Hearing from the Master
Blessed are the Merciful
Matthew 5:7; 38-42; Luke 1:50, 54, 72; Lamentations 3:22-23
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Matthew 5:7 (LSB)
There is a difference between mercy—our topic this morning—and grace. Two words that we sometimes use interchangeably but do have a different meaning. I grew up with the understanding that grace is God giving to us what we do not deserve, and mercy is God keeping from us what we do deserve. In other words, that God would grant us an eternal home in heaven is by His grace, and that God would save us from hell is by His mercy. Grace is often associated with the positive, heaven, whereas mercy is often associated with the negative, hell. And then many of us grew up with that acronym, grace G.R.A.C.E.: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. And I suppose those are good thoughts and definitions, but there is more than just that. For grace is the heart response of someone toward another, as grace looks upon someone and loves undeservedly. But then mercy acts and responds to that grace and love.
So, let me give you some thoughts about mercy as given by Kent Hughes: mercy is an act extended to someone else to relieve some kind of heartache or misery; another word that really goes alongside mercy is compassion; but it is more than merely feeling compassion for someone, for mercy always acts. In other words, we all have likely been in a situation where we look at someone suffering, and we responded by feeling bad for them, but mercy demands that we actually do something for them to help them. Yesterday, Anne and I were at one of our grandson’s hockey games. The game was very close, and both teams battled hard and the final score was 21-2 for the other guys. The merciful part was that after 8 goals, they did not show any more on the scoreboard.
Seriously, remember the story of the Good Samaritan. And the question that Jesus asked at the end of the story is: who showed the man mercy? Two of the men may have felt some kind of compassion, but only the Samaritan showed mercy. Hughes wrote this:
“We must never imagine that we are merciful because we feel compassion toward someone in distress. Mercy means active goodwill.”
- Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom 49
And a merciful person also understands the kindness and mercy of God to him, for he understands his own sinfulness and therefore shows mercy to others. Therefore, showing mercy is clear evidence that we have received mercy from God. So, mercy has much to do with the way we understand how we have been treated by God and has much to do with how we understand our sinfulness before God. In other words, if I have a high view of God’s goodness and mercy toward me, and I have a proper view of my own weakness as a human being, the greater I will extend mercy to others. However, if I do not acknowledge my sin, though I may try to appear righteous before others, and I do not truly understand God’s mercy to me as a sinner, I will tend to be more judgmental of others and less merciful to them.
- A. Carson said that the one who does not show mercy is likely unaware of the need for mercy to have been shown him from God. And much of mercy is spiritual. In other words, much of the mercy we are to live and show is to do with the spiritual health of others. Of course, if we see someone struggling physically, mercy will help them. If someone was struggling financially, mercy would help them. But there also is the great care and compassion for the spiritual well-being of others.
“And the Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth.”
2 Timothy 2:24-25 (LSB)
Mercy would also pray for those who may be struggling. Mercy would share the gospel with someone. But it is the knowledge of God and His Word that enables us to know what is best for someone and to understand the greatest need that they have. So, this Beatitude, this character quality in the heart of Christ is to be a character quality in the heart of the Christian. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this:
“We are not called upon as Christians to be, or try to be, Christian in various respects. To be Christian, I say, is to possess a certain character and therefore to be a certain type of person … We are not meant to control our Christianity, our Christianity is rather meant to control us.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount 81-82
What do you think of that statement? That our Christianity is meant to control us. Lloyd-Jones is stressing here that our Christian character must come from the heart, for he is saying that Christianity is not a religion where you sign up for various good deeds. In other words, you sort of give here and there and do this and that. No, the Christian responds to the faith that is in his heart, and his actions are a response to his character in Christ as motivated by the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, if Christian service, or acts of mercy, or generosity, or compassion are things that you do merely outwardly with little joy or are done out of duty, this is not what Jesus is teaching. And I understand that sometimes we must do something in ministry, and it may mean having to motivate yourself to get moving. I understand that this does happen with us. But I want to think of it this way. Maybe as a Mom with a small child. And the well-being of that child is paramount to her; that child is precious, that child is greatly loved. And the Mom would never describe her love and care as a duty, though understanding that at times it is hard, and it is tiresome. But it is who she is as a mother that motivates her to love and care. In other words, it is not something that she must schedule or remind herself to do.
