Welcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. I encourage you to stick with us, allow yourself time to read, and soak in the riches of this gifted and prolific Puritan preacher. You will be edified and encouraged.
If you have trouble with how Sibbes used words, check out the Lexicons of Early Modern English for definitions from the period.
Nick is gone this week so you are stuck with my brief interaction with Sibbes.
Summary/Engagement
This week’s reading was on spiritual mourning. It is from two sermons that Sibbes preached from Matthew 5:4. From this text we see that “spiritual mourners are blessed men. He is an happy man that is a good mourner. He that can mourn for his sins, he is in a happy case.”
Of course not all mourning is spiritual mourning. There is a type of mourning—worldly mourning that is most unhelpful. But true spiritual mourning will never leave a many unhappy. Spiritual mourning is “when a man mourns in a spiritual manner, for spiritual things, upon spiritual motives.”
The rest of the reading is Sibbes aiming to prove that such a mourner will indeed be happy. He does this by showing the depth of the happiness of the mourner. And he proves his point by contrasting worldly sorrow with this spiritual sorrow. Worldly sorrow doesn’t have a bottom—or an end. But spiritual sorrow does—and it is met with the kindness and mercy of God.
Application/Further Discussion
The Lord used this reading to convict me deeply. I’ve lamented for awhile the fact that something is different in my heart than was present 4-5 years ago. I don’t feel as tender. I don’t feel as passionate. In reading through Sibbes, the Lord (I believe) has revealed to me what has happened.
Somewhere along the way I stopped believing that “godly mourning always doth a man good and never any hurt”. Yes, the guy that wrote Torn to Heal has begun to run away from the tearing of God. I’ve not actively pursued placing myself in a spot where the Lord would ransack my heart.
Formerly, in my devotional times I would ask probing questions of my heart. Things that were meant to reveal to me the depth of my sin and cause me to flee to Christ. I mostly stopped doing this. Waiting for the Lord to bruise me instead of actively placing myself in a position for spiritual mourning.
Reading through Sibbes I was reminded that I need to stop running from spiritual mourning. True spiritual mourning will not lead to depression. Depression, often, comes from worldly mourning and an absence of spiritual mourning.
So, Lord, ransack my heart!
I agree with Sibbes that, “God’s people should lay open themselves and give way to godly sorrow as much as possibly they can.” Yes, I believe such a thing can be abused and one can turn to morbidity. But I also believe that Sibbes is profoundly correct. And to this end I’ve once again taken up answering some of the questions from Keller and Powlison’s Pastoral Self-Evaluation Questionnaire.
What disciplines are in place in your life that stir up spiritual mourning?
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