Daily Devotional For Sunday, August 25, 2024

Today is the Lord’s Day and let’s all commit to attend a worship service to praise our God. He deserves it and is worthy of it. If you have been following these devotionals, you know we have been looking at the greatest and most famous sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. And currently we are looking at what are called “The Beatitudes.” They are not “The MeAttitudes” because they are not about us reaping and receiving blessings for what we do. These are not promises as they are about potentials. Each one focuses on an attitude we must “BE” in order to have the potential to experience the blessing that comes with it.

Currently we are looking at Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (NASB). Lacking mercy for others is the prime example of rejecting God’s mercy. The Apostle Paul talks about this as being the crescendo of evil with the lost in Romans 1:29-32:

“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; (32) and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (NASB).

Look at what Proverbs 11:17 says, “The merciful and generous man benefits his soul [for his behavior returns to bless him], But the cruel and callous man does himself harm” (AMP). The path to happiness and joy is through mercy; the path to misery and bitterness is through being cruel. Look at Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous and merciful person is merciful to his animals, but the compassion of the wicked is cruel to them” (PAR). 

Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus warns us of what will happen to us if we do not show or express mercy to those who are hungry,thirsty, naked, in prison, sick or a stranger. Read Matthew 25:41-45, 

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; (42) for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; (43) I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ (44) Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ (45) Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me’” (NASB).

James, the half-brother and Apostle of Jesus, wrote these words to warn us about being selective in what we choose to obey from God’s Law and Word in James 2:10-13:

“For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. (11) For the same God who said, 'You must not commit adultery,’ also said, `You must not murder.’  So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. (12) So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. (13) There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you” (NLT).

We live in a culture that says, “Get all you can. Can all you get and then sit on the can.” Jesus Christ tells us that we are most like Him when we give – especially mercy to others. The genuine and authentic portrayal of mercy is in giving to others—giving compassion, giving help, giving time, giving forgiveness, giving money, giving ourselves. Can the lost show mercy? Yes, but not in its fullest way. Only the genuinely redeemed can do that because the spiritually lost are spiritually dead. The last time I checked, a dead person can’t do anything but what a dead person does – decompose and stink. 

Mercy is a gift from God to the redeemed. If you have ever watched young siblings play and one of them gets mad at the other, their first thought, attitude and action is not to show mercy, but many times to strike or hit their sibling. Mercy does not come to us naturally. This is why for the redeemed, this Beatitude comes after we do the first four Beatitudes. Pastor and author John MacArthur makes this an important point in his commentary:

“Mercy is only for those who through grace and divine power have met the requirements of the first four beatitudes. It is only for those who by the work of the Holy Spirit bow humbly before God in poverty of spirit, who mourn over and turn from their sin, who are meek and submissive to His control, and who hunger and thirst above all else for His righteousness. The way of mercy is the way of humility, repentance, surrender, and holiness” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 194).

A good example of hypocrisy (of wanting to be treated by God as righteous but not living it) is found in the Old Testament with a man named Baalam. He wanted to stay within the letter of God’s Will and Law while at the same time he conspired with a pagan king against God’s people. Listen to his hypocritical words in Numbers 23:10, “Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs” (NLT). What does this tell us? Baalam wanted to die like the righteous people of God; but he did not want to live like them. Many people live their whole life without God and then tragedy happens and then because they did not live according to God’s terms, they still want God’s mercy. 

Again, I quote pastor and author John MacArthur:

“God has both absolute and relative attributes. His absolute attributes— such as love, truth, and holiness—have characterized Him from all eternity. They were characteristic of Him before He created angels, or the world, or man. But His relative attributes—such as mercy, justice, and grace—were not expressed until His creatures came into being. In fact they were not manifest until man, the creature made in His own image, sinned and became separated from his Creator. Apart from sin and evil, mercy, justice, and grace have no meaning.

When man fell, God’s love was extended to His fallen creatures in mercy. And only when they receive His mercy can they reflect His mercy. God is the source of mercy. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness [mercy] toward those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:11). It is because we have the resource of God’s mercy that Jesus commanded, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36)” — (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 194).

New Testament scholar Donald Barhouse writes this about mercy:

“When Jesus Christ died on the cross, all the work of God for man’s salvation passed out of the realm of prophecy and became historical fact. God has now had mercy upon us. For anyone to pray, “God have mercy on me” is the equivalent of asking Him to repeat the sacrifice of Christ. All the mercy that God ever will have on man He has already had, when Christ died. That is the totality of mercy. There could not be any more… The fountain is now opened, and it is flowing, and it continues to flow freely” (Source: Donald Barnhouse, Romans, Vol. 4, p. 4).

What John MacArthur and Donald Barnhouse are saying is this: we cannot have God’s blessings apart from God the blesser. We can’t and won’t have God’s blessings apart from obedience to Jesus Christ. It is arrogant, prideful and conceited to think we can go live our lives however we choose apart from Christ. And when we find ourselves in a bind, to expect God the blesser to bless us. That is a lie from hell. 

Questions To Consider

1. Do you expect God to give you mercy even when you are disobedient? Why or why not?
2. Read Matthew 25:41-45 again. Are you consistently merciful to people you encounter in circumstances such as these? Why or why not?
3. Read Romans 1:31 again above. Notice that the final worst characteristic of the lost is not having mercy. Is your attitude more like the lost or the redeemed when it comes to showing mercy to all people? Why or why not?
4. Many “believers” want to live their lives like Baalam. They want God’s blessings without living their lives to the glory of the Blesser. Is this you? Why or why not?
5. Read Proverbs 11:17 above again. How does the cruel and callous man harm himself in the context of being merciful or unmerciful?

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 14:21, “He who despises his neighbor, sins [against God and his fellow man], But happy [blessed and favored by God] is he who is gracious and merciful to the poor” (AMP).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I have to admit that I am judgmental at times to the poor, the beggar and others. Though You did not help every single person You met, You did help some. Please give me a heart like Yours to show mercy especially to the poor. I understand that how I treat others is how I am treating You. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly