Scripture: Matthew 5:7
Sermon Series: Vote! King Jesus – Sermon 05
Jerry Bridges in his book (picture), The Blessing of Humility, shares: “I was sitting in our city’s downtown library reading a book, while I waited for my wife, who was attending a meeting. As I sat there, homeless men began to come in, apparently looking for a warm spot on a cold, windy night. All of them were unkempt and, yes, a bit smelly. My reaction was: What are these dirty, smelly men doing in our nice middle-class library? (Then he honestly confesses), “I was not merciful that night. In fact, I was unmerciful.”
So, what’s your reaction to a homeless person? A panhandler? Someone using food stamps at the grocery store? An elderly person moving slowly and, in your way, when you’re in a hurry? A tired crying child? Someone who can’t speak English? A guy wearing a gay pride shirt? A woman in a burka? A white supremist? A rich, rude snob? A demanding soccer mom?
Be honest. How do you feel? What’s your internal reaction? I don’t know about you, but I am continually amazed at the arrogance, judgementalism and harshness…of my own sinful heart.
Here’s the question of this beatitude, are we acting like Jesus? Are we merciful? Does our world see us as merciful? Are we living out this out? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matthew 5:7).
Personally, I feel very unworthy as we come to this beatitude. If you’ve ever felt it was hard to hear a sermon on these beatitudes, you ought to try preaching one!
The Beatitudes describe the distinguishing marks of a Christ-follower. They’re not given to tell us how to become Christians. They’re proof of a transformed life. God’s Word is clear that we’re saved by Christ alone through union with Him in His death and resurrection.
How do you recognize a person who has this union? The Beatitudes are yardstick for examining ourselves…our hearts, then our lives.
The first four beatitudes are inwardly directed. When we realize our moral poverty with a holy God, it causes us to mourn, which then causes us to surrender complete control of our lives to God and to commit ourselves to Him alone and Jesus’ cross for salvation. We then have new life, and it produces a hunger for God’s righteousness. It’s how we must come to God.
This beatitude is a turning point. Mercy speaks of how we deal with other people. Mercy is worthless unless it’s practiced, the same way the Bible says, faith without works is useless (James 2:20), we could say, “Christianity without mercy is dead.”
This is the shortest of the Beatitudes, six words in the original. As with so much Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, this was revolutionary.
One Roman philosopher called mercy the disease of the soul. Romans valued power and courage. Mercy was a sign of weakness. And Jews in occupied Palestine wanted nothing to do with mercy. They wanted revenge on their enemies. An enemy was an enemy and the best one was a dead one.
What about us? Do we value mercy? We’ve just finished another presidential election. Would you describe either the Democrats or the Republicans as merciful? Pagans can get away with that; Christ-followers cannot. We belong to another Kingdom. Jesus must be our King no matter who is President. If your political party identification comes before your submission and obedience to King Jesus and His commands, that’s idolatry. Our King commands us to be merciful. Jesus commands us to show mercy to everyone, even those who treat us horribly.
So, how does this beatitude unfold in the life of growing Christ-follower? What does mercy look like? If you’re taking notes…
1. Mercy is a beautiful word that’s been neglected.
A man was talking to a rare book collector. As is typical of book collectors, this one was of course always on the lookout for rare books, the older and rarer the better. He loved old books, their musty, brittle pages, ragged edges, the engraved lettering on the covers rubbed almost smooth from countless hands.
In their conversation the other man told this book collector, “I found an old book once…in my grandfather’s attic. It was a Bible. Somebody named Gutenberg printed it.” “Gutenberg!” the collector said, “Where is it now?” The man said, “Oh, I tossed it out. It was really old, not much use.” The collector replied, “Do you realize what you’ve done? That was one of the first Bibles ever printed. One copy was sold at auction for $2 million dollars!” “Not mine,” the man said. “My copy wouldn’t have fetched more than a buck or two. Why, I couldn’t even read the thing. Some idiot named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it.”
Sometimes we treat precious things as worthless. We’re ignorant of their true value. An example of this is seen in the way we treat biblical words related to our salvation. Someday I want to do a series on the rich words connected to our redemption. Mercy is one of them.
Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful. What does it mean to be merciful?” The word “mercy” is very difficult to translate or define. The basic idea is to have mercy; to give help to the wretched, relieve the miserable. That’s a broad, general definition of mercy. It’s the idea of compassion in action.
