Tov #2 - Love Mercy
Message Description
Senior Pastor Dr. Kurt Bjorklund continues the message series entitled Tov, which is the Hebrew word for “good,” exploring what it means to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
Message Transcript
Good morning. It's great to be together. Great to see the kids again after another great week of KidsFest, and week three is next week. It's been just a great run. Thank you to so many of you who volunteered, prayed, and participated in different ways to help make that happen.
Let's pray together. God, as we are gathered this weekend for Orchard Hill at different locations, online, and in person, I pray that you would speak to each of us. God, I ask that my words would reflect your word in content, tone, and in emphasis. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today, we're going to talk a little bit about goodness. Again, it's a series we started last week looking at a verse in Micah 6:8 where the question is asked, what is goodness basically, or what does the Lord require of you? Has He shown you what is good? But here's my guess. If we were to go around the room and just say, how would you define goodness, we would actually have a hard time coming up with a really good definition. And the reason I say this isn't because the concept is hard or difficult. It's not. But because it's one of those things that you know it when you see it. But to define it is often hard to do other than to say it's the opposite of whatever isn't good. But you know it when you see it.
We've said that Micah 6:8 uses this Hebrew word “tov” to say what is good transliterated. It's just the English letters t, o, v, and so that is what is goodness. The verse says that there are three basic qualities of goodness what God requires to do justice or to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is what Micah 6:8 says. And so, last week we talked about acting justly, doing justice. We talked about judging fairly, deciding fairly between different things that we're asked to decide in this world, about advocating for the powerless and being generous with what we have.
Today we're going to talk about the second aspect which is to love mercy. One of the ways that when I say we know goodness, when we see it is maybe this. Think about when you're at a store and in a line to go check out. As you're in the line, you notice the person who's in front of you is taking some items, putting them on the conveyor belt, and then they're sliding some into their cart to try to avoid paying.
What do you notice immediately? What you notice is it's a lack of goodness. It's a lack of justice. And justice is often something we see more by injustice than by actually seeing it. But imagine you're in the same store, somebody gets to the checkout, and for whatever reason, they're paying with cash. Maybe they're a Dave Ramsey follower or something like that. And so, they don't have a credit card. They say when they get there, they don't have enough money. You're just watching this from the back, and you get past your initial irritation of, come on, get done, and have a little bit of sympathy for the person. And the next person just steps up and hands some money forward to pay for them. What do you see? You see goodness again. And in some ways, this is a simple illustration of this idea of mercy.
Now the Hebrew word that's used for mercy, if we were to transliterate it again, would be the word “hesed.” If we were to put it in the English transliteration, it would be h, e, s, e, d. This is a word that has a lot of meanings in the Old Testament, a lot of uses, mostly the use of God's mercy, God's love toward people. Here, it's a statement about something God requires. It's variously translated. Sometimes it's translated as kindness, sometimes unfailing love, sometimes loyal love, sometimes devotion, and sometimes mercy. And any time a word is translated in a variety of ways, what it means is that there's not a single English word that captures all the nuance of that word, that it has a much fuller range of meanings. And so, just for a moment, what I'd like to do is show you a few of the places that it's used predominantly in the Psalms to just help us think about why this word is used and why this is something God says he requires.
So, Psalm 32, verse ten, tells us a little bit about this. It says, “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love...” That's the word “hesed.” That's the way it's translated here. So, notice already in Micah 6:8, mercy. Here is “...unfailing love surrounds those who trust in him.” This is a statement basically saying that there is unfailing love, there is “hesed” that comes into people's lives in the midst of some of the trials and difficulties that exist in this world.
In Psalm 119, verse 88, we see another reference to this. It says this, “In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.” So here, unfailing love is something that sustains or perseveres someone. Then Psalm 103, verse 17, puts it like this. And again, there are numerous, I'm just choosing a few here. It says this, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children...” And so, here, the word love is talking about an enduring quality. Then in Psalm, chapter 13, verse five, we see the way that this word is used. “But I trust in your unfailing love;” Your “hesed.” “My heart rejoices in your salvation.”
