Blessed are the poor (in spirit)

[markdohle]

6 hours ago, thilipsis said:

It puzzled me early on that God preferred the poor over the rich, the weak over the strong, the sinner over the religious perfectionist. I still catch myself wondering why Paul when the villains of the Gospels were the Pharisees and then one of them becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles. I sometimes think of the rich man and Lazarus or the rich young ruler who thought he was keeping the Law but was still covetous. It's all over the Old Testament:

The Lord stands up to plead
    and stands to judge the people.
The Lord will enter into judgment
    with the elders and the princes of His people:
For you have eaten up the vineyard;
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean that you beat My people to pieces
    and grind the faces of the poor?
    says the Lord God of Hosts. (Isaiah 3:13-15)   

God judges us for how we treat others and while we cannot fulfill the Law by our own merits, the tenth commandment, 'Thou shalt not covet' still has an important lesson for us:

 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. (Col. 3:5)

People don't erect idols of gold and silver and worship them as gods anymore but this description of idolatry has sexual immorality and other things but then at the end it includes greed. I makes me wonder what staring at these idols did for and to those who worshiped them. There is nothing wrong with gold, God paves the streets of the new Jerusalem with the stuff. I just think we have to be careful what we set our hearts on. Looking at a women with lust is really worse then adultery? Well, at least the same thing. 

The church at Laodicea was an important church in Asian Minor, actually founded and supported the church at Colossi. They had amazing wealth but somehow that made them forget they were poor, pitiful, blind and naked. I sometimes wonder which is worse, losing it all or having it all.  

I believe that when we make ourselves the 'center' and forget our relationship with God we worship ourselves and then try to take life from all around us for our benefit....greed is a good word.  We suck the world dry, as we are now in how we abuse the environment and in many cases animals.  Not to mention the awful crisis that is being opened up for all of us to see about human sexual trafficking and child abuse that seems to exist at all levels of society and in our churches.  I am happy my Church is being sued, our leaders forgot what they are supposed to do and let their people down and caused great harm.

In lust we want to make a child of God into an object for enjoyment and to then discard, perhaps an act of blasphemy.   When I feel lust for a women that I see, I thank God for her beauty and to please allow me to see her as a person made in God's image and likeness......this helps, brings me back to reality. 

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

Peace
mark
 

[markdohle]

5 hours ago, FresnoJoe said:

 

 

The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the Christian’s charter. Here too, Heaven is opened and the gates of Hell disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully.  It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.

It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

From The Inside Of My Gideon New Testament

Beautiful, thank you FJ.

Peace
Mark

[Revelation Man]

14 hours ago, markdohle said:

 

 

Blessed are the poor (in spirit)

For example, suppose someone comes into
 your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and
expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and
dressed in dirty clothes. If you show special attention to
the man wearing fine clothes and say,
"Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there"
or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  --James 2:3-4

It is easy to forget that we find Christ Jesus where we often fail to look, or perhaps even desire not to see at all.  We often speak of the love of God, yet just what is that all about? One way of looking at it is to meditate on how Jesus treated others.  The deeper the look, the more incomprehensible it can become.  My natural response to others is based on a foundation other than the love that Jesus tried to show us in the Gospel.  He gravitated towards people who are overlooked, such behavior being considered as normal and even prudent.  He ate with those who were a scandal to persons outside the circle of sinners.  He saw something that I still do not see, for my tendency is to ignore certain types of people and to even unconsciously have contempt for them.  The Holy Spirit is slowly making me aware of this ‘sin’ in me and slowly healing me of this normal though harmful way of dealing with others.  When Christ Jesus said we are to love what we may consider unlovable is central to his message.  I believe it is a hard lesson to learn, at least this is for me.  One way the Holy Spirit wounds is to bring before our inner vision our very human limitations in our ability to love…..it is then that we learn what grace truly means and what we would be without it.

