Over the past few weeks we have been studying the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the church for the profit of all. And in this study we are going to conclude our section on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we will finish up our study on the Holy Spirit next time as we look at how we can discover what our gifts are.

So if you would, please turn to Romans chapter 12, and lets begin reading in verse 4. We read "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:4-8. In this study we are going to be looking at the gift of mercy, another important gift for the body of Christ to exercise.

The Greek word that Paul uses for "mercy" is ELEEO, which means "to have pity, to be compassionate". When we think of mercy that comes from the Scriptures, we think of not getting what we deserve. A simple and yet very accurate definition. You see, we are all sinners, we are all unrighteous and thus we deserve to go to hell. But God steps in and because of His great mercy we don’t get what we deserve.

Think about it, how many people are going to cry out for God’s justice to be placed upon their lives? You would be a fool if you did! Justice is getting what you deserve. It is an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth mentality. Thus, we cry out for the mercy of God upon our life so we can be spared the death sentence of hell, not getting what we deserve, so that we can obtain what we don’t deserve, life with the Lord, which speaks of His grace that He gives to us.

Now since God is holy and righteous He just can’t overlook sin, He must have a basis for which He can extend His mercy to us. And that basis is found in God becoming flesh and paying the penalty for our sins so that we can obtain God’s mercy in our life. It is as Psalm 85:10 says, "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed." That is only done through the cross, where mercy and truth have met. Also, Paul said in II Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Mercy is another attribute of God that really flows out of His rich love. You see, God is love and He demonstrates that love by His mercy that He extends to us. Now we hear a lot about God’s love today, which is rich and deep, but people also forget that He is a God of justice.

Remember when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, and Abraham intercedes for them. And Abraham said in Genesis 18:25 "Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Now what Abraham said is true, God is righteous, He is just and He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. But what Abraham said was like a double-edged sword. God will do what is right, that is justice! But we can’t stand before God in our own righteousness and ask for His justice, for we will lose.

All we can do is come humbly to Christ and ask Him to forgive us of our sins and to be our Lord and Savior. It is out of that gift of God that His mercy flows and we will not receive God’s justice, but His mercy. If you are not in Christ, you will receive His justice, but you don’t want that because the penalty you will pay is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire!

Interestingly enough the first mention of mercy in the Scriptures is found in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the first mention of a word sets the tone on how it should be defined. In Genesis 19:19 we read "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life..."

God had mercy upon Lot and spared him while the rest of the people were destroyed. Lot deserved death but God spared him. But why? I think II Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 6, gives us some insight to why God was merciful to Lot and why He poured out His justice upon the others. We read "and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)--then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment." II Peter 2:6-9.

Now I don’t believe Lot was a righteous man because of his actions, for the Scriptures tell us that none are righteous before God. I believe it was because of his faith. And thus, God extended His mercy to Lot based upon Lot’s faith and I think God used Lot as an example for us, he, in a sense, was a type of the church. You see, we are saved by faith, not by our righteousness, and God will not pour out His judgment upon us, who are righteous by faith, but spare us from that judgment. God knows how to deliver us and punish the unjust.

Now before we look at what God expects of us in regards to mercy, I think it would be good to look at the Scriptures that speak of God’s mercy. And understand this, some 41 times in the Bible God declares that His mercy is everlasting. Let us not forget that!

THE MERCY OF GOD

1. EXODUS 34:5-7

God’s mercy is found in His nature. It flows from His love. You can’t see God without seeing His mercy. And yes, even in His judgment He is ready to extend His mercy to all who will receive it.

2. NUMBERS 14:18

God is abundant in mercy! The Hebrew word is RAB, which speaks of "abounding, exceedingly, full, great, increase, (too, very) much, multiply, plenteous, sufficient". That is the best we can do with our earthly words to describe God’s mercy, but to use a phrase of today, "It doesn’t get any better than that!"

3. NEHEMIAH 9:31

God has the right to destroy us but because of His great mercy, we live!

4. PSALM 51:1

Prior to David’s sin with Bathsheba he asked God to judge him according to his righteousness. Now that David sees the reality of that, and how unrighteous he is before God, he cries out for God’s mercy! That is all we can do.

