely dependent, no food, no money, completely in need.
SPEAKER_00: It's a state of just constant need.
SPEAKER_00: That's the idea that Jesus is getting at when he says these.
SPEAKER_00: And the world doesn't often look at that and say, wow, look at that.
SPEAKER_00: Ashrei, great.
SPEAKER_00: They're blessed.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's remarkable when Jesus says, no, these are.
SPEAKER_00: But sadly, we as humans we don't see that.
SPEAKER_00: We care a lot more about what we have and how we're perceived.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus sees right past that to the heart of the people.
SPEAKER_00: And that's when not only just takes this idea of poor, but he connects it with this idea of spirit.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of our soul, our inner being, our life energy.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This in Hebrew it's ruach or pneuma in the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: It's this idea that God, it's what God breathed into man, what many consider our conscience.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you look at foreign spirit, needy spirit, a needy soul, and you think about what this means.
SPEAKER_00: Traditionally it's been interpreted different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Like what I heard growing up was this is someone who is downcast, depressed, someone who's just sad, right?
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I've also heard this is someone who's humble and pious.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who can who can realize, you know, okay, yeah, I need to be humble.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think either one is right or wrong per se, but look at what Luke says in his version of the Sermon on the Plains or the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even put spirit in there.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't even include spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What we do see is that God cares about his people who are powerless.
SPEAKER_00: Taking these definitions, I think that's a fair interpretation of what Jesus is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the powerless.
SPEAKER_00: And realizing all of us are powerless when it comes to us trying to overcome our sin or wash ourselves clean for that matter.
SPEAKER_00: But for them, for us who are powerless, the poor in spirit, Jesus is talking to, the power comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: And give you some Old Testament examples, right?
SPEAKER_00: Look at Psalm 14, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: You should shame the plans, you would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.
SPEAKER_00: You can see how God cares about the powerless, how God cares about the poor.
SPEAKER_00: He is his refuge.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 40, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: As for me, this is David speaking, a king, not someone who's necessarily physically poor, but what did he say?
SPEAKER_00: I am poor and needy.
SPEAKER_00: I am poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord takes thought of me.
SPEAKER_00: You are my help and my deliverer.
SPEAKER_00: Do not delay.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God.
SPEAKER_00: I love that idea that he says, God takes thought of me.
SPEAKER_00: God takes thought of these people, these beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: God takes thought of the poor in spirit and the poor.
SPEAKER_00: I think we make a mistake, though, when we take poor in spirit and we over-spiritualize, or we make it overly physical.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is talking about not just those that are maybe physically poor, but also those that are spiritually poor.
SPEAKER_00: And when you combine what Luke says, what Matthew says, when you look at the definitions of these words in the Greek and the Hebrew, I don't think it's mutually exclusive.
SPEAKER_00: Especially when you consider who Jesus is talking to, who's on the side of this mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Probably people of extreme poverty.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He takes this time to give a sermon addressing and communicating to them spiritual truths.
SPEAKER_00: The people who are outcasts and rejected and poor and lame and sick.
SPEAKER_00: And they're probably not feeling too good.
SPEAKER_00: And they're probably not thinking, I have a great life and I'm blessed.
SPEAKER_00: And notice how their physical state is affecting their spiritual state as well.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this if we look at Old Testament examples of maybe poor and spirit or something similar to that.
SPEAKER_00: You have Job in Job chapter 7, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Look, my ruach, my spirit is distressed.
SPEAKER_00: It's squeezed.
SPEAKER_00: So you have not just poor and spirit, you have a distressed spirit as well.
SPEAKER_00: You have bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: Or this is Genesis 26, verse 35.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac is seeing his son here, Esau, go out and marry Gentile wives, marry Canaanite wives.
SPEAKER_00: And he says there that his life is bitter.
SPEAKER_00: Life there is ruch, spirit.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit is full of bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: Another example is Proverbs 15, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: I love this one.
SPEAKER_00: A gentle tongue is it is a tree of life.
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: But perverseness, perverseness in this breaks the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So a soothing tongue is like a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue produces a crushing spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You see how our spirit can be affected?
SPEAKER_00: Lies and deceit do damage, not just to someone else's spirit, someone else's soul, but even our inner vitality, our inner soul.
SPEAKER_00: Think about those examples.
