Scripture Matthew 5:4
Matthew
5:1, 2, 4
Now when he
saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came
to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:
4 Blessed (Happy) are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
HAPPY
ARE THOSE WHO ARE SAD! WHAT?
Jesus surely didn’t mean that, did he? If all scripture is God breathed and true, we better try and figure out what in the world Jesus means by this second Be-Attitude:
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” Can I have a
dollar for every time I have been asked that question in 35 years of
ministry? It has been asked by God’s
people since the beginning of time. The problem is – it is the wrong question.
It is a question that can only be answered by God who has chosen to never
answer that question, and for good reason. Whenever that question is asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” the person does not want an answer, they want an
argument and God will not be pulled into an argument with us that would never
end. As soon as we would hear the why, we would then say, BUT…and begin our
side of the argument. The OT prophets often lamented “Why Oh Lord?” or “How
long Oh Lord?” Even Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why…?”
And in each case God was silent.
If that is the wrong question, is there a right question we should be asking instead? Well, there is a better question that can be and is answered. “What happens to good people when bad things happen to them?” Jesus answers that question in the second beatitude, “My people will be happy when they mourn because they will be comforted by me and my word.” Christianity never claims bad, tragic, horrific things will never happen, but it does promise we have a comforter to go through it with us. How much easier is it to go through a tragedy to have friends and loved ones go through it with you – multiply that to have the comfort of heaven go through it with you. God tells us in Isaiah 43:1-2a But now, this is what the Lord says — he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
ANGER vs MOURNING If you don’t have sorrow/mourning for your loss, how can God comfort you? We will never experience comfort if we don’t ever mourn. Listen to this story and see if you can tell how mourning was followed with comfort. However, this story starts near the end:
She arrives at 4:20. The bus is not due until 4:42. To her,
the dismal bus station is a bright foyer. She is not discouraged by the haggard
and sleepy-looking travelers, by the confusion, or by the bus station smell.
Everything is good today.
“Which ramp will it come in on?”
“Eight or nine, lady. Whichever is open. It will be
announced.”
“On time?”
“We don’t know, lady. We don’t get reports unless they are
late. They usually run on time.”
“Is that it?”
“No, it really isn’t due yet. They never come ahead of
time.”
“Oh, there it is. No, that one
is coming from the south. His will come from the north.”
The bus finally arrives.
“Hold back the tears,” she
whispers to herself. “Where is he? He surely would
have phoned if …oh, there he is. Hold back the tears.”
She doesn’t see anyone else. Just the boy; well, the young
man.
She does not
notice the sailor with his awkward bag;
or the old lady
walking with a cane and carrying a box tied with string;
or the young
mother between two toddlers, and an infant asleep in her arms.
She sees only her son. And the tears come anyway. They are
tears of joy, spring fed from her very heart.
Forgotten now is
the bleak day last fall when the bus station was dull and dark, the day her
heart was mangled in every grinding gear. Her son’s bus had arrived and
departed much too soon that day because it carried him across country to
college. It was a slowly moving prison and her boy was its captive.
The tears that day were streams of grief. But now, they are tears of joy. This is a moment to cherish. A golden moment to keep locked in a jewel box, to hold and enjoy on days when loneliness again returns to haunt her empty house.
How do we turn mourning into morning?
1) Realize what you can do for yourself.
a)
Don’t blame God. All
sickness and disease (dis-ease = when our bodies are not at ease with our
environment). God did not introduce sickness into the world; Adam and Eve did.
Most illnesses or tragedies are not associated with a single act but with an
environment we all have aided in being present in this world. (e.g. Algae Bloom
– less present because less rain – less run off from farmers chemicals.) Don’t
blame God, He did not create your illness or tragic circumstance.
b)
Don’t blame
yourself. While in Seminary in KC. A walkway collapsed killing 114 people. One
woman who was there spoke about her guilt for not helping others – she couldn’t
bring them back from the dead. She felt responsible and ultimately her guilt
caused her to withdrawal and attempt suicide which left her in a coma for 3
days and they were scheduled to pull the plug on her life support when her eyes
opened and she lived and eventually realized that she could not have done anything
to prevent people from dying that night. Don’t blame yourself. Most things that
happen contain a whole world of contributing factors.
2) Realize what God can do for you.
Add
up your joys – never count your sorrows.
“Look
at what you have in your life, not at what you have lost.”
Phil
4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord
is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of
God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —
think about such things.
Mourning over my sin
On Nov 4, 1974 after hearing about the love of a savior
who died because of how I had sinned, I first began to mourn the fact that I
was a sinner, that I had gotten life all wrong, that I was insufficient to make
my life better; but my mourning was turned to joy by the time I knelt poor in
spirit before God and confessed my sinfulness and received Jesus as my Lord and
Savior. When the preacher said Amen at the end of my salvation prayer, the
mourning for my sin had not disappeared but was now overshadowed by the comfort
and joy of being set free from the penalty of that sin. The comfort and joy would not have been
possible without first experiencing the mourning.
Mourning over the lostness of others
John Knox mourned and prayed; “Give me Scotland, or I
die!” And Scotland was filled with new life in Christ. John Wesley mourned and
prayed, and the Methodist movement was born and spread across America. Martin
Luther mourned and prayed for the Catholic church, and the Protestant Reformation
spread across the world.
Mourning over death
2 Tim
2:12 “If we endure, we will also reign with him.”
Suffering
can be endured when we know we do not suffer alone. Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” John 14:1-4 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also
in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may
be where I am.”
1 Cor
15:50-57
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
Horatio Spafford
knew something about life’s unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney
and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871.
Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.
Thinking a
vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on
a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing
business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was
involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their
lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife,
Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to
her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
Horatio
immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain
of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned
Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the
shipwreck had occurred.1
As Horatio
thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and
mind. He wrote them down, and they have since become a well-beloved hymn:
When peace like a river,
attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows
roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast
taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my
soul.2
Ps
30:5b “Weeping may remain for a
night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
SING: “It is well!”
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