We Can't Be Filled Till We Are Emptied

By Jim Hammond

Nobody likes to be around someone who is religiously arrogant.  The arrogant spiritual leader speaks as if he has all the answers and we have yet to arrive on the lowest rung of acceptability before God.  He blasts at all the evils of the world, including us, and generally makes everyone feel like a worm.  If you have been in the presence of such a Christian leader you might be tempted to turn away from considering the validity of Christianity.  How could something so cutting, bitter, and ugly be true?

Before you judge Christianity by such a religious misrepresentation, consider again the words of Jesus Christ the founder of Christianity.  Jesus began his public ministry with a Kingdom Manifesto, often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.  Like Moses, who from a mountain gave the Laws of the Old Covenant, Jesus “on a mountainside” (Matthew 5:1) gave the laws of the New Covenant relationship with God (Matthew 5-7).  What I want to do here is consider only his starting point—“Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). These are foundational words. 

Jesus didn’t start by addressing behavior, but attitude.  In fact his opening remarks are often called the “Beattitudes” (Matthew 5:3-10).  As a starting point, Jesus lists off who is blessed by God.  His list was startling to the religious establishment.  It was very comforting to the masses.  Jesus showed how true spirituality starts on the inside and works its way out to make a difference on the outside as well.  True spirituality changes our thinking and motives and likes, which in turn affects our behavior on the outside. 

Notice that Jesus did not say the kingdom of heaven will be theirs (future tense).  He said the kingdom of heaven IS theirs (present tense).  It belongs to those who recognize that they are poor in spirit and need God’s help.  As we look to God for what we do not have, he willingly reigns.  Where God reigns IS his kingdom!  Jesus came to set up his reign.  He came to give the help we desperately need.

This is the paradoxical premise of the entire Sermon on the Mount:  The only people who can truly experience the "blessedness" Jesus offers are those who know they cannot achieve it on their own.  If you ever see a turtle on a fence post, there is one thing you know for certain.  He didn’t get there on his own.  If you ever meet a person that DOES truly live out the values of Christ’s kingdom, you know he didn’t get there on his own either.

How could being "poor in spirit” be the source of happiness? Why does Christ begin with this?  What does "poor in spirit" mean? Jesus’ choice of words was no accident.  The word he chose for “poor” was not the word for the working poor who scraped by and made enough to survive.  The word he chose was for the beggarly poor who could not make it without outside assistance. Poverty of spirit is the foundation of all other spiritual graces.  All other gifts of God come only to the degree that we recognize that we are poor in spirit.  We do not receive the gifts of God based on merit.  We receive the gifts of God based on faith.  This faith is a humble reliance upon God's goodness rather than our own. We cannot become a Christian unless we are poor in spirit. Jesus is saying this is the starting point. 

The fact is Jesus knew that we, on our own, were incapable of scaling the mountains of morality that he depicts for us in the Sermon on the Mount.  The following truth is taught throughout the New Testament—holiness is not achieved; it is received.  Only those who recognize that they don’t have the personal resources to attain the kingdom get in the kingdom.  Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)  The world says happy are the rich and famous and self sufficient and proud.  Jesus says just the opposite.  We will never be blessed until we see our poverty of spirit. We will never lean upon God until we see that we need Him.  We will never seek the physician until we believe we are sick.  Blessed are the sick who know it. Woe to the one who is sick and does not know it.

Jesus came to fill those who admit their own resources are inadequate.  Jesus was telling us that we cannot be filled till we are emptied.  Let’s dump out our cups and ask to be filled.