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!

Love Mercy

Read Micah 6:1-8

Will the Lord of all the earth not do right?

God is good.  He is righteous.  He is just.

God is just.  Without God, there would be no justice.  Right and wrong emanate from our Creator.  For those who think that this whole thing is just a cosmic accident put into motion without a creator of any sorts, then justice in incomprehensible.

How can justice derive from accident and coincidence?  If we all evolved from single cells in the ocean then survival, not justice becomes our core value.

But it seems that almost all of us want justice at some point in our lives.  Usually, it’s right after the call goes against us and the blind referee—some would say that I am being redundant—is marking of 15 yards against our favorite team.

Even Superman was for truth, justice, and the American way.

We like to think that justice is blind.  We like to think that there is equal justice under the law.  What do we say at the end of the pledge of allegiance?  Isn’t it liberty and justice for all?  These are lofty goals, American goals, and on occasion, even achievable goals.  Often, they are just out of reach.

Justice is a unique concept.  When we look at everyone else, we want justice.  When we look in the mirror, we much prefer mercy over justice.

Isn’t that our nature?  We want liberty and justice for all, and some mercy for me.

We have discussed the mercy that we know.  God is merciful.  He is also just but we seem to be a lot more thankful that he is merciful.  That’s who God is, but what about us?

What does God require of us with regard to justice and mercy?

The two qualities are not exclusive of each other.  God doesn’t seem to have a problem with justice and mercy.  His heart is full of mercy but he administers justice. 

The prophet tells us to seek justice but to love mercy.  Being fair and just and doing what is right must always be a part of who we are, but mercy must be the desire of our hearts.  We must love being merciful.

What’s the point of following all of the rules if there is no mercy in us?  God’s Chosen People went down this road a few times.  Their sacrifices and offerings were empty.  Sure the grain or the goat was present, but the heart of the giver gave way to some perfunctory performance. 

The people were going through the motions.  They just existed day to day without much life in their life.  They just didn’t want the sorry end of the stick when justice was being handed out.

What a pitiful and passionless way to live.  I just don’t want to get hit by lightning or lose my crop or go to hell.  How many goats and buckets of olive oil must I bring to save my sorry self from the fires of hell?

Surely the roots of many eastern religions come out of this thinking.  The purpose of my existence is the elimination of suffering.  Life is suffering and victory in life is reducing suffering, especially my own.

Life is suffering.  The goal of my existence is to reach a plane of nonexistence.

What a way to live!  Yet, God’s people were on this track of minimizing their suffering at the expense of truly serving a God who designed them to truly live.

Yeah, God’s there.  I know it, but I’ve got bills to pay and kids to raise and Facebook posts to make.  I just don’t want to lose what I have.  I don’t want things to get worse.

What a way to live!

Have you ever watched a football team lead all of the way through the game and then start playing not to lose?  It’s a pitiful sight.  They had the upper hand for most of the game and then they changed they way they played so as not to lose the game instead of playing the best that they can every minute.

God’s message to his people throughout time is that he wants them to live.  He wants them to live a good life and bring glory to his name.  When we make mistakes, he wants us to confess to him and receive his mercy.  When we do this we can get back to living.

God, who is infinite in his wisdom, created us to live a finite time in these bodies.  Eternity is in store for us, but every moment in this life is precious.  How we live, especially those of us with Christ in our hearts, is a precious commodity.  We use phrases such as work out your salvation, walk in the truth, and number your days to focus on how we are to live.

Justice is important.  Loving mercy more than justice makes us more like our Creator.

Which brings us to Karma.  We like justice.  We are good with mercy, but we love karma, right?

What?

The universe has a scorecard and soon enough, you are going to get paid back for all of that mean stuff you did, especially for the mean stuff that you did to me.  That’s karma right there and it has been growing in popularity even among believers.

To seek justice is noble.

To love mercy is godly.

To want karma to do its thing is human.  I have read the Bible more than once or twice or however many times.  Some books get read more than others.  I’ve studied a lot of the original words and phrases trying my best to find the best fidelity to the original intent and the full biblical witness.

