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I'll be reading today from Matthew chapter five and Luke chapter eighteen
we're having a picture painted for us
by Jesus himself of what a disciple
a follower looks like
Jesus is concerned with our character Our hearts
and he desires for us to be transformed from the inside out
as we become more like Jesus Christ we give glory to God in all we say and do
this morning we see what that means to be poor in spirit
the way to be rich
follow along with me is I first read for Matthew five verse one through three
and then Luke eighteen verses nine through fourteen
now what he saw the crowds he went up on a mountainside sat down there
his disciples came to Him
and he began to teach them saying
blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs
is the kingdom
of heaven
and in Luke eighteen
to some who were confident of their own righteousness
and look down on everybody else Jesus told this parable
two men went up to the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector
the Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself God I thank you that I have not
like other men robbers, evil doers, adulterers
or even like this tax collector I've fast twice a week and give a tenth of
all I get.
But the tax collector stood at a distance
he would not even look up to heaven
but beat his breast and said
God, have mercy on me
a sinner
I tell you that this man rather than the other
went home justified before God
for everyone who exalt himself will be humbled
and he who humbles himself
will be exalted
Well, it's kind of hard to
come up
and top what we just saw
what a joy to see young people in our
in our congregation or church or community come together like that
I really enjoyed working with young People, I am the youth pastor here at
Sequim Community church
and
and I get to be with you for the month of August
our high school program meets on Sunday nights are middle school program
meets on Wednesday night during the summer we do something a little
different
we don't meet here at the campus we go off campus middle school
we meet at the Sunland pool
and high school we need a at homes
of different individuals that are involved with our youth group
the host family will provide meals
so usually it's hamburgers and hotdogs or
last week was a special treat we had ribs
was pretty nice
tonight at my house and we're not going to have ribs we'll probably have
pizza
but last week our host family they had a trampoline in their backyard
and our high school students were taking turns just
launching
into the air
and my three-year-old son Gavin
was really
captivated
by what he was watching
and he really wanted to experience
this trampoline
and I'd so I put them on the trampoline
now I know many of you are starting to think yourself you did
what
don't judge me yet, don't judge me
We didn't launch my son off into the distance
we put him on the trampoline there was a high school student with him
and they were holding his hands
and we are trying to encourage him
to jump on this trampoline but as soon as he put his feet on a trampoline
suddenly it was not stable
and in his confidence quickly went away
and no matter how much we encouraged him to try to jump, all he kind of did
was bend his knees a little bit
and even with his knees bending it moved but that's about all he
did
and then after a while we took him off and then
these high school students
I thought I took some risks when I was in high school but
and they would do that they would be so deep with that trampling that they would
touch the ground
and the trampoline would literally touch the ground then they would launch six feet into the air
and
if you're willing to take the risk
To dig deep
you can fly high
if you aren't willing to take the risk you just want to be a little comfortable
You can just shake your knees a little bits
you're not going to get very high
today we're looking at
what it means to be poor in spirit
What it means to be poor in spirit if you're willing to take some risks
To dig deep
into who you are
looking at your character
looking at your
personality looking at your soul
and the deeper you're willing to look in there and recognize
that we are sinners
the higher you will fly
into the reaches of God's grace
So I want to encourage you this morning
to be willing to take some risks, to look
into who you are
to look into your heart and your character
because the deeper we dig in there
the greater opportunity we have to experience the riches
of God's grace
last week we looked at
Blessed are the meek
which is what it means to be strong
today we're looking at blessed are the poor in spirit
This is what it means to be rich
Jesus is giving a sermon is called the sermon on the mounts
and during this sermon he is speaking to his disciples, his followers and he's
painting a picture saying if you are a follower of me and my disciple this is
how you will look
this is the kind of person you will be
the kind of person we want to be
is someone who honors God
Matthew six eight says
do not be like them
because a disciples is supposed to look different
disciples are supposed to be different
Jesus saying don't be like then those who don't know God
this is the way you should be
when Jesus was preaching this sermon his aim was to create
a lifestyle
that pointed people to God
this isn't the way to be so that people look at us
and think wow, that person has got it together
this isn't the kind of way we're supposed to be so that we look good
Jesus wants us to be this way
to make God look good
make God look good. Matthew five sixteen says let your light shine before men
and they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven
It doesn't say let your light shine before men so that they can think highly
of you
let your light shine, let who you are, your character shine
so that it gives glory
to God
those who do this will experience a blessings we look at what it meant to be
blessed last week
It means to be happy it means that God is with us that God is for us
or taking a little perspective here
it means that
that it will be well
for those
who seek first God's kingdom
Matthew six thirty three says but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness
and all these things will be given to you as well
when we put God first everything else falls into place
so let's look at what it means
to be poor
and therefore rich
Matthew five three
Blessed are the poor of spirit for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven, what does it mean to be spiritually poor?
