Empty Handed | Matt Shetler

We spend most of our lives managing how people see us — projecting confidence, competence, the good life. Then Jesus opens his most famous sermon and says the people who've stopped doing all of that are the blessed ones. What if the entrance to everything God offers isn't achievement — it's admitting you have nothing to bring? Week 1 of the Blessed series from Lakewood Vineyard Church.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

So uh yeah. So this morning we are kicking off a brand new uh series uh called Blessed. It's called Blessed, and we're gonna be spending the next four weeks looking at some of the most incredible teachings of Jesus. But let me set a scene for you uh first. So um imagine uh you walk into a room, uh maybe it's a party, it's a full room, and you don't really know many people in the room, right? And you're like, ah, I gotta step into maybe it's a work event, a party, and you just kind of go, all right, I'm gonna step into a conversation. You meet someone brand new, right? And I don't know about you, but maybe you do this. I know I do this, but when you're meeting someone new, you're trying to get your best foot forward. And so you're thinking you're a little bit self-conscious, maybe you're going, okay, am I talking too much? Am I, you know, like what stories am I telling? Am I coming across as confident? Am I coming across as insecure? How do I look? What did I wear? You know, you when you're meeting new people sometimes, you're kind of trying to go put your best foot forward and put out the right vibe, right? Like the you have life together. I'm thinking about next week, or this week, actually, I'm going to a pastor's gathering. And maybe uh for those of you who haven't been in the church, this would be surprising. But when pastors get together sometimes, sometimes it's not always the most authentic place because you're like, oh yeah, how's your church? Oh, church is great, man. Growing, thriving, so healthy. You tell like all the best stories, you tell none of the struggling stories. You're like, oh, my family's amazing, everything is good. You're just like trying to like, especially if you're in a room where you don't know people. You're just trying to, you want to be the person that sounds like you have it together, like you're confident, right? That as you're telling stories, whether it's in a place where uh you're in a new party, a new place where people don't know you very well, you're trying to put out this vibe like I'm living a good life. Like my life is good, right? Normally we don't step in and just uh just like dump all of our stuff on people. And usually that image of the good life looks something like we have our lives together, we have our families together, we're doing well, we're successful at work, our relationships are healthy. We really want to be kind of put ourselves forward as a person, like not that we have needs, but that we can kind of give some insight, maybe, wisdom, especially if it's a work environment, right? We want to be like, oh yeah, this is this thing, this is a new process I figured out, like this is what we're doing at work. You want to be the people, the person that people look to maybe for some answers or insights. I know for me, that's definitely can be the challenge. And it works short term. In those moments, if you're really good at that, like people go, oh yeah, she does have it together, he does have it together. And you kind of get this like you got the right vibe out, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, I'm in, right? I'm in. I feel like I fit. But long term, putting on that image can be exhausting. It can be exhausting. And some of you probably mastered, like, I don't even care. I go in a room, I'm just like, here's me, which is great. But for a lot of us, we can go into space and we want to project that we're living the good life. We've got things together. But it can be tiring. Because oftentimes we carry this version of who we think we should be, or what our life should look like, or what a relationship should look like, or family, or success at work. We're carrying a vision of what that should be. And we want people to believe it, right? We don't we want what we're projecting for other people to go, yeah, this is their life. It's all put together. Like we don't need anything. Like we're the person to go to. Like all we do is win, right? We want people to believe that. Because in our culture, and I would say probably most cultures historically, like, it's not a good thing to appear like you have needs, right? Like saying someone is needy isn't like a positive thing, like, oh, they're really needy. You're like, that's not like, oh, that's so great. You think like, oh, neat, okay, all right. Even though in your own honesty, you might go, I'm pretty needy too. I just don't tell people about it. And I don't think I'm alone in this experience. Whether it's you're meeting new people, whether you're trying to think about what kind of image you're trying to project, or what kind of life you're trying to