Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at the blessed like, life in the Kingdom of God.
So far you could describe what we’ve been looking at as the attitudes, or the spiritual conditions, that reflect Kingdom people. They are poor in spirit, they mourn over sin, they are meek and they hunger and thirst for righteousness.
How does that make you feel? I have to admit that when you put it like that, I ask myself, ’Who’d want that?’
But God turns the world’s values around. The blessing is with the poor in spirit because although they may not have much in terms of worldly wealth, all the riches of God’s kingdom are their’s. Those who mourn are comforted by God. The meek may not seem much now, but they will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will have a real satisfaction that the world just can’t understand.
And we’ve also seen that these aren’t qualities we normally associate with success. It’s really easy to enter the Kingdom - you just have to humble yourself and have a heart for God… which of course makes it really hard to enter the Kingdom!
A paradox, isn’t it?
Today we’re moving on from attitude to action - what to Kingdom minded people do? Actually, over the next couple of weeks we’re going to look at qualities that are very much grounded in attitude, but they have a very practical and tangible outworking.
In Matthew 5.7 Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy"
Who here’s led a perfect life? You’ve never done anything wrong and never needed forgiveness? Of course, we’ve all sinned and need his forgiveness. We need God’s mercy! And Jesus said that mercy comes to those who are merciful.
WHAT IS MERCY?
So, the question is, what does mercy look like?
First of all, we need to understand that it’s not primarily a feeling. Mercy is related to compassion, but they’re not the same.
In the Bible, compassion is a deep emotional response to suffering. Usually compassion leads to some kind of action, and that’s often when compassion becomes mercy. On the other hand, you can be merciful in the way you act towards another person without feeling anything at all.
So although mercy is often motivated by feelings, its not really about how you feel but what you do.
A. MERCY IS AT THE HEART OF GOD
Mercy is such an important quality for Christians because it is at the core of God’s character.
Why don’t you open up your Bibles to Exodus 33? In Exodus 33.19 God says to Moses he’s going to let Moses see him, at least partially, and tell him his name. He says:
"I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Ex 33.19).
Before he’s even started to tell Moses his name, what’s he saying about himself? That he’s merciful! That he’s compassionate! Now, he’s also saying that he chooses who he will have mercy and compassion on. He owes no one anything and is under no obligation to have mercy on anyone, that’s why he says, ’I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.’ But none-the-less, the first thing he wants Moses to know is that he is merciful and compassionate.
What does that tell you about God? One commentator says that this passage tells us mercy may be one of God’s fundamental attributes. So just as God is holy, and he is love, he is also mercy. It’s just who he is. So do you understand why it’s so important that his people are also like that?
B. WHAT MERCY LOOKS LIKE
A few verses on God proclaims his name and tells us what mercy looks like. Ex 34.6-7:
"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation" (Ex 34.6-7).
If you want to know what mercy looks like - God is a good place to start!
i. First of all, mercy is compassionate. I said earlier that mercy is more about action than feeling, but let’s face it - not too many hard-hearted people are merciful.
Jesus was the picture of mercy and compassion. Time and again Jesus is confronted by crowds of people who need healing or teaching or feeding. Do you know what Jesus’ response is? It’s usually one of compassion - he feels for them.
Have you ever seen a picture of children starving or suffering in some way and wished you could do something about it? Or wept with a friend who’s been bashed by her husband? Or a friend who’s wife has walked out on him? That’s compassion.
ii. Second, mercy is filled with grace. In fact, grace and mercy are inseparable. We’re saved by God’s grace, even though we deserve to be condemned. That’s what mercy does - it gives us what we don’t deserve, or at least what the person extending it doesn’t have to give.
One of the tangible ways God calls us to practice mercy is by caring for the poor. In fact, for the wealthy - which is most of us - helping the poor is one of the most tangible expressions of mercy we’ll find. In Matt 25 Jesus told about how one day he is going to judge everyone. He’s going to form two lines, one of the sheep and one of the goats. Do you know how he’s going to tell who gets into heaven and who goes to the other place?
