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God has prepared a table filled with good things. He expects you partake of his mercy and become MERCY FULL.
We need to understand what mercy is and that it comes from God and other people. Come learn what it means to obtain mercy and become merciful.
Welcome back to Redemption Church in Plano TX. My name is Chris Fluitt.
We are in a calorie packed sermon series.
This Thanksgiving you are going to eat until you are full. It is one of the days a year most people just really go for it and devour the food in front of them. No one should go hungry with a thanksgiving spread in front of them.
God has a table prepared for you and He intends you to fill up on all the good things He has prepared.
Last week we told you to be “Thank Full.”
Thank Full
I hope you have practiced thankfulness this week. Even if the week was difficult, there is power in living “thank full.”
When we are thankful we are in God’s will.
We are commanded to be thankful IN every circumstance but not FOR every circumstance.
There is miraculous power in your thank you.
No more should we say “I will be thankful when this is over.” We should be “thank full”, now.
Today as we look at God’s table, we see mercy. God wants us to be “Mercy Full.”
Mercy Full
Let’s take a theological thanksgiving test.
-If you eat a lot of turkey, you will be full of… turkey.
-If you fill up on dressing, giblet gravy, you will be full of…
-If you fill up mashed potatoes, you will be full of…
-If you fill up on cranberry sauce, you will be… ‘Full’ of regret. (It is the least ‘fave’ dish, according to polls)
This is not a surprise. This is not some big revelation. If you fill up on something you should be full of that same thing. If you partake of something it should be found within you.
Some might say it this way… “You are what you eat.”
This is a scriptural idea…
Romans 8:5 (NIV) Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
If we eat fleshly sinful things, we are filled with fleshly sinful things.
If we fill up on the Spiritual things of God, we are filled with the Spiritual things of God.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he:”
Whatever you think, you fill up on. Whatever you think – you become.
Think about how this principle is true.
Jealousy… Hatred… Love… Peace… Joy…
Whatever you receive, you seem to become… but then Jesus comes along and gives us the parable teaching of the unmerciful servant.
Matthew 18:21-27 (NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
A servant owed a great debt – 10,000 bags of gold. This is a large amount of money, even today; the servant was not able to pay. The custom was and still is, that when you can’t pay a debt you must sell something to pay the debt. In the case of the servant, he was not able to pay; so, we infer he must not have had any belongings to sell. The servant was ordered to sell his wife & children into indentured servitude. His wife & children would be forced to work to pay off the debt of 10,000 bags of gold.
The servant fell on his knees and asked for patience… he asked for time… he asked for mercy. The master took pity on the servant and canceled the debt and let him go. Another translation uses the words “moved with compassion.” The original word means moved within (the bowels). Tangibly felt.
The servant received mercy from the master.
Now understand this, the servant deserved the burdensome debt that came upon him. He had borrowed and made the debt that he could not pay. Legally, he had to find a way to pay his debt. Indentured servitude was legal. (And before you knock indentured servitude, I would much rather work out a service I could render in order to catch up on a car payment than have the repo man come haul my car off for missing a payment.)
The servant in debt deserved the negative outcome of the law.
The master gave the servant mercy. Do you have a good definition for mercy?
Mercy is NOT receiving what you deserve
In life, you normally receive what you deserve. You know this saying “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” We understand that if you perform an illegal act, you will pay the price in fines, or do time in jail.
Even Jesus taught us that “you reap what you sow.” If you plant a lot of bad action, you will harvest a lot of bad result.
Outside of Christianity they might call this “karma.” An idea that the universe repays you based on your actions. Everyone, religious & non-religious see this law at work. This is a known truth about our world…
This is true, except in the case of mercy. Mercy stands up and says “NO!”
The person has said hurtful things about you and they deserve your wrath; you might ‘scrape them off’ and never speak to them again… BUT MERCY SAYS NO and chooses instead to forgive them.
A person has made bad decisions and is about to lose everything… BUT MERCY SAYS, “NO”, and someone steps in and announces, “I am going to help you not lose everything.”
We have committed sin and broken the law of God; we deserve death… BUT MERCY SAYS “NO”, and chooses instead to send His only son to the cross, to die for us.
Mercy says No…
-You won’t receive punishment; you will receive forgiveness.
-You won’t be crushed by debt; you will be forgiven.
-You won’t be hated for you actions; you will be loved despite your action.
-You will not die; you will live.
Is there anyone in this place who was ever received mercy? God has prepared a table for us and it is full of mercy.
Mercy Full
We have received so much mercy: Mercy from God, and mercy from people. We have filled up on mercy.
If you have filled up on mercy, then you should be MERCY- FULL.
Matthew 18:27-30 (NIV) The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
What happened? The servant received mercy. He was forgiven more than he could repay. He filled up on mercy and yet he was not merciful.
In this parable, he literally goes from receiving mercy to grabbing and choking someone who owes him money. When his indebted fellow servant fell to his knees and begged for patience, he refused the request, and threw the man into prison.
It is possible to receive the mercy of God, and instead of being merciful, you could merciless.
Are you “Mercy Full” or “Mercy Less?”
Are we like the servant who filled up on mercy, but somehow, was not full of mercy?
Here are some synonyms for the translation of mercy in scripture…
Love- Have you received love, but you are not giving love?
Forgiveness – Have you filled up on forgiveness, but are you not full of forgiveness for others?
Compassion – Have you been flooded with compassion, but you uncaring?
Kindness – Have you been exposed to kindness, but you remain unkind?
Let’s remember the parable.
What did the servant owe the master? – 10,000 bags of gold.
What did the fellow servant owe the servant? – 100 silver coins.
The silver coin was called a denari. A denari was worth a day’s wage. 100 denari equaled 100 days of work.
