Game Changer, Part 2: Blessed are Those Who Mourn

By Pastor Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
October 1, 2017

Transcript

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​Today we're looking at part two of our series called Game Changers for a blessed life game changers these types of things which these things which God has given us in His Word as ways of living added to actions characteristics character qualities that will change our game and make us into winners in God's kingdom work it makes us have more purpose and gives us a reason for our life that is lasting that is eternal. Last week we talked about blessing are the poor in spirit that we're bankrupt there is no way that we can live without God in our life that we have nothing to bring to God we have nothing to gain in our own power strength there is nothing we can do to get spiritually rich we have to have God's help we are poor in spirit and we talked about that blessid are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven today we want to talk about verse four in the Beatitudes or the blessing of the passage of power of Jesus a sermon on the Mount and verse for says Blessed are those who mourn because they will be comforted Let me read that again blesses are those who mourn for they will be comforted I have a question for you right now if you would write down on a piece of paper or somewhere where you're taking notes write down two or three things that people grieve over or are sad about or shed tears for or they're in mourning they're in sadness because of these things took two or three things down on a piece of paper real quick. What grieves you what is it and then what is it that you know is grieving to other people around you and we're going to come back to that in just a moment as you think about those things and I you can keep write them down if you think of something else to write down but these are things that cause you grief or sorrow or tears as we think about the Beatitudes as we think about these particular character qualities. People will criticize us Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are those who mourn because they were comforted be comforted these are the opposite of what the world thinks and many times when people look at Christianity did think Christianity is nothing more than a crutch Christianity is nothing more than a crutch for you to lean on and why are you leaning on that as if to say. In John Piper's words that that's a criticism of Christianity I will gladly concede that Christianity is a crutch in fact it's the only crutch sturdy enough to hold us up. It's not a matter of whether or not Christianity as a crutch The question is if you are not going to lean on Christianity you're not going to lean on Jesus Christ if you're not going to lean on the authority of God's word what are you leaning on what are you propping yourself up with in your wobbly life that we all have everybody needs support but the question is does your support last through a lifetime and into eternity is your support system worthy of being trusted. In other words you might say I can't live without What's the blank I can't live without this if I don't have this I haven't trouble some people they rely on relationships for their crutch and as soon as that person dies they no longer have that to hold on to and they're in deep deep sorrow I tell my kids all the time I am your dad but your heavenly Father is the one that you must really lean on because someday in the natural course of life I'm not going to be here anymore and I'm not going to be where you are when you move out of my house and go somewhere else to live you have to depend on your heavenly Father as your support system not me personally in fact I can even finance you beyond probably into your adulthood I can only do so much and God is your master provider not me Jesus needs to be your crutch and so I say bring it on yes Jesus is our crutch he is the only answer he is my only hope and I gladly tell people but I am helpless without Jesus Christ as my crutch so these be attitudes as we think about these ways of living where we depend on what Jesus says instead of what the world says we are leaning on him just as a crippled person or a person with a broken bone with lean on a crutch for their help. The word bless it what does the word Bless of me well last week we review we talked about this so I want to review what we said last week the word blessid literally means to be approved by God max look Kato said it this way blessing is a sacred delight it's what you have always dreamed about but never expected it's the too good to be true coming true it is having God as your biggest band and your best friend it is sacred because only God can Granted it is the light because it thrills that's the case saying he is your greatest cheerleader God is the one applauding you shining down brightly on you proving your behavior your characteristics what you're doing he is approving your life he is blessing you with all of the authority of Heaven he has granting you his approval. And I just can't imagine an even more approval that I would need then to have the approval of my Creator God I mean you can just imagine you know what it's like at your workplace to have approval from a boss usually the higher up in the command of the chain of command or the authority line of command the more authoritative the person is the more helpful or encouraging the more powerful the blessing is you know it's one thing for your brother or sister to say hey great job it's quite another thing for a mom or dad to say hey great job. It's even shown that a mother's approval of a child is tremendously important and helpful but when a Father blesses