READ: Matt 25.34-46
That’s pretty heavy, isn’t it? It’s not that anything we do can save us. It’s that when someone is saved and filled with the Holy Spirit and claims to be a follower of Jesus and a child of God, you expect them to look a little bit like God, don’t you!? To have a heart that is slowly changing to become like his. And God’s heart is so much for the poor and needy. That’s what these beatitudes tell us.
Grace is giving up time out of your busy week to encourage someone who’s down or depressed.
Grace is taking the step from feeling sorry for that hungry kid on TV to sponsoring a child.
Grace is trying to understand the kids who just vandalised your letterbox instead of yelling at them.
iii. Then mercy is patient.
We’re not a very patient society. We’d rather go into debt for that new plasma TV rather than saving for it. We lock away our senior citizens once they get in the way. Or put our children in day care if they get in the way of our plans for financial success (I understand that sometimes we don’t have choice, but sometimes we do).
But mercy has time for the inconvenient.
iv. Mercy is loving. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love is kind, which is very close to mercy.
Love is the very essence of God, and as his people we are called above all to love.
Love is an unconditional commitment to the welfare of the person we love. So when God says he loves us, he is committed to seeing us do well, within the boundaries of what is good for us. And when we merciful we are extending this kind of love to others.
v. And here’s a biggy - mercy is forgiving. Friends, that’s what forgiveness is - it’s mercy. It’s cancelling someone else’s debt. If someone has done us wrong, it’s saying we won’t hold it against them. This is where mercy hits home the most for most of us. We all get offended and need to forgive. But even more, we offend others, and most of all God, and need even more forgiveness.
Did you know it’s impossible for a bitter or unforgiving person to be forgiven? Am I speaking heresy? This is one of the few things that Jesus was uncompromising about.
ILL: He told the story of a man who owed his boss millions of dollars. There was no way known he could pay it off so his boss was going to put him into debtors prison. But the man begged and pleaded and promised to pay it back. What did his boss do? He had mercy - he forgave the debt and let him go free. But then this guy went and found another worker who owed him just a few hundred dollars. His colleague was struggling a bit and promised to pay it back, but this guy refused to listen and had him thrown into debtors prison straight away!
Do you see the inconsistency here? It’s inconceivable that anyone could do that! But that is precisely what we do when we refuse to forgive someone else for some wrong they’ve done us. I don’t care what they’ve done - the New Testament makes no exceptions.
Jesus says to love your friends and hate your enemies? No!
"Love your enemies and bless those who persecute you." Forgive other’s debts. Isn’t that the Lord’s prayer? ’Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ In fact, at the end of that prayer Jesus says that unless we forgive others God won’t forgive us!
That story of the unmerciful servant, as it’s known, has another twist. The boss finds out about the guys duplicity, and here’s what happens:
"Then the master called the servant in. ’You wicked servant,’ he said, ’I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart" (Matt 18.32-34).
Friends - who are the ones who receive mercy? The merciful!
vi. And finally, in case we misunderstand, God’s mercy is just. God is incredibly forgiving, but he’s also just. Our society, at least at an official level, has lost a lot of the idea of justice - punishing wrong and rewarding right. In fact, we don’t even talk about right and wrong anymore. But God cares about injustice and oppression and deals harshly with sinners who don’t repent.
There is a way to receive mercy and escape this punishment - it’s through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. He who knew no sin became sin for us so we could become the righteousness of God. But if we refuse to turn from sin and accept the sin sacrifice there’s nothing left for us but the justice of punishment for sin.
But this is God’s domain, not ours. The day will come when he judges, until then he holds out mercy, and he expects us to do the same.
CONCLUSION
Friends, as we seek to live out our Christian calling, let’s not be fooled into thinking that it’s all about what we do on Sunday. Sunday is important. Worship is important. Growing in our knowledge of God is important. Being in community is important. But Jesus talked a lot about the priority of mercy over religion.
On one occasion he said to the Pharisees, "Go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice’" (Matt 9.13).
On another, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former" (Matt 23.23).
So are you known for your mercy? For your compassions? For your grace - especially towards those in need? For your love - love with hands and feet? For forgiveness - especially towards those who don’t deserve it!?
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
