KNOW MERCY
A STUDY OVER THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART I
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 5:
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
EXAMPLE: STUDENT. I was talking with a student who was very negative about her older brother. The brother had done something, and I can tell you that it was a biggie. And then she said those “magical rotten” words. “I will never forgive him.” My response was not expected: I said “then I hope you don’t do anything wrong.” She said, what do you mean, that’s not possible. And I respond…”it’s true.” If you keep mercy away from other people, then it will be kept from you. And if we fail to understand that, the results will be very, very scary.
“Living without Mercy is the Prelude to Dying without Mercy.”
-Pastor Steward Beveridge
TRANSITION: So that nobody dies here, let’s define Mercy and break it down. Who’s in?
What is Mercy?
By Definition: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner.
--But that doesn’t answer it specifically.
A. Mercy is NOT emotionalism.
Just to Make a Point how misleading Emotions Can Be:
Oliver Cromwell: He was a Christian leader who lead a rebellion over a pretty rotten King named Charles I. When he came to power and accepted the kingdship, throngs of fans and servants were cheering as loud as imaginable. But he looked over at his friend and said, “do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.”
Another Example of Misleading Emotions:
Former Football Player: My 2nd year at Holt HS, I had an outreach in which one of my lineman gave his life to Christ (maybe, you know, he said the prayer but then never really showed up, etc). Later on, I asked him how his faith was doing, and he explained to me that he was going to some type of New Age healer, and getting his negativity wiped off of him. I said…what? And his answers still sticks to me, he said “But it makes me feel good.”
Jesus Christ: He wept when Lazurus was dead. When you care for someone, you get sad. The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus Wept.” But he did more than weep, he died for us. He died for us. A person might cry when they are showing mercy, but tears itself is no mercy.
B. Mercy is NOT humanitarianism.
Jon Bon Jovi is one of the all time greatest Rock N’ Rollers in USA history. He has songs that are historic (if you know any songs here, rather than actually just saying the list, actually sing some parts of some).
Wanted Dead or Alive: (I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I’m wanted, dead or alive…)
Living on a Prayer: (Oh, we’re half way there, oh oh we’re living on a prayer, take my hand and we’ll make it I swear, oh oh we’re living on a prayer). Ranked the #1 song of the 80s.
What you didn’t know is Jon Bon Jovi is a big time humanitarian. What do I mean?
He has volunteered his time for the Special Olympics, Red Cross, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Project Home, Project Home, and he even volunteers his time building homes alongside Habitat for Humanity.
But, Jon Bon Jovi is not necessarily a Christian. He is a humanitarian, and that does not make him a Christian. And an example of humanitarianism does not necessarily mean that someone is a Christian.
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 13:3
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Mercy goes way beyond giving money, providing food to hungry, providing a hotel room to a homeless person, or anything like that. Giving is different from mercy.
(by the way, Bon Jovi’s first band in HS was called Raze, and it was a Christian band that he wanted to use as an outreach for his classmates, this was during 9th grade, there is no mention of faith since then that I could find)
C. Mercy IS an attitude.
“Mercy, as demonstrated by Christ, involves the way a person truly feels. It is an underlying attitude to life. Mercy is to see others as Christ sees them and feels toward others as he feels toward them.”
BIBLE VERSE: John 4:4-19
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans[a]
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" 12
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
17 Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.
Breaking It Down:
A lot can be said here about the background of this scripture. I mean, here is a woman most likely ashamed of her life working at the well during the midday when work was suppose to not be done (maybe an attempt to avoid people). Now, enter Jesus. Though he knows about the sin, he calls out her sin (notice, it is uncommon today to call out people’s sin sometimes), but doesn’t condemn her of the sin, he feels mercy for her. Seriously, he saw how disgusting her lifestyle was, and acted completely out of empathy for her. I mean, to offer eternal life to a person like this, this was some serious mercy.
