Sermon-Matt. 5:7-The Road to Happiness: Meekness
Intro: My name is Earl-show about karma, do good things and good things will happen to you.
Many people misunderstand this passage as saying that type of thing.
Read Matt. 5:7
Today help us understand that as we receive mercy from God, he expects us to show mercy to others and as we do that then God in his faithfulness gives us even more mercy.
Come to a transition point in the Beatitudes.
Each of the first 4 had to do with the our heart and mind, what goes on on the inside, how we see ourselves before Goed, we now shift to the last 4 each of which deal more directly with the outworking of those things, how we act in obedience and submission to God.
Start with a little review
I. Blessed
Blessed-blessed/happy/fortunate all at the same time.
Here Christ is saying that when we live the holy/consecrated/set apart life that He is calling us to, then and only then will we experience the happiness and contentment that God created us to enjoy. The Bible teaches us that holiness is the source of peace, satisfaction and contentment-all that we include in our word happy.
But once again-and this is where it all starts in verse 3-it is impossible for any one of us to live this life-a holy life that Christ has called us to live- on our own.
II. Mercy-definition from Websters Dictionary
mer•cy \ˈmər-sç\ noun
1: compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power; also : lenient or compassionate treatment "begged for mercy"
3 : compassionate treatment of those in distress
synonymy MERCY, CHARITY, CLEMENCY, GRACE, LENIENCY mean a disposition to show kindness or compassion. MERCY implies compassion that forbears punishing even when justice demands it
In the first century Roman culture, mercy was not viewed as a virtue, it was seen as a sign of weakness. One Roman philosopher called mercy “a disease of the soul”. To them mercy was a sign that you did not have what it takes to be a real man and especially a real Roman. They glorified courage, justice, discipline, and absolute power. They looked down on mercy because they saw it as weakness, and weakness was despised above all other human limitations. So mercy was hard to find in that day and age.
A few examples to give you and idea of how hard it was to find mercy back then. For much of the history of the Roman empire a father had the right of patria opitestas, of deciding whether or not his newborn child would live or die. As the infant was held up for him to see, the father would turn his thumb up if he wanted the child to live, down if he wanted the child to die. If his thumb turned down the child was immediately drowned.
-Citizens had the same life-or-death power over slaves. At any time and for any reason they could kill and bury a slave, with no fear of arrest or reprisal.
-Husbands could even have their wives put to death on the least provocation. This was the society of the day, mercy was not common.
But then came Christ. He demonstrated mercy to everyone, He was mercy incarnate, just as He was love incarnate.
Examples of Christ’s mercy:
Lk. 4:40-healing the sick
Lk. 7:11-15-Stops funeral procession and raises widows son from the dead
Vs. 13 “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said “don’t cry”
John 8-The woman caught in adultery, brought by the religious leaders, using her to try and trap Christ, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The left one by one.
Finally when they had all left, and only Christ was there, the only one who was without sin, He said “Woman, where are they? Has one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you, and from now on sin no more.”
Mk.2:15-17- “And as he reclined at the table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for ther were many who followed Him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples “why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” and when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
But the more Jesus showed mercy to men, the more they hated Him and were determined to put Him out of the way. The ultimate out come of His mercy was the cross.
Few things to make clear, this is not karma, do good and good things will happen to you. Not saying if we are merciful then others will be merciful to us. See from the life of Christ that is not necessarily true.
Also not saying that if we are merciful to others we can earn God’s mercy, meaning earn salvation. Let me try to show you what Christ was saying about mercy,
What Christ is calling us to...
III. Mercy in the middle
Trench “According to the view given in Scripture the Christian stands in a middle point, between a mercy received and a mercy yet needed.”
The mercy that we are called to show to others is a response to the mercy that God has shown us.
God’s mercy to us-Don’t tune me out because you think you know this we all need to continually be reminded of the mercy and grace that God has shown us, because we love because He loved us, we show mercy because He showed mercy to us, we forgive because he forgave us.
“but God shows His love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.”-Rom. 5:8
That is love in action, that is mercy.
Titus 3:3-5 “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
In His mercy God sent Christ to take the punishment for our sins, because that is what His holiness and justice demanded.
Rom. 6:23 “The wages of sin is death”. That price had to be paid.
So Christ gave His life, died on the cross in our place and paid our penalty so that we could be free from the bonds of sin and death.
Ps. 103:8-13-That is what God has done for each of us who accept the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for ourselves, accept the free gift of salvation.
But it is a gift-don’t earn it through good works, don’t earn God’s mercy through showing mercy. Can only accept it by grace through faith
We must be saved by God’s mercy before we can be truly merciful.
2. Our mercy to others
Our response to receiving God’s mercy-is to be merciful to others.
Matt. 18:23-35-
1 Talent=6,000 denari.
1 denarius=days wage for a common laborer
$8.00/hr x 8 hrs.=$64.00/denarius
$64 x 6,000=$384,000
Talent at todays wages roughly $384,000
$384,000 x 10,000=$3,840,000,000
Basically Christ was saying this was an incalculable debt that the man could never hope to repay.
King had the right to sell them into debtor’s slavery, but chose to show mercy and forgive, then the man goes to a fellow servant who owed him about $6,000 and demands the debt be payed. When the second servant cannot pay him, instead of showing the same mercy that he had received has him thrown into debtors prison a worse punishment than what he would have received originally.
When the king hears about this he calls the servant back and sends him to the punishment he originally deserved.
Those who have received mercy need to be merciful to others. If we are not merciful to others it is either because we do not understand the mercy that we have received or we have never actually received it.
3. God’s continuing mercy to us
In the Jewish mindset, the mercy that they were hoping to receive was going to be on the day of judgment. That will be the final expression of God’s mercy towards us, when because of what He has done for us Christ says to us
Matt. 25:34 “come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
Those acts of mercy are not how we earn our way into heaven, rather they are the evidence of what Christ has done in our lives. And as a result of what God has done in our lives we can know that we will continue to be the recipients of God’s mercy.
Application: Mercy is love and grace in action. When we love others with the love of God, then His mercy will flow through us.
Ask God this week how would He have you put His love and grace in action?
