And when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them
saying, and then we get into the first beatitude in verse 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Now notice, he doesn't just say, like he said over in Luke 6 in that sermon, blessed are
the poor.
Here he says blessed are the poor in spirit.
What does that mean?
To be poor in spirit.
Basically it doesn't mean that you're spiritually lacking because how in the world would that
be a blessing by anybody's estimation, right?
You don't want to be lacking spiritually.
The more spiritual we are, the better.
When he says blessed are the poor in spirit, he's talking about a person who on the inside
has the mentality of a poor person, okay?
And let me explain what I mean by that because it's not necessarily a blessing to be poor
because there are some rotten people who are poor.
There are people who are poor, who have no character, they're a rotten person, they're
a bad person.
So being just poor physically isn't just a guarantee, yeah, you're blessed, you're a
success just by virtue of being poor.
What if you got poor by being an idiot?
What if you got poor by being lazy?
What if you got poor by doing stupid things, right?
There are good poor people and there are bad poor people.
So when he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, he's
emphasizing the fact that we're not just talking about how much money is in your bank account,
but we're talking about the mentality of being poor, which means to be humble, having an
attitude that is not the puffed up, arrogant, high-minded attitude of the rich, but rather
the humble, meek attitude of the poor.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Think about it.
The gospel says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
So if it's virtually impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, of course
it is possible though because Jesus says with men it's impossible, but with God all things
are impossible.
It shows that the mentality of the rich man is an exact opposition with salvation.
You got the mentality of rich people here.
You got the gospel here.
These two things aren't compatible.
That's why it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
be saved, because being rich and accepting the gospel are not compatible, humanly speaking
this is a gap that cannot be bridged.
But yet there are some rich people who are saved.
How?
Because they're poor in spirit.
How did they get saved?
How did they get into the kingdom of God?
They're poor in spirit, okay?
Because on the inside, their attitude, their spirit, their heart is not that rich, puffed
up, arrogant attitude.
And especially the attitude that says, "Well, I did everything myself.
You know, I'm where I am because I built this business and I worked harder than everyone
else and I was smarter than everyone else and I made better connections than everyone
else."
Right?
That's a rich man's mentality that's going to keep him out of heaven.
Why?
Because getting to heaven is all about relying on someone else completely.
Now, what we have to understand is that the poor in the Bible is not what we think of
as poor.
We think of people who just don't make a lot of money as being poor.
People that are called poor in the Bible are typically people that are very destitute,
a lot more poor.
We think somebody who just doesn't have a car is poor in America.
We say, "Oh man, that person's poor."
When the Bible is talking about people that are poor, it's typically talking about people
that are relying on other people's charity for their very survival.
These are the lame man, the blind man or whatever that are begging alms outside the temple.
These people are fully relying on someone else to even exist.
It's not that they just don't eat steak very often.
They eat a lot of hot dogs and spam and bologna.
That's not what it's saying.
They have an old car.
Them and their wife share a car.
We talk about going to a poor neighborhood.
Those people are still able to take care of themselves.
They live pretty well compared to the rest of the world even, right?
So when Jesus is talking about being poor in spirit, it's that mentality that basically
is not relying on self but is relying on someone else and realizing, "Hey, I can't do it on
my own.
I'm poor.
I need help.
I can't do this on my own."
Well, guess what?
That's the type of person who's going to heaven.
When they say, "Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe," they're actually trusting what
Christ did to get them into heaven instead of trying to get to heaven on their own works,
their own righteousness, their own merits.
That's the rich man's mentality of, "Hey, I've done it all myself.
I don't need help from anybody."
You know, "The poor useth in treaties," the Bible says, "Please help me."
But the rich answereth roughly, "I don't need anything.
I don't need you.
I don't need help."
I got this, right?
Well, when you translate that over to salvation, that's not going to work.
You better come to Jesus like a beggar.
You better come to Jesus on your knees.
You better come to Jesus hat in hand.
You better come to Jesus like a poor person who's literally going to starve if they don't
get the help that they need.
That's what it takes to be saved.
You've got to fully trust in Jesus, not bring him your good works and say, "Here, let me
show you my portfolio.
Let me show you my resume."
No, it's like, "Look, I just need mercy.
I just need grace.
That's salvation."
So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
But the world will tell you, you're more blessed if you have an attitude that says, "I can
do everything myself, and I don't need help from anyone, and I'm just independent."
Isn't that what the world would say, "Oh man, you must be so happy.
You go, girl.
You independent woman, you.
You don't need any man to take care of you.
You're going to do everything yourself, and you got this."
But hey, that's not blessed.
Blessed are the poor in spirit that are willing to admit, "Hey, I can't do everything on
my own.
I can't rely on myself alone, okay?
I need help from God.
I need help from my parents.
I need help from a husband.
I need help from the boss.
I need help from my supervisor work."
Whatever the case may be in your life, "I need help from this person."
It's okay to need help with things, right?
Don't be puffed up and arrogant.
Be poor in spirit.
And hey, why are the poor in spirit so blessed?
Hey, there's the kingdom of heaven.
Anybody who doesn't have an element of this poverty in spirit is not even going to get
to heaven because it takes that poor in spirit attitude to even trust Christ as your savior
instead of trying to do it on your own.