Calvary Assembly Of God
The Poverty Of Self-Sufficiency
Sermon Notes
Locations & Times
Calvary Assembly of God
2988 60th Ave, Wilson, WI 54027, USA
Sunday 10:30 AM
Series: Blueprint For Blessedness
Message 2: THE POVERTY OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always gotten a kick out of oxymorons. If you aren’t familiar with this term, an oxymoron is a combination of contradictory words that we use together all the time but don’t seem to go together. Here are some examples: fresh-frozen, ill health, pretty ugly, working vacation, almost exactly, sanitary landfill, icy-hot, act naturally, deafening silence, second best, free with purchase, sensitive guy, short sermon and so on.
We are using our sermon time to study a portion of Scripture that seems to be full of oxymoronic sayings…seemingly contradictory statements. I’m referring, of course, to the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, those verses we call the Beatitudes. Remember? In these first 11 verses of Matthew 5, Jesus applied the concept of holy happiness or invulnerable joy, that Greek word “makarios” that we spent so much time defining, nine times in these 11 verses. Jesus applied this wonderful word to things we’d never even consider applying it to in our way of thinking.
I once read about a family that went to the state park for the day to enjoy the great outdoors. When they arrived at the gate they saw a whole row of signs that said, “No hunting! No fishing! No camping! No picnicking! No trespassing! No hiking! No photography!” A final sign in small print said, “This is your state park. enjoy it.” Well the Sermon on the Mount isn’t like that. It is a positive sermon! It is full of “dos” that tell us how to enjoy life, a truly blessed life, “makarios” life.
Message 2: THE POVERTY OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always gotten a kick out of oxymorons. If you aren’t familiar with this term, an oxymoron is a combination of contradictory words that we use together all the time but don’t seem to go together. Here are some examples: fresh-frozen, ill health, pretty ugly, working vacation, almost exactly, sanitary landfill, icy-hot, act naturally, deafening silence, second best, free with purchase, sensitive guy, short sermon and so on.
We are using our sermon time to study a portion of Scripture that seems to be full of oxymoronic sayings…seemingly contradictory statements. I’m referring, of course, to the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, those verses we call the Beatitudes. Remember? In these first 11 verses of Matthew 5, Jesus applied the concept of holy happiness or invulnerable joy, that Greek word “makarios” that we spent so much time defining, nine times in these 11 verses. Jesus applied this wonderful word to things we’d never even consider applying it to in our way of thinking.
I once read about a family that went to the state park for the day to enjoy the great outdoors. When they arrived at the gate they saw a whole row of signs that said, “No hunting! No fishing! No camping! No picnicking! No trespassing! No hiking! No photography!” A final sign in small print said, “This is your state park. enjoy it.” Well the Sermon on the Mount isn’t like that. It is a positive sermon! It is full of “dos” that tell us how to enjoy life, a truly blessed life, “makarios” life.
I.THE SPIRITUAL BEGGAR AND HIS BANKRUPTCY
There are two words in the Greek language for “poor.” The first is “penEEs.” It was used in Jesus’ day to describe a man who had to work for his living. This kind of man had nothing superfluous. He was not rich, but neither was he destitute. He was poor but he still had just enough to barely get along in life. A biblical example would be the widow who put her two coins in the offering. She was “penEESs” poor.
The other Greek word for “poor” is “ptochos” and this is the one we find in Matthew 3. Now, “ptokos” was used to describe absolute and abject poverty, a level of poverty that had beaten someone to their knees. Let me put it this way: “penEES” described an individual who had nothing superfluous. “Ptochos” described the man who had nothing at all. “PenEES” means you can earn your own living. “Ptokas” means you have no resource in yourself even to live. You’re totally dependent on somebody else. You’re so poor you have to beg like the beggar Lazarus who sat at the gate of the rich man desperate for the crumbs that fell from his table. I mean, “ptokos” referred to not just the poor, but rather the begging poor.
The other Greek word for “poor” is “ptochos” and this is the one we find in Matthew 3. Now, “ptokos” was used to describe absolute and abject poverty, a level of poverty that had beaten someone to their knees. Let me put it this way: “penEES” described an individual who had nothing superfluous. “Ptochos” described the man who had nothing at all. “PenEES” means you can earn your own living. “Ptokas” means you have no resource in yourself even to live. You’re totally dependent on somebody else. You’re so poor you have to beg like the beggar Lazarus who sat at the gate of the rich man desperate for the crumbs that fell from his table. I mean, “ptokos” referred to not just the poor, but rather the begging poor.
