WEBVTT 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:04.790 Good morning. It's great to be back with you 00:00:04.790 --> 00:00:07.230 all, brothers and sisters, to share from God's 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:10.449 words. We're gonna be in the Gospel of Matthew 00:00:10.449 --> 00:00:15.349 today, looking at the second beatitude. I'm gonna 00:00:15.349 --> 00:00:18.010 be reading, for the sake of context, Matthew 00:00:18.010 --> 00:00:22.109 5, 1 through 12, the opening of Jesus' Sermon 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:25.429 on the Mount, but we're gonna focus on the second 00:00:25.429 --> 00:00:28.929 beatitude today, blessed are those who mourn. 00:00:29.149 --> 00:00:31.489 And just by way of introduction, I'm not really 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:34.810 going to argue this with you, but there's different 00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:37.450 ways that people interpret the Beatitudes. But 00:00:37.450 --> 00:00:39.670 kind of the path we'll be taking today based 00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:43.289 off of some people brighter than me in biblical 00:00:43.289 --> 00:00:45.590 studies. And I can refer you to their books if 00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:48.789 you're interested in a late summer rabbit trail 00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:53.210 of theology. But the Beatitudes are Jesus inviting 00:00:53.210 --> 00:00:57.369 us into his way, his vision of what the really 00:00:57.369 --> 00:01:01.060 good life looks like. What does the deeply happy, 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:06.560 truly flourishing kind of Psalm 1 life look like? 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:09.959 That Jesus gives us a part of a distillation 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:13.659 of his teaching on what that is in the Beatitudes 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.099 as countercultural as they are. And especially 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:18.980 the one that we're looking at today is a very 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:22.700 countercultural one. But that's kind of the standpoint 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:24.719 from which I'm interpreting these Beatitudes 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.290 that Jesus is giving us. his wisdom, his invitation 00:01:28.290 --> 00:01:32.310 to live the truly good, the truly happy, the 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:36.590 truly flourishing life in and through him. This 00:01:36.590 --> 00:01:39.650 assumes the good news of his gospel, that Jesus 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:42.150 has come on the scene proclaiming earlier in 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:44.329 Matthew chapter four, and of course that comes 00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:47.950 to its apex, its culmination in his death, his 00:01:47.950 --> 00:01:50.689 resurrection, and his ascension. So hear God's 00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:53.109 word this morning from Matthew five. I'm gonna 00:01:53.109 --> 00:01:56.489 be starting at verse one. Now when Jesus saw 00:01:56.489 --> 00:01:58.849 the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and 00:01:58.849 --> 00:02:02.269 sat down. His disciples came to him and he began 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:05.349 to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor 00:02:05.349 --> 00:02:08.110 in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:02:08.590 --> 00:02:11.229 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be 00:02:11.229 --> 00:02:13.810 comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will 00:02:13.810 --> 00:02:16.530 inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger 00:02:16.530 --> 00:02:19.409 and thirst for righteousness, for they will be 00:02:19.409 --> 00:02:22.650 filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:25.960 be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:30.039 for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:33.099 for they will be called children of God. Blessed 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:35.520 are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:38.979 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 00:02:38.979 --> 00:02:41.520 are you when people insult you, persecute you, 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:44.520 and falsely say all kinds of evil against you 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.840 because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.819 is your reward in heaven, from the same way they 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:53.919 persecuted the prophets. who were before you. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:55.860 Please pray with me as we come to God's word. 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:58.659 Let's pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.139 thank you that you have not left us in the dark 00:03:01.139 --> 00:03:03.919 about who you are, but that you have spoken to 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:07.120 us so that we can know you, so we can be rescued 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:10.099 by you, so we can love you, so we can grow in 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:14.300 our love for our neighbors, for our church family 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:16.379 around us. We pray that you would open our hearts 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:19.199 and our minds to your word today by your spirit. 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:21.919 And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:26.319 Well, as was mentioned in Peter's introduction, 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:28.520 and I might have mentioned, if you're in Sunday 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:30.680 School, my REF update, I think I kind of forgot 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:33.520 to talk about my family. Just dived into ministry 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:36.199 update. But my wife Ashley and I have five kids. 