2002.2.24. Lent 2nd Sunday - Rev. Chan Young Jang

Eight Characters of Transformed Christians(1)
Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:1-12

From this week, Rev. Cho will have a sabbatical leave. And, Rev Kim and I will take turns to preach a sermon every Sunday. We need your many prayers and encouragement because we lack in many things. Until Rev Cho returns from Sabbatical leave. We will have 27 weeks. But, if we deduct special Sundays (spring revival, Family retreat etc) Rev Kim and I will deliver Sunday sermons 24-26 times together.

I will deliver sermons related to the church calendar 3-4 times. The remaining 9 times I will deliver messages about 8 blessings " The Beatitude " which are based on Mat.5: 1-12. Today's sermon will be focused on eight blessings, concretely speaking eight characters of transformed Christians. Mathew chapter 5, 6, 7.Talk about the famous sermon on the mountain "The Beatitudes".

We will study Mat 5:1-2 for nine weeks. We will focus on 5:3, "Blessed are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." We should remember that 5:1-12 "The Beatitude "is the key to understand the sermon on the Mt. Poor spirit in 5:3 is the key to understanding "The Beatitude".

When we read the sermon on the mountain we feel like we hear wonderful music from Beethoven or Bach. Sometimes we can experience the excitement like watching a masterpiece of Michelangelo or Van Gogh. At the same time we feel frustrated because we can't do as they did perfectly. We feel disappointment because we can't achieve remarkable excellency. But, when we meditate "The Beatitude" in prayer we can feel encouragement "You can do it".

The sermon on the mountain tells us eight true Christian natures (characters) rather than eight blessings. I will examine five general characteristics of these natures.

First. These words were not written for special persons. This is God's order that any body that confesses that Jesus is one's personal savior should have this kind of characters. The teaching is geared to everybody as well as to God's servants like St Paul, Luther, George Muller and Wesley.

Second, these natures have simultaneity. There is no order when they come. We can experience all these characters at the same time as we could experience nine fruits of the Holy Spirit simultaneously. These are Gods blessings which are given to true Christians and the poor in spirit are those who mourn, theses who mourn are the meek, the meek are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Without poor spirit we can't be those who are pure in heart, nor peacemaker, nor those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

Third, we can't be born with any one of eight characters. There are those who have the good nature, who seems good enough to take them to Heaven. But, the good nature is different from the poor heart or meek mind. Eight blessings are the clothes that are given to the born again Christian, transformed Christian through the Holy Spirit. There is no born goodness in human being after Adam committed sin. The evil is hidden temporarily, not revealed through training. All men have sinful nature, therefore the better the person is, the more inner conflict he feels. We can see more hypocrisy among the intellectuals.

Fourth, it shows concretely how Christian should be different from worldly people. Many non-Christians are disappointed at us because Christians are not different from any non- Christian. But the sermon on the Mt. emphasizes carelessly that true Christians should be different from worldly people, especially in internal aspect, in value system, in thought pattern and in view point. If we look deeply we can find that objects we serve are different from others. This world pays attention to material things, honor and success and it serves them like God. But Christians serve God in the Bible rather than serving materials and the world. We seek different matters from non-Christians. They seek always what to eat, what to drink and what to wear.

But though we are interested in them, we seek his kingdom and his righteousness first. There are differences in behavior. They are proud, of their power and capability and wealth rather than being poor in spirit. They prefer strength, heroic and charismatic leadership to meekness. "If you say you can't, you are a loser. Say you can. Have a positive and productive mental attitude. That's the only way to win the world." They persuade like this. But the sermon on the Mt. Demonstrates the human being who depends on God totally out of powerlessness, weakness and limitless. It shows this weakness is different from foolishness and powerlessness in worldly terms.

