God is Compassionate

Welcome

Emma and I are very pleased to have you tonight. As always thank you for giving of your valuable time to come, learn and grow!

Housekeeping

Fire

In the event of a fire we will exit this door and exit to our right and muster in the parking lot, take roll and call 000

Toilet

The toilets are down the main halls on the left with the yellow painted walls

Room Reset

After we are done here tonight please help us reset this room in preparation for tomorrow’s activities

Announcements

Prayer Inviting Holy Spirit

According to the Jews, studying scripture is one of the highest forms of worship, we undertake tonight to know God more and in turn be amazed by Him in ways that we were not before.

As always when we gather our prayer is this:

Come LORD Holy Spirit

Introduction/Story

The world has come a long way, we aren’t fully done seeing the redemption of the world but we have to be honest, in a lot of ways it is much better than it was.

I mean it has a long way to go, but we are sitting here in Aircon, nice building, desks and we are relatively assured a band of raiders aren’t pillaging our stuff and our loved ones at home. Pretty great.

Let’s just say for sake of story that if someone stole all of our stuff and we couldn’t pay back our debts, we have options, it would not totally wreck us. We could file for bankruptcy for example. Sure it destroys your credit for a couple of years but all your debt is wiped clean and you get a fresh start without anyone hounding you for payments. This is actually a really big step in the right direction.

See back in the day, if you owed someone money…your family owed that person money. If you didn’t pay, and if they weren’t the most savoury of characters they could and would just likely kill you, but if they were law abiding citizens they would just own you.

If that sounds like slavery…it’s because it is. You could and often would sell yourself and your family in slavery to work off your debt.

This is the context to one of Jesus’ stories

The Lexham English Bible (Chapter 18)

23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man—a king—who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 And when* he began to settle them,* someone was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents

For reference 1 talent of is about 35kg and would be worth today 3.3 million dollars. So for quick math that is 33 Billion with a B

A talent was roughly equivalent to 15 years worth of wages…inflation right...

25 And because* he did not have enough* to repay it,* the master ordered him to be sold, and his* wife and his* children and everything that he had, and to be repaid. 26 Then the slave threw himself to the ground and* began to do beg and bow down to him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything to you!’ 27 So the master of that slave, because he* had compassion (Mercy), released him and forgave him the loan. 28 But that slave went out and* found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii,

A denarii is a day’s wage in comparison, so think just over 3 months wage. Not nothing, just not Billion with a B

and taking hold of him, he began to choke him,* saying, ‘Pay back everything that you owe!’ 29 Then his fellow slave threw himself to the ground and* began to implore* him, saying, ‘Be patient with me and I will repay you!’ 30 But he did not want to, but rather he went and* threw him into prison until he would repay what was owed. 31 So when* his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed, and went and* reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then his master summoned him and* said to him, ‘Wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you implored me! 33 Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?’ 34 And because he* was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers until he would repay everything that was owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from your hearts!”

Hooray Jesus stories!

Mercy overview as a word

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Mercy, Merciful

MERCY, MERCIFUL. The tracing of the concept of mercy in the Eng. Bible is complicated by the fact that ‘mercy’, ‘merciful’ and ‘have mercy upon’ are translations of several different Heb. and Gk. roots, which are also variously rendered in other occurrences by other synonyms, such as ‘kindness’, ‘grace’, ‘favour’ (and cognate verbs). To picture this concept we would require a group of overlapping linguistic circles.

This happens a lot in Bible Translation, the scope of the word Merciful is big, and it is more of a it means this AND this.

Not this OR that.

Now many of these other words are present in our passage about God that we are studying so we will go over them in some detail later as these weeks go on.

