Ephesians 2:1-5 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”
God, who is rich in mercy…. What an amazing heart God has toward us, and i mean not just those who believe on His name, but all people. Because the Lord is merciful, (Matthew 5:45) “… He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
It’s another beautiful evening here at Outposts, a rural cafe at the end of Old Field Road. Looking at the Ockluhwahhah River is like seeing all the paintings of the world, quiet, resisting time, everlasting. Sometimes the evening here is so quiet, the pictures on the wall are just staring … it’s as if there’s nothing left to say or do but be quiet before the Lord, joining the evening in quiet repose, like a lone hammock, swaying gently in the end of a lazy afternoon.
Friends, for those who know Jesus, rest assured there is a Divine Spark glowing within you, and you are part of the magnificence of God. Yet, let me encourage you, don’t become preoccupied with yourself. If all you have in the room of your mind is mirrors, you will only be aware of yourself and your own needs. Take this suggestion seriously, replace some of those mirrors with windows so you can discover the world outside yourself and the needs of others.
Speaking of the needs of others, this evening’s topic is about the “Power of Mercy”. Mercy, specifically, the mercy of God – invented by God, exercised by God, who is the soul owner of righteous mercy in the universe … mercy, it is one of my prized possessions.
Genesis 19:19 “Indeed now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have increased your kindness which you have shown me by saving my life;.” Interestingly, in some translations, the Hebrew word for mercy was translated as kindness and i take exception to calling a specific thing by another name. Gosh, let’s just call it what it is. Kindness is a subset of mercy and it should have been mercy. Kindness and compassion are derivatives of mercy, and the quality of compassion is what we would call being merciful. When scripture says, typically, that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, those two are derivatives of the word “merciful”. To say “the Lords mercy endures forever” is to say He is kind and compassionate beyond the vanishing point. The mercy of the Lord spans our lives from the beginning to the end. Every mountain and valley, every river and sea, every man, woman and child breaths and live within the amazing mercy of God.
Abraham was the first in scripture to mention the amazing power of the mercy of God. We badly need to understand that the idea of God’s mercy is far more than just a Webster’s Dictionary blurb. True, mercy is the withholding of judgment, but it is so SO much more. It is God’s expression of pity towards us as one who has love for an unborn child. His idea of mercy includes redemption from trouble and enemies. To say “God’s mercy” includes preservation of life from death, and is the foundational action for the redemption of sin. Did you hear that? God’s mercy is the action of His compassion and kindness. Again, literally, the Hebrew word for “mercy” means “God’s kindness and compassion beyond the vanishing point.” How far away is your vanishing point? Believe me, in His mercy, the Lord stands on your horizon and occupies space at your vanishing point. Like the rising sun, the glow of His mercy lights up all the earth, from river to rim.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” The yoke of this world without God is one of turmoil, grief and suffering, with grief as the default setting for the endpoint of life without Christ. In light of that then, what is His “yoke” that we should take it upon ourselves? i suppose it would be good to understand that a “yoke” is a connection between two things so that they move and work together, and if we take upon ourselves HIS yoke, we will be yoked with God, working and moving together, and in that picture we understand The Lord calls for us to come participate with Him in what He’s doing. His easy and gentle yoke is composed of, here it is: mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. That is so excellent i’m going to say it again so put your ears on: the yoke Jesus spoke of in Matt11:29 is composed of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. In other words, when we sum up all righteous mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, it all adds up to Love.
Grace is sister to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. Within the Hebrew word for mercy is the word grace … the Lord has given me some words to portray the idea of grace within mercy – it goes like this: Grace under the umbrella of mercy is “Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings.” Yea! Now that’s a good definition, at least i think so. i can literally “see” it in my mind.
i love the way the words “mercy” and “grace” sound and feel in my mouth, sort of like tasting something delicious and right. i want to say it again and again until my mind hears what my heart is saying, “mercy is God’s divine compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, like the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.” Yea man, that’s what i’m talkin’ about!
Abraham was not content to simply receive God’s compassion and kindness, he took it up a notch becoming the human embodiment of God’s infinite kindness. Through God’s love and kindness Abraham inspired others to follow after the Lord. i find the mercy of God an inspiration. From studying the life of Abraham, and ultimately Jesus, we easily see that man’s humanity reaches it’s zenith in his imitation of the Ways of God, and … within the store house of mercy, is a key component – truth. The opposite of all that, when we imitate anyone or anything other than the Lord, is rock bottom at the lowest ebb possible, with the key component as lies, distrust, suspicion, and corruption.
