Introduction:

I assume that most of us have mourned the loss of someone we have loved and cared about. I have already heard a few of your stories and know there are probably many more to hear. Some of you have lost a wife or husband, father or mother, son or daughter or someone else close to you. In recent years both Sue and I have lost our moms, so we might understand. Like many of you, we have also grieved the losses of many special people in the family of God. Often these losses are through death, but sometimes occur through broken relationships and geography. How do we deal with any of these losses?

How do we communicate the Biblical truths that Jesus may have had in mind as He said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." For a few moments this morning I want us to consider, who are those mourners who shall be comforted? Before doing this we might think a moment about whom Jesus was probably NOT referring to. I do NOT believe that Jesus was pronouncing a blessing upon the miserable, the morbid, and the crybabies. Recall Jesus' words to the Pharisees in Matthew 6:16. "Be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance."

Of the word mourning, Billy Graham wrote: "It means to feel deep sorrow, to show great concern, or to deplore some existing wrong. It implies that we are to live life on the higher plane when we are to be sensitive, sympathetic, tenderhearted, and alert to the needs of others and the world.

Perhaps we can see its meaning more clearly by thinking about its opposite. What is the opposite of mourning? Some might say it would be joy - and that is correct to a certain degree. But more than that, the opposite of mourning is insensitivity, lack of caring, unconcern, callousness, and indifference. When I mourn it is because my heart has been touched by the suffering and heartache of others - or even by my own heartache. When I do not care and am indifferent, then I do not mourn. The person who mourns is a person with a tender and a sensitive heart."

Who then are the mourners who shall be comforted? I suggest four descriptions.

First those who

I. Sense their Inadequacy.

Wait a moment, some might say. I thought you were talking about grief and bereavement. I am, and I will get back to that, but in its context here, mourning includes more.

I agree with A.W. Pink who tells us that the first and second Beatitudes form a pair. Last week we looked at those who had been awakened to their own poverty of spirit, their sin, and their emptiness. Mourning is to follow this poverty. Dr. Pierson wrote, "It is mourning over the felt destitution of our spiritual state, and over the iniquities that have separated us from God; mourning over the very mortality in which we have boasted, and the self-righteousness in which we have trusted; sorrow for rebellion against God, and hostility to His will; and such mourning always goes side by side with conscious poverty of spirit."

The prophet Isaiah, aware of the holiness of God, sensed his inadequacy. He wrote, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts." Before Isaiah realized the joy of forgiveness he needed to experience the mourning of inadequacy.

Do you mourn over your unworthiness, your helpless, your sin, and your inadequacy? Do you have sincere sorrow for your sin? If we would be blessed, the mourners who shall be comforted, we must be those who sense our inadequacy before the next description makes any sense.

Mourners are those who

II. Sincerely Repent

The scriptures teach what is quite obvious, "All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God." However, merely knowing about this inadequacy in the sight of God does not bring us comfort, but should prod us on to do something, to repent.

In Joel 2:12 we read, "Yet even now declares the Lord, Return to Me with all your heart and with fasting, weeping and mourning."

In this context here is what Dr. Billy Graham says about repentance:

"The mourning of repentance is not the weeping of self-pity; it is not regret over material losses nor remorse that our sins have been found out. It is entirely possible to be deeply sorry because of the devastation which sin has wrought in our lives and yet not repent. I have had people pour out their hearts to me with tears, because their sins have been discovered and they are in serious trouble. But true repentance is more than being sorry for our sins and regretting that we have allowed sin to shatter our lives. True repentance is a turning from sin - a conscious, deliberate decision to leave sin behind - and a conscious turning to God with a commitment to follow his will for our lives. It is a change of direction, an alteration of attitudes, and a yielding of the will. Humanly speaking, it is our small part in the plan of salvation - although even the strength to repent comes from God. But even so, the act of repentance does not win us any merit or make us worthy to be saved - it only conditions our hearts for the grace of God."

Author Kay Arthur wrote some similar thoughts: "There is a worldly sorrow, a sorrow that says, 'I'm sorry I got caught. I'm sorry I have to pay the price for my sin.' This is the sorrow that looks upon itself and simply moans over the consequences of its own sin. It is so totally self-centered that it never thinks about how sin affects the heart of God. And where does this sorrow lead? It leads to death because it does not lead to repentance."

"The other sorrow mentioned is godly sorrow, which leads to repentance. Remember that repentance is a change of mind that results in regret and thus a change in direction. This kind of sorrow brings salvation, salvation from the snares of sin. Godly sorrow causes us to run to the arms of God, weeping, confessing our sin."

Still in the context of the first beatitude, Mourners who shall be comforted are those who:

III. Seek Salvation for the Lost

Do we really care about people who may be headed for an eternity without Christ? "Do we weep o'er the erring one and lift up the fallen?" Are we interested in rescuing the perishing, caring for the dying as the great old hymn puts it?

