Rev. David Holwick S Beatitudes
First Baptist Church (well-received)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 1, 2003
Matthew 5:4
HAPPY ARE THE UNHAPPY
I. Are funerals fun?
A. Funeral I conducted recently.
Flowers, nice suit, tastefully decorated room.
The family was emotional but controlled.
At the grave, coffin was strategically placed over the hole
and disguised with flowers.
The coffin was lowered when everyone was gone.
It was a typical American funeral - light on emotion and
over quickly.
B. Sorrow and death makes us uncomfortable - unhappy.
1) National Public Radio talkshow where a Chilean who moved to
the United States assessed American culture:
Americans insist on being entertained.
Boredom is a cardinal sin.
Life must be fun!
People in Chile expect life to be hard and difficult,
with many tears.
2) We don't know how to handle weepy people, so we avoid them.
a) Jesus takes a different approach.
b) "Happy are the unhappy." (surely a paradox)
C. What exactly is Jesus talking about?
1) There are several ways to look at "mourning."
II. Loss of loved ones.
A. This would be the most literal view.
1) The word used here is the strongest one for sadness in the
Greek language.
It is used for mourning the dead, for the passionate lament
of a broken heart.
2) It is the kind of grief that makes you feel like you've
been kicked in the stomach, where the world closes
around you in darkness.
B. Jesus would not be saying death is fun, but that Christians
who grieve have the hope of ultimate comfort from God.
1) Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - we don't grieve like the
rest of the world, who have no hope.
2) Christians can see death as a speed bump, not a barrier.
3) Our tears can give us sensitive hearts for others who hurt.
III. Grief over sins.
A. Dig deeper in the Bible, find mourning is not limited to death.
1) Usually other issues are involved.
2) Jesus mourned over Jerusalem because it had not
repented. Luke 19:41
3) Psalm 119:136 says, "Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for your law is not obeyed."
4) When Ezra repented of his sins and the sins of his nation,
he repented with tears. Ezra 10:1
"While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and
throwing himself down before the house of God,
a large crowd of Israelites -- men, women and children --
gathered around him. They too wept bitterly."
B. Weeping is the second stage of repentance.
1) The first stage is to acknowledge spiritual poverty;
the second stage is to grieve over it.
2) John Stott: confession is one thing, contrition is another.
Baptists in Russia believe repentance without weeping
is phony.
An early missionary to that country complained that
Russians seemed to define conversion as weeping in
public.
A Canadian Mennonite named Walter Sawatsky visited
Russia in the 1970s when it was still communist.
At some church services, during the prayer time, he
would hear a sinner call out to God for mercy.
Almost always he would break down into weeping, unable
to finish his prayer.
Walter also heard some Russian believers question the
reality of a person's conversion experience if they
did not weep with enough remorse. [1]
C. Mourning is a personal grief over personal sin.
1) Isaiah's vision and feeling of uncleanness. Isaiah 6:5
2) Paul's cry in Romans 7:24.
D. Have you ever wept over your sins?
1) Evangelicals make much of grace, but make light of sin.
2) The warning from James 4:8-9 --
"Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,
you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to
mourning and your joy to gloom."
3) Take sin seriously.
4) Take repentance more seriously.
IV. Our world is broken.
A. Mourning could go beyond death and sin to focus on brokenness.
1) Jesus' mourning at death of Lazarus. John 11:35
a) Shortest verse in whole Bible, but very powerful.
b) His weeping is more than sorrow at loss of friend.
c) After all, he could have prevented his death.
2) He was angry at existence of sin and decay and faithlessness
in his world.
B. Clues from the Old Testament.
1) Jesus' words for mourning and comfort correspond to the
Greek translation of Isaiah 61. (Septuagint)
a) The order of his first two beatitudes follows this
passage as well.
2) Context is that they have lost their nation because
of their own disobedience.
a) All is lost, so they cling to God.
b) God gives them comfort, beauty, gladness and the
ability to praise him again.
C. Are you mournful over the condition of the world?
1) Injustice should cause us to weep.
2) Sign of salvation - the things that break God's heart,
break our heart.
3) Our tears can be turned into healing action.
Candy Lightner - her daughter's death from a drunk
driver devastated her.
But she did not leave it at tears.
She organized other mothers into Mothers Against
Drunk Driving and changed laws (and attitudes)
across America.
V. Comfort is coming.
A. Important Old Testament term for Messiah - "The Comforter."
1) The book of Revelation says he will wipe away our tears.
2) Until God's Kingdom comes completely, God stands beside
us in our sorrow.
a) He paid the price for our sins.
b) He is converting souls around the world.
B. God sustains and renews the brokenhearted.
Donald McCullough, a pastor in his forties, thought he was
a pretty hot runner until he met a man in his mid-sixties
who ran 18 miles a day - to prepare for marathons.
One day the old runner dropped by Don's office.
The pastor could tell something was wrong.
