The word Jesus uses here as he speaks about mercy is most interesting, The word comes from the Greek word, “eliamosuna,” from which we get the “eleemosynary,” which means “benefactory.” In other words, the essence of being merciful is benefiting or serving others. Indeed, such is the case with the mercy of God.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with hrist even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.” - Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)
“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.” - Titus 3:4-5 (NIV)
“But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!” - Philippians 2:7-8 (Amplified)
In fact, Paul cites the example of Christ’s servant-hood as an expression of God’s mercy toward us as he exhorts believers to serve one another.
“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” - Philippians 2:1-5 (The Message)
Service - giving of oneself to others - is the essence of being merciful; and Jesus tells us that if we are going to be truly happy in life, we must gain the proper perspective on service. We must develop a servant’s attitude in our relationship with others. I want us to notice two things that Jesus tells us here about demonstrating mercy by serving others.
1. The basis of our service - v. 7a
The basis of our service is the fact that we have been the recipients of God’s mercy.
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:45 (NLT)
Even as Christ, for our sake, offered Himself as a servant to us, we, for Christ’s sake, are to offer ourselves as servants to others and thus, demonstrate what mercy is all about. This kind of example is so needed in our world today, which doesn’t understand mercy and which doesn’t understand service.
It is said that today’s economy is a “service economy,” but everyone is spelling service, “serve us!” Today’s world thinks that service is all about my getting what’s coming to me.
But the world doesn’t know what real service means and that’s because the world is ignorant of what mercy is. Mercy is not about my getting what I deserve, it’s about my not getting what I deserve; in fact, it’s about my getting what I don’t deserve!
We, who by the mercy and grace of God, have not received the punishment we deserve, but have instead, received the forgiveness we don’t deserve, should be able to demonstrate to others what mercy is all about through of service. Our responsibility is to let the world know of God’s mercy by serving them in Jesus’ name.
2. The benefits of our service - v. 7b
The benefits that you or I receive as a result of serving others in the name of Jesus are far greater than the world can comprehend.
The three sons of a lawyer, a doctor and a minister were talking about how much money their fathers made.
The lawyer’s son said, “My father goes into court on a case and
often comes home with as much as fifteen hundred dollars.”
The doctor’s son said, “My father performs an operation and earns as much as two thousand dollars for it.”
The minister’s son said, “That’s nothing. My father preaches for just fifteen minutes on Sunday morning and it takes four men to carry the money.”
Of course, you and I know that the benefits that comes from demonstrating God’s mercy through serving others in Jesus’ name are often not monetary. However, they are, nevertheless, greater than anything the world offers. Why? Because the mercy received by those who show mercy comes from God, not this world.
The fact is that people have a way of having a short memory. They often forget what kindness we might show to them or what service we might render. But not God. With God, there is certain reward. If we truly honor God through mercifully serving others in His name, He will reward us. But the world does not work that way. The Roman world of Jesus’ day did not begin to understand the meaning of mercy.
A Roman philosopher said mercy was “the disease of the soul.” The Romans glorified justice and courage and discipline and power; they looked down on mercy.
When a child was born into the Roman world the father had the right of patria potestas. If he wanted the new¬born to live, he held his thumb up. If he wanted the child to die, he held it down and the child would be drowned.
If a Roman citizen didn’t want his slave any more, he could kill and bury him, and there would be no legal re¬course against the citizen.
A Roman citizen could kill his wife if he chose.
So if you were talking to people under Roman power, you could not try to tell them that mercy begets mercy on the human level.
It’s wishful thinking in our selfish, grabbing, competitive society, too. In our day, we would more likely say, “Be merciful to someone and he’ll step on your neck!”
Consider what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was the most merciful human being who ever lived.
He reached out to the sick and healed them. He reached out to the crippled and gave them legs to walk. He healed the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the mouths of the dumb.
He found prostitutes and tax collectors and those that were debauched and drunken, and He drew them into the circle of His love and redeemed them and set them on their feet.
He took the lonely and made them feel loved.
