Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

36 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #29

"Direct evangelistic application: some in the congregation are unconverted and need to stop striving and cry out to Christ for salvation."

Doctrinal loci· 12 surfaced

Soteriology · 13 Hamartiology · 7 Sanctification · 7 Anthropology · 6 Providence / Sovereignty · 5 Bibliology · 4 Christology · 2 Ecclesiology · 2 Pastoral Theology · 2 Theology Proper · 2 Eschatology · 1 Pneumatology · 1

Bible citations· 15

Illustrations· 1

Understanding Biblical Poverty Through Third World Experience personal story · unit #8 — Personal story of traveling in the Third World serves as a hermeneutical bridge, showing the pastor how to read the Bible's poverty language rightly by seeing actual poverty firsthand.

Theological claims· 10

The modern relativistic definition of poverty will distort our understanding of Jesus's teaching about spiritual poverty. unit #3
Spiritual poverty—understood through the lens of biblical poverty—captures in a single stroke the entire biblical teaching on the human condition apart from Christ. unit #9
Felt spiritual poverty is sanity—it means seeing the world, yourself, and God as they actually are, while pride is delusional madness. unit #10
Felt spiritual poverty sanctifies by weakening indwelling sin, because the flesh is terrified of dependence on God and constantly drives us toward self-sufficiency—but living in felt poverty pronounces the Creator-creature distinction and chokes the flesh's aspiration to equality with God. unit #11
Felt spiritual poverty produces assurance of salvation because conscious daily dependence on God is the natural posture of a child with the Father—and when you function in this created role, there is peace and assurance unrivaled in any other state. unit #13
Spiritual poverty is the key to salvation—you cannot be saved until you put down all striving and acknowledge your utter dependence on Christ's atonement, and this moment is your first true sanity. unit #19
When Christians fall into persistent sin, God is using the resulting misery to restore felt spiritual poverty—you fell into the ditch partly because you stopped feeling spiritually poor, and you will escape partly by feeling it again. unit #21
God has appointed suffering as part of the good works prepared for believers, and suffering is the means by which God breaks through the mere idea of dependence and restores felt spiritual poverty. unit #23
God sends affliction to teach us the truth of our spiritual poverty—affliction is pedagogical, not punitive. unit #24
Serving people with Christlike love over time exhausts our resources and reveals how little we can do for them—we cannot produce the spiritual outcomes we most desire, making us dependent on God to work on our behalf. unit #26

Quotations· 10

"the language of poverty is first and foremost the language of neediness. The poor we meet in the New Testament are characteristically not merely the economically disadvantaged, but rather those in need of charity to sustain their lives. Not simply relative deprivation, but real distress marks their state." — One commentator (unit #6)

"if you want to have a madman in your head, embrace pride. For you shall never find one more mad than he." — Charles Spurgeon (unit #10)

"Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. Come, you weary, heavy-laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all." — Joseph Hart (unit #19)

"Not the labor of my hands can fulfill the law's demands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All could never sin erase. Thou must save and saved by grace. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die." — Rock of Ages hymn (unit #19)

"no one is more miserable than the Christian who for a time hedges in his obedience. He does not love sin enough to enjoy its pleasures, and he does not love Christ enough to relish holiness. He perceives that his rebellion is iniquitous, but obedience seems distasteful. He does not feel at home any longer in the world, but the memory of his past associations and the tantalizing lyrics of his old music prevent him from singing with the saints. He is a man to be most pitied." — D.A. Carson (unit #21)

"Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that and expect to suffer." — Charles Spurgeon (unit #23)

"affliction is the best book in my library." — Martin Luther (unit #24)

"all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out." — Jesus (unit #30)

"come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me, listen to me. Eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live." — Isaiah 55 (unit #30)

"I, the preacher of this hour, beg to bear my witness that the worst days I've ever had have turned out to be my best days. And when God has seemed most cruel to me, he has been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else, it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest, tenderest love has been manifested to me." — Charles Spurgeon (unit #33)

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Full transcript

29,237 characters 36 units ~32 min reading time

0 · Opening prayer after scripture reading (Daniel 7:13-14)

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man. And when he came, he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. Let's pray. Oh great God, what a privilege to sing and be reminded that if we are in Christ, we are part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a kingdom which is ruled by the most just and perfect King. We praise you, Lord Jesus, and thank you for bringing us in. Now, Lord, bless the preaching of your word. In your great name we pray. Amen.

