Blessed Are - Part 5

Tonight we are going to continue on with the beatitude series blessed are. So Matthew chapter 5. If you have missed any of them I would encourage you to go back on the app and go watch or listen to the previous ones. and these stepping stones that we can apply to our life to make us better. So tonight we're going to be looking at verse 7 focused on merciful. But Matthew chapter 5, we'll begin at verse one and read through verse 7. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. So looking at verse seven and talking about merciful and mercy. So you say, well, what is mercy since that's what I'll receive, you know, let's talk about what mercy is? when you begin to look at it and even define it, mercy being a noun is compassion or forbearance shown to an offender or to one who is in trouble. When I read that, I'm like, well, that was my childhood. But I was thankful to have merciful parents.

sometimes I felt like there could have been a little bit more, but it is kindness beyond what justice requires. It's more than just a feeling, but a choice to help or spare someone. And then you get to merciful, an adjective that disposed to treat with mercy, compassionate, tender, and willing to forgive. Hopefully, we are all in that place and we can say, "Well, I am I fit that and I don't have any problem in that situation and I can forgive." But if we're honest, I think we all fall into sometimes that category of, well, I'm just not going to forgive. You know, they have done me wrong or they have lied about me or cheated on me and they're just not worthy to be forgiven. They're not worthy of that mercy. So, we're going to talk about that tonight. These terms that we see merciful and mercy they're used throughout scripture and describing a God who is himself merciful and gracious and I'm so thankful that he is because I need all of that mercy and grace in my own life. Have you ever noticed how spiritual we become when we find ourselves being pulled over by law enforcement? blue lights suddenly come on and all of a sudden your whole theology changes. You go into a prayer session. Lord, I know I haven't talked to you in a little bit, but if you could just show me a little mercy right now. You know, God, I promise I'll slow down.

I'll read my Bible more. I'll even leave the Christian radio on all week. And you know, we start making these pledges and commitments just in exchange for a little bit of mercy here. And officer walks up to the window and he says this, "I'm giving you just a warning today." And we all are quick to say, "Thank you. Thank you for that. I appreciate it." And then we drive away like we just got saved for the first time, you know, thankful and praise and but you get five minutes down the road and you let someone cut you off in traffic. Suddenly your prayer changes. Lord, smite them. Now, it's amazing how quickly that we move from wanting mercy to withholding >> mercy. You know, as I was putting this together, an old kid song kept popping up. And I'm sure most of you probably remember being in children's church. And remember that song, he's still working on me. How many remember that? He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. Simple song, very catchy, easy. But what if we sing it in a way that we actually live sometimes? I'm done working on them. They should be what they ought to be. Took me just a second to decide who they should be. How unloving and impatient I've become. No mercy is found for you, only just what you deserve because you messed up and now I'm done. And we can laugh at that.

The truth is it probably hits close to home in some situations and I've just tried and tried and I'm just done. But when I find myself in those situations and wanting to go into that direction, I remember God, you showed so much mercy to me. You were a merciful God when I was on the other side and being contrary and not listening and not submitting, not being obedient, yet your mercy continued to flow my direction. So I must in turn show mercy. We always want God to be patient with us. But we are always often in a hurry with everybody else. Well, you should get this. You should be beyond that. We want mercy in our story and justice for everybody else. We judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions. You know, when somebody does something, well, that's just who they are and that's how they act and we do the same thing. Well, that's not really me. I was just having a bad day. Wasn't really what I meant. And I'm so thankful that we have a God who's loving and he doesn't treat us the way we treat other people. Sometimes when God looks at you and I, he doesn't say, "I'm done with you." But he says, "I'm not finished yet. I'm not finished yet." And I'm so thankful he hasn't written me off. And I've come to tell each of you, you're not written off in God's eyes either.

No matter what others have said about you and maybe have even written you off their yourself, God still has a place for you. He still is a merciful God and he's still reaching for each of us regardless how many times we stumble, how many times we goof up and how many times we just make a mess of life. He's always there to extend that mercy in our direction. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. When you look at the progression of the biatitudes and you see that, you know, up to this point, God's been working in us. Week one, we recognize that we are poor in spirit. Week two, we mourn over our broken condition. Week three, we become meek because the horse named rowdy was not quite rowdy. and we realize everything that we have is truly from God. Week four, we hunger and we thirst for righteousness. But now something begins to kind of shift and change. Verse 7 is where what God did in us begins to flow through us or it should begin if it's working in us to flow through us. Mercy is the evidence that go that the gospel has actually taken hold of our heart. Things are beginning to change and we're allowing God to work through us toward others. Mercy is not ignoring sin and it's not pretending wrong never happened. But mercy is choosing compassion over retaliation. Choosing forgiveness over revenge and choosing restoration over condemnation.