live, where you go, if I get to this point, then things will be great. I think it's interesting, though, that that that's the cultural water we swim in. When Jesus comes, who arguably is the greatest teacher that's ever lived, in one of the greatest messages, sermons that's ever been given, he surprises us with this first line, because in his very first line of this teaching that we call the Sermon on the Mount, he turns everything upside down by his first line. He begins talking about all the people who have stopped doing the things that I described. The people that have stopped putting on masks, the people who have stopped posturing, the people that only let you see their best. He talks about the people who don't have religious pedigree or credentials, nothing impressive about them. He talks about the people who aren't trying to convince someone of who they are. And he says they're blessed. He says they're blessed. So let me read that first line of Jesus. He says this in Matthew 5, 3. He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, if you grew up in church, you're like, okay, I've heard that a bunch of times. But if you didn't grow up in church, or haven't been around church a whole lot, or not a Bible person, this might sound like a strange sentence to you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You might ask questions like, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Does it mean to be spiritually empty? And if you're thinking like maybe it's spiritually empty, it's like, is that good? Like, is that what it's supposed to be? Is spiritually empty? And for some of us this morning we're like, well, if that's what it takes, I feel pretty good. I feel pretty spiritually full. Maybe we're bringing in different thoughts about what ways we've heard this taught before, but what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Here's what I think Jesus is saying. You know, the version of yourself that you walk into a room that you want to project to people, the ways that you want to impress people, the one that has everything together, no worries, no issues, living your best life, whatever you're posting on social, whatever you're sharing with friends, maybe it's the Christmas card you send out every year, and it's got like the highlights of your year. Usually, in those Christmas cards, when you get them, they don't talk about like, here are some challenges. You're like, we went to Disney World, we did this, I got a job promotion. You didn't go like, hey, me and my spouse argued for three months, but we're okay now. Or like I was dating someone, didn't work out. Like, that's not usually the postcard that we send. And honestly, no one's gonna Well, it might be more entertaining to read someone else's life, though. I was saying that not the best postcard you receive. You might be like, oh man, my life's not so bad compared to this guy. But I think what Jesus is saying is being poor as spirit is when you finally put that down. When you finally stop trying to fool others and yourself, and you just name reality. To be poor in spirit is to name reality. As it is. And here's reality is that we were created by and deeply loved by God. And that being true, all of us in our own way have decided that we know better than God. In some way, we've all lived for ourselves, we pushed God to the edge, we've wanted to be our own king, and we call this sin. It's a pretty churchy word, but it's pretty helpful. There's not really another word that kind of sums it up. And that's not just like a religious word or bad behavior. It's actually this fundamental thing that we all do. Decide that we don't actually need God. Sometimes in words, sometimes in action, sometimes in just the way that we fundamentally shape our lives. We've decided we can manage things ourselves, but the person who's poor in spirit is the one who has finally stopped pretending that that's true. The person who's poor in spirit has said, actually, I can't. Actually, like, I can't do all this. Actually, the things that I want to see, I can't I'm no longer posturing, I'm taking off the mask and just being real about where I'm at, who I am. My son William, I've used this illustration before, but he is an independent guy. He is an independent guy. He's five and a half, well, almost six. He wants to do everything by himself. Everything by himself, which is really good, actually, by the way. Uh like it's really good for kids to like try to do things on their own. The hardest part though is when there's something that he really actually can't do on his own. And I'll usually try to help, and he'll say, No, I can do it myself. I can do it myself, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. And then he hits a point, trying a lot of times, usually, oftentimes frustrated, and then he looks up to me and he goes, Can you help me? Kind of with that intonation. That's what being poor in spirit is. Where you're trying, trying, trying, you're doing it. I can do this, I can do this. And then you just kind of come to a place where you're like, you look up to God and go, Can you help me? Can you help me? It's not false humility, by the way. It's not self-deprecation, it's not thinking less of yourself. It's not like, well, I know I'm pretty good, but man, I really shouldn't think that great of the way that I helped that person the other day. Or I did use kind words towards my friend, but it's not those kind of words. You know, it's like could have been better. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking like honest assessment. It's not beating yourself down. Maybe some of us grew up thinking like if we ever do anything good, we have to go, like, it wasn't that good. You know, someone goes, great job, thanks for doing that. Oh, it was nothing. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about honest assessment, telling the truth of what you actually need. And when Jesus says, Jesus says, people who do this, who get honest with what their needs are spiritually, those are the people who are blessed. Those are the people who are blessed. I don't know about you, but like I want to be blessed, right? Remember when like hashtag blessed was all the rage? Like, I don't know, that's I don't think that's still as much of a thing anymore. Um, but some of us wonder though, okay, if this is the Bible, I buy into the Bible, maybe not completely, somewhat, maybe we're all in on the Bible, God speaking through it. Either way, we all want to be blessed. And Jesus, arguably the greatest teacher ever, greatest teach sermon ever. I should probably learn what does it mean? How do I become blessed? How do I become poor in spirit? Because whatever the kingdom of heaven is, sounds pretty great as well, too. So I want to do this poor in spirit thing. How do I become poor in spirit? How to become more poor in spirit? We should do a class on that. After rooted, we'll do how to become poor in spirit. But that's where the problem often lies, though, is that the moment we try to start achieving this poor in spirit thing, we can begin to put on another mask. Or we go, okay, I'm gonna be, how do I be poor in spirit? How do I be humble? Okay, humble. So like when I talk, I'm gonna be like, oh yeah, man, I'm just trying. Well, maybe if you're a Christian, you might use language of like, I'm just trying to learn how to trust God, it's hard. I'm just trying to like live like God's the only one, like in our prayer time, like, God, I just need you. We we use all the right words because we're trying to become poor in spirit. We're trying to like like show that we're humble. But what happens is sometimes that just becomes another mask that we put on. It's another false self that we're just like, all right, this is what I need to do. I need to be humble, I need to say that God is the only one, I need to say that I'm dependent upon him, I need to say that I'm spiritually empty or whatever it might be. But if we're honest, it can often come from a place still where we're still trying to kind of manage our image before God and others. And somehow, yeah, we think that we're managing how God sees us, right? So we come to God in prayer and we edit ourselves as well, too. Like we edit how we actually feel when we pray. Because God wants us to use our best words, God wants us to use our most humble words, right? That's how we pray. Because we think that's what we're supposed to do. We bring our best self, our best attitude toward God, and I know for a lot of us this morning we try so hard. We try so hard in our relationship with God, we try so hard to have the right attitude, we try so hard to have the right posture. And for others of us, though, it might be a different problem entirely. You say, Life is really good, church is really comfortable, and for some of us along the way, we just stopped living like we actually do need God. Like the challenge is like we hear a list, we're gonna talk about the Beatitudes for four weeks, and uh, we're gonna talk about some of these things that Jesus says that are that are crazy. Like, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are when you're persecuted, blessed are like uh who those who hunger and thirst, all these things, and you go, How is this blessed? For those who have been in church for a long time, we might go, I'm checking all these things off. Like I do these really well, actually. And we've actually come to a place where we stop living like we actually need God. Not like as like a GPS or like a kind of a wisdom person for us, but like we literally need him. Like that apart from him, we would be separated from him. It's actually him who came close to us. That all the joy and peace and hope that we're able to have in relationship with God is because God came close to us. So what is Jesus actually offering? Because I haven't we haven't talked about that yet. And he says it in Matthew 5, 3 again, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What is this idea of the kingdom of heaven? Well, Jesus actually uses this phrase super often, like the most often of any other phrase in his teaching. It's the first thing that he taught about, which might be different for some of us because it's not what we've heard a lot about, maybe in church. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, but it was really his big idea. It was a thing that he talked about all the time. He talked about the kingdom. When he started his teaching and healing ministry in Matthew 4, 17, the first things we have recorded that he's saying is, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. In the kingdom of heaven, it isn't uh longhand for heaven, by the way. It's not like longhand for just like where we go when we die. You think about human kingdoms. Human kingdoms are usually defined by like territories, right? So if a um, or yeah, by the territory that the king or the queen or the monarch has authority or ruling over. But God's kingdom is different. The way the Bible talks about God's kingdom isn't a place on a map. God's kingdom is wherever the king shows up, wherever his authority and his rule and his reign and his power show up. And here's what's radical about Jesus announcing that the kingdom of heaven had come near. He wasn't saying that the kingdom, his kingdom was going to come someday. He was saying it's arriving now in him, through him. So whenever he went, this idea of the kingdom of heaven, we see healing happen. Like bodies being healed, people being healed of all kinds of diseases, people being set free from spiritual evil. We see people who were living on the margins of society brought to the center. The people that were considered outcasts religiously, Jesus spent time with. We see restoration, new life. This is a picture of God's kingdom breaking in. And we call this like where we see God's kingdom break in and we see these things happen in Jesus' ministry. And today, by the way, as well. We say that's the now of God's kingdom, where we see God's kingdom in how He wants things to be. But then we don't fully see it, right? Like if God's kingdom, his rule, his reign, his authority, is where we see the way that God wants things to be. Then we go, well, when I see the conflict, the war in the Middle East, that can't be what God, that can't be God's best. When we see what's happening in other countries, when we see things in our own country happening, we go, that that can't be God's best. That can't be God's vision. And we say there's this not yet of God's kingdom, where we don't fully see God's rule and his reign come all the way. And we live in this tension. But when Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is near, and when he says in this teaching that blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, he's saying there's something of God's kingdom, his rule, his reign, his influence, his power that we can have now, that we can experience now. And it's thinking about the past six years. This church started in 19, not 19, 2020. Six years ago. And we've watched, I've watched the kingdom of God show up in people's lives. And it often looks like hope coming into lives where there wasn't any before. It looks like healing that's happened, people's bodies, people's emotions, relationships. It looks like someone who is living for one thing completely different have turned their lives to live for something that matters so much more. It looks like new priorities, new values, coming face to face with the reality of the God who loves you and has made you. It looks like forgiveness and kindness and transformation. And you know the people that I've seen this happen to the most, they were the ones who didn't have it all together, but didn't even act like they did have it all together. They didn't act like that they had things and didn't have any needs. The people who saw God's kingdom break in were the people who just said, I I need God. I need you. And some of those maybe some of you were down and out. Some of us are up and out. We're on the outside, life looks great. But on the inside, it doesn't feel that way. But what they all had in common, what maybe you in that category had in common is you stop pretending. Stop pretending, stop putting on the church face if you're a church person and going like, I have questions that I don't understand. I'm struggling in ways that like I haven't been able to admit, but now I'm just gonna be honest. I've just been going through the emotions, or I've experienced a ton of hurt in my past church experiences, and I I'm scared to step in. God's saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who acknowledge I need God, who say, God, would you help me? This is what God is saying. God is saying, Blessed are those who simply come to this place of reality. Those are the ones who can receive God's kingdom. And again, the kingdom of heaven isn't just an experience, though. It's not just something that God does to you or something that happens that you feel. The kingdom you step into at the very center is the king. It's the king you surrender to. Just like any relationship we enter into, and in any healthy relationship, a relationship with God, where we enter in as king. Or any relationship we enter into, we just come as we are.

unknown 20:17

Right?

