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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) * Song of Praise: “I Love the Lord, the Fount of Life and Grace” # 116B:1,5,7-9 Service of God’s Holy Word |
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, for every act of grace and kindness shown to us by God there is an appropriate response on our part – a natural reflex if you will -- that manifests itself not only in feelings of gratitude toward God but also in the actions we show toward others.
For example, when God prospers us and pours out material blessings upon us, we’re not only humbled and overwhelmed by God’s generosity, but God’s generosity inspires us, it compels us to be generous toward others. God’s generosity not only opens our hearts to love God, but it opens our hands – so that we might give to others as generously as God has given to us.
I want us to see tonight that it works the same way when it comes to God’s mercy. Anyone who has truly experienced and received the mercy of God cannot help but respond – not only with gratitude in our hearts toward God – but in showing mercy to others. Mercy begets mercy. As we shall see: Showing mercy is evidence that we ourselves have received mercy.
This is what Jesus is teaching us in this beatitude: blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Here, Christ proclaims the Blessedness of the Merciful.
- The Meaning of this Beatitude
- The Illustration/Outworking of this Beatitude
1. The Meaning of this Beatitude
This morning, we talked about the meaning of the word blessed. I’m not going to repeat all that this evening, but to summarize, the blessedness that Jesus speaks of here is a spiritual blessedness. It is a deep-rooted, deep-seated joy and satisfaction that is not dependent upon our outward circumstances.
It is the blessedness of knowing that we are in Christ. It is the blessedness of knowing that we belong to Christ; that we are a child of the heavenly Father, and thus, the kingdom of heaven belongs to us! In that way, this is a joy and blessedness that no one and nothing can steal away (just remember what Paul says in Romans 8: 35-39 – what can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nothing)!
And while it is true that earthly trials and tragedies can cause great sorrow and heartache in our lives, at the same time, those tragedies and trials remind us of how blessed we are in Christ -- that we can lose everything in this life, and yet we are rich beyond all measure in Christ!!
But now, what is meant by the word, by the idea of mercy? The word for mercy also means compassion. The same word is used in Hebrews 2:17 when the author speaks of Jesus as our heavenly high priest: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
I also want us to understand the difference between mercy and grace because it is easy to get the two confused or even to see them as the same thing. Grace and mercy are both the outworkings of God’s love and compassion for sinners – but here’s the difference.
Grace can be thought of positively as a gift that God gives to those who are undeserving. The greatest demonstration and example of grace is God’s grace shown to us in Jesus Christ. In and through His Son Jesus Christ, by His atoning blood poured out on the cross, God gives to us (he credits to us undeserving sinners) Christ’s perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness as if we had never sinned nor ever been a sinner. God gives to undeserving sinners the gift of eternal life.
Whereas mercy can be thought of negatively as God withholding something from us – of God NOT giving us what we DO deserve. And what do we deserve? What do you and I and all sinners everywhere deserve? We deserve God’s full wrath, His just judgment, His eternal condemnation and punishment in hell for all of our sins. That’s what we deserve.
Yet, in God’s mercy, he withholds that judgment from us. He chooses NOT to punish us for our sins and wickedness. And by the way, this is a mercy God shows each and every day toward the unjust and the unrighteous as well. Unbelievers are not aware, but God shows both grace and mercy to them every single day. The rain and sunshine and even in the restraining of evil – those are good gifts of God’s common grace. And each day when God is patient and longsuffering and does not bring down upon fallen mankind His just judgment and condemnation, but gives man yet another day to live, another day to repent and turn to the Lord, that is a gift of God’s mercy and compassion.
I think of what Deuteronomy 4:30–31 says. Here, the Lord speaks to reassure his people that even though he knows they will sin and fall away, the Lord will not forsake them: “When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.”
Another helpful distinction to make is this: mercy is not simply a feeling we have. Mercy is not just a feeling of compassion that sweeps over our heart when we see or know someone who is in trouble or someone who is in distress or going through a hard time. Rather, mercy is, mercy “exists” you might say, when something is done to help alleviate or relieve that trouble or distress.
