Martin Luther penned these words shortly before he passed away, demonstrating his profound grasp of Christian spirituality. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus very simply says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The word used for “poor” in this verse is the term for a beggar. Those who are poor in spirit have no spiritual assets or credentials. They receive the Holy Spirit as beggars. Consider the following statement by John Kleinig in his book, Grace Upon Grace:

The Father’s kingdom is theirs as a gift, something that is always received and yet never possessed. Unless they receive God’s kingdom, they can never enter it and reign in it as kings together with Christ (Mark 10:15; Luke 12:32; 22:28-30).

In essence, spiritual maturity is thus the exact opposite of worldly maturity. Worldly maturity is measured by our increasing independence, our ability to be self-sufficient and accomplished. Conversely, spiritual maturity is measured by our increasing dependence upon Christ and His gifts. But it seems that American Christianity has transplanted this cultural model of maturity into the faith and now spirituality has become all about actualizing our spiritual potential or identifying our hidden talents. The proper understanding is that our spirituality has nothing to do with our performance, rather it has everything to do with receiving from God.

This is why in Matthew 5:6 Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Jesus pairs righteousness with dietary nourishment, something we receive. He does not compare righteousness to any action that we should perform, but rather to needs that must be satisfied by God Himself, hunger and thirst. It is God who makes us righteous, it is not something we can accomplish by our right attitude or conduct. Hence we pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” We rely not on our own skill to receive bread, but upon God’s grace. The same is true of our spiritual walk. As I posted on Twitter and Facebook earlier, “Our justification does not depend on our piety and our spiritual performance but on Christ and His performance.”

We are beggars. That is true. How can we contend against the grain of culture on the issue of spiritual maturity? How do we effect change in churches who focus on worldly growth rather than teaching utter dependence on Christ? How do we confront leaders who are building their own kingdoms, rather than continually receiving Christ’s? And most importantly, how do we change our personal devotional life to reflect the life of reception, seeking God’s gifts as beggars rather than His applause as performers?

UPDATE: Jay Winters posted about Begging For Attention from God and he has some great followup thoughts on this post.

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
        ~Tim Keller
 
 

While going through the assigned reading for my missions class, I came across some profound thoughts by one of the authors that I wanted to share.

The following is an excerpt from Cities and Salt: Counter-Cultures for the Common Good by Tim Keller, which can be found in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne.

The Kingdom Both Rich and Sharp. Keller describes a polarity of ideas about the kingdom:

• On the one hand, the gospel can be reduced to an individualistic message that helps people get to heaven – a “get out of jail free” card with no transformation.
• Against this, another idea of the kingdom has become very popular, in which Jesus’ death doesn’t so much assuage God’s wrath for sin as it absorbs the world’s evil and violence. Jesus’ life is exemplary, showing the way of non-violence and service. Jesus now, according to this version of the kingdom, calls us to work for peace and justice in the world. Basically, the gospel is reduced to a call to “repent of living for yourself and join Jesus’ kingdom program.” This may be, as one author put it, “all call and no grace.” Keller says that this can amount to just one more legalism.

According to Keller, both of these are extremes to avoid. We need to see that the gospel is sharp; that is, dealing with atonement for sin and justification by grace. But the gospel is also rich; that is, it equips us to pursue justice and cultural renewal.

This may be a faulty observation, but it seems that many of the mainline traditional denominations (who happen to be very modernist) have very elaborate doctrinal statements and often fall into the first category, while many of the more liberal and newer church movements (who happen to be very postmodern) fall into the second. Coincidence? I think not. What do you think?