Matthew 5:7
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“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the merciful.
First, we have to make sure that we understand the definition of mercy.
Mercy is not not the same as grace.
Grace is receiving an undeserved gift.
Mercy is wrath withheld from the deserving.
Here is where it is important for us to understand the mercy already granted to us in Christ.
Often, we picture ourselves in salvation as undeserving.
But we are also ill-deserving.
What do you mean by that?
Here’s a helpful illustration.
Imagine you are driving down the road and you approach a hitchhiker thumbing their way to town.
Are you obligated to pick them up? No.
Have they done anything to deserve your ride?
No.
We would all agree that the hitchhiker would be undeserving.
But here’s another question.
Assuming you don’t know this person, have they done anything to you NOT to deserve your ride?
No they are merely walking down the road.
They are undeserving.
Now picture the same hitchhiker. As you approach them on the road, they begin shouting at you, they throw rocks at your car.
At that point, the person is not only underserving. They have done something NOT to deserve your ride.
They are now both undeserving and ill-deserving.
They do not deserve the gift of the ride and actually they deserve for you to ride right on past without a second thought. You might even call the police and press charges against them for damaging your car.
Where do we fall in that? With regard to salvation.
Are we merely undeserving?
No. We are certainly undeserving. We have done nothing to deserve the salvation of God.
But we are also ill deserving.
We have done something to not deserve salvation.
In fact what we deserve is God’s wrath.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But when we are saved, we a recipients of God’s grace and God’s mercy.
By His grace, He has given us his Son.
And by his mercy, he has withheld hell from us and instead placed it upon Jesus.
SO when he says:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
He’s not saying that somehow, we earn God’s mercy by being merciful.
He saying here that recipients of mercy give mercy.
Those who have been given mercy, give it.
Think about the parable of the underserving servant.
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
Forgiveness is something that will be apart of the believer’s life. if someone is a genuine believer, they will forgive.
Why? Because they have been forgiven.
If there is someone in your life that you have not yet forgiven, forgive them. Let them know that you have forgiven them and apologize for things for which you need to be forgiven.
As believers, we can’t cast people aside.
We have to bear with people.
There may be people in this church or community who really have wronged you.
They have done something to you for which there was not an excuse.
It was wrong. Period.
What this passage is telling us is this- You have been given mercy. Give it.
Christians will be forgiving people because Christians are forgiven people.
We have and will receive the mercy of God.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Being merciful is an attribute of a believer.
Believers are Christ followers.
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
Is there one without sin?
Of course, He’s standing right there.
And yet, he forgives her.
None of us stand in the place where we are ever in a position of being unmerciful.
We must forgive, because we have been forgiven.