This sermon was prepared by prayer and illustration and ideas from some of my
colleagues.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy
Matthew 5:1-5:12
Introduction-
We continue our study of the sermon on the mount.
It is our fifth week here and today we will be looking at verse 7 of chapter five-
“Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy”
Each of these beatitudes has showed us the character of God.
Each one can enhance our relationship with God and with others.
You have to ask the question-What does this passage mean and how can I apply it correctly to my life.
Mercy by definition is not giving to someone what they deserve.
A judge can go easy on someone and show mercy
A person though they have been wronged has the ability to forgive when justice says that they must be punished. They can exhibit mercy.
Illustration-
A mother approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. But I do not seek justice, the mother pleaded, I pray for mercy. But your son does not deserve mercy. “Sir, said the mother, I t would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for, “ well then, I will have mercy, and spared the women’s son.
I f you are here this morning and you are trying to put justice and mercy together, they will not fit.
Justice is getting what you deserve.
Mercy is receiving something that you do not deserve.
Jesus is saying to us this morning, blessed are those who show mercy (give people what they don’t deserve) and promises those that do that, that he will show the same mercy to them.
It is easy for someone to say- I cannot forgive them. You don’t know what they did to me.
Your right about that, in yourself, you cannot forgive.
It is a God thing!
It is bigger than you.
Lord’s prayer Matt 6:4
“Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive those who sins against us.”
We forgive those who trespass against us.
The Greek word for trespass means to stumble, fall, slip, blunder, to deviate from righteousness and truth.
Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, , if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Peter came to Jesus( Mt. 18) asking the question. Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Seven times to Jews was an acceptable amount of time, but Jesus is saying it is more than the number of times, it is not allowing bitterness into your heart.
There is a theme here that runs through the New Testament….If you want to be forgiven, we must forgive.
Jesus says- “For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy.”
There is another aspect of this, that if you do not grasp, could be why many cannot forgive and move forward.
Mercy in the Greek is an untranslatable word.
Mercy in the Hebrew- chesedh, spelled almost like cheesehead, should not be confused with it’s correct meaning.
Chesedh means to not only sympathize with a person.
It is not simply feeling sorry for someone in trouble.
It means the ability to get right inside other people until we see things with their eyes.
Think things with their minds,
feel things with their feelings.
Anyone besides me this morning, realize that without God’s help, I could not do that.
It is deliberate action, to understand and an effort to reconcile from the inside instead of from the outside. We know this is what we should do, but without God’s help we cannot do it.
When it just from the outside, we make an attempt and out feelings get in the way. Because until God is involved, it’s about your feelings, your way, how you can feel better about it.
Illustration (example of forgiveness)
Perfect forgiveness is forgiving the man that by vehicle killed your son.
I cannot imagine the pain,
I cannot imagine the ability to forgive someone who killed my child. That is why it is a God thing!
Tom McGee killed a boy driving drunk. Jack Morris, the father of the killed son forgave this man. Went to see him in prison and later, years later, adopted this man into his family. That is a God thing! That is the power of God’s spirit to change people’s minds and life.
Perfect forgiveness.
Perfect mercy.
If we could just understand our trespasses better, it would make forgiveness and tolerance so much easier.
French proverb-
“To know all is to forgive all”
We will never know all until we make the deliberate attempt to get inside the other persons mind and heart.
Turn to Matt 18:21-35
This is a parable of an unmerciful servant.
Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything! The servants master took pity on him. Cancelled the debt and set him free.
Upon his release, he finds his servant grabbed him and chokes him and demands him to pay what he owes. (demands justice) The servant pleads for mercy. Be patient with me, I will pay you back. But instead of showing mercy, he has just received, he throws him in prison until he could pay him back. The master who forgave him hears what he did and put him into jail. “you wicked servant” I cancelled your debt, I had mercy on you.
Who is a wicked servant?
Anyone who has accepted the merciful forgiveness of God for their life and cannot forgive others as they have been forgiven.
Illustration
Story of Abraham Lincoln when he was running for president of the United States. Lincoln had many enemies but none more than Edwin Stanton. Stanton went around the country calling Lincoln a fool, a buffoon and a “tall, lanky, ignorant man” when Lincoln was finally elected president, he did not forget about Mr. Stanton. When the time came for him to choose his cabinet, Lincoln decided that the best man for the job of secretary of war was Edwin Stanton. With that choice many of Lincoln’s advisors raised a fess and cry. They told him, Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, and is trying to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all those derogatory statements that he made about you? After listening to their statements, Lincoln arose and made this rather profound statement: oh yeah. I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job. Stanton accepted the nomination and soon became a very good secretary of war. Although throughout the early years of that service their friendship was never more than cordial, he gradually learned to appreciate, even admire the president. When Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865, Stanton was deeply grieved. The man who had once hated Lincoln more than any other man, had learned through Lincoln’s grace and kindness, what true friendship was all about. At the presidents funeral Stanton delivered a very different kind of oratory than that which he had become so famous for but five years prior. After a moving address he made this now famous statement: “Now he belongs to the ages. Because of Lincolns free-flowing and never ending willingness to forgive and forget, he had turned a bitter enemy into a devoted friend.
Lincoln understood God’s principal.
All of us want forgiveness from God, and from others, but we are not willing to give forgiveness like Christ has forgiven us.
Jesus forgiveness is unlimited. There is the spirit and practice of forgiveness.
We need to love without condition and forgive without the hope that we give will be given back in full measure.
This passage is easy for us to say to others- forgive.
We need God’s spirit of forgiveness.
The parable is simple, very descriptive and full of meaning.
God is the king here- he is a king that rules justly as all kings should.
He is loving, compassionate and forgiving.
He is consumed with love and compassion, so much he forgives enormous debts.
How much has God forgiven you?
The debt that you could not pay.
Listen to me!
You sit there and say you cannot do it- by yourself you cannot!
Ask God to help you.
Accepted help doesn’t mean you fail- it just means you’re not doing it alone anymore
The same God that you cried out to, to be patient with you, The Master who took pity on you is telling you that you have to do the same thing for others.
Closing
“There is none righteous, no not one” We all need forgiveness!
“All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” ( Roman 3:23)
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor (yelling) and evil speaking (rumors, gossip) be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you” Ephesians 4:31-32
Bad feelings lead to bitterness and bitterness takes us away from God.
When we don’t forgive, we are asking God to do for us what we are not willing to do for someone else.
“Resentment is like drinking poison, and hoping the other person dies.”
Illustration-
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seems to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could not go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped of f the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body. Nothing happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of his life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved it freedom from the cocoon.
We all want mercy (forgiveness). The Lord tells us that we must forgive.
There is truth – what goes around, comes around. God says you will receive what you dish out.
Our mandate is to lift up Christ! We begin by being merciful.
It comes with a wonderful promise- The merciful will be shown mercy.
Amen.
Altar Call.
