The Blessed Person (1) – Matthew 5:1-12

The sermon opens by observing that everyone desires to be blessed. The pastor uses the Chinese custom of hanging the character for 'blessing' upside down to illustrate humanity's age-old longing for good fortune. According to worldly thinking, a blessed person is one who has wealth, health, accomplished children, and long life — in short, someone materially well-off compared to those around them.

However, the pastor points out that God's blessing is entirely different from worldly blessing. The eight beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12) are conditional promises, not unconditional ones. The Greek word makarios refers to an inner blessedness independent of external circumstances. The illustration of Horatio Spafford — who lost his only son, his property in the Great Chicago Fire, and then four daughters in a shipwreck — demonstrates that heavenly blessing remains even when every earthly blessing is gone.

The pastor emphasizes that the eight conditions in the Sermon on the Mount do not describe eight different types of people, but eight conditions a single person can meet to receive all eight blessings. While salvation is unconditional, receiving ongoing blessing from God requires meeting conditions. Those who hear but do not obey are like those who build on sand.

The heart of the sermon focuses on the first beatitude: being poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). The pastor distinguishes between two Greek words for poverty: penes (working hard just to survive) and ptochos (absolute destitution, having nothing at all). The word used in Matthew 5:3 is ptochos — utterly destitute. Poverty of spirit means clearly recognizing that one has absolutely nothing to offer God, nothing to boast of in terms of morality, character, or righteousness.

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) is used to illustrate this point: the tax collector who stood at a distance, could not lift his eyes to heaven, and beat his chest crying for mercy — that is the picture of poverty of spirit. Paul's words in 1 Timothy 1:15-16, where he calls himself the chief of sinners, further confirm that even the most mature believer remains deeply aware of personal sin. Mature believers do not compare themselves with others but clearly see their own spiritual poverty — and these are the ones who will inherit the kingdom of heaven.