Title: Brokenness in the Light of God’s Glory
Text: Matthew 5:4; Isaiah 6:1-8
OPEN:
We saw last week that in Christ's Sermon on the Mount, all of the Beatitudes are paradoxical (e.g. Happy are the poor), because what they promise for what they demand seems incongruous and upside-down in the eyes of natural man.
Today we encounter a second paradox, a perplexing truth: What could be more self-contradictory than the idea that the sad are happy, that the path to happiness is sadness, that the way to rejoicing is mourning? The idea seems absurd. The whole structure of most human living is that the way to happiness is to have things go your own way.
- Pleasure brings happiness, money brings happiness, entertainment brings happiness, etc.
- Avoiding pain, trouble, disappointment, frustration -- these bring happiness.
But Jesus said, "Happy are the sad." He even went on to say, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep" (Luke 6:25).
What gives? Is Jesus confused? Is he deliberately trying to confuse us?
I. We Need To Know the Meaning of Mourning.
Certain kinds of sorrow are common to all mankind, experienced by believer and unbeliever alike.
1. Legitimate Sorrow
This may be a blessing in disguise.
Arabic proverb: "All sunshine makes a desert."
- The trouble-free life is likely to be a shallow life.
- We often learn and mature more from times of sorrow than from times where everything is going well.
2. Godly Sorrow
1) The mourning about which Jesus is talking has nothing to do with the legitimate sorrow we've just described.
- Jesus is speaking of godly sorrow, godly mourning, mourning that only those who sincerely belong to him or who already belong to him can experience.
- The Apostle Paul speaks of this sorrow in his second letter to Corinth: "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you" (2 Co 7:10-11).
2) As the first beatitude makes clear, entrance into the kingdom of heaven begins with being "poor in spirit", a recognition of spiritual bankruptcy. Spiritual poverty leads to godly sorrow; the poor in spirit become those who mourn.
- Nine different Greek words are used in the New Testament to speak of sorrow.
- Of the nine terms used for sorrow, the one here (pentheo) is the strongest, the most severe. It represents the deepest, most heart-felt grief, and was usually reserved for grieving over the death of a loved one.
- The word carries the idea of deep inner agony, which may or may not be expressed by outward weeping, wailing or lament
3) Brokenness is a prerequisite to true worship.
Isaiah 6:1-8
Five Observations Concerning Isaiah’s Experience of Brokenness:
1. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, his own self-righteousness was utterly destroyed and he received true righteousness as a gift of God’s grace.
- Humanly speaking, he was a righteous man even before he entered God’s throne room. As a prophet, he had dedicated his life to God’s service. Yet, something was missing. There were depths of his own depravity that he had yet to confront, and thus he needed a shattering experience of having God’s grace applied to his guilt.
- Many terrifying thoughts must have run through Isaiah’s mind when he saw God on His holy throne. Frankly he thought he was a dead man, for he knew it was impossible for any man to see God and live (ex. 33:20). “Woe to me!” he said, “For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
- No doubt, Isaiah remembered what had happened to King Hezekiah, who had died earlier that same year. Uzziah had been one of Judah’s more successful monarchs. He was a good king who “sought God” and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chron 26:4-5).
- However, Uzziah became proud of his accomplishments, and in his pride he entered the Holy Place to burn incense on God’s altar. This was strictly forbidden, so the priests tried to bar the king’s entrance. While they argued back and forth, Uzziah was struck by leprosy. This made him ceremoniously unclean, and was thereby forced to leave the temple and never return. The king lived in seclusion until his dying day. This was the consequence of his arrogant pride that caused his unlawful entrance into God’s holy -sanctuary (2 Chron 26:16-23).
- With all of this somewhere in the back of his mind, Isaiah was terrified by his vision of God’s glory, and understandably so.
2. Isaiah cried, “Woe to me!… I am ruined!”
- The word “woe” is significant. In the previous chapter, Isaiah had pronounced six woes against the people of Jerusalem, condemning them for everything from drunkenness to unethical real estate development. However, according to the conventions of Hebrew literature, things ordinarily came in sevens—therefore, one would have expected one more woe. By pronouncing only six woes, Isaiah seemed to have left things hanging.
- Then the prophet saw the sovereign Lord, seated in majesty, and his woe was made complete. “Woe is me!” he cried, pronouncing the seventh and final woe. Isaiah knew that he was finished. There was no way that he would ever survive this encounter, let alone join the angels in praising God’s holiness. All he could do was say, “I am ruined.” In other words—“It’s over. I’m finished. I am devastated and dismantled. I’m all in pieces. I cease to exist.”
3. This is what always happens when we see God as He really is—we see ourselves as we really are.
- We stop comparing ourselves to others and start comparing ourselves with God.
- A true vision of God’s sovereign majesty/glory always includes a painful awareness of our own radical depravity. The more we recognize God’s glory, the more we see our desperate need for his grace.
4. Furthermore, Isaiah recognized that he lived “among a people of unclean lips.” In other words, he had a heightened sensitivity to the depravity of his entire generation.
- Rather than going with the crowd, and bowing to the pressure of public opinion, Isaiah realized his contemporaries were in violation of God’s holiness. This realization was necessary for him to fulfill his calling as a prophet: prophets must always stand apart from the culture of the day and call attention to the disparity between the culture and God’s holiness.
5. As Isaiah experienced restoration, his focus turned outward ("Here am I, send me").
Three Implications of Brokenness for Worship:
a. Our focus and energy in worship should be directed toward exalting and enjoying God’s glory, holiness, manifold perfections.
- The reason so many churches suffer through little experiences labeled “worship” is because they give attention to an inferior god.
- What kind of God does our corporate worship reveal? Are we stingy with worship, bland with worship, bored with worship, rushed in worship? All of this things reflect our view of God.
- What would worship be like if it really reflected an infinite God who is the sum total of everything beautiful and magnificent in the universe?
- What kind of God does your personal worship reveal?
b. We have never truly worshipped until we have dealt with our sin in light of God’s perfection.
- Worship is really not something to be enjoyed—it is a response reflecting the disparity between God’s perfection and our sinfulness.
- Worship is not complete until it has touched completely.
Isaiah understood God’s holiness and his own depravity, but that reality sunk so deep into his mind and heart that it resulted in an emotional response—“I am ruined!”
- Emotion/passion does not produce worship, but they are necessary by-products of it. How can one passively and unemotionally stand in the presence of greatness?
c. Worship happens like spontaneous combustion when I see God as he is and see myself in the honest reflection of his glory.
II. Joy Comes in the Mourning.
1. Happiness, or blessedness, does not come in the mourning itself.
- Happiness comes with what God does in response to it, with the forgiveness and restoration that such mourning brings.
- Mourning is not merely a psychological or emotional experience that makes people feel better. It is a communion with the living, loving God who responds to our brokenness with his profound presence & embrace!
2. The word 'comforted' is from parakaleo, the same root word that describes the person of the Holy Spirit--Comforter.
- The word means to walk alongside of.
- In some cases this means to hold us up.
- In some cases this means to encourage ("You can do it").
James 4:8-10
"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you."
Close:
As we see God high and lifted up, and as we see ourselves as undone, unclean, unworthy, we mourn. That mourning leads to greater praise and genuine contrition. And when it seems we cannot bear the weight of our own depravity, Almighty God take us in his arms and comforts us.
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