Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
Matthew 5:3
Last time in our verse-by-verse exposition of the Gospel of Matthew we began to look at what has been called the Sermon on The Mount (Matthew 5-7). I pointed out that the Sermon on the Mount is the sermon of the kingdom preached by the King to those who would be citizens of His kingdom. Jesus’ teaching to His disciples begins with what we’ve come to know as The Beatitudes, eight statements or promises of the blessedness of those who are a part of the kingdom of God.
Last time we saw that these Beatitudes describe the blessedness of the disciple of Jesus. The Beatitudes also show the progress of a disciple of Jesus—they all go together and interrelate with one another in such a way as to form a single progression. And we considered the Master of the disciple. The Beatitudes are the portrait of a man or woman in whom Christ dwells by the grace of God.
Today we want to look in more detail at the very first of the affirmations Jesus makes in The Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
If I were to ask you what one sinful attitude is most responsible for keeping people from coming to Jesus Christ to be saved, what attitude would you name? What’s remarkable about this particular attitude is that at the same time that it keeps people from coming to Christ, it’s also the very thing that people of this world admire and aspire to.
This sinful attitude in a word is pride. We might define it as “spiritual self-sufficiency” – the confident assurance that we can stand before God as acceptable in His sight on the basis of what we ourselves can do or be. It is the spirit of our age and it is the opposite of the characteristic found in the first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Think about it. The opposite of “poverty of spirit” would be “wealth of spirit,” the idea that I have within me, in my soul or spirit, everything that I need or want. This is, in fact, the predominant philosophical understanding of our modern culture—a worldview that many have called “expressive individualism.”[1] The goal of expressive individualism is to find yourself and express the desires you find in yourself.[2] You can hear this worldview in its popular slogans:
- You be you.
- Be true to yourself.
- Follow your heart.
- Find yourself.[3]
- Learn to love yourself.
Basically, it is the philosophy of a life lived without any real reference to God, where the authentic “you” and how you feel about yourself becomes your god. This sinful pride is as old as the lies of the serpent in the Garden of Eden but it especially manifests itself in our western world, especially in America, Dr. Bruce Ashford says,
Because of our relative wealth, we tend not to lean on God for material provisions. Because of modern medicine, we rely on doctors and surgeons when our health is fragile, and don’t see God as the ultimate healer. Because of modern therapy, we tend to ignore the role he should play in the right ordering of our hearts and minds. Because of the entertainment industry, we are distracted from him and the Scriptures when we could be delighting in him and his Word.[4]
Expressive Individualism is the view that the whole point of a person’s existence is to be authentic; that, for individuals to be authentic, they must align their lives with their deepest desires; and that, for societies to be authentic, they must applaud individuals for aligning life with their deepest desires.[5] In this worldview, blessedness, happiness, or flourishing as a person is achieved by turning inward to find the self’s own deepest desires. Your own inner voice is morally authoritative and defines the route forward to realizing your authentic self. Thus, the truth about the self is thus not determined externally through conventional morality or even biology—and certainly not through religious tradition or by the words of ancient scripture.[6]
It’s just sinful pride repackaged into popular slogans—“be true to yourself.” Sinful pride makes everything, even religion, all about the unholy trinity: me, myself, and I.
The perfect illustration of the difference between this attitude and the attitude described for us in the first Beatitude is Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Listen to the story; and see if you can’t detect the two different, very opposite attitudes:
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).
Compare the two attitudes. The Pharisee was a man who ‘trusted in himself’ that he was righteous before God—which is another way of describing ‘spiritual self-sufficiency’. He stood proudly before God (a symbol of his confidence), and thanked God that he was better than others. He pointed to the sins of others and boasted that he was not like such men. He boasted in what he did—fasting twice a week and giving tithes of all he possessed. He exalted himself. He was—in his own eyes, anyway – ‘spiritually self-sufficient’.
