Blessed Are The Merciful - Matthew 5:7 Series

Conclusion: The System of mercy

And so we live in a system of mercy. Everything about the way this whole world is set up just oozes with mercy from every direction. I read a great statement this week from Thomas Watson about alms. The world translated “alms” is just the Greek word for mercy. When they gave money to the poor, that was known as “alms,” or showing mercy to the poor.

Here is what Watson said: “We ourselves live upon alms. Other created things generously contribute to our needs. The sun does not have its light for itself but for us; it enriches us with its golden beams. The earth brings us a fruitful crop … One creature gives us wool, another oil, another silk. We are eagerly willing to go a-begging to the creation. Shall every creature be for the good of man and man only be for himself? How absurd and irrational is this!” We receive alms every moment of every day. Every breathe we take is alms. We are poor, miserable beggars who will die if the atmosphere does not give us a handout every single time we need a breath of oxygen. This whole created world is nothing but one giant machine for the dispensing of mercy from every direction at every moment. What an absurdity it is when we stand out as the one created thing that fails to dispense God’s mercy! When we do that we become a tear in the fabric of the entire created order. Mankind is the crowning glory of all that God created – and so what a ridiculous travesty it is when we become the one gear in the machine that turns in the opposite direction and damages and destroys the whole process!

But on the other hand, how beautiful and fitting it is when we display God’s mercy, because when we do so it is a far greater picture of God’s nature than the sun or the soil or the atmosphere, because unlike the sun and the earth we can show God’s mercy willingly and with a heart of intentional love and worship. And so just as God’s glory is seen in His great mercy, so it is with our glory.

Proverbs 19:11 It is a man’s glory to overlook an offense.

God created us as glorious creatures – the most glorious of all created things because we bear His image. And sometimes that gloriousness is clouded and obscured and distorted, but it is never more polished and beautiful and brilliant as when we show mercy to God’s people out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Benediction: Luke 1:46-55 "My soul magnifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, … 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm… 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

Summary

Mercy is one of the weightier matters of the law (a direct expression of love rather than a symbol). It is supremely important, and is at the forefront of God’s revelation of His own glory. Mercy is when love and compassion compel action to relieve misery. It is a use of power and an expression of love and finds its greatest expression in forgiveness (because guilt is the greatest misery). We are to love mercy, like God does. If we do we will receive mercy – ultimately at the Second Coming and in degrees now in proportion to our mercy.