Here we go. The Sermon on the Mount covers three chapters in the book of Matthew. Chapters five through seven. In chapter five Jesus teaches us about the? Law of God. Chapter six is about living in the? Presence of God. And Chapter seven will walk us through the? Judgment of God.
But Jesus starts off with sort of a pre-amble to the sermon known as the Beatitudes. And the beatitudes are NOT about? Conduct. They are about? Character. As we described them last week. They are 8 beautiful flowers in the “garden of our heart” that God wants to see fully blossom in our lives. That inner essence and being which drives our conduct. So these flowers must be carefully and continually cultivated within our heart garden.
And the first blossom that Christ spoke of came from His famous words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
If we were going to give a snapshot thought to what we looked at last week in this idea of being poor in spirit, it was not physical poverty. It was not a personality that is timid, shy, quiet, or even just naturally humble. It is not suppressing the being that God created us as so that the world can see us glory in being poor in spirit.
No, if we are going to summarize what it means to be poor in spirit, I believe, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones believed, John Wesley believed, that what Jesus was referring to is that spirit that rules our hearts when we see our helplessness in the face of God’s holiness. Seeing our helplessness in the face of God’s holiness.
This is an issue of our attitude towards ourselves. Recognizing our spiritual poverty, aside from the grace of God. Being willing to come to a place in our lives when we can look in the mirror, see the image of Christ, and say, “Apart from you I am helpless and hopeless.” That is what it means to be poor in spirit.
So. . .(recite Matthew 5:1-4)
As of yet in our series, we have not tackled this word “Blessed”. It comes from the Greek adjective makareos. It is used here in the beatitudes, in Luke chapter 6, a parallel passage to the sermon on the mount, and actually rather frequently throughout Luke’s gospel. And I wish I could give you some intense, in depth explanation of this word which shows off all of my wisdom and knowledge, but really the only other definition to give you for it is. . .happy. Happy.
Jesus is very literally saying, “Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Let’s face it. The world would have to find such statements, utterly ridiculous. Happy are those who mourn? Say what? Not only would they suggest that it is some form of philosophical oxy-moron. They would even go so far as to suggest that it is just plain moronic. Because the philosophy of the modern world, and largely the modern church is not to embrace mourning, it is to forget about it. Turn your back on it. Ignore it. Don’t dwell on your troubles. Don’t worry. Be happy!
But Jesus says, the ones who are truly happy, are those who mourn. And if you turn over to that parallel passage in Luke chapter 6, you will see it presented in an even more striking fashion.
Luke 6:25 reads, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
Now, before we get in too deep, we need to be sure we place these beatitudes in the context that Jesus is giving them rather than the context which we have so often heard them quoted or even taught in the past. You will remember last week that we suggested and attempted to establish that when Jesus spoke of the poor, He was not referring to the financially poor. Rather, there was an entirely spiritual meaning to Jesus teaching. Because again, the beatitudes are about character, not conduct.
Likewise, what Jesus is talking about here, “Blessed [or happy] or those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” is a spiritual teaching. And if we think of it from a fairly Biblical and logical standpoint, we will see why.
If not spiritual. If simply mourning. If simply experiencing the pain of loss. If simply experiencing the agony and sorrow of wailing and lamenting is the condition for being comforted. Then comfort awaits many who have never turned their hearts towards God.
Many drunk drivers experience an earthly mourning after killing an innocent family, but never repent of their sins and they die uncomforted. Many gang members will show up at a funeral of a fellow gang banger and wail and lament their loss, but never turn from their sinful ways and they die uncomforted.
If all Jesus was referring to was the rather natural process of grieving and mourning loss. If all He is saying is “Happy are they, for they shall be comforted,” than simply suffering here on earth becomes another avenue to eternity. And most, if not all of us, know better than that.
So while this verse may get used at a funeral. Or be written in a sympathy card. That’s really not what Jesus is talking about here. It’s a beatitude. It’s a teaching on spiritual character. And He says, “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
And this is what that looks like. First. . .
