Mastering Mercy
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We are in the series, Living a Happy Life where we have been looking at the teachings of Jesus in His famous Sermon On the Mount.
Each of these statements begin with Blessed is… or Happy is… They are instructions on how to be truly happy… to be full of joy… truly satisfied… truly secure.
The culture says a person is blessed or happy based on what that person has. Many look at the 10 commandments and believe that a person is happy based on what he does. Do this… don’t do that and so on. The Beatitudes go beyond this. The 10 commandments deal with outward actions, while the Beatitudes deal with the heart, or the “attitudes that ought to be.”
In the 5th statement or beatitude, Jesus said,
7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Jesus is saying that if we want to experience some of life’s greatest blessings, we have to become merciful ourselves. IOW, we are to show mercy to other people.
So let me ask, are you a merciful individual? Would your family members say that you are? Your friends? Your adversaries?
How many of you are glad when someone is merciful towards you? Most of us …
Remember the Bible says that we reap what we sow, and if we want others to show us mercy in those times when we need mercy, we have to be willing to show mercy to other people. Being merciful can actually become a ministry for us in our world.
At River Church we believe that everyone is called to use our time, talents, passions, and experience to minister to others.
At River Church we believe that everyone is called to use our time, talents, passions, and experience to minister to others.
God has called us to serve him by serving others. Take a look at these passages of scripture.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
We are all supposed to be using our time, talents and treasure to serve others in the name of the Lord.
One way we can minister to others is by showing them mercy.
One way we can minister to others is by showing them mercy.
So what is mercy?
Mercy is not softness.
Mercy is not softness.
Mercy is not acting as if someones transgression doesn’t matter. It’s not sticking your head in the sand and ignoring someone’s faults and failures or ignoring tragedy and acting as if those never happened.
Mercy is not a sentiment.
Mercy is not a sentiment.
It’s not being concerned or shedding tears but not doing anything.
A man was walking down the streets of a town; and he looked over there in doorway, and there was a homeless man. And, the sand and the newspapers were blowing up around his body. He had passed out. He was just lying there.
And,” he said, “all down that busy street people were walking—well dressed, going about their business. And, they looked down there, and there was a piece of humanity on the ground.” He said, “Nobody was stopping. Nobody did anything.
And then,” he said, “after we had gone to dinner and come back, he was still there; and nobody had done anything.”
Oh, isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing how we always think that the other person ought to do it? And, there he had not only softness, maybe sentiment, but he did not have mercy.
Mercy is compassion or sentiment in action. The word “mercy” comes from a Latin word which means “to feel within.” It literally means “being willing to get into someone else’s skin, being willing to feel their pain, and then being willing to do something about it. Mercy is compassion in action.
Mercy is compassion in action.
Mercy is compassion in action.
Demonstrating mercy brings great blessings to our life and into others lives.
7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Today we want to address some questions regarding this quality of “mercy” that many people don’t have, and some have never aspired to have. If we will discover and implement the answers to these questions, according to Jesus we will find ourselves living the “blessed life” – experiencing God’s blessings in our lives on a regular basis. 1st question
Why should we show mercy to others?
Why should we show mercy to others?
1. We should be willing to show mercy to others because God has shown mercy to us.
1. We should be willing to show mercy to others because God has shown mercy to us.
God has shown mercy to each of us. The Bible says that God is merciful. It’s emphasized throughout the Bible. There are hundreds of passages about God’s mercy, love and grace. Here are two of them…
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
How many of you remember when you were spiritually dead and living disobedient lives? Maybe you are like many who felt like there was no hope. But then God demonstrated His love and mercy towards us by sending people to witness to us.
When we responded to Jesus, our sins were forgiven, Jesus gave us new life that we did not deserve, abundant life here on earth and eternal life in heaven. And he wants us to pass on the mercy we’ve received from him.
The Lord wants us to treat others in the same way he’s treated us.
The Lord wants us to treat others in the same way he’s treated us.
Jesus told a story about an unmerciful citizen of a particular nation. He owed his King some money. The King says “I’m going to show mercy on you. Let’s just clear your debt. We’ll just wipe it off and say we’re even.”
The guy couldn’t believe it because he’d been shown such great mercy. But then he goes out to some people who owe him some money, far less money, and he starts grabbing them by the throat and saying, “Pay me or I’m going to have you thrown in prison.”
When the King hears about it he asks, “What are you doing? Why are you being unmerciful to others when I’ve been so merciful to you? He asks
33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’
How would you treat an unmerciful person like this guy? Would you overlook it? Jesus is saying in this story that His Father won’t over look it. In the story, the King says to the guy, you wicked unjust guy. And throws him into prison.
