Matthew 9:13
8/28/16
Intro
I want to begin this morning with a man named Matthew. Matthew’s family name was Levi.1 He became an apostle and wrote the gospel that carries his name. But when he met Jesus, he was far from that. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors were hated by their fellow Jews.2 They were considered to be traitors because they collected taxes for the Roman government. It was a very profitable profession; but it was known for its corruption and the Jews despised them.
In Matt. 9:7 Jesus approached Matthew at his tax booth and called him to be a disciple. The Bible says Matthew, “got up, left everything and followed” Jesus (Luke 5:28 NIV). It was a complete break from his sinful life. It was a complete abandonment of his lucrative career. It was an all-out decision to follow Jesus. Later Matthew threw a big party in honor of Jesus. He invited all his old friends to come and meet Jesus. Nothing fuels evangelism like a new convert on fire for the Lord. Matthew wanted his friends to experience the Lord for themselves. So Jesus was there. The disciples were there. And a crowd of Matthew’s sinner friends were there.
When the Pharisees saw that Jesus was feasting with all these sinners, they were appalled. Matt. 9:11, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"3 That was the last place they expected to see a man who claimed to represent God. They didn’t have the audacity to confront Jesus directly but they did confront His disciples. When Jesus overheard their conversation, He gave them this answer. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’” Notice that the call to sinners is not a call to continue in iniquity; it is a call to repentance. Jesus had a purpose in meeting with these people.
But the thing I want to focus on this morning is Jesus’ quote from Hosea 6:6 “I desire mercy and not sacrifice….” The Pharisees were all about sacrifice. Of course, there were the animal sacrifices at the temple. There was all that religious ceremony. But they also sacrificed meals. They fasted regularly. They tithed down to the penny. They very carefully observed hundreds of religious rules and regulations.4 And in all that, they were careful not to contaminate themselves by the influence of ungodly people. So here is Jesus eating and drinking with all these sinners. From their perspective, Jesus is completely off-base.
Then Jesus said, “You need to learn what God meant when He said in Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” And this morning, we want to make sure we know what God meant by that. Why? because we too can get caught up in the rules and regulations of religion and miss the whole point, if we’re not careful. God wants a heart that is tender and merciful toward other people, not just a religious system that keeps certain rules and regulations.
So the question I want to address this morning is this: How can we nurture a merciful heart toward people?
I. Understand God’s priorities. God’s priority is people.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved.”5 God’s objective is not a bunch of religious activity. God is not trying to build successful, impressive organizations. Jesus came to “seek and save that which is lost.” Jesus came to rescue people from the bondage and the destruction of sin and give to them eternal life. It’s all about rescuing people from their own destruction.
The operative word for Christianity is the word “go.” “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are not called to hunker down and survive. We are called to thrive in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.6 We are called to take the good news of Jesus Christ to every creature. It is a very different mindset from what the Pharisees had.
God’s basic stance toward people is a stance of love and redemption. No matter how sinful or defiled they may be, if they will turn from that and turn to Him, He will embrace them in love, forgive their sins, and welcome them into the family of God. He did that for you and He did that for me. We are no better than any of those people out in the world. They simply need to hear the invitation from God and respond to it. “For God so loved….” I once saw a t-shirt with a brief message to Christians: “What part of ‘go’ do you not understand?” We go with the same motive that Jesus and Matthew had at that party—to seek and save that which is lost.
Mercy is nurtured in our hearts when we get a revelation of how much God loves people. I don’t know why He loves us so. The Psalmist asked, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Ps 8:4). There is some mystery there. But the bottom line is this, God loves people. He wants you and me to love them. He wants us to love them more than we love propriety, more than we love appearances, more than we love rules and religion.
The Pharisees of Jesus day had their priorities wrong and it led to some very harsh treatment toward people who needed some mercy. In Matt 23:23-24 Jesus confronted the Pharisees for this. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” What are “weightier matters” in God’s eyes? “justice and mercy and faith.” These are all heart issues; God desires truth in inward parts (Ps 51:6). The weightier matters are about relationship with God and people. How are we treating people? Justly? Mercifully? The Pharisees were meticulous about some observations, yet neglectful of what really important matters. Jesus said they “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” They tithed to the penny. Jesus said, “These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
My first church experience was in a very legalistic church. Sermons were about lipstick, hairdos and smoking. While those trivial matters were front and center there was malicious gossip, unforgiveness, and sins behind closed doors that was not addressed. Legalism distorts the significance of things. God wants us to embrace His mindset toward people. God wants us to take care of the weighty matters of justice and mercy in our dealings
with other.
