Sermon on the Mount: Mourning

Matthew 5:4

Blessed Are Those Who Mourning

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:4

Summary: In Matthew 5:4, Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who mourn, indicating that their sorrow is not in vain. This passage redefines mourning as an opportunity for comfort through divine grace.

Application: This sermon can help Christians understand that mourning is a natural part of the human experience and offers a pathway to receive God's comfort. It encourages believers to bring their grief before the Lord, knowing that He sees their pain and promises healing.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that mourning is blessed because it draws us closer to God and allows us to experience His comfort more deeply. It emphasizes that sorrow can lead to spiritual growth and reliance on Christ's sufficiency in our lives.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the narrative of Scripture, Christ is depicted as the ultimate source of comfort, especially in our times of mourning. He embodies the fulfillment of this promise; through His suffering and sacrifice, He understands our pain and offers solace to the grieving. Ultimately, He provides hope for the restoration of all things.

Big Idea: The big idea communicated in this sermon is that mourning, while painful, opens the door to divine comfort and strengthens our relationship with God, reminding us that we are not alone in our grief.

Recommended Study: Consider using Logos to delve into the cultural context of mourning in first-century Judaism, as well as exploring similar passages that deal with grief and comfort (e.g., 2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Investigate the Greek word for 'mourn' used in this text to understand its implications better, and study how different translations of Matthew 5:4 present the idea of comfort.

1. Mourning Leads to Divine Comfort

Matthew 5:4

You could explore how mourning draws us into a deeper relationship with God. When we acknowledge our grief before the Lord, we open the door to Heavenly comfort. Christ, who experienced profound sorrow, empathizes with our pain and assures us that we are never alone. This point can highlight the blessing in our mourning as it builds our faith and reliance on God's promises.

Finding Hope in Our Tears

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:4

Summary: Matthew 5:4 reveals that those who mourn are blessed because their sadness opens the door to divine comfort and hope. Jesus acknowledges the pain of loss and promises that those who grieve can find solace in His presence, emphasizing that mourning is not just an end, but a transition to receiving healing and hope.

Application: This sermon will encourage believers to embrace their pain, recognizing that grieving is a vital process in their spiritual journey. It teaches congregants to bring their sorrow to Christ, who is able to transform their grief into comfort and eventually, hope.

Teaching: The teaching focuses on the transformative power of mourning, illustrating how God works through our grief to cultivate resilience and deeper faith. It shows that acknowledging our sadness is a step towards healing and underscores the strength found in vulnerability before God.

How this passage could point to Christ: Christ not only understands our grief but also actively engages with it. Throughout His life on earth, He wept, mourned, and showed compassion. His cross is the ultimate picture of sorrow, which culminates in resurrection and eternal hope, revealing that through Him, our mourning leads to true comfort and joy.

Big Idea: The big idea of this sermon is that mourning is a significant part of our spiritual journey, where pain can lead to powerful encounters with God's hope and comfort, allowing us to emerge stronger in faith.

Recommended Study: As you prepare, consider exploring Logos' resources on the biblical understanding of grief, particularly the relationship between mourning and hope in the Psalms and the New Testament. Look into commentaries on the Beatitudes to examine how Jesus redefined societal beliefs about grief and comfort. Additionally, studying historical responses to mourning in the early church may provide insight into the communal aspects of grief and healing.

1. Mourning: A Path to Joy

Matthew 5:4

You could highlight that in a world full of pain, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with a promise that mourning has purpose and leads to divine solace. This verse reassures believers that their heartache is seen and valued by God, transforming sorrow into spiritual resilience. By recognizing grief as a journey rather than a destination, congregants can embrace Christ's promise that true comfort comes when one acknowledges and submits their pain to Him, discovering hope in His enduring presence.

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted

Last week we went through the first Beatitude.

Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Being Poor in Spirit It is having and understanding the need in Christ. understanding that we must have a complete dependency. We must become a Spiritual beggars. It is us realizing our poverty before a Holy God.

Jesus is not saying that this is between each other, but between us God. What could anyone say, what can anyone offer when they are face to face with the living, Holy God!

Jesus says that these that are poor in Spirit theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!

Those that truly and genuinely purpose themselves to Follow and walk with God Heaven is their destination. Those that humble themselves before the only Begotten Son and repents, believes and confesses Heaven awaits!

This first Beatitude forces us to think about our need for God. It is an intellectual awakening that speaks to the soul.

Blessed are those that mourn.

Jesus gives another Blessing. He always gives us a path that leads us to His Grace, Love and Mercy.

