Last Sunday my pastor gave a message that resonated deeply within me and really made me question the way I see the world and my heart for the lost. In Matthew 23 we see Jesus angry at the hypocricy and pride of the Pharisees and we also see the lamentation of Jesus over the ruin of His people.
Jesus was weeping over his peoples rejection of the truth. Verse 37 says “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together,as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Prophet after prophet was sent to these people and their response to the message was to rebel and kill them. “….but you were not willing”. Jesus was weeping over the ruin that would follow their rejection, not only a physical ruin but an eternal desolation apart from Him.
Here is what stirred my heart about this message. Is our grief and our joy singularly connected with what grieves Jesus and what bring Jesus joy? So many times I find myself looking upon the sin of someone else and thinking “How ridiculous that they are doing ____ or that they aren’t doing ____ and I know so much better.” More than not, when addressing the sins of the world, my first thought is not that of brokenness or a deep longing for them to know Christ, but one of superiority. We should be able to weep over hard topics and also speak truth over the things that grieve us. The combination of truth and tears is essential for the church. If we can stand up and point at what is wrong, we should also be weeping and lamenting over those sins and over the brokenness around us.
“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!Amen.” Romans 9:1-5
Paul says that he knows what is true and is in absolute anguish because of His peoples rejection of Christ. He would even choose to be cut off from Christ just to save them. I long and pray that my attitude towards the worlds brokenness would mirror that of Paul. I pray that I would weep over the sins and the separation. I pray that my sorrow over sin would push me to do everything in my power to share the love of Christ with every single person that I encounter. I pray that the things that grieve Jesus would grieve me and the things that bring joy to Jesus are the only things that I seek out for joy in my life.
Let your heart ache over the brokenness of this world and let not one person go into eternity unwarned or unsprayed for.
