Matthew 5:7 - Merciful

Matthew 5:7 – Merciful

Churchgoer to pastor, "Your sermon reminded me of the mercies of God. I thought it would endure forever.

Well, for the last several weeks we have been enduring a wonderful series of messages from the Lord’s Great Sermon on the Mount. Particularly, the opening called the Beatitudes, the attitudes that ought to be. Now our Lord has been sharing with this congregation, on the side of a mountain, not in the pleasantries of a fine building, the keys to what Christianity is all about.

You see, being a Christian is more than being a church member, it is more than being a faithful tither, it is more than coming on Sunday mornings, it is more than owning a Bible; you see, being a Christian, is having Jesus in your life, and you are living according to what He said in His Word.

Now, we all fall short in serving the Lord like we should, there are times where we fail the Lord, but praise God, he is there to pick us up where we fell. Our Lord, wants us to live a life that demonstrates Christianity to others.

It is good to go out there and share with others who Jesus is, but the only way they are going to be able to see who Jesus is, is by you living your life like him. And that is what he is teaching and preaching here in this message. I have said it before, and I will say it again, the best sermons are not preached from behind a pulpit, they are lived out by God’s people.

Now, Jesus has been sharing with us, the path of Christianity. Now remember, the only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ. We have to come to him. And how are we to come to him? Well just like he shared in the opening of this section, we need to realize that we are destitute. That we are poor, that we have nothing, that we are broke and that we come to him begging for help, now when we come to him, we realize our unworthiness and it breaks our heart, that when we come before him that we mourn for what we have become, that we give to Jesus our life, and we say to him, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I am yours, my strength belongs to you. When we come to him in that condition, and we are hungry, that our soul needs to be fed, and we don’t want the garbage of the world, but we want the righteousness that he offers. We see that Christ responds. Now the Lord is not finished in this message, he now tells the next part, and what does he say here?

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

John Chrysostom is quoted as saying that “Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan”, I agree with that statement, because when you think of mercy, you think Jehovah.

We have been shown mercy by God, and it is that same mercy that we should show to others. So, we need to have an understanding of what the Lord meant, we he shared with these, about being merciful.

Defining Mercy

1. Mercy is more than being Soft

a. Now don’t misunderstand the idea of mercy, mercy is not being soft. It isn’t the idea of letting things go, because we are to afraid, or weak, or tenderhearted to do anything about it.

b. A minister was in a meeting and they were discussing somebody that they wanted to do something that took a little courage. And, they said, “don’t get him. He wouldn’t kill a snake in a nursery.” Well, that’s softness, but that’s not mercy.

c. Mercy is restraining the strength, that can be unleashed and should be unleashed on someone, for when they have done wrong.

d. Now we live in a world of softness, where people allow corruption and crime to endure, and they just turn a blind eye to it. Friend, that isn’t mercy, that is being weak, we call it being a pushover.

e. Listen, God isn’t a pushover when it comes to him showing mercy. God holds back on us and shows mercy, because he has provided hope for us through Jesus Christ.

f. God, if he wanted too, could destroy this world at any moment. He has everything he needs to condemn and destroy, but he refrains because he provided mercy in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ.

g. Now, I want you to know that Jesus wasn’t soft. He endured one of the cruelest form of torture and death, all he had to do was speak the word and a host of angels would have destroyed his oppressors, but he held back and endured the suffering of the cross, so we might have God’s mercy given to us.

2. Mercy is more than being Sympathetic

a. Now, when it comes to mercy, we understand mercy is more than being soft, and mercy is more than being sympathetic.

b. We can see sad situations, and it might move our hearts, but that doesn’t encompass mercy.

c. In the original Aramaic which Jesus spoke, the word "merciful" means literally "to get under someone's skin." It means to wear his skin, as it were; to see life from his perspective, to stand in his shoes. It means more than sympathy; it means active empathy or merciful understanding.

d. Let me illustrate. A prominent minister was holding a weekend seminar here in North Carolina, several years ago. He kept noticing a man in the front row nodding sleepily. This aggravated the speaker. Preachers don't like for folks to go to sleep on them. It makes me want to get one of those fog horns and just sound it off during service.

The speaker at the seminar wonder why the man didn't stay home if he couldn't stay awake? During the lunch break, a woman approached the speaker and said, "Sir, let me apologize for my husband's drowsiness. He is undergoing chemotherapy. The doctors have given him a medication to control the side-effects, but it makes him very sleepy. I tried to persuade him to stay home today, but he said, "I must go as long as I'm able. I never know when I will no longer be able to gather with God's people."

Suddenly that speaker's attitude toward the drowsy man was transformed. Why? The wife had enabled him to get under the skin of her husband and really understand him. That is the quality of mercy.

e. When Jesus came to earth, and lived as a man, he got under the skin of man, he was faced with what we are tempted with. Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus didn’t see our situation and say I sympathize for you, he came and lived our situation and said I understand your situation and I’m going to give you mercy.

3. Mercy is Salvation (Mercy is compassion in action)

a. Now mercy may have elements of softness and sympathy, but mercy goes beyond all of that, mercy my friend, is salvation!!

b. You want to know what mercy means? Mercy means Jesus, mercy is compassion in action!

c. God’s love being extended to you right now, by giving you a chance to accept Christ, and be forgiven.

d. So many people misunderstand this, they have a head knowledge of Jesus, but they don’t have a heart for Jesus.

e. And there are people sitting in the church, who are just like this. You know who was like this in the Bible? The lawyer that came to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved. When Jesus asked him what the law said, he gave the correct answer, he had a head knowledge. But that man walked away from Jesus with knowing him in his heart, Jesus knew that man wasn’t saved, the man knew the plan of salvation. And there are some here, you know the plan of salvation. But listen, You’re not saved by the plan of salvation; you’re saved by the Man of salvation!

f. A little boy came to the Washington Monument and noticed a guard standing by it. The little boy looked up at the guard and said, "I want to buy it." The guard stooped down and says, "How much do you have?" The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. The guard said, "That's not enough." The boy replied, "I thought you would say that." So he pulled out nine cents more. The guard looked down at the boy and said, "You need to understand three things. First, thirty-four cents is not enough. In fact, $34 million is not enough to buy the Washington Monument. Second, the Washington Monument is not for sale. And third, if you are an American citizen, the Washington Monument already belongs to you."

g. We need to understand three things about mercy. First, we cannot earn it. Second, it is not for sale. And third, if we accept Christ, we already have it.

Demonstrating Mercy

· Now that we have defined what mercy is, let’s look back at what this verse says, it says “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

· These beatitudes are building on one another, and we see next, that there should be a demonstration of mercy.

· Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,”

· It is God who has demonstrated mercy to us, our God is rich in mercy, and He freely gives it to us.

· Have you ever heard anybody say, “Is it fair for God to do this, or God to do that?” Or, have they ever gotten in the silly discussion with you about whether God is fair or whether God is not fair? Friend, God is not fair. Don’t ever expect God to be fair. God is not fair. Now, wait a minute. I’m not finished yet. God is not fair. Do you know, when I expect somebody to be fair to me, that means I have it coming to me. “Give me what I have coming. Be fair.” In other words, “I deserve this.” You see, that’s fairness: “You give me my part.” It’s like children arguing about a will: “It’s not fair that you get this and I don’t get that.” That’s fairness.

· God doesn’t deal with us on the basis of fairness. God deals with us on the basis of mercy. We don’t deserve anything. When a man is looking for fairness, he’s not happy when he gets what he deserves because he figures, “I deserve it.” He’s only mad because he didn’t get it sooner, and doubly mad if somebody else gets more. I mean, that’s the object. That’s fairness. God is not fair. God is just and merciful. The justice of God says that sin must be punished. That is truth. Once you see that truth, then you cry out for mercy. And God will give you mercy! He will give you Jesus Christ!

· Now, if God gives it to us, we should give it to other people.

· Ephesians 5:1 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;”

· Now let’s be honest, we don’t want to show mercy, we rather show judgment. Let’s get revenge. Let’s cause them to suffer.

