Title: The poor in spirit / Matthew 5
'92 is the "Year of the Monkey". People are suddenly saying this and that about monkeys. Do you want to be as friendly and honest as monkeys? There is a myth that even monkeys fall from trees, but monkeys are very respectful of their loyalty. However, monkeys and humans are fundamentally different beings. They are the same mammals and primates, but there are absolute differences. It is that monkeys are content with their own survival despite their amazing intelligence, but humans are not. No matter who you are, you are not satisfied with your own survival alone. Man is a being who seeks happiness.
People compete fiercely in the pursuit of this happiness. Even between brothers, they forsake the virtues of concession and cooperation and continue the fight to get ahead. For this competition, people forsake ethics and manners, and produce a tragedy of being eaten and eaten without mercy. Here lies the folly and unhappiness of human beings who seek happiness.
Christians must live according to the truth of Christian happiness. It consists in living according to the teachings of Christ Jesus, who perfects one's faith and life. The human happiness that Jesus taught is to live in the “Kingdom of God.” Living there when God is, that is human happiness. One of the favorite songs of black Americans is this verse.
"Jimmy and Joe are in prison. One day they both saw the outside world.
Jimmy saw the trucks in the mud, and Joe saw the stars in the night sky."
Christians do not live by looking at the earth. He is a living being who sees the kingdom of God. He lives with the hope of life in the kingdom of God, and is cultivating this land with the truth and life of the kingdom of God. To become a being who cultivates this land with the truth and life of God, "you must become a poor person"
What is a poor hearted person? A person who is not obsessed with his ego.
A religious psychologist (Spencer) conducted a religious career survey of 1,000 Christians. Among them, 548 people started a religious life before the age of 20, and 337 people started a religious life between the ages of 20 and 30. However, it turned out that only 15 people between the ages of 40 and 50, and only 4 people who started a religious life after the age of 50.
The lesson this statistic teaches us is that as people age, they rely on their own knowledge, customs and experiences, and are stubbornly closed to other and new things. In the dictionary of Napoleon, the war hero of the century, "Nothing is impossible." However, because of his stubbornness, he was defeated on the Russian front and finally ousted from the throne of France. His self-obsession and narcissism have destroyed everything from him.
What is a poor hearted person? a person who empties himself
Schweitzer was praised and respected as the savior of Africa and the sun of mankind, and devoted himself to African missions. Of course, he was not without criticism and criticism of jealousy and contempt. However, it cannot be denied that he is a man who emptied himself for Africa. Schweitzer was a man of God who had gone to the lowest places.
The Apostle Paul exhorted us to have the heart of Jesus. Because that is the only way for a Christian to become a Christian. Being born again is not a physical phenomenon. It means a change of heart, a spiritual rebirth. A Christian must have the heart of Christ Jesus to be a Christian. “The outward Jew is not a Jew, and the circumcision of the flesh is not circumcision, but the inside Jew is a Jew, and circumcision must be done in the heart, in the spirit and not in the doubt” (Romans 2:28-29).
What is the heart of Jesus?
“Have this heart in you. That is the heart of Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as robbery, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human form, and being found in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to death, that is, the cross the death of
The heart of Jesus is a self-emptying heart. A poor person is a person who empties himself.
Only those who have an empty mind can obey. can carry the cross. Anyone who cannot bear the cross cannot become a Christian, a man of God. Only those who carry the cross can see the God of resurrection. You can see the world of eternal life. You can survive the judgment of history. You can enjoy the blessings God has given you. Anything that is not a blessing from God is demonic and belongs to idolatry.
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 14:7”
These words are the conclusion of the lesson on courtesy when invited to a banquet house. The person who sits in the upper seat will give up the seat to the higher person. So Jesus told them to take a seat at the bottom of the banquet hall. The upper seat is reserved only for the owner of the banquet house. Those invited only have the freedom to sit down. If you believe that the kingdom of God is a banquet house, only those who sit in the lower or lower seats will be transferred to the larger seats in the kingdom of God.
What is a poor minded person? It means someone who knows you.
As the Western proverb goes, "A smart mouse does not envy flying birds. Instead, there is a saying that digs deep and deep.” No matter how good a mouse is, it cannot fly. A mouse that knows itself digs a burrow for its own safety. The poor in spirit are those who know themselves. All philosophy is the study and study of making people who know themselves.
The Bible defines man as a sinner. Because of this, many people protest against the Bible. Positive philosophers, pragmatists, and scientists alike complain about the anthropology of the Bible. But man is a sinner. This is the undeniable existential situation of man. There is no one without sin. Unfortunately, this is an unchanging human limitation. There is only one thing a sinner can do. It is only repentance and repentance. This is a fact recognized by the human conscience alike.
The Bible calls for not only repentance but also that sinners must believe the gospel.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
An anonymous poet from Tanzania, Africa, left us this prayer.
"Lord,
We always blame others when they make small mistakes.
But we always find excuses for our own big mistakes.
When people hurt us even the slightest bit, we quickly become angry.
But when we hurt others
We are waiting for them to understand us.”
Among the people Jesus hated the most were “people who try to remove specks from other people’s eyes without seeing the log in their own eye”. These people are irresistible people. In other words, such people cannot see the kingdom of God. For he has a beam in his eye.
A poor man is one who knows himself. In the eyes of those who know that they are sinners, everyone else seems beautiful and dignified. If a person does not attain this level, he cannot enjoy the happiness of possessing the kingdom of God. - Amen -