So, there's a sense in which it's something that comes to us in trouble. It's undeserved or unearned, and it's sustaining and leads to something good. And so, after looking up many more of the references, reading through several of the lexical articles that I had on this word, here's how I would define this word. It is an intervening, non-obligatory kindness that endures no matter how it's treated. Let me say that again. This is a non-obligatory kindness that endures no matter how it's treated. That is what “hesed” basically means.
Now, here's the challenge. We live in a world where a lot of times the way we approach kindness is through what I'd call a kindness trade. Do you know what a kindness trade is? A kindness trade is you be kind to me, and I'll be kind to you. You're generous to me. I'll be generous to you. But what if you experience the kind of kindness where there was no expectation of it being given back to you or having to return it to somebody? It was just offered non-obligatory, in a way.
Often, we live in a world where people keep to themselves. They say, listen, there are a lot of needs out there. Once in a while, I'll step out of myself, but I'll generally just keep to myself. But what if we lived in a world where there was greater intervention, a greater desire to say let me extend myself? We also live in a world where people are loyal until they're not. But what if somebody was loyal to you, even when you've betrayed them, hurt them, or had been disloyal to them? You see, that changes our experience.
I was listening to a podcast a while ago, and I don't remember exactly where this was, so I can't cite the exact source. But they were talking about adults and attraction and what creates attraction with people. And what they said was that there are two primary factors. One is just the initial physical attraction that exists. And then secondly, they said there's a likability factor. But what caught my attention, wasn't that, because it was like, that's deep thought, right? There's physical attraction and you like somebody, how is that worthy of anything? But then they said this. They said that why you like somebody doesn't change over time from when you're a kid to being an adult. They said, here's how kids decide if they like another kid. And they said the same thing is true in adulthood, and they were talking about romance. But it's true in general. Here’s what they said. Kids like each other, decide they like somebody, when they see somebody who's fair.
So, when somebody cuts in line, they say, I don't like that kid. He's selfish. Or when somebody acts in a way that is somehow self-serving, they say, I'm not sure I care for that person. They like somebody when that person shows kindness. So they go to lunch, one is sitting there and doesn't have as good a lunch. Their mom or dad packed them the health lunch, and they want some Oreos. And the other kid says, I'll share some of my Oreos with you. They're like, that's a friend worth having.
Then there's a factor that they said was true, which they said was loyalty. That is when something goes wrong, other kids are making fun of the kid, or it doesn't serve that kid's interest to be friends, but they're still a friend to this kid, even when it doesn't make a lot of sense.
So, what was that? Fairness, kindness, and loyalty. They said that's what forms friendships when you're young. That's what forms attraction when you're old, at least older, at least the likability side not necessarily the physical side. But the point that I'm making here is what is it that we're told in Micah 6:8 is good, and the Lord requires of us? To what? Love justice. What is that, fairness? Or to do justice, to love mercy, which is kindness and loyalty. In other words, these are the things that God says, I want to be true in your life. Now, why is it hard for us to do mercy? And I'm purposely using the word do because the phrase in Micah 6:8 is do justice or act justly.
So why is it hard for us to act with mercy, kindness, or hesed toward somebody in our life? Well, the first reason that occurs to me is because we don't believe that other people deserve it. At the core of our being, a lot of times what is true is that we say well, I maybe have gotten somewhere, but I got somewhere because of the work that I've done in order to get myself there. I'm not sure that somebody else deserves mercy.
Now, you may not put it in that many words, but let me just give you an example from my life. I was flipping through some channels the other day, and I noticed this is over July 4th weekend that there was some hype around Nathan's hot dog eating contest. I was hooked. I hadn't really ever paid much attention to it. But these people will eat up to like 60 hot dogs in 10 minutes, and they look like normal people. And so, I saw an article about it, and the places my mind goes! Here’s what they said about eating hot dogs in mass amounts in under 10 minutes.