When someone is hurting, or going through deep difficulty, when someone needs help, mercy reaches out to be the hands of God. Jesus is saying, we’re blessed when we’re compassionate.” Some translations have gentle toward the miserable and the helpless.
The word “merciful” is closely related to the word “sympathetic.” It means “to experience or to suffer with.” If I’m sympathizing, I’m feeling your pain, I’m feeling your sorrow, I’m feeling your hurt, I’m feeling your loneliness. The word has the idea of getting in the skin of. We’ll say, “walk in someone’s shoes.” That’s what it means to be merciful: to literally get in their skin, to be compassionate about what they’re going through.
Sadly, the word mercy is virtually obsolete. Our culture knows so little of mercy.In our pride many of us think we don’t really need God’s mercy. We see ourselves as basically good people. As such we believe mercy doesn’t apply to us. So, we either cast this word aside or limit its use to those times we talk about “real” sinners: criminals and down-and-outers.
We can’t afford to lose mercy. We all desperately need the mercy of God. Romans 3:10-11 says, None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. None of us do anything good as far as God is concerned. We’re a hot mess. All of us are contaminated with the sin virus.
Let me ask, do you think of yourself as a basically good person? If you do, it’s why don’t believe you need mercy. But we all do because our best attempts by our best people fall so short of God’s perfect, holy requirements.
Max Lucado (picture) writes: “We have attempted to reach the moon but scarcely made it off the ground. We tried to swim the Atlantic but couldn’t get beyond the reef. We have attempted to scale the Everest of salvation, but we have yet to leave base camp, much less ascend the slope.” We’re all sinners. We’re all “convicts” who’ve all broken God’s law. All of us desperately need God’s mercy.
What is mercy? A.W. Tozer (picture) defines it this way: “Mercy is an attribute of God…it is an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature…which disposes God to be actively compassionate. As judgement is God’s justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt. Mercy is not something God has but something God is, and, it is not just a noun, it is also a verb.”
God is merciful. 2 Corinthians 1:3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort… God is eager to act out of His great mercy toward us. When we admit our sin, run to Christ’s cross, and ask for God’s forgiveness, He readily gives it.
A.W. Tozer (picture) again, God has put a safety lock on His wrath, but a hair trigger on His mercy. The greatest act of God’s mercy is the sending of His only Son to die and pay the payment for all of our sin.
To put it in modern terms, thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the moment you decided to become a Christ-follower, God clicked the “delete” button and the list of all your sins vanished into cyberspace. That’s mercy. Then He clicked the “paste” icon, and the righteousness of Christ filled the column under your name. That’s grace. Now, whenever God opens your file, He finds the righteousness of His own Son credited to you.
Our Heavenly Father mercifully acted to save us from our sins by sending His Son to die in our place so that we might live. Jesus wasn’t murdered. He willingly sacrificed His life in mercy to pay the price for my sin and your sin.
A mother once approached Napoleon (picture) seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. “But I don’t ask for justice,” the mother explained. “I plead for mercy.” “But your son does not deserve mercy,” Napoleon responded. “Sir,” the woman cried, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it. Mercy is all I ask for.” “Well, then,” the emperor said, “I will have mercy.” And Napolean spared the woman’s son.
2. Being merciful comes as a direct result of having received God’s mercy.
Several years ago, a man and his wife were traveling on the Interstate in Florida, when their car broke down with the next exit 40 miles away. There had been a rash of highway robberies there recently, so no one would stop to help them. They actually counted 100 cars that drove past – until they finally stopped counting! At last, one man stopped to help – a man who could barely speak English. He helped them out and would take no money for it when they offered, and then just drove away. Afterwards the wife turned to her husband and said, “How do you pay somebody back for something like that?” After thinking about it, the husband said, “We can’t; but what we can do is pass along to others, what he did for us.”
If you’re a Christ-follower, that’s your story. God saw you stranded in your sin. He did for you what no one else would do or could do — in love He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for your sins and save you, when you totally didn’t deserve it. What can you possibly do to pay Him back? Nothing! We could never with our whole lives pay God back for one drop of the blood that Jesus spilt to save us! What we can do and what we will do, if we’ve truly experienced God’s mercy is to pass mercy along to others, the same kind of mercy that God has already shown to us. Showing mercy to others comes because of God’s mercy toward us, which is constant and never ending.
We don’t show mercy to receive mercy. We show mercy because we’ve been shown mercy by God. A merciless Christian isn’t a Christian.