1. TO ‘MOURN’ INEVITABLY FOLLOWS BEING ‘POOR IN SPIRIT.’
You have to hear that teaching on being poor in spirit to understand what we are talking about, because the beatitudes build upon each other. So if you missed last Sunday’s teaching, you need to grab the mp3 or the podcast and listen to “Blessing in Poverty.”
What happens is that when we stop comparing ourselves to other people. When we shift our focus from me compared to you, to me in the presence of God. When we see His holiness, and think about the life we have been called to live. When we see our utter helplessness and hopelessness. When we truly look upon our quality of spirit and find it to be poor indeed, we immediately mourn.
It is inevitable. When I truly face myself, and examine myself, and my life, out of the very necessity of what I see. . .I mourn.
I mean, I’ll just be honest. People often seem to wonder why I get so emotional when I talk about who I was before Christ saved me. Or why I get so chocked up when I think of who I am in view of who God is. But what I often wonder is how so many other people can apparently reflect on such things without any emotion at all. I know people are wired differently, but that one is just beyond me.
How can we as people truly see ourselves for who and what we are, truly see God for who and what He is, and it not take us to a place of poverty of spirit and mourning?
In fact, I’m not saying there is a formula for response, or a quantity of tears that must be shed, or a level of stirring that must be outwardly expressed. But if a person can sit in church and say, “Yea, I know who I am without God, and I know what God did for me. I get it.” And it not move them. I’m not sure they really, truly know who they are and who God is. Nor would the church fathers be very sure. Nor dare I say would Jesus be very sure. Because He taught that the path to true blessing is to reach a point of living ‘poor in spirit’ and in ‘mourning.’
I would like you to do me a favor this week. Take on an assignment. To explore what Jesus means to live ‘poor in spirit’ and in ‘mourning’ look at His life. And if over the next few minutes you already find yourself proposing arguments to what I’m about to share before you have even explored it, that might just be a reflection of the world’s influence on us and our disdain for a life of poverty of spirit and mourning.
How many of you have seen the Passion of the Christ? You may remember a scene in the Passion where Jesus is experiencing some flashbacks to His younger years. There are some light moments of joking with His mom and seeming to have fun. Anyone remember those parts? Many of us enjoyed those scenes, partly because they helped us catch our breath in the midst of the intensity of the film. Of course, they are extra Biblical moments. No record of them ever having taken place. But it is nice to see Jesus in a more “human” light. Right?
I remember watching the “Gospel of John.” And when it was over, the thing I loved most about it was that it didn’t portray Jesus so seriously. He smiled a lot. He seemed very easy going. Very light hearted. I could relate to that picture of Jesus better, and found it more attractive.
But do you know what? There is no record anywhere in the word of God of Jesus laughing. We are told that He was angry. We are told that He suffered from hunger and thirst. But there is never, anywhere, any record of laughter in Jesus life. And I know an argument from silence can be a dangerous one. But would we not suggest that we have no better portrayal of who Christ is than the Word of God? And never does it talk about Him cracking a joke. Partying it up. Living the life as we would like to imagine it.
The prophesy about Jesus in the book of Isaiah (53:3) said that, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
In John 8:57, Jesus is in this discussion with the Jews about Abraham, and they looked at Him and said, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” How old was Jesus? Low 30s, tops. If you were 32 years old, and I didn’t know how old you were so I walked up to you and said, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” What might that suggest about your appearance?
In fact, some interpreters take that passage to suggest that Jesus was already looking well beyond His years. Worn by the stress of life as a man of sorrows.
We know that Jesus wept over Lazarus. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Take some time this week, and paint a picture of what Jesus looked like in His day to day living according to the Bible. Maybe there is a model for us of being ‘poor in spirit’ and living ‘happy in mourning’ that will give us some insight into why walking in the Sermon on the Mount is stepping towards God and away from the world.