a child with his approval of their life or of their circumstances or on a report card or an achievement of any kind. And that it is even more powerful and as much as we say that men and women are equal and they have equal worth and value there is something about the words of a father to a child's life this still carries a tremendous amount of weight even beyond anything else that's around you in fact you could even have a boss that is giving you pay raises and giving you approval and you're getting all kinds of promotions. But it will not do nothing in comparison to the blessing that a father can give on a child's life why is that because there is just something about that the person that I think ought to love me and approve of me the most I care about the most and what they say when Jesus when God looks down upon you and says bless that are you. When you do these things there's a powerful has a powerful effect in the way we live our lives it's powerful in the way that helps us and gives us hope and meaning and purpose it's not only blessing that is given to us by God but it's something that's now and later this blessing is something that I immediately get in the passages it says bless it as in present tense are the poor in spirit not blessid in a future day in heaven are the poor in spirit but bless and are those who are mourning now less of those who are poor in spirit now it's something that is in immediate blessing from God When you do these things but someone might say but I'm not experiencing the blessing of living out these qualities and I would say to you yes because a blessing is also a future tense. Receipt as we are receiving as well God gives us a blessing in the future not just today so this blessing is today with law in the last. Saying or a forever lasting experience as well blessed are the points where because is the Kingdom of Heaven I don't possess the kingdom of heaven in my bank account right now I don't have that inheritance but Paul said that in his letters to the churches that he wrote to that we have a future and hair of his that's laid up in store for us. That we will receive as a blessing of being a child of God And so the kingdom of heaven is something that is already ours but not fully possessed in a sense of this reality or its experience will reality in our lives Buster those who mourn for they will be comforted you know the way they will be comforted I'm already blessed but I'm gonna receive a comfort it may be now it's also going to be in the future it's now and later. Now I asked you a moment ago to write down a few things that grieved you or caused you to be sad or to cry some of you put down some very benign things like you know I didn't get my coffee this morning how many did that just think about that some of you can be honest you know some of you said you know I didn't I didn't get in my car and there wasn't any enough gas I had to I had to stop and get gas on the way here I was sad because I you know something trivial something small some of you might as said Well I'm I'm sad because it's raining outside and and it makes me sad I'm very sad because I can't go out and plant my garden today or I can't go mow my grass I have sad about that and maybe some people even go jump up there to the i've lost a loved one I've I've I've had loss of loved ones somebodies I know that somebody listening has lost a job you've lost something significant you've been demoted you've not gotten the goal that you thought you got. Let's go backwards a little bit and say some people cry because their team loses a ballgame and maybe some people are grieved or mourning over the fact that there's there are people who are starving here in America people who are in poverty and have no means to take care of themselves and they are completely dependent on other people I am very sad about some of these children that we find in dire circumstances and it grieves me that parents would treat their children in such a horrible way maybe be a horrible tragedy tragic circumstance where these two girls overindulge fi Indiana lost their lives and we haven't found out who did it yet it grieves me that that family has to bury those children they've already done that but they have they had to say goodbye to children too soon and they ended and it grieves me what they had to endure before their death what a horrible horrible thing that is that it just makes causes me to be can be incredibly sad well. I am not saying that this passage does not accommodate those types of grief stricken moments and I have even used chapter five verse four as a key as a key verse to bring comfort or encouragement to a family who's lost a loved one during a funeral. But when you see it in the context of this passage it is far more and a little bit different far different than just grieving over a loss in this world the first verse we read last week was bust of the poor in spirit because there's of the kingdom of heaven but I had the inability to find or being near God in any way by myself I cannot earn his favor I cannot earn my salvation I am completely bankrupt I need Jesus Christ to save me and we said that very clearly last week and then we go on to the on the heels of that that it says bless or those who mourn because they will be comforted when I realize that I'm totally bankrupt without Jesus and the reason I'm bankrupt is because I'm a sinner what causes me to mourn what causes me to be grief stricken It is my sin. I am grieved over my sin that's what this passage is really talking about I am grieved over my sin. In fact another way to say it is my sin has offended holy God I'm undone I'm standing before God filthy. I have hurt him. I have hurt others. I have her myself. In the workbook