Blessed are the Merciful-Doug Crum

All right.

I had all planned out what I wanted to do and had my notes and everything, and I'm sitting in the the chair, and I thought, I I just want to go a different direction.

I don't know for how long, but it's just on my heart.

I I hope that this is spirit-led, but I want to shift gears for just a second, and then hopefully we'll end up back on the Sermon on the Mount.

If we don't, don't worry about it.

We have nine months of it.

You'll get plenty of the Sermon on the Mount, I hope.

Back in March 28th, 1990, the Chicago Bulls were playing the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was a crazy game.

It went into overtime, and the Bulls ended up winning 117 to 113.

Fantastic game.

But what was really special about that game is that was the night that Michael Jordan put up a career-high 69 points in a single game.

After the game, it was a madhouse in the locker room.

They were cheering, they were excited, and every reporter is huddled around Michael Jordan to hear the story of how he scored so many points.

And then over on the side by himself was this rookie by the name of uh Stacey King.

Is that right?

So he's sitting there, nobody's asked him any questions, but a reporter has given up on getting a quote from Michael Jordan.

So he goes over to the rookie who was in for the game for a couple minutes.

He had two shots, missed both of them, he was fouled and made one of his free throws.

And so the uh reporter goes over to him and says, How does it feel to be a part of a game when Michael Jordan scores 69 points and Stacy King says, I will never forget this day.

I will tell my kids and my grandkids, today was the day that Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points.

Like, how awesome is that to be on the winning team?

I want you to know something, folks.

Jesus is on the winning team.

Like, he has scored more points.

And it it is just awesome to imagine that we could in some small way be a part of kingdom growth and how the gospel is being spread even in really difficult times.

Um, I don't know exactly how old Dart is, so please forgive me.

I'm gonna do a little math here.

But when he was in third grade, maybe about 20 years ago, he had a teacher, and his teacher loved on him, supported him, probably scolded him a little bit too, as third grade boys need to be scolded, but but poured into him so much so that years and years later they would run into each other in a parking lot and they would start talking.

And his third grade teacher invited him to come to church.

Like there was no sermon out in that parking lot, there was not a recitation of all these passages.

It was like, hey, why don't you come and join me in church?

And he started traveling back and forth from rising star, got to listen to an awesome preacher.

That was obviously before me.

Tom was here, and he got to be poured in by Tom and all of you folks.

Uh, and he and his his girlfriend, now fiance soon-to-be wife, just kept coming back and back again.

And last week he chose to be baptized, and he will tell you his he is on fire for Jesus.

And God gets all the glory for it.

But isn't it awesome how he used a conversation in a parking lot with a past teacher that helped make a big change?

How awesome is that! I just got to meet Macy just uh a few days ago, and she is phenomenal.

She is sweet and kind and good, and we laughed about Gil.

Uh, she she knows uh Gil and Ronnie.

Uh, in fact, she's good friends uh with uh Macy and Noah.

They they went to school together, kind of different ages, but she knew them, and through that relationship with them, she was acquainted acquaintances with Ronnie.

I think I'm pretty close to the story, and they started having conversations.

I think part of it is that she goes to the same bank where where Ronnie works, and they started having a conversation and started talking about it, and because of that, she says, Hey, I I want to be baptized.

And so Ronnie gave some numbers of some folks up here at the church and got in touch with us, and we got to talk about it, and the trajectory of Macy's life has drastically changed because of Jesus Christ, and because a bank teller was willing to talk to a person about who Jesus was and to be kind and loving.

And I just want you to know, I wish I knew all of you a little bit better because I'm almost certain that every one of you has had a deep, profound impact on somebody's life.

And it's not because you are a preacher in a church building, it's because you love Jesus and you love other people.

And that's happening all over the place.

It's happening all over in Brownwood when your teachers, and I mean this with all sincerity, bless you.

All the things that you are going through as a teacher and these kids that are coming in and they're struggling and they're hurting and they're alone and they're lost and they're afraid, and there's so many things they're missing out on, and your job is way more than talking to them about reading and writing, and you're pouring into these kids.

And maybe, just maybe, the pouring in that you do now is going to have an effect in 20 years when they bump into you or somebody else at a post office and start asking questions about Jesus.

And I just want you to know, like, what Giles does, that's awesome.

Lance, there you are.

That's that's great.

Shanna, wherever you're sitting, that's great.

She's probably back with the kids now.

What I do, like, that's that's nice, but but let's be honest.

Worship is not just here.

What you guys are doing out in your workplaces, wherever you are, you can make a difference.

I don't know that somebody that Phyllis House would have believed that she would have been so instrumental in bringing a family closer to Jesus by having a conversation in a parking lot, but it did.

And so my encouragement for all of you is be bold and and and be grateful because someday we are gonna get to stand before God and we're gonna get to talk about how Jesus scored nine million points and we made a free throw and we are on the same team together.

And so for those of you uh who are actively finding ways to show and share your faith, just my prayers is that you will continue on and you may strike out a lot, you may get some weird looks.

If you're pouring into a kid in your classroom, they're probably not going to acknowledge that or even fully understand it, but don't give up.

God does really great things, and all he wants is people who love him and are willing to follow his call.

So there we go.

Oh, I forgot to step my start my stopwatch, so none of that counted against me.

We're just gonna start right right now.

Okay.

It's as if I just okay, I'll I'll try not to take quite as long, but um, we've been looking through the Beatitudes.

Uh, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the the the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

But when we get to this fifth and sixth one, it gets so much more real, at least for me, when I think about this.

This fifth one is blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Now, I'm really genuinely as a minister, as a Christian, as a human, I really struggle with this verse.

I really struggle with it because there is one side in which I and probably most of us can argue that what we get from God is something that we don't deserve.

Right?

It's free, we can't earn it.

It is this grace that we get.

But then on the other side, we have Jesus who is saying, those who are merciful, they will be shown mercy.

And this is not the end of it.

We're gonna get to this.

Jesus is gonna circle back around to this over and over again, especially as he talks about forgiveness.

And so, how do we deal with the fact that it's it's free, it's it's unmerited, we we can't earn it.

But but then uh on the other hand, Jesus says, those who want to receive mercy are people who are merciful in their own lives.

So, how do we really try to balance this out?

And and so I don't really know how to do this.

Um, but let's see, do we have any is Kip around here?

He's hey Kip, how are you?

Uh how old are you?

You're 15.

When do you turn 16?

Next month.

So let's say this.

Let's um can I give you a hypothetical?

I want to imagine that on your 16th birthday, I want to give you a new car.

This is hypothetical for those of you who are recording.

What kind of car, if you could have any car, which one would you like?

You got three seconds to answer.

A Lamborghini.

Okay, so there we have it.

In this hypothetical war world, Kip is gonna get a Lamborghini from me.

Um, but I I have some conditions.

Uh, what I want you to do is um, I want you, you're you're a cross country runner.

Woo! Go cross country.

Anyone?

Any anyone?

Oh, wait, I forgot this is football country.

I was in cross country.

We got to stick together, dude.

Okay, so here's what I want you to do.

I will give you a Lamborghini, but at your next meet, you have to run as best as you can.

No numbers, no places.

That's I just want you to run the very best that you can.

And if you do that, then you're gonna get a Lamborghini.

Does that work for you?

He's you gotta nod your head.

Okay, I can't see that well, but it looks like he's possibly nodding his head.

So, can we use that as an illustration?

I I suppose we can, but I want to break that apart why maybe it's not the best illustration.

One uh is this uh it's that um that's actually grace, not mercy.

Does anybody can anybody define what grace is?

Grace is getting something that you don't deserve.

Okay, mercy is not getting something that you do deserve.

Okay, so there's already a little problem with that analogy.

How I the one reason I do like it is because what it's saying is Kip is not going to run fast enough to earn that Lamborghini.

There is no world in which we would say if you run fast enough in a high school track meet that you have earned a Lamborghini, right?

However, there are conditions that must be met.

If Kip were to go out and walk his next race at the 5k, you know, and and walks in with a time of 52 minutes in last place, did he meet the conditions that I had for him?

No.

Um, but it's really hard to figure out if if he runs 24 minutes, is is that his hardest?

Is he runs 23 minutes?

Does he have to do a sub-20-minute 5k?

Like, what are we talking about?

And so in that way, it's like, how do we really figure this out?

But the real problem is with that analogy, is it just doesn't help us understand the magnitude of what we're talking about when we talk about mercy.

And so I'm gonna need some help.

I need someone who is in elementary school, I need a volunteer, just one volunteer, raise your hand.

Okay, Anson, I saw your hand.

Uh, you want to come up here, bud?

Do you like chocolate?

You don't like chocolate?

