Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / The Sermon On The Mount

Raising The Bar With Kindness 06/05/07

Sermon Series: Raising the bar: Living above mediocrity

Message: ‘Raising the bar with kindness’           Text: Matthew 5:7

Introduction:  

ILL: An ethics professor at Princeton Seminary asked for volunteers for an extra assignment. At two o'clock, fifteen students gathered at Speer Library. There he divided the group of fifteen into three groups of five each.

·       He gave the first group of five, envelopes telling them to proceed immediately across campus to Stewart Hall and that they had fifteen minutes to get there. If they didn't arrive on time it would affect their grade. This he called the "High Hurry" group.

·       A minute or two later he handed out envelopes to five others. Their instructions were to also go over to Stewart Hall, but they were given forty-five minutes.

·       After they departed he gave the last of the envelopes with instructions to the third group, the "Low Hurry" group. They were given three hours to arrive at Stewart Hall.

Now, unknown to any of these students, the teacher had arranged with three students from the Princeton University Drama Department to meet them along the way, acting as people in great need.

·       In front of Alexander Hall one of the drama students was going around covering his head with his hands and moaning out loud in great pain.

·       As they passed by Miller Chapel on their way to Stewart Hall they found a fellow who was on the steps lying face down as if unconscious.

·       And finally on the very steps of Stewart Hall the third drama student was acting out an epileptic seizure.

Remember these are seminary students, people who were preparing to be pastors and full time Christian workers.

It's interesting that in the first group no one stopped, in the second, two of the five stopped, and in the third group all five stopped. (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 366.)

·       There seems to be an inverse correlation between ‘busyness’ and ‘mercy’.

·       There seems to be a higher priority placed on “mission” than on “mercy”.

·       There seems to be more concern with “maintaining self” then with “extending Mercy” to others.

And the odd thing is, we all want mercy to be extended to us…am I right? Mercy from God when we mess up or let him down, mercy from others when we mess up or let them down.

Yet…we struggle with extending mercy to others who have messed up, who have let us down. But this is nothing new.

Read: Matt. 18:21-35 (pg 752 in the church bibles)

Maybe our situation isn’t exactly the same but we, Christians who have been shown the greatest amount of mercy, never ending mercy, new every morning mercy, still struggle showing mercy to others. Here’s one example.

ILL: There is a big sign stapled to a tree at a convent, it reads "No trespassing; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” It was signed…Sisters of Mercy.

Anyone see a contradiction? Why? Why do we struggle showing mercy to others when we continually cry out to God for mercy? I don’t know for certain.

·       Perhaps we’re too busy

·       Perhaps we don’t care…enough

·       Perhaps we want to be right

·       Perhaps we want others to pay

·       Perhaps we like the control

·       Perhaps we’ve been hurt too many times before

·       Perhaps we lack patience

Whatever the reason, we struggle being merciful people, all the while we never want God’s mercy to stop flowing our way.

Transition: Lord, have mercy on me…is our hearts cry. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:7 (pg. 739 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you) Let’s take a few moments to examine what it is we are asking for… and asked to do.

Read: Matthew 5:7

I. Just what is mercy?

A. General Definition

OT Hebrew word is:  ‘Hessed.’ NT Greek word is: ‘Eleos.’ Both mean ‘to get inside someone’s skin, to look at how they view life, to feel what they are experiencing, then to move in and act on their behalf.

Mercy is to see others as God sees them and to feel towards others as he feels towards them.

The words in both the Greek and Hebrew are translated in our English Bibles by the words

‘Mercy’ ‘Kindness’ ‘Loving kindness’ ‘Compassion’.

B. Specific Definition

1. Forgiveness: Mercy involves forgiveness.

ILL: Thomas Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a "light bulb" and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You’ve probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one. That’s true forgiveness.

(James Newton, Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindbergh, 1989, p.22.)

When God forgives he doesn’t put us on a shelf and say he’s done with us. To truly forgive a person we must be willing to trust that person again. (David Yarborough)

·       When you consider forgiving someone who has hurt or let you down, you must always remember just how much Jesus forgave you.

2. Grace: Mercy is related to but not the same thing as grace.

·       Mercy is not getting what I do deserve…grace is getting what I do not deserve.

·       God’s grace saves you…God’s mercy sustains you

·       One more: Mercy is being declared guilty but getting a suspended sentence…Grace is being acquitted of the crime.

