Why the Pursuit of Happiness Will Not Lead to Your Best LIfe Now, Pt 3

This is the third of a 6-part series of posts based upon the sermon I preached at Morningside Baptist Church on September 20, 2009 from Matthew 5:3-6. For audio of that message, please click here.

To read part 1, click here.
To read part 2, click here.

Today, we'll talk about the second marker on the pathway to true happiness, and it will almost seem contradictory. The second marker to true happiness is mourning.

Jesus says in verse 4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” At face value, this verse would appear to be referring to the general topic of mourning, and there is certainly some truth to the fact that believers will be comforted when we mourn.

Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

However, if we rightly interpret the Beatitudes as a progressive teaching, then we can understand the context and meaning of who it is that mourns in verse 4. Jesus here shows that those who realize & acknowledge that they are spiritually bankrupt will then mourn over their hopeless state. They not only recognize their sinful state, but they also recognize the consequences of their sinful state, and that is definitely sufficient cause for mourning. We see evidence of this type of mourning in both the Old & New Testaments.

In the Old Testament, after David was confronted by Nathan regarding his sin with Bathsheba, he wrote Psalm 51. You can definitely sense the mourning and anguish that David felt over his sin as you read this psalm.

In the New Testament, James 4:8-10 tells us to “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Not exactly how I would describe a pleasant experience, yet this experience should be true in all of the lives of us who have become believers in Christ. All of us at some point in our lives before we were saved had to come face to face with the fact that we were spiritually bankrupt before God. In my own life, it happened on a hot July night while I was in college. And I began to weep. I began to mourn. I began to feel the heavy weight of my sin. I was disgusted with myself. I was appalled by my sin. I was horrified by my spiritual blindness. If you are a believer in Christ, then you should be able to recall a time when you mourned over your spiritual bankruptcy before God as well.

While the immediate context of verse 4 refers to mourning over personal sins and their consequences, there are other instances in which believers mourn over sin as well. We are to mourn when we see other brothers & sisters in Christ entangled in some sin.

When Paul writes his first letter to the Corinthians, he says in 5:1-2: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” Paul says that our initial reaction when we find out that other believers are entangled in some type of sin is to mourn. However, most of the time, our initial reaction may be one of gossip, judgment, or even approval.

Another circumstance in which believers should mourn over sin is in regard to the society in general. In Psalm 119:136, David cries out, “My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” And when we look at society and culture around us, we should have the same reaction as David. Our eyes should shed streams of tears for the evils of society. When we hear reports of racism & prejudice, our eyes should shed streams of tears. When we hear about ethical problems in politics, business, & medicine, our eyes should shed streams of tears. When we hear that over 2000 babies have been murdered in Louisville alone since January through abortion, our eyes should shed streams of tears. When soap operas, sitcoms, and shows like “Desperate Housewives” glorify the very sins that Jesus came to die for, our eyes should shed streams of tears.

But most of the time we don’t. At best, we ignore the sins of our culture. At worst, we feed, encourage, and support the sins of our culture. When was the last time that we wept and mourned over the sinfulness of our culture?

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” And the reality is that only those who mourn over their own sins and the sins of others will be comforted.

But, what a comfort that will be! Revelation 21:4 says that God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

My prayer for you today is that you never forget the fact that apart from the grace of Christ, you are spiritually bankrupt. I also pray that whenever you do sin, or whenever you see others in sin, that you will mourn over the offense against God.

I realize this is a tough way to end this post. But, take heart that this is only the second marker on the way to true happiness! We're halfway there! See you tomorrow, as we will talk about Marker #3: Meekness.