What’s he saying to us? He is saying, If I show you mercy, I expect you to show mercy to others.
2. We should be willing to show mercy to others because God instructs us to be merciful to others.
2. We should be willing to show mercy to others because God instructs us to be merciful to others.
8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
This kind of summarizes how we should live our lives as followers of Jesus… to do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
3. We should be willing to show mercy to others because we going to need mercy in the future.
3. We should be willing to show mercy to others because we going to need mercy in the future.
7 Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. People will reap exactly what they sow.
How many perfect people do we have in here today? I heard about a perfect man…
A man walks out to the street, and catches a taxi just going by… He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, “Wow, perfect timing, You’re just like Dave.”
The passenger asks, “Who?” The cabbie explains, “Dave, he’s a guy who did everything right all the time… “ “Like when I came along, just when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Dave every single time.”
The passenger remarked, “There are always a few dark clouds over everybody.” “Not Dave,” the cabbie replied, “He was a terrific athlete, he could have won the Grand Slam at tennis… “ “He could golf with the pros, he sang like an opera baritone, and danced like a Broadway star… “ “and you should have heard him play the piano… “
“He was an amazing guy.” The passenger said, “Sounds like he was really something special.”
The cabbie replied, “There’s more, he had a memory like a computer… “ “He remembered everybody’s birthday… “
“He knew all about wine, which foods to order, and which fork to eat them with… “ “Dave could do everything right.”
The passenger was amazed, “Wow, what a guy!” The cabbie continued, “He always knew the quickest way to go, to avoid traffic jams… “ “Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them.”
“But Dave, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good… “ “He would never answer her back, even if she was in the wrong… “ “and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.” “He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake… “
“No one could ever measure up to Dave .” The passenger asked, “So, how did you meet him?”
To which the cabbie answered, “Oh, I never actually met Dave… “ “he died and I married his wife.”
You are not perfect now and you won’t be perfect between now and heaven. So the Bible tell us…
13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.
4. We should be willing to show mercy to others because showing mercy to others brings us blessings.
4. We should be willing to show mercy to others because showing mercy to others brings us blessings.
Over and over the Bible teaches us that the more merciful we are, the happier we will be. Remember, each of these statements of Jesus begins with the world Blessed or Happy is depending on the translation you are reading.
Jesus says Happy are the merciful. IOW, if you want a happy life, you better learn this quality… the quality of mercy. The more you learn it and practice it, the happier you will be.
21 If you want to be happy, be kind to the poor; it is a sin to despise anyone.
The more merciful we are, the happier we will be.
17 A merciful person helps himself, but a cruel person hurts himself.
Check this out…
17 Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.
So there are 4 reasons why we really need to learn to become merciful towards others in our lives.
We have received mercy… God instructs us to be merciful… We will need mercy in the future… and being merciful to others bring happiness into our lives as well as theirs.
Here is the 2nd question.
How can we show mercy to others?
How can we show mercy to others?
We typically think showing mercy as being forgiving or helping others, but there is much more involved in being a merciful person.
1. We can show mercy to others by being patient with them.
1. We can show mercy to others by being patient with them.
How many of you have people in your life that irritate you and frustrate you? (Don’t elbow him) You know.. they just get on your nerves… grind your teeth… and think about cussing…
Now think about that person and here is what the Lord just might be saying to you.
2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
We are patient with others when we refuse to get irritated at them.
We are patient with others when we refuse to get irritated at them.
By the way, how many of you are married? And how many of you are married to a perfect individual? You didn’t marry someone who is perfect. You married a sinner, guys, and she married a bigger one. Listen, two imperfect people cannot make a perfect marriage. You have faults, your spouse has faults and marriage, a good marriage, is the union of two great forgivers. That’s what makes a strong marriage.
So remember to make allowances for each others faults and forgive each other.
The first place we need to be patient is in our home.
The first place we need to be patient is in our home.
Why? Because you see each other’s faults more than anybody else does. You are up close and personal with those faults and you have to live with them the rest of your lives. Show mercy to each other and to your children as well.
Marriages don’t usually die because of one big catastrophe. They usually die because of little digs… constant nagging and digging. If that sounds like you, you need to stop it and do what Paul said to do in Ephesians 4:2 “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”
Here is another verse to help us with being patient with others.
13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.
We show mercy by being patient with other’s quirks and weaknesses and our own mistakes… all of the things that make us human.
Do you want to do that? Do you want to learn to be more patient with your grand kids, kids, spouse, co-workers, neighbors… ?
