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Poor in Spirit

LCM - CH2: "Where True Happiness Begins"

Submitted by Leah Page on

"Lord, Only You can Change Me" (by Kay Arthur)
Ch. 2:  "Where True Happiness Begins"
 
Review week 1:  John the Baptist was chosen by God to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" and in large part, this very "preparation" was the call to REPENT!  The "red carpet" of John's ministry was to declare the "BAD NEWS" of our sin, our deserving God's judgment, and the proclamation that the kingdom of God was at hand.  Bookmark chapter for week 1 (intro) was Luke 1 (and connecting back to Malachi ch. 3-4)
 
Review week 2:  The "theme" of the infamous "Sermon on the Mount" - which we discerned from Jesus' own words - is "the righteous lifestyle of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven." (LCM p.6)  One of the key verses of this sermon is Matthew 5:20 which says "For I [Jesus] say to you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees [the religious leaders of that time, the most "holy" people who were supposed to know all about God], you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."  But as we saw, Jesus' rebuke against the so-called religious was very severe.  Bookmark chapter for week 2 (ch. 1) was Matthew 23, where Jesus soundly rebukes these religious folks for their hypocrisy!  They exert all this effort to clean the outside of the cup, but inside they are as filthy and dirty as ever.  They are like whitewashed tombs - concerned about their outward appearances, but inside are DEAD and unclean. 
 
So we come to chapter 2, and there were 2 main topics for us to discuss:
 
1)  "BLESSED ARE" / "TRULY HAPPY ARE..."
Jesus opens this sermon with a series of statements concerning those who are considered "blessed" or "happy/ecstatic" - and gives us a glimpse into their condition.  Before we got into the first "beatitude" (which comes from the latin word to describe this series of "blessed are's"), we needed to understand better what this actually means.
 
For one, "blessed are" refers to a "STATE OF BEING," not a set of doings.  The sermon to follow is going to be filled to overflowing with all kinds of "do's" and "don'ts" - but Jesus is FIRST, LAST and ALWAYS concerned with the condition of the HEARTS of his people.  As we have said before, "Being precedes [comes before] Doing" - what we DO is the overflow of who we ARE.  What we DO, is the "natural result" of who we ARE.
 
Additionally, in the Scriptures, "blessedness means 'a sense of God's approval.'" (LCM p. 21)  BLESSED first refers to God's approval, God's favor, God's...pleasure.  These statements of character, of the heart, of "being" in the inner person, all fall under the category of "blessed" because they describe the heart and character that is PLEASING to God, and therefore as an overflow of his pleasure, God blesses us and we are filled with joy.  We used the picture of a tree to get this idea.  It would be as if we could say the ROOT is God's being pleased, and the FRUIT is our joy.
 
However, if we have not been given a new nature?  If we are still in our sin - God's pleasure would be worse than meaningless to us.  It would certainly not be our aim, our desire or at all OUR pleasure!  (Recall, we talked about God changing our "want to's"?!  so that we long to love what he loves and hate what he hates!)  But if we desire to please God, and Jesus has told us that these characteristics are at the HEART of what brings pleasure to God, wouldn't it be to our benefit to understand what these things mean?  To, in effect, if it were possible, "strive after" this kind of character and heart and inner person?
 
"Is it any wonder that Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount so amazed His listeners?....Here was a man who spoke with ringing authority, a man who was God in the flesh.  Here was the mighty Creator of all speaking to His created ones, telling them that the wellspring of what they craved was found in a sense of His approval.  Yes, friends and loved ones may belittle and ridicule our words and our choices, but what does it matter as long as God continually whispers, 'I know who you are, My child, and it brings Me pleasure.'  Man, after all, was made for God's glory, God's pleasure.  How then can man be complete or satisfied until he achieves that for which he was created?"  (LCM, p. 24)
 
 
2)  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT?
We looked through several Scriptures during our study, including Luke 18:9-14 where we saw the Tax Gatherer crying out for mercy, Isaiah 6:1-8 where we saw how Isaiah - when he was confronted face to face with God - cried out "WOE IS ME!" as he recognized how sinful he was, and 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 where we saw that God chose for himself people who were (in their natural selves) foolish, weak, base, despised, who were not wise, were not mighty, were not noble.  And yet God place them in CHRIST (his beloved Son in whom he was WELL PLEASED!), so that he would become to them (and us) all that they were NOT - Jesus is our wisdom, Jesus is our righteousness, Jesus is our sanctification, Jesus is our redemption - so Jesus is our all in all.
 