If we want to live in a culture of honor then truth and honesty are keys we must own and prefer, even to our own hurt. Truth decides when to utilize kindness, when to utilize justice, and when to temper one with the other. When kindness and justice are blended together in proper measure, the result … is Truth. Psalm 25:10 “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”
The Lord in His wisdom has tied mercy to grace, mercy to truth, and mercy to justice. He is absolutely brilliant! But of course, He is God you know. The word “systemic” refers to something that is spread throughout, it is not only something you know, but it is system-wide, affecting your entire person. i believe eventually, although mercy starts in our hearts as systemic, eventually it is even intrinsic, as in it’s part of our being and has become part of our nature. Without a systemic love of mercy, honesty, truth, and grace, when those four are lacking in us, we become the people of a multiplicity of vision, meaning we have moved from vision, the singleness of eye, to di-vision, people divided in our hearts. Amazingly though, God has mercy for us and continues to pursue us, regardless of ourselves. We see ourselves in a judicial sense as being right and wrong, but i’m firm the Lord sees us more as near and far from Him. On a side note, i found it interesting that the Lord comforts us, but there is nothing in all scripture implying we will be comfortable, as in relaxed and at ease. As though that’s not enough, i believe most of us hold that we can’t function unless we are comfortable, and that’s a long way from the truth.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” God’s mercy runs from the top to the bottom of His heart, there’s a continual giving nature revealed in that scripture. Mercy is extended to us as comfort in a manner such that we can then use it to comfort others. The focus of mercy is focused outward and isn’t only for ourselves.
The beautiful fabric of our God-clothing is woven with the threads of mercy, and when we extend mercy to others as it has been extend to us, it looks like the action of grace and benefits for other people, it looks like kindness to the needy, and makes us beautiful inside and out….which is why when Jesus lives in your heart, as He is beautiful, we are beautiful, and as He is holy, we are holy also. His mercy is radiant and enduring. His yoke of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace is only difficult when i’ve got a heart full of don’t want to.
Mercy is linked to all His attributes, therefore it should be linked similarly in every part of our character also. Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That is God’s expectation of us.
Luke 6:35-36, “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.” Jesus commanded us to be merciful as He is merciful, with compassion and kindness running in our lives like a clear river because it’s just the way we are. Loyalty is intrinsic to mercy, they are part of the whole. If someone says that loyalty, which is part of “chesed”, or what we call “mercy” in English, is more important than kindness, or compassion, or grace, then we’ve as good as said the first finger is more important than the ear. The five attributes, mercy, kindness, compassion, loyalty, and grace function as a hand, acting together as one unit, and repetitively throughout scripture, the Lord ties the five together. Mercy is more than loyalty.
Saul had died in defeat. The care of Saul’s body seems clearly to have been a free act of kindness. It is partly where the early church gathered the idea that burying the dead was a mercy and seen as one of the seven virtues.
Also Laban’s willingness to send Rebekah to Isaac was not from any covenant obligation. It was a kindness as part of mercy to a long-lost relative. He could easily have said no. i hold that the beautiful story of Ruth is tarnished if we think Ruth’s action as motivated by some contractual obligations and loyalty alone. The Lord had no obligation to get the widows new husbands in Moab in Ruth1:8-9. Ruth went with Naomi from pure love. Boaz recognized her action as goodness in Ruth2:11-12 and calls it cḥesed, what we call mercy, in Ruth3:10.
When the Lord is specific, it is something He really, really wants us to get, like Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Jesus spoke specifically that we should possess and practice mercy.
In Eph2:4, mercy is linked with grace which is linked to love – “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”
Prov14:21-22 refers to making mercy an integral part of your life with wisdom.
The Lord linked mercy to covenant in Nehemiah 1:5 where the writer wrote, “O great and awesome God, you who keep covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments.” The word “and” means “in addition to”.
Mercy is part of forgiveness, starting way back in Num14:18, where God linked longsuffering, and forgiveness with mercy.
On a different note, the unmerciful, shall not receive mercy. When Jesus addressed the Pharisee’s, again, He was very pointed. In Matt23:23-24, Jesus said, very plainly, that the Pharisee’s tithed, not money, but things, and he rebuked them for making justice, mercy, and faithfulness something small. Jesus was extremely specific! In verse 24 He called them “Gnat swallowers”. Do you know any “gnat swallowers”?