Why should Christ-followers show mercy? Because they’ve been shown mercy. Why should Christ-followers love others? Because God first loved them. Why should Christ-followers help those in need? Because God reached down to help us. Why should Christ-followers give sacrificially to help others? Because God did not spare His own Son, but sacrificially gave Jesus for us. When we really get this, we begin to see the close link between mercy received and giving mercy.
When a Christ-follower shows mercy, we’re practicing one of the attributes of God. Warren Wiersbe (picture), Mercy puts me into the place of God in somebody’s life! You cannot though extend mercy until you’ve received it. Mercy is not natural to us. It must first be received as a gift from God.
Why do you think that unbelievers have such a hard time forgiving? They remember every offense. They can’t forgive and forget because they’ve not received God’s forgiveness. You can’t give what you do not have.
We don’t show mercy to be saved. If we don’t, we indicate that we haven’t been saved ourselves. Dr. Russell Moore (picture) shared a story from his early years when he was pastoring. He was preaching this verse. After the sermon, a really large, very intimidating, Vietnam vet approached him. The man began to go off on how much he hated the Vietnamese, after his experience in that war. He said there was no way that he could ever forgive or extend mercy to those people. And Moore, who’s not a big man, looked up, right into that man’s eyes, and boldly responded, Well, I guess there’s hell. If we’re not the type of person who at least will struggle to share mercy, we in no way will receive it for ourselves.
We show mercy to enhance God’s reputation. When we show mercy, God is glorified. We’re meant to show His image. In showing mercy, we do.
We’ve all watched movies or TV shows that portray Christians as wackos. Those caricatures grieve me. But imagine what our Heavenly Father must think because too often we aren’t the best ambassadors. We make our father look bad. He has every right to be angry with us, but He shows us mercy.
It’s common for people to look at a child and say, “You look so much like your dad or mom.” A snapshot of us should look something like God. We’re to resemble our Father in who we are along with how we live. As those who’ve experienced unbelievable mercy we’re to share that mercy. Paul Tripp (picture) put it this way: Mercy means I am so deeply grateful for the forgiveness I have received that I cannot help offering you the same.
3. Mercy is an action.
Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is a powerful illustration of mercy. The Samaritan shows what mercy looks like in action.
Now we know it’s Jesus’ story, but have you ever wondered why the Samaritan stopped and the other two religious guys didn’t? I think he probably knew what it was to be mistreated himself. Samaritans were half-breeds and hated. He showed mercy because he’d experienced it. It was a firsthand experience for him and he’s a model for us.
A heart of mercy notices. In this familiar parable, the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan, all three saw this wounded man—but only one perceived him as a human being and took the initiative to help. Only one began the process of mercy. The Samaritan saw what the others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Because he noticed, it prompted him to be merciful and help the man.
To be merciful, we need better eyesight. We need to be able to see the masterpiece that’s in every person. We need to be able to see beyond their sin, beyond the wreck of their lives, and see a person made in the image of God. That kind of sight motivates us to turn aside and help. Too often we’re so busy that we’re blind and fail to see the need for mercy. We all struggle with what has been called the “disease of me.”
Erma Bombeck (picture) shares about a time she was waiting for a flight in an airport. She was reading a book in an effort to shut out the commotion around her and writes:
“A voice next to me belonging to an elderly woman said, ‘I’ll bet it’s cold in Chicago.’ Stone-faced I replied, ‘It’s likely.’ ‘I haven’t been to Chicago in three years.’ The elderly woman persisted. ‘My son lives there.’ ‘That’s nice,’ I said, my eyes intent on my book. After a few quiet moments, the woman said, ‘My husband’s body is on this plane. I’m taking him to be buried. We’ve been married 53 years.’”
Erma continues: “I don’t think I ever detested myself more than I did at that moment. Another human being was screaming to be heard, and in desperation had turned to a cold stranger who was more interested in a novel than in the real-life drama at her elbow. She talked numbly and steadily until we boarded the plane, then found her seat in another section. As I hung up my coat, I heard her plaintive voice say to her seat companion, ‘I’ll bet it’s cold in Chicago.’”
Are you sensitive to God’s still small voice, a voice that alerts you about people like this hurting wife? Do you notice the needs of those around you? Here’s a simple prayer that will help us, Lord, let me see people through Your eyes. Pray it with me. Lord, let me see people through Your eyes!
A heart of mercy feels. All three saw the need, only the Samaritan felt it. He took pity on him. Pity means to have intensity in the intestines. As someone wrote: Mercy begins when your hurt comes into my heart. The Samaritan was shaken up when he saw the man who was beaten down.
