Upside Down Living #5 - Mercy in a Time of Score Keeping
Message Description
Butler County Campus Pastor, Brady Randall looks at Matthew 5:7 and the idea of mercy, what being merciful means in the bible, how God has shown mercy to people throughout the bible, and how we can share the Gospel with others through mercy.
Message Notes & Study Guide
Message Transcript
Well, hello, and welcome from wherever you're listening and watching today. My name is Brady Randall, I get to serve as the Campus Pastor at Orchard Hill Butler County. And just before we jump into the teaching, would you pray? Would you pray for me that God will give me the words that you need to hear today? And would you also pray for yourself that in this next half hour, this would not be just a half hour that you don't get back, but that God would speak to you in a powerful, tangible way and maybe even a life changing way. And so, let's pray together. Father, thank you just for this time that we have to dig into your word. God wherever we're coming from today, I pray that you would meet us there, that you would speak to us, you would convict us, you would encourage us, and you would cause us as a result to be drawn to Christ and to look more like Him. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.
Well, we're talking today about showing mercy in a time of scorekeeping. And I remember when I was younger, I would play this game called mercy, and it really was a ruthless game. So, you would take your fingers, you would interlock them with someone else, and you would do whatever you can to twist, turn, and pull someone until they were in such pain that they literally would beg for mercy. Like that's how you win the game, is you cause someone to be in ruthless pain and beg for mercy.
And I was thinking about the concept of that game and just the climate that we find ourselves in 2020. And there's a lot more scorekeeping than there is in mercy. You think about the political climate, even in the sports world, I'm thinking about college football teams, and how college football hopefully is about to get started here. These big teams who aspire to win a national championship, oftentimes at the beginning of the year will play this cream puff football team. And the idea is that they don't need to just win, but they need to cream the competition. I'm talking about winning by 40-50 points so that the committee who votes on the national ranking say, look how they pounded this team into submission. It's ruthless out there. It's sort of a dog-eat-dog world.
And so, Jesus comes along, and he turns that upside down. And in this series entitled Upside Down, we're seeing how Jesus shows different characteristics of what it looks like to be a part of his kingdom. He said that this is the opposite of the way the world. It's the opposite of the way that you and I would experience life. He said that those who are truly blessed and satisfied are the ones who are poor in spirit and know that their need of God. There are those who look at the world around them in their own sin and they mourn for what they see. Blessed are those who are meek and humble and blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for those are the ones who will be filled. And today, Jesus says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
And I want you to just think of a time in your life where you can remember you were shown mercy in a situation where maybe you didn't deserve it. A few years ago, I went to a concert with my wife. This was somewhere south of Pittsburgh. So, it was about an hour away from my home. It was a Sunday night. It was getting late, and so I was on my way home, and my excuse was that I got lost. My phone GPS didn't work any longer. So, I'm all over the place trying to get back on and finally I got to Route 19 which was a four-lane highway. And again, my excuse was once I got onto Route 19, it went from like 35 to 45 to 55 mph in a matter of like two miles. Now all of which were speeds that I exceeded. But still, that was part of my confusion. And so, I get pulled over by a police officer, it's already late, and I was already lost. I told him my story. He didn't care all that much. And so, it was a pretty hefty fine.
I was more concerned about the points on my record than I was about the fine, and so I decided to fight the fine. And so, I went back about a month or two later, and when I got to the courtroom, the judge was there, and the police officer was there. And the judge, as we began, he looked at me very sternly, and he said, sir, what do you do for a living? And I sheepishly just said, well, I'm a pastor. And he said, well, what the heck is a pastor doing X amount of speed. I said sir, you get it. I get it. I gave him my excuses. I said, I know I was in the wrong. I'm essentially just pleading the courts mercy. And he looked at me, and he looked at the police officer, and he said, not guilty. I said, what? He said, you heard what I said, I said, not guilty, rip up the ticket and go slow on your way home. And in that moment, I was like, are you are you kidding me? That he just literally wiped the points off my record. It was if it didn't happen, and I can tell you on my way home, I obeyed every speed limit, every stop sign, and every traffic signal. I realized I had been given undeserved mercy. And it was amazing.
And all of us desire mercy at least when it comes to us. Like if we're late for an important meeting, we would love to be shown mercy. If we have missed a bill and we're late in a payment or if we're speeding, we love to be shown mercy rather than justice when it comes to us. And yet for some reason, sometimes it's hard for us to show that same kind of mercy to others. If there's any little league parents out there, I know that they appreciate what's called the mercy rule. They have this in a lot of leagues where if their team is losing by 10 runs or more after a certain amount of innings, the mercy rule kicks in and they just don't have to keep playing the game and go all night or have the team that's getting pounded feel terrible about themselves. We appreciate when mercy is extended to us.
And today, Jesus says that blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. And I think what we'll see, and experience is that mercy really is the answer to bitterness that you and I feel. The word for mercy is a word that if you've been around Orchard Hill for any length of time, you've probably heard of it. It's a word called Eleos. In the Greek it means mercy, and at Orchard Hill you've probably heard of our Eleos ministry, which is our ministry of mercy. It simply means to care for the afflicted. Or it's the idea of seeing or feeling someone else's pain and seeking to relieve it. In the church world, you probably heard the term grace and mercy and sort of a simplified version is this is that when it comes to God, God's grace that he gives to someone is his undeserved favor or gift and mercy. So, grace is getting what you don't deserve whereas mercy is not getting what you do deserve, the punishment that you actually deserve. But you see, mercy is not just a pity, a compassion, and oh, I feel bad for you. It actually involves action and doing something, and Jesus illustrated this when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Samaritans were people who were hated by Jewish people and Jesus tells the story of how a person was on his roof by himself, he was beat up by robbers, he was left at the side of the road for dead. And there were three people that came along. There were two religious’ people, a priest, and a Levite, and they just kept on walking. But a Samaritan came by and saw the man who was left for dead. He had compassion and mercy on the man, so he bandages his wounds, he made sure he had a place to stay, and he paid for everything at the end. He cared and loved this man. And Jesus said, which of these men were the good neighbor to this person? And they said, the one who had mercy on him. Jesus said yes and go and do likewise. So, mercy is not just a feeling of compassion and pity, but it actually involves action. And so that's why the Eleos Ministry and ministries like that are so crucial because ministries of mercy see people who are in need, who are hungry, or who are struggling financially, and seeks to actually relieve that. And in this case, in Jesus name.
Certainly, during the coronavirus, we know that many people around our community are literally hungry. And so, we've set up food pantries, and we've contributed to food drives. And every fifth Sunday at Orchard Hill, we receive what's called an Eleos offering. And that offering goes directly back into our church communities for people who need it the most. And so just a thank you for those who have given so generously during this time, whether it's food or finances, that this is literally meeting the physical and spiritual needs of people who are in need. And in these next couple weekends, we're actually going to do a Back to School Drive, collecting school supplies and in some case, food for kids and families who are in need. That's the Eleos Ministry. That's the ministry of mercy that Jesus is talking about.
And you may question what would lead a person to give mercy to someone else who doesn't deserve it? What would lead someone to take their hard-earned money and give it towards a ministry like that? What compels someone to do it? And I think there's a lot of reasons it could be. It could be that you feel better doing it, or it could be out of guilt. But Jesus wants to offer us a more compelling reason today. And that is that he wants us to show mercy because we realize, because of Jesus, how much mercy has been shown to us.
There's a word in the Old Testament in Hebrew called hesed. It's a word that means mercy or loving kindness. And it has this idea that you get right in under a person's skin, so you can feel what they feel. And there was no one in history who was more merciful than Jesus, who not only taught about mercy, but he embodied mercy. You think about the people that Jesus hung out with and had mercy on. Mercy to the poor, to those who were possessed by evil spirits, mercy, and healing to those who were sick, and mercy to people like tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus embodied mercy. And what's really, I would say unique about the Christian faith, is that God will often have mercy on people who certainly don't deserve it and then use them in powerful ways for His kingdom. And when you look at the Bible, what I love about the Bible is it's not full of people who are perfect. It's not full of people who have it all together. God doesn't choose the best qualified, but God chooses people who are messed up, who have blown it, and then uses them to show and share mercy to others.
I think about King David in the Old Testament who was an adulterer. He covered up a murder. And yet in God's mercy, God not only forgave him, but he used him to be a man after God's own heart, to be a great king, and write many of the Psalms that we read. God took a person like Moses who was doubtful of his own abilities, who was a murderer, and in God's mercy, God used Moses to lead his people. God took a person like Rahab in the Old Testament who was a prostitute. And in God's mercy, he used rehab to have mercy and to hide his people so they wouldn't be destroyed. God took a person like Paul in the New Testament, who was basically persecuting and having Christians killed. And in God's mercy, God not only forgave Paul, but used him to write much of the New Testament and to share God's Word with many people who have never received it. God used a person like Peter who was one of Jesus disciples who denied Jesus three times. And in God's mercy, he took Peter, forgave him, and used him to convert many people to the cause of Christ. And that story happens over, and over, and over. And over and over in Scripture, you see that God is the very source of mercy. God not only had mercy, but God looked at the human condition, which if you and I look around, it's pretty bleak.
