The Beatitudes - The Beauty of Bankruptcy: The Poor in Spirit

Notice in Matthew 5:1-2 the place of the Sermon on the Mount. While the religious leaders had their wooden platforms and stone temple to preach from Christ used the rocks of the mountain as His pulpit. The last time God was on a mountain it was the holy mountain of Zion. Now Christ uses a common mountain. The last time God came down to a mountain He spoke in thunder and lightning to give the law. Now Christ goes up the mountain and speaks in a still small voice to give the gospel. Then, the people were terrified and dared not approach the mountain. Now, the people clamor to get as close to Christ as they can. Then, God spoke much through His prophets. Now, He himself would speak.

With purpose He sees the crowd. With intention He climbs the mountain. With wisdom He picks the right spot to sit. With discernment He understands His audience. With patience he waits for the people to sit and listen. With love He opens His mouth. With power He teaches.

Often Christ would teach without speaking, but here He opens His mouth. The people that surround Him are like sheep without a shepherd having no sense of direction as to where to turn. They live as it were perpetually in the dark moments before dawn hearing no songs of hope, seeing no near or far light pointing the way, believing not that the dawn is coming, barely dreaming a dream of rescue that now seems so farfetched and distant. The complexities of life are too overwhelming. Then, Jesus opens His mouth, He speaks, and they listen. And, when He was done speaking they were stunned to silence. A melody of hope had returned. A few words of a chorus were scribbled in the dirt. What did He teach them?—truth, three chapters of truth.

The kingdom of heaven is Matthew’s humble way of capturing in a narrow sense that “exercise of God’s sovereignty which bears directly on Christ’s saving purpose” (D.A.Carson). Poverty of spirit is your personal acknowledgment that you are spiritually bankrupt. It does not mean that you are ontologically insignificant, or personally without value because that would be untrue. In other words, it does not mean the ‘what’ or ‘who’ of you is worthless. Rather it is a confession that you are sinful and rebellious and utterly without virtue adequate enough to commend yourself to God. From that truth the bankrupt spirit humbly confesses its need for God.

Your growth in Christian graces, the blossoming of the fruit of the spirit, your satisfaction with who you are in Christ, your sense of significance and purpose in this journey starts from the ground up. Those who would build high must begin low. Those who would grow must start with poverty, with the beauty of bankruptcy—“the poor in spirit”.