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:39.979 Our oldest is nine. Our youngest will be two 00:03:39.979 --> 00:03:42.500 in November. And it's kind of hard for us to 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:44.460 believe now, but a few years ago we had fewer 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:50.500 children. But a few years ago we had, you know, 00:03:51.819 --> 00:03:53.659 I mean, we started out with none, right? You 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:55.860 know, losing my train of thought. We started 00:03:55.860 --> 00:04:00.120 with one. Anyway, but I have a scene in my mind 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:02.500 of a very memorable dinner a few years ago when 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:05.099 we had fewer children. We had three children, 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:08.199 and we were sitting at our dinner table. And 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.060 one of the things we had enjoyed in this season 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:13.620 of life, which was, I think, sometime around 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:18.339 2020, because it was before our... second youngest 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:21.839 now, Charlotte was born in 2021. But we had been 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.259 enjoying this family of cardinals who had made 00:04:25.259 --> 00:04:28.980 their nest in a tree kind of behind our house. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.579 And you had the daddy bird and the mama bird 00:04:33.579 --> 00:04:36.089 would be. buzzing around, taking care of the 00:04:36.089 --> 00:04:39.569 babies, making their happy chirping sounds as 00:04:39.569 --> 00:04:43.730 anxious parents, but trying to take care of the 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:46.670 little hatchlings. And our kids followed. We 00:04:46.670 --> 00:04:49.430 saw the nest, and we saw the eggs, and we had 00:04:49.430 --> 00:04:52.850 a couple of baby birds hatch. And that was exciting 00:04:52.850 --> 00:04:56.269 to see and exciting to hear. The young babies 00:04:56.269 --> 00:05:00.350 start to chirp, and the cacophony of sounds of 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:03.220 this happy bird family. And one night we had 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:05.500 this very memorable dinner where we kind of had 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:08.300 that in the background, but the cardinal voices 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:12.019 sounded kind of strained. You might see where 00:05:12.019 --> 00:05:14.519 this story is going to take a dark turn. But 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.980 the anxious sounds of the parents were not the 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:20.860 anxiousness of providing the food for them, but 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:24.000 something was clearly going wrong. And so this 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.639 interrupts our dinner. We all go to this back 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.680 window to see what is happening here at the nest. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.699 And the parents are flying around in distress. 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:38.639 And we had this little tree where the nest was 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.199 by our AC unit in the back. And this snake has 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:47.060 slithered its way up the tree and is aiming for 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:51.990 the nest. Now, my wife is like, of snakes, doesn't 00:05:51.990 --> 00:05:54.129 even want to see a picture of them. I can be 00:05:54.129 --> 00:05:57.610 kind of okay observing snakes if we're at like 00:05:57.610 --> 00:06:00.029 a zoo or something and I can see them behind 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:04.910 glass, but I try to gin up my courage and... 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:07.600 Isaac, our oldest, was around four at the time, 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.519 and we go to the backyard and try to find a brick 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:14.220 or a shovel to see, okay, is there something 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:17.019 we can throw at this snake to get it away without 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.740 having to get really close to the snake? Eventually, 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:23.439 I think I threw some bricks at the snake. The 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:25.980 snake goes away, but we can see probably at least 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:28.759 one of the eggs has been eaten, and there is 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.589 a baby bird who had been damaged. Like it had 00:06:32.589 --> 00:06:34.089 fallen out of the nest in the course of everything 00:06:34.089 --> 00:06:36.629 that happened once we make sure that the snake 00:06:36.629 --> 00:06:39.730 is away You know we take the shovel we get the 00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:44.769 baby bird back into the nest and You know kind 00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:47.870 of wait to see what happens now Unfortunately, 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:51.649 you know the the next day we go we go back to 00:06:51.649 --> 00:06:54.829 like look at look at what's happening and we 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:59.350 hear the mournful sounds of the mama Cardinal 00:06:59.350 --> 00:07:04.050 and And we can see that baby bird who had been 00:07:04.050 --> 00:07:08.470 wounded was no longer there anymore. And it makes 00:07:08.470 --> 00:07:12.290 me tear up thinking about the story because we 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:15.850 