The Mercy Mandate Series

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.