Rick Warren - Your Ministry of Mercy—Part One

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.

Now.

In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus' Sermon on the

Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful

and purpose filled life. So let's jump right in with

part one of your Ministry of Mercy.

One of Saddleback's values, one of our ten key values,

is every member is a minister. Not everybody is a pastor.

But if you're called to follow Christ, you're called to serve.

To be a servant is to be a minister. To

be a minister, to be a servant the word serve

and minister of the same in the Bible, and the

Bible says every believer is a minister. Now, we all

minister in different ways, but anytime you help somebody else

in Jesus' name, that is called ministry. And as they said,

the Bible says, there are different kinds of service, different

kinds of ministries, but there is one ministry that we

all have in common. And that's what I want us

to look at this weekend. I call it your ministry

of mercy. 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. Now, what is mercy. Well, usually we

think of two things. Usually we think of forgiving people

who don't deserve it, or we think of helping people

who can't help themselves. And those are two definitions of

mercy that we typically think of. But mercy, which by

the way, is a part of God's character, has so

much more to say and to do in your life

than simply those two things. Mercy is really like a

it's like a diamond. It's multifaceted. And this weekend I

want us to look at seven facets of mercy, seven

ways that you can transform your relationships, because I guarantee you,

if you'll learn how to be an agent of mercy,

it's going to change your work relationships, your marriage, your friendships,

family relationships, any other relationship you've got if you learn

how to be an agent of mercy. But before we

look at how to practice mercy in a relationship, I

want to just ask the question why, why in the

world should I be merciful? So just write these four down.

This is kind of a little introduction here. And the

first reason that we need to show mercy is because

God has shown me mercy. God has shown me mercy.

The Bible says that God is merciful. It's emphasized all

through the Bible. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of

scripture to talk about God's mercy and his love, his compassion,

and his grace. Let me show you a couple verses.

One is up here on the screen. Ephesians chapter two,

verse four or five says this God's mercy is so abundant,

and his love for us is so great that why

we were spiritually dead in our disobedience. He brought us

to life with Christ. It is by God's grace you

have been saved. God has shown mercy to us. Now

the point is this, God wants me to act in

the same way to our other people. He wants me

to pass on the mercy that I received from God.

He wants me to pass on. Look at the next verse.

It's there on your outline, Matthew eighteen. Shouldn't you have

mercy on others just as I had mercy on you.

Jesus is telling a story here about an unmerciful employee

and he owes his boss some money, and the boss says, well,

I'm gonna show mercy on you. Let's just clear your

debt and I'm gonna just wipe it off and just

say we're even. And the guy can't believe it because

he's been shown such great mercy. But then he goes

out to some people who owe him some money far

less money, and he starts grabbing him by the throat.

He say, pay me or I'm going to have you

thrown in prison. When the boss hears about it, he goes,

what are you doing. I was merciful to you, and

you're not merciful to the people around you. You're a

wicked guy. And he throws him in prison. God says,

if I show mercy to you, I expect you to

show it to others. God has shown me mercy. Second reason,

God come d me to be merciful. God commands me

to be merciful. There's a verse in the Bible in Micah.

I'm going to show it to you up here on

the screen. It's again one of many verses. God has

told you what is good and what he requires from you. Okay,

so whatever comes next is what God says is good

and is required of you. And here's what's required of you.

Three things. To do what is right with others, to

love being merciful to others, and to live humbly in

fellowship with God. Now leave that up there for a minute.

That's if you want to summarize what life's all about.

God says, this is what's required of you. If you're

going to be in my family, if you're going to

be my child, you got to do what's right with others.

You got to love being merciful to others, and you

got to live humbly in fellowship with God. One third

of God's requirement for you on this planet is to

learn mercy. Why because God is let me shock you

with this next statement. God says that being merciful is

more important than worship. Did you hear that? God says

that you being merciful to other people is actually more

important than worship. Hoseiah six, verse six. God says this,

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

Now what is he saying here? He's saying, I don't

want your acts of worship. I want you to be merciful.