Seeking salvation for the lost is a task God has given to us - those who have been redeemed through Christ's blood. It is a task that continues until Jesus returns.

Pray and creatively discover ways to make redemptive friendships. Toil, labor, travail in prayer. It may even be painful. The disciples had labored in prayer for 50 days before 3000 were converted on the Day of Pentecost. Jesus mourned over the city of Jerusalem; over people who refused the salvation He was bringing to lost humankind.

With soul-concern for his country, a number of years ago, John Knox prayed, "Give me Scotland, or I die!" His deep concern for others, instilled by the Holy Spirit of God may have been a contributing factor to the spiritual revival in his land.

Dare we pray, "Give me United States, or I die?”

"Give me Iowa, or I die?”

"Give me Dallas County, or I die?”

"Give me Adel, or I die?”

Finally, mourners who shall be comforted are those who

IV. Suffer Pain Looking to Christ

No one is immune from sorrow, heartache, disappointment and loss. Merely going through the dark days not necessarily result in comfort.

Donald Anderson tells us about Carol: "Carol was an attractive, bright, middle-aged lady who came to be me with the familiar story of a real depression. She had a job, but didn't enjoy it. Sometimes she felt she wasn't doing well at work. Her memory was bad and her efficiency seemed impaired. She reported that she had no social life - and really hadn't the energy to try to create social contacts. Her nonworking hours were spent alone. She cried a lot, sometimes for no apparent reason, and wondered if people were beginning to think her strange. The lights had gone out for Carol. She felt alone, afraid, tired, and without hope. It was a kind of survival reflex that had brought her for therapy.

We hadn't probed far into her social and family history until an obvious cause for her depression grabbed me. Within a period of two years, Carol had lost every significant male in her life. Her father died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Her husband contracted cancer and was gone in a matter of a few months. Then her only son - a bright and promising graduate student - was found to have a brain tumor. Quickly, he, too, was gone.

The history of tragic loss moved me deeply; so I was intrigued by the matter-of-fact way that my new friend recited the stories of these losses. The next question followed quite naturally. 'Carol, how did you take these deaths?' She smiled a rather tight smile and said, 'All my friends told me I did beautifully. I remember telling myself that I had to be strong for my mother. To tell the truth, I was deeply hurt, but I hardly cried.' There it was, two or three years had passed. Years of pushing aside memories and running from pain. But she had lost the battle. Unresolved grief had yielded to deep depression.

Carol's therapy was not difficult to design. She went back to the losses and got in touch with the pain and the anger. She cried a lot and talked bitterly about the injustice of it all. When the process was over she was better. Now she is a productive employee who is active in the community. And she laughs a lot. There are still those moments of sadness, often near the anniversary of one of those losses, but the depression has gone. Carol found that grief cannot be denied, it can only be delayed - and the delay can be costly."

Self-pity does not comfort - but adds to our misery. Dr. Robert Schuler wrote a question and answer. "What happens to good people when bad things happen to them? They become better people." While I believe that this is how God would like to have our sorrows, trials, and disappointments to be so used, it is not automatic.

We must look to Christ in our mourning. Weep and pray. Do not deny your grief, give it to Jesus. Recall the words of the Psalmist, "Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning." For this reason my wife suggested the title, "From Mourning to Morning."

In Job 35:10 the question is asked, "Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night."

It was probably this kind of comfort that enabled a devout Englishman to look at a deep dark hole in the ground where his home had stood before the bombing and say, "I always did want a basement. I did. Now I can jolly well build another house like I always wanted."

Conclusion:

A science film looking through a microscope showed two different pieces of heart tissue from two bodies. Each were beating, but in different rhythm. Then one piece of heart tissue was laid beside the other. As soon as the two came into contact, they started beating simultaneously. So can God comfort those who mourn, when our hearts touch His and they beat as one.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Those who I. Sense their Inadequacy; II. Sincerely Repent; III. Seek Salvation for the Lost; IV. Suffer Pain Looking to Christ.

In closing I ask some questions from the pen of Kay Arthur. "When was the last time you mourned - not because of something someone did to you or because of something that happened to you, but because what you did was wrong and it hurt God? When was the last time you cried over the sins other? When was the last time you hurt because God hurt? Is it hard for you, Beloved, to imagine a God who sits remotely in the heavens and, yet, truly hurts? When was the last time that you wept in intercessory prayer - mourning, lamenting over the awful degradation of man? Or because of the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Or because God's holy name had been blasphemed by man's independent, rebellious behavior?"

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I believe it may be time for tears of mourning, time for us to cry over what hurts God. Will you pray with me this simple prayer? "Oh God, break my heart with the things that break Your heart."

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