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Sermon on the Mount – Those who Mourn
Matthew 5:4
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
1. Introduction – Today we come to the second Beatitude – a statement that upon first reading seems like a contradiction.
a. When looked at from a worldly perspective, its hard to imagine how mourning can be a blessed state.
i. Even in the Christian world, this statement seems foolish to some.
1. There are a number of movements…and even songs that seem to suggest that mourning and sadness are incompatible with the Christian life.
a. We teach it to our kids in Sunday School. That because Jesus Christ came in and cleansed our hearts from sin…
i. We should be in right, up right upside, downside happy all the time.
1. We have no concept of mourning…we don’t really understand how mourning can be a blessed state.
ii. Even if we don’t outrightly say it…sometimes we believe that if Jesus comes into our lives all trials, tribulation just magically disappear.
1. But that’s a lie…if anything, after Jesus comes into our lives, we actually become MORE aware of trials and our need for divine help.
b. So today, I want to introduce…or maybe reintroduce you to this blessed state of mourning.
i. These are the very words of Jesus – so we know that they are authoritative.
1. We know there is truth in these words…so it is incumbent on us to find out what they mean…so we can experience the blessing that comes from mourning.
a. This is our task today. We’re going to define mourning.
i. And again, we’ll look at mourning from 2 different directions.
1. First, we’ll negatively define mourning by looking at what it’s NOT.
a. Then we’ll positively define it by looking at what it is according to the Bible.
ii. And as we close, we’ll look at the incredible promise given to those who mourn.
c. If you have a Bible with you, Matthew 5:4. Hear God’s Word.
2. What Its’ Not
– We’ll start by looking at Jesus didn’t mean when he said, “Blessed are those who mourn…”
a. First, Jesus isn’t talking about being mopey.
i. As if we as Christians are to walk around with long faces all the time with a “woe is me’ kind of attitude.
1. Yes, we are to be honest about how we are feeling and what we are going through, but mopiness is not a blessed state.
a. Jesus isn’t simply talking about crying here – as if the shedding of tears is blessed. If that were so, some of you would be the most blessed people on earth…you know who you are!
ii. Along with mopiness, Jesus isn’t talking about sadness here. It’s not those who are wet blankets or Debbie downers who are blessed.
b. And most of all – understand that Jesus isn’t talking about bereavement here.
i. He isn’t referring to the mourning that takes place when you lose a loved one.
1. Can I just say – that is cruel and unusual punishment.
a. If we think of what it means to be blessed…God approves of…and if we think that this verse is referring to those who are bereaved…I have a heard time picture God that way.
ii. Now, don’t get me wrong…Ps. 116:19 is true – Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of one of his saints….
1. And it is true that God is close to the brokenhearted…
a. And it is true that family left behind can be comforted by the fact that a Christian loved one who died is in the presence of Jesus…this verse is NOT saying that bereavement is a blessed state.
iii. Bereavement isn’t a blessed state…it’s an unnatural state.
1. It’s painful, it’s confusing. Death isn’t natural.
a. It was never intended to be in God’s good creation.
i. Death is a direct result of sin entering the world.
c. Now, don’t get me wrong, we should absolutely comfort each other when one of us loses a family member or a dear friend.
i. Some of my most precious times as your pastor have been in hospital rooms or in funeral homes – sharing memories…sharing tears.
1. And it is the greatest privilege I have as your pastor to lead funeral services for my friends who have died.
a. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t comfort the bereaved.
i. What I am saying is that Jesus isn’t talking about the mourning that comes along with bereavement.
1. He doesn’t say, “Blessed are the bereaved, for they will be comforted.”
ii. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn…” so we need to figure out what we should be mourning over…
1. And why it is we are blessed when we mourn over those things.
3. What it is
– So what is Jesus referring to when he says, “Blessed are those who mourn?”
a. What are we supposed to mourn over?
i. As I examined this verse this week and the biblical concept of mourning – it became obvious to me that there are to components to biblical mourning – mourning that is blessed by God.
1. There is a personal component and a universal component.
a. We’ll look at each one.
b. Blessed are those who mourn – and first of all what that means is those who mourn over their own sin.
i. This Beatitude is a natural progression from the first.
1. We are blessed when we recognize our poverty of spirit.
a. When we recognize that there is nothing good in us at all.
i. When compared to a holy God – when we think about standing in front of a holy God…we are faced with our own spiritual bankruptcy…our own poverty of spirit.
b. And a natural next step after recognizing our poverty of spirit is to grieve that fact what we sin.
i. Mourn over our rebellion against God…grieve that fact that we are wayward and we aren’t living up to God’s standard.
c. This is the mourning of a person who begins to recognize the shame of their own sin when confronted with the purity of God.
i. We looked at this when we studied the book of Joel in the fall.
1. God called his people to return to him…with fasting and weeping and mourning.
a. He called them back and called them to tear their hearts…have really and genuine acts of contrition…not superficial outward acts like tearing clothes.
i. When we realize our rebellious nature against a holy God…we should be brought to a place of mourning.
1. Mourning the fact that we have sinned against a holy, merciful and all-loving Father.
ii. The Apostle Paul was brought to this place in Romans 7. It’s such a great chapter…it’s like Paul is having this battle within himself.
