BEATITUDES (4) Those Who Mourn (2)

“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 the Mount. These blessings are different from temporary happiness that we can find in the world because they are not about the world we’re living in now, but the eternal world to come—the kingdom of God.
 
So these blessings may not seem like real blessings from the point of view of this world. Only when we seek them with genuine faith, with the eternal point of view that God gives us through the ministry of salvation of Jesus Christ, can we truly understand them and enjoy the spiritual blessings that God gives us through His Son.
 
Last Sunday, we started to talk about the second blessing. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4).
 
The word ‘mourn’ means to grieve deeply or to lament. But what Jesus is referring to here is not worldly mourning that everyone goes through regardless of their faith, but a special kind of spiritual mourning that children of God must experience in order to receive blessings from Him.
 
There are two different kinds of grief that people of God might experience. One is personal and the other is communal. We talked about personal grief last Sunday. Personal grief comes from realizing one’s sin and need for repentance.
 
The more we try to draw near to God’s presence and see how holy and righteous He is, the more we naturally realize how filthy our sins are. That recognition leads us to mourning and grieving for our sins.
 
When we go before God this way, repenting of our sins with grieving hearts and tears, then we find the blessing He has prepared for us—the blessing of God’s mercy and forgiveness. God comforts us with His unconditional love and we experience the precious blood of Jesus Christ washing over all our sins.
 
That was the purpose of Jesus coming into the world. He came in order “to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve…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)
 
In order to comfort our souls, Jesus willingly and gladly took up our pain and bore our sins and was crushed for them. His wounds brought us healing and His suffering brought us peace. These are the spiritual blessings we can find in Jesus Christ when we realize our sins and mourn for them. Even now, God wants us to return to Him with all our hearts with fasting, weeping, and mourning, rending our hearts.
 
When we go before God this way, He will show us how gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love He is toward us and comfort us with His everlasting love and unending joy that’s much greater than our sins and mourning.
 
Communal Grief
 Now, I want us to move on to the second kind of spiritual mourning—communal grief. It is to mourn for others. There are many people in the world who don’t yet know who God is and the kind of blessings they can find in Him and are therefore heading toward eternal death because of their sins without even realizing.
 
There are also many Christians who are struggling with their sins, addictions, problems, and more. And we are called to mourn for them because that’s what Jesus does.
 
Jesus never stops looking for His one lost sheep, leaving the ninety-nine. Jesus loves sinners and mourns for them. And as Christians, we’re to join in His grieving heart, especially in our prayers.
 
Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet
There was a famous prophet in the Old Testament who is known for his tears—the prophet Jeremiah. He is often called the weeping prophet.
 
Jeremiah was a prophet when the southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon. When God chose the Israelites, He had a special plan that he wanted to carry out through them. God wanted them to be His blessing to other nations so that all people on earth could join in it through them.
 
But, the Israelites rejected God’s will for them. They often despised other nations, thinking that only they were the chosen people. On top of that, they continued to turn away from God by worshiping idols and oppressing the poor. As a result, God’s judgment was poured out on them and they ended up being destroyed by the Babylonians.
 
Even though it was God who poured out His wrath on the people of Israel, He was the One who grieved the most because of their suffering. God was deeply saddened that his chosen people were hurt and killed.
 
So God said through Jeremiah, “Speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for … my people, [have] suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow” (Jr 14:17).
 
I believe that describes God's grieving heart for people who turn away from Him and are headed to eternal death. Even though God has to judge them for their sins according to His righteousness, He still mourns for them because He loves them at the same time.
 
The Bible says that God created mankind in His image by forming human bodies from the dust of the ground and breathing His breath of life into their nostrils. God made them to be with Him and to share His love with them. Imagine how pleased God was when He saw the first human beings made in His image walking with Him and following Him in the garden of Eden.
 
God loved every single moment He spent with them. But, the people whom He loved so much began to disobey Him, turn away from Him, and run to eternal death. How painful must it have been for God to watch this happen? We don’t know because we don’t really care. If we can really feel the grieving heart God has for us, we can’t help but be overwhelmed by His great, unimaginable love for us.
 
In Jeremiah's time, when the southern kingdom of Judah was being destroyed by the Babylonians, God mourned for His people, shedding tears night and day without ceasing.
 
That was the deep grieving heart of God that Jeremiah also felt when he heard God’s message for His people. In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah wrote,
 
“My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.” (Lm 2:11)
 
Here, we can see how deeply Jeremiah mourned while seeing his people being destroyed. He shed so many tears that he said his eyes failed from weeping, and his heart was poured out on the ground. He lamented because he joined in God’s mourning. He was the prophet who participated in God’s lamentation and prayed for the Israelites.
 
And, out of this grieving heart, Jeremiah began to declare the word of God. That’s the reason Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.
 
Even though he was despised because no one wanted to hear his message, Jeremiah couldn’t stop proclaiming God’s word because he knew that that was the only way for his people to be saved.
 