In my study for this sermon, I came across a paragraph that called attention to the “Mercy Seat” in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple. The article stated: “This was the place where the Lord God accepted the propitiatory sacrifice to atone for the nation’s sins, once each year on the "Day of Atonement" (see Lev 16:2,13, 14, 15). Here at the mercy seat God was moved with pity and compassion for the sinful people and took action to reconcile them to himself through accepting the blood of a goat in their stead.”
In that way, God didn’t just feel mercy toward his sinful people, but he did something about it. God took action. God provided a means whereby a blood sacrifice could be brought to the mercy seat, and from there, by means of the blood of that sacrifice -- God’s fierce anger and wrath against his sinful people was turned away. God’s people received God’s mercy and not God’s judgment.
By the way, that is the same imagery of the cross, is it not? The cross of Calvary can be thought of as the New Testament “Mercy Seat” upon which Jesus the Lamb was slain, his blood poured out, so that our sins could be forgiven; so that God’s wrath could be forever turned away from us, so that we would receive God’s mercy and not God’s just condemnation.
Where do we go with this? What’s the point here? Look back at what Jesus said in Mattthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” We’ve been talking about how God has shown us mercy, but the point that Jesus is emphasizing in this beatitude, is that this is NOW what God expects and requires of us.
Those who belong to Christ, who are children of the heavenly Father, those who have received mercy, are to extend, to show, to bestow, to lavish mercy on others.
I want to stress this also – that before mercy can ever turn into an action on our port, it must exist within us as a mindset, as an attitude, as a Godly virtue and characteristic, Just like being poor in spirit, or meek, or mournful over our own sins and failings. Mercy must begin within; it must live within our heart and soul.
Mercy flows from a heart and soul that recognizes the power of sin; a heart and soul that is humbled by the fact that we have first-hand knowledge and experience of the brokenness and pain and suffering that sin brings.
Mercy rises from the heart of a fallen sinner who knows and confesses that God has dealt graciously with us – God has been patient and gentle and he continues to bear with our weaknesses and shortcomings. It is this spiritual quality, this unique virtue that gives us the right perspective when we are dealing with other sinners who are caught in the grip of sin; or who are suffering the consequences of sin.
It is mercy that cautions us not to be quick to judge; not to cast the first stone. It is mercy that reminds us that as we look upon fallen sinner and see ourselves – we see the plank in our own eye before pointing out the sliver in our neighbor’s eye. It is mercy that prohibits us from saying: I thank you Lord that I am not like other men, sinners and liars and adulterers and robbers -- and which teaches us instead to say Have mercy on me, a sinner.
It is mercy that also teaches us the meaning of the phrase: there, but for the grace of God, go I. And if you don’t know what that means yet, I hope that God will teach that lesson to you some day – as painful and humiliating as it is. It is one of the most valuable lessons you will learn.
There is no better way to be cured of sinful pride and self-righteousness than when we ourselves (or when someone very close to us – a son or daughter) fall prey to the very same sin that we so piously condemned in someone else. “See what they have done! How could they!” And then we fall into sin. When that happens, we learn compassion. We learn mercy. We learn not to be harsh.
To wrap up this first point: mercy is modeled by God. God not only feels mercy and compassion toward us, but God has acted upon it. He has shown us mercy in the cross of Christ our Savior!! And that mercy that we have received is something that fills us, that changes us, that transforms us, so that we now become merciful to others. The mercy that God has shown to us spills over –it is poured out without measure – upon those around us who are sinful, hurting, in trouble and in misery. That is what we want to pick up in our second point.
2) The Illustration/Outworking of this Beatitude
In the passage we read earlier we heard how the Pharisees came to the disciples and questioned them about the company that Jesus kept. Not only did Jesus call a lowly and sinful tax collector like Matthew to follow him and to be his disciple, but Jesus even went to his house to eat with him. Thus, it came to be said that Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners.
And to that accusation Jesus simply said – It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous (by that Jesus meant those who were self-righteous), but sinners.
Jesus was quoting Hosea 6:6 where God rebuked his people saying, For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. The problem with God’s people, the problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’s day was not a new problem. God’s people had struggled with this sin for a very long time.
Except for the faithful remnant, God’s people had turned into a nation of hypocrites. Hypocrites are people who cling to an outward form of godliness; but inwardly they are dead. They have no love for God, no sincerity, nothing they do is genuine or real. It’s all fake, it’s performative religion.
