Be Merciful

³⁶ “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.“

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:36-42 NIV)

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Every day is filled with occasions to show mercy… or not. The stoplight turns green, but the car in front of you doesn’t go. Ahhh! You know what I’m talking about! Your child spills their milk for the third time in that one meal. You send a text to someone with a simple question, and they don’t bother to respond. You’re talking with your spouse, and then you realize that he or she isn’t listening to anything you’re saying. You’re checking out at the store, and the worker is the slowest person on the face of the earth. We could go on and on… Every single day is filled with occasions to show mercy… or not.

In each situation, your sinful nature shouts, “Not!” When the car in front of you doesn’t go, what do you want to do? Honk your horn. “Come on! What is wrong with people!” When your child spills their milk, what do you want to do? Explode. “I just wiped it up two minutes ago!” When people don’t respond to your text, what do you want to do? Criticize them, at least in your mind. “Some friend they are!” When that worker goes so painfully slow, what do you want to do? Give them a piece of your mind. “Any day now! Can’t you see I’m in a hurry?” Every day is filled with opportunities to show mercy… or not. It feels so natural to be angry and impatient and rude.

And Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Be merciful. That’s at the heart of Christianity, because that’s at the heart of God. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God our heavenly Father is merciful. Earlier today, we spoke the words of Psalm 130: “If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you” (Psalm 130:3-4). God has a thousand opportunities every day to punish us. If God kept a list of our sins, how long would it be? Long! Who could face him?

But “your Father is merciful.” With God, “there is forgiveness.” Another psalm says, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…. He does not treat us as our sins deserve” (Psalm 103:8,10). What’s the word for not treating people as their sins deserve? Mercy. God has mercy on us. In mercy, God sent us his Son Jesus. God treated Jesus as our sins deserve. God punished Jesus on the cross for our sins, so that by his grace we are forgiven and loved and saved. There is no mercy like God’s mercy. Every one of us is saved by God’s mercy.

So, “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Christians are to live differently than other people, because our God is different than other gods. God’s grace to us in Jesus is to impact every day of our lives. Jesus mentions four ways that God’s mercy is to be shown in us: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” To be merciful is to not judge, to not condemn, to forgive, and to give.

Now we have to address something that these verses are not saying. Non-Christians love to throw these verses at Christians: “Can’t judge me! Can’t say what I’m doing is wrong! Look at what Jesus says! I can live however I want, and you can’t say anything about it!” Isn’t that what people say? Is Jesus telling Christians to never judge anyone or anything? No! The very next verses after our lesson continue, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit” (Luke 6:43-44). Jesus commands Christians to speak out about sin and call people to repentance and warn that there is hell for all who don’t believe in Jesus. Christians need to judge between good and evil, true and false. Jesus did!

So what is Jesus saying? He’s telling us that a true Christian’s heart will always be soft. A true Christian’s life is to be filled with compassion and mercy. Martin Luther wrote, “We are to show all mercy to our enemies and are not to want one of their hairs to be hurt or one penny to be taken from them.” The apostle Paul put it like this: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath…. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:18-21).

When it comes to judging and condemning, whose job is that? God’s. That’s so easy to forget. Whenever we see wrong, especially whenever we are wronged, who do we think should judge? Us! We want to judge now! We want to see people punished now! But that’s not our job. That’s God’s job. Thankfully, he doesn’t judge us now. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. Instead, God “does not treat us as our sins deserve.” One day, God will carry out all the judgment that’s needed on Judgment Day. God has the judging and condemning part taken care of.

So what’s our job? Forgiving and giving. “Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.” Mercy leads to mercy. Grace leads to grace. If God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, should we treat others as their sins deserve? No. If God in grace has compassion on his children, should we be impatient with everyone else? No! If God has hurled all our sins into the depths of the sea, should we forgive other people for their sins too? Yes! Do you see why I say that mercy is at the heart of Christianity? “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus had a very picturesque way to drive this home: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” You’ve heard this, right? It would be foolish for a person with a 2 x 4 in their eye to try to pick specks of sawdust out of other people’s eyes.