We used the image of a "cup" again to talk about how we come to God - and that if we try to bring him anything, as if we could bring anything acceptable to God?, we are in effect trying to stand on our own righteousness or value or worthiness.  But God is most glorified when we come to him with EMPTY cups, seeking to be FILLED by HIM!  After all, how could we hope to bring anything MORE pleasing to the Father than Jesus??  So "poverty of spirit" isn't an expression of "how much spirit" do we possess, but in effect "how much righteousness" does our spirit possess - It is not as though we suddenly possess less righteousness when we see ourselves compared to a holy God!  It's just that the light of God's presence EXPOSES our poverty - that we have nothing to offer to commend ourselves to him.
 
The proper response to "seeing God" is to fall on our faces, exclaim "WOE IS ME" and cry out for mercy.  That is what Jesus means by poverty of spirit.  How do we "strive after" this poverty of spirit?  We fill our gaze with God - see as MUCH of him as we can, as Isaiah did, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
 
Jesus says this is the condition in which we are BLESSED!  To these individuals who have despaired of their own self-effort and fall on God for grace and mercy - To these belong the kingdom of heaven.

Take heart!  The Lord has promised - the good work he BEGINS in us he WILL be faithful to bring to completion!  He does not leave us fallen on our faces, but intervenes on our behalf....
 
Bookmark chapters for this week are Isaiah 6 and Luke 18.
 
~
"What is poverty of spirit?  It is an absence of self-assurance, self-reliance, and pride.  It is the deepest form of repentance.  It is turning from your independence to total dependence on God.  It is brokenness.  Listen, my friend, as difficult as it might be to receive right now, you ought to open your arms and welcome anything that will break you, that will bend your knees, that will bring you to utter destitution before your God....To walk in poverty of spirit means to abide in the Vine [Jesus!] and to allow the life of the Vine, by God's Spirit, to flow through us so that we might bear fruit.  For apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5)...."  (LCM, p. 30, p. 42)

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~How to become Poor In Spirit~ D.M.Lloyd-Jones

Submitted by Leah Page on

~How to become Poor In Spirit~ D.M.Lloyd-Jones
 
 
"...The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God. Read this Book about Him, read His law, look at what He expects from us, contemplate standing before Him. It is also to look at the Lord Jesus Christ and to view Him as we see Him in the Gospels. The more we do that the more we shall understand the reaction of the apostles when, looking at Him and something He had just done, they said, 'Lord, increase our faith!' Their faith, they felt, was nothing. They felt it was so weak and so poor. 'Lord, increase our faith. We thought we had something because we had cast out devils and preached Thy word, but now we feel we have nothing; increase our faith.'

"Look at Him; and the more we look at Him, the more hopeless shall we feel by ourselves, and in and of ourselves, and the more shall we become 'poor in spirit.' Look at Him, keep looking at Him. Look at the saints, look at the men who have been most filled with the Spirit and used. But above all, look again at Him, and then you will have nothing to do to yourself. It will be done. You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness. Then you say to Him,

'Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.'

Empty, hopeless, naked, vile. But HE is the all-sufficient One --

'Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come.'"
 
 
 

~David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount," p. 42

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LCM ~ A couple questions answered - followup to last night's class (re ch. 3)

Submitted by Leah Page on

Good morning, ladies!
 
Last night, I double checked on a couple of the questions that were asked, and thought I'd share with you what I found (I'll post on the blog, too):
 
 
Q:  Was the woman in Luke 7 Mary Magdalene?
 
A:  The text doesn't say so, and I have heard from several sources that it is widely believed to be Mary Magdalene.  But we don't know for sure.  There are other Gospel accounts of a similar event, (such as Mark 14), but the details are different, and we know that the woman there mentioned was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.  Luke 7 seems to be a different event altogether - though possibly the fact that the other accounts mention a "Mary" and there is even another "Simon" present (Simon the Leper), perhaps these similarities help inform the speculation about the women in the text with which we have concerned ourselves, here? 
 
