5 Blessed Are The Merciful
5 Blessed Are the Merciful
7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
In the brief time that we have for such an important subject, I would like to answer four questions.
You can see that these are very practical and immensely important questions. To answer the first question let’s look at the immediate context.
1. How Does a Heart Become Merciful?Recall from our last study how we saw the first three beatitudes in verses 3-5 describing the emptiness of the blessed person: verse 3: poverty-stricken in spirit, verse 4: grieving over the sin and misery of his condition, and verse 5: accepting the hardships and accusations of life in meekness without defensiveness.
This condition of blessed emptiness is followed in verse 6 by a hunger and thirst for the fullness of righteousness. Then we get three descriptions of how righteousness flourish in the heart of the hungry. Mercy in verse 7, Purity in verse 8, and Peacemaking in verse 9.So the answer to our first question is that mercy comes from:A heart that has first felt its spiritual bankruptcy, and Has come to grief over its sin, and Has learned to wait meekly for the timing of the Lord, and To cry out in hunger for the work of his mercy to satisfy us with the righteousness we need.
The mercy that God blesses is itself the blessing of God. It grows up like fruit in a broken heart and a meek spirit and a soul that hungers and thirsts for God to be merciful. Mercy comes from mercy. Our mercy to each other comes from God’s mercy to us.
The key to becoming a merciful person is to become a broken person. You get the power to show mercy from the real feeling in your heart that you owe everything you are and have to God's divine mercy. Therefore, if we want to become merciful people, it is imperative that we develop a view of God and ourselvesthen we will be able to say with all our heart that every joy and virtue and distress of our lives is owing to the free and undeserved mercy of God.The second question is,2. What Is Mercy?Or: what is a merciful person like? Sometimes it helps get something clear if we can see it over against its opposite and see the contrast. So I have tried to find in Scripture the opposite of Mercy and compared the two .I found very helpful illustrations in Matthew and Luke. Let's look at Matthew 9:10-13 first.10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?(Greek with tax collectors and sinners? )"12 When Jesus heard this, he said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do." 13 Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ÔÇÿI want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."WhenJesus said "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ÔÇÿI want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' He was referring to Hosea 6:6in the old testament
(6 I want you to show love,(Greek version translates this Hebrew term as to show mercy.) not offer sacrifices.I want you to know me (Hebrew to know God.) more than I want burnt offerings. Andthree chapters further in Matthew 12:1-7 Jesus speaks to the PhariseesandHe uses the same words from Hosea 6:6
1At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. 2 But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, "Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath."3 Jesus said to them, "Haven't you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. 5 And haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6 I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7 But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ÔÇÿI want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'
So when we look at these passages we see that the opposite of mercy is sacrifice. Matthew 9:13 “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices."
In Hosea 6:6 God accuses the people that their love is like the dew on the grass. It is there for a brief morning hour, and then it is gone, and all that is left is the empty form of burnt offerings.
The point is that God wants his people to be alive in their hearts. He wants them to have feelings of affection toward Him and mercy toward each other. He does not want a people who do their religious duties automatically without thinking or merely in a formal way.
Here in Matthew 9 Jesus referred to sinners as sick and miserable people in need of a doctor, even though they were the rich tax collectors,the money movers of the day. They were sick and He had medicine.
But all that the Pharisees saw was a ceremonial problem with becoming contaminated by eating with sinners. Their life seemed to be a mechanical implementation of rules. Something huge was at stake here. But they could not see it or feel it. They were enslaved to the minor issues of ceremonial cleanness when eternal sickness was about to be healed.
The opposite of mercy is bondage to religious details.Jesus gives another example of the same thing in again in Matthew and this time in chapter23:23-24.He speaks to the Pharisees once again23 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,(Greek tithe the mint, the dill, and the cumin.) but you ignore the more important aspects of the law-justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won'taccidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!(In Lev 11:4, 23, we read that gnats and camels are both forbidden as food. )
What is the opposite of mercy in these stinging words of the Lord? The opposite of mercy is the straining out of gnats. The opposite of mercy is when your exhaust yourself with religious decisions such as "should I tithe my gross income or my net income or my birthday gifts.
The lesson we learn from the words of Jesus when he says, “I desire mercy not sacrifice,” and when he says, “You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel,” is that a great obstacle and enemy to mercy is the preoccupation with the unimportant little things in life. The bondage to triviality is the curse of the unmerciful.
When Jesus says, “Don’t neglect the more important things matters of the law,” he means, “Beware of going through the day doing only trivial things, thinking only trivial thoughts, feeling only trivial feelings. The Lord wants us to bebusy with the weighty matter of mercy rather than concentrating on trivial things.
Blessed are the merciful. Therefore, if you want to be blessed, you must make war against the bondage of religious and secular unimportant detail and devote your life to the weightier matters of the law such as justice, mercy, faith. Mercy is no small thing. It is one of the weightiest matters in all of life.
Another illustration of the opposite of mercy is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan inLuke 10:25-37.
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"26 Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"27 The man answered, "ÔÇÿYou must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, ÔÇÿLove your neighbour as yourself.'(Deut 6:5 Lev 19:18)"28 "Right!" Jesus told him."Do this and you will live!"29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?"
And Jesus answers that the persons who will receive the mercy of eternal life are those who have loved God with all their hearts and their neighbour as themselves. In other words, “Blessed are those who are merciful now to their neighbour, for they shall receive the mercy of eternal life in the future.”