This is much more important. In fact, this verse Hoseiah

chapter six, verse six is so important Jesus quotes it

two times in his ministry in two totally unrelated situations

in debates with the Pharisees. This is one of the

most important verses in the Bible. So look at it again.

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

God is saying, I prefer a flexible heart over in

an inflexible ritual. I don't care if you come, and

saying I praise you. I love you, you're great and

all of that, and then you go out and you

treat people like dirt. You treat your wife or your husband,

or your children, or your friends, or the people you

work with, or or people who are working at fast

food joints, whatever. He says. If you don't treat people

with mercy, you've missed the whole point. God's shown me mercy,

and he commands me to be merciful. There's a third

reason I need to learn what we're gonna look at

this weekend, and it's because I'm gonna need more mercy

in the future. I'm gonna need more mercy in the future.

You're not gonna be perfect between now and when you

get to heaven. And the Bible tells us that we

cannot receive what we are unwilling to give. And so

in James Chapter two James two, verse thirteen, the Bible

says this, you must circle that word must. You must

show mercy to others, or God won't show mercy to you.

But here's the good news. The person who shows mercy

can stand without fear at the judgment. Don't you want

to be able to do that on judgment day? To

be able to stand without fear on judgment day. It says,

the person who shows mercy can stand without fear on

the judgment day. Now there's the fourth reason, and that

is showing mercy brings or causes happiness. Showing mercy brings happiness,

it's really the source of happiness. The Bible teaches over

and over in scripture that the more merciful I am,

the happier I'm going to be. Remember the beatitude is

the word blessed also means happy macarios. He's saying, happy

are the merciful. If you want to be happy, you

need to learn this quality. And the more you learn

this quality, the happier you're going to be. Look at

this verse on the screen. The Bible says, if you

want to be happy, Roverbs fourteen twenty one, be kind

to those in need. And then he says, it is

a sin to despise anyone. And let me show you

another one. Proverbs eleven seventeen says this, a merciful person

helps himself, but the cool person hurts himself. So you

actually help yourself when you are merciful. I love this

verse Proverbs eleven seventeen. In the Living Bible, it says,

your own soul is nourished when you show mercy. Your

own soul is nourished when you show mercy. So these

four reasons God shown me mercy. He commands me to

be merciful. I'll need mercy in the future and it's

the key to happiness. Tell me that this is an

important quality that I need to build into my life.

All right, let's look at how can I learn this

quality of mercy in a world that's not very merciful,

it's pretty unmerciful. How do I fulfill what God can

my ministry of mercy. Some of these ways you're quite

familiar with, but I guarantee you there's a few of

them that you probably have never even thought of. Oh

that's a part of mercy, and yes it is too.

Let's look at them. Number one, be patient with people's quirks.

Be patient with people's quirks. I'm talking about don't look

at them right now. They're idiosyncrasies, their peculiarities, their mannerisms,

their odd behavior, they're irritating habits. You know what I'm

talking about, right, Okay, you show mercy. You show mercy

when you don't get irritated and you don't get angry,

and you don't get uptight with people's personal quirks. And

we've all got them. You've got them, I've got them,

and we've all got these little mannerism and irritating habits.

A way of speaking and thinking and talking and acting.

When you control your anger and when you refuse to

get upset by people's quirks, you are showing mercy. It's

a very practical way. Now, I want to give you

maybe the most important marriage advice you'll ever get in

your life. It's the next verse Ephesians four to two.

Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other's faults.

Why because of your love circle the phrase making allowance,

making allowance for each other's faults. You see, you married

a sinner, guys, and she married a bigger one. Two

imperfect people cannot make a perfect marriage. You have faults,

your spouse has faults. And marriage is the great. Marriage

is the union of two great forgivers. That's what makes

a great marriage. It's the union of two great forgivers.

Now it says here, make allowance for each other's faults,

because your love the number one place you need to

learn to show mercy is at home. It's at home.

Why because you see each other's faults far more than

anybody else does, and you're up close and personal with

those faults, and you've got to live with them the

rest of your life. So show mercy. Show mercy, you know.