D. Mercy IS action.
Mercy is an action that cannot keep itself inside.
Spring: After winter ends, spring comes. The trees turn green, flowers bud, birds return, you can’t keep spring from coming back, it is going to come! And spring cannot stop from coming. In the same way, you cannot stop mercy from showing itself. If someone has mercy, they are going to act mercifully. They are going to go to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, they are going to go to West Africa to feed children with AIDS, they are going to serve at food pantries: you cannot stop them from serving, because mercy is going to show itself.
E. Mercy IS forgiveness:
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 6: 37-38
Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
True Story of Harold Wilson (A Man Who Knows About Mercy):
More than 16 years after a Pennsylvania jury returned three death sentences against Harold Wilson, new DNA evidence helped lead to his acquittal. On November 15, 2005, Harold became the nation’s 122nd person freed from death row. During his 1989 capital trial, Harold was prosecuted by former Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Jack McMahon, a man perhaps best known for his role in a training video that advised new Philadelphia prosecutors how to use race in selecting death penalty juries.
After the 1988 murder and robbery of three people in South Philadelphia, Harold was convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to death. Harold voluntarily answered questions posed to him by the police; he had no idea that his trip to the police station would be his final act of freedom for more than 17 years. “I was in shock for at least a month after the verdict,” Harold said. “When I heard the verdict, the only thought that ran through my mind was ‘how are they going to kill me three times?’ My life was gone and no one in the system cared about my innocence.”
In 1999, Harold’s death sentence was overturned when a court determined that his defense counsel had failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence during his original trial. A later appeal led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to call for a new hearing because of evidence that McMahon used racially discriminatory practices in jury selection. In 2003, a trial court found that McMahon had improperly exercised his peremptory strikes to eliminate potential black jurors. Harold was granted a new trial, a decision that the district attorney’s office did not appeal. The court stated that in the new trial the death penalty could not be sought.
After new DNA evidence revealed that blood from the crime scene did not come from Harold or any of the victims, a finding suggesting the involvement of another assailant, the jury acquitted Harold of all charges. With his family in the courtroom, Harold wept as the jury read the verdict.
Since his release, Harold has been a passionate advocate against the death penalty and for reform of the criminal justice system. He often testifies before legislators, asking, “Is the death penalty worth killing one innocent person? Was it worth killing me?
F. Mercy IS to be CHECED:
Checed is the Hebrew word for “getting into someone’s skin.”
It demonstrates the idea that you can actually get into someone else’s body and feel what they are feeling in certain circumstances.
The Cross: The best example of someone being “checed,” is actually Jesus Christ (you can go into great details here about how he gave his life to Christ). When he sacrificed his life for us, he literally went right into our skin, his mercy is the best example in history of being “checed.”
Sources:
Beveridge, Stewart. Mercy. Caboolture Baptist Church, Caboolture Province: April 11, 2002.
Dictionary.com, keyword: Mercy.
Nelson, Craig. The Miracle of Mercy. Lifesprings USA, California: March 2003.
NAME: _______________________
KNOW MERCY
A STUDY OVER THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART I
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 5: Blessed are the __________________, for they will be shown ____________.
What is Mercy? ________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A. Mercy is NOT ____________________________________________________.
Oliver Cromwell: _______________________________________________________________________
Former Football Player: __________________________________________________________________
Jesus Christ: __________________________________________________________________________
B. Mercy is NOT ____________________________________________________.
JBJ: _________________________________________________________________________________
1 Corinthians 13:3
If I give all I possess to the _____________________________________________ and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain __________________.
C. Mercy IS an ______________________________________________________.
BIBLE VERSE: John 4:4-19
D. Mercy IS _________________________________________________________.
Spring Time: __________________________________________________________________________
E. Mercy IS _________________________________________________________.
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 6: 37-38
Harold Wilson: _________________________________________________________________________
F. Mercy IS to be ____________________________________________________.
This Means: ___________________________________________________________________________