blog

  OASIS FAMILY CHURCH
  • New Here
  • About Jesus
  • About Us
    • Vision & Beliefs
    • Our Staff
    • Partnerships
    • Life Groups
    • Children and Youth
    • Serving
  • Giving
  • Oasis Calendar
  • Media
    • Oasis Online >
      • Sermons
    • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Connect Card

Blessed Are...

8/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Matthew 5:3
 
The Tui beer billboard advertising of a few ago would have been appropriate for the reaction of the hearers in Jesus day, ‘Yeah right!’ they would have thought.
God’s favour didn’t rest on the poor, so they thought, only the wealthy were blessed or so it seemed.

Here was Jesus in what was a radical statement about the Kingdom of God telling those who came to hear, those who were poor in Spirit would be blessed.
Jesus’ opening statement would have sounded more like this; There is great news for those who are poor in Spirit, you will be heirs in God’s coming kingdom’.

​How do we hear Jesus words today? 
When we think of the poor in Spirit, does that just mean the broken hearted? Those financially struggling in our community’s.  Let’s be fair if Jesus just meant those financially poor that would exclude anyone in our country who could lay their hands on $10 today.
 
When Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic around two thousand years ago there was a deeper sense going on here. The poor in spirit referred to people who were destitute and had nothing but were looking to God for their provision. Is that true of us? Or are we living and resting on our comforts that abound in our south pacific Island?
 
Perhaps the greatest problem you and I have in the West is, is that we rely on our own efforts and God given abilities and resources without acknowledging the one who gave them and the ongoing Spirit in which He wants to utilise them for His glory.
 
It is easy to rely on a well-stocked bank account, shares, property, or retirement savings, but our security in these things is misplaced when any of these can be disrupted by a financial collapse or unforeseen health issues.
 
When Jesus talks about the poor in Spirit it looks deeper into our hearts to ask us the question; Do I realise my own helplessness outside of God’s care? Or am I making my own provisions? The reality is no matter how much we have in the bank if we are looking to God as our provider of everything, even down to the air we breathe, we must put everything we hold in His trustworthy hands.

Poverty of Spirit as Jesus talks about requires repentance, and a laying down of our desire to fight for our ‘rights’ and putting other’s rights above our own. This is the whole upside-down kingdom of God that Jesus came to proclaim[1]. Upside down because nothing was going to look in God’s coming Kingdom as we know it here and now. It didn’t look like that in Jesus day and His words must have had an air of mystery and wonder around what God’s Kingdom were going to look like.
 
As Jesus followers we need to dedicate ourselves to humility and surrender. Two words we just do not talk about all that much but are fundamental if we desire to follow closely in the footsteps of Jesus.
 
 
Dave Maharey

[1] Kraybill Donald B (2018) The Upside Down Kingdom.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Authors
    Picture
    Dave Maharey

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018

    Categories

    All
    Blessed Are...
    Challenges
    Christianity For Grown Ups
    Christmas
    Comparing Ourselves
    Control C
    Ctrl C
    Dave Maharey
    Discipleship
    Easter
    Faith
    Fear
    God And Sexuality
    Handling Emotions
    Holy Spirit
    Identity
    In The Flow Of The Spirit
    In The Training Ground
    James
    Jesus
    Jesus Teaching
    Listening To God
    Love
    Overcoming Challenges
    Pentecost
    Persecution
    Philip Manson
    Racism
    Renew
    Renewing The Mind
    Salvation
    Sex And Sexuality
    Tools Of The Trade
    White Knuckle Christianity

Leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ

JOIN uS THIS SUNDAY
OASIS FAMILY CHURCH
Picture
03 578 0407
Picture
office@oasisfamilychurch.org.nz
Picture
3 Henry Street Blenheim
7201
Picture
@oasisfamilychurchblenheim
PRIVACY
Copyright © 2019
  • New Here
  • About Jesus
  • About Us
    • Vision & Beliefs
    • Our Staff
    • Partnerships
    • Life Groups
    • Children and Youth
    • Serving
  • Giving
  • Oasis Calendar
  • Media
    • Oasis Online >
      • Sermons
    • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Connect Card