1. He writes that that good he wants to do, he is unable to do, but that evil that he doesn’t want to do…that he continues to do…
a. And then he is brought to a place of mourning over his sin…O wretched man that I am…who can save me from this body of death?
i. This is the kind of mourning that Jesus is talking about in the 2nd Beatitude…a mourning over our sin…over the evil that we continue to do even though we don’t want to do it.
d. We also studied this concept of mourning over our sin when we studied 2 Corinthians last year.
i. In 2 Corinthians 7:10 – Paul writes that godly grief…hear mourning…produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret.
1. Godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation…
a. That is why mourning over sin is a blessed state.
i. It is only when we see our sin for what it is…when we see it’s vileness…the heiniousness of it…when we see it as an act of contempt against God…
1. When we see sin…all sin, lying, cheating, gossiping, slander…not just the ‘big’ sins.
a. When we see all sin as a slap in God’s face…when we see sin for what it is…
2. When we are grieved by it…remember, not grieved over the consequences…or grieved over the fact that we got caught in sin…but grieved about the actual act of sin…
a. It’s not actions that lead us back to god…who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
ii. When we mourn over our personal sin…it is a blessed state to be in because that mourning, that godly grief produces repentance which leads to salvation.
e. But understand, this weeping over sin is not a one-time occurrence.
i. It’s not that one time in your life…maybe at a youth retreat on cry night, you mourn over sin…but after that night never give it a second thought.
1. It’s not that you mourn over your sin one time…accept Jesus as your Saviour and carry on with life as usual.
a. It’s not that one time you are brought to tears over your sin by one sermon…and then the next day nothing really changed.
ii. This mourning over personal sin is to be a constant in our lives as Christians. Maybe even a daily cycle.
1. If you take time at the end of the day to examine what your day was like…if you do so honestly – you will find many times where you fell short of God’s standard.
a. And in seeing our shortcomings, we should be brought to a place of mourning.
i. But this isn’t useless grieving, because godly grief produces repentance.
1. And we can only truly repent of our personal sin when first confronted by it and grieved by it.
4. Universal – But as I was looking at this subject of biblical mourning – it became apparent that there’s another side to this blessed mournful state.
a. A universal side – because sometimes the sins of the world…the way it lacks integrity, the injustice, the cruelty, the cheapness, the selfishness causes us to mourn for our world.
i. We are to mourn over the greed and the cynicism.
1. When we read the paper or watch the news, we should be grieved.
a. Grieved that God’s ways are so blatantly disregarded…grieved at the lack of morality in the world.
i. We should mourn over the degradation of the very concept of truth.
1. We should mourn that there are so few mourners.
b. The great example of this is Jesus in Matthew 23 – when being rejected by his own people – spoke judgment and condemnation over them.
i. But then he mourned over their waywardness and their rejection of him as their Messiah.
1. Part of biblical mourning is mourning over the sins of society.
5. Comforted – And this would be a really depressing and sad sermon…if we didn’t cover the promised reward.
a. Mourning is a blessed state because it leads us to personal repentance – and we have this incredible promise…for they will be comforted.
i. And just as mourning took place on 2 levels…I see this comforting meeting us on those same 2 levels.
1. First, think of this. When we mourn over our personal sin, when we are brough to a place of repentance. We are met there by a personal Saviour.
a. When we mourn over our sin, we realize that God himself has already provided the precious remedy we need.
i. God provided his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sin…he gave us Jesus.
ii. And the viler we see our sin…the sweeter Jesus becomes.
1. We can receive comfort because Jesus has already paid the price for our sin.
a. We can take comfort in the words the angel spoke to Joseph….
i. Name him Jesus…for he will save his people from their sin.
iii. Isn’t it comforting to know that the very God we offended with our sin – welcomes us back with open arms?
1. Its like the Father running to meet is returning son in the parable of the lost son – God welcomes us back when we mourn over our sin…and come back to him in repentance.
b. But God’s comfort reaches us at the universal level also.
i. When we see the sins of this world – we are reminded that we live in a broken world.
1. But we must also remember that this present world isn’t the be all and end all.
a. We can take comfort in the fact that one day, Jesus will return and make all things new.
i. We can get a taste of God’s comfort now, but the tears will just keep coming.
2. We will only find ultimate comfort in the new creation.
a. We looked at this when we studied Revelation 21.
i. After evil has been wiped out…after the new Jerusalem came down, after the announcement of God dwelling with his people on earth…we have this incredible verse.
1. He will wipe every tear from their eye.
ii. Now, it’s popular to think or say that there’s no crying or tears in heaven…but that’s not entirely true.
1. Notice the verse says, after the heavens and earth are made new…after heaven is brought to eart…
a. Only after that happens, will God wipe tears away.
i. So what that means is the hurts, pain, trials, and tears of this life…are brought with us into the next.
1. But with one swipe of his fatherly thumb, God will wipe all those final tears away…and from then on there will be no more.
2. And in the perfection of the new creation – we will fully and finally experience the promised comfort that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5:4
6. Conclusion – What an incredible Beatitude this is.
a. A natural progression from the first…a mourning over our sin.
i. Recognizing our failures before God on a personal level.
1. But also recognizing that that is a blessed state to be in because godly grief produces repentance.
b. Recognizing and mourning over the sins of our society. A blessed state because it will help us recognize how we can help our society back to the ways of God.
i. And what an incredible reward promised…comfort.
1. Comfort knowing that Jesus has already paid the price for the sins we are mourning over.
a. And comfort for the future, knowing that one day God will make all things new…and the sin and hurt of this life we done away with forever.