WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:07.919 So we're working our way through the Beatitudes this summer, one each week, these teachings of Jesus at the front of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:09.279 And so this is ours this morning. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.000 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:20.160 So fortunate are you, lucky are you, if you are merciful and you receive mercy. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:26.239 My first thought when I started to get into this this week was this it sort of sounds like merit. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:32.079 I mean it sort of sounds kind of like quid pro quo, which is kind of like do this and then you'll get that. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.280 Kind of like, you know, put a coin in the gum machine and then you get your piece of gum. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:44.960 But we can't forget that this beatitude is taught in the context of blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:50.880 And so I'm not going to re-preach that sermon, but that's the beginning of the Beatitudes and sort of sets the stage. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:58.880 So I don't believe this is meaning like, you know, if you give mercy, then and only then will you receive mercy. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:03.200 I think this is much more about a position, like a position you live in. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:11.040 If you live in the position of uh poverty of spirit, that this is a position where there's a flow. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:15.120 There's a flow of mercy, of giving and receiving mercy. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:16.959 So do you remember the garden? 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.599 We've been talking about this garden at my business school and college. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.000 If you've been here, if you haven't been here, let me catch you up. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:25.439 So uh business school at the University of Georgia, and I forget which building it was. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.400 Is anybody else Terry College, any other Terry College? 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.439 Do you do you remember uh the was it Brooks? 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.480 Was it was Brooks Caldwell? 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:36.239 Yeah, that's across from the law school. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:37.599 Sorry, I put you on the switch. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:38.319 Yes, you're right. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:42.879 All right, so in that building, Mark knows what building I'm talking about, the rest of you don't, or Terry College. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.680 All right, so in that building, uh my friend had told me about this, right? 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.959 He said he says, uh, he says, hey, you're not gonna believe this. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.239 Go to the basement. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:53.680 Go to the basement of that building. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:02:01.439 You go to the basement, this is like the offices of the professors, and I'm thinking this is offices of professors that are like the young professors, is there's no windows out. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.439 I mean, it is basement stuff. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:07.840 And but he says, in the middle of that floor, there's a single door. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.120 You you open that door and you walk into a garden. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:16.719 And it is open to the sky above, and it's inset within the building, surrounded by the building on all four sides. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:26.960 But but you walk in and you are in this beautiful garden, and there's two patios and a little brick sidewalk, and there's you know, azaleas, and there's a couple crepe myrtles. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.400 I mean, it is beautiful, it's a beautiful, beautiful spot. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.479 But the only way in, this is what we've been talking about, the only way in is in the basement. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:42.400 The only way into this beautiful garden of rest and relief is in the basement. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:53.199 See, grace, mercy, peace, these things, these fruits, the nature of God, that they only come when we're in the basement. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:56.879 They only come when we're when we're in poverty of spirit. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.319 When our pneuma, that's what spirit meant, when our pneuma is poor, when we're like, I have nothing left. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:13.599 I just don't have any fuel left to self-justify my life, to create my own righteousness, to work my way out of my shame, to try to work into salvation, to work favor with God. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:25.919 When I'm just done with all of those pursuits, and I'm just poor, and I'm just poor, and I'm needy, and I need to receive, I'm in the basement, bottom level, then you discover the garden. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:32.479 And so point number one coming into this Beatitude is this, and building off this metaphor, is uh mercy is in the basement. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:38.319 So, mercy, this word mercy means to have someone enter your misery. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:40.479 That's what mercy is, right? 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.479 I mean, something bad happens and uh mercy me, right? 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:45.919 Mercy me, mercy me. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:46.240 Right? 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:55.919 And what we're saying is like, oh, this situation, this situation is so bad, or a lot of times at this point that saying just comes along with something little that happens, and you're like, mercy me. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.159 But you're saying, someone come into my misery. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:03.120 I have a little bit of misery here, and I just would like somebody to come into it. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:14.400 So we moved into our house, the house we live in right now, we've moved in maybe three years ago or so, and so for the first couple years, there was this muddy part of our backyard in between our garage and our back fence. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.120 It was about six, seven feet wide, and it was just muddy. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:18.800 It was just mud, it was always mud. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:20.800 And so our girls had discovered it. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.600 Do you remember that when you'd discover a part of your yard when you were little? 