Don’t Take the Bait - No Mercy

Welcome: Happy Mother’s Day!

Hey everyone! Welcome to Prairie Lakes—and happy Mother’s Day. I know we’ve already said this: but on holidays like Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, even Thanksgiving and Christmas—it’s great to be a part of a “No Matter” church. Some of us are bringing joy in our hearts today, grateful for our moms or grateful to be a mom. Others of us are bringing some sadness around that.

But no matter what you’re bringing, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. God’s got something for you today.

And if you’re a mom who is married with kids: I hope they didn’t already screw it up. But if they did, probably not your first rodeo. So if nobody else tells you today: you’re doing great. And we’re grateful for you.

Voices

Alright. Let’s dive in.

You and I—we all listen to a lot of different voices throughout our day.

For most of us (whether we care to admit it or not), these voices start speaking to us from the first moment we roll over and grab our doomscroll devices.

And then you go to work. More voices.

And you come back home. More voices.

Now:

It’s likely at this point in your life that you’ve curated your own trusted and preferred voices. You’ve got who you listen to for news; for entertainment; for politics…

Even for your faith. A lot of us have our favorite pastors or worship artists or Christian leaders that we follow and listen to.

But my point is this:

We listen to a lot of voices—and in the chorus of those voices, also the same one or two voices—all day, every day.

That’s my point. And here’s my question to you:

Of all the messages being transmitted and traveling to you every single one of your days,

From wherever and whoever…

How many of those messages are telling you:

“Be merciful?”

Be merciful? How many of your trusted, preferred, favorite commentators or artists or pundits or preachers just can’t help themselves but to early and often encourage you to be merciful?

My guess is this:

Probably not a lot. Mercy doesn’t really sell in 2026.

In fact, we’re kinda living through a moment where mercy is seen persona non-grata—even dangerous, believe it or not—like if we misunderstand or misapply it, we’ll actually compromise the truth. Mercy misapplied can threaten the truth.

Twenty years ago, it was popular to be politically correct. But then everyone got sick of that, because the rules kept changing around what was and wasn’t politically correct. Who could keep track? Nobody.

And so now, it’s no longer popular to be politically correct. It’s popular to be polarizing.

And in a culture where it’s popular to be polarizing, you know what’s not so popular?

Mercy.

No thank you.

Today, mercy gets lumped in with things like bothsidesism; not being willing to take a stand for the truth. Almost like mercy is some middle-of-the-road passivity that’s not quite as bad as being politically correct… but pretty close.

People don’t build platforms on mercy. Not a lot of mercy viral videos.

People don’t win wars, cultural or literal, with mercy. We drop truth bombs; not mercy bombs.

People don’t win friends or gain influence by being merciful. We follow strong leaders—not merciful ones.

Today’s motto? Pick a side. Take a stand. Don’t apologize.

And if I’m starting to sound like one of your favorite voices…

I think I’ve made my point.

Transition: Series & Weekend Intro

We’re in the middle of a series that we’re calling “Don’t Take the Bait.”

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Show Series Graphic

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The idea behind it, as Pastor John said last week, is this:

If you and I are like fish in a lake or a stream,

There are plenty of lures in the water,

Trying to get our attention; trying to get us to bite.

And this weekend, one of those shiny lures that just looks so juicy and delicious is this:

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The Bait: No Mercy

The Lie: You can either be merciful or you can be truthful—but you can’t be both.

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That’s the bait dangling out in front of us—and everyone is using it. This lie is everywhere.

Everyone’s got it in their tackle box—

Even…

Even some of the people and organizations who are fishing for your attention in Jesus’ name.

Some of us are swallowing this very bait because someone’s stamped a cross on it.

But make no mistake: it’s the same bait—no matter the branding.

And it’s not some new technology, either. It’s not a new approach to catching your attention. People have been fishing with this bait back when Jesus called a few fishermen to follow him.

Tax Collectors and Sinners: Matthew 9

Turn with me to Matthew 9.

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Matthew 9:9-13

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Matthew is the first of (4) gospels—the first of the four books in the New Testament that tell the story of Jesus.

And the passage we’re going to look at, starting in verse 9, is Matthew’s origin story. As we dive into it, we’ll get a better sense of how Jesus thinks mercy fits into our faith.

Read along with me, starting in verse 9:

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Matthew 9:9–13 “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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Couple of things about what we just read there that I want to draw your attention to for context.

First:

This story, like a lot of stories in Matthew especially, highlights a common clash between Jesus and his approach to following God, and the Pharisees and their approach to following God.

Both Jesus and the Pharisees were seen as rabbis—as teachers of God’s Word explaining how to follow him.

But much like popular pastoral voices today, they preached conflicting messages and very different approaches:

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Pharisees:

Lead with holiness: maintain an appropriate relational distance between yourself and unrepentant people. Otherwise they will contaminate you.