1 · Frames the sermon by directing the congregation to the primary text (Matthew 5:3) and handling logistical matters (dismissing children)

You can be seated, and if you'll open your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 5— and if there are any kiddos remaining in the sanctuary that would like to be dismissed, now is your time— Matthew chapter 5, and our text will be in verse 3.

2 · Reads the primary text twice for emphasis, establishing the foundation for the entire sermon's argument

Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, which simply says, from the mouth of Jesus, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

3 · Establishes the stakes of the interpretive task: correct understanding of 'poverty' is essential to grasping Jesus's teaching, and modern definitions will mislead us

Now, a great deal of our understanding and appreciation for this text depends on where we get our definition of poverty from. If we take our definition of poverty from modern sources, which are you know, thoroughly sort of infiltrated with relativism and so forth. If we take our definition of poverty from modern sources, then our understanding of what Jesus is saying is going to be way off.

4 · Contrasts modern relativistic poverty (bottom rung of socioeconomic ladder) with biblical poverty, setting up the definitional work necessary for exposition

So what we're going to do to begin with is just try to understand what did Jesus mean when he was talking about poverty? What's the kind of poverty that Jesus had in mind? Well, What we need to mostly understand is that when we think of poverty, we tend to think of a relativistic sort of poor in relationship to others who have more kind of a way. Being poor is kind of what we would say is whatever the bottom of any socioeconomic ladder is, that's poor. That's not how the Bible talks about poor.

5 · Provides the corrected biblical definition of poverty: absolute inability to meet basic needs without external help, life-threatening dependence on charity

The biblical definition of poor is something more like talking about people who will die unless someone else helps them meet their needs, right? So the modern conception of poor is like, well, whatever is the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder. And the biblical definition of poor is someone who cannot meet their basic needs and requires someone else to help them with that, to do that for them.

6 · Marshals scholarly support for the biblical definition of poverty and underscores the theological consequence: this distinction is determinative for understanding Jesus's teaching

One commentator says the language of poverty— talking about the biblical language of poverty— is first and foremost the language of neediness. The poor we meet in the New Testament are characteristically not merely the economically disadvantaged, but rather those in need of charity to sustain their lives. Not simply relative deprivation, but real distress marks their state. And so you can begin to see why this distinction is huge if we're going to understand what Jesus is teaching.

7 · Demonstrates the exegetical payoff: the correct definition yields total depravity and utter dependence on God; the wrong definition yields weak therapeutic truisms

If we're using a relativistic definition, then we're going to see Jesus saying something like this: Blessed are those who think of their souls as slightly less well-off than others. Or disadvantaged to some extent. But if we use the biblical definition of poverty, we walk away with, well, what the Calvinists would talk about as total depravity. We walk away with this clear sense that we are utterly and entirely dependent on God to meet our physical and spiritual needs.

8 · Personal story of traveling in the Third World serves as a hermeneutical bridge, showing the pastor how to read the Bible's poverty language rightly by seeing actual poverty firsthand

This is something that I really didn't understand until I began to travel in the Third World and begin to see, okay, this is poverty. This poverty lines up exactly with the poverty I see in the Bible. And that poverty is simply a kind of despairing desperation that says, I have nothing and I have no way of improving my situation. I have nothing and I have no way of improving my situation. Biblical poverty is almost always— and this is true of the third world as well— biblical poverty is almost always marked by some kind of physical disadvantage, a disease, a disability, or being an older widow or a younger orphan, so that earning or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is not even a possibility. And the third marker of poverty in the scriptures is, you know, it's like this this real desperation, this dependence on someone else, and that flows out of some kind of disability or disadvantage that prohibits you from earning your way. And the third one is usually some kind of significant debt. So another marker of biblical poverty is not only are you, you know, severely disadvantaged in a way that doesn't allow you to meet your own needs, but you may have, in the process of getting sick, or in the process of trying to make ends meet, accumulated a great deal of debt. And there was no Chapter 11 back then, right? And so people were walking around that were poor, were walking around in an entirely helpless and dependent situation.

9 · Synthesizes the exegetical work into a definition and then applies that definition directly to spiritual poverty, connecting Jesus's single word to the entire biblical doctrine of human fallenness

I would summarize it this way: poverty in Bible times could be described as a day-to-day desperate dependency on others to meet your most basic needs, and that dependency stems from some kind of significant disease, disability, indebtedness, or some other kind of extreme disadvantage. So we need to understand what Jesus means when he says poor, and then it's relatively short work to understand when he talks about spiritual poverty. He is simply outlining in one very beautiful quick stroke pretty much all of the Bible says about our spiritual condition apart from Christ.

