Mercy YOU!
Miracle of Mercy • Sermon • Submitted
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· 16 viewsGod wants you to be an instrument of mercy.
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Transcript
Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to think about God’s mercy.
On September 1620, the ship Mayflower, with 102 pilgrims, left England. The trip to America took 66 days. They were seeking a place to worship God with freedom, but they were not prepared for the extremely cold winter they would encounter when they arrived. Most stayed in the warmth of the ship, but they were short on provisions. Only half of them survived the brutal winter to see the Spring of 1621.
In March, they moved ashore where they received the visit of Abenaki, an Indian who greeted them in English. A few days later, he came with another Indian (Squanto) who, after seeing their weaknesses and malnutrition, taught them how to cultivate corn, how to fish the rivers, to extract sap from maple trees, and to avoid poisonous plants.
They survived because God showed His mercy through a stranger.
It is sad to say it, but I have received more mercy from strangers than from brothers and sisters in Christ. Shame on them!
The first Thanksgiving in that year (1621), to which the Indians were invited, was to celebrate the pilgrims’ first harvest and to express gratitude to God for all things He had done for them.
As God showed mercy through the actions of a stranger, He can also use you to show His mercy.
Read 2 Cor 4:1-18
If you want to be an instrument of mercy in God’s hands, let me share four reminders:
In His mercy, He allows you to serve.
In His mercy, He allows you to serve.
According to the Word all believers are ministers (servants, deacons). If we have been made ministers is not because our qualifications, but because of God’s mercy.
That was very clear in Paul’s mind and heart. He did not deserve to be a minister of God! A paraphrase of verse 1 would be:
“You and I have a ministry due to God’s mercy.”
Paul never forgot who he had been and the things he had done!
As Saul, in his ignorance and zeal, he participated in the murder of Stephen, persecuted the church and tried to destroy it, he blasphemed. He threw many believers into jail.
On the way to Damascus, Saul had a personal encounter with Christ and became a believer. With that bad history on his shoulders, the least he ever taught was that God was going to make him a minister, but God showed him mercy!
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
1 Tim 1:12-13
Paul considered himself as the first among sinners.
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
1 tim 1:15-16
Are you better than Paul?
Are you better than Paul?
When you remember where God took you out from, you will be merciful to others!
Be genuine!
Be genuine!
but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
2 Cor 4:2
Genuine, not an imitation.
Genuine, not an imitation.
“…commending ourselves to every man’s conscience.”
We are subject to the examination of man to see if we are genuine or fake. We are under their microscope.
God created you to be you, not a copy of others. God made you special! He made you and broke the mold! There is only one you in this world!
He created you to be a genuine instrument of mercy!
Do not try to be an imitation of..... Imitations are cheap! You may buy a 0.5 ct real diamond for $1500 or a 0.5 ct Essence Diamond for $30.
You may throw the imitation diamond into the trash if you want, but I am sure you wouldn’t throw the real one!
Every person is valuable in God’s eyes! When someone is in need, do not destroy him, show him mercy. Show him that you are a genuine Christian!
Not living a deceitful life.
Not living a deceitful life.
“we have renounced the things hidden…not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God,” 2
Since we are open letters, we do not hide anything, we are transparent, we do not wear a mask, like the hypocrites, we do not deceive with the Word, neither use it to manipulate people.
We do not try to appear as perfect saints, but as sinners who have received mercy and want to be merciful as Christ has been to us.
Seeking to please God.
Seeking to please God.
“commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2
“commending” indicates the approval of a person with the implication that others adopt the same attitude.
But what ultimately matters is not the approval of man, but the approval of God.
When you accuse or point fingers to others, when you criticize or murmur, when you see someone in need and you do not help him, do you get God’s approval? Definitively NO!
But whenever you show mercy, you get God’s approval!
The thing is that when you show mercy, they may see Jesus in you, not you!
The enemy, who is not merciful, does not want people to see God’s mercy; therefore,
“has blinded the mind of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” 4
Be like a lamp that reflects the mercy you have received!
Use your suffering to help others.
Use your suffering to help others.
No one likes to suffer! But if you are not willing to suffer, you cannot be a follower of Christ:
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Suffering are unavoidable.
Suffering are unavoidable.
Ministry is not easy, doing right may bring suffering. Being merciful may bring you suffering too, specially from those who consider themselves righteous.
Paul described some of his sufferings on these verses
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
...and more extensively in chap 11 (23-28), but they did not stop him from serving.
2 cor 4:8-10
...and more extensively in chap 11 (23-28), but they did not stop him from serving.
Suffering have a bi-fold purpose.
Suffering have a bi-fold purpose.
Strengthening your character.
Strengthening your character.
“all things work together for good to those who love the Lord,” ().
“all things work together for good to those who love the Lord,” ().
“All things” includes sufferings.
“All things” includes sufferings.
Sufferings work on your favor! It is God working on your character!
Sufferings are like the hitting of the hammer over the red-heated metal, whose purpose is not to destroy the metal, but to strengthen it. To convert it from just a piece of metal into a strong cutting sword.
Preparing you to show mercy to others.
Preparing you to show mercy to others.
Those sufferings were an experience to be used in ministry, that helped him to identify with others, and they also help us to understand his words in
who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Only one who has had cancer can truly understand who is suffering it; only one has been unjustly accused can understand the anger of the innocent accused; only one who has lost his job...
Keep your eyes on eternity.
Keep your eyes on eternity.
“the light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,”
You enjoy an eternal weight of glory, when you set your eyes on the eternal, in the things that we cannot see now, but we will see when we enter the eternal state.
This life is fleeting. 16-17
This life is fleeting. 16-17
We started to die the day we were born! The body decays every day and life is gone in a twinkling of an eye. Today we are, tomorrow we’re gone.
If you know Christ, do not dismay, the best is waiting for you!
Live it for Christ. 18
Live it for Christ. 18
If you live it for this world you’ll get disappointment. No material thing, no temporal thing will give you real joy, only Christ.
Live for Him! Be like Him! Show mercy like He did!