The LORD's Mercy is Very Great - Mar 2, 2014

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SERMON:

To begin our meditation today I’d like to direct your attention to a passage that isn’t part of our sermon reading, or any of our other readings for today either. This passage is found in First Peter chapter 1, verse 12. It says…

“It was revealed to [the prophets] that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:12 NIV).

Angels are so ethereal and mysterious to us that sometimes we forget that they are creatures. The Bible tells us that they are immensely powerful, but they are still being created by God. And as such, their powers and abilities aren’t unlimited. The angels who remained faithful to God are indeed sinless and holy, but they are still LEARNING about the great God who made them.

The angels know God all-powerful. They witnessed the creative power of the LORD when he put the universe in order. The angels know the LORD is utterly just. They stood at his side when Satan and his crew were cast out of heaven. The angels know God is all-knowing. Over the course of human history they have seen his prophecies come true, and have even carried some of these prophecies to mankind as his messengers.

But of all the things that cause the angels to praise God, it seems that the LORD’s MERCY is most amazing to them. They long to look into human history to see what God is doing to reclaim the fallen race of man.

There are, no doubt, many things that the angels could teach us about the LORD. But WE are actually in a better position to teach THEM about the LORD’s mercy—for we have experienced THAT first hand.

The story of God’s interaction with mankind is, above all, a story of mercy.

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For the past eight weeks we’ve been getting to know one of the major characters in the Old Testament—king David. We’ve learned a lot about David and his time in history. We’ve seen how he was a sinner, just like us, prone to horrible sins and foolish actions. We’ve seen that the story of the LORD’s interaction with David is, above all, a story of God’s mercy.

David was just a shepherd boy. The youngest of his brothers. But the LORD took him from shepherding the flocks of his father, and made him the shepherd over the people of Israel.

When David sinned, for example, in committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah, the LORD responded with righteous rebuke, but also, with mercy and forgiveness.

Today as we look one more time into the life of David, we will again see the LORD’s mercy in action.

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David was getting along in years by the time of our sermon reading for today. As an older man, David was beginning to lose the vigor and strength he once knew. Once a mighty warrior in Saul’s army, and a conquering king on his own throne, David had now been banned from the battlefield.

During a battle with the Philistines king David had nearly been killed. Only the quick sword of Abishai saved the king. And from that point on the men swore that David would never again take to the battlefield with them. They would not risk losing their king.

This must have been hard for David to take, but he listened to his men.

Perhaps it was David’s growing frailty that opened the door to temptation. We all know from experience that when we’re tired, or hungry, or weak in some other way, temptation can easily find a foothold in our lives.

Here is what happened to David.

1 Chronicles 21:1-19 (NIV)

^21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. ² So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”

³ But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

⁴ The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. ⁵ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

⁶ But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him. ⁷ This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.

⁸ Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

⁹ The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, ¹⁰ “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ”

¹¹ So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: ¹² three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹³ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁶ David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

¹⁷ David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹ So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord.

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Once again we see that great king David, was just a man. Just a human being, corrupt and sinful just like you and me. Earlier in life David didn’t go around counting up the fighting men to see how strong Israel was. As a young man, when David faced Goliath, he rightly proclaimed,

“…it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:47 NIV).

But now things had changed, and David was counting men. Even Joab, David’s general, could see that this census wasn’t right. But David wouldn’t listen. Temptation had taken hold.

As is the case so often, when the deed was done, David’s conscience gripped him tightly. And in sad repentance, David confessed his sin to God.  

Though a sinner, king David was a man after God’s own heart. When he perceived his sin, he repented and looked to God for forgiveness.

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In this case, the LORD did a remarkable thing. He let David choose his own rebuke. Through the prophet Gad, David was given a choice, 1) Three years of famine, 2) Three months of enemy pursuit by the sword, or 3) Three days of plague from the LORD’s own hand.