As he said in Jeremiah 20:8-9,
“Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jr 20:8-9)
 
This is one of the common features of those who join in God’s grieving heart. They not only mourn for others’ sins and their consequence, but also proclaim God’s word—His message of salvation—to others out of the passion that comes from grief and a burning heart.
 
The Apostle Paul’s Grief
That was how the apostle Paul also joined in God’s sorrow. In Acts 20:31 Paul said, “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Ac 20:31).
 
This is what Paul told some elders from the church in Ephesus when he said his parting words to them. Paul wanted them to remember how he had warned them night and day for three years with tears.
 
During his second mission trip, Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years. There he earnestly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught God’s word with tears every day. He mourned not for his own sin, but for others who hadn’t been saved yet. He had a strong desire for them to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and believe in Him.
 
We also find Paul’s grief in other passages. Paul said in Philippians 3:18,
 
“For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” (Php 3:18)
 
Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 2:4, “I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (2 Co 2:4)
 
When Paul saw people living like enemies of Christ, rejecting Him as their Savior and Lord, he was deeply saddened and shed tears. Paul’s grieving heart, which came from God, was what enabled him to continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter the circumstances and despite the severe suffering and persecutions that came along with it.
 
I believe this is the communal grief we should recover in our hearts as Christians. Only Christians can have this kind of spiritual mourning for others because this grieving heart is from God. We should learn to participate in God’s sorrow by mourning for those who don’t believe in Jesus yet so that we can be more eager to deliver the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation, to those around us according to God’s will.
 
Jesus, the Man of Sorrows
 Lastly, we can find this special communal grief in Jesus’ life. This is what the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the life of the Messiah in Isaiah 53:3.
 
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows…” (Is 53:3-4, NKJV)
 
In this verse, Jesus is described as a Man of sorrows, a man who is acquainted with grief. Jesus didn’t have to mourn for His own sins because he was sinless, pure and perfect. He was God in His very nature who came into the world in human form to redeem His people.
 
Then, why is he called ‘a Man of sorrows’? That’s because He mourned for sinners, not for himself. Jesus looked down at the world tainted by sin and He mourned deeply out of His great love and compassion for us. Jesus is acquainted with grief because He bore all our grief, sorrows, wounds, and sins in His body.
 
Jesus came to the world to bear them and die on the cross in our place so that we can be healed and enjoy peace. This is Jesus, our Savior, whom we also call ‘Lord.’ And if we really accept Him as our Lord, we should participate in His suffering and sorrow too.
 
Then, we’ll experience God satisfying and comforting our souls with the eternal hope of glory that He will give us after we have finished the good fight of faith on earth. On that day, there will be no more tears; only unending and everlasting joy will remain.
 
“For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Rv 7:17)
 
 That’s the hope we find in the midst of mourning and sorrow as Christians. Because we know that there will come a time when we won’t mourn anymore but rejoice in God forever, we can gladly persevere through present suffering and tears.
 
As time goes by, it is hard to find Christians who mourn for others, especially for unbelievers. Faith is becoming more individualized. More Christians feel relief because of their salvation, while neglecting others who are not saved yet. They are blessed, but refuse to become a blessing of God in the world.
 
Not many Christians are interested in joining God’s deep grief. How about you? How are you joining in God’s sorrow as Christians?
 
We are called to shed tears for those who are going toward eternal death. I really want everyone here to be blessed Christians who willingly join in God’s sorrow so that we can serve as God’s vessels through which His love, mercy, and the good news of salvation can be delivered to those around us.
 
Please remember that when the kingdom of God fully comes true on earth, there will be no more sorrow or suffering, but only joy and glory. Looking forward to that day, let’s boldly choose to join in God’s sorrow and deliver the gospel of Jesus, the good news of salvation, together.
 
Let’s read Psalm 126 together before we wrap up.
 
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” (Ps 126:1-6)
 
This is a great promise given to those who willingly join in God’s grief. There will surely come a time when we will joyfully reap what we’ve sown weeping. God will change our sorrows to everlasting joy in Him. That’s the day we must look forward to and fix our eyes on.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching us about Your grieving heart for us through Your word today. Like the weeping prophet Jeremiah and the apostle Paul, we want to know what it means to join in Your sorrows as Your people.
 
We thank You for sending Your one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as a Man of sorrows to us. We profess that because He bore all our sins and died in our place, we could be healed and saved. We thank You, Lord, for the spiritual blessings You’ve given us through Your Son.
 
Now Lord, we want to join in Jesus’ sorrows along with His suffering. We want to learn to mourn so that we can find the true blessing that’s given to those who participate in Your mourning. Please give us Your heart, Your love, Your perspective, and Your passion so that we won’t grow weary as we serve as Your vessels in this world.
 
Continue to reveal to us the hope for Your kingdom and the joy and glory You will give us on that day so that we can be more than conquerors in this world out of our strong faith in You.
 
We thank You again for everything You’ve done in our lives.
We love you Lord. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. What do you think is the biggest difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow? Have you ever felt God’s grieving heart for those who don’t know Him yet?
2. What do you think are some practical things you can do to join in God’s sorrow and be more eager to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ?