Introduction

Today’s sermon is in response to two things:

1. The nature of the win
2. The public’s response to the win

This series will do three things:

1. Process what happened emotionally.
2. Provide spiritual direction for the present.
3. Prepare for large-scale changes in the future.

Galatians 5:26 (ESV): ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Job 31:29–30 (NLT): ²⁹ “Have I ever rejoiced when disaster struck my enemies, or become excited when harm came their way? ³⁰ No, I have never sinned by cursing anyone or by asking for revenge.

Obadiah 12 (ESV): But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.

Romans 12:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Proverbs 24:17–18 (ESV): ¹⁷ Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, ¹⁸ lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

A Season of Grieving

Ecclesiastes 3:1–4 (ESV): ¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

What is Grief?

Statements from The Quick-Reference Guide to Biblical Counseling

• “Grief is intense emotional suffering caused by a loss.”
• “Grieving is. . . .a lingering process.”
• “[Grieving] is a healing journey that can last anywhere from one to three years, and for some a lifetime.”
• “Some people never get through the process of grieving.”
• “Grief is actually a complex set of emotions, all of which are ‘normal.’”
• People who are grieving may experience their loss psychologically through feelings, thoughts, and attitudes; socially as they interact with others; and physically as it affects their health.
• Often friends don’t know how to help someone who is grieving and may try to “cheer him up” or “get her mind off her loss.”
• “This can actually add to the burden as the person who is grieving has to either avoid friends or ‘fake it’ rather than have the chance to share his or her true feelings.”
• “Sometimes loss is cumulative and awakens memories of early losses that were never fully grieved.”

Grieving in the Old Testament

Genesis 23:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ² And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Genesis 24:67 (ESV): ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Genesis 45:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

Genesis 50: 1-3 (ESV): ¹ Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. ² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³ Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

Numbers 20:29 (ESV): ²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Deuteronomy 34:8 (ESV): ⁸ And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

Deuteronomy 21:10–13 (ESV): ¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, ¹² and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. ¹³ And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

The Grieving of Jesus

John 11:32–36 (ESV): ³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Matthew 14:13 (ESV): ¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

Luke 19:41–44 (ESV): ⁴¹ And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴ and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Matthew 26:38 (ESV): ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

Luke 22:44–45 (ESV): ⁴⁴ And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. ⁴⁵ And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,

Grieving in a Godly way

Luke 23:28 (ESV): ²⁸ But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

Matthew 5:4 (ESV): ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

2 Corinthians 1:3 (ESV): ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

2 Corinthians 1:4 (ESV): ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:4 (ESV): ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

How do we share in Christ’s sufferings?

• Sanctification is an ongoing process that conforms your body, heart and mind to Christ.
• The process of sanctification is the process of Christ being formed in us.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV): ¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
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Hebrews 12:27–29 (ESV): ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

• Hosea 6:1 (ESV): ¹ “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
  • Learn more from Dr. Hart Ramsey’s sermon: “The Wounding of the Lord”: https://youtu.be/xoOD67A3s4Y?si=xi_mtvLAb2EVrZnw
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• 2 Corinthians 7:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
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• Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024