Peacekeeper or Peacemaker — Which One Are You?*

Practical Steps to Resolving Inevitable Conflict

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”    Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

 

I. INTRO

We begin today by defining PEACE.

As we define PEACE, I’d like for us to look at it from two perspectives:

1.  The Hebrew concept of PEACE.

• Our Western concept of peace needs to be considered in the light of the ancient Hebrew concept of peace, which is SHALOM — and means much, much more than our limited understanding of peace (i.e., the lack of conflict).
• Biblical SHALOM means a universal flourishing, wholeness and delight; a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied, natural gifts are fruitfully employed — all under the arc of God’s love.
• One theologian said, “Shalom is the way things ought to be.”
• Neal Plantinga – “the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in equity, fulfillment, and delight.”

2. I will also restate what we’ve been saying for a year now: There is a difference between a peacemaker and a peacekeeper.

• To be a peacemaker does not mean peace at any cost.
• Peacekeeping creates a false peace.
• Many of us live out our lives with this false peace and say nothing or do nothing to change it—in churches, homes, work places, marriages.

Examples:

• Someone makes inappropriate sexual comments to you at work.  You know its not accidental because its repetitive and degrading.  But you keep your mouth shut because you know they’ll threaten your job or make you miserable if you say anything.
• A family member makes a scene at a family gathering.  It embarrasses you, the rest of the family, but you say nothing.  You keep the peace because to go there would unearth a lot of stuff that you just aren’t willing to deal with.
• Your spouse makes insulting remarks to you or humiliates you publicly through a critical tone of voice.  It grates on you.  But you keep silent because you want to keep the peace.

We struggle with this false peace because the conventional wisdom of the day is that its better to keep the peace than to make the peace and there is a very real difference.

Keeping this false peace insures that real issues, real concerns, and real problems are never dealt with.

True peacemakers will challenge and disrupt the false peace.

Jesus didn’t have a problem disrupting the false peace of the day.

True peacemakers will give people the benefit of the doubt while graciously bringing up concerns

But true peacemakers will deal with what is real.  FIRST IN THEIR OWN LIVES…

True peacemakers will steward the conflict they find themselves in because God will often use conflict to develop things in our lives that are developed in no other way.

So how do we become peacemakers?  Peacemaking is both an science and an art.  There’s at least 3 Practical Steps to Resolving Inevitable Conflict that we are invited to try understand…

A. The reason for conflict
B. How we respond to conflict
C. How to resolve conflict

II. BODY

A.  THE REASON FOR CONFLICT

If we’re going to overcome conflict in our lives, it will help us to understand first of all the reason that it’s there.  The Bible is very clear about this – in fact it’s almost too blunt.

James 4:1 (NCV) “Do you know where your fights and arguments come from?  They come from the selfish desires that war within you.”

We have these competing selfish desires that are at war within each one of us.  And then you go and put any 2 people together in a relationship – whether it be a marriage, some other kind of friendship, or working relationship…

Once you understand that we have these competing selfish desires, we are ready to take a look at how to respond to the inevitable conflict that happens in our relationships.  There are, at least, 5 different responses to conflict…

B.  HOW WE RESPOND (NOT REACT) TO CONFLICT

As we consider at these responses let me do so from the reference point of Psalm 139:23 (TLB), there on your outline –  David wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, and test my thoughts.”

David is asking God to help him deal with his own motives and heart attitudes.

God doesn’t care as much about WHAT we do as He does about WHY we do what we do.

With God’s help let’s look at some of the reasons for conflict in our lives…

1.  My way.  That’s when we say, “It’s my way or the highway!”  “I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure I get what I want.”  For some of us, that’s how we respond to conflict.

2. No way.  When conflict comes into our lives, we just back off.  “I don’t want to face this conflict.”  We’ll do anything and everything we can to make sure that the conflict doesn’t happen (peacekeeper).

Some of you think you don’t have any conflict because this is the way you handle it.

You still have conflict.  You’re just ignoring the problem.  You’re withdrawing and backing away.  Your goal is to avoid conflict at all costs.  But you still have it.

The result of this is that nothing really important is ever resolved and eventually it will erupt and catch up with you.

3. Your way.  Whenever we face a conflict we just say, “Have it your way” (I call this the Burger King conflict resolution method).  We roll over and play dead.  Whatever the other person wants, they get.  (This is another aspect of a peacekeeper mentality).

If you use this method in dealing with conflict, what’s happening is within you there is a root of bitterness growing day by day.