(We DO know this was a woman who washed Jesus' feet out of love for him and a "weeping joy" for his grace!  Would that we were all such women!)
 
 
Q:  Was "Simon" in the Luke 7 account the name of the Pharisee hosting the gathering?  Or referring to Simon/Peter, Jesus' disciple, who may also have been present at this event?
 
A:  In v. 44, Jesus addresses Simon directly and accuses him of not having welcomed him even half as well as this so-called "sinner" woman.  So Simon is contextually understood, here, to be the name of the Pharisee hosting the gathering.
 
 
Q:  In Ezekiel 9:8, we speculated that perhaps this phrase (as worded in the NASB), "I alone was left," meant that Ezekiel was in fact the only one to survive the divine execution of the idol-worshippers in Jerusalem, the only one who was "marked" to be saved?
 
A:  However, the opening phrase of the verse helps to clarify - and looking further at the context, ch. 10 is where "God's glory departs from the temple" and ch. 11 is where Ezekiel is called upon to give greater rebuke to the people (I don't know if such "order of writing" is meant to be explicitely chronological, but that seems to be the "plain meaning" of the text). 
 
The ESV helpfully translates this verse this way:  "And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?'"  <-- a great case of finding help in other reliable translations of the text, and interpreting on the basis of context!  ;)  It seems Ezekiel is saying simply that while this horror (!) was being carried out, he remained in the presence of the Lord and - like Moses and others before him had done - was pleading with God on behalf of this rebelious people.
 
This is an event that is intended to "mirror" the Passover events in Exodus - though it is interesting, as we noted, that where in the Exodus account the faithful put the blood over their own doorposts, in this event, the Lord chose angelic messengers to somehow "mark" the foreheads of those who had "sighed and moaned" over the abominations committed in God's city.  (Reminded me of how Peter in the NT [2 Peter ch. 2] describes Lot, Abraham's nephew who willingly lived in Sodom and Gomorrah and even rose to some prominence in the city!, and nevertheless was "vexed in his righteous soul" over their collective wickedness....)
 
 
Q: And finally, regarding good ol' Uriah Heep?  
 
I had brought up one of the incidents that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones mentions in his book "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and it was a point of interest because he actually names the person with whom he interacted, and it was one "Uriah Heep" and Betty had pointed out that this was the name of a character in a Charles Dickens' novel, so I thought perhaps I had misread the story! 
 
A:  I double checked and in fact, the man's name was Uriah Heep, so perhaps he was named after the Dickens character?  Or perhaps it was just strange coincidence?  Either way, it appears to be a "true story" and not just an illustration to make a point.  Here is the quote if you're interested:
 
 
"...To be 'poor in spirit,' therefore, does not mean you are born like that.  Let us get rid of that idea once and for ever.
     Neither does it mean that we are to become what I can best describe as imitators of Uriah Heep.  Many, again, have mistaken 'poor in spirit' for that.  I remember once having to go to preach at a certain town.  When I arrived on the Saturday evening, a man met me at the station and immediately asked for my bag, indeed he almost took it from my hand by force.  Then he talked to me like this:  'I am a deacon in the church where you are preaching tomorrow,' he said, and then added, 'You know, I am a mere nobody, a very unimportant man, really.  I do not count; I am not a great man in the Church; I am just one of those men who carry the bag for the minister.'  He was anxious that I should know what a humble man he was, how 'poor in spirit.'  Yet by his anxiety to make it known, he was denying the very thing he was trying to establish.  Uriah Heep -- the man who thus, as it were, glories in his poverty of spirit and thereby proves he is not humble.  It is an affectation of something which he obviously does not feel...."  (DLJ, SITSOTM, p. 38)
 
Blessings!
Leah
 
 
 
--
~Growing in grace, and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ~
http://grace2grow.blogspot.com

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Seeking Him, Lesson 2: Humility ~ Coming to God on His Terms

Submitted by Leah Page on

Lesson 2:  Humility ~ Coming to God on His Terms
 
"Humility is a virtue more often praised than sought.  Who wants to think little of himself?  The world admires the self-confident, the ambitious, yes, even the proud!  Yet biblical humility - recognizing oneself as a sinner before the holy God - is a prerequisite for starting down the path to revival."  ~NLDeMoss
 
As we looked at in week one, the work of the Lord in bringing revival begins with breaking up of the fallow groud of our hearts, using the deeply penetrating work of the spears of a powerful plow (the double edged sword of God's word!) which dig down into the tender places of our soul, to turn over the hard soil and bring the nutrient rich soil of a broken and contrite heart to the surface.
 