David was in deep distress when this decision fell on him. And in the crucible of this pressure to choose, David’s faith in the LORD shines out brightly. All the tragedies and hardships that David had ever faced in life had taught him one thing: It was far better to fall into the hands of the LORD, than to fall into the hands of sinful men. For from men comes sin, and pain, and suffering. But from the LORD comes mercy. David’s words of response are worth hearing again, they are his confession of faith.

“Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands” (1 Chronicles 21:13 NIV).

Of all the things David had learned in life, this was the most valuable pearl of wisdom. With the LORD there is mercy. I pray that God would bless us all with this conviction before we exit this world: I will trust in the LORD, for his mercy is very great.

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David’s sin of counting the fighting men of Israel had its consequences. Horrible consequences chosen by David himself. 70,000 men died. But still, those consequences were limited. And when the angel of the LORD stood ready to strike the city of Jerusalem down, the LORD stayed his hand.

We find the same thing happening in our own lives. Our sins have consequences. Sometimes those consequences are horrible, and chosen by no one else but ourselves.But the LORD’s rebuke is limited, whereas his mercy is unending.

Our sins bring suffering into our lives, but that suffering will only last for a time. The LORD has promised that all who trust in his Son Jesus will one day emerge from the sin infected world of suffering to see the glory of the LORD.

The LORD’s mercy is very great. He responds to our sins, with forgiveness. And even when his rebuke comes, it only comes for a time. But his mercy WILL endure forever.

In the book of Revelation the apostle John saw a wonderful vision depicting the future glory of God’s people. John wrote…

“^21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4 ESV).

The LORD’s mercy on sinful mankind is very great. And we who know of forgiveness through the Son of God have begun to experience that mercy. And in the future God has promised that we shall know his mercy even better.

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But let’s rewind for just a moment. Back to David. Back to Jerusalem under the upraised arm of God’s destroying angel. For there’s something we don’t want to overlook here. Something that shows us how the LORD’s can be a just God, punishing evil fully, and yet also a God who shows mercy.

When David saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand, poised to deliver one last blow, he fell facedown to the ground and prayed to the LORD. In verse 17 David prays,

“Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? LORD my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people” (1 Chronicles 21:17 NIV).

David had experienced a lifetime o f the LORD’s mercy. And in his interaction with the true God, David had begun to take on the LORD’s character. Only in small ways, but it was true just the same. The image of holiness that Adam and Eve had lost in the garden was being restored bit by bit in David. Here we see godly compassion in David, and the desire to take the fall for others. To ease their suffering. To save them from death. By God’s mercy, David was modeling Christ’s attitude.

“…LORD my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people” (1 Chronicles 21:17 NIV).

And God answered David’s prayer in the most remarkable way. About a thousand years later, God’s hand did indeed fall on David’s family. On one single descendant from his family. A thousand years after this prayer, the full cup of wrath over the sins of ALL mankind was poured out on JESUS OF NAZARETH while he hung crucified on a Roman cross. And when the darkness was over, the hell which David, and Israel, and all of us deserved—was gone. Absorbed by the Son of Man, and the Son of God—Christ the King.

That’s why we can rejoice today. The LORD’s mercy is VERY GREAT. And because of Christ, the record of our sins has been swallowed up and lost forever.

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No wonder the angels long to look into what the LORD is doing for mankind. What story could be more amazing, more important, more inspiring, more powerful, or more exciting?

Perhaps one day we’ll get to share our story with angels. Perhaps we’ll get to see their eyes grow wide with excitement and awe as we tell it.

But for now, there are others who need to hear this story. Countless others around us. People who have been taught that Jesus is just a great moral teacher, a bringer of laws. People who have been taught that Jesus is just a weak symbol of charity, a long haired hippie who liked to help the poor. These people need what we have. They need the truth of what Jesus really means. He is the physical embodiment of God’s mercy. He is the Mediator who stood between us and the hammer of God. He is our Savior, and theirs! He is the only way to truly know the God who made us all, and he is the only way to escape God’s final judgment.

