Episode 11 - Poor in Spirit

0:02 Welcome to the Jesus Podcast with Michael Kulianos. Hello, everybody. Welcome back. It's so amazing to be with you again, and it's always just a privilege to come into the Lord's presence together and worship our precious and holy Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. What an honor to come in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and worship him and pray.

0:27 We love him. He's beautiful. And Jesus, we glorify you. We worship you and we adore you. And we pray that you would lead this time and magnify your holy and precious name. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Today we're going to go straight into Matthew 5. I know I usually share a quote or an excerpt from the writing of a great servant of God, a saint in the church, a missionary, a martyr.

0:50 But today I just felt for the sake of time to jump straight into Matthew 5. And I want us to work through the Beatitudes for a bit. I felt that this would be so holy, and I'll tell you why in just a moment. But there is really a beautiful reintroduction to the church regarding just the fundamentals. And I don't mean fundamentalism in a dry way.

1:11 I'm not talking about fundamentalism. I mean the core pillars of the faith. You see the creed being declared again in circles that never declared the creed or even heard the Nicene Creed. You see some beautiful, beautiful returning, a recovering to the faith of our fathers. And certainly every Christian should know the Beatitudes.

1:30 In fact, I would like to invite you to memorize them. You should begin today. Now, I don't know how you memorize the best. For me, it helps me to write. I love writing because it is like a spiritual exercise for me. As I write the word of God very slowly and pray it as I'm writing, that helps me. Maybe for you, it's to recite it, to repeat it, however you experience and progress in the things of the Spirit most effectively, I would say to do that.

1:59 But certainly the beatitudes should be known by every Christian. Very important. I'd also say you should know John chapter 1. You should know Psalm 23. There are swaths of scripture that you should know and memorize. And so maybe when we work through Matthew 5 after that, I should say, you can move on to other chapters like John chapter 1, like Psalm 23.

2:22 And then make these a matter of prayer. I was speaking to a dear friend yesterday who was saying, I want the bottom layer of the power of the scriptures to be my experience in the scripture. And what do I mean by that? There are these layers to experiencing holy scripture that maybe you've never heard of.

2:39 Sometimes we choose to live at a certain level within the scriptures. But I want to invite you into a very spiritual experience in the scriptures. You have this historic layer that you can be familiar with and not even know the Lord. You can have, in some ways, to some degree, a life application layer where you apply principles of the text and not ever surrender your life to Jesus.

3:01 I've heard business guys who who do not even, they're not even professing Christians, but they're like, hey, I built my business by using some of the principles from the book of Proverbs or certain scriptures. I discovered that when I was generous, our business did better. That may well be the case. And I've met people who who testify of that, but I'm not talking about that.

3:20 So you have this historical layer that, you know, you can be an archaeologist, supposed a supposed theologian, which is not ancient patristic theology, but in in modern times, you can study theology and be an atheist, and you can actually be a professor or teach in uh seminaries and not even believe in the Lord.

3:37 That's certainly not what I'm talking about. Um you can apply, as I said, aspects of scriptural principle to your life and see results. I'm not talking about that either. Then there's another layer where you can live, you can be a believer, you can love the Lord, you can apply the principles of the text to your life and live a Christian life that bears fruit.

4:00 But then there's this other layer that I want to get to, that I submit to you, is the way scripture was meant to be experienced by the church. And you see this in the Church Fathers, you see it in Irenaeus, you see this in certainly Athanasius, you see this in Origen's writings, who introduces this beautiful allegorical aspect that you're not reading history alone.

4:22 What you're reading is meant to draw you into a revelation experience in Christ. St. Melito's work uh is incredible. Melito of Sardis, you you you read his writings and you're like, wow, you're not reading scripture the way much of the church reads it. And so the fathers read scripture in a very experiential way, in a very Christocentric way.

4:43 And really, what humbly submit to you is that's the way the Lord intended Scripture to be experienced. Um, in fact, when we use the word scripture, I don't want to say too much right now, but you should ask yourself, what does that even mean? What does it mean to say this is scripture? What properties, what qualifications need to be fulfilled as I'm engaging the text for it to be scripture to me, for it to truly be what it's meant to be to me?

5:08 And what is the hinge there? What's the difference between someone who lives in the presence of the Lord who manifests the very tangible holy light, the uncreated light of the Holy Spirit, who lives a life of miracles and obedience and fruit and holiness. How are they reading the scripture compared to somebody else where I'm not experiencing the presence of Jesus to that degree?

