Compassion in Action!
Matthew 5:7
Introduction:
The eight beatitudes should be viewed as stepping stones that are all building on each other, ultimately culminating in a power filled victorious state in this life and in the life to come.
The first rung of this ladder was found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3 where Jesus states “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Remember this word blessed does not mean happy, happiness is subjective. Blessed speaks of an inner satisfaction tethered to salvation in Christ, not subject to emotions, feelings and fear nor dependent upon circumstance.
So, if you are seeking the approval of God this morning that first step is to acknowledge that you are poor in spirit, or spiritually bankrupt. Salvation is a very personal matter between you and the Lord, to come to a place in your life where you recognize your beggarly poor state, need for rescue and run to the cross to find there is still room for you! You will never have a relationship with God until you need a relationship with God.
The second rung of this ladder was found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 4 where Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” When you come to the place in your life that you really believe all of what God has done by sending His Only Begotten Son to suffer, bleed and die for you, love for that kind of love will mark your life. And, being in love with God means that when He hurts, you hurt. And, what hurts God the most is the sin in your life. So, as a Child of God, sin should bother us, hurt us, and cause us to mourn-to cry out to God when we come short and fail-to confess and repent to cry out by our words and very lives “God I am truly sorry that I have hurt the only One that has ever loved me with an everlasting love.” And when we mourn over our sin, God gives us comfort by telling us “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” –John 10:27-29
The third rung of this ladder was found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 5 where Jesus says “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” We discovered that meekness is NOT weakness but power under control. That God is calling us to be Gentle Giants: Gentle when it comes to our preferences, feelings, emotions and pride and Giants when it comes to others and the truth. There are times when we must be quiet, step down, be subdued and reserved and times when we must be vocal, step up, be made known and get proactive.
The last run of this ladder we looked at was found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6 where Jesus says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” This is what Jesus wants for and from an independent, rebellious, stiff necked, selfish and proud humanity: To come to the point that we are hungering and thirsting to the degree that HE is all we think about, desire, want and NEED. Having a deep insatiable continuous craving for righteousness, the things of God. Or as the old hymn Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus says:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
These first four beatitudes all have to do with what we give to God: our heart, tears, lives, and desires. And, what He gives to us: eternal life, comfort, power, and satisfaction.
So, while the first four beatitudes deal with our relationship to God, the next four deal with our relationship with each other. This is where so many professing Christians are missing the mark. So many think they can have a great relationship with God and never make the connection with other believers or even His church. To understand these beatitudes is to understand that what God gives us is not meant to be kept to ourselves but given out to others! Christianity is an outpouring of an indwelling. So, we are given: eternal life, comfort, power and satisfaction and the first thing that God tells us to do with these glorious gifts is to SHOW MERCY.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” –Mt. 5:7:
1. Mercy is foreign to the world and will not be rewarded by the world:
In the Roman culture in which this sermon was given, mercy was not a popular concept thought to better society but rather a weakness to be eradicated. One Roman philosopher called mercy “the disease of the soul.”
• When a child was born the baby would be lifted up to the father and if he thought the child healthy and attractive, he would give a “thumbs up” and the child would live. If he thought the child ugly, too loud or unhealthy, he would give a “thumbs down” and the child would be put to death.
• For any reason a Roman citizen could kill and bury a slave without any consequence.
• Husbands could put their wives to death for any reason without retribution.
It was in this dark culture void of mercy that Jesus stated “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” And, let me point out, not much has changed from the culture of Roman history to our current American culture:
• We are giving a “thumbs down” to 1.2 million unborn babies each year in America and calling it abortion.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
Mercy has always been foreign to the world and not rewarded by the world. Jesus made the lame to walk again and He caused the blind to see. He rose the dead, brought hearing to the deaf, and reached out to the outcasts and the untouchables. He sought out the: tax collectors, the degenerates, the immoral, the prostitutes, the drunk, the despised and the rejected, praise God He even reached out to the likes of ME!
Jesus has always shocked cultures by His great mercy and it has always been rejected. The most merciful of all, our ultimate and perfect example of mercy and love and He was: shamed, had stones thrown at Him, accused of being demon possessed, drunk and crazy. And, yet He never stopped. Jesus showed us by example that mercy is foreign to the world and rejected by this world. Oh if they rejected Jesus and His mercy, they will reject you and your mercy (If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” –John 15:18). And yet He never gave up, held a grudge, got bitter, stayed home and moved on. Neither should we.
And that:
2. Mercy is not a feeling but compassion in action:
Kent Hughes explains this compassion in action principle by related the story of a nineteenth-century preacher who happened across a friend whose horse had just been accidentally killed. While a crowd of onlookers expressed empty words of sympathy, the preacher stepped forward and said to the loudest sympathizer, “I am sorry five pounds. How much are you sorry?” And then he passed the hat. True mercy demands action.
Let’s break this compassion in action down to three areas: meeting right physical needs, holding a right attitude and being spiritually mature.
Meeting right physical needs: Notice I qualified this idea of meeting physical needs with the use of the word right. We are not called to enable the greedy but to empower the needy. To: feed the hungry, visit the sick, provide for the orphans and widows, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned. And, in many times, in opening a door to a home to bring a gift we find the door to their heart opened to bring the gospel!
Holding a right attitude: MacArthur in his commentary on Matthew states “Mercy does not hold a grudge, harbor resentment, capitalize on another’s failure or weakness, or publicize another’s sin. On a great table at which he fed countless hundreds of people, Augustine inscribed, “Whoever thinks that he is able, to nibble at the life of absent friends, must know that he’s unworthy of this table.” The vindictive, heartless, indifferent are not subjects of Christ, they show they have past Christ’s kingdom. When they pass need by on the other side, as the priest and the Levite did in the story of the good Samaritan, they show they have passed Christ by.”
