SHARING and Caring is not the best title for this sermon, but it is the best I am able to come up with. Finding a title for a sermon is important because it should encapsulate the core of the message, so if no title can be expressed, then it has to mean that the message of the text has not been properly grasped. I hope this is not true of me in this sermon, but this will be evaluated by you who read this sermon.

Again I have had it impressed upon my mind and heart that these practical exhortations deserve real attention and thought as holding in each exhortation a depth of knowledge of Christian living which we spend a life time growing into. This is true of this exhortation as I have spent time in meditation upon it. I usually consult a commentary when approaching any Scripture. The one on Romans I have found the most helpful gave just four or five lines to this exhortation, and this spoke to me of the tendency I have had in the past to rush over these exhortations with the feeling that the meaning is plain, and the execution easy. I feel ashamed to have been like this for so long, and thankful to God that in the discipline of expository writing through the epistle to the Romans has made me at last, in my old age, stop and think more deeply on this part of Scripture.

The first observation which I have observed is that this exhortation, like all the rest, is an amplification of the one that heads this section of Romans in verse 9. Paul says there that love must be sincere. Here is one way that we can show such sincerity by rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn. Paul gives meaning and substance to what it means to show sincere love to others, and one of the ways is to rejoice and mourn with people, that is to be sharing in their rejoicing and caring for them in their mourning. Such caring love is to give ourselves to people in the sacrificial love which this exhortation requires of us. We can't rejoice or mourn with people unless we are prepared to give time to them, and to listen, and to stand by them, and seek to enter into their experience. This is costly in time, and more particularly in emotions. It is costly in prayer because such sharing and caring will only be engaged in with Christlike love when we do it with prayer and communion with Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of his practice in this is some measure in 1 Thessalonians 2: 6b-8.

As we seek to enter into this text the question arises as what we rejoice over with others, and what we mourn over with them. At first sight it seems a simple thing. We just share in rejoicing whatever it is, and in the same way with mourning, but a little thought will show us that this is to be superficial, and get the application of this exhortation wrong.

In my thinking I have to say that this rejoicing and mourning must not be limited to other Christians, but having said this it has become plain to me that such rejoicing and mourning has a specifically Christian content, and refers mostly to sharing and caring in a spiritual sense.

When we think of rejoicing and mourning with those who are not Christians and being prepared to get alongside them and give time in sharing and caring, this needs some thought. There are many things that people who are not Christians rejoice over which in a Christian sense is not appropriate. For example would we say it is proper to rejoice with people who are gleeful at winning an argument or being pleased that they are better than someone else? Then again are we being caring if we rejoice with someone over their winning of the jackpot in the lottery? These are not necessarily worthy of rejoicing, or will be helpful in bringing blessing and good into a persons life. Winning the lottery will make a person able to live more comfortably, and the down side is that such wealth brings with it many negative aspects into life, not the least being a greater involvement in the world, and the ideals of the world.

Then there is the way people who are not Christians express their joy. I can't see that popping champagne bottles, and running into the excesses of partying which goes with it, the right thing for a Christian to share in. Rejoicing with people is to get alongside people in their joy, and in the world this will mean activity which leads to sinful actions, and worthless living. On the other hand we must not seem judgemental or superior to people in such joy.

Mourning with people in the world has the same difficulties. It is right to care and share with a person who mourns over a bereavement, or is struggling in a broken marriage. Here we can show the image of Christ in our caring, and truly mourn with them; but there are other things which people mourn over which are hardly worthy. For example people mourning over a lost bet, where too much money was placed on the bet and they mourn the fact they have lost the money, and not won the winnings they hoped for. Or mourning with someone who is gutted because their favourite football team has been relegated. We may share in their sorrow if we too support that football club, but such mourning is trivial, and not worth much in the end.

These are only poor examples, but they will serve to show that rejoicing and mourning with those who are not Christians needs discernment, and must be engaged in with care, and with much prayer. Caring and Sharing has a powerful witness, and can be the means of a person being led to faith in Christ because of the sincere love we show in their rejoicing and mourning. For this reason the exhortation must be taken very seriously and with much prayer. Our behaviour to others often is a much more powerful witness, for good or ill, than any words we may say. We so easily tend to forget that people can see how we live and act much more easily than hear what we say.

