Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit – Part 1

Review

Last month we taught a series titled, “The Untapped Power of We”

• It helped fame our theme for the year, which is “One Vision, One Voice”
• The idea is that we will be a “we” people in a “me” culture
• We challenged the cult of individuality that has plagued the world and the church.
• While there is room for individual expression, the Scripture calls us to a collective identity–in Christ.
• There are blessings, there is favor, and there is empowerment in our collective Christ identity that is not present in our personal, individualized relationships with Christ.

Then we addressed this question: Who are we?

• The first three weeks, we talked about what that meant spiritually.
• And for the fourth and final week, we talked about what that meant sociologically.

The Reality of Being Both Spiritual and Social Beings

“Sociology is the study of human. . .relationships and institutions.” (UNC College of Arts and Sciences – Sociology Department Website https://sociology.unc.edu/undergraduate-program/sociology-major/what-is-sociology/)

• The field of sociology addresses “human behavior, social change and social life.” (Google AI Overview: “What is Sociology?”).
• In other words, sociology addresses all things social.

Being one in Christ is both spiritual and social.

• There are some people who only deal with the spiritual side.
• Others only deal with the social side.
• But God, who is Lord of all, is interested in every aspect of our lives.
• Certainly, He’s interested in those parts of our lives that affect our relationships with each other.
  • Which means that Anything that affects the relationship has to be discussed.
  • And because of that, we’ve got to talk about race.

Key Facts About Multiracial Churches

(From Estranged Pioneers: Race, Faith and Leadership in a Diverse World, Edwards and Kim. Oxford UP, 2024.)

• Fact # 1: Multiracial churches make up [only] 16% of all congregations in the U.S. (p. 2)
• Fact # 2: People of Color make up [only] 16% of the people who lead multiracial churches in the U.S. (p. 2)
• Fact # 3: Of all U.S. churches, only 2.5% of them are multiracial and led by a pastor of color.
• Fact # 4: “Multiracial churches generally either start off racially diverse or move from predominantly white to racially diverse. Rarely do churches move from predominantly Black or Asian or Hispanic to racially diverse. This puts pastors of color at a distinct disadvantage in the multiracial church world.” (p. 41)

Two Big Questions

1. Why are we doing this?
2. How will this benefit African Americans?

It’s Okay to Have Reservations

1. Having reservations about a multiracial church does not make you unchristian.
   • • Luke 14:28 (ESV): ²⁸ For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
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2. God cares about your cultural needs and wants to respond to them.
   • Consider this statement from Jesus about His concern for you: Matthew 10:30 (ESV): ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
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3. What God is doing is not at the expense of African Americans (specifically).
4. We can be a church that addresses the cultural needs of African Americans and richly engages the diversity of the local community.

So How Do We Do This?

We need some fresh faith and some fresh thinking.

Our Faith Matters

• Genesis 18:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord?. . . .
• Jeremiah 32:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
• Luke 18:27 (ESV): ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
• Mark 9:23 (ESV): ²³ And Jesus said to him. . .All things are possible for one who believes.”

Our Thinking Matters

• Solving difficult problems requires thinking that’s higher than the problem.
• Einstein put it this way: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”–Albert Einstein
• God put it this way: Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
• Elevating our thinking requires that we challenge our current assumptions.

Challenging Assumptions About Equality and Privilege

• What words or ideas do you associate with equality?
• What words or ideas do you associate with privilege?

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Measuring the Concept of Equality Against Scripture

• Genesis 1:27 (ESV): ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• Romans 13:8 (ESV): ⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other. . .
• Galatians 3:28 (ESV): ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 2:11 (ESV): ¹¹ . . .God shows no partiality.
• James 2:1 (ESV): ¹ Owe My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
• Matthew 28:19 (ESV): ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 
  • • Acts 2:6–11 (ESV): ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
    • Acts 21:40 (ESV): ⁴⁰ And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language. . .
    • Acts 22:2 (ESV): ² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. . . .
    • Language is not just words. It’s also culture.
    • [From Estranged Pioneers:] “Pastor Kay multicultural competency is. . .reflected in everything from her preaching to her counseling. It is also evident in her ability to easily ‘color-switch’ and connect with a variety of people, whether at staff meetings, board meetings, or at the pulpit: ‘I switch colors often. I am fluent in white-male-speak, academy-speak, Black-woman-playful-speak. . .pound-cake-and champagne-speak. I speak Spanish [and] German’. . . .Pastor Kay not only speaks multiple languages; she is also multivocal and versed in multiple cultures and communities” (p. 101)
  • 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 (ESV): ¹⁹ For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
    • Effective evangelism and discipleship require that we are attentive to the sociological realities of our ministry context.

Rethinking Privilege

Favor is a form of privilege.

God has an economy of favor, blessing and promotion that he uses for redemptive purposes.

• Matthew 5:3 (ESV): ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2025