“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” —C.S. Lewis, Author & Theologian
I want you to be happy about different things from what other people are happy about, and sad about things that other people don’t routinely get sad about. I want you to have as your ambition something that the world regards as weak and ineffectual. I want you to treat people in a way that makes no sense to them and, at times, not much sense to you. I want you to have a different way of evaluating your decisions and your reactions and your life. I want you to be different. —The Christian Manifesto, Alistair Begg
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:1-3
What is “blessed”?
“Makarios describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and changes of life.” —William Barclay, NT Theologian
Who are the “poor in spirit”?
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.
John 5:19-20a
“…then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
John 8:28
49 “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 …So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
John 12:49,50b
“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
John 14:10
• Spiritual
“Being poor in spirit isn’t a virtue to aspire to; it’s a condition to confess”. —Pastor Bryan Wilkerson
What is the kingdom of heaven?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3
• The kingdom of heaven is a
Are you desperate?
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
Matthew 5:3
• Less is