Sermon Tone Analysis

April 1, 2007 at FBC, Comanche; */Expositional studies:/* Matthew

Text: *Matthew 5:1-12*

*3*

*/“The Blessing and Beauty of Mourning”/*

*Introduction*:

*Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

*(5:4)

In Psalm 55 David cries out, “/Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness.

I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest/” (vv.

6–8).

Such a cry comes from the lips of almost everyone at some time or another.

David echoes the cry of humanity-a cry for release, a cry for freedom, a cry for escape from things that weigh heavy on us.

When we face great sorrow, disappointment, tragedy, or failure, we wish that we could escape the trouble like we escape a thunderstorm by running inside.

But comfort from the troubles of life is much harder to find than shelter from rain.

The deeper the sorrow, the harder the pressure, the worse the despair, the more elusive comfort seems to be.

As pointed out in the previous chapter, all of the Beatitudes are paradoxical, because what they promise for what they demand seems incongruous and upside down in the eyes of the natural man.

The paradox of the second beatitude is obvious.

What could seem to be more self-contradictory than the idea that */the sad are happy, that the path to happiness is sadness, and that the way to rejoicing is in mourning/*?

In the routine of ordinary, day-by-day living, the idea seems absurd.

The whole structure of most human living-whether by the primitive or sophisticated, the wealthy or the poor, the educated or the uneducated-is based on the seemingly incontrovertible principle that the way to happiness is having things go your own way.

Pleasure brings happiness, money brings happiness, entertainment brings happiness, fame and praise bring happiness, self-expression brings happiness.

On the negative side, avoiding pain, trouble, disappointment, frustration, hardships, and other problems brings happiness.

Sidestepping those things is necessary before the other things can bring full happiness.

Throughout history a basic axiom of the world has been that favorable things bring happiness, whereas unfavorable things bring unhappiness.

The principle seems so self-evident that most people would not bother to debate it.

But Jesus said, “/Happy are the sad/.”

He even went so far as to say, “/Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep/” (Luke 6:25)-the converse beatitude of Matthew 5:4.

Jesus turned the world’s principles exactly upside down.

He reversed the path to happiness.

To discover what Jesus meant, and did not mean, in this beatitude we will look at the meaning of mourning as it is used here, the result of mourning, the way to mourn as Jesus teaches, and the way to know if we are truly mourning.

*1.    **the meaning of mourning*

Certain kinds of sorrow are common to all mankind, experienced by believer and unbeliever alike.

Some of these sorrows are normal and legitimate, sorrows which concern the Lord and for which He knows our need.

Others are abnormal and illegitimate, brought about solely because of sinful passions and objectives.

*A.     **Improper Mourning*

Improper mourning is the sorrow of those who are frustrated in fulfilling evil plans and lusts, or who have misguided loyalties and affection.

To those who mourn in that way the Lord offers no help or solace.

David’s son “/Amnon was so frustrated because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her/” (2 Sam.

13:2).

Amnon’s grief was caused by incestuous, unfulfilled lust.

Others carry legitimate sorrow to illegitimate extremes.

When a person grieves so hard and so long over the loss of a loved one that he cannot function normally, his grief becomes sinful and destructive.

Such depressing sorrow is usually related to guilt, essentially selfish, and, for a Christian, is a mark of unfaithfulness and lack of trust in God.

*!!*

David grieved that way, in part to try to atone for his guilt.

When the rebellious Absalom, another of David’s sons, was killed, his father went into inconsolable mourning (2 Sam.

18:33—19:4).

Joab finally rebuked the king, saying, “/Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you.

For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased/” (19:5–6).

The wickedly ambitious Absalom had raised a rebel army, driven the king-his own father-out of Jerusalem, and taken over the palace.

*!!*

David’s love for his son was understandable, but his judgment had been perverted.

Probably because of his great feeling of guilt for having been such a poor father, and because he knew that Absalom’s tragedy was part of the judgment God sent because of David’s adulterous and murderous affair with Bathsheba, the king’s mourning over Absalom was abnormal.