10 · Introduces the sermon's central structure (four reasons to desire felt spiritual poverty) while distinguishing factual from felt poverty

Now, the next thing I want you to see is that there are at least 4 reasons why we should seek out what I am calling felt spiritual poverty. Felt spiritual poverty. And I feel like I have to qualify this by saying felt because many of us have a theology which would admit in abstract terms that we are spiritually poor. But many of those same individuals who would acknowledge that particular theological truth do not in this moment feel their poverty. Right? So there's a factual kind of spiritual poverty, and that is true, like we all are entirely, utterly dependent on God for everything. That's a fact. But very often, in big chunks of our life, big unfortunate chunks of our life, we can go without feeling this at all. If pressed, if given a Bible quiz, if sat across from other people in a Bible study, we would say, oh, I can do nothing apart from Christ. But then if our lives were actually— and our prayers, or lack thereof, were actually counted and considered— it would be clear we don't feel in an urgent way a kind of desperate dependency on God. So I want to talk about kind of why we should want that. Why should we want to feel spiritually poor? As it seems extremely counterintuitive to want to feel this way. Well, the first reason is, is that spiritual poverty, felt spiritual poverty, is, for lack of a better word, the definition of sanity. Felt spiritual poverty is just sanity. Which I'm— what I mean by that is it is seeing the world as it actually is. It's seeing yourself as you actually are. It's seeing God as he actually is. You see, a lack of spiritual poverty is actually delusional and insane. Spurgeon once said, if you want to have a madman in your head, embrace pride. For you shall never find one more mad than he.

11 · Presents the second reason to desire felt spiritual poverty: it has a sanctifying function by starving the flesh, which is terrified of dependence on God and constantly steers believers toward self-sufficiency

And a second reason why we want to feel spiritual poverty is because feeling spiritually poor actually weakens the grip of indwelling sin. Here is the thing that maybe if you're a new Christian or you're not a Christian, and this is one of the more confusing aspects, I think, of the Christian life, is this sense that when we are saved, we are set free from the penalty of sin and death, but have still a flesh, a remnant of indwelling sin to deal with. And so there's these verses in Romans 5 and Galatians— Romans 7 and Galatians 5 and so on and so forth that refer to this sort of wrestling and contending of the flesh and the Spirit. And the one thing that you could say about your flesh is that it is absolutely— please lock in on this because I think that there are probably controlling attitudes that are influencing how you make decisions right now that are related to this. What you need to know about your flesh is that it is absolutely terrified of feeling dependent on God. And so, so much of our planning and so much of our— even our work, so much of our lives, if we're not careful, can be sort of grabbed by the flesh and steering us away from living in weakness and dependency on God. From living in a state of felt spiritual poverty. Our flesh is absolutely terrified of being in this condition. Our flesh is controlled by the original sin of Adam and Eve, which aspired to be like God. And if we're living with a felt sense of spiritual poverty where we have to depend on God in a complete and kind of very real way, this distinction between Creator and creation is really pronounced. Our not being God is sort of extremely pronounced in a state of spiritual poverty. A lot of our impatience— I want you to, I want you to hear this— a lot of our impatience and discontentment with our present circumstances is simply the flesh being revolting, I suppose you could say, against waiting and depending on God. It's a desire in our flesh to move out of what it considers to be a wretched condition of neediness. And so there are so many pronouncements we've made over ourselves and so many choices we've made and so many roads not taken because we know to go there or to commit to this or to say yes to that or no to this means a slow, painful walk of dependency, step by step with the Lord. And our flesh has said, I'll have none of that.

12 · Summarizes the first two benefits (sanity and sanctification) before pivoting to the third benefit

So one of the benefits of a felt spiritual poverty is you're actually seeing the world rightly. And another benefit is it's really sticking it to the flesh. It has a sanctifying effect.

13 · Presents the third benefit of felt spiritual poverty: it produces assurance of salvation by placing the believer in the natural posture of a child walking with the Father

And a third reason that you should desire a felt spiritual poverty is because this is actually where assurance comes from. In many respects, this is where assurance of your salvation comes for— Jesus says as much in the text: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When you're conscious of a day-to-day desperation, a day-to-day dependency on God to meet your physical and spiritual needs, when you recognize that you can't take one more step unless he gives you the power to do so, this is what it feels like to be a child walking with your father. This is the most natural and appropriate state for a Christian to live in. When you live here, you think it's going to be terrible, and then you find out, you know, it's not— I wouldn't say fun, but there is a peace and an assurance in this state that is unrivaled in any other state because you are functioning in the role you you've been created to function in as a dependent, as a dependent creature, as a knowingly dependent creature with the Creator God.