Pope Francis--If we take the poor away from the Gospel,
we won't be able to understand the whole
message of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many seem to think God is speaking about the "poor" and don't get it. You seem to grasp the concept. Yet my understanding of this is Jesus is saying blessed are those who can never get enough of my Holy Spirit, that are always seeking an infilling of my Spirit daily in their walk, a renewing so to speak. For theirs is the Kingdom of God.

We can see a glimpse of this in the parable of the 10 Virgins. Five had enough oil to make the trip, and five did not have enough oil to make the trip, and the doors were shut upon them. Thus they did not make the Kingdom of God.

My take is it means you can't get enough of God's Holy Spirit, you are "perpetually poor" in spirit, you keep seeking a refilling, the prophets had this yearning before the Holy Spirit was given as a blessing, thus they departed from mankind, went of to a place of seclusion (desert) and thus they could seek to grow in their relationship towards God, hear God, by putting off the flesh.

 

[markdohle]

4 minutes ago, Revelation Man said:

Many seem to think God is speaking about the "poor" and don't get it. You seem to grasp the concept. Yet my understanding of this is Jesus is saying blessed are those who can never get enough of my Holy Spirit, that are always seeking an infilling of my Spirit daily in their walk, a renewing so to speak. For theirs is the Kingdom of God.

We can see a glimpse of this in the parable of the 10 Virgins. Five had enough oil to make the trip, and five did not have enough oil to make the trip, and the doors were shut upon them. Thus they did not make the Kingdom of God.

My take is it means you can't get enough of God's Holy Spirit, you are "perpetually poor" in spirit, you keep seeking a refilling, the prophets had this yearning before the Holy Spirit was given as a blessing, thus they departed from mankind, went of to a place of seclusion (desert) and thus they could seek to grow in their relationship towards God, hear God, by putting off the flesh.

 

I do believe that the more we love God the deeper is our thirst, though with God the thirst leads to deeper life for our hearts expand to be able to receive more. 

Thank you.....good observation. 

Peace
Mark

[thilipsis]

7 hours ago, markdohle said:

Yes riches can give a false sense of being in control and isolates us from the suffering of others.  I do love the epistle of James, he has some rough edges LOL, but his point across.

Peace
mark

James is, arguably, not the best writer in the New Testament. I think he is struggling with the conduct of Jewish Christians so very early in the formation of the church. A couple of points worth mentioning. James was the surviving brother of Jesus so he was a son of David as well, in the mind of these Hebrews he would have been seen as royalty. When writing to these guys, who we dare not judge too harshly, he describes the Royal Law:

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (James 2:8) 

If I were the king and I died the next logical person to take the throne would be either my oldest son or my next oldest brother. Well, I think they kind of looked at James that way, of course they knew Jesus was still the rightful heir to the throne but still saw James as being from the Messianic line. He presided over the Jerusalem Council, it was James that proposed that Paul write the letter we now know as Galatians. James was one of the first leaders of the Church Paul met with three years after conversion:

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. (Gal. 1:18)

Ok, he was not a great writer but like Jude he wrote a timely admonition at a time when the Church was struggling with some things. I still think if we were going to have to determine the best writer in the New Testament it would be a toss up between Paul and John. Paul went on and on and John had a tendency to talk in generalities, emphasizing personal dialogue. For some pretty straight forward, bare bones, get right to the point admonition James is hard to beat. 

Grace and peace,
Mark 

[markdohle]

47 minutes ago, thilipsis said:

James is, arguably, not the best writer in the New Testament. I think he is struggling with the conduct of Jewish Christians so very early in the formation of the church. A couple of points worth mentioning. James was the surviving brother of Jesus so he was a son of David as well, in the mind of these Hebrews he would have been seen as royalty. When writing to these guys, who we dare not judge too harshly, he describes the Royal Law:

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (James 2:8) 

If I were the king and I died the next logical person to take the throne would be either my oldest son or my next oldest brother. Well, I think they kind of looked at James that way, of course they knew Jesus was still the rightful heir to the throne but still saw James as being from the Messianic line. He presided over the Jerusalem Council, it was James that proposed that Paul write the letter we now know as Galatians. James was one of the first leaders of the Church Paul met with three years after conversion:

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. (Gal. 1:18)

Ok, he was not a great writer but like Jude he wrote a timely admonition at a time when the Church was struggling with some things. I still think if we were going to have to determine the best writer in the New Testament it would be a toss up between Paul and John. Paul went on and on and John had a tendency to talk in generalities, emphasizing personal dialogue. For some pretty straight forward, bare bones, get right to the point admonition James is hard to beat. 