called momentum that my small group is going over when you want to think about it it gives the steps to learning how to be mournful or grief stricken over are sent the first thing we look at is what is the cost to me personally. What does it cost me when I commit that sin in my life what things will I not be able to do because I have done this what time have I wasted How have I lessened or shortened my influence in God's view of the in a Godly way how have I personally wast because I've chosen to continue in this. I need to be sad about how I am. My own time I am destroying my own reputation I am short changing myself for what could be a future but I'm throwing away because of the sin in my life and the second thing I need to think about and meditate on is how is it costing people around me how am I destroying relationships because of this sin in my life how am I paid. Costing other people financially emotionally spiritually mentally how am I taking away from their lives I'm the person supposed to be there for them if I'm their friend if on their spells of fun their father but I'm not that when I'm in this. How am I leaving people who are following me astray because of my sins and then the third thing is or and level of this go back let's just say they don't even know what you're doing what you're doing they don't know about your sin it's a secret sense well. How are you not being present in their lives how are you being less than what you're supposed to be for them they don't even know it they don't even realize that your full potential of being all in in their lives is being short change is being forwarded it is being person purposefully sabotaged because you are choosing I am choosing to commit this over and over again refusing to be the man that I am supposed to be in their lives. What is the cost that on the other people are paying and what is the cost that it pays that Jesus had to pay for myself. I want to ponder sit across kneel at the cross I want to look up at the cross and imagine our Savior willingly climbing onto that cross his body broken by the whips of the people his beer plucked from his face spit all over him because they spit and and lashed out at him just totally destroyed his brow is bleeding profusely because of this thorny crown that was it was planted on his head so that it would not come off just like you would stick something into the ground to keep them from moving forward they stuck those doors into his into his into his skull all into the into the flesh of his skull so that it would not move while he walked around this horrific image and then as he put his arms out they nailed him to the cross so that he would have to be hanging by those nails in His hands down so that his whole body would have to hold on to be propped up and then they put his feet at a contorted angle and they took the middle of his feet and they spiked his feet down into the cross at the bottom so that is these were buckled and such a way that he would have to you. Use all of his muscles and strength to keep his lungs from suffocating while he was up and down the cross and even as he scratched up and down the cross his bloody back that had been completely open draw by horrible scourging rip the blood coming down the pain in the agony of this wooden cross scraping across this bloody back where almost even the bones of his ribs were coming through and as he sat there as he stood up as he as he crawled up on that cross and he willingly stayed there his thirst was immense as the sun beat down on him and his naked body why it lay standing up there trying to knowing this impending doom the the claustrophobia of death the reality of death the the pain and agony of the most horrific way to kill a person on this earth that has ever been excess. Has ever been invented. Jesus died for that send that you're choosing to commit day in and day out or that send that even for the first time you chose to indulge and he paid the price for that son sin to be forgiven so that you might be set free from that sin but he had to die on the cross being because you are a sinner and that sin has condemned you to hell but Jesus didn't want you to stay there he chose to pay the price for your sin this morning I wonder are you mourning. This great loss to yourself to others are you mourning because of the cost that is that it paid that you are paying the cost that others are paying and the cost that Jesus paid. In order for your sin to be dealt with. Those who mourn. Who have offended a holy God bless that of those who more it's a blessing to realize where you are just like you go to the doctor the doctor says you have cancer and we must remove that tumor it is important for you to know that that's true you have to know where you are before you can get well you have to know the diagnosis and the diagnosis is you are a filthy rotten center we need to be mournful over that we don't think we need a savior when we don't believe we need anything to be saved from we need to mourn because of our sin. But what does the Bible say let's turn the corner this morning they will be comforted. They will be comforted if you really are honest in front of God He will take care of you so many times you think I'm so afraid I'm going to hide my sin I'm not going to tell people where I'm at I'm going to kill Jesus for about I'm not going to confess my sins. God says you will not find the comfort until you confess the Says. You need to confess to find comfort did you hear that you must confess to find comfort come for God Almighty you will be comforted you will enter into or you will strengthen your personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ you immediately accept you into His presence and love you and he