======================================================================== WHO IS THE MOST POOR IN SPIRIT by Sandeep Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the concept of being 'poor in spirit' as a virtue, not a negative trait, focusing on how God exemplifies this humility by becoming human in Jesus Christ. It emphasizes that 'poor in spirit' is an attribute of God and those who inherit the kingdom of heaven, highlighting the profound humility and selflessness displayed by God in the incarnation of Jesus. Topics: "Humility", "Inheritance of the Kingdom" Scripture References: Matthew 5:3, Isaiah 55:8, John 15:13, Philippians 2:6, 2 Corinthians 8:9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the concept of being 'poor in spirit' as a virtue, not a negative trait, focusing on how God exemplifies this humility by becoming human in Jesus Christ. It emphasizes that 'poor in spirit' is an attribute of God and those who inherit the kingdom of heaven, highlighting the profound humility and selflessness displayed by God in the incarnation of Jesus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Who's the most poor in spirit? I was thinking about this, how God is so poor in spirit. What does it say? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does poor in spirit mean? Is poor in spirit like you're useless? Poor in spirit is a negative thing? Is poor in spirit not a compliment, but a criticism? It's a criticism on this earth, but in heaven, it's everything. Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is. Who owns the kingdom of heaven? God does. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is. Not that they'll get into the kingdom of heaven. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They own it. It's theirs. A poor in spirit are the people who own the kingdom of heaven. And the greatest example of that is God. How can I explain to you why God is poor in spirit? Dear brothers and sisters, we can meditate on Jesus and find out a lot about how poor in spirit Jesus was. Just think about the great condescension to come so low. The great humility of Jesus to say, I'm no longer going to be God, but I'm going to be a human being. And Jesus didn't say that I'm going to be a human being for 33 and a half years. Even now, he's a human too. He's God and man. He didn't temporarily become a human being. He's permanently now a human being as well as fully God. He's fully God and fully man for all eternity. And the best picture I can think of is, what have you decided one day to become a garbage fly? Not for 33 years to save garbage flies from eating all the filth, but for all eternity, you completely changed. And you gave up being the wife of this person or the husband of this person and the mother and father of this person and the son and daughter of this person. You said, no, I gave up all equality with God. I'm going to become a fruit fly. Can you fathom that great humility? What poorness in spirit? What complete lack of holding on to I'm God or I'm somebody. God is going to look for such people in heaven too. There's the kingdom of heaven. God's going to look for people who are going to be poor in spirit when you get to heaven. And so when God asks us to do anything, we say, God, sure, I'm poor in spirit. If you could become a human being, what is the, you know, I mean, Isaiah 55 verse eight and nine, right? It says as high as the heavens are above the earth, that's how high and God's ways are higher than man's. So for God to come and become a man was the greatest distance than anybody's ever traveled. Nobody's ever traveled that distance. God to become a man. That's how poor in spirit God is, that he's willing to become a man. We can never compete with that poverty in spirit. God's just saying, be like me. Don't think of yourself as anybody. He willing to become lower and lower and lower. So that's gripped me, dear brothers and sisters, as I've thought about who is the poorest in spirit. It's God. It's not, it's not we're poor in spirit because we sin. It's not we were poor in spirit because, you know, we're useless. No, no, no. Poverty in spirit is the attribute of God. Poverty in spirit is the virtue that those who own the kingdom of heaven have. And if God is the ruler of the kingdom of heaven, he's poor in spirit. He doesn't think of himself much. As I shared, you know, a couple of weeks in, on Sunday in job from John 15, 13, that the Holy Spirit doesn't speak on his own initiative. The Holy Spirit is God. He doesn't need to check with anybody, but it says in John 15, 13, that the Holy Spirit does not speak of his own initiative, but he says, Hey, father, son, Holy Spirit, what are you saying? And that's what the Holy Spirit speaks. What great humility. That's how it is. We ought to be, that's the poverty in spirit that we need. It's the attribute of God. It's the attribute of Jesus. And if we want to meditate on that, meditate on God who became man. Just think about the great condescension, how deep God's stooped to become a human being. I think it's the greatest distance anybody will ever travel. God to become a man. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/GrhOw12krSo.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/who-is-the-most-poor-in-spirit/ ========================================================================