Sermon
Title: The Fifth Beatitude - Blessed Are
The Merciful
Scripture Text: Matthew
5:7 & 18:23-34
"Then
the master called the servant in. ’You
wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all
that debt of yours because you begged me
to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your
fellow servant just as I had on you?' In
anger his master turned him over to the
jailers, until he should pay back all he
owed.
When we define mercy, this would include
acts such as forgiving the guilty or being
gracious and kind to the needy. While mercy
is easy to receive, giving it is a difficult
challenge.
Yet,
being merciful is a nature just as God as
merciful. Mercy is a risky business because
the mercy of God is hard to implement in
life. At the same time, we should not mistake
mercy for cheap grace and forget law and
responsibility.
What does the beatitude mean?
1) It is a grateful response to the depth
of mercy that we have freely received from
the cross. Freely we have received, freely
we must give. If we understand how much
we have received from King Jesus, we will
know that this is a debt we cannot repay.
Like the parable in Matthew 18 teaches us,
having received mercy, we must then show
it to those who have wronged us.
2)
Mercy is a choice. If we are merciful, we
are blessed. Being merciful is the opposite
to self-centered preservation. Instead of
making our self-interests a priority, we
must choose to trust our Lord, take Him
at His word and surrender our resources
to live a life that is merciful.
3)
Mercy is transformation. Christ comes into
us and changes us from the inside. Like
the Sermon of the Mount, being transformed
by Christ empowers us to love our enemies
and pray for those who persecute us. John
3:16 states “For
God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal
life.” Perhaps we think that only
God can love the “whosoever”.
That is true, to an extent. But so too can
the saints who are transformed by God. After
all, it is as Galatians 2:20 states, the
life we live is by the power of Christ.
Surely, He will empower us to live a life
that exemplifies His merciful nature.
Prayer
Response:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your words
of life: Blessed are the merciful. By Your
Holy Spirit, empower me to live according
to Your word and not by my old nature. I
open up my heart to you and ask you to renew
me and make me whole. Because You are merciful
and have shown me great mercy, I release
all old grudges to You so that I become
more like You each day. Amen.
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Devotional based on a message by Rev. Lim
Jen Huat