The Jesus Manifesto: The Mercy Mandate
Matthew 5:7; Luke 10: 25:37
Chenoa Baptist Church
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
8-19-18
The White Helmets
In Syria, the biggest fear is being buried alive. During the war, planes would drop barrel bombs filled with TNT and shrapnel on apartment buildings filled with civilians. Within seconds, these structures are reduced to huge piles of rubble, with many people trapped underneath. If you witnessed the scene, you would see total pandemonium, with people running away from the crumbling building. But you would also be surprised to see a group of people running toward the chaos. These people are part of the Syrian Civil Defense and are known as the “white helmets.” It is estimated that they have rescued over 80,000 people since 2014.
When everyone else is running away from the rubble, they run toward it, into it, risking their lives to save others.
I was listening to someone talk about this group and he made the point that Christians are called to do the same thing. As followers of Jesus, we run toward the rubble of people’s lives to provide comfort, care, and ultimately, rescue.
I think all of us can say a hearty amen to this, right? We all agree that we should be on the front lines of bringing hope to the hopeless and love to the lonely. That is, until we are sitting at a stoplight and a man with a sign that says “homeless and hungry” is standing right in front of our car. How many of us pretend not to notice him, silently judge, and drive away without a second thought?
Why is it so hard sometimes to display mercy? Is it possible that we don’t understand how much mercy has been given to us?
The Hinge Turns
This morning, we continue our summer sermon series on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. Let’s continue to memorize these verses together:
* Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3)
* Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matt 5:4)
* Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matt 5:5)
The first three beatitudes, describe the condition of the follower of Christ. They understand that they are bankrupt before God. When they understand that they bring nothing to their salvation except the sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, they experience deep sorrow over that sin. They confess and repent and are comforted with the amazing gift of God’s forgiveness, through the death of Jesus on the cross, in our place, to pay for our sins. This leads to a humility, authenticity, and gentleness that Jesus defined as meekness.
That brought us to beatitude number four:
* Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. (Matt 5:6)
The first three leave us empty but God promises us that if we seek His kingdom and His righteousness, we will experience being filled.
Filled with what? We will be filled with the character of Christ – mercy, purity, and peace.
That brings us to our beatitude for the day:
* Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (Matt 5:7)
My plan is for us to look at the definition of mercy and then to take a deep dive into Luke 10 and a story that Jesus told to help his listeners to understand how mercy is lived out.
Prayer
Have Mercy?
The country singer Brett Young sings, “If you ever love me, have mercy.” Defendants throw themselves at the mercy of the court. Multiple hospitals and health care systems across the country are named Mercy. We use the word “mercy” all the time, but do we really know what it means?
The word translated “mercy” in the Bible is used more than 500 times. It’s a multi-faceted term that includes kindness to the poor and those who are struggling, grace with sinners, and forgiveness of personal offenses.
The Puritan writer Thomas Merton defines mercy as a “melting disposition whereby we lay to our hearts the miseries of others and are ready on all occasions to be instrumental for their good.”
I love that definition. A couple of years ago, a friend called me in a panic. He had seen a man with a sign that said he needed food and he was completely shocked by his reaction. He usually would say out loud, “Get a job!” But this time, he said he felt a strange feeling in his heart. He said that he started to wonder what had happened to put that man in that position and had considered to trying to help him. He asked with confusion in his voice, “What’s happening to me?”
It might be helpful to know that he was a Christian and had been praying for God to break his heart for hurting people. I told him that God was answering his prayer. He was melting his heart. He could no longer ignore the needs he was seeing around him. I had to convince him it was a good thing.
William Barclay defines mercy as the “ability to get inside someone else’s skin, until we see things with their eyes, think things with their mind, feel thing with their feelings, and then act on their behalf.”
Chuck Swindoll writes, “Mercy is God’s ministry to the miserable.” And we are to imitate God’s heart for people in need, whether from pain, misery, disaster or distress.
The Greek construction of “merciful” describes someone who is moved with compassion all the time. It’s a habitual way of living that turns belief into behavior.
Grace versus Mercy
Before we move on, we need to make sure we understand the difference between mercy, justice, and grace.
When Joshua was little he used to put a pencil in our fan. He loved the noise it made. We told him if he did that again, he would be in trouble. Maxine called me and told me that he did it again and the fan broke. She pulled out the big guns, “Wait until your dad gets home!”
I pulled into the drive and my eight year old met me as I got out of the car. “I’m sorry daddy. I broke your fan. I’m really sorry daddy.”
I decided this would be a great opportunity to teach him a spiritual lesson. I asked him what he deserved. He said that he deserved to be punished. I said that was true. Getting what you deserve is called “justice.” But I told him that wasn’t going to happen today. He would not get a spanking. That’s called “mercy” – not getting what you do deserve. His eyes got big when I told him to get in the car and took him to Dairy Queen. As he ate his ice cream cone, I explained that he was now receiving “grace” – getting something you didn’t deserve.
Paul began all three pastoral letters (I and II Timothy and Titus), with the combination “grace and mercy.” It’s interesting that he used that pair with the young pastors he was training. He must have thought us pastors need to understand and grace and mercy a little more than the rest.
