How To Receive God’s Comfort
Matthew 5:4
INTRODUCTION
In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the story is told of Pip, an orphan who lives with his sister and her husband. One day while in the marshes, he meets a convict who forces him to steal food and a file from some people. The convict is almost immediately recaptured and a wealthy elderly recluse named Miss Havisham hires Pip as a playmate for her adopted daughter, Estella. When Jaggers, a lawyer, tells Pip that money is being given to him and that he has “great expectations,” he assumes Miss Havisham is his benefactor.
In London, Pip learns manners from Herbert Pocket, his roommate and a relative of Miss Havisham’s. Here Pip also begins his education. All this time, her persuades himself that Miss Havisham is preparing him to marry Estella.
One stormy evening when Pip was 23, a stranger appears at his door, and he is shocked to find out it is the convict. He is further horrified to learn that he has been his benefactor not Miss Havisham. He is further disappointed to learn that Estella is to marry someone else and not him. She was the love of his life. Pip was in need of comfort.
The psalmist expressed his desire for comfort after a disappointing time in his life when he wrote; “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then I would fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then I would wander off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” (Psalm 55:6)
We have all been introduced to times of disappointment in our life. In this one verse, however, Jesus tells us how we can be comforted and attain true happiness. Again it is a paradox, for he says that those who mourn will find comfort and happiness.
The previous verse introduced us to the first rung on the ladder of true happiness. To be poor in spirit, or to recognize our need for God, is the basic foundation, but on that we must build this idea of mourning.
All of us have needed comfort at some point in our life. Perhaps there have been times when we would have liked to call time-out, but we can’t. Life continues in the midst of disappointments, trials and failures. Since we cannot call time out, we must find a way to find happiness in the midst of our circumstances.
There is no greater comfort a person can receive than the comfort of God. Jesus says that comfort will come when we mourn, so let’s see what he means by that.
MOURN FOR OTHERS
The unusual thing about Christ’s statement is that the comfort of God is linked to mourning. Beyond that, happiness is linked to being sad. In essence, Jesus says that if we want to be happy we must be sad. When we are sad, then God will comfort us.
Everything that we have ever been taught or heard contradicts this. Edward Young, the English poet, said, “Tis impious in a good man to be sad.” The lyrics of one song asked, “What’s the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile. So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.”
The parallel passage in Luke states, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:21) Dr. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, “This saying condemns the apparent laughter, joviality, and happiness of the world by pronouncing a woe upon it. But it promises blessing and happiness, joy and peace to those who mourn.”
Just as when Jesus said that the poor were happy he was not speaking literally of a destitute person, so here there is also a spiritual concept involved. We can begin to define Jesus’ conception of mourning by defining what he does not mean. He does not refer to improper mourning. This is feeling sorry or sad for those whose evil plans have gone astray. Our world is filled with wickedness and wicked people who are always devising some evil plan. Many of their plans succeed, but fortunately many of them also fail. For us to feel sad when such evil plans fail is improper mourning, for then we are feeling remorse for those who have misguided loyalties and affections.
Amnon, one of King David’s sons, offers a good example of improper mourning. Absalom, another of David’s sons, had a sister named Tamar who was very beautiful. Amnon fell in love with her. She was a virgin, and the love that Amnon had for her turned into lust and passion. It became so great that it made him sick. The Bible says, “Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her.” (II Samuel 13:2)
Many times when an individual loses a loved one, improper mourning can become an element in their life. Mourning over the loss of a loved one is a natural and necessary process, but when taken to an extreme, it can be very devastating. A person can mourn to the extent that they become useless. Instead of mourning and getting over it or learning to live with the situation, they mourn for long periods of time. They come to the place where they can no longer function in society. It then becomes a selfish endeavor.
To mourn when we face death or disappointment can be proper or improper, and we determine the outcome. An old Arab proverb says, “All sunshine makes a desert.” A life wherein happiness was a constant would really be an unhappy life, for disappointments are the spices of life. When we experience sorrow, we learn to appreciate the good things in life. When we experience disappointments, it increases our sensitivity to the disappointments of others.
Disappointments can even drive us to Christ. John R. W. Scott, one-time minister of All Souls Church in London, once conducted a poll of his congregation to find out what caused them to become a Christian. The majority said it was a feeling of personal desperation, a sense of being at the end of the rope.