Or look at Paul. In Romans 7 he gives personal testimony to the inner struggle that plagues his life. This battle wages between the law, and the members of his very own body. He cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
When he compares who he is to God’s righteousness, Paul himself becomes very poor in spirit and mourns out loud, “Wretched man that I am!”
As you move into Romans 8, listen to how Paul describes his life, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
That’s the language of being ‘poor in spirit.’ That’s the language of ‘mourning.’ Longing. Suffering. Groaning.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 that “We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.” When he teaches Timothy and Titus how they are to live, he says they are to be “sober, grave, temperate.” Even the young men are called upon to be “sober minded.”
Near the end of the 19th century, a false Puritanism swept through the church that resulted in a mindset that said the only way to give the impression of being religious is to be miserable. So the church began to react against that and as the 20th century progressed the movement that gained momentum was that if we were going to reach the world. If we were going to make any inroads in our culture. We needed to deliberately put on the appearance of brightness and happiness.
So what developed was an exterior appearance of happiness rather than an inner life. And we had Christians walking around with smiles on their face while their homes fell apart, and their finances fell apart, and their jobs fell apart, and they would raise a hand and say, “Praise God anyway!” because that was what we were told a Christian looked like and how we would attract people to the church.
In other words, we addressed conduct, without addressing character. And we ended up with churches full of people who were happy on the outside, but a mess on the inside. And another group of people that were a mess on the inside and let it show on the outside. And what we really lacked were the very people that would truly attract the lost of the world, which is people that are happy and blessed because they have reached a point of being poor in spirit and mourning the reality of a helpless life without Christ, but a rich life with Him.
You still with me? What Jesus is giving us here is not a picture of a life that is happy go-lucky and walking with Jesus the Jester. It is a life that recognizes the seriousness of the day. Nor is it a life that is overwhelmed by discouragement and depression. Because it is a life that recognizes the true path to blessing and happiness. Something very different than what most of us have been taught, seen modeled, or understood about how life was meant to be lived.
This ‘mournful’ life will inevitably follow from allowing ourselves to become ‘poor in spirit.’ Let’s quickly move down the path that a life of happiness in mourning will take us down.
2. TO ‘MOURN’ LEADS US TO SELF-EXAMINATION OF THE THINGS WE DO.
That’s where it took Paul. I do not do the things I want to do, and I do the things I do not want to do. When we find ourselves ‘poor in spirit’ and begin to ‘mourn’ who we are, God will naturally lead us into the process of self-examination. Looking at the activities, the attitudes, the behaviors that have resulted in becoming this person that I am which I hate being.
You will not find an expert, or a theologian, or a church father who writes about life in the Spirit that will not recommend a life of self-examination. Taking time to pause and run quickly through your activities and attitudes of the day. Posting on our bathroom mirrors the questions, “What have I done, what have I said, what have I thought, how have I behaved with respect to others?”
And I find that when I honestly reflect on such questions, God is able to cultivate the blooms of ‘poverty in spirit’ and ‘mourning’ in my life.
“Well, Chip. That is pretty depressing. Why do I want to go through a list of my failures at the end of the day? Why would I want to beat myself up?” You see the philosophy of the world smacks that we have to feel good about ourselves. Right? But we need to go through these questions so that we can continue down the path. Because the next step on the path is that. . .
3. TO ‘MOURN’ LEADS US TO SELF-EXAMINATION OF WHY WE DO THEM.
If I don’t ask myself what have I done? What have I thought? What have I said? How have I behaved? Then how can I ever get to the root of why I do what I do?
Don’t get me wrong. It is much easier. Much more comfortable. Much simpler to go through my day. Refer to a half-dozen or so people that I have never met as idiots simply because of their driving habits, and then go to bed. But when I stop and reflect on the half-dozen or so people that God created, many of which are walking through hell on earth in their lives at this very moment, and I could do nothing for them but call them an idiot. When I stop and recognize that behavior in my life, I am forced to ask myself, “What controls me? What possesses me? What could possibly have a stronghold in my life to where not getting through a traffic light, or having to drive 20 mph for a few blocks would cause me to lash out against a person?”
