Bible Studies in the Gospel of Matthew

Bible Studies in the Gospel of Matthew
VI

Matthew 5:2: Jesus taught much. People were and are ignorant when it concerns God’s kingdom; therefore spiritual people need to be diligent teachers. Any other instruction in this matter is worse than nothing.

Matthew 5:3, 1:5; Luke 4:18: Poor in spirit. Not poor in the Spirit of God, or being poor in earthly things, but that one is poor in one’s own eyes in things that are right and good in God’s eyes: poor in righteousness, truth, love, purity, mercy, etc. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such people. All such people will enter into God’s kingdom. The gospel must be preached to such people—actually, only to such people.

This is the basic law of preaching, and also in the ministry as such. It is a fundamental law. Preaching the gospel or serving spiritual food to anyone else is a transgression of the law, or in other words, sin!

When you speak to a mixed congregation, you cannot avoid that rich and satisfied people are listening; nevertheless, you ought not to consider that you are speaking to them, but to the poor in spirit who might be present. You can quite realistically imagine that such a person is present and, in a manner of speaking, address your entire message to him.

If you are to speak to individual souls, you must not choose them randomly, but first consider them carefully and speak to those who appear to be the poorest. It is not so difficult to see the difference. When you have begun to speak to a soul, you will soon become aware of his state. You continue if the person is poor in spirit. You stop as soon as possible if the opposite is true.

It is important to retreat as quickly as possible, just as in the story of the snail and the hedgehog, so that we do not commit the sin of casting pearls before swine. We have not met the right person. Preaching the gospel to the rich is just as bad as insisting that a man who does not owe anything pay his bill.

By following this evangelical, basic law, we will save ourselves many unnecessary cares, and we will be spared from wasting much of our precious time. Besides, this law saves us from the lust to argue, strife, the lust for honor, talkativeness, and many other things. We should never argue. That is a transgression of the basic law.

If we notice that we have started down that road, it is important that we immediately say to ourselves: “Pack your bags, my soul, this is not profitable.” We are to be stewards of what we have received. We learn this a little bit at a time if we are willing to learn.