A young boy was sent to the corner store by his mother to buy a loaf of bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he finally returned, his mother asked, “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you.” “Well,” he answered, “there was a little boy with a broken bike who was crying. So, I stopped to help him.” “I didn’t know you knew anything about fixing bikes,” his mother said. “I don’t,” he replied. “I just stayed there and cried with him.” A heart of mercy feels.
A heart of mercy moves. Mercy doesn’t stop there. It sees…it feels…and then it does this, mercy moves. A merciful person acts in an effort to relieve the distress. In verse 34 Jesus said that the Samaritan, “…went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” Biblical mercy is more than an attitude. It’s an attitude that motivates us to do something. John MacArthur (picture) writes, “Mercy is not the silent, passive pity that never seems to help in a tangible way. It is genuine compassion with a pure, unselfish attitude that reaches out to help.”
Remember, My Fair Lady (picture)? Eliza Dolittle is courted by Freddy who writes her love letters every day. Eliza’s response to his love letters was to cry out in frustration, “Words! Words! I’m so sick of words! Don’t talk to me of stars burning above! If you’re in love, show me! Don’t talk of love lasting through time! Make no undying vow. If you love me show me now!”
Mercy is like true love in that it’s more than words. It’s grace-filled love in action. The Phillips version of 1 John 3:17-18 says, “But as for the well-to-do man who sees his brothers in want but shuts his eyes—and his heart—how could anyone believe that the love of God lives in him? My children, let us not love merely in theory or in words—let us love in sincerity and in practice!” Let’s stop just saying we love people. Let’s show it by our actions. How are you showing God’s love to your neighbor or co-worker?
Mercy is visible. It means interrupting our schedule, sharing our time and money. It’s seeing a person needing love and giving it. It’s seeing someone lonely and keeping them company. It’s not a spectator sport. Do you act mercifully to people in need? Mercy is more than noticing. It’s doing.
A heart of mercy commits. Mercy doesn’t exclude. No matter who it is that needs mercy—no matter what their sin—we show them mercy.
In Jesus’ parable, the man helping was a Samaritan. The man needing help was his sworn enemy, a Jew. Jews hated their half-breed neighbors the Samaritans, and history shows that the feeling was mutual. Most Samaritans would have excluded this Jewish enemy. Most would have mimicked the Priest and the Levite by passing by on the other side.
Many times, we’re just as bad. We tend to limit the people to whom we want to show mercy. When we’re hurt or wronged, being merciful and forgiving isn’t the first thing that comes into our minds. No, our first response is to try and get back at those who hurt us, or that we disagree with.
At Grace, we’re here about Jesus and His Kingdom, not American politics. To advance His Kingdom, church unity is essential. I know we’re a diverse church with different political views, which is good. If there is any place that we need more mercy, it’s in the political arena. I feel like both the left and the right literally live to blast each other. The Republicans and Democrats are the Jews and the Samaritans of today. We’re called to feel and act mercifully toward everyone, including those we vehemently disagree with. The Bible commands us to be merciful and kind to our enemies, not just our friends.
Patrick Greene (picture) had a long history of attacking believers. An outspoken atheist he filed complaints and lawsuits for 30-plus years accusing government officials in San Antonio, Texas of unconstitutionally endorsing Christianity. At one point he threatened to sue the County about their yearly manger display at the courthouse. In an interview for the newspaper, Greene said, “My wife and I had never had a Christian do anything nice for us.”
All of that changed though in March of 2012 when the 63-year-old Greene learned he needed surgery for a detached retina. Greene didn’t have money to pay for the surgery. He had to give up his cab driving job in order to have the procedure. When Jessica Crye, a member of Sand Springs Baptist Church, heard about Greene’s plight, she told her pastor, Eric Graham, who then called Greene. Greene said, “If you really want to contribute something, we need groceries.” Greene thought that if anything, he’d see $50, or at most $100. But a few days later, the church sent him a check for $400. More checks soon followed. The total grew to over $3000.00.
The flabbergasted Greene said, “I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. These people are acting like what the Bible says a Christian should. I will be forever grateful because we were in a hole and needed help.”
After that happened, rather than try to remove the manger display, Greene said he’d like to add his contribution, a star for the top of the Nativity scene. However, he added, “You people can figure out how to plug it in.”
