Rick Warren - Your Ministry of Mercy—Part Two

Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

We are so glad you're here with us today. We're

going to continue our series called The Keys to a

Blessed Life. And in these messages, Rick walks through Jesus'

Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live

a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. All right, now,

here's the final part of the message, your ministry of mercy.

You know, there's a famous story about President Abraham Lincoln's

mercy that after the Southern States were defeated by the

Northern States in the Civil War in America one hundred

and fifty years ago, President Lincoln spoke to a crowd

in Washington, d c. From the balcony of the White House,

and he was laying out how his plan for reconstruction.

And at the end of his speech, a very famous

senator from Iowa, whose name was James Harlan, shouted out, and.

What do we do with the rebels?

What do we do with these confederates who had started

this whole war in the first place. And the unmerciful

crowd shouted back, hang them, hang them, hang them. And

what was interesting and this famous story is that Lincoln's

youngest son, Tad, who was at eleven at the time,

was standing next to him and he said, looked up

at his daddy. He said, no, Daddy, no, Papa, no,

not hang them, hang on to them, hang on to them.

And Lincoln grinned at his eleven year old son and

he said, that's it to Tad's got the answer. We're

not going to hang them. We're going to hang on

to them. And that is mercy number five. A fifth

way to show mercy is to be kind. The Bible says,

to those who offend me, be kind to those who me.

You have probably noticed that the verbal attacks on Christians

are going up in our society.

Have you noticed this?

And it's increasing, 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 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 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 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 unbelief.

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

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

and really some translation, they show those who disbelieve he's

talking about. He can say, show mercy the atheists, 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 quote Sosaiah 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 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 or are not as

loved or as accepted in the mainstream because of their religion,

their lifestyle, their looks, or whatever. Now, why does God

want us to build bridges of love to the unpopular

and specifically to 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, 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, she 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 is 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.

It's 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 collector, for Rome could

come in and say, you know, Caesar would say I

want one denari from every household, and the tax collector

could come in and say I need tendinary 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.

There 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 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 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 criminals, 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 have.

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 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

disagree 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've

come to him. The Pharisee said, 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

and 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. And Jesus says

to all these guys, go learn the meaning of mercy.

When they accuse him of guilt by 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 verse up

on the screen. Romans twelve 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 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.

Now get this.

The Pharisees come and say, you're disciples are breaking the law.

The Jewish law.

Says you can't harvest grain on the Sabbath, and they're

harvesting grain.

And Jesus said, wait a minute, they're hungry. They're hungry.

I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made

for man, not man for 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.

I want to dare you to do something very risky

this week.

Not pitt gran 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 err on.

The side of being too gracious, too merciful, and too forgiving,

because if you're going to air, that's the side I

would rather err on. Does that make 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 of 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 saysn't tied

us three five. It is not by works of righteousness

as we have done. We talked about that last week.

But 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 too? 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 and then invite

them to church. This, friends, is your ministry of mercy heaven.

They Father, Your word convicts all of us. And as

I look at these seven things, I think of lax

and faults. Weakness is 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.

Such a great message from Pastor Rick today, and I

hope you were just as encouraged as I was. Once again,

here's Rick.

Hello everybody.

This is Rick and I have just returned from Amsterdam

where I was at a conference where we had over

six thousand church leaders pastors from all.

Around the world.

Literally one hundred and forty nations came to Amsterdam for

a week of training where we were teaching them about

the good news of Jesus Christ and more important, how

to share the good news of Jesus Christ and help

finishing the task around the world in the next ten years.

That is the goal to get the gospel to every

person in the world in the next ten years, by

twenty thirty three, which is the two thousandth birthday of Christianity.

And you know what was the most exciting to me

is that people came to me from all around the world.

Like I said, one hundred and forty nations and said,

I listened to Daily Hope every day in Kazakhstan, in Bhutan,

in Bolivia, in Namibia, on every continent. I heard time

and time again, Pastor Rick, the Word of God is

changing my life. Friends, That's what Daily Hope is all about.

And for me, since I get your letters and I

love to read your letters and I love to hear

your stories, but to be face to face with about

six thousand people who were listening to Daily Hope on

a regular basis and hearing how it's changed their lives

and influence their ministries, it just makes me want to say,

to all of you who pray for this ministry and

all of you who support this ministry, thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers, for

your gifts, for your support you're making a difference. When

you get to heaven. You're going to meet people in

heaven who've come to Christ because you prayed and because

you gave.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is

sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.