The man reached out and said, "Pastor, can you help me up?
My legs aren't working very well."
Together they hobbled down the hallway.
When they were seated all alone, the man said, "Pastor,
about a month ago I noticed myself slowing down on my run.
Things have happened rapidly since then.
The neurologist says I have A.L.S. - Lou Gehrig's disease.
I don't know how long I have to live.
"But you know, Pastor, God is good.
I feel such peace. It's incredible.
I've never felt closer to God.
I know my life is in my Savior's hands, and I'm ready for
whatever he has for me." #2498
C. Our world is hurt-filled, but there is comfort in knowing God.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II," by Walter Sawatsky,
Ontario: Herald Publishing, 1981, page 342.
#2498 "Why You Don't Have To Cheer Up," by Rev. Donald W. McCullough,
Christianity Today magazine, November 5, 1990, page 25.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://illust.holwick.com
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Commentaries:
Guelich, Sermon on the Mount
I. Laughter in OT has a negative connotation of being autonomous and
denying your dependency upon God.
A. Psalm 126:2-6 is the one exception.
1) The rejected ones weep, but laugh at their vindication.
B. Luke's beatitude probably reflects this setting.
1) The mourners are rejected by this world and depend on God's
acceptance.
II. Matthew's beatitude reflects Isaiah 61.
A. His words for mourning and comfort correspond to LXX of
Isaiah 61.
B. The order of his first two beatitudes follows Isaiah 61.
C. Isaiah passage helps set meaning of "mourning" in Matthew.
1) Bereavement of mourners in Zion stems from their national
loss.
2) It results from their sin and God's judgment.
a) Mourning cannot be limited to sorrow for personal sin.
b) Neither can it be limited to sorrow over death.
c) Comprehensive grief in view: they are disenfranchised,
contrite, and bereaved.
III. Shall be comforted.
A. Future tense and passive form point to divine comfort for
Israel's future.
1) The Messiah was known as the "Comforter."
B. In Jesus we have the assurance of God's comfort.
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D. A. Carson
I. Mournfulness is emotional counterpart to poverty of spirit.
A. The world likes laughter.
B. Jesus says mourners are blessed.
1) Doesn't mean Christians have to be weepy.
2) Mourning is a personal grief over personal sin.
a) Isaiah's vision and feeling of uncleanness. Isa 6:5
b) Paul's cry in Romans 7:24.
II. Broader mourning.
A. Sin and injustice of the world.
B. There is comfort.
1) Sackcloth exchanged for praise.
C. Different levels of comfort.
1) For grief over individual's sin, Jesus paid ransom.
2) For grief over others' sin, Jesus can save them.
3) Ultimate comfort is coming of Kingdom of God.
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Dale Allison
I. Jesus uses eschatology to encourage those who mourn. cf. Rev 21:4
II. What causes the mourning?
A. "Sin" has been main answer. (Likely wrong)
B. Because righteous suffer and God hasn't fixed it. Isaiah 61:2
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John Stott
I. Happy are the unhappy.
II. Mourners.
A. Not primarily the loss of loved ones.
B. Mostly the mourning of repentance.
1) Lost innocence and self-respect.
2) Second stage of repentance.
a) One thing to acknowledge spiritual poverty; another
thing to grieve over it.
b) (Confession is one thing, contrition is another.)
3) Christian life is not all joy.
4) Jesus wept over sins of others, over impenitent city.
a) Psalm 119:136.
b) Ezek 9:4.
5) Our own sins.
a) Ezra 10:1.
b) 1 Cor 5:2, cf 2 Cor 12:21.
c) Evangelicals make much of grace, make light of sin.
III. Our comfort is the free forgiveness of God. Rev 21:4
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Donald W. McCullough, "Why You Don't Have To Cheer Up"
Christianity Today, November 5, 1990, page 22.
I. How are mourners blessed?
A. They have enough sensitivity to hurt.
1) That, in itself, deserves praise.
2) We have left the Magic Kingdom to enter God's Kingdom.
3) Our hearts begin to break over the things that break God's
heart.
a) Paradox: great mourners can be great rejoicers.
B. Mourners prove themselves to be God's children.
1) To be like Jesus, we must be able to mourn.
2) He mourned over his friends, over his sinful city.
3) To be like Christ is to be his children.
C. Mourners can be God's instruments of healing.
1) We may hurt enough to do something about it.
2) (Candy Lightner - MADD illustration)
II. Most important reason they are blessed - we are comforted by God.
A. God comes to the brokenhearted in a way that sustains and
renews.
1) (Runner who gets Lou Gehrig's disease.)
"But you know, Pastor, God is good.
I feel such peace. It's incredible.
I've never felt closer to God.
I know my life is in my Savior's hands,
and I'm ready for whatever he has for me."
2) If we never mourn, we miss the comfort.
3) Mary Magdalene stayed with her grief.