· You know, in the Bible, Jesus had a person come to him and ask how many times should he forgive his brother or sister. And Jesus told him seventy times seven. And he followed it up with a parable about a servant who owed a great deal of money to a king, and the king called in the debt. But the servant couldn’t pay, so the king was going to have the man and his family sold to settle the debt. But the servant asked for mercy and the king showed it to him and forgave the debt.

· Now that’s the beautiful part of the story, this is how we like to look at life, and what God has done for us, but the story goes on.

· After the servant had received the compassion of the king and was forgiven, the same servant went out and found a fellow servant that owed him, and he instead of having mercy on him, threw him in prison.

· He would not give mercy, and there are some, you see someone out there and they owe you, or they took something from you, and you’re not interested in showing mercy. You just want to get what is owed to you. Listen, when you have that mindset, you’re asking for God to remove his mercy from you.

· Listen to how the story ends, when the king heard what this servant did, he brought this servant in, the same one that he had forgiven the debt, and asked him why he did not show the same mercy on his fellow man. And because the servant had not given mercy, neither did the king show mercy, and delivered him to the tormentors.

· The best way you can show mercy is to forgive. If you can’t forgive someone, then Jesus won’t forgive you.

· It’s time to start demonstrating mercy!!

Delighting in Mercy

Now we have learned in this message, defining mercy and demonstrating mercy, but the final thing my friend, is delighting in mercy!

Listen to what this verse says to us – Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

· Now, that doesn’t mean that we are forgiven because we show mercy. It means we show mercy because we are forgiven. And, the more mercy we show, the more mercy we get. It’s just a cycle. And, you show mercy because you have received mercy.

· Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

· Listen God delights in mercy, and showing you mercy. Because he loves and cares for you!

· Now, God wants to show you mercy, and that means we have to learn how to forgive. To show mercy, instead of judgment.

· And it starts with us coming to God, and receiving his mercy!

· The Lord has been sharing these beatitudes and they all start the same way! Blessed. I hear people say it all the time, oh how the Lord has blessed me. And that is good, but listen, God’s blessing are far greater than material possessions. You say, how do I get these greater blessings? All you have to do, is come to Christ, and live according to what he is preaching here.

· You mean, for me to receive the blessing, I have to show mercy? Friend, first its receiving God’s mercy, then we give mercy, and when you give mercy, you’ll be blessed by it.

· The more mercy we show, the more mercy we get. But, we can’t get it until, first of all, we have come the route of being poor in spirit, repenting of our sin, yielding to God, receiving Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness—and when we receive that mercy, we show it.

· In May of 1948 three men robbed a bank in Hoyt, Kansas, getting away with $1,000. Shortly thereafter two men were killed in a car wreck, and police thought they were the robbers and the case was closed. Four years later, however, something unusual happened. On a Sunday morning at the Seward Avenue Baptist Church a young man named Al Johnson stepped to the pulpit and revealed to the congregation that the day before he had gone to the district attorney and confessed his role in the crime.

· “I thought about the bank robbery many times,” Johnson, who was a teenager when the crime occurred, said, “I prayed about it and asked the Lord to give me an answer. It seemed that He would give me only one answer and that was to give myself up.” Johnson also revealed that he had borrowed the money to repay the bank his share of the stolen funds. The statute of limitations had expired, but Johnson said that even if it meant going to prison, he could not keep the secret any longer. Johnson agreed to help the authorities locate the other two men, who had not been, as was previously believed, the men involved in the car accident.

· Sometimes we think the best approach is to hide our sin, either to avoid embarrassment and exposure, or to avoid the potential consequences. That approach never works in the long run. There is a God who sees everything—nothing is ever hidden from His view. His hatred of sin is so intense that He will never allow us to prosper by covering our sin. The toll of hidden sin on the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of the sinner is vast. It is far better for us to confess and seek the mercy and forgiveness of God.

Listen, you can delight in God’s mercy today, all you have to do is come to the Lord and confess and he will forgive you. Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”