Series: Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gift
#9: The Gifts of Spiritual Qualities – Mercy/Compassion
Matthew 25:31-40 and James 2:14-17 (NLT)
By John Gill ~ August 6, 2023

Today we are resuming our sermon series on the Spiritual Gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows on those who put their trust in Christ for salvation. So far, we have looked at the “Gifts of Spiritual Qualities” – characteristics of the Christian life we all share to some degree, yet certain believers have in abundance.

Today we will consider the final of the Gifts of Spiritual Qualities – the Gift of Mercy. This is perhaps the most practical and appreciated gift of them all – showing mercy towards others. It is quite obvious that many of you in this congregation have been granted the Gift of Mercy! Do you think you may have this gift? Well – let’s find out!

The definition of the Gift of Mercy is this: “The gift to feel genuine empathy and compassion for individuals, both Christian and non-Christian, who suffer distressing physical, mental, or emotional problems, and to translate that compassion into cheerfully done deeds that reflect Christ’s love and alleviate the suffering.”

So, what is involved in living out this gift? I’d like to make five observations that can inform our understanding of this essential gift:

1. Those with the gift of Mercy don’t limit themselves to words, but put their words into action through deeds of compassion.

Mercy isn’t the same as pity, and it’s not just encouragement – as important as these are. Mercy goes beyond that! Mercy is “love – in action!” To paraphrase our lesson from the Letter of James: “What good does it do to talk about caring unless you actually show you care?”

If you have spent any time at all reading and reflecting on the Gospels, you know that every time Jesus was moved by compassion for someone, he did something about it!

In the Gospel of John, we find a story that beautifully illustrates the mercy of Christ. In chapter 8, Jesus comes upon a confrontation between a group of men and a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery – they were about to stone her, because that is what the scriptures indicated was the proper punishment. And you will remember that Jesus not only had compassion on her, he showed mercy – he intervened on her behalf. And because of his act of mercy and grace, she was saved.

So, you could describe this Gift of Compassion this way: Pity + Deeds = Mercy.

In New England, a home in a rural area caught fire. All that could be saved was a few pieces of furniture and the four cows who lived in the barn (which wasn’t touched by the fire). A neighbor drove up to gawk at the smoking ruins. After poking around the smoldering shell of the building, he told his long-time, now homeless neighbor, “If there’s anything I can do, just say the word.” Then he got into his car, and drove off.

Another neighbor also came by to commiserate with the family burned out of their home. He didn’t ask what he could do, for he could easily see what was needed. He gathered his friends who helped move the furniture into the barn so the family could live there. They got back into their cars and soon returned with supplies: they brought beds and mattresses, potatoes, vegetables, cooking pots, clothes, and bales of hay for the cows.

Which neighbor do you think had the Spiritual Gift of Mercy?

You see, for the person who possesses the gift of mercy, “How can I help?” is not just a polite, but empty, phrase. It is the compulsion of the heart – a heart that helps out, without needing to ask the question. Or, again, to paraphrase James, “The gift of showing mercy doesn’t end with caring, but with sharing.” Our words of concern are validated or invalidated by our actions. For those with the Gift of Mercy, words and deeds always go together.

2. We show mercy because we have received mercy from God.

For many of us who have never been in a position to need mercy and compassion, we may wonder why we should care about others. It may be true that we may never have been dependent on the mercy of others, but every one of us is dependent on the mercy of God. What would have happened if God looked down on our fallen world or on your lost soul, and only had “pity?” We are a pitiful lot! But God didn’t just have pity on us, he did something about it – God acted. As Paul wrote in Romans, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

Because of his great mercy, God sent Jesus to offer us life. The New Testament Letter of Titus (3:4-5) expresses it like this, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” We each have received divine mercy, and undeserved grace. And, it’s a good thing we have!

Or, as Jesus says in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

3. Because we have received mercy from others, we are to pass on that mercy to others. In other words, we are to “pay it forward.”

There was a young employee who secretly misappropriated several hundred dollars from the business firm he worked for. As is always the case, eventually the company bookkeepers discovered the issue and reported it to the office of the senior partner of the firm. Realizing that the discrepancy in the accounts had been discovered, the employee felt doomed. He was sure he would lose his job, and probably be in legal jeopardy.