5. PSALM 100:5

What a comfort that should be to us, that God’s mercy is everlasting, it will not end!

6. PSALM 103:8, 11

Our God is abounding in mercy and the psalmist tries to help us get a handle on it by saying God’s mercy is as far as the heavens reach. Scientists tell us that the universe is expanding, and it has been estimated that our universe right now is some 12 billion light years, and growing! Thus, so is God’s mercy towards us!

7. LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23

This is one we can all use, especially me. Every night I go to bed feeling like a failure, like I have blown it, I can wake up the next morning refreshed knowing that God’s mercy towards me is new every morning! How great is that?

God, by His very nature, is merciful. Man, on the other hand, is not. Man is very vengeful, he is very retaliatory in his actions. "If you do this to me then I will do that to you" mentality. Obviously when God created man he was very good and within him was the ability to be merciful, it flowed from his life until sin entered the picture. Think about it, the first thing Adam said when God asked him what happened was he blamed God for making Eve, it was her fault for his failure. No mercy there!

And so when we are called to extend mercy to someone, many times the dark side comes out and instead of mercy we belt them, or mouth off, or do something that is retaliatory in nature rather than forgiving. The only problem with that is what we are manifesting in our lives is not the nature of God! You see, as Children of God it is important that we show mercy to others. Lets look at some examples from the Scriptures regarding the mercy that should flow from our lives.

THE MERCY OF GOD IN US AND FLOWING FROM US

1. MATTHEW 5:43-48

Of course it is easy to be nice to those who are nice to us. But Jesus wants us to go that extra step further in love, to reach out to those who are not nice. You see, we are to be different. We are to do to others what they don’t deserve and as we do we are demonstrating the love and character of God to others!

2. ROMANS 12:19-21

You see, Paul is saying that the human desire is to avenge the wrong that was done to you. But God wants us to forget that wrong, as hard as that may be, and love those who are coming against you because by doing good it might bring them to repentance. In fact, you can get so wrapped up in fighting for your rights that you are overcome by evil. Be careful!

3. EPHESIANS 4:31-32

Perspective is everything! Paul is saying to let it go. Don’t hold on to all that anger, bitterness, and-so-on. If God forgave you, then you must forgive others. You can let that poison remain in you, drinking it up, but in the end you will be spiritually, emotionally and physically sick. And we do see that in the body of Christ. The cure is to give it to God and forgive! And if you can’t do it for them, then do it for Jesus!

I’m sure all of us want God to shine down His mercy upon us, but how many times do we ask for God’s justice to be poured out upon our enemies? Wrong attitude! James 2:13 says "For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." If you refuse to show mercy to others, then God will do the same to you. It is as Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." And I think that even applies with the mercy we extend to others.

Listen carefully to what Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15. We read "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Now I’m sure we can debate all the theological aspects of what was said here from now till the time the Lord returns. But let us not miss the point. Take it at face value. You need to forgive others, not just a suggestion, but a command.

And I think Jesus expounds on this when He speaks about forgiveness in Matthew chapter 18. Jesus tells the story of a king who wants to settle his accounts and one person owed him ten thousand talents. We don’t know if that was silver or gold, but lets just say it was 16 million dollars, for Jesus was exaggerating the amount to make a point.

The man didn’t have the money to pay the king back and thus, he and his family was going to be sold into slavery to pay off that debt, which of course was impossible to pay off. And so this man pleads with the king to have compassion upon him, to extend mercy upon him. And the king did, he forgave him his debt completely! Great, right? Not so fast.

This man who was forgiven this debt had a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarri, not a lot, lets say 16 dollars. And this man did not have the money to pay him back, and so he begged the man to give him some time to pay it off, which was very possible. Instead of doing that, the man had this other servant thrown in prison, where he could not pay him back, and he refused to have compassion upon him, to extend mercy to him.

Well word got back to the king of what had happened and we read beginning in verse 32 of Matthew chapter 18, "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." Matthew 18:32-35.