You say, "Well, that's a lot easier said than done." And I understand that wholeheartedly. But mercy, it says, "Because God showed mercy to me when I didn't deserve it, I will show mercy to others who don't deserve it either." You know, there's every situation and scenario and many represented here in this room of, you know, people say, "Well, you're justified to feel the way you do or you're justified to not forgive or you're justified." But in whose eyes and who gives us that right and that authority? This is the authority we must align with. This is what we must live our life by. And it says we must be merciful. The scripture tells us the merciful shall obtain mercy. The mercy that I need is in accordance with me being merciful myself. Showing and giving mercy allows mercy to flow in my direction. And people who truly understand this concept and God's mercy can in themselves become merciful people because they understand the way to receive is by giving that mercy. And when we become a person who shows mercy, then in turn we have mercy that continually flows and we experience in our direction because mercy flows like this. God shows his mercy to us and then us in turn to others and then others reciprocate that mercy flowing back in our direction. When mercy stops flowing outward from us, it shows we may have forgotten how much mercy we were truly given. It's an easy place to be.

Well, I deserve it or I don't deserve that and so I'll just be mad at them and avoid them. But it could be said like this. The merciful are people who never forget how much they've been forgiven. So I ask this question, who do you find it hardest to show mercy to? That's a question you kind of have to think your way through it. Maybe there's somebody that's just glaringly popped in your head and maybe God's saying, "Hey, that's the person you need to show mercy to." Could it be that that place where mercyy's hardest is the place where God wants to remind you of how much mercy you received? When you find yourself in a difficult situation to be merciful, can we say that prayer? God, help me to recognize the mercy extended to me and in turn be merciful to this individual and in this situation, even when everybody else says, "Well, there's no way I would ever do that. If we're not careful, we will quickly harbor a grudge and justify hanging on to it." So many you run into now, you know, they they're quick to judge and to hold a grudge against the least little thing. And I'm not saying you weren't wronged in a situation. I'm not saying it was fair what happened to you. I'm not even saying you didn't deserve better or even an apology for the situation or circumstance. But holding a grudge is like carrying around a suitcase full of bricks.

At first you feel justified carrying it. This is mine and I'll toad it and everybody will see it. And they hurt me and I have the right to this. And we just continue to stack bricks into the full bag load of bricks already. But over time, I will tell you it gets very heavy. It will slow you down. It will wear you out. And the worst part, the person you're mad at isn't carrying anything at all. You're only hurting yourself because they're walking around free, but you're going through life dragging emotional luggage like, "I'm fine. Everything's fine." When you're wearing yourself down. So the concept here is mercy doesn't just free the other person, it frees you. It frees me. When I can show mercy and go on about my day, you say, "Well, that's not really the case." You know, often times we go back to traffic because we can all relate with traffic. How many times have you got worked up about traffic? somebody cutting you off or whatever they did and you go to work and you're mad for an hour and they may not even know they did anything to offend you. But here you are carrying this load of bricks for no reason. Most likely you don't even know who the person is if they walked in the door. So you don't even really know who you're mad at when all you had to do is say, "God, help them.

Maybe they're having a bad day. I'm not going to have a bad day because of their choices and decisions in this situation. Because the truth is, we're all living because of mercy extended in our life. And people who live because of mercy should become people known for mercy. someone owing a debt that they could never repay. They're forgiven of that, say a millions of dollars in debt. No chance to repay. No way to even get close to repaying that. And their responsibility is to pay it or to be thrown into prison. And they beg for mercy and patience to pay off this debt. But the rich man cancels the entire debt. And the man walks out completely free. Yet he turns around to somebody who owes just a few dollars and has them thrown in prison, locked up. And the rich man turns around and says, "You receive mercy but refuse to give mercy." You say, "That sounds familiar." It's because Matthew 18 tells us that parable of the unforgiving servant. And we're quick to understand, you know, why why would he go ask for a few dollars when he was just forgiven of so much? But yet we'll hold that little thing when God forgave us of so much. When God's mercy extended to us for so much in our life. The problem wasn't that the servant never received mercy. The problem was he forgot how much he received. We are a blessed people.

