During these first nine lessons I would like to talk about why we are here on this planet called Earth. I do not believe we are here by chance or by some cosmic accident. It is obvious there is a purpose for our existence and that is what Lessons 1-9 are about.

• Luke 4:43 (1)
• Matthew 5:3 (2)
• Romans 3:9-18 (3)

Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. After last week’s look into the invisible kingdom, I hope you are beginning to have a great interest in becoming favored by God. Especially since today’s lesson is all about how to become favored. I love it when a plan comes together.

We humans have come up with at least a thousand different ways we think as the way to please God, but really there is only one opinion that matters on this, and no its not mine. Since God is the one who determines who is favored, then it doesn’t matter what any of us think. It’s His choice not ours, so we need to know what He says about how you get the kingdom.

When Jesus first started going from city to city doing miracles and teaching, He said the reason He was sent here by His Father was to tell everyone about the good news of the kingdom.(1) If that’s why Jesus said He was sent here, then you would expect at some point in time He would have explained exactly how to become favored by His Father.

And sure enough, one day Jesus sat down on a hill and explained how someone can become favored and inherit the kingdom. Here is what He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (2)

And there you see how to become favored, and to think it only took Jesus thirteen words to explain this. But make sure you understand what He said ─ if someone becomes poor in spirit, they are the ones who get the kingdom. And this would also mean they have become favored by His Father. So here it is, God declares someone favored when they become, poor in spirit. Can it get any simpler than that? But this stirs up an important question for us – What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

Well, I can tell you this, it is not about being financially broke. This poverty that Jesus refers to, concerns the condition of your spirit. Another way you can think of this is your spirit does not possess enough righteousness to become favored by God. That is the poverty Jesus is talking about.

Human life has to do with our spirit so, poor in spirit means your life is completely destitute of what God created it to be; therefore, you possess nothing that would allow you to become favored by Him except the ability to recognize how broken you are.

From what Jesus said here we can take the whole world and divide it into two groups of people. One group God favors and the other group He does not. Both groups of people are considered broken, horrible sinners by God, but the difference between them is one group recognizes how destitute they are and is humbled by their condition, while the other group does not see themselves this way and therefore, they are not humbled by their spiritual poverty.

What we learn from this is the way to become favored by God is all about having the right perception of yourself, and that must be according to how God sees us; not how we see ourselves.

I guess then we better look at who God says we really are. The best way to understand this is to put yourself personally into God’s description of all humans. Let me show you what this looks like by inserting the personal pronoun “I” into His description of everyone as written in the Bible. (3)

“I am not righteous at all

I am not truly wise and I do not seek after God as I should

I have turned away from God and have become useless to Him

I never do what God considers good, it just isn’t in me

I condemn people with words and I get bitter so easily about things

I even commit murder with my angry attitude towards people

I am destructive and misery follows me. It is far too easy for me to get down about my life and others

I do not possess true peace and contentment

And I don’t fear and respect God as I should”

This assessment of who we are is the poor in spirit attitude that God is looking for. And all this is, is an honest evaluation of yourself from God’s perspective.

But with all this ugly, there is actually some very good news about this. God’s assessment means it is not the rich, the mighty, the smart, the beautiful, the righteous, the religious, or the best people that He favors. God favors those who understand how awful and helpless they are ─ to become favored by Him. And that is really good news because it means everyone has the same potential to inherit the kingdom, because we are all bankrupt when it comes to what we need, to become favored.

Jesus doesn’t tell us we need to get better to inherit His kingdom. Instead, He wants us to see ourselves truthfully the way His Father sees us.

This means that God’s kingdom will only be populated with those who understand, and own up to, their awful condition.

Is anybody wondering why God would like to fill His kingdom with only poor in spirit people? The best answer to this is ─ it’s His kingdom, so He can do whatever He wants. If He would like to have a kingdom full of horrible sinners, then who are we to argue with Him about that?

Personally, am very glad this is who He wants to favor because I easily qualify as a horrible sinner. If God only wanted righteous people in His kingdom, then I would never have a chance to get in ─ and neither would you or anyone else for that matter. In fact, according to God, there would be no kingdom because just as He said, there isn’t anyone righteous enough to qualify for His kingdom. So, the only chance we have is to recognize how God sees us.

Well, that’s it for today and once again, there’s just one thing ─ See yourself the way God sees you, and remember, He favors those who are poor in spirit.

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