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by Sandy Shaw
We are in the Sermon on the Mount and have read the concluding verses in chapter 7 for a very specific and pragmatic reason we now turn to these opening verses, which have been popularly called “The Beatitudes” Do read Matthew Chapter 5 verses 1 to 12, and consider the setting. Jesus Christ has been healing people, wrestling with niggling criticisms of the Pharisees and legalists, and calling these twelve men to be disciples.
This passage deals with our relationships – our relationship with ourselves - with other people – and with God. We could almost classify the context as – Happiness in yourself – Harmony with others – and Holiness before God.
Leading up to this we read of those who needed the Lord, and those whom the Lord needed. Sick people needed Jesus.
Jesus calls His disciples. He has things to say to us. If you are a disciple of the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, then these following words are addressed specifically to you. Jesus sees the crowds. There had never been crowds like this following any other Rabbi, and in one sense Jesus walks away, because at this moment Jesus has a different agenda. He is not going to play to the gallery.
A Rabbi would sit to teach. Those who had the authority to teach would sit. It was the authoritative thing for a Rabbi to do.
We are also, in a sense, eavesdropping. We are overhearing Jesus teaching His disciples.
Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
When you see people - when you look at people - that can affect what you are going to say. Have you ever noticed that when you are preaching or teaching? Those around us affect and influence us, as we discern various needs and spiritual hungers.
It is an eightfold description of the disciple of Jesus – eight characteristics. Showing and revealing and demonstrating these qualities bring their own reward. Jesus is showing these disciples the way of fulfilment.
How many people feel unfulfilled? Live like this, and you will be fulfilled.
What a strange thing to say. It is almost a contradiction. Blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt and who come to God in spiritual need. It is significant that that comes first, because how we approach God is important.
We do not have the resources to make ourselves right with God and we need that mercy and grace and forgiveness which no money can buy. All of these blessings are His to give. Those who come empty handed to God can have their hands filled, and hearts too! But in these following verses, lie secrets of how we can be blessed by God, and they can also shake our ways of thinking.
You poor in spirit - you who know you are spiritually poor or bankrupt - the Kingdom of God is yours. By this time these disciples had left all to follow Jesus - good jobs - financial security - fishing businesses - and Jesus is offering them something else - something greater - something that would last for ever - something eternal.
These are the leading and chief characteristics of the true child of God. When Jesus used these words “poor in spirit” His listeners would know what He was really meaning, because they knew the Psalms.
Turn to Psalm 34 verse 6, and Psalm 40 verse 17, and Psalm 69 verse 32. Would these pictures not come into informed minds as Jesus spoke? Those people in the Psalms were enslaved by difficulties, and spiritually empty and powerless, because of the state of the ‘Jewish church’ of the day. The poor in spirit would cry out to God because such men and women realised they were spiritually bankrupt.
Here is where the Beatitudes are highly relevant today. Later on, Jesus spoke about that man we call “The Prodigal Son”, who ran away from father, but soon his pride and his money and his self-sufficiency disappeared and evaporated and vanished.
Or, consider the two men in the Temple in Luke Chapter 18, where the man who realised he was spiritually bankrupt prayed for God to be merciful, to me, a sinner. He was a beggar before Almighty God and is that not what it really means to be poor in spirit?
This can indeed help each of us live a fulfilled and satisfied life, as we receive mercy and love and grace, and forgiveness from our generous God, through Jesus Christ.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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