asked God for courage and victory. Impossible odds? Not when the Lord is on your side for the cause of righteousness. The V oortrekkers circled their wagons and commenced firing on the Zulu warriors. When the dust settled, only two V oortrekkers had been wounded and over 6,000 Zulus had died. God was with His people. Every year on the date of this battle, called "The Day of the Covenant" the decendents of this godly group of settlers celebrate and give thanks to God for their courage and faith. It was a moving experience to stand and walk in the very :place this battle occurred and Imagine the terror that must have been in the hearts of this small band of Christians faced with such a fierce foe.

God, give your people all over the world the courage to face the foe knowing that if God is on your side, victory is assured, no matter how strong the opposition.

After a picture-taking session of the bronze replicas of the wagons that were there and of the battle site from different angles, we paused to give thanks for these great examples of godly courage · and ate a wonderful lunch prepared by the "mothers" at K wasizabantu for us. There were dainty little sandwiches on wonderful home-made bread with honey produced by their own bees, (it's flavored with hazelnuts), delicious German sausages and cheese, home­grown plums and grapes and especially for Joe , tied in a bundle with a pink ribbon, was his dessert - "kooksisters", a sweet delicate pastry similar to a crueller that he dearly loves! (This personal diary from Becky Moorecraft will conclude next month.) EDITOR'S CORRECI'ION -In last month's Diary we

omitted part of a sentence in the first paragraph. It

Emmett Kelly was one of the most famous clowns in history. My sister painted a picture of him in his famous clown make-up and I have it with me here today.· The striking thing about this picture is the sadness in Mr. Kelly's face. We are captivated by the contrast. Clowns are supposed to be funny. They dress up in ludicrous clothing and make-up and we are able to laugh. But Emmett Kelly's trademark is this woebegone look, this exquisite sadness in a funny costime. And so we laugh, and yet he strikes a chord in our souls, a chord of mournfulness. You can be laughing on the outside and crying on the inside.

Emmett Kelly died some years ago. His son took over his clown personality. I don't know if the son is still living or not, but the picture of Emmett the Clown will never die. It registers something so true to life. Clowns can put on a happy face, like Bozo the Clown, but you and I

Personal Diary ..• should have read: The deep blue sea crashing in on white sand beaches or craggy shoreline, and ju¢ng up out of nowhere is Table-Mountain. It rises like a towering monarch proudly keeping watch over his bride, the city of Capetown nestled below at his feet.

Page 6 • June 1990 • The Counsel of Chalcedon

know that even Bozo the Clown must have times when he doesn't feel like laughing.

The Beatitudes mark off the Christian from the non-Christian precisely because they contradict the philosophy of the world. The one thing the world tries to avoid is mourning. Like "Blessed are the poor in spirit," "Blessed are those who mourn," seems absolutely ridiculous to the unregenerate mail. The world advises us to" .. forget your troubles! Be happy! Put on a happy face! Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile!" How can I be happy if I am mourning? The world would say, "Happy are the rich and full; Happy are those who delight themselves in laughter." It seems to be a contradiction in terms to say, "Blessed (Happy) are those that mourn."

I. THE CHRISTIAN KNOWS HIMSELF

1. The Lord does not mean by this statement that a person is blessed who has lost a loved one and is now mourning their loss. This is not a sorrow brought about by the death of someone, this is a sorrow that is brought about by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught that the ministry of the Holy Spirit was to convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment (Jn.

I i

j I

l ! I

j

16:8). Just as poverty of sp:irit is not something fmancial but spiritual, even so this mourning is not something natural but entirely spiritual.

Now a person will react in one of two ways when the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment. He will either acknowledge the truth and seek the mercy of God in Christ or he will deny it. He may deny it like Adam did when he put the blame on Eve. It is easy to pass the buck, blame someone else, blame society, blame circumstances and then find some way to counteract this down feeling. Get away from this idea of mourning. Fight against it. Harden your heart against it Be strong and resist it. But the Christian acknowledges his sin and seeks the divine remedy for sin. He repents of his sin and turns to the Lord for mercy in Christ. This is what the Lord means when he says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." The comfort comes after the mourning has done its work, producing repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus who died to make atonement for my sins.

2. The world wants joy without the mourning. The stress we put on joy in the Christian life never comes until there has first been this spiritual experience of being poor in spirit and mourning for one's sins. It doesn't come without it. And this is not just a one time experience. Because I am saved from my sins does not mean my old sinful nature has been totally destroyed. I still live in a body of sinful flesh which wars against the Spirit. The Apostle Paul really helps us to understand what is going on. In Romans, he explains that the Christian is a man with a sinful nature that serves sin but who has a spiritual nature that serves God. This sets up a tension; a dichotomy; a warfare. The new

nature under the influence of the Holy Spirit convicts me of those sinful practices and habits and lusts and passions which are contrary to God. This produces a godly sorrow, a repentance and a desire to put away those thoughts and attitudes that offend God. And as there is a realization that Christ Jesus has set you free from this body of sin and death there is a comfort that comes. God delivers us from that misery of soul, that sorrow of the spirit This is not an artificial or contrived comfort. It is very real. This is a comfort and a peace that the world knows nothing about

I read about a town in Idaho -Pocatello, Idaho - that has a law

that makes it illegal to frown or look gloomy. But you cannot legislate joy in Idaho or anywhere else. True joy must spring up from within. Jesus promises that this joy and comfort will come about after there has been first a mourning for sin. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Paul testified that he saw this law of sin operating in his body and waging war against the law of his mind, and making him a prisoner of the law of sin that was in the members of his body. He cried out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He attributes all of this to the Spirit of God that dwelt in him and in all believers in Christ. We have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but we have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" (Roms. 8:15).

