PONDERING... Are You Empty? (Matthew 5:1-3)

Are You Empty? (GO SUNDAY DEVOTION)

(NOTE: This series was presented as 5 minute devotions during an outreach to a local children’s home and a local nursing home.)

GIST: True happiness now and forever comes from being completely dependant on Jesus.

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5:1-3

When praying about what to cover in our times together, I felt led to work through the Sermon on the Mount. We want to be here because we love you guys. However, we have absolutely nothing to offer you from ourselves. Everything we have and all our hope is in Jesus. Since the Sermon on the Mount is the most compact teaching of Jesus recorded in the Bible, I figured there was no better way to spend our time than looking at what He taught.

We’ll just look at one point each evening and break down some takeaways for us as we go. Tonight, we’ll start at the beginning. Let’s look at Matthew 5:1-3.

“1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

We see from the beginning that this sermon is intentional. Jesus saw the crowds and sat down to teach. From what I’ve studied, the phrase “he opened his mouth and taught them” was a figure of speech that implied something important or weighty was about to be said. So He’s intentional in His plan to say something specific to these people...and to us. Here’s our gist for tonight: True happiness now and forever comes from being completely dependant on Jesus.

I. BLESSED

The first word we see here is blessed. This implies true and lasting happiness, and this is incredibly relevant. Who doesn’t want to be happy? It doesn’t matter how old or young you are or even where you are in life, everyone wants to be happy. Jesus tells us there is a way. That’s what these first 12 verses of this sermon are talking about. And here He starts by saying the truly happy→

II. ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT

What in the world does that mean? The word used here for poor actually means destitute-- completely without. However, it’s not talking about money. It says blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who realize in this life they have nothing within themselves that will ever cut it. They are in need--and they know it. That’s the gospel! God is holy and loving, but we’re not. We’re sinners--every one of us. We don’t live the way we’re supposed to, and we’re trapped by the sins that rule our lives. We’re stuck. We need rescued, because our natural hearts are leading us straight to Hell. BUT Jesus came. He was fully God and fully man, which means He went through everything we go through, but was without sin. Then, He died for us. He didn’t have to do that, but He chose to because He loves you. He took our punish, Hell, and then rose again! If anyone believes in Him and gives Him control of their lives, they will be saved!

That’s what we call grace, getting the favor you don’t deserve, and it happens when you come to realize that you need it. That’s what it means to be poor in spirit.  That’s why Jesus says these people are truly happy→

III. FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

The end result of realizing your need is coming to the one who can meet it. Jesus. And coming to Him, giving Him control, results in being with Him forever. You can this face this life with Him and with joy. That doesn’t mean life won’t be hard. It will. But you face these hardships with hope! It also means when you die, you look forward to eternity, forever, with Jesus!

TAKEAWAYS

So, our gist was true happiness now and forever comes from being completely dependant on Jesus. Here are a couple quick takeaways.

1. Realize you need Jesus.

2. Come to Him.

3. And rejoice now and forever--no matter what life may bring.