“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
I believe that one of the main tenets of the Christian faith is joy. The Bible is filled with texts about joy. I have preached a lot of sermons and written a lot of articles about joy over the years. But in the text above, Jesus said that we are blessed, or happy, when we mourn. What in the world is Jesus talking about? Then we read in James 4:9: “Be afflicted and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.“ Do we have a contradiction here? It is not a contradiction. The Bible teaches us to be joyful, but we cannot be joyful about everything. The same Christian heart that has the capacity to be joyful should also have a deep capacity to mourn. Christian mourning does not erase Christian joy. Jesus has given us His joy (John 15:11) and it can never be taken away from us. But, for example, when we see people doing something that might destroy their lives we certainly can’t laugh it off. We should mourn for them. When we realize that someone is not a Christian and is about to die, this is certainly something to mourn about. We should mourn about our own sins until we seek God’s forgiveness for them. Jesus and James were not calling us to a lifestyle of mourning, but were reminding us that there are real things to mourn about in this world. I have daily joy in the Lord and enjoy my fellowship with Him. But when I look at the condition of our world today, I have to mourn as well. When I read about what is happening in Syria, for example, I cannot laugh it off and say it doesn’t matter because it’s not touching me. When I read about Christians being persecuted in places like China and Iran, I mourn for those brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have the freedom to worship their Lord. I mourn when I read about people who are starving to death in Africa. It breaks my heart to see children bloated from malnutrition, while their leaders live in luxury. It causes me to mourn when I read about women who are in disastrous marriages where their husbands beat them unmercifully. I mourn when I read about the boys who were sexually abused by the assistant coach at Penn State. I mourn when I see churches divided, not by great doctrinal issues, but by the clashing of egos. I think that we all mourn when we lose loved ones to death. I don’t mean to depress you, but you will have to agree that there are things that cause us to mourn, and if we do not mourn because of them there is something spiritually wrong with us. This is the concern of Jesus and James in the two texts that we have seen. We who have the joy of the Lord also need to have the capacity to mourn over things that we should mourn over. Jesus gave a promise with His statement on mourning: “they shall be comforted.” When we mourn, it does not destroy our faith in Jesus. It does not cause us to blame Him and wonder why people have to suffer. When we mourn, Jesus brings the comfort of the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is partially what Jesus meant when He told us in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Christian mourning does not cause us to get depressed; rather, it makes us lean on Jesus and take these sorrows to Him. We are comforted because mourning leads us to prayer, and when we pray we find the peace of the Lord. Jesus and James are not calling us to be depressed, but they are calling us to care. A heart that is filled with the joy of Jesus is a caring heart, and a caring heart is empathetic with the suffering of the world. Jesus and James are not calling us to live unhappy lives. They are calling us reach out and help others who are in need. This will not drive us to unhappiness, but it will drive us to agape love. Agape love is an active love. (John 3:16 comes to mind.) Go on in the joy of the Lord, but realize that it is not wrong to mourn things that should be mourned. Bro. Joe
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“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
I believe that one of the main tenets of the Christian faith is joy. The Bible is filled with texts about joy. I have preached a lot of sermons about joy over the years. But in the text above Jesus said that we are blessed, or happy, when we mourn. What in the world is Jesus talking about? Then we read in James 4:9: “Be afflicted and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." Do we have a contradiction here? It is not a contradiction. The Bible teaches us to be joyful, but we cannot be joyful about everything. The same Christian heart that has the capacity to be joyful should also have a deep capacity to mourn. Christian mourning does not erase Christian joy. Jesus has given us His joy (John 15:11) and it can never be taken away from us. But, for example, when we see people doing something that might destroy their lives we certainly can’t laugh it off. We should mourn for them. When we realize that someone is not a Christian and is about to die, this is certainly something to mourn about. Jesus and James were not calling us to a lifestyle of mourning, but were reminding us that there are real things to mourn about in this world. I have daily joy in the Lord and enjoy my fellowship with Him, but when I look at the condition of our world today, I have to mourn as well. When I read about what is happening in Syria, for example, I cannot laugh it off and say it doesn’t matter because it’s not touching me. When I read about Christians being persecuted in places like China and Iran, I mourn for those brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have the freedom to worship their Lord. I mourn when I read about people who are starving to death in Africa. It breaks my heart to see children bloated from malnutrition, while their leaders live in luxury. It causes me to mourn when I read about women who are in disastrous marriages where their husbands beat them unmercifully. I mourn when I read about the boys who were sexually abused by the assistant coach at Penn State. I mourn when I see churches divided, not by great doctrinal issues, but by the clashing of egos. I don’t mean to depress you, but you will have to agree that there are things that should cause us to mourn, and if we do not mourn because of them there is something spiritually wrong with us. This is the concern of Jesus and James in the two texts that we have seen. We who have the joy of the Lord also need to have the capacity to mourn over things that we should mourn over. Jesus gave a promise with His statement on mourning: “they shall be comforted.” When we mourn, it does not destroy our faith in Jesus. It does not cause us to blame Him and wonder why people have to suffer. When we mourn, Jesus brings the comfort of the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is partially what Jesus meant when He told us in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Christian mourning does not cause us to get depressed; rather, it makes us lean on Jesus and take these sorrows to Him. We are comforted because mourning leads us to prayer, and when we pray we find the peace of the Lord. Jesus and James are not calling us to be depressed, but they are calling us to care. A heart that is filled with the joy of Jesus is a caring heart, and a caring heart is empathetic with the suffering of the world. Jesus and James are not calling us to live unhappy lives. They are calling us reach out and help others who are in need. This will not drive us to unhappiness, but it will drive us to agape (agapay) love. Agape love is an active love. (John 3:16 comes to mind.) Go on in the joy of the Lord, but realize that it is not wrong to mourn over things that should be mourned over. Bro. Joe |
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