5:31 Who seems to have some mixture? You know, there are plenty of people, and I don't want to sound hypocritical at all because I'm on YouTube, but there's plenty of people on YouTube who use the scripture for a different reason. Even in the apologetics sphere, there's this, and and there's space for this.

5:46 I want to be very clear. It's very important because we see this in the fathers of the church, where they're defending the faith. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about using the scripture to be right and to win an argument against someone that you're called to love as well. Um, I'm not speaking about core foundational creedal issues, but we've all seen people engage the scriptures and use them in ways that don't emanate the blessed presence of the Lord.

6:08 And this is happening everywhere right now. So when we begin to talk about engaging the Beatitudes, while these are the very pillars and the constitution and the magna carta of the Christian faith, which it should only make us want to meditate on them all the more, there's a deeper, deeper layer in engaging the text that the church has been experiencing for almost 2,000 years.

6:34 And that is that I want to begin praying, praying from a heart level, deep in my bone marrow, in the depths of who I am, in the wellspring of my existence, I want to engage the text that way until I begin praying the scriptures, until they be it become a means of worship for me. This is really the point of the Psalms, right?

6:55 The Psalter is the holy scriptures to song. Why? Why has the church been singing the Psalms? Because in that action where I'm not just reading, but I'm marrying prayerful worship to meditating on the text, all of a sudden the power of the Word of God begins to infiltrate my being, begins to fill me and touch me and change me and transform me and bring glory to the Lord.

7:19 So this is very, very wonderful. So my friend said, I want to experience the Lord at the deepest level when I read the scriptures. And just one little nugget I hope you'll come away with would be engage them prayerfully, slowly, and realize what you're reading. According to Jesus, he said, My words are spirit and they are life.

7:39 Jesus said, It's from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks, speaking of discovering and discerning fruit in people. But that's also true of him. He's giving us a key there. I can know his heart by engaging what he speaks. So now as we read Matthew 5, let's read the scriptures in the Spirit.

7:56 Let's invite the blessed presence of the Spirit to reveal Jesus to us. And we do ask you, wonderful Holy Spirit, to reveal the holy Son of God's heart to us, who is the revelation of the Father via the Holy Scriptures, your holy gospel. And we ask you, Lord, we want to thank you for giving us the privilege of gazing into the very thoughts and heart of the Son of God.

8:20 This is a privilege, and we're walking on holy ground, where angels trod, and we are so thankful, so filled with wonder that you would allow us to do this. Before even you said, Lord, nobody comes to you unless the Father wills it. And you also said that nobody comes to the Father without going through you, but by you.

8:39 And we thank you, we thank you that we've been invited via the action and will of God to gaze into your blessed heart. Verse 1, and seeing the multitudes, this is Matthew 5, he went up on a mountain. This speaks to Jesus being the higher lawgiver than Moses. So this is kingly talk and it is teaching talk.

8:57 This mountain language is to point us back to Sinai, but we realize that there is a greater lawgiver here than Moses. And when he was seated, so that's that is kingly speech. This is royalty speech. His disciples came to him. And so for me to understand and experience, I should say, the Beatitudes, I have to come to where Jesus is, on his terms, and assume the proper posture, which is to sit at his feet where he is seated.

9:27 Then he opened his mouth and taught them. Notice he teaches by opening his mouth, and his breath is released. The person of the Holy Spirit releases his blessed breath that makes his words audible to us. So he opens his mouth. And remember, any time I engage his speech this way, I engage his face, for he speaks from his face.

9:50 He speaks from the mouth, and the mouth, because he is true, I should say he is true, the reveals his heart, for it's from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. He taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now that word blessed, makarios, it means blissful, favor, presence-filled experience.

10:10 So I am literally stepping into now the blessed, blissful presence of the Holy Spirit. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's what I want to talk to you about today. There is a promise to those who are poor in spirit. Now, one of my favorite, and I'm sure if you've followed Jesus' image for any time at all, you've realized that Mary of Bethany and Bethany itself, the way the Lord is honored and loved and worshipped and tended to there is a glorious, glorious example.

10:45 And, you know, some people have an issue with that. They think that Bethany and a missional life are divided. It's a very myopic view of anything. Bethany is the place of powerful theology that is preached, where Jesus speaks of the resurrection when he engages Lazarus, his sister. He raises the dead at Bethany, raises Lazarus.