Being spiritually mature: This aspect is broken down in three parts: pity, provocation and prayer: all of which involve God’s children doing more than just crying out, losing sleep over, and feeling bad for.
A. Mercy is shown through Pity: Augustine stated “If I weep for the body from which the soul is departed, should I not weep for the soul from which God is departed?” I have been to so many funerals and, if memory serves correctly, every one of them without exception contained people crying over the body of someone that died. True God sent mercy is displayed in the believer’s life when we cry more for those that will be missed in heaven than those we miss on earth.
B. Mercy is shown through Provocation: I stated last week the reason I believe many do not come to church is because they are living in sin and the minister, the music and the membership all represent God and that means conflict. I actually pray often that I am that conflict in the sinner’s life. I am not as concerned about making friends in this life as I am spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would much rather you not like me for offending you in this life only to spend an eternity thanking me in the next life, than you liking me in this life only to spend an eternity in hell damning me in the life to come.
The greatest mercy you can show someone is to show them Christ by presenting them the Gospel. Oh pastor I don’t want to push my religion on them, it may push them away. I don’t want to bring up Christ or church, they may get offended. Hear me, by not showing mercy through provocation you could be securing their fate of eternal separation from the only hope they have! Be bold, be passionate, be proactive, be conflicting, be offensive, be whatever you need to be to get their attention on their sin so that they can bring that sin to the attention of their Savior.
C. Mercy is shown through Prayer: MacArthur gauges it this way “Our mercy can be measured by our prayer for the unsaved and for Christians who are walking in disobedience.” This goes back to Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Mourn over what? Your sin AND the sins of those around you. When was the last time you really cried out in prayer for the lost and the disobedient knowing they were hurting the very heart of God.
Oh how far we have come in American church culture. (Struggle with lack of attendance for our mid-week services)
There was a time when the church would gather every Wednesday night, collapse at the altar, cry out in prayer for the unsaved and the backslidden. Wood was warped and carpet stained as the mourning of the congregation resonated within the sanctuary of God. Oh we need some more old fashioned church services where mercy is shown through prayer. We need some old school confession and repentance time of prayer where we are getting right with God, each other and through the power of unity, getting this world back to the God who created it. (“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” –II Chro. 7:14) This world is sick and we have the cure!
3. Mercy is anchored to forgiveness rooted in Christ:
Years ago a small-town merchant had identical twin boys who were inseparable:
o Dressed alike, never married, took over business.
o Busy, neglected to ring up a sale and left dollar bill on register, front to wait on another-remembered, but dollar was gone.
o Found brother and asked-he stated he did not see it, asked again an hour later, again with suspicion. ANGER and DEFENSIVE, conflict.
o Installed a partition down the middle of the store, created two outside doors and two businesses. 20 years-an open, divisive sore in the community.
o One day, 20 years later: Car with an out-of-state license pulled up in front of the stores. Well-dressed man, confessed (READ FROM BOOK)
o Finished, the old store owner was shaking his head and weeping. Asked to go tell that story to the store owner next door. He did, and this time two, almost identical men, were before this stranger weeping side by side.
Mercy is anchored to forgiveness rooted in Christ. Listen, when I fell at the cross 24 years ago, I was a wicked, vile, worldly self-consumed and sin driven sinner deserving of jail in this life and hell in the next. Yet Jesus gave me mercy, love and forgiveness and made me His child forever. I pray you have the same story. And, if you do, God is calling us to simply give out what He has given us. And the truth is, it is not our mercy we are to keep, it is His mercy we are to give, through forgiveness.
4. Mercy is rewarded by the faithfulness of God:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
This is the only beatitude that speaks of getting what you give. Not from the world…but from GOD! If you show mercy, you will receive mercy. What does this mean? The other beatitudes seem pretty clear: poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven, mourn/comfort, display meekness/inherit the earth, hunger and thirst/be filled. But show mercy and receive mercy? This means that you will benefit from the faithfulness of God. You see, when you show mercy you are showing that you have a power within that can only come from without, hence this is a two-fold blessing:
1. An internal blessing: Assurance of salvation: This is a promise from God friend. A promise that can change your life. Showing mercy is an indication that you are saved and secure so that you can be sure. Do you have days that you doubt? Days you struggle? Nights where you wonder if God has left you, forgotten you, given up on you? Times when your feelings seem to trump your beliefs? Well, here it is, if you allowing God to demonstrate His mercy through you by showing mercy to those around you, you will receive mercy from the One above you by assurance within you. (There is no higher joy and no better comfort, than being able to lay down at night even in the midst of those doubting and accusing voices from: the world, the devil and even the flesh, doubting your faith only to have a text like this penetrate that doubt with the wonderful truth that you are His and He is yours!)
2. An external blessing: Access to salvation: That joy and comfort that you have received from God, THIS WORLD NEEDS. And in this merciless culture in which we live, there is no greater stage on which to present the gospel than through mercy shown to those in need.
INV.
(For King and Country-Fix my Eyes)
The things of Earth are dimming
In the light of Your glory and grace
I'll set my sights upon Heaven
I'm fixing my eyes on you
Love like I'm not scared
Give when it's not fair
Live life for another
Take time for a brother
Fight for the weak ones
Speak out for freedom
Find faith in the battle
Stand tall but above it all
Fix my eyes on you