were, of course, sad for this little bird family 00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:19.149 that had been destroyed as much as we get used 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:22.910 to as humans, the reality of death in the natural 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:27.050 world and the animal world. But it was also one 00:07:27.050 --> 00:07:30.980 of our kids' first very close -up encounters 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:36.579 with death and grief. That we had this little 00:07:36.579 --> 00:07:40.300 bird family that we had enjoyed seeing their 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:42.879 life come together. And now there's the sadness 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.360 of the reality of death. And I remember Isaac 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.000 Rubin and Liza, who were starting at four and 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:53.480 younger, were crying. And here I was as a young 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:57.660 father, like, man, I'm tearing up. What do I 00:07:57.660 --> 00:08:02.290 do with myself? But this moment of bringing my 00:08:02.290 --> 00:08:05.529 kids in a different way into the reality of death 00:08:05.529 --> 00:08:09.550 and of grief and loss. And of course, we read 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:14.029 from Revelation 21 of Jesus' promise to make 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:17.069 everything new and to wipe away every tear from 00:08:17.069 --> 00:08:20.170 our eyes. But that story kind of draws you in. 00:08:20.189 --> 00:08:23.310 You can surely think of experiences with grief 00:08:23.310 --> 00:08:26.949 and loss. not just of animals, right, but of 00:08:26.949 --> 00:08:30.529 people, and the reality of death, the reality 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:34.950 of sadness in our world, and is in precisely 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:39.210 only this world that we live in, whether it's 00:08:39.210 --> 00:08:44.730 the unexpected or the expected loss and suffering, 00:08:44.990 --> 00:08:49.350 it's only in this world that Jesus comes in with 00:08:49.350 --> 00:08:52.210 the Beatitudes, and he says this, the one that 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:55.919 we focus on today, Blessed are the mourners, 00:08:56.379 --> 00:08:59.879 for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.519 mourners, for they shall be comforted. And we 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:06.799 think, how can you say, Jesus, that the deeply 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:11.759 happy, truly flourishing people are the people 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.639 who mourn, the people who grieve? Well, of course 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:19.720 it is connected to the promise that it's exactly 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.460 and only those kinds of people who will be comforted. 00:09:24.990 --> 00:09:27.669 But I think we have to wrestle with this. If 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:29.730 you think about the different places you can 00:09:29.730 --> 00:09:34.110 approach grief and loss and sadness from so often 00:09:34.110 --> 00:09:38.490 in our American culture today, we tend to deny 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:41.210 our sadness, whether it's about death or just 00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:43.190 the things that we are suffering with. We want 00:09:43.190 --> 00:09:48.029 to deflect. We want to press things down. Sometimes 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:50.610 that can take us and the people around us into 00:09:50.610 --> 00:09:54.649 places of despair. We try to detach from them. 00:09:55.269 --> 00:09:58.090 In the culture of Jesus' day, it was an interesting 00:09:58.090 --> 00:10:01.210 dynamic with suffering and loss, because on the 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:03.629 one hand, unlike our culture, they were more 00:10:03.629 --> 00:10:07.450 comfortable with visible displays of grief, whether 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:10.870 it is at death or at suffering, at a time of 00:10:10.870 --> 00:10:13.309 calamity. They're much more comfortable with 00:10:13.309 --> 00:10:16.590 that than we are in our culture. And yet, in 00:10:16.590 --> 00:10:19.210 some pockets of the Jewish culture of Jesus' 00:10:19.409 --> 00:10:22.509 day, people might say, well, like the man born 00:10:22.509 --> 00:10:25.610 blind. If you are suffering, if you are disabled, 00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:28.190 if you have lost someone, doesn't that mean that 00:10:28.190 --> 00:10:30.029 you've done something wrong? Doesn't it mean 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:33.149 that you have, who sinned, Lord, this man or 00:10:33.149 --> 00:10:35.730 his father? There was that kind of response so 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:39.370 often to the grief and the brokenness of the 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:42.830 world around them. Sometimes today people might 00:10:42.830 --> 00:10:45.809 say, well, suffering, we can just overcome it 00:10:45.809 --> 00:10:48.039 through our... our power, like the Buddhist, 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.299 we just need to detach and then we can find this 00:10:51.299 --> 00:10:53.539 inner peace in this nirvana. If we just watch 00:10:53.539 --> 00:10:57.000 these Instagram or TikTok reels or follow this 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:00.259 self -help guru, we'll be able to be okay in 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:03.360 the face of what's gone wrong within us and what's 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:05.720 happened to us and what is going wrong outside 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:09.580 of us. And instead of all these different paths, 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:12.980 Jesus instead invites you and me and y 'all together 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:15.580 as a church family to do something different. 