From the bible who comes to mind as a good illustration of mercy? I hope you do not have trouble thinking of one. If you remove stories of mercy form the bible, you will have very little left. When I preach a theme like our current one, I find it best to preach about one character and not several. With mercy I find this hard to do for several reasons. First of all, I have preached about most of them one time or another. Like the woman caught in adultery (John 8). You know, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Second, they are such familiar stories, like the man who owed the king a great debt and was shown mercy but turned around and did not show mercy to a fellow servant who only owed him a few dollars (Mathew 18). Third, there are characters I want to use later in the year, like Joseph (Genesis 37-50), who was sold into slavery by his brothers, yet later saved those same brothers from a famine.
These are three of many great stories of mercy from the bible. Can you think of any others? Please share them through this blog. How has mercy worked in your life, either as a recipient or an extender of mercy? Was God evident in that situation? How so?
Was reading over in Jeremiah 27:1-11 the other night. What struck me was that of humbling yourself to do something you're being told is a lie by false prophets...but being shown mercy from God when you do. Another would be King Hezekiah being told he was dying by Isaiah...but turning his face to the wall pleading with God for his life. By His mercy...he was given additional years.
ReplyDeleteAs for myself...have been shown that Jesus has died on the cross and rose again the third day once to cover sins of the world and bring us to himself as joint heirs. Not just as an heir...but a co-heir with Christ...with a future in heaven and in our everyday journeys with the good and bad which happens in life. (Romans 8:17/Galatians 4:7)
It is a good thing for us all that His mercies are NEW every morning! (Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny we talked a lot about Mercy in youth the other night.. Matthew Chapter 6.. and we talked about the man in Chapter 18! We talked about who gets hurt by holding on...and how hard it can be some times to want to have Mercy for those who treat us badly. Can't wait for Sunday!
ReplyDeletean Assemblies of God friend from Cursillo once appeared in court on a traffic ticket, made an impassioned speech about his respect for the law and his understanding of his error and finished with, "But your Honor, i do not come seeking justice; i seek mercy."
ReplyDeletewe laughed for years together, but his speech reflects the difference between those who know God and those who don't: the non-Christians aren't interested in mercy because they dont understand justice. They think they deserve whatever the lucky guy has, and when they get a break they see it as their turn, not a blessing from a merciful God. In order to understand mercy you must understand justice: you have to have some idea about what you really deserve so you know what a blessing it is to get something better.
It also makes it more natural to be merciful when you recognize your own shortcomings and know that God loves you anyway.
Awesome Mike and Amber. Such great thoughts on mercy and good to know our youth are learning it as well. On the one hand it is amazing how often court, law and justice come up in scripture - oh wait - no it isn't. If God had not set down the law and justice, we could never truly know what mercy is.
ReplyDeletePastor Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the message Sunday. The illustrations were clear and meaningful. Thanks.
Kay
Awesome Kay. It is so good to revisit familiar stories and see how they fit together in a new light!
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