And when I used to do marriage counseling, I discovered

that marriages don't die usually because of one big catastrophe.

Marriages are buried because of a lot of little digs,

and they're just little nagging and digging and nagging and digging.

It says, make allowance for each other's faults because of

your love. Look over this verse on the screen. James

two thirteen says, the man who makes no allowances for

others will find none made for him. None may show mercy.

The Bible says we show mercy by being patient with

each other's quirks, our foibles, our weaknesses, are mistakes, all

of the things that make us make us human. Say

I really want to do that? How do I How

do I get more patience with my kids, with my spouse,

with my friends? How do I get more patient? One

word wisdom. The wiser you get, the more patient you

will be. The Bible says this in James Chapter three.

The wisdom that comes from heaven is pure and peace loving,

and gentle at all times, circle all gentle at all times,

and is willing to yield to others. Wisdom is full

of mercy. The wiser you get, the more merciful you get.

A lot of people who think they're wise. Aren't there, pompous?

Pompous you thought I was going to say that worried.

Wisdom is full of mercy. Now, notice it says there

wisdom from heaven is peace loving. If you're not peace loving,

you're not wise. It says it's general at all times.

If you're easily irritated, you're not wise. It says it's

willing to yield. If you're unwilling to yield, you're not wise.

The wiser I become, the more patient and merciful I become,

the more unbending, the more irritating, the more angry, the

more I get upset, the more foolish, the Bible says,

I am. If you're easily irritated, you're not wise. So

be patient with people's quirks. Number two, the second way

to practice mercy this week, help anyone hurting around me

help anyone hurting around me. They're hurting people all around you,

but too often we're too busy to notice it. If

you care, you'll be aware. Jesus told the story of

the Good Samaritan to teach this very point about helping

the hurting around us is the meaning of mercy. A

guy came to Jesus one day and he said, Jesus,

what's the most important command in the Bible? Okay, give

me the bottom line here. I don't have time to

read the whole Bible, So what is it that matters most?

And Jesus said, oh, that's really easy. It's two things.

Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor

as yourself. That's the whole Bible in a nutshell. Love

God with all your heart and love your neighbors yourself. Now,

the guy wants to get out of this, and he's

kind of weasling out of us. He says, so love

your neighbors yourself. Yeah, who's my neighbor? And Jesus says, well,

let me tell you a story, and he tells the

story of the famous story of the Good Samaritan, of

the man who was going down the road to Jericho

and he is he's robbed, and he's beaten, and he's abused,

and he's left for dead at the side of the road,

and three guys pass by him, and two of them

do nothing, and the third guy of another race and

culture stops and helps him, nurses him back to health,

puts him on his donkey, takes him to a hotel

or motel, checks in, pays the bill for the guy

and says that if he has any other bills, when

I come back by, I'll pay for it. And Jesus

looks at the guy. He says, who's my neighbors? Who

do you think was the neighbor? And the man says,

the guy who showed the most mercy, the guy who

showed the most mercy. You cannot love your neighbor as

yourself without being merciful. And we help those around us.

Look at some verses here priors three twenty seven. Whenever

you possibly can do good to those who need it,

you got to look for it now. By the way,

when you are helping people in need, and they're going

to be people in your area of life this week

that God intentionally puts in your life to allow you

to practice mercy. They're going to have an emotional need,

they're going to have a physical need, a financial need.

They may just need an assistance. They may need, you know,

help you to care for him in some way. God,

when he's watching you, is not simply watching what you do.

He's watching your attitude. Look at this verse Romans twelve eight.

When you do acts of mercy, show mercy with what cheerfulness? Yeah?

Circle that with cheerfulness. He says. You don't do it

grinning and bearing it. You don't do it as a

grudging attitude. I love this verse Romans twelve eight. And

the message paraphrase look up here on the screen. It

says this, if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let

yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep

a smile on your face. That's good word. Keep a

smile on you. That, friends, is mercy. Mercy is being

patient with people's quirks, and it's being helpful with people's hurts.

