The Merciful

How many of you remember a game called, “Uncle”?

You grabbed hands with someone else, and the goal was to twist until the other person yelled, “Uncle!” and gave up.

If you were on the losing side of that game, you know the pain of having your fingers feel like they were about to dislocate and crying out for the other person to let up and show you some mercy.

You wanted them to be kind to you, to do what they could to stop the pain.

That game had another name, didn’t it?

Some of you may have known it as, “Mercy.”

That’s going to be the topic of our time together this morning.

Not forcing people to submit to us, but instead, what it looks like to extend mercy.

You wanted them to be kind to you, to do what they could to stop the pain.

Turn with me to .

We are continuing our slow but steady walk through the Beatitudes, which is the first section of the Sermon on the Mount.

is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus gave this message while on a mountain near the Sea of Galilee.

Although he was primarily speaking to his disciples, there was a crowd gathered from all different walks of life, areas of the country, and religious backgrounds.

In these few chapters, Jesus is outlining for us the kinds of attitudes and actions that he expects from those who are a part of his kingdom, the kingdom of God/heaven.

He has started off this message with a series of statements called The Beatitudes.

These list characteristics of people who live the happy, blessed life that comes with being a part of his kingdom.

To put it mildly, though, they quickly establish that Jesus’ kingdom doesn’t work like ours does.

We have looked at four of these beatitudes already, but today’s starts a new section.

There is a shift in the beatitudes that begins with this fifth one.

Thus far, our focus has largely been on inward attitudes of the heart.

The remaining beatitudes are now going to look toward the outer life as well.

There is likely a purpose in arranging it this way.

Remember, we have said that the Pharisees and scribes were obsessed with making sure they looked good on the outside.

Jesus has been tearing that idea down by reminding us that the blessed life comes from a heart that is right with God, not through outward conformity to the Law.

If Jesus had started with this beatitude, the Pharisees would have jumped up and said, “Great! I am in!”

Instead, Jesus broke down their defenses and ours by shining a light into the dark corners of our heart to show that we are poor, to break our hearts over what we find in them, for us to be meek enough to put our lives under his control, and to develop in us a hunger for God to work in greater ways in our life and world.

Having done that, he can now start looking at the way that plays out in our day-to-day lives.

Remember: God grants us citizenship in his kingdom, not based off what we can offer, but only by his grace.

However, as we will see this morning and for the next few weeks, that should play out in the way we live!

So then, what we find first is that those who are citizens of God’s kingdom are going to be marked by mercy.

Look at ...

Again, Jesus isn’t pulling any punches here.

In calling us to be merciful, Jesus is pushing us beyond the bounds of what we would want to do on our own and into something that is more than this world does on its own.

Let’s figure out what it looks like to be merciful by building a picture of mercy piece by piece.

If I am going to live the blessed life; if I am going to act like I am actually a part of the kingdom of God, then first of all:

To do that, let’s walk through it this way:

1) I must care about other people.

Although we haven’t fleshed out our idea of mercy yet, let’s start here: If I am going to show mercy, it is going to involve other people.

For some of us, that is a no-brainer. However, researchers are reporting that more people feel lonely today than at previous points in American history.

CBS News reported in 2018 that Cigna, a global healthcare company, found that 46% of US adults report sometimes or always feeling lonely, and around 47% report feeling left out, with those 18-22 reporting the highest feelings of loneliness. [1]

In January 2019, the Health Resources and Service Administration reported that 43% of senior adults feel lonely on a regular basis. Not only that, but seniors who feel lonely have a 45% increased risk of mortality. [2]

Let’s think about that for a second: almost half of the country, whether young, old, or in-between, feels lonely.

None of us know exactly which factors have made it this way, although you could point to any number of things.

Here’s what I do know, though; I know what part of the solution is: We have to care about other people.

What would it look like if our church cared so much for each other that we noticed when people were missing and reached out to them to love them through whatever they were facing?

What if we took time to call and visit each other when life got hard and busy?

I know how hard this is, I know how busy you are, but I also know that God calls us to be merciful!

Turn off the part of your brain that immediately tries to justify yourself and prove someone wrong when they challenge you, and ask yourself, “What have I done this week that demonstrates that I actually care about someone else?”

