As Good As You Give
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There is a Christian doctrine called eternal security of the believer which over time has been bastardized into something called once-in-grace-always-in-grace. The first says that the one whom God has saved God can keep which is true. The second has been misinterpreted to say that grace is so strong you can be a Christian and live any way you want to which is not true.
The Beatitudes contradict anyone who would say that one can be a Christian and do as they please. What the Beatitudes do say is that the redeemed can’t help but act in certain ways and there is no better example of that than the one for today.
7 Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy.
“How fortunate are those who withhold from others the negative things they deserve and instead seek to understand why they are the way they are, choosing to suffer with them. This is because they have experienced mercy themselves and someday will receive the greatest mercy, the eternal presence of God. Matthew 5:7 (JMT)
1. The merciful.
1. The merciful.
a. What is mercy?
a. What is mercy?
i. David Jeremiah defines mercy as withholding negative consequences from a person who deserves them.
i. David Jeremiah defines mercy as withholding negative consequences from a person who deserves them.
ii. Barclay says the word here means to get inside another person’s skin so that you may understand why they are the way they are.
ii. Barclay says the word here means to get inside another person’s skin so that you may understand why they are the way they are.
iii. Mercy is often associated with sympathy and the word sympathy literally means to suffer with or go through things together.
iii. Mercy is often associated with sympathy and the word sympathy literally means to suffer with or go through things together.
b. Isn’t this what Jesus did and does for us?
b. Isn’t this what Jesus did and does for us?
i. Hasn’t he withheld negative consequences we deserve from us?
i. Hasn’t he withheld negative consequences we deserve from us?
ii. Isn’t the Incarnation God getting inside our skin?
ii. Isn’t the Incarnation God getting inside our skin?
14 Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. 15 We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.
iv. Doesn’t he experience life with us?
iv. Doesn’t he experience life with us?
v. He identifies so closely with us that anything done for us or withheld from us is as if it was done or withheld for him. [Mt 25]
v. He identifies so closely with us that anything done for us or withheld from us is as if it was done or withheld for him. [Mt 25]
2. Shall receive mercy.
2. Shall receive mercy.
a. Now we encounter mercy’s sister: grace.
a. Now we encounter mercy’s sister: grace.
i. Grace is to give better than what is deserved.
i. Grace is to give better than what is deserved.
ii. To receive mercy from God is an act of grace because it is better than we deserve.
ii. To receive mercy from God is an act of grace because it is better than we deserve.
iii. Mercy deals with the consequences; grace deals with the cause.
iii. Mercy deals with the consequences; grace deals with the cause.
iv. Grace follows mercy as naturally as day follows night.
iv. Grace follows mercy as naturally as day follows night.
b. But this mercy is not for everyone.
b. But this mercy is not for everyone.
12 Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
ii. Those who are not merciful will receive from God what they deserve and will be separated from him eternally.
ii. Those who are not merciful will receive from God what they deserve and will be separated from him eternally.
iii. Why?
iii. Why?
iv. Lack of mercy, which includes the unwillingness to forgive, is proof that we have never truly experienced forgiveness.
iv. Lack of mercy, which includes the unwillingness to forgive, is proof that we have never truly experienced forgiveness.
v. Those who have received God’s forgiveness (mercy and grace) cannot forget what a great thing God did for them and cannot help but show mercy to others.
v. Those who have received God’s forgiveness (mercy and grace) cannot forget what a great thing God did for them and cannot help but show mercy to others.
vi. James is not speaking about those who struggle with mercy but those who have ruled it out as an option in their relationships.
vi. James is not speaking about those who struggle with mercy but those who have ruled it out as an option in their relationships.
c. Remember the Beatitudes are now/not now.
c. Remember the Beatitudes are now/not now.
i. It is not that we shall receive mercy because we have earned it by showing mercy.
i. It is not that we shall receive mercy because we have earned it by showing mercy.
ii. It is that we are able to show mercy because we already have received it and that is the earnest money guaranteeing what we have received in part in the now we shall receive fully in the not now.
ii. It is that we are able to show mercy because we already have received it and that is the earnest money guaranteeing what we have received in part in the now we shall receive fully in the not now.
d. Mercy frees us from wondering about what a person deserves. (Mercy doesn’t enable a person to stay in their sin for leaving us to wallow in our own filth is what we deserve.)
d. Mercy frees us from wondering about what a person deserves. (Mercy doesn’t enable a person to stay in their sin for leaving us to wallow in our own filth is what we deserve.)
Shortly after Queen Victoria lost Prince Albert to death, a close friend of hers lost her husband as well. One day the Queen made an unannounced visit to her friend who tried to rise from the couch to curtsy. Queen Victoria said to her, “Don’t rise. I’m not here today as a queen to a subject but as one woman who has lost her husband to another.” (Barclay, Matthew I, 100)
It is this way that God in Christ came to us.
It is this way that God expects one broken, yet redeemed, person to go to other broken people.