Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

We find His first recorded words from His first sermon in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (KJV). Before He arrived on the scene, John, his cousin, was preaching in the wilderness of Judaea saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:1-2). The introduction of Jesus' sermon shows a passing of the baton. No longer was the kingdom of heaven at hand, it was now here and Jesus was teaching the principles of that kingdom.

When Jesus talked about poverty in spirit, He was not talking about the opposite of being materially rich. To this end, Luke 6:20 - which seems like a contradiction - must be understood in light of the fuller statement of Matthew 5:3. James M. Boice, in his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, observes, "To be poor in spirit is to be poor in the inward man, not in outward circumstances. Consequently, to be poor in spirit is to recognize one’s spiritual poverty before God. . . . [It] is the opposite of being rich in pride; it is to be spiritually bankrupt before God."

A prudent study of the verse, and what it means to be poor in spirit, reveals two very important truths. Firstly, sinful human beings cannot achieve the standards of God’s righteousness and the requirements for the kingdom of heaven. The first principle of Christian ethics is that a new nature, given by the Lord Jesus Christ, is required in advance. Secondly, there must be an emptying in our lives before there can be a filling. We must become poor in spirit before we can become rich in God’s spiritual blessings. In other words, the old wine must be poured out of the wineskins before the new wine can be poured in (Matthew 9:17).

A true poverty of Spirit is unnatural to man, and therefore impossible. Nothing but a direct confrontation with the holy, just, and loving God will produce it. It is impossible to create a true poverty of spirit by looking within or by looking around at other people. True humility and a true sense of need come when we look to God for the basis of our self-evaluation. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: How do I (my life, my words, my thoughts, my actions, my desires) measure up against the Word of God? When we look to God and His Word for the basis of self-evaluation, a true response is like that of Isaiah’s, who when He saw God, cried, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Have you checked your spirit lately?