|
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’ Matthew 5 v 4 [Isaiah 61 v 1 - 3]
REVIEW We have already seen that the Beatitudes describe the kind of people who really know, and have responded to, the message of Jesus Christ. They are the kind of people who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. These are not eight different groups of people, some of whom are poor in spirit, others who mourn, others who are meek, and others who are merciful. They are eight qualities or characteristics which ought to be seen in everyone who describes themselves as a Christian – for these are the qualities found in Jesus Christ. In Galatians 5 v 22 the Apostle Paul similarly describes nine fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc) which are character traits which God’s Holy Spirit produces in all of us as we give our lives to Him and allow Him to work in us. Different to this, there are gifts of the Spirit whereby God gives us different abilities to do different things in order to build up the church. Some are good practically with building or computer skills, others creatively with decorating, flowers, making banners, others are good at music and singing, others at administration, others good at pastoral and preaching ministry. All of us have a responsibility to use whatever gifts we have to build up the church of God, and not leave 80% of the church’s work to 20% of its people. Likewise, and the two really go hand in hand, all of us have a responsibility to grow more and more like Jesus, and develop these qualities of character which are the result of our close walk with Jesus, and which produce in us a level of happiness found in no other way of life. Here is a depth of contentment which does not depend on the outward circumstances of this life! We saw last week that the ‘poor in spirit’ are those who are neither full of themselves (and think they’re God’s gift to the world) nor full of inferiority (who think they’re rubbish). They are people who, on the one hand, realize their own sinfulness which separates them from God – yet on the other realize they have been forgiven by Christ (and His death on the cross). They are happy and blessed because they know they belong in the Kingdom of Heaven, both now and for all eternity! Today we are going to look at the Second Beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’ INTRODUCTION What is a paradox? A paradox, as you all know (if, like me, you've looked it up in the dictionary) is a statement which contradicts an earlier statement. It is as if you are saying two different and opposing things. Some would say there is a paradox between the JUSTICE of a HOLY God and the FORGIVENESS of a LOVING God. And here in the second Beatitude we have yet another paradox. ‘BLESSED (or HAPPY) are those who ....MOURN!’ [This might even be an Oxymoron where two words of opposite meaning are used together for special effect, e.g. 'wise fool' or 'legal murder']
It's almost as if Jesus is saying: “O you happy mourners!’ It's an absurd statement. The one part of the statement appears to contradict the other.
It seems even more absurd when you discover that the word translated ‘happy’ literally means ‘Oh the bliss of’ and the word translated 'mourn’ is the strongest possible word for grief, and means an uncontrollable and unrestrained sense of loss and despair. This is a Beatitude which does not seem to make sense! It seems to be saying something like: ‘Oh the joy and laughter of those who mourn and weep uncontrollably!’ Or, in simpler terms: ‘Happy are the unhappy!’ Now Luke’s version of the Beatitude in the NIV (6 v 21) is translated as ‘Blessed are you who weep NOW, for you WILL laugh.’ This suggests that it is better to weep now and laugh later, rather than laugh now and weep later. We shall see that there is a large element of truth in this, but let’s look a little closer in order to try and understand it better. Now there are 3 things which this beatitude could mean: 1) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE? We need to be careful that we do not read INTO scripture what we WANT to be there, rather than what actually IS there. And at first reading, this Beatitude is simply offering a word of comfort to those who have lost a loved one.
Human nature can be a very complex and uncertain thing. It is sometimes strange how believers and non-believers react to the loss of a loved one. You would expect that believers would find comfort from God, and non-believers find despair.
Yet sometimes the reverse happens. Having once believed in God, a person may start to blame God and ask how a God of love can take my loved one from me, especially if the death has occurred suddenly, or tragically. Likewise, a person who had no belief in God may suddenly start to believe - for the simple reason that they want to find some hope in their loss, and some way that they can see their loved one again. Without doubt, the Bible does offer comfort to those who mourn. At every Christian funeral service there are always passages of scripture read out which offer comfort and hope to those who mourn. The Apostle Paul cries out in 1 Corinthians 15: ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?’ There is the comfort of God to every believer that death is not so much the end to this life, but the beginning of eternal life in the mansion prepared by Christ. But while all this is true, I am not sure that this is primarily what this Beatitude is referring to. Admittedly, if we read verse 4 by itself, it appears simply to be saying that if you’ve lost a loved one, God will comfort you. But it's the ‘blissfully happy’ bit that bothers me.
