Sermon on the Mount - Mercy
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Sermon on the Mount – Mercy
Matthew 5:7
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
1. Introduction – The more I read and study the Beatitudes, the more I see them as a mirror.
a. At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus isn’t primarily concerned with telling his followers what they should do…
i. He’s concerned with telling what they should do…
1. In the Christian life, what we do comes as a response to what we are.
ii. And from the outset of this sermon, Jesus holds up a mirror with 8 characteristics of a Christian…
1. And as we read these Beatitudes…as we study each on in depth, we are forced with a very probing question…
a. Am I?
i. Am I poor in spirit? Am I mourning over my sin? Over the world’s sin?
1. Am I a meek person?
a. Am I hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Or am I filling up on what the world is offering?
iii. Jesus is painting a picture of what a man of God looks likes…
1. Of what a woman of God looks like.
a. And that picture is of a person who lives his or her life in complete and utter submission to God.
i. Poor in spirit, mourning, meek…
1. The picture is of one who hungers and thirsts after the ways of God…and is filled by God…
2. But this portrait continues…because out of that filling…comes action.
a. And that’s where we are headed in these next few Beatitudes.
b. If you’ll recall the images I used in our introductory week to the Beatitudes.
i. The first 4 Beatitudes can be illustrated by a person who is laid out flat on their backs…with their arms reaching heavenward for help.
1. The next 3 Beatitudes, however, can be illustrated by a person standing upright…with their arms reaching out – offering help to others.
a. The godly man, the godly woman, in humble gratitude, seeks to help others because they have been filled by God.
i. So, the godly man, the godly woman, is merciful, is pure in heart…and is a peacemaker.
c. Today, we look at the first of what I’m calling the help Beatitudes. We just finished the need Beatitudes last week…so we are moving up and out to help.
i. Mercy…what is mercy?
1. Why is it the merciful are blessed? What are we to make of the promised reward?
a. Is it a quid pro quo arrangement? A tit-for-tat situation? Where the only way to experience mercy…presumably by God…is to first be merciful to other?
i. We’ll look at that as we close today?
1. Hear God’s Word – Matthew 5:7
2. Mercy – What It’s NOT –
Again this week, instead of listing some things that look like mercy but aren’t…
a. I simply want to tell you a story…a parable actually…on of Jesus’ parable.
i. Jesus told a parable about an unmerciful servant. I think we studied it a few years ago when we studied some of Jesus’ parables.
1. I think its fair to say that if the merciful are blessed by God, then opposite is also true… the unmerciful are cursed.
b. In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable about a king who was settling accounts.
i. And a servant was brought before him who owed him a large sum of money…
1. Let’s say hundreds of million of dollars…an unpayable debt really.
a. So the king ordered that all the man’s possessions…even his wife and children be sold in order to repay the debt.
i. But the servant begged the king for mercy…for time and patience and he would find a way to repay the debt owed.
2. But the king did one better…and he had mercy on this servant and complete forgave the man’s debt…he wiped the slate clean.
a. Now this would be a happy ending…if only the parable ended there…but it continues.
ii. Because immediately after this newly forgiven servant left the king’s presence…he encountered someone who owed him a debt of a few thousand bucks. A pittance compared to the millions he was just forgiven.
1. Now, this man couldn’t repay his debt…and if you read the parable for yourself in Matthew 18, he uses the exact same words the other servant used in front of the king.
a. The debtor begs for time and patience…for mercy.
i. And the first mand should have clued in…he should have heard his words in the mouth of his debtor…
1. And since he was forgiven, he should also forgive.
b. But he doesn’t, and he throws his debtor in jail until the debt could be paid in full.
iii. Word of this go back to the king….and he called the man he had previously forgiven back in order to give an account of what happened.
1. And the king said…you ungrateful and unmerciful servant.
a. I forgave you a huge debt…shouldn’t you be able to forgive the petty grievance against you?
i. And because of this man’s ungratefulness…because he dealt mercilessly towards his own debtor…
1. The king had him thrown in prison to be tortured until the debt could be fully repaid.
c. I use this parable as an example of being unmerciful…of being unforgiving…and the consequences of being such.
3. What it is
– The verse says, “Blessed are the merciful…” so what is mercy and why are we blessed by God for being merciful?
a. It really shouldn’t be a surprise to us that mercy is listed here as an essential attribute of Christians.
i. Because mercy, is a central attribute of the God we serve.
1. In Exodus 34, a passage we come back to time and again, where God announces his name to Moses…
a. God says he is, “The Lord, the Lord, gracious and…merciful…slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
i. Mercy…being merciful is one of God’s key attributes. And being merciful is a blessed state because when we are merciful…we are displaying a key attribute of our heavenly father.
ii. And know this, when the text says, “blessed are the merciful…” it isn’t speaking about the occasional act of mercy, but someone who is merciful all the time, to all people.
b. So what is mercy?
i. Well, mercy is a tricky word to define because it has similar characteristics to grace and love.
1. But it differs from both of them.
a. Love is deeper…more heartfelt.
i. Grace has to do with undeserved and unmerited favour.
ii. So here’s how we’ll define mercy.
1. Mercy embraces the characteristics of being generous, forgiving others, having compassion for the suffering and providing healing of every kind.
a. The merciful are those who come to the aid of the needy.
i. John Calvin wrote that the merciful are those who are not only prepared to put up with their own troubles, but also take on other people’s troubles.
2. Mercy is compassion for people in need…and that’s really where mercy and grace differ.
a. Grace deals with sin itself…mercy deals with the results of sin.
i. Grace offers a pardon, it cleanses and reinstates.