In all of my studies, I never found a single verse about karma.  Judgment, yes.  An accounting, yes.  Karma, not so much.

It would be so much easier to practice seek justice, love karma.  That’s more our inclination but the direction is to seek justice and love mercy.

We are to desire justice but love mercy.  I desired to go to NBA games when I lived in Orlando, Florida and I did go to several, but I would have loved to go to one and seen Michael Jordan play.  I checked for tickets every time that the Bulls came to town but they were sold out.  Occasionally, there would be a single ticket in the nose bleed section for several hundred dollars.

I could pay the rent for the next two months or go see Jordan.  I even thought that I could get Christopher a single ticket at an out of mind price just so he could say he saw Michael Jordan play, but decided that I didn’t want to send him in with 20,000 other Jordan crazed nuts by himself.  Besides that, the O’Rena was right next to OBT—Orange Blossom Trail—the place where the junkies and prostitutes hung out. 

My wife was never to happy that after the games that we did go to, I would take my son to the Church’s Chicken on OBT.  You want some good chicken, go to a place where a junkie needs to make enough for his next fix and he will cook you some good chicken.

I sought out tickets to other games but would have loved to have seen Jordan and got some chicken.

We are called to seek justice but to love mercy.

All things considered we would like everyone to play by the rules.  When there is an infraction, we think there should be penalty or correction or some sort of sequel that provides justice.  That’s fine.  That’s a good model, but we are called to love mercy more than justice.

Let’s put it this way.  Justice is transactional.  It works as far as regulating a civil society goes, but it is transactional. 

Mercy is transformational.  Mercy is not constrained to do certain things nor restrained from others.  Mercy crosses boundaries.  Mercy forgives that which does not deserve to be forgiven. 

When we have run awry of justice, we desire mercy for ourselves.  Last week we examined David’s petition for mercy in Psalm 51.  We already love mercy for ourselves.  We get that part.  We already love mercy for ourselves.

But we must love mercy for others.  That’s a bit more challenging.  It requires us to set aside our human heart and live out of God’s divine heart.  When we think of being made in the image and likeness of Jesus, think of living out of his heart.

We must love mercy more than we love justice and we think justice is a good thing.  Loving mercy does not lessen the need for justice, it just goes beyond what justice can achieve.

A transformed heart is a greater victory than someone paying for their trespasses by being thrown into debtor’s prison.  A renewed mind is a greater victory than one that only memorized the rules so he or she could better get around them.

Justice is transactional.  Mercy is transformational.

When we seek justice and love mercy there is a unique balance in life that lets us walk humbly with our God.  When we seek only justice, it’s hard to walk with a God of mercy.

When we seek only mercy, we deny that God is just.

When we dispense only justice, we become void of mercy.  But when we seek justice and love mercy, then we can live harmoniously in the favor of God.  We can navigate this life.

God wants us to desire what is right, what is good, and what is just, but he wants us to have a heart given over to mercy.

The prophet gave us some very concise words for good living.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

The prophet lived before the time of Christ.  Resurrection and redemption were things to come, but the prophet’s counsel survives the atonement that we received in Christ Jesus and is still good counsel for how we respond to the grace and favor of God.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

Amen.

They are for your own good!

Read Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Long ago and a few states away I was assigned as the active duty commander responsible to making sure that a reserve company of Marines was ready to mobilize, deploy, fight, and win.  Along with this assignment, I also had a recruiting mission to fill out this reserve unit. 

To do this, we did various public events.  Most of the time, my Marines took care of this.  How many 17 and 18-year-old people wanted to talk with an old man.  I was at least 30 at the time.

Occasionally, I would be there and talk with these young folks who showed a little interest.  I loved it when these kids were service shopping to see what incentives each service had.  One would say, “Well, what can the Marines offer me?”

My answer was standard, “A pack, a rifle, and a hard time.”

Another kid would ask, “How long does it take the average person to become a Marine?”

With a smile on my face, it is my pleasure to announce, “The average person will never become a Marine.”

One of these days, I will probably read online that they are adding a cry room to boot camp, and then I will totally lose it.  I will be a basket case.  That’s a DNR in my medical file for sure.  Don’t even think about resuscitating me then.  I’m out of here.

