Kids' Club: Matthew 5:7

Introduction: Friends, we have spent 5 weeks learning about the Beatitudes.

We learned the first week that we need to call out to the Lord to save us from our sin and help us fight sin.

We learned the second week that we need to be sad over our sin.

We learned the third week that God enables us to be gentle instead of hurting those who hurt us.

We learned last week that we want to be people who are known by our desire to live to please the Lord.

This week, we’re going to look at how God wants for us to interact with others in a particular kind of scenario.

I’m going to read the verse and then I want for us to read it together three times.

Content and Explanation: Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (X3)

Friends, I’m sure by now you know what it is that I’m going to ask.

What does it mean to be “Blessed?”

Happy!

Yes, that’s right!

Friends, who are the “Blessed” in this verse?

The merciful.

Those who show mercy to others.

Friends, what is mercy?

Usually, we think of helping someone who is in need.

We might also think of withholding punishment from someone; also called leniency.

Friends, when we look at this term in God’s Word, it has a different spin to the meaning other than helping someone or withholding punishment.

To understand more what it looks like to be merciful, we’re going to look at the Old Testament book of Jonah.

Friends, Jonah was a prophet that God told to go to Nineveh to preach so that the Ninevites would turn to the Lord away from their sins; we call this repentance.

Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.

Therefore, he hitched a ride on a boat going the exact opposite direction.

What happened to Jonah on that boat ride?

The Lord sent a storm.

The crew threw Jonah overboard.

The storm stopped.

The Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah!

Jonah eventually turned back to the Lord from his sin and went to Nineveh to preach against their sin, after being thrown up by the great fish.

Jonah went throughout the whole city and proclaimed that God was going to destroy the city on account of its sin.

The people responded humbly to this message and turned to the Lord away from their sin.

Let’s begin reading in Jonah 4:2 to learn about what it means to be merciful.

Jonah 4:2 “He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” (slide)

Friends, does Jonah have a good attitude here?

No!

He should be happy that the whole city turned to the Lord from their sins!

Instead, Jonah is angry.

Why is Jonah angry?

Because of God’s response to the repentance of the Ninevites.

Friends, Jonah expected God to severely punish the Ninevites for their sin.

Friends, the Ninevites deserved to be punished for their sins.

And, friends, so do we and everyone else because we sin since we are sinners.

But, friends, God loves it when sinners turn to Him from their sins.

That is, friends, God loves it when sinners begin to see sin as the hateful and worse thing that it is.

And, instead, they want to live to please the Lord.

And, friends, when people turn to the Lord from their sins, God responds with forgiveness.

This is what Jonah was getting at in his angry speech towards the Lord.

He knew that what God loves to do is forgive the sins of those who turn to Him from their sins.

Friends, what it looks like to be merciful is to give someone what they don’t deserve when they ask for it.

That is, when someone comes and asks for forgiveness, we forgive them.

Friends, we do this because God loves to forgive.

And we want others to know what God is like through how we act.

Friends, when someone comes to you after saying something unkind or taking a toy from you in a mean way and ask for your forgiveness, tells you that they’re sorry, you can forgive them!

But, friends, we don’t forgive with a bad attitude.

“Ok, God, I know that You love to forgive and I’ll forgive others too; but it’s not like I’m happy about it.”

Friends, that attitude is no different from Jonah’s!

Instead, friends, how does our verse remind us that our attitude should be when we forgive?

We should be happy!

We should be happy to forgive someone who comes to us and says that they’re sorry for the wrong that they’ve done to us.

Friends, why should we be happy to forgive someone else?

Let’s look at the next part of the verse.

“for they shall receive mercy.”

Friends, if showing mercy is about forgiving others then is one only receiving mercy here?

No!

They will receive forgiveness!

Friends, this is why we happily forgive others when they come to us saying that they have wronged us and asked for our forgiveness.

We want to happily forgive because God forgives us!

Friends, this is not so much about something that will happen in the future.

Instead, this is a statement of confidence.

Jesus promises that God will certainly forgive!

Friends, forgiven people are happy to forgive others.

They’re happy because they know the genuine happiness of having been forgiven by the Lord!

You see, friends, we all need the Lord’s forgiveness.

We have all sinned (define).

We all sin because we’re sinners.

We want to sin.

We want to think, say, and do things that make God sad/displease Him/break His Law/Word.

We want to sin because we’re sinners.

But, friends, God loves to forgive and can forgive sinners who turn to Him from their sin because Jesus’ perfect sacrifice perfectly forgives sin!

Friends, believe on Jesus as your only Savior from your sins today.

When you do, Jesus will give you His Holy Spirit so that the latter will change you to hate sin and want to live to please the Lord.

Because they’re happy that God has forgiven them then they want to happily act like God and forgive others!

Friends, this is true because the Holy Spirit is changing those who have been forgiven by God through Jesus’ death and life.

Otherwise, friends, naturally we do not want to forgive others.

But, because the Holy Spirit is changing us, we do want to forgive others.

Friends, if God loves to forgive and we should be happy to forgive others, what should be our attitude when we need forgiveness?

What should be our attitude when we recognize that we have hurt someone and need to ask their forgiveness?

Friends, we should be eager forgiveness askers!

We should eagerly ask for forgiveness from the Lord when we sin.

We should eagerly ask for forgiveness from others when we sin against them.

Friends, forgiven people need to continue to ask for forgiveness.

Friends, this can be hard because of our sin.

You see, our desire to sin can blind us to thinking that we don’t really need to ask for forgiveness when we really do because we’ve sinned against the Lord and someone else.

Friends, just like when forgiving someone who comes to us for forgiveness, we need God’s Holy Spirit to help us to go to others and ask for forgiveness when we need to.

Friends, people forgiven by the Lord happily forgive others and eagerly ask for forgiveness of the Lord and others when we sin - all in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture Memory - Matthew 5:7 “7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (X3)

Discussion Questions:

What prophet was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach against their sin? - Jonah

After Jonah preached against the Ninevites’ sin, what did the Ninevites do? - they repented (i.e. turned to God from their sins)

How did God respond to the Ninevites’ repentance? - He forgave them

How did Jonah respond to God’s forgiveness of the Ninevites? - he was angry

Why should we happily forgive others and eagerly ask for forgiveness from the Lord and others? - Because the Lord forgives