Riches in Poverty
About a month before I became a follower of Christ my wife bought me my first bible. It was a "Good News' Bible, simple to read and replete with really simple and somewhat cheesy illustrations of the bible narrative. Fact is it was a perfect Bible for me because at the time I was still a very heavy drug user and was just beginning to get my head around the idea...the fact that God was caling me out of that lifestyle.
Anyway, when I got the Bible I decided I would begin reading the New Testament and as most of you know, the very first book in the NT is the gospel according to Matthew. It started out well but then I ran into the buzzsaw that is The Sermon on the Mount. It began with the first parable... 'Happy are those who are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven is given to them!' What does it mean to be spiritually poor or as a more familiar translation may put it 'poor in spirit'? It took me a REALLY long time to figure it out, even though I was coming to grips with the reality of it in my own life when I first read it. Many years later after reading and studying this passage hundreds of times (and with the help of a commentary on the sermon written by John Stott) I discovered or at least it became apparent to me that to be spiritually poor is to be in a state of spiritual helplessness. Sounds simple enough but what I had discovered in the many years since first reading this parable is that all people are spiritually poor or as Stott put it spiritually bankrupt...All people are spiritualy helpless. The trouble is this...most people don't even know it or when confronted with it don't believe it or wish to acknowledge it. It's a kick in the pride to acknowledge that we lack something...anything that even remotely points to our inherent inadaquacies. Sadly though, when we fail to come to terms with our spiritual brokenness or poverty, we miss the opportunity to be made rich beyond our wildest imagination!
Jesus is telling us that when we come to terms with our spiritual bankruptcy; when we acknowledge our helplessness, we open the door for God to enrich and empower us. He does this by his grace... grace that is made possible through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and our acceptance of it as payment in full for our sin and brokenness.
In the message I delivered on this topic I referenced a parable from Luke's gospel known as the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-13). In this parable Jesus lays out for us what it means to be spiritually poor and needy and the results of both acknowledging it as well as denying it. He tells us at the conclusion that those who exalt themselves will be humbled... but those who humble themselves will be exalted.
To be exalted by God is to be made spiritually rich beyond measure...It is also the first step in taking hold of the Kingdom of God! kmo
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