The poor tax collector was not. Far from feeling free to ‘stand’ before God, he would not dare to even ‘raise his eyes to Heaven.’ He didn’t dare to compare himself with others, because he knew he was a far greater sinner than anyone he could point to. He certainly couldn’t appeal to any good deeds; because whatever good he may have performed in life had been overshadowed by the greatness of his sins. He had great sin to give account for, and there was nothing of himself that would make him worthy in God’s sight. In fact, he could do nothing before God but beat himself on the breast as a display of deep sorrow and mourning over his sinfulness. Literally, all this sinful man could do, in the absolute poverty of his soul, was cry out to God and plead, “Be merciful to me a sinner!“
Jesus tells us that, for all the Pharisee did, and for all his pride in himself, he went home ‘unjustified’ (that is, not declared righteous in God’s sight)—still ignorantly satisfied with himself, but nevertheless lost in his sins and rejected in the sight of God. And instead, it was the poor, needy, helpless, pathetic tax collector—who had absolutely no sense of sufficiency in himself but could only cry out to God in the bankruptcy of his soul and beg for mercy—that went home justified that day.
And Jesus tells us why; “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” I can’t think of a better story to illustrate this first Beatitude to us: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I wish I could impress enough on you how important this first Beatitude is. It’s very important, of course, from the standpoint of it being, according to Matthew, the first recorded words of Jesus’ official teaching ministry upon this earth. What a wonderful thing it is that Jesus’ public teaching ministry begins with the encouraging assertion, “Blessed are . . .” The law, the Bible tells us, brings a curse (Gal. 3:10); the Old Testament ends with the threat of a curse (Mal. 4:6); but our Savior comes with the good news of blessing!
Also, this first Beatitude is important because every command the Lord gives us in His Sermon on the Mount is meant to drive us to the place where we come to God as “poor in spirit“, and thus cry out to Him, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” In Matthew 5:20 Jesus teaches, “. . . I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” You will never get into heaven on the basis of your righteousness–unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the “scribes” (the strict students of the law of Moses) and the “Pharisees” (the strictest practitioners of the law).
Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount about the law’s true intention and shows us how far we are from even remotely keeping it. He taught for example that the law against murder meant much more than simply not taking another person’s life. It meant that we are worthy of hell every time we are angry unjustly with someone or insult them or call them names (Matt. 5:21-22). Or how about the law against adultery? Jesus taught that the law intended much more than simply not sleeping with someone you’re unmarried to. It meant that we are guilty and worthy of judgment if we even look at someone with lust in our hearts (Matt. 5:27-28).
The law forbids us from swearing falsely, and from taking God’s name in vain. But Jesus taught that the law intended much more than that. He taught that we are guilty of breaking the commandment of God and are guilty of judgment if we swear at all or do anything else than say what we mean and mean what we way (Matt. 5:33-37). The law taught us that we are to be fair in justice – “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. But Jesus taught us that the real intention of this law was that we respond to those who treat us unjustly by ‘turning the other cheek’, or ‘giving away our tunic’, or ‘walking the extra mile’ (Matt. 5:38-42). The law teaches us to “love our neighbor”; but Jesus taught us that the real intention of that law was not that we could then “hate our enemy”, but that we must also love our enemy – to bless the one who curses us, and to do good to the one who hates us, and to pray for the one who persecutes us (Matt. 5:43-47). Jesus set the highest possible standard for righteousness before God on the basis of the law when He said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (v. 48). If that’s the standard of righteousness through the law, then who could ever ‘stand’ as righteous before God? Can anyone be spiritually self-sufficient?
Can you see how all of the commandments of the Sermon on The Mount bring us back to this first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit . . .”?
This first Beatitude is nothing less than a summarization of the whole doctrine of justification by faith. In just a few words, it lets us know that no one will ever be declared righteous in God’s sight on the basis of their own performance. It puts to death the whole idea of “spiritual self-sufficiency” before God. It condemns the idea altogether; and instead, it affirms to us the Good News of the gospel—that it’s only the person who comes to God in the complete poverty of spirit, and pleads for God’s mercy, who is sent away righteous and who possesses the kingdom of heaven.
These first words are the first word of The Beatitudes; and since The Beatitudes describes for us what it looks like to be a disciple, then this first beatitude gives us the “first step” toward genuine discipleship.
Let’s consider this Beatitude by asking two questions:[7]
1. Who are the “poor in spirit”?
There are two Greek words in the New Testament for “poor”. One word that the Bible uses is “penichros“, and it means to be a poor laborer, someone who is not wealthy and who is forced by need to work for his daily bread. Jesus used this word to describe “a certain poor widow putting in two mites” into the treasury (Luke 21:2).