3. Forbearance: Mercy involves forbearance or refraining from enforcing a debt, right or obligation that is due.

·       Mercy says…yes, you do owe me, but don’t worry about it…were good.

4. Compassion: Mercy involves compassion that leads to helping others.

·       Mercy is more than just feeling bad about someone’s situation,

·       it is doing something to help them….even when it’s not convenient or it will cost us more than we’re willing to pay.

Transition: I hope we have a good idea of what Mercy looks like…at least in theory. Let’s look at mercy in action.

II. How do I become merciful? What will it look like in my life?

A. How do I become merciful?

    Let’s go back to the previous beatitudes.

·       Mercy comes from a heart that has first felt its spiritual bankruptcy…blessed are the poor in spirit.

·       Mercy comes from a heart that grieves over sin…blessed are those who mourn.

·       Mercy comes from a heart that learns to wait patiently and depend upon the Lord…blessed are the meek

·       Mercy comes from a heart that hungers and thirsts for the things of God that nothing else will satisfy…blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

·       Mercy comes from a heart that realizes and appreciates God’s abundant mercy in their lives…blessed are the merciful.

We become merciful by being thankful enough about God’s mercies in our own lives to do something about it in the lives of others.

B. What will it look like in my life?

Let me give you the principle example of Mercy in Scripture, the one Jesus gave us himself.

Read: Luke 10:30-37 (pg. 793 in the Church Bibles)

Three practical steps to becoming merciful.

1. See… ‘and when he saw him’ (vs 33)

·       We are all busy people, and many of us go through life looking but rarely seeing.

·       We’re so wrapped up in our own personal or family struggles that we fail to notice the struggles of others.

·       In order to be merciful we must see people as God sees them…all people are important to God.

·       The Samaritan, even though he may have been at odds with the Jews theology or personal living habits, he still saw him as someone who was in need.

2. Feel… ‘he took pity (compassion) on him.’ (vs 33)

·       The Samaritan felt bad for this poor Jew who had been hurt and abandoned.

·       Romans 12:15 reminds us to ‘weep with those who weep’

·       To show compassion, to feel someone else’s pain, we need to slow down enough to take it in and that means sacrificing our precious time for the good of others.

3. Respond… ‘He went to him…and took care of him’ (vs 34)

·       Seeing as God sees, feeling as God feels means responding as God responds…with mercy.

·       It’s love, compassion, kindness… in action.

·       It’s mercy

Look around you…open your eyes, see, truly see what’s going on.

Take the time to let it hit you here (heart)

Then do something to help.

In the midst of an ego-centered society that tells you to take everything you can get, Jesus is telling us to give all that we can give. The true character of mercy is found in giving to others.

·       Giving help

·       Giving time

·       Giving forgiveness

·       Giving kindness

·       Giving money

·       Giving ourselves

Transition: Like each of the beatitudes, there is a reward for those who follow Jesus’ teachings.

III. What is the reward for being merciful?

You will receive mercy. This is the only beatitude where the reward is the same as the condition. How does this work?

·       The more we understand and are thankful for the mercy we receive from God

·       The more mercy we will extend to others

·       And the more mercy we will receive…from God and from others.

God gives each of us a fresh start each morning. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us that God’s mercies are ‘new every morning’ (Lam. 3:19-24) shouldn’t that be true of how we treat others?

Someone once put it this way ‘Mercy to others is forgiveness soaked in the love of God.’

Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.

Conclusion

Becoming a mercy-full community

·       I want you to notice that the first 4 beatitudes have to do, primarily with our relationship with God.

·       The final 4 beatitudes have to do, primarily, with our relationship to one another.

·       In the first 4 beatitudes Jesus deals, primarily, with our need.

·       In the final 4 beatitudes Jesus deals, primarily, with our responsibility.

With this in mind, here again Jesus words in Matt. 18

Read: Matt. 18:32-33 ‘Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

·       Who do you need to release from a debt today?

·       Who in your life needs you just to be kind to them?

·       Who is waiting for you to truly forgive them?

·       Who do you need to show compassion to this week?

·       Who is it in your life that needs some of your time?

·       Who in your life doesn’t deserve a second chance…but is asking for one?

People around us need to see mercy in action. That’s one way they will see Jesus in us.

Are you willing to raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in your life by kindness…by being merciful?