Matthew 5:4 – “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”

In one of the most profound, and yet paradoxical passages in all the Bible, Jesus declares in Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn; for they will be comforted.” This Beatitude flows from the first one: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” because spiritual bankruptcy should always lead to spiritual brokenness.  It is one thing to recognize that you are spiritual bankruptcy but it’s another to break down and mourn over it, confession should come with contrition.  Of all words for mourn Jesus uses the strongest one, which means to grieve or wail when a loved one dies. This is the sorrow of the soul, the ache that causes the heart to break. It’s the picture of those who are gripped by grief, Psalm 34:18: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Life can be hard and while we will always be drawn to happiness over hardship, brokenness can bring blessing. God is much more concerned with our character than He is with our temporary conditions. Life doesn’t always hand out laughs and some of its lessons leave scars, but we don’t have to shun suffering. When it comes to Matthew 5:4, there are several arenas in which this Beatitude of brokenness can be lived out, first:

• Lament the losses in your life

We have or we will all experienced excruciating pain at some point in our lives. 1 Peter 4:12 says: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” Maybe right now you are going through a season of suffering, maybe a health issue that causes you to fear the future, or a relational rift that’s robing you of joy. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one or you’re weeping because you desperately desire to have a child and you’re still waiting. Your heart like Hannah’s is breaking, 1 Samuel 1:10, 16: “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD…I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” The promise here is not that our circumstances will be changed but that we will be comforted in the midst of our challenges. The One who comes to comfort has Himself faced trials and tears, and walked the path of weeping. When Jesus experienced the loss of Lazarus John 11:35 says: “Jesus wept” While this is the most compact and shortest verse in the bible it is also filled with deep complexity. Jesus wept with Mary and Martha, Lazarus sisters, yet he knew that in a short while he would raise Lazarus back to life. He knew that anguish would turn to astonishment, wailing and weeping would turn to worship, and sorrow would turn to joy. So why was Jesus greatly troubled, why did he break down and cry? Because of His compassion for those stuck in the storm of suffering. He did not take their suffering lightly and He does not take your suffering lightly. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and Isaiah 53:3-4 characterizes Christ as one “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” Christianity is the only religion that allows us to be real, because it’s based on a relationship not rules. When you’re hurting, let it out, when you feel like crying, let the tears fall. Did you know that God not only cares about our tears but he catches them? Psalm 56:8 says: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” We have a God who not only cares and understands but comforts.

• Be sorrowful over sin

While we should lament our losses, the basis for this Beatitude is that you and I are sorrowful over our sinfulness. It’s the cry of Paul who summed up his struggle against sin in Romans 7:24: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” This is not just being sorry over sin, but being sorrowful. There’s a difference between being sorry and being sorrowful, one make you feel bad the other mourn, and until we grieve over our guilt, we will never get grace. Sorrow over sin should lead to repentance, 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Worldly sorrow does not lead to repentance but to regret and remorse. Regret is when we recall stuff that we’re sorry about, and it happens primarily in the mind as we think and dwell on the past. Regret tends to focus on the sorrow not the sin, and deals more with the heart than the head. Remorse focuses on the sin and the consequences, instead of Christ and the cure. Repentance turns us to focus on the Savior and the solution to sin, remorse cause us to focus on the sin and get stuck. Repentance causes us to turn away from the sin and toward the Savior. It’s the picture of the prodigal son in Luke 15, who after looking at how he was living recognized that he had sinned against his Father. He repented and returned and was met with lavish love and the grace of God even before he make it up the driveway.

• Cry over the condition of others.

Brokenness is not just looking within at our own losses and sin; it also involves looking around and being sorrowful over the sin in our society. It involves crying over the condition of carnal Christians, and the state of those who are not saved. Hebrews 3:13 challenges us to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” We need to encourage one another so that we don’t become hardened to sin. Not only can we become carnal Christians but we can become calloused Christians, ones who no longer care and no longer cry. In Acts 20:31 Paul demonstrated his passion for us to live out pure lives when he said: “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Paul taught with tears, he exhorted with emotion and so should we. In Luke 19, on Palm Sunday, Jesus sees the entire city of Jerusalem in a panoramic view. It was stunning in its beauty and yet verse 41 says: “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” While everyone else was smiling He was filled with sorrow because He saw the sin. He was not sorrowful because He knew He was going to suffer and die, He was heartbroken over the hard hearts, He was wailing loudly for the lost. Do the things that break the heart of God break your heart? When was the last time you cried over carnal Christians and lamented the lost? As we go through seasons of sorrow we need to remember that there can be a gladness to sadness and a purpose in pain. God draws close to those who cry, Psalm 34:18 says: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed” It’s in sorrow that the Savior becomes sweeter. God can use suffering and sorrow to draw us to Himself. We also tend to grow more in the groaning times than in the good times. Romans 5:3-5 reminds us that problems and pain can be profitable: “3 Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” The truth that sorrow can teach us its secrets lessons is captured in the following lyrics

I walked a mile with Pleasure, she chatted all the way

But left me none the wiser for all she had to say

I walked a mile with Sorrow and not a word said she

But oh, the things I learned when sorrow walked with me

Our misery can help us minister to others, 2 Corinthians 1:4 says: “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” The word comfort here is the same one that is used in Matthew 5:4. Comfort is coming, don’t shy away from sorrow or give up on God, hold on to the hope found in the promises of Scripture. If you are suffering in sorrow today read these passages that have provide great hope and healing to me in my hurts.