How do I nurture mercy in my heart?
I understand and embrace God’s love for people—from the best of them to the worst of them.
II. Understand the purpose of God’s commandments.
This is something else that the religious rulers of Jesus’ day got wrong. They wanted to kill Jesus for healing people on the Sabbath day. It contradicted their understanding of Scripture. It contradicted their rules. It ran counter to their religious system. Jesus explained to them that man was not made for the Sabbath; the Sabbath was made for
man (Mark 2:27). God established the Sabbath, not to keep people from getting healed,7 but to keep them well—to give them the rest they needed and to help them keep an eternal perspective.8 The Sabbath like every other commandment from God is benevolently given for our wellbeing.
Why does a loving parent tell the toddler to not play in the street? Is it to keep the child from having fun or is it to keep the child safe? Peter warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). God does not want you devoured by the evil one. Therefore, He sets boundaries on your behavior so that it might go well for you. Listen to His heart in Deut. 5:29 “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” Jesus said in John 15:10-11 ‘If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.’” Notice in that passage the objectives of the commandments—that you could dwell in Christ’s love, be connected with Him and enjoy the environment of His love. Verse 11 “that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” God sets boundaries on our lives for our own protection and for our own good. When we understand that, then we relate to those boundaries in a healthy way. 1 John 5:3 tells us that the commandments of God are not burdensome when we love God.
The problem with the Pharisees was the lack of real love for God. Their hearts were still self-centered and rebellious. They kept the rules out of religious duty; but down deep they resented the restrictions. In fact, they found all kinds of loopholes around the rules because they weren’t really in agreement with them in the first place.9 In Matt 23:16 Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.' 17 Fools and blind! For which is
greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?” Legalism has a way of manipulating and maneuvering and ultimately avoiding the restriction while placing the restriction on others. The Catholic Church condemned divorce; but if you played their game they would give you an annulment and not call it a divorce. The games legalists play they are many and they are amazingly creative. By the time they finish messing with God’s commandments they have added all kind of rules of their own. Instead of dealing with the real issues of the heart, they develop a long list of rules for people to keep. Matt 23:25 Jesus’ words again, “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
When a person is keeping external rules but his heart is not really in what he is doing, he will be very hard on anybody who violates those rules. Why? because down deep he wants to violate them and resents the restriction. He is like the school child yelling, “That’s not fair, Johnny got one of the cookies.” Bottom line: I wanted to violate the rule but was afraid to do it. But one thing I don’t want is somebody else getting away with things I can’t get away with. You see it in the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). The scribes and Pharisees wanted that woman stoned. But in their hearts they were just as much an adulterer as she was.
What is the antidote to all that? a revelation of God’s goodness in His commandments. The restrictions are for my own good. If someone crosses that line I should pity them, not envy them. The consequences will be sad.10 Sin carries with it its own destruction. I don’t have to impose that on anybody. They impose it on themselves. When I see the commandments in that way, I want to rescue people from their own self-destruction. My heart goes out to them in mercy, because they are building their own gallows.11 Legalism hardens the heart. Religion without relationship with God hardens the heart. A wrong view of the commandments of God hardens the heart.12 It goes through the religious sacrifices. It jumps through the hoops. But it deeply resents living in that realm. True Christianity appreciates the guidance God gives in His word and has compassion on people outside that place of safety. All of God’s commandments are for our wellbeing.
How do I nurture mercy in my heart?
III. Maintain an honest view of yourself and God’s dealings with you.
In Matt 5:7 Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.” We get insight on nurturing a merciful heart by looking at the beatitudes leading up to that pronouncement.
(1) “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” Blessed is the person who sees his own spiritual bankruptcy. Blessed is the person that is not self-righteous and self-sufficient—but knows that he is what he is “by the grace of God.” A proud, self-righteous person is not going to be merciful toward other people. He will judge them. He will condemn them. He will set himself up above them. But if you have ever seen your own need for mercy, you will be merciful
toward others.
(2) “Blessed are those who mourn….” Blessed are those who mourn over their own shortcomings. Blessed are those who grieve over their own sin and mourn over their own character flaws. That produces true repentance in the heart and excites mercy toward others.
(3) “Blessed are the meek….” The brokenness over our own failures causes us to be less defensive, less aggressive in having our own way. A meek person is easy to be around. He is not overly impressed with his own opinion; and he does not insist on having his way.
