Words about the WORD - Brian Anderson - Albany United Pentecostal Church

Beatitudes (Part 1)

Text: Matt 5:1-5

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto 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.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

 To be poor in spirit is:

 1. To be contentedly poor, willing to be emptied of worldly wealth, if God orders that to be our lot; to bring our mind to our condition, when it is a low condition. Many are poor in the world, but high in spirit, poor and proud, murmuring and complaining, and blaming their lot.

 2. It is to be humble and lowly in our own eyes. To be poor in spirit, is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, and have, and do; the poor are often taken in the Old Testament for the humble and self-denying, as opposed to those that are at ease, and the proud; it is to be as little children in our opinion of ourselves, weak, foolish, and insignificant.

3. It is to come off from all confidence in our own righteousness and strength that we may depend only upon the merit of Christ for our justification, and the spirit and grace of Christ for our sanctification. That broken and contrite spirit with which the publican cried for mercy to a poor sinner is that poverty of spirit. We must call ourselves poor, because always in want of God’s grace, always begging at God’s door, always hanging on in his house.

(From Matthew Henry’s Commentary)

Paul was rich in spirituals, excelling most in gifts and graces, and yet poor in spirit, the least of the apostles, less than the least of all saints, and nothing in his own account. It is to look with a holy contempt upon ourselves, to value others and undervalue ourselves in comparison of them. It is to be willing to make ourselves cheap, and mean, and little, to do good; to become all things to all men. It is to acknowledge that God is great, and we are mean; that he is holy and we are sinful; that he is all and we are nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing; and to humble ourselves before him, and under his mighty hand.

The philosophers did not reckon humility among their moral virtues, but Christ puts it first. Self-denial is the first lesson to be learned in his school, and poverty of spirit entitled to the first beatitude. The foundation of all other graces is laid in humility. 

Those that mourn:

1. A repentant mourning for our own sins; this is godly sorrow, a sorrow for sin. These are God’s mourners, who live a life of repentance, who lament the corruption of their nature, and their many actual transgressions and who mourn also for the sins of others, and sigh and cry for their abominations.

2. A sympathizing mourning for the afflictions of others; the mourning of those who weep with them that weep, are sorrowful for the solemn assemblies, for the desolations of Zion, especially who look with compassion on perishing souls, and weep over them, as Christ over Jerusalem. 

Being comforted is the joy of our Lord; a fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore; which will be doubly sweet to those who have been prepared for them by this godly sorrow.

The meek:

Quietly submit them self to God, to His word and to His rod. 

They follow his directions, and comply with his designs. 

They are gentle towards all men. 

They can bear provocation without being inflamed by it. 

They are either silent, or return a soft answer. 

They can show their displeasure when there is occasion for it, without being transported into any indecencies. 

They can be cool when others are hot; and in their patience keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. 

They are the meek, who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly and easily pacified; and who would rather forgive twenty injuries than revenge one, having the rule of their own spirits.

They shall inherit the land (so it may be read), the land of Canaan, a type of heaven. So that all the blessedness of heaven above, and all the blessings of earth beneath, are the portion of the meek. 

Meekness, however ridiculed and run down, has a real tendency to promote our health, wealth, comfort, and safety, even in this world. The meek and quiet are observed to live the easiest lives, compared with the headstrong and unruly.