Grace, Mercy & Peace

I was talking with a dear friend of mine from Florida whose mother died two years ago. Over the course of several conversations she shared with me some of the wonderful lessons her mother had taught her about being a woman and not allowing others to define her. Her mother was a Christian and the idea of grace and mercy was important to her. It was so important to her mother that my friend wanted to learn more about it and understand why it was so important to her mother. She told me that one of her mother’s favorite song was “Your Grace and Mercy” by the Mississippi Mass Choir. Well I love that song too because I know if it had not have been for the grace and mercy God has shown me throughout my life I would not be standing before you right now. It is important for us to understand that what God has shown towards us – we should be willing to share with (show towards) others. That would include, grace, mercy leading to peace.

But what does mercy look like? How can we recognize it? The dictionary defines mercy as “kindness or forgiveness shown especially to somebody a person has power over.” But for children of God, it goes deeper than that. Let’s read the parable that Jesus used to show us how we must demonstrate mercy. Turn to Matthew 18. In verse 21, Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive a brother who sins against him and to give Jesus an idea of what he thought the number should be he says, “Up to seven times?” The very question betrays that he does not understand what forgiveness means; for it is not real, if the “forgiven” person’s sin is stowed away safely in the memory of the person doing the forgiving. Now I want you to see this New Light. Peter was looking for Jesus to give him the maximum number of times that he would have to forgive someone before he could stop forgiving the person. Jesus says in verse 22 “but up to seventy times seven.” In other words, no matter how many times a person offends us, we can never withhold forgiveness. Peter’s question opened the door for Jesus to share the parable about the unforgiving servant.

The servant had gotten himself into some serious debt with his master, so his master was going to put him, his wife and his children into prison until he paid the debt. Let’s pick up the record in verses 26 and 27. “The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion (the same Greek word as mercy), and released him, and forgave him the debt.” (Matthew 18:26-27) The servant’s master had mercy on him and forgave him all his debt. Do you see the message that Jesus is trying to teach Peter? Jesus is telling Peter, “When I go to the cross, I will be the payment for all the wrongs that people will do to you. And because of this, you will be able to freely show people mercy when they do something wrong to you.” If we were to continuing reading the parable, we would see that the “forgiven servant” was faced with a similar situation when one of his fellow servants couldn’t pay the debt. You would think that because he had been shown mercy and forgiven his debt that he would be willing to do the same for the one who owed him money. But oh no, he was like us. While he was the “forgiven servant” when he couldn’t pay, he quickly became the “unforgiving servant” when someone could not repay him. Instead of giving his fellow servant the same compassion (mercy) that his master gave to him, the “unforgiving servant” put his fellow servant into prison. Now when some of his fellow servants, who knew he had been forgiven, saw how he had treated the man and his family reported him to his master. Let’s pick the parable up with verses 32 through 34. “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, ‘O you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you desired me. 33Should not you also have had compassion on your fellow servant, even as I had pity on you?’ 34And his lord was angry, and delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all that was due unto him.” (Matthew 18:32-34) The master was angry with the “unforgiving servant” because the servant withheld compassion (withheld mercy.) He did not follow his master’s example of kindness and forgiveness. I want you to understand what many Christians missed New Light. The master in this parable is Jesus and we are the “forgiven servant.” Jesus has forgiven us a debt that we had no ability to repay. That’s why Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew chapter six verse 12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” When we forgive others, when we show others compassion and mercy, Jesus says that our Father will show us compassion and mercy when we need it.