Title Slide Sermon on the Mount, part 5 Blessed are the Merciful Slide 2 Matthew 5:7 (NIV) 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy INTRODUCTION Today we examine Jesus 5 th beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. People who have immigrated from the Kingdom of this World to the Kingdom of Heaven are merciful! And those who are merciful will be shown mercy! The glorious community of God s delight is characterized by mercy rather than judgment! Slide 3 What is mercy? Simply put Mercy is compassion for people in need! Mercy is love, kindness and compassion in action! Click Mercy always seeks to relieve the pain, suffering, misery, and distress we see in others. Mercy seeks cures, relief, healing, help, and support for people who are suffering. Jesus taught in Matthew 25 that mercy is: 1
Feeding the hungry Mercy provides a cup of cold water Mercy visits the stranger and welcomes them Mercy clothes the naked Mercy visits the prisoner Slide 4 Biblical Examples of Mercy The Good Samaritan found in Luke 10 The story is about a Jewish man who was walking from Jerusalem toward the city of Jericho. On the way there some thugs jumped out from some rocks and robbed him, stripped him, beat him up and left him for dead in the ditch. A short time later a priest came along and saw the man, bruised and bleeding and crossed the road without ever slowing down. A little later another religious man, a Levite, came along and he too turned aside and quickly passed the suffering man by without stopping to render aid. The Jesus told his listeners that a man from Samaria came down the road. Even though there was a lot of ethnic strife between Samaritans and Jews, this Samaritan felt compassion for the beaten man and stopped to see how he could help. After assessing the situation, he knelt down over him, poured oil and wine on his wounds, and bandaged him up. Then he lifted the Jewish man onto his donkey and took him to an inn, where he made sure the man had a clean, warm bed. 2
Click Click He even gave the innkeeper some money and said, I ll cover the tab as long as it takes for this man to get well. You take care of him and I ll come by later to pay any additional costs. I ve often wondered what went through the mind of the robbed and beaten Jewish man when he woke up the next day in a comfortable bed, all bandaged up, and his room and board paid for by someone he didn t even know. I ll be he asked, Who did this? Why didn t he turn away like the others? Why did he do this for me? Why would anyone do something like this for me? Then Jesus turned to his audience and asked the profound question, Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, The one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, Go and do likewise. Notice how Jesus defines mercy! Mercy helps! Mercy relieves the stress and distress of others Mercy heals and lifts and supports Mercy sacrifices for others Mercy expresses extraordinary caring for people So Jesus is revealing that mercy is the earmark of authentic life in the Kingdom of God. Slide 5 Another Biblical example of mercy: 3
God showed us mercy by his only begotten Son into this world. Why? Because there is mercy with Him. He saw our pitiable condition He saw the suffering and He was moved to action! So the Son of God came and dealt with our condition. WE are the man by the roadside; beaten, robbed, and left for dead. But Jesus is the Good Samaritan who didn t just feel sorry for us, but comes to our aid Jesus came to restore the broken hearted, set the captain free, open the eyes of the blind, heal the sick and sick at heart! Jesus gave it all so that we could have it all! While others may pass you by, Jesus is merciful and comes to relieve our burdens of guilt and shame; to quench our thirst for water to satisfy; to give us food that lasts forever; to pay the complete debt for our recovery Our salvation is the supreme act of mercy. 4
It is God looking down upon us in our pitiable condition as a result of sin and having pity upon us. There grace that is there is regard to sin in general now becomes mercy that is to be poured out lavishly, continuously, extravagantly! Mercy always seeks to relieve the pain, suffering, misery, and distress we see in others. Slide 6 Last slide And what are the rewards of showing mercy? Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy It is the law of reciprocity. What you sow you shall also reap. The mercy you show will follow you, not because we can earn mercy by mercy, but because it bounces back on you. So here s the truth: When action oriented compassion and mercy is absent; it s a tell-tale sign that something is amiss. 5
Whether the problem is with the organization or the individual; uncaring Christianity is not attractive! The Strength of Sacrifice He gave his life for me, the young soldier kept muttering at the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. where all the names of the all the Americans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War are etched. He stood there tearfully staring at the Wall and training his finger over the letters of another soldier s name engraved there as he kept saying over and over with tears He gave his life for me. He gave his life for me was all he whispered as the kept moving his finger across the friends name. Can you imagine how this soldier s life must have been affected for the rest of his life because someone had been willing to sacrifice everything for him? Mercy moves people Mercy melts people and mercy transforms us! Mercy stops people in their tracks and makes them ask, Why? 6
Has someone ever melted your heart by sacrifice and mercy? Has anyone put your concerns in front of their own? Jesus did! Jesus does! And Jesus invites us to be merciful and we too shall be shown mercy! Holy Communion Today is a demonstration of God s mercy! 7