Mercy is like that for the Christian. It is not like the Christian decides that I need to show mercy today. No, it is not merely a coating or a veneer on the outside, but it comes from the very core of a life; it is who we are. For understand that this is an attribute of God—God is merciful—and the striving here is to be like the heavenly Father. And it is merely acting out a character that the Holy Spirit has placed within our hearts. Millard J. Erickson defines God’s mercy this way:
“His tenderhearted, loving compassion for his people. It is his tenderness of heart towards the needy. If grace contemplates humans as sinful, guilty, and condemned, mercy sees them as miserable and needy.”
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology 266
So, our mercy, it is not like scheduling an act of kindness. No, mercy, compassion, and kindness ought to swell from the heart of a Christian, just as they swell from the heart of God. And the promise to the Christian is blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. It would seem that those who show mercy will receive mercy in return, but I am not sure that this would always be the case from everyone to whom we may extend mercy. John MacArthur writes that the promise may not always come back from man, but the real promise is that we will receive mercy from God. He wrote:
“The fifth beatitude does not teach that mercy to men brings mercy from men, but that mercy to men brings mercy from God. If we are merciful to others, God will be merciful to us, whether men are or not.”
John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1—7 189
Now, in this whole matter of showing mercy, I have selected a passage from the Sermon on the Mount which is likely one of the most difficult and most challenging. So, turn to Matthew 5, which is what we could call five convicting verses by Christ in answering the question: How can I be merciful?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your garment also. And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”
Matthew 5:38-42 (LSB)
Maybe we should go home now and make up a little “mercy” calendar and try to stretch ourselves a little so that we would make ourselves feel good. However, I believe that Jesus wants us to think so much deeper about this concerning His illustration of mercy. Of course, I have read many books on the Sermon on the Mount and this section is included as well. And it was Kent Hughes who titled these five verses: Have We No Rights! And that might have been our reaction as we read these verses this morning, and maybe you are hoping that I will try to tone this passage down a little this morning. I think it was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who commented on the verse, “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your garment also.” He said, “Lord, my whole closet is going to get wiped out really fast if I keep obeying this verse!”
Now, it is true that these teachings by Jesus cannot be taken as “wooden” principles. But principles, they are, and they are extremely important to the Christ-follower. It is possible that Jesus is using a type of teaching here called hyperbole. The term hyperbole is defined as this: it is a figure of speech that uses obvious, extreme exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis, humour, or strong emotion. It is not meant to be taken literally. And I wish to be careful here, but I do believe that Jesus does use this technique when teaching here and in other areas of the Bible. Later, Jesus will teach that a person should cut off his hand if it causes him to sin or pluck out his eye. And we need to understand that though this teaching is a form of hyperbole, this does not lessen in any sense the teaching of Jesus, for He has chosen this method of teaching to emphasize the great importance of every principle taught here.
We were talking in one of our Thursday night studies that when Jesus said, it would be better for you to lose one part of your body and enter the kingdom of heaven than to have your whole body and be thrown into hell. Well, the response to that statement is, well, of course it would. Of course, it would be better to have lost certain things in this life, even body parts, than to ever miss heaven. So, though we may not start cutting off parts of our bodies that caused us to sin, the strength of the principle is the same: don’t allow anything in life to cause you to miss God’s kingdom. So, the hyperbole is used here by Christ to heighten the principle, not lessen it. Though it does not always mean that we act it out in the exact way in which it has been stated.
