Rick Warren - How Mercy Can Heal Your Relationships (Part 2)

God wants you to be an agent of mercy in

the world. There's not enough mercy in this world, and

God wants you to be a provider. He wants you

to be an agent. He wants you to be a

purveyor of mercy in the world. Now, in the fifth

Key to a blessed life, Jesus says this Matthew five,

verse seven. God blesses those who are merciful, for they

will be shown mercy. In other words, what you give out,

you're going to get back. What you give you're going

to get. God blesses those who are merciful, for they

will be shown mercy. This is the fifth key to

a blessed life. You got to learn to be a

minister of mercy. You have probably noticed that the verbal

attacks on Christians are going up in our society. Have

you noticed this? And it's increased, and people are taking

slurs at Christians and potshots at Christians and being attacked

like never a foreign America. And there are a lot

of groups pushing anti Christian agendas today because we represent

a barrier, and the barrier is we hold on to

what God's truth is and we say sorry, God's truth

is God's truth and we just have to follow God's truth.

As Peter said, we must obey God rather than men.

And so these attacks are going up. What are you

supposed to do with these people, these people who are offensive.

I remember turning on the TV one time and hearing

a well known comic, well known comic using very blasphemous

and very vulgar terms as he read through the purpose

Driven Life and made fun of God, not of me,

but of God. And I sat there and I thought, now, Lord,

what would be my response to this guy? Because you know,

obviously he's not hurting me, but he certainly is offending you.

And and it just came in to me. I am

to be kind to those who are offensive. You see

the problem today is this whole idea of culture war

is you got to decide whether you want to win

the argument or win them to Christ. And and you've

heard me say this, for you can't. You don't ever

make a point, you don't get across your point by

being cross. You've got to just say, I'm more interested

in winning them to Christ than I am in winning

the argument. Let me give you an example of why

we ought to be kind to those who offend us

one Timothy Chapter one, Paul gives his own life as

an example. Even though I once was a blasphemer, there

are plenty of those in our world, and a persecutor

of Christians and a violent man. He said, I was

shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelieve. That's

the key. Realize they're acting in ignorance and unbelief. I

was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners,

Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for

others who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

You see, if you'd lived in Paul's days, you probably

wouldn't want to be very interested in being kind to

those who offend you. You wouldn't be interested in being

kind to Paul. He was persecuting Christians, he was attacking Christians,

he was throwing Christians in jail, and that he said,

I was shown mercy so that I could come to

Christ and then my life would be an example to others.

Jude Chapter one makes it even clearer Verse twenty two

twenty three show mercy to those who have doubts, and really,

some translation say, show those who disbelieve he's talking. He

could say, show mercy the atheist, show mercy to those

who have doubts, save others by snatching them from the fire.

One more for Jesus, show mercy to them while being

careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins. In other words,

we're to avoid sin, but we are to love everybody.

That's the way we show mercy. Now let me give

you two more. And these last two you have probably

never ever considered as acts of mercy, but Jesus taught

that they were acts of mercy, and even quotes Oaiah

six to six and both saying the reason you don't

get this is keys. You don't understand the full meaning

of mercy. So let me give you two more. A

sixth way that you can practice your ministry of mercy

this week is this, build bridges of love to the unpopular.

Build bridges of love to the unpopular. There are people

in your circle, people who live on your street that

nobody wants to hang out with, people who you work

with that everybody tells the joke behind their back. They

may have those quirks, or they may have a different lifestyle,

or they may have a different belief system. Or they

may have a different religion, or they may dress differently

because of their culture or whatever. But they're not on

the in crowd. They're not popular. They're the outcast. And

this is a facet of your ministry that's often overlooked.

Building a bridge of love to the unpopular is what

I call premeditated mercy. Now, you often think when I

say premeditated, you think a premeditated murder. But I'm saying

premeditated mercy involves intentionally building friendships with people who don't

have friends, and intentionally building friendship with people who are unbelievers,

and intentionally building friendships with people who seem on the edge,

are not as loved or as accepted in the mainstream

because of their religion, their lifestyle, their looks, or whatever.

And why does God want us to build bridges of

love to the unpopular and specifically the unbelievers. Because you

cannot win your enemies to Christ. You can only win

your friends. And before somebody's going to accept Christ, they've

got to have a bridge to Christ. And before they

want to know is Jesus credible? They want to know

are you credible? And before they know Jesus is their

friend they want to know, will you be my friend?

And long before anybody comes to Christ, it's somebody's got

to befriend that person. You cannot win an enemy to Christ.

You must win them to yourself. Before you win them

to Christ, you must become a friend. That's an act

of premeditated mercy. Here's a good example of it. Matthew.

Chapter nine the Bible says Matthew, who was one of

the twelve Disciples, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to

be his dinner guest. Nothing wrong with that. But then

it says, along with his fellow tax collectors and many

other notorious sinners. Now, if you're in the irs, I

apologize to you today. So a little bit different today.

You may be unpopular, but you aren't a notorious sinner

if you are a tax collector. But in those days,

here's why tax collectors were considered notorious sinners. They were

allowed to skim whatever they could get. So a tax

colector for Rome could come in and say, you know,

maybe you know Pharaoh, I mean Caesar would say I

want one denari from every household, and the tax collector

could come in and say, I need ten denari from you,

and you had no recourse, there was nobody to appeal to.

You had to pay it. It was like extortion. Then

he could pocket nine and pass on one. And so

the worst job, the most unpopular job, because they were

all cheats, they were crooks, they were swindlers, were the

tax collectors, and they were right out there along with

you know, prostitutes and lepers. And they didn't have drug

pushers in those days, but that kind of a level

of people that everybody despised. So it says Matthew invites

Jesus and his disciples to his dinner as his dinner guest,

along with all of these people of the ill repute,

his fellow tax collectors, and many other notorious sinners, the Pharisees,

that's the religious leaders. They were indignant. Why does your

teacher eat with such scum, they asked his disciples. And

when he heard this, Jesus replied, healthy people don't need

a doctor. Sick people do. Go learn the meaning of

this scripture, and he quotes HOSEA six six. I want

you to be merciful. I don't want your sacrifices, for

I've come to call sinners, not those who think they're

already good enough. Now follow me on the logic. On this,

the Pharisees are attacking Jesus for hanging out with the

wrong clock crowd, and Jesus says, you know what your

problem is, guys, you don't understand the true nature of mercy.

Why because they thought mercy was simply forgiving people and

helping people who need help. No, no, forget. Mercy also

includes building bridges of love to the unpopular. And Jesus

says it here. He says, I'm going to a party,

and I'm going to a party with people that nobody

wants to hang out with, the ill repute, the unpopular,

the fringe, the negative, the criminal, the riff raft. I'm

going to go to a party. Jesus says, why because

I understand mercy and you don't. And you don't, and

he says, go learn the meaning of HOSEA six to six. Now,

I want you to notice this because it's got a

lot of truth in here. It says Matthew invited circle.

That word invited. Question, when was the last time you

invited unbelievers for dinner? That's an act of mercy. When

was the last time you invited. Have you ever had

any notorious sinners in your home besides you? Besides you?

You want to be merciful. Now we're getting where the

rubber meets the road. Do you even have any close

unbelieving friends? Do you? If you don't, you're not like Jesus.

The problem is, the longer you are a Christian, the

more you tend to hang out with other Christians, and

the fewer non believing friends you got. How do you

expect the good news to get out if you don't

have any friends who are unbelievers and you're not inviting

them over for dinner. If you're not, you don't understand

what mercy is all about. Jesus says, go learn the scriptures. Now.

