The Gift of Mercy

Introduction

The reality of our world is that there is a lot of pain and suffering that people face on a regular basis. Romans 8 shines a light on our world when it says that creation groans under the curse, the believer groans waiting for our home in heaven and God Himself through the Spirit groans for us as we face unbelievable trials. With all that goes on in our world, we could be tempted to think that the believer is exempt somehow, but Jesus promises that in this world we would have tribulation. Christians face difficulties and pain all the time. In some ways they may face it more than the lost does because we have the added elements of chastening and persecution. If you were to survey, the average church you would probably find people like this:

A mother whose children have walked away from God and despise her and her faith- She suffers relational hurt from her kids.

A son or daughter who have been verbally, physically or sexually abused somewhere in their past and they carry the trauma with them.

A man who comes home to a wife who criticizes everything he does and feels like he is hopeless.

A wife who cringes under the haranges of an angry man.

A lost job, sickness, death of a loved one, stress, depression, anxiety, failure, sin all beat the believer down.

In India this past week a national pastor was kidnapped by terrorists leaving a family behind. Who is going to care for them? How can the church bear their burdens?

When we think of the spiritual gifts, people have mistakenly assumed that the gift of exhortation is the comforting gift that would respond to these emotional and physical hurts that people suffer. An exhorter will come alongside to help, but they will be focused on helping you walk through this and take the next step while the final gift in Romans 12, the gift of mercy is more focused on the emotional burden that you might bear. As we bring this mini-series to a close, we are going to look at the identity of this gift, how it can be used and Paul’s specific directions for its use.

The Identity of the Gift

Out of all the spiritual gifts, mercy is the one that is actually a character trait of God. The bible is filled with examples of mercy from cover to cover. While justice is also an attribute of God, the puritans called it God’s strange work because it isn’t His default desire for mankind. It is an act necessitated by a broken world. To understand this gift we need to look at the meaning of the word mercy in both the OT and the NT. We are going to focus on two Hebrew words and two Greek words for mercy this morning.

Hebrew- hesed- is the most common OT word for mercy. It is sometimes translated as lovingkindness or faithfulness because it is more than our basic understanding of mercy. In English we define mercy as not giving me what I deserve. Hesed is more than that. First, it is based on a covenant relationship. A covenant is a relationship formed on the basis of promises like a marriage covenant or marriage vow. Secondly, it implies kindness, and goodness to the other person. Because of your relationship you want to do good for them and show your love toward them. Thirdly, it also deals with faithfulness. A covenant is not something that is lightly thrown away.

It is a shame in our culture that marriage is so flippantly devalued. People go into and out of marriage when it just gets too stressful. By allowing no-fault divorce in our country we have destroyed the best image we have of God’s hesed. We don’t understand the commitment and love that this kind of a relationship requires. When you take all of the bible into account, none of us deserve hesed.

Hebrew word- rahoom- In Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” another word is used but translated as mercy. It is actually one of the words for atonement. God’s mercy is seen in His willingness to cover over our sin. He bears the cost.

Greek- mercy- ελεαω (eleao)- to show leniency and compassion toward someone or something- This word’s focus is on action’s taken to show mercy. a person with this gift does not sit by and feel sad for someone, they reach out to try and do something about that pain and heartache.

Greek- holiness- Acts 13:34 “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.” This verse is interesting because the word here is literally God’s holiness. God’s mercy and blessings come from his holiness of character.

Definition: the spirit given grace that moves the believer to deeply feel the emotional needs of the suffering and distressed while actively seeking to comfort, relieve, and remove the source of that pain.

This gift deals with the:

Physical suffering

emotional pain

discouragement

weakness

and struggles

Just like Jesus, a person with this gift will sacrifice and do what it takes to remove the thing that is hurting and destroying the person that they love.

The Use of the Gift

Before I get into some practical examples I want to look at five principles that we see in scripture about the use of the git of mercy. The gospels are filled with lessons and examples of what it looks like to show mercy, because that was the whole purpose for Christ’s first coming. He came not to destroy but to save.

Mercy moves towards pain not away from it. Mark 1:41 “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.” Most people would have looked at a leper and run the other way. If you are honest, when you see someone who looks like they have been living on the streets, they are dirty, unkempt, and rough looking, you probably keep your distance. I really was awakened to this one day when we had a homeless stinky man come in to Sunday school. The average person including myself here at church wanted to keep our distance. But Jesus did not respond like that when he met someone whose skin was rotting off, whom the rest of the world ran from. He reached out and touched him.