will offer you real forgiveness for your sand and his and your guilt is completely erased the shame is gone Christians don't have to worry about shame. Because shame is the race to the cross you just gladly say yes I'm a sinner gladly as I'm happy I'm a sinner but you can openly say I'm a sinner I'm So I'm I'm I'm done I'm wrong I'm I'm offending God A fended others I've filled my own self conscience but praise God I don't live in that shame anymore God has set me free from that shame and I openly confess this not hide it I'm openly telling God I am a sinner and I know that I'm experiencing real forgiveness because you said Hugh confesses a sin is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and I know that you'll throw my sense as far as the east is from the west and they'll be remembered no more my guilt is erased I'll be washed why this no these are Bible verses these are promises that God has given us they will be comforted those who mourn that's the blessing. The blessing is god's of wanting in so yes you knew that you were a center you recognize it and you're willing to change any teacher in this room any person who is instructed anybody if you have any kids at all the aha moment when they realize what they're doing is wrong and they move to do. It is right it's a fun time in the household it's a great time at the workplace it's enjoy a ball in the classroom because they get it. And you want them to when you want them to succeed it's a game changer when they say that was wrong I need to do what's right yes thank you game changer your report card is going to look better game changer are relationships going to get stronger again change or my time with God is going to be fresher and more meaningful when I read the Word of God I'm going to understand it better because I'm not clouded by all this sin in my life you see when we're hiding sand from God when we're pretending that we're not a center what we have to do all this pretending while we're also getting close to God is sort of like when you have a stain on your shirt and you're running and you're going into a crowd of people while you need to get close to the people to talk to them you have to earn some way stay in the shadows so that I'll see the stain on your shirt you always have to put your arm up for that stain is if you're going to even position your arm in that way they always your hand crippled and all they want to whoa what's going on with your hands up in the and it contorted way trying to hide this coffee stain or the spaghetti stain from the lunch previously and you're sitting there trying to hide this even while you're openly trying to have a conversation and shake hands with people around you in a crowd it just doesn't work that way you need to get your shirt cleaned and as soon as you get your shirt cleaned or you go put on a clean shirt and you come into the crowd it's a completely different story it's a much more socially enjoyable moment for you and not a weird moment for everybody else and when you go to God's Word with send in your life when you're reading God's word. You're basically doing two different things that's like the opposite magnets it's like the same ends of the magnet that will repel each other you're trying to get into God's word but you're trying to. It into it by not but you don't want to live it and now suddenly there's a conflict in the way you're reading it because you're refusing to admit they're sent in your life that you're not doing. So many somebody some people say we are we are educated well beyond our obedience level you know what if we said from now on I'm not going to read any new Bible verse until I've already obeyed the verses I've read. Many of us. Well. We have stopped reading for a little while. While we dealt with all the things that we've been disobedient about that we already know we should be doing you see when you openly admit that God is holy but I am unholy but I have offended my holy God in heaven my creator god who deserves all glory and honor and power he has he deserves my full devotion but I've refused to give him that because of my sin I said I know better than you do God and I have offended him because he is the author of all truth and when I manufacture falsehood and call it truth I am offending him who made Truth. And I finally say God I'm a center I did this he says I want to come for you my blessing is become for it I receive you I love you I died for you I rose from the dead for you and you will experience all the blessings that I gave you through my son's death on the cross is yours because if your morning sure truce are full of what you did that means you get it that means that I have something in store for you that you didn't want for yourself when you did that sin but now that you realize that's not the right path now it's become for it I've got a better path for your life. This can be summed up in the story of the fairest city and the sinful woman in Luke Chapter seven verse thirty six three fifty the context is that Jesus has been in his been invited to come to the home of a fair city and he's reclining at the table with his feet outstretched that in have chairs back in those days a low table where he's leaning on with his elbow maybe and he's eating and his feet are outstretched behind him out in the open area where people are walking around it was probably a household that was open where even people who do not have that were poor or just people would be allowed to come Aby this was a big event and it was a it was a private public events kind of a common thing in that day and in the in the in that time period and so this woman floats into them into the midst of them a sinful woman which is synonymous for prostitute by the way