Bill Bright makes the point that “God is the grandmaster of mercy. His very nature desires to relieve us of the self-imposed misery and distress we experience because of our sins.”
Grace is God’s unmerited favor – the free gift he displays in forgiving the sins of the guilty.
Mercy deals with the pain that sin brings.
Grace is love when love is undeserved. Mercy is grace in action.
The scholar Barnhouse describes it this way:
“When Jesus Christ died on the cross, all of the work for man’s salvation passed out of the realm of prophesy and became historical fact. God has now had mercy on us…all the mercy that God will ever have on man He has already had when Christ died. This is the totality of mercy…God can act toward us in grace because He already had all mercy. The fountain is now open and flowing, and it flows freely.”
Nehemiah celebrated this virtue when reminding the Jewish remnant of their disobedience:
“But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.” (Neh 9:31)
James, the half-brother of Jesus describes God as “full of compassion and mercy.” (Titus 3:5)
It’s been said, “We behave most like God when we show mercy to those in need.”
The Hero is Sam?
Jesus wanted to make sure that His listeners understood His position on mercy. On one occasion, He had a teacher of the law stand up to test him:
Read Luke 10:25-28
Have you ever noticed that Jesus often answered questions with questions? Even though He knew that this lawyer’s question was a test, He engages him without hesitation.
Jesus basically asked him, “What did you learn in Sunday school?” and the guy nails the answer. LGLO. Love God and Love others. Jesus replies, “Yep, you got it. Now go do it.”
But Luke gives us the motivation behind the question:
Read Luke 10:29
And then, and usual, Jesus takes everything that the man, and His listeners, and turns it upside with a story with an unlikely hero.
Read Luke 10:30
To go from Jerusalem to Jericho would mean a twenty-two mile journey with a drop in elevation of 3,500 feet. This is a very dangerous road full of twists and turns, valleys and blind corners. It was actually called the “Bloody Way.” Many of his listeners had traveled that road. They were immediately tracking with Jesus and their mercy meters would be active when they heard about this poor guy’s plight.
Read Luke 10:31-32
In His story, two religious leaders pass by this man – in modern-day terms they were a pastor and a worship leader. Jesus said that they saw him and passed by on the other side. Now, the people listening to Jesus would have understood why. If the guy had been dead, and they touched him, they would have been automatically unclean and would not be able to perform their duties at the Temple. They couldn’t take the risk. They were busy and had places to be. No one would have faulted them for this decision. But no one was ready for the plot twist.
Read Luke 10:33
If you had been there, you would have heard the whole crowd gasp and begin to look at each other. I can just imagine the smile on Jesus’ face.
Jews hated Samaritans. They considered them half-breeds, the result of their ancestors intermarried with non-Jewish people. “Surely Jesus isn’t going to make a Samaritan the hero of this story?” Jesus had a much bigger message for them.
We don’t know this guy’s name so let’s call him Sam. Jesus said that he had “pity” on the man. This is the same word as mercy. He didn’t just see him with his eyes. He saw him with his heart. And that lead to seeing him with his hands and feet.
Read Luke 10:34-35
Sam provided medical attention and then put him on his own donkey, which means that he had to walk the rest of the way. Once at the inn, he took care of him. When he had to leave, he paid the innkeeper and promised to pay any extra charges he may incur.
This was incredibly generous, especially knowing that if the positions were reversed, that he would probably have been left to die.
Jesus then drives the stake into the ground with final question:
Read Luke 10:36
The expert in the law cannot even bring himself to say the word “Samaritan” and finally mumbles, “The one who had mercy on him.” (Luke 10:37)
I can see Jesus put his hand on his shoulder and say with a smile, “Go and do likewise.”
What can we learn from Sam?
* Mercy sees people with eyes of mercy. All three travelers saw the bleeding man but only one really noticed him.
Jesus saw people with those kind of eyes – lepers, the blind, lame, deaf, prostitutes, tax collectors; a woman caught in adultery, a woman at a well.
Brandon Heath sings:
Give me your eyes for just one second / Give me your eyes so I can see,?Everything that I keep missing, / Give your love for humanity.?Give me your arms for the broken-hearted / The ones that are far beyond my reach. Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten. / Give me Your eyes so I can see.
* Mercy responds with a heart of mercy. Sam heart was melted when he saw this man’s misery.
Jesus’ heart was moved to compassion as he looked over Jerusalem, as He stood outside of Lazarus’ grave, and as He went to a house of a family whose daughter had died.
The Gettys have a hymn that asked for this:
As we come before You / With the needs of our world,?We confess our failures and our sin, / For our words are many
Yet our deeds have been few; / Fan the fire of compassion?Once again.
* Mercy responses intentionally with the hands and feet of mercy. Sam was extravagantly generous in meeting this man’s needs.
Jesus’ hands and feet would be nailed to a cross to extravagantly meet our need for a Savior.
Rich Mullins has a beautiful song that says,
“Let mercy lead / let love be the strength in your legs
and in every footprint that you’ll leave there’ll be a drop of grace.”