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.360 Like it'd be like behind the bushes or something. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:26.959 You thought it was like a big discovery. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.720 Or they discovered this part of our yard, and it was called the hideout. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:37.199 So they started calling it the hideout, and they would go there and they'd set stuff up, and it was, you know, it was like this whole other world. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.000 But the problem with it is it's muddy, so all that mud would come back in the house. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.720 And so it started bothering me over time, that not them playing there. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:43.519 I wanted them to play there. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.560 It's actually really kind of like far away, and you know, it was quiet. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.720 The rest of the our yard would be quiet. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:58.720 So I finally said, All right, we gotta do something about the mud part of the hideout, and so I order a truckload of gravel that I'm gonna put back there, and that's gonna handle it. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:00.879 So, you know, the the ordering part was easy, right? 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:20.240 I mean, you just call up, you're like, hey, I need a truckload of slate chips, we're gonna dump them back there, and I'm gonna shovel and wheelbarrow them everything, you know, and then the truck arrives and they dump them, and you see this pile of slate chips, and you're like, oh my gosh, Saturday's gonna come, Saturday's gonna come, and I've got to deal with that pile. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.839 So all week I see this pile every time I pull in and out, pull in and out. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:30.560 I just I'm dreading it, I'm complaining during the week toward Christie, just complaining about this pile and how long this is gonna take. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:37.120 And I mean, so it was just on and on, it's gonna take six hours, it's gonna be eight hours, it's gonna be back breaking, and I'm just complaining about it. 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:39.279 So Saturday comes, I'm I'm you know, I'm ready. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.079 Saturday, chore day, let's let's let's go after this. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:53.680 And so, you know, I get all my stuff on, I head out there with my shovel and my wheelbarrow, and I'm out there 15, 20 minutes, and then out walks this really pretty lady, Christy. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:00.079 She has on her work shorts and her shirt, and she comes and she joins me. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:01.360 Right? 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.199 I mean, in my misery, she got she had her own stuff to do, right? 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:06.959 I mean, she had her own chores and her own stuff. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.040 I mean, she could have been doing other things. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:14.959 This was my misery, but she chose to come and enter into my misery. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:16.560 And what does it make it do? 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:18.160 Oh, it was fantastic, right? 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.399 I mean, like so much relief came over me. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:25.600 I mean, not only did it cut the workload like in half, you know, she brings some music because she's more thoughtful than me. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.879 I was just gonna be mad, doing it mad for eight hours. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.879 She brings music, it makes it better. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.720 And so, and it makes it better, right? 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:38.959 Just to have somebody join you in your misery changes everything, right? 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.319 That's a small little thing. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:41.439 I know it's small. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:45.120 Now, two weeks ago when I was at Blue Skies, I saw something else, bigger thing. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:49.680 So, two weeks ago, I'm at Blue Skies, and uh the same family had been there. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.680 This is the third year in the row that we had hit the same week of being there. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:54.639 They have two daughters. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:00.319 Riley's the older daughter, Kaylee's the younger daughter, and Kaylee has neuroblastoma. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:04.959 And so she's been sick for a long time, and her body's just been ravaged. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:17.120 I mean, her body has just been ravaged by cancer, it has been ravaged by treatment, and so the doctors this summer just said, you know what, her her body is so tired and ravaged, we just need to give it a break. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:22.240 We just need to take her off of everything and just let her rest. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:33.839 And so they're calling this the summer of Kaylee because she just doesn't have to be on any meds, any treatment, just let her body recover some from all of the treatment that's been going on for years and years and years. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.639 And who knows, who knows if she'll have another summer. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:37.920 They don't even know that. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:44.959 And so I the first uh the first chapel session we have, and I'm sitting there, and I hadn't seen these these girls in uh a year. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.480 And so uh Kaylee walks in and she walks in and she sits down. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:54.720 I know it's her because she has uh really short hair because her hair was just grown back out from her chemo, her last round of chemo. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:08:08.160 Uh and but actually it wasn't her because then she actually does walk in and she sits next to her sister, which means that her older sister had shaven her head to be with her younger sister, right? 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:09.759 And we've seen this, right? 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.000 Like you've you've seen people do this. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:14.879 And why would why does somebody do this? 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.160 Mercy To be with somebody in their misery. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:31.519 I I have a friend of mine who uh who makes a good bit of money, makes a lot of money, and uh he seeks out ways to give it away. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.720 Not only that, he loves to meet with people. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:44.960 Right now he's meeting with like two or three different couples who have credit card debt to get them out of credit card debt and then to teach them how to stay out of credit card debt, and he meets with them regularly. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:46.879 Who do why would somebody do that? 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:47.919 Mercy. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.320 To go into somebody's misery. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:56.320 So mercy is when one person goes into another person's misery. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:09.120 Now, if you're married, why why would your spouse come home at the end of the day and uh he or she comes home and they want to rant about work or they want to rant about a friend or they want to vent, maybe not rant, maybe sometimes it's a rant. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:14.000 Uh they want to vent about a family member and they want to vent, and what do they want you to do? 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:15.600 They want you to fix it? 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.000 No, they don't want you to fix it. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:18.960 Why? 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.399 What are they looking for? 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:21.759 Mercy. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.960 They're just looking for you to be in the misery. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.240 Like, will you be with me in this misery? 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:34.639 Because if you're with me in this misery, I have relief just by you being in it with me. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:36.879 That's the power of mercy. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:38.639 It's not always to fix it. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:42.399 Sometimes it's just to be in it. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:51.039 Now there's a problem with this, and that's that we really like to uh like rate our misery based on other people's. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:59.919 I was thinking about when I was in seminary, so about 14 years ago, I was in seminary and we had this class called preaching practicum, and we got up, oh, it's horrible. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:05.200 So we preached to a uh crowd of preachers. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:06.080 Okay? 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:20.480 I mean that and each preacher had a clipboard, and as you preached, they were raiding you on a whole bunch of different factors. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:35.279 And so you could see him writing, like as you're talking and you're going, you're you know, you're you're segmenting from an illustration to a point back to your passage, and and and you know, you're getting looks, and you're getting, you know, some people are busy writing, and some people are bare, some people are asleep, you know. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.840 I mean, you get all of that just like we get here, you know. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:40.879 So uh so but they're rating you, right? 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.759 It's nerve-wracking, it's merciless, merciless, really. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.120 I would say 90% of those sheets, and then you get the sheets of paper, by the way. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:11:04.159 They don't go to the professor, they get they come to you right when you finish, which is when you're the most neurotic about a sermon, right when you finish, they all these sheets of paper come to you and you look through and you read these people's merciless, merciless ratings. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:06.480 Now, it was brutal, it was brutal. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:09.759 It and it made you feel like rubbish, definitely made you feel horrible. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:17.919 Uh, and you just ended up just kind of comparing yourself and all these ratings and kind of like forming like how good a preacher you are based on all these ratings. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:26.799 But then there's also this like really enjoyable side of the rating, like when you got to rate, like because we love that, right? 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.240 Like you love, we love to like rate things and rate people. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:34.639 And if we're honest about it, I mean we just do this all the time. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:51.840 We love to rate, and then we can take our ratings, and like, you know, and like I was buddies with this guy named Levi, and he would tell me like his ratings, and like how were his ratings versus my ratings, and then you know, use that as some justification of how worthy I was as a preacher, and then you know, like he was a pretty good preacher, so I didn't, you know, don't talk to him too much about his ratings. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.600 Go to you know a guy who did lousy, and then then I'll feel better, right? 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:56.720 And this is what we do, right? 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:57.440 This is what we do. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:08.960 This is what we do with with our misery is we say stuff like, or we think stuff like, you know, how could God care about my stress when there's children starving in Africa? 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:09.600 Right? 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.279 It's kind of a cliche statement, but this this is kind of the idea. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.799 And it's true, there are children starving in Africa. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.679 But it doesn't mean that your stress doesn't exist. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:21.600 Right? 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:26.159 I mean, we're always trying to think like, is it is it worthy of mercy? 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.840 Is my misery worthy of mercy? 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:35.440 Maybe it's a huge, huge misery, maybe it's smaller, but but either way, it's still real. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.720 That's sort of the point, is that it's real. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.320 You are worthy of mercy. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:50.399 What if my misery is nothing compared to you know Ginny Sue's misery? 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.200 We don't have to trip advise her our misery. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.279 Like we don't have to like get the rating and then figure out where we lie on these ratings. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:58.159 We don't have to do that. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:59.360 God's not doing that. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.039 Your misery is yours and it's real to you. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:12.799 And that's what just this week was so refreshing for me to learn is that God is merciful, which means he joins you in your misery. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.080 Whatever your misery is, he joins you in it. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:23.360 And maybe it's the stress of buying a new home, and you go, that's that that's so, you know, that's so worldly compared to the children uh starving ever. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:24.000 You know what? 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:37.120 He's big enough to join you in your misery because he's merciful and he's gracious, and he's in he's in horrible, horrific miseries, and he's in stressful miseries. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:42.399 He can be in your daily misery, he can be in a relationship misery. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:48.159 Whatever it is going on in your life in terms of your misery, he wants to join you in it. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:58.399 And it's just so refreshing to know that he actually cares to do that and that he enters it. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.679 Uh Monday and Tuesday of this week, I was just tired. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:02.879 You have tired days? 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:03.679 I have tired days. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:08.000 I mean, and there just was no like spiritual, like, let's go have a great devotion. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.159 Like that wasn't in me Monday and Tuesday of this week. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:10.799 And you know what? 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:16.159 So Monday and Tuesday of this week, I just didn't have like great, you know, pastoral devotions going on. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:23.200 I mean, it was just like I just sat, I just sat in my chair and I put on some music and I sat there for like 15 minutes, and I just sat. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:24.480 I didn't read, I just sat. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:25.039 You know what? 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.720 It was fine, it was enough. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:36.080 And and and to just just to reflect on God is merciful to join me in this weariness and in that he's not judging me. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:41.679 He's not in judgment over my misery because he's gracious and merciful. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:48.879 So he can come into my misery, whatever it is on that day, he can come into it without judgment over it. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:58.559 What if he actually is with you in your misery without judgment over your misery? 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:00.720 So what'll help you? 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:01.759 I mean, what does help you? 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:02.480 What helps you? 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:03.519 What helps your neighbor? 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:04.799 What helps your kids? 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.000 What helps, what, what helps anybody get any better? 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:09.919 Is it to be told to be better? 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:11.440 Does that help you? 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:17.840 I mean, what warms the human heart into to a measure of relief and change? 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.799 And it turns out it's not force, it's grace and mercy. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.519 That he comes in without judgment. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:29.840 So, point number one, mercy is in the basement. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:31.759 I kind of meandered around, but that was the point. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:50.320 When we're at the end of ourselves, seeing our sin, that we are imperfect, and so we're poverty of the spirit, we're in the basement, we need him, we need Christ crucified and resurrected, we need the imputation, our sin upon him, his righteousness upon us, and we don't have anything else, and we're in need. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:54.960 And in that position, there's a flow of mercy. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:57.120 There's grace there. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.399 That's where grace is found. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.879 It's at the end of yourself, in the basement. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:04.559 No judgment over your misery. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:06.399 And there's a flow there that develops. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:07.360 That's point number two. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.679 Animation to give mercy comes from God. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:13.919 So we receive the mercy from God, and animation to give mercy comes from God. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.440 So the beatitude is blessed are those fortunate of those that give mercy, for they shall receive mercy. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:20.960 I don't believe that's quid pro crow. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:21.919 I don't believe that's merit. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.720 I believe this is about a place that you live where there's a giving and receiving. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:36.639 Uh Brennan Manning, quote, I ran into this week from his book, The Wisdom of Tenderness, which I think has been a few years since I read it, but fantastic book. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:44.320 And here's what he said, he writes Biblically, tenderness is what follows when someone reveals to you your own inner beauty. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:52.159 When you discover your belovedness, when you experience that you are deeply and sincerely liked by someone. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:17:10.240 See, animation to give mercy comes from God because from God you receive your validation, your righteousness, your salvation, your justification, your worthiness, and that animates, empowers, gives life for you to give mercy out. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:16.720 Now, some of us feel like God has no concern to enter your misery. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.799 And so it's very difficult for you to ever give mercy to anybody else. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.200 Because you're not in that position yet. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.920 Uh this week I was I read a Henry Nowen quote. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:34.720 It came around this idea, I don't have it word for word, is this idea that you you realize uh the brokenness is real. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:39.440 So the brokenness is real, but it's not under the curse, it's under a blessing. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:49.839 And this is this is a big difference with Christianity, is this is why it's not despair and depressing to talk about brokenness, is because our brokenness and our sin is not under the curse. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:56.240 It's under the blessing, it's under Christ crucified, it's under the fact that God loves us. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:57.680 Now, that's blowing my mind. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:03.279 I mean, that that idea that our brokenness is good because it's not under the curse, it's under the blessing. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.680 I'm still working that one out, we'll talk more about it. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:15.680 But I believe there's a secret in there, there's something for us in there that realizing we're imperfect and yet, and yet we are beautiful and we are loved. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:17.440 And it does something in you. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:24.480 It does something in you, it validates you, it warms the heart more than demand or force could ever do this. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:32.480 You remember being a kid, and you go to elementary school, you go out on the playground, and you know, little Johnny shows up and he's he has a mirror, right? 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:36.720 Like he stole his mom's compact mirror, or he found a little mirror or something. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:40.000 And you'd you would sit like up on the sidewalk and you'd get the sun. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:40.640 You remember this? 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:46.000 You'd get the sunshine just right, and you just like hit other little kids in the eyes. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:47.519 Y'all ever remember doing that? 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.720 Mandy, she's laughing. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.000 She remembers doing it with her friend. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:54.319 She actually told me the other week how her and her little girlfriend they would just sit up there and do that. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:54.640 Right? 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:56.559 I mean, this is what we would do, right? 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.640 Like it, and what is that about? 00:18:58.799 --> 00:18:59.920 What is that about? 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.839 I mean, that that's taking, that's not power from us, right? 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.720 I mean, that that's a power from another source reflecting through through us. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.359 It's a light source beyond the mirror. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:19.200 And here's my point here with this idea that animation to give mercy comes from God is that you only find the mirror in the basement. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.880 That's the only place the mirror exists. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:28.559 So the only place that a life of being able to give mercy out is a place where we're receiving mercy. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.119 Or else you don't have anything to give. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:39.599 So, to be practical for a moment, mercy is about entering someone's misery to give compassion or forgiveness. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:43.119 And sometimes that's a very material need, and sometimes it's not. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:53.119 So we see in Zechariah 1, in Zechariah 7, Isaiah 58, you can read those later, there's a connection between knowing God and our concern for the poor. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.400 So if we talk about mercy, we have to talk about the poor. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:57.839 God's always talking about the poor. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:04.160 Proverbs 14, 31, whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:12.000 You oppress a poor person with what you do or what you say, you're insulting God. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:16.799 But he who is generous to the needy honors him. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:20.400 So if you're generous to the needy, you're honoring God. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:21.839 There's a connection here. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:27.839 Jesus tells a story in Matthew 25 where a king exiles people who are pledging their allegiance to him. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:33.359 I mean, these people are saying, you know what, I loved you, I was for you, I didn't, you know, I did all this for you. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:35.839 And he says, No, no, no, you didn't know me. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:37.920 What are you talking about? 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:38.960 I was for you. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.160 No, no, you didn't because I was poor and you didn't feed me. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:44.480 I was thirsty, you didn't give me anything to drink. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.480 I was naked, you didn't clothe me. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:51.599 See, something happens in the heart of a person when they learn what God is really like. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.759 What he's really like. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:57.839 That he's not a figure waiting to catch you, screw up again. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:00.319 But he's gracious and merciful toward you. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.920 He's coming toward you. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:12.000 And that he enters people's poverty and misery, and then our hearts are warmed, and in that process, there's a fruit of the Spirit that develops as the Holy Spirit reigns in you. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:17.279 That kingdom of heaven reigns in you, and judgments are let go. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.000 It's hard to give to the poor when we're judgmental over them. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.839 It's hard to be merciful to a friend when you're judgmental over them. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:40.400 And all of a sudden we can start to give mercy to a family member, to a friend, to an enemy, to a neighbor, uh, to the opposition, to the political opposition. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.799 And it's hard because it costs us something. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.039 Mercy always costs us something. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:47.519 I mean, it's not always convenient. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:54.160 I mean, it might cost you pride, it might be incredibly humiliating, it might cost you time, it could cost you money. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759 But see, only in the basement are you in the position where you're no longer using people. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:10.160 Because you have found your salvation, your righteousness, your forgiveness, your validation, and God's love for you. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.440 And so you don't have to use people anymore. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:25.839 So, see, if all you're seeing is how other people have screwed up and how horrible they are, and you can't believe they did this, and you can't believe they're that, and you know, you can't be merciful toward them. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:27.440 You're too judgmental toward them. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:31.759 And the reason why we're judgmental toward them is because it helps us feel better about ourselves. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:38.319 I mean, that's why I'm judgmental toward people, you sometimes, I just don't tell you, is because it helps me feel better about myself. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:45.039 If I'm judgmental toward you and I kind of like break you down and like put you really down, and then all of a sudden it makes me feel really good. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:50.240 But if I live in the basement, like I'm even worse than you, like the Apostle Paul, right? 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:51.680 Like the worst of all sinners. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:56.400 Now I'm in the place where I'm not using people to validate myself. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:03.359 Now I'm just resting in God's love for me, and now I'm in the position where I can actually be compassionate towards somebody. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:06.319 And I'm not sitting in judgment over everything about their life. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:08.240 I can just be merciful. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:13.920 Now, maybe you hear all of that, hear all of that, and you go, how could I ever be like that? 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:15.759 And that's a good position. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:16.799 I would say that's a good start. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.279 I'd say actually, if you're asking that question, then good job. 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:24.559 Like you're in the basement because you're recognizing you can't be, like, you can't do that perfectly. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:25.839 You won't. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.480 Mother Teresa didn't do it perfectly. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:31.039 Nobody does it perfectly. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.880 And so that's point number three. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:39.440 The mercy that found you in the basement is enough, even though you are not always merciful. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:41.759 You're not always merciful. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:43.519 You're not going to be. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:48.000 See, Christ died for all of our sins, but he also lived the life that none of us can live. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.079 And that's why we find our salvation in him is he was perfectly merciful. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:57.920 And that's why when he gives us his righteousness, we are fully righteous before God. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.079 It means that we're broken by this. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.880 And it helps us realize that we really need God's grace toward us. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.720 We need Jesus. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:23.200 We need his sacrifice. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:29.759 We need his perfect righteousness and his mercy toward us and his perfect mercy toward other people. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:35.119 We need that put upon us, deemed to us, which is what redeems us. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.839 See, in the basement there's rest. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:44.960 Because there we find mercy, and there you also find that mirror where we can give mercy to other people. 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:54.799 So, my brothers and sisters, may you live in the place where you are broken yet under the sufficient, wonderful blessing of Christ's love for you. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.559 May you receive God's mercy and give it freely to those around you. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.079 Let's pray together. 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:10.079 God, thank you that you do not judge our misery because so much of it is self-inflicted. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:17.279 So much of it is from our own issues, our own sin, our own idols. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:21.920 Some of it's not, but a lot of it is. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:55.920 And thank you that you are not in judgment, but that you graciously, mercifully come into our misery, whether it is a huge issue like addiction or abuse or a divorce or a death, or whether it's something that we would classify as little and seemingly worldly, like we just can't get to all the laundry, or things at work aren't working out like we thought they would. 00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:00.079 Or we're having a little spat with a friend. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:08.079 But even that day-to-day misery, you show up without judgment. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:13.119 You mercifully come alongside us and you'll listen to us. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.119 You will listen to us vent and you'll listen to us rant. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:22.400 I thank you that you are gracious and mercifully to do this without judgment toward us. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:28.079 God, that warms our hearts toward you. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:31.839 That you have that regard for us. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:37.279 We thank you for Jesus, that we have that position with you. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:42.799 That we're not in your judgment, but we are your children. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:51.200 And that you are our Abba Father who cares for us in every way. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:57.839 God, would you help those of us in here who think we're not worthy enough for you to enter our misery? 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:07.279 Would you help us to see that our worthiness is in your view of us and the fact that we are your children and created by you? 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:13.200 For so many of us, we need to receive mercy into parts of our hearts that we've closed off. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.279 And for many of us, we need to give mercy to people that we've been withholding it. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:22.480 And so would you call us and empower us toward those ends. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.480 God, thank you for your grace and mercy. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:27.599 In Jesus' name. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:28.480 Amen.