He was called into the office of the senior executive. His boss asked him if he was guilty of this crime. The employee confessed, “Yes.”

Then came a surprising question from his employer: “If I keep you in your present capacity, can I trust you in the future?” Stunned, the employee replied, “Yes sir, you certainly can! I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Ok,” his boss said, “I’m not going to press charges and you can keep your job.” The man was flabbergasted – but grateful!

Then the boss continued: “I think you ought to know that you are the second man in this firm who succumbed to temptation and was shown leniency. I was the first. What you have done, I did. The mercy you are receiving, I received. It is only by the grace of God that either of us have gotten a second-chance.”

4. We receive mercy from God in proportion to the mercy we show to others.

The Bible is filled with paradoxes: On one hand, we show mercy because we have received mercy. On the other hand, we receive mercy - by showing mercy! It’s like the old conundrum – which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or, as the King of Siam in the Broadway show, “The King and I,” said as he pondered such bewildering mysteries, “It is a puzzlement!”

Which is right? Well - both are right! There is no contradiction. How is that possible? Let me try to explain:

The cross is God’s ultimate act of mercy, freely given. But, just because we are saved by our faith in Christ does not mean that we will not be held accountable for our actions. God expects us to reflect his mercy toward others.

Jesus told a parable that teaches just that. Found in Matthew’s Gospel (18:21+), it is usually called “The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.” As you probably recall, in the story Jesus tells, a servant owed his master an astronomical debt. He begged his Master, and the Master showed mercy, and forgave the debt.

No sooner had the servant left his meeting with the Master, than he fell upon another servant who owed him a tiny debt, demanding to be paid. When the Master learned about the man’s hypocrisy, he summoned his unforgiving servant back before him, and said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And the Master threw him in prison until he could repay the original debt.

So, God’s mercy is free, but it costs us everything. God is serious about our obligation to show mercy to others!

5. When we show mercy to others, we are showing mercy to Christ.

Most of the time, we are conditional about mercy: To those who are like us, we judge that they are deserving of our compassion and help. But to those “others” who are unlike us, we make the assumption that they are undeserving and cheats. We see this double-standard throughout American society – those we deem worthy of our help, and others we assume are not worthy. Our politics is filled with these kinds of attitudes that are based on dividing the world into the categories: “us and them.” We show mercy on those like us – we judge those who are not like us.

Yet, I can’t think of any place in the New Testament where we are given permission to restrict mercy.

From time to time, I deal with people coming to the church for help. (We typically refer them to Halifax Urban Ministries and other caring institutions we donate to – but occasionally people still come to us.) Some of these “needy” folks are legitimate, while others are con-artists. Without passing judgement on them, I do try to be wise in how we might help them. Rarely do we give out financial help, but if we do, we strive to be good stewards of the funds that come in to the Good Samaritan communion offering boxes on the ends of the first pew.

Scripture commands that we show mercy. It’s not for us to judge whether people in need are worthy of our mercy, or not. When the opportunity presents itself, and a person in need is standing before you, don’t see THEM, see the FACE OF CHRIST. We need to take seriously what Jesus said in our first lesson: When we have shown mercy on strangers, we have in fact shown mercy on Christ himself. Therefore, it isn’t for us to judge people, but simply to be obedient to Christ in showing mercy, and leave the judgement to God.

So, we all are to have compassion for all people. But is it a spiritual gift? As we said, all of us are commanded to show mercy. But, just as with the other Gifts of Spiritual Qualities, some of us have an innate compassion for the needs of others. They feel compelled to act – and they do so joyfully!

There are many of us here at Tomoka with the Spiritual Gift of Mercy! If that were not so, we would never be able to sustain the many caring ministries our church is engaged in. You can’t walk through our narthex without stumbling over a collection basket for one mercy ministry or another!

Just consider the opportunities you have to live into your Gift of Mercy here at Tomoka:

· The Florida United Methodist Children’s Home is a ministry that cares for children who come from home settings in crisis, either in one of our two residential campuses, or in foster homes. You can get involved in helping them.

· As you learned last Sunday, our congregation has a covenant relationship with Matamoro Methodist Church in Cuba. Last Sunday, we welcomed two pastors from Cuba in our worship and our church lunch.

We pray for one another and send love-offerings to assist our Cuban sisters and brothers in their ministry.