Again, a heavy lesson that could be debated for years. But don’t miss the point. God wants us to forgive. Again, it is not a suggestion, it is a command that is based upon what He has done for us! He has forgiven us 16 million dollars, can’t we forgive someone who only owes us 16 dollars?

4. ROMANS 12:8c

Paul wants our mercy to be shown with cheerfulness. It is one thing to extend mercy to someone, but if you do it with your fist and teeth clinched, and anger in your heart, you might as well forget it. God won’t accept that.

A Christian lady once said: "When my mother became old and needed someone to care for her, my husband and I invited her to come and live with us. I did all I could to make her comfortable. I cooked for her, did her washing, took her out in the car, and generally cared for all her needs. But while I was going through the motions outwardly, I was unhappy inside. Subconsciously I resented the interruption of our usual schedule. Sometimes my mother would say to me, ‘You never smile anymore. Why don’t you ever smile?’ You see, I was showing mercy, but I wasn’t doing it with cheerfulness."

There is a way of forgiving a man which pushes him further into the gutter; and there is a way of forgiving him which lifts him out of the mire. Real forgiveness is always based on love and not upon our rights.

Now in saying that, let me share with you some Scriptures that will show you this is not just a good suggestion. To extend mercy to others is what God expects from us, it is a divine command.

EXTENDING MERCY TO OTHERS, A DIVINE COMMAND!

1. LUKE 6:36

If we truly are a reflection of God, His representatives here on earth, then we should manifest His character in our life. We should show mercy to others.

2. MICAH 6:8

Here it is, what is good, what God requires of us. We are to do what is right. We are to be merciful. And we are to walk with God humbly.

3. ZECHARIAH 7:9-10

God’s desire is that we would reach out and show mercy to those around us instead of plotting evil against them.

I want you to think about this for a minute. How will people know you are a Christian? Is it the size Bible you carry around with you? Maybe it’s the Christian tee-shirts you are wearing as you push your way into line? How about the Christian bumper-stickers on your car as you go speeding by the other cars yelling at those drivers for going so slow? None of those things are a characteristic of a Christian. They are not a tell-tale sign of who you belong to.

Jesus said in John 13:33-34, "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." They will know you are Christians by your love, a love that is manifested in action, and it is out of that love that mercy flows.

You see, God’s love is active, not passive. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Jesus, in His earthly ministry, went around doing good, and so should we. We need to extend mercy to those around us, have compassion on them. You see, it is not just forgiving the wrong they have done to you that is mercy. There is also having compassion upon those in need. Yes, one side is forgiving, but the other side is compassion. As Paul said in II Corinthians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort."

I want to leave you with this true story that takes the principle of mercy and places it into action, or at least it should. We are not going through these lessons to gain head knowledge alone, but to take what we have learned and apply it to our lives, living as God would want us to live. Charles R. Swindoll said:

A Greek class was given an assignment to study the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. These young theologs were to do an in-depth analysis of the biblical text, observing and commenting on all the major terms and syntactical factors worth mentioning. Each student was to write his own translation after having done the work on his commentary.

As is true in most language classes, a couple or three of the students cared more about the practical implications of the assignment than its intellectual stimulation. The morning the work was to be turned in, these three teamed up and carried out a plan to prove their point. One volunteered to play the part of an alleged victim. They tore his shirt and trousers, rubbed mud, catsup, and other realistic-looking ingredients across his "wounds," marked up his eyes and face so he hardly resembled himself, then placed him along the path that led from the dormitory to the Greek classroom. While the other two hid and watched, he groaned and writhed, simulating great pain.

Not one student stopped. They walked around him, stepped over him, and said different things to him. But nobody stooped over to help. What do you want to bet their academic work was flawless...and insightful...and handed in on time?

This incident always reminds me of a scripture that penetrates the surface of our intellectual concerns. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" (I John 3:16-17, NIV).

– Charles R. Swindoll, Compassion

We all are to have mercy towards others and at times the Holy Spirit gives us that supernatural ability to forgive and have compassion upon people. Mercy is not a passive word, but it is an action word, and thus that action should be manifested in our life. The gift of mercy, truly needed in our lives!