And too often, I'm afraid we fall into that category of forgetting why we are blessed, forgetting where those blessings came from, and forgetting that it was through God's mercy extended to us that we are allowed the opportunity to experience the blessings we have in our life, and to experience the relationship that we can walk into the throne room boldly at any time and call on our savior and our redeemer and our healer and our provider and he is there. We must always be merciful. And the way we can continually show mercy is to remember the size of the debt that was forgiven. We don't have to weigh all the debt that may be owed in our direction, but we can be merciful if we continually remember God's mercy in our life. Too many fail to be merciful. They fail because they're focused on seeing justice finished in a time where you know justice. We're going to seek justice and you're going to have to pay for what you did and but the truth is justice simply proves you are right. But mercy proves you belong to Christ. Which one goes the distance? Anyone can demand fairness. Only someone that's changed by the grace of Almighty God can give mercy. Mercy begins when we remember what it is that God did for us. When we recognize and we see how much mercy he gave, we cannot look the other way. We cannot just totally not give mercy in return.

Mercy will remember I was forgiven more than anyone has ever done me wrong. God extended his mercy to me when there was no other way for me to experience a relationship with him without it. Mercy working in us and through us. It will show the world what God's kingdom looks like. It's not just all about me, but we are to be reflections of Christ every day of our life. those we come in contact with, those we see on the job and at the grocery store and wherever we may go. What if you were the only Christ they ever saw? Did they get the right picture? Was there mercy in their direction? The world is quick to run on their own different rules. get even, cancel people, hold grudges, demand revenge. But the kingdom of God runs on mercy. And that's so counterculture. And so many don't even know how to receive it. Why would you show mercy to me? Why would you do that for that person and that individual when what they've done you deserve to know what we deserved was a cross that Christ was willing to go and pay our price that we couldn't pay that's what we deserve but his mercy allowed us so much more mercy says I could punish you, but I won't. Mercy says, "I could destroy you, but I'll forgive." Mercy says, "I could hate you, but I'll love you instead." Mercy is that visible evidence working through us that Christ is working on the inside and it's changing our heart and our life to reflect more of him.

Mercy will open the door for you to experience even more of God's mercy. When you extend mercy, the scripture says, "The merciful shall obtain mercy." The merciful shall obtain mercy. It's like going with a bucket and standing in the river. I'm just going to get all the water I can. Well, you could dip all day long and there's more water coming. There's more in our spiritual life. I need a lot of mercy today. We can go get in that river of mercy that God extends to us and you can take what it is that you need for the day and his mercy continues to flow. You're not going to overpower what God is sending your way because he knows what we need. And that is so powerful. You know, how many times have we gone into a situation and suddenly God I need and he's right there and he supplies that need and he gives you the strength you need for that situation. He gives you that peace that the scripture talks about that goes beyond understanding. How do you deal with that? It's God. That peace that we can't even explain in the midst of something that somebody says, I don't know how you were able to remain in your right mind going through that. But God, his mercy was extended to me and his grace is extended continually in our direction. And I'm so thankful that when we embrace that fact for our life, it becomes so much easier to be a merciful individual.

When we become that person who extends mercy, we can live with a softer heart. We can experience deeper forgiveness regardless what may be done to us because we recognize that now I can walk closer with him. We recognize the fact that extending mercy keeps our heart tender toward Almighty God. It's amazing when we step into the way God wants us to be. Suddenly, we align with him and we can begin to hear his voice. We can clearly see the steps that he's leading and guiding us into. But when we resist and we're disobedient is often those times we become frustrated in life. Well, God, I don't understand. He's kind of saying, "Well, it requires obedience and it requires some mercy on your part." We've got to remain hearts tender and in tune with him because the devil would like nothing more than to deceive you and say, "Well, you've done enough and you've extended enough and you've given enough, so it's your turn to just sit back and be mad about this or to get bitter about that situation." No, that's not our right. As human beings, we think, well, I have this right and I have the right to be whatever. But God's calling us to be merciful. And that means we can't act and respond just the way our flesh wants to. But we've got to reflect him in our actions and our attitudes. And that requires mercy flowing from us. When we look at the cross, we see two truths at the same time.

God takes sin seriously enough to judge it, but he loves sinners enough to show mercy in the midst of it. And everyone who looks at that cross eventually has to make that choice, that decision. Will I be someone who only receives mercy or will I become someone who also is willing to give mercy? Because the fact is if you're not willing to give, can you receive? It says the merciful will obtain mercy. Merciful gives us that bucket to get into that river. If you don't have a bucket, you can't get any mercy. PE people who truly embrace and understand the cross often are the most merciful people on earth. Sometimes we run into individuals and you're like, "Well, they've got it all lined up, man. Their life must just God just blesses and shows favor to them." But I challenge you, if you get a little envious, set them down over a cup of coffee and let them tell you their story. You may be enlightened. You may walk away thankful that glad I didn't have to go through that. Maybe they tell you something that changes your whole outlook on life. Well, if they can deal with that, then I can get through this. Understanding the mercy of God. As I said in the beginning, these biatitudes, they're a spiritual staircase. Anybody ever walked a staircase and missed a step? Yeah. Gravity kicks in real quick. In our spiritual walk, we must take every step.