One example from our study included looking at Isaiah ch. 6 in which Isaiah recounts his face-to-face encounter with the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, seated on the throne of heaven and appearing in his GLORY.  When confronted with the glory and perfection and holiness of our Good God, humility is immediately conscious of its falling short, its imperfections, its "undone-ness" as Isaiah observed, "Woe is me!  I am a man of unclean lips, and I come from a people of unclean lips!"
 
Which is the exactly necessary disposition to then receive FROM God the very cleansing, merciful work.  We see the dispatching of a burning coal to remove Isaiah's obstacle for standing in God's presence, namely, his unholiness, his "woeful" (cursed!) state.
 
We examined snapshots from the lives of both Rehoboam and Asa in 2 Chronicles.  Even acknowledging that these snapshots don't give us all the complexities of the lives of these two Kings of Judah, we nevertheless trace the reverse patterns in each of their lives:  Rehoboam ruled from a place of pride, was confronted with the word of the Lord by means of one of God's prophets, and he and the people's response was to humble themselves before God, and so they received deliverance.  Asa started well, ruled from a place of humility and even observed first-hand how the Lord gave grace, but when given the opportunity to seek his own solutions rather than being led by the Lord, he exercised his pride, and when he was confronted with the word of the Lord by means of one of God's prophets, he responded with even more pride, angered by the rebuke, and suffered in his own body the consequences of his refusal to seek and depend on the Lord.
 
Certainly, these summaries aren't the whole of their stories, but they give us, nevertheless, living pictures of God's GRACE even to confront our pride by means of his word!, and yet, how we respond to that "cutting" of God's discerning even between the thoughts and intents of our hearts will determine the path that then we walk.
 
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:  'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" ~Isaiah 57:15
 
"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.  And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do."  ~Hebrews 4:12-13 (Amplified)
 
God opposes, and brings low those who are proud and self-sufficient.  But not only does he give grace to the humble, he does so by drawing NEAR to those who have acknowledge that in themselves they are spiritually bankrupt, or as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, they are "poor in spirit."  Our God "makes his dwelling place" with us (!) when we surrender our firm grip on our own self-importance and self-exaltation.  Loosing our fingers in this way frees us to lay hold of HIM who has laid hold of us.
 
Next Lesson:  HONESTY

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Seeking Him, Lesson 8: Clear Conscience ~ Dealing with our Offenses toward Others

Submitted by Leah Page on

SEE PREVIOUS ENTRY for the "INTRO" example used - an outward "STINK" as evidence of an inward "ROT"..... The first seven lessons focused primarily on experiencing revival in our hearts and lives as it pertains to our relationship to God.  As Nancy put it in our study, the "vertical" aspect.  With chapter 8, we turned more to the practical outworking of these truths, of God's reviving our hearts, as it pertains to our relationships with other people.
 
"When our conscience is clear, we have nothing to be ashamed of."
 
We have talked about how one of our first reactions when we sin is to hide, or to point fingers to deflect the blame from ourselves.  Our first parents, Adam and Eve, demonstrated this in the Garden - they were ASHAMED because of their nakedness, a consequence of their sin.  They were vulnerable before God, and with each other.
 
Sin breaks relationship.  It breaks our relationship with God, and it has the same effect in our relationships with each other.
 
"Having a clear conscience means there is no obstruction in our fellowship with God or anyone else.  It means we are careful to avoid sinning against God or others with our words, actions, or attitudes.  It also means that when we do sin, we quickly repent, admit our failure to all offended parties, ask their forgiveness, and make whatever restitution is necessary."  ~NLDeMoss (p. 149)
 
Above the Level of Reproach
We looked at the example of Samuel from 1 Samuel 12:1-4 - he stood before the people and welcomed their feedback - he did not, himself, know of any offenses of which he had not been repentant, but he opened the floor for the people of the nation to expose any of his offenses, and their response was that they found him to have lived, in effect, "above the level of reproach"!  (see 1 Timothy 3:2)
 
How would we need to live - to what degree must we always be repenting, always open to correction - if we were to make every effort to live in relationship with other people without any unconfessed sin between us?
 
