The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’s radical call to discipleship. It begins with this verse: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3, NASB) Too often, however, we who read this verse in the 21st century allow ourselves to become distracted by the first phrase, “poor in spirit.” We compare it to Luke’s recounting of the Sermon, where he leaves out the prepositional phrase “in spirit.” (Luke 6:20) We ask, “Does Jesus really see poverty as a blessed state? When we allow ourselves to focus too much on these types of questions, we miss the main point of the verse and the Sermon.
Jesus’s point of the Sermon is that life in the Kingdom of Heaven is radically different than life here on earth. In Heaven, God’s will is done exactly as He intends it without fail. Sin has zero impact on the operation of Heaven. Just as gravity works without fail on earth, God’s will is done without fail in Heaven. In the Sermon, Jesus is describing how the ethic, the way of life, in Heaven can and must be lived out by His disciples in the here and now.
To properly understand what Jesus is saying in this verse and how to apply it to our lives, we must understand how to interpret the whole Sermon. First, the Sermon is meant to be lived out by all who call themselves Christian. The Sermon is not some impossible ethic that is too idealistic to be realistic. No, Jesus intends for all who call on His name to apply His teachings to our lives every day. Jesus’s teaching is not simply describing the way things are in Heaven without any possible relevance to our day and age. Second, the Sermon is not to be lived out only by a subset of elite, “super-Christians.” Jesus intends for every single person who has placed their faith in Jesus, everyone who has experienced the grace of salvation, to apply the ethic of the Sermon to their lives. There is no Christian elite — those who take their faith more seriously (e.g., preachers, missionaries and nuns), and there are no “second-class” Christians (e.g., the rest of us commoners). The Sermon is intended for all followers of Jesus.
What is the Sermon asking of us? The Sermon is prescribing a way of life so profoundly contrary to our unredeemed mind that even after we have been saved, after we have received the Spirit of God, at the beginning of the sanctification process, we can hardly imagine that Jesus expects His followers to, well, follow Him. Does Jesus really expect us to handle our anger in such a way that we live in a state of constant peace with others and to pursue reconciliation on a weekly basis? (Matthew 5:21-26) Did Jesus really mean it when He said that lust is equivalent to adultery? (Matthew 5:27-30) Did Jesus really mean that marriage is permanent and that divorce leads to adultery? (Matthew 5:31-32) Did Jesus really mean that we are to keep our promises without equivocation? (Matthew 5:33-37) Did Jesus really mean it when He told us to turn the other cheek? (Matthew 5:38-42) Does He really expect us to love our enemies? (Matthew 5:43-47) Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. Yet, we also know that He extends grace to all of us sinners.
And did Jesus really intend for His followers to follow through with perhaps the most inconvenient verse in the entire Bible, Matthew 6:15 (NASB): “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”? Honestly, I wish that verse wasn’t in there. I kind of like harboring unforgiveness toward someone who has offended me deeply. Sometimes, it takes me 490 times to forgive someone, and to be honest, I’m not quite to 400 for a few people. (Matthew 18:21-35) And yet, as a disciple of Jesus, I know that Jesus has made forgiveness a non-option. My unwillingness to forgive is an indicator that my faith is not as mature as I would like it to be, and that I am not pursuing holiness as He has called me to. (Hebrews 12:14)
Repeatedly in the Sermon, we are confronted with truths about ourselves and the Kingdom of Heaven that do not align. When we recognize this misalignment, we have a choice. On the one hand, we can assert our will and choose to live our lives according to an ethic of our own devising. We can operate out of a spirit of arrogance and pride. On the other hand, we can choose to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) This, of course, brings us full circle. To seek the Kingdom of Heaven requires a spirit of poverty, a spirit of humility.
If we want to fully experience Kingdom life this side of Heaven, we absolutely must humbly submit ourselves to the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon. When we arrogantly assert our own will and ignore the teachings of Jesus, it truly is our loss. While Jesus’s teaching is prescriptive, it is also descriptive. The Sermon represents what life in the Kingdom of Heaven is actually like. Experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven in the here and now requires poverty of spirit, a humble conformity to the character and ways of Christ Jesus. To live the way that God has designed and destined us to live, aligned with the Kingdom of Heaven, we must, by the grace of God, humble ourselves before God.
Proverbs 18:12 (NASB) says, “Before destruction the heart of a person is haughty, but humility goes before honor.” Our pride will cause us to miss out on the Kingdom of Heaven, but our humility leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven where Main Street is paved with pure gold. (Revelation 21:21)
In what ways does the Sermon on the Mount describe a radically different way of living compared to the world’s standards?
What does it look like, practically, to be “poor in spirit” in your day-to-day life?
When you notice a gap between your life and the Kingdom ethic Jesus describes, what are some ways you typically respond?
Which teaching from the Sermon on the Mount do you find most challenging or uncomfortable, and why?