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:19.519 He invites you to grieve with him in the sure 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:23.220 hope of his comfort. Jesus invites you to grieve 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:26.940 with him, looking to the sure hope of his comfort. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.440 And we're going to break down three different 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.840 dimensions as we take this passage in light of 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:35.759 the rest of the Bible of what Jesus invites you 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:40.620 and me and y 'all together to grieve or to lament. 00:11:41.049 --> 00:11:43.350 And the first of these is this, that there's 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:47.210 an invitation to lament sin with Jesus. There's 00:11:47.210 --> 00:11:52.070 an invitation to lament your sin, y 'all's sin, 00:11:52.350 --> 00:11:56.470 other people's sin with Jesus. As Jesus' ministry 00:11:56.470 --> 00:12:01.049 opens in Matthew 417, what does he do as he begins 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:04.730 his ministry, but he declares, repent for the 00:12:04.730 --> 00:12:07.230 kingdom of heaven has come near. Turn from the 00:12:07.230 --> 00:12:10.049 way that you've been going and embrace me and 00:12:10.049 --> 00:12:13.309 embrace This fulfillment of all the Old Testament 00:12:13.309 --> 00:12:16.450 that it talked about of a reign of righteousness 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:19.409 and forgiveness and peace that it has come and 00:12:19.409 --> 00:12:22.350 it's been embodied in the person and ministry 00:12:22.350 --> 00:12:25.990 and work of Jesus himself But that that ministry 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:28.929 as we confessed and our confession sent earlier 00:12:28.929 --> 00:12:32.710 For it to matter at all has to start with you 00:12:32.710 --> 00:12:35.879 and I being reminded of the reality of our sinfulness, 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:39.460 that we more than we have realized have fallen 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.659 short of God's perfect standard of holiness and 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:44.539 love and thought and word and deed by the things 00:12:44.539 --> 00:12:46.940 that we have done and by the things that we have 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:51.100 left undone. And the thread of the ministry of 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:54.299 Jesus so often is encountering people who are 00:12:54.299 --> 00:12:56.600 in the midst of their sin and in the midst of 00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:00.759 their sin offering them forgiveness, right? As 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.320 they repent and turn from it. But to receive 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:06.399 the comfort of Jesus's forgiveness that is based 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.000 solely on who he is and what he has done for 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:14.139 us. It starts with us saying, yes, I'm Josh and 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:18.159 I'm a sinner, right? That I need to be able to 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:21.840 grieve my sin to be able to look to the Savior. 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.279 Jesus comes as the suffering servant who, as 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:32.320 Isaiah says, bore our iniquities for us. And 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.870 so as you think about your sin today. It's like, 00:13:36.029 --> 00:13:37.850 well, isn't that a pleasant thought? But isn't 00:13:37.850 --> 00:13:40.350 that part of why we come to church? Because we 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:43.070 realize that we are sinners. We realize that 00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:45.629 we are messed up and we need a savior. So it's 00:13:45.629 --> 00:13:48.429 a good place to think about it. But what are 00:13:48.429 --> 00:13:51.490 the places of sin in your life that Jesus is 00:13:51.490 --> 00:13:55.590 calling you to grieve today? Are there places 00:13:55.590 --> 00:13:59.940 in your life with your sin, whether it's... pattern 00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:02.879 of outward sin, whether it's a thought pattern 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.259 or a pattern of desire in your heart, is there 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:10.240 a sin maybe that you've become too comfortable 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.679 with, that you think, you know, yeah, you know, 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:14.440 I kind of, I do that every now and then, but 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:18.100 like how bad is that? Because part of the gospel 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.840 prick of repentance is us being soft in our hearts 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.980 towards that sin and not being comfortable with 00:14:23.980 --> 00:14:26.240 it. As one of the Puritans said, to be killing 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:30.370 sin, or else it'll kill you, right? That we need 00:14:30.370 --> 00:14:33.769 to be able to bring to God our hearts, and to 00:14:33.769 --> 00:14:37.950 say, God, I need your help with this. I need 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:41.110 your forgiveness. Don't leave me where I am, 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:44.450 but also lift up my eyes to you and to the reality, 00:14:44.509 --> 00:14:47.129 Jesus, of your blood and righteousness that is 00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:50.970 given for me that is my only hope. What are the 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:54.450 places of sin in your heart? Maybe that you become 00:14:54.450 --> 00:14:57.009 comfortable with the Jesus is instead calling 00:14:57.009 --> 00:15:00.590 you to grieve. It might be really deep, persistent 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:02.809 patterns of sin that you invite someone else 00:15:02.809 --> 00:15:08.070 into. It might also be the awareness of situations 00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:12.250 where you've just become too comfortable with 00:15:12.250 --> 00:15:14.029 it, that pops up in your everyday life, and it 00:15:14.029 --> 00:15:17.549 could be a great check. You need to ask if your 00:15:17.549 --> 00:15:21.409 marriage, your spouse, or a roommate, or someone 00:15:21.409 --> 00:15:26.220 who is in your life a lot, Hey, where am I comfortable 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:29.360 with my sin? Where am I, when you're bringing 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.860 things up to me that you notice, where am I hard 00:15:32.860 --> 00:15:35.820 -hearted and reactive? I'm glad I never do that 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:38.200 as a husband. Glad I never that way with my wife 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:41.659 when she points out my sin. But where, where 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:43.940 are you like that? And where is Jesus calling 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:47.740 you to turn from that sin and instead to look 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:51.179 away from yourself and to embrace the comfort 00:15:51.179 --> 00:15:54.929 of his forgiveness? I wonder what difference 00:15:54.929 --> 00:15:57.509 it could make to think about the cultures that 00:15:57.509 --> 00:15:59.570 y 'all create, the communities that y 'all create, 00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:03.570 and that all of our churches create, if our churches 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:06.190 could grow more as places where we openly talked 00:16:06.190 --> 00:16:08.769 about, you know, this was the sin I was dealing 00:16:08.769 --> 00:16:13.250 with last week, or last night, or even this morning. 00:16:13.629 --> 00:16:17.159 That as we have, as good Southern people, the 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:20.799 banter about Clemson football, or in Charlotte 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.379 we banter about, a lot of people who like Clemson 00:16:23.379 --> 00:16:25.139 football in Charlotte, by the way, as you probably 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:28.480 know, the rain is extended across South and North 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:31.700 Carolina, but we banter about sports, we banter 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:34.759 about the weather. What could it look like for 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.899 us to more openly talk with each other about 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:42.379 our sin, so that we can point each other to our 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:45.720 savior, and so that we can move towards each 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:50.000 other as we struggle and we fall, so we can mourn 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.179 our sin together. I think it's one of the coolest 00:16:53.179 --> 00:16:56.220 opportunities I've gotten as a pastor in campus 00:16:56.220 --> 00:16:58.879 ministry sometimes is both to sit with people 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.220 in what's really hard and really sad that has 00:17:01.220 --> 00:17:04.380 happened to them and outside of them, but also 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:07.140 to sit with people who are really sad about their 00:17:07.140 --> 00:17:10.500 sin and to point them to the good news of the 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:13.220 forgiveness of Jesus as they look to that. And 00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:15.799 that's the invitation to you and to me today, 00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:20.339 as you are convicted of your sin, to really grieve 00:17:20.339 --> 00:17:22.400 it. This is not the way that it's supposed to 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:25.000 be. It's not God's best for us. We have an even 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.180 greater Savior than your sin or my sin, who lived 00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:31.200 the perfect life that you and I did not live, 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.819 who looked at the world around him, who looked 00:17:33.819 --> 00:17:37.440 at the temptations of the devil, and instead 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.460 trusted in the good word of his Heavenly Father, 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:44.549 and never fail. never fails, but he offers his 00:17:44.549 --> 00:17:47.450 blood and his righteousness to you and to me. 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:50.650 Will you talk to God about your sin? As you grieve 00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:53.130 your sin, will you look away from yourself to 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:55.970 the hope and to the power of Jesus and to his 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:58.789 forgiveness? Will you grieve your sin? Will you 00:17:58.789 --> 00:18:01.970 lament your sin with Jesus? Will y 'all do that 00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:05.549 with each other? The next invitation we see is 00:18:05.549 --> 00:18:08.710 an invitation to lament brokenness with Jesus. 