SPEAKER_00: Think about Job and Isaac and their situation.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who's lost everything, someone who sees his son going and making foolish decisions.
SPEAKER_00: They are in those moments what?
SPEAKER_00: Powerless.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, powerless.
SPEAKER_00: They have to rely on the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I think when we look at our own life, many of us have been there one degree or another.
SPEAKER_00: We find ourselves in those powerless moments.
SPEAKER_00: Physically, spiritually, they're often interconnected.
SPEAKER_00: But when you realize that your soul, especially, is needy, poor and needy, destitute, what you realize is that you need God.
SPEAKER_00: It's in those moments of realizing I need God.
SPEAKER_00: We are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: That we're living the good life.
SPEAKER_00: Because a life with God is a good life.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's doing here in this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: He's offering an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: Like you, you know you need God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm offering you that invitation.
SPEAKER_00: The porn spirit are blessed, the powerless.
SPEAKER_00: They need God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants us to know that the kingdom of heaven is for those who are reliant on God, not those who think that they are self-reliant, that they can rely on themselves.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need God, right?
SPEAKER_00: I can rely on my money for happiness.
SPEAKER_00: I can kind of self-help my way through life.
SPEAKER_00: And we're fooling ourselves if we think we can do that.
SPEAKER_00: And Christians aren't excluded from this way of thinking.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the church in Laodicea makes this very mistake.
SPEAKER_00: Notice their mindset.
SPEAKER_00: They think they can rely on their own wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus points out that you know you are poor and needy, but you're not realizing it.
SPEAKER_00: He says to them, You say, I am rich, I have prospered.
SPEAKER_00: I need nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
SPEAKER_00: Is the problem that they're rich?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: But it's that they're relying on their wealth rather than God.
SPEAKER_00: They're self-reliant.
SPEAKER_00: And these are saved Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that when we're in Christ that we're somehow wretched.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is telling them not to forget who saved you.
SPEAKER_00: Who saved you from your blindness and your nakedness?
SPEAKER_00: And they fail to, as Jesus says, realize this, to be self-aware of their poverty in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That they are wretched and pitiable and poor.
SPEAKER_00: The lesson is for us to kind of look within and realize look, we are powerless.
SPEAKER_00: We are poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We are powerless without God.
SPEAKER_00: And as God's people, we are, we need him.
SPEAKER_00: We need him.
SPEAKER_00: And having a life with him leads to a great life.
SPEAKER_00: I reminded the tax collector, right?
SPEAKER_00: Luke 18.
SPEAKER_00: He can't even lift his eyes to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he pray?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Be merciful, sinner that I am.
SPEAKER_00: And how does he walk away?
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember how he walks away in Luke 18?
SPEAKER_00: He walks away justified.
SPEAKER_00: Another one of my favorites, when I think about a poor in spirit, is Luke 7.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to turn over there, Luke chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: This is someone who is poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the women who washes Jesus' feet with her hair and her tears.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great depiction of what poor in spirit looks like.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole time she is identified simply as a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: And the Pharisees who are witnessing this judge both Jesus and this woman.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus responds with a parable and wants you to listen to this parable.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 7, verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answering said to him, Him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
SPEAKER_00: And he answered, Say it, teacher.
SPEAKER_00: A certain money lender had two debtors.
SPEAKER_00: One owed 500 denari and the other 50.
SPEAKER_00: When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.
SPEAKER_00: Now, which of them will love him more?
SPEAKER_00: Simon answered, The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, You have judged rightly.
SPEAKER_00: You look at our life, and there's a lot that we love, and there's a lot of blessings that we have that you have that we can, we just we just love it.
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
SPEAKER_00: But the good life, the blessing of being poor in spirit, is loving God more.
SPEAKER_00: I'm poor because I realize actually I am in debt.
SPEAKER_00: I'm powerless in my ability to pay off that debt of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I realize that.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus pays that debt.
SPEAKER_00: He has paid that for.
SPEAKER_00: And when I realize that and I serve him, I'm completely reliant on him.
SPEAKER_00: That is a good life.
SPEAKER_00: That is ashre.
SPEAKER_00: And it only goes to show the blessing that Jesus has given you.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That barak.
SPEAKER_00: The blessing that now theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 5, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: The blessing that comes with the poor in spirit is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is the second half of this verse here.