It can grow for days and months and years.  But eventually it’s going to spring up and potentially defile many (Heb 12:15).

4. Half way.  At first glance this doesn’t seem to be too dysfunctional…

It’s the idea of compromise.  “You win some of the time, I win some of the time.  We’ll try to meet half way.”

This is better than the first three but it’s still not the healthiest way to deal with conflict.

5. Our way.  We recognize that both people in a relationship have needs and there is a way for us to talk together so that our needs can be met in ways they never could have been met before.

Instead of just taking half and half, we try to put our whole selves together and find something better than we could have ever found before.

We could also call this God’s Way.  God taught us through Jesus Christ how to care about another person’s needs and how to care about a relationship enough that I’m just not trying to get my way or even to meet half way, but we work on it together.

In modern vernacular, we’d call this a “win/win” situation.

We’re going to see today how we can move towards this last way of dealing with the inevitable conflict in our relationships.

C. HOW PEACEMAKERS RESOLVE CONFLICT

1. Become a believer.

Commit your life to Jesus Christ.  Begin by resolving your conflict with God.  The Bible says that before we come to Jesus Christ we’re in conflict with God.  You may feel it or not feel it but it says we’re in conflict with God.

Ephesians 2:16 – “As parts of the same body, our anger against each other has disappeared.  For both of us have been reconciled to God and so the feud ended at the cross.”

Jesus Christ came to this world to make peace between humankind and God – to solve the mother of all conflicts. This is the key place to begin in resolving conflict in all of our relationships.

Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote to a young couple who had been married a brief time some advice for their marriage, “Live together in forgiveness for without it no human relationship, least of all a marriage, can survive.  Accept each other as you are and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts.”

That’s good advice, advice made more powerful by the fact that he wrote it from a German prisoner of war camp, where just a few years later he died.

He talked about forgiveness and the power of forgiveness in relationships to make a difference.

2. Talk to God about the conflict.

Pray.  Before you talk to the other person about it, talk to God about it.  In fact, that may resolve it right there!  You may find it’s mostly your problem anyway.

“If you want to know what God wants you to do ask Him and He will gladly tell you.”  James 1:5 (TLB)

We all need to learn to ventilate vertically.  For most of us, we’re better at ventilating horizontally at all the people around us.  But before you do that, ventilate vertically.

Many of the times we’re facing a conflict with somebody we’re in relationship with, the reason that conflict is there is we’re expecting of them something they just can’t give.

Anger is the warning light that we may have unrealistic expectations of other people.  Ask yourself, “Am I asking a human being to be God?”

3. Change your focus.

Change your focus from you own needs to the other persons needs.

Philippians 2  “Don’t be selfish.  Don’t just think about your own affairs but be interested in others’ too, in what they are doing.  Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ.”

The Greek word for “interested” is “scopos”.  It’s talking about caring for other people’s needs.  It’s the same word we get the words microscope or telescope from — focus in on the needs that they have in their lives.

Jesus spoke about the importance of this once in Matthew 7:3.  He gave us a picture of how important this is.

“Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in your own eye.  First, take the wood out of your own eye and then you will clearly see to take the dust out of your friend’s eye.”

Jesus is saying before you even begin, first ask yourself, “What’s my contribution here?”  Even if it’s a little speck in your eye it’s going to create a blind spot.

Change your focus from what’s my need to: what’s their need.

4. Establish guidelines.

Ephesians 4:31 “Stop being mean, bad tempered and angry. Quarreling, harsh words and the dislike of others should have no place in our lives.”

If we look closely at this verse it helps us to recognize that these guidelines are based on the characteristics God wants us to have in our lives…

• Instead of being mean, be kind.
• Instead of being bad tempered, be patient.
• Instead of anger, try honesty and love.
• Instead of harsh words, use gentle words.

Another excellent guideline is: Never say “never” or “always” in the middle of a conflict.

One more idea.  Kindness.  Attack the problem and not the person.

5. Go and make peace.

Matthew 5:23-24 (NCV) — “So when you offer your gift to God at the altar and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go and make peace with that person and then come and offer your gift.”

Conflict is not resolved accidentally.  It has to be deliberately dealt with.

Jesus shows us that the only way to resolve a conflict is to face a conflict.

Choose the right time.  Choose the right place.  And go and make peace.

6. Ask for help.

Proverbs 13:10, “Pride leads to arguments.  Be humble take advice and become wise.”

Healthy advice is the path to wisdom.

In every other area in our lives when we face big problems we’re not usually afraid to get professional help.