and she comes in and she has this perfume bottle and she's weeping and crying because of her sands and she falls down at the feet of Jesus and she's crying her tears of mournful sorrow over her death over her sin and she's looking at who is Hearst who what she is believing in as her Savior at this moment that Jesus is her only hope and she's. Laying before laying down before him at her at his feet and as she's crying the tears are falling down on DUIs bear dusty dirty feet and she sees that and she takes her hair which is down off of her head which is another recognition that she probably was a woman of ill repute because she was not proper in the way she was handling her hair and she is why I think his feet with her hair like a rag getting the dirt off his feet with the here tears that have been falling down as water as as a liquid that is cleaning off the dirt and then she breaks open this perfume bottle and she's pouring it over his feet in order to. To make his feet smell better in order to give him the worship offering in front of everyone around here as if she was oblivious to this crowd that was around her all she saw was Jesus and that he was her only hope you see we have in the room here a little center and a big center Why do I say that Well Jesus said this. He says this and Chapter seven. He says Do you see this woman Jesus said and let's just go to verse forty one when Jesus said I am going to tell you something Simon I want to give you a story and he says I say it on teacher and a verse forty one he says a creditor had to debtors one hundred five hundred in their eye the other fifty and since they could not pay it back he graciously forgave them both so which one of them will love him more and Simon answered I suppose the one he forgave more. You have judged correctly told him and then Jesus turns to the woman and he says to Simon even as he's looking at this woman who is adoring him who's worshipping Him who is more in full over her sinful nature do you see this woman I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet but she with her tears has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair you gave me no kiss but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I came in you didn't annoy my head with oil but she has annoyed at my feet with fragrant a while and therefore I tell you her many sense have been forgiven and that's why she loved much but the one who has forgiven little loves little and then he said to her Your Sens are forgiven and those who are at the table with them to get the same on themselves who is this man who have been forgive sense and he said to the woman your faith is save you go in peace what we see here we see here a little center versus a big center the fairest see didn't think he had any sense he'd even judge this woman and said What's she doing here. Why if he even knew who she was he wouldn't even let her touch him he didn't think of himself as a center at all but she knew she was a center she was a big time Center. You see the Fair see was judging others a little center judges others a big center judges his or herself a little Big see a little center loves a little and a big center love's great. Little love great love judging others judging self and one the one who is the little Center who judges others and has little love for Jesus. Doesn't receive the forgiveness. They have little forgiveness now the words I don't get what I don't need but the big center who is judging themselves who has a great love for God and Jesus Christ they receive and experience great for us when I realize that my dad was too costly for me to pay. And that my punishment was hell separation from God forever and eternal punishment for what I did and I'm saying to God I think I'm done I need your help and forgiveness that's when I receive the forgiveness that God wants to give me and I experience the comfort that only God can give me. You see the people who mourn when those who are in mourning for their sins they wind that's a game changer for how they live their lives let's look at three more verses before we close Psalm chapter hundred twenty six first five those who are so in tears will read with shouts of joy second Christiane seven ten for God The grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation but worldly grief produces death when I grieve over my sin the way God expects me to in front of a holy God realizing that what I've done is wrong not because I got caught not because oh I shouldn't have done that and now I mean how many people how many of you have heard someone say Well I've sorry if I offended you really how far does that go I'm sorry if I've been you you know what you should say I'm sorry I was wrong. What Yeah. When you admit your false hood when you admit your error when you admit your willful choice to offend that person that's when you're going to get somewhere in that relationship but these little benign Well I'm sorry if I offended you well guess what you did and you're not admitting it you're just sorry you got caught and you want out of the situation that's a worldly grief which produces death but a godly grief that produces life a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation that's a game changer I when in life when I choose to preach to repent from I send in a Godly were in a way that is pleasing and honorable and his rightful in front of the holy God and in Luke Chapter seventeen verse thirty two it says Remember last life Lot's wife Remember Lot's wife whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it and whoever loses his life will preserve it this story if we go. All the way back to the Book of Genesis God is destroying Sodom and Gomorrah he's told Lot and his family get