II.THE SPIRITUAL BEGGAR AND HIS BROKENNESS
Brokenness follows bankruptcy. And what is the brokenness, the broken behavior that follows? Well, first of all, a man must discover and admit just who he is.
That discovery comes when we see just who God is, and then we understand who we are.
For example, Simon Peter. Simon Peter was naturally an aggressive man. Simon Peter was a take-charge type of fellow. Simon Peter the big fisherman, you know. He was always giving his opinion. Some, of course he was frequently wrong, but never in doubt. Somebody said about the only time he ever opened his mouth was just to exchange feet. He was putting his foot in his mouth all the time. But Simon Peter one day had a glimpse of the majesty, the glory, of Jesus Christ, and then, do you know what he said? He said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. He finally saw his bankruptcy.
Isaiah the prophet—what a great man was Isaiah the prophet. And if you read the book of Isaiah 5 he is thundering woes against this sin and woes against that country and woes against this people. Woe is you. Woe is you. Woe is you. Then you come back and say Isaiah 6. Where he said, "I also saw the Lord, high and lifted up, sitting upon the throne." And then he said, woe is me! Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips and I've dwelled in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the Lord. Isaiah had poorness of spirit.
I remember reading in the Bible about a woman who was a Syro-phoenician. That is, she was a pagan woman, she was from Phoenicia. And Jesus happened to be there in that place, and this Syro-phoenician came to Jesus Christ. She had a daughter that was demon possessed and she wanted Jesus Christ to heal her demon-possessed daughter. And Jesus Christ, in order to bring her to a point of brokenness of spirit, said something that sounds awfully cruel to her. She said, Lord, have mercy on me. And Jesus said I haven't been sent to you. I have come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus said, is it reasonable that we would take bread from the children and give it to dogs? And in effect he was calling her a dog. And that doesn't sound very good coming from Jesus. I mean that He would call her a dog. And here, he used the word for dog that meant household pet. You don't take the food off of the table and give it to the dog, you give it to the children. Jesus said I have come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And that Syro-phoenician woman, you would think that she would have gone off in a huff and said I've never been talked to such a way in all of my life. Some religious leader He is, I thought He was a man of compassion. She didn't say that. You know what she said? She said you're absolutely right. She said that's the truth Lord. But she said, even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table. And when she used the word dogs this time, she didn't use the same word Jesus used. She used the word that meant scroungy, back-alley, cur, mangy dog. Ravenous back-alley dog. That's the way she described herself. Jesus heart was broken. He said, woman, great is your reward. You're going to have exactly what you ask.
What happened to this woman? The same thing that happened to Simon Peter when He saw the Lord. The same thing that happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord. The same thing that happened to this woman when she saw the Lord. They became poor in spirit. They became beggars in the sight of a righteous and holy God. And these beggars in the sight of a righteous and holy God got exactly what they wanted.
The apostle Paul, if there was ever a man that was hard for him to see himself as bankrupt, it was the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul first of all, he had the right birth. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Secondly, he ran in the right society. He was a Pharisee. Thirdly, he had the extra accoutrements of being a Roman citizen.
Next of all, he had the best education that money can buy. He was learned at the feet of Gamaliel. And he would have today the equivalence of a triple PhD. He was fluid in many languages. He was a world traveler. He had been keeping the Jewish laws with an exactitude that was amazing. But one day he caught a glimpse of Jesus Christ. And he said, all these things that I had counted gain, I now count as loss. I took them from the assets side of the ledger and I put them on the liabilities side of them. The ledger.
All these things I was depending upon. He said, I count them, are you listening? As dung. D-u-n-g. Excrement. That's what I count them as. That I might gain Christ. Spiritually bankrupt. I mean totally a beggar in the sight of God.
But remember, we’re not talking about financial or material poverty. Jesus wasn’t referring to our possessions. He was referring to our spiritual state.
The fact is, if you think you will end up in heaven any way other than trusting in Jesus you’ve got a problem. As someone has said, “We may be well-educated but we are spiritually ignorant; we may be financially secure but we are spiritually bankrupt.”
That discovery comes when we see just who God is, and then we understand who we are.