Notice it says Matthew invites these quote riff raft, these unpopular,

the non loved people of society over for dinner, and

it says the religious people are indignant. I want to

warn you that if you truly listen, if you truly

begin to live a life of mercy, the moral and

the political legalists will criticize you. They will attack you,

and they will get mad at you. Why because they

did with Jesus. Today. I want to invite you to

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If you truly begin to live a life of mercy,

the moral and the political legalist will criticize you. They

will attack you, and they will get mad at you.

Why because they did with Jesus. It wasn't It wasn't

the riff raff of life that disliked Jesus. It was

the religious people because he hung out with the wrong crowd.

It's like a Democrat hanging out with Republicans, or a

Republican actually having Democratic friends for dinner, or another religion

or another lifestyle, or someone who is involved in some

kind of sin you totally just agree with. If you

begin to live a life of mercy, you will be criticized.

This is a motivation behind much of the criticism that

I get. Why because I make friends with a lot

of different people. I have friends who are Muslims, and

I have friends who are Jewish and Mormon and Buddhists.

I have friends who are atheists. I have friends who

are gay. I have friends who are all kinds. I

spend when I'm not at saddleback, I spend most of

my time usually speaking to groups that I totally disagree with.

Why Because I'm practicing the ministry of mercy and Jesus

hung out with people who were different than him. This

is the motivation. Now they come to him, the pharisee say,

why do you hang out with this scum? You know,

let me ask you who's the socially unacceptable group in

your circle? By the way, they called him scum. Anytime

you use a put down or humor against somebody else,

you are being unmerciful. Now, Jesus wasn't afraid of guilt

by association for two reasons. He knew who he was,

and he knew what his mission was. He knewho he was.

He didn't need the approval of pharisees. He knew exactly

who he was, and he knew his mission to seek

to save that which is lost. And if you know

who you are, you don't need the approval of the legalist.

You don't need the approval of the critics. You don't

need the approval of the self righteous who set them

out as jury and judge on your life. You do

what Jesus did. You go have parties with people in

order to win them and love them, and share the

good news and show mercy. Jesus says to all these guys,

go learn the meaning of mercy. When they accuse him

of guilt by his sad association, then number seven one more,

and this one's going to surprise you too. Jesus taught

that to have a ministry of mercy, you must value

relationships over rules. You must value relationships over rules. Now,

if you're a rule keeper that just creates all the

wrong ways, and particularly if you're in the HR department

and you have policies and procedures, Jesus would say, put

people before policies, put people's needs before procedures, Put relationships

before rules and regulations. He would say, choose love over law.

Let me give you a very important and sightful incident.

Matthew chapter. By the way, look at this verset up

on the screen. Romans thirteen ten says love is the

fulfillment of the law. So if you're doing the loving thing,

it's genuinely for their benefit, not yours. For their benefit,

you're doing the right thing. Now look at Matthew chapter twelve.

Here's another time Jesus has a run in with the

legalist the Pharisees. Another time, Jesus was talking walking through

some grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry,

so they began to pick some grain and eat it.

Now some Pharisees saw this, these religious leaders, and they protested,

your disciples are breaking God's laws by harvesting grain on

the Sabbath. Okay, they're rule keepers. But Jesus said, haven't

you ever read what King David did when he and

his soldiers were hungry. He went into the House of God,

that's the Temple, and there he ate the holy bread,

the consecrated bread reserved for the priest. Then Jesus says

to the Pharisees, you would not have judged these innocent

men talking about his disciples if you knew the real

meaning of scripture. I want you to be merciful. I

don't want your sacrifices. There it is again, He quotes

Hosiah six six for the second time, for I am

the Lord of the Sabbath, and he's saying, here, I

put love before the law. I put people before procedures.

I put relationships before rules and regulation. He says, You

guys don't get it because you don't understand the meaning

of mercy. He says, I want you to go and

read that scripture. If you knew the real meaning of

the scripture. I don't want your sacrifice, I want your mercy.