You look at what's going on in the news with racial injustice. You look at what's going on in the news with people who are hurting, people who are sick, just division that's all around this country right now. God sees and looked down at the broken condition. And not only did he have mercy, but He sent Jesus who not only embodied mercy, but Jesus took on human skin. He was God in human flesh. And in God's mercy, God knew that on our own, we were in a bleak condition. Because of whom God is, who is full of mercy and compassion, 100% perfect and pure and human beings are not, God knew that there had to be punishment for all who fall short of His glory. And that leaves you and I in a very precarious position. In fact, because of our sinfulness, we are separated from God, we will experience physical death, as well as an eternal spiritual death on our own. And yet in God's mercy, that's when He sent Jesus to go into take our place, to live the righteous life that God required, and to die on a cross, a death and a punishment that you and I deserved. And he said that whoever would place their trust in Jesus, that God would have mercy on them and forgive them, and it would be as if they had not sinned. Just like my points record, God would wipe it away. That's mercy. And you see, forgiveness is really the fruitfulness of mercy and it was out of God's forgiveness and mercy that he gave Jesus.
My son who's five is taking swimming lessons and he loves to swim. But he can't swim without his floaties. He has to be on his floaties. And so, the last couple weeks he's been taking swimming lessons. He got to an outside pool a couple weeks ago and he was so excited to swim. But he didn't have his floaties on, he got into the steps and began to walk down the pool, and he immediately sank. He thought he had his floaties on and he sunk. Fortunately, my wife was there, she saw what happened. She had full clothes on, and she jumped into the water and pulled him out. Now fortunately, he was only under a couple seconds. He was fine. He was just scared and embarrassed for what happened to him. But as I thought about that, I thought what a picture that God does the same thing with us. God sees us sinking on our own and even more than sinking, God sees us as sunk. And God has mercy and compassion, he jumps in to save us from drowning on our own accord. And this is the way that R.C. Sproul put it. I think it really portrays what is our reality apart from Christ. And this is what author R.C. Sproul said, "God doesn't throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea and pulls a corpse up from the bottom, takes them to the bank, and breathes into him the breath of life that makes him alive."
And you see, Ephesians two talks about our state apart from Christ. It says in Ephesians chapter two that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. So that doesn't sound good. Verse three, we are gratifying the cravings of the flesh. We are deserving of wrath. Okay. That's our condition that's not good. And yet verse four, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions. And as Ephesians goes on to say, this is a gift. It is grace that you have been saved, verse 8, through faith, not of yourselves, but it is a gift of God.
Author Max Lucado explained God's mercy like this. Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, he reaches out in kindness, and says, I can clean that if you want. And from the basis of His grace, he scoops a palm full of mercy, and washes away our sins. That's what God has done for you. And you see, the problem is you and I won't really truly understand what it means to be merciful to someone else, if we don't realize just how much mercy that we ourselves have been shown. That we didn't deserve it and that God did something amazing for us that we could never ever pay back.
Jesus to illustrate this, he told a parable. And then in this parable he told of a king who went to settle the accounts with his servants. And this one particular servant owed an incalculable amount to the king. In fact, in today's money, it would be around $6 billion, obviously, something that he could never pay back. The king went to settle the account. And this man knew that he would have to sell his family, and his life would basically be over to try and repay the king. And so instead, the man gets on his knees, and he begs for mercy. And the king, seeing that he begged for mercy, he forgave him all of the amount, you know, equivalent to say $6 billion. Now, the same man who had been forgiven, everything goes, and he has someone who works for him. And this man owes him some money. It's somewhere like $12,000 compared to 6 billion. And this guy asked for mercy as well. And the guy who had just been forgiven this incredible amount, begins to choke this servant and he says, you have to pay back the last penny. He had no mercy on him. And when the king who had forgiven this man, all that money found out about it, he was furious. He said, I've forgiven you all this and you couldn't have this amount of mercy on your servant. And so, he threw him into prison to be tortured. And Jesus says, this is how God will treat those who do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart, who do not show mercy.
