Christians Under construction Building hope First UMC Carroll- 7/27 and 28, 2019

I have a friend who has made a few mistakes.

My friend had a good life, good job, huge house, and beautiful wife. You will see that he is a little selfish, and impulsive, and kind of a schemer. 

One day my friend noticed that from one corner of his deck, if he leaned over and stepped up on the toe klick, he could see right in to his neighbors’ hot tub.  Over and over again he would stretch out to see what he could see. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. He watched his beautiful young neighbor as she came out for a soak in the hot tub.

Immediately, my friend says he had to have her. So, in spite of the fact that he was married, he cooked up a scheme to get her to come to his house. Her husband was deployed with the national guard, so he would never find out. When she arrived, he immediately took advantage of her.  I am trying to keep the R rated story PG-13!

I don’t know if that happened more than once but at any rate, she soon texted him that she was pregnant. Remember her husband was deployed, but I said my friend was a schemer. He had friends in high places and had the neighbor man sent home on leave. For some reason I don’t know, nothing happened between the husband and wife. My friend was still on the hook for the baby and now he was hopping mad.

Going back to his connections in high places my friend arranged to have the husband sent to the most dangerous region of the war, and further arranged for him to be killed and made to look like it was killed by enemy fire.

The man was killed in action and given a hero’s burial at which his wife wept uncontrollably but turned around to mary my friend with whom she had the affair. 

Did I say my friend was a “little selfish, and impulsive, and kind of a schemer?”  OK, sometimes he’s just plain sleezy.

Hearing that story probably makes most of us feel pretty good about ourselves.  At least I am not THAT bad.  At least I haven’t done THAT.  At least I am not a pervert, or an abuser, or an adulterer, or a conniver, or a manipulative so and so, or a murderer.  Well, that’s something, I guess.

In case you’re wondering I still keep in touch with my friend. His name is David and his story is in the Bible in the second book of Samuel.  Most people call him King David. And the woman’s name was Bathsheba.

Did David get off scot free? Well, no. He anguished over what he had done for a long time.  He mourned over what he had done. He mourned over the death of the son he had with Bathsheba. Then he mourned over the loss of his kingdom and mourned again at the public humiliation of his wives.

Hmm. What does todays beatitude say about those who mourn?  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” David had plenty to mourn.

In today’s scripture reading from Psalm 51 we see the depths if David’s mourning over his past sins.

That is what Jesus is really talking about in the beatitudes when he says, “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” When I started this sermon, I really wanted to preach about the grief process and the hope of life after life. As I studied, however, I couldn’t do that with integrity, because I became convinced like never before that this beatitude was about something else.

Let me say I do think Jesus promises comfort to those who mourn the loss of loved ones, or abilities, or pets, or things. There is nothing wrong with using this scripture to comfort ourselves or others at the time of a loss.

·         Paul tells us to “weep with those who weep”[1].

·         Jesus was moved to tears His close friend Lazarus death.

·         He had compassion on a widow who had lost her son (Luke 7:12-13).

·         God weeps with us as he wept at this own son’s suffering and death.

·         And I believe that God does promise comfort to those who mourn loss. But that is a different sermon

Look at the other beatitudes. They don’t describe any life circumstances like the death of a loved one. They describe spiritual qualities that reflect God’s kingdom: poor in spirit, meekness, purity of heart, mercy, righteousness, perseverance, and peacemaking. If Jesus had been talking about grief, the other beatitudes would be things like,

Blessed are the malnourished,

Blessed are the lonely. 

Blessed are the homeless.

Blessed are the mentally ill.

But they aren’t. No, Jesus is clearly talking about spiritual mourning in this second beatitude. What is spiritual mourning?  Very simply it is mourning because our prayer “Thy kingdom come, they will be done” has not yet been answered. When the kingdom comes God’s will, will be perfectly done on earth… until then we mourn over pain, and death, and deceit, and injustice, and war, and poverty, and our own sinful selves. 

It is only a small step from admitting that we are “poor in spirit” which means we know that we need God, to admitting that we are sinners in need of God’s help.  We mourn because we know that without God our choices and behavior often harm ourselves, others, and even God. God has given us the gift of guilt, shame, and regret so we know when we have done wrong and to brig us to a place of mourning and repentance.

