Amen. I wonder who it is that you most envy in the world. If you were to press the reset button on your life and start again, what sort of a person would you create for yourself? How would you do it? Well, at the beginning of probably what is the most famous sermon ever preached, it's called the Sermon on the Mount. It's this section in Matthew's Gospel from chapter 5 to the end of chapter 7.
Then Jesus deals out the definitive answer, the definitive reality on who it is that we should envy in the world. They are the blessed people, he says. They are the people who've got life right. You look at them and you think, how I envy them.
It is a hard word to translate in the English, the word blessed. I quite like the Welsh paraphrase, forgive me on the pronunciation on this. Gwynny big I think it is. I'm sorry about that. But that means white is their world.
White is their world. Everything is in its right place. Everything is where it should be. Happy, blessed, enviable. White is their world. That is the kind of feel of this passage.
So we imagine, don't we, perhaps the kind of people who end up on the front of magazines. They work hard, they play hard, they retire early, they've got money in the bank, they've got holiday homes, maybe in a couple of other places around the world.
They've got great family life, they've got great social standing, maybe they give to charity. And you look at them and you think, they have done it. They have made it in life. Look at him, look at her. How I envy them. How white is their world.
So who do you envy? So who do you envy? I don't know what it is for you. Maybe you envy someone at the end of the summer who gets straight A's. Maybe you look at somebody with a freehold of a detached London property. How I envy them. How I would like to be them. They have made it in life.
That's the kind of feel to what Jesus is saying here. The blessed people. The people that we envy.
And you'll notice the audience that Jesus speaks to here. If you look at verse 1, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and as he sat down his disciples came to him. That's interesting, isn't it?
You've got a gathering of the disciples with Jesus, but then the crowds are there as well, aren't they? This is a double-barrelled sermon that Jesus preaches here. One barrel is for the Christians, isn't it? For the disciples, those who belong to Jesus.
These eight or nine blessed statements at the beginning of the sermon are meant for them, for the disciples.
And the whole content of this scintillating sermon, with all of its captivating ethical teaching, is meant for the disciples.
So don't mistake Jesus. This isn't a sermon on rules, on how to get into the kingdom of God.
No, it's the behaviour that the citizens of Jesus' kingdom, the disciples, who've already trusted in him, are to live by.
But then, if you flick to the end of this great sermon in chapter 7, verse 28, we read,
When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.
You see, there is the second barrel of the sermon. It is for those who are listening in, isn't it?
For those who are outsiders. It's as if he's saying to the world outside,
If you want to know who is truly blessed, who is truly happy, who you should envy in the world,
Just look at my disciples. Just listen to what I tell them, and how they are going to live.
Now maybe you're here this morning, and that describes you a little bit.
You're here, you're surrounded with Jesus' disciples in church,
But actually, if you're honest, you're not one of those disciples, and you're looking in from the outside.
You're one of the people in the crowds. You're eavesdropping on what Jesus is saying to his disciples.
I want to say to you, that that is exactly what church is for, for you.
It is for the crowds to come in and eavesdrop on Jesus' teaching to his church.
Eavesdropping is allowed in church.
This is not a private members' club, or a private members' meeting.
It is for the crowds of the world to come in and hear Jesus teaching to his disciples.
And this is absolutely golden here, isn't it?
Because I don't know about you, but the search for happiness and blessing is so elusive.
Isn't it?
One person said, the search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
So true, isn't it?
Happiness and blessing is such a slippery thing, but here Jesus claims to be able to end that search.
It's absolute gold dust.
So what we've got at the beginning of this great sermon on the map is in these blessed statements.
It's a kind of prologue, really.
It's the essence of the sermon up front, before he gets into the real content.
This is the pocket guide to what it is to be blessed.
Who do I envy?
Who do I crave to be?
Well, Jesus says you've got to be careful who you envy in this world.
And actually when we come to Jesus, it is as if he steps into the shop window at night,
and he switches around all of the price tags, and all of the labels, and all of the items.
All of our categories of happiness and good fortune are switched around, aren't they?
And he presents a completely radical view on what it is to be blessed.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are the meek, verse 5.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
If you flick over to verse 10, blessed are the persecuted.
Are you when you're persecuted?
It's just ludicrous, this, isn't it?
It's just completely upside down to the teaching of our world.
On a couple more Sunday mornings, I want to look at some of these blessed statements a bit more closely.
And perhaps one of the most striking is in verse 4, if you look there.
Blessed are those who mourn.
For they shall be comforted.
Could you have two words in the same sentence that are more opposite than that?
Blessed.
Mourn.
Who do I envy?