Fifth, these characters have internal spiritual natures. Worldly people are interested in outward appearance like beauty, position or ranks. The higher the rank is, the higher the voice tone is, and the bigger the size of one's chair is. Eight blessings are based on the internal value. The most important matter in Christians is what kind of character he has. What Christian character is the ideal character to Jesus? 5:3 tells it." Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. The representative and symbolic character of a Christian is being poor in spirit. It means that he doesn't have anything to give when he looks into his deeper heart. If we have something to share, we feel proud of ourselves. If we have nothing to give, nothing to show or nothing to insist. We feel sorry. Like this when we find that we have nothing to give to God, we become humble before God. When we realize that we are sinners, we don't pray or preach the gospel or serve others because of our own righteousness we become humble, we become those who wait for nothing but his mercy and grace and love and forgiveness.

In the Old Testament poverty meant material poverty. The law commanded them to help the poor. Dut 15:11 says "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. Beside material poverty, In Ps 13:6 David called himself "this poor man". In Isa 41:17 mentioned "this poor and needy ". From the last statement being poor means internal condition rather than external condition. Therefore when Jesus talks about poverty, he talked about spiritual poverty rather than material poverty. Being poor in spirit is the image of Heaven.

That is the basis of true Christian character. I will summarize meanings of being poor in spirit.

First, we find poor spirit when we realize our sinful nature and incompetence. Before the magnificent holiness and glory of God, we find ourselves shattered in pieces. In front of death and God's wrath we can see true self. In these situations we can experience poor heart or broken heart. In Old Testament Moses was the person who was poor in spirit. As a murderer he lived in the wilderness with speechless animals for 40 years. He felt "he is nothing" in the life of the wilderness. Moses heard God's voice, "escape my people" But he rejected God's command four times, saying "God I can't" and God performed the miracle of leprosy of his hand. and a miracle of a staff turned into a snake. Even with these miracles he answered he couldn't go. Because he felt he was nothing before God. This is poor heart.

We can compare life in Egypt as a prince for 40 years with time of anything of Moses. And, we can compare miserable, failed, and disappointed life in the wilderness for 40years with time of nothing of Moses. "Time of nothing" made him a great leader of Israelite.

In New Testament Peter was a person who is poor in spirit. He couldn't catch any fish all night. Jesus came to him to ask him to cast his net into deeper water. He obeyed reluctantly and he caught large numbers of fish. Peter said, "Please leave me I am a sinner" This is the poor heart. Before the glory and holiness of God, when we realize our sin and weakness and incompetence we would say "Lord! What can we do?" This is the true Christian humble attitude.

Second, the poor heart is the simple heart, pure heart. It doesn't need any decoration or pride. In it there is meekness, humility and obedience. Before God when we realize that we don't have anything to boast or to insist. Our soul becomes simple and clean. To the poor in heart, material things can't be everything. His worldly passion can't be his vision. He will confess that he is no longer his own host. Poor life starts from poor mind. That is not miserable or inferior life, but simple, sincere and clean life. In it there is the Holy life of a Christian. That enables us to share his life, his materials and his talents with his neighbor. His most important thing is hope in God's kingdom. and to live Godly life beyond eating, drinking and wearing.

Third, the poor heart is the life, which depends on God entirely. It is the life of thanks for forgiveness in his mercy and grace. He becomes poor as soon as he experiences spiritual bankruptcy. "I am nothing" He becomes simple, pure and obedient. He is thirsty for God, and the urgency he can't live even a moment without depending upon God.

Jesus Christ is the only one who lived with a poor heart perfectly. Php 2:5-8 says: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!

We see the humility of God who became a human. That is the attitude of Jesus, and the poor mind. Jesus who made himself nothing, who was made in human kindness, who took the very nature of a servant, who humbled himself and became obedient to death, is now the realization of the poor heart.

Lk: 22: 42 says "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me: yet not my will, but yours be done. We met Jesus who gave up his will and plan. We can find the reality of the poor heart in the mind of obedient Jesus.

Jesus once told, "Foxes have a den, Birds have a nest, but the son of man does not have a place to lay his head". Let's look at Jesus Christ who is poor in spirit!