Matthew 5:7
Notes
Transcript
Have Mercy!
Have Mercy!
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Mercy is not admired by our world today. Mercy is scoffed at. Mercy is laughed at.
Revenge & retaliation is what is promoted today. Somebody does something wrong to you, and the world says - “HIT THEM BACK!” “THEY DESERVE IT!” “DON’T BACK DOWN”
Well, as we have seen throughout all of these Beatitudes, Jesus operates on a different set of principles.
Christians, of all people should be a people who show mercy. We should be the type of people who know automatically that we should be merciful.
We need mercy, don’t we?
Let me ask you - when you do something wrong - Do you want mercy or justice? You want MERCY!
Let me ask you - when someone else does something wrong to YOU - Do you want mercy or justice? Hmmmm.....
It reveals our heart condition, doesn’t it?
“This reminds of a joke about a lady who had her photograph taken and upon seeing the proof complained to the photographer. He said, "Ma’am what’s wrong?" "Wrong? Why this picture doesn’t do me justice." To which he looked at her and said, "Ma’am you don’t need justice, you need mercy."
What is Mercy? Where does it come from?
What is Mercy? Where does it come from?
First of all, mercy is not a natural quality that we have. It isn’t something that we are born with, in fact quite the opposite - we are born with a desire to get even. We want the other person to PAY!
Let’s define mercy as “compassion in action”.
Compassion Isn’t Enough
Compassion Isn’t Enough
So, for mercy to be active - compassion must be there. Compassion is essential.
But, compassion isn’t enough. I can have compassion, and not be merciful. I’m sure you and I have had plenty of times where we felt compassion toward someone, but we weren’t moved to action. Mercy is ACTIVE remember. Mercy is not passive, it’s active.
Mercy isn’t a natural quality that we have. It’s unnatural. So, we’ve made it clear that mercy doesn’t come natural to us - that must mean that it is a SUPER-NATURAL quality that God gives us.
We will look at how God gives us mercy in a little while.
Always Pain Involved
Always Pain Involved
There is always pain involved in the giving of mercy. If you show mercy, there is pain in the process of giving that mercy because you gave up the right to retaliate.
If someone does something to you, and you have the power to retaliate and hit back - You have a choice to make. You can either choose to be merciful, or choose retaliation. You can’t show mercy without the power to retaliate or hurt the other person back for what they did.
Mercy always involves pain, and that’s why it’s difficult for us to show mercy. It means that we give up our right to retaliate.
When you choose to be merciful instead of retaliate - you are allowing faith to turn the power that you could have used to retaliate into spiritual growth. You have the potential to grow spiritually when you show mercy to someone else.
Progression of Mercy
Progression of Mercy
LOVE -----> MERCY -----> GRACE
Examples of Mercy in the Bible
Examples of Mercy in the Bible
Joseph and what he endured.
Betrayal by his own brothers.
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
Genesis 37:18-
Falsely accused of rape.
11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.”
Genesis
Forgotten again.
23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Genesis
By this time, Joseph had spent between about 13 years in jail and as a servant of Potiphar. 13 years!
What would your attitude be like after 13 years of being in jail for something that you didn’t deserve?
I doubt my attitude would be good.
Listen to Joseph’s reaction the next time he see’s his brothers.
4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:4
Is that not mercy??? He could have killed them on the spot!
Joseph knew that God had ordained all of his life events in such a way that they had purpose. He knew he didn’t have any right to judge them for what they did. He knew that God was a much better judge than he was.
Only God could have given Joseph that attitude of mercy that he showed to his brothers.
Another example that we know well.
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37
If we are asking ourselves “who is our neighbor?” “who do we have to be merciful to?” then we have the wrong attitude and that must be dealt with first. The reason why this lawyer asked who he had to be nice to is that he didn’t want to be nice to anybody he didn’t have to. He only wanted to do the minimum required. Is that mercy?
Does mercy do the minimum required? What did the good samaritan do? Did he do the minimum?
No, he did so much more than the minimum. He even left an open tab with the inn keeper that allowed him to do whatever was needed. That is MERCY.
But we have one more example that is more powerful.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7
We were dead in our sins! God was merciful!
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
We see love here in this verse “God so loved the world”, we see compassion, but we see mercy because it is ACTIVE. He sent His SON to die for us. The cross is the ultimate expression of mercy for us. He loved us enough to have mercy on us.
Listen to this also
Other verses:
13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
Micah 7:18
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
We would be here all night if we read all the references to mercy in the Bible. The Bible is loaded with verses about Mercy because GOD IS MERCIFUL!
As God would have it, God tested me twice with this subject of mercy this week.
One in particular, I had an employee that dumped a tractor off the back of the trailer into Hwy 177 this week. He was responsible for it, I could have held him responsible. I could have made him pay for it (I wanted him to by the way), but I chose not to. (Not tooting my own horn, I’m not sure I would have reacted the same way if I hadn’t been studying this LOL!!)
That driver needed mercy, and I had the power to give it.
Where would you be tonight without God’s mercy?
Where would you be tonight without God’s mercy?
Let that sink in a little bit.
That thought should drive you to a need to show mercy to others. The best expression of you to show God’s mercy is for you to be merciful to someone else.
How hypocritical is it for us to refuse mercy to someone when we’ve been shown so much mercy?!?!?!
I want to close with this example from Matthew 18.
The Hypocritical Response
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18:23-
I’ll ask you the same question I asked myself in studying for this:
How can I refuse to show someone mercy when I’ve been shown so much?
How hypocritical of us to withhold mercy from someone else, when we’ve been shown so much!
This verse right here rings in my ears:
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
Matthew
Let us show mercy to others. Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus extending mercy to those who are in need. Don’t be like those in the parable of the Good Samaritan who pass by. Don’t miss an opportunity to show mercy.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”