We can't say, "Well, I don't like that one, so I'll just skip it." Doesn't work that way. We must take each of these steps because they build on the other. Realizing we have nothing spiritually when we're poor in spirit and feeling the weight of my sin when I'm in that mourn. Surrendering my pride in a state of meekness. Desiring a new life when we hunger for righteousness and being merciful. So I began treating others the way God treats me. The first four are mostly about what God does inside of us. But that mercy step, it shows what's going to come out of us if we successfully can do those first four steps. So mercy becomes the first outward evidence that the gospel is actually working in my life. Mercy is that turning point in the biatitudes. It's actually that pivot point where everything before is internal transformation, humility and brokenness, surrender, desire for righteousness. But beginning with mercy, the focus changes to how we treat other people. When we allow him to work in us and to allow us to align in submission and obedience, then we align oursel to give mercy. We can't just go out and give lip service. It's got to be from the heart for mercy to actually work. See the biatitudes, they describe the character of Jesus. Jesus isn't just teaching ideals here in this scripture. He's actually describing himself. When you look at the pattern, Jesus was poor in spirit.

He humbled himself. Jesus mourned over sin and brokenness. He was meek. He had the strength to overcome it all, but he had his strength under control to submit to what he had to go through. He hungered for righteousness. And oh, how he showed such incredible mercy. So the biatitudes as he's teaching and unfolding them is becomes a self-portrait of Christ. And what better to model our life after than the one who created us, the one who designed us. You say, "Well, I'm not wired that way." Well, he wired you, so I think you are. It's a matter of obedience and submission. Those are hard words. And from a very young age, just barely learning to talk. What's those two phrases kids say? No, I do it myself. We try to, our flesh tries to pull us into, you can do it your own way. You can have it your own way. You can be mad all you want to. Not if we're going to align with Christ. Not if we're going to be someone who is merciful. Not if we're going to humble oursel. We must align our hearts and our lives with his instruction. And our life can begin to resemble and to look like Christ when it begins growing and working inside each of us. You say, "Well, you're just looking at Matthew." You can go all throughout scripture and see mercy. That thread runs all throughout scripture. Lamentations 3:22 and 23. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed.

So thankful we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. God don't have bad days and let his comp compassion not work. I'm so thankful. And goes on, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. What a powerful scripture to grab on to. Every single day we wake up, we're waking up inside fresh mercy. Well, God, I wore the mercy out yesterday. But you get up and it's fresh mercy. Before you can even show mercy to anyone in your day, God has already shown it to us again. Before we wake up, his mercy's extended to us. It's new. It's there. It's available. And we can grab on to it and live through that day. Mercy is what it is that God desires most. Hosea 6 and6. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Two things here mentioned. Mercy, that loyal love, that faithfulness, compassion toward others, acknowledgment of God, not just knowing about God, but truly knowing him relationally and living in obedience unto him. But he desires mercy, not sacrifice. That's a reference. He's not saying rejecting sacrifice in this instant. He's commanded it a little bit earlier. So what he's doing here is a correcting of priorities. Jesus is pointing out that a right relationship is greater than just religious performance. I can go out here and I can put on the uniform, put on a badge, and possibly even get away with pulling somebody over, but that does not make me an officer.

It does quickly get me in trouble when they find out. But we've got to have our priorities right. We've got to have our life aligned with him before we come in here and try to show everybody else that, hey, I'm worshiping and I'm religious. No, that's why it's important that we stop in that prayer room. We had those devotions and those times of prayer in the morning hours. God, correct me today. I'm going to dip into that mercy and you'll find it readily and available because he knows that we need so much for our own life that it's new first thing in the morning. We don't have to get out and conjure it up and stir it and mix it and make it what we need it to be, but it's always available. And so we should always be willing to give it every day. Jesus is pointing out here that this right relationship is greater than the religious activity. He's even uses it in Matthew 9 and13 to confront the leaders of the day. They followed the rules perfectly but they lacked compassion. So Jesus is kind of saying you can be technically right and spiritually wrong. Technically right and spiritually wrong. I'm the first to admit and my wife's probably even quicker. I don't like to admit I'm wrong. I'll prove six ways I'm right before I'll admit I'm wrong. And I'll twist every single word you say to say now this is what you said.