14 · Introduces the fourth benefit (spiritual power) and signals the source text for this claim (2 Corinthians)

And there's a fourth benefit to this felt spiritual poverty, and it is simply its relationship with true spiritual power. Felt spiritual poverty lends itself to true spiritual power. This is a major theme in Paul's writings in 2 Corinthians.

15 · Expounds 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, showing Paul in a state of utter existential dependence—exactly the condition of felt spiritual poverty—and notes the salvific purpose: to make him rely on God rather than himself

In chapter 1, verses 8 through 9, he writes, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself." This was a state in which he wasn't sure he would live or die, the most fundamentally existential kind of place to be. The most dependent place to be. And he was in this state, utterly dependent on God, and he found in that state that it was to make him not rely on himself but on God who raises the dead.

16 · Expounds 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, demonstrating the fourth benefit: God's power is made perfect in weakness—felt spiritual poverty produces spiritual strength

And then later in chapter 12, he tells us of an experience where he was given a grand spiritual vision But after that reaching of a spiritual summit, the Lord burdens him with what Paul calls a thorn in the flesh. In verses 7 through 10, he writes, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 3 times I I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities. For when I am weak, I am strong.

17 · Mid-sermon interruption handled with humility and transparency

Now, I just got a text come across my iPad in real time that forces me for a moment to pause and deal with weakness. Does someone have a code to the gym door? We have someone waiting right now at the gym door. If someone could go and let them in. Thank you so much. That's awkward, but I can't let that person just sit out there and wait to get in. All right, probably should have turned my text off and then I would have been in blissful ignorance.

18 · Recaps the four benefits, corrects a common misunderstanding (spiritual poverty is not just conversion but the entire Christian life), and pivots to the next major section: four seasons where felt spiritual poverty occurs

So the 4 benefits of walking in this sort of felt sense of spiritual poverty, and I really think we need to be told the benefits because it just seems so unattractive. I think that many times the Christian's attitude, my attitude towards spiritual poverty, is it was this icky moment I had to encounter to get saved, and now I'm glad I'm past it. Sort of like this awkward moment where I had to bare all to physician Jesus, but now I get to put my clothes back on. It's like, no, this is the Christian life. The Beatitudes are, in really clear respects, Jesus's program for our character development. If you want to know what Jesus is going to do in your life as a Christian, read the Beatitudes. He's going to make these things true in your life, as Dove pointed out last week. All right, so there's the 4 reasons why you should want this. Now I want you to see that there are 4 seasons where you will feel a felt sense of spiritual poverty.

19 · Presents the first season of felt spiritual poverty—conversion—as the moment of true sanity when a sinner sees reality rightly and cries out for Christ

And the first one is you will feel this when God saves you. You will feel spiritual poverty when God saves you. As I said, this is sort of a program for spiritual development, for character development in the book of— in the Beatitudes. And the reason why spiritual poverty comes first, the reason why it is the first of the virtues, it is because it is the key to salvation. You cannot be saved unless you come to realize that you are utterly dependent on Jesus Christ to have made atonement for your sins, and that you cannot make a way into your future, let alone your eternal future, based on your own merit, your own efforts, or anything like that. You cannot be saved unless you put down and put an end to all the need for striving, all the need to prove yourself, until you can be spiritually poor in the eyes of God Acknowledge what is already true. Until you can do this, you can't be saved. You know, this was a hard lesson for me to learn as a prideful kid growing up in a Christian context. The truth of it made sense to me, but even just the public acknowledgment of my need for Christ seemed unsufferably humiliating to me. There's so much pride, even as a very young man, so much trouble, so much trouble just presenting myself, acknowledging outwardly to others that I am a desperate sinner in need of Jesus Christ. And I grew up in a church that sang hymns, and I have this incredibly— like, in addition to— it's the worst of both worlds. An incredible amount of pride, an incredible amount of spiritual sensitivity, could not shut off the conviction of the Holy Spirit that was just always raining down upon me. And we would sing these hymns, and I would feel like I was going to throw up. So thankfully now I can read them and not feel like I'm going to throw up. But this used to be the theme of so many of the hymns, the theme of you need to stop trying to earn this, you need to stop trying to clean yourself up. And one of the hymns that we would sing that would— was gut-wrenching for me in this state was the Hemlock of Ages. And it says, not the labor of my hands can fulfill the law's demands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? Sorry upon sorry upon sorry, all could never sin erase. Thou must save and saved by grace. Nothing in my hand I bring, another verse says, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. That is saving spiritual poverty there. That's the saving faith of spiritual poverty. It's your first moment of true sanity as a human being. It's the first moment that you actually see the world as it really is. And if in that moment you cry out like the writer of that hymn cried out and say, wash me, Savior, or I die. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to your cross I cling. Like, that's, that's, that's the first moment when you become a child of God. Joseph Hart was— I love Joseph Hart. He was a libertine, which basically in the 1700s was just a nice British way of saying player. Uh, and he wrote a pamphlet, uh, against John Wesley's emphasis on works, you know, as a total grace alone kind of guy. And it was grace alone to be with as many girls as, you know, so on and so forth. He's just a total wretch, you know, total libertine. And he was eventually saved, and he wrote the hymn: Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. Come, you weary, heavy-laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all.