Jesus says, envy those who mourn.
For they will be comforted, he says.
He says that the mourning people are blessed.
Because somehow the comfort they receive will be far better.
It will outweigh their grief.
There is something worth it.
In the kingdom of Jesus, it is not the grief that is the blessing in and of itself.
Is it?
He's saying, no, they are blessed because of the comfort they will feel.
They will feel Jesus' comfort.
They will feel his welcome.
And his special help.
So I want us to see a few things about this particular verse.
Number one.
These blessed people are spiritually mourning.
Not generally mourning.
These blessed people are spiritually mourning.
Not generally mourning.
You know, as we look at the world today, it is a cliche, isn't it?
But every time you turn the radio on, every time you click the TV on or you look at the front pages,
there is a new reason to mourn.
Have you heard about Munich?
Have you heard about Nice?
Have you heard about Kabul?
Have you heard about this person that we love?
Who is going through this?
This is a world that mourns daily.
And the word Jesus uses here is the same word that is described of the disciples when they are bereaved of Jesus later in the Gospels.
It is a deep grief.
It is a hollow, empty, dark hole of emotion and of grief and of pain.
And so this is the kind of promise that you might hear at a funeral.
It is maybe a good verse to memorise and share with folk who are grieving, isn't it?
But I want to say that actually this promise does not cover all grief as a blanket rule.
Now of course, God does comfort people, doesn't he?
God wants to comfort people in various trials of course, but there is no promise in the Bible of blessing every time suffering strikes.
There is no universal human right of comfort whenever death strikes.
There is no automatic blessing whenever anyone anywhere mourns about anything.
And that just makes sense, doesn't it?
Death. Death is not a blessing.
Death is a curse.
It is a curse on life.
This is not just about any situation, however awful it may be, regardless of the person's relationship to God.
No, this is spiritual mourning.
Let me read a few other verses from the Bible to help us on this.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, he says,
Godly sorrow leads to salvation and no regret.
He's talking about sin there.
In the famous psalm, Psalm 51, where David, he confesses his sins, doesn't he?
After adultery and murder, he says,
The broken and contrite heart, O God, you won't despise.
God says to the people of God through Joel,
Joel chapter 2,
Tear your heart and not your garments.
It's like a Jewish phrase.
It means, be broken hearted about your sin.
Don't just put on a show.
Be broken hearted about your behaviour.
He says, for he is gracious and compassionate.
It's a theme that runs throughout the whole Bible.
Jesus is speaking about the mourning of a person who grieves.
Not about their situation necessarily, but about their sin.
Their sin.
The way that they've offended God.
They've turned their backs on him.
That is what upsets them.
That's what frustrates them in life.
That's what disturbs them.
It is knowing how awful sin is.
It's a spiritual mourning, not a natural, general mourning.
This comfort promise is not going to come to anyone
who suffers with anything for any reason.
Please, please, don't use this verse for friends who are grieving
and yet they couldn't care less about their relationship with God.
If sin is a light thing to them.
Jesus is not saying here, anyone who's unhappy, you want to envy him.
It's not it, is it?
I wonder, Christians, we can often be like that, can't we?
We can think, you know, the more miserable we are,
the more God blesses us, kind of thing.
The more miserable I am about life, the more God loves me.
That's not what he's saying here.
This is a grief over our spiritual state.
Without Jesus' help.
This is a grief over sin.
As the Puritan Thomas Watson said,
sin must have tears.
Maybe you know the story of the woman in Luke chapter 7,
one of the other Gospels.
She's a sinful woman, we're told.
Everyone knows it.
She goes to a house party at the Pharisees.
The Pharisees knows.
She's called the woman of the street.
I'll leave you to fill in the gaps.
The Pharisees know it.
Jesus knows it.
She certainly knows it.
And she comes into this party weeping.
She's distraught.
She's so shamed.
Her sin is right in front of her face.
And she feels it.
She comes to Jesus and washes his feet with ointment.
Jesus says to them,
she loved much because she was forgiven much.
She turns around and says to her,
you are forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven.
And that is the kind of brokenness and hopelessness and grief at your own wayful inability to please God by yourself.
It is knowing how much God will have to forgive you.
When he does.
And the feeling you get when he looks at you like he did with a woman and he says,
your sins are forgiven.
It is all gone.
It is all clean.
Your guilt is wiped away.
All of your regrets, they are gone.
That is what it is to be blessed.
Jesus says.
And Psalm 34 says,
the Lord is close to those who are humble,
who are broken hearted and crushed in spirits.
And it is the best feeling in the world.
Let me tell you,
what a comfort God says to me in Jesus.
