Jesus and the Upside Down Kingdom, Part 5
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 45:03
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· 7 viewsYou who have been shown mercy, be merciful: You are approved because you have first received mercy, compelling you to show mercy to others.
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
There is a clear, turning point in the beatitudes.
But today we will see there's beatitudes shift in focus to the horizontal plane.
The beatitudes shift to describe our relationship to other people.
You who have been shown mercy, be merciful: You are approved because you have first received mercy, compelling you to show mercy to others.
You who have been shown mercy, be merciful: You are approved because you have first received mercy, compelling you to show mercy to others.
You who have been shown mercy by the God Who is Merciful
You who have been shown mercy by the God Who is Merciful
What is mercy?
Mercy is helpfully defined alongside something like grace.
Grace is defined as God’s disposition toward sin.
Whereas mercy is defined as God‘s disposition toward our misery.
Both of these realities become clear in the gospel of Christ.
Grace looks down at our sin in its entirety.
Whereas mercy looks upon the miserable consequences of our sin.
Compassion to the Miserable
Compassion to the Miserable
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
God's mercy is when he keeps his promises and maintains covenant relationship with his people who do not deserve it.
We see mercy when we look at God.
We see another example of this in Deuteronomy when Moses describes how the people will stray from the truth and begin to follow after their own way.
When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
The people of Israel's ability to return to God isn't dependent upon them.
It's dependent upon God, who is merciful.
It's dependent upon God, who does not give to offenders what they deserve.
“God is more willing to pardon than to punish. Mercy more multiply in Him than sin in us. Mercy is his nature. The bee naturally gives honey; It stings only when it is provoked.” —Thomas Watson.
Christian
This should change the way you think of yourself before God.
We don’t need clean ourselves to come to Him.
We don’t get our act together in order to come to Him.
We don’t need a pep talk.
We need mercy.
It’s knowing our pitiable estate.
But it’s also knowing the abundant mercy of God to pardon us.
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.
This changes the way we look at others.
I no longer see them as adversaries.
I see them as slaves to sin.
I see them through the eyes of pity because they are still governed by the world.
I see them through the eyes of compassion because I was just like them.
We begin to look on others through the eyes of Christ that says,
Luke 23:34 (ESV)
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
We begin to bear an attitude toward people that senses their helpless slaves to sin.
Another way that the biblical concept of mercy comes into full view is to look at examples in the New Testament.
Jesus invites Matthew to follow him.
Tax collectors in their day were the biggest “sinners.”
They would unrighteously take money from the people and were viewed negatively by all.
Jesus invites them to have dinner and share fellowship together.
This makes the religious people upset.
And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
The sick need a doctor.
Jesus is there to heal their ultimate sickness.
Jesus’ point in saying this is that those who are “righteous” or at least think they are righteous have no need to be healed.
It is only those who need a doctor who go to the doctor.
Non-Christian
You don’t know of this mercy that I am talking about.
You don’t know of it because you don’t see your pitiable position.
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:9-13)
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:9-13)
Jesus quotes, Hosea 6:6, Where God is condemning the people of Israel because they obey him, but not from the heart.
Sacrifice is about keeping religious rituals.
They were keeping all the “religious rituals” but their hearts were far from Him.
Whereas “mercy” is about covenant faithfulness.
If the Pharisee’s understood covenant faithfulness than they would have sought sinners too.
The Pharisees were so concerned with ceremonial cleanliness that they actually neglected the “sick.”
The opposite of mercy is being constrained by our own religious system.
For the Pharisees to neglect, mercy is to first neglect, the mercy that God has given them.
It is as if they are saying,
"We don't need your mercy.”
“We're doing just fine on our own.”
It's worse than this.
Because they look at others and condemn them by their own “system”
I’ve quoted this passage for us before but it’s important to see again.
“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 and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
The Pharisees desired to put on a show more than they desired to show mercy.
They wanted to be "faithful" in small things.
But, they neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
They strained a gnat while swallowing a camel.
It is a very real possibility for us to become bound by the insignificance of the rules we create.
Here at Gospel Life, we have a document that we require people to fill out before receiving help.
There's nothing wrong with this.
I think it actually helps us to know the significant cases of need from the insignificant.
As Christians we need to beware of setting up systems to help meet needs.
We need to beware becoming “religiously” stodgy toward others who need mercy.
We need to beware things that block our heart from showing mercy to those in need.
Be Merciful: the fountainhead of the Christian life.
Be Merciful: the fountainhead of the Christian life.
We need to comprehend that our ability to have mercy does not merit the mercy of God.
Our mercy toward others is the fountain of God's mercy toward us.
We don't earn God's mercy by giving mercy to others.
Rather, when we have seen the great mercy of God toward us, then we will give mercy to others.
Non-Christian
If you try to move on to this without first receiving mercy yourself, then it will seem like a huge burden.
You need to first see your need for mercy and run to the throne of grace before you do anything else.
What does this mercy look like extended to others?
Mercy toward our enemies.
Mercy toward our enemies.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
When we love those who hate us in return, we show what God is like to us.
The same is true for doing good, lending, and loving.
God is kind to the ungrateful.
When we are kind to those who are ungrateful, we reflect God’s character to them.
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
This lawyer understood what God's law commanded of him. But he went wrong in the next verse.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus goes on the tell a parable to explain the situation more clearly.
A Jewish man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was beat up and left for dead.
Jesus goes on to describe three men that pass by him.
The first was a priest, and he walked to the other side of the road.
The second was a Levite, and he did the same.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Public
I wonder, what do you think about us extending mercy toward our enemies?