00:18:08.890 --> 00:18:13.029 To lament brokenness with Jesus. Brokenness encompasses 00:18:13.029 --> 00:18:18.390 a wider lens, the way that often as an outgrowth 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:20.130 of sin, yes, but the way that things are not 00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:22.269 the way that they're supposed to be. They're 00:18:22.269 --> 00:18:26.029 not the way that creation was originally intended 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:29.549 to be. And we think of this, if you follow the 00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:32.390 news at any point, and I hope you detox the news 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:35.369 to the extent that you can, but so many stories 00:18:35.369 --> 00:18:36.650 in the news, while there are great things in 00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:38.859 the world that are not reported, So often the 00:18:38.859 --> 00:18:40.579 things we hear about and the things that you 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:44.539 and I experience at our jobs, with our neighbors, 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.579 looking at our communities, are things not being 00:18:47.579 --> 00:18:50.559 the way that they're supposed to be. You look 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.859 at government, you look at business, you look 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:56.559 at education, you talk to someone down the street, 00:18:56.940 --> 00:18:59.779 and it's the trickle trickle of so many stories 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:03.839 of brokenness, of things being bent, of people 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.930 abusing their power, of people being hurt. and 00:19:07.930 --> 00:19:10.529 not only culturally, but we look at the situations 00:19:10.529 --> 00:19:13.769 that so many of you and so many people travel 00:19:13.769 --> 00:19:18.190 through, right, with illness, with chronic disease, 00:19:18.710 --> 00:19:22.049 with physical maladies and hardships. We scan 00:19:22.049 --> 00:19:27.049 the globe, the stories of suffering, of people 00:19:27.049 --> 00:19:32.430 being in dire poverty. There's so much loss throughout 00:19:32.430 --> 00:19:34.670 our world that it can be easy for us to just, 00:19:35.869 --> 00:19:41.349 want to try to block it out. There's a reality 00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:44.289 in which we can only process so much of it. But 00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:46.029 you look at the minister of Jesus, and he did 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:49.390 not stay an arm's length from suffering. Even 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:54.450 though Jesus had all power, all dignity, all 00:19:54.450 --> 00:19:57.990 glory in and of himself, as Paul talks about 00:19:57.990 --> 00:20:01.410 in Philippians 2, he didn't account equality 00:20:01.410 --> 00:20:04.930 with God, something to be held onto. But he emptied 00:20:04.930 --> 00:20:07.750 himself for you and for me coming into our world 00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:12.750 of suffering and sadness and brokenness as he 00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:14.450 comes and you see throughout the ministry of 00:20:14.450 --> 00:20:18.170 Jesus that he Moves towards those who are poor 00:20:18.170 --> 00:20:21.069 towards those who are outcasts towards those 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:24.769 who are disabled towards those who are dying 00:20:24.769 --> 00:20:28.549 As we'll get into later those who have died that 00:20:28.549 --> 00:20:31.410 Jesus does not hold himself in an arm's length 00:20:31.410 --> 00:20:35.559 to our pain but instead he enters into it. And 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:39.579 because Jesus enters into it, he offers us the 00:20:39.579 --> 00:20:44.119 comfort to be able to engage the pain of your 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.700 suffering and my suffering and the suffering 00:20:46.700 --> 00:20:51.759 of the world around us. How do you respond to 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:55.960 the deep pain that's in your life? How do you 00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.500 respond to the place, whether it's a thread of 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:05.289 persistent suffering, of being hurt by someone, 00:21:06.529 --> 00:21:09.250 whatever that thread is in your life, in your 00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:13.390 story of deep hurt and deep unease of experiencing 00:21:13.390 --> 00:21:18.029 this is not the way that it should be, what do 00:21:18.029 --> 00:21:22.289 you do with it? Sometimes I think we can try 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:26.789 to numb out our pain. Are there ways that, someone, 00:21:27.150 --> 00:21:29.490 one author talked about the difference between 00:21:29.490 --> 00:21:32.980 taking a break, from our pain and our suffering 00:21:32.980 --> 00:21:35.319 and numbing out that, you know, maybe taking 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:38.579 a break, a little escape is, you know, one glass 00:21:38.579 --> 00:21:41.980 of wine versus when I've had five or six glasses 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:45.440 of wine to numb out. Story, you know, with a 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.480 lot of younger people maybe is the trite example 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.319 of, well, I'm going to watch one show versus 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.680 I'm going to binge watch a whole season of a 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:55.559 show. Sometimes that can be numbing. But what 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:57.480 does that look like for you? Are there places 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:02.339 you go to instead of God? to receive comfort 00:22:02.339 --> 00:22:05.980 for your pain. And we can think about with the 00:22:05.980 --> 00:22:09.380 reality of our need for rest, especially depending 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:11.160 on the season of suffering that you might be 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:14.839 in, it's good to take a break to get renewed 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:20.640 from that pain. But the numbing invites us just 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:24.880 to kind of push the pain down. And we can't actually 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:28.400 bring it out for