Clean Hands

 Read Proverbs 25

The proverbs discuss relationships of various kinds.  The first of note is that of the king.  We might associate this counsel to the chief executives of our age.

Just as when you purify silver, you can make a vessel of value, so too, when the president dismisses the wicked and self-serving from his staff, he can establish a righteous governance.

When the chief executive kicks the sugar-coating counselors to the curb, finally can he rule rightly.

How about when you are in the presence of those of high office?  Don’t just walk up and take the best seat like you own the place.  Practice humility.  Take a place in the back and wait for the official to invite you to a seat at the table.

That’s much better than taking a good seat and then being kicked to the peanut gallery.  What an embarrassing moment that would be. Jesus taught the Pharisees the same lesson.

Here’s one for dealing with others and submitting to the court system of your government.  Today, we might call this the clean hands doctrine, at least in matters of equity.

What is the clean hands doctrine?  Don’t expect a judge or a court to rule in your favor even though you have compelling evidence if your own hands are not clean.

You might argue that you had dirty hands in a completely different matter, but the court will only see your dirty hands.  Watch a crime show where the eyewitness saw exactly what happened—a theft or a carjacking or even a murder, but it turns out that the eyewitness was in the middle of an illegal drug sale when they witnessed the event.

You might think that one thing doesn’t have anything to do with another, but the judge or jury will be influenced by the fact the witness had dirty hands.

The counsel is that if your hands are dirty, it will come out in court.  You might still be compelled to testify, but your dirty hands have become your dirty laundry and just like that became grist for the mill in cross-examination. The things that you would prefer not be known by anyone else are now known by whoever wants to know.

The lesson should be simple.  Just do what is right and stay out of the everything else, then telling the truth will not be as painful.

That lesson continues in the next proverb that cautions you about taking your neighbor to court.  Your dirty laundry will come out and it might be worse than what you have accused your neighbor of doing.

Jesus warned those who would listen to work things out with those who may have wronged you or that you have wronged before resorting to the courts.  If you go to court, you don’t know what will happen. Settle the matter out of court.

Wisdom does not discard the value of kings, executives, and magistrates.

Like apples of gold in settings of silver

    is a ruling rightly given.

Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold

    is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.

Such wisdom is epitomized in the case of the two prostitutes claiming the same baby.  It was, of course, Solomon who gave the ruling to cut the child in half.  The baby’s real mother said to give the child to the other woman.  The woman falsely claiming maternal rights said to go ahead and divide the baby.

Solomon then knew who the real mother was and so ordered that the child not be killed and divided but that it be given to his real mother.

Sometimes it takes a wise person sitting in judgment to bring justice to the world.

We have a judge that is always available to us, but we must have the listening ear.  I like to call that listening ear a teachable spirit.

The word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Let’s wrap up with one more.

Like clouds and wind without rain

    is one who boasts of gifts never given.

You might think this was written for the modern politician.  This group of men and women who seek power surely fall under the umbrella of such counsel.  They promise much and deliver little or nothing.

But the proverb is for us too.  Be careful about boasting of our own greatness or generosity.  If we don’t deliver, then we are a hypocrite.

If we do deliver but must boast about it, was it truly given out of love or was our gift self-serving?

Jesus taught us to give humbly.  Our left hand need not know what our right is doing.  We should give generously because it is our new nature.

What we have discussed here might sound familiar.

If you are in charge, get rid of those advisors whose intentions are not honorable, then you will make good decisions.

Be humble.  Let those in authority recognize you and invite you to a better place at the table.

Everything comes out in court.  If your hands are not clean, be sure that your dirty laundry will be brought to light.  If you can work it out on your own, then do it.

The wise like the ruling of a just magistrate.  Remember that the wise like knowledge, wisdom, instruction, and discipline.  The wise heed the counsel of a wise judge.

Don’t promise what you can’t deliver and if you can and do deliver, don’t brag about it. Be humble.

Be generous, but don’t make a big deal about it.  Let generosity just be your new nature.

Seek Justice. Love mercy.  Walk humbly with your God.

Amen.