Blessed are those who mourn for the wrong they have done.

Blessed are those who mourn for the wrong suffered by others.

Blessed are those who mourn the harm done to God when we sin.

Let’s look at David’s mourning prayer from Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy

    blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.

David is admitting that he is poor in spirit. I can’t do it myself I need your mercy, your love, your washing and your cleansing. He specifically asks for washing and cleansing. He knows that a ritual cleansing as Jews often practiced it, would not do it.  David was so stained by sin that he asked God to wash him thoroughly. Actually, the literal translation is “Multiply to wash me.” Wash me over and over again.

                                    For I know my transgressions,

Notice David does not try to make any excuses, shift blame like “you know, God, she was trying to lure me on purpose.” No rationalizations, no reasons, no explanations.

“I know my transgressions” is the purest kind of confession.

To transgress is to cross the line God has created. To trespass on God’s laws. And by using the word transgression David is admitting that he hurt God as well as himself and others.

                                     and my sin is ever before me.

David did his best to ignore it, deny it, go on living as though nothing had happened, but he just couldn’t get it out of his head.

Notice it was not his punishment that was on his mind.

It was not getting caught, because he was the law of the land.

It was not his reputation.

What was before him was simply the fact that he sinned.  He was mourning his sin.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
    and done what is evil in your sight,

In a way that was not true. David had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, their families, his family, his kingdom, and in a sense even against his own body. But the fact that he let God down was more disturbing to him than all the rest added together. The earthly guilt begins to fade away when we realize how our sin breaks God’s heart.

Again, David expresses his regret, his morning, essentially saying, and I did it all right in front of you God. And I made you watch. It is one thing to be burglarized, it is another to be tied up and watch the burglar take all your things. David takes full responsibility for the way he has hurt God.

so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.

David says “I throw myself on the mercy of the court. Whatever you do I deserve. Whatever punishment you dish out, I will take.  I have been a sinner since birth, and I am deserving of punishment.”

David is not trying to blame his mother or the way he is brought up or original sin. That is not the point. The point is he understands the depths of his sinfulness.

             

You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

Because David was poor in spirit, he knew that he could not do this himself.

Look at this… You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart. David knows that God wants us to live in truth and wisdom… in the image in which God created us. God knows who we are and knows what a mess we make of ourselves. But God is always seeking to get us back in touch with the basic image of God in which we were created.

Then the request for forgiveness. Purge me. Actually, the Hebrew word there means to de-sin or to un-sin.  Take all the sin away as the priest would do with hyssop. Washing was a critical part of the Jewish ritual practice. In fact, baptism like washings were frequent in the Jewish tradition. So, David says wash me whiter than snow.

After the request for forgiveness. David offers a song of hope.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit.

David’s heart was stained.  No bleach in the world could get it clean. He wanted God to give him a whole new heart. When he said this, he had a glimpse into something that would be written much latter in Ezekiel I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

The word “create” here is specifically related to God’s creation in Genesis1 and 2. It is the ability to create something out of nothing. David wants God to do a new act of creation in him.

And then do not take the Holy spirit from me, restore me, sustain me with a willing spirit. All to say, help me not to do it again. Knowing that we are poor of spirit, David knew that we must rely on God’s power to resist evil and temptation.

            And that is what we need too. We need to be those who mourn our sin, brokenness, transgression, and failures … and fall back on being poor of spirit so we too can pray.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.

As we prepare for communion today, I call you to complete honesty.  I doubt that many or any of us could one up David in his sins with Bathsheba.  But that doesn’t make my sins or yours any better. Any sin… any brokenness… any failure to live up to God’s image in us hurts ourselves, others, and God. 

So, I call you to complete honesty… which is hard with ourselves … let alone with God. But then again God won’t be surprised at anything because he already knows it all.

 Complete honesty. Lay your sinful and stained heart open to God. Own your sinfulness, own your stains, own your brokenness before God. Mourn your sinfulness, mourn your stains, mourn your brokenness before God.

Then I invite you as you come to communion today to pray out loud Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. We will leave it up on the screen for you. As you pray that prayer, I will place the body of Christ in your hand to remind you that in him you ARE a new and forgiven creature.

Let’s say it once together… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

---

[1] (Romans 12:15; see also 1 Corinthians 12:26)