Grappling with God's Mercy

Throughout the course of these past few weeks I have been pondering the truth of God's mercy for my life. What does His mercy look like? What happens in my life as a result of encountering such mercy? How do I embody it before others? I'm wrestling through it and attempting to pen into words a message that is not trite, but motivates our church body to respond to those around us and in this world with tangible expressions of the mercy of my God.

I came across a great blog site that describes God's mercy in a manner that tangibly defines and describes it. The site: http://everydaymusings.blogspot.com/2004/10/gods-mercy.html

God's Mercy

God's mercy is another one of his attributes that comes from his goodness, and so it is also closely related to his love and grace. Mercy has to do specifically with God's characteristic attitude toward people who are in trouble. It is God's pity for those who are miserable or suffering or needy, and helpless in their situation; but it includes more than just a feeling of pity, for his mercy has his rescuing power behind it. Out of God's mercy he rescues from difficulty; out of his mercy he saves the powerless; out of his mercy he heals the sick. God's delivering activity toward the oppressed, the afflicted, the poor, and the fatherless are all described as coming from his mercy. Since all of his creation is so dependent upon him, the psalmist can say that "his tender mercies are over all his works (Psalm 145:9)."

Like all of God's attributes, God's mercy in intrinsic to him. He is called "the Father of mercies" and a "God of mercy" (2 Cor. 1:3, Neh. 9:17). His mercy is also abundantly great and boundless, higher than the heavens and filling the earth. Scripture refers to "the multitude of his mercies" (Lam. 3:32) because the acts stemming from this attribute are so numerous.

His mercy is eternal and unchanging. God's mercy is "from everlasting to everlasting" (Psalm 103:17) in the same way that God himself is from everlasting to everlasting. His mercies don't cease or fail, because they are new every morning (Lam. 3): constantly fresh and perfect and never fading with age. His mercy endures forever.

It is out of God's constantly enduring mercy that he brought His people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. They were helpless to save themselves, but God saw their desperate situation and redeemed them out of their trouble. From Psalm 136's recounting of God's merciful deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery, we learn one more thing about God's mercy:

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever...

It's a bit of a jarring juxtaposition, isn't it? Out of God's mercy He rescued Israel, but the merciful deliverance of his people resulted from an act that was not kind toward the people of Egypt. His act of mercy toward one group of people was at the same time an act of severity toward another group of people. God's mercy, then, like his love and grace, is particular. While his people can count on his mercy never being turned from them, there are times when he is not merciful to some people.

His is sovereign and free in his mercy. The expression of his mercy is never compelled, but he expresses it because he delights in his mercy (Micah 7:18). To show mercy is his own choice according to his own purpose: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy." That God shows mercy toward us does not depend on our action or our desire, but on "God who has mercy." (Romans 9)

There is a tension in the truths of God's mercy that is important to maintain. While it is true that God is completely free in his acts of mercy, and that he acts mercifully according to his own purpose and as it fits his own plan, it is also true that those who seek his mercy always find it. He is always merciful to the truly repentant. If we confess, he faithfully forgives. We would not be correct in thinking that he is compelled to be merciful to us in response to our repentence--or to presume upon his mercy--but we are correct if we believe that our genuine repentence is always and certainly met with his willing and abundant mercy. (If you are reading this through for a second time, and you don't think you've read this paragraph before, you are probably right. This was added later in one of those after-the-post-but-still-stewing moments. This is one reason why I find these posts so difficult: there's always a big chance I'll leave out something really, really important.)

Although God's mercy is over all his works, delivering us from sin through Christ was the supreme act of God's mercy. It was because of God's tender mercy that Christ was incarnated to be our Savior (Luke 1:78). It was on the basis of God's mercy that he saved us from our state of helpless (and at the same time intransigent!) disobedience (Titus 3:3-5). The ultimate sacrifice of Christ, and all the saving actions of God on my behalf, come because God is "rich in mercy".

By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. (1 Peter 1:3,4 NET)

The surety of our inheritance and the new life we are born again into all come to us by way of God's mercy.

A first step toward understanding the true depth of God's mercy is understanding the depth of our own neediness. We are utterly without hope short of God's merciful activity on our behalf. Is it by recognizing that we come before God bringing nothing but our own sinfulness, just as the publican in the parable brought nothing when he prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 13:18)", that we get some glimpse of the abundant richness of God's mercy.

Because God has been merciful to us, we have reason to be merciful in our actions toward those who are in need. We must "be merciful, just as [our] Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36 NET)." Mercy is one of God's communicable attributes, meaning that he shares it with us and expects it from us. Just as our Father is moved to act by the plight of those in need, so too, those who are his children are motivated by mercy. The poverty of others--both material and spiritual--is our opportunity to be like our Father. Their trouble is our opportunity to help.

If we belong to him--if we are being delivered from sin because of God's mercy--we have a reason to be always and forever grateful to our heavenly Father. We should be singing right along with the psalmist, "I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever (Psalm 89:1)." Or with Horatio Spafford when he writes in his hymn, It Is Well with My Soul:

....Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

....Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

God's mercy is one of the grounds for our hope. It is out of God's mercy that we are "born again to a living hope," and we

....hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
(Psalm 130:7)

The Lord takes pleasure in those....who hope in His mercy.
(Psalm 147:11)

The Jesus Storybook Bible

Okay parents, you need to invest in a resource for your kids that will grab hold of your heart and mind.

I started reading through The Jesus Storybook Bible with my girls tonight. I purchased it with the idea that they would eventually read it to their little sister. All three of us become easily engrossed with it from the start.

The entire thrust of the book is to paint a picture of Jesus as our Rescuer from Genesis through Revelation. Sally Jones retells each event with vivid color and creativity as she sets the stage for Jesus to show up on the scene.