SPEAKER_00: The promise, you might say.
SPEAKER_00: The poor in spirit have a good life because of the kingdom of heaven, their blessing.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to look at the language tense here.
SPEAKER_00: But you see that in verse 3?
SPEAKER_00: This beatitude?
SPEAKER_00: The beatitudes are almost like, at least verse 3 and verse 10, those two beatitudes are almost like bookends.
SPEAKER_00: They both have the same present tense.
SPEAKER_00: Like theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This means that the promise is for now.
SPEAKER_00: All the other blessings in between that are future tense.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_00: But the kingdom of heaven is not just a future reality, it's also a reality now.
SPEAKER_00: We need to see that.
SPEAKER_00: And so look at verse 4, for example, where he says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall, or modern English, will be comforted.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus repeats this throughout.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They shall, they shall, they shall, they will, they will, they will, six times before he gets to verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells us, like another bookend, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that pattern?
SPEAKER_00: So verse 3, verse 10 act as bookends to the whole section showing us this is who makes up the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: These are the people, God's people, right here in this kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: This is who they are.
SPEAKER_00: This is how they act.
SPEAKER_00: And how they act, Jesus lays out throughout the rest of this sermon, throughout the rest, in the middle of verses chapters 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_00: These little details kind of help us understand some of the application.
SPEAKER_00: We're promised, yes, a future with Jesus, a new heavens and a new earth that will come.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, Jesus is also giving us a place, a home for the poor in spirit, for the persecuted right now, a kingdom of heaven, his church.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not some made-up kingdom, it's a real kingdom with a king, Jesus, made up of his people, citizens of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he says it's theirs now.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: For the brokenhearted, the powerless, the persecuted, they have a place of refuge.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same God, the same character we saw in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And he takes thought of that when he gives this blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And so they find shelter in the church.
SPEAKER_00: They find shelter amongst God's people with Jesus God as their king.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good time to remember that.
SPEAKER_00: What was Jesus proclaiming?
SPEAKER_00: That gospel message in Matthew chapter 4 that Sven mentioned earlier and mentioned last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: That he went throughout Galilee and he was proclaiming the gospel, right?
SPEAKER_00: The gospel of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And then going out healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
SPEAKER_00: He's proclaiming the message.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: And then helping the poor and the broken.
SPEAKER_00: In his sermon, he's echoing his own leadership.
SPEAKER_00: He's leading by example.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why he can say, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
SPEAKER_00: He leads by example.
SPEAKER_00: He is our king.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to be a part of that kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a great blessing.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And it's for the poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the church is where the powerless can find that power.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom, the church, is what makes the poor in spirit a good life.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because theirs is the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus says here is that if you don't have the kingdom of heaven, if you're not in the kingdom of heaven, then life really, what are you living for?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: If you're not living for God, you're not living for the king, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: You can see your enemies perish, you can win at the game of life, you can accumulate as much as possible, all the wealth in the world.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're not in the kingdom, you're lost.
SPEAKER_00: What does it benefit you?
SPEAKER_00: What do you gain by gaining the whole world by forfeiting your soul?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus would say.
SPEAKER_00: Those in the kingdom are with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's his people.
SPEAKER_00: And so the church are the hands and feet of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we miss that.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see that here in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we do.
SPEAKER_00: He lays that out for us in the middle of the sermon when he says in his prayer, his example of prayer in Matthew 6, verses 9 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Pray like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say here?
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The idea is that God's will in heaven will be done on earth.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom has come, and it's for the poor in spirit, as we're learning today.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's way of fulfilling his promise.
SPEAKER_00: That the powerless, whom he considers and whom he thinks about, actually have a place of refuge.
SPEAKER_00: So go back and think about our list of what makes a good life.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Is it seeing the downfall of our enemies?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the rich?
SPEAKER_00: Is it not having to work hard?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the hustle?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it those needy and destitute in spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you realize that.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus wants you to realize that.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't realize that, you are poor in spirit and you need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You really do.
SPEAKER_00: He has provided a place of refuge.
SPEAKER_00: There's no point in living life for gain that only goes away.
SPEAKER_00: But rather, live life for a king that provides an eternal home.
SPEAKER_00: If that's what you want this morning, for him to pay that debt and be baptized and wash away your sins.
SPEAKER_00: Come forward now while we stand away.