Introduction:

He clutched the blanket tighter about him. His arms hugged his drawn-up knees, not so much to stop the trembling, but rather to put flesh next to flesh. Curled up like a ball, he sat in the corner of his damp frigid cell. He'd been so preoccupied with the cold that he hadn't heard the approaching foot­steps. Startled, he watched the form of a bleeding, beaten human being tossed in the opposite corner like a filthy rag. His new cell-mate was naked from the waist up. Sob­bing, he stayed in his corner, head down. As the man surveyed the condition of his new cell-mate he thought, He'll never make it through the night. He'll be dead by morning." Then came that still, small familiar voice.

"Give him your blanket."

"But, Lord, if I give him my blanket I'll not survive the night."

"I know. But you will be with Me. Give him your blanket."

The human ball slowly stretched out, the stature of a man. The blanket slipped from his bent shoulders. He walked across the cell and handed the man his blanket.

"Here. The Lord Jesus Christ told me to give you my blanket." For the first time he saw the man's face. It was incredulous with hope.

Another corn of wheat had fallen into the ground! The giver of the blanket died; the recipient lived. He told the story over and over of how he had life through the loving mercy of another, and how he came to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." To begin to comprehend this beatitude I believe we must understand the concept of mercy.

A. W. Pink asks and answers.

"What is mercifulness? It is a gracious disposition toward my fellow creatures and fellow Christians It is that kindness and benevolence that feels the miseries of others. It is a spirit that regards with compassion the sufferings of the afflicted. It is the grace that causes one to deal leniently with an offender and to scorn the taking of re­venge.

Dr. A. T. Pierson says:

"It is the forgiving spirit; it is the non-retaliating spirit; it is the spirit that gives up all attempt at self-vindication and would not return an injury for an injury, but rather good in the place of evil and love in the place of hatred. That is merciful­ness. Mercy being received by the forgiven soul, that soul comes to appreciate the beauty of mercy, and yearns to exercise toward other offenders similar grace to that which is exercised toward's one's self."

Renowned Bible commentator William Barc­lay wrote:

"The Greek word for merciful is eleemon. But as we have repeatedly seen, the Greek of the New Testament as we possess it goes back to an original Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew word for mercy is Chesedh; and it is an un­translatable word. It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. Chesedh, mercy means the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings. Clearly this is much more than an emotional wave of pity; clearly this demands a quite deliberate effort of the mind and of the will. It de­notes a sympathy which is not given, as it were from the outside, but which comes from a deliberate identification with the other person, until we see things as sees them and feel things as he feels them. This is sympa­thy in the literal sense of the word. Sympa­thy is derived from two Greek words, sun, which means together with, and paschien which means to experi­ence or to suffer. Sympathy means experiencing things together with the other person, liter­ally going through what he is going through.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

I. Promise

This is a be happy attitude. Schuller wrote, "I treat others the way I want others to treat me." Of course, this does not imply that we are always treated the way we would like to be treated any more than we always treat others the way we want to be treated.

In addition the this dilemma, sometimes tragedy strikes. How do Christians have the capacity to find happiness anyway? Some people naturally get angry, bitter, cynical and might cynically ask, "Where is your God?" It is a miracle of God when Christians react positively.

Recall the conclusion of Psalm 23. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." The Psalmist knew what many of us have come to know - that life will be filled with goodness, but not always. Even when God's mercy cannot be seen, His mercy can be experienced.

The scriptures give us many promises concerning mercy, in addition to this beati­tude. In Luke 1:50 we have the words of Mary, "His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation." Paul had experi­enced God's great mercy and wrote about it to the Ephesians (2:4), "But because of His great love for us, God. who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions." He also spoke of it in his letter to Titus (3:5), "He saved us, not because of great things we had done, but be­cause of His mercy..."

What wonderful promises of mercy for Christians, and this beatitude promises mercy to the merciful, to we who have responded positively to God's mercy to us, who have been born again. We should be merciful, receive mercy from others, and especially continue to receive it from God. Have you accepted God's promise of mercy?

Several years ago a song based on what I have heard is a true story became quite popu­lar.

"Three teenagers boarded a bus in New Jersey. Seated on the bus was a quiet, poorly dressed man who sat alone and silent. When the bus made its first stop, everybody got off except this one man, who remained alone and aloof. When the kids came back on the bus, one of them said something nice to him and he smiled shyly.

At the next bus stop, as everybody got off, the last teenager turned and said to the man, "Come on. Get off with us. At least stretch your legs."

So he got off. The teenagers invited him to have lunch with them. One of the teenager said, "We are going to Florida for a weekend in the sun. It is nice in Florida, they say."

He said, "Yes it is."

"Have you been there?"

"Oh, yes," he said, "I used to live there."

One said, "Well do you still have a home and family?"

He hesitated. "I-I don't know he said, finally.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" the teenager persisted.

Caught up by their warmth and sincerity, he shared this story with them:

"Many years ago, I was sentenced to Federal prison. I had a beautiful wife and wonderful children. I said to her, 'Honey, don't write to me. I won't write to you. The kids should not know their dad is in prison. If you want to, go ahead and find another man - somebody who will be a good father to those boys.'

"I do not know if she kept her part of the bargain. I kept mine. Last week when I knew for sure I was getting out, I wrote a letter to our old address; its just outside of Jacksonville. I said to her, 'If you are still living there and get this letter, if you haven't found any one else, and if there is a chance of you taking me back - here is how you can let me know. I will be on the bus as it comes through town. I want you to take a piece of white cloth and hang it in the old oak tree right outside of town."

When they got back on the bus and were getting a few miles from Jacksonville, all the teenagers moved to the man's side of the bus and pressed their faces against the windows. Just as they came to the outskirts of Jackson­ville there was the old oak tree. The teenag­ers let out a yell and they jumped out of their seats. They hugged each other and danced in the center of the aisle. All they said was, "Look at it! Look at it!"

Not a single white cloth was tied to the tree. Instead there was a white bed sheet, a white dress, a little boy's white trousers, and white pillow cases! The whole tree was covered with dozens of pieces of white cloth!

What an illustration of God's mercy - how God treats you and me - undeserving as we are! If you recall the song they changed the white cloth to yellow ribbons.

II. Power Principle

What we have in this beatitude and also later in the Sermon on the Mount is a power principle, a law of proportionate return. Following Jesus teaching of the Lord's prayer we read, "For if you forgive men when they forgive you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." In the next chapter Jesus said, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." (Matt. 7:2)

Paul put this power principle in these words, "Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." God has built into life a principle of action and reaction. (Galatians 6:7)

Robert Schuller tells this story.

Adjoining my family farm was a river, which thrilled me because I loved to fish. I remem­ber one time when a city kid came for a few weeks to visit the neighbors across the road. The city kid was our neighbor's nephew. His uncle had welcomed him, but warned him that he would have to help out with the work.

One day the city kid's uncle gave him a can of beans to plant. He explained, "Just dig a little hole, put in a couple of beans, and stomp the dirt down on top of them. Do it all the way along the fence until you get to the end."

Unaware of the task that had been as­signed to this city lad, I invited him to join me fishing. He replied, "Uncle John said I have to plant these beans. He said that I have to dig a little hole, put in three bean, and stomp it down."

I said, "Oh, that's too bad; I wish you could go fishing with me. Ever been fishing?"

"No, I'd like to go fishing with you, but I've got to finish these beans." From the looks of the full can, it appeared that he'd just started. Directly in front of him was a stump. Suddenly he had an idea! "Uncle John will never know," he said as he dug a hole, dumped in all the beans, and covered them with dirt. He turned away from his task and said, "Let's go fishing!"

We had a grand time, and we caught a good number of fish. Coming home with all our catch, we ran into Uncle John.

He said, "I see you've been fishin' .... did you get all the beans planted?"

His nephew said, "Sure did uncle John."

"That's great. Glad to hear it. And you still had time to fish?"

"M-m-m-, yeah."

"I'm surprised you were able to plant them so quickly."

He answered, "I work fast."

Uncle John seem to accept his word for it. Soon it was time for the boy to return home. Months passed. The summer was drawing to a close. The city kid returned for a last visit before school started.

Uncle John said to him, "Hey, would you like to see those beans you planted?" They walked out behind the farmhouse. There was a neat row of beans for about fifty feet. Suddenly there was a stump of a tree covered with uncontrolled vines!

You can't fool nature and you can't play with God. You can't tamper with natural laws. And this is a natural law: "If you treat people nicely, you will probably be treated nicely. The kinder you are to others, the more kindness you are likely to receive in life. This is a power principle, a law of proportionate return.

Based on God's Promise and God's Power principle, what then is God's Prescription for a joyful, happy life?

III. Prescription

We must favorably respond to God's mercy by receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Then through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us as Christians, we must be merciful. When we are not treated the way we think we deserve to be treated may be cause for thanksgiving. We do not deserve God's mercy and His tender loving kindness, but He offers it to us. It cost the life of His beloved Son.

Some years ago I read a story of a man who had a dream one night. He dreamed that he died and found himself immediately in a large room. In the room was a huge banquet table filled with all sorts of delicious food. Around the banquet table were people seated on chairs, obviously hungry. But the chairs were five feet from the edge of the table and the people apparently could not get out of the chairs. Furthermore, their arms were not long enough to reach the food on the table.

In the dream there was one single large spoon, five feet long. Everyone was fighting, quarreling, pushing each other trying to grab hold of that spoon. Finally, in an awful scene, one strong bully got hold of the spoon. He reached out, picked up some food, and turned to feed himself, only to find out that the spoon was so long that as he held it out he could not touch his mouth. The food feel off.

Immediately, someone else grabbed the spoon. Again, the person reached far enough to pick up some food, but he could not feed himself. The handle was too long.

In the dream, the man who was observing it all said to his guide, "This is hell-to have food and not be able to eat it."

The guide replied, "Where do you think you are? This is hell. But this is not your place. Come with me."

And they came to another room. In this room there was also a long table filled with food exactly as in the other room. Everyone was seated in chairs, and for some reason they, too, seemed unable to get out of their chairs.

Like the others, they were unable to reach the food on the table. Yet they had a satisfied, pleasant look on their faces. Only then did the visitor see the reason why. Exactly as before, there was only one spoon. It, too, had a handle five feet long. Yet no one was fighting for it. In fact, one man, who held the handle, reached out, picked up the food, and put it in the mouth of someone else, who ate, and was satisfied.

That person then took the spoon by the handle, reached for the food from the table, and put it in the mouth of the man who had just given him something to eat. And the guide said, "This is heaven!"

Consider the example of Mother Teresa, a great woman of God who died a few years ago. Certainly being merciful is the Prescription she lived by for many years.

A wife commented, "All my husband ever does is complain and criticize. He never com­pliments me. He tells how I could do better. I would recommend the prescription for her to start complimenting him.

If we have really received God's mercy, we must share His mercy with others.

Conclusion:

Years ago William Shakespeare wrote:

The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest.

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown.

Return