But all of the above definitions probably fall short of what Jesus has in mind. A part of our mourning must be for others. We must have a social conscience. We must mourn over the evil in the world as it is manifested in the actions of others. To be a Christian means to be Christ-like and to be Christ-like involves caring for other people-mourning over their evil and their sorrow. Our walk with Christ should produce a sound social conscience. Christ cared for others, and if we belong to him we must also.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
As a Christian and as a Church we should never stand aloof or be critical of those social movements that honestly endeavor to meet the needs of those who have needs they cannot-for whatever reason, meet. If we have a love for humanity then we will have a love for those movements that try to meet their needs. While the need of salvation is primary and the most important need of all individuals, there are many secondary needs that become primary before those individuals can properly hear or will listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To mourn for others is not just to mourn for their salvation. It is to mourn over the inequality we see, whether it is race or social standing or some other inequality. It is to mourn for those who destroy the natural resources of our world. It is to mourn over the ethical problems that arise in politics, medicine, business, religion and in other areas. To mourn over others means to be involved in our world and the things that are taking place in it.
Lord Shaftesbury, English social reformer, did a great deal to improve the life of normal men and women in England. His career as a social reformer began simply enough. As a boy, going along the streets of Harrow, he met a pauper’s funeral. The body of the poor man had been placed in a hand-made coffin and was being pushed through the street on a hand-drawn cart by men who were apparently drunk. As they wove their way along the street, they told lewd stories and sang drinking songs. On the way up the hill to the graveyard, the coffin slid off and broke open. The scene was hilarious to them but disgusting to the onlookers. To Shaftesbury it was an evil that called for the greatest sorrow. He said to himself, “When I grow up I am going to use my life to see that such things will not happen.”
MOURN OVER SIN
While mourning for others is a part of what Jesus is speaking about, mourning over sin is probably the primary meaning. It is godly sorrow that we need to be involved in.
The Greek language uses nine terms for the word “mourn.” The one used here is reserved for the most severe and strongest kind of mourning. It is usually reserved for the kind of mourning that takes place when a person loses a loved one.
This kind of mourning is characteristic of those who belong to God and of those who wish to belong to God. It speaks of the unbeliever who has recognized their sin and need of repentance and in sorrow wishes to turn to God. It also speaks of the mourning of a believer who has sinned against God and is truly sorry for that sin. It is a mourning that helps us to see our unworthiness before God. This naturally flows from the first Beatitude, which says we must be poor in spirit-spiritually bankrupt.
This type of mourning was at the very center of the message of Christ. As he entered the synagogue at Nazareth and began his formal ministry, he read from the scroll of Isaiah and from the place that said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18) The captivity that he spoke of was the captivity or the enslavement to sin. He came to deliver people from its grip.
The gospels record that Jesus cried at least twice over sin during his ministry. First for the unbelief of the Jews at the grave of Lazarus and also over the sin and hardness of heart of those in Jerusalem, which represented Israel.
Just as Jesus mourned over sin, so also are we to mourn over sin if we are to be comforted and find true happiness.
COMFORT IS RECEIVED THROUGH CHRIST
When we mourn as Jesus tells us to-over sin in the world, in the lives of others and in our own lives, we will receive comfort and find happiness. For the unbeliever who mourns over their sin, repents of it, and trusts Christ as their Savior, there is the comfort of knowing that Christ accepts them and grants them salvation. Jesus came to appease the wrath of God against sin, and all who accept his forgiveness find comfort from him.
For the Christian, there is comfort in being delivered from present and future sins and their power, for Christ dealt with those sins on the cross. This does not mean, of course, that we will live a sinless life, but it means that we do not have to be defeated by sin. We can and should be triumphant over sin as we live the abundant life Jesus promises to us.
The final comfort for the Christian is knowing that one day all sin and its affects will be removed from our lives and from the world. It will mean the end of pride, suffering, hate, sickness and death. We will leave the world as we know it and enter the presence of Christ.
The presence of sin in our life can be compared to carbon monoxide in the car. As long as the car runs, the deadly gas is present and will bring death to the occupant if it is unchecked. But if the car is properly maintained, it will be contained in the exhaust system so that it does not bring death. There will only be a slight smell as it is mixed with the burning oil and gas fumes. So sin will always be present with us in this life, but it does not have to overcome us and defeat us and keep us from receiving the comfort of Christ.
CONCLUSION
One has said, “God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him.” The comfort of God comes when we mourn for others, over sin and when we receive it through Christ.
