Eight blessings (1):
The blessing of the poor in spirit
[Matthew 5:3]
Are you happy? Part-time job recruitment portal Albamon, operated by Job Korea, recently conducted a survey of 391 college students on the subject of ‘happiness’ and announced the result. Looking at the announced result, the most important conditions for happiness, 'gratitude and a positive mind' took the first place with 29.1%, followed by 'health (16.6%)', 'wealth and economic power (15.0%)'. And when the happiness score was given for each response that selected the conditions for happiness, 'religious life' took the first place with 75.3 points out of 100, followed by 'the person you love (67.7 points)' and third place was 'thanksgiving' (66.5 points), while the respondent group who chose 'wealth' recorded the lowest score with 50.7 points (internet). What makes you feel happy? The more I live a Christian life, the more I realize how happy I am to have all my sins forgiven and saved through the death of Jesus on the cross. Look at Deuteronomy 33:29a – “Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? ….” The reason we are happy is because through Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, our sins are forgiven, we are justified (Rom. 4:6-8), and we are saved. We are the happiest and the most blessed people in the world.
Today's text Matthew 5:1-12 is the famous Beatitudes. Jesus was talking about the eight kinds of blessing. This is the first part (Mt. 5:1-12) of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. chs. 5-7), a lesson that Jesus taught to his disciples and the gathered crowd on the mountain (5:1-2). Today, I would like to receive a lesson from the Lord while meditating on the first of these Beatitudes, “The blessing of the poor in spirit”.
Look at Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The first blessing that Jesus taught his disciples and the assembled crowd is “the kingdom of heaven.” Do you believe in the existence of “heaven”? Gallup, the most authoritative polling agency in the United States, asked the American people: “Do you believe in the existence of heaven?” As a result, about 80% of people said “yes”. The proportion of those who answered this way was almost the same for both Christians and non-Christians. However, when Gallup Korea asked the Korean people the same question, only about 33.9% of non-Christians answered “yes” and 41.1% of Christians answered “yes”. That means 58.9% of Korean Christians do not believe in the existence of heaven (Internet). In other words, the kingdom of heaven Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of Matthew today is “the kingdom of God.” In other words, heaven and the kingdom of God are the same word. In today's text, Matthew 5:3, the author Matthew did not say “the kingdom of God” but “the kingdom of heaven” because he was writing the Gospel of Matthew to the Jews, and the Jews tended to avoid using God’s name directly. However, Mark and Luke wrote “The Kingdom of God” because the Gospels of Mark and Luke were written to Gentiles, not Jews (Wood).
What do we usually think of when we hear “the kingdom of God” or “heaven”? Perhaps we think of “heaven” as the place we enter after we die. For example, in Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is where those who do the will of God the Father in heaven enter. In other words, those who do the will of the Father of God in heaven here refers to those who do God’s work. And those who do the works of God believe in those whom God has sent (Jn. 6:29). In a word, those who believe in Jesus will enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, in today's text Matthew 5:3, we can say that the first blessing that Jesus teaches us, the kingdom of heaven, is the place where we enter through faith in Jesus. There will be no more tears, no more death or mourning, or crying or pain in heaven (Rev. 21:4). And there will no longer be any curse and any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun (22:3, 5). This kingdom of heaven is referred to in the Book of Revelation as “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1) or “the holy city, New Jerusalem” (v. 2). In the future, when we who believe in Jesus enter this kingdom of heaven, then we will see the Lord face to face (1 Cor. 13:12). Although now we know in part, then we will know fully, as the Lord knows us (v. 12). If we go to heaven like this, we think of it as a place where the saints who believe in Jesus will enter in the future. But the Bible does not speak of heaven or the kingdom of God only as a place we will enter in the future. The Bible also says that the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God has already come upon us: “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Lk. 11:20). Not only that, but Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (17:21). The background of this word of Jesus is that when the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?” (v. 20), Jesus answered, “The kingdom of God does not come with sight, but it is here and there. After saying that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (v. 21). When these words are put together, “heaven” or “the kingdom of God” does not only refer to the place where those who believe in Jesus will enter, but that it has already come to us and the kingdom of God is within us. Therefore, we Christians should think of “Heaven” or “Kingdom of God” only as a concept of place and not only in a future-oriented way. That means that when we talk about “heaven,” we should think in terms of “Who?” rather than just “Where?” or “When?” Here, even from the perspective of “Who?,” the word that one should think of heaven or the kingdom of God refers to Jesus. In other words, when we speak of heaven or the kingdom of God, we should think of the King of that kingdom, Jesus. Jesus already dwells in us through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). That means that the King Jesus reigns over us. Therefore, the kingdom of God (heaven) has already come within us. In other words, the inside of us is heaven and the kingdom of God. Also, the Christian family who believes in Jesus is the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. The reason is because the Lord is with our family. So is the church. After all, the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God) is our heart, our home, and our church where the Lord, the King of kings, reigns. These individuals, families, and churches keep the twofold commandment of Jesus, love of God and love of neighbor. As a result, our hearts, our families, and our church will be transformed into heaven.