When I ask myself why I do what I do, I open myself up to the working and moving of God, all within the backdrop of once again being emptied and becoming poor in spirit and mourning who I am. (Relate to “Christian” murmurs about other people.)
And eventually. . .
4. TO ‘MOURN’ LEADS US TO THE SINS OF OTHERS.
And this is why the growth of these flowers is so important in our hearts. Because in a happy go-lucky, everything together in my life, ‘God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good,’ utopia. . .the sins of others simply highlight how much better I am than them.
But in the garden of a life that is poor in spirit and mourning my own condition, the sins of others breaks my heart for them. In a few more beatitudes Jesus will teach, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” I find it a great deal easier to be merciful, when I am already aware of my desperate need for mercy.
So as we mourn the things we do, and gain an understanding of why we do them, our heart goes out to those struggling with similar battles. And we mourn the sins of others.
Let me encourage us to check ourselves as so called Christ followers. Do we even give pause to the news of the night, or the stories of the newspaper? Do they simply disgust us? Or do we mourn?
Do we look at the moral mess of our society, the state of the world, the suffering of mankind, wars, human atrocities, the financial collapses of families, the lack of health and happiness, know that it is the result of sin in our world, and simply move on? Or do we mourn?
I think that is why Jesus was a man of sorrow. He saw beyond what the physical eye sees, and it broke His heart. (Testimony of my prayers for discernment)
Finally, this path of mourning will lead us to sin itself.
5. TO ‘MOURN’ LEADS US TO SIN ITSELF.
Jesus simply does not believe that you can live for the Kingdom, in a world where the destructive, terrible nature and consequences of sin are so prevalent, without having a heart that grieves and mourns. The rebellion and arrogance of man. The control and manipulation of Satan. How can that not cause us to mourn?
Some might say, “Well, because I’ve read the end of the story. I know who wins.” Well, you know my theological argument to that. To read the end of the story, and jump past how God says that should move our hearts and our spirit, and impact our daily lives. . .that’s just not very good theology. Knowing the now of the story ought to rend our hearts and spirits. Ought to leave us ‘poor in spirit’ and ‘mournful.’
Well, that can all be kind of depressing. So why in the world should we be happy? How can we be happy? As always, it’s really quite simple.
Anyone in here ever had your driver’s license suspended? I have. 16 years old. A few years back, my dad did. He was suffering from stroke like seizures that caused him to black out. We both knew what it was like to have our driving privileges taken away. And when we got them back, we knew a joy that many people have never experienced.
Almost two weeks ago now, a baby boy was found in a field the day after a tornado wiped out his home and killed his mother. Grandma, friends, relatives were ecstatic at the news. Those of us who saw the story didn’t even know the boy, but it brought a smile to our face. But the baby boy. Couldn’t tell it from looking at him. Why? He doesn’t know he was saved. But we do.
And maybe that is why I get so emotional. And maybe that is why I am able to experience true happiness when I stop and think about it. Because I have allowed God to empty my spirit. To take me to a place of truly mourning my condition. And that great sorrow leads to great joy when I realize that I have an advocate to the Father, who pleads my case so that I might inherit the kingdom of God. My great sorrow leads to my great joy. And without the sorrow, there is no joy.
The person who truly mourns is truly comforted and happy. And the Christian life becomes this cycle of mourning and joy, sorrow and happiness, the one leading immediately to the other. There is no putting on appearances. The Christian looks at life seriously, contemplates it spiritually, sees sin and its effects. Is broken by what he sees, and is immediately comforted by the solution of Christ.
Happy are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
(Extensive inspiration for this message taken from D. Martin-Lloyd Jones "Studies on the Sermon on the Mount.")
