Learning to Love Mercy | Pastor Greg Ford Sermon | One Church Columbus
Learning to Love Mercy | Pastor Greg Ford Sermon | One Church Columbus
ICEBREAKER:
What is a memory from you childhood you still think about today?
MESSAGE NOTES:
Sermon: Learning to Love Mercy
[Micah 6:8]
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Judgement & Hope
Justice and Mercy are like opposing forces
[Genesis 37:3-4]
Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.
[Genesis 37:14]
“Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.”
Youngest is the supervisor, (Dothan is 10-15 miles walk from Shechem)
[Genesis 37:18-20]
When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
He was in Slavery (from 17-30…13 years) 22 years
False Accusations
The sin was in their heart before it was ever acted out. Our sin problem begins in our heart and must be dealt with on a heart level. Our goal is not only changing our behavior, but especially to let God change our heart. Christian transformation works from the inside out.
[Genesis 42:3-4]
So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4 But Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him.
[Genesis 43:34]
Joseph filled their plates with food from his own table, giving Benjamin five times as much as he gave the others.
[Genesis 44:16]
Judah answered, “Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we explain this? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves—all of us, not just our brother…”
[Genesis 45:1-2]
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
[Genesis 45:3-5]
“I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.
The test for both the brothers and for Joseph himself
Has there been a change?
Loving Mercy isn’t about letting somebody continue to offend with no consequences or accountability. This is not about allowing the perpetrator continue to perpetuate pain.
[Matthew 7:1-5]
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"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? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
[Matthew 7:1-5]
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"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? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
This is the most popular verse that a non-Christian will quote at you.
What it doesn’t mean…
1. To say that we’re not to judge, doesn’t mean that there is not a place for judgment
Jesus later in the passage refers to identifying false teachers
2. This doesn’t mean that imperfect people cannot correct us
If that was the case, nobody would have a leg to stand on
What is Jesus teaching us?
Do I condemn others while ignoring my own faults?
Doesn’t mean you can’t render judgment
You can’t go around condemning, criticizing, and judging without first taking a look at yourself
A plankeye is always looking for other’s faults without addressing your own
Story of Jesus writing on the ground
[John 7:7]
…“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
- before you pick up a stone you better pick up a mirror
Are my judgments redemptive?
You judge people without desiring to see them return to God and His ways
App. Are you the kind of person who says…
good she deserved that
I’m glad it happened to him
if it was up to me it would be worse
…maybe you see things that way because there is some plank in your eye
Justice, we want justice,
When we stand before God, we won’t be calling for justice
How do you want to be treated when you fail?
App. I can take a lot of criticism when I know that its in love
Easy to criticizes from the sidelines
The sin, is not the judgment, the sin is the wrong motivation
Am I judging others by their actions, but judge myself by my motives?
You did the wrong thing…until it’s us then it’s, “What I meant was.”
Do you look for the worst in other people?
Maybe when we find fault in other’s it’s because we have spiritual Lowell’s disease
Is this a time of “justice” or “mercy”?
I was listening to a man recently, and he was talking about the Bible, and the intent of the authors and the theme, and he kept using the word subversive in it kind of threw me off, because I have always heard the word subversive used as almost a synonym for divisive And when you look at it, and its purest definition, it’s that it disrupts the status quo or the human systems that we and it could be a negative thing or could be a positive and so I started to think about it especially with location, elocution and per location top of my thinking about And was he correct? And I think he is correct when we think of subversive it’s not divisive or incendiary but it disrupts our thinking. Also thinking about the verse in Micah that says do justly and love mercy think about mercy and justice, sometimes being in opposition to one another, and it forces us on a case by case basis to ask what is needed right now justice for mercy, it makes me think of Jesus and caught in the act of adultery. It also makes me think of testament Joseph if you play the story out, he could have declared justice by in prison, his brothers, but he also could have shown mercy by exonerated, his brothers, and in the story, we see him show mercy at the story who played out justice often the decisions we make throughout life as we’re living a biblical life it will cause us to have to make a decision, and the principles of the scripture are often subversive to our own desires
Life is full of complicated decisions
Subvert: undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution)
verb
1 a plot to subvert the state: destabilize, unsettle, overthrow, overturn; bring down, bring about the downfall of, topple, depose, oust, supplant, unseat, dethrone, disestablish, dissolve; disrupt, wreak havoc on, sabotage, ruin, upset, destroy, annihilate, demolish, wreck, undo, undermine, undercut, weaken, impair, damage.
2 he tried to subvert the minds of innocent teenagers: corrupt, pervert, warp, deprave, defile, debase, distort, contaminate, poison, embitter; vitiate.
Judgmental to each other because we are pretty limited by our about to be just
Perspective, confirmation bias,
Plank in your own eye
When something is close to you it obscure your vision
The Cross…accomplishing justice and mercy at the same time
QUESTIONS:
QUESTION 1:
Do I judge people by their actions? Do I judge myself on my motives? How has that effected others?
QUESTION 2:
Do you naturally look for the worst in other people?
QUESTION 3:
How were you treated when you have fallen recently in life? How do you think Jesus would treat you?
GUIDED PRAYER:
God thank you for your faithfulness and grace. God thank you for the truths you speak over our lives. God help us be intentional on how we approach gratitude. Lord I pray that you would transform our hearts to help us focus on the specific details of what we are thankful for. Thank you God. we love you, praise you, and worship you. In Jesus name - amen.