(4) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness….” Having seen their own need, they long for more godliness. They are not self-satisfied and smug. They are occupied with a desire for God’s righteousness in their own attitudes and behavior.
It is awareness of our own shortcomings that brings the humility and brokenness of a merciful heart. The root system of a judgmental, critical person is self-righteousness and pride. The root system of a merciful person is brokenness, humility, and love.
Mercy does not begin with us. It begins with God. Have you experienced the mercy of God in your own life? That prepares us to show mercy toward others. If I will be completely honest about my own condition, I will have to admit a need for mercy—not just mercy to be born again, but mercy for each day of my life. Not just mercy from God, but also mercy from other people. The promise Jesus gives to those who express mercy toward others is that they will “obtain” or be shown mercy (NIV).
In Matt. 18 Jesus told the story about a man who owed his master a great deal of money. When the master demanded payment, the man could not pay and pleaded for mercy. In response, the master forgave him the whole debt. But then that servant went out and demanded payment from a man who owed him just a small amount of money. The debtor begged for mercy, but he insisted on payment and had the man thrown into debtor’s prison. When others saw what he had done, they were grieved and told the master what had happened. The master called the man in and reminded him of the mercy he had given and asked why he had not done the same toward his fellow servant. Matt. 18:33, “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” Our response to the mercy God has shown toward us should be the granting of mercy toward other people. The story focuses on forgiveness which is closely associated with our subject of mercy.
I am thinking about a time when I became very critical of a man involved in a certain sin. I didn’t say much to anybody else about it; but in my heart I was very judgmental toward him. I thought, how can anybody behave that way. Then I noticed very strong temptation coming on me toward the sin he was caught up in. Of course, I was very concerned about myself, asking the Lord to lead me not into temptation and help me. Then I was reminded of my attitude toward this man, and I realized how I had opened myself up to that temptation. To close the door, I had to repent of my criticism toward him. We never have all the facts. The person you are judging may be dealing with things you have never dealt with and never want to deal with.
Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye” (Matt 7:1-5).
It’s the process of removing the plank from our own eye that produces the mercy and compassion needed for removing the speck from our brother’s eyes. When people are being highly critical of other people, you can be pretty sure they’re not dealing with the plank in their own eye. It is a humbling thing to see yourself as you really are—without the mask, without the rationalizing, without the self-justification. Take a through, honest self-inventory and you will be much more understanding of others. You will be much more aware of your own need
for mercy and much more willing to give it out to others.
Are you a critical person? Do you spend time talking about the shortcomings of others? The cure is an honest look at yourself. The cure is to work on getting the plank out of your own eye. It is not wrong to discriminate between good and evil. Right after Jesus tells us not to judge, he also tells us to not give that which is holy unto dogs. He tells us to not cast our pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6). We have to differentiate between things to obey those commands. He also tells us to beware of false prophets (verse 15). We have to discern things and we have to
make wise choices based on that discernment. But we get into trouble when we pridefully set ourselves up to pass a condemning sentence on others. Instead of condemning them, instead of gossiping about them, we should first and foremost intercede for them.13 As we do that, God can show us how to actually help the person.
I came about a bit of practical advice in that regard. “I’m careful with the words I speak, I try to keep them nice and sweet, I never know from day to day, Which ones I’ll have to eat.”14 The Living Bible translates James 4:11-12 this way. “Don't criticize and speak evil about each other, dear brothers. If you do, you will be fighting against God's law of loving one another, declaring it is wrong. But your job is not to decide whether this law is right or wrong, but to
obey it. 12 Only he who made the law can rightly judge among us. He alone decides to save us or destroy. So what right do you have to judge or criticize others?”
How do I nurture a merciful heart?
I. Understand God’s priorities: it’s people, not rules.
II. Understand the purpose of God’s commandments: they are for our wellbeing.
III. Maintain an honest view of your own needs for mercy.
IV. Understand the nature of God’s love.
The foundation of mercy is love. “God is love.”15 Mercy flows out of love. Mercy flows out of a heart of compassion. Peter tells us “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). When love fills our hearts, we are able to overlook a lot of offenses and little irritants that would otherwise provoke a response. If you don’t believe me, just watch newlyweds. They don’t even notice the flaws in the other person. Well they eventually will and may need a little counseling to get through that. But love is “not easily provoked.”16 Love is merciful.
