Last week we discussed the first beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit. With this knowledge we can gauge if we have a healthy sense of being poor in spirit in relation to others and our own walk with God. The following two questions may be a guide.
Question 1: What do you feel like when you sense that you have failed, or possibly failed God? Do you immediately try to cover up and make excuses or do you come clean?
One of the most wonderful truths I learned about the love of God is the fact that he saved me knowing that I would fail Him in the future. For some, whose backgrounds have been difficult in a particular area, it is a deep and major battle to get to the point of trusting God enough with their failures.
Question 2: What do you feel like when someone else tells you that you are poor in spirit in a particular matter? Do you immediately make excuses for yourself or do you objectively weigh up what is shared and agree with the judgment should it be correct?
It is one thing to acknowledge to yourself that you are far from perfect, but it is quite a bit different when someone else tells points this out to you. It is a funny quirk of human nature that we can admit to someone our own failures, but be mortified and hurt when someone else points out these same failures.
To me, the beatitudes are a lot like cotton candy. Every time you think you have a mouthful, it just dissolves leaving you with a pleasant taste but just as hungry as before. With this desire to taste more lets go into the next beatitude, Blessed are those who mourn.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
As Jesus began this sermon against the teachings and faith of the Jews (and those who clings to the notion that it is well off if it only has possessions, and honor), he now continues and shows the error of what they regarded as the best, most blessed life upon earth, having good, quiet days and suffering no discomfort.
Jesus now states the exact opposite of what was believed, and calls those blessed that have sadness and suffering. This is not what the world says is being blessed. Who wants to suffer hunger, trouble, disgrace, contempt, injustice and violence? Those who are free of these are the ones who are blessed, right? What Jesus is saying here is that there is another life than the one they are seeking, and that a Christian must see to it that he is a sufferer and sorrow-bearer in this life. He who is not willing to do this may indeed have a good time here, living according to all the heart’s desire, but he will suffer forever after this life.
I know, this brings a question to mind, is everyone going to be damned to hell who laugh, sing, dance, dress well, eat and drink? Isn’t this against some of the other writings in the Bible? Like when Paul in Philippians 4:4 says:
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!
And again in Romans 12:15 when Paul says:
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
So, here is proof that the Bible contradicts itself. Well no, not at all. Just as I said before, to have riches is no sin, nor is it forbidden; just so to be cheerful, to eat and drink well, is no sin, nor is it being condemned. Just as he is not calling the spiritually poor who have no money or anything of their own, but he who does not only crave after it or put their own confidence in it as if it was the kingdom of heaven; so also he is not talking about those who mourn always outwardly and downcast, looking gloomy and never laughing, but he who does not comfort himself with having a good time and living luxuriously, as the world does.
This is not a mourning that means only crying like little children. This is not deep grief. This is not the mourning as when you are caught doing something you should not be and you are more mourning to the fact you were caught. This is not something that found its way to your heart and is pouring out through your eyes.
This mourning is when you look at the world that we must see daily and be painfully conscious of so much malice, arrogance, contempt for and blasphemy of God and his word, that we cannot have many cheerful thoughts. We are supposed to know what is happening around us, not hid or ignore what is in front of us.
Just being a Christian is not just having a wife, settle into your corner of the world, not worry or care about those outside of your immediate circle of life, just reading your Bible and mediate. We still need to be a part of this world and cannot pretend as to what is happening is of no concern to us. This is what is so different with Christian churches. The preachers must live in the world of envy, hatred, scorn and ridicule, ingratitude, contempt and revilement, so that they are inwardly pierced and tormented. The world will not have none of this mourning, and therefore seeks their own callings and modes of life that can have a good time and need not suffer anything from anybody.
Christian do have this advantage, even though we have to see the sorrow and misery of the world, and that although we are to mourn we shall be comforted and be blessed. Just like Lot in Sodom, know that just because everybody around us are acting the fools, we do not have to and God can snatch us out of the situation we are in.
We are also not to just mourn for the world around us, but we should be mourning about our own selves. Mourning is the correct and appropriate response to our recognition that we are poor in spirit. We have to accept that we fall short of all that God intends for us. We are incapable of pleasing Him through our own self-effort and righteousness, and we need to mourn over this fact. Just being poor in spirit is not an automatic entry into His kingdom. It is a good start but we need to also mourn over our sinful state.
At the heart of this second Beatitude is responsibility. We have a responsibility to the world around us and we have to look at ourselves the same way. We are to mourn our waywardness, not just make excuses for it or to treat it as of little consequence. If our sin was of little consequence, He would not of had to send His son.
In today’s world, taking responsibility for our failures is increasingly difficult. In America we live in a world where people want freedom to do whatever they like but do not want the responsibility of anything goes wrong. If it goes wrong people see themselves as a victim of circumstances – victims of their genes they inherited, victims of the environment they were raised in, victims of being misunderstood. The list can go on and on. Jesus tells us we need to mourn. We need to face up to our shortcomings.
What does Godly mourning produce?
First, true mourning leads to repentance. Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians 7:10, which he says “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” The goal for mourning is not just to bring regret for sin but ultimately a severance from sin.
Secondly, true mourning brings death to our demand for respect. True mourning will not only produce the fruit of repentance, but coupled with our recognition that we are poor in spirit, it will lead a death blow to our insistence upon getting what we believe to be our due respect. How we all love respect. Dictators kill for it; many actors and singers sell their bodies and talents for it; managers and workers fight each other tooth and nail for it! Yet Jesus laid it all to the side so that he could come here to be our savior. He rejected the temptations of Satan. He stayed on the cross when taunted to come down to prove who he was.
Finally as we have also been discussing, true mourning influences our actions towards others. We are to reach out and help the world around us. We each have our own struggles with sin that we have overcome and the world outside of these walls have the same struggles that they do not know how to escape from. But we must keep a balance, we are to empathize with the sinner, but cannot justify the sin. We are not to be giving false hope. There is such an over emphasis in making people feel good about themselves and only focus on their good qualities without looking at the sin inside. Sometimes as we have been Christians for a long time, we forget about the struggle we had before we were saved.
As we mourn and have mourned for our sin, we are to also mourn for those who continue in their sin. Not condemning, not excusing, not ignoring, not rejecting, but loving them like we have been loved.
Also for those who mourn properly have to take joy when we can, so that we do not become just utterly sad and miserable. For no man can endure nothing but mourning. Grief has killed many people. Jesus does not want us to have nothing but mourning and sadness here, but warns against those who will not mourn at all, who only want to have a good time and all of their comfort here. Jesus also what to teach his follower that if it goes badly with them and they have to mourn, that they may know that this is God’s good pleasure, and it should also be theirs, and that they should not swear or get angry or despair as though God has no mercy. This is the purpose of this promise, that this is well pleasing to him, and that he calls them blessed, and besides that he comforts them here, and they shall be entirely relieved of sorrow.
Therefor bid good-bye to the world and all that harm us, in the name if their lord, the devil, and let us sing a song and be cheerful, in the name of God and Jesus Christ. It will not end with them as they wish. Although they rejoice at our misfortune and do much to injure us, we are to keep up good courage.