Blessed Are the Merciful, For They Will Be Shown Mercy. Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. The Grace And mercy of God Is the foundation on which our Salvation was built. Because of God s great love for us and through his mercy and grace, He sent his only begotten son to pay a debt that he did not owe for us, a debt that we could never pay. Christ Jesus, God in the flesh stepped out of eternity and took on humanity to save the world. He did this in order to take upon Himself our sins past, present and future. Therefore, because we have been saved by so great a grace, out of God's love for us, mercy is the seasoning that falls upon all we do. And we do so through Jesus who strengthens us and the Holy Spirit's work of transformation in our hearts and minds. Without God's mercy and grace, we would all be facing a future judgment too terrible to consider. The word used for mercy by Jesus in this verse of Scripture, far outweighs giving repentant sinners another chance. It shows clearly God s concern for the well-being of His children. And it includes having a desire in us to treat others with compassion and understanding, as well as having their best interest at heart. It's this characteristic and attribute of mercy, that we become better witnesses of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in our hearts and in our lives. Consequently, it is this characteristic of mercy that distinguishes us as followers and believers of Christ. It's this characteristic and attribute of mercy, that we become better witnesses of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in our hearts and in our lives. Consequently, it is this characteristic of mercy that distinguishes us as followers and believers of Christ. What this is saying is that we reap what we sow, if we are judgmental of other people, then we should expect people to judge us in return. If we criticize others then we should expect to be criticized right back. If we re friendly then others will be friendly in return. And when we exhibit mercy, we ll receive mercy back. If we want to be happy, that is, blessed, we need to treat people the way we want to be treated, which is the heart of the Golden Rule. And so, the right way to treat others is with the same mercy we ve been shown by God. One definition of mercy is that mercy is not getting what we deserve. We deserve death, the wages of sin is death; but instead we receive mercy. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1
Mercy is Love Being Demonstrated Mercy is more than simply a mindset or posture, and it s more than feeling sympathy for or having compassion for someone. Its doing something about it. This is literally one of the attributes of God. God is a merciful God; therefore, God s love is being Demonstrated Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Subsequently, since God is a merciful Father, He then anticipates that His children will be merciful as well. Luke 6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful What are the traits and attributes of a Merciful Person? Patience We experience a wide range of various individuals. People are as different as night and day, each one with their own likes and dislikes. This would be a boring world if we were all the same. God created each one of us to be our own individual, we all have certain particular quirks and peculiarities. Paul taught us through the letters to the Thessalonians that we should be patient with everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone Being patient with everyone is something I am still working on, as I m sure most everyone in this service is today. But if we want to be happy or blessed then we must be merciful, and to be merciful we need to be patient with those who don t always fit into our way of thinking. In order to be patient with everyone we have to learn something about that person, understand from where they have come and do not focus on how far they need to go. This is a first step to help us be more patient with other people. We look underneath the surface at the inner torment they may have or are as yet experiencing. Since behind each individual there' could be loneliness, hurt, depression, or anxiety. Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 2
Merciful people are loving people. They re not quick to criticize or judge. They realize that hurtful people oftentimes are people that have been hurt themselves. So, the first mark of a merciful person is that they are patient with others, and that s because they need others to be patient with them. Forgiving What are the traits and attributes of a Merciful Person? When those around us make a mistake, or let us down, do we hold it over their heads, never letting them off the hook, or do we show them a little mercy and forgiveness? Colossians 3:12-13: Therefore, as God s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. There is a feeling of exaltation when we receive mercy and it brings with it a good feeling, but sometimes it feels wrong when we should show forgiveness because we think what we deserve is justice. It would be equivalent to some who had their picture taken and returning to the photographer and complaining that the picture did not do us justice. The photographer might say that we don t need justice we need mercy. Helpful What are the traits and attributes of a Merciful Person? Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Mercy is giving sound, useful help and support. There are many people in this world today that are hurting, but being sympathetic is not showing mercy, or being Christ-like. However, when we do something about it, that is showing mercy and that is exactly what Jesus did. 3
John 3:17-18 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God s one and only Son. This verse cuts us to our very souls. It is good to tell people that we love them, but it is much better When we show it, and more importantly do something about it. That is true mercy. John Wesley said: Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can. In the example of the Good Samaritan. We find a man who was mugged and left on the side of the road for dead. A Jewish Priest and a Levite saw him and crossed to the other side of the road, in order to avoid helping him. And then along came a Samaritan who was shunned by the Jews, of which the mugged guy was one. This Samaritan did something about it, he took action. He took him to a local Inn and covered his expense. That is mercy, that is love being demonstrated (Luke 10:25-37). The First Motivator as To Why We Are Supposed to Be Merciful Is Because God Has Shown Mercy In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, the King said to the unmerciful servant. Matthew 18:32-33 Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? God expects us to show others the same mercy He has shown to us. If we re finding it hard to be merciful, the best thing is to remember is how much mercy God showed sending Jesus to die for us in our place. When I look at the amount of hurt I have done in my relationship with my Lord and Savior and then know that God still is willing to show me mercy is mind blowing, and helps me realize how much I really need to forgive and have mercy toward others. One day some Pharisee and other Jewish leaders brought a woman to Jesus that had been caught in the act of adultery saying, this woman should be stoned to death. 4
But Jesus turned the tables on them saying, the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone. With that they all threw down their stones and left. On one other occasion Jesus said: Luke 6:42 How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother s eye. Another Motivator as To Why We Are Supposed to Be Merciful Is Because. We Need Mercy. God has shown each and every one of us great mercy in the past. This is a great and wonderful thing. But we are going to need more of his mercy in the future, since none of us are perfect. James 2:13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. The only way we will receive mercy is if we give mercy in return. There will be those that say, but you don t know how much I ve been hurt. You would be absolutely correct in saying that. Because I do not know how much you been hurt. However, if we can t forgive then we won t be forgiven. Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. To put it another way, we should never burn a bridge that we may have to cross back over someday. God does not give us what we deserve he gives us what we need. None of us deserve mercy, but we all certainly need mercy. 5
The last motivator as to why we should be merciful is: Mercy Brings Happiness This fifth beatitude is saying blessed or happy or those that are merciful. It could also be stated the opposite unhappy are the unmerciful. People who harbor resentment and are unwilling to give up a grudge are very miserable people to be around. Proverbs 11:17 Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin on themselves. Doing acts of mercy gets us out of ourselves and away from our own problems and produces happiness. Conclusion The question then is how can we become more merciful people? We begin by experiencing the mercy given to us by God. There is no way we can offer to others what we have not received from God. The Mercy and forgiveness that we receive from God is not because we deserve it, but because God wants to forgive us. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life Is there someone around you today that you need to forgive? Maybe there s someone around you that needs a little mercy. Is there maybe someone around you who you re holding the past over their heads. We need to be a forgiving people, a merciful people, and then we can expect God s mercy in full. 6