god's mercy

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Practice  Being  God

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the  essence  of  Christianity.     The  opening  words,  the  Bea;tudes,  are  the  essence  of   this  sermon.   It  is  no  stretch  to  say  that  these  Bea;tudes  are  the   “essence  of  the  essence”  of  the  Kingdom  Life—the  way   of  thinking  and  being,  of  perceiving  and  ac;ng,  of   believing  and  living,  to  which  Jesus  is  calling  us.

MATTHEW 5:7 “Blessed  are  the  merciful,                                     for  they  will  be  shown  mercy.”  

THE PRACTICE OF BEING GOD To  be  merciful  means  to  have  the  same  aEtude  as  God   has,  to  think  the  same  about  people  as  God  does,  to   feel  for  people  as  God  feels,  and  to  act  toward  people   as  God  acts  toward  them.

THE PRACTICE OF BEING GOD We  are  never  more  like  God  than  when  rivers  of  mercy   are  springing  up  from  within  and  freely  flowing  out  of   our  lives,  drenching  others  in  the  same  deep,  healing,   inexhaus;ble  love  and  kindness  of  God  that  once   flooded  our  lives.

MERCY The  New  Testament  word  for  mercy,  eleos  (ἔλεος)  is   rooted  in  the  Old  Testament  word,  hesed  (‫)חֶסֶד‬.

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“Hesed”  is  used  over  150  times  in  the  Old  Testament.

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90%  of  the  9me  “hesed”  refers  to  God  or  God’s  ac9ons.

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Most  notably  God’s  action  is  displayed  in  kindness.    

MERCY Kindness,  the  fundamental  idea  of  mercy,  is  always   associated  with  God’s  love  and  faithfulness.     “Give  thanks  to  the  L ord,  for  he  i s  good!                   His   faithful   l ove   endures   forever.”                             ~Psalm  1 06:1(NLT)  

GOD’S MERCY 1. God’s  mercy  expresses  itself  as  a  proac;ve  loving-­‐ kindness.

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Mercy  channels  the  flow  of  history—Exodus  15:13

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Mercy  controls  the  processes  of  nature—Job  37:11-­‐13  

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Mercy  colors  the  entirety  of  man’s  interaction   with  God—Psalm  25:6  

OUR GROUND OF BEING God’s  mercy  is  the  ground  of  our  appeal  for  help. “Return,   O   LORD,   d eliver   me!   O h,   s ave   me               for   Your   m ercies’   sake!”                                               ~Psalm  6 :4(NKJV)  

OUR GROUND OF BEING God’s  mercy  i s  the  ground  of  our  appeal  for   forgiveness.   “Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  Your   lovingkindness;  According  to  the  mulEtude  of  Your  tender   mercies,  blot  out  my  transgressions.                                           ~Psalm  51:1  (NKJV)

OUR GROUND OF BEING God’s  mercy  i s  the  ground  of  our  confidence,  joy   and   peace   i n   God.   “But  I  have  trusted  in  Your  mercy,    My  heart   shall  rejoice  in  Your  salvaEon.”                                   ~Psalm  13:5  (NKJV)

OUR GROUND OF BEING God’s  mercy  i s  the  ground  of  our  worship.   “But  as  for  me,  I  will  come  into  Your  house  in  the   mulEtude  of  Your  mercy;  In  fear  of  You  I  will   worship  toward  Your  holy  temple.”                             ~Psalm  5:7  (NKJV)

OUR GROUND OF BEING God’s  mercy  i s  the  ground  of  our  gratitude.  

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For  answered  prayer—Psalm  66:20 For  protection—Psalm  59:16 For  preservation  of  life—Psalm  86:13 “Oh,  give  thanks  to  the  LORD,  for  He  is  good!                   For  His  mercy  endures  forever.”                                           ~Psalm  136:1  (NKJV)

GOD’S MERCY 2. God’s  mercy  expresses  itself  as  a  personal  loving-­‐ kindness. “God  loves  each  of  us  as  if  there  were  only  one  of  us.”       ~Saint  A ugustine      

GOD’S MERCY 3. God’s  mercy  expresses  itself  as  a  prac;cal  loving-­‐ kindness. “God’s  mercy  lodges  in  his  heart,  but  it  expresses   itself  through  his  hands.”                                                 ~William   B arclay      

MERCY AND TRUTH More  o ften   that   any   other   connection,   God’s  mercy   is  connected  with  “truth”  (emet  —  ‫)אמת‬,  which   refers  to  steadfastness  and  fidelity  to  a  p romise.   “All  the  paths  of  the  LORD  are  mercy  and  truth,  to             such    as  keep  His  covenant  and  His  testimonies.”                   ~Psalm  25:10  (NKJV)

This  I  recall  to  my  mind,  Therefore  I  have  hope.     Through  the  LORD’s  mercies  we  are  not  consumed,     Because  His  compassions  fail  not.  They  are  new  every   morning;  Great  is  Your  faithfulness.   “The  LORD  is  my  porEon,”  says  my  soul,                 “Therefore  I  hope  in  Him!” ~Lamentations  3:21-­‐24  (NKJV)

MERCY AND COVENANT God’s  mercy  i s  h is  steadfast  and  faithful  adherence   to   t hat   s pecial   relationship   w ith   h is   p eople.   “Therefore  know  that  the  LORD  your  God,  He  is   God,  the  faithful  God  who  keeps  covenant  and   mercy  for  a  thousand  generations  with  those  who   love  Him  and  keep  His  commandments.”     ~Deuteronomy  7:9    (NKJV)

MERCY AS JESUS DEFINES IT Mercy  goes  beyond  emotional  waves  of  compassion,   pity  and  sorrow  for  others  in  their  weakness. Mercy  gets  right  into  another’s  skin,  seeing  things   through  their  eyes,  thinking  things  through  their   mind,  and  feeling  things  with  their  feelings—and   then  acts  accordingly  in  redemptive  kindness.

MERCY AS JESUS DEFINES IT Mercy  is  holy  sympathy,  as  opposed  to  human   sympathy.     “Sympathy”  comes  from  two  Greek  words,  “syn”,   which  means  “together  with”,  and  “paschein”,  which   means  “to  experience”  or  “suffer”.  

MERCY AS JESUS DEFINES IT “For  we  do  not  have  a  High  Priest  who  cannot   sympathize  with  our  weaknesses,  but  was  in  all  points   tempted  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.  Let  us  therefore   come  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may   obtain  mercy  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need.”     ~Hebrews  4:15-­‐16  

INCARNATIONAL MERCY “You  know  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  kind  enough   to  give  up  all  his  riches  and  become  poor,                         so  that  you  could  become  rich.”                                           ~II  Corinthians  8:9  (CEV)

THE PRACTICE OF BEING GOD •

Practice  being  more  understanding—that  is,  more   tolerant  and  less  condemning.

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Practice   b eing   more   redemptive—that   i s,   q uick   to   forgive   a nd   committed   to   reconciliation.

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Practice  being  more  generous—that  is,  ridiculously   open-­‐handed.

BLESSED MERCY “For  they  will  be  shown  mercy.”   For  those  through  whom  mercy  flows,  greater  mercy  will   follow.     When  we  practice  mercy  in  our  world,  we  are  practicing   being  God.    As  we  become  more  like  God,  we  become   full  of  God,  who  is  full  of  mercy!