If you are like me, you might have immediately started to think, “Well, but it was a rough week. Once things settle down, though...”

Listen: we are all busy! Everyone’s life is hectic, and everyone is tired.

I have recently tried to stop saying that, because it is just the way life is! It always has been, and it always will be.

Moses even said this, all the way back in the days of the Exodus:

Psalm 90:10 CSB

Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.

Do you catch the honesty here? We get 70-80 years or so in this life, and the best of those years are still marked by struggle and sorrow, and they fly away before we know it.

Do you know how long ago Moses lived? 3400 years! You can’t blame this business and stress on smartphones or on Facebook; you can’t even blame it on the Industrial Revolution and urbanization.

People have always been busy, life has always been a struggle.

What does that have to do with mercy?

We cannot use our busyness or the difficulty of our life as an excuse to bury our head in the sand and stop caring about others.

“I just have so much going on in my own life right now. Once I get myself straightened out, then I will start helping other people.”

You and I don’t get that option if we are part of the kingdom of God!

We are called to care about other people, and there is no caveat here.

The New Testament gives us over 40 passages where we are told to do something for one another.

That cannot happen if we don’t care enough about others to see their needs and do something about it.

Oh, but we are in the South, aren’t we? That means we care plenty about other people!

After all, don’t we take a sip of sweet tea and declare, “Well, bless your heart”?

We might even feel really bad for them, and since we are church-going people, we might even say a quick prayer for them.

How often, though, do we stop right there? Our phone dings, the kids start screaming, or the deadline for the project comes up on us, so we move on and never give them a second thought.

You should care, and you should pray for people.

However, the mercy Jesus speaks of here doesn’t stop with caring about them.

Instead, if I am going to truly going to be merciful I have to:

2) I must show that I care with my actions.

We hae already been hinting at this, so let’s go ahead and say it.

Merciful people don’t just feel sorry for someone; they do something to help them out of the place they are in.

James, Jesus’ brother, uses this as an illustration while talking about faith:

James 2:15–16 CSB

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

James 2:15–17 CSB

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

It does no good to simply say that we are sorry for someone, or even to feel really bad.

That doesn’t help anyone have food in their stomach, a roof over their head, or someone to talk to in the lonely, dark days of winter.

By the way, isn’t it interesting that this reality is so assumed in the early church that James can use it as an example?

It does no good to simply say that we are sorry for someone, or even to feel really bad.

From the earliest days of God’s kingdom being manifest through the church, they cared about each other!

Here’s how Paul would express this command to the church at Galatia:

Galatians 6:10 CSB

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Here’s how John MacArthur would summarize the biblical concept of mercy:

“Jesus is not speaking of detached or powerless sentiment that is unwilling or unable to help those for whom there is sympathy.

Nor is He speaking of the false mercy, the feigned pity, that gives help only to salve a guilty conscience or to impress others with its appearance of virtue.

And it is not passive, silent concern which, though genuine, is unable to give tangible help.

It is genuine compassion expressed in genuine help, selfless concern expressed in selfless deeds.” (John MacArthur)

He gives three different false expressions of mercy:

Jesus isn’t talking about just fe

An attitude that doesn’t really care or try to help.

Helping others just so we can impress people around us.

Truly hurting for others, but not actually doing anything for them.

Which of those most describes you?

Instead, look at what mercy is...

Did you catch that last part? The merciful are selfless.

That means they think of themselves less than they think of others.

Philippians 2:3 CSB

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

NASB

Are you getting the picture?

Those who are part of the kingdom of God are called to extend mercy through selfless deeds done for the good of others.

We aren’t called to simply share a Facebook post about someone in need; we are called to come alongside people and walk them through their problems to help them come out better on the other side.

We are called to join in the messy, heart-wrenching world of people in pain. We are called to lay aside our own self-interests and invest in those who don’t deserve it and cannot ever repay what we do.

Don’t miss that aspect of mercy: mercy isn’t just helping people who are in a bad spot; it is giving good to those who have hurt us, wronged us, and could never deserve for us to give them anything.