• If we’re sick physically we’re going to go to a doctor.
• If I’ve got a financial problem I can’t figure out, I’m going to go to an accountant.
• If I’ve got some legal problems and I don’t know what to do, I’m going to go see a lawyer.
• If you’ve got some relationship problems in your marriage, there is nothing wrong with going and seeing a professional marriage counselor — a Christian marriage counselor, somebody who has the tools to help you see how to be Christlike in your marriage and how to handle conflict.  They talk through this with hundreds of people.  They know what you’re facing.  Be humble.  Take advice.  Become wise.

III. CONCLUSION

These that we looked at today are 6 proven principles on resolving conflict in relationships.  From the simplest little conflict to a conflict you may have been facing for years.  Use them in your life.

I’d like to put alongside of them 3 resolutions for solving conflict.  3 commitments you can make in your life.

1. Resolve to commit your life to Jesus Christ.  You may have never done that.  That is the first point we talked about. That’s where you start.  As we prepare ourselves for communion tell Jesus that you need Him.

I need Jesus Christ in my relationships.  I’m not afraid to admit that.  That’s why He came for us, that’s why He loves us.

Ask for His help.  Ask Him to forgive you for the wrongs you’ve done and give you direction for everyday life.

He’s promised He will.

2. Resolve to commit your attitudes to Jesus Christ.  You may have given your life to Christ but your attitudes have been crummy lately.

Perhaps there has been a lot of “my way” stuff.  He can help you.

If you commit your attitudes to Him, He’s an expert at the needs of others.

He can teach you how.  Day by day. Moment by moment.

3. Resolve to commit your words to Jesus Christ, the way you talk to others.  Let Him help you begin to talk in a more gentle way, in a more clear way and a more loving way or maybe just to begin to talk at all.  Ask for Christ’s help in that.

I don’t know which one of these resolutions hits home with you but whichever one — don’t try to do all of them, just pick the one that fits with you and begin to live that out this week.

*Adapted from a sermon outline by Rick Warren.

Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

[To“see” is ὁράω (horaō) and means “to see with the eyes, to see with the mind, to perceive, know, to become acquainted with by experience[1]]

Big idea: Jesus is concerned about the condition of our hearts.  Motive matters.  Jesus is both the goal and the fruit of the gospel.

Here’s the problem: Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

I. INTRO

Review — Here at SBF we view the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) as a pathway leading to spiritual growth. We see each Beatitude as a stepping-stone to the next, and as we regularly cycle through them we keep growing deeper and deeper…

A Review of Imputed Righteousness (God’s righteousness or ours?):

• Protestant theology has emphasized that this includes the imputation of Christ’s righteousness (crediting it to the believer’s “account”), whereas…
• Roman Catholic theology emphasizes that God justifies in accordance with an infused (or imparted) righteousness merited by Christ and maintained by the believer’s good works.”[2]

• Imputed righteousness therefore means that upon repentance and belief in Christ, individuals are declared legally righteous. This righteousness is not the believer’s own, rather it is Christ’s own righteousness ‘imputed’ to the believer.
• This results in assurance of our salvation, or an inner witness of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the outward manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-24) allowing the believer to know (i.e., be assured) that s/he is saved and has eternal life.

The first thing we learn from this beatitude is that Jesus is concerned with our heart. It is not enough to clean up our act on the outside.  Motive matters.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity [or greed]. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean. (Matthew 23:25–26)

The aim of the gospel is not to reform the manners of society, but to change the deceitful and wicked hearts of sinners like you and me. Would Jesus be satisfied with a society in which there were no acts of adultery or murder?

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27–28)

The heart is what we are, in the secrecy of our innermost thoughts and feelings, when nobody knows but God. And what we are at the invisible root matters more to God than what we ‘appear’ to be at the visible branch. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man. (Matthew 15:18–19)

So the heart is utterly crucial to Jesus. What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what God cares about most. Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some bad habits that need a dose of behavior modification. He came into the world because Adam and Eve’s sin has been imputed to you and me – and our heart’s are deceitful and desperately wicked — in need of purification.

Today I want to ask and answer two questions:

1. What does it mean to be pure in heart?
2. How can we become pure in heart?

II. BODY

What does it mean to be pure in heart?

In 1847 Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish theologian who focused much of his writing on Christian ethics,[3] wrote a book titled: Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, which becomes the beginning of an excellent definition for pure in heart.

I would make one small change: “Purity of heart is to desire one thing.”

(I would identify the idea of willing – to be a function of the soul (i.e., intellect, will, and emotion) and, therefore, akin to moralism.

