Blessed Are the Merciful
Notes
Transcript
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
This week I was listening to a podcast interview this week where Todd Friel was interviewing a man named Nick Freitas.
Todd you may know as the host of Wretched Radio, if not he’s also a pastor in Alpharetta, GA. Nick was previously a member of the Virginia house of delegates, he was also a Green Beret, but in the past few years he has done a lot of political commentary, and is currently promoting a book.
During the interview, Nick Freitas at one point says:
“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life - arguably the biggest - and it is one I didn’t learn until my 40s was my primary function in this life is obedience.” Nick Freitas continues ‘when I stand before God what I want to hear is “well done good and faithful servant. So if my job is obedience that begs the question: how do I decipher - how do I discern what obedience is? Well its pretty hard to discern what obedience is if you’re not actually reading the book God actually gave us as an instruction manual for helping to decipher obedience is. If you’re not praying. If you’re not asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit, well then its going to be difficult to understand what obedience looks like.”
Being part of the protestant tradition, we are always very quick to acknowledge, the wonder that we are saved by grace through faith not as a result of works. We simply cannot be good enough to earn our salvation with works.
That being said a saving faith is an obedient faith. There are a whole lot of people in our country/world who would claim to be followers of Jesus who think they are too smart to do what he has commanded.
You are not saved because you were obedient to God’s will. You weren’t. That’s why you need a savior. But because you are saved you are called to be obedient. If you have no concern with being obedient to what God commands of his saints. You may not be saved.
This isn’t works righteousness. This is the same test that we see in the book of James, if you say you have faith - then show me your works.
And I need to make that disclaimer first, because much of this beatitude is about obedience to what Jesus has commanded us.
And that is an appropriate distinction. focus on how we engage with others.
And yet, this beatitude provides the opportunity to give significant clarity concerning your own faith.
Our interactions with the world around us demonstrate our faith - because they demonstrate if and how our faith works.
Jesus tells us “blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
And so the opposite might be… woe to the mercy-less, for they shall be shown no mercy.
Are you merciful?
Do you show mercy to others?
OR
Do you hold a grudge toward your enemies and just waiting for the day that they get theirs?
If you are unable to show mercy to your enemies, and those who have wronged you - then you do not understand the gospel.
That might sound harsh - and I even thought to myself - maybe I should say “you may not understand the gospel” instead -
But it is not my right as a pastor to soften the words of Jesus to make them easier to hear.
So let’s look at Jesus own words…
Flip a couple pages over in your Bible to Matthew 18. Here Jesus tells this parable of the unforgiving servant.
Matthew 18:21-35 - Parable of the unforgiving servant.
21 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?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 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.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
The servant has been shown an immense amount of mercy. 10,000 talents is an intentionally absurd number… 1 talent was about 20 years of wages. Jesus is describing 200,000 years of wages. That’s like 5000 lifetimes. The point of this part of the parable on Jesus’ part is that this debt is so large that no one would ever be able to repay it. And yet the King forgave it.
This is the gospel, is it not? Each of us in our trespasses and sins have amassed a debt of wrath due for our disobedience that we could never satisfy.
But King Jesus, the Son of God, comes to earth, takes on human flesh. He pays the price that we owed - death - but he also takes the punishment for forbearance… God’s wrath is poured out upon him - so that there is no condemnation left for those who have faith in Jesus.
That immeasurable debt of the 10,000 talents… only Jesus can pay it. And yet the mercy that the Lord provides is offered free to all who believe.
And the scenario that Jesus is setting up given the immense mercy that this servant was shown by the king, he should be more than will to forgive a smaller debt.
But that’s not what he does. He goes out and finds another servant who owes his a FRACTION of what he was forgiven.
He finds a servant who owes him 100 denarii… 1 denarius was a days wage. So this is about 4 months of wages.
4 months compared to 200,000 years wages.
Neither one is a small amount.
READ V 33 again.
Those who have recieved a great mercy from the Lord, ought to also extend great mercy to others.
To tie this back to my introduction -this Beatitude does not mean that we earn the Lord’s mercy, by being merciful to others. We cannot be merciful enough to do that. Showing mercy toward others does not earn salvation. But a merciless person demonstrates that they have not understood mercy.
This isn’t just a passing thought from Jesus here in the Beatitudes. He returns to this idea again in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6.
In verse 12,
The 5th petition of the the Lord’s Prayer is “Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.”
Then following the prayer:
The follows that up a few verses later in Matthew 6:14 with:
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
In Luke 6, Jesus says:
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
But what does it mean to show mercy?