Mercy use in the OT

Hesed the word translated Loyal love, but often as mercy which we will give a fuller treatment of in weeks to come is:

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition I. In the Old Testament

1. ḥeseḏ: the etymological origin of this root is possibly ‘keenness, eagerness’ (Snaith). Its semantic core is best expressed by ‘devotion’. Used nearly 250 times, it is translated in AV predominantly by ‘mercy’, but also by ‘kindness’, *‘LOVINGKINDNESS’, ‘goodness’ (LXX, eleos; Luther, Gnade). Its range of meaning is: ‘solidarity, kindness, grace’ (G. Lisowsky, Konkordanz, 1958). It denotes devotion to a covenant, and so, of God, his covenant-love (Ps. 89:28). But God’s faithfulness to a graciously established relationship with Israel or an individual, despite human unworthiness and defection, readily passes over into his mercy. ‘This steady, persistent refusal of God to wash his hands of wayward Israel is the essential meaning of the Heb. word which is translated loving-kindness’ (Snaith). RSV renders it often by ‘loyalty’, ‘deal loyally’, chiefly by ‘steadfast love’.

The word we see in our passage for Compassion is Raham. and it is related to the concept of the Womb, the way a parent looks to and feels for a dear child.

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition (I. In the Old Testament)

3. rāḥam may share common origin with reḥem, meaning ‘womb’, and hence denote ‘brotherly’ or ‘motherly feeling’ (BDB—cf. Is. 13:18; 49:15). AV ‘have mercy’ or ‘compassion’, and once (Ps 18:1) ‘love’. The plural raḥamîm is rendered ‘tender mercies’ (LXX splanchna, oiktirmoi, eleos). It expresses the affective aspect of love: its compassion and pity. ‘The personal God has a heart’ (Barth).

Isaiah 49:15 NRSV

15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

God looks at us with as a loving Father, but remember, this is the OT, so this parental love and merciful disposition mixed with merciful action are not new, we see the ultimate showing of this in the person of Jesus.

Mercy use in the NT

In NT the meanings of ḥeseḏ and ḥēn are largely combined in charis, *‘GRACE’. The specific notion of mercy—compassion to one in need or helpless distress, or in debt and without claim to favourable treatment—is rendered by eleos, oiktirmos and splanchnon (and cognate verbs). Grace is concerned for man, as guilty; mercy, as he is miserable (R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, pp. 166ff.).

This distinction is helpful as we continue, Mercy is far more than just a feeling it is always expressed in action.

By Jesus

Jesus pronounces a beatitude on the merciful (Matt. 5:7), and he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what showing mercy can mean (cf. Luke 10:37). In another parable, he implies that God might withhold mercy from those who do not show mercy to others (Matt. 18:23–35; cf. James 2:13). The concept of mercy also plays a significant role in Jesus’s ethical hermeneutic for interpreting the law. He prioritizes the significance of mercy in a way that allows for otherwise legitimate concerns to be ignored. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus twice quotes from the LXX version of Hos. 6:6, indicating that God prefers mercy to sacrifice (9:13; 12:7). This becomes a principle for relaxing the application of burdensome commandments: it is acceptable to heal on the sabbath or to pick grain to satisfy one’s own hunger. The assumed counterargument would seem to be that a sick or disabled person might wait to be healed or the hungry might wait to pick their grain; in either case, one day of unpleasantness would be a sacrifice for God, to ensure the sanctity of Torah. Jesus’s vision is that the mercy of God trumps any pleasure that God might find in such sacrifices—God would rather eliminate the distress immediately. The same sort of vision seems to inform Jesus’s insistence that mercy is one of “weightier matters of the law” that his opponents ignore while attending to minor affairs (Matt. 23:23)

Mt23.23-24 “23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary to do these things while not neglecting those. 24 Blind guides who filter out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

In short God loves others more than the rules. It doesn’t mean God doesn’t love and desire us to follow the rules but merciful actions trump even the most sacred acts of worship.