20 · Summarizes the first season (conversion) and signals the second season (stuck in sin), with a moment of pastoral humor (not asking for raised hands)

So the first time we experience spiritual poverty is when we see that we ourselves cannot earn our place in heaven, our entrance into the kingdom, our state in God's favor. We cannot atone for our sins. We can't be sad enough even to atone for our sins. We need Jesus. And then there's a second season that I want to bring to your attention where we experience true spiritual poverty, and that is a season when we are stuck in sin. By raise of hands, anyone stuck in— no, that's

21 · Presents the second season of felt spiritual poverty—being stuck in sin

Friends, if you are, you need to understand that this is absolutely a part of the Christian life, but it is also a part of the falsely assured unregenerate life. And so let me just be direct and careful with you. If you are stuck in some sin that you cannot seem to overcome, and that sin continually speaks conviction to you, then we need to deal with it. We need to deal with it because we need to see what's under the hood. We need to see the Lord work on your behalf. But so many of us have felt this before. So many of us have been in this state before, and this is amongst many things, one of the things God's doing in this state is to give you a renewed sense of spiritual poverty. Indeed, if you are a Christian and you've fallen into a sin ditch, you fell into that ditch in part because you stopped feeling spiritually poor, and you will get out of this ditch in part by feeling spiritually poor again. D.A. Carson once wrote, no one is more miserable than the Christian who for a time hedges in his obedience. He does not love sin enough to enjoy its pleasures, and he does not love Christ enough to relish holiness. He perceives that his rebellion is iniquitous, but obedience seems distasteful. He does not feel at home any longer in the world, but the memory of his past associations and the tantalizing lyrics of his old music prevent him from singing with the saints. He is a man to be most pitied. Well, if you've ever been in this state, you know full well that this is an extraordinarily accurate statement. You still sin in ways that you wish you hadn't, and it is not bringing you any joy, but neither is Christ bringing you special joy. You are stuck in the middle. And friends, amongst all the things the Lord is doing in that moment, I want you to be aware of one thing in particular. He is helping you to feel what I just read in those hymns—a sense of total desperation, a sense of rejecting all of the plans and projects for self-improvement, and a pleading existential, salvific-level cry: 'Wash me, Savior, or I die.' What is he doing in these moments where you are more miserable than almost anyone? He is helping you to see that you are indeed a spiritual beggar who is dependent on Christ. Every moment and in every way.

22 · Pivots to the third season of felt spiritual poverty: suffering

Well, there's a third season that we feel this felt poverty, and that is when we are suffering.

23 · Presents the third season of felt spiritual poverty—suffering

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that and expect to suffer. Remember that and expect to suffer. Each one of us will go through seasons of circumstantial suffering. We read often in our church, relatively often, a number of promises and beautiful passages from the book of Ephesians, and especially chapter 2. And including in the things that we reference repeatedly is a place at the end of chapter 2 where Paul says that God has prepared good works for us before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them. Friends, let me just clue you in on something. A percentage, a perfectly chosen and appointed percentage of those good works involve walking through suffering. Some of the good works God has appointed for you involve suffering. Okay, now the truth is, is that before the foundation of the world, God appointed seasons of suffering for us that are perfectly prescribed in dose and duration. But in the middle of it, the dose always seems too strong and the duration always seems too long. We have a sense, an idea that God's in charge and that we're dependent and so on and so forth. But God means to break through the mere idea, the mere facts of spiritual poverty, and restore to us a sense of felt spiritual poverty. God is letting us taste the truth. It's just a little bit stronger than we would like it to be.

24 · Brief theological claim with supporting quotation: God uses affliction pedagogically to teach believers their dependence

Martin Luther once said, affliction, it's the best book in my library. And the truth is, is that in our really need to feel spiritually poor, God will send us through some affliction to teach us the truth.