Your sins are forgiven.
And I belong to him.
You know, the word comfort that Jesus uses,
you could use it for an invitation to a party actually.
It is a statement of acceptance and of welcome.
Jesus says to us,
I will forgive you this once,
but I don't know if I can trust you in the future.
It isn't that.
He says, no, you're an honoured guest now.
We're allies.
We're friends.
You're forgiven.
And then in that moment,
when we hear that,
the whole world is white.
Isn't it?
Things are right between me and the God of the universe.
What more do I need?
What a burden lifted.
The world is white.
So these are the blessed people.
They are the people who've mourned about their relationship with God.
It's been catchy at best.
It's been non-existent,
actually,
most of the time.
They've ignored him.
They've quietly hated him
and treated him like some sort of spiritual butler.
It is people who mourn over that.
And they are blessed because
they will be comforted.
You are forgiven.
Jesus says,
you want to envy them
in this world.
So it's not just a general mourning,
but it's a spiritual mourning.
Secondly,
though,
it's not just tears,
but it's trust.
It's not just tears,
but it's trust.
There is a mourning for your situation,
your circumstances,
isn't there?
And there is a mourning for sin.
We've seen that difference.
But actually,
you can mourn
and you can grieve about
your sin and your guilt
in a godly way
or in a godless way,
can't you?
Sometimes when we're sorry for things,
actually,
it's because we've been caught,
if we're honest,
isn't it?
And it is possible
to mourn over things
that you've done wrong
and actually to be sorry,
to grieve about the consequences
or about the punishment
that is going to head you away.
That feeling of guilt and regret,
actually,
sometimes,
rather than mourning
about the personal aspect
of offending God,
it leaves us away from God,
doesn't it?
That kind of mourning,
it turns you away from him.
And into yourself.
So you kind of feel sorry
for yourself for a while.
I'm sure we all know
the story of Judas Iscariot.
He was one of the disciples,
wasn't he?
He was a missionary
with the disciples.
He evangelised.
And he joined Jesus.
But famously,
he betrayed Jesus
for some money.
Later in Matthew,
in chapter 27,
he realises what he's done
as Jesus is carried off
to be killed.
And he says,
I've sinned
by betraying innocent blood.
So he throws his payment,
his silver,
into the temple.
But then,
he leaves
and he hangs himself.
You see,
the problem for Judas was
his tears weren't enough,
were they,
to wash away his sin.
However much he mourned
about what he'd done,
his sorrow could not
take away his guilt.
One writer said,
his self-reproach
led to despair,
which left no room
for God's forgiving grace.
That just hit the nail
on the head,
hasn't it?
He could have swam
in a river of his own tears,
and it wouldn't have
washed the guilt
of what he'd done away.
It wouldn't have washed
the memory
of the things
that he'd done
to Jesus.
What he'd done was,
actually,
he'd stayed with his tears,
and trusted in his tears
to deal with his guilt,
when he should have gone
to Jesus' blood.
But it's not just tears,
it is trust
in God's grace
through Jesus' death.
Because there would have been
another one who hung
in his stead,
wouldn't there?
But his grief
led him from Jesus,
away from Jesus.
I don't know if you remember,
just after Jesus
rises from the dead,
and in Acts chapter 2,
it's a glorious new age,
isn't it,
when the Holy Spirit
comes down.
And the people
that crucified Jesus
a few days earlier,
they are cut to the heart.
They are grieved
over what they've done.
They say,
what should we do?
And Peter says,
repent and be baptised
in the name of Jesus,
every one of you,
for the forgiveness
of your sins.
And you'll receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And that's what they do,
isn't it?
You see,
that is godly grief.
It leads them back
to the Lord Jesus,
to trust in him.
So don't let tears
over your guilt
fill your eyes
so much that you can't
see Jesus on the cross
there for you instead.
It is there
that your guilt
is taken,
that all of the regrets
are nailed to the cross
and killed off
once and for all.
Don't trust your tears
to sort it out.
Go to Jesus' blood
to wash away your guilt.
You know,
the scary thing
about godless grief
is that actually
it leads to eternal grief.
Later on,
after the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus is in a conversation
with a centurion
and some others
about faith.
He's amazed at the faith
of this Gentile centurion.
And he says,
listen,
the ones with no faith,
even if you look
really religious,
if you have no faith,
if you have no trust
in Jesus,
you will be thrown
into the outer darkness.
It's staggering,
isn't it?
He goes on,
in that place
there will be
weak and gnashing
of teeth.
This is a place
where mourning,
where grief
never ends.
