Terms Of Engagement #2 (Mercy)
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Recap
God defines what love is - sacrifice. If we aren’t sacrificing (self-denying) are we really loving? The Spirit is essential to our ability to deny ourselves, it is not natural for us. Would you sacrifice for your enemies?
Intro
Intro
This sacrificial love is how the world will know that we belong to God. Remember:
19 We love because he first loved us.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
We know what God’s mercy looks like, we just don’t like to give it.
The problem is, when I form opinions like that I am projecting my own definition of justice on others.
9 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.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We like our version of justice because we think we can find our own justification. Justification is a theological term for earning something. We often hear this term in regards to salvation. We are justified, the price is paid for our salvation. We all have a tendency to believe we can earn our own salvation and that leads us to treat others as if their actions can earn their salvation or damn them to hell.
I know I believe in a standard of living, and in my own head, I project my understanding on others instead of seeing them this huge point Christ makes about the idea of sacrifice.
God could have required these tax collectors and sinners to live up to a standard and try to earn their way, but he doesn’t ask them that. Instead he emphasizes grace and mercy. That is God’s desire. He doesn’t expect us to earn our salvation, He gives mercy.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians
He has all the mercy.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James 2:12-
If we have been saved by grace, we should be an accurate representation of that grace. If we say it is by grace we have been saved, then we need to lead with mercy.
We know what God means by grace and mercy because we have experienced it, but if we don’t allow that definition to dictate how we engage in the world around us, we have lost our saltiness and put our light under a bowl. We have a dead faith. We have a useless religion (on par with every other religion in the world).
We often confuse our vengeance for God’s justice, when grace tells us another story.
As a result of the love God has for us, we have been given mercy. So we should be giving mercy and grace to others. This mercy and grace should inform our idea of justice on every level. When someone says it isn’t fair to be gracious or merciful, we should respond with “yup!” Consequences are important to justice and biblical, but so are grace and love.
Again, it is only by the spirit (given to us in grace), that we are capable of truly employing the ideas of love and mercy in the world in which we live.
Challenge
Challenge
Who do you hesitate to give mercy to? In what circumstances do you look to justify yourself and what you want to see? How has the church sought their own idea of justice instead of the justice of God?
Initial Thoughts
Initial Thoughts
Mercy is recieved, Grace is given, both inform our perspective on God’s justice.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Sacrifice for God will not be able to earn your salvation, therefore God doesn’t desire it. Sinners need mercy and can’t earn salvation so why would God lead us on? Give Grace/Mercy instead as you have been given it. Which also feeds into the idea of Justice.
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
MERCY—compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness (Gen. 19:19; Ex. 20:6; 34:6, 7; Ps. 85:10; 86:15, 16). In Christ mercy and truth meet together. Mercy is also a Christian grace (Matt. 5:7; 18:33–35).
Easton’s Bible Dictionary Mercy-Seat
MERCY-SEAT—(Heb. kapporeth), a “covering;” LXX. and N.T., hilasterion; Vulg., propitiatorium), the covering or lid of the ark of the covenant (q.v.). It was of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, or perhaps rather a plate of solid gold, 2 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 broad (Ex. 25:17; 30:6; 31:7). It is compared to the throne of grace (Heb. 9:5; Eph. 2:6). The holy of holies is called the “place of the mercy-seat” (1 Chr. 28:11: Lev. 16:2).