You know, it's kind of hypocritical when we can't be merciful to others. I was thinking about this whole Coronavirus and the need to keep up with our technology. I'm a millennial. So, you would think that I get things really quick when it comes to cell phones or new things on the computer or internet. But for whatever reason, it takes me a long time to get it. I just like things the way they are. I hate phone updates because I already know how to do it one way. And I struggled to learn quickly how to adapt to technology. And I know that's weird for a millennial. And so, during this coronavirus pandemic, part of my role as a pastor was to help people who weren't connected online to get connected to zoom and online virtual meetings so that we can still connect in community virtually. And I found myself sometimes being a little bit impatient with some folks and then God would remind me, Brady, you struggle with technology. How much more so would some of these folks’ struggle, and to have some patience with that. And how hypocritical would that be if I said, oh, you're struggling? Too bad for you, find someone else who cares and could help. That'd be really ridiculous. Because I know the mercy that I have received when it comes to learning new things with technology. How could I not also share that with others?
You see, here's an important point that you'll see on the screen as well. And that is people who have received mercy, show mercy. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. And you see, you and I can't show someone else mercy until we begin to understand their plight without them. And so, having mercy on someone involves action. It might first mean praying for that person. It probably then means meeting a tangible need for that person. And right now, if you're a follower of Jesus, we have an incredible opportunity to show the mercy of Jesus in a very tangible way because people are hurting. You might be hurting. People are hungry. People are fearful. People are anxious. People are lonely. People are stressed. People don't know where sometimes the next paycheck is coming from. And this is an incredible opportunity to show the tangible mercy of Jesus.
But here's the thing, if people are only helped temporarily, or physically, or just have some food to fill them up, and it is not also at some point connected to the love, and the mercy, and the message, and the gospel of Jesus, then I would say that's wholly inadequate. And what I mean by that, is that sort of like putting a band aid on someone who's hemorrhaging. What good is it to feed someone in this life or to heal someone in this life, say of an addiction, only to not be prepared for the eternal life. And I'm not saying that every time someone's in need, you got to give them some food and let me tell you about Jesus. I'm just saying if it's not connected, ultimately, and it's not ultimately pointing someone to the mercy of Jesus, then what's the ultimate point? And I would say the opposite is also true. That if you're a follower of Jesus, and you're so desperate to get the message of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus, and you see someone who has physical need, and instead of you just ignore the need, that person is hungry, but let me just tell you about Jesus first. Then I think we've missed the point there as well. In fact, this is the way that James says it in James two. He says, "If one of you says to someone go in peace and keep warm and be well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is that? In the same way, faith by itself if not a company by action is dead."
And let me also say this, though, it's not like mercy can be earned from God. In fact, that's a contradiction. Earned mercy is not really mercy at all. Author John Piper put it like this. He said, "If mercy is earned, it's not mercy, it's a wage. Be assured if we get anything good at judgment, it will be mercy 100% mercy. When God asks for a record of your mercy at the judgement day, he will not be asking for a punch timecard. You won't say here it is, eight hours of mercy. Now, where's my wage? Instead, God will be asking for your medical charts. You will hand them to Him in all lowliness and meekness, and there he will read the evidence of how you trusted in Him as the divine physician, how the medicine of his word and the therapy of his spirit took effect in your life because you relied on him to heal you of your unmerciful disposition. And when he sees the evidence of your faith and his healing, he will complete your healing and welcome you into His kingdom. Therefore, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."
And there really is real blessing in that, by the way. There's a blessing in having the joy of Christ, having the same mercy of Christ. Mercy is a fruit of the Spirit. There's blessing in terms of eternal blessing of knowing where you're going and who you'll be with for eternity with Jesus in heaven forever. But there's also a practical side of the blessing and that is if we can remove bitterness, and we harbor forgiveness for someone maybe who doesn't deserve it and we show mercy, that's a really practical benefit of the joy and the blessing of mercy is not having to harbor that bitterness. To say God is the one who will ultimately have his way. But as for me, I'm going to show the mercy that I've been shown.
I love the way that Titus 3:4-5 puts it. It says, "When the kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." And when I think back in my own life, time and time again, how merciful God has been to me when I didn't deserve it, whether it's getting out of a speeding ticket, whether it's my failings as a pastor, or as a husband or as a father, and I think about ways that time and time again when I didn't deserve it, God has showed me mercy after mercy after mercy. It's humbling.
Alistair Begg, who's a pastor and author said it like this. "At best we are but clay, animated dust, but viewed as sinners we are monsters indeed. Let it be published in heaven as a miracle that the Lord Jesus should set His heart’s love on people like us." My guess is if you've never blown it before, it's only a matter of time before you will. And in those moments when you blow it or when you're tempted to blow it, what Satan will often do is he often temps us by minimizing the worthiness and the beauty of Jesus in that moment. And saying, it's no big deal, do whatever you feel like. And then after we've blown it, what Satan will often do is he will minimize the mercy of Jesus for what we've just done. And so God wants you and I to understand the mercy that we've been shown because when you get that, how much mercy that you and I have been shown when we didn't deserve it, that compels us to have an uncanny merciful in a world, in a culture that's more about scorekeeping and justice.