In ancient days, the prophets wrote about him. Long ago, the apostles walked beside him. And today, we know him as our great Savior—through which we have come to know and possess the mercy of God. The angels long to look into these things. God help us to cherish this knowledge, this saving faith. And God give us the fire to make these things known today.

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds, in Christ Jesus.

Mercy - Sep 15, 2013

Apparently our server is down again this seek, so all I have is the printed version of this sermon. Sorry for the inconvenience. Email calebjohn.schaller@gmail.com if you really want the mp3 and I'll send it to you. -Pastor Caleb Schaller

SERMON:

Boom! Pow! Ziiiiiiiiiip! Mooooo. Oink oink. Meow.

No, your pastor hasn’t gone crazy. These words are examples of onomatopoeia. In every language there are words that seek to communicate a sound by simply imitating that sound.

In third year Greek we learned about one such word that is used in the New Testament. The Greek word for “grumble”—“gong-guz-oh”.  

It’s kinda fun to say. Repeat after me, “gong-guz-oh”.

Okay, let’s experience this word a little deeper. I want everyone on the right side to say “gong-guz-oh” four times, but not all at the same time. Kinda overlap your grumbles and put a nice low rumble into them. Ready? Go.

Nice. Now let’s have the left side give it a try. Say “gong-guz-oh” four times with a low overlapping rumble.

Nice.

This was the sound that Jesus heard one day when he was teaching the crowds. The sound of grumbling was coming from the Pharisees and scribes. The “holier than thou” religious people.

You see, among the people who crowded around Jesus to hear him speak, there were tax collectors and prostitutes. People who by their trades were known to be thieves and sexual sinners. But Jesus didn’t seek to separate himself from these people. He didn’t drive them away. Instead, he conversed openly with these open sinners and even ate lunch with them.

And so the Pharisees grumbled. And Jesus heard their “gong-guz-oh”. And in that grumbling Jesus perceived an attitude that was all wrong.

In our reading for today Jesus seeks to teach that the proper attitude toward unbelieving sinners is an attitude of mercy, not an attitude of cold, immovable judgment.

Luke 15:1-10 (ESV)

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸ “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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In another section of Scripture Jesus famously says,

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NASB).

This statement gets thoroughly abused. People say that this mean we should never tell people their actions are sinful. That would be judging them, and Jesus says not to do that. This is nonsense. Jesus consistently teaches his followers that no matter what flavor sin comes in, it’s always wrong. Sin is evil. We should always call sin, sin.

The judging that we’re not supposed to do happens when we treat sinning people as if they can’t be regained from their sinful habits. We’re not supposed to pretend like we know that they can never change. That we know God can’t get through to them. That’s the judging that we’re forbidden to do. And that’s the very judging that the Pharisees and scribes were guilty of.

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The Pharisees looked at the thieving tax collectors and the fornicating prostitutes and said in their hearts, “These people are lost FOREVER. They’re dirty, sick, and hopeless. They make no effort to change their ways. Let them lie in the bed they’ve made for themselves. They’ve chosen their path, let them go ahead and skip down the road to hell.”

Because the Pharisees judged these people as hopeless, they wouldn’t have anything to do with them. They ignored and disrespected them at every turn.

It comes as no surprise then, that when the Pharisees saw Jesus talking and eating with these people, they interpreted that to mean that in some way Jesus accepted their sins.

But that wasn’t what Jesus was doing at all. When Jesus talked and ate with tax collectors and prostitutes he wasn’t expressing acceptance of their evils. He was expressing the truth that these people were not necessarily lost forever. They could be regained. Their sins could be forgiven, and their lives could be reformed. Yeah, they were lost, but they could be found.

While the Pharisees and scribes viewed open sinners as having no value, Jesus showed that God valued them. Which shouldn’t surprise us. Everything God creates has value, especially those creatures who were originally made in his image!