25 · Pivots to the fourth and final season of felt spiritual poverty: serving others

There's a final season in life where we will feel spiritually poor, and that is when we are serving others.

26 · Presents the fourth season of felt spiritual poverty—serving others sacrificially over time

When we serve people like Christ, when we serve people with a commitment to love them like Christ loves them, we will quickly come to an end of our own resources, and we will run out of words and patience, and most importantly, we will run out of spiritual power You'll get to a certain point in your life, Lord willing, where all of the things you want to see happen can only happen by prayer. And all of the things you really want to see for others seem completely outside of your ability to produce. When you love people well, you will come to this realization of, I can't give them the things they most need to be most happy in Christ. And this is true of marriage and parenting and church membership and walking with our parents, our older parents, and our neighbors, and so on and so forth. As you really set in for the long haul of loving someone, you will run out of gas, and you will see that while you can, you can help them. You can tell them about the glory of Christ, you can't make them see the glory of Christ. And you can care for them in their sickness, but you can't heal them of their infirmities. And you can encourage them to repent from sin, but you can't change their heart. And you can warn them about falsehood, but you can't keep them safe. When you love someone, you really love someone, you'll realize how little you have to offer them, how little you can do for them, and how dependent you are on God to work on your behalf. This is the true story of every single parent who sends kids out of their home. It is a, oh yeah, I'm not actually in charge of much, am I, Lord?

27 · Major recap of the sermon's entire argument: definition of spiritual poverty, four seasons, four benefits

So let's review a little bit of this and then wrap up. How would we define spiritual poverty? We would say that it is something like— it is not, uh, I'm slightly less advantaged spiritually than others, or even significantly less advantaged spiritually than others. It is a day-to-day desperate dependency on God to meet both our physical but especially our spiritual needs. And we talked about the difference between a factual kind of intellectual acknowledgement of spiritual poverty, and we talked about an actual felt spiritual poverty. And there are 4 seasons where you will feel this: when you were saved, when you were stuck in sin, when you were suffering, and when you are serving others like Christ. Now, when you're doing these things, you will be aware of your spiritual poverty and 4 benefits will emerge. You will be sane. You will see the world as it really is. You will be sanctified. The influence of indwelling sin and its desire for equality with God will be shrunk. You will be assured because you'll be, like, living the story you were created to live. And you'll experience, like, a spiritual strength that Paul talks about when he says, when I am weak, I am strong.

28 · Signals the shift from exposition to application

Now, how do we apply all this stuff?

29 · Direct evangelistic application: some in the congregation are unconverted and need to stop striving and cry out to Christ for salvation

Well, some of y'all need to get saved. Some of y'all need to do what I did many years ago in a pew in a big Southern Baptist church. You need to stop white-knuckling your way through a gospel presentation at church every week. You need to stop trying to clean your stuff up on your own or to reach a level of certainty that is actually not appropriate or possible. You need to cry out to the Lord and be saved.

30 · Reinforces the evangelistic appeal with promises of free grace from John 6:37 and Isaiah 55, repeated for emphasis

Jesus says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Some of y'all need to get saved. Isaiah 55 says, come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me, listen to me. Eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live. Some of y'all need to get saved.

31 · Application to the unconverted: emulate the tax collector's posture of spiritual poverty and receive justification

You need to join the tax collector who dared not lift his eyes to heaven but pleaded with God, have mercy on me, Lord, a sinner, and you'll get to join him in going home justified.

32 · Application to believers stuck in sin: like the prodigal son, return to the Father by acknowledging spiritual poverty

Some of you are stuck in sin, and like a prodigal son who took one too many steps away from the father, you are now stranded in no man's land. Have you come to an end of yourself? Do you feel the spiritual poverty that would have kept you safe in the beginning? Are you ready to return to the Father and throw yourself on his mercy and experience the feast you don't deserve? Because he's ready. Are you ready?

33 · Application to those suffering: reframe suffering as God's pedagogy

Some of you are suffering. Well, see this season for what it is. You're in a class right now. God is being kind to you, and he is showing you his power. Your flesh is going to be very upset with this season because it doesn't like being dependent on God. But in the end, you're going to learn a lesson that the book of Hebrews says leads to a sweet season of righteousness. Spurgeon— one thing we can say about Spurgeon is he knew how to suffer. He was forced to. He said, I, the preacher of this hour, beg to bear my witness that the worst days I've ever had have turned out to be my best days. And when God has seemed most cruel to me, he has been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else, it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest, tenderest love has been manifested to me.

