Episode 188 – Disciple Up

Disciple Up # 188
A Disciple’s Identity Pt. 2 – Mourning
By Louie Marsh, 12-2-2020

Intro. First in this series was back in Episode 185. Today we’ll continue with part two.

“⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4, ESV)

I) THE ROCK BOTTOM REALITY
A) Blessed.

1, Can be translated “Happy”, but that is misleading, since happiness is a subjective emotion dependent on circumstances

2, In the Bible blessing is something a greater does for a lesser, it is an objective reality, and it’s given as a gift it’s not earned.

3, Perhaps the best way to think of blessed is the translation “Congratulations.”

a, Jesus is saying that God thinks these things are good, even tho we might disagree!

II) Happy Are the Unhappy?

1, This follows on the heels of the 1st Beatitude and can only be understood in light of it.

2, Once we see and confess our spiritual poverty, that isn’t the end of it.

a, We are also called to mourn over it.

b, The extent of sin in our lives should be a cause of great grief to us.

3, In our rush to become “Happy Christians” we usually rush past this and hurt ourselves in several ways…

a, We make light of sin, and never take the time to see how deep it’s hold on us really is.

b, By papering over our weaknesses we set ourselves up for future failure.

c, By belittling sin we also never really understand the true extent of God’s comfort – His Grace.

Those who Mourn – I ADMIT my problem is sin.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (ESV)

Problems are spiritual and in the Bible spiritual problems are called sin. Sin is my core problem in life and it impacts everything.

I must admit it’s sin! Like a 4 year old child who refuses to hold his parents hand to cross the street and instead darts out into traffic. The child dies because he refused to admit he needed his parents to control and guide him.

Spiritual mourning is REPENTANCE.

¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)

I can go two ways with this:

o Focus on SELF – God has forgiven me but I can’t forgive myself.

This is self pity

o Focus on JESUS – forgiven, lifted up, empowered

⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4 (ESV)

COMFORTED

A form of the word Jesus used for the Helper or Comforter in John:

“¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16–17, ESV)

So we are comforted not by mere words or emotions, but by the presence and ministry of the Spirit of God Himself.

Please Get In Touch!

Email – louie@discipleup.org