Knowing That We Need Jesus
Matthew 5:1-3
St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
September 7, 2025
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes
Read by Charlie Schmunk
Our scripture today is Matthew 5:1-3
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”
Jesus tells us, “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Right now, this moment. Not just in heaven, but on earth as well.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” They and they alone qualify. So, what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?
Greek is a fascinating language. Its vocabulary is considered the richest in the world, with more than five million words. (By contrast, the twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains entries for 171,476 words).
For example, Greek has two very different words that are translated into English as “poor.” One word describes a person who has nothing to spare. This is the family living hand to mouth, surviving paycheck to paycheck. But this is not the word in our text.
Our text employs a different Greek word that describes a person who has nothing at all. This is the family that is starving to death, who has no idea where their next meal is coming from.
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are starving to death spiritually.” The Message puts it: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.” The New English Bible says, “Blessed are those who know their need of God.”
This is the exact opposite of how Jesus’ culture and ours measure success. Jews believed that material prosperity was a direct sign of divine blessing. Romans believed the same. Both wanted as many financial means as they could possess, seeking to be as wealthy and healthy as possible.
None would say that a person who was starving spiritually was blessed. But that’s exactly Jesus’ claim.
Why must we be dependent to be blessed? “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This concept is referenced more than thirty times in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus gave us his most succinct definition when he taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). God’s kingdom comes when his will is done. His kingdom comes when he is King.
Why must we be “poor in spirit” to do the will of God and make him our King?
Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that the “will to power” is the basic drive in human nature. In his view, everything we do is motivated by a quest for more power over the world, others, and ourselves.
Nietzsche was right. The essential temptation in human experience is the first temptation in human experience: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Each of us wants to be our own God. We want to be king of our kingdom, ruler of our world.
It is only when we recognize how broken we are and how desperately we need God that we turn from ourselves to him. Only when we are spiritually starved will we get off the throne of our hearts and elevate him to the throne. Only when we are desperate will we become dependent.
And when we are dependent, we position ourselves to receive all that our Father wants for his children. When we are dependent, we will follow his leading into his “good and acceptable and perfect” will (Romans 12:2). When we are dependent, we will yield to his Spirit’s power and direction (Ephesians 5:18).
When we are dependent, we are blessed.
This verse is foundational to all that follows. If we do not admit our need for God, we will not obey the words that his Son gave us. We will not heed his principles and live out his truths. And we cannot be “blessed.”
So, let’s summarize the first beatitude with three steps to true success.
First: Measure success by spirituality. Unlike Jesus’ culture and ours, our Lord knows that material success is fleeting but spiritual success is eternal. He knows that our souls outlive our bodies; that eternity is longer than today; that heaven is more important than earth. He calls us to measure success by his definitions, not ours.
Second: Measure spirituality by dependence on God. The more we are “poor in spirit,” the more we admit our desperation for God’s wisdom, direction, healing, forgiveness, and grace, the more we will have what we need.
Third: Measure dependence by obedience. When we are truly “poor in spirit,” we will do the will of God at any cost. Then we will advance the kingdom of God and make Christ our King.
Conclusion
Of all the beatitudes, this one is not only the most foundational—it is also the most surprising and countercultural, then and today.
So, I’m asking: Are you “poor in spirit”? Do you know how much you need Jesus? Or are you separating Sunday from Monday, the spiritual from the secular, religion from the “real world”? Are you confining the Lord of the universe to part of your life, or are you seeking his will and word for every dimension of your life?
We can get there in one of two ways: through our problems, or through our potential.
We can let our challenges drive us to God, getting so far down we have nowhere to go but up. Or we can envision what our lives could be like if we were truly dependent on our King. His eternal knowledge would lead us and his unlimited power would empower us.
Think of the difference we could make in our culture if the God of the universe were in complete control of us. Think of the souls that would be saved, the lives that would be changed, the ways God would be glorified if we were “poor in spirit.”
C. S. Lewis reflected: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and physical pleasure and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Are you?