Maybe it will help to visualize this spiritual experience using a combustion engine. The piston reaches the top of its stroke and as the fuel mixture is sparked it causes an explosion forcing the piston down. The Holy Spirit

applies His fire and the Christian is convicted of his sin, forcing him to look at his sin, be sorry for it, and mourning for it. Then as he looks upward to Christ for forgiveness and pardon, he is again restored and comforted. This downward stroke will occur often because sin is still present in this sinful flesh. Repentance is a way of life for the believer, yet mingled with joy as the knowledge of the full satisfaction Christ made for our sins is the way back to peace and rest. Like Paul, I mourn for my sin, but then rejoice in Christ who has fully paid for my sins and is my daily support and stay. More and more I die to self and live to Him.

II. THE CHRISTIAN MOURNS FOR OTHERS TOO.

1. The Christian is not only concerned for himself. He sees the terrible fruits of sin in others, in the society at large. As he reads his newspaper, he is aware of the tragedy of sin in this world. He does not merely express disgust and lament the state of society, he mourns about it. It grieves his heart. We read in the Word of God that Lot in Sodom was grieved in his spirit day after day with the lawless deeds of the wicked. We see members of our family hurt by sin. We see many we know suffering because of sin. Sin takes its toll on the people around us. We recognize that the world has misery and unhappiness and we are sorry. We are saddened. We mourn about it. We even shed tears about it. The world is in a moral morrass. We read of wars and rumors of wars. We see the suffering children, the refugees who are victims of war, the victims of crime, and people living without hope. That is why our Lord Himself mourned; that is why He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; that is why he wept at

The Counsel of Chalcedon • June 1990 • Page 7

the grave of Lazarus. Here was this horrid, ugly, foul thing called sin which had come into life and introduced death and brought misery upon His creation. As Paul wrote in Romans, " For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth · together until now. And not only this, but also we · ourselves, having the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." (Roms. 8:22,23).

When Jesus came to Jerusalem he wept for it because he saw the people of Jerusalem rejecting him and bringing upon themselves their own damnation. Not once in the scripture do we read that Jesus laughed He saw this world as it really is - a godless, sinful,

can oDly find a solution to their problem in ·the same way he did --through Jesus Christ as sin­bearer and Lord. The astounding thing about the Christian life is · that great sorrow leads to joy, and without the sorrow, there is nojoy. ·

2. The Christian sees his need only when he first becomes aware of his siri and guilt before God, which casts him down and makes him mourn. But, that in turn drives him back to Christ; .and the moment he goes back to Christ his peace and happiness

. return and he is· comforted. So here is something that is fulfilled at once. The man who truly mourns is comforted and is happy; thus, the Christian life is spentin this way, mourning and joy, sorrow and happiness and the one should lead to the other immediately.

adulterous, pleasure-seeking, Not only is this immediate mann on-seeking, proud and comfort offered to the Christian, rebellious world. He saw the but there is another comfort, that people crippled by sin, blinded which we may call 'the blessed by sin, made insane by sin, and hope', elaborated by the Apostle he mourned. He wept. The heart Paul in Romans 8. As I have of God goes out to this sin- said, he groans in his spirit as he plagued planet and identifies with knows something of the burden it in becoming a man, a man who of sin inthis world; but then he is would give himself to pay the comf<?rted by the kriowled~e that ultimate penalty for sin, taking there 1s a future glory commg, upon himself the guilt and shame both for himself and for this of sin, in order that sin might be world When Christ returns there forgiven and healed. This is a will be a new heaven and a new serious business. It is the very earth wherein dwelleth anthithesis of the spirit and mind righteousness. Glory to God! and outlook of the world. The There is a blessed. hope! A sure world tries to make a joke outof and certain hope. God will one · sin. It avoids looking at the real . day ring down the curtain on all cause ofman's predicament The of this sm and misery and will world says let us eat, drink and usher in a new world and a be merry. It tells the Christian he glorious futUre that will go on is much too serious about sin. endlessly. So even in mourning The world does not know how to there is constant hope that mourn for sin, but the Christian appe~§ again and again as faith does. The Christian sees this as lays hold on-the future glory yet the problem underlying all to be revealed. Christ has problems, and he knows that the . conquered! Christ is Lordi He world does not see,. so he mourns will cause it to turn out right at and weeps about the sinners like the last. Evil may hold sway for a himself because he knows. they time, and there is suffering and

Page 8 ·June 1990 ·The Counsel of Ctlalcedon

tribulation and sorrow and pain in this life, but in the midst ofit all there is sorrow mingled with joy. There is everlasting joy awaiting · the saints of God. Are you one Of those who mourns and yet you are comforted? Come to Christ today and know that comfort.

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