Sermon Tone Analysis

Happy Are The Merciful

Matthew 5:1-12

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

Matthew 5:7

Today we turn our attention to the fifth Beatitude.

We have been walking slowly through the Beatitudes, wonderful teachings by Jesus.

The first three beatitudes instruct us on how a person must stand in their relationship with God: We are “poor in spirit” or spiritually bankrupt, we mourn, or are sorry for our sin, and we are meekly humble.

When we realize the first three then the fourth beatitude contains a promise of God’s provision of righteousness.

The remaining beatitudes reveal the transformed character of the one who has been touched by Christ’s Spirit and who are being progressively remade in Christ’s image.

Jesus is a great teacher!

The mountaintop hillside was packed with a crowd eager to hear.

Before we open God’s Words of life, let us come to the Lord in prayer.

“God of all mercy, grace, love and life, we come to you today not because we are worthy, but because You are worthy.

Fill our hearts with your mercy and help us to offer mercy to others.

Amen”

I would like to read the Beatitudes from NIV translation and then reflect for a few minutes on Eugene Peterson’s translation and William Barclay’s translation of verse seven.

Matthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes NIV

1.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.[i]

Matthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes The Message Bible

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside.

Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him.

Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.

This is what he said: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.

With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.

Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less.

That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God.

He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

You’re blessed when you care.

At the moment of being ‘carefull,’ you find yourselves cared for.

You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right.

Then you can see God in the outside world.

You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.

That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.

The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me.

What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.

You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do!

And all heaven applauds.

And know that you are in good company.

My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble”.[ii]

“O the bliss of those who get right inside other people, until they can see with their eyes, think with their thoughts, feel with their feelings, for those who do that will find others do the same for them, and will know that that is what God in Jesus Christ has done!”[iii]

MERCY OR GRACE

Years ago, a small-town merchant had identical twin boys who were inseparable.

They were so close that they even dressed alike.

It was said that their extraordinary closeness was the reason they never married.

When their father died, they took over the family business.

Their relationship was considered “a model of creative collaboration.”

Because he was busy, one of the brothers neglected to ring up a sale and absentmindedly left a dollar bill on top of the cash register while he went to the front of the store to wait on another customer.

Remembering the dollar, he returned to deposit it only to find the bill was gone.

He asked his brother if he had seen it, but the brother said he had not.

An hour later he asked his brother again, but this time with an obvious note of suspicion.

His brother became angry and defensive.

Every time they tried to discuss the matter, the conflict grew worse, culminating in vicious charges and countercharges.

The incredible outcome was the dissolution of their partnership, the installation of a partition down the middle of the store, and two competing businesses.

This continued for twenty years—an open, divisive sore in the community.

One day a car with an out-of-state license pulled up in front of the stores.

A well-dressed man entered one brother’s shop and asked how long the store had been there.

Learning it had been twenty years, he said, “Then you are the one with whom I must settle an old score.”

Some twenty years ago I was out of work, drifting from place to place, and I happened to get off a boxcar in your town.

I had absolutely no money and had not eaten for three days.

As I was walking down the alley behind your store, I looked in and saw a dollar bill on the top of the cash register.

Everyone else was in the front of the store.

I had been raised in a Christian home and I had never before in all my life stolen anything, but that morning I was so hungry I gave in to the temptation, slipped through the door, and took that dollar bill.

That act has weighed on my conscience ever since, and I finally decided that I would never be at peace until I came back and faced up to that old sin and made amends.

Would you let me now replace that money and pay you whatever is appropriate for damages?

When the stranger finished his confession, he was amazed to see the old store owner shaking his head in deep sorrow and beginning to weep.

Finally, the old man gained control and, taking the gentleman by the arm, asked him to go to the store next door and tell its owner the same story.

The stranger complied.

Only this time two old men who looked almost identical wept side by side.[iv]

From our distance we cannot say whether the two brothers professed to be believers or were even churchgoers.

Given the time and the culture, they probably owned some religious inclinations.

Indeed, they could have been enthusiastic churchmen—even evangelicals.

But whatever their spiritual profession, their merciless, unforgiving spirits revealed hearts that had never understood the mercy of God.

For if they had, they themselves would have been merciful.

The fifth Beatitude— “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”—is the perfect fit for all who are caught in bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and resentment.

Forgiveness sets us free to have mercy and compassion.

Jesus taught same principle in Lord’s Prayer.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In the ending of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

(Matthew 6:14-15)

When I think of mercy I think of two biblical stories.

The Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers.

What a powerful story of God’s magnificent mercy.

If you have never read this story, pick up your Bible and read Genesis chapters 37-50.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers.