Mercy | BCL Monthly
November 2024 Edition
Happy November to our BCL readers!
Grace is receiving something good we didn’t earn. Mercy is not receiving something bad we did earn. What role does mercy have in our salvation and why is mercy such an essential aspect of the Christian life? In this month’s newsletter, Ayrian delves into the active nature of God’s mercy and how it stirs our hearts to extend mercy, Dan shares why justice and mercy are united in Christ Jesus, and Le Ann engages with the essential aspect of mercy in our salvation and love for others. To God be the glory!
In Christ,
Le Ann Trees, Managing Editor
Dan Rowlands, Content Editor
Ayrian Yasar, Associate Editor
Does anyone mention the word “mercy” anymore? It certainly doesn’t seem to make an appearance in regular conversation. While “love,” “patience,” and “kindness” are common vocabulary, even in non-religious environments, “mercy” is left out. But mercy is very important.
God’s mercy pursues us and brings life.
The Greek word translated “mercy” is defined as “to be greatly concerned about someone in need, have compassion/mercy/pity” (BDAG). This word shows up in many places, one of which is Mark 10:47 where we read about a blind beggar who is calling out for Jesus and pleading with him for mercy:
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
But the blind man was not simply crying out for Jesus to have sympathetic feelings for him; rather the man wanted Jesus to do something for him.
The mercy of the Lord results in actions of love and healing. Perhaps this is why mercy is used in some places to translate the Hebrew word hesed, a word having to do with faithful, covenantal love. The word hesed is active. Psalm 23 is one such place:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. (Ps. 23:6)
God’s commitment to his people chases them down (i.e., follows) and results in personal fellowship with God, dwelling in the Lord’s house. This pursuing of God in mercy is also reflected in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved….” (Eph. 2:4-6)
God’s mercy pursues us and brings life—Paul testifies to it, the Psalmist testifies to it, and the blind beggar certainly testified to it. The mercy for which the blind man begged for was bestowed upon him, and he was healed and given life.
As God’s children we are called to pattern our mercy after our heavenly Father.
How are we then to go about bestowing mercy on others? How do we get in the right mindset to be able to offer mercy to others? Should we even attempt to offer mercy, or is it just something that only God does? Jesus makes it clear that we are to pattern our mercy after our heavenly Father. The parable of the unforgiving servant ends with these words concerning mercy:
“Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.” (Matt. 18:32-34)
The wicked servant had been showered with love and kindness. The master had pity and so gave this servant a new opportunity at life by extending mercy to him. Because this servant had received mercy, he should have extended it to another. We too have been showered by love and kindness. Mercy has pursued us in the person of Jesus Christ, who left his heavenly place to descend into our sinful, corrupt world filled with ugliness and pain.
Let us dwell on the great mercy of God to us, the sacrifice of Christ for us, the humiliation and pain that Jesus willingly suffered in order to bless us with forgiveness of sins and inclusion in God’s family and a glorious future. With these things stirring up our love for Jesus, we certainly will be better able to extend mercy to others.
It is difficult to comprehend God’s mercy in Christ Jesus apart from a true understanding of the condition of sinful humankind. Mercy in general is the application of compassion and forgiveness in light of what would be just punishment for the transgression of law. As all have sinned against God (Rom. 3:23) by breaking his law either by commission of sins or by omission of what is required, we are all subject to God’s righteous justice.
Justice and mercy are united in Christ Jesus.
The just penalty for sinning against God is death; it is a capital crime that requires a death sentence (Rom. 6:32). Considering this ought to get our attention and drive us to a plea for mercy from such a perfect, righteous, and just God. Thankfully, God is also merciful. Justice and mercy, though they are contrasting concepts, are united in Christ Jesus.
The answer to Heidelberg Catechism question 10, "Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?” declares that Scripture teaches God is angry with those who sin against him and are subject to his just punishment. Question 11 then asks, "But isn’t God also merciful?” The answer is, "God is certainly merciful [citing Ex. 34:6–7; Ps. 103:8–9], but he is also just. His justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty—eternal punishment of body and soul.”
The Catechism then proceeds to declare the teaching of God’s Word concerning his deliverance of his people from sin and death through the salvation accomplished by Christ Jesus. It is in Christ Jesus that God’s justice and mercy meet with perfect beauty, harmony, and love.
God demonstrates his love by giving his Son to die for us.
The Belgic Confession, Article 20, "The Justice and Mercy of God in Christ," describes it well. This article of Christian belief begins by pointing out how the Bible teaches that God is both merciful and just. In giving his Son, Christ Jesus, to bear our sins and die on the cross, God’s justice was satisfied for all those who are united to Jesus by faith. All humankind are subject to the penalty of death, but God made known his justice toward his Son while "he poured out his goodness and mercy on us.” God demonstrates his love by giving his Son to die for us and raising Christ Jesus from the dead for our justification, so "that by him we might have immortality and eternal life.”