43 times in the O.T. it is specifically written that God’s mercy endures forever. Considering He mentions that His mercy endures forever, do you believe the Lord thinks it is important that we understand the power of mercy, compassion and kindness which is beyond the horizon, past the vanishing point? Isn’t it obvious to us that the Lord’s heart is to be good to us? Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us, afterall, His mercy endures forever?
i believe one of the most important people to practice mercy on, is…ourselves. We are so mean and stringent with ourselves it is unreal. My religious teaching from years ago has convinced me that i’m not hardly worthy of love or mercy, and it’s so not true. That’s not what God said. Is the Bible true or not? If it is, we need to tuck deep in our pockets God’s perspective of how He sees us and leave our self-loathing behind.
Now about that part concerning being merciful to ourselves … i don’t mean not being mindful of cruelty, lack of love, lying, generally living a life which wounds our conscience, or simply not being responsible for our actions. Anyone who thinks they don’t have to be responsible for themselves and their actions because Jesus quote/unquote “Dealt with all that at Calvary” really doesn’t understand the Heart of God. As long as there’s a devil and we wear flesh, it’s going to be a fight. What i do mean, for example, is we need to quit calling ourselves names in the mirror. Stop cursing yourself, stop loathing your neighbor as you loath yourself. If you make a mistake, let it go and get over it. If you sin, repent, for we have an advocate with the Father. The devil has been trying to get you to hate God and yourself all your life, and i believe it’s high time to cut it out. God has mercy on us, so be merciful as God is merciful; let us be compassionate children of our compassionate father and make mercy a central family value. Don’t ask for mercy, Show mercy! I would like to suggest today that mercy can’t be regulated. Mercy is wild. Mercy can’t be contained. Mercy can not be measured. Mercy can not be sliced in small pieces and offered according to our agenda. Whether or not we have committed one crime or 1 million crimes, God’s mercy pardons us if we seek it.
Mercy offers a way out when the LAW condemns us. When the law can not protect you, your only hope is mercy. When lawyers can’t take up your case, when judges are ready to give the verdict, you desperately need mercy.
Oh, and before you go doing the law, wherewith i guarantee you’ll see yourself as a failure, remember Rom7:6 which says we have been delivered from the law. In fact, when the Hebrews made the ark of the covenant, they put the law inside and then covered it with … that’s right, the Lord covered the law with the mercy seat.
In 1Sam6:19 seventy men died because they looked into the ark, meaning that they had to remove the mercy seat to look inside. Why would they have died for looking inside the ark? The law was in the ark, and to look upon the law without the covering of mercy, it is sure death. For those out there who think they want to go back to do the law of the Old Testament, the law has no mercy or grace, and going back to do the law with no mercy is death. We can’t live with one foot in the law and the other foot in grace. Let us prefer the mercy of God through Christ. The power of mercy from God as it is extended towards mankind is life changing for us all. If the Lord did not extend mercy to the entire universe in general, as a whole, there would be no universe, and there would be no us. And that’s a good place to say, Think about it.
Grace is brother to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. God’s mercy is “Loyalty, Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings,” and grace is like “the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.”
“Your mercy is great unto the heavens” Ps. 57:10.
“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point for them that fear Him” (Ps. 103:11). None can measure God’s mercy, it is beyond the vanishing point.
We are designated “vessels of mercy” in Rom. 9:23.
In Eph. 2:4,5 It is mercy that made us alive when we were dead in sins.
It is mercy that saves us in Titus 3:5.
It is His abundant mercy which brings us into an eternal inheritance in
1Peter1:3.
There simply isn’t enough time or space to tell of the Lord’s preserving, sustaining, pardoning, life supplying mercy. Truly, His mercy, compassion and kindness is beyond the vanishing point.
i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, broadcast semi-live from the deck of a rural cafe which overlooks the broad and beautiful Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is oh so pleasant.. Tonight’s broadcast has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, High Bar Cigars and Pipes over on Lady Slipper Lane, Big Mama’s Bail bonding in Natchez, Area 22 Guitars in Brevard, and of course, the sweet spot on main street, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.
Be kind and generous to a lost and dying world this week, practice mercy for yourself and others. Drive carefully and remember Jesus knows your name, and that’s a good thing. You are not forgotten! Amen!