So this story is very relevant to our study this morning: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
This will be even more obvious when we look at the parable that follows. The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbour?” And Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan in verses 30-37.30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was travelling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant(Greek A Levite) walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,(Greek two denarii. A denarius was equivalent to a labourer's full day's wage.) telling him, ÔÇÿTake care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.'36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by bandits?"Jesus asked.37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy."Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."
Four Dimensions of Mercy in This Parable
Here we have a very sharp photograph of mercy and its opposite. Mercy has four dimensions in this story.First, mercy sees distress (verse 33: “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, “).Second, mercy responds internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress (verse 33: “he felt compassion for him“).Third, mercy responds externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress (verse 34 “34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.“).And the fourth dimension of mercy is that it happens even when the person in distress is by religion and race an enemy (verse 33: “Then a despised Samaritan. . . “). A half-breed Jew with a warped religious tradition stops to help the Jew who hates him.An eye for distress, a heart of pity, an effort to help, in spite of enmity-that’s mercy.
The Opposite of Mercy in This Parable
And its opposite?Isn’t it remarkable that this parable makes the same point as Matthew 9:13? There Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.‘” Here he says, “Go and show mercy like the Samaritan, not like the priest and the Levite.” The priest and the Levite stand for the same thing in the parable that the word “sacrifice” stands for in Matthew 9:13, namely, empty religious formalism of keeping the law.
Jesus made up this story. Why did he choose to illustrate the opposite of mercy with a priest and a Levite? With a pastor and a minister of music?Is it not a warning all of us that there are far too many people who are caught up in the mechanics of religious activity with no eye to see distress, no heart to respond with compassion, and no effort to bring the relief of the gospel?
Mercy Is One of the Weightier Matters of Life
So in answer to our second question, What is mercy? we should say that mercy is one of the weightier matters of life. It is always in danger of being neglected because of our preoccupation with small things, whether it's secular things like watching too much television or consuming yourself with some hobby, or religious trifles. What’s a religious trifle? A religious trifle is any religious activity (from preaching to praying, from teaching to tithing)-any religious activity at all that does not cultivate a heart that is taken up with the weightier matters of life, like mercy. The proof of the religious pudding is in the power to see distress, feel pity, perform relief, and all of that even toward an enemy.The third question we asked was,
3. Should a Merciful Person Always Show Mercy?Or: can a Christian be a prosecuting attorney?
Real life is very complex for Christian people who seriously want to live out their faith in a sinful world. What would you answer to these questions?
Each of these four questions corresponds to a sphere of life: the sphere of the familythe sphere of business and economicsthe sphere of government and law enforcement, andthe sphere of the church. And the answer to the questions is that it is God’s will that as long as this age lasts there will be a mingling of mercy and justice in all these spheres.
A Mingling of Both Justice and Mercy in This Age
God’s will is that sometimes we repay people with what they deserve, whether punishment or reward (call that justice). And God’s will is that sometimes we repay people with better than what they deserve (call that mercy). In upholding the claims of justice, we bear witness to the truth that God is a God of justice. And in showing mercy we bear witness to the truth that God is a God of mercy.
The question is
How Can We Know When to Show One or the Other?
How shall we know when to do justice and how to show mercy? The answer is, by getting as close to Jesus as you possibly can. I know of no hard and fast rules in Scripture to dictate for every situation. And this is not by accident . The aim of Scripture is to produce a certain kind of person, not provide and exhaustive list of rules for every situation.
The beatitude says, “Blessed are the merciful,” not, “Blessed are those who know exactly when and how to show mercy in all circumstances.”We must be merciful people even when we act with severity in the service of justice. That is, we must be:poor in spirit,Sorrowful for our own sin,Meekly free from defensiveness and self-exaltation,Hungering and thirsting for all that is right to be done,Perceptive of a person’s distress and misery,Feeling pity for his pain, andMaking every effort to see the greatest good done for the greatest number.
So Should a merciful person always show mercy?The answer is no.No, you will often support the claims of justice and repay a person the way he deserves, in order to bear witness to the truth of God’s justice and to accomplish a greater good for greater numbers of people.
But I say it is a qualified “no” because if you are a merciful person, then even the way you spank a child or prosecute a criminal or dismiss an employee will be different. The mercy will show. The parent may cry. The attorney may visit the criminal and his family. The employer may pay for corrective training. The heart of mercy will show.
The fourth and final question we asked was,
4. What About Salvation by Grace Through Faith?
Why will only merciful people find mercy from God in the judgment day, if salvation is by grace through faith?
The text (Matthew 5:7) says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” In other words, in the age to come when we meet God face to face, the people who will receive mercy from him are people who have been merciful.
Is this a salvation by works? Do we earn his mercy by our mercy? No, because an “earned mercy” would be a contradiction in terms. If mercy is earned, it is not mercy; it’s a wage. Be assured, if we get anything good at the judgment, it will be mercy, 100% mercy!
When God asks for a record of your mercy at the judgment day, he will not be asking for a punched time card. You won’t say, “Here it is. Eight hours of mercy. Now where’s my wage?”
Instead, God will be asking for your medical reports. You will hand them to him in all lowliness and meekness, and there he will read the evidences of how you trusted him as your divine Doctor, and how the medicine of his Word and the therapy of his Spirit took effect in your life because you relied on them to heal you of your unmerciful nature. And when he sees the evidence of your faith and his healing, he will complete your healing and welcome you into the kingdom forever. Therefore, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”