So, when we say that purity of heart is to desire one thing – what are we to desire?

Consider the words of Paul in Phil 3:7-11 (in the first few verses of the chapter Paul identifies his human pedigree and status) – “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; ¹¹ in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

A pure heart is an undivided heart.  Purity of heart is to make knowing Christ Jesus my Lord the primary goal and focus of our lives.

Does Jesus, Himself ever explain purity of heart?  Yes, in Mat 22:37…

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.

Not with part of your heart. Not with a double or divided heart. That would be impurity. Purity of heart means no deception, no double-mindedness, no divided allegiance.

(Note: you can see the echo of this meaning of purity of heart in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere [i.e., unhypocritical] faith.”)

Purity of heart is to desire one thing, namely, God’s truth and God’s value in everything we do. The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with utter single-mindedness. Purity of heart is to desire that one thing.

How can we become pure in heart?  (For most of us this seems impossible.  Him-possible?)

1. Pray to Christ – Ps. 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

2. Trust in Christ – Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared,[4] bringing salvation to all [people], ¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

3. Fix your ultimate hope on Christ – 1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

4. Receive Christ’s cleansing by faith – Acts 15:7-9, (The Council at Jerusalem) “Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; ⁹ and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”

5. Insert yourself into the Beatitudes. The pathway to true spiritual transformation begins with a revelation of spiritual poverty, moving us to a season of sustained repentance, where we become humble learners with a growing holy hunger to receive and embrace God’s gift of righteousness. As we receive God’s mercy we begin to give it. Mercy cleanses our heart and restores purity, which begins to permeate our soul[5]…and we begin to see and experience God in vibrant and life-altering ways to catch a fresh view/perspective of God. And it is from that place that we move from peacekeeping to peacemaking.  Living life from a kingdom of God perspective will place us in conflict with those that oppose it (often times it’s “religious” people!).

III. CONCLUSION

Malachi 3:2-4 — “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. ³ He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.”

When the heat is turned up dross and impurities drift to the surface and are scooped away by the Smelter. We stand with one another through the purifying process in the hope that, someday, we will bear His reflection in purity.

• We need each other.
• This week it might be you – next week it might be me…

by Peter Anderson

Introduction:

Millions of people were gathered before the Throne of God. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly and were belligerent. “How can God judge us, they asked?” God is in heaven where all is beauty and light, what does He know about suffering snapped a cynical woman. As she stood she rolled back her sleeve revealing a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. We were tortured, humiliated, torn from loved ones, until only death gave release. What about this said an angry black man, Lynched for no other reason other than being black. We were enslaved, beaten, wrenched from loved ones, only death gave us freedom. Across the plain there were thousands who had similar complaints against God for the suffering they experienced on earth. So they decided to form a committee, each person was selected from their groups because they suffered the most. The committee met in the middle of the plain, they decided that before God could judge them he had to live on earth as a man. They set certain safeguards so that in times of trouble He could not use his divine power to escape. Each of the 10 got up to pronounce their portion of the sentence: 1. Let him be born a Jew 2. Let his birth be so questionable that no one would really know who his father really is 3. Let him try to communicate something no one has ever seen or heard, let him try to communicate God. 4. Let him champion a cause so great that people will call him mad or lunatic. 5. Let him be betrayed by one of his closest friends, let him be abandoned at his greatest time of need by all he loved. 6. Let him be condemned by the religious leaders. 7. Let him be sentenced to die by a cowardly judge. 8. Let him be humiliated and tortured. 9. Let him die like a common criminal and buried in a borrowed grave. 10. Let his name live on forever that in moments of rage men would use it as a common curse word.

As each pronounced their portion of the sentence loud murmurs of approval came from the crowd. When the last pronounced his sentence no one made a sound, no one dared to move. When the last pronounced his sentence they all knew, God had already served the sentence.

Mercy is not a popular notion in our society, though it fascinates it.  Big Idea:  As Christ was merciful to us, we are to be merciful to others.

Literary Context:

The beatitudes contain several allusions from the OT. In the comparison passage, found in Luke 6:20-23, many of these beatitudes are not repeated. Luke spends a lot of time announcing blessing to the poor, the hungry, the mourning, and the persecuted; he has a broader audience primarily of Gentile Christians who have been taught about Jesus. Matthew’s gospel is directed toward fellow Jews, persuading them that Jesus in the Messiah who is available to all nations; Matthew adds several beatitudes: blessed are the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers

The Sermon on the Mount has also been likened to the 5 books of the torah. “Jesus on a mountain” is a common theme in Matthew calling to mind Moses receiving the law on Sinai; only Jesus is not Moses but is the “new” and better Moses. Far from establishing a new law, Jesus came to fulfill and thus transcend the Mosaic covenant.

