Beatitudes Summer Sermon Series (6 of 9)
Show Me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine (Merciful)
Matt. 5.7 July 26, 2015 CFBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
A Matthew 5:3-6 (NASB) 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
1 The Beatitudes begins with describing the right attitude about ourselves, I’m poor in spirit (broken, poor, wretch),
a a right attitude towards our sin (I mourn),
aa a right attitude towards God’s Word (We’ll defend God, not ourselves: gentle, meek, humble)
bb These three attitudes create in us a deep hunger/thirst to be right with God (righteousness.)
b Thus far, the Beatitudes are all about us & our Heavnly Father,
aa We are Children of the Father and thus we begin to look Him, mimic Him, Ephesians 5:1 (NASB)
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
bb Being one of His kids mean we begin to manifest His divine attributes to the world around us - - - mercy is one of His attributes.
cc “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matt. 5.7)
2 Mercy doesn’t make sense, does not add up, paradoxical (just like the rest of the Beatitudes).
a If you tried to develop a “mercy” app it wouldn’t work because mercy goes beyond reason, beyond justice, beyond right.
aa (I’m not going to press this idea past the point of rational comparison, but . . .grace is a positive, mercy is a negative.)
bb Grace means we get something we don’t deserve. (Heaven, access to His Presence, Adoption as a Child of God, Entrance into His Kingdom, Inheritance on the New Earth) POSITIVE
cc Mercy means we do not get what we do deserve (Hell, death, punishment, full measure of all the power, penalty of sin, enemy of God) NEGATIVE
b God has have every right to put me in the deepest, darkest hole in hell, throw away the keys and never give me another thought and He’d be justified, right, reasonable to do just that.
aa If we’re going to heaven it IS NOT because God loves us.
bb (He loves everybody and if it’s God’s love that determines whether we go to heaven or hell or not they might as well just turn off the lights in hell and the last person out shut off the lights.)
cc You get your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life because of His Mercy & Grace. . . because He DOESN’T GIVE US WHAT WE DESERVE!
dd Grace & Mercy is His Love in action.
B Mercy does not ignore truth, justice, debt . . . when God shows mercy it is/was/always be at His expense.
1 “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6.23
a IL. If you owe me $100 and I forgive your debt, I must use another $100 of mine to pay my bills. I can’t really make you $100 richer without making myself $100 poorer. I’ve still gotta pay VISA. . . I must pay to forgive your debt.
b This is the reason why Christ had to die, why God couldn’t simply say, “Forget the sin.” The bill is still due. (Mercy doesn’t ignore truth.)
aa Instead of saying “forget it” He said, “Forgive it” and that meant that if we did not pay it, He had to Himself . . . thus mercy is expensive to the one giving it (picture of the Cross).
bb When we show mercy, it isn’t just an attitude/idea/or us forgetting someone/something has hurt us. . .we costs us something. Mercy is a minus.
cc Knowing that mercy is negative (per se), it’s surprising that Jesus would tell us that mercy is a plus, that the merciful are blessed. (In light of the paradoxes found in the entirety of Beatitudes it is not surprising.)
C Mercy is a complicate thing, especially if someone has unjustly hurt/offended you).
1 Imagine mercy is a chain of six links, this explanation will help us understand “Mercy” as it relates to us being merciful.
a Link 1: Pain
aa You cannot show mercy if there isn’t an offender/offense/injustice.
bb If everyone was good, fair, kind to you then no mercy required.
b Link 2: Power
aa Sometimes we have no power/resources to retaliate, done anonymously . . .can’t show mercy.
bb If you have the power (striking back to their face or on Facebook) to retaliate you have a choice to make.
c Link 3: Truth
aa Suppose a person “deserves” to be hurt, taught a lesson . . . should we?
bb It is in between link 3 and 4 we shoot our opportunity of being merciful.
d Link 4: Love
aa Love doesn’t cancel the truth, it controls it.
bb Because of God’s love to us, we choose to show mercy by not giving the person that hurt us what they deserve. How do we pull that off?