Then you wouldn't have a problem with the disciples picking

some grain on the Sabbath. They're hungry. Dare you to

do something very risky this week? Not pitt grant on

the Sabbath, But I want to dare you to commit

an act of premeditated mercy with one of these categories.

Yes there is at tension. Yes there is a tension

between mercy and personal responsibility. Yes there is. But I

have personally decided that if I'm going to air, I'm

going to air on the side of being too gracious,

too merciful, and too forgiving, Because if you're gonna air.

That's the side I would rather err on. Does that

makes sense? Let me see Wait a minute, Rick, can

you go can't you just go overboard on mercy? Absolutely

you can. Jesus did. It's called the cross. On the

cross with arms outstretched, he says, I'm doing this to

be merciful. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.

That is the most over the top example of mercy ever.

He let them beat him, whip him, scourge him, spit

on him, put a crown of thorns on him, and

he never retaliated. He absorbed every one of the blows.

And then what's his response? Father, forgive them? They don't

know what they're doing. Like Paul says, I was ignorant

and unaware of what I was doing. Can you go

overboard on mercy? Yes, you can. Look at the cross.

It's way way way overboard. Maybe you've never accepted God's

mercy to you, the Bible says and Titus three five.

It is not by works of righteous as we have done.

We talked about that last week. According to his mercy,

he has saved us. The Bible tells us in Hebrews

four sixteen, let us approach the throne of Grace with confidence,

for there we will find mercy, mercy and grace to

help us in our time of need. If you haven't

accepted the grace and mercy of God, you need to

do so today. Now I want us to close a

little bit different way today. I want you to bow

your heads right now, but I want you to keep

your eyes open. Okay, So if you'll bow your head

and keep your eyes open so you can look at

your message notes. And what I want to do is

I want to end by asking you to consider some

personal application questions and then doing something about it in

these seven areas of how do I be merciful? So

I'm going to ask you a question, and next to

each of these numbers, I want you to write down

an initial, just the first initial of a person that

you're thinking about. Okay, So number one, how do I

be merciful? Be patient with people's quirks? I want you

to write down who has irritating quirks that I need

to be patient with this week? Now, nobody's going to

see this except you, but you can just write down

the first letter of their name. Who has irritating quirks

that I need to be patient with this week? Write

down a name? Number two, who around me is obviously

hurting that I could help? This week? Can you write

down a name? Can you write down an initial? If

you can't think of anybody who's obviously hurting around it

means this you're not paying attention. It means you're so

wrapped up in yourself you can't even see the people

around you who are hurting. Okay, how about number three?

The third one? Give people a second chance? Who do

I need to give a second chance to? This may

be tough for you, but this is the ministry of mercy.

Who do I need to give a second chance? To

write down an initial, first initial of somebody? You can

use this later on this week. Number four, do good

to those who hurt me? Who has hurt me? That

I could do good to? Who has hurt me? That

I could do good to? Number five. I am to

be kind to those who offend me. Who offends me?

Maybe it's a comedian, maybe it's a politician, maybe it's somebody,

But you can write down a name, maybe somebody close

to you, who offends me? That I should start praying for?

Who offends me? That I should start praying for rather

than just being offended by them. Maybe if you're close enough,

you could be kind to them. Number six, build bridges

of love to the unpopular. Who's the outcast? Who's the

unpopular person that I could build a bridge of love to?

Who is the outcast or unpopular person I could build

a bridge of love to at work in my community,

at the soccer games, here, at church anywhere. And then

number seven, who is an unbeliever I could invite over

for dinner in the next two weeks, just like Matthew did.

Who's an unbeliever that I could invite over for dinner

in the next couple weeks, then invite them to church. This, friends,

is your ministry of mercy, Heavenly Father, your word convicts

all of us. And as I look at these seven things,

I think of lax and false weaknesses in my own life.

And I pray that, rather than just hearing the word,

we would do something about it. Give us the courage

to be merciful, Give us the courage to this week

to do radical, premeditated acts of mercy in Jesus' name. Amen,