He provides a comfort and a Peace with in us that is unexplainable, if we are willing to take His offer.

Our sorrow and sadness opens the door to His divine comfort and hope.

Jesus acknowledges the pain of loss and promises that those who grieve can find the Blessing of comfort in His presence.

If you have breath in your lungs you have probably mourned. Even the hardest heart still has enough softness in it to mourn a loss.

The definition of mourn is to feel sadness and express it through vocalizations, tears, and ritual expressions of sadness and grief.

This is a fallen and broken world.

I don't have to tell you that.

Not only is there sin in this world. There is the byproduct of it.

The Bible shows us different kinds of sorrow.

One type of mourning is natural grief that comes from a tragic circumstance.

The meaning of mourning is the act of sorrowing.

The definition of sorrow is deep distress, sadness, or regret especially for the loss of someone or something loved

Natural mourning, everyone else has experienced

This is when we lose someone that's close to us. Someone's we love and care for. Death, broken relationship.

God gives us a gift and the gift sometimes gets taken away, gets lost or no longer has room in our lives. Someone or something loved and cherished gone.

So what is our natural response to this type of loss?

We mourn.

Heartfelt, sorrowful mourning.

We ask questions.

Why?

Why was this given?

Why was this taken? Why me?

The shortest verse in the whole Bible is about loss and the mourning that comes with it.

John 11:35 NKJV

[35] Jesus wept.

This is the amazing thing about our Lord! Fully God Fully man, able to have the same experiences as us. The same emotions as us. The same sadness, sorrow and mourning.

His best friend Lazarus had died. Jesus wept!

The King of the Universe. The Alpha and Omega, The Son of Man, God in the flesh WEPT!

Understand that.

He didn't just shed a few tears.

He sobbed. He felt the emptiness in His gut.

Jesus just lost His very good friend Lazarus.

In His humanity He had empathy for what just happened. Hearing the news of Lazarus', seeing his sister Mary weep, and even the other Jews there wept.

Jesus had sorrow in His heart!

He grieved.

He groaned!

He was troubled!

Oh to hear the news of a death!

Mary the sister of Lazarus comes and says something that should haunt us today;

“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

This is how much faith Mary had in Jesus.

She knew the healing power. The comfort He brings. She knew that He was the One to heal the sickest diseased soul.

That peace comes just from His very presence!

And she knew that He was power over death!

But why Lord.

We search for answers in mourning.

We look for comfort in the hard and difficult journey of loss.

Sometimes we look for the comfort we seek in places we never would look to before the sorrow.

Something to take away the pain even if its for a moment.

IN actuality it dulls the pain and no healing ever takes place. And we walk around with open wounds in our hearts and souls.

Mourning is not just an end, but it has to be a transition to receiving healing and hope.

It is hard to embrace the pain. It is hard to accept it. It is easy to get lost in the mourning. It can take over every aspect of our lives. We can feel isolated and alone.

But every Follower of Christ will one day experience the hardship of a loss.

God works through our grief to grow in us a resilience.

Through that growing, as hard as it may seem, it gives us a deeper faith.

Deeper faith will give us more trust in the promises of God.

More trust becomes more dependency.

Psalm 34:17-19

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,

And delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,

And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the LORD delivers him out of them all

At some point we have to acknowledged our sorrow, our pain and mourning. That is the very first step to start to be hold his amazing blessing. There is healing in the Blessing of Comfort. The is the ease of the distress. He takes the load of heaviness off when we lay our burden down. There is the strength of the Lord to lean on when we are open and expose ourselves to Jesus. Because His yoke is easy and His Burden is light.

We all have had grief in our lives.. No one is immune from it. No one escapes it. All have or will struggle with it. So we should come together to hold each other up. Comfort one another. Pray for and with one another. But through the comfort of Christ we get through it.

We encourage each other to embrace the pain. We learn how o bring our sorrow to Christ, who is able to transform the grief into comfort and eventually, hope.

(Tony Evans)

God grieves over the sin and wretchedness of the world (see Gen 6:5–6). Jesus lamented the disobedience of Jerusalem (Matt 23:37) and wept over the existence of death, which sin had produced (John 11:35). We must not laugh at or excuse that which causes God to mourn. Sin and its consequences surround us, so that we are tempted to become numb. Instead, we must pray that God would give us the emotions of his heart, so that we can experience the comfort of God to encourage and strengthen us.

Genesis 6:5-6

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Charles Spurgeon

Said this:

Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God.

Charles Spurgeon