11:04 So Bethany is the place of resurrection power, not bad. Jesus reclines at Bethany. So we see that Jesus' feelings are tended to, and therefore his abiding presence is a reality at Bethany. So much happens from Bethany. In fact, the Lord ascends from Bethany. If you read the gospel account properly, he ascends from Bethany.

11:24 Bethany is on, I believe, the east side of the Mount of Olives, if my memory serves me right. It's on the east side of the Mount of Olives. So Bethany is this place of ascension. Bethany is this place of powerful theology. Bethany is the place where Jesus declares who he is. That's a pretty powerful environment of truth because he says, I am the resurrection and the life, which would require an entirely different episode to even delve into.

11:49 And I think I'll probably do that. So he declares who he is. I mean, what comfort to declare who he is at that level. I am the resurrection and the life. He shows his feelings at Bethany. He weeps at Lazarus' tomb. He prays at Bethany in front of people. So people are introduced to the Lord's personal prayer life at Bethany.

12:10 What a privilege that is. I tell our church all the time, when we read Psalm 22, when we read Psalm 69, when we read Psalm 88, any of these passion psalms, any of the psalms where the Lord is speaking to the Father, and where the Father is speaking to the Son, like we're in Psalm 2, where the nations are given as an inheritance.

12:30 You know, we claim that all the time, but that's not primarily, that's not being spoken to us. Well, now we can be a part of the Lord's inheritance in the nations, but ultimately that's the Father telling the Son that because of your victory and your obedience, I'm going to give you the nations, the people as your inheritance.

12:45 You're going to get a bride. So anytime we read these scriptures, or even let us make man in our image, we are being privy, we are privy to conversation, the conversation of the Trinity. This is, I'm not sure we will ever engage the text the same if we understand these things. It's so holy, right? And so Jesus prays at Lazarus' tomb, speaks to the Father.

13:09 And he says, Father, I don't ask this because I know you don't, I know you hear me. I'm asking this for their sake. Gosh, it's amazing. So Bethany is charged with resurrection power, glorious theology, his abiding presence, the ascension, the introduction of who he is. I'm the resurrection and the life.

13:27 Him receiving ministry, him teaching us about one thing being needed. And then the Great Commission, he declares it from Bethany when you read Luke's gospel from the Mount of Olives and tells them what to do and tells them to go preach this gospel of forgiveness and repentance to the nation. And he tells them of the spirit who is to come.

13:46 So this is like incredible. This is absolutely incredible. And I say all that, you say, what does it have to do with Matthew 5, 3? Let's read that again. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Did you know that the word Bethany means it's Vithania in the Greek? It means place of poverty.

14:06 In other words, it's where the hungry live. It's where the one thing is needed people live. It's where the people live who are okay sitting at his feet and hearing his word and pouring their most costly substance upon him. And the word means a place of poverty. Is it speaking to mere social or economic poverty?

14:28 No, of course not. You can be without financial resource and hate the Lord. That's not, that's not the type of poverty that drew Jesus to Bethany. We should help the poor, by the way. We should do so much for the poor. But that's not what this is about. There's this internal poverty, this deep poverty that Matthew 5 3 speaks of.

14:48 And I would love for all of us to see. This is where Jesus begins the Beatitudes. Poverty of spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. What would be a more modern translation or definition of poor in spirit? Those who realize their utter need for God. Those who have encountered their own sin. Please hear me.

15:09 Those who see their own sin as being greater and more preeminent than those around them. This has become such a problem in the church. And it's not, I shouldn't say be it's it's a problem. I think it's gaining volume because of social media and because of a lack of the gospel, a lack of ascetic practice, a lack of understanding of what this whole thing is about.

15:32 It's not about impact, it's about conformity into the image of Jesus. And when being conformed into the image of Jesus is paramount in my life, when he becomes my obsession, while there are aspects of the Christian life that require confrontation and speaking and leadership and correction. And of course, there are these relational components where I have to bring something to somebody's attention.

15:53 But the point of the Christian life is to be like Jesus. And that takes a great amount of intentionality. I have to bring my sin to the Lord and say, Lord, there are these areas of my life that are requiring your forgiveness and your healing. Please, Lord, take them, cleanse me, heal me. And so this is where the beatitudes begin.

16:14 This kind of poverty of spirit. So I see my sin more than I see your sin. I talk about my sin more than I talk about your sin. I confess my sin to others. I don't confess your sin to others. I was talking to a priest the other day. It was so funny. He was telling me about a lady who said he would destroy the church, but he laughed in the confessional.