healing. And what Jesus is saying, 00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:32.359 instead of Looking to other places for your comfort 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:36.559 and for your hope as you grieve as you lament 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.240 Your suffering and things not being the way that 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.700 they're supposed to be What could it look like 00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:47.079 for you? To lament with Jesus to bring your suffering 00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:51.240 To bring what is weighing you down to Jesus and 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:54.900 to his comfort? There's such a beautiful opportunity 00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:58.440 is As Peter was praying the pastoral prayer for 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:01.160 the opportunity as believers to one another, 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:04.700 each other, to look out for each other, to bear 00:23:04.700 --> 00:23:07.200 each other's burdens and cares. It's such a great 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.180 opportunity of the body of Christ as we share 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.400 the things that weigh us down. So often that 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.660 is when God speaks his word of comfort to us 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:18.599 is through other believers. Is there something 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:21.440 weighing you down that you need to share with 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:23.799 someone else to be able to receive more of God's 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:29.640 comfort? for you through his people. As it came 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:31.420 up earlier in the service, it's always cool when 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:32.839 there's these providential connections, right? 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:35.720 Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, praise be to 00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:37.859 the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:41.119 the father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:45.200 who comforts us in all our troubles. Isn't that 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:48.960 amazing? He comforts you and me in our troubles? 00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:52.380 Don't take it for granted. The God of the universe. 00:23:52.730 --> 00:23:56.569 wants to comfort you in your troubles. But even 00:23:56.569 --> 00:23:59.609 more than that, he doesn't waste the troubles, 00:23:59.710 --> 00:24:02.309 but what does he say? So that we can comfort 00:24:02.309 --> 00:24:05.549 those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves 00:24:05.549 --> 00:24:08.349 receive from God. That one of the beauties is 00:24:08.349 --> 00:24:11.650 you process where you've been and what God has 00:24:11.650 --> 00:24:15.410 done in your life is that even if somebody doesn't 00:24:15.410 --> 00:24:18.109 have the same situation of suffering and loss 00:24:18.109 --> 00:24:21.630 or hardship or sin struggle that you had, as 00:24:21.630 --> 00:24:25.400 you receive God's comfort for your pain, it frees 00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.160 you up more to share God's comfort with someone 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.920 else in the midst of their pain. It's amazing 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.180 how God works out all things for the good of 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:36.160 those who love him and are called according to 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.000 his purposes as we look to him and to his purposes, 00:24:40.059 --> 00:24:43.619 as we bring our pain and our sadness to him. 00:24:44.740 --> 00:24:46.500 The last thing we've seen is kind of the thing 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:50.059 that I headlined with the opening illustration, 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:53.359 right, is. the invitation to lament death with 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:57.480 Jesus. To lament death with Jesus. Of course, 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:01.059 some of the biggest wounds and feelings of loss 00:25:01.059 --> 00:25:04.200 and feelings of something is missing here or 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:06.859 something really hurts in this room are the wounds 00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:10.039 of death, right? Some of the biggest wounds in 00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:12.700 the lives of the people that we live with and 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:15.980 we want to share the good news of Jesus to. Paul 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:20.589 calls death the last enemy, right? I think it's 00:25:20.589 --> 00:25:23.410 so beautiful as you look at the life and the 00:25:23.410 --> 00:25:27.009 ministry of Jesus, the story of the account of 00:25:27.009 --> 00:25:29.690 Jesus being moved by the death of his friend 00:25:29.690 --> 00:25:32.170 Lazarus in the Gospel of John, right? That even 00:25:32.170 --> 00:25:35.230 as Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus 00:25:35.230 --> 00:25:38.690 from the dead, Jesus wept at the death of his 00:25:38.690 --> 00:25:41.920 friend. Jesus, even though he knew he was going 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.000 to be the one who would finally defeat death 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.339 in principle through his resurrection, who will 00:25:47.339 --> 00:25:51.099 return to finally erase the sting of death for 00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:54.500 the people of God for all eternity, that still, 00:25:54.500 --> 00:26:00.339 Jesus, as he encounters death, he weeps, he grieves 00:26:00.339 --> 00:26:04.759 that the loss is a loss, that