This story blows me away. You may remember it from the news in 2006. In Lancaster County, it was an Amish community and there was a murderer by the name of Charlie Roberts. He walked into a school, he was depressed, and he shot, I believe 11 girls, five of which of them died, and then he turned the gun on himself in this Amish community. Now that's an unbelievable tragedy. But literally hours after all of this had happened, the Amish community got wind of where this person's family was. And many in that community went to the house of the killer because they felt compassion and mercy on this family that had three kids. Not only that, but this Amish family took food to the house of the killer so that they would have food, for they had compassion for what this family was going through, even though their own families had been murdered. And this private Amish community even put themselves in the way of the camera, so the camera wouldn't show the wife and the children. What's also incredible is that this Amish family raised money to support this family because they knew that the man was the breadwinner of the family. And the icing on the cake is during this man's funeral, half of the people who showed up were the Amish community. Now, that's incredible. I don't know how you do this. They went on to say that it was because of the mercy of Christ for how they could do this. But this is what one of the fathers said about his daughter. He said, "You see, it's a journey. I still made the immediate choice, in principle. But it took me a few years until I could feel that I really meant it inside of me to forgive Charlie." This was a group of people who knew and understood the mercy that they've been shown in Christ, and in the midst of unspeakable horror, in a living hell, they were able to show mercy to this man in his death, and to this family who were living. That's incredible. Jesus said blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
And so, if I could just sort of recap, I think what Jesus is saying it would be this. Merciful people are those who recognize their own need for mercy, who receive that mercy that's undeserved from God, and then they're able to extend it to others. I'm going to close with one more story that Jesus told to understand the condition that Jesus is talking about here. He was talking to a group of people who thought that they were righteous on their own, they were self-righteous. And he was speaking to the religious leaders, a group of Pharisees and he said there were two people who went to the temple to pray. And this can be found in Luke 18. One of the people was a pharisee. And the Pharisee who went to the temple, he started praying for other people to see him, and he said, thank you God that I'm not like other people. Thank you that I'm not like the tax collectors and those sinners, God you know how I am, and how I tithe, all that I have, thank you God that I'm not like those people. And by the way, I fast twice a week.
And then there was a tax collector who came to that same spot. He was so overwhelmed and overcome with his own sinfulness that he couldn't even look up to heaven. But instead, he beat it on his chest. And he said, have mercy on me, Jesus, a sinner. Have mercy on me, God, a sinner. And Jesus said, I tell you that it was that man who went home justified or made right in the eyes of God and not the Pharisee.
I would just encourage you wherever you are today, that you would make that your prayer. God, I am in desperate need of your mercy. And maybe you're someone who's not a follower of Jesus, and you maybe don't quite get or understand that you even have a need for mercy. And maybe today, God's Holy Spirit is just convicting you that apart from the saving work of Jesus, that you are in desperate need of the mercy of God that you don't deserve it, that you cannot earn it on your own, but that maybe today you might receive for the first time, God's gracious gift of mercy. Where he will wipe out your sins, he will forgive you, he will give you a clean record, and in turn that will empower you to be merciful to others. And maybe there are those of you today that have been followers of Jesus, but maybe you're struggling deep down with showing this kind of mercy to other people. And maybe rightly so, maybe someone has so wronged you that it is really hard for you to let go of the bitterness. And maybe today God is calling you, compelling you, and showing you once again. Or, maybe for a new time, the mercy that you've been shown in Christ. Maybe your prayer is, God help me to show that same kind of mercy, the mercy that you've been shown to me. Have mercy on me, oh, God, a sinner. Let's pray.
Father, God, wherever we come from today, I pray that for the first time or the 10th time or for the thousandth time, that you would remind us of the deep mercy that we've been shown in and through Jesus Christ. Father, God, I pray that that would melt our hearts of bitterness. God, I pray that as we look out and see a culture of wanting justice and dog-eat-dog kind of world, that you would cause those of us who follow Jesus to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to show mercy. And God if there's someone for the first time who would want to receive that mercy, I pray that they would do that today as a gift. And God if there are those of us who know you and who have been shown the mercy of God, that you would compel us supernaturally by your spirit to be able to extend that to other people, to those who are hurting, to those who don't deserve it. Because God when we were at our very worst, that's when you showed us the mercy of God. Have mercy on us sinners. We ask and pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Amen, and have a great week.