For example, Simon Peter. Simon Peter was naturally an aggressive man. Simon Peter was a take-charge type of fellow. Simon Peter the big fisherman, you know. He was always giving his opinion. Some, of course he was frequently wrong, but never in doubt. Somebody said about the only time he ever opened his mouth was just to exchange feet. He was putting his foot in his mouth all the time. But Simon Peter one day had a glimpse of the majesty, the glory, of Jesus Christ, and then, do you know what he said? He said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. He finally saw his bankruptcy.
Isaiah the prophet—what a great man was Isaiah the prophet. And if you read the book of Isaiah 5 he is thundering woes against this sin and woes against that country and woes against this people. Woe is you. Woe is you. Woe is you. Then you come back and say Isaiah 6. Where he said, "I also saw the Lord, high and lifted up, sitting upon the throne." And then he said, woe is me! Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips and I've dwelled in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the Lord. Isaiah had poorness of spirit.
I remember reading in the Bible about a woman who was a Syro-phoenician. That is, she was a pagan woman, she was from Phoenicia. And Jesus happened to be there in that place, and this Syro-phoenician came to Jesus Christ. She had a daughter that was demon possessed and she wanted Jesus Christ to heal her demon-possessed daughter. And Jesus Christ, in order to bring her to a point of brokenness of spirit, said something that sounds awfully cruel to her. She said, Lord, have mercy on me. And Jesus said I haven't been sent to you. I have come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus said, is it reasonable that we would take bread from the children and give it to dogs? And in effect he was calling her a dog. And that doesn't sound very good coming from Jesus. I mean that He would call her a dog. And here, he used the word for dog that meant household pet. You don't take the food off of the table and give it to the dog, you give it to the children. Jesus said I have come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And that Syro-phoenician woman, you would think that she would have gone off in a huff and said I've never been talked to such a way in all of my life. Some religious leader He is, I thought He was a man of compassion. She didn't say that. You know what she said? She said you're absolutely right. She said that's the truth Lord. But she said, even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table. And when she used the word dogs this time, she didn't use the same word Jesus used. She used the word that meant scroungy, back-alley, cur, mangy dog. Ravenous back-alley dog. That's the way she described herself. Jesus heart was broken. He said, woman, great is your reward. You're going to have exactly what you ask.
What happened to this woman? The same thing that happened to Simon Peter when He saw the Lord. The same thing that happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord. The same thing that happened to this woman when she saw the Lord. They became poor in spirit. They became beggars in the sight of a righteous and holy God. And these beggars in the sight of a righteous and holy God got exactly what they wanted.
The apostle Paul, if there was ever a man that was hard for him to see himself as bankrupt, it was the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul first of all, he had the right birth. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Secondly, he ran in the right society. He was a Pharisee. Thirdly, he had the extra accoutrements of being a Roman citizen.
Next of all, he had the best education that money can buy. He was learned at the feet of Gamaliel. And he would have today the equivalence of a triple PhD. He was fluid in many languages. He was a world traveler. He had been keeping the Jewish laws with an exactitude that was amazing. But one day he caught a glimpse of Jesus Christ. And he said, all these things that I had counted gain, I now count as loss. I took them from the assets side of the ledger and I put them on the liabilities side of them. The ledger.
All these things I was depending upon. He said, I count them, are you listening? As dung. D-u-n-g. Excrement. That's what I count them as. That I might gain Christ. Spiritually bankrupt. I mean totally a beggar in the sight of God.
But remember, we’re not talking about financial or material poverty. Jesus wasn’t referring to our possessions. He was referring to our spiritual state.
The fact is, if you think you will end up in heaven any way other than trusting in Jesus you’ve got a problem. As someone has said, “We may be well-educated but we are spiritually ignorant; we may be financially secure but we are spiritually bankrupt.”
III.THE SPIRITUAL BEGGAR AND HIS BLESSEDNESS
The message of this beatitude is that we cannot save ourselves. “Not through the right rituals; not through the right devotion; not through the right goose bumps; nothing we do helps.” In this first statement Jesus was saying, “Blessed is the man who knows this! Blessed is the man who is poor in spirit! Blessed is the individual who has realized his own utter helplessness before God.” Can this man work to earn his salvation? Is he “penEEs” poor so he can work to earn his way to heaven can he do just enough to get into Heaven “by the hair of his chinny chin chin? No! He is not “penEES”, he is “ptokas.” He is absolutely incapable of this; he is totally dependent on the unmerited grace of God. Jesus is saying, “Blessed are the spiritual paupers, the spiritually empty, the spiritually bankrupt who know they are sinners and cringe in a corner crying out to God for mercy. They are happy they are makarios because they are the only ones who ever know God.”
Let me put it this way, being poor in spirit is the idea of coming before God with empty hands. As the second verse of that great hymn “Rock of Ages” says,
“Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling.”
Let me put it this way, being poor in spirit is the idea of coming before God with empty hands. As the second verse of that great hymn “Rock of Ages” says,
“Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling.”
In his book In the Grip of Grace, Max Lucado says many people think, “If I can counter my cussing with compliments, my lusts with loyalties, my complaints with contributions, my vices with victories, then won’t my account be justified?” Lucado goes on to point to the foolishness of this way of thinking by listing several “holes” that are found in this argument. He says that “theoretically” we could pay for our own sin if it weren’t for several glaring problems.
1). First, we don’t know the cost of our sin.
The price of gas is easy to find. Every station puts it in clear view on their marquee. But it’s not so clear when it comes to our sins. What, for example, is the charge for getting mad in traffic jams on the beltway? If I get ticked off at some guy who cuts in front of me what do I do to pay for my crime? Do I drive 55 in a 55mhp zone for ten minutes to atone for my error? Do I give a wave and a smile to ten consecutive commuter-filled cars? Who knows?
Or, what if I wake up in a bad mood? What’s the charge for a couple mopey hours? Will one church service next Sunday offset one grumpy morning today? And what qualifies for a bad mood? Is the charge for grumpiness less on cloudy days than clear or am I permitted a certain number of grouchy days per year? It’s confusing isn’t it?
2). To make matters worse, not only do we not know the cost of our sin. We don’t always know the occasion of our sins.
I mean, even our perceptions have been negatively affected by our sinful state, so there are times when we sin and don’t even know it! Lucado writes, “I was 12 years old before I knew it was a sin to hate your enemy. My bike was stolen when I was 8. I hated the thief for four years. How do I pay for those sins? Do I get an exemption for ignorance? And what about the sins I’m committing now without realizing it? What if someone somewhere discovers it is a sin to play golf? Or what if God thinks the way I play golf is a sin? Oh boy, I’ll have some serious settling up to do.”
3). And what about our secret sins?
What about those times we sin by doing good deeds so that others will admire us, things that look good but are in fact bad? And what about sins of omission? Any secret sins of omission on your statement this month? Did you miss any chance to do good? Overlook an opportunity to forgive? Did you neglect an open door to serve? Did you seize every chance to encourage your friends? If so, how do you make up for those infractions?
And there are other concerns.
4). For example, what about the grace period? Is there such a thing when it comes to calculating the payment we must make for our sins?
Our credit cards allow a minimal payment and then they roll the debt into the next month. Does God allow that? I mean, will He let me pay off today’s greed next year? And, what about interest? If I leave my sinful greed on my statement for twelve months, does it incur more sin debt?
Do you get Lucado’s drift? We can’t pay for our own sin. It’s foolish and sinful to think we could! We are fallen beings; our actions, and inactions, even our thoughts and desires condemn us. The idea of paying for our sins with good deeds is like trying to walk up a hill of solid ice that is covered with three inches of mud. We loose ten steps for every one we take.
In fact, the Apostle Paul says the purpose of God’s law was to help us to see this fact. The law was given to show us how absolutely dependent we are on the unmerited grace of God. I mean, our inability to always obey the law of God in thought, word, deed, and inaction, shows us that all people are equally guilty before God.
1). First, we don’t know the cost of our sin.
The price of gas is easy to find. Every station puts it in clear view on their marquee. But it’s not so clear when it comes to our sins. What, for example, is the charge for getting mad in traffic jams on the beltway? If I get ticked off at some guy who cuts in front of me what do I do to pay for my crime? Do I drive 55 in a 55mhp zone for ten minutes to atone for my error? Do I give a wave and a smile to ten consecutive commuter-filled cars? Who knows?
Or, what if I wake up in a bad mood? What’s the charge for a couple mopey hours? Will one church service next Sunday offset one grumpy morning today? And what qualifies for a bad mood? Is the charge for grumpiness less on cloudy days than clear or am I permitted a certain number of grouchy days per year? It’s confusing isn’t it?
2). To make matters worse, not only do we not know the cost of our sin. We don’t always know the occasion of our sins.