We will see that multiple times as we walk through the Sermon on the Mount, and we will see that it is connected with the same reason for why we should extend mercy.

Have you thought about that yet? Why do we do good things for people who need help?

It isn’t for notoriety, and it isn’t to make ourselves feel good.

Look back at the verse again...

The merciful are the ones who will receive mercy.

Don’t make the mistake that many make when they see things like this in the Bible.

Some think that this is some kind of system like karma—If I am nice to people, they will be nice back to me.

Have you found that to be the case, or have you ever been around people who you have been nice to, you have really invested in and shown mercy, and they twisted it and hurt you?

How can Jesus say that we will receive mercy when so many times, our relationships have seemed one-sided?

To find out what he is saying, then, let’s put this back in context. What is the pattern in the Beatitudes?

“Blessed are the…for...”

Who has done the “for” part in all these so far? God! He is the one who gives us the kingdom of heaven, comforts us, gives us the earth, and satisfies our hunger for righteousness.

So, then, who is it that we expect mercy from? God!

The promise that Jesus is making is that those who are truly merciful will receive mercy from God!

That takes the burden off the relationship we have to those we invest in, because we aren’t looking for it to be reciprocated from them.

Instead, we extend mercy with the understanding that our God is merciful toward us!

Again, like the other Beatitudes, there is the “already/not yet” tension. Although we haven’t experience God’s mercy in its fullest yet, we have already experienced his mercy.

In fact, this is what forms the foundation for any merciful act: God has shown us more mercy than we could ever deserve.

Jesus gives us a picture of this in . He tells a story of a wealthy man who had several servants. One day, he settled his accounts with his servants. One man owed him more than he could pay in 100 lifetimes. The servant begs for the master’s forgiveness, and the master graciously forgives every part of that debt.

That servant then went out and found another servant who owed him about a third of a year’s salary, which was pennies compared to the debt of the first servant. The first servant demanded that the second pay back what he owed, even though his master had just forgiven such a massive debt.

When the master found out about it, he called the first servant back and had him thrown in prison until he paid every last penny.

Jesus wrapped up that parable with these words:

Matthew 18:35 CSB

So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

Sound familiar? Only those who show mercy have the assurance that they will receive mercy from God.

Why? Because God has already forgiven a greater debt than we could ever pay back.

You see, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Every time you and I have ever done the wrong thing, said the wrong thing, thought the wrong thing, or not done, said, or thought the right thing is sin.

We have racked up an enormous, incalculable debt.

Yet here’s what we find the Bible teach us:

Ephesians 2:4–7 CSB

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

eph 2:4-

You see, he demonstrated that mercy by withholding our punishment, entering into our pain and suffering, and took it all upon himself on the cross to offer me his life in its place.

There is no act of mercy that God could ever call you to extend that would match what God has done for you.

Not only that, but if you really understand what this means, if you really soak up all that Christ did for you, then that should compel you to want to extend mercy anywhere and everywhere you can.

That doesn’t mean you excuse or enable wrong actions, but it does mean you forgive, you pray for, you do good for those who could never deserve it.

After all, Jesus did that for you.

Keep this helpful statement from JD Greear in mind,

“I am a sinner first before I am sinned against.” (J.D. Greear)

Citizens of God’s kingdom, who have experienced the greatest mercy the world has ever known, should show that mercy anywhere they can.

We show it on Facebook by not reposting that hateful meme or flaming someone in the comments. Instead, we sit down with someone over coffee and genuinely ask them how they are doing.

We show it on campus by sitting with the weird kid that no one else will engage.

We show it at work by buying diapers and a restaurant gift card for the new mom who just had to come back to work after her maternity leave ran out.

We show it at church by calling and visiting friends we know who are having a hard time.

We show mercy by extending forgiveness to those who have wronged us, just like God did for us.

Who do you need to extend mercy to this week?

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Endnote:

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/many-americans-are-lonely-and-gen-z-most-of-all-study-finds/. Accessed 8 February 2020.

[2] https://www.hrsa.gov/enews/past-issues/2019/january-17/loneliness-epidemic

[3 ] MacArthur, John. Jr. . Chicago: Moody (1985). 190.

. Chicago: Moody (1985). 183-184.