SPECIAL DAYS: First Sunday after Christmas

December 30, 2001 - Lesson: Matthew 5.1-3

Sermon Title: When Poor Is Not Poverty

(Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

INTRODUCTION:

A small child would not put his 25¢ in the offering plate.

He was asked, "Please, the money is for the poor."

He resisted. He would not let go of his quarter.

As the family was leaving church, the child handed the pastor the 25¢.

The pastor thanked the child and asked him why he was giving this 25¢ to him.

The child said My dad says you're the poorest pastor he knew.

That may or may not be debatable.

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

  1. Here is another story that really hits much closer to home, that is if we want it too.

One day a wealthy city man took his son on a trip to the country, supposedly to visit a relative; in actuality, however, the trip was to show his son how poor country folks live.

They stayed the weekend in the home of a relative who was a very humble farmer.

At the end of the trip, as they were en route back home, the father asked his son, What did you think of the trip?

The son replied, Very nice, Dad.

Then the father asked, Did you notice how they lived?

The son replied, Yes.

The father continued, What did you learn?

The son responded, I learned that we have one dog in our house, and they have four. Also, we have a fountain in our garden filled with goldfish, but they have a trout stream that has no end. And where we have imported lamps in our garden, they have the stars! And while our garden goes to the edge of our neighbor's fence, they have the entire horizon as their back yard!

At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless.

The son then said, Thank you, Dad, for showing me how poor we really are. (1)

  1. We should thank Jesus Christ for showing us exactly how poor we really are.
    1. How poor are we?
    2. Who are the poor.

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

MAIN BODY:

  1. Jesus had spent the night in prayer.
    1. As the day appeared, he went up to a hill and sat down.
    2. He opened his mouth and began to teach.
    3. What he had to say is the essence of Christianity.
      1. There are those who say that the Beatitudes are the future characteristics of the saints.
      2. There is every reason to believe that we may develop, to one degree or another, these characteristics in our daily lives.
  2. What does it mean to be "poor in spirit?"
    1. The "poor in spirit" are not the poor in profession.
      1. They seek to identify their skills and abilities
      2. They seek to develop their skills and abilities.
    2. The "poor in spirit" are not the poor in circumstances.
      1. Although they may be "poor in means," this is not necessarily the case.
      2. The "poor in spirit" may be rich, although they be rich and still poor.
    3. The "poor in spirit" are not the poor-spirited.
      1. They do not put themselves down
      2. They do not seek to build up themselves at the expense of others,
    4. The "poor in spirit" are the spiritually humble.
      1. The have a healthy concept of self-worth.
      2. Sometimes we have a sense of worth that is all out of proportion to our value.

Tom Brokaw tells about an experience he had after taking the lead chair on the Today show. He started at a small station in Omaha. Then he put in his time in L.A., then Washington. Then he made it at the New York headquarters of NBC.

Walking through Bloomingdale's one day, inhaling the fumes of his ego, a man stopped him and said, You're Tom Brokaw, aren't you?

He said, Right.

You used to do the morning news on KMTV in Omaha, didn't you?

That's right, Brokaw replied, impressed by the guy's knowledge of his career.

The guy paused, looked him over again, and said, Well, whatever happened to you?

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

  1. They think highly of themselves, but not too highly.
      1. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12.3

3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Romans 12:3 (NRSVA)

    1. They meet the challenges that come to us in these ways.
      1. They accept the challenge of potential incapability.
        1. They take the time to identify their gifts and talents.
        2. They make the effort to develop their skills and abilities.
        3. They are not lazy.
      2. They meet the challenge of inhibition.

I once knew a person who had great skill in playing the piano.

The person refused to play in church

The individual felt inhibited by the thoughts and feelings that were raised to consciousness by fear of failure or fear of the comments of other.

    1. What is identified and developed is used not only for one's own good.
      1. One's skills and abilities are used for the good of the church.
      2. One's skills and abilities are used for the good of the community.
    2. They overcome the challenge of independence.
      1. They participate with others within the group.
      2. They are not wallflowers.
      3. They sit with the known or the unknown.

Go to any group of any and we are prone to sit with those we know or feel comfortable with.

Try sitting and relating to those whom you don't know

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

    1. They find ways to overcome the adversary.

Brian Muldoon, The Heart of Conflict (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996), 42.

Brian Muldoon relates a story how a lawyer friend named John developed a lifelong friendship with the school bully.

In high school, John's locker was next to this fellow's locker, and every day the kid would slam John's locker shut and taunt him with invective.

John always smiled and said, Good Morning! in the most cheerful voice he could muster. Finally, after several weeks of this, the bully was exasperated.

Why are you always so nice to me? Don't you know that I hate your guts? the bully said.

John smiled. I treat you this way because I realized the first time I saw you that we were going to be best friends. I've just been waiting for you to find that out yourself.

Forty years later, they are still best friends.

There is a still point even in the midst of the most violent hurricane. To find it requires patience, self-control, and the ability to hold the center while great winds blow on all sides.

  1. Who are the poor in spirit?
  1. They have an excellent sense of their own worth.
  2. They are humbled before God by the sense of unworthiness.
  3. They value others rather than themselves.
  4. Those whose righteousness is Christ.
  5. Those who do not excessively worry about temporary reverses, but in everything give thanks, (Philippians 4.11-13).

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

CONCLUSION:

  1. Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of the King and the Maid (2)

Once upon a time a king fell in love with a maid. It's an old theme, on how love overcomes all barriers of class and of race and of nationality.

But for all its beauty, the king didn't see the matter easily resolved. Racking his mind and heart was the question: How to declare his love?

Unable to answer it, he summons to his palace all the wise people of his kingdom and put the question to them. As one, they responded: Sire, nothing could be easier. Your majesty has but to appear in all your glory before the humble abode of the maid and instantly she will fall at your feet and be yours.

But it was precisely that thought which so troubled the king. In return for his love, he wanted hers, not fear that would lead to her submission. He wanted her glorification. Not his. What a dilemma when to declare your love means the end of your beloved. When not to declare your love means the end of love.

Night after night the king paced the floor of his palace pondering, until at last he saw love's truth: Freedom for the beloved demands equality with the beloved.

So late one night, long after his courtiers and counselors had returned to their chambers, the king stole out of a side door of the palace and appeared before the humble abode of the maid dressed in the garb of a servant.

  1. How blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is.

1. The Lesson, Reprinted in Vanguard, vanguardmae.com.

2. As found in Kierkegaard's The God as Teacher and Savior, in Philosophical Fragments (Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1985), 23-36.

(top)    (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)