God delights to show mercy

Read Micah 7:18-20

What else can we say about mercy?  God has mercy on us.  We are to have mercy on others.  Hallelujah, amen, pass the potato salad.

Let’s put this mercy stuff in the books.  We’ve got it.  Hey, we had a video and words on the wall special.  We’re good.  We understand mercy.  We’ve done our hour.  Let’s call it good and go home.  OK, maybe we should sing one more song but what more is there to say about mercy?

Let’s try this one on for size.  The world wants mercy without God.  The world wants us to be merciful to them.  The world wants God to be merciful to them but the world does not want God messing up their lives.  God is such an inconvenience.

That was the story of Israel and God took action against them.  They were his people.  They should have and in fact, did know better.

That has always been the story of the world.  The world wants all the blessings it can get but just without this one true God stuff.

The prophets told their people and tell us that one day, Israel will return to God’s ways and the other peoples of the world will come humbly before them.  They will be so humble as they approach God’s Chosen People.

God’s prophet speaks for Israel saying that I know we have sinned.  We receive our punishment.  We are getting what we deserve, but one day we will be restored.  God disciplines those that he loves and God’s people received judgments and discipline due to their apostasy, but God delights in mercy.

Imagine owing a million dollars in back taxes and then every cent of that debt was forgiven.

Imagine having sinned more than any offering could cover and then being forgiven.

Imagine God delighting in your forgiveness.

Imagine a God who delights in mercy.

The world wants all the goodies but doesn’t want the God who provides them; yet God has mercy in store for everyone who seeks him.

There is a whole bunch of that mercy still in storage.  God is delighted to go into that storeroom and break out another helping of mercy with each and every person who comes to him.

God has mercy stored up for every soul on this planet but most of it remains in storage.

I am not a packrat.  I don’t save everything because one day I might need it.  But I do keep a few books on hand that I delight in giving away.  Years ago, I bought 10 or 15 Handbooks for Writing.  Most set in storage for years, but I only have 1 left.

Whenever there was a student, usually a college student, that had an English course and I knew about it, I delighted in giving them a book.   If I met someone who was a writer and serious about it, I delighted in giving them a book.

There is a whole world of Americans out there who would think that I despised them if I gave them one of these books. 

I got all of the English I wanted in high school.  Why would you give this to me?  I write good and have went and done all the grammar a man can take.

You want to give me something, then give me a case of beer or an RV, something that I can use.

I know that most people don’t want what I put on my shelf to give away, but I delight in giving them to some people who are seeking something more.

I worked with inmates for a couple years.  They were excited about their release date.  I was delighted when sometime before that date, some of them actually understood what they must do to live on the other side of the fence and committed their lives to it.

Most just wanted to get out.  I delighted in a changed life.

So, we hear the witness of God’s people again as found in God’s holy word, but what does it mean to us?

God is merciful and we are to be merciful as well.  In fact, we should love mercy, not just for us but as a part of our character.  Hey!  We’ve got this!

We are coming into basket season.  We eliminated the sign-up process a few years ago.  It was a transactional process in what should have been a transformational opportunity.  Sign ups got in the way of ministry.

We still give out food to hungry people all year long.  We have given out more food each year for the past decade.  We will give out more in November and December than the rest of the year.  There will probably be a few gifts thrown in come late December.

We will feel good about ourselves for a little while.  We will feel like we have been merciful and compassionate and that feeling will last for a while. The food and gifts will last for a while and then they are consumed or worn out.

It’s still a little transactional, but it gives us a feel-good fix for a little while.

We are still in many ways conformed to the patterns of the world.  Give stuff get a little satisfaction, a little feel-good, warm fuzzy emotion for a little while.

Do you know why that feeling doesn’t last?

It’s not about who we are.  We take Christ to the world.  We take good news to the world, and we delight when someone or a family, receives God’s mercy by professing Christ and committing to being his disciple.

We get to delight in his mercy, and then when we help one of these families, we delight even more.  It’s more than a temporary feel good.  We know that God has claimed these people for all eternity.

We help them with their urgent needs and their abundant life needs, the latter coming under the umbrella of discipleship.  Let’s follow Jesus together.

God delights in being merciful.  He has a storeroom packed full of mercy.  Let’s help him move some inventory.  Let’s do our part so God can delight in his mercy more and more each day.

God delights in his mercy.  There is a whole world of folks who will not know his mercy on their present course.  We have been given our part.

Do you remember the gospel account of the paralyzed man being brought to Jesus and Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven?”

The Teachers of the Law were furious that he would say such a thing.  They who were most qualified did not see that the Son of God stood before them and the first thing he did was practice mercy.

Your sins are forgiven.  Jesus had not yet gone to the cross, but this man’s sins were forgiven.  Even the paralyzed man probably did not recognize the mercy that he had received.  I’m sure his human nature was hoping to be healed in his body.

Jesus then after asking a question to the religious leaders that dumbfounded them, said to them and to the crowd gathered, “So that you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, get up and walk.” He did.

The world wants God to get right to the healing—physical ailments, financial distress, easier days—but those conformed to the world are not seeking his mercy. They seek some sort of universal relief without seeking God. They do not desire to change their lives.  The world has blinded them to the truth.

We must deliver the truth to a blind world and rejoice—delight—when some come to know God through Jesus Christ and commit to being his disciples.

We will still practice compassion and generosity, but we like our Lord, should delight in his mercy.

We must delight every time that we help someone come to know Christ because God delights in his mercy.

God delights to show his mercy.

God delights in mercy.

Amen!