Now I’ve heard of some Christian funerals where people have been laughing and dancing and singing their heads off. They believe that the deceased person is now in heaven with the Lord and it is a time of great celebration and rejoicing.
Now again, there is a strong element of truth in this, but again that has to be balanced against other parts of scripture which speak about grief, and loss, and mourning, and respect for other people's feelings. We may be glad that ‘old Mrs Jones’ was a great Christian and is now rejoicing with the angels in heaven – but ‘old Mrs Jones’ may also have a surviving husband, children, grandchildren and close friends who are really devastated she’s gone! We are never called to be insensitive to what others may be feeling. There is no way that the Jesus of the New Testament would ever say such a stupid thing that if a loved one dies you will be ecstatically happy! For whatever reason Jesus Himself wept with those who wept at the death of Lazarus. In addition to our doubts about this word ‘happy’ being applied to bereavement, we may also have doubts about only reading a single verse of scripture without reference to its context. This is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses are so good at (or rather so bad at!) If you look at this Beatitude in relation to all the others, and to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount (that is what we mean by its context), we realise that Jesus is looking at the inward, spiritual requirements and characteristics of those who will belong to His kingdom. If we look at verse 4 and apply it only to bereavement, then it has no bearing and no connection to the rest of the passage. Taken in isolation it could imply that all who die will go to heaven since all who mourn will be comforted and happy. This would be contrary to other parts of scripture. Jesus does not promise that all who die will go to heaven and therefore all who mourn them will be happy. 1) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE? 2) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN OVER THE WORLD’S SIN? It was said of many of the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps that when they were finally rescued they were unable to cry. They had suffered so much and so long that they had no tears left. Their reaction is understandable. But how sad it would be if the rest of us were so wrapped up in our own needs, and our own selves, that we never shed tears over the awful results of sin which mankind inflicts on itself – such as the Holocaust!
How can we not weep when we hear of millions of babies being aborted, of adults sexually abusing children, of African tribes mutilating each other, of young girls being forced and trafficked into prostitution, and many other terrible injustices caused by man’s sin and greed.
We can see with our own eyes the result of sin in broken relationships, and the emotional damage which is left behind. And we see the cruelty and pain we inflict on one another, even by little children in the school playground. This is what our sin is doing to our world. It is a destroyer of all that is good, and pure, and honest and true. When Jesus came to the city of Jerusalem (in Luke 19 v 41) HE WEPT OVER IT! Why? Because He saw what their sin and unbelief would result in! Before long much of Jerusalem would be destroyed, and their children savagely killed.
We can weep so easily at an emotional film (which is fictional). But we desperately need to be people who weep over the sins of this world, and the destruction, and the damage, and the pain and the grief which sin always brings.
‘My tears pour down like a river,’ said the psalmist (Psalm 119 v 136) ‘because people do not obey Your law.’
‘I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears,’ said Paul (Philippians 3 v 18) ‘There are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ’s death on the cross.’
Are we so wrapped up in our own pleasure-seeking, self-glorifying, money-spending lives that we have no tears for the awful effects of sin in our world! John Stott (in ‘Christian Counter Culture’) wrote: 'The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them! ' What then does this Beatitude mean? It does mean to mourn the loss of a loved one – and to know that the comfort and hope of God is available to us. It does mean to mourn the sins of the world – and to start to do something about it. But this still doesn’t fully account for this word ‘HAPPY.’ Even if I mourn the loss of a loved one who I know has gone to heaven, and even if the sins of the world reduce me to tears, I cannot claim to be happy as a result of this grief.
1) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE?
2) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN OVER THE WORLD’S SIN?
3) HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN THEIR OWN SIN! The great truth is that we should not only have tears for the loss of our loved ones, and tears for the sins of the world, WE SHOULD HAVE TEARS BEFORE GOD FOR OUR OWN SINS! There are far too many people who seem to think that God should save the WORLD from sin, but they have never first allowed Him to save THEM from their own sin! I like the person who wrote:- When I was young I thought God wanted me to change the world.As I grew older I thought God wanted me to change my country.Older still, and I thought God wanted me to change my family.Now I am old I’ve come to realize that all God ever wanted me to change was ME!
REPENTANCE, LIKE CHARITY, BEGINS AT HOME! Those of you who have any background in the Anglican Church may know that in the 1662 Holy Communion Service Cranmer put in the confession: ' We acknowledge and BEWAIL our manifold sins and wickedness.'
And in the book of Ezra (chapter 10 v 1) we are told that Ezra was ‘praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God.’ Then a large crowd of men, women and children joined him – and ‘they too wept bitterly.’
It is plain from the context of this beatitude that those who are promised comfort are not primarily those who mourn the loss of a loved one, but those who mourn the loss of their innocence, their righteousness, their self-respect. It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance!
This is the second stage of spiritual blessing which follows naturally from the First Beatitude. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and to mourn over it.
David Brainerd, the 18th Century missionary to the American Indians recorded in his journal on 18th October 1740: 'In my morning devotions my soul was exceedingly melted, and I bitterly mourned over my exceeding sinfulness and vileness.'
I WONDER, HAVE WE EVER REALLY MOURNED AND BEWAILED OUR OWN SINS? HAVE WE EVER REALLY BEEN TO THE PLACE OF REPENTANCE WHERE WE GRIEVE FOR OUR LACK OF LOVE, AND OUR SELF-CENTRED LIVES?
Because, until we really mourn all the pride and greed and lust and selfishness and apathy of our own sin, we can never know the forgiveness of Christ. REPENTANCE MUST ALWAYS PRECEDE FORGIVENESS!
Until we are spiritually poor and acknowledge our sin (First Beatitude), and until we mourn and confess our sin (Second Beatitude), we can never know the forgiveness of Christ and we can never know the happiness of sins forgiven, of God's free gift of an abundant or full life now, and eternal life thereafter.
HERE THEN ARE THE PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD! It is not the religious with their own self-righteousness, but the sinners who mourn their sins, and find the comfort of God’s grace and forgiveness enriching their lives.
It is only in this way that this verse begins to make any sense at all. Happy are those who mourn and weep over their own sins for they shall be comforted. Only when I recognise my own unworthiness before God I can rejoice at His wonderful love and forgiveness!
- I am happy because God loves me and forgives me.
- I an happy because I can start again.
- I am happy because I can ask God to use me and use whatever gifts and abilities He has given me.
- I am happy because I know I am a member of His kingdom.
- I am happy because I know I have been born again.
- I am happy because whatever this world throws at me, I know that God loves me and comforts me.
- I am happy because however short or painful this life is, I know there is a mansion prepared in heaven for me.
In Revelation 21 v 4 there is part of that lovely passage of scripture that describes heaven. I want you to notice something in this passage of scripture which ties in to today’s Beatitude : ‘He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”’
It is only those who have mourned and wept for their sins in this life who will know the place where there are no tears in the life to come. In heaven God ‘will wipe away all tears from their eyes’.
We need to decide today where we are going to shed our tears! It is better to weep now and laugh later, rather than laugh now and weep later!
At the beginning of the service we read that great passage from Isaiah 61 v 1 – 3 which promises that the coming Saviour will ‘comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in.’ He promises to give them:
- a crown of beauty instead of ashes (which symbolise mourning)
- the oil of gladness instead of mourning
- and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair
Here then, in this Second Beatitude, is another characteristic of those who truly know Christ, and truly belong in His Kingdom, both now, and beyond the grave: ‘Blessed (or happy) are those who mourn for their sins; for they will be comforted.’
|
Sermons 