W.I.Y.W.J.
We also looked at Matthew 25:37-40, 45 and Acts 9:1-5 together.  (see day 3 in your books)
 
Not only does Jesus identify himself with the church body - to the degree that in Acts he confronts Saul with persecuting HIM because of his breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus.  But we see that Jesus measures our actions against "the least of these" - receiving our treatment of others as if we were doing unto HIM.
 
So - instead of asking, perhaps, WWJD, as if I were standing in Jesus' shoes trying to decide how to behave in this or that situation.  What if, instead, I were to see YOU as "in Jesus' shoes" - What If You Were Jesus - how would I treat you?  Would I respond to you any differently?  How would I seek to serve you?  How would I desire your good, and not my own?  
 
How would I worship Jesus in the way that I am treating others?
 
Don't give the Devil a Foothold
We also looked at Matthew 5:23-24 - how the Lord instructs us to even STOP, to interrupt our service or worship to the Lord if necessary, if we remember that someone has something against us - so seriously does he take our reconcilliation with one another!  See also Ephesians 4:25-28 - Why are we not to let the sun go down on our anger?  It is like we saw above - that sin puts a wedge in relationship - it is just enough space for the Devil to get a foothold!  And he loves to divide us!  To break our trust in one another!  To add to our shame, and to break and tear asunder what God has put together!  So - we must MAKE HASTE!  BE QUICK!  Go, as soon as the Lord convicts you, GO, and make things right with your sister or your brother or your husband or your children or your pastor or your friend or your boss or your coworker.
 
Confession requires humility, and it requires a measure of discernment - reconciliation does not require the exposing of every gawdy detail of your offense.  But it does require honesty and a spirit of repentance - in your heart, both desiring and committing to never do thus and such again.
 
But think of the freedom!!  If you have already acknowledged your need for forgiveness - and you have made your confession, you have willingly and even with great zeal embraced the humility that the Lord has granted, what more can the enemy do to you at this point!?  You have been on the brink, perhaps, of a word of condemnation, but you have confessed, you have exposed your own shame and relenquished it!  The enemy no longer has a hold on you - he can no longer wield this condemnation over your head!  MAKE HASTE TO MAKE RIGHT!!
 
Progression:  Private --> Personal --> Public
And lastly, we looked at how to practically apply the steps of seeking forgiveness.  The goal of confession is not only our own holiness and freedom, but ultimately the reconciliation of the relationship, if possible and appropriate.
 
But we must be wise and discerning - reconciliation is not always possible or appropriate.
 
First, review the matter with the Lord - PRIVATELY - one on one, confess your sin to God.  ASK him to show you what you must do.  If your sin is against God and against God only, you may not need to go and seek forgiveness from another.  If your sin is against another individual, after you have addressed the matter prayerfully and allowed the Lord to search your heart, go - PERSONALLY - to the one you have offended, and do not merely say you are sorry, do not merely apologize, ASK for forgiveness.  This requires more from the other person than merely hearing you out - and is necessary for reconciliation.  It also requires more from YOU than just an acknowledgement that the other person has been offended.  To ask for forgiveness requires you to submit to the other person's response, to humble yourself before the Lord and before the other person.  Finally, if your sin is an offense against a greater number, again using wisdom and discretion, the situation may require you to make a - PUBLIC - confession, and seek forgiveness from the whole body (by which I mean any plurality of persons, not necessarily the whole church, unless it is a sin which has affected the whole church).
 
Pages 157 thru 164 gave some VERY good and helpful, practical steps and advice as to how to proceed, what to be mindful of in the going, etc.  If you are in doubt, it may be wise to seek biblical counsel. 
 
Quickly Repent
To All Offended Parties
Ask for Forgiveness
Make Restitution
 
Keeping in mind ~ we, none of us!, "deserve" forgiveness.  We are confessing that we have wrong another, and asking of that person, "Would you have mercy on me as GOD has had mercy on me?"
 
Next Lesson:  FORGIVENESS ~ Dealing with Others' Offenses against Us

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