The tallest Methodist church in the world stands in the loop of
Chicago. Skyscrapers of offices are around it, but stretching still
steeper into the sky is the slender steeple symbolic of man's aspiration
to reach God. Sometime ago bells were installed in this steeple in
order to peal out a Christian witness to those in the streets far below.
When the installation was complete, and the bells were rung, they
discovered that they could hardly be heard because they were so high.
The crowd thronged the canyon-like streets unimpressed because the
message of the bells went uselessly into the sky.
So much of what the church does goes uselessly into the sky because
it never reaches the man in the street. This is the very danger that
faces the Christian who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He
can obey Scripture, and set his affections on things above, and aspire
to climb to perfection, but without the attitude of mercy which keeps
him relevantly and realistically related to his fellow man, he may
literally become so heavenly minded he is no earthly good. It is
possible to be so involved with your own righteousness that you
become narrow and harsh and holier than thou. Some of the old
Puritans got this way, and were such brutal perfectionists that in there
determination to be heavenly they made it hell on earth for those
around them. They lost all sense of tenderness, compassion, and
mercy for the sinner. This is the very thing Jesus does not want, and
He condemned the Pharisees for their cold and hard-hearted
righteousness.
In Matt. 23:23 Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, Scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and
have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and
faith." Jesus is not interested in bells ringing so high they cannot be
heard, and He is not interested in a righteousness that cares about all
kinds of details, but which neglects to meet the needs of the common
people. Jesus wants to make it clear what kind of righteousness it is
we are to hunger after, and that is what these next few beatitudes are
all about. A righteousness that is not merciful is not the righteousness
of Christ. A right relationship with God is always demonstrated by a
proper attitude toward man. If mercy does not characterize our
relation to others, there is reason to doubt that we are right with God.
John says we cannot love God whom we do not see if we do not love
men whom we do see. Mercy is love in action, and without it there is
no possibility of being happy in any true and lasting sense.
A merciful attitude has always been God's requirement for His
people. One of the outstanding Old Testament texts is Micah 6:8:
"He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord
require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God." Jesus kept telling the Pharisees that God wants mercy
and not sacrifice. The New Testament letters are filled with
references to mercy. E. Griffith Jones wrote, "Mercy is the richest
fruit of the divine love. The Bible is full of it from the first page to the
last. It is ankle deep, as it were, in Genesis, knee deep in the prophets,
shoulder deep in the Psalms, and fathomless as midmost ocean in the
New Testament."
Paul says it was according to God's mercy that He saved us, and we
are urged in Heb. 4:16 to call upon God for more mercy constantly.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." The poet
wrote,
O King of mercy from thy throne on high,
Look down in love and hear our humble cry.
Thou art the bread of heaven, On Thee we feed.
Be near to help our souls in time of need.
Thou art the mourner's stay, the sinner's friend,
Sweet fount of joy and blessings without end.
Our salvation, blessings, victories, and all that contributes to our
happiness comes from the mercy of God. Therefore, whatever opens
the door to God's abundant mercy is the key to happiness, and Jesus
says here that being merciful is that key. In other words, if we are not
merciful in our relationship to others, we choke off our own supply
line of mercy from God. The Bible is filled with texts that make this
clear. Prov. 21:13, "He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor will
himself cry out and not be heard." This says in effect, cursed are the
unmerciful for they shall be treated unmercifully.
Later in the Sermon On The Mount Jesus repeats the same idea in
different words. In Matt. 7:2 He says, "For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the
measure you get." No where did He put it so forcefully as after the
Lord's Prayer in 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive
men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
In James 2:13 we read, "For judgment is without mercy to one who
has shown no mercy." These texts make it clear we are not dealing
here with any minor matter that we can ignore if we like. Our whole
Christian experience of the mercy of God in life and for eternity
depends upon power being merciful to others. It is essential,
therefore, that we understand just what it means to be merciful.
