Memory Verse: Week of June 25th

Week of June 25^th

Matthew 5:3

[3] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3 ESV)

[Context:  What a great promise of grace!  All we need to bring is our empty hands with nothing to offer.  Jesus provides everything we need to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He provides the payment for our sins through his death on the cross, that we might receive forgiveness.  He provides the righteousness we need to be able to be received as fit for the Kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to be spiritually bankrupt.

There are 3 Greek words for poor:

Penes- poor person (a labourer)

Penichros – very poor – one who has a scanty pittance

Ptochos – beggarly poor – no resources – totally dependent upon grace from someone else

Here in the sermon on the mount, is the word for beggarly poor.  It is to be destitute – to be spiritually bankrupt.   It is to realize I have absolutely nothing in my life that merits God’s blessing, nothing at all.  I have nothing with which I could even begin to pay off my debts …” To say you have no money in the bank means you’re not simply saying, “I’ve sinned.” Everybody believes they sin & do wrong.

You’re actually saying, “Even my good deeds were done for wrong reasons. Even my good deeds were done as my way of sort of keeping control of my life, getting what I wanted, and being my own god, as it were, & getting people to like me. It is about self-benefit.

To actually say, “I’m poor in spirit. I am bankrupt spiritually. I have nothing to recommend me to God at all.”  Only when we are totally emptied of self-righteousness and self-esteem, are we ready to be filled.   In giving up your own kingdom, you inherit God’s!