SERMON: THE MEASURE OF A CHRISTIAN: THOSE WHO MOURN

THE MEASURE OF A CHRISTIAN: THOSE WHO MOURN
(The Beatitude Series)
5 June 2011

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 5
-- this morning, we are going to be continuing in our sermon series on the Beatitudes that I have titled, “The Measure of a Christian” -- as we said last time, the Beatitudes are a list of eight things that Jesus gave us in this passage in Matthew that we consider the measure of a Christian -- the character standards that all Christians should be striving for and that mark our progress and growth in the Kingdom of God
-- I’m going to go ahead and read the entire passage from verses 1 through 12 so that we have the verses in context, but our focus this morning is on the second Beatitude that we find in verse 4 -- Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted
-- so, if you would, follow along as I read Matthew 5:1-12

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.

He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


-- every so often I have to travel with my job -- and so, over the last few years, I have found myself flying a great deal more than I should -- and I guess because I don’t fly a whole lot, when the flight attendants come out and start giving their safety presentation as the plane is taxiing to the runway, I always try to pay attention -- I know for a lot of people this is old hat and they’ve heard it hundreds of times -- but, for me, I want to know what I should do in case of an emergency
-- and if you’ve flown, you’ve heard this before -- the attendant tells you how to buckle your seatbelt -- how to find the exits -- and how to use your seat cushion as a flotation device -- and then they always end with this one safety instruction that always seems to me to be the most important
-- they point to a compartment over your head and say, "If the cabin loses air pressure, an oxygen mask will drop from the compartment over your head -- if you are seated next to a child or someone who is having trouble putting on their mask, put yours on first, and then help them put on their mask”
-- in my mind, this just goes against all common sense and wisdom -- if you’re like most people in an emergency situation where there are children present, your first thought is going to be to take care of the children first -- isn’t that the way we’ve always been taught? -- to take care of the most vulnerable first?
-- think about the Titanic and when it started to sink -- what was it they said about the life rafts -- let the women and children go first -- take care of those who are most vulnerable first before you take care of yourself
-- so, the instructions of the flight attendant seem to go against the norm -- take care of yourself first, and then help someone else -- this isn’t the way we would normally do things -- this isn’t what common sense would dictate
-- but, it makes sense if you sit down and think about it -- hypoxia -- the lack of oxygen -- can affect your ability to react and to think -- and that’s the last thing you want going on in an emergency situation -- if you’re going to help someone, you need to be thinking and reacting normally -- so, the attendant tells us to put our own masks on first so that we will not be impaired and so that we can help those around us better

II. Blessed are those who mourn
-- that’s the same reasoning that Jesus uses here in this second Beatitude -- you can’t help someone else with their sin, until you first face your own sins -- when it comes to sin, you have to take care of yourself before you can begin to take care of others -- and we do this through holy mourning
-- let’s look Beatitude a little closer and I’ll show you what I mean
-- here in verse 4, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn”

-- there’s that word again that we find in all the Beatitudes -- “blessed” -- if you remember, we said that to be blessed was to be favored by God -- to be experiencing His presence and His power and His grace in our lives
-- when we use the word, “blessed,” we are saying that we have had a supernatural, spiritual encounter with the living God -- as the familiar Gaither hymn puts it, “He touched me”
-- and, as we can see from the context of this verse, to be blessed doesn’t mean that the things around us are necessarily going good -- it doesn’t mean that our finances and our homes and our relationship are all perfect -- it doesn’t mean that we’re not suffering -- in this verse, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn,” -- and mourning usually doesn’t indicate something good has happened but that we are walking through something that has profoundly impacted our lives
-- when Jesus tells us in this context that we are blessed, it means that God is with us and that He has touched our lives and that we are aware of His sustaining presence in whatever it is we are going through -- that’s what it means to be blessed

