Blessed are the Merciful
Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. “
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Illustration - Napoleon
The story is told of a mother who once approached Napoleon asking for a pardon for her son. Napoleon replied that the young man had twice committed a certain crime and that for justice to be done, the man deserved to die.
“But I don’t ask for justice,” the mother explained. “I plead for mercy.”
“But your son does not deserve mercy,” replied Napoleon.
“It would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all that I seek for him,” replied the mother.
Because of the mother’s sound and clear reasoning, Napoleon said, “Well, then, I will have mercy,” and he spared the woman’s son.
Mercy is a gift given to those who don’t deserve it.
Legal Setting
You will often hear this used in a legal setting after a person has been convicted and guilt has been assigned. When the sentence is about to be handed down, it is mercy that is sought, not innocence.
At that point, your only hope is mercy;
mercy so that you don’t get what you deserve.
Transition
This morning we are continuing on in our series on the beatitudes and we are going to be talking about the 5th beatitude.
Matthew 5:7 - Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
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As we have been doing in this series, we are going to ask and answer some questions about mercy and what that looks like in the life of someone who is merciful.
First, we want to ask,
What is Mercy?
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I think it is helpful to understand what something is not, in order to better understand what it is.
First, we need to understand that
Mercy is not Emotionalism
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Just because a person sees a television commercial with starving kids and sheds some tears and wants to help, does not necessarily mean that person is merciful.
Often when a person is making decisions or doing something out of an emotional response,
it is to alleviate the emotions they are feeling
rather than out of a heart of mercy.
Now, just to clarify something, those who are merciful, will often experience deep emotions, but just because a person is emotional, doesn’t make them merciful.
Transition
Not only do we sometimes look at someone who is acting out of their emotions only merciful, but sometimes we look at people who have given large amounts of money or aid to charities or people and we call them humanitarians and believe they are merciful.
But,
Mercy is not Humanitarianism
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A person can be a humanitarian and not be merciful.
People sometimes do “good things” not out of a heart of mercy, but for selfish reasons.
Tax write offs,
to look good among people,
for their own sense of feeling good.
But if humanitarian efforts are not coming from a heart of love to benefit a person for the long run, then it is not mercy, and you haven’t really done anything merciful, but rather have acted on selfish desires.
Paul writes to the Corinthians in
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1 Corinthians 13:3 - If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Paul says that even if a person gives away everything to the poor, but they didn’t do it in love, they have gained nothing, they have not acted mercifully.
Now just like the other point we made about emotionalism, while being a humanitarian doesn’t make you merciful, a merciful person will be a humanitarian. They will care about other people.
Transition
Ok, so if mercy is not emotionalism, even though emotions will often accompany acts of mercy and mercy is not humanitarianism, but a merciful person will be a humanitarian, what is mercy?
Mercy is a Heart Attitude
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Mercy is an attitude of our heart that comes from being in relationship with Christ.
Mercy desires to help people by giving them what they do not necessarily deserve for their long term benefit, not just a short term pleasure.
This is the difference between showing someone mercy and “enabling” bad choices and behavior.
Mercy is a heart attitude that desires to truly help people for the long term.
God is the perfect example of mercy. It is because of His heart of love that He has shown us mercy in not making us pay for our own sins.
Ephesians 2:4-5
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But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
But he did not pour out his mercy so we could sin more, knowing that we don’t have to pay the consequences.
This is where people confuse what God has done.
God is forgiving, I will just sin and then seek forgiveness.
That is very questionable thinking for a believer in Jesus Christ.
In the early church there were some that were saying that this is what Paul was teaching. “God is a God of mercy and grace, so we can keep sinning and be forgiven, so live like you want.”
Paul refutes that thinking and writes in
Romans 6:1-2
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What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
God does not extend mercy so we can do the same things over again. He extends mercy out of his love so we can recover from our bad choices to make better choices by the power of His grace.
For us to be merciful, we have to have a heart attitude that is for the long term best for a person who may not deserve our mercy, but it will help them for the long term, not just avoid consequences in the short term.
Not only is mercy a heart attitude, but
Mercy is a Humble Action
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It is out of a heart attitude of mercy that we will perform actions in humility that are merciful.
A merciful person is not being merciful so that they will receive praise because of their actions. Mercy is an action that is taken out of a heart attitude of mercy to help others for their long-term benefit.
Listen to what Jesus says in
Matthew 6:2-4
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2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Mercy is a heart attitude that leads us to humble action.
Turn to Luke 10:30-37
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We are going to look at an example of mercy in God’s word to help us see what it looks like in action.
This is the story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus tells.
Follow along as I read.
Luke 10:30-37
30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Now, the Samaritan man is the one who had mercy on the man who was beaten and left for dead.
This man had a heart attitude of mercy that lead him to humbly act mercifully toward this man.
Now the man who was beaten was probably a Jew and the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other.
