Why the Pursuit of Happiness Will Not Lead to Your Best Life Now, Pt 2

This is the second of a 6-part series of posts based upon the sermon I preached at Morningside Baptist Church on September 20, 2009 from Matthew 5:3-6. For audio of that message, please click here.

To read part 1, click here.

Jesus says in verse 3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If a person merely glances at this verse, it would be easy to conclude that Jesus is teaching that those who are physically & financially poor in this life will become rich in the next life because they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, many have arrived at this conclusion. After all, Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 seems to support such a conclusion. Furthermore, there is a shorter account of the Beatitudes found in Luke’s gospel.
In Luke 6:20, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.” Therefore, it seems logical to conclude that Jesus is referring to the physically, financially, and materially poor.

However, before reaching that conclusion, we must understand a standard rule of biblical interpretation, which states that whenever you have two or more similar passages in the Bible, the clearer one explains the others, and Matthew 5:3 is definitely more specific than Luke 6:20. In Matthew's account Jesus qualifies his statement, “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Before we unpack what “poor in spirit” means, we need to understand another rule of biblical interpretation: whenever we try to interpret a vague passage such as Luke 6:20, our interpretation cannot contradict other clear teachings of Scripture.

And a clear teaching in the Bible is that we are to give to and support those who are poor among us. Jesus affirms giving to the needy in Matthew 6. James says in James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘God in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Furthermore, Jesus told the rich ruler in Luke 18:22 to “sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”

Therefore, the Bible is absolutely clear that we are to give to and provide for the poor. However, if Jesus is indeed teaching in Matthew 5:3 that the poor shall enter the kingdom of heaven, then it would make absolutely no sense to give anything to the poor. Why? Because if we gave to the poor, we would run the risk of helping them out of their poverty and thus forfeiting their share in the kingdom of heaven. The best thing for all us to do would be to burn all of our money and become penniless. Yet, that’s not what the Bible teaches, and that’s not what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5:3.

So, what is Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:3? He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Who are the poor in spirit? The poor in spirit are those who recognize and acknowledge that they are spiritually bankrupt before God. They know that there is nothing that they can do to earn spiritual credit in God’s eyes. They recognize that they are sinners, and there is absolutely nothing that they can do to fix the situation.

The term that Matthew uses for “poor” here doesn’t just indicate being poor. It is the extreme form of being poor; it is begging poor. This describes the person that has absolutely no means of self-support. It is the person that comes to God empty-handed, with nothing to offer. They are at the mercy of God Himself. And the reality is that this describes all of us. There is nothing that any of us can do to improve our standing with God.

But that doesn’t mean that many people don’t try. Many people admit that they are not perfect, but they still believe that they are better than many other people. They have done some bad things in their life, but their good deeds far outweigh their bad deeds. They feel that they have done enough good things in order to be on good terms with God. They falsely believe that they are not spiritually bankrupt. They never come to the realization that there’s nothing that they can do to inherit eternal life, and therefore, there’s no need for God’s intervention. Pride has blinded their eyes to their true standing before God. And theirs is not the kingdom of heaven.

Yet for those who do realize and acknowledge their spiritual bankruptcy before God, Jesus makes a glorious promise: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When a person takes their spiritual poverty to God, He makes them rich by giving them a glorious inheritance!

But, that’s just part of the story. That’s just the first marker on the pursuit of happiness. As we will see, the Beatitudes are to be understood in a progressive manner. Each successive Beatitude builds upon the previous one. And so tomorrow, we will turn our attention to the second marker: mourning.

But for now, spend some time thinking about the fact that all of us are spiritually bankrupt before God, and desperately need a Savior. Be thankful for that Savior, Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Christ, spend some time praising the love, mercy, and grace of your heavenly Father who did not leave you in your spiritual poverty!