first of all of means
crushed that word means to cringe or to coward
it is a word that is used
to describe a beggar
not someone who's just poor or just lacking
but someone who has
nothing and is completely dependent on the gifts of others
to be
spiritually crushed
now or world does not like this view
our culture teaches us
that if you are someone who is spiritually crushed
then you need a crutch
you need a crutch
Faith is a crutch for you Christianity is a crutch, Jesus is a crutch
because you can't handle life on your own
and my answer to that is
yes
yes
there is a Christian band that many of my students listen to called thousand
foot crutch
That's the name of the band
it's a wonderful image, yes
we need a crutch, we need Jesus because we can't do it on our own now we don't
like that word crutch
it makes us feel like
we have to depend on someone else or that we have to rely
on something else and we don't like that
we don't like the idea that we can't figure it out on our own
but this is what Jesus tells us in Mark two he says
those who are healthy
don't need a physician
I came not for the righteous I came
for sinners
I came for the sick
Jesus is here and came
And died on the cross rose again
because we need him to
so yes
in some ways
Jesus is a crutch for us
because we can't do it on our own Psalm thirty four verse eighteen the Lord is
close to the broken-hearted and he saves those who are crushed
in spirit
Jesus came to save
the spiritually crushed
and those who come to the Lord with a broken heart
do not leave
with a broken heart
we see that with our tax collector
from our Luke eighteen passage
The tax collector stood at a distance
he would not even looked up to heaven he realized
he dug deep into his soul and his character he realized that he's poor in
spirit
and so he beat his breast and said God have mercy on me, a sinner
I have nothing to offer
all I can do is receive
those who are poor in spirit
recognize
that we can't
Save ourselves
the poor of spirit are also those who are spiritually bankrupt
again our world
does not like this view
and our culture teaches us that those who are happy and those who find the most
fulfillment in life
are those who are financially rich
who have lots of money
now granted I like money
I'll take more of it
you know I don't have any problem with it
getting money or spending money, I like money
but there's a temptation
that comes with money
we see this Revelation
chapter three verse seventeen says you say I'm rich I have acquired wealth and I do
not need anything
what you do not realize that you are wreched
Pitiful, poor, blind
And naked
Jesus doesn't have an issue with money
his concern
is that when we have lots of money the temptation
is to put our reliance on our things and ourselves
instead of our reliance on God
now if you have accumulated wealth most likely that means you've been
wise
discerning
you've worked hard those are all things that honor God
but we just need to be careful because the love of money and the pursuit of money
can become an idle
and then we trust that
more than we trust
God
he's just saying be careful
so much so that in Matthew nineteen
Verse twenty four says I'll say it again it is easier for camel to go through the
Eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, he is saying be
careful
the things in our life can become idols
anything that says that you can do it on your own
And you don't need to trust in God
is going to take you away from experiencing
the heights of God's grace
It's just going to keep you just testing that trampoline
but not being in deep
that's why in Romans six twenty three says the wages of sin is death
the wages of sin is death
to be spiritually bankrupt means we can't
payoff our debts
a debt is something that we owe
because of our sin
we owe a debt and we can actually pay off that debt
we can die
but you can't pay that debt off
and still live
this is the good news
this is what Jesus came to do, he came and died on the cross
took our place
paid our debt
so that we can live
this is
the good news this is what Jesus is all about
he takes care of the problem that we can't take care of on our own
those who are poor of spirit realize their spiritual credit card
is max'ed out
they can't
Pay it off
and so we realize that we can't save
ourselves
the poor of spirit
also recognize that they're spiritually imperfect
again our world
does not like to acknowledge that we cannot reach perfection on our own
our culture teaches that real joy
real fulfillment in life
can be found in the pursuit of self reliance
self-confidence
self-determination
and in our self-esteem
this is the religion of self admiration
if you go into the library or any bookstore you'll find a big section on
self-help