God’s mercy in Christ brings us into eternal union with God.
The apostle Peter writes, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3). The mercy of God is found in Christ Jesus, and it is in him that we receive the mercy of God by grace through faith. It is in Christ Jesus that the goodness of God, his love and mercy, are displayed in vivid detail.
For believers there is no more death, no more weeping. We no longer receive what we deserve but instead mercifully enjoy the love of God, who brings all who trust in Christ Jesus to salvation and eternal life.
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)
While it can be easy to meld the act of mercy with the act of grace, grace doesn’t always include mercy. We might not deserve an amazing blessing, such as a wonderful spouse or an extraordinary job opportunity, but God gives them to us anyway. Yet, when it comes to our state before God outside of Christ, we need the grace that includes God’s mercy. Similarly, it is often the case that we need to extend grace that encompasses mercy to other people in our lives, and hope they do the same for us.
God’s mercy is essential for our salvation.
We are all guilty in Adam. Why is this so? The answer is that Adam represented all humanity in the garden of Eden, and what Adam earned—either life or death—would also be received by everyone who came after him.
Because of Adam’s disobedience and fall, all people bear Adam’s guilt, because Adam represented all humanity. Furthermore, Adam’s sin caused the corruption of his nature, and all his posterity—including you and me—would now bear that same sinful nature.
The term original sin describes this present state of humanity’s guilt because of Adam’s sin. The corrupt nature we inherited from Adam also causes us to heap even more condemnation on ourselves due to the sins we each commit from birth until death.
Thus, God’s grace in saving us by the finished work of Christ on our behalf must encompass his mercy. We not only need Christ’s righteousness counted to us, but we also need Christ’s perfect once-for-all sacrifice for sin counted to us. Why? Because in extending his mercy to us, God still needs to uphold his attributes of righteousness and justice. Jesus mercifully took our punishment upon himself so that we would be redeemed from the just penalty for our guilt and sin.
In daily life we have many opportunities to extend mercy to others.
When we feel wronged by someone, our sinful, self-centered human natures gravitate to making a courtroom of sorts in our minds and hearts. We make a judgment of what the person has done, or not done, and then we proceed to give a “suitable” sentence, some kind of “punishment” according to our own sense of justice. Perhaps we decide not to speak to the person for a while, exclude them from certain aspects of our life, or even to cut off the friendship altogether. Sometimes people seek “online justice,” sharing the offenses of the person or company publicly in order to derive some kind of justice and/or accountability by at least exposing their supposed wrongs against us. We may even decide to initiate legal proceedings to achieve the justice we believe the offense deserves.
While there are times when judiciary action or bringing the truth to light online are entirely appropriate and necessary, neither of these courses of action are to be taken lightly or rashly. We must search our hearts and consider whether we are in a situation where God wants us to extend mercy as we have been extended mercy by God. We need to consider our own sinful acts in which God and other people extended mercy to us and determine the wisest course going forward according to God’s Word and godly counsel.
The cross helps us to keep our suffering in perspective so we can extend mercy with grateful hearts.
We don’t want to be like the man in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, who was forgiven an unrepayable debt by his master and then refused to forgive someone who owed him a small amount and threw him into a debtor’s prison (Matt. 18:21-35). When our feelings of being wronged overwhelm us and begin to harden our hearts, we need to look to the cross and remember how much God the Son suffered so that we would be forgiven. The suffering we often bear in terms of our pride being wounded or our hearts being broken cannot compare to the suffering our Lord experienced—even to the point of being forsaken by the Father on the cross—and all that suffering was for us so that we could receive God’s mercy in Christ our Savior.
Someone once told me that we don’t really know what is going on in the private lives of others. We don’t know their thoughts, what personal battles they are fighting, and the particular circumstances that influence the way they think and act. It’s good to see people in their best light as much as possible, while at the same time exercising wisdom in our assessment of any given relationship or situation. Often, it is the wisest course to withhold our judgment for the time being, remove ourselves from being “judge, jury, and executioner” in our minds, and instead begin with looking to Christ and all he has done for us.
May we keep the gospel at the center of our thoughts and actions and continually strive to show mercy to others in light of God’s mercy shown to us in Christ Jesus.
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Compassion in a person is a very valuable trait. People who aren't compassionate tend to be hardened to others; they lack empathy and show little favor and mercy to those who are in difficult circumstances, either emotional or physical. Human compassion is worthy of close consideration, but what does Scripture teach us about God's compassion? Read more...
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