Matthew 18 - Part 5

 

Read Matthew 18

Read the message about this parable from 2017.

Peter wanted to know how many times he should forgive someone.  Seven seemed like a good guess.  Jesus replied, not 7 but 77.  Some translations might say 7 times 70, that’s 490 times.  That’s a lot of forgiveness.

And so, Jesus told the story of a man who owed his king 10,000 talents.  That’s a bunch of money.  There was no way he could repay that now but the debt had been called.

The man pleaded that he would not be sold to pay for the debt.  The king had mercy on him and forgave the debt.  Now that’s some mercy right there!

The man went on his way and came across a man who owed him a hundred silver coins and he demanded payment.  The man could not pay and he pleaded for more time to repay.

The man who had been forgiven so much would forgive nothing.  He had the man who owed him put into prison until he could pay.  His fellow servants found out about this and reported it to the king.

The king was furious.  He said, I canceled all of your debt and you couldn’t show just a little bit of mercy on your fellow servant?  OK, two can play this game.  He handed this man over to the jailers to be tortured until he could repay what he owed.

Realize that there are many strategies for getting out of debt, but getting tortured doesn’t reduce the sum owed.  It’s a no-win scenario.

Now we can look at this parable and think justice was done.  It was but the king desired mercy more than justice. 

Jesus told this parable to help Peter and us understand what it will be like at the end of the age.  We can never pay what we owe God but God desires mercy more than justice or sacrifice or any perfunctory payment.  He desires mercy.

He delivers mercy.  He wants to see mercy operating within us so much more than compliance, mindless obedience, ritual, or anything else that misses the divine heart of God.

When we are at a loss as to what we should do, find the way that includes love and mercy.

When we are struggling to please God, find the way governed by mercy.

When the world is going absolutely crazy around us, find a time and place to practice mercy.

Consider how Jesus called us to come to him as a child, not as a judge or master of ritual, but as a child.  Come to him as a completely accepting child.  Accept love.  Accept forgiveness.  Accept others with the same love and mercy that you received.

Grant forgiveness.  Be known by your love and mercy.  Be an example of mercy to your fellow servants.  Do not lead anyone astray by your lack of compassion and mercy.  Speak the truth to your fellow servants in Christ, even about uncomfortable subjects, but do it in a spirit of love.

Practice mercy.

We did a little warm up at the beginning of the service.  Let’s do it again.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

Think about these two words:  love mercy.  What if we not only tried to practice mercy, but we loved mercy.  We loved being merciful.

What if our new nature—our Christ nature—loved mercy.  What if we did what Jesus instructed the Pharisees to do.  Learn what this means.  I desire mercy not sacrifice.

The child does not know bitterness or contempt or hate or coveting.  The child accepts the love of a parent without questioning.  But our human hearts have been corrupted by sin.  Left to our own desires we seek to gratify ourselves more than others, more than God.

To enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like a child again.  We don’t come seeking to balance the scales that can never be balanced.  We owe more than we can pay.  We owe more than we can imagine.  Our only recourse is mercy.  Without mercy, we are toast.

But mercy is not our first nature.  We want what is owed to us by others.  What others owe becomes our focus.  It gets in the way of putting God first.  It blinds us to what God has done for us and we see only what we desire from others.

We have received mercy beyond our comprehension.  We must deliver mercy to the best of our ability.  We must remember that while we were God’s enemies, Christ died for us.

Let’s say our words from Micah again.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

Christ came full of grace and truth.  We have received more than mercy.  We have received favor.  How can we ever deliver condemnation? How can we look upon another with disdain?  How can we see others through eyes of contempt?

Our M.O. must be mercy.  As we begin this New Year, consider all the old things that you hold on to because someone wronged you.  So long as you hold on to these things, you are not prepared to deliver mercy.  You want justice from your own unique perspective.

It makes for a good action movie with plenty of violence, payback, and revenge, but it also makes for a terrible likeness of Christ Jesus whom others should see in us.

As we set upon this New Year, I asked us to set as our goal to do the things of God.  Let’s put practice mercy near the top of that list of the things of God.

Seek justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

Amen!

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.