When Jesus mingled with thieves and fornicators he was showing them that God still loved them, cared for them, and in mercy was reaching out to SAVE them. He wanted to save them from the final judgment, and hell, and he also wanted to save them from all the pain and heartache that a sinful life heaps on a person.

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When a climber is reported missing, the rescue teams around here don’t spend a bunch of time evaluating whether it was the fault of the climber or not. They just get out onto the mountainside and start looking.

Rescue teams do this because they value human life.

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This is the same attitude that we should have when it comes to rescuing the souls of lost sinners. We shouldn’t spend a bunch of time evaluating whether a sinner deserves their fate or not. And we certainly shouldn’t abandon the rescue attempt if it was their own choices that got them in trouble.

If we value the people that God has made, we will seek to cultivate an attitude of pity and mercy toward them—even when it’s their own stupid choices that have gotten them in trouble, even when their sins are being committed against US!

After all, that’s the kind of attitude that God had toward us! ALL of us deserve hell because of our sins against each other and against God. We aren’t forgiven because we chose God, but because he chose us. HE CHOSE US. HE used the law to show us our sins. HE used the Gospel to show us our Savior. HE convinced us that through Christ we have complete forgiveness and peace with God. If we EVER look at someone else and dismiss them as worthless and un-savable like the Pharisees did, we aught to be flogged.

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Jesus used two parables to show us how to view sinners. One parable has to do with a shepherd searching for a lost sheep. The other has to do with a woman searching for a lost coin. The point of both parables is that when something is LOST, you go and find it.

The details in these parables help us to mold the right attitude. First Jesus teaches us to view sinners as LOST, and in need of rescue.

The foolish sheep that gets away from the safety of the flock needs help! The shepherd is a pretty pathetic shepherd if he says, “Dumb old sheep, it deserves to be taken down by the wolves.” Yeah, the sheep got itself lost, but that just emphasizes the fact that it needs help.

The parable of the lost coin teaches us to view sinners as VALUABLE. God didn’t created them to be lost. He didn’t create them just to watch them wallow around in sin and guilt. He’s not amused by the pain sinners feel as they make one horrible mistake after another. God created us to be in an intimate and loving relationship with HIM, and to experience meaningful relationships with one another. As Christians we aught to see everyone as a valuable soul that God cherishes, wants by his side, and wants us to cherish also.

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At the beginning of the sermon we talked about the sound of grumbling that Jesus heard. But there’s also another sound that Jesus mentions here. The sound of the angels rejoicing in heaven.

The prophet Isaiah heard the angels sing around God’s throne when he received a vision of God’s throne room. The shepherds heard ranks of angels praise God with their voices as they announced the birth of Christ. I wonder, what does it sounds like when the angels rejoice with loud voices? It must be pretty amazing. Full of power and glory and joy. 

It’s a shocking contrast that while the Pharisees were grumbling, angels were singing for joy in heaven as more and more sinners were brought to faith in their Savior.

I guess that’s the question that we need to ask ourselves: do we want to be like the grumbling Pharisees, or the rejoicing angels? If we want to be like the rejoicing angels then we need to apply love, honesty, and patience to the sinners we know. That’s what they need! They certainly don’t need our grumbling judgment. They certainly don’t need to be abandoned. They need us to bring them the truth, in love. They need us to patiently call sin, sin. They need us to point out their sins and the consequences of sin until they own their guilt. And then they need us to bring them the Gospel of God’s grace. That’s how the lost get found.

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In Greek class we also learned about the word, “Mercy”. In the Greek it’s “eleos”. This word is defined as, “kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon).

This is the attitude that we should have toward sinners. May God give us a heart full of mercy.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you didn’t abandon us because we were guilty. Though we made choice after horrible choice and committed sin after stupid sin, you sought us out and found us. You placed us on your shoulders and brought us home. Help us to have the same heart of mercy and love toward the sinners around us, the same heart of mercy that you had for us. Thank you. Amen.