The public ministry of Jesus was in its early stages. Large crowds gathered to hear his teachings and see his miracles. But Jesus was not caught up in his fast-growing popularity. He would not let the multitudes distract him from his Father’s business. And he did not want his new disciples to be seduced by the crowds. Matthew 5:1-2 reports: “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.” What follows is the greatest sermon ever preached. It is the first recorded discourse of Jesus – the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 5-7, Jesus explains the righteous standard for citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. It was a revolutionary message for those who heard these words fall from the lips of Jesus. Most of the people in the crowd assumed they were kingdom citizens because they confused being religious with being righteous. Jesus confronted their self-deception and religious hypocrisy, corrected their understanding of what it means to be right with God, and called them to a new relationship with God on God’s terms, not theirs. In the opening statement of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sets the stage for all he will say about what it means to be right with God: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew presents Jesus as King, the fulfillment of messianic prophecy. The Sermon on the Mount is the constitution of the kingdom. It is a great monument to the divine sovereignty, redemptive mission, and kingdom agenda of Jesus. Yet he lays the foundation deep. The door of divine blessing is open to all. But the doorway is low. You must crawl to get through it. True righteousness begins with poverty of spirit. The Beatitudes are not a letter-graded exam. It is a pass-or-fail test. You cannot be blessed if you skip over the first beatitude. 

Poverty of spirit is necessary for salvation. Salvation is not a reward you earn, a goal you accomplish, or a deal you negotiate. It is a gift you receive by the handout of amazing grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Poverty of spirit is necessary for sanctification.

• You must be poor in spirit to experience new birth in Christ. 
• You must be poor in spirit to experience spiritual growth in Christ. 

R. Kent Hughes wrote: “We never outgrow this first beatitude, even though it is the basis by which we ascend to the others. In fact, if we outgrow it, we have outgrown Christianity – we are post-Christian.” Do you want to be blessed? God blesses the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 teaches us what it means to go from rags to riches. 

Enjoying Divine Approval 

Matthew 5:3-12 records the Beatitudes of Jesus. Beatitude is Latin for blessed. Each of the eight beatitudes begins with the word, “Blessed…” What does it mean to be blessed?

A Man-Centered View of Blessings. You will misunderstand the Beatitudes if you define blessings from a man-centered perspective. First of all, to be blessed is not about emotional well-being. It is more than happiness. Some Bible versions translate the Greek word for blessed as “happy.” This is how the world defines blessings. To be happy is to be blessed. But this is not what Jesus is talking about. In Matthew 5:4, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn…” The second beatitude does not mean, “Happy are the sad.” Mourners grieve death. 

• Those who mourn cannot be happy. 
• Those who mourn can be blessed. 

To be blessed is not about favorable circumstances. Happiness is tied to what happens. We consider ourselves blessed if things go our way in life. But being fortunate is not the same as being blessed. In Matthew 5:10, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake…” In verse 11, Jesus says more directly, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” We do not call being reviled, persecuted, and slandered a blessing. Jesus does!

To be blessed is not about financial prosperity. A theological system has been erected around the false teaching that following Jesus guarantees health, wealth, and success. Among those who reject Prosperity Theology at face value, there is a soft Prosperity Theology that has infiltrated our mindset. You must not define who you are by what you have. 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

A God-Centered View of Blessings. The word “blessed” contrasts the word “woe.” This is the difference between divine favor and divine judgment. God condemns by saying, “Woe to the man…” God congratulates by saying, “Blessed is the man…” This is how the Beatitudes should be read. Jesus announces divine congratulations on recipients of the positive judgment of God. It is a divine stamp of approval. It is the God smile of God’s favor. It is the applause of heaven. If God is pleased with your life, Jesus says, “Congratulations! You’re already blessed.” None of the beatitudes are considered blessings from a man-centered perspective. 

• God blesses the poor; man blesses the rich. 
• God blesses the mournful; man blesses the joyful. 
• God blesses the meek; man blesses the assertive. 
• God blesses the hungry; man blesses the self-satisfied. 
• God blesses the merciful; man blesses the justice warriors. 
• God blesses the pure heart; man blesses the uninhibited heart. 
• God blesses the peacemakers; man blesses the conquerors. 
• God blesses the persecuted; man blesses the trouble-free. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The false value system of the fallen world does not know what it means to be blessed. You are not blessed because the world calls you blessed. You are not blessed because people consider you blessed. You are not blessed because you claim to be blessed. You are blessed if God says you are blessed. No person is blessed by God outside of Christ. We are guilty sinners who only deserve eternal punishment. On the cross, Jesus was cursed by God for our sins so that we might be blessed by God through his righteousness. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

Confessing Spiritual Poverty 

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? 

Poverty of spirit is not about one’s economic status. Luke 6:20 records the parallel to this beatitude: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20 must be interpreted in light of Matthew 5:3. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus makes it clear that the blessed are poor “in spirit,” not poor in substance. Likewise, poverty of spirit is not about one’s natural temperament. Jesus is not talking about those who are “poor-spirited.” This blessing is not for those who are shy, timid, fearful, nervous, or cowardly. Your personality type does not determine whether God is pleased with your life. Poverty of spirit is a spiritual condition. 