I’ll be singing the words.  “And when I get to heaven, Saint Peter I will tell.  Another Marine reporting, Sir.  I’ve served my time in hell.”

There are some things that you just have to earn.

I don’t think that I could have ever been a medical doctor.  I love education.  I love continuing education, but college, pre-medical school, medical school, specialty school, internship, residency, and I don’t where exactly one ends and one begins, but I couldn’t imagine waiting until I was pushing 30 to be ready to practice on my own.

And even when you can do it on your own, it’s still called practice—it’s a medical practice. That’s just too much.  When you finally make it, then you get to worry about malpractice. 

Had God called me to be a medical doctor, I would have been arguing with that burning bush longer than Moses.

There are some things that just seem to be too much for most people.

A long time ago, there was a commander of the Syrian Army—called Aram back then—and he had contracted leprosy.  This guy was good.  His name was Naaman and he was a good general, but this leprosy thing was a problem.  In Israel, he would have been an outcast but even in Syria, this put him at a disadvantage.

He needed help and among his captives was a girl from Israel who served Naaman’s wife.  She spoke of a prophet who was in Samaria who could cure him.

Naaman, being a very senior commander, couldn’t just waltz into Samaria without risk of starting a war or being captured.  He had to address this matter with his king, who told him to go.  He would square it with the king in Israel.  There is a whole story here about the kings, but that’s for another day.

Naaman finally gets to the prophet’s house.  He is loaded down with gold, silver, and fine clothing.  He is ready to pay for this special healing service.

Elisha the prophet sends out a messenger to tell Naaman to go wash in the Jordan River 7 times and he will be healed.

Naaman is furious.  The prophet didn’t even come out to greet him. There was no band playing.  There was no red carpet for him.  All he got was a servant with a message:  Go wash in the Jordan 7 times.

Naaman was singing country.  Did I shave my legs for this? 

This was not what the way this was supposed to go down.  What’s this guy telling me?  Go wash in the dirty old Jordan.  Hey, buddy—we have some clean rivers where I come from.  If that’s all there is to it, I could have stayed home.

It is good to have a servant who is a friend, for Naaman’s servant ask him, “If the prophet had asked you to do some great thing—climb a mountain, conquer a country, go without carbs for a week—would you not have done it?”

The answer was, of course, in the affirmative.  So why not do the simple thing that the prophet has told you to do?

Don’t you just hate it when you are all ticked off because things did not go the way you thought they would and then somebody just speaks the truth ever so clearly?  And the truth is not some complicated formula or process or arduous task; it is simple and straightforward.

You get all worked up because things did not play out the way you thought they should and you find out that the way the Lord had prescribed was best all along.  I’m not even going to bring up Proverbs 3:5-6.

Sometimes when we get wrapped up in our own way and our own understanding and our own expectations, we miss the simple.  We complicate the simple.  We miss what is put before us by God as the way to live.  He has shown us, told us, and in some cases demonstrated to us what to do.

There are some things that are just that simple and straightforward.

We have talked a lot about love this year.  We have come to love in action and know that’s what we are to do and to be.  We are God’s love in action.  That’s part of our identity in the Lord.

We have learned that the “how” of being God’s love in action often come down to treating others as we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes.

We know these things and yet somehow, life still seems complicated. Really, what does the Lord require of us?

Israel’s life as a newly liberated nation already seemed complicated.  When you have been enslaved for 430 years and now you are on your own as far as human government and decision-making go, things seem complicated.

So, God through Moses asks a question of himself on behalf of his own people.  He says what does the Lord ask of you?  It was a simple question to which God provided a simple answer.

He said:

·       Fear the Lord

·       Walk in his ways

·       Love and serve him with all your heart and soul

·       Observe the Lord’s commands and laws

So, God gives his people commands. He starts with 10 on tablets.  There will be more.  Why did God give his people commandments?  Why decree that they do certain things?

Our human nature doesn’t like the answer, but God tells us they are for our own good.  Doesn’t that just get under your skin when someone—a parent or a teacher or a coach—tells us it’s for our own good.

