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Monday
Reading: Matthew 5 v 4 / 2 Samuel 12 v 1 – 23
This week we will be discussing Matthew 5 v 4: “Blessed are those who mourn for
they will be comforted”. Once again we are faced with an incredible paradox. The
paradox suggests that you are happy when you are sad. Please note that this
mourning over sin is a direct outworking of Beatitude number 1 where we
acknowledge our spiritual bankruptcy and our inability to please God. One of the
traits of the humble is that they are able to see sin for what it is, and develop a
holy hatred towards it. The word “mourn” in the Greek language is the same
mourning that happens after someone close to you has died. The question we
therefore have to ask is if we are mourning, who died? The answer to that
question is to say – you died. The day that sin came into the Garden of Eden man
died spiritually. This is why Jesus advocates continually that a rebirth is needed
in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The saddest day in human history was
the day that sin came into the world and separated us from God.
An interesting fact about sin is we do it quite naturally, but we don’t like to look
at it. This may sound slightly confusing but let me explain: my friend Errol used
an illustration which illustrates the point I am trying to make. He stood before a
congregation with a glass of water in his hand. He then, with a graphic sound,
cleared his throat and spat into the glass. Then in full view of the congregation
he raised the glass to his lips and drank the water with the spit in it. The
response from the congregation was notable, many were gagging and shaking
their heads, they felt somewhat repulsed. Errol then asked, why is it that they
would feel repulsed by him swallowing his own spit, after all everyone does it
all-day-every-day and we are never repulsed by it? The moment, however, that
spit is exposed is the moment we see how repulsive it looks and therefore the
thought of drinking it, for many, brings a disagreeable response. The same is
true of our sin. Our sin is gross and our sin is repulsive, but while it remains
hidden, no-one takes much notice of it. But the moment it evidences itself is the
moment it should engender from us a repulsive response. When sin repulses
you, like that, then that is when you know what it is to mourn over sin.
David’s repentance before God, after his sin had been revealed by Nathan the
prophet, is a perfect example of what I am trying to say. The moment he saw his
sin through the eyes of God he became repulsed by it and it led him to