He gathered children into His arms and loved them.
Once a funeral procession came by and He saw a mother weeping because her son was dead. She was already a widow and now she had no child to care for her. Who would care? Jesus stopped the funeral procession, put His hand on the casket and raised the child from the dead. He cared.
Jesus was the most merciful human being who ever lived, and they screamed for His blood. If mercy carried its own reward, they would not have nailed Him to a cross and spit in His face and cursed Him. From the people to whom He gave mercy, he received no mercy at all; and we should expect it to be any different for us.
“Servants don’t get better treatment than their masters.” - John 15:20 (The Message)
Don’t think that if you demonstrate mercy toward others through a servant’s spirit that the world will reciprocate. Jesus isn’t talking about the way in which others will treat us, but how God will reward us.
God is the subject of the second phrase in this Beatitude. Jesus says here that if we are merciful to others, God will be merciful to us, and bless us in ways we don’t deserve!
And unlike the benefits of this world, which are temporary and transitory, the benefits that come from demonstrating mercy to others through service are eternal and inevitable. You can count on it - God will reward His children who demonstrate mercy to others through their service.
“Blessed (happy, to be envied) are the dead from now on who die in the Lord! Yes, blessed (happy, to be envied indeed), says the Spirit, [in] that they may rest from their labors, for their works (deeds) do follow (attend, accompany) them!” - Revelation 14:13 (Amplified)
“None of what they’ve done is wasted; God blesses them for it all in the end.” - Revelation 14:13 (The Message)
A young woman had planted a vine at the base of a stone wall. It grew vigorously, but it did not seem to bloom. Day after day she cultivated it and tried every possible way to coax it to bloom.
One morning, as she looked in vain for blooms on the vine, her neighbor called out to her and said, “You can’t imagine how much I have been enjoying the blooms of that vine you planted.” The vine had crept through the crevice and bloomed on the other side.
Often we think our efforts are wasted because we do not see fruit on this side. But the promise of God is that He will mercifully reward us on the other side for every act of mercy do on this side in His name.
The poet, A. L. Frink, wrote a poem based on this story. It speaks of how blessed will be the experience of the Christian in the next life who faithfully served the Lord in this life.
The Rose Still Grows Beyond the Wall
Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God’s free light;
Watered and fed by morning dew,
Shedding its sweetness day and night.
As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall
Through which there shone a beam of light.
Onward it crept with added strength,
With never a thought of fear or pride;
It followed the light through the crevice-length,
And unfolded itself on the other side.
The light, the dew, the broadening view,
Were found the same as they were before;
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing its fragrance more and more.
Shall claim of death cause us to grieve,
And make our courage faint or fall?
Nay, let us faith and hope receive,
The rose still grows beyond the wall.
Scattering fragrance far and wide,
Just as it did in days of yore;
Just as it did on the other side;
Just as it will forevermore.
The point of our Savior’s teaching here is simply this: God will let no merciful deed done in His name in service to others to go unnoticed by Him or unrewarded by Him. In other words, it is worth it to live for Jesus by living like Jesus!
Rick Warren says that “Life is preparation for eternity.” For those who give themselves to demonstrating God’s mercy by serving others in His name, the joys of heaven will be made even richer because of the merciful rewards given for our service by the Savior.
A beggar sat at the gate of a rich man from whose generosity he often benefited. One day the rich man wanted to send a message as quickly as possible. Since his servants were all busy, he found the beggar and asked him to make the deliv¬ery for him. Lifting himself up with pride, the beggar answered his benefactor with these astonishing words, “I solicit alms, sir, but I do not run errands.”
How many Christians relate to their heavenly Father in this way? We have received mercy from Him. We have not only not received what we deserve, but we have received what we do not deserve! Yet, when He calls us to demonstrate that same mercy by serving others in His name, we say, “No, Lord; I solicit your blessings, but I do not run errands.”
If you want to be delivered from being a beggar, become a servant of the King. Demonstrating His mercy to others through a servant’s heart brings a sure, certain and eternal reward.
