BEATITUDES (3) Those Who Mourn (1)

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4)
 
Review
We’ve been talking about the Beatitudes—the 8 blessings Jesus taught on a mountain. Last Sunday, we talked about the first blessing. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:3)
 
For us to be poor in spirit means that we realize our deep need for God. According to the Bible, all people have a desire for eternity in their souls that only God can fill. Because all people are created by God, who is eternal, and He sets eternity in human hearts, all people are essentially made to feel the need for God in their hearts.
 
The problem is that not everyone realizes this need because their desire for eternity is often hidden by temporary things in the world—worries, pleasure, possessions, and more. Satan will do his best to keep us from realizing the eternal desire in our hearts by continuously deceiving us and making us focus on worldly things.
 
But those whose hearts are open to the eternal things that God gives us will seek and rely on Him alone because they know that only God can save them and satisfy the hunger and thirst in their souls.
 
For us to be poor in spirit means that we confess that nothing in this world can truly satisfy our souls and that the spiritual and eternal blessings God gives us through Jesus Christ are much more precious than anything we can possibly have on earth.
 
That’s the desire and desperation we need to recover in our relationships with God. We need to pray to God that He would allow us to see our spiritual poverty so that we may truly realize our absolute need for Him. Then, we’ll seek Him and love Him with all our hearts and experience the kingdom of God being realized in our lives. As Jesus said,
 
“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21)
 
We talked about two different types of faith. Those who have a cruise ship-like faith believe in God but they also love the world at the same time. And because they get temporary pleasure from worldly things, they don’t realize their desperate need for God, so they don’t really seek God.
 
But those who have battleship-like faith are different. They are more interested in what God’s doing in this world and are willing to join in His mission. They realize that they are in a spiritual war right now. Because they know that they can’t fight against their enemy, Satan, by themselves, they only rely on God and continuously ask Him for His grace, mercy, and strength to live out their faith.
 
I believe that’s the kind of faith God wants us to have. We need to keep trying to set our hearts and minds on things above and fix our eyes on Jesus so that we realize our deep need and complete dependence on God and go before God’s throne of grace out of our spiritual poverty.
 
If we do so, God will never reject us but will satisfy our hunger and thirst with His unfailing love.
 
Those Who Mourn
All right. That’s what we talked about last Sunday, and now, let’s move on to the second blessing. Let’s read today’s verse one more time.
 
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4)
 
The world doesn’t say that sadness is a blessing, but Jesus said “blessed are those who mourn” not because mourning itself is a blessing but because those who mourn will experience true comfort from God.
 
But the mourning Jesus talks about here is different from the general concept of grieving we normally think of. While living on earth, we encounter many unexpected events that make us sad, especially when we’re separated from or lose our loved ones. And God is in the midst of our grief and comforts us.
 
But the grief Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes is different from this kind of general sadness because it’s related to our spiritual reality and faith.
 
In the Bible, we see two dimensions of grief that people of God may experience—one is personal, and the other is communal.
 
Personal grief comes from realizing one’s sin and need for repentance. In Luke 18, we read about two different prayers—the prayer of a Pharisee and that of a tax collector. One day, both a Pharisee and a tax collector went up to the temple to pray. But the way they prayed was very different.
 
We read how the Pharisee prayed in Luke 18:11-12. 
“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’” (Lk 18:11-12)
 
This is how the Pharisee prayed. He stood by himself and prayed to God, but his prayer sounded a bit strange. He seemed to pray to God, but he actually boasted about his own righteousness by comparing himself to other sinners and the tax collector who was right next to him.
 
He seemed to give thanks to God through his prayer but he was actually lifting himself up.  He used prayer as a tool to show off.
 
In the next verse, we read how the tax collector prayed.
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” (Lk 18:13)
 
The tax collector’s prayer was very different from that of the Pharisee. He didn’t go close to the temple because he thought he was not qualified to do so as a sinner. He couldn’t even look up to heaven.
 
Lowering himself before God, he prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” while beating his chest. We see how deeply grieved the tax collector was in his heart from this. He knew what he had done and what kind of sinner he was. There was nothing to boast about before God. The only thing he could do was just ask God for His mercy because he knew that without God’s mercy, he couldn’t stand before Him.
 
This is the grieving heart we need to recover in our prayers. Sometimes, we easily forget who we really are before God. Like the Pharisee, we go before God as the righteous, not sinners. But if we could really see the spiritual reality we’re in and its terrible result, we couldn’t go before God like the Pharisee. Rather, we would humble ourselves before God and repent of our sins, asking for His mercy.
 
This is the personal dimension of grief that we experience as God’s children. When we go before God’s presence and see how holy He is, the first thing we realize is what filthy and unworthy sinners we are compared to God’s holiness. And that recognition naturally leads us to mourning and grieving for our sins.
 
The apostle James talks about this personal grief. Let’s read James 4:8-10 together.
 
