Good morning Edge Church! Welcome to those online, in your home, or in a house church. Wherever you are, welcome. Hopefully you all enjoyed that extra hour of sleep that you got. Hopefully you actually got it. Those of you who work nights, sorry you got stuck with an hour extra of overtime (I made that comment because I've worked nights before). My name is David Larson and I am a member here at The Edge Church. I've been coming to the church for many years — you've probably seen me on the worship team playing bass guitar— and I also serve for a nonprofit mission organization called New Life for Haiti.
This morning we're continuing our series called Blessed and it’s based on a portion of The Sermon on the Mount that Jesus delivered. It's his most famous sermon and it's embedded in culture. Most people know some elements of it here or there without maybe even realizing the source. We are focusing though on a section called the beatitudes.
Beatitudes — that term comes from the Latin word beatus, which means blessed. All of these statements start with the word blessed. There is a series of them that will bring us from where we started in this series up to where we are going today. In Matthew 5: 3-7 we read this:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
That's where we are today. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. That begs the question, what is mercy? Mercy can be defined primarily in two ways. One is compassionate treatment of those under one's power. Examples include words like clemency or forbearance or leniency from inflicting punishment. The other way that mercy can be defined is a disposition to be kind, forgiving, and compassionate.
The gospels of Mark and Matthew recount Jesus seeing a lost, harried, harassed, and helpless crowd as sheep without a shepherd. He had compassion on them. He saw the sick — he had compassion on them and he healed them.
Now back to our verse for this week: blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Jesus tells us that to those who are merciful to others, mercy will also be shown to them. Those who possess and demonstrate a disposition to kindness, forgiveness, and compassion are those who will receive the same.
We talk a lot about the concept of grace — how we can only be saved from the punishment that we deserve by grace through faith. Grace is something that by biblical definition, we cannot earn. Even my American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines grace as mercy and clemency. Let us be clear on this: these beatitudes are not a sort of spiritual shortcut. These are deep truths about the kingdom of heaven and right relationship with both God and people.
For a time in my professional life I was a computer programmer. There's a type of programming command set in all programming languages called an if/then statement. If button A is pressed, then instruction A will happen. This beatitude is not an if/then statement. If you are merciful to others, then you will be shown mercy by God is not the way that we are intended to read this. If you, as your spiritual journey progresses with these beatitudes, truly show compassion, kindness, and mercy on your fellow men and women, you are already at the point in your spiritual journey where mercy will be shown to you.
These beatitudes follow a progression.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Here, there is an invitation. You are here, you dialed in, you logged on, you showed up, you accepted the invitation. Humility and vulnerability follow the poor in spirit. The spiritual mourning, the grieving, the humility and meekness that comes from a sense that there is nothing of eternal significance that you can accomplish of your own power, because God did it all. And God does it all. A hunger and thirst for the things of God. The desire to receive the grace of God grows within you. This is the grace that is undeserved. You recognize your undeservedness because of your humility and your meekness.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. After you receive the invitation, acknowledge your poverty of spirit, grieve your sin, understand and fully grasp that you have nothing to offer of yourself in your defense, hunger and thirst for righteousness, living by faith and thereby full to satisfaction — you then turn to others and dispense the grace and mercy that you have received. Our religion hinges on mercy. In doing this, your grace is proved.
Jesus spoke often in parables and one that comes to mind is The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It’s found in Luke 18: 9-14. It says:
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This parable is a shortcut of what we've been talking about with these beatitudes and grace and mercy. Mercy follows on the heels of meekness. A merciful disposition springs from meekness with pride of power abolished mercy is made easy.
Psalm 130
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
There are so many biblical passages which lend perspective to Jesus' message about mercy. Some verses of the Bible contrast mercy with its opposite. In Proverbs 11:17 we read:
17 Those who are kind benefit themselves,
but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.
There's another translation, which from my studies, looks a little bit more like the Hebrew. It says this: the merciful man does good for his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.
In Galatians 6:8 we read:
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Proverbs 22: 8-9
8 Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity,
and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.
9 The generous will themselves be blessed,
for they share their food with the poor.