Our US minimum wage is $7.25 x 8 hours a day = $58.
$58 a day x 100 days is $5,800. The fellow servant owed $5,800. This is not an insignificant amount.
But,what did the servant owe the master? 10,000 bags of gold, or 10,000 talents, how much is that?
1 talent = 6000 denari (6000 days of work or 16.5 years). 1 denari = $58 so x 6000 denari is… 348,000 for 1 talent… but there were 10,000 talents. So 348,000 x 10,000 equals 3.48 billion denari.
The servant was forgiven $3.48 billion of debt. You talk about mercy. This guy received more mercy, compassion, forgiveness than we really can comprehend. AND YET did this amazing gift did not change him?
Mercy should change you
Do you believe mercy should change you?
I remember hearing the story in Sunday school about the mercy of God and how He sent His only son to the cross for me. I remember feeling something… that mercy was tangible. That mercy changed my heart.
The mercy we show one another should change us. It ought to make us love each other more… it ought to make us more aware of the other people in our world who could use some compassion, forgiveness, and love.
Receiving the mercy of Jesus ought to make you more likely to share that mercy with someone else.
Mercy ought to change you.
Romans 2:4 (NIV) Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
His mercy is intended to lead us to repentance. His mercy ought to change you from the inside out.
Is His mercy changing you?
We joke about driving in Dallas… but for real, are we MERCY – FULL out there…
Are we merciful in our homes, schools and jobs?
During this election season have we been full of mercy… on social media, but also in our hearts?
Because we have received his mercy, we should share his mercy. Have we shared the gospel with someone?
His mercy should change us. Repent! Be changed by His mercy.
Mercy is something you can receive and lose
You can receive mercy, but you can also lose it! In fact this is a major point of Jesus’ sermon.
Matthew 18:30-35 (NIV) “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
When the master heard about the lack of mercy his servant had towards a fellow servant, the master was enraged and withdrew his mercy. He put the full burden of the debt back upon his ungrateful servant.
Your sins are all forgiven by God… how terrible it would be if he were to withdraw his mercy and place all those sins back upon you.
I believe this is exactly what Jesus is telling us here. We can receive and lose his mercy.
We receive mercy based on HIS action, but we can lose mercy based on our own action.
To keep the mercy of the master, you must extend mercy to a fellow servant. You must forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
The words FROM YOUR HEART are so important. Sometimes we think we showed mercy in that we didn’t say anything,or post anything on social media… Well I didn’t hit them… I didn’t make fun of their mama… I wanted to, but I didn’t. Aren’t I merciful? Passive – Aggressive Mercy is not a thing.
Jesus commands us to forgive them from our heart. You can keep scrolling on your social media page, but did you forgive them in your heart? You can be quiet and not respond violently, but Jesus commands you to forgive them in your heart.
If we don’t show mercy from our heart, we could lose mercy. The servant lost the mercy of the master…
How are you operating in mercy today?
Some of you have been hurt, but God commands you to forgive and start showing mercy…
Sometimes the hurts of our past keep us from having relationships in the future. It is not un-normal to see that in churches. I have heard this a lot…, “I was hurt in my last church, youth group, small group, ladies group, men’s group… the pastor, the organist, the greeter at the door hurt me…” And, often the hurt of the past that has not been covered in mercy, becomes displaced and transferred to the present. The hurt person sits in a new church, and does not trust the new church because of a past hurt. I want you to consider this… You need to cover the past hurt in mercy, and you need to cover your new relationships in mercy; until you do you will be stuck in between.
Forgive your brothers and sister from your heart.
I am drawing to a close. Since you can receive & lose mercy, I want to tell you how to obtain mercy.
Obtain Mercy
There is a difference in experiencing mercy and obtaining mercy.
The unmerciful servant received mercy from the master, but only ended up losing that mercy.
‘Receiving’ and ‘obtaining’ is not the same thing. It kind of reminds me of a Seinfeld clip about taking and holding reservations…
Seinfeld has reserved a rental car, but the rental car company has run out of cars.
Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That’s why you have the reservation.
Rental Car Agent: I think I know why we have reservations.
Jerry: I don’t think you do. You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.
We *take* mercy… but do we *hold* mercy. Anybody can just take mercy… but only the merciful hold mercy.
Matthew 5:7 (KJV) Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
How do you obtain… how do you *hold* mercy?
The servant received mercy from the master, but his opportunity to obtain mercy is when he had the opportunity to give mercy.
Obtain Mercy
You do not obtain mercy by receiving it, but by giving it.
Mercy does not work like the turkey and dressing analogy. You don’t become merciful by receiving lots of mercy… you become merciful when you walk in mercy, speak in mercy, forgive in mercy… give mercy away.
We receive mercy every day. Lamentations 3:23 says that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning.
But are we FULL of mercy? Are we compassionate to others – loving, kind, and forgiving?
We read the parable of the unmerciful servant… but let’s one more time return to the verse just prior to the parable.
Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Peter asks about the limits of mercy. “Lord what is an acceptable stopping point to mercy. If I forgive someone 7 times over a lifetime can I then stop showing forgiveness?”
Jesus whole point of this parable is to take the limits off your mercy. “No Peter, 7 is not enough. Try 70 x7 in a day… and tomorrow give them brand new mercy 70 x7 strong.”
Because of the strong mercy we have been shown in Jesus, we should be able to give strong mercy.
The master forgave his billion dollar debt.
Are His servants struggling to forgive?
There is mercy for you to receive today.
Receive mercy from the Lord… receive mercy from a brother and sister.
There is mercy to obtain today. You obtain by giving mercy.
Obtain by forgiving someone from your heart.
Obtain by praying and caring for someone in this altar.