By Others

God’s mercy is more than punishment withheld. It actively helps those who are miserable due to circumstances beyond their control. This is demonstrated in Jesus’ healing of the blind (Matt. 9:27–31; 20:29–34) and lepers (Luke 17:11–19). The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) shows how God is “the Father of all mercies and the God of all consolation” (2 Cor. 1:3); the parable of the merciless servant (Matt. 18:23–35) puts this divine quality in a negative setting. God’s merciful faithfulness is most evident in his sending Jesus and saving his people (Rom. 11:30–32; Eph. 2:4). God’s mercy will be manifest at the final judgment (2 Tim. 1:18; Jas. 2:13). God is merciful and expects his children to be merciful (Matt. 5:7; Jas. 1:27).

Col3.12-17 “12 Therefore, as the chosen of God, holy and dearly loved, put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, 13 putting up with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone should have a complaint against anyone, just as also the Lord forgave you, thus also you do the same. 14 And to all these things add love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And the peace of Christ must rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God, 17 and everything whatever you do in word or in deed, giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus to God the Father through him.”

2Cor1.3-4 “3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Mercy in the lives of believers

Man’s Responsibility to Show Mercy to Others. Because God has freely extended his mercy irrespective of worthiness or faithfulness, men are to respond by showing mercy to others, even though they do not deserve it or seek it. Indeed, men are commanded to be merciful, especially to the poor, the needy, widows, and orphans (Prv 14:21, 31; 19:17; Mic 6:8; Zec 7:9–10; Col 3:12). God regards mercy more than the ritual sacrifice (Mt 9:13). In the light of Christ’s sacrifice and of the revelation that comes by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, man’s obligation to be merciful toward his fellow men is made clear and vivid. God’s mercy in Christ actually puts men under obligation to act toward others as God himself has acted toward them. The Lord made mercy a foundation for his teaching (Mt 5:7; 9:13; 12:7; 23:23; Lk 6:36; 10:37; Jas 3:17). His coming was anticipated and announced in the context of the mercy which would characterize his mission (Lk 1:50, 54, 72, 78).

Members of the Christian church, as participants in the covenant community, are to show compassion and practical concern for each other. They are to give aid and relief, love and comfort to one another as Christ freely gave to them in their need. The apostle James teaches the essential nature of such good works as being of the very essence of genuine faith (Jas 2:14–26). It was the mercy which the good Samaritan had toward the man who was beaten and robbed which was singled out by the Lord for special commendation (Lk 10:36, 37). To be full of mercy is a distinguishing virtue of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:7).

Concluding exhortation and Prayer

Exhortation for Mercy and seeing God as fundamentally merciful

God’s grace sees us forgiven, but His mercy sent Jesus. God Himself, did not see it to stand far from our pain and anguish but to enter into it. And to rescue us from it, ultimately let Himself be overcome by the very tormenting powers of evil that have tortured us. We see this so beautifully on the cross. We see Him subjected to every evil and let that very evil exhaust it’s power on Him so that through His death and resurrection we could experience God’s mercy as life and life abundantly. If we ever wonder what drove Jesus to the cross it was His mercy, not to defer punishment, but to save His dear children from their misery caused by ignorance and things outside of their control.

That loving disposition to not be far from our pain, but to be right there in it, Divine Participation with us, remember that He is immanuel, He is God WITH us! This is not some flippant thing of God but rather strikes to the very core of who He is.

We can know, that when we cry for that merciful attention from our Father we will be met with eager arms to lift us from our suffering.

That same Mercy should then spring forth in us towards others!

Prayer for healing in the room and all the children that come to the centre

Father be eternally merciful to us.

One of the oldest prayers in the church is simply this:

LORD Jesus have mercy.

Father plant in us such a knowledge of your merciful affections towards us and help us to see all the finger prints of your mercy on our lives!

Father open our eyes to the needs of others, let our hearts resound with the very same mercy for others, empower us and strengthen our hands for the work of mercy in our lives. Give us all the heart to feel, the eyes to see and the hands to do and the courage to act.

Father we lift up the children who are in this room:

In Jesus name Amen.