The Church Of The New Testament - Part 7d Series

Too often it succeeds.

• My observation is that politics is fraught with that mentality on all levels. A leader is established by destroying an opponent.

• One is never secure in leadership gained that way. There will always be a little meaner bull.

• Leading is not exercised by someone saying, “I’m your leader; follow me and do what I tell you to do.”

• But in the church, a true leader is a leader only because people willingly follow by reason of the qualities the true leader exhibits.

Paul instructs that those who lead do so “with diligence,” without putting into any particular context the matter in which leading is done.

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11. Showing Mercy (v8)

Greek” eleeo (el-eh-eh’-o) Strong – “have compassion”

Vines – “to show kindness, by beneficence or assistance”

This is one of the gifts Paul refers to in v6:

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them

About showing mercy, little comment is needed. Sufficient is our notice of the living testimony of the godly people who are endowed with the wonderful gift of showing mercy.

Mercy is the opposite of justice. They meet but once in the whole realm of human existence, in the death of God's Son.

Whereas justice can be deserved, mercy cannot. Human nature steers us to a predisposition toward justice – by producing the feeling that a sinner should pay for his sin, and not get off scot-free after committing sin against God and harmful to others.

• But justice is God’s business, not ours. The requirement was met by God himself, giving his Son to meet those rigorous demands of divine justice.

• Our business is showing mercy. Mercy was the hard part for God, and it’s the hard part for us.

• So a gift of meting out justice is not mentioned here. There is no need for a Christian to possess such a gift.

• God does not call upon the church to exact justice upon offenders, even in cases requiring discipline. Discipline is applied to meet a quite different requirement than justice.

• Here Paul cites the Godlike quality of showing mercy as a gift, or a grace. It is a charisma, which treats grace and gift equally, both being undeserved. You cannot show mercy to a deserving person. What a person deserves can never be given as a gift.

• Rather, Jesus calls upon us to show mercy by saying, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." (Matt. 5:7)

This appears to be another of those gifts everyone can and should possess by the influence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

Mercy – showing compassion – is part of the character of the New Testament church, and every Christian then and now.

We said in the beginning of the series that we would not be inspecting the New Testament church only for forms and procedures – “how to do church,” but would look at the values and character of those who first came to Christ for living water and everlasting life.

Who has not watched children “playing church?” They gather around, set up something resembling an auditorium, and then there is preaching, singing, communion, praying, maybe a parody of contributing.