In the first 30 seconds, there's an issue with your esophagus because chunks of unchewed hot dog and bun can slide into the airway causing choking. I could have told them that without research. It's why the paramedics are standing by throughout this event. Followed by quickly your stomach starts to expand. And this article said that your stomach is like a balloon. It's made to expand, but at some point it gets past where it's supposed to expand, and they're pushing it past this limit which can damage your stomach, followed by an issue in your small intestine. This is where when you consume somewhere between 20-25,000 calories in a ten-minute span, think about that. That's ten day's worth of calories in one ten-minute span. You experience what's called dumping syndrome. This involves heavy sweating, rapid heartbeats, and nausea. And I'll stop the quote there. But let's just say there's other complications. Then some people end up hospitalized for five days because they entered this contest, and they have to detox their body.
Now, here's where this applies to me and how this relates to mercy. I saw that, and I had this moment of saying, of course you have that happen to you. That's not my problem. But, you know, sometimes that can be an attitude that isn't just about somebody speed eating hot dogs but can be our attitude toward other people in our world where we say, you don't deserve a non-obligatory kindness because of the choices you've made. But part of understanding the message of Jesus Christ is that the justice of God says that none of us deserve the non-obligatory kindness of God.
There's a second reason, and that is sometimes we're afraid that if we give mercy, if we give this “hesed” to somebody else, that we won't have enough for ourselves. Have you ever had that thought? If I am kind and merciful to somebody, then mercy won't come back to me. Because the way that we tend to think often about this world is that it's a zero-sum game, and that there's a sense of scarcity. And so, whatever I extend, I don't have available to me. Instead of having an abundance mindset that says there's more than enough of this to go around.
I was alerted to this recently. My boys were looking at something online. They saw this account of somebody who lived in another state, and it was on this person's neighborhood group chat. Do any of you have neighborhood group chats where you have accessibility to your neighbors online? I'm not sure that's a good idea, but this person had posted on their online page that he needed help. He said, I could use a neighbor to help me. I need to do some things on my car, I'm a little low on money, and I don't have expertise. I don't have tools. So, if any of you could come help me, that'd be great. Then the very next day, he posted on the same page. He said, by the way, I'm young and have some physical capacity, and so, if you need some work done on your house, I will work for you for $25 an hour.
I saw that and I said, okay, that is a mindset that says, if I am neighborly, I'll be taken advantage of. Even though he wasn't afraid to ask for somebody to be neighborly to him. Now again, that's goofy example, but sometimes when it comes to the spiritual realm, there is a sense in which we may say, if I'm kind to somebody else, people haven't been kind to me that way, or no one will be kind to me, so why would I do that?
But there's another reason, which is probably a deeper reason why sometimes it's hard to be merciful or kind to act in this way. I would just say that this is because many of us have not had a fresh experience of mercy ourselves. And what I mean by this is that many of us have been on a track for long enough that we start to believe that we deserve the goodness of God in our lives in such a way that we haven't been moved by mercy in any substantial way.
Psalm 86, verse 13, which is another reference here to the idea of this word “hesed.” It says this, “For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.” Great is your “hesed” for me. You have done this for me. There's an overwhelming sense of being able to say God has given mercy to the Psalmist so he can say, because of this, I have the experience of mercy.
A few years ago, there were two actors whose lives collided at one of the award shows in a positive way. This was Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson. Now, most of you probably know Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. That's kind of his thing. But for those of you who maybe weren't around before Iron Man or it wasn't in your awareness, he was canceled basically from all Hollywood culture for a while. And here's why. He had been addicted to alcohol and drugs and had gotten down a path where he was unreliable, temperamental, and nobody wanted to work with him. And then he got cleaned up and got the job, the role as Iron Man, and became who you know him to be today.
