GOOD GRIEF! (Matthew 5:4; Psalm 51:7-12) INTRODUCTION: Do any of you remember the comic strip Peanuts? If you are older, you do. It was one of the most famous of the comic strips. It ran for 50 years from 1950 to 2000. The main character was Charlie Brown. One of Charlie sayings was, Good Grief. It expressed his frustration when things didn t go well with him, and most of the time it didn t. Well Jesus second beatitude could be labeled Good Grief. He said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Someone said you could translate this Happy are the unhappy! That seems to catch the paradox of Jesus statement, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The paradox of this beatitude is that the Christian cannot be happy unless he is first sad. As a side-note, my 3 rd great grandfather who migrated from Virginia to Sumner County, Tennessee, in 1808 was named Mourning Winn. I have wondered why his parents named him Mourning. Did he cause them grief? What kind of mourning is Jesus talking about here in this beatitude? Is he saying, Blessed are those for whom things don t go well? Is He saying, Blessed are you if you are unhappy? I don t believe either of these gets at the essence what Jesus was saying. What are we to mourn over? MOURNING OVER DEATH You may hear this verse quoted at a funeral. We do experience grief and mourn over the loss of a loved one. And it is certainly true that God can comfort us in these situations. We have God s promise 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV (3) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. God is the God of all comfort. In the face of death God is compassionate to us. We have the example of Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
John 11:33-35 NIV When Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. (34) "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. (35) Jesus wept. What a blessing to know that God can give us comfort during our times of troubles, trials and lost. But is this the mourning that Jesus is talking about in the Beatitudes? MOURNING OVER EVIL Another situation that causes mourning is the evil that is going on around us. The Bible generally calls this type of mourning lamenting. The dictionary defines a lament as a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. The Hebrew people were not bashful about voicing their complaints to the Lord about the problem of evil and suffering. Their laments about evil are found in books like Job, Habakkuk, the Psalms, and Lamentations. An example of a lament is Psalm 94 Psalms 94:2-4 NKJV Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. (3) LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph? (4) They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. Lamenting over evil and evil doers in our world is proper. But don t fret over evil doers (Psalm 37:1). We are to mourn over this and then take it to the Lord in prayer. We see Jesus mourning over a specific type of evil, the hardness of heart and unbelief of Jerusalem. Luke 19:41-42 NIV As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it (42) and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. Paul wrote of the false teachers troubling the churches of his day: Many, of whom I now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. (Phil 3:18) October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
We are to mourn over evil around us, but is this what Jesus was talking about when He said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted? THE MOURNING OF REPENTANCE I believe that Jesus was talking about something going on in our lives. It is not only the sins of others we are to mourn over, it is our sins we are to mourn over. The first beatitude spoke of the poor in spirit or those who acknowledge that they are spiritually bankrupt without God s grace. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and to mourn over it. Or, in more theological language, confession is one thing, contrition is another. I believe that Jesus is talking about being contrite over our sins, i.e. having remorse. Contrition is an element of repentance or Godly sorrow over our sins. Paul spoke of this type of sorrow to the Corinthian church in II Corinthians 7 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 NKJV (9) Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. (10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. A citizen of God s kingdom or a true follower of Jesus is one who lives with a repentant heart. A true follower of Jesus is one who mourns over their sins before the Lord. David gives us a feel for this type of sorrow in Psalm 51. Psalms 51:2-4 NKJV Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. (4) Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight A person with a contrite heart will be one who mourns over their sins and will maintain an attitude of repentance over their sins. But there are two types of repentance. It is necessary to distinguish between true and false repentance. R.C. Sproul helps us here. He explains, We can distinguish between two kinds of repentance: attrition and contrition. Attrition is counterfeit repentance, which never qualifies us for forgiveness. It is like the repentance of a child who is caught in the act of disobeying his October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
mother and cries out, Mommy, Mommy, I m sorry, please don t spank me. Attrition is repentance motivated strictly by a fear of punishment. The sinner confesses his sin to God, not out of genuine remorse but out of a desire to secure a ticket out of hell. True repentance reflects contrition, a godly remorse for offending God. Here the sinner mourns his sin, not for the loss of reward or for the threat of judgment, but because he has done injury to the honor of God. Contrition is having remorse over our sin because it brings grief to our Heavenly Father. God will never despise those who express contrition. We have that wonderful promise in Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57:15 NKJV For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God delights in a broken and contrite heart. The British pastor and Bible teacher, John Stott, calls our attention to the lack of mourning over our sins that evangelical Christians display. He writes, I fear that we evangelical Christians, by making much of grace, sometimes thereby make light of sin. There is not enough sorrow for sin among us. We should experience more godly grief of Christian penitence. THE COMFORT GIVEN TO THOSE WHO MOURN Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. If we are to experience the comfort of God, we are to be genuine in our mourning over our personal sin. We are not to excuse it, or belittle it, or ignore it. We are not to weigh it in the balance with what we regard as our better qualities, or the fruitfulness of our service. Rather, we cry out with Paul, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" The impulse to mourn over our sins is a gift of God. It comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to convict and convince us of sin. We need to pray to God for this work of the Spirit and then walk in the Spirit of repentance. St. Symeon was one of the three great mystical theologians of the Greek Orthodox church. He was a monk and gave his life to pursuing the goal of union with God, a mystical experience of living in the total sense of God's presence. This three-fold path to this [sense of God s presence] was repentance, progress in October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
virtue and prayer. Unceasing repentance, and even daily shedding of tears over sin, is to be characteristic of the life of every Christian. He believed that a mark of being "baptized in the Spirit" was the "gift of tears." We need to pray for the gift of tears from the Holy Spirit. Then we will be ready to receive the comfort God promises us. What is the comfort that God blesses us with from our acknowledging our sins and mourning over them? It is the comfort of forgiveness, the comfort of God s presence, the comfort of ultimate deliverance from the effects of sin. To those who mourn over theirs sin will receive the comfort of assurance of forgiveness of our sins. We come into the knowledge of forgiveness by coming to Jesus in faith and acknowledging your sins. We will hear Him say, Son, your sins are forgiven as He said to the paralytic who was brought to Him. We will hear Him say Your sins are forgiven as He said to the woman who washed his feet with her tears. We will receive the word from John when he assured us, I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. (1 John 2:12) Also to those who mourn over their sins will receive the comfort of the Lord s unbroken presence. As God told Isaiah I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit. To have the unbroken fellowship with God is what David missed and prayed for in his confession of his sins. What a comfort that is. Also to those who mourn over their sins will receive the ultimate comfort from sins and its effects in the eternal state. Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (4) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." CONCLUSION What a great promise Jesus holds out to us in this beatitude, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Do you know that comfort? Do you want that comfort? October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5
God invites you to be a mourner and to come with a broken spirit, realizing you bring nothing of merit for your forgiven, but you reach out for the mercy and grace of God provided through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for your sins. You will be comforted! Take the gift, mourning over your sin, and enjoy the happiness and comfort that God provides. That's Jesus' invitation. That's how He started His preaching ministry in the Sermon on the Mount, offering true and lasting happiness through repentance. Come to Jesus and pray, "Lord, break my heart, teach me how to mourn over my sin, show me the true blessedness, true happiness that comes through the comfort that comes because You forgive the sin over which I grieve." Amen? Amen! October 14, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6