In our reading this morning the Apostle Paul is writing to the church he had planted in Philippi and he says, ‘Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 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. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven…’
Big Boys don’t’ cry
We’re not very comfortable with tears are we. We’ve grown up within a society that’s tells us that tears are a sign of weakness, tears are for those who are soft. When I was growing up, we were taught that "Real men don't cry." “Grow up”, “stop being a baby”, "Stop crying" so eventually we do! And we become hard, and callous, and cold.
When was the last time you cried? What is it that will make you cry? The death of a loved one, news of a tragedy, a betrayal by someone we love or thought loved us, pain, profound incomprehensible sorrow, failure.
Tears can be very telling. They can tell you what you love, what you regret, what you desire, what you miss. And, of course, tears tell you what breaks your heart. When was the last time you cried?
Tears are biblical
But you know tears are very biblical.
Job 16:20 – ‘My eye pours out tears to God’.
Isaiah 16:9 – ‘I weep with the weeping of Jazer; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh’.
Jeremiah 9:1 – The weeping prophet – ‘O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people’.
Psalm 6:6 – The psalmist cries out, ‘Every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping’. In Psalm 42 he says, ‘my tears have been my food day and night’ and then in Psalm 119, ‘my eyes shed streams of tears because you law is not kept.’
And the Apostle Paul, who was supposedly a woman-hating, doctrine-making, emotion-forsaking. Hard as nails, cold as ice; Gospel preaching Machine - was a man who was never very far away from a good cry for the sake of the Gospel.
According to Acts 20 the Apostle Paul went to Asia ‘serving the Lord with all humility and with tears’. To the Church at Corinth he declared ‘I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears’. And here to the church in Philippi he says, ‘as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ…’
Paul’s ministry of tears
The Apostle Paul was someone who often found himself ministering through tears. No doubt he cried tears of pain and tears of heartache and tears of love. And there’s something about Paul’s tears that show us what it means to take the gospel seriously?
Those precious truths about salvation and sin and grace and repentance should be connecting with our emotions. Because they’re also connected to real people whom we care about. And people mattered to Paul. And so often he cried with them and he cried over them and he cried for them.
Presumably he cried with gratitude for the way God had poured out his saving and transforming grace. Presumably he cried with a burdened heart for those who would not turn from their sin. Presumably he cried with joy in parting company with brothers and sisters in Christ who had become such close friends.
And so this morning, I find myself asking: ‘when was the last time that the spiritual growth and spiritual well-being over those around me made me cry?’ When was the last time the spiritual wellbeing of my family and friends brought me to tears?
When Paul wrote to ‘Timothy’ he said ‘night and day I remember you in my prayers, and I remember how you cried…’
I want to remind you of your tears
Could he write the same about you do you think? Could the Apostle Paul, write to you and say, ‘I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for your ministry. I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for your neighbour. I want to remind you of the tears you have shed for the injustice of the world…’ Or are there no tears for you to be reminded of because, after all, real men don’t cry – or in the words of the Four Seasons song ‘Big girls don’t cry’.
Tear Bottles
But I want to say this morning that tears are a language that God understands.
In Psalm 56 King David is talking to God, and he says, ‘You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded everyone in your book’!
In ancient egypt and palestine, as people mourned the death of a loved one, they would collect the tears that they shed in a ‘tear bottle’. And then these bottles would be placed in the coffin with the deceased as a sign of their grief, as a sign of their pain, as a sign of their devotion.
And the psalmist reminds us that our tears here on earth do not go unnoticed by God. Every tear that we shed is recorded by Him and he collects them in his bottle.
Tears are a language that God understands. Tears speak more about what our hearts feel than any words could ever express.
A tearstain on a letter speaks more than words ever could. A tear falling on a coffin says what a spoken farewell never could. What is there that catches the attention of a parent quicker than a tear on the cheeks of a child? What can offer more support than the tears on the face of a friend as we pour out our troubles to them? And when words just won’t come – it’s our tears that shout out to God.
I want to tell you that Tears are a language that God understands!
Hezekiah was broken and condemned and God had already pronounced the death penalty on his life. But he turned his face toward God, he repented of his ways, he prayed and he wept bitterly. And the most amazing response came from God he said “ I have heard your prayer and (listen) I have seen your tears, and I will heal you”. Friends, it doesn’t take long for God to respond to a tearful heart.
Why should we cry?
So what sort of things should we get tearful about? Well, there are lots of things but let me just very quickly highlight 3. Three times when we are told that Jesus wept.
1. He wept for His friend - John 11:35 - Standing before the tomb of Lazurus, sensing the heartbreak around Him, Jesus wept. Knowing that in just a few moments He would perform the greatest miracle so far. That He would bring back to life a man rotting in the tomb, and yet He wept at the sorrow and the anguish that sin and death brought in its path.
Martha, and Mary were close personal friends of Jesus. And Jesus could see their distress, he could see their pain, he could see their sense of hopelessness. And it moved him to tears.
And you know God has placed each one of you in a unique position. You are where no-one else is or can be. Surrounded by family and friends and people that no-one else is surrounded by. People in distress, people in pain, people living in hopelessness. And that pain, that distress and that hopelessness should move us to tears.
2. He wept for His people – Luke 13:34; Luke 19:41-44 – In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus cried out ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.’ And then a few chapters on in Luke 19 it says that, ‘As Jesus drew near to the city of Jerusalem he wept over it saying "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Here stands Jesus outside Jerusalem weeping for his people because they had become cold and callous, and religious and they had rejected Him. He wept because his people who had been so blessed were being so stubborn. Would he weep over us do you think? Would he weep for this church, this city, this nation?
3. He wept for the world – Hebrews 5:7; Luke 22:43 – Hebrews 5:7 says, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death…’ Jesus wept for the whole world of lost and fallen humanity. As he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane the tears rolled down mingled with blood, so great was His agony as He tormented over a lost and fallen world.
We don’t have to look too hard at our world today to see how far it has fallen. The injustice, the cruelty, the wars, the famines, the suffering. Our fellow human beings being crushed, and squeezed and broken. Watching the awful events in Ukraine unfold – the destruction, the anguish, the devastation - should be enough to bring anyone to their knees in prayer and with hearts that are breaking, let our tears shout out to the God of mercy and compassion.
And back to where we began. The Apostle Paul writes, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.’ That’s the state of many people in our the world, Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, their glory is in their shame.
Do we weep for them, do we shed tears that they too might know him? Are we a church, a people, a community of believers, that loves like that?
Conclusion
Let me finish with this story.
The Salvation Army was holding a convention. Morale was at all-time low. The organization had hit rock bottom. They did not know what to do. They sent a telegram to their founding father, William Booth, asking for any advice he could give on how they could get back on their feet.
William Booth sent back a telegram with two words: "Try tears!" When they did, revival came to the Salvation Army. We can talk about revival, preach about revival, pray for revival, but revival will never come until desperation comes, and the sign of desperation will be the tears of our eyes, and the brokenness of our heart for our lost and fallen world.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – Amen.
