Daily Devotional For Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Good morning or good day, whichever it might be for you right now. We are on Wonderful Wednesday and we are making our way through the Sermon on the Mount – specifically The Beatitudes for now. They are found in Matthew 5:3-12 . For the last two days, I have taken time to set the context for you. So when you look at each Beatitude individually, it will make more sense to you when you read it, as well as each devotional’s explanation of it.

Today, let’s read Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (NASB). Yesterday, I defined “blessed” for you so let’s go to the second major word in this Beatitude – poor. This is the Greek New Testament word [πτωχός, ptochos]. This word refers to  a verb meaning “to shrink, cower, or cringe,” as beggars often did in that day. Classical Greek used the word to refer to a person reduced to total destitution, who crouched in a corner begging. As he held out one hand for alms he often hid his face with the other hand, because he was ashamed of being recognized. The term did not mean simply poor, but begging poor. It is used in Luke 16:20 to describe the beggar Lazarus.

There was another word commonly used for ordinary poverty and it was the Greek New Testament word [penichros, penichros]. It is used of the widow Jesus saw giving an offering in the Temple. She had very little, but she did have “two small copper coins” (Luke 21:2). She was poor but not a beggar. One who is “penichros” poor has at least some meager resources. One who is “ptōchos” poor, however, is completely dependent on others for sustenance. He has absolutely no means of self-support.

Unfortunately through the years, some have interpreted this Beatitude to mean Jesus says we are to be living in abject poverty. There have been ascetics and others such as Roman Catholic Priests who take a vow of poverty. This is the wrong interpretation. In seminary, we are required to take a class called hermeneutics. This is a class that teaches you skills on how to interpret Scripture. There are four primary types of biblical hermeneutics:

• Literal Interpretation – this approach seeks out the plain or simple meaning of a text. This means that the plain meaning of the text should be interpreted as truth rather than a literal interpretation. For example, in Matthew 5:14-6, Jesus says we are the light of the world. Obviously we cannot apply a literal meaning to this but seek the plain meaning instead. This is not saying that we are a 100-watt light bulb or an LED. The simple or plain interpretation sees this as a metaphor and that metaphor is the truth.
• Moral Interpretation – this approach, looking at all the laws, codes, and statues in Scripture, seeks to look for the ethics in the text as its interpretation. 
• Allegorical Interpretation – this approach says that besides a primary interpretation, that is a secondary meaning or interpretation in a text. We see this approach used in books that deal with prophecy such as Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, and etc. 
• Anagogical Interpretation – this approach looks for the spiritual or mystical and looks to define terms in terms of the last days and Messianic prophecies. This approach looks less at the actual story and more for the hidden meanings in the text about the future life. 

For each of these, you first have to define the terms, then second determine the context, and third, look to Jesus and immerse all in prayer. In Luke 6:20, his version of this same Beatitude reads,  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (NASB). Here, some take Jesus' words to mean it is best to be poor or we should seek a life of poverty. 

So, with all of that in mind, let’s start with Matthew 5:3. So, when it comes to poverty and being poor, hermeneutics states according to pastor and author John MacArthur:

“Hermeneutics requires that, when two or more passages are similar but not exactly alike, the clearer one explains the others, the more explicit, clarifies the less explicit. By comparing Scripture with Scripture we see that the Matthew account is the more explicit. Jesus is speaking of a spiritual poverty that corresponds to the material poverty of one who is ptōchos” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 145).

So, if we only use Luke 6:20, then we would misinterpret what Jesus is saying if we used a literal interpretation. When we compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:3, we see that the Matthew account is the more explicit. Jesus is speaking of a spiritual poverty that corresponds to the material poverty of one who is ptōchos. This means then if Jesus were here advocating material poverty He would have contradicted many other parts of His Word—including the Sermon on the Mount itself (5:42)— that teaches us to give financial help to the poor. If Jesus was teaching the innate blessedness of material poverty, then the task of Christians would be to help make everyone, including themselves, penniless. Jesus did not teach that material poverty is the path to spiritual prosperity. I hope this makes sense to you. 

Those who are materially poor do have a benefit that those who are materially rich do not have. The materially poor do not have all the material things to distract them, occupy them and dominate their lives. The materially rich do. Contrary to the health/wealth preachers/teachers, Jesus is clear that having material possessions does not necessarily mean you are being blessed by God. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus is talking about the condition of one's heart, not one’s wallet. 

Though Jesus and His disciples were poor financially, there is no record of them ever begging for food. To “Be poor in spirit” means to understand what you are apart from a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, you are lost, helpless, and hopeless. It does not matter your income or wealth or social status or position or your level of education, or knowledge of the Bible, apart from Christ you are on the road to Hell no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Those who are “poor in spirit” recognize and acknowledge how destitute they are apart from Christ. They are aware of their total dependence on Jesus Christ and that they themselves possess nothing that could or would save them. To be “poor in spirit” is to have an attitude of humility that the only thing they can do is beg God for grace and mercy. Their pride is gone as well as their sense of self-righteousness. They know who they are. 

