Introduction
So we’ve started a series of talks on Matthew 5.1-12, taking us through
to the end of February, and we’re going to be focusing, one by one, on the various
blessings that Jesus promises in these verses.
Briefly, for the benefit of
those who weren’t here last week, and for those who were here but who struggled
to stay awake (it was me preaching after all), we saw that before these verses
say anything about us, they tell us a lot about God and what he is like. Our
God is a God who blesses and who loves to bless.
The word ‘blessed’ (used nine
times in this short passage) comes from the Greek word makarios. It says
‘blessed’ in our church Bibles but it literally means ‘happy,’ and in some
versions of the Bible that’s the way the word is translated.
To be blessed by God, and know
it, is to find life’s deepest satisfaction and contentment in Christ.
The Greeks used to call the
island of Cyprus hé makaria (which is the feminine form of this same
word, makarios). It means ‘The Happy Isle.’
And they called it that because
they thought that Cyprus was so beautiful, so rich, so fertile an island that
you have all you need there for a perfectly blissful, happy life. There was
nowhere better on earth. Obviously, they hadn’t been to Canvey Island or Redcar…
But Cyprus, and its lovely, sun-blessed
climate, its stunning landscapes, its delightful views of the warm, blue
Mediterranean Sea, its exotic flora, its wonderful fruit, and its valuable
minerals and natural resources to the Greeks was everything you need for a happy
life.
That’s a material picture of what
God wants to give you spiritually.
Remember, those who
tended to hang around Jesus were outcasts. Unreformed alcoholics, unloved
prostitutes, unemployable rejects, untouchable lepers, unpopular traitors,
unfortunate losers… they didn’t feel blessed at all.
But Matthew 5.1-12 is
a list of the kind of downcast and dispirited people the Lord wants to bless.
These blessings speak of a life
that pain and grief and sorrow and loss are powerless to spoil.
Nothing in life or death can rob
you of what God wants to give you, especially if life has been unkind to you. And Jesus said to
his closest followers, “No one will take away your joy.” Blessed, blessed, blessed are you.
Mourning
Last week, we saw that God
blesses people who are poor in spirit, meaning those who in their utter
helplessness and spiritual bankruptcy, put their whole trust in God.
If you’re poor in spirit, Jesus says that the inexhaustible
riches of the kingdom will all be yours; the things we all want and need, (but
money and wealth cannot buy). Mercy, forgiveness, joy, inner peace, eternal
life… all come to those who are poor in spirit.
This week, the blessing we’re looking at in v4 is really strange. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn.” It’s almost to say, “Happy are those who are unhappy.”
Remember that Jesus first
spoke these words over ordinary people in first century Galilee. For the last
600 years they had been almost constantly oppressed and put down.
They were harassed and
hounded by the Philistines, then they were attacked by the Assyrians, then they
were beaten up by the Babylonians, then they were ground down by the Greeks.
And now the jackboot
of Imperial Rome was at their throat. Anyone who stepped out of line could be
crucified and many were. It could hardly be worse. This is who Jesus is speaking
to and he brings good news. …
There are futurologists now
predicting that some babies born today will live to the age of 130. It’s not
easy predicting the future.
In 1962 Decca Recording Company declined
to sign a band saying, ‘We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on
the way out.’ That band was called the Beatles.
In 1977 Ken Olson, Chairman of
Digital Equipment Co., said, ‘There is no reason anyone would want a
computer in their home.’
But one thing it doesn’t take a
futurologist to work out is that people will always die, even if they live to
130 or 150.
They might argue over the birth
rate in 100 years’ time, but they all agree that the death rate then will be
the same as it is today, and always has been; 100%.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said
in 1789, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and
taxes.” Although, as Private Eye pointed out after Ken Dodd passed away last
year, in his case not taxes!
But this side of eternity, there
will always be death, so there will always be grief.
The word used here is the
strongest one there is for ‘mourning’ in the Greek language. The root of it is the word you would use to describe a
glass that’s been dropped on a stone floor; it means utterly shattered or
smashed to bits.
Jesus is talking about a deep, inward pain that takes
hold of you, and crushes you, leaving you shattered and bereft with the gnawing,
aching emptiness of loss…
But Jesus says there’s a blessing
for those who walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I want this morning to speak
this blessing, in Jesus’ name, over three different kinds of people. Maybe you
will relate to one, two, or perhaps all three.