· Family Renew Community provides temporary rent-free apartments for families with children who are trying to get their families stabilized and into permanent housing. The goal is to assist families to pull themselves out of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency.

· Palmetto House is a ministry that provides transitional housing for individuals trying to get back on their feet. Tomoka volunteers provide meals monthly for residents.

· Halifax Urban Ministry (HUM) is a multifaceted ecumenical ministry (that began as a United Methodist outreach ministry many years ago) that serves our neighbors who are poor or homeless. Among the HUM ministries our church is engaged in are:

· “Bridge of Hope” – a ministry that provides meals daily for our homeless neighbors. Tomoka members volunteer on-site at the Bridge of Hope to feed the hungry the first Monday of every month, and the fifth Friday, four times a year. Another ministry of HUM that our United Methodist Men’s group has adopted is:

· “Barracks of Hope” - a transitional housing ministry for homeless veterans. Our UM Men are raising funds to help furnish their new Barracks of Hope campus in Holly Hill. In fact, on Saturday, August 26, you will have the opportunity to take a tour of the new campus. Watch for info in the weeks to come.

· We also collect food donations for HUM’s “Feed a Family Bags,” for Family Renew Community, and for the Food Pantry that serves the families of Hinson Middle School.

· Tomoka UMC also reaches out to the children, families, and faculty of Tomoka Elementary and Hinson Middle School through our School-Church Partnership. In fact, we were selected by Tomoka Elementary as their Business Partner of the Year this past school year.

· We show mercy and compassion to our own members who are Homebound by visiting our aged, the physically challenged, or those recovering from illness or surgery.

· As we mentioned in our sermon on the Gift of Encouragement, we at Tomoka have Stephen Ministers trained to “come alongside” individuals going through a challenging time in their lives to be a confidential Christian friend.

· We extend the love of Christ and our congregation through our Card Ministry. This group creates hand-crafted greeting cards and sends them to people outside our congregation (such as veterans, first-responders, and nursing home residents) who need encouragement.

· Perhaps our newest “mercy ministry” is Christine’s Blankets homeless outreach that you heard about this morning. We are thrilled that this ministry is now headquartered right here on our campus!

· And Woman of the Word (WOW) features a different mercy ministry each month to support.

These, and many other ministries of compassion and mercy, are part of the DNA of this church. I hope every one of you is involved in at least one of these great ministries of compassion! In fact, I know that several of you have made some of these ministries so integral to your discipleship that you have completely rearranged your life so that you can live into your Spiritual Gift of Mercy!

I once heard a story about a boy at the beach who watched a woman step off a sandbar, lose her footing and struggle to stay afloat. There were about 20 people dressed in swimsuits on the shore standing by who saw this happen, but no one helped. As the boy watched, a fully dressed young man dove in, swam out to the struggling woman, and saved her.

When the boy got home, he recounted the events to his father. He expressed great admiration for the young man, but complete disdain for those on the shore who failed to help. His father said, “Son, don't judge too harshly. It takes courage to care greatly.”

Many of you out there with the “spiritual gift of mercy” obviously “care greatly!” – You are a blessing to so many people in our community struggling through life!

Friends, ours is a world in desperate need of those with this spiritual gift! Certainly, mercy involves providing for people’s physical needs, yes. You cannot feed the soul if the stomach is empty. But true deeds of mercy minister to more than physical needs.

Our world is desperate for love - the love of God experienced through our acts of love. Our deeds of mercy may be the strongest witness to the outside world of the love of God.

Two weeks ago, we heard a bit of practical wisdom from the Broadway show, “Oliver.” There is another Broadway musical that has a song that I believe could speak to the gift of mercy.

In “My Fair Lady,” Liza Dolittle sings, “Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!... Don't talk of love… show me!”

The world is fed up hearing the church talking about God's love, but not seeing any evidence that the People of God actually love them! And so, they have given-up on the gospel! If we hope to share with them the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, they need to see God's love in action! It is up to us as the body of Christ to show them the love of God.

In our scripture from James, we heard the importance of going beyond lip-service, showing mercy through deeds. The verse that follows the lesson we read sums this gift up well: “Someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’”

Or as Liza sang to Freddie: “Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!...

Don't talk of love… show me!”

© 2023 by John B. Gill, III

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