Blessed Are The Merciful

Preached on February 9, 2014 at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA.

Today, we find ourselves in verse 7, of Matthew Chapter 5. Let us jump right into our text today by reading through the entire Beatitudes before we unpack verse 7.

• Matthew 5:3-12 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
  
  

As I said, today we are focusing on verse 7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” I think the best place for us to start is with the question of what is mercy?

To understand the words in the Bible, we must use the Bible to self-interpret. Why is this? Because when I use the word mercy, I may mean one thing, and when you use the word mercy, you may mean something else. However, to be honest, we don’t care what my definition of mercy is, or yours. What we care about is God’s definition of mercy. For it is Jesus who uses these words and we want to know what Jesus means, not what Merriam Webster’s dictionary means.

The Greek word for the verb mercy is eleeō. The Greek word for the noun mercy is eleos. It is actually a common word used in the book of Matthew. In fact, it was commonly used by people who are crying out to Jesus in the streets. Here are the times it is used by the crowds.

• Matthew 9:27 – “And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David."
  
  
• Matthew 15:22 – “And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."”
  
  
• Matthew 17:14-15 – “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. “
  
  
• Matthew 20:30 – “And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"
  
  

In these verses we can start to see what mercy is. In each instance, there is a deep need for outside help. You can almost sense the despair in the actions of the people. In three of the instances we see the people crying out to Jesus. What comes to my mind is someone who is drowning in a pool and is yelling, “Help! Help!”; someone who is desperate to capture someone’s attention no matter what. In the other instance we see the person kneeling before Jesus in the form of a beggar, pleading for the mercy of Jesus. Once again, giving us a picture of doing whatever it takes to grab the attention of Jesus. In each of these instances, we can appreciate the anguish and suffering and plight of each individual. I think it would be fair to assume that behind each one of these people is a life best described as a terribly broken road; one that includes countless tears, and many dark days. One can only imagine some of the thoughts they would have had run through their mind. Having said that, each one of these broken roads led to Jesus, and Jesus did not disappoint. I like the way Matthew 20:34 plainly explains Jesus’ response.

• Matthew 20:34 – “And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.”
  
  

Other translations, instead of “in pity”, use the phrase, “moved by compassion” to explain Jesus’ response. And I think at this point, we have found our definition of mercy: to be merciful means to observe suffering, be moved by compassion and then to respond.

The interesting thing about Jesus and mercy is that not only is he merciful in providing care for people during his earthly ministry, but that He is mercy incarnate. Listen to what it says in Hebrews 2:17-18.

• Hebrews 2:17-18 – “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
  
  

The mercy of Jesus goes beyond a common street physician, responding to the cares of the day and healing this disease and that disease. The mercy of Jesus explains his coming to earth. The mercy of God was the catalyst behind His Son taking on flesh. For God is a God of love, and when he looks down upon humanity, he sees suffering. He sees affliction. He sees pain. He sees brokenness. When He sees these things, he is not numb to it. It affects Him.

If you recall when we talked about mourning in verse 4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”, we examined how sin grieves God. Sin is a big deal to God. He is not casual about our rebellion. However, it not only grieves him, but the consequences of sin (death, despair, anguish, affliction, etc.) moves his heart into action. God observes suffering, His heart is moved, and He responds. The way he responds is through His Son Jesus Christ.

• Ephesians 2:4 – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved—“
  
  

God is rich in mercy, and it is primarily displayed in his Gift of Jesus to you, and to me.

With all that in mind, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:7 that blessed are the merciful. Remember, as we have said in the past, “Blessed” is commonly translated to happy, but a more complete definition would be to understand blessed as the approval of God that brings about happiness. And this makes sense when we look at other passages in Matthew where Jesus speaks about mercy.

• Matthew 9:13 – “Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
  
  
• Matthew 12:7 – “And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.”
  
  
• Mathew 23:23 – “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. “
  
  

So as we can see, mercy is important to Jesus. It is the desire of Jesus that people act like him. Mercy is more important than sacrifice. It is more important than tithing. Jesus designates mercy as a weightier matter of the law, meaning that there is more substance to mercy than there is to some other things.

How high up is mercy on your list? Is mercy of primary concern in your life or a passing thought? Are you rich in mercy, as God is rich in mercy? How would you define your religion, sacrificial or merciful? Are you more likely to cut a check or visit orphans and widows in their need? Once again, I find that God’s Word cuts deeply into my soul, and leaves me broken before God.

This leaves us in a very difficult predicament, for Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” The logical inverse of that statement is “Cursed are the unmerciful, for they shall be dammed.” This beatitude should cause us to tremble! Turn with me to Matthew 18:21-35.

• Matthew 18:21-35 – “Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."”
  
  

I don’t have time to unpack this entire story, but you can see the high points. This story is somewhat ridiculous, when you think about it. Who would do such a thing? I will tell you who? Everyone, including you and me. Every time we go around demanding our just deserts, or looking down upon people and Lording over them with our self-righteous comments, thoughts and glances, we are the wicked servant. And what happens to the wicked servant? He was placed in prison until he paid the last cent of his debt.

Once again, scary stuff. We don’t want our story to end like the wicked servant, do we? So how are we to be merciful? Is mercy something that we can manufacture? Can we just go out and make ourselves merciful and therefore earn God’s mercy? Is mercy God something that can be purchased by Phil Parsons? Absolutely not!

If you hear anything today, hear this: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” does not mean that your mercy earns God’s mercy. If your mercy earns God’s mercy that what is the point of Jesus. If we work our way into heaven, we wouldn’t need Jesus’ work on the cross, it strips the good news o the Gospel or all of its power. Reading verse seven as a command by Jesus to take matters into your own hands is the leaven of the Pharisees. So if mercy doesn’t earn mercy, what does Jesus mean?

Let me ask? What was the problem with the wicked servant? Look at verse 35, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." The problem with the wicked servant is that the forgiveness that was offered to him did not reach His heart. Did he hear the offer? Yes. Did he understand the offer? Yes. Did he intellectually accept the offer? Yes. But it did not travel the necessary 8 inches to his heart. The love of His King did not shine in his heart.

Fellow Christian, I hope that this is not you. I hope that as you sit here, you do not presume upon the patience and kindness of your King. I hope that it has effected you more deeply than your mind. I hope that the Gospel message of forgiveness through our merciful high priest Jesus has transformed your heart.

The mercy that overflows from our heart after being filled with the mercy of our high priest is evidence of our future is security in Christ. It is not our mercy that earns our mercy. It is our mercy that proves we have been forgiven.