1) Those Who Mourn Life’s Sorrows
Firstly,
it’s a promise for anyone in Christ who is literally afflicted by the pain of
grief.
People felt about
death in the ancient world just what they think of it today.
The poet Theocritus (3rd
Century BC) wrote: “There is hope only for those who are alive, but those who
have died are without hope.” (We still say today, “Where there’s life, there’s
hope” which derives from this quotation).
And here’s an extract
from a letter of sympathy sent 2,000 years ago to a friend grieving a close
relative. “I was sorry and wept over the departed one... but nevertheless
against such things as death one can do nothing. Therefore comfort one
another.”
The tone is one of
resignation. It speaks quite pitifully about those whose job it is to comfort -
but who have no consolation to offer.
This is the world
into which God sent his Son. Our
world of cancer and dementia, and heart disease and funerals.
Isaiah saw the
ministry of the Messiah as one that would:
“…bind up the broken hearted…
proclaim the year of
the Lord’s favour,
provide for those who
grieve
to bestow on them a
crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
Jesus, the anointed
one, speaks blessing on the stricken and crushed.
Perhaps because of the huge
anti-climax of Christmas, and the overwhelming thought of having to face the
realities of another year, statistically, New Year’s Day sees the biggest spike
for suicide in the UK.
Three weeks ago, on Boxing Day, somebody
I knew committed suicide. I
didn’t know him well; I met him on three or four occasions, but he leaves a bereft
wife and two young children. It’s just all wrong.
And this blessing for
those who mourn is not just for those walking behind the coffin as it’s carried
into church. It’s also:
·
for the child who
laments their loss of innocence through sexual abuse
·
for the teenager
who’s being relentlessly bullied at school
·
for the single person
longing for intimacy but overwhelmed by loneliness
·
for the deserted
woman whose husband left her someone else
·
for the couple who
are infertile and cannot have children
·
for the man living
under the dark cloud of depression
There are so many afflictions
in this messed up world. The Bible says that the whole world is under the
control of the evil one. Satan and sin just ruin everything. But God’s plan is
to bless.
1 Thessalonians 4,
written to Christians says, “We grieve, [yes, we do grieve] but not as those who have no hope.” Even Jesus grieved
at Lazarus’ tomb. As soon as he saw the grave, he welled up and he wept.
“Jesus wept.” The
shortest verse in the Bible. People say it casually, almost as a swear word
today, but it’s a precious and holy thing; Jesus enters our deepest, rawest,
bitterest human experience and he says, “I know” and he weeps too at the utter ugliness
and wretchedness of death.
The Gospel singer
Sheila Walsh once talked about a present she received from a friend.
She says: “When I
opened the gift, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. The small glass bottle was a
beautiful cobalt blue, about two inches tall, covered in sliver filigree.”
A note explained that
it was actually a tear bottle from an antique store in Israel. Tear bottles
were common around the time of Christ. Mourners would collect their tears as
they walked toward the graveyard to bury their loved one, a keepsake to show how
much that person was loved.
She says, “I treasure
this little bottle because it reminds me of a profound spiritual truth David
wrote about in Psalm 56, at one of the lowest points of his life. David had
been captured by enemies in Gath, but he found comfort in the fact that God saw
everything he was going through and caught every single tear he shed.”
Do you ever feel
alone? Have you ever thought, ‘No one on this earth understands the depth of my
suffering?
David knew that God notices
every tear and sigh from his children. Do you question that God loves you that
much? Or can you rest in that truth today?
We have a heavenly Father
who keeps track of all our wanderings and catches in his jar every single tear
we cry.
So often in prayer
ministry, we see tears begin to silently fall as the Holy Spirit tenderly
brings comfort to the afflicted.
2 Corinthians 1
speaks about “the God of all comfort.” Notice that word “all.” There is nothing
beyond God’s power to console and bring light. The Holy Spirit is called in
Scripture “the Comforter.” This is what he does. The Lord lifts up the fallen.
Some of you may be here
this morning broken hearted, carrying the heavy weight of pain and grief. Maybe you haven’t properly
mourned a loved one. Maybe you have but you still can’t yet find any relief,
any light and hope. The Lord wants to bring release and comfort and healing today.
Blessed are those who mourn.
2. Those Who Mourn Over Their Own Sin
Secondly,
“blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted” is a promise for
those who grieve over their own sin.
