No one can truly repent unless he is sorry for his sins. This is what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." When we mourn for our own sinfulness – and turn away from it in repentance – God comforts us with salvation.

[I’m reading from Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, dated March 30, 1863.(1) The day was observed 30 days later, on April 30, 1863]

In making this proclamation, Lincoln, along with like minded members of the United States Senate, believed that the nation’s collective sins could have been the underlying cause of the War Between the States and some of the darkest days of our history. Rather than continue in pride and arrogance, the President believed, the nation ought to mourn its sins and repent, lest even worse things come upon it. Please keep this idea of mourning as a proper response to sins in your mind as you listen to the rest of my message this morning.

Last Sunday we began a new series from the book of Matthew called Learning from the World’s Most Famous Sermon. That sermon is recorded in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 of our New Testament. We refer to it as the Sermon on the Mount. We kicked off the series with a look at the first of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This morning we’ll consider the second Beatitude in Matthew 5:4: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

I pointed out last time that the words Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, though they are well-known by many of us, were revolutionary and perhaps even shocking to their first time hearers. They presented the ultimate challenge to the way the world thinks and acts. While the words of this sermon have lost much of their surprise effect due to our familiarity with them, it is still true that living by them in the 21^st century is as much out of the norm as it was in the day they were first spoken.

Jesus used the word "blessed" nine times in the first 12 verses of this sermon. "Blessed are… the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the gentle… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," etc. The word "blessed" means "happy." But it goes a step farther than mere circumstantial happiness. It represents a happiness that can exist despite difficult circumstances.

Lasting happiness, we saw last time, is to be found in being "poor in spirit." At first it seems like an odd statement that happiness could be found in being poor in anything. Yet it is the person who acknowledges his or her sin and therefore, their bankrupt, poor in spirit condition before a perfect and holy God that becomes a prime candidate for His grace and mercy.

In verse 4 now we see that Jesus took that spiritual bankruptcy a step farther. As a result to the realization of spiritual bankruptcy, the seeker of God mourns his/her condition and is blessed and comforted by God. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I’m calling this message, Joy Comes in the Mourning.

We don’t typically associate mourning with happiness, so what do you suppose Jesus meant when He taught this seeming paradox – that those who mourn will be happy and comforted? Let’s look first at:

1. What Jesus Probably Didn’t Mean.

I’m reasonably sure that the Lord wasn’t referring to:

There seem to be a certain number of emotionally burdened individuals in every group whose pessimistic outlook on life is always negative. Like Mourning Doves, they have one sad note which they play with no letup. Like Eeyore, the cynical donkey in Winnie the Pooh, their lives are one big sigh after another. "Oh bother!" is the sad refrain. All of life is sadness and sorrow. It is as though they have declared war on happiness and if joy ever did come into their proximity so as to threaten to lift their spirits, they’d squash it like a bug. Such individuals not only have a personal eloquence when it comes to doom and gloom but it sometimes seems that the only joy they ever derive from life is that of raining of the parades of others, shooting down their aspirations and sucking up all the oxygen of the more hopeful souls around them.

"The sun is supposed to come out tomorrow after 15 days of straight rain. Isn’t that wonderful?"

"Yeah, but you know it will only be short lived. Probably by the time I’m up and about it will be all over. This is the wrong time of year to get excited about sunshine. Besides, it will just cause the grass to grow faster and I’ll just have to mow it."

I’m not entirely sure how people get into such revolving traps of pessimism such that they can never have a happy day in their lives. Psychology is not my long suit, but I suspect that it is primarily caused by inordinate self-focus. Such people seldom lift their eyes out of the pits of their own despondency long enough to realize that others have problems, too, yet somehow manage to cope without becoming black holes of despair. Perhaps in some twisted way they thrive on whatever sympathy they can garner from others.

There is no blessedness in that kind of mourning. There is only gloom, defeat, and misery. Surely such mourning is not what Jesus meant.

I also rather doubt that Jesus meant:

B. Those who Mourn the Loss of Earthly Possessions, Youth, or Health.

Mourning is usually brought on by loss. We loose something we are dearly attached to and we are overwhelmingly sad.

There are at least three things that we are warned about in Scripture that we dare not allow ourselves to become too attached to, lest we end up mourning their loss: Earthly possessions, youth, and health.

As for earthly possessions, 1 John 2:15 says, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world."