We will only show mercy to those closest to us if we have compassion in our heart and wisdom in our mind.
We will only show mercy to those closest to us if we have compassion in our heart and wisdom in our mind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
IOW, the wiser you become, the more merciful you become. There are a lot of people who think that they are smart… wise, but they are not because they are not merciful. Wise individuals are merciful.
James says that wise people are peace loving, gentle and willing to yield to others. If you are not peace loving, gentle and willing to yield to others, you’re not wise. And if you are not merciful, you’re not being wise. The wiser we become, the more patient and merciful we become.
2. We can show mercy to others by helping hurting people around us.
2. We can show mercy to others by helping hurting people around us.
How many of you know people around you who are hurting? Almost all of us have hurting people in our family circles, our friendship circles, our work and neighborhood circles. Here is what I know.
Hurting people are all around us, but too often we are too busy or self focused to notice they are hurting.
Hurting people are all around us, but too often we are too busy or self focused to notice they are hurting.
If we really care about people, we’ll be aware that they are hurting. Jesus told a story about the Good Samaritan to teach this very point about helping the hurting around us.
A guy came to Jesus one day and said, Jesus what’s the most important command in the Bible? Give me the bottom line here. I don’t have time to read the whole Bible. What is it that matters most?
Jesus said that’s really easy. Its two things: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the whole Bible in a nutshell.
The guy who asked the question is probably trying to trap Jesus, so he asks another question. He asks, “Ok, who is my neighbor?” And Jesus said, “ Let me tell you a story.
And He tells the famous story of the Good Samaritan. A man is going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and he’s robbed and he’s beaten and abused and he’s left for dead at the side of the road. 3 guys pass by him and 2 of them do nothing. The 3rd guy is of another race and culture, but he stops and helps the injured man. He nurses him back to health, puts him on his donkey, takes him to a motel, checks him into a room and pays the bill for the guy and says if he has any other bills when I come back by I’ll pay for it.
After telling that story Jesus looks at the guy who asked, “Who’s my neighbor” and asks, “Who do you think was a neighbor?” And the man says “The guy who showed the most mercy.”
Jesus probably said that’s right, you just became wiser. You cannot love our neighbor as ourselves without being merciful. So we have to always be focused on helping hurting people around us.
27 Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it.
Solomon is saying that…
We are to look for opportunities to help hurting people around us.
We are to look for opportunities to help hurting people around us.
By the way when you’re helping people in need (and there are going to be people in your area, in your life this week that God intentionally puts in your life to allow you to practice mercy), God is watching us, and He’s not simply watching what we do. He’s also watching our attitude. Look at what Paul said in Romans 12:8
8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
The Lord wants us to serve him and help others with a glad heart, with a cheerful and willing heart, not with a begrudging attitude.
3. We can show mercy to others by giving people a 2nd chance.
3. We can show mercy to others by giving people a 2nd chance.
How many of you besides me, have ever been let down by others?
People are always going to disappoint us and sometimes they’re going to hurt us.
People are always going to disappoint us and sometimes they’re going to hurt us.
Normally when somebody disappoints us or hurts us we want to do one of two things. We want to either get even, or we want to write them off. If someone hurts us or disappoints us, we don’t want to give them a second chance. Our natural inclination toward those who hurt us is to get even or write them off. But here’s what the Bible says
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Paul contrast mercy with these negative responses. If we are going to be merciful, we have to overcome these 6 negative responses…bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Does anyone here ever struggle with these? When we do, we are robbing ourselves and others of the Lord’s blessings. And we are more like the world than we are like Jesus.
One reason why mercy is so important today. It’s because the world responds with bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander and evil behavior – and we’re to be different than world. We are to be a light in a dark world and to do that we have to be different than the world. So how do you respond when some one disappoints you or hurts you? Do you respond with bitterness… anger… rage…harsh words… or even slander? Or do you respond with evil behavior? If that’s how you respond, you need to become wiser and merciful because Jesus did say that we will reap what we sow.
We need to be tenderhearted, merciful, and forgiving because we want the Lord and others to be tenderhearted, merciful and forgiving toward us. Wouldn’t it be great if “the church” were known for it’s tenderheartedness, it’s mercy and it’s forgiveness today in our world? I believe that at River Church you can and will find love, and mercy. We will always give 2nd chances.
4. We can show mercy to others by doing good to those who hurt us.
4. We can show mercy to others by doing good to those who hurt us.
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
IOW, mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Why should we do that? Because the Lord does that with us. The Lord gives us what we need, not what we deserve. If I got what I deserve from God, I would not be standing here. I wouldn’t be alive. So the Bible teaches
We are to give people what they need, not what they deserve.