I had to guess at first you wouldn't believe it, but let's assume someone really is merciful toward their enemies.
What do you think about that?
Mercy instead of Judgment. (James 2:12-13)
Mercy instead of Judgment. (James 2:12-13)
James highlights one of the grievous errors of the community at that time.
It was the sin of partiality.
Partiality happens when we discriminate based on externals.
These include economic position, race, or ethnic differences.
For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James condemned this form of judgment, referring to it as “evil thoughts.”
When we make distinction among ourselves this is a drastic error for us to make.
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
James makes a distinction here in verse eight.
We are not following the Old Testament law, but what he calls the “royal law.”
He will later describe it as the “law of liberty.”
But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Believers must realize that when we transgress the law, we are guilty of the whole law.
Even at one point if we transgress the law, we are lawbreakers.
At this point it should leave us in sad and somber position.
Until we remember what James goes on to say in verse 12.
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
We aren’t judged under the law anymore.
We aren’t judged under the law anymore because there has come One who was judged under the law in our place.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
You and I deserve judgment.
We deserve it but in Jesus Christ we have received mercy in place of judgment.
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
You and I deserve judgment.
But God has given us mercy instead.
God has chosen to judge His son in our place.
Undeserved mercy, triumph over judgment.
Mercy as the means of restoration. (Galatians 6:1-2)
Mercy as the means of restoration. (Galatians 6:1-2)
I am convinced that we as Christians need to do better in the topic of restoration.
Too often, when a person has a wandered from Christ.
Especially when they become like the prodigal son in the sloughs of the pigpen.
Often, as Christians we will want to avoid them.
We don’t want to have a “hard conversation” or “be associated with their sin.”
Love is like a friend that visits when you’re well.
But mercy is like a physician that comes near to visit those who are sick.
Galatians 6:1 (ESV)
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
The term used “caught” must convey that of an animal being caught in a trap.
Paul commends those who are “spiritual” with restoring them.
The term "spiritual" means someone who is Spirit-filled.
The term, "restores" is the same word that is used for describing a fisherman mending his nets.
We are called as Christians to mend people back into the fold.
To be concerned for their spiritual condition in such a way that seeks to restore them back is an act of mercy.
Just as a surgeon cuts a patient, the wounds are always used for healing.
The wounds harm but only to restore back to full health.
The faithful wounds of a friend are truly mercy to those who are stumbling in sin.
“Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from the path of sin…It is a ministry of mercy, an ultimate offer of genuine fellowship, when we allow nothing but God’s Word to stand between us.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christian
Mercy is like a physician that comes near to visit those who are sick.
We must come near those who wander As an act of mercy toward them.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
And have mercy on those who doubt;
save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Mercy to those who have wronged us. (Matthew 18:21-35)
Mercy to those who have wronged us. (Matthew 18:21-35)
It is a grievous error if we begin to understand that our own forgiveness hinges upon how we forgive others.
If I say, “I must forgive my neighbor because I want to be forgiven.”
We have misunderstood the nature of forgiveness.
People will often cite the Lord’s prayer as evidence for this position.
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Our forgiveness does not hinge upon our ability to forgive others.
If it did, we could never rest assured in the forgiveness we have received.
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Jesus tells a parable to explain the nature of forgiveness for His followers.
The parable describes a King who wished to settle accounts with his subjects.
As he was settling accounts, a man was found to owe 20 years worth of wages.
He owed so great amount that he could never repay.
He could never afford to pay back the king.
So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
The King did not look on the servant and measure if he would be paid back.
He looked at the servant and “out of pity” forgave him.
It was his compassion that caused him to forgive the debt and release him.
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
The kings pity is what drove him to forgive the man who owed the debt.
It wasn't because he knew he was gonna get payback.
We could say that the king had mercy upon his subject.
The king had mercy upon the man who could not pay otherwise.
But the parable doesn't end here.
The parable ends with the same man who was forgiven, 20 years wages
Seizing a man because he was owed 100 days wages.
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
I am only truly forgiven, when I am truly repentant.
To be truly repentant means seeing that my acceptance is due entirely to God.
It's due to his love, mercy, and grace toward me.
Nothing else.
If I am spiritually bankrupt before God, then I will forgive others around me.
I will extend mercy to others, because I have first received mercy.
There’s only one condition to forgiveness and it’s not forgiving others.
It’s repentance.
True repentance then lays no claim upon the mercy of God as though we deserve it.
We don’t deserve it.
If the grace of Christ dwells in us, we will be merciful to others.
What makes you and I merciful is the grace of God toward us.
That’s what makes it mercy.
When we see ourselves as ones who have received mercy, then we will grant mercy to others.
Nobody by nature has a forgiving spirit.
But by the tender mercy of God have received mercy.
Notice how the king responds to this servant.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
The king is angry with the man because he did not show mercy in the same way he received mercy.
Church
The community of faith is meant to have unlimited and boundless forgiveness.
We are all beggars who have received infinitely better than we deserve.
We have all received infinitely better than we should have.
If we ever struggle to have mercy on others, may we remember that we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
And on that day, we all will desire for more mercy.
2 Timothy 1:18 (ESV)
may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!
Lord, let us live like that today.
Questions for reflection
What area of your life do you need to admit today that you have been unmerciful toward a particular person?
Unmerciful toward enemies? Write their name down.
Preferred judgment instead of mercy? Write their name down.
Neglected to restore another to the fellowship? Write their name down.
Withheld mercy toward someone who has wrong you? Write their name down.