Well, in 2011, he was being given an award. And right about that time, another actor, producer, writer, Mel Gibson, had fallen out of favor in Hollywood. If you remember the story at all, Mel Gibson had been recorded saying some horrible things. He had been drinking. He went through an ugly divorce. There was some more stuff that came out about the way that he had treated some people in his life. And all of a sudden, nobody wanted to touch Mel Gibson again.
So, Robert Downey Jr. is being given an award and he says, I want Mel Gibson to present it to me. Some of the people in the media were horrified that he would do this. And this is what he said. He said, I asked Mel to present this award to me for a reason. Because when I couldn't get sober, he told me not to give up hope, and he urged me to find my faith, and I needed to have it rooted in forgiveness. And I couldn't get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. He kept a roof over my head and food on my table. And most importantly, he said that if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoings and I embraced the part of my soul that was ugly, he called it hugging the cactus, that if I hugged the cactus long enough, I'd become a man of some humility and that my life would take on new meaning. And I did. And it worked.
And all he asked was in return that someday I would help the next guy in some small way. It's reasonable to assume that at the time he didn't imagine the next guy would be him, or that someday was tonight. So anyway, on this special occasion, I humbly ask you to join me in forgiving my friend for his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me and allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to the collective art without shame. And he said, so if you are completely without sin, and none of you are, basically because you picked the wrong industry, he's hugged the cactus long enough. Let's welcome him now.
Whatever you think of Robert Downey Jr. or Mel Gibson isn't really the point, and I don't know a lot about them. I don't actually want to know a lot about their whole lives. But you know what motivated Robert Downey Jr. to put himself out like that? He had experienced kindness at the hands of Mel Gibson in the same way.
Now, notice I've asked the question, why don't we act mercifully or do mercy? But you know what it actually says in the text? It doesn't say do mercy. It says love mercy. And those are two very different things because if the words were simply do mercy, do “hesed,” it would be very difficult to do because what would happen is you'd be able to be merciful to a certain extent for a little while in your own strength, and then you would run out of the power to do so. But the text says, do justice, act justly because you have a sense of justice, what it means to be just, and you want justice.
But mercy is something that unless you've experienced it in a fresh way and in a profound way, you will not naturally want to give mercy. And it's hard to command the emotion. Some of you might be saying, well, how do you command love? Well, the way that love is commanded, in a sense, is by simply moving us to a point where we don't say, try harder to love, but do the things that foster love.
You understand this if you're married. If somebody were to say, love your spouse more, just try harder to love your spouse, how does that work out for you? I mean, chances are not very well. I mean, you get married with all this intention to love well, and then after a few years, you kind of hit that point of or maybe a few weeks, it depends on your case, but you hit this point where you're like, God, this is hard. And what you can't do and expect to have a good result is simply say, I'm going to try really, really hard to love this person that I don't like right now. Okay?
But what you can do is you can say, what drew me to this person, where and how can we put ourselves in places where we rediscover the things that drew us together? And what you can do spiritually is you can say, what is it about God's love for me that overwhelms me? And when you do, then you will begin to see it because ultimately, who has been just with us? God. Every one of us deserves punishment so much so that Jesus died to pay the price. God has expressed kindness, “hesed” to us, non-obligatory kindness to us in the person of Jesus Christ by sending him to die so that whosoever believes in Him would never perish but have eternal life.
Who's been loyal to us? God has been loyal because even when you turn your back on God or you fail or you blow it, there is his “hesed” that is still there in love for you. And when you feel that and see that, that's when you can become the person who loves mercy. When you love mercy, you will act with mercy in this world. And what we need is that fresh encounter of saying God has done for me something that I can't repay through a trade, and that will change the way you live and help you to bring “tov” or good into this world.
Let's pray together. God, I ask today that you would help each of us who's here to bring good into the world around us by acting justly and by loving mercy because we've been so moved by the goodness of what you have given to each one of us. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thanks for being here. Have a great week.