Not Earned
Before we close this sermon, I need to make sure to help you understand the promise in this Beatitude – “blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
Was Jesus saying that we “earn” mercy by being merciful? Absolutely not! Our mercy flows out of our understanding of how much mercy we have been given.
It’s a future promise:
“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!” (I Tim 1:16-18)
Did you see it? God Himself rescues us from His wrath by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
But it’s also a promise for today. It’s a mercy cycle. God is merciful in saving us. In obedience, we are merciful with others; God in His mercy gives even more.
The prophet Micah sums up our orders:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
Sometimes when you do this, you get a surprise.
Ruth Reid made it a New Year’s Resolution to do something. When she was at the Wa Wa convenience store, she would pay for someone’s bill.
On a Friday night, she was in line when she noticed that the guy ahead of her was short of change. She jumped at the chance and paid for his snacks.
It was then that she noticed the bodyguards and asked him his name. His name was Keith. [show picture] She said she didn’t want to brag about what happened but just to encourage others to show kindness and mercy.
Warren Wiersbe sums it up for us:
“Mercy is a bridge that God built to mankind. And mercy helps us build a bridge to others.”
How Now Shall We Live?
Let’s look at how we can express mercy in our every day life.
Those who have been shown mercy have the incredible privilege of sharing mercy with the hurting souls that are all around us.
Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie encourages us to see people with the eyes of Jesus:
“We constantly meet people who need us and whom we need. People with needs are not burdens. They are gifts of God for us to give away what God has so freely given to us.”
* Global – As we watch the news every day, it is easy to be overcome with hopelessness with all of the misery and suffering in the world. But God doesn’t ask us to do everything; He just asks to do something.
My niece and nephew started “Together we CAN make a difference” when they were nine and seven to raise money to provide clean water for people in other countries. In the last ten years, they have raised over $6,000 to provide clean water for people in Africa.
Supporting a child through World Vision or Compassion International, supporting Samaritan's’ Purse efforts in disaster zones like Haiti, and giving animals through Heifer International are just a few ways to get involved global in mercy ministries. You can help build wells in
Africa through Blood Water Mission, support AIDS ministries through RED, give micro loans through Kiva, or buy shoes from Toms, which gives then gives a pair of shoes to a child in need.
How about corporately? I know that this church supports missions, but do you know your missionaries? When’s the last time you Skype, with one to see how they are doing?
When was the last time that a group from this church crossed time zones, oceans, and cultures to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
In 2011, my oldest son and I went to Costa Rica and helped build a house for a young lady named Rosemarie. At the end of the time with her, we bought her a refrigerator and she wept. Joshua was deeply impacted by her tears.
We can’t do everything. Satan wants us to do nothing. God just asks you to do something.
* Local – There are more needs in this community than you can imagine. Volunteer at the food pantry. Buy some diapers for the Caring Pregnancy Center.
How about corporately? Join a group from CBC that goes to the nursing home in Meadows every Friday morning and assists in transporting the patients to chapel.
We can’t do everything. Satan wants us to nothing. God is just asking us to do something.
* Personal – Forgive that person for that thing. Show them mercy.
Jesus tells a story in Matthew 18 of a servant who owed the king 25 million dollars. He begs for mercy and the King gives it, letting him off the hook. He then runs into another servant who owed him $10 dollars. He demands the money and the man begs for mercy. But the man who had been shown so much mercy wasn’t willing to give it. He had him thrown into debtor’s prison.
When the King hears of this, He is furious and calls the servant back into His presence:
‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. (Matt 18:32-24)
Jesus finished this story with these haunting words:
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matt 18:35)
We have been forgiven a $25 million dollar debt but many of us still hold grudges against those who owe us $10 bucks. Have mercy on them. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Let it go. Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right it will set you free.
Most of the time this takes very little time or money. All it takes is a heart of mercy.
Last week, Maxine had surgery and we are so thankful for all the mercy that we were shown. While she was in the operating room, I sat in the waiting room with a family waiting for news from an exploratory surgery. When the news came, it wasn’t good. There was nothing they could do for him. Everyone got quiet and his wife began to cry.
Just then, his sister-in-law said to me, “You’ve been working really hard over there for a long time. What are you writing about?” I told her I was writing a sermon about showing mercy.
I reached over and put my hand on Pat’s shoulder and said quietly, “I’m so sorry. Can I pray for you?” It was simply a small gesture of mercy that meant a lot to that family in a really tough time.
But I don’t always get this right. Ken and Beth Albrecht visited Maxine and I told them that I would walk them out. As he walked down the hall, a code blue was called. About a dozen nurses were standing at the door of a room and then a group of doctors came running at full speed down the hall. There were several family members standing outside the room crying.
I gently and quietly slipped through the crowd and made it to the elevator only to discover that I was alone. When I looked around the corner, Beth was standing there praying over that room and the people. Because of how her mother died, her mercy meter was on high alert.
Most Christians do nothing. That’s true. They sit and soak. If you simply do something, you will stand out like stars in a wicked and depraved generation.
We can’t do everything. Satan wants us to do nothing. God is asking us to do something.
Video Element: Do Something (Matthew West)