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And before we just pile on them or contrast Jesus’ approach, let’s admit a couple of things about the Pharisee’s approach here.

First: it’s Scriptural, believe it or not. Both Old and New Testaments, pre- and post-Jesus, affirm some things about this.

And second: some of you in this room are living this right now. This is your lived experience right now—especially if you’ve just stepped across the faith line or come back to the faith after wandering. Jesus is changing you; your life is starting to go in a dramatically different and better direction; and you’re starting to see just how destructive your old life and even some of your old relationships really were.

And so it’s only natural to feel like the more holy you become—the more set apart unto God that you’re living—the more distance you put between yourself and all those people you used to hang with before you stepped across the line and started following Jesus.

But Jesus’ approach here with Matthew…

And what he says to the Pharisees about why he’s not separating himself from people like Matthew…

Kinda frustrates their approach to holiness:

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Pharisees:

Lead with holiness: maintain an appropriate relational distance between yourself and unrepentant people. Otherwise they will contaminate you.

Jesus:

Lead with mercy: don’t forget that you are someone in need of God’s mercy. Point unrepentant people to the One who can heal them.

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Jesus doesn’t redefine holiness. But he does put something else in front of it. It’s not that holiness goes away; it’s that mercy comes first.

Do we still have to be holy as followers of Jesus? Yes. We do.

Does being merciful mean tolerating sin? No. It doesn’t.

But in their zeal for holiness,

Jesus sees that these Pharisees are essentially “burying the lead.”

In Jesus, God’s headline to us isn’t “You need to be holy.” That’s still in the newspaper; hasn’t gone away; still there in black and white.

But it’s on page 2.

At the top of page 1,

In big, bold, capital letters, is this:

Be merciful to one another—like your Father in heaven is merciful to you.

It’s not an either/or. It’s not “either be merciful or be holy.” It’s not “be gracious or take a stand for the truth.”

It’s more of an issue of priority: which comes first? What’s the headline in your heart, in your life, and in your relationships?

First (Mis)Step After Mercy

To this point, I haven’t spent a lot of time explaining (or re-explaining, if you haven’t heard us talking about this before) who a tax collector was back then or what a Pharisee was back then. From the story, I think you can fill in the blanks well enough to get a sense of what was going on.

But you can see some of those same dynamics play out even today—maybe even in your own life and relationships.

In the last few years, we’ve seen God do some pretty incredible things in our church—most notably, how he’s using our church to help people truly find and follow Jesus for the first time.

Easter isn’t too far in our rearview mirror; across our campuses, 112 of you made that decision to step across the faith line and follow Jesus at our Good Friday and Easter services.

In 2024, 315 of you made that decision.

Last year, 382 of you.

Just amazing what God is doing to draw people to himself in and through our church.

And so if you’re one of those, praise God—

But also, watch out—

Because:

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The “no mercy” bait shimmers brightest right after you know mercy.

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It’s ironic. But it’s true. I’ve seen it time and time again. God rescues you from your old life—and in short order, you feel no mercy for your old friends.

Maybe you can relate to this—and you might find this hard to believe now, but I was picked on as a kid.

I was young for my grade; seemed like everyone else hit their transformation and growth spurt before me.

But I was pretty good at school and pretty good at sports—and I was competitive. So I was usually out on the playground or in the gym with guys 2-3 years older than me.

But when you’re the youngest or one of the smallest, and you’re a young man… you’re a target. And I still remember as a 45-year-old those middle and early high school years.

That is, until I went from about 5’9” to 6’3” over the span of, like, 48 hours.

It wasn’t that fast. But it was pretty fast.

And I’d like to say that I was the kind of person who took that transformation in stride. You know… stayed humble. Remembered what it was like to be bullied. Gentle giant. All of that.

But… no. Not really.

By the time I shot up, most of the guys who had picked on me were graduated and gone.

But not all of them.

And I’d be lying to you if I said that I didn’t relish giving it back to some of them to an even worse extent than they gave to me.

Here’s the deal:

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The “no mercy” bait shimmers brightest right after you know mercy.

Once you know mercy, it’s easy to forget what it felt like to need it.

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Again, it’s weird—but it’s true. That’s so often how it works—unless you fight against against it.

And here’s why:

The result of receiving Jesus’ mercy is so transformational. From the inside out you become a different person.

What you desire changes. What you value changes. How you define right and wrong; what’s important and what’s not important; what’s permissible and what’s preferable. All of it changes.

And at the same time that you are changing, so does your community. You start spending more time with people who are being changed by Jesus like you are being changed by Jesus. You’re around people who define right and wrong like you now define right and wrong. You’re hanging out with people who value what you now value; believe what you now believe; live how you’re now living.

And in very short order, you’re swimming in a very different stream or a completely different part of the lake. You’re in Narnia, so to speak—a much better and more magical world than the one you left behind.

And as you begin to worship as a new creation, you do so in a way that leaves your old world (and everyone else in it) behind.