The judgment that came on Absalom was entirely deserved.

*B.    **Proper Mourning*

*1.      **Spouse ~/ children*

*2.      **Separation from God *

*3.      **Sense of Discouragement*

*4.      **Sins of people *

*5.      **Seemingly “unfixable” situation*

*6.      **Sins of the past*

There are also, of course, other kinds of sorrow, legitimate sorrows that are common to all mankind and for which reasonable mourning is appropriate.

To express these sorrows and to cry over them opens an escape valve that keeps our feelings from festering and poisoning our emotions and our whole life.

It provides the way for healing, just as washing out a wound helps prevent infection.

An Arab proverb says, “/All sunshine makes a desert/.”

The trouble-free life is likely to be a shallow life.

We */MOST/* often learn more and mature more from times of sorrow than from times when everything is going well.

A familiar poem by Robert Browning Hamilton expresses the truth:

/ /

/I walked a mile with Pleasure,/

/She chattered all the way,/

/But left me none the wiser/

/For all she had to say./

/I walked a mile with Sorrow,/

/And ne’er a word said she,/

/But, oh, the things I learned from her/

/When Sorrow walked with me.*[1]*/

/ /

Sarah’s death caused Abraham to mourn (Gen.

23:2).

But the “father of the faithful” did not weep from lack of faith but for the loss his beloved wife, which he had every right to do.

Loneliness for God, from whom he felt separated for a time, caused the psalmist to declare, “/As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God/?”’ (Ps.

42:1–3).

Defeat and discouragement caused Timothy to mourn, leading Paul, his spiritual father, to write, “/I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy/” (2 Tim.

1:3–4).

Anguished concern about the sins of Israel and God’s coming judgment on His people caused Jeremiah to mourn.

“Oh/, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears/,” he cried, “/that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people/!” (Jer.

9:1).

Concern for the spiritual welfare of the Ephesian believers had caused Paul to mourn.

“/Night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears/,” he said (Acts 20:31).

Because of their great love for him the elders from the Ephesus church later mourned for Paul as he prayed with them on the beach near Miletus, “/grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more/” (v.38).

The earnest love of a father caused him to be grief-stricken over his demon-possessed son, even as he brought him to Jesus for healing.

No doubt tears ran down the man’s face as He implored Jesus to help, confessing “/I do believe; help my unbelief/” (Mark 9:24).

Repentant, worshipful devotion caused a woman to mourn over her sins as she went into the Pharisee’s house and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

To the proud host who resented her contaminating his house and interrupting his dinner party, Jesus said, “/I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little/” (Luke 7:47).

~*~*

Immeasurable divine love caused our Lord to weep at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over the sinning people of Jerusalem, whom He wanted to gather into His care as a mother hen gathers her chicks (*Matt.

23:37*).

~*~*

*C.    **Godly Mourning*

/The mourning about which Jesus is talking in the second beatitude, however, has nothing to do with the types just discussed, proper or improper/.

The Lord is concerned about all of the legitimate sorrows of His children, and He promises to console, comfort, and strengthen us when we turn to Him for help.

But those are not the kind of sorrow at issue here.

*/Jesus is speaking of godly sorrow, godly mourning, mourning that only those who sincerely desire to belong to Him or who already belong to Him can experience/*.

~*~*

Paul speaks of this sorrow in his second letter to Corinth.

“/For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you/” (2 Cor.

7:10–11).

The only sorrow that brings spiritual life and growth is godly sorrow, sorrow over sin that leads to repentance.

Godly sorrow is linked to repentance, and repentance is linked to sin.

~*~*

As the first beatitude makes clear, entrance into the kingdom of heaven begins with being “/poor in spirit/,” with recognition of total spiritual bankruptcy.

The only way any person can come to Jesus Christ is empty-handed, totally destitute and pleading for God’s mercy and grace.

Without a sense of spiritual poverty no one can enter the kingdom.