this is not the 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:07.960 way that things are supposed to be. And it's 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.329 in light, of us being able to encounter those 00:26:11.329 --> 00:26:15.029 tears and that pain, that the glory of the resurrection 00:26:15.029 --> 00:26:19.390 is even greater. But it's only as we travel through 00:26:19.390 --> 00:26:23.009 the journey that the pain actually matters, that 00:26:23.009 --> 00:26:28.569 the loss actually matters. So like I asked you 00:26:28.569 --> 00:26:31.970 to do with your sin and with suffering, is there 00:26:31.970 --> 00:26:34.549 a loss in your life and your story that maybe 00:26:34.549 --> 00:26:39.109 Jesus is inviting you today? to bring to him 00:26:39.109 --> 00:26:41.650 for his healing, for his comfort. Is there a 00:26:41.650 --> 00:26:44.089 loss that you've experienced? Maybe God has given 00:26:44.089 --> 00:26:45.690 you a lot of healing from over the years, but 00:26:45.690 --> 00:26:48.289 that you still need to be able to talk about 00:26:48.289 --> 00:26:51.390 and to bring to other body of Christ people to 00:26:51.390 --> 00:26:56.650 experience their comfort. What might God be laying 00:26:56.650 --> 00:26:59.829 on your heart today with those wounds of loss 00:26:59.829 --> 00:27:03.890 and pain? Maybe you don't really have one of 00:27:03.890 --> 00:27:06.700 those on your mind today, but... This passage 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:09.880 is a great opportunity as you think about grief 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:12.299 and mourning to be able to ask yourself, are 00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:18.380 you ready to die? Are you ready either for the 00:27:18.380 --> 00:27:21.339 reality for all of us in this room is that either 00:27:21.339 --> 00:27:24.579 things will end when we die or Jesus comes back, 00:27:24.819 --> 00:27:27.880 whichever happens first. And this beatitude in 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:30.619 the wisdom of Jesus invites us to ask ourselves, 00:27:31.319 --> 00:27:35.529 are we ready for that? And can we say, that our 00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:38.349 only comfort in life and in death, as we face 00:27:38.349 --> 00:27:41.450 the reality of the uncertainty of our lives, 00:27:41.829 --> 00:27:44.289 the uncertainty of the world around us, is in 00:27:44.289 --> 00:27:48.309 Jesus Christ, in his blood, in his righteousness 00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:53.450 given for you. Wherever you might have been with 00:27:53.450 --> 00:27:55.630 loss, wherever you might be with the fear of 00:27:55.630 --> 00:27:58.210 death, where is God calling you today? To bring 00:27:58.210 --> 00:28:01.390 that to Jesus, to know his comfort, to know his 00:28:01.390 --> 00:28:05.460 power, that he comes and he says, I am the resurrection 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:10.400 and the life. As we land this beatitude, it invites 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.319 us to look to the triune God, to look to the 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:16.900 one God who is three, the three who is one. To 00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:19.299 him alone is the consoler of your heart and mine. 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:22.559 We see the different persons of the Trinity work 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:24.640 in different ways to comfort the people of God. 00:28:25.099 --> 00:28:27.799 As Paul has already said in 2 Corinthians 1, 00:28:28.339 --> 00:28:31.480 you have a father who is the father of all mercies. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.599 To look to him. for your sadness over your sin, 00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:38.900 your suffering, your loss. Jesus, the eternal 00:28:38.900 --> 00:28:42.220 son made man, is the man of sorrows who bore 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:45.160 our grief and our sadness and is yet the one 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:49.059 who is the resurrection and the life. The Holy 00:28:49.059 --> 00:28:52.299 Spirit is the counselor, the comforter, who comes 00:28:52.299 --> 00:28:56.299 to guide and to console you and me, the people 00:28:56.299 --> 00:28:58.839 of God. The one who Paul says in Romans 8 helps 00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:01.880 us to pray. When in the midst of our sin and 00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:03.900 our suffering, we don't even know what to pray, 00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:07.940 but God gives grace upon grace to come alongside 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:11.579 of us, even when you don't know what to do. And 00:29:11.579 --> 00:29:14.339 I've asked you questions to consider on your 00:29:14.339 --> 00:29:16.460 heart as you respond to life, but the beauty 00:29:16.460 --> 00:29:18.740 of God is that God comes alongside of you and 00:29:18.740 --> 00:29:21.759 me to comfort us, to console us, and to guide 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:24.700 us, even when we don't know what to do. And what 00:29:24.700 --> 00:29:26.660 he invites you to do, even if you don't know 00:29:26.660 --> 00:29:28.960 what to do today, even if you can't think. of 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:32.859 what the next step of faith is, is to cast yourself 00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:36.819 on this God, to cast yourself on this living 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:41.059 and reigning and returning Jesus who says, blessed 00:29:41.059 --> 00:29:44.799 are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.039 Will you look away from yourself? Will you look 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.140 away from your circumstances? Will you give yourself 00:29:50.140 --> 00:29:53.460 and your circumstances to God, looking to him 00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:56.660 and to his comfort in Jesus and Jesus alone? 00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:57.799 Please pray with me.