While meditating on this Scripture verse it has been impressed on me that the exhortation has a peculiarly Christian application. There is a rejoicing and mourning which is peculiarly Christian and spiritual, and which only those who have experienced true conversion to faith in Christ, and know what it means to be saved from their sins through faith in Christ, can know and have experienced. It is such rejoicing and mourning which this next part of this sermon is all about.

There is a rejoicing which the Christian alone knows. It is a rejoicing which is better than any rejoicing the world can present. Paul speaks of rejoicing in the Lord. In Philippians 3: 1 we read Paul saying “Rejoice in the Lord!” Then again in chapter 4: 4 we read “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again rejoice.” What is Paul saying about rejoicing? What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord. Here is something peculiarly Christian. There is a joy which is a foretaste of heaven when we realise God has forgiven all our sins, and when we know this in our experience as the Holy Spirit seals this to us in our soul. When this happens for the first time at conversion, and when it happens again and again throughout our Christian lives, it is glorious to have others to join in our joy and share in it.

Then there is a mourning which is peculiarly Christian. This is expressed by Jesus in the second Beatitude in Matthew 5. Verse 4 is "Blessed are those that mourn, for they will be comforted." What is this mourning? It is the mourning which accompanies the conviction of sin brought about by the Holy Ghost. This mourning is the mourning as we realise the awfulness of sin in the sight of God. It is the mourning which comes as we see the death and judgement sin brings upon us. It is the mourning as we feel the justness of such death, and feel our hopeless condition in our sin and sinfulness. It is a mourning as we mourn over the awful corruption within our soul which is the source of all sin we commit. It is the mourning as we see how our sin and corruption defiles the holiness of God, and has destroyed the image of God which God gave us by creation. It is a continual mourning which varies in degrees, even after initial joy of forgiveness, as we mourn over continual and constant sinning in one way and another. It is a mourning that grows as we draw nearer and nearer to Christ, and his holiness exposes more and more the vileness within us.

The promise of Christ is that those who mourn in this way will be comforted. The Lord bruises before he heals and comforts, and mourning over sin is an essential experience if we are to know Christ's salvation truly and fully, but when it is true, there is always comfort from the Holy Spirit as he leads to Jesus as the answer to that which brings us to mourn.

This mourning and rejoicing all Christians are exhorted by Paul to share in and care for others in. But the question then arises as to how this is to be done. In the broadest sense rejoicing and mourning with others in this spiritual experience is to get alongside them and share with them. We share with those who mourn in this way as we are prepared to acknowledge that we have known this mourning and still do, and as we share with them the blessing of such mourning we have experienced, as we have been led to know that it is a prelude to great blessing. Such mourning brings us to the point when we cease completely to depend on ourselves, or to claim any righteousness before God, and being so humbled and taught, we find our joy and peace only in Christ and his work for us to win our forgiveness, cleansing, cancelling of our debt to God, reconciliation with God, the gift of eternal life in Christ, and so on. We identify with people in their experience, and humbly walk beside them in such an experience, and let them know that we are all in the same boat, and are saved through Christ alone.

Then there is the rejoicing and mourning with another Christian in their mourning or joy over a relation or friend who needs to learn to mourn, or who are rejoicing over the conversion or blessing which they have experienced in salvation, and in blessing. This is something we need to learn by practice. I have in mind a failure in this rejoicing which I would share with you in order that we may seek to learn this ministry. One day a new convert came to my door early in the morning. She was thrilled and rejoicing because her husband had been converted in an amazing way while in church the day before. I said I was glad that this had happened, and listen as she explained what happened, but this was all done on the door step. I should have asked her in, and given her my time and love as she rejoiced. I should have prayed with her so that together we could thank God for his blessing. Instead I was at loss for words, and failed to truly rejoice with her. This teaches me that this exhortation in our text needs to be taken seriously, and learnt and practised.