Text: Matthew 5:3

Guest Speaker: Vince Ford, Senior Minister at Genessee Avenue Church of Christ

Introduction

Jesus is not only our healer, he’s our teacher. Life has a way of working out in a way that is counterintuitive to the earthly mind.

So here we are with Jesus and the beatitudes, even within the confines of the current culture of the community, Jesus is turning things on it’s head. In the cultural context the beatitudes were used as an expression of connection between a person’s deeds and what happens to the person. So here Jesus said Matthew 5:3 ““Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

It’s a paradox, in the sense that happiness typically wouldn’t be the outcome of people who are poor in spirit and devalued in society. The four beatitudes in the first stanza can be interpreted as having eternal reversals, these are virtues of aspiration, they are circumstances that we find ourselves in. Those who are pour, those who mourn, those who are humble, those who hunger and thirst for justice.

Life Can Make You Feel Worthless

• This is not just an economic poverty, but a feeling of despondent, or despair.
• Essentially life has you in a position that the very seat of who you are is desolate and impoverished.
• Essentially the feeling that you are completely unable to help yourself.

Even become the socio-economic outlook of the text we can understand that lowly in spirit and humility can overlap. You’ve heard the phrase, “he or she comes from humble beginnings”. Jesus is talking to the abandoned ones in Israel, those who humbly trust God even when their loyalty results in oppression and material disadvantage.

We can’t disregard the ethical element of this text. Before we climb the mountain Matthew 4:24–25 “Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon- possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.”

This world has a way of making those who don’t have certain things feel worthless.

The Three-Fifths Compromise was a 1787 agreement at the Constitutional Convention that counted three-fifths of a state’s enslaved population for congressional representation and direct taxes.

Fast forward to the the usual residence rule is a U.S. Census Bureau guideline that counts incarcerated people at the location of the correctional facility where they live on Census Day, rather than at their permanent home address, also known as Prison Gerrymandering.

It’s quite ironic that this system of oppression has valued people as property, reaped the tax breaks and the free labor of individuals that the powerful have oppressed to be powerless.

To be used in the voting process as power and representation but unable to reap the benefits of the civic duty is oppression personified.

This is for those who feel hopeless, those men and women who have been valued as a threat, yet not regarded as a life to save. If I’m being completely honest it’s hard to have hope within a system that does not value you. I’m thankful that my value doesn’t come from how men and women view me, but my value is placed in the hands of a Jesus that died for me.

My Possession is in Christ

There’s a promise in response to my humility. The world may think I don’t deserve a reward. This world may perceive me as a threat. That department might not think I’m worthy of this position, but regardless of what I’m dealing with God has a promise for me. No matter my condition, there’s strength in humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God.

The kingdom of heaven is promised to the poor in spirit. The same people oppressed by these wicked systems, the same people that feel like I just can’t get ahead, the same people that are trying everything to stay afloat. My promises come from God.

Poor in this text or destitute, of little value, relatively worthless. That this world has pushed you to a place in which you have absolutely no hope in what you see in this world, God’s got a kingdom for you.

The language of Matthew 5:3 is important. Jesus doesn’t say that the kingdom belongs to those who have accumulated the greatest wealth, acquired the greatest influence, or secured the most political power. He says that the kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit. The Greek expression emphasizes possession and belonging. In other words, the very people who struggle to find belonging in earthly systems are assured of their belonging in God’s kingdom. The world may diminish their worth, but heaven has already declared their place

Our goal is belonging to the Kingdom of God in community. The world can look at us anyway they desire, but the goal is to be in right relation with the king of the kingdom. It’s Christ who is the sovereign power, I’m not looking for validation on earth, I’m looking for validation from God. Righteousness comes from God! Folks don’t have to like me, they can come up with all kinds of legislation that they want too, God has the final say-so!

I’m a kingdom citizen.

I can feel debilitated, devalued, but my destiny is different because of I’m a part of the kingdom of God.

Sometimes the greatest struggle isn’t believing that God has the power to change your situation. It’s believing that God still sees you while you’re in it. But Isaiah reminds us that God has not forgotten his people. The heavens are called to sing, the earth is called to rejoice, and the mountains are called to break forth in praise because God has comforted his people and shown mercy to the afflicted. In other words, your affliction does not mean you’ve been abandoned. Your circumstances do not mean you’ve been forgotten. And your current condition does not cancel your place in God’s kingdom

Isaiah 49:13 “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.”

My spirit might be poor, but it should push me to know that I need God’s help.

The beautiful thing about the kingdom is that God doesn’t wait for the world to recognize your worth before he recognizes you. God doesn’t wait for the system to make room for you before he makes room for you. And God doesn’t wait for your circumstances to improve before he calls you blessed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Why? Because the kingdom belongs to them!

The world might have counted you out, but God hasn’t forgotten you. The world might have overlooked you, but God still sees you. The world might have diminished your value, but heaven has already declared your blessing.

And when the world has given you every reason to lose hope, remember that the kingdom of God has not given up on you!