In chapter four of Matthew a group of people were attracted to the Lord Jesus, and in chapter five He brought them to a high mountain (v. 1). They had been following Him, but He still needed to get inside of them. The fact that He brought them to a high mountain is very meaningful. When we have important matters to consider, it is sometimes good to get away from everything, to go up to a mountain, where the level is higher. This is what the Lord did with His disciples. There on the high mountain, He showed them the way He could get into them.
To sow a seed into the earth is easy because the earth has no will of its own. It has no desires, no concepts, no thoughts, and no ideas. Because the earth is lifeless, it is easy to sow a seed into it. However, it is not easy for the Lord Jesus to sow Himself into us because we are not simple; in fact, we are very complicated, with two main problems. The first problem involves our spirit, the deepest part of our being. The second problem concerns our heart, which surrounds our spirit. If we read the New Testament carefully, putting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle to give us a clear picture, we will see that the heart surrounds the spirit. The spirit is at the center of the heart. Our heart is complicated, being composed of the mind—the thinking organ, the emotions—the loving organ, the will—the deciding organ, and the conscience. Our spirit hidden within our heart is even called "the hidden man of the heart" (1 Pet. 3:4). For Christ to sow Himself into our being, He must first get into our spirit, and from there spread Himself into every part of our heart. In this way He will take full possession of our being. Not only will He sow Himself into our spirit, but He will grow into our inward parts—our mind, will, emotion, and conscience. Then our whole inward being will be filled with Christ.
Because our spirit is a problem, the Lord Jesus told us clearly that we need to be poor in spirit in order to follow Him and to allow Him to sow Himself into us (Matt. 5:3). To be poor in spirit simply means to be empty in spirit—to have no preoccupations of any kind in our spirit. When the Lord Jesus came to the Jewish people, their spirits were filled with many other things. They had the Holy Word, the temple, the altar, the holy rituals and forms, and the holy priesthood to care for the service to God. Because of their association with these religious things, they thought they knew God. They felt they had been trained from their forefathers to know God, and they had inherited many traditions which were precious to them. When the Lord Jesus came to them, their spirit was filled with all the doctrines and traditions of Judaism. All the things they treasured had filled them up so that nothing of the Lord Jesus could get into them.
Likewise, a great many Christians today have their spirits filled and preoccupied. Although they may not know what the human spirit is, or even that they have a spirit, nevertheless their spirit is preoccupied. Today's Christians have both the Old and the New Testaments. Many know something about Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Matthew, John, and Acts. They know something about justification by faith in Romans and the ten horns in Revelation. They know the Bible in the way of letters, but they have little revelation of the spiritual significance because they are filled up in their spirit. Because they are already full, nothing more of the Lord Jesus can get into them; they are not poor in spirit.
To receive the Lord Jesus as the seed we must be poor, empty, and unoccupied in our spirit. Of course, to be poor in spirit does not mean we have a poor or weak spirit. We all need to pray, "Lord, have mercy that I may be empty in my spirit. Lord, I do want to be poor in spirit. Sweep away all the worthless things that I may be unoccupied and empty, ready for You to come in."