Embodying God's Mercy: A Call to Compassion

We’ve been lead in prayer, and our task is to consider this matter of mercy. Perhaps I could begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis from “The Four Loves.” You remember this from the end of the book. Lewis writes, “Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty. We easily imagine conditions far higher than we have actually reached. If we describe what we have imagined, we may make others and make ourselves believe that we have really been there and so fool both them and ourselves.” [00:01:21]

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. That is not all that He is, but it is essentially what He is. Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 5, and he says to them “I want you to be imitators of God.” So that there is to be a godly, god-like dimension that marks out those who are the children of God. And God's goodness is expressed in part in His mercy, in so far as it is displayed towards those who are made aware of their misery and of their distress. [00:02:57]

Jesus has expressed these woes on the self-sufficient, and then He says: “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you; and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” [00:05:59]

Well, then it follows surely, that failure to practice what Jesus has just declared, that failure will not be able to be excused on account of ignorance. It will be impossible for us to say that our failure in this realm in the matters as they have been delineated is on account of the fact that we do not understand. The second question is perhaps a harder question. “How well do you think Christianity in North America is doing when placed alongside the clarity of the instruction of Jesus that we have just read?” [00:08:23]

But listen loved ones, Jesus sent us out to engage in mission. We have no justifiable basis to change the charge from mission to one of admonition, to fail to do what we are asked to do in rescuing the perishing and caring for the dying, snatching them in pity from sin and the grave and from weeping over the erring one, and picking up the fallen. At what point in the history of evangelical Christianity did that finally be transmuted into something entirely different? [00:15:21]

He’s addressing the danger of religious hypocrisy. He's addressing the possibility that exists of embracing something in a formal and external way of having been able to commit oneself to the various aspects of it all, and yet to have a heart that is unrenewed by the very grace that is necessary. Now, just look at the story. There’s a story of two men. You know it well. Many of you have done it for years. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. As a Pharisee, he was a separatist. [00:19:27]

The Pharisee is the epitome of the religious person who feels good about himself, feels good about herself; uses the occasion constantly to stoke their ego and their separation from everything that is foul and evil and unjust and so on. Often, such individuals have no non-Christian friends at all. It is a long, long time since any of them had ever had an encounter with someone that they would regard as disreputable or not in their social circle, or beyond the realm of their interest and so on. [00:24:47]

And probably these three chapters, more than any of the epistles, drive home this absolute and unequivocal demand for the children of God to be marked by the character of God. That these individuals that Paul is encouraging Titus to encourage are to be those who are ready for every good work. You will see that at the first verse in chapter 3. “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and to be ready for every good work.” [00:29:02]

And this is taking place in an environment where the influential false teachers are, according to verse 16 of chapter 1, “unfit for any good work.” In fact, Paul speaks very straightforwardly about them. Crete was a proverbial place for moral decadence. Contemporary historians recorded it as being almost impossible to find personal conduct more treacherous, or public policy more unjust than in Crete. OK. Let me just read that to you again. [00:30:09]

Loyalty, community, courtesy. I’m not sure that courtesy is a big enough word for this, but it covers all that’s mentioned here: to speak evil of no one; to avoid quarreling; to be gentle; to show perfect courtesy toward all people. So, the Christian, then, is to be marked by grace, politeness, manners, respect, displayed in our gestures, displayed in our demeanor. Not displayed in a bumper sticker as I saw on one car the other day, that said “Thank God for our troops, especially for our snipers.” [00:35:11]

The story of the good Samaritan was essentially told again by Jesus to counteract that notion. All that man wanted to know was who is my neighbor. Tell me who my little group is. Tell me where I can draw the circle around myself beyond which I don't have to be engaged in anybody's life, involved in any way at all. Just tell me. Us four, no more, shut the door. Round the wagons. We can stay away from all these miserable wretches that are out there. [00:40:42]

Augustine said “The cross is the pulpit of God’s love.” Ian Murray, in his little booklet, says “Persuading men and women of God's love is the great calling of Christian ministry.” And yet here we are all these years beyond the 60’s, and some of us lived through them and we played in some of those albums, those dreadful songs – “I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your ha-ha-hand.” [00:52:32]