Blessed Are the Merciful
The beatitudes are the preamble to the Sermon on the Mount… Jesus’ teachings about the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
The first four beatitudes are blessed are the poor in spirt, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, and blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These four beatitudes lead us into meekness and humility to forsake our selfish selves in order to turn toward the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
The next theee beatitudes are the practical application of these first four beatitudes. The purpose is to love God above all as we minister to others with Christ’s heart behind our heart. These next three beatitudes focus on the nature of Christ in us the hope of glory.
The fifth beatitude says, “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Mercy is the withholding of God’s righteous judgement. The meaning of mercy is known only when we give others the same mercy that God gave us… For in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.
Paul said, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. The gift of God’s spirit is his enablement in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
There are four possible responses to the good news of the gospel of Christ. The first is outright resistance. The second response is , “i’ll consider your message.” The third type of response is bargaining: Let’s make a deal. God, I’ll do what You want if you do what I want. The fourth stage is, “Lord I surrender all… my life is in thy hands. Use me and make me after your will, while I am willing yielded and still. Not my will but thine be done.
The fourth stage goes beyond questioning God’s motive: Does God really have a good plan for my life? Is he working all things together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose?
CS Lewis said that if you’re looking for a religion that makes you comfortable, then Christianity is not that religion. God will break our hearts so that he can pick up the treads of our broken hearts and weave them together to conform to the image of His dear Son. Proverbs says, the crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the heart of man is for the Lord’s refinement.
This is a hard lesson to learn. Pete learned this lesson in the father’s waiting room after his wife had carried their second child to term. The doctors had said, “we’re losing the baby’s heartbeat. You need to leave the delivery room.” Pete prayed, “God, Please save my wife and baby.” God answered, “No matter the outcome, will you still love, honor and serve me?” Pete thought to himself, will I still love God as a good, good father no matter if my baby and my wife both die? Pete searched his heart. Then he answered, “Yes Lord, no matter what happens in this situation, I will still love you above all.” When the doctor came into the father’s waiting room, she pulled Pete aside and said, “I’m sorry but we lost the baby.” Pete was thankful that God had prepared his heart to love and honor him despite this bad news.
Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. You’re never more like Christ than when you show mercy to others. The Apostle Peter had asked Jesus, how many times must I forgive my brother? Should I forgive him seven times? The Levitical law said that you should only forgive a person three times. Peter thought that seven times would show mercy. However Jesus said, you should forgive not seven times but seventy times seven.
Jesus illustrated this point with a parable about a slave who owed his master $10 million in today’s money… a sum that could never be repaid in several lifetimes. The master could rightfully require the service of the slave’s wife and children for the rest of their lives to pay a portion of the debt. The slave approached his master and said, Lord have mercy on me… I’ll attempt to repay but this is a debt that I cannot bear.” The Lord took mercy on his servant and said, your debt is forgiven.
Then the forgiven servant confronted a fellow slave who owed him just $10. He said to the man who owed him, pay up or I will have you thrown into the debtor’s prison. The man said, please be patient with me and give me some time to pay you back. The servant dealt harshly with is fellow slave who could not immediately repay and sent him to prison. Then word came back to the Lord about how the slave that he had forgiven would not offer mercy to his fellow slave. The Lord reinstated his wicked slave’s debt and required him and his household to work the rest of their lives to pay only a partial payment of the debt rightfully owed to the Master. This parable is an illustration that those who are merciful shall receive mercy.
How can we say that we have repented and confessed our sin unless we forgive others? We are debtors burdened with a debt of sin that we cannot repay. We rightfully deserve to be committed to debtors’ prison for the rest of our lives. Even when we have done all our Lord requires of us, we cannot ask his mercy and grace because we’ve simply done our duty as subjects of our Lord. If we carried a Roman soldier’s pack one mile as the law requires, what reward can you ask… you’ve simply done your duty as required by Roman Law. Did you walk the second mile from a heart of love? According to 1 Corinthians 13, Without the love of God, even though I gave my body to be burned, it will profit me nothing.
Loving kindness and tender mercy is the most often used description of the character of God in the Old Testament. Loving Kindness is the Hebrew word “hased” which is the same word as the Greek word “Agape,” the love of God in the New Testament.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, You are servants of you father the devil… You are a brood of vipers. The devil is the father of lies and you’re just like your father the devil. Romans says, ye are slaves of whom you obey. As sons of God the nature of our Heavenly Father is loving kindness and tender mercy. We inherited his nature when we were born again not of corruptible seed that we inherited from Adam, but from the seed of the Word of God… the spirit of God in Christ in us…
That we may demonstrate our Father’s loving kindness and tender mercy to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
