Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

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Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

• Lenten Study The Character of Christ
• Sunday, April 9, 2006

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Guardian Angel-Prodigal Daughter

• Painting by
• Rik Berry
• www.rikberry.com

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Last Week

• The Fathers Love for the Son
• The Sons Dependence Upon the Father
• What the Fathers Love is Like
• What Our Love Ought to Be Like
• Accept His Love
• Small Actions
• Great Love
• With Perseverance

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This Week Palm Sunday

• People wanted a King
• Didnt realize they needed a sacrifice first
• They discarded Jesus because He wasnt what they
  wanted, even though He had done them so much good
• We do the same thing

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Jens Story

• Im giving her a whole new life, a brand new
  beginning, Im giving her a new life
• I said to the man who stood at the gate of the
  year 'Give me a light that I may tread safely
  into the unknown.' And he replied, 'Go into the
  darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
  That shall be to you better than light and safer
  than a known way!
• (Minnie Louise Haskins, 1908)
• I wouldnt have faith in that for a minute Have
  faith in God, not in what you think Hes going to
  do!

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The Good News Begins With Bad News

• Sermon on The Mount Beatitudes
• Happy are those who mourn, who are insulted,
  reviled, persecuted, etc.
• Heres how it begins
• "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
  the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 53

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Who Speaks This Way?

• 51 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the
  mountain and after He sat down, His disciples
  came to Him.
• 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them,
  saying,
• 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
  the kingdom of heaven.
• 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall
  be comforted.

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Not Those Who Take . . .

• 5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall
  inherit the earth.
• 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
  righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
• 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
  receive mercy.
• 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
  see God.

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Not Those Who Hurt Others . . .

• 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
  be called sons of God.
• 10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted
  for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the
  kingdom of heaven.
• 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and
  persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil
  against you because of Me.
• 12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in
  heaven is great for in the same way they
  persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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An Upside-Down World

• The poor, the mourners, the gentle, the
  not-good-enough, the merciful, the peacemakers,
  the insulted have a place at Gods Table
• Implication the strong, the together, the rich,
  the have-it-made, the take-all-they-want ones
  will not attend His party

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Poor in Spirit?

• Henri Nouwens story of the American professor
  and the Buddhist monk
• Poor in spiritwhy this?
• Because spirit governs what we think, how we
  feel, and how we act
• You can be poor yet rich, rich yet poor

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Cloud Townsend How People Grow

• Part IV The Path of Growth, Chapter 14 Water
  from a Deeper WellSpiritual Poverty
• Spiritual poverty is about living in reality.
  A good way to understand this is to think of
  spiritual poverty as experiencing our state of
  incompleteness before God. This can be due to
  weaknesses, unfulfilled needs, emotional

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Spiritual Poverty

• injuries and hurts at the hands of others, and
  our own immaturities and sins. It has to do with
  those parts of ourselves that are not what they
  should be and that we cannot repair in our own
  strength. . .

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A Blessed Condition

• Yet Jesus calls this a blessed condition
  because it helps us get closer to God. Our state
  of incompleteness drives us outside of ourselves
  to God as the source of healing and hope. When we
  are comfortably independent, it is easy to avoid
  our need for God.

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Benefits of Spiritual Poverty (Cloud Townsend)

• Required for a saving faith (growth, too)
• Develops a hunger for God
• Helps us endure the pain of growth
• Keeps us living relationally (drives us to
  emotional connectedness)
• Helps us enter the deeper life (doesnt let us
  remain shallow)
• Guides us to specific growth areas

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The Strange Thing

• There is a paradox in spiritual growth People
  who are more dysfunctional yet poorer in spirit
  tend to grow more than people who are less
  dysfunctional and less poor in spirit. One would
  think that people with more problems would
  struggle more with growing, and they certainly do
  struggle. However, and I have seen this more
  times than I can

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Its an Advantage

• count in clinical and counseling
  settingspoverty drives hunger. You cant stop a
  needy person from grasping onto God, while many
  people in less severe circumstances easily fall
  away.
• Cloud Townsend, How People Grow

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Yesterdays Prayer

• Impressive, functional, in
• a leave-it-to-Beaver town
• sort of way
• Reminded me of the
• Power from another Pole
• (Easter Story)

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Then I Saw the Clouds

• To be impressed with
• the first was to miss the
• beauty, power, and
• depth of the second

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C. S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

• "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. We are far too easily
  pleased."

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Implications

• If we admit we have a problem it can be healed
• If we realize we need more self-discipline than
  we have we can receive it
• If we acknowledge we are alone we can reach out
  to others and let them reach out to us
• If we need more than we have we can receive it

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Jesus Depended upon His Father

• We can, too
• For strength and courage and the fruit of the
  spirit
• For wisdom and knowledge and power in the gifts
  of the spirit

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Jesus Also Depended Upon His Friends

• We can, too
• In vulnerability and honesty
• For accountability and encouragement
• For prayers and help
• For a corporate expression of Gods Banquet on
  earth

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Palm Sunday

• Reminds us we want icing more than cake
• We want to reign with Christ but not to suffer
• We want power but not to serve
• If we stay at this place we will always be small

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Jesus is King, True King

• Down before up
• Cross before crown
• Truth before healing
• Empty before filled