Remember Jesus taught that a person who wishes to follow Him must hate his mother and father. What is the principle? That loving Jesus Christ more than anything else, including family, is vital for the Christ-follower. And if you ever had to leave Mom and Dad or family or anything to serve Christ, you must, because as a Christian you have committed to follow Him. Remember Jesus taught in (Matt 13) that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man finds in a field. And he sells everything he has, everything. Why? So that he can acquire the field. So that he gets the treasure. What is the principle? Nothing, nothing is more valuable in life than someday being with Christ in His kingdom. The joy of giving up everything to gain Christ! So just because Jesus uses hyperbole does not lessen the principle. No, the exaggeration is used by Jesus to heighten the principle.
So, what is Jesus teaching us here in this passage? Well, I would suggest that there are so many principles in these five verses. And much of this centres around our attitudes towards possessions, time, security, dignity, and freedom. I mean, let’s face it, when we are challenged to give up something, we do not always respond well. I would say it is easier for us to plan to do something for someone—which is wonderful—but when we are confronted by someone else to sacrifice, we do tend to turn from that. We can easily start to think of such things as: that’s not fair; well, that guy made me mad; I do more than she does already; okay, well, I will do this, but I will not be happy doing it. And people need to know what I am giving up by doing this!
Yet this teaching by Jesus fights directly against such pride, selfishness, and greed.
Think of Simon of Cyrene, who just happened to be there while Jesus was carrying His cross. And we don’t know much about him, but Mark’s Gospel says he was the father of Rufus. And Rufus is mentioned later by Paul as a believer. Most agree that this believer was the same guy, and Simon of Cyrene was his Dad. But the fact does not really matter, for some have suggested that Simon was forced to carry the cross, as Matthew records that they pressed him into service. But whatever, I believe we could see that the same act by Simon could be done with joy, if he loved Christ, or reluctantly, if he was indifferent toward Christ. The act itself is not the issue, for Simon could have thought, why do I have to carry the cross. No, the issue would be if Simon truly loved Christ or not; that would determine whether he would give up his rights and willingly carry the cross. In other words, if Simon was a Christ-follower and Christ-lover, the words, “This is not fair, I am not happy doing this,” would not be on his mind. In fact, he would likely have considered it a great privilege. In other words, his relationship and love for Christ would make a world of difference in how the Christian would react to both the situation and the people that God brought before him. And you might say, well, this was different because Simon was acting directly on behalf of Christ. Ah, but what did Jesus say?
“For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name because you are of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”
Mark 9:41 (LSB)
So, what do we learn from this difficult teaching of Jesus? And the difficult part of this passage is that this is not even a nice person.
“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your garment also.”
Matthew 5:39-40 (LSB)
This is not Aunt Winnie asking you to cut her lawn. No, this seems to be more the guy at work you don’t like or the neighbour who bugs you. Or it may even be the one who has done something very wrong to you. So, here are some of the things we need to consider: Do we need to swallow our pride? Do we need to give up our rights? Do we have to let go of the desire to get even? Do we have to let go of doing only that which is fair? Hughes wrote:
“Thanks to Jesus, we can let go of our legalistic obsession with fairness. We are glad that Jesus was not fair with us, for if we were to have gotten what was coming to us, it would not have been good”
- Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom 141
And understand that this does not eliminate the sense of justice for someone, as government is responsible for punishing those who do wrong. Our military is responsible for protecting our country. Our police are responsible for protecting society. And fathers are responsible for protecting their families. Yet this is about the individual as a Christian being willing to forgo his or her rights for the sake of Christ and the gospel. John Stott wrote:
“Christ teaches not irresponsibility which encourages evil but the forbearance which renounces revenge”
John R. W. Stott, The Sermon on the Mount 89
So, let’s discuss some aspects of how this might look practically. And I will use some help here from James Montgomery Boice. The first thing we must consider is our tendency to retaliate. You know when someone hits you into the boards, and you immediately want to hit back. I mean, I never go after Rick Campbell; I only retaliate because he hits me first. And this goes back to our understanding of fair play: that if someone does something to me, it gives me the permission to do something to them. But Boice says we must give up that right of retaliation. He wrote:
“Instead of insisting on our rights we are to yield them up, particularly our imagined rights to retaliation, in order that the preaching of the gospel might not be hindered.”
James Montgomery Boice, The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5—7 137
And he stresses the point that we cannot simply believe that these instructions cannot be followed because he said that if you are a Christian, they can be, if Christ lives in you. In fact, as a Christ-follower, these instructions must be followed. Secondly, this teaching refers to all the things we own, our possessions, and that we would hang on to them loosely. Jesus mentions a tunic here, but He could have used the example of our homes, our automobiles, our clothes, our food, and other things. These are not things that we are to hold and guard jealously. But the Christian must recognize that they all come from the Lord and are to be used in the best possible way for his glory.
I remember when I was in Africa on a mission trip, and near the end of the trip, we assisted the pastor in doing some baptisms in the Atlantic Ocean. I was 44 at the time, and one of the young guys who was baptised was in his early twenties. He did not speak English, but he kept looking at me after the baptism. And I said to the missionary, Kwashi, why does he keep looking at me?. And Kwashi said that he really likes your bathing suit. Well, according to Beatitude #5, I had to give up my bathing suit. Not a big deal for me, but he was pretty excited! Thirdly, the money we have is the Lord’s. I remember as a kid that my Dad always had me put ten percent of whatever I made in my top drawer to bring to church on Sunday. And that pattern just continued. But then you realize as you grow older as a Christian, that God enables you to give much more freely than that.
I mentioned to the Sunday PM crew that once, when Anne and I were at Moody Bible Institute for their Founder’s Week. We had just retired as youth sponsors at Emmanuel Baptist, and the church sent us to Chicago to go to the conference at Moody. It was February, bitterly cold, and we drove up to the hotel where they had valet parking. And it was sort of embarrassing as my old van was completely plastered in salt, and every other vehicle around seemed like a BMW or Lexus or something fancy. And they all looked like they had just come back from the car wash. And heading into this fancy hotel, we had a cooler in the back with a bunch of treats, as we planned not to really buy a whole lot while we were there. And we did feel like a really normal couple amongst all the rich at this conference. And this was the conference that I was able to hear John MacArthur preach in person for the first time, where I butted up in line to get his autograph. But at the end of the three-day conference, they took an offering for Moody Bible Institute to support the ministry of Christ in Chicago. And they announced at the end that the offering was just over $11M. In other words, those rich guys really gave out of their riches. Just as the poor widow in the Bible really gave out of her poverty, as it all belongs to God, for our money is the Lord’s.
Finally, we are to be willing to give of our time. In our affluent society, this might be harder than money. For some, it may be much easier to give an amount of money than to sacrifice time for ministry and people. A few weeks ago, I was at the chiropractor, and he asked me what I did as a pastor. And of course, I explained that I teach a lot and counsel at times, and then there are times when you visit. And so, I said some of my time is very structured, and some of my time is not. But I have learned in ministry over the years that if you need to see someone, you just need to go, whether that is because of illness or struggle or whatever. So, giving up the right of retaliation, giving up possessions, money, and time, all for the kingdom.
And what we learn from this teaching of Christ is to be willing to live differently than the culture. Of course, in the area of sin and wrong choices. But also, very differently in the area of what is right and wrong for us. And not even in the things that we know are right and the things we know are wrong, as those are ingrained in our minds and we see them as obvious truths for us. But the Christian, who is a Christ-follower, goes way beyond a ritual list or law, as the Christian follows the teaching of his or her Master that challenges us to let go of things, even things that we would have normally thought should be right for us. Paul said that he had become all things to all people so that he might save some. And that is hard, and it is not natural. And it requires great discernment and wisdom, as it would only be a part of the life of the Christ-follower. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul spoke about the authority he had as an apostle. But he said that he didn’t use this authority but endured all things so that there would be no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Boice wrote:
“If you are a Christian, learn soon this great spiritual lesson. Do not stand on your rights. The second mile is only typical of the third and the fourth. The cloak is only typical of all our possessions. Our time is not our own. When Jesus died for us on the cross, He did not do it to defend our right or His. It was grace that took Him there. Now, as His children, we are called to the same life of self-sacrifice and Christ-like service.”
James Montgomery Boice, The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5—7 139
And I realize that each of these matters must be thought through well. For what about the professional beggar who wants money or the one who ruins his life on drugs? Yet it would seem that the core of Jesus’ teaching is that we are to always be ready to show mercy to those the Lord has placed on our path and, in wisdom, to act as He would lead us. And we see this passage as a way of Jesus challenging us through His method of teaching. As we would also understand that if someone needs us for one mile, we may not necessarily stop at two miles; it may require more. The thrust of the teaching is the willingness to give that which God has blessed us to show mercy toward others.
Now, finding passages in the Bible of the mercy shown by Christ was not difficult. And I am sure many passages would come to your mind where it says that Jesus had compassion on them. But what I want to share with you is what struck me as so significant in the life of Jesus: that He showed mercy and compassion, which is obvious to us. But what I noticed was how people saw Him. How many people viewed the character of Christ, as many knew Him to be compassionate and that He would show mercy. (Matt 9:27) And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Notice to whom they went to, to cry out for mercy. There was also the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:22) who cried out to Jesus, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” (Matt 20:30) another two blind men were sitting by the road, and upon hearing Jesus they said, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And then remember blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:47), when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And of course, the ten lepers (Luke 17:13) raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” These people seemed to know that Christ was a mercy-giver.
It is also interesting that when Mary, the mother of Jesus, was told by the angel Gabriel that she was with Child, and Gabriel began to tell Mary some of the things about the Christ: that He would be great; that He would be called the Son of the Most High; the Lord would give Him the throne of His father David; and of His kingdom there would be no end. But the angel Gabriel also told Mary this about our God in sending Christ.
“And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him … He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy … To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant.”
Luke 1:50, 54, 72 (LSB)
We think of the famous verses from Lamentations, our memory passage.
“The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, For His compassions [mercies] never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 (LSB)
It would seem that part of the reason for Christ’s coming was to show mercy and to teach that character quality to those who would follow Him. And the key with this passage is this, and listen, as this is important, that we should not look for ways to hold back on this passage, thinking that it goes too far; but we should always be challenged to show mercy where we by nature would not. Jesus did not teach this passage for us to hold back mercy, but to extend it.
Let me close with a story about George Mueller. George Mueller was a preacher, an evangelist, and was part of the Plymouth Brethren. He was best remembered for his work of starting and directing a large orphanage in England. He lived in the 1800s, and as a teen, he was known as dishonest and a thief. Yet a friend invited him to a prayer meeting where he placed his faith and trust in Christ. He soon became a preacher and also assisted missionaries. He distributed thousands of Bibles to those who could not afford them. Eventually, he and his wife began caring for orphans. I read that he looked after orphans in his own home until they exceeded their housing capacity and they received complaints from neighbours. So, they eventually purchased five large homes where approximately eighteen thousand children were cared for over the next sixty years. He was asked once why he did all this, and he said that it was simply that he was being obedient to James 1:27, to look after orphans and widows in their distress, in other words, to show them mercy. He also wrote a book called A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealing with George Mueller. I love the title as it sounds like a book where God has to change or deal with the heart of a person. And in his book he wrote:
“There was a day when I died, utterly died to George Mueller and his opinions, his preferences, and his tastes and his will. I died to the world, to its approval and its censure. I died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends. And since then I have studied to show myself approved unto God.”
George Mueller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealing with George Mueller
Let me close with a prayer written by Seth Porch from Desiring God Ministries. Let’s pray. Blessed are those who open their hearts and hands to the afflicted, gladly and generously giving to them out of the bounty they have received from God. Blessed are those whose homes are open to the stranger, the lowly, the needy. Blessed are those who minister to the sick, the imprisoned, the dying. Blessed are those who call the sinner to repentance. Blessed are those who forgive their brother seventy times seven. Blessed are those who are not great in their own eyes. Blessed are those who know themselves to be recipients of mercy. Blessed are the merciful. And all God’s people said, amen.