We saw at the beginning of Happiness in Jesus's style series that entrance into His kingdom beings with an overwhelmingly helpless feeling of spiritual poverty. Today we move on to the next verse for our meditation.
In his book, I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It's a change in belief without a change in behaviour." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance."
We all have longed to run away or flee from sorrow to the place of comfort. The paradox of this beatitude is, it says, "Happy are the sad". We never thought this to be true. This is absolutely contrary to what we know. What Jesus says is opposite of our world's philosophy wherein the whole structure of our life, our running behind the pleasure madness, and the enthusiasm expended in living it up are an expression and desire to avoid pain.
Jesus shows a new approach to life. There is only one kind of sorrow that brings life. It is godly sorrow, which leads us to repentance.
The word "mourning" here in this verse is the strongest of all the Greek words. There are in the Greek language nine different verbs used in the New Testament that speak of grief. The one used here is the strongest of the nine. It is reserved for mourning for the dead. The passionate lament for one loved deeply and lost. It is used of Jacob's grief when he believed Joseph, his son, was dead (Genesis 37). It's used in the gospels, in Mark, for example, in 16:10, "And she went and told those who had been with His as they mourned and wept." It's the same word. It's the strongest word that is used when someone is bewailing the death of one greatly beloved.
But the issue, in Matthew 5:4, here is not being sorry because you're lonely, not being sorry because you are discouraged, or disappointed, or because you have such an earnest love, or because somebody died. It's not being sorry because you don't get what you want. IT's not being sorry because you feel so guilty. It's being sorry because you are a sinner. That's the main issue.
One of the best examples of this in the scripture is found in Isaiah 6. When Isaiah has the vision of God in the temple, his first response is "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
As soon as he encountered God, he was made aware of his sin. He mourned over his sin, specifically here, the sins of his lips. But his mourning led to his cleansing. As Isaiah mourned his sin, the Bible says one of the angels came to him with a coal from the altar, touched his lips with it, and said: "Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." And it was after that, that the Lord gave Isaiah his call to the ministry, and some of the greatest revelations in the entire Bible in the Book of Isaiah. But before he could have the comfort and the glory and the revelations and even before his cleansing could come, he had to have the mourning over his sin.
Mourning is a missing element in too many professing Christians like us. There is a tendency among us to draw an arbitrary line about sin and think we are okay as long as we do not cross that line. If we are not mourning over our sin on a regular basis then we do not know God, or we are not seeking God and spending time in His Holy presence. 'Our conscience has become dull and we are in great danger of becoming a religious and unfruitful Christian."
That's why Jesus says here that the one who mourns his sin is blessed, because, that person takes his sin to the Lord and gets it taken care of.
Dear friends, this Lenten Season can we bring our sin to Jesus to find His forgiveness and happiness.
May the Lord help us. God Bless you.
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted
Matthew 5:4
In his book, I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It's a change in belief without a change in behaviour." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance."
We all have longed to run away or flee from sorrow to the place of comfort. The paradox of this beatitude is, it says, "Happy are the sad". We never thought this to be true. This is absolutely contrary to what we know. What Jesus says is opposite of our world's philosophy wherein the whole structure of our life, our running behind the pleasure madness, and the enthusiasm expended in living it up are an expression and desire to avoid pain.
Jesus shows a new approach to life. There is only one kind of sorrow that brings life. It is godly sorrow, which leads us to repentance.
The word "mourning" here in this verse is the strongest of all the Greek words. There are in the Greek language nine different verbs used in the New Testament that speak of grief. The one used here is the strongest of the nine. It is reserved for mourning for the dead. The passionate lament for one loved deeply and lost. It is used of Jacob's grief when he believed Joseph, his son, was dead (Genesis 37). It's used in the gospels, in Mark, for example, in 16:10, "And she went and told those who had been with His as they mourned and wept." It's the same word. It's the strongest word that is used when someone is bewailing the death of one greatly beloved.
But the issue, in Matthew 5:4, here is not being sorry because you're lonely, not being sorry because you are discouraged, or disappointed, or because you have such an earnest love, or because somebody died. It's not being sorry because you don't get what you want. IT's not being sorry because you feel so guilty. It's being sorry because you are a sinner. That's the main issue.
One of the best examples of this in the scripture is found in Isaiah 6. When Isaiah has the vision of God in the temple, his first response is "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
As soon as he encountered God, he was made aware of his sin. He mourned over his sin, specifically here, the sins of his lips. But his mourning led to his cleansing. As Isaiah mourned his sin, the Bible says one of the angels came to him with a coal from the altar, touched his lips with it, and said: "Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." And it was after that, that the Lord gave Isaiah his call to the ministry, and some of the greatest revelations in the entire Bible in the Book of Isaiah. But before he could have the comfort and the glory and the revelations and even before his cleansing could come, he had to have the mourning over his sin.
Mourning is a missing element in too many professing Christians like us. There is a tendency among us to draw an arbitrary line about sin and think we are okay as long as we do not cross that line. If we are not mourning over our sin on a regular basis then we do not know God, or we are not seeking God and spending time in His Holy presence. 'Our conscience has become dull and we are in great danger of becoming a religious and unfruitful Christian."
That's why Jesus says here that the one who mourns his sin is blessed, because, that person takes his sin to the Lord and gets it taken care of.
Dear friends, this Lenten Season can we bring our sin to Jesus to find His forgiveness and happiness.
May the Lord help us. God Bless you.
Amen. Let me recognize my sins each moment of my life and lay it in God's hands for repentance.
ReplyDeleteYes the Grace to recognize your sins and to get rid of them..
ReplyDelete.Again it needs His grace