I don’t believe this means that we cannot enjoy our possessions – or even have favorite possessions from which we derive pleasure. It’s just that we should not grow unduly attached to them because in the end we will lose them all. I’m reminded of the rich fool in Luke 12:20 to whom God said, "You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?" His life was built on his possessions and he lost them all.

We need to hold our possessions loosely enough that the prospect of losing them does not leave us mourning hopelessly. Use them, enjoy them, and when it is time to give them up, be ready to do so.

Mourning over lost youth is also a futile thing, though in a youth oriented culture such as ours, people often do it. I was sick for several months a few years ago and had the dubious "privilege" of viewing a lot of old television reruns, including a favorite of my younger years - "Hawaii Five-O." Do you remember that series? It starred Jack Lord, who played Steve McGarrett, the handsome police detective who drove that big black Mercury Park Lane that seemed like it was 25 feet long. McGarrett nearly always got his man. "Book’im Dano" was one line he is remembered for.

From a documentary on Jack Lord, I learned that the once handsome actor who passed away in 1998, became a virtual recluse in his latter years, shunning the public eye. It seems he preferring to be memorialized as the ever-young handsome detective who nearly always got his man rather than as the aging former actor he became.

"… Childhood and the prime of life are fleeting," wrote Solomon in Ecclesiastes 11:10 Yes, we can enjoy our youth, but we need to prepare our minds for the reality that we won’t stay young. Mourning about it does not bring happiness but rather, misery.

Virtually the same thing can be said for health. We will all lose it, no matter how fantastic the medical breakthroughs. Mourning the loss of health does not lead to blessedness. Solomon again, this time in Ecclesiastes 12:1-4:

This poetic picture of aging reminds us not to trust in our health to the extent that we ignore our more important relationship with our Creator. We need to invest our lives in the things that endure.

It isn’t likely that Jesus was speaking of this kind of mourning when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn…." He also wasn’t talking about:

This would be the Christian person who, though he/she fears God and turns away from the former things that separated him/her from God, still has a fond an attachment to those things they "gave up" and a definite regret over having to leave them behind.

My niece recently moved to Portland and I’ve had a few opportunities to visit with her and her husband since they now live closer to us. We were at a family birthday gathering for our granddaughter week before last and her husband was telling me of some recent discoveries he made about his deceased grandfather. His grandpa went through World War II and the story to his family had always been that he served as a Pharmacist’s Mate on a hospital ship. He never spoke of the war beyond that and had sworn his wife to secrecy regarding his involvement in the military. The grandson was recently looking on the Internet for information about the ship his grandfather was on and discovered that far from being a hospital ship, it was a war ship that had been through some of the worst fighting in the South Pacific. The grandson, whose only interest is in honoring the heroic memory of his grandfather, continues to do his research and has discovered an impressive wartime record that few living people knew about. Yet far from being proud of those years, this man wanted to just forget them – which he nearly did by burying them in obscurity right up to his death.

I’ll leave you to decide how you might feel about war and the heroism of those who have fought in it. My point is simply that while this man probably deserved respect and praise from his family and friends for his sacrifice, apparently from his point of view he saw no glory in the things he did.

Likewise, I see no glory at all in bragging about our lives before we came to Christ, reveling in the things that we were or might have been. Yet from time to we see individuals whose eyes light up whenever they talk about their sordid past – more than they ever light up when they talk about their lives in Christ. Like ancient Israel in the desert with Moses, they think back to their years in Egypt through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia, remembering only the high points and forgetting that in Egypt they were slaves!

Perhaps Paul’s approach to the accomplishments of his life before Christ might be helpful here. No slouch when it came to achievements of the flesh, he wrote to the church at Philippi: "More than that, I count all things [accomplishments in his life before Christ] to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ…."(2)

Paul didn’t mourn the loss of his former accomplishments in the world. He had no regrets that God had called him to repentance. Perhaps retelling events of our past can be useful if it serves to illuminate the distance that God’s grace spanned in order to reach us, but to brag about things we did before Christ in such a way that we mournfully wish we could return to those days, in my opinion, reveals parts of life that still need conversion. Surely such mourning – such "repentance with regret" - is not what Jesus referred to.

It is also probable that when Jesus said "Blessed are those who mourn," He did not mean:

Paul mentioned such people in 1 Thessalonians 4:13: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope."

The "rest who have no hope" that Paul referred to were those who did not know Christ. Lacking the hope of life after death, their grief for their lost loved ones was overwhelming.