This is the type of person God talks about in: 

• Isaiah 66:2, “All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word” (ESV).
• Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (ESV).
• Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (ESV).

Jesus told a parable to illustrate this in Luke 18:9-14:

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: (10) “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (12) I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ (13) But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ (14) I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified, rather than the other (the Pharisee). For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (ESV).

Being “poor in spirit” is the first Beatitude because humility must precede everything else. None of us can receive God’s salvation until we acknowledge we need it and there is nothing we possess in ourselves that can save us. We cannot receive salvation until we acknowledge we are unworthy to receive it. Look at Proverbs 16:5, “Everyone who is arrogant or proud  in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (ESV). Do you see how God views our pride? – It’s an abomination to Him. 

Where self is exalted, Christ cannot exist. Where self is on the throne of one’s heart, Christ cannot be. So, how do we become “poor in spirit?” We cannot do this on our own power. It does not mean that we put ourselves down because we are already down. Humility affirms this. And simply being helpless, hopeless and in need is not a good virtue either and is not God’s will for our lives. I think pastor and author John MacArthur puts it well when he writes this:

“Humility is not a necessary human work to make us worthy, but a necessary divine work to make us see that we are unworthy and cannot change our condition without God. That is why monasticism, asceticism, physical self-denial, mutilation, and other such self-efforts are so foolish and futile. They feed pride rather than subdue it, because they are works of the flesh. They give a person a reason to boast in what he has done or not done. Such self-imposed efforts are enemies of humility” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 149).

Yes we commanded in Scripture to humble ourselves (see (Matt. 18:4; 23:12; James 4:10; 1 Pet. 5:5). Meaning we are commanded to have an attitude that we do not possess enough goodness, righteousness and power in ourselves to save us. So, how do we humble ourselves so that we are”poor in spirit”? How do we cooperate with God’s Holy Spirit in His attempts help us be humble? 

First, we have to get our eyes off ourselves and on to Him. When we study His Word, seek His face, will and purpose for us, pray in faith, and sincerely seek to be more and more like the character Jesus had, then we move towards being “poor in spirit.”

Second, we must starve our fleshly desires by removing or blocking what feeds their hunger. This means we must remove and starve those things that feed our pride. We are sinful and we have a tendency to see everything from our own selfish perspectives. When we get praised or adored, that is not evil. What is evil and sinful is seeking it. And when we are praised, we point it all to Jesus Christ.

Third, we must ask God for humility as David did in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (ESV). The Bible tells us this in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (ESV). Humility is a gift from God, It is one of those good and perfect gifts from God. It has been my observation that God is more willing to give humility than we are willing to ask Him for it. In fact, Jesus Christ stands ready to give it to us long before we even were willing to ask Him for it. Tomorrow, we will look at how we know when we are humble and the second half to this Beatitude.

Questions To Consider

1. For those of us who live in a capitalist culture, we are probably relieved Jesus does not command us to live in abject poverty. The kind of poverty Jesus talks about here is spiritual poverty – having the awareness that there is nothing good in us to save us; we do not possess enough goodness or self-righteousness to get into heaven. We must be dependent on Jesus Christ for everything. What is the hardest part of this to you and why?
2. Why do you think some Christians have the tendency to believe that wealthy Christians have been blessed by God more materially and/or financially. They equate wealth, material possessions with God’s blessings versus the opposite: they must be committing some kind of horrible sins for God to keep them poor? Jesus was poor according to Luke 9:58, “And Jesus said to him, `Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’” (ESV). How do you reconcile this?
3. To be “poor in spirit” starts with humility. We are not better than the next person. That is Jesus’ point in Luke 18:9-14 above. Why do you think we have such a hard time with humility? What are the challenges for you to keep yourself humble, if you attempt? 
4. Just above you were given 3 steps we have to take to humble ourselves? Which of these three steps is the most challenging to you and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 22:4, “The reward of humility [that is, having a realistic view of one’s importance] and the [reverent, worshipful] fear of the Lord Is riches, honor, and life” (AMP).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I wish I loved You more than I love myself. Humility is not something that even desire, let alone comes easy for me. I understand though it is the path to being “poor in spirit.” There are times I am like that Pharisee in Luke 18 above – comparing my righteousness to other people’s righteousness and my sin to their sins. I do have a problem and the problem is me. Please help me see myself as You do. Please help me be humble before you, acknowledging that apart from You, I am in quicksand. I need You as my solid Rock. As the old hymn says, “I need Thee every hour . . .” I need You Jesus. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!”

I love you Southside–Pastor Kelly