(Some people made that charge against those who prayed last week at the inauguration of President Trump. Three men come up to pray – to supposedly ask God for His benediction and blessing on President Trump, but as always (this is nothing new) the prayers were prayed with cameras rolling, with many open eyes. Now, we cannot judge the hearts of those who prayed, we want to exercise mercy on them also, but we got the distinct impression that all those prayers were just part of the civic ritual and ceremony and there was nothing genuine or sincere about them.
That described the Pharisees and religious leaders in the days of Jesus. Their religion was one of rituals and ceremonies They paraded their piety before others, to be seen by them – as it says in Mattheew 6:1-2; 5; 16. They obeyed the letter of the law; they were careful not to defile themselves in any way, and yet their hearts were far from God.
They had no real love for God, no real love for their neighbor. How do we know that? Because the proof was evident in the way they treated others. They had no mercy. They had no mercy and they had no capacity to show mercy – because they themselves had never experienced the grace and mercy of God.
And so, when they saw Jesus driving out evil spirits, and healing the sick, and raising the dead, and making the blind to see, and the lame to walk, as Jesus cured lepers of their leprosy – what was the response of the chief priests and Pharisees? Where was their focus?
Their hearts were not moved by the mercy which Jesus showed. They were not at all swayed or impressed by the release from the tyranny of Satan by those who were demon possessed, or by the lives that were made whole or even restored through the healing and raising from the dead. No.
All they could do was criticize Jesus. They found fault with Jesus because Jesus broke the rules. Jesus healed the man with the shriveled hand on the Sabbath Day, so the Pharisees were more concerned about Sabbath laws being broken, which they were not of course. than rejoicing with the man whose affliction had been healed!
That is why Jesus said to them: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Have we learned mercy, people of God? We just celebrated the Lord’s Supper this morning. We ate and drank and remembered and believed that we have communion in the blood of Christ. We have received mercy. What are you going to do now? How are you going to respond?
Have you thought about the ways God can use you to show mercy, to spread mercy? Will you please pray about that in the days to come?
Charles Spurgeon wrote: Followers of Jesus must be people of mercy; for they have found mercy, and mercy has found them. As we look for "mercy of the Lord in that (coming) day ", we must show mercy (to others) in this day. I also want to share this excerpt from John Mac Arthur. He offers us some very practical ways that we can put mercy into motion here in our church, and even beyond – in your circle of friends, in your own community or neighborhood group.
“The gifted Christian who shows mercy is divinely endowed with special sensitivity to suffering and sorrow, with the ability to notice misery and distress that may go unnoticed by others, and with the desire and means to help alleviate such afflictions. This gift involves much more than sympathetic feeling. It is feeling put into action. The Christian with this gift always finds a way to express his feelings of concern in practical help. He shows his mercy by what he says to and what he does for the one in need. The believer who shows mercy may exercise his gift in hospital visitation, jail ministry, or in service to the homeless, the poor, the handicapped, the suffering, and the sorrowing.”
There is a great need in our congregation for this ministry of mercy. And while the deacons are the ones who hold the office most closely associated with this, and while we pastors and elders are also called to show and exercise mercy, to come alongside others in their sorrows and loss and struggles, we cannot possibly be there for everyone in the way they need us to be, much less can we know what all the needs are.
And that is why God has given an office to each one of us in the church of Jesus Christ: the office of all believer. Every believer is called to take action, to apply mercy, to show love and to care and sympathy for one another.
I especially see a need for a ministry of mercy among women where there is a safety net, a community of care where women have compassion and show mercy and care for other women who are struggling with miscarriages, postpartum depression, brokenness in relationships, with various temptations, or with the loss of fear loved one or friend.
It is not impossible for men to minster to women in those circumstances, but there is a reason that God calls for women to minister to women, and there is a great need for that in the church, as well as in the world around us. So maybe God will lay that on your heart -- and you can talk to your district elder and say that you want to be a part of this. Or you can just pray for the Lord to show you, to help you be more aware of those in our church family who are hurting.
Showing mercy is evidence that we have received mercy – and that is a mark of the child of God.
Those who have been forgiven much, love much; those who have received much mercy, show much mercy – and in the end they shall be blessed and shall receive mercy from God Himself. Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Pastor Keith Davis, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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