"What Goes Around, Comes Around"--Sermon on the Mount Series

            Some people may think the word “Coolidge” is a new slang term, but if you’ve reviewed your presidential history lately, you’ll remember that Calvin Coolidge was our 30^th President (he served during most of the 1920’s). A story is told of how Coolidge was burglarized one night while he was staying in a hotel. He was sound asleep, but was awoken by the sound of a man going through his belongings. He was understandably startled, but he told the man he didn’t want any trouble and simply asked him not to take the chain on his pocket watch because it was special to him.

            Coolidge then noticed that the man was rather young and actually started to ask him about his life. The robber told him that he was a college student on a trip and had simply run out of money, so he was stealing to pay for his hotel bill and a ticket back to campus. The President then proceeded to give the man the money he needed and told him to consider it a loan. He also told the man he had better leave the way he came in so as to avoid the Secret Service!¹ (I hope they’re a little better at their job today!)

            It is easy to admire a man in a position of power who nevertheless chooses to show compassion to others. It is said that power corrupts, and far too often we have seen that statement proven true. But I think that’s why we admire people who can hold power in one hand, yet still extend compassion with the other.

            That is the idea of showing mercy, and mercy is the quality that Jesus blesses in the next Beatitude—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matt 5:7).” Let’s talk about the message of this verse, and then we’ll focus on some specific situations in which we may have the opportunity to show mercy.

“BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL…”

            An act of mercy is very similar to an act of compassion—there is just one important difference. An act of compassion is an act of kindness that you perform for someone else because you have seen them in a position of need and you’ve been moved to help alleviate that need. Compassion can be shown by anyone to anyone else—that’s actually what makes it different from mercy.

            Mercy is an act of compassion that is done by someone in authority to a person who is under their authority. Mercy and compassion are identical in many ways, the only difference is in the relationship between the two people who are involved. Its hard enough to show compassion to others because we all struggle with selfishness, but when an authority structure is introduced into a relationship, the degree of difficulty is raised to a whole new level.

            If you have siblings, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It was hard enough to get along with each other under normal circumstances, but what happened when your parents went out for a while and left one of you in charge? All kinds of havoc broke loose! When there’s an authority structure in a relationship, it introduces all kinds of new temptations. Now there is the temptation to abuse your authority, or to rebel against the person in authority over you. There may be new temptations toward pride or resentment.

            That’s why we admire people who show mercy. They demonstrate that they have not allowed power to warp their character, but they are still capable of extending compassion to others. And of course, mercy is something that God has extended to us, so when we show mercy, we are imitating God—which is something that Scripture repeatedly calls us to do.

Now, many of us may think that we’re not in any position of power over others, but in just a moment I’m going to mention some situations that you may not have considered. For now, let’s talk about the second half of this verse.

“…FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY.”

            It seems here that it literally goes without saying that the merciful shall receive mercy from God. There is no guarantee that you will be shown mercy by other people simply because you have shown mercy yourself, so it seems clear that Jesus means the merciful shall receive mercy from God. This becomes even more apparent when we encounter two similar statements later on in the Sermon on the Mount:

·         Matthew 6:14-15—“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

·         Matthew 7:1-2—“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

All of these statements teach us that God will deal with us in the same way that we deal with other people.

            Now this observation brings up a question that we need to address—is Jesus saying that showing mercy is a requirement for getting into Heaven? Many people have that question when they read this verse, and I think it reveals to us how important it is to incorporate the doctrine of rewards for Christians into our thinking. If we fail to incorporate the doctrine of rewards into our thinking, we end up tying everything that sounds good in the Bible with going to Heaven and everything that sounds bad with going to Hell. With that mindset, we end up reading Matthew 5:7 like this—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall go to Heaven.” But that creates all kinds of confusion for us because we think, “I thought going to Heaven was a gift and we don’t receive it through our works, but this verse seems to say that I have to show mercy to get into Heaven—and that sounds like works!”

            What we must understand from Scripture is that within God’s grand plan called “salvation,” there is a gift and a reward (or perhaps I should say a gift then an offer of reward). If we fail to distinguish between those things, we will have no end of confusion when we try to understand Scripture. When we encounter this confusion, we need to take a step back and say, “Is this referring to the gift or the reward?”

            I think Matthew 5:7 is most definitely referring to the reward. Let me point you to a passage of Scripture that offers an important commentary on this verse. Turn with me to James 2:12-13. Here James is writing to people whom he has repeatedly called “brothers,” and in 2:1 he refers to their faith in “our” Lord Jesus Christ. Then in 2:12-13, he writes about the judgment that we as Christians will face in the light of God’s Word for our rewards. He states [READ James 2:12-13]. The first part of v. 13 expresses the same basic idea as Matthew 5:7, just from a negative perspective instead of a positive one, but the last part of the verse—mercy triumphs over judgment—expresses the same thought as our Beatitude.

            That statement—mercy triumphs over judgment—should give us tremendous comfort. When I think about having my life evaluated by Jesus, I don’t get very optimistic about a good outcome. When Scripture tells me that I will give an answer for every word that I have spoken and every deed that I have done, and when James in chapter 3 says that teachers of the Word will receive a stricter judgment, I have little hope to hear “well done, good and faithful servant.”

            But just as God’s grace and mercy were poured out when He declared me righteous and adopted me into His family, there will be grace and mercy available on that day, and apparently I will receive mercy from Jesus to the degree that I have shown mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment! We do have hope for a good evaluation; we do have the opportunity to have a positive assessment because we are dealing with a merciful Lord, and He has said that we will receive mercy if we will show mercy to others.

WHAT ARE SOME SITUATIONS WHEN ANOTHER PERSON IS IN YOUR POWER?

            Now as I have said, mercy is shown from a person in a position of power to someone who is under their power. Given that definition, many of us may think, “Well, I don’t really have any opportunities to show mercy then, because I’m not in any position of power!” Let me mention some situations that you may not have considered.

1. When someone has sinned against you and has asked for your forgiveness

            Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but when someone wrongs you and then asks for your forgiveness, you are placed in a position of power. They have admitted their guilt, and now the future of that relationship is in your hand. You can choose to forgive or you can choose to hold a grudge or to take revenge. They have humbled themselves before you, and now—at least in that moment—you are in the driver’s seat. That is a position of power, which means it is also a perfect opportunity to show mercy.

2. In your relationship with your children

            While your children are in your home, they are commanded by God to obey you. Thus, you are in a position of power. So how do you exercise that power? Are you reasonable with your rules and your discipline? Do you treat your kids like they exist for your benefit, rather than the other way around? Do you berate, dictate, manipulate, castigate, or otherwise dominate your child? How do you exercise that power?

3. In your relationship with your employees

            Even if you’re not the head honcho where you work, many of us have people who answer to us on the job. How do you exercise that power? Many of you who farm have hired men who work for you—how do you treat them? Do you give them a fair wage? Do you make them work hours that you would never keep yourself? If money gets tight, is your hired man the only one who has to take a pay cut, or do you absorb some of that as well? How do you exercise that power?

HOW CAN WE CULTIVATE A MERCIFUL SPIRIT?

            Now as I also mentioned earlier, being in a position of power brings additional temptations into our lives. Its hard enough to show compassion to someone who is our equal in every sense, so when you add an authority structure into a relationship, it just becomes that much more difficult. So how can we cultivate a merciful spirit?

1. By reflecting on the incredible degree of mercy that we have received from God

            You may remember the parable that Jesus told about the man who was forgiven a debt that was like the size of our US national debt—just a mind-blowing amount that you can’t even wrap your head around. Then that man turned around and punished someone who owed him a few weeks’ pay. The lesson of the parable is that such a lack of mercy is improper in light of the staggering mercy that we have received. The misdemeanors that people commit against us are nothing compared to the outright treason that we have committed against God, yet He has shown us mercy. We can increasingly reflect this mercy in our actions by reflecting on it in our own minds.

2. By walking in the shoes of those under your authority

            I want to point you to a fascinating passage of Scripture in Hebrews 2 [READ Heb. 2:14-18]. By walking around in our skin and facing the temptations that we face, Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest—a representative for us in the presence of God. Verse 17 says he had to be made like us in every respect, so that he might become a merciful high priest.

            Developing a spirit of mercy requires that you walk around in the skin of those who are under your authority. You must make an effort to mentally step into their world and take a look around. Mercy is an act of compassion, and the literal meaning of the word compassion is “to suffer with someone else.” When you show compassion, you are coming side-by-side with another person to walk down the same path together.

            Power has the tendency to create distance between people. It can lift my ego higher and higher as my opinion of others gets lower and lower. Thus, to show mercy, we have to swim against the current of that tendency and step into the world of those who are under our power.

            So to show mercy to someone who has wronged you, remember how you feel when you’re in their shoes. What do you desire? What’s going through your mind? To become more merciful with your kids, ask yourself, “What must it be like to have a parent like me?” Maybe the next time your child gets frustrated with you, you’ll think, “Wow! You’ve actually shown a lot of patience, kid!” Show greater mercy to people under you on the job by trying to understand what their experience must be like. What must it be like to have you as a boss?

            In short, to become merciful we must act like Jesus! He has shown us mercy, so we must show mercy to others. He became a merciful high priest by walking around in our shoes, so we must follow the same path to grow in this trait.

Notes:

1. www.bible.org, filed in Sermon Illustrations under “mercy,” cited from Today in the Word, October 8, 1992.