SPEAKER_00 20:17

We come as we are. We enter into a relationship where we come as we are. We come as we are. Whether we're upset and sad, whether we're excited and happy, we come as we are. And this is how we step in a relationship, right? Think about the deepest relationships you have. They didn't go any deeper than your vulnerability. I mean, and maybe that's okay. Maybe there's some relationships like, I'm good with the level that it's at. Great, awesome. We have those friends, right? But it goes to the depth of vulnerability, and God's saying, I just want the real you. Blessed are those who acknowledge their poor in spirit. Not those who tear themselves down, not those who like fake it. Blessed are you when you just admit that you need God. The kingdom of God isn't for people who have it all together. It's for those who admit that they don't. And I have this, it's like a little table here, just that kind of shows comparison about what the world assumes and what Jesus announces. What the world assumes, the good life belongs to the strong, the competent, and the spiritually mature. What Jesus says is the kingdom is given to those who acknowledge they don't have anything to bring. Spiritual life is for people who have their act together. That's what the world assumes. Maybe some of you, you came into church and you're like, man, the people who are really mature are the ones who kind of come buttoned in, don't have any needs, the people who don't come forward for prayer, whatever it is. Like, those are the spiritually mature people. But Jesus says is spiritual life is the gift. Given to people who stop pretending that they have it together. Again, what the world assumes, or maybe we assume, God's impressed by our effort. But what Jesus says, God's moved by your honesty, just transparency. And what the world assumes is self-sufficiency, is the goal. Being able to do it on your own, right? That's our American thing, is like we're pulled up by our own bootstraps, self-made man and woman. We love to tell the story where we just did it on our own. Jesus announces that emptiness is the entrance. We enter in by just admitting, God, I can't. I can't. I can't come to you on my own. I can't come to you on my own. I need you, God. God's kingdom comes precisely at the point of your emptiness. Just acknowledging it. There's room for God when you acknowledge that you're poor in spirit. I was thinking about um when Aaron and I, uh before we had kids, we love to um make coffee, and then we still make coffee in the morning just to survive. But um we used to do it in uh more fancy ways, and and whatever like have a chemex or like a pour over, have you ever seen, or maybe you've seen a coffee filter like that, where uh we would often be told by some family members, like, why do you make making coffee so difficult? Like, can't you just push the button and like you know, and then it makes it for you? Um, but you know, this chemex is this glass container and it's just empty. It's just empty. And we do our kind of thing, we put our our filter on it, have our beans, pour our water over it. And what happens is it's completely empty, and as it gets poured into, it gets filled up. It gets filled up. The thing about the chemex, though, it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to work to try to get be empty. It just is. That's what a chemex is, it's just an empty container. But if it was like, this thing's already full, no space, no room, it's like then you're not gonna pour anything into it. You're not gonna see like there's anything that needs to go into it. But it's just if we acknowledge the chemicx doesn't have to try to be empty. In the same way with us, it's like we just have to acknowledge where we're coming from, and that's where God wants to meet us. It doesn't mean you have to admit that your life is falling apart. It doesn't mean you have to say, oh, my marriage is terrible, my job is terrible, everything's terrible, nothing matters. It's saying the reality is a spiritual reality says that we're separated from God. That we own our own way, chosen to walk our own path in very in lots of different ways. And God knew that. And he said, I don't want you separated from me. I want you to be in the closest relationship that could possibly be the way I created your relationship to be. And so Jesus came showing us exactly what God is like. And he gave his life for us, took all of our guilt, our shame, all of our rebellion against him, he took it on himself, he died in our place, so that we could have life with God. That we can step into his kingdom. And the only thing that we need to do is admit and say, God, I can't do it on my own. I've tried. I've tried to love well, I've tried to do these things, but I see how I keep falling short. God, I just need your forgiveness. I need your grace. And that's the invitation when we acknowledge that we're poor in spirit, we step into his kingdom and we get all that he offers. And for some of us, most of us maybe in this room, we'd say, I've already made that step, but what can happen is we forget. We forget how much we need him. We forget how much we don't have it all together, and we can find ourselves in judgmental places at times. Maybe prideful places, like I got it together. We see someone else come in, and we're like, oh, that's so good. They're so excited. They began to follow Jesus. Man, that's so cool. I remember when I was excited. I remember when it mattered to me, or I remember, yeah, you know, or we just kind of lose touch with how much we still need him. This message wasn't to just people who were beginning to think about God or to follow him. This message that Jesus preached was for us for all time. And this is what it looks like to follow Jesus is to admit and say, I'm poor in spirit and I need you. I'm poor in spirit and I need you. So for some of us this morning, maybe you find yourself just struggling to admit that that's you. Like you're still in your own faith journey, your spiritual journey, struggling to like just you're putting a mask on for God in your own prayer time. Maybe when you come to church on Sundays, maybe in your community group, you like struggle, like you put this mask on. Like, I want people to think and that I have it together, that I'm not struggling, that I'm I don't have any doubts. I'm doing well. How you doing? Doing great. How's your week? It's really good. And what's God been talking to you about? And you're like, okay, what's the last thing that I felt like God like encouraged me in? Okay, yeah, it's been a couple months, but yeah, I'll say that thing. Instead of just going, honestly, I haven't prayed in a while. Honestly, I haven't read my Bible in a while. Or honestly, I've been doing all that stuff, and it just feels dry. Like I'm having a tough time. We just come as we are. An encouragement this morning, like every week, that we have an invitation to receive prayer, if you would say, Yeah, I struggle to just keep putting that mask on, to admit that I'm poor in spirit. Jesus wants to invite you, take the mask off. And one of the things I learned was that the only you that God can actually heal and meet and encounter is the real you. So when you bring a face, a fake you, like there's just parts of you that God doesn't interact with. I don't mean that he doesn't come close to you, but it's like he can only heal the real you. He can only interact with the real you because that's who you truly are. And so I'd encourage you this morning, as we sing, as we pray, to just say, God, I just want to lay that mask down. I just want to take it off, God. I just want to be real before you. God says, that's when you inherit the kingdom. That's how we receive all that God offers. And for others of this morning, it's stepping into that relationship with God. Admitting you can't earn a relationship with God. Just saying yes to Jesus being your king, to receiving his forgiveness and in welcoming his kingdom, stepping into his kingdom. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You know, Jesus once wrote a letter, um, he wrote a bunch of letters. Well, see, in the book of Revelation, there's these letters he wrote to churches. And uh there's a church called the Church of Laodicea. And it was written to this church that was thriving, it was comfortable, they were doing all the right things. And you know what he said to them? He said, You don't even know how empty you actually are. You don't even know how empty you actually are. Like, I want you to see how things really are. And this wasn't meant to be condemnation, but an invitation. Because Jesus isn't turned off or put off by your emptiness. He says, Come back, be honest. Let me in. And here's the thing. For those of us who feel weighed down by some of this, God's saying, take the mask off. For others of us, God's saying, it's okay to just admit where you are. It's okay. It's okay just to be real. So can I encourage you this week? Just take five minutes this week in your time of prayer with God. And just pray a really honest prayer. Not your best words, your thoughts, your attitudes. Don't filter it. Just tell God how you're actually doing. And if that's joy-filled, go for it. Like, don't filter those. Because I've had times too where honestly, like, I'm like, man, there's so much heavy in the world, other people are struggling, but actually I feel great. I can feel like, oh, I don't know if I can. No, spend time in gratitude then. If you're just bubbling out of gratitude and thanksgiving, do it. Do it. We don't have to like woe is me. But just five minutes this week, find time and just go, God, this is how I'm really feeling in these moments. Unfilter it. If words come out that you're like, I don't know if I can say that to God, just let them come out. God already knows you're thinking it, you're already feeling it. He wants the real you. God wants the real you. He's inviting us to come close. The unedited version. This is how a blessed person lives. This is how a person in God's kingdom lives, and it's his invitation to us today to take that step in walking with him. When Jesus preached this sermon, he had just healed all these folks who had been sick. He had crowds of people, none of them were influential, none of them were the religious leaders, it was mostly just average people that most people would have overlooked and said they don't have any spiritual pedigree. And so when Jesus would have said, Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, he would say, This is the kingdom, he would have been seeing a whole crowd of people and talking to them. They would have been hearing themselves like because they would have seen themselves as poor in spirit. Jesus is saying to you, if you feel like that, this is who the kingdom is for. And friends, if we show this picture of this is what it looks like to follow Jesus as the kingdom of God, to understand the witness of people who follow Jesus would be totally different in the world. If it was like, this is the kingdom for those who admit they have needs, this is the kingdom for those who want to make peace, this is the kingdom for those who admit that they're empty and need-filled, all these things. And yet, so often, as Christians, we walk around sometimes with that we have all the answers, we have all the things figured out. But what would it look like? If this picture, the words that we're singing, this is what embodied our lives and our hearts in us as a church. Man, God has so much to pour out through us and in us.