Beatitude Series # 5
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
Matt 5:7 Blessed are the Merciful for they will be shown mercy
Original date May 8, 1999
Revised May 27, 2001
Mandates of Mercy
A time to kill John Grisham
Mississippi late 1980’s, young black girl 10 years old.
Carl Lee Haley Lawyer “what would you do”?
We’ve all been sinned against; we’ve all been wronged
What will you do Will it be a time to kill or a time of forgiveness
One thing that separates God’s people, it how they respond to sin Specifically being sinned against
Like every thing else that Christ teaches in his Sermon on the Mount, the principal that Jesus brings up here is unnatural to us. It takes work and discipline to accomplish
In these beatitudes Jesus understands two things about human nature
1. Our attitude determines our approach to life –
The guy with limburger cheese in his moustache “the whole worls stinks”
You decide how successful you will be
By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz
Jerry was the kind of guy who was unpleasantly positive. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say.
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed Him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood." I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it’s not that easy," I protested. "Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.
Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?"
I declined but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ’He’s a dead man. "I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. ’Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ’Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ’I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
U have 2 choices now:
I don’t want to do invite people to church.
Why, They won’t come, Services are too long. We have too many problems. Etc.
What you don’t realize is this
When you have a negative attitude about your church others get a negative attitude about your church.
When you are planning a church event do you say?
I don’t want to plan this because of all the work that I will have to do or it’s too hard
Or do you say, imagine how many people we are going to reach out to with this program.
2. Our attitude determines our relationship with others
If you think every thing is a conspiracy against you then you never trust anybody.
Easier life , but hard time making friends
If you think life is terrible then chances are that you will treat everyone else poorly
Nicole
Why is your mom so mean? She’s had a hard life
You all know people like this, or perhaps you are a person like this.
You can tell weather they have let the hard life get them down or weather they have learned the concept of mercy and forgiveness
The attitude you have toward life changes as life goes on, Your negative situations tend to change you
It doesn’t always work with the positive
So let’s say someone has hurt you.
You have been lied to. Mistreated, cheated, passed over, ignored. And you are left feeling hurt.
Sounds like a country song
And as a result you are left with a decision to make. "Do I put out the fire or heat it up? Do I get over it or Get even? Do I release it or resent it? Do I let my hurts heal or do I let it turn into hate"
There is no torment like the inner torment of an unforgiving spirit. It refuses to be soothed, it refuses to be healed, and it refuses to forget.
Charles R. Swindoll (1934)
Offering mercy in a practical way
In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and bank had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, And forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.
Jesus words this morning from the Sermon on the Mount is this?
Matt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.
Pray
Mercy is foreign to us
You hurt me I hurt you. Eye for eye tooth for tooth
That’s what made that coment stand out
Alexander Pope, "To err is human to forgive divine’
It’s different
Jesus is asking us to respond positively to injustices and sins against us.
He is asking us to respond with a message of mercy
To do that we need a Clear understanding of what mercy is
Steven Covey Be proactive
Not let our circumstances control us but come to the realization that mercy is a choice. And that is the constant struggle for us…
To not let our sins eat us alive. You know people who just can not let go of an injustice of their past. They refuse to heal. And as a result they are left to look through the cold steel bars of their own prison.
This even happens with church people.
Church is a family. And a family is going to occasionally rub each other the wrong way.
Hebrew word
To get inside of someone’s skin and look through their eyes
To act on behalf of one who is hurting
People in this community who need to be shown mercy
What is the big deal with mercy?
According to Jesus you can’t receive mercy until you give it
Difficulty.
Landowner parable (Modern parable banker who wanted to move to mexico)
How could someone do this?
Are we ever guilty of this?
We have been forgiven all of our sins and we hold to legality
We must remember that we did not write the book of mercy
The dynamic of giving mercy is the key to understanding mercy.
Opposite of mercy is legalism
“I desire mercy not sacrafice” God
There is no stronger example or holding to the letter of the law than that of sacrafice.
People don’t want to know what they are doing wrong they want to know what Jesus is doing right. Then they will allow Him to change their life.
Eph 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
God knew we could not hold to the letter of the Law
We do the same thing
You know how to receive mercy but do you know how to grant it
Characteristics of Mercy
1. Mercy notices the problem
Jewish wedding Palestine offers to help
2. Mercy Identifies Wit those who need it. Finds common Ground
3. Mercy takes action
puts the clothes on the back and the food in the stomach. It means taking the necessary steps to meet the needs of one who is in need.
You will have a hard time being merciful unless you
1. Are poor in spirit
2. Morning over sin
3. Meek before God
4. Hunger and thirsting after righteousness
God knows where you are this morning. Quite honestly he’s is saying that some of you need to be more merciful.