Job 16:19-20: “Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God.”

Isaiah 25:8: “The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.”

Psalm 10:14: “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.”

Psalm 30:5: “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Lamentations 3:32-33: “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.”

Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Matthew 5:1-12

1 “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’”

After discovering three attitudes of a dedicated disciple, (draw close to the Lord, learn from the Lord and live out what you learn) now we delve into the first of Christ’s 8 blessings. The Beatitudes are progressive, like rungs on a ladder that we are called to climb. There is a reason why Jesus starts by saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus as the master teacher didn’t just randomly begin anywhere with an explanation of God’s expectations. He starts by with humility, saying that those who recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy will be blessed. We must first become humble if we ever hope to live out the other seven, for the foundation of all other graces is laid in humility. Simply put the door to His kingdom is too low for those who stand tall in the sufficiency of self. Why does Christ’s call start with humility, because when there is less of us we will experience more of Him. You will never be filled by the Savior when you are full of self. We will only be filled when we own our emptiness, and we will never truly live until we admit how dead we are on our own. This stands in sharp contrast to our culture, in our world verse 3 would read, “Blessed are the movers and shakers, the successful, powerful, and self-confident.” Yet God’s wisdom is drastically different from the conduct of our culture. In the Old Testament there are several words that are translated “poor” and they refer to those who not only recognize their neediness but as a result are desperate for God. Psalm 40:17: “Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.” Psalm 69:32: “The poor will see and be glad–you who seek God, may your hearts live!  The word poor here is the same word that is used to describe the beggar named Lazarus in Luke 16, the one who sat at the gate of the rich man. The Bible tells us that the dogs came and licked his sores and that he ate the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. He was absolutely and completely impoverished and so are we. In the verb form it means, to crouch or beg. So a person who is poor in spirit is someone who is undeniably destitute and dependent on another. In essence Jesus is saying “Blessed are the beggars.” Blessed are those who recognize their wretched spiritual poverty before a holy God. It’s the idea of coming before God with empty hands. Do you see the poverty of self-sufficiency? We may be educated, but we are spiritually ignorant; we may be financially secure but we are spiritually bankrupt. We need a healthy heaping of humility, Psalm 18:27 says: “You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.” Either we will be humble, or we will be humiliated. First we need to:

• Admit our arrogance

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable about “some who were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else…” The Message paraphrase captures the heart of the story and paints for us a picture of pride: “He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people.” Jesus then explains how two men went into the temple to pray, one was a Pharisee, the other a despised tax collector. The Pharisee, feeling good about all of his accomplishments, basically recited his religious resume to God. Verse 11 tells us that he prayed about himself, his prayer was one of pride: “I thank you that I’m not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector.” He bases his faithfulness on the back of others failures. In verse 12, he boasts about how much he has done for God: “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” In contrast the tax collector paints a picture of what it means to be “poor in spirit.” He wouldn’t even look up and he beat his breast as he cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Message captures his poverty completely: “Meanwhile, the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” They both prayed, but only one was heard, why, because one prayed out of spiritual poverty, the other pride. While one felt religiously rich, the other knew he was spiritually bankrupt. One man was impressed with his own accomplishments; the other was depressed by his failures. One boasted, the other begged. Second we need to:

• Confess our conceit

1 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God: “What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?” As Jesus addressed the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3, he spoke some very stern words to a people who had become arrogant. They had experienced His blessings but they had allowed themselves to become lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. They were comfortably conceited and Jesus said He wanted to vomit them out of his mouth. This image of making the Savior sick denotes a deep disgust. Conceited Christians make Jesus want to throw up. In their comfortable conceit they didn’t feel like they need anything anymore. Revelation 3:17: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’” Instead of being poor in spirit, they were full of themselves. They were boasters instead of beggars, and Jesus said: “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” They failed to see the true state of their spiritual portfolio. If we’re serious about living out this first Beatitude, then we must admit our arrogance and confess our conceit. Have you acknowledged your impoverished condition? Being spiritually poor means that we not only come up short but we know it. When we admit our desperate condition we will see our true need for God. For us to inherit God’s kingdom we must give up our kingdom. Until we see ourselves as beggars in need of His blessing we will remain wrapped up in ourselves and deceived by our own proud accomplishments. Have you filed for spiritual bankruptcy? Are you depending on God’s provision, do you see your poverty in light of His plenty? The fastest way to become poor is to come into God’s presence, for when we are in the presence of the One who is perfect it’s hard to boast about how good we are? Only when we come to the end of ourselves, and God exposes our deficiency can we see His sufficiency. This Beatitude comes with two promises, first we will be blessed and second, the kingdom of heaven is ours. Are you relying on your filthy rags or on His righteousness? Are you resting in His provision or your pride? Why not trade your pride for His plan, for His grace is sufficient for your every frailty (2 Corinthians 12:9); His wisdom adequate for your every perplexity (James 1:5); His peace ample for your every anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7); His forgiveness equal to every iniquity (1 John 1:9). God is enough.