This doesn’t mean that God wants us to be morbid and
melancholy; miserable sinners, and the more miserable the better. No! “The joy
of the Lord is your strength” the Bible says.
But you can never fully appreciate how wonderful God’s
love is until you have really understood how desperate you are for God’s mercy
over your life.
Sandra here, when
she was a brand-new Christian, for weeks and weeks, she just sat in church and
wept all through the service every Sunday.
The night I became a
Christian in July 1979, I’ll never forget it, I just cried and cried, shaking
uncontrollably.
I had had no peace
with God, I had been a restless wanderer always looking for more, for reality.
I was sick of my superficial life with no depth, no integrity. Layer upon layer
of vanity and of my fake, wasted life, the sheer mess I had made of things,
just came pouring out. Sin is ruin. But, in minutes, those tears became tears
of joy.
In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul talks about this. He says to the
Christians in Corinth, “You became sorrowful as God intended… Godly sorrow
brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly
sorrow brings death.”
Is there anyone grieving over the emptiness of life,
who wants to come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life today. Give your
heart to Christ today? Why would you not?
3. Those Who Mourn over society
Thirdly,
“blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted” is a promise for
those who weep over the tragic injustices of society.
The godly Victorian Bishop of
Liverpool J.C. Ryle once said, “Others may think it enough to mourn over dead
bodies. For my part, I think there is far more cause to mourn over dead souls.“
I’ve seen grown men
at prayer meetings bent over and moistening the floor with their tears as they
prayed for God’s mercy to fall on their broken, messed up city.
According to the United Nations,
an estimated 40 million people are victims of modern slavery; a quarter of them
children.
Worldwide, $2.4 trillion are
spent annually on an industry that creates or manages violence (the arms
industry), while a tiny proportion of that - $175 billion - would eradicate
world hunger with one investment.
In Psalm 119 the
writer says, “Lord, I weep rivers of tears because your law is not kept.”
Jeremiah, the longest
book in the Bible, is a book drenched with tears. He is called the weeping
prophet. “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain
of tears, I would weep day and night” he says, and he goes on to list all
that’s broken in the country he loves; murder, unfaithfulness, lies, deceit,
slander and no fear of God.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem
and its stubborn unbelief. It was grievous to him. He saw they were going to reject
him, their Messiah, and so forego the only opportunity they’d get to be made right
with God.
The Chaplain General to the UK prison
service said that when he first went into the prisons, he thought he would take
Jesus in with him. He thought they’d be so dark, so hopeless, so Godforsaken
that when he came in as a Christian, people would see the difference.
But do you know what he said? He
said, “I realized, after about a week, that Jesus was already there!”
Already present with the lowest of the low. God is doing amazing things in our
prisons, did you know that?
When we grieve and
look to Jesus, he sends his Spirit to enfold us in love. Prayers do effect
change. Jesus is coming back. And when he does, the Bible says, “God will wipe
away every tear from our eyes.”
Ending
A testimony
to end. In 1994, as civil war wreaked havoc in Burundi, a nurse in the public
lavatories of a hospital spotted something moving in the toilet.
It was a premature baby that had been thrown away. Somehow
it was still alive. She fished the baby out of the toilet bowl, washed it in
water, and contacted a Christian missionary called Chrissie Chapman.
Chrissie took the baby, five days old, and weighing 5lb and
named her Grace. Grace had to have antibiotics because the open end of the
umbilical cord had been in contact with the toilet water. Sadly, that probably led
to Grace losing her hearing. She was totally deaf.
When Grace was 6 months old, a travelling evangelist came
by and offered to pray for her. He anointed her ears with oil and prayed for
Grace’s hearing to be restored in the name of Jesus.
It seemed to make her worse! For the next three days, Grace
screamed every minute she was awake. Nobody knew what to do.
It was only when someone accidentally slammed a door and
Grace suddenly jolted that they realized her tears and screams were because she
had been healed and could now hear everything around her.
That was 1994. Grace has matured into a beautiful and intelligent
young woman, full of faith. She finished school with good grades and was
awarded a University scholarship.
Grace says that God has big plans for her life. She’s
committed to praying and working for the healing and transformation of Burundi.
Our God brings life out of death. “Blessed are those who
mourn. They shall be comforted.”
Let’s pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 13 January 2019