Deuteronomy 32:35
35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
This is echoed again later in Romans 12 and in Hebrews, we hear God saying it is mine to avenge, I will repay. We can rest knowing that God is just and that we do not need to become the instrument of revenge — God will settle the balances.
How then do we look at mercy as a character trait of God? We just looked at “vengeance is mine, justice is his.” God takes care of that. Where does mercy fit in? A wonderful example of this is found throughout Psalm 136. The second half of each of these 26 verses in the Psalm declare: his steadfast love is eternal. Other translations will render the line: his mercy endures forever. Both of these are true. His steadfast love is demonstrated as mercy toward us. The Psalm re-counts God's creative acts and his redemptive actions. God's love and mercy toward the faithful endure forever.
Mercy is also a fruit of the spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Forbearance is refraining from inflicting punishment. Kindness to recognize the struggle of others and have compassion on them. Self-control to stop the impulse to condemn. Gentleness as Christ was gentle. Goodness to seek God's good and by extension the good of others. And love — to love your enemy and your neighbor as yourself. Being merciful isn't an internal characteristic only. It is something that if part of your nature and character, will be easily visible to others.
An early biblical passage says it this way (speaking about every seventh year, the year of Jubilee in which it was tradition to cancel all debts):
Deuteronomy 15:7-10
7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be open handed and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
There's this caution about harboring wicked thoughts and being hardhearted. It's proper inward orientation toward and alignment with God that generates true mercy and kindness. Those who may be hesitant or outright resistant to show mercy and kindness to those who are that object. I might see them and maybe I don't want to be generous to them. Maybe I don't want to show them mercy because I'm angry or whatever it is. Those are the same people who may testify against us. This is how Jesus was treated by those claiming their own righteousness.
Matthew 25:45 we read on the end day at the judgment:
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Do you see the connection? We are to give without expectation. Give not out of selfishness but out of selflessness. It's not just about mercy. We have the ability to spend our time, talents, and treasure.
Deuteronomy 15:10 says:
10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
God provides the blessing, not mere instances of generosity. God blesses because of the generous heart that you have — the invited, poor, grieving, meek, hungry, thirsty, merciful heart that you have — because of God's grace and mercy toward you.
Jesus' statement about mercy isn't just about a singular expression. It goes to the heart of spiritual integrity — doing one thing physically, but the heart is elsewhere. You'll see that theme carried forward in the rest of Jesus' sermon on the mount. We are to be not just hearers, but doers. We must not just demonstrate kindness, charity, and love toward our friends and family, but kindness, charity, and love toward those we might consider our enemy or simply toward those with whom we strongly disagree or even toward a complete stranger.
It's so easy to be merciful to those we love isn't it? Do you think that's what Jesus was getting at? With what we've heard and know about the beatitudes we've covered, do you think Jesus was just talking about being merciful when it's easy?
Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I was driving down the road the other day to work and all of a sudden the car’s dashboard lit up and there were warning lights and beeping. I wasn't applying the brakes at that time but the warning system was indicating that my brake pads were low and that a drop in brake fluid pressure was occurring. The car was warning me of a potential future problem. In this moment, it's time for us to check our spiritual integrity.
I will let James — a servant of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ — say it in this way. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says:
James 1:26
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues [or control over their keystrokes on social media] deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. We are to speak and act as those who are going to be judged by law. That gives freedom because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
In your home church, in your small group, in your private time at home I want to give you something to facilitate and spur discussion in our community. There are some questions that I'd like you to consider. But first we're going to do a minor deviation from that. I want you to read aloud Psalm 136 and pay special attention to the repetition of “his steadfast love is eternal.” You will see a history of creation and of God's work through the nation of Israel. God's still doing that in your life. His steadfast love is eternal.
Afterward the first of our discussion questions is this. What is your first impression of “blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy?” What's your takeaway?
Second question: In what ways or situations, or to whom do you struggle showing mercy?
And lastly: How can you demonstrate mercy to others? Especially during and after a troubling time, such as a personal difficulty, a pandemic or a tough election season?