Mercy and Faithfullness

Matthew 23:23 ESV

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Weightier matters… som,e things that matter more than other things… there are weightier matters than others…

Most important thing in leadership is character… when he is unpacking what an elder is in 1 Tim 3… he lists character traits first…you see it when people fall… poeople dont want to be around you even if you have a bad character.. your character is more important than what you do for a living… or your job....

Are you using yoru character to better the world,,, or just better your self.... There was nothing about the pharisees where they were against justice and mercy,… they knew it was important…

He is saying it is NOT enough of yoru life.. Hes saying you got to prioritize it… when I say you ahve to help the widows and immigrants last week you dint push against it… the question is did you priortize and spend more of your life doing that… I wish you had done the weightier things… I want that to speak to you this morning… is your life prioritized around the weightier things...

Justice we talked about a bunch… mercy we talked about a little bit… a kind of mercy that is extravagant.

Sometimes being right isnt always the play.. when mercy is involved you have to just let it go...

Jesus was called a drunkard and a winde dipper.... when was the alst time people in the church context told you you were hanging out with the wrong people… and let me stop… some of you arent in a place where you can handle that yet… youd fall… and you have to get to a place where you can get to that…and there may be areas of your life you cant ever get to because you are too weak....

THe third word… faithfulness… not just mercy and justice… but people of fiathfulness. can you do it until the end? anyone can start a relationship with Jesus , the question is can you finish it well… anyone can get married… can you hold it out....can you get to the last day and still be faithful to JEsus… can you be faithful to your wife your whole life? Ho ware you going to deal with all the temptation even when it is… in the nmoment you need to picutre yourself as 90 years old and see what people will say about you… that is the context of faithfulness...

Romans 3:21–22 ESV

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

There is a lot of people that come at that and say yes it is all about justification by faith… the problem is all of those things in greeek could mean four different things… some people say it could mean the faithfulness OF Jesus Christ.... what most scholars recognize that it is the faithfulness of Jesus for all who believe… he was extremely faithful… if I was given Jesus task I wouldnt last an afternoon. there are no people in the desert when Jesus goes there… this is all about him… and this is why scholasrs like it… bbecause it is all about HIM being faithful… and that is what we put our fiath in… so what does it look like to you and me to be faithful in our life...

WE get so focused… the stress of work and time.... we get so focused on things and get tuinnel vision...

QUote the other day… Christians who shine the gospel in the light of the world do not merely say this is right and this is wrong but this meaning the gospel is BETTER, the gospel tells a better story.... yes it destroys the lies but once we discover the brightness..we realize how it always answers our deepest questions ain ways that surprise us… evangelism isn’t just explaining the gospel is true, but the gospel is better. Bette than the life they had… better than all the news stories...

Its not just more true… but it is better.... it is better in the long run for you than any other story being told… and that is what will keep you faithful… knowing that your story is better than all the others....

Follow the story of Demas in philemon Paul says he is a fellow worker in the gospel… in colossians 4 he says he is following Luke around and killing it… Luke the one who wrote so much...

but then in 2 Timothy 4 he has deserted me becasue he loved the world… that is my fear… tjat you and I will not be faithful to the end because our hearts arent tied to Jesus, and it is so much easier to love this world than Jesus.. but our call is to be faithful in the midst of it all… the reality is that in the end faithfulness will look so contrary to the world...

The gospel tells us to be a good citizen… until we get to a place where the government becomes totalitarian government doesnt allow us to...

What happens when they take our tax exempt status away....being faithful is the goal over being fruitful… and successful. FAITHFULNESS....

Prisionment and afflection awaits me… HE is saying I am not going to be successful and have ministry results all the time… but I will be faithful.... even if I get thrown in prison…

This text gives us hope… this doesn’t mean we dont do… but it means it will look different… and you just have to do whatever he has called you to do and go wherever he has called you to go… if it all doesnt work out… and you are faithful… it is on him

Our goal is to be faithful… if your friend passes away and didnt know JEsus and you feel the weight of that… thats prosperity gospel… look at Paul I am going to look and be faithful and preach and if something badh appens that isn’t on me because I am being faithful.... are you being faithful… are you doing what he has asked you to do....