The other word that the Bible uses for “poor” however is “ptochos“; and it refers to someone who is utterly destitute and reduced to being a helpless beggar. This was the word Jesus used to describe the poor man, Lazarus, who sat at the gate of the rich man fighting the dogs for the crumbs that would fall off of his table. It is someone who has absolutely no resources; someone who is completely bankrupt, and who can do nothing but plead for mercy from others.
I probably don’t have to tell you which word Jesus used when He taught, “Blessed are the poor …” It is ptochos, the beggar type of poverty. He means, “Blessed are the absolutely destitute; the people reduced to complete poverty and beggarliness.”
In Luke’s version of this beatitude Jesus simply says, “Blessed are the poor . . .” (Luke 6:20). And though I don’t believe it’s wrong to recognize in these words God’s compassion for the materially poor of this world, we need to remember that Jesus makes it clear that He isn’t talking about the “materially poor” in this beatitude. Some have interpreted Jesus’ words as if there were some kind of virtue in being stricken with poverty; or as if being poor automatically “merited” heaven in some way—as if to make up for all their suffering. Both poverty and riches have their snares. Proverbs 30:8-9 gives us a good perspective on both being poor and rich,
8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches–Feed me with the food allotted to me; 9 Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God. (Pro. 30:8-9).
Jesus blesses those who are specifically “poor in spirit“. Jesus is referring to spiritual things here. He is speaking of a person that has nothing to offer God. They cannot pay for what they seek. They cannot work for what they seek. Like the tax collector who prayed in the temple, all they can do is come to God and beg for mercy. The poor in spirit are so aware of their own sinfulness, and of their own wretchedness that they know there is nothing they have to offer.
A man or woman can be very wealthy in this world’s goods and not even realize that they are in the deepest and most profound kind of poverty. Think back again on that Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. He thought he was “rich” in terms of righteousness before God. He was “spiritually self-sufficient”. He even looked “sufficient” in the eyes of the people of this world. He was confident that all his good deeds and faithful religious habits assured him of God’s full acceptance. But he never realized that, in reality, he stood before God as spiritually “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17); and so, he never cried out to God for the mercy that he so desperately needed, and therefore was not at all justified in God’s sight.
God does not look upon the “spiritually self-sufficient” as if they were someone to be admired; someone to be “thanked” or “all the fine good deeds” they did. Instead, He looks upon them as those who are “by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph. 2:3).
But when a man or woman comes to terms with the truth about themselves—when they realize that, however else the people of this world see them, they stand before God destitute and they not dare not even look up to heaven but only cry out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner”—then they have become “poor in spirit”. They realize that they have nowhere to turn but to the cross of Jesus Christ—and when they do that, then they have taken the first step forward into eternal life. They have done the first thing that is required in becoming a follower of Jesus Christ; that is, to lay aside all pride, all spiritual self-sufficiency, and become poor in spirit. That is the true spiritual blessing.
That’s why whoever wishes to be a disciple of Jesus Christ must first come to grips with this Beatitude. They’ve got to face the ugly truth about their condition. They must recognize that they stand before God not as spiritually self-sufficient but in desperate spiritual poverty. As J.C. Ryle has said, “Humility is the very first letter in the alphabet of Christianity. We must begin low, if we would build high.”[8]
This is the problem with much of the “evangelism” that some churches practice. We need to be very careful in our presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we do not appeal to the very things that God is telling men to let go of. Don’t appeal to their greed. Don’t tell them that if they come to Christ, their life is going to become prosperous, and everything is going to get better. It may not. Christ offers forgiveness for sins and the gift of eternal life. We must be careful with the gospel that we proclaim.[9]
That’s who the “poor in spirit” are. They are those who have come to terms with their spiritual bankruptcy before a holy and just God. They are those who consciously confess their own unworthiness before Him, and realize that they have nothing about them that could commend themselves to Him, but can do no more than cry out to Him for mercy.
Now, let’s consider . . .
2. Why are they blessed?
How can such people be called “blessed”? It’s because our wonderful Savior is gracious to the spiritually needy who cry out to Him for mercy. Jesus says, “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus is merciful to the poor in spirit. King David prayed, “But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (Psalm 40:17). The Bible tells us that God “will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight” (Psalm 72:12-14). God Himself says, “I will satisfy the poor with bread” (Psalm 132:15). Isaiah the prophet even tells us this is for those who are spiritually poor:
For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy;
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).
