Rejoicing Mourner or Pouting Prophet?
In my last post, we saw how mourning is meant to be a part of the Christian life. When our hearts are in tune with the heart of God, we will mourn: over our own sin, over the sins of others, and in sympathy with others who are mourning.
Yet, Jesus did say,
“These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11)
So how do we reconcile the two? I think a quick overview of the life of Paul can help.
Acts 7 ends with a rushing tumult of activity as the council rushes Stephen out to be executed by stoning. But in the midst of the tumult, a young man named Saul stands still, guarding the coats of those casting stones at Stephen.
Scripture tells us that Saul himself soon began actively hunting down any Christian he could find, young, old, man, woman, all Christians were alike to him: rebels, heretics, in need of stamping out.
But then…
Acts 9 tells how Saul went to the high priest, asking for letters to the synagogues of Damascus which would allow him to persecute the Christians there as he had in Jerusalem.
On the way to Damascus, however, a wondrous thing occurred. Saul literally met Jesus and was instantly changed. Gone was his hatred of Christians, for he now was one himself!
At some point after this, Saul began to go by the name of Paul.
It was Paul whom God used to pen many of the books of the New Testament. It was Paul who went on those now famous missionary journeys to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. It was Paul whom God used to spread the gospel of Christ and disciple churches across a vast geological and cultural area. What a change!
So did Paul ever mourn over his sin? We know he certainly never forgot it. In 1 Corinthians 15:8, he says,
“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
But the sins of his past were not all Paul had to mourn over. Romans 7 tells us:
“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (vv.21-25)
Paul mourned, not just over past sins, but also over the sins he found himself still committing.
But after the swelling cry of agony expressed in that final question, there is the exultant joy of the answer:
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (7:25-8:2)
—Who shall deliver us from the death of sin? All the fulness of the Godhead working in concert on our behalf!
That is the rejoicing comfort to which our mourning over sin will lead us.
The mourning over our own sin also leads us to enter into the heart of God for others. Later in Romans, Paul writes,
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved.” (10:9)
The remarkable thing about this is that these same Jews of Israel for whom he prayed were now the ones persecuting Paul and the other Christians.
The book of Acts records how the Jews in different cities reviled, maligned, injured, tortured, even attempted to kill Paul, and yet he was so burdened for their salvation. In fact, he was even able to sincerely say,
“I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (9:2-3)
He knew it was not possible for him to forfeit his own salvation and give it instead to the Jews, but that was the wish of his heart: he desired their salvation even to the point of wishing he could go to hell in their place.
To Paul, even eternal torment was not too much to endure if it meant that those who were persecuting him could be saved.
The heart of the mourner is a heart of compassion. When we cease to mourn over our sin, we lose our heart of compassion towards others. Titus 3:3-7 says,
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
We were once in the same lost state as those whose wickedness so offends us. A proper view of what Christ has forgiven in us will inspire compassion in our hearts for the lost and dying world. A lack of compassion for others shows a lack of mourning over our own sins.