There are two words for “poor” in the New Testament. One word pictures a working man, who labors to keep food on the table and a roof over his head. He is not totally destitute. But he does not have anything extra. He must work hard to take care of himself and his family. This is not the word used in this beatitude. The word used in Matthew 5:3 pictures a desperate man, cowering in need, pleading for help. Without a handout, he will not survive. This is what it means to be poor in spirit. It is to acknowledge your spiritual bankruptcy and throw yourself on the mercy of God for salvation. 

James Montgomery Boice commented: “The first of the eight Beatitudes is the strongest statement in the Bible of the great doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone, for it is a statement of a person’s complete inability to please God by any human effort.” How does one become poor in spirit? 

1. A High View of God 

A High View of God. Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on his throne. He was high and lifted up. The train of his robe filled the temple. Angels chanted his praises. The doorposts shook. The house went dark. In Isaiah 6:5, the prophet lamented, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah saw the Lord as he really is. And it caused him to see himself as he really was. Isaiah concluded he was lost, ruined, doomed when he saw his sinfulness in light of God’s holiness. Isaiah’s desperate confession is what it means to be poor in spirit. 

I fear many walk in a false presumption of salvation. They have made a profession of faith. They have been baptized. They have joined the church. But they have never come to grips with the holiness of God. This is the starting point of the Christian message. The first spiritual law is not, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It is God is holy and you are not. Every one of us will give account to God for our lives. Romans 3:10-12 indicts us all: “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

It is easy to misread your spiritual account when you compare yourself to others. A high view of God declares us all to be spiritually bankrupt. Max Lucado wrote: “You don’t impress the officials at NASA with a paper airplane. You don’t boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso. You don’t claim equality with Einstein because you can write, E=mc2. And you don’t boast about your goodness in the presence of the Perfect.” When Paul audited his books, he put confidence in the flesh. Every changed when Paul met Christ. Philippians 3:7-8 says: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

A Love View of Self. Being poor in spirit is not the opposite of being rich in spirit. Being poor in spirit is the opposite of being proud in spirit. Proverbs 6:17 says God hates “haughty eyes.” Pride is the original sin. 

• Lucifer was banished from heaven because of pride. 
• Eve was attracted to the forbidden fruit because of pride. 
• Herod was eaten alive on his throne because of pride. 

God judges no sin more quickly or severely than pride. This dooms us all. We may think we are not proud if we are not arrogant. The two are not the same. Arrogance is how we view others. Pride is how we view ourselves. We all have a pride problem. It is an embedded part of our sinful nature. It is the iniquity within us. We think we are more than we are. James 4:6 reads, “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

Jesus told a parable about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee; the other a tax collector. The Pharisee commended himself to God as morally pure, ethically upright, and religiously devout. The tax collected had no goodness to commend to God. Sparing mercy was his desperate plea. In Luke 18:14, Jesus concludes, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

To be poor in spirit is to humble yourself. Humility is not thinking negatively about yourself. It is thinking honestly about yourself. It is to confess that at your best, you are a sinner who falls short of the glory of God. With empty hands, you receive, possess, and enjoy the gift of salvation by faith in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

Possessing Kingdom Citizenship 

Matthew 4:23 says, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” The message of Jesus was the gospel of the kingdom. Kingdom is not a geopolitical term. It is a theological term. The kingdom is the rule or reign of God. This is the mega-theme of the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees were the most righteous men in the land. Yet one had to be more righteous than they to enter the kingdom of heaven. No one qualified. But Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The blessing of being poor in spirit is that the kingdom of heaven is yours.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven exclusively. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The original is emphatic: “Theirs – and only theirs – is the kingdom of heaven.” Only those who are poor in spirit will enter the kingdom of heaven. 

• It is exclusively theirs. 
• It is solely theirs. 
• It is completely theirs. 

Isaiah 57:15 says, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” The Lord is high and holy. He has nothing to do with the high and mighty. The Lord dwells with the contrite and lowly spirit. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit exclusively. 

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven presently. The reward in verse 3 is repeated in verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This reward bookends the Beatitudes. There is no greater blessing than possessing kingdom citizenship. This repeated reward is emphasized by the present tense. 

• Verse 4 says they shall be comforted. 
• Verse 5 says they shall inherit the earth. 
• Verse 6 says they shall be satisfied. 
• Verse 7 says they shall receive mercy. 
• Verse 8 says they shall see God. 
• Verse 9 says they shall be called sons of God. 

The first and final beatitudes speak in real-time: “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is not a pie-in-the-sky promise. It is not a promise at all. It is an assurance. The poor in spirit are already blessed. The kingdom of heaven is theirs presently. Philippians 3:20-21 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” There is a full, future, and final consummation of the kingdom when Jesus returns. Yet the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit now! 

• The blessings of God are yours now. 
• The riches of Christ are yours now. 
• The power of the Holy Spirit is yours now. 
• The promises of scripture are yours now. 
• The hope of heaven is yours now. 

When Saul and Jonathan died in battle, the family fled to safety. A nurse dropped Jonathan’s young son, Mephibosheth. He became a permanent cripple. After David solidified the throne of Israel, he sought to show the kindness of God to someone from Saul’s household. His servants told him about Mephibosheth. David moved Mephibosheth from Lo-debar to Jerusalem, restored his family inheritance, and gave him a permanent seat at the king’s table. This is the kingdom of God to the poor in spirit who trust the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation!