Have you ever wonder why happy people are those who are able to show mercy? Interpersonal relationship is a very interesting art, you get what you show.
Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them! (Matthew 5:7 Good News).
• The happy people are those who know how to treat people rightly, and the right way to treat people is showing them mercy.
• So, what is mercy? Mercy is love in action; being kind and showing compassion that forbears punishing even when justice demands it, extending help even to the lowliest or most undeserving. Mercy is more than just an attitude, more than just feeling sorry for people. Mercy acts.
The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love (Psalm 145: 8 NLT).
• God is a merciful God; the evident of His mercy is He is slow to get angry!
1. The Four Marks of Mercy
a. Mercy read: I will be patient with those who are peculiar
It seems funny that we will always have someone in our life that irritates us. I called them heavenly sandpaper. How do you deal with those kinds of obnoxious people?
Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone (1 Thessalonians 5:14b NLT).
• Are you patient with everyone? I'm not. I struggle to be around those who irritate me. Mercy means I'll be patient with those who are peculiar. How then can you be patient with those who are peculiar?
• I have learnt that in order for me to be patient with those who are peculiar, I need to know their background. Because, behind every peculiar behaviour there's loneliness, hurt, depression, or a kind of anxiety that God says we need to look at.
• When you are able to accept people for who they are, that is merciful. You're not quick to criticize, compare them with yourself.
b. Mercy read: I’ll forgive those who has fallen
When people make mistakes, when people let you down, do you hold it over their head for the rest of their life; never let them off the hook?
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others (Colossians 3:13 NLT).
• It's interesting about forgiveness that when you're called to receive it, it feels so right; when you're called to give it, it feels so wrong. I don't want to forgive people, I want justice.
• If I'm merciful, I will be forgiving to the fallen. It's a lot easier to criticize than it is to sympathize. It's a lot easier to point a finger than it is to lend a helping hand.
• We can forgive those who fall because we all fall. We all stumble, nobody's perfect. We don't hold a grudge; if you do most likely you can’t forgive yourself.
c. Mercy read: I’ll help those who are hurting
Mercy is practical assistance. When you see someone hurting, you don’t just feel sorry for them but do something about it, that's being like Christ.
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions (1 John 3:17-18 NLT).
• When you're hurting that's the most likely time you're going to doubt. If you've never had those doubts, you've never been in very much pain. If you've been in pain you know exactly what I'm talking about. When there is hurt, doubts come in.
• So how do you response to people who doubt? You don't debate with them; you don't demean them, put them down, disown them or desert them. What do you do? You show mercy. You may not agree with all their opinions at that moment, but that is not the right time to show how right or how biblical you are.
d. Mercy read: I'll do good to my enemies
And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. … But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:33, 35-36 NIV).
• Society says, when people hurt you, hurt them back, get even! Gossip about them, destroy them, do anything you can. Jesus says, “You not only forgive that person, but be nice to the guy."
• Why should I do that? The best way to eliminate an enemy is to turn him into a friend. Smother them with kindness. They don't know how to handle it because the world does not respond that way. All of a sudden, you're in control of the situation. You're on the offense, not the defence.
2. Because I have experienced God’s mercy
Before we go on, ask yourself a question, “Have I experienced the mercy of God?” Recalled back those times where God showed you mercy instead of judgment.
Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy (Luke 6:36 NCV).
• Remember the story that Jesus told about the unforgiving servant (see Matthew 18:21-35) God expects me to do to others what He has already done to me. We tend to judge other people by their worse faults and we tend to judge ourselves by our best intentions.
• If you can’t show people mercy, talk to your leader, talk to the pastors, most likely you are too hard on yourself and do not know how to receive mercy from God.
3. Because I’m going to need more mercy in the future
Not only has God been merciful to me in the past but I'm going to need it in the future. I am on the process to be more like Christ, so I'm going to need more mercy.
There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you (James 2:13 NCV).
• If we all got what we deserved, none of us would be here. God does not give us what we deserve; He gives us what we need. And that's mercy. And mercy is giving to others, not what they deserve when they've fallen, not what they deserve when they've hurt us, but giving them what they need.
4. Because it makes me happy!
Mercy makes me happy. Sound crazy, but it is true. That's what Jesus says. "Happy are the merciful." The opposite of that is true also: "Unhappy are the unmerciful."
• The most miserable people I know are people who are resentful, who refuse to give up a grudge, who are unforgiving. They don't realize they are hurting themselves. Unmercifulness makes you miserable.
The merciful man does good for his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh (Proverbs 11:17 NKJV).
• By being merciful, you are doing yourself a favor, you are nourishing your own soul. One of the tremendous way to get rid of depression is to learn to develop due acts of mercy. Mercy acts like boomerang, you throw it, it comes back to you.
• How then do I become a merciful person? The starting point is you must first experience the mercy of God. You cannot offer mercy to anyone else until you have first received mercy. You can't offer what you don’t have.
• Every sin you have ever committed, are committing right now, or will commit has already been paid for. Why? The Bible says the penalty for sin is death and Jesus had taken that penalty. It's already paid for. You can walk out of here free. You receive this mercy of God, not because you deserve to be forgiven, you don't. But God wants to forgive you, simply because He is a forgiving God. He loves forgiving. It's His nature. He is a God of mercy. God didn’t just give you mercy, He gives you grace – the divine nature to be like Him.
• Once you really feel forgiven, once you have been graced, then it's easier for you to be gracious. Once you have felt the mercy of God then it's easier for you to be merciful. (Read Matthew 25:42-45).
• Mother Theresa said, “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. Do not think that love in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”
• Jesus lifted up the lonely, accepted the rejected, grieved with those who were sorrowing, loved the unlovely, and helped those who are helpless and hurting. He cared for them. And God wants you to be the Christ at your job, at your school, at your home. Treat people the way He would.
• God didn’t ask you to love the whole world, He just asked you to love one another: those you see, relate to, live with everyday. You don’t need to travel far, just look around. Who is it in your life that needs mercy? Who is it in your life that you're still holding grudges? Who is it that you need to say a word of forgiveness to?
• Be happy! Show mercy! This is what we want our church to be. We want this place to be a place of mercy. We want our family here to be a place where we are patient with the peculiar, forgiving to the fallen. If you're perfect, this place is not for you. This church is for people who do not have it all made. They're struggling; they admit it and they're honest enough to realize they've got a lot of growing to do.
• We’re forgiving of the fallen. It doesn’t matter so much where you’ve been, it’s where you are heading to. We want here to be a place where the hurtful are comforted, the weird felt accepted, even when people do bad to us, we do good to them. |