Forgiveness
Forgiving when others have wronged you.
Jesus uses the illustration of money and the forgiving of debts - and that may be an manner in which you extend mercy.
However, when we look at how the word mercy is used in the New Testament it is also used to mean compassion.
Compassion
Jesus has compassion/mercy on the sick in
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
In Matthew 15, Jesus has compassion/mercy on the crowd before feeding the 4000.
The two narratives in Matthew concerning healing two blind men - in Matthew 9 and in Matthew 20. The beggars cry “Son of David, have mercy on us.”
For this reason, we often describe Mercy Ministry where we meet the physical needs of someone one else.
This is true: One way in which we can show mercy to another person is to help with their physical needs.
Showing mercy does not only mean giving money. It is not merciful to toss cash at the alcoholic standing outside of the liquor store who tells you he needs money to buy lunch - but you both know he is eyeing that bottle of Jack Daniels. Giving him money is not mercy, that’s enabling.
And most of us get that, which is why if someone asks you for lunch you don’t give them cash, you take them somewhere to get lunch. Or if they ask for gas money you take them to the gas station to get gas. Or you give them a gift card.
Sometimes giving someone the thing they are asking for is not merciful. Those of you who have children understand this well.
Showing mercy to someone is not just giving them food.
From the podcast that I mentioned earlier, as Nick and Todd were discussing the nature of the church and while discussing the nature of the church and responsibility of the church.
And during the conversation, Todd, the host made the statement:
“There’s nobody in hell thanking people who fed them but didn’t share the gospel.”
“Satan doesn’t mind you doing nice things, as long as you reject Jesus. ”
If all we do for a person is give them a bit to eat, but do not warn them of their greatest spiritual problem - and the free gift of grace to all who believe - we are sending them to hell with a full belly.
It is not merciful to withhold the gospel from someone who is perishing.
To give a lost soul the gospel that they might believe and live is the greatest act of mercy each of us can do for another.
“The preaching of the word is nothing but showing mercy to souls.” Watson - in this circumstance Watson was referring to the preacher. From Watson’s perspective what I am doing right now is a work of mercy… but if I fail to preach the word, and cave to preaching to itching ears - and instead preaching motivation speeches to improve your self esteem, or distort scripture to say what sounds good rather than true - instead of preaching the whole counsel of God and Christ and him crucified - then I am a merciless (and disqualified) preacher.
but to bring this down to the role, of not just the preacher, but to every one of us -
Watson goes even further to assert:
“He who lets another sin and holds his peace is a manslayer.” Watson
It is not merciful to allow another soul to live their life in sin, destined for hell, and to never warn them.
But
But to add to that, in 1 John teaches us:
17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
If you have everything you need, and live in excess, but you do not have any concern with helping your brother who is in need. Then you also aren’t being merciful.
So then mercy can be extended to others in at least three ways.
Forgivness
Compassion
Evangelism
Being merciful to others means forgiving their offenses toward you, helping them meet their needs, but also showing them their need for the gospel of Jesus.
True Biblical mercy is not just meeting one’s physical needs, but also their spiritual needs.
I can forgive someone who has wronged me because of what Christ has done for me.
I can help others with their needs because in Christ Jesus, I have all that I need.
Because Jesus has shown me mercy, I can show others mercy. And I can point them to the flowing fountain of eternal mercies.
Because I know that:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
There is more mercy to be found in Jesus than I can ever provide in a plate of food or a tank of gas. But if I point someone else to Christ - then they will experience the new mercies of the Lord each and every day.
I want to return back to the first word of the beatitude. Blessed.
Blessed are the merciful…
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
A few weeks ago, when we discussed the word blessed. I defined blessing as Jesus uses it here, as happy, or flourishing. The means for which God created us.
We are blessed, we are happy, when we extend the mercy we have received to others because it is ingrained in the purpose for which we were created.
God is merciful. And when we understanding that mercy - we should freely show it to others.
You can attend church every Sunday for your entire life, know all the right answers, be a good moral person - but if you never show mercy to your brother in need - you don’t know Jesus.
That might be a scary sentence - and maybe it shows that you have things to repent of… is there selfishness that is preventing you from being merciful to others?
Is there fear?
Is there idolatry?
Look to Jesus.
Put those things to death.
Rejoice that Jesus’ mercies are new each day, and that he forgives to the uttermost.
And then go serve you king by showing the mercy that he has shown you to others.