However, love is not just a sloppy emotion that let’s everything slide. God-like love is discriminate. It’s not dependent on how you treat me; it is unconditional in that regard. But it has criteria for what needs to be done. And to administer mercy wisely we need a sound understanding of biblical love. Let me give you a good working definition of love. Love seeks the highest good for everyone.17 It doesn’t just seek what I want. That is selfishness. It doesn’t allow one person to destroy the peace and wellbeing of everyone else either. So when administering mercy I ask myself. Does my action serve the highest good of everyone involved? That’s why it might be very merciful and loving for a parent to spank a child. It could be the most merciful thing to do, even though the child might not agree with you at the time. That’s why church discipline might be more merciful than just letting a person continueon the road to destruction. If you have the wrong understanding of love, you will probably have the wrong understanding of mercy.
We see a beautiful illustration of mercy in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. The lawyer had asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what he thought the answer was. When he quoted the two great commandments to love God and to love your neighbor, Jesus affirmed his answer. But then the lawyer tried to find a loophole by asking who is my neighbor? That’s when Jesus gave the story of the Good Samaritan. The story
begins with a man being beaten, robbed, and left beside the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. A priest saw the man and made his way to the other side of the road. A Levite also saw him, just looked at him and went on his way. Both these men had plenty of religion, but no compassion in the heart. Then a Samaritan, a person the lawyer would look down on and reject, saw the man and actually helped him. Why did he show the man mercy? The Scripture says in Luke 10:33 that he “had compassion” on the man. For some reason he could identify with the pain this man was going through. For some reason he felt a concern for his wellbeing. And the full expression of mercy was when he actually did something for the man.
Love is an action word. So is mercy.18 John asks the question, “But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Both love and mercy are ultimately expressed in what we do, not just what we feel about things. Then John gives this admonition, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18).
It is possible to appear very pious and religious, but in reality be very, very selfish down deep. The priest and the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan would probably fit that description. Certainly the scribes and Pharisees who opposed Jesus had lots of surface religion going on. But Jesus condemned their hypocrisy and called on them to address weighty matters like justice and mercy.
Mic 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” The question is “Can you do justly—live right yourself, and stay humble enough while doing that to be full of mercy toward others?” The legalist can’t do that. In fact, none of us can do it without God’s help and grace.
How do we nurture mercy in our hearts?
V. Stay filled with the Holy Spirit.
Only He can soften our hearts toward other people. I have shared some principles. But just mechanically applying those principles will not get us to where we need to be. We need the Holy Spirit to put that love and mercy in our hearts.19 We need His influence on a daily basis. An overflow of the Spirit in our lives will manifest in mercy toward others.
Invitation
END NOTES:
1 MATTHEW (from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.
Copyright (c) 1988). Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27.
2 Alfred Edershem discusses this animosity toward tax collectors recorded by the rabbis and says that customhouse
officials (douanter) (such as Matthew was) were more despised than the general tax collectors (Gabbai)
(Life and Times of Jesus Vol. 1, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) p. 515.
3 All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
4 In Hosea 6:6 and in our text, “sacrifice” represents all the external religious activity—done out of duty or to
keep up appearances, in contrast, to a heart that genuinely loves God and loves one’s neighbor.
5 John 3:16-17
6 In the book of Acts we see the apostles and the early church thriving by the power of the Holy Spirit in a society
that persecuted and opposed their message. Opposition is not an excuse for hunkering down and must not
silence our voice.
7 Luke 13:15
8 Lev. 23:3; Isaiah 58:13-14.
9 For a contrast read the Psalmist attitude toward God’s commandments: Ps 119:97, 113, 127, 159, 163-168.
10 Everybody reaps what they sow (Gal. 6:7-8).
11 Ester 5:14; 8:8, Jesus looked on people with compassion: Matt. 20:34; Mk. 1:41; 6:34; Luke 7:13.
12 Ezek. 20:16; 33:31; Matt. 13:14-15; 15:8-9; Rom. 2:3-5.
13 Consider the mercy Abraham exercised toward Lot in their relationship, especially the intercession (Gen.
18:17-19:1).
14 I do not remember my source on this.
15 1 John 4:8
16 1 Cor. 13:5
17 Although 1 Cor. 13 gives us some characteristics of love, the Bible does not give us a definition per se of love.
We develop that from the revelation of God in all of Scripture. I first learned this definition from Charles Finney
and have found it very helpful.
18 David acted in mercy toward Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 9:6-13).
19 Rom. 5:5
