Matthew 5: 3-17
Last week we started looking at the Beatitudes - 9 states or characteristics of a Christian believer which Jesus taught his disciples about.
We connected these Beatitudes to the verse Jesus speaks about believers being the salt of the world, suggesting that they are like the minerals which make up that salt - the minerals which contribute to the savour, flavour and effect of this salt.
We noticed that like natural salt adds flavour, melts, preserves, cleanses and heals and is created by God, so the grace of God in a Christian believer comes from God, may flow out to unbelievers and affect their hearts and lives, and is the reason that God still preserves the earth.
We considered how the salt of a believer with the characteristic of the first Beatitude, 'a poor spirit', would be seen to be humble, but looking to and relying on God for the spiritual riches he provides.
Today let's continue with the second Beatitude and see how our salt measures up to this state of a believer:
'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted' (verse 4).
Jesus is telling us that his disciples - his followers will have sorrow, but they will be happy because they will be comforted.
What sorrow might those around us see us expressing? And what comforts us - is our sorrow and our comfort any different to that of a non-Christian?
How might our mourning and the comfort we find be as savoury salt to others?
I think of 3 situations which might make us mourn or be sorrowful:
The Christian believer feels their sins against God (a sin being not keeping the 10 commandments, not loving God or those around us).
These sins may be personal between us and God - secret sins - sins in our heart, thoughts or private actions.
They may be witnessed sins such as between or to another person, for example when we get into an argument with somebody and unkind things are said.
The believer also mourns over the sins of the nation of which they are a part of and over sins which they see others do.
These sins cause mourning because of the grief that it is felt at having added to the suffering of our Saviour.
Because of the regret and remorse at having given way to our old nature and been a poor example of a Christian and the God we serve.
Or because the sins of our nation are such an evident example of rejection of the God we love.
Mourning may be especially great when we have known the love and forgiveness of God and yet we fall into sin again, or when we have sinned against another believer - one who is part of Christ's spiritual body.
To another person this mourning may be seen from our general demeanour or mood.
They may hear us audibly express sorrow for how we have spoken and our dismay at being such a poor example of Christ.
They may notice us go out of our way to make amends and apologise or put it right - perhaps when they would have said our 'sin' was quite justified, our human right, or something natural which shouldn't be repressed.
Can you think of a situation recently when you haven't spoken as you felt you should, or have done something you know wasn't loving and kind...something which you grieve over?
Has your sorrow over this been an evidence of you having something different to the non-believer - been something which would make them wonder why you care so much or are so sorry?
But then, have they also seen you comforted?
Comfort which comes from having confessed your sins to your Heavenly Father and received his promised forgiveness.
They might see you remorseful but peaceful, seeking for forgiveness from those who you have offended - and maybe not receiving it, but conscious that you have your Father's love and you have done the right thing.
They might have noticed that you have accepted reproof or suffering for this sin graciously and quietly.
And perhaps the savour of your salt will be used to melt their own hearts - to make them more soft and accepting towards you, to be glad they live/work with you because they get to know that you try to live and maintain a loving, kind and peaceful environment.
(Sometimes it may anger or frustrate others who wish you would get angry back and stand up for yourself).
2. Loss or bereavement
How we all mourn when we lose a loved one or a treasured possession!
Have you lost a precious person or possession in recent times?
What sorrow this must have caused you. But how were you comforted?
Perhaps you are still struggling to come to terms with it, your grief still evident to those around you.
But, if you are a Christian I believe you will be receiving comfort from the arms of your Heavenly Father - if you have been resisting falling into them from a place of non-acceptance and unbearable grief I pray that you will soon feel them.
For the Christian's comfort and the savour of the salt or grace within them will be evident as they rest in the knowledge of their Father having done all things well, of submission to his will.
And in the case of a fellow believer who has died, the sense of them having 'fallen asleep' in Jesus and being with him in heaven- where you too trust to be one day- is a great comfort. The savour of your salt will be seen in your gentle spirit, your trust in your God, your uncomplaining spirit.
Although overwhelmed with grief at times, as you keep coming to Jesus, lifting your grief and pain to him, seeking solace and comfort from him, you will be upheld and strengthened, and this will be seen, whereas a non-believer may be consumed by anger, inconsolable, hopeless, devastated to such a degree that they even take their own life.
May the savour of your salt show them that there is comfort, there is healing, there is a refuge, there is hope, although not in ourselves but in a loving Saviour.
May they feel it in the kindness and compassion that you show them as they suffer.
And in regard to possessions - however precious, however missed - might the believer be seen not to mourn so hopelessly and bitterly as they look to their Saviour and salvation as the one possession that is truly essential and the most precious thing that they have?
Again, will they not be given a meek and quiet spirit as they commit it to the Lord? Do they not have a renewed sense of the Lord teaching them to 'hold all things loosely' for the things of this world are temporary and not to be worshipped.
3. Mourning an absent God
How we mourn when we do not feel the presence of our God!
Perhaps not straight away. Sometimes it can be so gradual - we drift away without noticing and become too absorbed with daily life. Sometimes it is immediate as we indulge sin.
But when we realise that God is silent and we have no communion with him, when we feel our prayers not seeming to reach him and our Bibles seem as closed books, the ministry we listen to dry and unhelpful, how we start to grieve and cry to him.
How might this be manifest to those around us?
Might it be in our loss of interest for other things? A sense of having shifted, our priorities altered or perspective changed?
Might it be seen in our turning aside from daily life to spend time reading the Word, going to services, being seen in prayer?
And then when we are comforted by the renewed presence of our Lord how this may be evident to those around us as they see we have a happiness and joy which they cannot put their finger on - they cannot understand - they just sense you have something they do not have.
Perhaps the effect of this will make them want what you have - the Holy Spirit attracting them to your savour - the savour of Himself living within you.
***
I hope as you read this you are not totally disheartened, thinking how 'contaminated' your salt has become by your own spirit or ways, feeling how poor a witness you are for your Lord.
May these thoughts be an encouragement to us to go to our Lord with prayers for him to increase and renew his work within us, that His light might shine brightly through us, and our salt be of savour to those around us.
To be continued God Willing.
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