Blessed are the Merciful
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7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Only reciprocal beatitude...
Notice a shift?
The first 3 beatitudes are about my position and relationship with God...
Then we hit last week which was a transitional beatitude from positional righteousness to living in right relationship with one another
and now we are looking at our relationship with others in showing mercy....
next week will be the exception here, but you can see how its about our position and relationship with God and shifts to our relationship with others..
What is Mercy? - to have pity or compassion...
We are often quick to ask God for mercy, but slow to extend it to others?
Let’s break it down simplistically here....
How many of us are perfect?
How many of us want the people in our lives to show mercy to us?
Why do we struggle with showing mercy to others?
Someone wrongs us and we decide to hold their feet to the fire...
It’s like the servant in:
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
How often do we expect others to show compassion to us, but choose not to extend it to others?
Matthew (A. The Heart of a Kingdom Citizen (5:1–12)) Weber
They are “others-oriented.” What we have received in such abundance, we must dispense abundantly
Mercy is showing compassion and pity on others...
Matthew (2. Paradigmatic Preaching: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)) Blomberg
“Merciful” embraces the characteristics of being generous, forgiving others, having compassion for the suffering, and providing healing of every kind.
It is also the gateway to forgiveness...
Mercy and forgiveness often go hand-in-hand
Forgiveness is the removal of a debt or consequence without anything needed on your end
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus…made available because of His mercy....
So, what are we to do?
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We are to forgive…we are to show mercy
We must not only bear our own afflictions patiently, but we must do all we can to help those who are in misery. We must have compassion on the souls of others, and help them; pity those who are in sin, and seek to snatch them as brands out of the burning.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Misconceptions or Extremes of Mercy...
1. Sweeping under the rug
1. Sweeping under the rug
The difference in showing mercy and sweeping it under the rug is that mercy recognizes the sin or wrong doing....
Sweeping under the rug pretends that it doesn’t exist or it didn’t happen
Mercy acknowledges it happened....but says, I am going to forgive
2. Lack of Accountability/Passivity
2. Lack of Accountability/Passivity
The thought is that forgiveness doesn’t hold people accountable...
Or that whoever is doing the forgiving is being passive...
The accountability exists in the recognition of wrong doing...
It means taking responsibility for what you have done...
It means coming to the person understanding that you have done wrong and being willing to deal with the consequences....
For mercy to be truly extended, there needs to be true repentance....
God doesn’t extend mercy on everyone....He extends mercy on those who are His children...
We read:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But, how do we receive Jesus...
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So, for mercy to be extended, there must be sincere and true repentance...
Mercy isn’t saying what you did was okay, or ignoring what you did…it’s saying what you did was wrong....and you accept and acknowledge that…and then mercy says the consequence has been removed...
The guilt has been dissolved...
So, when we extend mercy, we aren’t sweeping it under the rug or not holding them accountable....It’s the opposite…we are addressing it and holding them accountable…but we remove the major consequence....
Now there still may be consequences...
The person who is in prison and responds to Jesus and becomes a christians doesn’t automatically get out of prison...
But, in his position before God, He is now the righteousness of Christ, and is no longer headed toward the ultimate consequence of eternal death....
Similarly, if someone hurts us, we can forgive them, but there still may be residual consequences....if someone steals from me, I probably won’t loan them something for awhile...
If someone has a history of abuse, though they may be changed, it will likely still take time to build back trust and see the fruit of their true repentance...
But, prayerfully, in the long term, the relationship can be restored...
So, we are to be people of mercy and forgiveness…and we will be shown mercy!
Let’s end with some benefits of mercy
1. We can truly have a living and active relationship with God
1. We can truly have a living and active relationship with God
We become a part of the kingdom heaven and the family of God!
James 4:7–8 (NIV)
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you...
2. We no longer face the consequence of eternal death
2. We no longer face the consequence of eternal death
Jesus says in:
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
3. We have relationship with others
3. We have relationship with others
When we show mercy and forgive others, it frees us to truly love them!
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way. 1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
So, when we show mercy, we can be apart of the body and love others.
As we wrap up this morning, I encourage you to think about how merciful you are...
Do you constantly hold other’s feet to the fire, or are you quick to forgive?
Have you come before God and accepted His forgiveness?
If not, you can do that be believing in Him, confessing your sin, and accepting His gift of salvation...
Are you an active, loving, part of the body?
This morning we get to celebrate part of the body and commit to being active in it as we dedicate Jordan Doll to the Lord...