There are three things which will characterize us if we are merciful, or
becoming merciful. First-
I. KEENNESS OF HEAD OR AWARENESS.
This means one is sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
There is sharp awareness of, and keen interest in the problems of
others. One of the surgeons at Homestead Hospital confessed that he
never bothered to go down to waiting families after an operation to
tell them of the outcome. But one day his wife discovered he has
cancer of the breast, and he took her to a friend for surgery. Being a
surgeon he knew exactly what was taking place and how long it would
take. When his friend did not come and talk to him for an hour and a
half it seemed like eternity to him, and ever since that he goes down
immediately to inform loved ones. Those moments of misery led to
much happiness for many people because it made him keenly aware of
what it is like to wait in suspense. His mind was sharpened to the
needs of others, and he became more merciful.
We cannot be merciful if we are blind and dull to how people feel.
The doctor was not trying to be mean, he was just without an
awareness of what his neglect was doing. He was not very sharp. The
sharp man and the keen man perceived the needs of others, and how
their acts and words meet, or fail to meet, those needs. Keenness is
essential to being merciful.
In the day of Christ people were not very sensitive. Cruelty was
very common. Slaves were treated as mere tools, and could be killed
for the slightest mistake. Children who were not wanted were thrown
out like garbage. It was not done in hate and anger, but cool
deliberation. There was just no keen awareness of the preciousness
and infinite worth of the individual. We have a letter that was written
in the year 1 B.C. that illustrates this so clearly. Let me read it to you.
"Hilarion to his wife Alis, warmest greetings.... I want you
to know that we are still in Alexandria. Don't worry if, when
they all go home, I stay on in Alexandria. I beg and entreat
you, take care the little child; and, as soon as we get our pay,
I will send it up to you. If-good luck to you!-you bear a child,
if it is a boy, let it live; if it is a girl, throw it out."
Here is a husband concerned about comforting his wife, but thinks
nothing of telling her to throw out her child if it is a girl. To make
things worse these exposed children were often picked up and trained
for brothels, or deliberately maimed and used as professional beggars.
Even the Jews, in spite of the Old Testament teaching, were lacking in
mercy. A popular view of suffering was that it was the direct
punishment for sin, and so the tendency was to look upon the sufferer
as one who was deserving of what he was suffering. This destroyed
compassion. In a world like that Jesus came with His love,
compassion, and mercy. He was so keenly aware of the need of every
individual. He was embarrassed with the woman taken in adultery,
and he helped her escape the cruelty of those who would have stoned
her. He felt deeply for parents whose children were suffering, and
girls were as precious as boys. He healed the daughter of Jairus and
the daughter of the Syrophonesian woman, and raised the dead son of
a poor widow, and cured the boy who kept falling in the fire because of
fits.
Jesus was so sensitive to people's needs that He had compassion on
them just because they were hungry, and He performed a marvelous
miracle to satisfy that need. Keenness characterized Jesus in all His
relationships with people. He entered right into their sorrows and
fears. He saw life from their perspective, and did what he could to
lighten their burden. Jesus was so willing to forgive the sinner, for he
saw most people as victims of sin. He took no pleasure in
condemnation, but rather in seeing people set free from the bondage
of sin. He prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him,
because they knew not what they were doing. He saved Paul because
His persecution was done in ignorance. We say ignorance is no
excuse, but it makes a big difference to the keen mind of Christ. The
Word of God is sharper than a two edge sword, and splitting hairs, and
making distinctions on the basis of hair splitting is part of being
merciful. It takes a keenness of mind that enters right into the life of
the sinner and finds a basis for compassion and forgiveness.
For example: In Detroit in June of 1957 the sorrowing father of 6
year old Mary de Coussin, who was murdered by a sex maniac said, "I
would not blame the man so much as the society which produces such
a man. It is a society that allows sex magazines on newsstands for kids
to read, a society that measures Hollywood stars by their bosoms, and
a society where the telling of dirty stories and the use of foul language
in commonplace, that produces sex perverts out of people who have
only the slightest abnormal tendencies."
