Word of Salvation – Vol.43 No.24 – June 1998

 

Blessed Are The Merciful…!

 

Sermon by Rev J.W.Westendorp on Matthew 5:7

Scripture Readings: Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 25:31-46 & 5:1-12

Suggested Songs: BoW 505; 210; 15 ; 218

 

Introduction:

Often we read of callous acts of neglect of the suffering of others.

An act of violence occurs in inner suburbs of a large city.
Shouts and screams… the sound of a gunshot.
            People peer through their blinds but no one comes to help.
            No one wants to get involved.
A motor cyclist is knocked off his bike and lies beside a major highway.
            Several cars speed by before one finally stops.
            The others were too busy… or they didn’t want to get involved in the legalities.

That’s nothing new of course – Jesus told us a story like that from own His days:
A man travelling to Jericho is beaten by thugs… he’s left to die.
A priest passes by… but he crosses the road.
            He’s too busy… he’s got a church meeting to go to.
Another churchman passes by… but he doesn’t want to get involved either.
            It finally takes a despised foreigner… a Samaritan… to stop and help.

In our text Jesus pronounces a special blessing for all who, like the Samaritan, are merciful.

            Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

 

A]        THE CHARACTER OF MERCY.

1.         Perhaps we ought to begin by asking what we mean by mercy.

Because the words “mercy” and “merciful” are not used much today.
            When did you last hear the word ‘mercy’ in everyday conversation.
            Mercy is a word that seems to have gone out of circulation.

The Bible actually uses the word “mercy” in two ways:

 

First it talks about MERCY in connection with the guilt that comes because of’ SIN.
We are guilty sinners before God… but God is merciful.
Others sin against us… but we are called to show mercy to them.

Mercy here really has idea of FORGIVENESS.
The best example in N.T. is the parable of the unforgiving servant.
            The Master forgave this man thousands of dollars.
            He in turn wouldn’t forgive his fellow servant even a very small debt.

And then in Math.18:33 the king says to the unforgiving servant:
                        “You wicked servant…
                         shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant
                         just as I had mercy on you…?”

So here is mercy… and it has the quality of forgiveness.
The world says: ‘Revenge is sweet’.
Jesus says: ‘Blessed are those who are merciful… who forgive… for they will be forgiven.”

2.         A second way the N.T. speaks of mercy is in connection with MISERY.

            Here it is speaking not of the GUILT of sin… but of the RESULT of sin.
Sin brings pain and suffering and death… and that calls for MERCY.

Mercy here has the idea of COMPASSION.
The best example of that in the N.T. is the parable of the GOOD SAMARITAN.

He alone shows compassion and is held up as an example of mercy.
In fact Jesus ends that story by saying: Go and do likewise!

So there is a mercy that boils down to kindness shown in deeds of love.
The world says: ‘Live and let live!’
Jesus says: ‘Blessed are those who show compassion for they will be shown compassion.

Today I especially want to emphasise the COMPASSION side of mercy.

Not that we can ignore the mercy of FORGIVENESS.
As a matter of fact these two are very closely related.
            The guilt of sin… needs the mercy of forgiveness…
            And the effects of sin…. need the mercy of compassion.
But these belong very closely together.
            So close that if you really forgive someone you’ll be able to show them compassion.
            And when you are compassionate to someone you show that you have forgiven them.

So we’ll talk about mercy as COMPASSION.
But we’ll keep at the back of our minds that mercy also includes forgiveness.

3.         In fact let’s take this a little further.

Mercy is not just that we do our duty by someone.
            Being merciful is not even that we extend ourselves… beyond the call of duty.
            Rather mercy is the attitude we show to those who are our enemies.
            [Remember!  The Samaritan was regarded as “the enemy” by the Jews]

Mercy is especially evident in the way you treat your personal enemies.
There are people at work who make life difficult for you.
But repeatedly you meet them with gentleness and love.
            That’s mercy… you forgive them and you show them compassion.

So ultimately we measure mercy by the way we treat our enemies who wrong us.

And then we suddenly remember Jesus on the cross.
When He Himself suffered immensely He was still compassionate… He was merciful.
He prayed even for those who were crucifying Him.
            Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Notice the mercy of Jesus…. it was there throughout His earthly life.
Over and over people cried out to Him: Have mercy on me…!
And time and again we read that He had compassion on the multitude.
But now on the cross He prays in mercy… even for His enemies.

