Beatitude 1: Poverty of Spirit

Jesus’s well-known “Sermon on the Mount” in the Gospel of Matthew starts out with a series of blessings, or “beatitudes,” as they are also known (Matt. 5:3–11). How can pastors exhibit and encourage those kingdom virtues? In the coming months, we will make our way through these beatitudes one at a time and reflect on their relevance and application for the pastoral ministry.

While crowds are following Jesus, Jesus’s message is directed primarily to his close followers, the disciples. They are the ones he is concerned to train, and they will carry out his mission to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18–20). So, like Moses when he received the Law from God at Sinai, Jesus ascends a mountain, sits down, and teaches his disciples.

What Does It Mean to Be Spiritually Poor?

The first blessing Jesus pronounces is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). The Lukan parallel reads, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Luke personalizes the beatitude (“you,” “yours”) and focuses on economic poverty. Matthew, for his part, has Jesus pronounce a blessing on those who are spiritually poor. Indeed, it is easier for the economically poor to depend on God.

What does it mean to be spiritually poor? A good example comes from Jesus’s teaching in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14). Both men went to pray in the temple. The Pharisee boasted of his religious accomplishments, such as fasting and tithing: “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13).

Imparting the moral of the story, Jesus denounced the Pharisee’s arrogance but commended the tax collector’s humility: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Spiritual poverty thus means genuine humility—knowing that one has nothing to commend oneself before God and that one is thus completely thrust on God’s mercy.

The Virtue of Humility

A few years ago, an author with whom I had a passing acquaintance sent me a book on humility in the mail. When I opened the package, my wife was looking over my shoulder. I took the book into my hands and told her, “Look! A book on humility! I wonder why he is sending it to me?” Without a moment’s hesitation, my wife deadpanned, “He must think you need it.” Ouch! Thank God for wives who tell the truth. I’m sure I needed that book. Nothing like a godly spouse to keep you humble.

Humility doesn’t determine one’s standing in relation to other people. We can always find someone else to whom we compare favorably—or at least we think we do. Rather, humility determines one’s standing in relation to God. How does God see me? The psalmist put it well: “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:13–14; cf. Gen. 2:7). We have nothing to commend us to God!

In another Lukan parable, Jesus gives the example of a servant working all day in the field. When he comes home after a hard day’s work, rather than telling him to relax and enjoy his evening, his master tells him to make dinner. The punch line is this: “Does he [the master] thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So, you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:9–10). Not even our pastoral (or other) service commends us to God!

The Ultimate Example

There were two women in the church at Philippi who had “labored side by side” with Paul in the gospel but now needed help “to agree in the Lord” (Phil. 4:2–3). With them, and others in the church, Paul pleaded that if there was “any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Phil. 2:1–2).

He added, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3–4).

At this, Paul provided the ultimate example of humility: ^“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5–8).

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

In the Sermon on the Mount, his inaugural address, Jesus already extolled the supreme virtue of humility that three years later would be on perfect display when he hung on the cross to give his life for the sins of the world. Jesus’s blessing on the spiritually poor was no empty talk! Jesus practiced what he preached. The crucified and risen Jesus wants us to follow in his footsteps and to emulate the humility he exhibited his entire life, and supremely at the cross.

This kind of Christlike humility is grounded in the recognition that we have nothing to offer Jesus other than gratitude for what he has done for us. Saved by grace, we come to Jesus with empty hands. Like Ruth, David’s great-grandmother, we can move from emptiness to fullness if we’re wholly devoted to Jesus. As the Lord’s servants, we can lead others in humility, inspired by our Lord’s example. Soli Deo gloria—to God alone be the glory!