-- “Blessed are those who mourn” -- think for a moment about what causes you to mourn -- we mourn when we have lost someone -- we mourn when someone we love has passed away -- we mourn because there has been a death
-- I hear this verse recited a lot at funerals, because of the promise from Christ in the second part of this Beatitude that those who mourn will be comforted -- and while this is true, this is not the type of mourning that Jesus has in mind here
-- remember the context of the Beatitudes -- Jesus is teaching about spiritual things -- He is speaking about spiritual character and spiritual growth -- not about being comforted because of a worldly loss
-- so, what is it that causes us to mourn spiritually? -- what death or what loss are we grieved about?
-- we mourn because we have become aware of the spiritual death that follows a sinful life -- we mourn for our sins -- we grieve for what we have done to God -- as David says in Psalm 51:4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” as he points out that all our sins are sins against God

-- the group Thunder and Lightning has a new song out called, “You Love Me Anyway,” which speaks to the fact that we have sinned against God and done wrong against Him
-- the chorus of the song says, “I am the thorn in your crown -- I am the sweat from your brow -- I am the nail in your wrist -- I am Judas’ kiss -- but You love me anyway
-- “I am the man who yelled out from the crowd, for your blood to be spilled on this earth-shaking ground -- then I turned away with a smile on my face -- with this sin in my heart I tried to bury your grace -- and then alone in the night, I still call out for You -- so ashamed of my life -- my life --- my life -- but you love me anyway”

-- when Jesus speaks of the mourners in this passage, He is referring to those who have become aware of the depth of their sin -- who know that their sin is not just a temporal thing -- but that their sin was against the very throne of heaven and cast darkness against the light and purity and holiness of God
-- this Beatitude is for Christians -- for people who have already taken their first step towards spiritual holiness by accepting the first Beatitude -- who have come to Jesus poor in spirit, recognizing their need for a Savior, and receiving salvation at the cross
-- this second Beatitude speaks of a deepening realization of just what Christ has done -- of just what Christ has suffered -- for us
-- as we come face-to-face with the true reality and impact of our sin to God -- as we realize the price that Jesus paid to forgive us -- we begin to mourn and grieve for our part of the cross -- for the thorns in the crown -- for the sweat from His brow -- for the nails in His wrist -- for the blood that He shed for us
-- it is at this point that true repentance begins -- it is relatively easy to come to Christ at first -- to believe that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day -- to put our faith and trust in His atonement for our sins
-- but, it is another step altogether to truly understand what that means -- that is what the second Beatitude is all about -- it is about truly acknowledging and repenting of our sins so that we might walk with Christ
-- this is what Jesus means when He says elsewhere in the Bible that we have to pick up our cross and follow Him -- we have to acknowledge our sin and put it to death through repentance so that we might rise with Christ to new life

III. For they shall be comforted
-- this leads us to the second part of this Beatitude -- to the promise of Christ
-- Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted
-- one thing that I learned early on in ministry is the value of a comforting spirit -- there were many times when I sat with a friend at the hospital as someone they loved passed away -- and there were no words that could be said -- there was nothing I could do but sit there and hold them and be with them -- but, that was enough
-- when Jesus tells us here that those who mourn will be comforted, this is a promise of presence -- this is a promise that He will be there to sit there and to hold us and to be with us as we grieve over what we have done and as we mourn the depths of our sin
-- the presence of Jesus is the promise of a new day -- it is like the sun breaking over the horizon after a really bad storm has passed -- it is like a light shining in the darkness when you are lost and all hope is gone
-- Jesus says that after we mourn, He will comfort us -- there are three ways that the comfort of God comes to us in the midst of our grief

-- first, we are comforted through His word -- through the Scriptures -- as we read of the promises that He has given us -- we stand on these promises -- we believe in what He has said -- and we know that they will all come to pass
-- Jesus promised us forgiveness from our sins -- He promised us eternal life with Him -- He promised to never leave us or forsake us -- He promised to always be with us and that He would make a place for us
-- when we are gripped in the depths of mourning over our sins, these promises are the light that lead us forth into new life with Him