Such mourning does not bring blessing, nor is it desirable. Paul says, "That you may not mourn as the rest who have no hope.’ Surely this is not the kind of mourning Jesus referred to.

That rather naturally leads us to what Jesus probably meant when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Coming on the heels of verse 3 which we talked about last time, that is, Jesus’ statement, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and how we related it to our spiritual bankruptcy because of our sin, I rather think that what Jesus said here about mourning is linked to sorrow over the effects of our sin – both collectively and individually.

Mourning over the collective sins of the nation was what President Lincoln called his generation of Americans to in the proclamation I read to you as I started this sermon. Rather than arrogantly pride themselves in their apparent progress, the President thought that Americans in the midst of civil war ought to mourn their sins and their exclusion of God from their lives. Lincoln’s proclamation was a bold move – but the idea that God might bless during difficult times if there was sorrow over sins was not new. Nearly two millennia before him, Solomon was told in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 as he and ancient Israel dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

If God’s ancient people would collectively mourn their sins and return to Him, He would bless them once again. While this promise applied specifically to ancient Israel, the principle lives yet today, here in the teaching of Jesus in the Beatitudes – "Blessed at those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

But what if this nation never comes back around to that kind of introspection and mourning? Certainly such a daring proclamation as the one made by Lincoln would invoke a firestorm of protests in modern America – and serve as a barometer perhaps, of how far we have slid from where we once were.

That is why I believe there is also a more basic level of mourning that Jesus had in mind when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I speak of mourning the effect of our personal sins. Every nation is made up of individuals. A sinful nation is made up of sinning individuals. Every revival that moves a nation back toward God begins with the heartfelt mourning, repentance, and prayers of individuals. Ultimately therefore, I think Jesus was talking about our own mourning and broken-heartedness over our sins.

The core of Jesus’ teaching was not the "Golden Rule" or "turn the other cheek." Certainly those teachings are important but they are not the heart of His message. The main thrust of Jesus teaching while He was on earth can be summed up in one word: REPENT!

In fact, if you check it out in the gospels, you will find that the very first recorded command of the Lord to the multitudes after He was baptized by John and began His ministry is recorded in Matthew 4:17: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"(3)

The purpose for which God sent His Son into the world was the salvation of lost sinners. That salvation and acceptance by God is conditioned upon repentance and no one can truly repent unless he is sorry for his sins.

May I repeat that last statement? No one can truly repent unless he is sorry for his sins. And if he or she cannot repent, they cannot be saved!

Paul said essentially that in different words in 2 Corinthians 7:10: "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation…."

Be sure to note the progression:

Godly sorrow à repentance à salvation

No one can truly repent unless he is sorry for his sins. This is what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." When we mourn for our own sinfulness – and turn away from it in repentance – God comforts us with salvation.

The Corinthian church was way out of line when Paul wrote the letter that we refer to as 1 Corinthians in our Bible. In that letter he jumped all over them for their sin. His rebuke was so strong that he wondered whether they would receive it or perhaps reject it and also reject him. Though it must have been difficult for them to receive such a strong rebuke from the apostle, Paul recorded his joy over the result in 2 Corinthians 7:8-9:

Sorrow and mourning for offending Almighty God and hurting other people is the prime motivator for true repentance. Repentance without regret is what leads people to salvation.

All other outward things being equal, this godly sorrow, this mourning over sin and its effects, is what separates those who possess Christ from those who merely profess Him.

I was out driving the other day and I came across a church building with a sign out front that read "Celebration Church." While I know nothing of the people who met in the building behind that sign, and I certainly would not judge them based on such external evidence, it set me to wondering whether the celebrating they did came after mourning for their sins or whether it was rather just a bunch of people getting together for a good time. There is a difference, you know.

Perhaps we should set up a sign out front of our building that reads, "The Mourning Church." What do you think? No, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea. Many people simply wouldn’t understand - any more than they understand Jesus’ statement here, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Should we be a "Celebration Church?" Yes indeed - but only after we are first a "Mourning Church." We mourn over our sins and the way they have offended God, then we receive His mercy, then and only then can we celebrate. Celebration before the mourning is wasted effort. It does not gain God’s blessing. Jesus words again…

Joy comes in the mourning.

1. Abraham Lincoln Online http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm
2. Philippians 3:7-8
3. See also Mark 1:15

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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