Mourn ourselves

Good morning beloved brethren. Welcome to the house of the Lord, so that we can fellowship and indulge in his cleansing Word.

Today we read in Matthew.

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 

Let us pray.

Dear Father, who art in heaven, thank you for allowing us to come together to celebrate you and the Work your Son has done on the cross for us.

We ask you to cleanse us from our sins, whichever each one of us may has committed over the last few days. We repent of them right now, and ask your forgiveness in Jesus’ name

AMEN.

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

This verse sounds kind of unlogic. Why would we be blessed or find our happiness in mourning. To an unbeliever it will appear that way. But to us as fellow servants in Christ it will make sense.

Whom do we mourn in that verse?

Yes, we do mourn family members, friends etc who may have passed away. But this verse is referring to mourning of ourselves.

What does that mean to mourn ourselves?

Mourning ourselves refers to feeling a deep sorrow for our sinful behaviour with which we have grieved our Father in heaven.

Bear with me.

Through the work that Jesus Christ has done on the cross, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. We are without sin, assuming you recognize and accept for yourself Jesus Christ and his work.

Your sin was nailed to the cross through the offered lamb Jesus Christ the Son of God. God himself has redeemed us. He made himself the atonement for our sin.

By the blood sacrifice our sin is forgiven, done once and for all time for all people who come to, and accept Jesus Christ as their saviour.

With your salvation you will receive a new spirit, the Holy Spirit will indwell you and guide you.

The water, that poured out of Jesus’ side when he was pierced by the soldier, cleanses us from sin.

How does that apply to you now?

Your sin nature has been dealed with at the cross through the blood.

You are a new person in Jesus Christ. As we read in Corinthians.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We are a new creation in Jesus Christ. Your old sinful self is done away with. Problem is, you are still in that old body and carting the old sin creature around with you.

It will feel like an old used backpack you can’t get rid off. The only option you have, is to deny it.

With that, we arrive to the mourning part Jesus is talking about on the sermon on the mount.

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

You are literally mourning your old self. And you find joy and happiness in that mourning. Because it is saying-farewell to an old friend you don’t really want to have anything to do with anymore.

Look at it this way. Your old self overstayed its welcome. And it will unfortunately constantly be trying to come back and rule you. That is your sinful fleshly body. The old creation you were before Christ.

You now, have a new Spirit which is in Christ and with that you have the constant battle inside you, who is taking leadership? The old self or the new Spirit? Whom do you serve? Jesus or do you serve Satan aka yourself? Like the unholy trinity: Me myself and I!

We mourn the old ways we lived, the things we have done that were contrary to God. And that is why we can rejoice in that mourning.

Because, you can only mourn what is lost or dead, if nothing has died inside you, then there is nothing to mourn about. But luckily, us who are in Jesus Christ and received the new man/woman can mourn our old self. What a blessing that is. We can rejoice in the fact that Jesus’ work on the cross did it all. What a comfort to know that. The blessing we have in the mourning process, reminds us of our new life in Christ and the comfort we receive from that. Knowing, we are saved for all eternity.

Our old self is dead, and we are alive in Christ. Our Spirit is renewed. And our salvation is everlasting. Because God keeps his promise.

The new creation we have become will be sanctified by the water. Sanctification is a slow process and it will take your whole lifetime. But by the time you rock up at the pearly gates, you will be perfected in Christ, holy and righteous. And the gates are wide open for you to enter in. Finally, you will be physically reunited with Christ. At the moment we are spiritually reunited with Christ. Not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

Our continuous cleansing, we will receive by reading his Word, the bible. It is symbolic of the water that ran out of His side when pierced and continually cleanses us if we abide by it. The Word is the water that cleanses us. So, to keep on the road to sanctification, keep washing yourself with water, the Word from God passed down to us from generation to generation. The infallible Word of God. The bible that you hold in your hand. Read and feel replenished by it.

We are all blessed, that someone, God himself did all this work for us, so that we can enter back into a relationship with God. Unspoiled by sin. Perfect and holy.

Thank you, Jesus for your work.

Taking communion this mourning is honouring the work, Jesus, the Son of God has done for us. We do it in remembrance. The breaking of his body. The blood sacrifice.

Let us pray:

Lord, I don’t really have the proper words to say how I feel about the work you have done for me and all of us. I can’t say often enough: thank you! I love you. And I am looking forward to your coming.

AMEN.