In Matthew 5:4, Jesus announces blessings on those who mourn. What kind of mourning is Jesus referring to? In this episode of Step By Step, we discuss what it means to mourn and be comforted spiritually.
Transcript:
Welcome to Step By Step, a video Bible study series presented by the Monte Vista Church of Christ in Phoenix, Arizona.
In Matthew 5:4, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In our last video, our last Step By Step video, we began a series of lessons from the Sermon on the Mount. We actually began rehearsing the Beatitudes that are found in Matthew 5:3-12.
By Beatitudes, we mean that in these verses, Jesus talks about qualities that should be in the hearts of disciples. We looked at verse 3, how Jesus says that the heart of a true disciple is one that is poor in spirit. We looked at that in the last video, and now in this one, we want to talk about verse 4, where Jesus talks about mourning.
Mourning. Whenever you see that word “mourn” in verse 4, you might be tempted to immediately think about going to a funeral. Going to a funeral and mourning the death, the death of a loved one. Mourning with a family or a friend who has lost a loved one. That may be where your mind goes immediately. And while there’s nothing wrong with doing that, while there’s nothing wrong with going to funerals and mourning the loss of loved ones, that has nothing to do with the context of what Jesus is talking about here.
That is not how Jesus is using the word “mourn” in this verse. When Jesus talks about mourning in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 4, he’s not talking about mourning the loss of a loved one. He’s not talking about mourning because your dog or your cat or your pet goldfish died. He’s not talking about mourning because you didn’t get the promotion you wanted on your job or because you didn’t make your sports team, you didn’t make your basketball, your baseball team.
That’s not what Jesus is talking about when he uses the word “mourning” here. Here, when Jesus talks about mourning, he’s talking about mourning over sin. He’s talking about grieving over sin and having godly sorrow over sin. You see, once I realize my spiritual poverty before God, as Jesus talks about in verse 3, well, that should then fill me up with a profound sense of grief over my sins. That should then lead me to mourning over my sins.
If you want a great example of someone who does that in the Bible, then just read the 51st Psalm in Psalm 51. In Psalm 51, we read about David mourning over his sins after it was exposed that he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. We can read about David doing that in 2 Samuel chapter 11. Once the prophet Nathan exposed David’s sin with Bathsheba, we can read about David penning these words. We can read David’s words of mourning in the 51st Psalm when he says in Psalm 51 in verse 1, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you, you only I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
What do you find there in those verses? When those verses you find a man who’s broken. He is broken. He has, golly, sorrow, a contrite heart. He is hurting inside because he knows the impact of his sins. David is doing exactly what Jesus talks about in Matthew 5 and verse 4. He is mourning over his sins. The question is how do we do this?
How do we mourn over our sins so we can be comforted? Well, the first thing we got to do is we got to admit our sins. We got to admit that we’ve sinned. We can’t sugarcoat our sins. We can’t sweep them under the rug. We can’t make excuses for them and try to justify them. No, whenever we sin, we have to admit it. We have to admit that we have done something that is contrary to the will of God.
That’s what David does here. David here admits his sin. He acknowledges his sin. And so does the prodigal son in Luke the 15th chapter. Luke 15:21 after that prodigal son, that younger son goes out and waste his inheritance on sinful living. The Bible says, Jesus says in Luke 15 that eventually he comes to his senses and he goes back home to his father. And it says to his father in Luke chapter 15:21, “Father, I have sinned against heaven in your sight, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The prodigal acknowledged his sin. And that’s what we have to do. If we’re going to properly mourn over our sins, we have to admit our sins.
But not only must we admit our sins, we got to also realize the impact of our sins. We got to realize that when we sin, not only do we impact ourselves spiritually, and not only do we not maybe impact other people, our physical family, our church family, but more importantly, we impact God. Our sins have a negative impact on God.
David acknowledges this in the Psalm 51:4. In Psalm 51:4, David says to God against you, you all ye I have sinned, and I’ve done what is evil in your sight. Now, David is not being literal there. I mean, obviously when he sinned, he didn’t just impact God, he impacted Bathsheba, he impacted Uriah, her husband, but he here is using very strong poetic language to talk about and emphasize how he knows that above anyone else, his sin impacted God. God saw his sin and God was hurt by his sin. Joseph realized this same thing in Genesis chapter 39. In Genesis chapter 39, when Potiphar’s wife was trying to have an affair with Joseph when he was a slave in Egypt, Joseph rejected her advances because of this right here.
In Genesis 39:9, he says to Potiphar’s wife, there is no one greater in this house than I. And he referring to Potiphar has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? Joseph knew that his sin would have an impact on God. He understood that and we got to understand the same thing. We have to understand that when we sin, we hurt God, we grieve God, we break God’s heart. That is part of the process of mourning over sin.
But in addition to that, we also need to repent. We need to repent of our sins. That’s what David is doing in the 51st Psalm and the Apostle Paul also tells us that the Corinthians did that in 2 Corinthians chapter seven. And in verse number nine, the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, I now rejoice. Not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to their point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces our repentance without regret leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. Notice how we’re going to properly mourn over our sins. And then not only must we admit them, acknowledge them and understand that they hurt God, but we must repent. We must have the godly sorrow that leads to repentance. We must have a change of mind that leads to a change in our lives. We must turn away from our sins. Get away from our sins. Make a commitment to do our best to never commit that sin again.
That’s what the Corinthians did. The Corinthians had godly sorrow. They were not just sorry that they were caught in their sins, but they were sorry that they had hurt God and they made a determination to change their lives. That’s what we have to do and doing that will lead to blessing. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 5:4. If we mourn over our sins, we will be blessed. We will find approval with God, favor with God. We will be in a position to be comforted by God through His forgiveness.
You see, the ultimate way God comforts those who mourn over their sins is by forgiving them of their sins. When God forgives us, that is His way of comforting us and giving us a fresh start. So, praise God that there are blessings that come to us when we’re poor in spirit and when we mourn over our sins and let us seek to always do that in our lives.
Thanks for watching. For more online Bible study material or to find more episodes in this series, visit us on our website at montevista.church.