Jesus said that this wonderful first blessing, the kingdom of heaven, is “theirs” (Mt. 5:3). Here “theirs” refers to “the poor in spirit.” Then the question we have to ask here is who are the poor in spirit whom Jesus spoke of. Who do you think the poor in spirit refer to? Here, the poor in spirit means spiritual poverty. In other words, the poor in spirit are those who feel spiritual need in the very inner part of the soul, such as the personal bone marrow. Here, those who feel spiritual need refer to three people (Yun-sun Park):
- Those who feel spiritual need know that they are unable to help and that there is no one to help but God (Isa. 61:1, Ps. 69:29, 70:5, 74:21, 86:1-6; Zep 3 :12).
Look at Psalms 70:5 – “Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.” The psalmist, who longs for the Lord's help and deliverance, says that he is poor and needy. Such a person as the psalmist is spiritually poor and poor in spirit.
- Those who feel spiritual need are the ones who are persecuted by the arrogant because they lead a life opposite to the arrogant before God (Ps. 37:14, 86:14).
Look at Psalms 37:14 – “The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.” Those who are spiritually needy are those who have become poor and needy because of the persecution and tribulation of the wicked. Then why do the wicked persecute the spiritually needy? It is because the spiritually needy is an honest man.
- Those who feel spiritual need are those who are heartbroken over their sins and repent (Isa. 66:2; Ps. 34:6, 18; 51:17).
Look at Psalms 34:18 – “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Look at Psalms 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” A person who is spiritually poor is a person with a broken heart and a contrite heart.
Such people are the poor in spirit. Unlike the Pharisees at the time of Jesus, these poor in spirit are those who know that they have no righteousness and seek God's help and forgiveness. In other words, the poor in spirit refer to those who have discovered that man has no righteousness in the sight of God, not his humility toward others (Park). These are those who not only know that there is no hope without the grace of God, but are acutely aware that they have lost their way. These are the ones who know they are completely spiritually bankrupt without God (MacArthur). Therefore, those who are poor in spirit know that they desperately need the righteousness of God. Unlike the Pharisees, who were self-sufficient, the poor in spirit only know that they do not have their own righteousness, so they know that they can come before God only by putting on the righteousness of God.
As we already know, the Pharisees in Jesus' day believed that they could be justified by doing the law. So they tried to keep the law thoroughly. As a result, the righteousness they obtain is not the righteousness that comes from God, but the self-righteousness obtained by human merit. In the end, the righteousness that comes from such a human being can only result in the Pharisees themselves boasting of their deeds not only before men but even before God, and despise those who do not do so. A good example is the parable of Jesus in Luke 18:10-13. Of the two men in the parable, the Pharisee went up to the temple to pray, and stood apart from the publican and prayed. According to the contents of his prayer, he was nothing but boasting about his deeds before God. Look at Luke 18:11-12: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'” But the tax collector went up to the temple and prayed to God: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’” (v. 13). What do you think of this tax collector’s prayer? Isn't this tax collector the poor in spirit? This tax collector, who knows that he has nothing to show for his own righteousness (merit), pleads with God to have mercy on him (v. 14).
We can be justified only through faith in Jesus Christ. Look at Galatians 2:16 – “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” The Bible clearly states that no one can be justified by observing the law. The Bible clearly states that we can be justified through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And the Bible says that the righteous who are justified through faith in Jesus Christ live by faith alone (Hab 2:4; Rom. 1:17). The righteous who live by faith have received God's gift of eternal life in our Lord (Rom. 3:23). The righteous who believe in Jesus and are justified have received the kingdom of heaven (eternal life) as a gift from God. Wouldn't you like to receive this gift from God too? Look at Acts 16:31 – “They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household.”