34 · Application to those serving others: embrace the realization that you lack what it takes, as Paul did

So some of you need to get saved, and some of you are stuck in sin, and some of you are suffering, and some of you are just kind of serving and loving, and that's the season you're in. And what you're finding, Lord willing, is that, boy, you just don't have what it takes to make the difference you want to make. Who is sufficient for these things, the Apostle Paul says.

35 · Concluding prayer transitioning into communion

Well, praise God, you know your limitations, you're feeling your spiritual poverty. For communion today is a relatively straightforward idea, and I thought that in introducing it I would just lead us in prayer. So would you bow your head with me? Let's pray. Dear God, we are helpless and you are both all-powerful and all-generous. As we partake of this bread and wine, Lord, representing your power and your generosity, representing your truth and your beauty, your strength and your love. Lord, we ask that you would not allow us to take another step today that isn't informed and felt— informed by a felt spiritual poverty. What are we doing here if not to acknowledge our total dependence on you, and that while we were still helpless indeed your enemies. You demonstrated your love for us in offering up a payment for a penalty we could not overcome through our own efforts. And so today, this table is set before us this morning, Lord, this table representing the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate declaration that we are spiritually poor. So today, Lord, as we come and taste and see that you are good, may we also taste and see that we are not enough, that we lack all the things we need to make it, and therefore must walk in dependence with you. That's not a bug of Christianity, it's a feature. It's not something to be avoided, it's something to be embraced. Give us faith, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So if you're a follower of Jesus Christ

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Jan 30, 2022

The Sin of Slackness

Passivity and lack of zeal in using God-given gifts for service is not a minor failing but a serious sin that allies the believer with the forces of destruction, and only Christ's sacrificial work can forgive this slackness and transform us into zealous servants who prove Jesus is the center of all things.

Proverbs 18:9

Aug 22, 2022

Patient Kindness

Love requires both patience and kindness working inseparably together, with patience serving as the delivery system for intentional, costly kindness even toward those who test us.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Jan 21, 2023

Rely on God's Spirit, Rehearse God's Sovereignty

Christians overcome fear and embrace hardship not by eliminating fear or relying on human strength, but by depending on the Holy Spirit to illuminate God's sovereignty, particularly His sovereignty in salvation, which establishes that God has already done the hardest thing and can be trusted with all lesser trials.

June 4 · This sermon

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

True spiritual flourishing begins with felt spiritual poverty—a day-to-day desperate dependency on God that shatters the delusion of self-sufficiency and establishes us in the reality of our helpless need for Christ in every moment.

Matthew 5:3

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

When Jesus says 'blessed are the poor in spirit,' what does the sermon mean by spiritual poverty, and how is it different from the way our c…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through the paradox of spiritual poverty: how felt dependence on God restores sanity, breaks sin's power, anchors assurance, and becomes the posture through which God's grace flows most freely.

Family table

When Did You Feel Like You Couldn't Fix It?

This prompt invites your family to name a real moment when they felt helpless or stuck—unable to solve a problem on their own. Listen for th…

Couples

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

What part of Chris's message about spiritual poverty most stirred your heart—where did you feel God's Spirit speaking directly to your own s…

Memorize

Matthew 5:3

This is Jesus's opening declaration of the Beatitudes and the sermon's primary text—the very foundation upon which Chris Oswald builds the entire teaching that true spiritual flourishing begins with felt spiritual poverty and desperate dependence on God. Memorizing this verse anchors the congregation in the counterintuitive gospel truth that blessedness flows not from self-sufficiency but from the recognition of our utter helplessness apart from Christ.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

When Jesus says 'blessed are the poor in spirit,' what does the sermon mean by spiritual poverty, and how is it different from the way our culture typically defines poverty?

Matthew 5:3

→ Can you think of a season in your own life when you felt this kind of spiritual poverty—when self-sufficiency became impossible and you knew you were dependent on God?
The sermon claims that felt spiritual poverty is 'sanity'—seeing the world, yourself, and God as they actually are. What delusions about your own spiritual strength or self-sufficiency do you find yourself believing most often?
According to the sermon, spiritual poverty weakens indwelling sin's grip because 'the flesh is terrified of dependence on God.' Why would our sin nature resist the posture of dependence, and what does it try to make us believe instead?

Galatians 5

→ When have you noticed yourself being driven toward self-sufficiency rather than toward God, and what was happening in you spiritually at that time?
The sermon presents four seasons when Christians encounter spiritual poverty: at conversion, when stuck in sin, during suffering, and while serving others. Which of these seasons are you walking through right now, and what is God teaching you about your need for Him?