they write books
how we can do things ourselves and we want that
we desire that we want
so badly to be able to control things our own to fix ourselves to fix the
situations around us
we want to be self reliant
we want to be perfect
but we can't be
the greatest example of this I think comes from our Luke eighteen passage
with the Pharisee
the Pharisee, the religious leader
the one who is
supposed to have it all figured out
he says God
I thank you that I'm not like other people
Robbers, evil doers, adulterers
I thank you I'm not like this tax collector I thank you I'm not like this person sitting
next to me in the pew
he's praying about himself
and what's the issue, the issue is he's comparing himself
to others
we can always find somebody
who's doing something worse than we are
makes us feel good about ourselves, I'm not as bad as that person
I'm doing good
the Pharisee gets caught up in trying to do the right things
The person we're supposed to be
is to figure out
how be
the person of God not do the right things
that's why Jesus always brings it back to the heart
always brings it back to our character
that's what he cares about that's the thing we will take with us when we die
Romans three twenty three says for every one has sinned
and we all fall short of God's glorious standard
We are not supposed to compare ourselves to others
We're to compare ourselves
to God and his standard
and when we do that we're all in the same place
it's easier to show grace
to those around us
When we realize that we are all falling short of the standard that God has set
It is the Holy Spirit whose transforming us from the inside out
making us into the people of God
and so we have this Messiah
this anointed one Jesus Christ who comes in and turns everything upside down
he is saying instead of
self-reliance how about
we replace it with child like God reliance
instead of the self-confidence
how about we replace it with submissive
God confidence
instead of self-determination
how about we replaced that with trusting in the sovereign grace and plan of God
instead of
self-esteem
And feeling good about ourselves
by thinking well of ourselves
He replaces that with
find your worth
And how unworthy you are
find your worth in the
mercy
of God
that is where our worth is in the fact that Jesus himself died for us
those who are poor in spirit recognize that we can't save
ourselves
so there is a blessing that is given to those
who recognize that they are poor in spirit
in giving up their own kingdom they received and inherit
the kingdom of God
Matthew five three
for their is the kingdom
of heaven
you see this beatitude this be
this character trait
takes us into the valley
this is a very encouraging
positive message
it takes us into the valley
but until you spent time in the valley
the vistas just aren't that grand
and unless we take an honest look and dig into the depths
of our character, our soul
to dig into the depths in realize how sinful we are
we can't fly
into the heights of God's grace
Romans six twenty three says the free gift of God
is eternal life to Christ Jesus our Lord this is a free
Gift, that is what grace means
an undeserved free gift
this gift is given to the whole
world
It's given to each individual
but until you open the gift
Until you receive the gift that God is giving you
you don't get to experience
the heights
How amazing God's grace is
God wants us to recognize our poverty
so that he can make us rich
he wants us to recognize our lowliness
so that he can lift us up
the very last versus Luke eighteen says this
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled
but he who humbles himself
will be exalted
may you look into the depths of who you are and take the risk
To dig deep
so that you can fly
into the heights of God's grace, let me pray for us
Lord, it's difficult to hear
that we can't figure it out on our own it's difficult to hear that we can't fix
everything on our own
it's sometimes difficult to hear
because our pride doesn't want us to
and yet we so desperately need to understand that it is all about you
Lord I pray for each person here
give his eyes to see
and to know that
that you are God and we are not
that we need to compare ourselves to your standard not compare ourselves to
others that's not fair
God help us to see ourselves the way you see us
and we thank you Jesus that when God does see us he sees us through you
and what you do for us on the cross
you are perfecting us, you are making us into the people of God, you are from the
inside out transforming us
to see
to do, to act
to say
the things that the people of God are supposed to
God, we desire for you to look good
So we pray these things in Jesus name
Amen
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