1. Mercy extends relief, cures, heals and helps.
c. And looking at mercy, compassion towards others – helping others, reaching out to people in their need and misery…
i. I think there are 2 specific areas where we can show compassion on people.
1. The first way we can show mercy to people is by meeting physical needs.
a. Being merciful means extending a helping hand to someone in need.
i. Whether that is financial aid, buying food for someone, picking up groceries for those who can’t get out of the house anymore…
1. Buying clothes, giving away some of your old clothes…those are merciful acts.
ii. The times we are in have given us all kinds of ideas about how we can be merciful towards each other.
1. Whether we read out with a text, a phone call to a shut in, an email to say, “how are you???”
a. Whether we send a carrier pigeon with a message…I think we’ve all learned not to take community and relationships for granted.
i. I’ve heard stories of how we are all helping each other out…we are extending mercy to one another.
2. But mercy extends far beyond our church community.
a. You see, in this Beatitude, Jesus doesn’t specify a certain group that we are to be merciful towards.
i. “Blessed are those who are merciful towards their family members…towards their church family members….
1. Christian brothers and sisters…merciful towards people they like.”
iii. No, Jesus doesn’t specify a group, because he doesn’t need to.
1. We are to have compassion on – show mercy towards everyone.
a. Those who deserve our compassion…and those who we think don’t.
i. In the gospels, as Jesus was making his way around the countryside…we’re told on different occasions that he had ‘compassion’ on them.
1. The word is ‘mercy.’ He had mercy on them, so he taught them, so he healed their sick, so he fed them.
ii. Jesus met a physical need through an act of mercy.
d. But, if we are only meeting physical needs, we’re only doing half the job.
i. Because mercy is reaching out to people in their misery, specifically reaching out to them in their misery that is caused by sin.
1. So mercy is also reaches out in order to meet a spiritual need.
a. This is the model Jesus himself gave us.
i. He paired meeting a physical need with meeting a spiritual need.
1. Yes, he performed miracles, but he also taught people what it was like to be his follower, what the kingdom of God was like.
ii. So, for us to show mercy on people means we meet their spiritual needs.
1. We pray with them. We pray for them; in whatever situation they are going through.
a. We invite them to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
e. The ultimate act of mercy comes from God himself.
i. He saw us in our misery caused by sin. He did not want to leave us wallowing in that misery – so he reached out to us.
1. And while we were still sinners – while we were still his enemies, Jesus died for us.
a. That’s the ultimate act of mercy – reaching out and helping those who don’t even deserve it.
i. But because God is gracious and merciful, he provided a way for sinners to come back to him.
1. He met our spiritual need by providing us with a Saviour.
f. But here’s what we need to know what God’s mercy – it is not there for us to horde it all to ourselves.
i. If you have experienced God’s mercy – been forgiven your huge debt of sin against him…then you in turn are to be a giver of God’s mercy.
1. Since mercy has been extended to you – since God had mercy on you, a sinner, then you are to be merciful towards others.
a. The mercy we show to others is a response to the mercy God has first shown us.
i. More on that in just a bit.
4. How to be
– So how do we become merciful?
a. Well, first off, recognize that mercy isn’t a natural disposition.
i. Like all the characteristics mentioned in the Beatitudes, mercy can only be brought into our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit.
1. So the first way to become a merciful person is to pray for it.
a. If the mirror of the Beatitudes has been held up in front of you and you realize you lack mercy…as for it. Plain and simple.
b. And the next way to become a person of mercy is by using your senses.
i. Use your eyes – look around and see the needs of people.
1. Be on the lookout for how you can help people.
a. Use your ears – and really listen to people when they talk. Be intuitive and their hear their needs.
i. Physical needs, spiritual needs…listen to people when you talk with them
ii. And finally feel deeply for them. OK, I know this type of feeling isn’t technically a sense, it’s more of an emotion…but you get the picture.
1. When you hear of a need or see a need…we must be moved to compassion…moved to mercy.
a. Moved, in order to reach out to others because God has first reached out to us.
5. Promised Reward
– Now, there’s a dangerous trap we must avoid when looking at the promised reward.
a. There’s a trap here to interpret this verse legalistically.
i. As if to say that the only way to receive mercy is by first being merciful.
1. When we interpret it this way – God’s mercy become contingent on our mercy.
a. In this interpretation, the onus is on us to earn God’s mercy by first being merciful ourselves.
b. But as I said before – mercy is a response. The mercy we extend to others – is a direct result of the mercy we have first received from god.
i. The clearest proof that we have received mercy from God is in our readiness to extend mercy.
1. When we recognize the huge debt we owed God…that he cancelled, we will be willing to cancel the petty debts others have against us.
a. The servant in the parable did not recognize the enormity of what just happened to him.
i. He accepted his freedom, but didn’t recognize that mercy the had shown on him…the mercy didn’t deeply impact his life – hence his actions afterwards.
ii. We cannot be like that.
1. Mercy is not something we dole out in order to be accepted by God.
a. Mercy is something we extend because of what God has already done for us.
c. However, the merciful will receive mercy. On the day of Judgment, when the books are opened and we give an account for our lives…
i. If our names are written in the heavenly ledger…in the Lamb’s Book of Life – then God will show us mercy fully and finally…and he will accept us into his eternal kingdom.
6. Conclusion – Mercy – oh, how our world needs mercy.
a. Our world loves vengeance…loves ruining careers over past offenses.
i. Our culture has no time for forgiveness and mercy and compassion. Forgiveness is weak and lame.
1. But our world needs mercy extended to it. To meet physical needs…to meet spiritual needs.
a. Our world needs Christians to stand up and exemplify mercy…to show Christian compassion to everyone…
i. And we do this because, because God has first been merciful to us.