The plan for teaching the beatitudes is to provide character sketches from the Bible that help illustrate each one.
This week, is Matthew 5:3 – Blessed are the poor in spirit (spiritual bankruptcy), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. One person in scripture who helps illustrate this is Abraham. In Genesis 18:17, as he is pleading for mercy on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, he refers to himself as “nothing but dust and ashes.” The good news of Jesus begins to get very real, when we come to that realization that we bring nothing of value “to the table,” when it comes to righteousness and our salvation!
Three New Testament character sketches also help teach this beatutude. One is a parable, and all three are about tax collectors. (Luke 18:9-14; Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 19:1-10).
Memory verse: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:3
Handout: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Activity: Selfish heart is a poor heart
Memory Verse: Blessed are the poor in spirit (spiritual bankruptcy), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:3
Narrative:
Jesus was famous; the word was spreading that he taught amazing things, and was able to heal any kind of sickness. As a result, crowds followed him throughout Jerusalem and Judea. One day, Jesus went up on a mountain side. His disciples and all the people followed Him, and he began to teach about what it means to be a true disciple (which means learner).
Jesus didn’t waste any time, in getting to the HEART of the matter. From the very beginning of His sermon, He made it clear that being a disciple, starts in the heart. Jesus painted a word picture of what a disciple’s heart looks like. We now call this the beatitudes (which means good attitudes of a heart powered by the Holy Spirit).
Jesus started by stating, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And, the crowd was astonished. What did Jesus mean by poor in Spirit? What did He mean that they would be blessed?
The word blessed means “fully satisfied.” And whenever the word is used in scripture, it refers to satisfaction in Jesus and His kingdom, not satisfaction in worldly things, conditions or situations.
The term “poor in spirit” is another way of saying sinful heart. But wait, does that mean that whoever has a sinful heart will be blessed???? NO. Jesus is teaching that EVERYONE has a selfish, sinful heart; it is only those who can look past their own selfishness and see their heart’s needs Jeus, who really understand that they are spiritually poor.
Jesus knew that Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation, knew of his spiritual poverty. In Genesis 18, before pleading with God, Abraham asked the rhetorical question, “Do I, a mere man made from a handful of dirt, dare open my mouth again to my Master?” (Abraham knew he had no right to address God, but God in His graciousness, allowed Abraham to speak.
In Jesus’ day, there were many who didn’t think there was anything wrong at all with their hearts. Jesus illustrated that with a parable:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (a religious leader) and the other a tax collector (a person known to typically be quite dishonest). The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am wonderful. I do so much to prove how wonderful I am! But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but hung his headband said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
Jesus taught this to show that both the men had sinful hearts, but only the tax collector REALIZED he was spiritually poor.
On another day a man named Zacchaeus, who was a tax collector, tried to get a look at Jesus along a road Jesus was passing. But he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
Zacchaeus was overjoyed, but the people watching couldn’t believe it. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. But Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
Zacchaeus realized that all his worldly wealth had NO VALUE in restoring his broken relationship with God the Father, what he really needed was Jesus. And Jesus told Zacchaeus, that since he realized his spiritual poverty and reached out to Jesus for salvation, he would become a resident of the Kingdom of God!