Upside Down 5 // Blessed are the Merciful
Last week
- Blessed are those who crave righteousness [hunger vs. cravings]
- Crave God [a little nibble or sip won’t satisfy]
Matthew 5:7 (ESV) | Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
[Karate Kid clip – mercy is for the weak]
Is mercy really for the weak? // Fear. Pain. Defeat.
Mercy
- No direct translation to English.
- Closest is, “Chesed,” which literally means, “to get inside someone’s skin.”
3 Thoughts on Mercy
- Prevents misplaced kindness (story of making soup for Ray family)
- Facilitates forgiveness (helps us accept others and trust them to Jesus)
- Be more like Jesus (Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us; Incarnation)
God’s power is restraint. He has the right – and justification – to strike but chooses mercy.
Grace is giving you the love you don’t deserve…mercy is withholding from you the punishment you do.
Matthew 5:7 (MSG) | You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
Jesus taught that you find your needs met when you first look to meet another’s.
Acts 20:35 (ESV) | In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Reflection Questions
- How have you viewed mercy at various points in your life? When you give it? When you need it?
- What does mercy mean in the original Biblical language? How have you experienced this in your life?
- Pastor Mark shared three thoughts on mercy. Which of those three resonated with you the strongest? Where to you struggle the most?
- What does it mean that God exhibits power in restraint?
- What is the difference between grace and mercy?