Number three third way you can show mercy this week.

Give people a second chance, and everybody needs that. Give

people a second chance. We forgive the fallen, especially those

who have hurt you. You need to forgive now that's

not normal, is it? Normally? When somebody hurts us, we

want to do one or two things, either A get

even or B write them off. Somebody hurts you, you

don't want to be giving them a second chance, your

natural inclination. That guy hurt me at work, you know,

he messed me up. He you know, he put me

down in front of somebody else. Whatever, you either want

to get back or you want to write them off.

But here's what the Bible says Ephesians four. Don't get

bitter or angry or use harsh words that hurt each other.

Don't yell at one another or curse or ever be rude. Instead,

be kind and merciful and forgive others just as God

forgave you. Now, notice in that verse, Jesus contrast or

the Bible contrast mercy with six negative responses. You might

circle those, okay, because he says, if you want to help,

if you want to be merciful, he says, don't get bitter.

That's number one. Don't get angry, don't use harsh words,

don't yell, don't curse, and don't be rude. Do you

see why mercy is so important today? Because that's the

way the world acts today. That's the world responds with bitterness,

harsh words, hurt. If you don't believe it, just go

on the internet and you'll see that there's very, very

little mercy on the internet. How would you rate yourself

on mercy? How would you rate yourself bitter, angry, harsh words,

you yelled, your courage, you get rude, or you always

kind and merciful for giving others just as God forgave you.

How would you rate yourself in this See, we want

saddle Back to be known, not for our size, and

not for our great programs or great music or anything else.

We want saddle Back to be known. That's the church

of mercy. That's the church of mercy, and when you

go there, that's the place to get a second chance.

In fact, it's in our values. You know. We have

this word saddleback S A D, D, L, E, B

A C K, and each letter represents one of our

ten values we talk about in class one oh one,

and the first s of Saddleback is second chants, place

of grace. This is very thing here. It's we want

this to be a church of mercy, a second chance

place of grace where if you've messed up. You need

to start over. You need a fresh start. This is

the Church for you, and so we are to do

We are to give people a second chance. Number four

Another way to show mercy, do good to those who

hurt me. I am to do good to those who

hurt me. See, if you really boil it down, mercy

is giving people what they need, not what they deserve.

That's mercy, giving people what they need, not what they deserve.

Why because that's what God does with you. God gives

you what you need, not what you deserve. If I

got what I deserve from God, I wouldn't be standing here.

I wouldn't be alive. But the Bible says we give

people what they need, not what they deserve, and we

do good to those who are Why should I do

good to those who hurt me? How many times have

you heard me say hurt people? Hurt people? Yeah, hurt

people hurt people. And the people who you want to

love the least are those who need it the most.

The most hurtful people are those who need massive doses

of love and mercy. Let me ask you to just

think in your mind, who's hurt you the most in life?

Think about that who hurts you the most in life?

They need your mercy. Let me ask you this, who's

hurts you the most recently in life? They need your mercy.

The Bible says this in Luke chapter six, Jesus says,

love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to

them without expecting anything back, sa witmute, Why would I

want to do that? Well, remember those four reasons we

went over. God shown me mercy. He commands me to

be merciful. I'm gonna need mercy in the future, and

it's the key to happiness. Anytime you hold on to hurt,

you're making yourself miserable. You're not hurting them. Love your enemies,

do good to them, and lend to them without expecting

get anything back. You see, if somebody hurts you, that

puts you above them. If you forgive them, if you

get even, you're just on the same level. You know

better than they are. If you get even, if you

do a hurt, you're beneath them. If you get even,

you get you're even. But if you forgive them, you're

above them. Morally, Love your enemies, do good to them,

and lend to them without expecting anything back. Then your

reward will be great. There's a motivation, and you will

be the children the most high. In other words, you

get the identity because God is kind to the ungrateful

and wicked. Is God kind to the ungrateful and wicked?

Just look at the world. God is kind to the

ungrateful and wicked, and so he says, so be merciful,

just as your Father is merciful.

Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I've

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