out of there and don't even look back onto that land. But what happened in that story I don't know why it happened how it happened but Lot's wife turned around because she was not sad for this for the sorrow of the sinfulness of that nation of that city of those cities she was a sorrowful over the fact that they had lived a worldly life in that light in that city and that they had to flee with the just the clothes on their back because God was so offended by the scent of that city of Sodom and Gomorrah No she was sorrowful over what she was losing on this earth. Because of of of the sinfulness of what was going on she was sad over the cost materially and she looked back and boot she turned into a pillar of salt while I just can't imagine what that it would have been like and that her children as soon as she turned around and she turns to a pillar of salt they suddenly see that not only did they lose their mother. Again she cost herself her own life she cost her family a mother and she offended a holy God. And they moved forward knowing that she had chosen the things she was losing over the path of wife and salvation that she was granted by the mercies of God through the help of the angels who were telling them Get out of here before you yourselves are destroyed as well because whoever tries to make his life secure in this world will lose it and whoever loses his life will preserve it when I lose myself in front of God and say I am undone I am bankrupt I'm poor in spirit and I'm so mournful and sad over my sinful nature. Our holy God preserves our life at that point because now we can work with something now we can move forward now the game of life completely changes the game changer. This goes right along with Celebrate Recovery Principle Number two. Which says honestly believe that God exists that I matter to him and that he has the power to help me recovery until I'm willing to admit that God is the only one that can help me recover I'm going to try every other crutch that the world has to offer I may even go back to my addiction and order to lean on it to give me what I think is going to be success. Many people will try to manage their addiction rather than for sake it and find a whole new management plan that only God can give them. No this passage Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted is the basis for Principle Number two Celebrate Recovery I'm going to read it again earnestly believe that God exists that I matter to him and that he has the power to help me recover is that you this morning. Are you ready to admit that God exists and real and believe that deeply in your heart that you really do matter to him and that you know that and that you believe and that you are putting all of your hope on the fact that he has the power to help you recover from whatever it is your hurt your habits or your hang ups that you have not been able to kick. Those things in your life which you know that unless God comes through you're never going to get over him some of you are dealing with substance abuse some of you are sex addicts some of you are dealing with relationship problems that you continue to dig into because you're unwilling to deal with your own anger some of you are so stink and selfish that that you that you can't get anywhere in life because it's all about you yourself and you me myself and I are the three biggest enemies of kit of winning in life because I always know what I think is best because it's always what I want for my feelings so that I can have the best income for outcome for me. And God says Are you done you're losing in the game of life. I want to give you a game changer be sad be more in full grief over your sense you will be comforted So my final question this morning. Is are you really upset about your sin. Are you really upset. This is a game changer. If you can really say I am undone I am mourning over my Send this morning it will walk the path to the flood gate of blessing from heaven and will bring a comfort to you like you've never had before. A small and I want to encourage you to take that yellow card that you've been given and we use that card in order to let us know how we can be praying for you and how you can move forward in your steps to be finding the peace that only God can give you. For some this morning it might mean that you need to put your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior Lord when I talked about the cross you suddenly realize that Jesus died for you and a great powerful truth of His Love came over you you realize that you are completely separate free from sin and if only you will put your faith and trust in Jesus we do that this morning maybe this morning you need to recommit or you need to research render your life to Jesus Christ your Christian you put your faith in Jesus Christ but you have treated send like it's no big deal you continue you want you get upset about a movie ending more than you get upset about your scent and here we are sitting here in front of a holy God and you suddenly been exposed you realize that you need to be completely undone because of your scent and you need to love God in a fresh way this morning and you need to recommit to follow him and surrender to him the fresh way maybe this morning you're believer but you've never been baptized Maybe this morning it's time for you to step up and say I'm willing to let this church baptize me and help me to enter into the fellowship of this party of Christ right here at St Jude Community Church there are other things that you can do this morning only God knows what's on your heart I pray that every one of you will take your next right step as you consider what God has set your heart and what you know he's asking you to.