A Culture Of Mercy Series

BEATITUDES SERIES:

A CULTURE OF MERCY

MATTHEW 5:7

#Beatitudes

READ MATTHEW 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

MERCY STORY 1 (p)

Mercy is like two farmers who had two fields next to each other. Each farmer came out on the same morning to prepare their fields and to plant seed. They looked at each other and went about their work. Farmer Smith went about his work and planted seed the way he knew how which was how his father had taught him. Farmer Jones was planting seed and noticed what was happening in the other field and laughed and carried on. He shouted and made fun of his neighbor because of poor farming technique and how nothing would grow. By the end of the day, both farmers had planted their fields.

That night there was a furious storm with mighty wind and much rain. The next morning both farmers went out to inspect their fields. Farmer Jones, who had jeered his neighbor and loudly bullied Farmer Smith, found that in the storm all his seed had been blown away or washed away. He basically had an empty field. He also had used up all his seed so he had nothing. Farmer Smith went to inspect his field and found everything was fine. In fact, he even had extra seed in the barn which had survived the storm.

The two farmers met at the fence between their fields and compared notes. Farmer Jones was downcast. He feared for the future. Farmer Smith, who had extra seed, went to his barn, got seed, and hefted the bags over the fence to his neighbor.

READ MATTHEW 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

OTHER SCRIPTURES

Matthew 5:7 in what we call the Beatitudes which is part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is not the only passage in the Bible about mercy. The Bible is full of passages that speak about the mercy of God and teach about mercy. There are stories about mercy. Jesus tells several parables about mercy. Jesus’ death on the cross is perhaps our ultimate example of mercy as we think about mercy, what it means, and what it means for us.

There are other passages that talk about mercy:

Psalm 25:6–7 (NIV)

“Remember, LORD, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your love remember me, for You, LORD, are good.”

Micah 6:8 (NIV)

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

James 2:13b (NIV)

“Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”

MERCY IS

Mercy is a bridge that God built so that He could relate to you and me and interact with us.

Mercy is from love, compassion, and is a cousin of grace.

Mercy is choosing a different path when we have the power to hurt someone back.

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Mercy is Jesus.

Mercy is an act of kindness when we justly deserve something else.

Mercy is going two miles when we only have to go one.

Mercy is doing that thing 3 and 4 times when you should have only done it once.

I do not think that mercy is a normal way that you and I operate. Most of the time when we get hurt, we instinctively seek out ways to even the scales and hurt someone back. “Even scales” means everything is right in our world. That is human nature. It is an “eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth” type of mentality which is normal in our world!

Jesus Christ did not come so you and I could follow Him and be normal. Jesus Christ came so that we would follow Him and be like Him. Those of us who follow Him and choose Him as our Savior and Lord shift our minds and hearts and attitudes to be more like Him and less like our natural selves. Mercy is one of those areas.

MERCY STORY 2: OT

There is a wonderful story of mercy from the Old Testament. This particular story comes from Genesis 14 and involves Abram (who we also know as Abraham) and his nephew Lot.