The man with a sensitive heart and mind says there but for the
grace of God go I. The self-righteous are quick to pronounce
judgment and condemnation, but the merciful are too keenly aware of
their own sin to deal harshly with others. Jesus told a parable of a man
forgiven a great debt and who went out and dealt harshly with one
who owed him a small debt, and he had him thrown in jail. When this
got back to the one who forgave him there was anger, and he lost his
mercy and ended up in prison himself. His lack of mercy lost him his
mercy. Jesus says, so it will be with us who have received God's
immeasurable mercy if we are dull and insensitive to others who need
our understanding and mercy. Keenness of mind is the beginning of
mercy, and out of this will come the second characteristic which is-
II. KINDNESS OF HAND-ACTION.
This is a basic meaning of the word mercy. 38 times in the Old
Testament the Hebrew word for mercy is translated kindness. Mercy
does not just think toward men as God does, it acts toward men as
God does. It is possible to stop short at feeling, and consider your pity
for others a sufficient demonstration of mercy. Mercy that ends as an
emotion is not the kind that Jesus is speaking of. No doubt the priest
and the Levite who passed by the beaten man on the road felt pity for
the poor soul. They were not necessarily cruel and hard hearted to
the point that they had no feeling about his misfortune. They may
have even prayed for him and his family. The point is, they did not act
in kindness as did the good Samaritan. Their emotion of pity and
possible prayer were bells in the sky that communicated nothing. The
action of the Samaritan was a demonstration of Christlike mercy. He
stretched forth a kind hand.
Jesus could have sat on His heavenly throne and wept in pity over
sinners forever, but it would not have saved a single soul from hell. It
was not the emotion of Christ that saved us, but His mercy in action
which brought Him to earth, and then to the cross to atone for our sin.
God's mercy is manifested in action which does something to relieve
the problem. We do not express God's mercy unless we, like Him, act
in kindness toward those in need. Billy Graham in his book The
Secret Of Happiness writes, "Satan does not care how much you
theorize about Christianity or how much you profess to know Christ.
What he opposes vigorously is the way you live Christ-the way you
become an instrument of mercy, compassion, and love through which
He manifests Himself to the world. If Satan can take the heart,
motive, and mercy out of Christianity, he has killed its effectiveness."
We need to get down out of the ivory tower, and stop ringing bells
that are never heard, and start meeting people where they are with
the compassion and kindness of Christ. Many of you have probably
heard of the story of Sir. Launfal's search for the Holy Grail-the cup
out of which Christ drank at the Last Supper. The poet tells of how he
spent his whole life in search of it. Returning home, old, weary and
worn, and possessing nothing but a piece of crust he meets a leper who
is starving and begging. Sir. Launfal shares with him his crust, and
brings him water from the stream. Suddenly the leper is no longer a
leper, but the Crucified, and the cup from which he drinks is changed
into the Holy Grail. In showing mercy to another he found what he had
so long and mainly sought. Every need we can meet is an
opportunity to be Christlike in kindness and mercy.
In 1914 a tourist by the name of Sadie Smithson, a humble
seamstress, was caught on a battlefield one night. It was a house of
horrors, but she pitched in and bandaged wounds, brought water to
the thirsty men, and scribbled notes to loved ones. Like an angel of
mercy she worked until an ambulance came. A young doctor saw her
and asked, "Who are you, and what in thunder are you doing here?"