Actually turn to LUKE 6 and notice that this virtue of mercy is an imitation of God.

The mercy that Jesus calls blessed is the mercy that is seen in our Father in heaven.

LUKE 6:36…. where Jesus specifically calls us to imitate God’ s mercy:
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
            The context there is that God is good… and then even to the wicked and ungrateful.
            And Jesus adds that if we show mercy we will be Sons of the most High.

 

B]        THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US.

1.         In the light of all this it’s easy to see why Jesus pronounces a special blessing on the merciful.

Mercy is difficult for us.  Mercy is not a natural quality.

Forgiveness and compassion are found so rarely in our society.

We live in an unmerciful world.
In a world where travellers are left to die by the roadside.
Where beggars live on the doorsteps of rich men’s houses.

In fact the world at large sometimes has rather strange ways of showing mercy.
Weird ways… with double standards.
            There is concern about the suffering that comes because of unwanted children.
            Our society says we need to be merciful in those situations.
            But it tries to show mercy by making abortion even more readily available.
            A strange mercy that results in the destruction of the baby.

            Today there is growing concern about the suffering of the incurably ill… their pain.
            Many want to show mercy by putting an end to their life… euthanasia.
            They have even called it MERCY-killing.
            Again – a strange way of showing mercy.

Jesus has no blessing for that kind of mercy.
First because it goes contrary to God’s word… it is a purely human view of mercy.
Secondly because it fails to recognise that God also works thru suffering.
            The mercy of compassion is helping people in their misery.
            It is never putting people out of their misery.
            We do that with animals not with people.
There is no blessing for the world’s twisted ways of being merciful.

2.         I can imagine some of you protesting at this point that there still is a lot of mercy around.

Look at the way the world rallied to the help of Rwanda some years ago.

Charitable organisations from all around the world joined the United Nations to help.

Look at the way World Vision 40 Hour Famine is supported.

Or the millions that are collected by the Salvation Army’s Red Shield appeal.

It’s true:  There is a lot of compassion shown in nursing homes and hospitals.

And repeatedly we are moved by the way the community rallies around children with rare diseases.

By the grace of God there IS still much evidence of mercy all around us.

But I want to say three things about that.

First some of that mercy is to make people seem good and generous.
            Some of our mercy and compassion is hypocritical….
            Sometimes it has false motives…. when it is only to improve our standing.
            Compassion to show what great fellows we are.
            Huge donations to charity… to honours the giver… and provide a tax deduction as well.
            Unfortunately much compassion in the world is only an ego trip to make us feel good.

Second keep in mind that the ultimate standard for mercy is love for our enemy.
            It’s not too hard to show compassion to some innocent terminally ill child.
            And supporting the Salvos isn’t all that difficult either.
            But it’s a little harder when we’re called to support a group we can’t identify with.
            And when it comes to those we think have done the wrong thing, forget it.
            And personal enemies… that’s really reaching the limit.

3.         So I want to say a third thing about the compassion that we do still see around us.

I said a while ago that Jesus pronounces this benediction because mercy is rare.

We are not by nature compassionate…. not naturally concerned about the sufferings of others.

So why do we still see so much mercy and compassion at times?
Is it because the problems get overwhelming and out of all proportion…
And then the media drums up some support for refugees and it goes well for a while?
Somehow our communal conscience bothers us and we help out again.
Is that the way it is?  Not really!

Ultimately we have to talk here about the grace of God.

His mercy and His compassion which we are called to imitate.

He is still at work in this world and by His grace things are never as bad as they could be.

Every dollar given to charity is evidence that God hasn’t given up on this world.

The grace of God… that has to touch our cold, merciless hearts.

To show mercy takes a miracle… a miracle of grace.
But then the wonderful thing is that in the believer that miracle has taken place.
It has happened in the life of the Christian.

The Bible tells us what has happened to us when we put our trust in Jesus.
God has taken out our heart of stone and has given us a heart of flesh.
Because of that work of grace, God opens the heart of the believer.
He sensitises us to suffering and need… to people’s grief and loneliness.
And He not only opens our hearts… He opens our purse-strings too when that is needed.

 

C]        THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN.