But then we forget:

“God so loved the world.”

He loved it so much that he sent Jesus to save it.

And when this Jesus—who is God in the flesh—sees that the leaders of his people are painting a picture of worshiping God that makes holiness the headline instead of mercy—

That paints righteousness as more separate from than engaged with—

He quotes the prophet Hosea as a corrective:

“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”

Meaning:

If you want to truly worship God,

Before it’s about offering a sacrifice of your time by going to church,

Or a sacrifice of a song (or two, or three)

Or a sacrifice of a tithe

Or even a sacrifice of a holy life (!)

It’s about being merciful to those who need mercy

Because that’s what God in Christ did with you.

Get this:

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Showing mercy doesn’t undermine a holy life. It defines it.

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You can’t be holy if you’re not merciful.

You can’t be godly if you’re not merciful.

Show me a person who puts holiness over mercy and I’ll show you someone who has lost the plot.

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Growing in holiness means becoming more merciful; not less.

Growing in godliness means a growing appetite for mercy—

Especially towards the tax collectors and sinners…

The unbelievers and unrepentant

The people who not only don’t share your values but actively oppose them.

Becoming more like Jesus means feeling more mercy in your heart for your “enemies” in this world,

Because you were once an enemy of God,

But in Christ, and in his mercy, he made you a friend.

Follow Me First

One of the things I find so fascinating about Matthew’s encounter with Jesus is what he led with.

Two other gospels tell this same story—Mark and Luke. But in their account, this tax collector’s name isn’t Matthew; it’s Levi.

This wasn’t uncommon in this part of the world in Jesus’ day—and is kinda similar to the practice today where if you live in a different country than the one you came from, you take on a more familiar sounding name.

Matthew was a more common Greco-Roman name; but Levi was the name his mother gave him—

Which means:

Matt was a Jew. He came from a Hebrew family. In fact, with a name like Levi, he may have had ancestral ties to the Jewish priestly class.

Which means:

The apple had fallen very far from the tree.

A guy with noble Jewish ancestry was now profiting off of the backs of his countrymen for the occupying army. He was collecting taxes (and likely collecting for himself on top of it all) for the Romans from his fellow Jews.

When the Pharisees got up in the synagogue to rail against their enemies, Matthew’s face would’ve been on the poster behind them.

And so the fact that the very first thing that Jesus says to Matt isn’t “repent,”

But instead, “follow me…”

It’s not “you’re wrong,”

But instead it’s “you wanna hang out?”

And then he goes to have dinner at his house,

And all of his other cronies are there just hanging out, too—

Like it’s no big deal what they’ve done to God’s people…

No big deal that they’ve stood against everything that God stands for

Not a problem at all that they lie, cheat, and steal with absolutely no care in the world for what is good and right and true…

I mean, if this isn’t evidence for how showing mercy undermines everything that God says in his Word, then I don’t know what is.

But Jesus doesn’t give an inch to this attitude. He doesn’t feel the least bit of pressure to bow to their judgment of them.

And while they think they are being “prophetic” to Jesus in their corrective “Why does your teacher associate himself with such filth?” comment,

Jesus quotes an actual prophet to remind them:

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Mercy isn’t a barrier to repentance. It’s what makes repentance possible.

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Kindness Leads to Repentance

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Romans 2.

If you were to start reading the book of Romans from the beginning, chapter 1, you’d feel like you were reading something that one of those Pharisees could’ve written:

It talks about God’s wrath—his anger at all of the evils and sin that people commit.

It talks about sexual impurity and lusts. Idolatry. Depravity. And the fact that while the world might claim ignorance, that they know better. They not only do things that they know to be wrong; they approve of it.

I imagine that if those Pharisees read the first chapter, they’d be shouting “Amen” after every verse.

But then you get to this verse in chapter 2:

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Romans 2:2–4 “Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

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Hey:

You too.

Me too.

We weren’t—and aren’t—and never will be…

Anything more

Than people who rightly deserved God’s wrath,

But instead received God’s mercy.

Mercy isn’t a threat. It’s the point.

Don’t ever think otherwise. Don’t take the bait.

(Prayer.)

Weekend Host Direction

Any good public speaker will tell you that it’s a mistake to start your talk with a definition—

Even after Pastor Jesse talked for 30 minutes on repentance, I think it’s possible most of us might still be a little unclear on what it actually is.

If you’ve heard a pastor talk about mercy before, maybe you’ve heard them talk about it in this way:

Is one-dimensional. And kind of incomplete.

Jesus quoted Hosea. Hosea was a prophet to God’s people during a time in which they were more than content to just go through the motions of coming to worship rather than living a life of worship.

But when you live a life of worship, you’ll love God and love others like God loves you.

That’s really what mercy is—at least in the Bible:

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Mercy: loving God by being kind to others—especially those who are undeserving and in need.

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(Contextualize for your campus; encouragement and/or challenge.)