God said:

·       Fear the Lord

·       Walk in his ways

·       Love and serve him with all your heart and soul

·       Observe the Lord’s commands and laws

It’s for your own good!

What did the prophet Micah have to say 700 years later when the same question was posed?  What does the Lord require of you?  Having been shown what is good, you are to:

·       Seek justice

·       Love mercy

·       Walk humbly with your God

About the same time, the prophet Hosea noted that God desires mercy more than sacrifice.  Justice required atonement.  Atonement involved recurring sacrifices, burnt offerings. 

But more than the sacrifice, God desires mercy.  He wants us right with him not for the sake of justice alone but because he is love.  He is merciful love.

Having been shown what is good, you are to:

·       Seek justice

·       Love mercy

·       Walk humbly with your God

He wants us to walk humbly with him.  Here’s a little insight that today comes in a poem, a nursery rhyme if you will-- As I was going to St. Ives.  We don’t know the original author.  It came into common use in the early 18^th Century England.  Most of the kids of that age likely knew the poem and the riddle therein.

As I was going to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

Some would say 2801 or 2802 or 2803, but the answer is 1.  Only 1 was going to Saint Ives.  The first person telling of this nursery rhyme lets us know that he met these people.  Whatever direction they were going, they were not walking with him to Saint Ives.

 If we are walking with God, we are going the same direction.  In the course of our days, how many of us meet God along the way because we are going a different direction?

Humankind seems to be on an endless quest to be with God and be like God; yet God has invited us to be both.  He says, be with me.  Be still.  Know that I am God.

He says that you are brother and sister to the Son of God.  You are family.  You are made in his image and being made into the likeness of Christ Jesus.

You are being made into love.

It’s a walk, perhaps a race.  It is a journey for sure.  There is trouble and sometimes even persecution.  Some might even hate you for following Jesus.  But remember that God said he gave us these decrees, these directions for our own good.  Everything that God requires of us is for our own good.

What does Jesus have to say about that?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

As we continue to seek God’s ways concerning love and love in action, we will find ourselves migrating to the topics of rest and peace.  Delineation among them may not be distinct.  Love, action, rest, and peace will overlap considerably.

There is something of a paradox in most everything that we find in our relationship with God.  For all that he requires, he returns even more.  In action, we find rest and contentment.  In doing what he calls us to do we find that we enjoy peace in the middle of action. 

What does the Lord require of us?  Is it anything that is so hard?

We find the Lord fighting our battles for us.  His grace precedes us.  His love is everlasting.  He knew us before we were born.  He established our inheritance before he laid the foundation of the earth.

He has not put us to the test by sending evil.  He does not tempt us.  There is evil in the world, but whatever trials we have, God makes sure they are tempered by what we can handle.

We have already been given victory over the grave.

The blood of Jesus has atoned for our sin.

Come to think of it, we should have to do a bunch.  The bar should be set so high that we could never reach it.  The standard to walk with God should be unobtainable; yet, Christ brought us to that place where we may walk humbly with our God.

Really, what does the Lord require of us?

·       Fear the Lord.  This is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.

·       Walk in his ways.  He will direct our paths if we trust him.

·       Love and serve him with all your heart and soul

·       Observe the Lord’s commands and laws that he gave us not for our salvation but for our own good.

·       Seek justice, not to condemn others but that we receive the blood of Jesus and are made right with God.

·       Love mercy.  We are being made in his image.  This is an essential ingredient.

·       Walk humbly with your God.  Is this not the very thing for which he made us?

What does the Lord expect of us?  That we love him and love one another.

Life can be tough.  It’s tougher when we try to do it our way instead of the Lord’s.  It’s tougher when we try to apply our own rules and logic and process when God gave us directions that were for our own good.

Think on this for a moment.  Every good gift is from above.  It’s from God.  The gift of God’s commands and decrees and laws if you will—from having no other gods to love one another—are for our own good.

We know to love God and love one another.  We know that love fulfills the law.  We know the Golden Rule. We know so much but what does the Lord require of us?

Let’s reinforce what we know to do with Micah’s words.

Seek justice

Love mercy

Walk humbly with your God

Has the Lord asked too much of us?

Amen.