Grace and peace,
Mark 

Yes James sounds like a Baptist preacher, he gets right to the point.  I love St. Paul, but his letters to the Corinthians I have a hard time reading straight through; it is such a letter.  Yes John is a great writer and I believe a mystic as well.  His 1st letter is a masterpiece.  When I feel dry and can't seem to focus, reading his letter gets me on track.

Thanks for the mini-course.  When people are having trouble with their church community or parish I have them read Acts and James to see that there is always struggle within the body of Christ......from the very beginning.

Grace and peace to you as well my friend.

Mark

[jeffnevins]

Thanks for clarifying what poor in spirit means (understanding you're a sinner).  That's pretty helpful.

Edited November 21, 2016 by jeffnevins

[markdohle]

10 hours ago, jeffnevins said:

Thanks for clarifying what poor in spirit means (understanding you're a sinner).  That's pretty helpful.

Humility is needed, I do believe that life supplies that aplenty, the Lord uses all things to prune us so that we continue to bear good fruit.

peace
mark

[ravindran]

On 11/18/2016 at 6:56 PM, markdohle said:

 

 

Blessed are the poor (in spirit)

For example, suppose someone comes into
 your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and
expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and
dressed in dirty clothes. If you show special attention to
the man wearing fine clothes and say,
"Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there"
or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  --James 2:3-4

It is easy to forget that we find Christ Jesus where we often fail to look, or perhaps even desire not to see at all.  We often speak of the love of God, yet just what is that all about? One way of looking at it is to meditate on how Jesus treated others.  The deeper the look, the more incomprehensible it can become.  My natural response to others is based on a foundation other than the love that Jesus tried to show us in the Gospel.  He gravitated towards people who are overlooked, such behavior being considered as normal and even prudent.  He ate with those who were a scandal to persons outside the circle of sinners.  He saw something that I still do not see, for my tendency is to ignore certain types of people and to even unconsciously have contempt for them.  The Holy Spirit is slowly making me aware of this ‘sin’ in me and slowly healing me of this normal though harmful way of dealing with others.  When Christ Jesus said we are to love what we may consider unlovable is central to his message.  I believe it is a hard lesson to learn, at least this is for me.  One way the Holy Spirit wounds is to bring before our inner vision our very human limitations in our ability to love…..it is then that we learn what grace truly means and what we would be without it.

Pope Francis--If we take the poor away from the Gospel,
we won't be able to understand the whole
message of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't disagree about helping poor at all. But Jesus was talking about being poor in spirit. It is understanding our spiritual emptiness. It is not becoming spiritually poor, but understanding we are already! When a person understands that, it is a blessing. It is as simple as that.

[markdohle]

1 hour ago, ravindran said:

I don't disagree about helping poor at all. But Jesus was talking about being poor in spirit. It is understanding our spiritual emptiness. It is not becoming spiritually poor, but understanding we are already! When a person understands that, it is a blessing. It is as simple as that.

To understand ones own inner poverty will have a deep affect in how we relate to others.  To know ones own need for grace and to honestly own up to how failures occur leads to compassion for the weaknesses of others and yes sins.  The poor in Spirit or just the poor seem to hold a special place in the Mind and Heart of Jesus.  In the Last Judgement scene it bears this out....the importance of seeing 'Him" in the faces of those outside, poor and imprisoned.   It is simple, but it takes a lifetime to grow into its full realization I believe, for we grow and mature in our walk with the Lord.

Peace
Mark