The Bible calls it
hell.
it's a place
where the rivers
of regret
flow freely
and there is no blood
to wash away
your guilt.
And blessedness,
though,
is given to those
who have tears
in their eyes,
yes,
about their sin,
but they go to Jesus'
blood
for cleansing
and forgiveness.
They go to Jesus.
You are forgiven,
he says
to them.
It's a godly grief.
It's not a natural grief,
this promise.
And it's not just
swimming in tears,
that would be the
hellish thing to do,
like Judas did.
But it's trust,
trusting in Jesus.
Thirdly and lastly,
though,
this is an ongoing
grief,
and not just a
one-off grief.
It's an ongoing
grief,
not just a one-off
grief.
And you may want
to know,
how often do I have
to do this mourning
thing?
How often do I
have to grieve
about my sin?
Maybe when I
become a Christian,
I do it then.
Maybe once a year
at Easter.
Maybe once a week
on a Sunday
as we do the
confession of sin.
That is right,
isn't it?
All of those things
are appropriate.
But if you look
at verse 4,
if I read that,
blessed are those
who mourn,
literally that reads,
blessed are the
mourning ones.
Blessed are the
grieving ones.
There is a sense
here of a sort of
continual state
of grief.
It's not just a
one-off conversion
experience.
It's a continual
state.
You wouldn't be
blamed here for
thinking, well,
Jesus, he's a bit
of a killjoy,
isn't he?
Is he advocating
a kind of life
of grief,
of sort of
hitting myself
with metals?
And eating
bread and water?
That sort of thing.
Is he saying
that Christians
should just be
perpetually sad
all of the time?
Well, I don't
think so.
If you look at
verse 12,
a few verses
later, he says,
rejoice and be
glad.
So he's not
saying you've
got to be sad
all the time.
That's not what
it is.
It's not about
being negative
or always looking
on the dark
side of life.
Always having
a sense of
loathing of
yourself.
But there is a
sense here that
the disciples of
Jesus are having
an ongoing state
of sadness
about their
sins.
Something specific.
One person said
it's as if their
hearts have been
tenderised.
It's really
helpful.
Whenever sin
rears its head,
they grieve,
they wince,
their hearts are
tenderised.
It's having a
conscience,
isn't it,
to how God
sees us,
how we behave.
The opposite
is to treat
guilt lightly,
to not really
care,
to remember
our guilt
and our sin
cheerfully.
This is to
have an ongoing
tenderness and
sensitivity to
our wrongdoing,
to grieve when
we grieve God.
There's always
having that sense
of, but for
the grace of
God go I.
If it wasn't
for the grace of
God, where
would I be?
As Martin
Luther says,
always a
justified man,
always a
sinner.
It seems so
odd in our
world that
though, doesn't
it?
Bertrand
Russell, the
famous atheist,
wrote in his
book,
Why I'm Not
a Christian,
when you
hear people
in church
debasing
themselves,
and saying
that they're
miserable
sinners,
it seems
contemptible,
unworthy of
self-respecting
human beings.
You know,
maybe he's
right.
There is no
blessing in
knowing you're
a sinner,
actually.
The devil
knows that.
Judas knew
that, didn't
he knew that
he had
offended God,
that he
turned his
back on God.
But it's
not just
about the
tears.
It's about
trust.
And Bertrand
Russell, he's
missed the
second half,
hasn't he?
Of this
great promise.
They are
blessed because
they will be
comforted.
Comforted,
it's how
Jesus describes
the Holy
Spirit, as
a comforter,
as somebody
who comes
alongside you,
somebody who
puts their
arm around
you.
It is to
have God
come to you
and say,
you are
forgiven,
to welcome
you, to
say, I am
with you.
And all of
that regret
is dealt
with.
It means
turning over a
new leaf,
doesn't it?
It means
getting a
new courage
and a new
stimulation for
life, a
new sense
of adventure
of what
could be.
The past
and the
present and
the future
are all
dealt with.
And it's
when no
matter what
your situation
is, the
world is
right, because
you are
comforted.
So who
is it that
you envy
in the
world?
I hope
you, in
the sense
of your
luck in
the end, I
hope you
envy us,
if I can
put it that
way, Jesus'
disciples, those
who have
grieved over
sin and who
are comforted.
As you saw
the baptism
earlier, I
hope you
envied Nina.
Some of
us mourn
about many
things, don't
we?
But all of
us actually
should mourn
for our
sin.
And we
should be
comforted.
If we
don't mourn
about our
sin, we
should mourn
about that.
And truly,
Jesus says,
you will be
blessed.
You are
forgiven.
Let's
pray.
Thank you.