So this is had to be what you mean. But we've got to be quick to say, "Hey, I'm just out of line." And that's a hard one. I have to work on it every day. I'm glad there's a lot of mercy every morning because I have to take a big dose of forgive me, Jesus, and get my pride out of the way. Because the truth is, we can go to church and we can serve and we can give and still miss God. God measures how you treat people, not just how you worship him. >> Mercyy's not optional. As much as I wish sometimes, well, God, I'm just going to take the day off and we're going to settle some issues and straighten some people out and we'll pick up mercy tomorrow. I'm thankful he doesn't let us do that. And sometimes y'all are thankful that he don't let me do that as well. So, God's not impressed with our religious performance. He's not impressed with our outward action and our spiritual appearance. God looks on the heart. Is your heart right? Is there mercy flowing from you? Or are you just trying to take all the mercy in and give none in return? Because you can be religious and still be unmerciful. And that grieves God. Mercy defines righteous people. Micah 6 and8. He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

doesn't say just show mercy. It says love mercy. We don't just give mercy reluctantly. Well, I guess I'll just show some mercy because God says I have to. I don't want to. But no, but if we're going to align our life with him, we must recognize that we got to love what God loves. And God loves mercy. So, I'm going to love mercy. And I'm going to show mercy. And I'm going to extend mercy even when it hurts. Even when it's hard and it's difficult even when it'd be easier to let the flesh take over. I might feel better for a few minutes, but the truth is at the end of the day, he's all that matters. And if I'm not aligned with him, then I'm failing. Regardless if I feel justice was served and I won in the eyes of man, that means very little if anything if I'm out of alignment with almighty God because mercy will triumph over judgment. James 2 and13 we like James for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Judgment is powerful. When that judgment comes down whether in a courtroom or in your living room or in your workplace you say yes they got what they deserve. It's a powerful thing, but mercy is so much more powerful. You say, "Well, why? Why do you say that?" Because mercy has that ability to restore. Mercy has that ability to heal.

Mercy has the ability to redeem. Judgment can punish. But mercy can transform an individual. Think through your life someone that you intentionally chose to show mercy. More often than not, that person remembers that moment, remembers that instant. Possibly they changed their life. At least they come to you say, "I remember a time. I remember that moment." Or they ask why. Why did you And that opens the door. Let me introduce you to a God that loves you, a God that cares about you and has changed my life. And we could go on and on about mercy all through the scripture, but it circles back around to how we started there in Matthew 5 and 7. Blessed are the merciful, those of us, you and I, who show mercy. And we're blessed because mercy is God's nature and that's what we desire. Mercy is what God desires. So why would we not want that active in our life? Mercy defines God's people. So, let us be defined as God's people. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy is modeled by Christ. And we're trying to live and reflect Christ. And mercy is your story. Mercy didn't start with you. It flowed to you. And now God wants it to flow through you to those around you. To flow through me to those around me. So I ask another question. Who in your life right now is waiting on the other side of your mercy and doesn't even realize they're about to experience God in that transaction?

You can often really test your mercy level at a restaurant. If your order's wrong, you find out real quick how spiritual you are. I ordered this. I told you I wouldn't want pickles on there. The server comes back. Is everything okay? Inside you're like, no, but I'm trying to follow Jesus right now. Mercy isn't proven in these big dramatic moments, but it is revealed in small everyday interactions. And as you stand with me tonight, the truth is that little song from the beginning had it right all along. He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. And if he's still working on me, then maybe I ought to give him room to keep working on you, to extend mercy to you as he works in your life. Because we're so easy to see those situations in other people's life, but we're so quick to say, "Well, just ignore what's going on in my life." And let's look at how big your life's blowing up. I'll point everything out. No, I'm going to walk with you through this. I'm going to extend some mercy. I'm going to reflect Christ in this situation. So as we leave, just like school, you get homework. There's extra credit because if you answer right, God will reward you. Is there someone that you've decided you're done with that God is still working on? And will you choose to be merciful to that individual? It's your choice.

You do have the choice to make. But the right choice is to show mercy. Not because they deserve it, but because you didn't deserve it either. I didn't deserve it. So, I need to extend more mercy into those around me. Mercy received but not given is mercy that's misunderstood because the blessed are the merciful because they understand this principle. God didn't give up on me so I don't get to give up on you God. We thank you Lord for your presence here tonight. Thank you for your word Lord God. Help us to apply it to our life to hide it in our heart as you instruct God. Lord, to reflect you in all that we say and do. Lord God, go with us each and every day. Help us, Lord, in those difficult situations to continually remember that you extended that grace and that mercy in our direction and that God, you've given us that ability and opportunity to be merciful in those people's lives. Go with us, Lord. Be with us. Protect us in Jesus name. Amen.