This Samaritan extended mercy to this man, even though he would have considered him an enemy, someone who truly did not deserve his mercy, but who probably got what was coming to him.
Application
Now, I believe many of us think we are merciful people.
But if we stop and assess that belief in light of God’s word, I think that many of us, myself included, will find that we are more about seeing what we believe to be justice carried out.
If someone we did not like had some bad circumstances happen to them, I think many of us would be more of an attitude of
He got what he deserved or
He made his bed, now he has to lie in it.
It is not easy to be merciful to those who are our enemies.
So if God wants us to be merciful, and I am not all that merciful,
How do I become more merciful?
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First, I believe it is easy for us to not be merciful, because we are focused on the wrong things sometimes.
Not that what we are focused on is bad, but it is not as important as other things.
To become more merciful, we need to
Keep our Focus off less Important Matters
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The Pharisees suffered this problem. They had their focus on things that were not nearly as important as being merciful.
Listen to what Jesus said to them in
Matthew 23:23
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23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
It does not mean that we don’t do the less important things.
I think we should give and I believe that tithing should be a standard, even a minimum, but when we start to focus on making sure I give 10% to the penny, of what I give, and think through whether I calculate this on the gross or the net, and what I do with money I received for my birthday or Christmas, we start to lose a proper focus on things that are far more important, like how can I help someone in need.
The Lord said in Hosea 6:6 - I desire mercy, not sacrifice
We need to keep our focus on the more important matters like mercy, while not neglecting the less important things.
To become more merciful, we also need to
Keep our focus on the mercy we’ve received
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Jesus told a parable about the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-34.
A king wanted to settle accounts and one of his servants owed him an incredible amount of money that the servant couldn’t pay. He asked the king to be patient and the king had mercy upon him and forgave him his debt.
After he had been shown mercy, the servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a small amount of money and the fellow servant asked the man for patience, but the man refused and had him thrown in jail until he could pay. Then the king found out about it.
And In Matthew 18:32-33,
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32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
We need to realize, at least those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, that you have received an unbelievable amount of mercy.
You have been given mercy by being redeemed from an eternity in hell, which each one of us deserved.
When we keep the mercy we have received already in the front of our minds, we are going to be able to be more merciful.
Transition
Now I want to ask another practical question.
Does this mean that we can never collect a debt or seek justice for a wrong? What if someone stole something from us? Does being merciful mean that we need to just let the thief keep what he took and not press charges?
Does being Merciful mean that Justice is Denied?
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No.
In Matthew 23:23, which we read earlier, Jesus said
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Justice is something that should be practiced along with mercy and faithfulness.
They are not mutually exclusive.
Well how can we act justly and be merciful?
There is a great verse of Scripture in the Old Testament that gives some guidance to us in this.
It is
Micah 6:8
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8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
I believe that acting justly and being merciful are going to flow from us walking humbly with God.
There are not going to be a list of rules of when we personally administer justice or we show mercy.
Often we are going to be doing both.
We are going to be administering justice with a heart of mercy.
Disciplining our Kids
When we discipline our kids instead of just letting them off, we do it out of a heart of love for them and a desire for them to learn for the future.
There may be times that they don’t get disciplined, but that will also come from a heart of mercy for their long term best.
Knowing when to do what, is going to come from us walking humbly with the Lord.
And as we love mercy and act mercifully, we can expect to be shown mercy, both by others and by God.
Conclusion
Are you Merciful?
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Perhaps you need to realign some of your thinking.
Have you been too focused on the things that are not near as important that you think will please God?
Maybe you need to be praying that the Lord will soften your heart so you will be more merciful
Have you not focused enough on the unbelievable mercy you have been granted as a believer in Christ?
You need to keep those thoughts at the front of your mind.
Maybe you have not been walking humbly with the Lord because, frankly, you think you have been pretty good person and more merciful than most and the Lord owes you.
I want to tell you that none of us have been as merciful as the Lord wants us to be, and when we are in a growing relationship with Him, we will realize that.
I want you to ask yourself, Have I really recognized that I am a sinner before the Lord and that my only hope of salvation is by the mercy and grace of God through Jesus Christ?
If you haven’t come to that point, then I urge you to recognize your need and receive Him as your Savior.
Romans 10:9 – “if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Won’t you do that as we close in prayer.
Won’t you come before the living God in humility, recognizing that you are a sinner in need of salvation and confessing your belief that Jesus is Lord, He is God in the flesh and that He rose from the dead and receive Him as your Savior.
Whatever your need is to be a merciful or more merciful person, let’s pray and walk humbly with our God.
Pray.
Resources
“Mercy” by Stewart Beveridge – accessed on 3/2/2010 at
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/mercy-stewart-beveridge-sermon-on-kingdom-of-god-45472.asp
“Blessed are the Merciful” by John Piper – accessed on 3/2/2010 at
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1986/531_Blessed_Are_the_Merciful/