16:36 He said, ma'am, or not laughed. He told her in the confessional, it sounds like you came into confession to confess my sin and not your own. That's not the point of confession. I thought that was so funny. But here we read the words of the Lord. Blessed makarios, blissful, presence-filled, connected to the name of God, because 1 Timothy 1.11 calls the Lord our blessed God, our blessed God, which speaks of his person and presence.

16:59 This blessedness that is the presence of the Lord, this belongs to those who declare and admit their internal and personal and individual poverty without God. And what is the promise that's fulfilled? The kingdom of heaven. And isn't that exactly what you see at Bethany, where the village is named house of poverty?

17:22 And because the village is named house of poverty, everything I mentioned just a few minutes ago dwells there. The Lord is drawn there, he reclines there. Notice, he doesn't recline in Jerusalem. He teaches, he works wonders, he preaches his gospel, but they wanted him out of there. He walks through Galilee, they want him out of there.

17:40 They don't repent, and he he declares these curses over the region of Capernaum. So he ministered there, he got the job done there. That can speak to a lot of Christian contexts today. God can be moving, God can be moving in this church, the harvest can be taking place, people be getting saved, people are being healed, great numbers in discipleship tracts.

17:58 But is the is Jesus abiding there? Does Jesus come to that place when he wants to be ministered to? That's the reputation we want to have. We should all want to have. So you have his abiding glory there. You have beautiful discipleship taking place as they sit at his feet like Mary and hear his word.

18:16 And he says this wherever the gospel is preached, you better talk about her. Because if you have a view of the gospel that is void of this right here, then you've become an employee and not a lover. And I don't want preachers who are not in love. I want preachers to preach with burning hearts. You have resurrection life, as I said earlier.

18:36 You have miracles. Lazarus gets out of the tomb. You have Jesus being free to display his emotions there, his heart there. So he weeps at the tomb. He prays in front of the people there. He preaches glorious theology of the coming resurrection. He declares who he is as resurrection and life. All that going on there.

18:52 Why? Because that's the kingdom of heaven manifesting. And where does the kingdom of heaven manifest? Where people are poor in spirit. I want to just say something to you now. I'm sure you're facing something today that's causing you to believe that the Lord wants nothing to do with you. Jesus grieves over our sin.

19:11 I want to be real clear. He he does not enjoy our sin, but at the same time, he is not afraid of it. Remember when he healed the leper, he lays hands on the leper, and the leper says, If you're willing, I know you can make me clean. Remember what leprosy symbolizes in the Old Testament? Sin. And the Bible says that Jesus reaches out and touches the leper and then prays and says, Be cleansed.

19:33 So he touched him first and then spoke. Why? Because his loving heart couldn't keep his hands off the leper. Can't you just see him reaching out and then speaking? And so today, I don't know what you've believed about the Lord, about our precious Lord Jesus, healer of souls and bodies, great physician of souls and bodies.

19:53 You look past me and you see that crucifix hanging behind me. What is that crucifix declaring? For God so loved the world, in this manner, God loved the world, that he offered and gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him would not die but have everlasting life. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you.

20:10 Jesus wants you. We don't come to Jesus because we are perfect. We come to Jesus so that he might perfect us through his sanctifying work throughout the ages. So come today, come to the Lord. Bring him your stain, bring him your brokenness, bring him your filth, lay it down at the foot of the cross. Be poor in spirit.

20:28 Realize your need for him and let his blessed, blessed kingdom and presence, that blessedness flow through you and cleanse you and heal you. Let me pray for you. Father, in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come and we ask you, Lord, to heal us all. Help us all be poor in spirit. So that we would receive your kingdom now, and as the fathers wrote, unto the ages of ages, may we receive your kingdom, Lord, in this moment and forever, because we come and lay our sin down at your feet and realize our need for you, and we declare our need for you.

21:02 Jesus, help us and be glorified, and wash us with your holy blood, and may the holy work of your life-giving cross permeate our lives. And ready us, Lord, for the day we will look at you and face you, should you tarry. In Jesus' precious name. Amen. I love you so much. Please like the video, subscribe, stay in touch with us.

21:21 It'd be a joy and honor to hear from you. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for listening to the Jesus Podcast with Michael Kulianos. If you enjoyed this episode, you can find online courses, books, and more at michaelculianos.org. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Jesus Image Church.

21:46 For more information on Jesus School, local and nationwide events hosted by Jesus Image and resources, visit Jesusimage.tv