"I'm Sadie Virginia Smithson and I've been holding hell back all
night," she replied. "Well," said the young officer, "I'm glad you held
some of it back for everybody else was letting it loose last night." The
ministry of mercy is being among those who are holding back hell, and
all of the forces of evil, and the consequences of sin, by the power of
Christlike action in kindness. If you do not act in kindness toward
others, you will not experience the happiness that Jesus speaks of in
the beatitude. The third characteristic we need to look at concerning
the merciful is-
III. KINSHIP OF HEART-ASSOCIATION.
The merciful recognize all individuals as actual brothers in the
flesh created in the image of God, and potential brothers in the spirit
by recreation into new men in Christ. The United Nations Charter Of
Human Rights says in its preamble, "Man is created equal and is
endowed with freedom and conscience and should act toward man in a
spirit of brotherhood." What it says is good, but has no foundation
apart from Biblical revelation. Who created man equal, and how are
they brothers, and how can they have a spirit of brotherhood? These
questions have their answers only in Scripture, and Christ alone can
make men truly brothers. In His mercy He identified with man
completely in His incarnation. He endured all that we do, and is
sensitive to our needs and temptations. He is not ashamed to call us
brothers. He became one with us. This is what Biblical mercy is all
about. It is to get so close to another in their need that you enter right
into their point of view. Self must surrender in total identification
with another in sympathetic understanding. As Barclay says, "The
supreme example of mercy is God's identification with men in Jesus
Christ."
We become merciful only when we really identify with others.
Many are not merciful because they refuse to admit their kinship with
those who differ, and with those who are living in sin. The
self-righteous have no pity for the sinner just as the brave have no pity
for the coward. We must be poor in spirit to be merciful in identifying
with others as brothers in need. The merciful are those who admit
their kinship with sinners, because they know they are only saved by
the grace of God, and not because they are superior and worthy.
Longfellow wrote,
Being all fashioned of the self-same dust,
Let us be merciful as well as just.
Lincoln was the greatest man of mercy in American history. He
was asked when the war is over, and the South has been conquered,
how are you going to treat those rebels? Lincoln said, "I am going to
treat them as if they had never been away." They were kin to him,
and in mercy he welcomed them home like the father did the Prodigal
Son. Justification is God treating the rebellious sinner just as if he had
never been away. Lincoln was sensitive to the deserters who could
have been shot, but in mercy he pardoned them. Many are the stories
of those whose lives he saved because they in some moment of
weakness failed to do their duty.
Mercy is the very heart of the Gospel, and the message of mercy is
the message we must get out to our world. John Bunyan tells of a
battle where a soldier said, as they laid siege to a fort, "As long as
those besieged were persuaded they would not receive mercy they
fought like madmen. But when they saw one of their fellows taken
captive and treated with favor, they came tumbling down from their
fortress to surrender." Bunyan writes, "I am persuaded did men
believe that there is grace and willingness in the heart of Christ to
save sinners, as the word imparts there is, they would come tumbling
into his arms; but Satan has blinded their minds so they cannot see
this..."
David Wilkerson in his book Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately
writes, "I feel so ashamed of myself when I think back over my early
ministry, because I condemned so many sincere people. I meant well,
and often my zeal was honest and well-meaning. But how many people
I brought under terrible condemnation because they didn't conform to
my idea of holiness! But lately God has been urging me to quit
condemning people who have failed and, instead, preached to them a
message of love and reconciliation. Why? Because the church today
is filled with Christians who are burdened down with mountains of
guilt and condemnation."
Is David getting soft on sin? No, he hates it more than ever as he
sees its destructive power in lives, but he now sees better that there is
only one way to deal with sin that works. You can't beat it out of
people, but you can forgive it, and therefore, only the merciful can do
anything with the sinner that really matters. If blasting it and
rejection would help, the Pharisees would have had the perfect system
with no need of improvement.
The merciful are willing to identify with others and their need.
They are willing to get involved with people because they look upon all
men as potential brothers in Christ. They are the light of the world,
and the salt of the earth. They are not ringing bells in the sky. They
are down where men are with keenness of head, or awareness of their
need; kindness of hand, or action to meet their need, and kinship of
heart, or association with them in their need. These are the blessed
merciful who will be happy in the mercy of God.
