Title: The poor in spirit / Matthew 5:3
Description Korean people are generally good at saving. Although the number of people who deposit in banks may be small, there are quite a number of people who use various forms of savings. Buy a house, and start a business.
However, if you look at the various peoples of the world, it seems that there are a lot of peoples who are not. There are some peoples who use up everything they have without tomorrow.
The reason people become poor is because they cannot collect. It would be more accurate to say that the reason for not collecting is because they did not save rather than because they did not earn enough.
It is a very good thing to earn hard money and save, and then buy a house or drive a car and build a business. As a result, there are some people who fall into hard labor without even knowing it. The human mind is ruled by the view of life that "money is the best" It may be because of the
Poverty is never something to be proud of. And there is nothing good about being poor. Because Japan is a rich country, people everywhere in the world are treated like this. Of course, this is even more the case in the United States. Because it is enough to live on.
However, the Bible praises us for “poverty.” However, it does not praise the poor unconditionally. It praises {the poor in spirit}. So, what does being poor in spirit mean?
I. God is looking for the poor in heart.
A. Poverty of heart is not for everyone.
1. To have a poor heart, we must know God. You must know your sin before God and discover your inability. To do this, we must reflect ourselves in the holiness and glory of God. And you have to realize your own weakness and misery.
2. If you are looking for a representative person who was poor in heart in the Bible, you can think of Moses. He was a confident man at one time. However, under the circumstances of a murderer, he lived as a shepherd in the wilderness for 40 years. Instead of being a prince, he was reduced to a nameless shepherd who was attached to strangers and tended to sheep. God called Moses. But he knew his circumstances. So he declined to say that he could not do anything. Despite seeing various miracles, he continued to decline and refused. It was because he knew that he could not obey God's requests and commands by his own strength. He truly became a poor man in spirit.
3. The prophet Isaiah also had a poor heart. In Isaiah 6, his poor state of mind is described in detail. During his prayers, he heard praises, "Holy, holy, holy" But Isaiah cries out, "Woe to me, for I am destroyed." Then he lamented, "I am a man of unclean lips, and in the midst of a people of unclean lips, I have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
4. Peter's attitude when he met Jesus was also a case of a poor soul. Although he worked all night, he couldn't catch a fish. But he was afraid. So he asked, "Leave me, Lord. I am a sinner."
B. Be poor in spirit.
1. It should be simple. A simple heart that neither compares nor brags with its neighbors is a poor heart. It is a mind that has no desire for material things. A heart without ambition or conspiracy toward the world is a poor heart. With this kind of heart, a poor life can be realized. Such a life is a godly life.
2. We must depend only on God to live. The disciples of Jesus gave up everything and lived a simple life of community without having anything. It is because they believed that all problems could be solved just by the presence of Jesus. It was an exemplary life that relied entirely on God. It was the most representative case that showed that our lives should be like that.
II. A poor heart is the basic attitude of the saints.
A. Poverty in spirit is the beginning of heaven.
1. There are eight blessings in the Sermon on the Mount, and a poor heart is the first gateway to these eight blessings. When you know you are poor, you mourn. And those who mourn are generally meek. That is why, when talking about a ferocious person, it is said that he has neither blood nor tears.
2. The Christian's life must have something to distinguish it from the world's people. Differentiation is impossible. To humbly empty one's heart before the Lord is the beginning of a separate life.
※ The poor person (Schweitzer)
There is this story in the anecdote of Schweitzer, who can be said to be a saint of the 20th century.
We must have this attitude of life in our Christian life today. Such a life is the life of Jesus, and the life of poor in spirit.
※ The poor person (Fanny Crosby)
B. A person who is poor in spirit already owns the kingdom of heaven.
1. Jesus did not promise "heaven" when he blessed the poor in spirit. This is because the kingdom of heaven has already been made for the poor in spirit.
2. He said that the reason the poor in spirit is happy is because he already has the kingdom of God.
3. Jesus had a poor heart. Let's look at Philippians 2:5-8.
“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God to be robbery, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, 8 appearing in human form. At birth, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
conclusion
The heart that the Lord wants is "a broken heart." It is a poor heart.
It is the heart that realizes that one is a sinner and needs salvation. Pray that you will be poor in spirit.