I found myself captivated by the manner in which the stories are written, discovering a fresh approach and appreciation for each one. I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact my mind is already running down the path of creating a series that would tie into the book.

Knowledge of the Holy

This past weekend I mentioned Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer. Buy it. Read it. Devour it. It's worth it!

The Goal of God's Love May Not Be What You Think It Is

I am in the midst of preparing a message on God's Love. The love of God truly dominates our lives when we come to understand both how profound and yet how simple it is, but most importantly when we embraced it with full surrender. John Pipers insights are deep and wide!

The Goal of God's Love May Not Be What You Think It Is
John Piper

Do people go to the Grand Canyon to increase their self-esteem? Probably not. This is, at least, a hint that the deepest joys in life come not from savoring the self, but from seeing splendor. And in the end even the Grand Canyon will not do. We were made to enjoy God.

We are all bent to believe that we are central in the universe. How shall we be cured of this joy-destroying disease? Perhaps by hearing afresh how radically God-centered reality is according to the Bible.

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God's loving us is a means to our glorifying him. "Christ became a servant ... in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, "In love [God] destined us to adoption ... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God's loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: "I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great." God's love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was "to demonstrate righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy.

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable - he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

But notice that this ultimately loving act has at the center of it the vindication of the righteousness of God. Good Friday love is God-glorifying love. God exalts God at the cross. If he didn't, he could not be just and rescue us from sin. But it is a mistake to say, "Well, if the aim was to rescue us, then we were the ultimate goal of the cross." No, we were rescued from sin in order that we might see and savor the glory of God. This is the ultimately loving aim of Christ's death. He did not die to make much of us, but to free us to enjoy making much of God forever.

It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross into a proof that self-esteem is the root of mental health. If I stand before the love of God and do not feel a healthy, satisfying, freeing joy unless I turn that love into an echo of my self-esteem, then I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon and feels no satisfying wonder until he translates the canyon into a case for his own significance. That is not the presence of mental health, but bondage to self.

The cure for this bondage is to see that God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. In exalting himself - Grand Canyon-like - he gets the glory and we get the joy. The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God's passion for his glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of his majesty. Nothing satisfies us - or magnifies him - more.

Dad and Brownies

I discovered a couple variations of this story, but I love the twist on this one. The next time one of your kids desire to fill their precious little heads with a little crap you might want to consider cooking them some brownies.

A father of some teenage children had the family rule that they could not attend PG-13 or R rated movies. His three teens wanted to see a particular popular movie that was playing at local theaters. It was rated PG-13.

The teens interviewed friends and even some members of their family's church to find out what was offensive in the movie. The teens made a list of pros and cons about the movie to use to convince their dad that they should be allowed to see it. The con's were that it contained ONLY 3 swear words, the ONLY violence was a building exploding (and you see that on TV all the time they said), and you actually did not "see" the couple in the movie having sex - it was just implied sex, off camera. The pros were that it was a popular movie - a block buster. Everyone was seeing it. If the teens saw the movie then they would not feel left out when their friends discussed it. The movie contained a good story and plot. It had some great adventure and suspense in it. There were some fantastic special effects in this movie. The movie's stars were some of the most talented actors in Hollywood. It probably would be nominated for several awards.

Many of the members of their Christian church had even seen the movie and said it wasn't "very bad". Therefore, since there were more pros than cons the teens said they were asking their father to reconsider his position on just this ONE movie and let them have permission to go see it.

The father looked at the list and thought for a few minutes. He said he could tell his children had spent some time and thought on this request. He asked if he could have a day to think about it before making his decision. The teens were thrilled thinking; "Now we've got him! Our argument is too good! Dad can't turn us down!" So, they happily agreed to let him have a day to think about their request.

The next evening the father called in his three teenagers, who were smiling smugly, into the living room. There on the coffee table he had a plate of brownies. The teens were puzzled. The father told his children he had thought about their request and had decided that if they would eat a brownie then he would let them go to the movie. But just like the movie, the brownies had pros and cons.

The pros were that they were made with the finest chocolate and other good ingredients. They had the added special effect of yummy walnuts in them. The brownies were moist and fresh with wonderful chocolate frosting on top. He had made these fantastic brownies using an award-winning recipe. And best of all, the brownies had been made lovingly by the hand of their own father.

The brownies only had one con. The father had included a little bit of a special ingredient. The brownies also contained just a little bit of dog poop. But he had mixed the dough well - they probably would not even be able to taste the dog poop and he had baked it at 350 degrees so any bacteria or germs from the dog poop had probably been destroyed.
Therefore, if any of his children could stand to eat the brownies which included just a "little bit of crap" and not be effected by it, then he knew they would also be able to see the movie with "just a little bit of smut" and not be effected.

Of course, none of the teens would eat the brownies and the smug smiles had left their faces. Only Dad was smiling smugly as they left the room.

Now when his teenagers ask permission to do something he is opposed to the father just asks, "Would you like me to whip up a batch of my special brownies?"

Author Unknown

Russian Singer Edward Khil - Trololo (Communist roll'd)

Don't Waste Your Cancer

I had a friend direct me to what John Piper wrote concerning cancer. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend Dane who is battling cancer as well. Dane mentioned how he has been able to view his prognosis as a gift. He talked about the aspects of God's character that is being revealed through his journey and how he wouldn't trade all he is gaining with anyone.

I walked away humbled and reminded how the Lord uses pain and brokenness to create in us a deeper dependence upon Him as he refines and shapes us through the journey. I trust you will find Piper's words worth passing on.

Here's the link: http://www.crosswalk.com/1383847/