1.         That brings us back to a point I have made often in these studies in the beatitudes.

The beatitudes describe the new life of the people of God.
In the beatitudes Jesus is saying: This is what a Christian looks like. It’s the Christian character.
Do you want to know what true Christian character is?  Well, this is it!
Here are 8 characteristics of the people whom Jesus calls to Himself.
And one of those characteristics is that they are merciful just as Jesus was merciful.
The beatitudes describe Kingdom members… Christians…!

In saying this we’re not saying that only Christians are compassionate and merciful.

We’ve already admitted that by the grace of God there is still a lot of compassion around.

Even in midst of all the ego tripping and false motivation there’s still a lot of mercy being shown.

But if this beatitude describes the people of God then we would especially expect them to show mercy.
And it’s true.
It is not surprising that throughout history
            the Christian church has been in the forefront in works of mercy.
It has given real leadership in projects of compassion.
In a merciless world the community of God’s saved people have repeatedly set the example.
It began already with the appointment of deacons in Jerusalem to aid the needy.
In the church of Corinth we read they collected for famine relief.
And it has gone on through the ages.  Countless relief agencies have Christian origins.

When the gospel went out to the mission fields there was compassion.
The word of God was accompanied by medicine and practical assistance.
Missionaries were at the same time nurses and doctors.
Church buildings were erected… but often after the hospitals and schools.
Compassion and mercy was shown by people….
            who had experienced the much greater mercy of God in their own lives.

2.         Why has the Christian church repeatedly been at the forefront of works of mercy?

Where there are earthquakes and cyclones and famines Christian organisations are busy.

A cynic might suggest that it is because Christians are trying to buy their way to heaven.

Do good and give to charity… and then God will be pleased and let you into heaven.

In fact isn’t that what the fifth beatitude teaches?
The merciful are blessed because they are going to be shown mercy.
Isn’t that saying that as we show mercy to others so God will also reward us with mercy?
But that would contradict what the rest of the Bible teaches us.

I’ve already said that our showing mercy is only by the grace of God.
            It is not so that us showing kindness and love gets us into God’s favour.
            It is rather that we are already in God’s favour and that’s why we show mercy.

The Bible teaches us that we can only receive God’s mercy when we repent of our sins.
God’s mercy of forgiveness comes to us as we come in faith and repentance.
But that then makes a big difference in our lives.
            We in turn begin to show mercy to others.
            And the mercy we show in forgiveness and compassion is evidence of God’s grace.

When you now give to the charity collector at the door it’s not just to get rid of him.
And we don’t do it just so others will think we’re pretty decent and generous.
But we do it because God has made us compassionate people.

Why then does Jesus say that the merciful will be shown mercy?
First because a lack of mercy only demonstrates that you have yet come to know God’s mercy.
Second, because showing forgiveness and compassion can be a thankless thing.
Jesus promises that it will have its rewards and if not now then on the Day when Jesus comes.
On that Day Jesus will say:  Whatever you did to the least of these my brothers you did to me.

3.         If this beatitude is a description of Christian character then this also remains our ongoing calling.

We need to keep working at it.

The sick and the prisoner… the refugee and the bereaved will always be a challenge to us.

The widowed and the lonely are a challenge for us to demonstrate the grace and mercy of God.
God didn’t show us His mercy just so that we could sit in our cosy little church ghetto.
He didn’t offer us forgiveness and life eternal so that we could hide it away from the world.
But rather so that we might be compassionate people in a hard, cold world.
Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Easy?  No!  But always possible because of the gospel of Jesus.

Some of you may know the story of Dr. Nigel Lee (T&S Feb.’96) from Queensland.
Dr. Lee’s father, in South Africa, was assaulted and had his house burgled.
The old man of 86 was left for dead in the house and later died in hospital.
Dr. Lee later travelled to South Africa and asked to see the young robber in prison.
Dr. Lee asked about the young criminal’s welfare in the prison then said:

“Mr W… I am the only child of the old man who was left for dead behind the front door of the house in Barrydale on the 10th July – whom you are accused of having assaulted.  I had been looking forward to spending a week with him in September, but as you can see this is now impossible.”  The young man nodded, looked down and said nothing.
Mr. W…  many years ago my father was not a Christian but there came a time when he turned from his sins and received Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.  That’s why he is now in heaven, and waiting for me to join him.
I can assure you that if you make your peace with God… you too will go to heaven.

How is it possible to show such mercy – even to your father’s murderer?
            It’s only possible when we’ve experienced an even greater mercy
                         in the love of Jesus for us.

Amen.