We are to give people what they need, not what they deserve.
And we can do that by doing good to those that hurt us.
Whoever has hurt us the most in our lives needs the same mercy from us that we received from the Lord.
Whoever has hurt us the most in our lives needs the same mercy from us that we received from the Lord.
Listen, Hurting people hurt people. IOW, the people we want to love the least, are the ones who need the biggest dose of love. They need massive does of Love and mercy.
Think about some one who has hurt you. They need your mercy.
And by the way, anytime we hold on to a hurt we’re making ourselves miserable. We’re not hurting them. When we forgive, it puts on a higher level than the person who hurt us. If we hold a grudge it puts us on the same level with them. If we seek revenge, it puts us lower than them.
Think again about what Jesus said, “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
Let me drive this home.
When we forgive and show mercy to those who have hurt us, we become godlier than they have been towards us.
19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
We need to do good to those who have hurt us.
5. We can show mercy to others by reaching out to the unpopular.
5. We can show mercy to others by reaching out to the unpopular.
Kathy and I have been to the Holy land. In Capernaum in Galilee, Jesus met and befriended a man named Matthew.
Matthew was a tax collector. He was the IRS agent of his day, and people didn’t think well of tax collectors in the 1st century (not much has changed over the past 2000 years).
Matthew became a believer, and follower of Jesus, and one of the original disciples. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the Gospel of Matthew, which covered many of the events and activities of Jesus’ life.
But when he came to faith in Jesus, Matthew was a big sinner (like many of us here have been), and he was surrounded in his life by lots of ungodly people. However, Matthew wanted his ungodly friends to experience what he’d experience through His relationship with Jesus, so the Bible records
10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” 12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”
The Pharisees are attacking Jesus for hanging out with the wrong crowd and Jesus says, “Do you know what your problem is guys? You don’t understand the true nature of mercy.” Why did Jesus say that? Because the Pharisees thought mercy was simply forgiving people and helping people who need help. But Jesus was saying that mercy also includes building bridges of love to the unpopular.
Jesus hung out with those who were unpopular, those of ill repute, those on the fringe, the criminals… Why? Because he was merciful.
We all know people who fall into the category of being un-popular or who are sinful and would be considered the riff raf. If we do, as merciful people we will do what we can to befriend them… to minister to them… and get them to Jesus because He is the one who can help the overcome the struggles and strongholds in their lives.
Questions -
When was the last time you invited non-believers to dinner? That’s an act of mercy.
Do we even have friends like this? If we don’t we are not like Jesus.
The problem is that the longer we are Christians, the more we tend to hang out with other Christins (good thing) and we have fewer non-believing friends.
Here in the US, there is a legal term … premeditated murder. It’s against the law to commit premeditated murder, even those of you may have teenagers. No one should be involved in premeditated murder, but …
We all should be involved in premeditated acts of mercy with those who are unpopular or outcasts.
We all should be involved in premeditated acts of mercy with those who are unpopular or outcasts.
examples
Asking a waitress if we can pray for her.
Grocery store and you see someone struggling to reach an item just out of their reach. You step in and help them. Just that little act will brighten their day and yours.
1st - We do these because we are grateful for the mercy of God in our lives.
2nd - Because I want others to experience the life-changing mercy and Grace of Jesus in their lives.
3rd - because I want to be rewarded by the Lord for my acts of mercy when I get to heaven.
Jesus talked about that day in Matt 25:34-40
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ 37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
Think about what we can do to show mercy to others.
Conclusion
We have all needed the Lord’s mercy in our lives.
We have all needed the Lord’s mercy in our lives.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
We’re all going to need the Lord’s mercy in the future.
We’re all going to need the Lord’s mercy in the future.
And to receive the Lord’s mercy, we have to become merciful to others. We have to treat others the same way the Lord has treated us.
Some of you may need to receive some of the Lord’s mercy tonight. Maybe you have struggled with an addiction… a stronghold in your life… Maybe you slipped back into some carnal ways during Mardi Gras. Maybe you haven’t been willing to forgive someone who has disappointed or hurt you. check this out…
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Salvation Prayer
Prayer to help us show mercy…
God has shown us mercy
God instructs us to show mercy
We will need mercy in the future
Showing mercy brings us and them blessings
We show mercy by being patient with people.
We show mercy by helping hurting people.
We show mercy by giving people a 2nd chance.
We show mercy by reaching out to the unpopular… and outcasts