Mercy notices those that others often ignore. Related to that is the truth that mercy notices, they see, the hurts of those who are often ignored. Probably the best example of this is the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The woman was at that well at an odd time of the day. For some reason she was a social outcast. Maybe it was her marital status that caused here to be here when she was. On top of that she was a Samaritan, hated by the Jews; but Jesus traveled out of the ordinary path to find her. Another example is Zaccheaus who was small and despised by others. Jesus notices him up in that tree and calls him down.

Mercy moves us to action James 2:15–16 “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” Mercy is not merely a feeling. It isn’t just wishing you could help someone but it is stepping out and doing something about it. It does no good to say well, I’ll pray for you if you could help them. Jesus said that when we actively help others, we are in turn doing that good to him. Matthew 25:35–39 “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?”

Mercy often serves behind the scenes Matthew 6:1–4 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” Like servants, mercy does not want to be in the forefront. They are happy serving int he background.

Mercy is not limited to those we are fond of- The story is a good example of the type of love and mercy we are to have. The Samaritan had no reason to care for this Jewish man. They were enemies with years of strife between their people, but he showed mercy even on his enemies. Mercy isn’t merely about being there for the people who love us, treat us well, or we get along with. Mercy transcends barriers and reaches out to those who might have said hurtful things to us, they might have ignored us, they might even have tried to stir up strife with others. Jesus showed us mercy even when we were enemies of God.

Practical Uses:

Caring for the sick- making a meal, cleaning the house for them,

helping the grieving- weeping with them, praying with them

visiting the hurting- relieving their pain by doing things for them, comforting them, tending to them physically,

encouraging those who are discouraged- reminding them of the good promises of God and the character of God. Reminding them of the future.

ministering to those who are struggling spiritually- praying with them on a regular basis or encouraging them to not give up

noticing and drawing in the overlooked- inviting them to dinner and building a friendship with them

The Directions for Using the Gift

Like others gift’s Paul gives a specific instruction for those with the gift of mercy. They are to use their gift with cheerfulness. Cheerfulness here means- gladness, dispelling gloom- It is the the opposite of being under duress. Even though a person with the gift of mercy is gifted by God to show mercy, there can be times when that burden feels too much for them or they merely show mercy because they feel they have to. When I was meditating on this command, I asked, “Why would someone with the gift of mercy need to be told to do it with cheerfulness.

They can be drawn into the suffering, grief, gloom of others. I live with one of these in my life and one thing has become abundantly clear: those with the gift of mercy can be emotionally high, but also they can hit emotional lows. They can feed off the energy of others; so if the person they are ministering too is depressed and that is the only voice they hear for long periods of time, they can come out feeling depressed.

Some people’s emotional needs are constant and it feels like they are sucking the life out of you. We call this compassion fatigue. Unless you take time to emotionally and spiritually recharge your own battery: walk in the Spirit, spend time with God, you will eventually run out of energy to give to others. This is a special type of burn out. This isn’t mental or physical energy as much as it is emotional energy. All of us need to make sure we are spiritually being filled ourselves, but those with the gift of mercy have a special need for this. They must have a meaningful walk with God to keep giving out like they do.

They can give in to self-pity and begin to think “no one is bearing these burden’s like I am.” Those with this gift expect everyone to be as aware, and responsive to the needs of others as they are. It can be easy to forget that God has gifted each of us individually. One of the great blessings of an understanding of spiritual gifts is a balanced and gracious understanding of how God has gifted others in the church. When we understand our differences, it allows us to stop demanding everyone be exactly like us and it gives us an understanding as to why they aren’t.

Conclusion

Most of my characteristics of when they walk in the Spirit were already covered earlier, but I want to give a concise list of four traits when they walk in the spirit/ flesh.

Walking in the Spirit

They tend to notice hurting people quickly

Rather than avoid uncomfortable situations, they move toward people

They are tender but truthful

They tend to listen well

Waling in the flesh:

They can ignore sin out of “love” for the brother

They can become emotional overwhelmed

They grow resentful

They avoid confrontation

The church needs people like this to be active in using their gift. There are a lot of hurting people within the church, but there is also a world around us that is suffering under sin and death. These men and women have a pivotal role to play in showing the love of Christ through the Church and without them, we become a cold and uncaring church. The church become unbalanced where we only focus on teaching doctrine, or counseling or building projects or fellowships; but we lack the care of Jesus. One of the greatest descriptions of Jesus to me is found in Isaiah 42:3 “A bruised reed shall he not break, And the smoking flax shall he not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.” There are those who yes they are wrong, yes they are burning like the flax, but they are also hurting. Jesus knows how to distinguish between the woman caught in adultery and the proud angry Pharisees and he has gifted the church men and women specially enabled to minister like this.