Well, this is gonna be a tough analogy because I'm offering you chocolate.

But you know what?

Ladies love chocolate, and so you could potentially go away from the stage with some chocolate.

So, um, here's, which by the way, this is the world's best chocolate.

I was carrying this around and somebody's like, Are you selling chocolate?

I'm like, No, I am not, but I am eating it.

So uh, Gracie, wherever you are, I'm borrowing some of your chocolate.

I will pay you back.

Okay, so let so let's say uh we have uh milk chocolate, we have crisp, uh, we have wafer, and we have caramel.

Okay, so here's the deal: you have the potential to win a bar.

There's gonna be four questions.

If you win, you get the bar.

However, if if it's wrong or it's found to be wrong, then you're going to lose a bar of chocolate.

Okay, so you can gain some and you can lose some.

You could end up with four, you might end up with nothing.

And so here we go.

We're gonna play a game.

Can we show this first slide up here, Kip, Mr.

Lamborghini man?

Which one of these is big?

Okay.

Um, we have a marble, a basketball, and what appears to be like a 10-foot beach ball, so that's big.

Do you all agree with me?

Is that big?

Okay, you have just earned your first thing.

See, it's not that hard after all.

Okay, all right.

Uh who's gonna be the first one to get that bar?

Your dad.

All right, I hope you like caramel.

Okay, can we go to the next slide?

Which one of these is big?

You said the beach ball was big.

Is the is the beach ball big?

Okay, sorry.

You by your own admission.

Sorry.

That's tough.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Okay, which one is big?

The beach ball is big?

I want to give you one, so you tell me out of these three which one is big?

All of them?

That's good.

You know what?

Somebody help them out here.

Which one is big?

The skyscraper.

Congratulations.

Thanks to them you got one.

Okay, the skyscraper is big.

We've got that one done.

Can we go to the next one?

Which one is big?

That is really tough, but I'm pretty sure you're smart.

You had an amazing reading teacher last year.

Okay, so the skyscraper is not big.

Wow, this is tough.

But is is the world big?

Okay, here you get another one.

Okay.

Can you only imagine what's on the next slide?

Let's go to the next slide.

Which one is big?

I didn't, I don't have my laser pointer, but right there is Earth, there's sun, uh, and and here's the you know, the whole solar system, uh, a lot more than this.

Which one is big?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're gonna go with this one, right?

So this, okay, and here's the deal.

Because I don't want to be a bad sport and because you did so awesome, you get all four.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

You can go have a seat.

Don't let your dad eat all four of them at once.

Um I do you see where we're going here?

Is like if if we go back, a 10-foot beach ball is big compared to the marble and the basketball.

But then when you put that next to a skyscraper, the skyscraper becomes big.

And then when you put the skyscraper next to the world, the world is big.

And then when you put the world up against the whole universe, it's the universe that is big.

I think that maybe we lose sight of how big and awesome and amazing the mercy of God really is.

It is it is more than we can imagine.

We're not talking chocolate bar big, we're not talking about beach ball size big, we're not talking about skyscraper big, we're talking about bigger than the universe, and on and on and on is the mercy and grace of God.

We talked about grace is getting something you don't deserve and mercy is not getting something that you do deserve.

Maybe a better analogy would be if we talked about a debt that you owe.

Have you ever been in a place where you're like, I owe more money than I have?

And they're about to shut off my water or my electricity.

The credit card people are calling, they're gonna repo my vehicle.

Like, I've got to come up with six thousand dollars, I have to come up with fourteen thousand dollars, I've got to come up with twenty-eight thousand dollars.

If I can come up with that, I'll just be free.

But let's say your debt is a little bit bigger than that.

Let's say if there's a lot of zeros and a lot, a lot of commas to the right of that number.

What if you owe$25 million?

And you know that if you don't pay that debt, that you're going to be thrown in jail.

Let's forget$28 million, not$28 billion, not forty seven trillion, whatever number is higher than every amount that could be collected by all of the world.

47 quadrillion billion dollars.

There is nobody on earth.

If all of the earth got together and everybody gave you all of the money, it still wouldn't be enough to pay off what you owe.

Jesus is gonna tell this story to a man who owed more money than he would ever get his hands on.

And the man falls down before his master and he pleads with him.

Please give me time, which is a joke, because there would never be enough time.

And the master sees him and he takes pity on him and he forgives, he erases that debt, and the man gets up and he walks out.

A free man.

He would have never, ever been able to pay that off.

It was gonna ruin his life, it was gonna ruin his family's life, he was gonna be in prison.

They were going to be sold as slaves.

His life and his family would be ruined forever.

And then just like that, mercy is offered.

The man walks out.

And as he's walking out, he's going down the road and he sees a guy who owes them several hundred dollars.

Not a tiny amount.

But he goes over and he grabs him by the collar and he yells at him.

He says, Give me that money that you owe me.

And the man says, I don't have him.

And he says, throw this guy in jail because he owes me money and he won't pay up.

You know the story.

Jesus continues to tell that the original master hears about what the servant did and called him into account.

And he said, Look, I was merciful to you, and you didn't show mercy to someone else.

And because of that, you are going to jail.

And you will rot in there and you will never get out.

And so again, I just struggle.

It's grace and it's mercy that's been given to us that we cannot earn.

But Jesus is also going to say, just because you can earn it doesn't mean that there aren't conditions on it.

If you worship a God who is merciful, shouldn't you also be a person who shows mercy in your life?

Big mercy is offered to you.

Incredible mercy.

Mercy that you could never be able to afford on your own.

You couldn't get out, and it is being offered to you by God.

It changes everything.

No matter how terrible or awful your life is right now, God says, don't think it's going to end this way.

Your mourning, I will comfort you.

Your hungering, I will fill you.

You need mercy, I will give it to you.

But the response is that we are called to be merciful to others.

It's what we have been called to do.

And that means listening.

It means opening your eyes.

It means sharing love.

It means offering forgiveness.

It means being patient.

All the things that God does for us over and over again, He says, Look, I am calling you to be just like me.

There are things that I want in my life.

But when I read the Sermon on the Mount, the one thing I want is what we have here listed by Jesus.

I want to receive mercy.

Because I know, I know without it, I am nothing.

I will never, I will never be with God if He doesn't show me mercy.

And I want that more than anything else.

I want that mercy because I know what happens after that in this very next one.

He says this blessed are those who are pure in heart for what they will see God.

I want to see God.

How many of you in here want to see God?

I'm not talking about just a little bit glimpses of him like me all in his glory.

How many of us want to see God?

Absolutely.

He calls us to be pure in heart.

And this I think is really like the pivotal verse of the whole Sermon on the Mount.

We're going to get into this in a few verses, but he's going to have, Jesus is going to have these six, they're called the antithetical statements.

Where he says, don't murder.

You've heard that it says don't murder, but I tell you what, anybody know?

Don't be angry.

He says, This is not just, you don't stab somebody or shoot someone or run somebody over.

He says it's not just about the action, it's about the heart.

Be pure in heart.

Don't show up to church because that's what you think you have to do or what you ought to do.

Don't read your Bible because you think that's a requirement for getting into heaven.

Don't pray because, well, that's what you were taught to do.

We do those things because we absolutely love Jesus.

We are called to be pure in heart.

That means that we go beyond not murdering our brother.

It means that we don't remain angry at them.

Over and again, there is this call throughout the Sermon on the Mount to live and love with our hearts.

And I think that it is really hard.

I think most people in here could sit down and share a moment in their life that they can tell a story.

They can talk about a parent or a relative or an ex-spouse or a sister or a friend, a church leader, someone who wounded them deeply.

And I'm not here to tell you that forgiveness is easy.

It's not.

And I'm telling you, as a person who has lived in a season of anger and righteous indignation and a deep desire for revenge, I didn't stop praying in that season.

But the prayers that I prayed were not really kind, and they certainly weren't geared towards forgiving.

And I'm telling you, it was a miserable time in my life.

And some of you are living in that season.

Maybe it's been a few months.

Some of you, you are harboring hurts and wounds from years and years ago.

And God says, offer mercy, show forgiveness.

I want you to be merciful to those just like I'm merciful to you.

And that's what he offers us.

We didn't earn it.

We don't deserve it.

But he gives it to us.

And man, that is amazing.

And so there's probably a few people in this room who are dealing with hard hearts and are angry and bitter.

Maybe it's towards a person.

Maybe it's towards yourself.

Maybe you keep retelling that story.

My prayer, my invitation, my call, my plea for you is when we offer this invitation, whether that means coming forward or where you are turning to someone or praying to God, God, just please work on me and allow me to be merciful in the way that you are merciful.

And just give that to Him.

And I want to invite you to do that this morning as we stand and sing.

Tim.