I mean, even our perceptions have been negatively affected by our sinful state, so there are times when we sin and don’t even know it! Lucado writes, “I was 12 years old before I knew it was a sin to hate your enemy. My bike was stolen when I was 8. I hated the thief for four years. How do I pay for those sins? Do I get an exemption for ignorance? And what about the sins I’m committing now without realizing it? What if someone somewhere discovers it is a sin to play golf? Or what if God thinks the way I play golf is a sin? Oh boy, I’ll have some serious settling up to do.”
3). And what about our secret sins?
What about those times we sin by doing good deeds so that others will admire us, things that look good but are in fact bad? And what about sins of omission? Any secret sins of omission on your statement this month? Did you miss any chance to do good? Overlook an opportunity to forgive? Did you neglect an open door to serve? Did you seize every chance to encourage your friends? If so, how do you make up for those infractions?
And there are other concerns.
4). For example, what about the grace period? Is there such a thing when it comes to calculating the payment we must make for our sins?
Our credit cards allow a minimal payment and then they roll the debt into the next month. Does God allow that? I mean, will He let me pay off today’s greed next year? And, what about interest? If I leave my sinful greed on my statement for twelve months, does it incur more sin debt?
Do you get Lucado’s drift? We can’t pay for our own sin. It’s foolish and sinful to think we could! We are fallen beings; our actions, and inactions, even our thoughts and desires condemn us. The idea of paying for our sins with good deeds is like trying to walk up a hill of solid ice that is covered with three inches of mud. We loose ten steps for every one we take.
In fact, the Apostle Paul says the purpose of God’s law was to help us to see this fact. The law was given to show us how absolutely dependent we are on the unmerited grace of God. I mean, our inability to always obey the law of God in thought, word, deed, and inaction, shows us that all people are equally guilty before God.
So, we must begin our maturity as Jesus’ disciples here. Becoming poor in spirit foundational to living out the other beatitudes. You can’t even become a Christian unless you’re poor in spirit. I mean, you might as well expect fruit to grow without trees if you think the graces of the Christ life grow without “ptokos.” This is where it all begins. Warren Weirsbe writes, “True poverty of spirit is the soil out of which the fruit of the Spirit can be cultivated.”
We must be humble in order to have God’s approval. Let me put it this way. We will only be filled when we own our emptiness. We cannot be made worthy until we recognize our unworthiness, or as someone has said, “We can’t live until we admit we’re dead.” Or as another person put it, “Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.”
We must be humble in order to have God’s approval. Let me put it this way. We will only be filled when we own our emptiness. We cannot be made worthy until we recognize our unworthiness, or as someone has said, “We can’t live until we admit we’re dead.” Or as another person put it, “Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.”
How do we embrace this attitude? How do we become poor in spirit? I want to suggest three things:
A. First, regularly, daily, ask God to help you see your sin as sin.
You see, as Lucado inferred our sinful state blinds us such that if left to ourselves, we gradually begin to justify our sin. We become proud and begin to think like our world thinks. So to remain poor in spirit we must regularly, daily, ask God to show us our sin. We need to ask Him to so shine the light of His holiness on our attitudes and actions.
Lifton Fadiman tells a wonderful story about Charles Steinmetz, a genius of an electrical engineer for General Electric in the early part of the twentieth century. On one occasion after his retirement, when the other engineers around GE were baffled by the breakdown of a complex of machines, they asked Steinmetz to come back in to see if he could pinpoint the problem. Steinmetz spent several minutes walking around the machines. Then he then took a piece of chalk out of his pocket and made a cross mark on one particular piece of one particular machine. To their amazement, when the engineers disassembled that part of that machine, it turned out to be the precise location of the breakdown. A few days later, the engineers received a bill from Steinmetz for $10,000 a staggering sum in those days. This seemed exorbitant, so they returned it to him with a request that he itemize it. After a few more days they received a second, itemized bill that read like this:
Making one cross mark: $1.00 Knowing where to put it: $9,999.00
Well, to keep this attitude, to remain poor in spirit, to see our sin as sin, we need God’s expertise. We need Him to put a chalk mark on our sin.
B. Second, we must stop comparing ourselves to others.
You see, it is never possible to create a true poverty of spirit by looking within or by looking around at other people. The human heart is corrupt. And because of it we will always latch upon someone who is worse in some respect than we are. We will find someone who is prouder than we are, and although we may still be quite proud we will congratulate ourselves on being humble. We will find someone who has strong fits of temper, and although we have a temper we’ll congratulate ourselves on being more moderate than they are. It will go like this in all of our shortcomings. So don’t look around, look up. Constantly compare yourself to God. We must see our poverty against His plenty. I mean, the quickest way to become spiritually poor is to look at God because in the presence of one Who is perfect, how can we boast about how good we are?
So, to become poor in spirit, don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t look around. Look up. C. S. Lewis once wrote,
“Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good above all, that we are better than someone else, I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself all together.”
So to be poor in spirit, ask God’s help. Stop comparing yourself to others.
And finally.
C Discipline yourself to depend on God for everything everyday.
In John 5:5 Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Well, acknowledge that fact. The prayer I pray most often is “God help me.” I pray this because I have learned the hard way that I am “ptokas” without God. I can’t do this job on my own. I fall flat on my face every time I try so I’m constantly praying, “God help me. Help me, please help me.” Well, anyone who wants to be poor in spirit must learn to pray this prayer. We need to prostrate ourselves before God daily and say this.
Three ministers were discussing the proper way to pray. One said that the best way was with hands together and fingers up. Another said the best way was on his knees. The third said the best way was prostrate on the floor. An electrician in the back overheard their conversation and added, “The best posture for me to pray was hanging upside down with a live wire wrapped around my legs.”
Well, this electrician had it right. We are doomed without God. We all are a heartbeat from eternity without Him and we need to acknowledge this fact.
A. First, regularly, daily, ask God to help you see your sin as sin.
You see, as Lucado inferred our sinful state blinds us such that if left to ourselves, we gradually begin to justify our sin. We become proud and begin to think like our world thinks. So to remain poor in spirit we must regularly, daily, ask God to show us our sin. We need to ask Him to so shine the light of His holiness on our attitudes and actions.
Lifton Fadiman tells a wonderful story about Charles Steinmetz, a genius of an electrical engineer for General Electric in the early part of the twentieth century. On one occasion after his retirement, when the other engineers around GE were baffled by the breakdown of a complex of machines, they asked Steinmetz to come back in to see if he could pinpoint the problem. Steinmetz spent several minutes walking around the machines. Then he then took a piece of chalk out of his pocket and made a cross mark on one particular piece of one particular machine. To their amazement, when the engineers disassembled that part of that machine, it turned out to be the precise location of the breakdown. A few days later, the engineers received a bill from Steinmetz for $10,000 a staggering sum in those days. This seemed exorbitant, so they returned it to him with a request that he itemize it. After a few more days they received a second, itemized bill that read like this:
Making one cross mark: $1.00 Knowing where to put it: $9,999.00
Well, to keep this attitude, to remain poor in spirit, to see our sin as sin, we need God’s expertise. We need Him to put a chalk mark on our sin.
B. Second, we must stop comparing ourselves to others.
You see, it is never possible to create a true poverty of spirit by looking within or by looking around at other people. The human heart is corrupt. And because of it we will always latch upon someone who is worse in some respect than we are. We will find someone who is prouder than we are, and although we may still be quite proud we will congratulate ourselves on being humble. We will find someone who has strong fits of temper, and although we have a temper we’ll congratulate ourselves on being more moderate than they are. It will go like this in all of our shortcomings. So don’t look around, look up. Constantly compare yourself to God. We must see our poverty against His plenty. I mean, the quickest way to become spiritually poor is to look at God because in the presence of one Who is perfect, how can we boast about how good we are?
So, to become poor in spirit, don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t look around. Look up. C. S. Lewis once wrote,
“Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good above all, that we are better than someone else, I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself all together.”
So to be poor in spirit, ask God’s help. Stop comparing yourself to others.
And finally.
C Discipline yourself to depend on God for everything everyday.
In John 5:5 Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Well, acknowledge that fact. The prayer I pray most often is “God help me.” I pray this because I have learned the hard way that I am “ptokas” without God. I can’t do this job on my own. I fall flat on my face every time I try so I’m constantly praying, “God help me. Help me, please help me.” Well, anyone who wants to be poor in spirit must learn to pray this prayer. We need to prostrate ourselves before God daily and say this.
Three ministers were discussing the proper way to pray. One said that the best way was with hands together and fingers up. Another said the best way was on his knees. The third said the best way was prostrate on the floor. An electrician in the back overheard their conversation and added, “The best posture for me to pray was hanging upside down with a live wire wrapped around my legs.”
Well, this electrician had it right. We are doomed without God. We all are a heartbeat from eternity without Him and we need to acknowledge this fact.