e Link 5: Faith
aa By faith we leave the offender and the offense in the hands of God instead of getting revenge.
bb Romans 12:19 (NASB) Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.
cc What do we get out this?
f Link 6: Growth
aa Philippians 3:10 (NASB) 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
bb We all want to be partakers in the “power of His resurrection” but few want to know Him in “the fellowship of His sufferings.” We look more like Jesus!
cc If I look more like Him and less like me . . . I’m satisfied, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
2 Who but God can take something that was meant to hurt us, harm us and use it for our good and His glory?
a In Genesis, there is story of a boy named Joseph. His brothers hated him, sold him to Egyptian slavery, told their dad (Isaac) that ol’Joe was eaten by a predator.
aa Through a series of seemingly unfortunate events (accused of rape by a politician’s wife, imprisoned, then a rise to power/favor as Pharaoh’s secretary of state, a famine in his homeland that brought the very brothers who sold him into slavery to his office for food.)
bb He had them in his sights, he could kill them . . . take everything that they had & give them everything they had coming to them. . . and it would be justifiable, reasonable, comprehendible.
cc Genesis 50:20 (HCSB) 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.
dd The boys received Joseph’s mercy and the family was made whole once again.
b There’s another story (1 Samuel) about a man named David who was hated by a king named Saul.
aa Saul had tried to kill David numerous times & failed. David ran for the hills & Saul followed him.
bb 1 Samuel 24:3-7 (NASB) 3 He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. 4 The men of David said to him, "Behold, this is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.'" Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul's robe secretly. 5 It came about afterward that David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul's robe. 6 So he said to his men, "Far be it from me because of the LORD that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD'S anointed."7 David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way.
cc Although David offered mercy, Saul eventually went on to prove that he didn’t accept it.
c Why these two stories?
aa Joseph was merciful to his brothers and they received and they were blessed; David was merciful to Saul and he rejected it and God judged him.
bb When you show mercy, the choice to receive it is the choice of the person who hurt you.
cc God has offered His mercy to all who will receive it . . . not all do. Not everyone will receive yours.
dd When you choose to show mercy to others, you get to be God to them.
3 Thus far I’ve only told you about mercy as a form of forgiveness, but it is much broader than that.
a Mercy is anything you do that is of benefit to someone in need.
aa It’s more than forgiveness/compassion/sympathy.
bb It’s forgiveness/compassion/sympathy toward anyone in need.
cc It’s given out of selflessness, expects nothing in return . . .it’s pure and it reaches out to help.
b The people in His kingdom aren’t takers, they’re givers, they are not the ones who set themselves above others . . . they’re the people who stoop to help.
D “Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.”
1 We don’t earn mercy by showing mercy any more than we earn forgiveness by forgiving.
a We cannot receive God’s mercy/forgiveness unless we repent of our sins.
b If we are unmerciful towards the sins of others . . . we’ve not repented of our sins.
aa We’re not truly poor in spirit, mourning, gentle, hunger/thirsting for righteousness.
bb To forgive is to be forgiven, to show mercy is to receive mercy.
2 Meek (v. 5) is partners with Merciful (v.7).
a To be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners, to be merciful is to have compassion on others for they’re sinners too.
b The world finds revenge delicious, the Child of God finds it disgusting and knows they can show mercy because they have been shown mercy. (Matt. 5.7)
Conclusion:
A So do we just ignore justice, sin? Jesus never did but He always showed mercy. (Mercy doesn’t conceal the truth,)
1 The world has a faux mercy it shows that typically is based on deception & ignorance.
a “If we knew all we would forgive all” or “I’m just as sinful as you are, so I’ll show mercy to you because you will show mercy to me.” (These are better than nothing, but they fall short of the mercy Jesus is talking about.)
b He’s not telling us to ignore sin, offense . . . He’s saying suspend the judgment/sentence.
2 He wants me to give mercy/forgiveness/compassion because I’ve received mercy, forgiveness, compassion.(Not legalistically because I’ve got to because I’m a Christian.)
a A Christian is something before she does something.
b You do not control your Christianity, your Christianity controls you.
B Closing Illustration
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