Hebrews 12:11
The sermon says that when we fall into persistent sin, God uses the resulting misery to restore felt spiritual poverty. How does understanding affliction as pedagogical rather than punitive change the way you interpret your own struggles with sin?

Romans 7
In light of the gospel—Christ's finished work on our behalf—how does recognizing your complete spiritual poverty at conversion become the foundation for assurance of salvation and for conscious daily dependence on God?

Romans 5:6-8

→ What would it mean for you this week to live out of felt dependence on God rather than from the confidence that you can handle your spiritual life on your own?

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through the paradox of spiritual poverty: how felt dependence on God restores sanity, breaks sin's power, anchors assurance, and becomes the posture through which God's grace flows most freely.

Monday Romans 7

Paul's cry—"Who will rescue me from this body of death?"—is the prayer of spiritual poverty. He has tried striving, tried self-sufficiency, and discovered the brutal truth: apart from Christ, even our best efforts are enslaved to sin. When we stop pretending we can fix ourselves and feel the weight of that truth, we step into sanity.

Tuesday 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul's "thorn in the flesh" reveals how God uses affliction to shatter self-sufficiency and force us into conscious dependence. Three times he pleaded for removal—the natural cry of flesh resisting dependence—until he grasped that God's power is perfected in weakness. When we stop fighting our poverty and embrace it, the grip of our flesh loosens, and grace floods in.

Wednesday Ephesians 2

Before conversion, we are not merely "sick" or "lost"—we are spiritually dead, alienated from God, objects of wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). This is total spiritual poverty: we have nothing to offer, no currency to purchase grace, no righteousness of our own. The gospel arrives only when we stop pretending otherwise and feel the full weight of our need.

Thursday Isaiah 55:1-3

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters... buy wine and milk without money and without cost." The invitation presupposes spiritual hunger and poverty—you come with empty hands, not with payment or credentials. God calls those who know they are starving, who have abandoned the pretense of self-sufficiency, to come and drink freely of His grace.

Friday John 6:37

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." Our assurance does not rest on our ability to hold fast to God, but on His promise to hold us fast. When we live in felt poverty—coming to Him daily with empty hands, acknowledging our need—we experience the security of a beloved child who knows his Father will never reject him.

Sunday-evening family table

When Did You Feel Like You Couldn't Fix It?

For the parent

This prompt invites your family to name a real moment when they felt helpless or stuck—unable to solve a problem on their own. Listen for their honesty, then gently connect that feeling to spiritual poverty: the way Jesus wants us to feel our constant need for Him, just like we felt our need in that moment.

Tell us about a time recently when you tried really hard to fix something or solve a problem, but you just couldn't do it on your own—you needed help from someone else. What was that like? How did it feel when you finally asked for help?

Works for ages 6+; younger children may describe physical situations (can't open a jar, can't reach something), while older kids will naturally move toward emotional or relational struggles

Couples · three questions over coffee

What part of Chris's message about spiritual poverty most stirred your heart—where did you feel God's Spirit speaking directly to your own sense of need?
As a couple, where do you find yourselves tempted toward self-sufficiency rather than conscious dependence on God, and how might that be affecting the way we serve and love each other?
Who among us needs to be reminded this week that we cannot produce the spiritual outcomes we most desire—and how can we pray for each other to live in that felt poverty together?

Memory verse this week

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Why this verse: This is Jesus's opening declaration of the Beatitudes and the sermon's primary text—the very foundation upon which Chris Oswald builds the entire teaching that true spiritual flourishing begins with felt spiritual poverty and desperate dependence on God. Memorizing this verse anchors the congregation in the counterintuitive gospel truth that blessedness flows not from self-sufficiency but from the recognition of our utter helplessness apart from Christ.

Where this was preached

About the church

Providence Community Church

Lenexa, KS
Sundays · 10:00 AM
About us · What we believe

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# Providence Community Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [The Sin of Slackness (Proverbs 18:9, 2022-01-30)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2022/01/january-30-2022-sermon)
- [Patient Kindness (1 Corinthians 13:4, 2022-08-22)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2022/08/8222022)
- [Rely on God's Spirit, Rehearse God's Sovereignty (2023-01-21)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2023/01/rely-on-god-s-spirit-rehearse-god-s-sovereignty)
- [Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (Matthew 5:3, 2023-06-04)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2023/06/blessed-are-the-poor-in-spirit)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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