Discipleship Bible Studies

Bethel MBC

Discussion #6

DWS

 

Lesson text: Matthew 5:7 

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

 

Five Prerequisites

a. Luke 14:33      ______________________________

b. Luke 14:27      ______________________________

c. John 8:31         ______________________________

d. John 15:8        ______________________________

e. John 13:35      ______________________________

 

Review:

a. The poor in spirit

b. The mournful

c. The gentle and meek

d. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness

 

Tonight’s lesson is the 5^th Beatitude.  We rise now beyond the seeking of what is right (seeking His righteousness) into the pursuing of what is good, kind, and generous.  We seek to provide kindness and grace to others.

 

I. Is mercy important to God?   

 

Mercy is at the center of God’s plan of salvation / redemption for all of fallen men.  To possess this type of mercy, we must first experience ourselves.  See Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:4-5, and James 2:13.  If we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, we have the necessary prerequisites to begin this climb.  What does the Lord expect of us after we have experienced his mercy?

 

Luke 6:36 “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

 

Can we actually have mercy likened unto God’s?!?!  Yes, and this is exactly what Jesus is teaching here.  We are not speaking tonight of a mercy which is simply not doing to others as perhaps they “deserve”, but rather a variety of spiritual mercy which comes only from the Father and is distinguishable from the everyday kindness displayed in this world. 

 

What then is special concerning this type or level of mercy?

As we live in a society which is generally merciless, we become hardened and toughened inwardly.  We become more and more stiff, limiting the ease with which God may move us into service.  A good example would be the tendency we see today for sinners to resist the gospel and seemingly with ease.  Our world has hardened them since they were babes.

 

This mercy is exemplified as we learn to see that ALL PEOPLE ARE SPECIAL in God’s estimation.  First, we see ourselves in God’s sight.  Then, we are made to see others in God’s sight as well (Lost humanity, not our neighbor’s sins).  Do we look at the cashier at Wal-Mart, the attendant at the gas station, the guy picking up aluminum cans on the highway, and the teenager on the street corner?  Do we see souls that God loves equally to the love He has proven to each of us??  THAT is the gift that comes after a level of spiritual maturity.

 

This perspective is important and necessary, but we must then develop a REAL SENSATIVITY to these people.  We must learn to empathize with others.  This is a stark difference between sympathy and empathy.  Jesus was and is so compassionate to fallen men because He can empathize with us after living (perfectly) a life here among us.  He is toughed, the Bible teaches, by our infirmities and weaknesses.  Do you know how it feels to not be able to pay your bills?  Do you know how it feels to be moderately to severely handicapped?  Have you ever been unable to feed your children?  Have you felt to sting of divorce?  Alzheimer’s?  AIDS? We all have sympathy for these cases, but do we really have empathy for them?  If not, how do we obtain such?  Jesus would have us to EXPRESS EMPATHY to these people, not just feel it in our spirits (although that is where it starts).  Being enabled to feel the pain of circumstances that we have never experienced can only come from God through an empathetic heart and spirit.

 

 The following is an excerpt from a book entitled, “Mortal Lessons”, by Richard Seltzer which I read many moons ago.  This one touched me…  “I stand by the bed where the young woman lies, her face post-operative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish.  A tiny twig of the facial nerve,  the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed.  The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that.  Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve.  Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite of the bed, and altogether they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private.  Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily?”  The young woman speaks, “Will my mouth always be like this?, she asks.  “Yes”, I say, “it will .  It is because the nerve I cut.”  She nods and is silent.  But the young man smiles.  “I like it,” he says.  “It is kind of cute.”  All at once I know who he is.  I understand, and lower my gaze.  One is not bold in an encounter with a god.  Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I am so close, I can see how he twists his lips to accommodate to hers, to show hers, to show her that their kiss still works.” 

Understanding and tender love – there is no substitute.  This is the stuff of real mercy.

 

We must have this perspective and sensitivity; however, there must also be a RESPONSE.  Real mercy is only real mercy if it is EXPRESSED BY ACTION.  What we are talking about is seeing as God sees others, feeling as others feel, and responding by doing something about it…simply loving as Christ loves.  Mercy is meeting people’s needs.  Mercy is something that we DO.

 

C. S. Lewis wrote: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be certainly wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one.  Not even to an animal.  Wrap it up carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket and coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable.  The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love…is hell.”

There is a danger to loving, but the greater danger is in not loving.  We run the risk of becoming hard and unforgiving.  We become bitter and sour in spirit.  It we want to break out of that shell of hardness, we must choose to love others.  If we do not, we will never be able to forgive others.  Therefore, we will never be able to show mercy.

 

 

II. Biblical examples of mercy

a. Abraham went and saved Lot after Lot had trespassed against him

b. Joseph forgave and eventually saved his brothers from starvation

c. Moses prayed for Miriam’s leprosy to be lifted

d. David spared Saul’s life (x 2) while being hunted himself

e. The Good Samaritan account in Luke 10:25-37

                1. Saw distress  (eye for distress)

                2. Responds internally with compassion                (heart of pity)

                3. Responds externally with practical effort to relieve distress (effort to help)

                4. Happens even to enemies (see last Beatitude)

 

III. Practical Implications of Biblical Principles

a. Love your enemies

b. Do good unto all men; even those that despise you

c. Bless those that curse you

d. Pray for those who mistreat you

e. Do not retaliate

f. Give freely

g. Treat others as you wish to be treated

 

IV. How this God-sent mercy affects us

a. Our levels of compassion and pity for others with increase

b. Our ability and willingness to respond and relieve the needs of others will increase

c. The harshness of our judgmental natures will decrease

d. Our ability to exhibit acts of kindness and gentleness to others will increase

e. We will not seek revenge in response to the sins of others

f. We will be able to stand for the truth without destroying people in the process

 

V. How will we “obtain mercy” after we become merciful?

 

We become more “godly.”  The Hebrew word for “godly” means “merciful”.  God deals with us in mercy, makes us merciful, and then blesses us for being merciful to our fellow man!

We are told in the Scriptures that in order to be forgiven, we must forgive.  Likewise, if we desire God’s mercy upon our lives, we must display His mercy to others.

 

VI. Summary

Mercy is:

Seeing distress, feeling pity and compassion, and performing relief, even towards an enemy.

 

This Beatitude is the first step of ACTIVELY working OUTWARDLY.  It is NOT a desire to “do good works”.  Rather, it is a reaction to a deep, spiritual empathy which comes from God.  It is a genuine concern for the conditions, welfare, and status of others above your concerns for yourself.  It is also displaying kindness and/or relief without chance or thought of reward.  IT IS A SPIRITUAL REACTION TO THE WORKINGS OF GOD IN OUR HEARTS.  WE BECOME FLESHLY EXTENSIONS OF THE HEART OF GOD HIMSELF.