No wonder the “poor in spirit” are blessed!
But there’s more. Jesus tells us very specifically why they are blessed: “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of heaven is that which John the Baptist announced (Matt. 3:2) and Jesus preached (Matt. 4:17). It’s that for which Jesus died, and over which He will rule in resurrected glory. And when He says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, He is saying nothing less than that He shares His kingdom – and all the riches of His inheritance in it – with them! This is the greatest “rags to riches” story the universe has ever heard! And it goes, not to the spiritually self-sufficient, but to the poor in spirit.
Note the emphasis of this word “theirs”. It is an emphatic pronoun that indicates “theirs alone” or “theirs only.” In other words, if you aren’t poor in spirit, then you do not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is saying that the kingdom is not given to everyone, but only to a specific group. It is given to those – and those only – who come to Him “poor in spirit”; not boasting in their own righteousness or good deeds, but seeking mercy from Him in the poverty of their own souls. So do you see why they are blessed, why they are happy? It is only through spiritual poverty that a person is able to inherit the truest riches of God’s kingdom.
How, then, does someone become “poor in spirit”?
Well, first of all, I would definitely urge that you don’t try to “make” yourself “poor in spirit”. Many people attempt this. They try to humble themselves in an outward way – and make a display of their fasting and praying and personal misery. This doesn’t lend itself to any real “poverty of spirit” at all. Instead, it lends itself to the very pride that was exhibited in the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, boasting in how “poor in spirit” we are.
Instead, if you want to become genuinely “poor in spirit”, then read the Scriptures. See the holiness and perfections of God. Recognize the poverty of your spirit to commend yourself to a holy God. When we realize how far short of God’s holy standards we have fallen, and we see how desperately we need His mercy and grace, then we become “poor in spirit”. Look at the sinless Son of God. Read of His life in the Gospels. Seek to become not only His student, but also a student of Him. Peter once took a good, long glimpse of Jesus, came to terms with who He truly is, and fell down at Jesus’ knees saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).
That’s a good place to fall in our poverty – at the feet of Jesus; because Jesus lifts us up, makes us His servants, and declares to us that the kingdom of heaven is ours as a gift of His Father’s grace. That’s how we learn to set aside all spiritual self-sufficiency. That’s how we become “poor in spirit”. That’s how we become one of His disciples, and step into true blessedness.
Do you wish to be “poor in spirit”? Then look upon God through the Word. See Him, read and contemplate His perfect Law, think upon Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Look at the cross where the vileness of your sin was on full display, but where the love and mercy of God met you. Get your eyes so full of Him that you see yourself for what you really are, then, in the words of Augustus Toplady (“Rock of Ages”),
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
[1] Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 333–334.
[2] David Kaywood, The False Gospel of Expressive Individualism, https://www.gospelrelevance.com/2018/05/28/expressive-individualism/ accessed 08/12/2022
[3] Trevin Wax, Expressive Individualism: What Is It?, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-what-is-it/ accessed 08/12/2022
[4] Bruce Ashford, Expressive Individualism: Our Twenty-First Century American Ba’al, https://hebraicthought.org/expressive-individualism-our-twenty-first-century-american-baal/ accessed 08/12/2022
[5] Bruce Ashford, Expressive Individualism: Our Twenty-First Century American Ba’al, https://hebraicthought.org/expressive-individualism-our-twenty-first-century-american-baal/ accessed 08/12/2022
[6] O. Carter Snead, The Anthropology of Expressive Individualism, an excerpt from What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics, Harvard University Press. At Church Life Journal, https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-anthropology-of-expressive-individualism/ accessed 08/12/2022
[7] Greg Allen, Rich Are the Poor, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2004/060604.htm#f1 accessed 08/14/2022. I adapted Allen’s outline and drew several points from his sermon.
[8] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on The Gospels (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990), vol. 1, p. 32.
[9] Bob Deffinbaugh, “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit” (Matthew 5:1-13), https://bible.org/seriespage/9-blessed-are-poor-spirit-matthew-51-13 accessed 08/14/2022
