BE MERCIFUL, JUST AS YOUR FATHER ALSO IS MERCIFUL

WHAT IS MERCY?

Mercy is the underserved kindness and compassion. Mercy is that characteristic, supremely exhibited by God that makes one want to help any needy or hurting person; it is also similar as compassion. God showed mercy to the nation of Israel in the exodus (Exod. 4:31) “So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped,” in the return from Babylon and above all in remaining faithful to His promise of forgiveness and restoration. He redeemed the Israelites through the sign of the blood while the Egyptians firstborns were destroyed (Exod. 12:12-13) “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood will be a sign for you on the house where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” And God is still merciful in that He frees us from the guilt and power of sin through Christ and accepts us as His own special people;  He does not treat us as our sins deserves (Exod. 34:6-7) “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilt, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation,”  for mercy wins out over anger and judgment. God wants us beloved to share His heart of mercy in our relationships with others; that is, we must show compassion to the needy, to the hurting and to the oppressed people and treat them with gentleness and kindness (Hos. 6:6) “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” The mercy of God beloved out do the sacrifices and the burnt offerings; making mercy superior over sacrifices.

GOD’S HEART FOR THE POOR

The poor, the needy, the orphans, the windows and the strangers are the heart of God; and whoever touches this category of people touches the heart of God if we didn’t know it. God’s love for the poor is better explained here (Lev. 25:35-43) “If one of your brother becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.” As the Lord God showered mercy to all the children of Israel rich and poor alike; so it is our responsibility as God exalts one to consider the poor putting in mind that no one acquired wealth and riches by their own power but by the grace of God; and it is a class that some before receiving the mercy of God and acquire the wealth and riches they own today, they too, were in that school. (V. 39) “And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of Jubilee. And he shall depart from you – he and his children with him- and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.”  Each and every one of us are equal and precious in the eyes of God; and there is no need whatsoever to lift ourselves up and mistreat our poor, needy and destitute brethren but to assist them. Have you ever seen brethren beloved, that there are those who become rich and within a twinkle of an eye, the riches grow wings and fly? One may ask why? It Is because of a haughty spirit that enters them to mistreat their fellow brethren. I had also seen some brethren mistreating their blood brethren as if they don’t share the same parents. It is very unfortunate beloved to behave in this way. It is better not to host at all rather than hosting and making a hell on earth for a fellow brethren.

THE HUMAN MERCY

According to the human mercy; we receive a command from the Lord God Almighty to be merciful to others: (Luke 6:36) “Therefore be merciful just as your Father also is merciful.” As made in the image of God the Father, we are to imitate the merciful heart and act of the Father.  See Paul’s command to the Romans (Rom. 12:6-8) “Having then gifts differing according to grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.” See also (Jude 21-22) “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction.” As earlier stated, mercy is more important than sacrifices (Hos. 6:6; Mic. 6:6-8; Matt.9:13) “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings;”  “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you O, man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to have mercy, and to walk humbly with our God;”  “But go and learn what this means; ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners, to repentance.” Jesus in His exclamation, He came for the lowly and destitute people so that we may receive back that which the enemy might have stolen from them and again to free them from the bondage of the devil.

THE EXPRESSIONS OF HUMAN MERCY

We express mercy by being forgiving:  The preacher declared that (Prov. 28:13) “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”  When we confess our sins to God He forgives us; the same manner we ought to have mercy to those that wronged us when they confess to us for our prosperity to be inedited.  Jesus’ response to Peter concerning how many times we ought to forgive our fellow brethren by showing mercy (Matt. 18:21-22) “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”  Jesus said to him, I did not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” This is a contract beloved, only by the grace of God can one be able to forgive a brother four hundred and ninety times! (V. 23-25) “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that He had, and that payment be made.”  This was a ruthless decision to the one who was not in a position to pay his debt. Being sold together with his wife and children and all that he has! (V. 26-27) “The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.” This must have been a very humble man who has the indwelt of the Holy Spirit; as the debt was a fortune that he needed to be sold not only himself but the entire family plus what they had; but his master being moved with compassion written off all that debt. May we find grace and mercy of the Lord to be written off that which we may have owned our lenders?

But the wicked servant would not remember the compassion and mercy that he received; and instead behaved rigorously to his debtor who just owed him mites of denarii (V. 28-30) “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!” So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and throw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” A very wicked servant indeed. Instead of showing mercy as he himself he had been showed; he repaid with rigor and see what happened to him. The consequences of his behavior (V. 31-35) “So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, and said to him, ‘You are wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the tortures until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” What a lesson to be learned from this?  For with the same measure by which we do to the least, the same will be measured back unto us.

May we receive the grace to learn to be compassionate and forgiving our fellow brethren. Remember, forgiving a fellow is seventy times seven which is equivalent to, ‘Four hundred and ninety times.’

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Be with us all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”