4th epiphany 2011
Matthew 5:1-12
Merciful peacemakers.
Do you have an attitude problem? Who doesn’t at certain times or on certain days? Something perturbs you and it begins to show in your attitude. It can happen most anytime in the day.
I want to start with a true story about a man who said that one particular event cured him of being obnoxious in a restaurant. He had ordered a steak well done. But when they brought it to him and he cut into it and it was rare. The blood was running out of it.
He waved at the waitress and said, “Come here, come here.” She came and he said, “This steak is too rare.” So she took it to be cooked some more. When she brought it back he cut into it again, but they had overcooked it. Again he waved for the waitress, “Come here. Look, it’s almost burnt to a crisp.” So she took the steak, went to the kitchen and got him another one.
He started cutting it and then waving once again for the waitress, he complained, “It’s too tough. I can’t eat it. Take it back.” So she took it back and brought him yet another one. With the waitress standing there, he cut into that steak and it was just right this time.
Then he cut into his baked potato and it had a black spot in it. Turning to the waitress, he said, “Look at this potato. It’s a bad potato!”
Well, the waitress, who evidently had just about had it at this point, picked up the potato and started to spank it and said, “Bad potato, bad, bad, bad!” Then she put the potato back down on his plate and said, “If you have any more trouble with that potato, just let me know.” And she walked off.
He said that was the last time he ever complained in a restaurant. Sometimes, chronic complainers have an attitude problem that many of us have to deal with.
How do you deal with difficult people? For that matter, how do you deal with anybody in life? Good, bad or otherwise?
In the beatitudes Jesus gives us two ways to deal with difficult people and all people for that matter. Those ways are: 1- Demonstrate mercy and 2- Pursue peace.
Let’s look at the first one. DEMONSTRATE MERCY
Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Let me illustrate this. A young lady who occasionally walked through the park after work, stopped to have her picture taken by a photographer on this particular day. She was very excited about her picture being taken. As she walked out of the park, she looked at the Polaroid picture in total amazement. She turned and headed back to the cameraman. When she got there she stated, "This is not right! This is not right! You have done me NO justice!"
The photographer looked at the picture and looked at her and stated, "Miss, you don’t need justice, what you need is mercy."
We all need mercy for something, perhaps more for our behavior than for our looks. And we may be quick to ask for mercy from God but are we quick to demonstrate mercy to others?
The reason why I ask this is, there are many things that we live with in our own lives, but we can’t seem to stand them in other people’s lives: bad temper, frivolous lifestyle, lack of commitment, etc.
But the good news is, the church is for sinners and is made up of sinners. Of course, mostly sinners that are saved by His grace, but all sinners should be welcome. However, some churches are quick to boot people out if they don’t live up to their standards.
I have heard of and seen horror stories where people have been driven out of a church for one thing or another. No mercy was demonstrated, only rugged legalism. But Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
In Matthew 23:23 Jesus condemns the religious leaders of His day when it says, "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 practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
You see, the Pharisees of old were scrupulous or careful when it came to observing religious laws, but they were NOT good about showing mercy and mercy was what the Lord wanted them to demonstrate.
How can we forget the example of the woman caught in adultery in John 8? The Pharisees wanted to stone her because that was according to the law. But Jesus did just the opposite. HE DEMONSTRATED MERCY. Jesus broke His own law to demonstrate mercy. Perhaps this should tell us something about God.
God is rich in mercy. If He were not rich in mercy, we would all be in a heap of trouble!
Mercy is what God demonstrates to the undeserving sinner, and that’s us!
Let me illustrate this point. John Wesley visited General Ogelthorpe when he was governor of the colony of Georgia. The general mentioned to him an incident involving a man who had angered him and remarked, “I shall never forgive him!” Wesley responded, “Then I hope sir, that YOU never sin!”
We all need to remind ourselves that we are sinners, which should hopefully make us respond in kindness and mercy to others who sin also. If we want the Lord to show us mercy then we need to demonstrate it to others! The more mercy and forgiveness we give, the more we get in return.
If you looked in the Old Testament, the Lord turned Job’s life around and gave him twice as much as he had before he experienced all of his terrible trials. When did God do this? When did He turn Job’s life around?
Job 42:10 says, “After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much he had before.”
What was it in Job’s prayer that made God turned Job’s life around? It was when he prayed for mercy for his so-called friends who had been critical of him. And it has been suggested that perhaps when we also learn the lesson of demonstrating mercy, that God will also turn our lives around and bless us as well!
Now lets turn our attention to the second part, PURSUE PEACE
Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Paul goes on to say in Romans 12:17-18 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
And also Romans 14:19 “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
These scriptures are clear. God wants us to be peacemakers in this world, not peace-breakers! He wants us to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Let me illustrate this principle.
On a Sunday morning about noon, a man was standing in the midst of a Golden Corral restaurant, with Thousand Island dressing dripping from his hair, over his glasses, down his face, all over his jacket, pants, and shoes. And I’m not talking about a little bit of Thousand Island dressing; I’m talking about 2 gallons of it!
What had happened was that a waitress was carrying a 2-gallon container of Thousand Island dressing for the salad bar had paused for just a second while coming through the swinging doors of the kitchen, and the doors had caught her and it knocked her forward, launching 2 gallons of dressing all over this guy.
Well, he went ballistic! He started shouting and cursing at her. “You’re so stupid! I can’t believe you could do such a stupid, stupid thing. This is a brand new suit & it cost me $300.” His wife chimed in, “Yeah, you’ve ruined my husband’s $300 suit, and it’s the first time he’s had a chance to wear it.” He screamed, “I want to see the manager!”
Thoroughly shaken, the waitress went to get the manager, and the manager came out. Now picture this – here’s a guy with 2 gallons of Thousand Island dressing dripping from him, and the manager asks, “Is there a problem?”
The guy replies, “Is there a problem? She’s ruined my $300 suit. It’s brand new, and I want a new suit!” The manager says, “We’ll be glad to get your suit cleaned. Accidents do happen, and we’re really sorry about this.”
“No! No!” he said. “I don’t want my suit cleaned. I want a brand new suit, and I demand a check for $300 right here and right now.” Well, to avoid a bigger scene, the manager goes back into his office, writes out a check for $300 and brings it to him. And still muttering obscenities, the angry customers left the restaurant.
Sadly, this true story happened at noon on a Sunday. And I want you to think about something. Now, why would someone be wearing a brand new suit on a Sunday morning? Do you suppose he had been to church? Do you suppose that he had just heard a sermon on “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?
Now I don’t want to be a judge about proper behavior, but to me the tragic part is that God has called us to be transformed, to be different from the rest of the world. You may expect the rest of the world to behave crudely, but not Christians, especially not after church on Sunday morning.
It seems like some people just carry a chip on their shoulders and go around looking for trouble or looking to stir up trouble. They are troublemakers instead of peacemakers and the Bible calls us to be peacemakers.
So HOW are we to act and react in this world? How are we to be peacemakers? To answer this, we start our days with prayer and praise. We sing and pray. We ask God to work in us, and through us, to bless others and to be peacemakers. Then we go to work. When something bad happens to us, we should react as kindly and quietly as possible.
Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath or anger.” We shouldn’t fight fire with fire, but with God’s Spirit who is at work in us. And when we do this we shall be known as the children of God! Can anyone be changed by the encounter that they have with you?
