True Happiness - Part 2

Yesterday, we ended with the gospel of Luke indicating that Jesus had been in prayer all night and then he went upon a mountain to teach. Today’s study comes from Matthew 5: 1-3 “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 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.” (NIV)

Jesus assumes the position of teacher. The Jewish rabbis in that time would often “sit” to teach. So the position of teaching was often one of sitting and not standing. He sits and his mission is to teach what true happiness is. This is what has become known throughout church history as “the sermon on the mount.” Every since Augustine wrote his Latin commentary on Matthew 5-7, the title “sermon on the mount has been applied to this body of material that contains Matthew chapters five through seven.

The sermon on the mount opens up with the beatitudes. Many of us learned these as a kid in our Sunday school classes. The word beatitude comes from a Latin word which means blessedness or joy. Blessed here in the text means happy or a further meaning would describe “one who has God’s approval.” Jesus teaches in the beatitudes what citizens of God’s kingdom should look like. Over the next few days, we all may find it challenging to see the description that Jesus gives of a “kingdom” person versus where we are in our spiritual journey.

I believe that the order in which Jesus teaches these beatitudes are also significant. The first one is “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. Happy are those who are “poor in spirit” . What does it really mean to be “poor in spirit.” The word for poverty here does not refer to economic status but to an inward poverty. If you look at it logically, then we all know poor people (economically) are not necessarily “citizens of the kingdom.” Just as among all other economic groups, we have poor people that are also evil. So it is not referring to an economic status of poverty but an inward emptiness. The word poor means helpless, powerless to accomplish an end, lacking, needy.

When we talk about “spirit” in this text, we’re talking about attitude or the power by which the human being feels, thinks or decides. Now when we put it all together, then “poverty of spirit” means to recognize that we are nothing outside of God, can do nothing and have need of all things from God. It is recognizing that God is our source and with God, all things are possible. Poverty of spirit is a consciousness of emptiness, meaning that we empty our own self-righteousness and we start taking on the attributes of God.

The first step then in this journey for true happiness, is to become mentally empty of our own way of thinking. How do we do this? Each one of us has to make a conscious effort to analyze our thoughts and actions. We know what thinking is detrimental to our happiness and inconsistent with God’s word. I have found that one of the greatest ways to start reshaping how we think is to start reading and meditating on God’s word daily. So today, our memory verse is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Just meditate on that all day long. When your own self-righteousness pops up, just quote “poor in spirit.” Watch how powerful and transforming it will be. God bless you. Make it a great day and don’t forget to pray !!!!!!!!!

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