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (Jms 4:8-10)
 
This is how we should go before God as sinners. We should grieve for our sins, remembering how sinful we are and what Jesus sacrificed to give us forgiveness of our sins.
 
When we go before God in our mourning and grieving for our sins, God will comfort us with His amazing, unconditional, and unfailing love, and the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will purify us from all our sins.
 
The longer we live our faith lives after believing in Jesus, the more we come to realize our absolute need and dependence on Him. When we first believed in Jesus, we experienced true forgiveness in Him. All our sins were washed away by His precious blood and we became new creations in Him.
 
But it doesn’t mean that we become people who can’t commit sins again. Our sinful nature still lives inside us, and it keeps causing us to turn away from God and go back to the sinful lives that we once lived. Like Martin Luther said, we’re righteous but at the same time we’re sinners.
 
That’s the reason we should continue to go before God in our mourning, confessing and repenting of our sins and asking for His mercy. Then we’ll experience God changing our mourning and grief to unimaginable joy in Him.
 
That’s what the prophet Isaiah talked about when he prophesied about the Messiah to come.
 
Isaiah 61:1-3 says,
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…” (Is 61:1-3)
 
This passage is very important in understanding what kind of ministry the Messiah would do. This is the very passage that Jesus applied to himself when He began His ministry in earnest.
 
One Sabbath, Jesus went into a synagogue in Nazareth where He grew up and began to read this passage. And after He finished reading it, Jesus said to the people there, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk 4:21)
 
By doing so, Jesus officially proclaimed that He was the Messiah promised in the book of Isaiah who would come to bind up the brokenhearted, free the captives, release prisoners, and comfort all who mourn and grieve and give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes and joy instead of mourning.
 
That was the purpose of Jesus coming into the world. He came to comfort us and change our mourning into joy in Him. In order to do so, Jesus gladly bore all our sins in His body along with all our worries and sorrows. As Isaiah prophesied,
 
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53:4-5).
 
We find our eternal comfort and joy on the cross. We know we’re forgiven because we know what Jesus did there. He accomplished our salvation on the cross by shedding His precious blood and laying down His life. And Jesus comforts all those who are deeply distressed, frustrated, and grieved through His amazing salvation that He freely offers to those who believe in Him.
 
That’s why we can always find joy and hope in the midst of our despair and grief because we know that Jesus will change our mourning into His joy and salvation.
 
Just as “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rm 5:20), the more we realize our brokenness and helplessness, the more we will mourn for them. But the more we grieve for our sins, the greater joy we’ll find in the love and comfort that Jesus gives us.
 
So, let us stop hiding from God’s presence, pretending not to know the spiritual reality we’re in right now, but let’s boldly go before God, relying on His love and grace that are always much bigger than our problems.
 
Rather than hardening our hearts before God, let’s humbly pour out our hearts before Him and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. Just remember that Jesus didn’t come to seek the righteous but sinners. Just as He always welcomed sinners and was with them while living on earth, He will never reject us, but embrace us with His loving heart and open arms.
 
When we go before God in our mourning and grieving, we’ll find true blessings in Him—His comfort, love, and joy of salvation. Even now, God is waiting for us to return to Him with empty hands. Please listen to His voice and try to respond to it with your lives.
 
Now, let’s read Joel 2:12-13 before we wrap up.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…” (Jl 2:12-13).
 
I want today to be the day when God’s voice is heard in our spirits. It’s never late to return to God. Today is the day of salvation that He gives us. Today is the day we should make the decision to return to Him, rending our hearts and surrendering our lives to Him. He won’t judge us but will embrace us with His grace, compassion, and love.
 
That’s the blessing given to those who mourn. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Mt 5:4)
 
I want all of us here to experience God’s great love and comfort today.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to know the kind of blessing You’re giving us in Christ Jesus.
 
Lord, we want to realize our deep, desperate need for You. We want to know how holy and righteous You are so that we can understand how unholy and sinful we are before You.
 
When we find no hope in our lives, You become our hope. Because we know that true forgiveness is found only in You, we go before You, humbly laying down our thoughts and rending our hearts.
 
Oh Lord, please open our hearts and minds and let us realize our need for You. Please soften our hearts and allow us to experience Your amazing love for us so that we won’t hesitate to pour out our hearts before You.
 
You alone are our hope. You alone are our desire. We thank You for everything You’ve done to change our mourning to joy. We thank You for the joy of salvation You give us each day. We thank You for Your grace and love that are renewed every morning. Let us live in Your blessings in Christ Jesus, Your Son.
 
We love You Lord.
We pray all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our true Comforter, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. Have you ever deeply mourned before God? What did you mourn for and what kind of comfort did you receive from God?
2. Have you ever experienced God changing Your sorrows and desperation into joy and praise? If you have, please share your experience with us.
3. What do you think are the things that hinder us from mourning before God? When was the last time you mourned before Him because of your sin?