Yet, we do that, don’t we? By nature, we are all blind to our own sins, even sins as big as a 2 x 4. At the same time, we are incredibly in tune to other people’s sins. Maybe you get really upset at people who waste money, but you fail to see that you aren’t generous to others. Maybe you are quick to judge people who say bad words, but you excuse all the curse words that flow through your head. Maybe you condemn people who have sex outside marriage, but you aren’t bothered by how you secretly view pornography. Maybe you criticize people for not working hard enough, but you refuse to admit that your job has become your god. Jesus convicts us, doesn’t he? We mercilessly judge others for small things, while we ignore the sins that fill our own lives.

Jesus gives us a strong warning: If you judge others, you will be judged. If you condemn others, you will be condemned. If you don’t forgive others, you won’t be forgiven. To call ourselves Christians, but to live with bitterness or anger or hatred is hypocrisy. “I can be a Christian and be angry with ______.” No! That’s being a hypocrite. If God doesn’t hold our sins against us, how can we hold them against others? “I am a Christian, but I just can’t forgive _______.” No! That’s being a hypocrite. If God has forgiven all our sins, how can we refuse to forgive others? To say we’re saved by Jesus’ grace, but to not have grace for others, means we don’t have Christ!

Christianity often gets the reputation of being judgmental. Christians are known for pointing their fingers at other people. That’s not Jesus’ Christianity. According to Jesus, whose sins is a Christian always to be most concerned about? My own. Your own. The most important sins in my life are mine. The most damaging sins in your life are yours. Before we think about judging others, we need to deal with the plank in our own eyes. We need to fall at Jesus’ feet and repent.

Why? Because “your Father is merciful.” The more you see your sins for what they really are, the more you will appreciate the mercy and grace of God. That sin that is still embarrassing for you to even think about… God forgave it at the cross of Jesus. That sin that still makes you feel so ashamed… God forgave it at the cross of Jesus. That secret that you have been trying to keep hidden for years… God knows, and he already forgave it at the cross of Jesus. “Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.” God has been merciful to us by forgiving all our sins through Jesus.

When you recognize that you are a sinner saved purely by God’s grace, do you know what that will make you? Merciful! Here are two results of God’s mercy. First, God’s mercy makes you humble. When you see someone struggling with a sin, you remember that you struggle with sins too. What has God done with your sins? Forgiven them! So how do you treat that other person? With mercy. If ever you find yourself looking down on other people, you’ve forgotten God’s mercy. God’s mercy leads Christians to be humble. We are all sinners who need God’s grace.

But that’s not all. God’s mercy also makes you confident. Those two words might seem to be opposites: Humble and confident. Yet, they go hand in hand. When you know you are saved by God’s mercy, it makes you confident. Why? God loves you! You are totally forgiven. You are not the product of your mistakes. You are the child of God. You can approach life with the confidence that comes from Jesus. If ever you find yourself living timidly and fearfully, you’ve forgotten God’s mercy. God’s mercy leads Christians to be confident. Humble and confident.

Here’s an example: Have you ever heard of Saint Monica? There’s a town called Santa Monica in California, isn’t there? Monica was a Christian woman who lived in the 300s A.D. She’s known for her unbelieving family. Her husband was a cantankerous man who was an unbeliever and mocked Monica’s faith. Her son was rebellious and purposefully went out and sinned in every possible way. Do you know what Monica did? She kept praying for them. She never stopped caring for them, even though they didn’t deserve it. Miraculously, right before he died, her husband asked to be baptized and became a Christian. And her son? After 17 years of living against God, through his mother’s influence he became a Christian. His name was Augustine, and he became one of the most influential Christian pastors ever. Monica spent her whole, hard life showing mercy to her own family members. Why? That’s what God had done to her.

“Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” Every day, you will have dozens of chances to show mercy… or not. Every day is filled with opportunities to lash out and be impatient or smile and forgive. When you have experienced the amazing grace of God in Christ, it does something to you. It makes your heart softer. Humbler. Confident. “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.”

(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)