-- secondly, we are comforted through His church -- through the presence of other believers -- I had a conversation this week with someone about the church and what the church really was -- the church is not a building -- it’s not a name on a sign -- the church is a community of faith -- a gathering of believers who come together in grief and in mourning over sin and in celebration of the risen Christ to hold each other up -- to keep each other accountable -- and to encourage each other to continue on in their faith
-- who better to comfort those who mourn than someone who has already mourned -- who better to walk with down unknown paths than someone who knows the way
-- the Bible tells us that we need each other to live out this Christian life -- it speaks of the church -- and through the church, the presence of God comforts our souls as we grow in grace and truly mourn and repent of our sins and pick up our cross and follow Christ

-- the third way we are comforted is through His presence -- through the Holy Spirit who lives in us and through us
-- the Bible tells us in Romans 8:26-27 that the Spirit helps us in our weakness -- when we don’t know what to pray -- when we don’t know how to pray -- the Spirit prays for us -- He intercedes on our behalf -- He comforts our souls and He carries our needs to the Father
-- there is a reason that one name for the Holy Spirit is Comforter -- just as this verse says, when we mourn, we are comforted -- when we mourn, we are blessed by the very presence of God falling upon us and taking away our pain and our grief so that we might rise up and carry on to new life

IV. Closing
-- holy mourning over sin is a good thing -- it may not be pleasant -- it is not something that we like to go through -- but it is necessary -- it is a vital part of the Christian life -- it is something that we have to do if we are truly become holy in our lives
-- the mourning that Jesus is talking about in this Beatitude comes about when we honestly recognize the sin in our life and decide to do something about it -- it leads to true repentance -- not just to the initial stages of faith and belief at the cross -- but to a deepening faith and love that grows from a realization of just what Christ has done
-- mourning and repentance proceeds to comfort as we begin to experience the new life that Jesus promised -- a life characterized by holiness and obedience to God’s word instead of a life bound up by sin or the consequences of sin

-- I once read a story about Robert Murray McCheyne, a pastor in Dundee, Scotland -- even though he had died at the young age of 30, his life and his ministry had a profound impact on the people in that community -- many, many people had come to Christ because of his influence -- many, many people had changed their lives because of his presence in their pulpit
-- the impact that McCheyne had did not go unnoticed outside of Dundee -- one day, a young pastor who had just graduated from seminary and who was beginning his first pastorate visited McCheyne’s former church to see what he could learn about ministry from those McCheyne had touched
-- he went to the old sexton of McCheyne’s church and asked him what McCheyne’s secret was -- the sexton led the pastor into McCheyne’s study and showed him a table with some of McCheyne’s books on it sitting next to a chair -- he told him, "Sit down and put your elbows on the table." The visitor obeyed. "Now put your head in your hands." He complied. "Now let the tears flow; that's what McCheyne did."
-- Next he led the pastor into the church and said, "Put your elbows on the pulpit." The visitor did. "Now put your face in your hands." He obeyed. "Now let the tears flow; that's what McCheyne used to do."
-- the sexton’s point was clear -- Robert Murray McCheyne cried freely over his sins and over those of his people -- and his holy mourning led to repentance and to transformed lives and the comfort of Christ
-- we need to be more sensitive to the convicting voice of God's Spirit and more determined to live a separated and holy life.
-- We may rejoice in God's forgiveness, but we should never be afraid to mourn for our sins, because Jesus tells us that those who mourn will be comforted and blessed (modified from D. C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

-- as we close in prayer now, let me remind you of one of the wonderful promises that we find in God’s word -- in 1 John 1:8-9 we read, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. -- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
-- as we pray, let us confess and mourn over our sins -- that we might be comforted and that we might be purified from all unrighteousness and leave here transformed again by the very presence of God in our midst
-- let us pray