Don’t you love stories like that? Most of the time we want to fight back against the people who are our “enemies.” These believers embraced their enemy. They showed him mercy. And that’s the way it is with mercy. The more you give—the more you get. The more you understand how merciful God has been to you, the more merciful you are to others and then the more opportunities God gives you to share His mercy with others.
It’s a cycle of sorts. Jesus refers to it when He declares that those who are merciful will receive mercy. Please see this. Mercy comes from mercy. Our mercy for others comes from our experience of God’s mercy to us.
Conclusion
As we close, let me ask you: Who in your world needs mercy this morning? I want to challenge you to ask God to help you answer that question right now, and then pray, asking Him to help you show His mercy.
Please don’t leave without applying this. Our lost world needs to see mercy flowing through us, so they turn to our God of all mercy.
As we tie this up, let me give you some people to look for to show mercy to, seven opportunities. Please don’t walk out of here forgetting to look for opportunities to show mercy this week.
Here’s the Mercy Homework:
Look for material needs. The Samaritan opened his heart to a person in need and did something to help him. Sinclair Ferguson (picture) writes: [The Samaritan] did not deal with the cause of the man’s need by chasing the robbers… [and] he did not complain about the failure of society to meet the man’s need… The Samaritan addressed the immediate need set before him and did what he could to bring relief.”
Look for spiritual struggles. Have mercy on those who doubt (Jude 22). God calls us to have a tender heart toward our brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling in their faith. Have mercy on those who doubt. Warren Wiersbe (picture) said if he could have his time over again, he’d have done more to encourage God’s people. David captures the mercy of God when he says, Your gentleness has made me great (Psalm 18:35).
Look for embarrassing failures. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). While some things shouldn’t be covered up, Peter is speaking about sins, not crimes. There’s an important difference. If someone falls, be the encourager, not the part of piling on.
Some years ago, a local leader made bad headlines. I wanted to show him mercy, so I took him to breakfast. I want to be there when people blow it because I’ve blown it a lot. You and I are to be the people of mercy. We run in when everyone else walks out. Atender heart is a merciful heart. Look for opportunities to do that this week.
Look for slanderous gossip. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable… think about these things (Philippians 4:8). Have you ever been a victim of gossip? It really hurts. But it’s as bad to believe a lie as it is to tell one. It is as bad to repeat a lie as it is to invent one.
There’s a harshness in our culture (too often it creeps into the church) that’s quick to believe the worst about a person, and slow to think the best. A merciful person goes the other way. He or she will make more of a person’s virtues than their failings. They will close their ears to slander.
Look for unreasonable expectations. God knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). God remembers that I’m dust and I must remember this in relation to others. I must not set unreasonable expectations of my spouse, my children or of others. I must think more about the burdens others carry, and the strength of temptations they may face. I must remember, as God remembers about me, that they are dust.
Look for personal injuries. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). If someone has hurt you, injured you, or wronged you in some way, don’t be surprised if at some point God puts you in a position when you have the opportunity to get even. Don’t do it.
That’s what happened to Joseph. His brothers wronged him terribly, but God blessed him. He became Prime Minister of Egypt. When he could have retaliated, Joseph forgave his brothers. That’s what mercy does.
Look for lost individuals. Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear (Jude 23). If you have mercy in your heart, you’ll talk to Jesus about lost people and you’ll talk to lost people about Christ. Augustine said, If I weep for the body from which the soul is departed. How should I weep for the soul from which God is departed.
A tender heart that cares and acts for the good of others will care deeply about people without Christ and will act by sharing the Gospel with them.
Do you believe in heaven? Then, how can you not believe in hell? God’s Word teaches both. Jesus said more about hell than He did heaven. I don’t want anyone to go there, and whatever I can do, I want to do it.
It breaks my heart when I see professing Christians who don’t seem to care about those going to Hell around them. How can we, if we’ve truly experienced God’s mercy, fail to be passionate about sharing His mercy with others who don’t know Him?
Have you experienced His mercy? If you haven’t, this morning the Lord Jesus is reaching out to you in mercy. His tender heart cares for you. You don’t need to have any fear in coming to Jesus Christ today. You may feel beaten and bruised like the man on the Jericho Road. Maybe you find it hard to let anyone come near you. Jesus is the merciful high priest. He knows what it is to be beaten and bruised. He cares for you and wants to show mercy to you today.
This is a Christ to whom you can come. This is a Christ you can trust. His mercy is not for a moment, but for eternity. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
And those of us who know Him and have experienced His mercy are able to say, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).