Historical Context:

One of the ways we see how Jesus transcends Moses and other leaders, is that he immediately begins his sermon with blessing. In the Ancient-Near East (ANE), life was dominated by the need to cope with terrifying threat of omens and curses (think of Salem, MA in Halloween). In ANE, if you were at enmity with another person, you usually gave them a curse and if you think someone may curse you, you just cursed them to protect yourself. It was believed that once you uttered a curse, the gods were obligated to perform your demands. All one needed to do was perform a certain ritual and prayer (exactly as written) and then the curse would be performed against the one cursed. In ANE, a curse was “power-laden” to the people’s superstitions and they were on edge. Blessings were also powerful, but they didn’t dominant that society in the same way and people didn’t have the same conviction that a blessing, once invoked, would be realized. Most of the liturgy sought to revoke and reverse the curse. Yet, here comes Jesus, and he begins his ministry: blessed, blessed, blessed.

Definition of Mercy:

KJV has “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” ESV and NAS have “they shall receive mercy.” Most versions have will be shown mercy–almost all versions put it in a future tense (Think eschatology). Mercy will not always be “paid back” when you’re merciful. It is best to translate “merciful” as pertaining to being concerned about people in their need, compassionate, or having the sympathy/empathy of God. Manuscripts also include “people” and “toward everyone.” Therefore, this is not a message for Christians being merciful to Christians but a message pertaining for everyone listening.

Jesus shows mercy in 5 ways in this context:

1.  Healing the sick (ch. 4:23-25)

In this passage, Jesus cured many illnesses. Pains fled at his touch or simply by the speaking of his word. The Son of God was going forth to war and destroying the works of the devil, teaching and preaching, casting out demons and healing sicknesses by the power of the Spirit, healing both people’s souls and bodies, and establishing the kingdom of God on earth (Matt. 12:28). Jesus is teaching his disciples that he’s not only reversing the work of Satan, he’s healing the “worst of society.” In Greek culture, people who were sick were often judged as being unfaithful. Today, Christians are not immune to this thinking. Christians will often believe that others who have depression, anxiety, or fear do so because they’ve been judged. Jesus is reversing that thinking and displaying the unifying principle of mercy.

2.  Reconciliation (5:21:-25)

In this passage, believers were being asked to do what was humanly impossible: love their enemies—the very thing God did for mankind through the incarnation of his Son. This passage is commanding believers to be as consistent and generous toward people as God is, who causes his rain and sun to shine on the just and unjust. Jesus emphasized inner conformity to the spirit of the law rather than mere outward conformity to the letter of the law. The true requirements of the Law were highlighted to convict listeners of their need to turn to Jesus, the one true source of righteousness.

3.  Vengeance: (5:38-41).

The “eye for an eye” and “tooth for a tooth” principle is part of the widespread ancient Near Eastern law of retaliation. In Israel and other cultures, this principle was enforced by a court and refers to legalized vengeance; personal vengeance was never accepted in the law of Moses, except as a concession for a relative’s murder (Num 35:18–21). The Old Testament did not permit personal vengeance; David, a great warrior, recognized this principle (1 Sam 25:33; 26:10–11).

The blow on the right cheek was the most grievous insult possible in the ancient world (apart from inflicting serious physical harm), and in many cultures was listed alongside the “eye for an eye” laws; both Jewish and Roman law permitted prosecution for this offense. A prophet might endure such ill treatment (1 Kings 22:24; Is 50:6).

The robe here was considered so indispensable that when taken as a pledge, it had to be returned before sunset since it served as a cover during sleep. Jesus is saying that we have no right to hate the person who tries to deprive us of our possessions. Love toward him should fill our hearts and reveal itself in our actions. Jesus is saying is that rather than to reveal a spirit of bitterness or retaliation (eye for eye) the Christina shows mercy by caring his burden with joy.

This is merciful because it conveys what God has done to us. We retaliated against God for several years, some for several decades. As a Father, God was grieved by our sin, our rebellion, and our nature and yet, rather punish us, he saves/d us. Jesus asks us to do something very small: give someone a cloak if he asks and if he asks you to carry something for one mile, go two instead. The point is not mathematical per say, but blessing people with mercy should go above and beyond just the physical act.

Mercy is Emotional and empathetic

As noted, the biblical meaning of mercy is exceedingly rich and complicated. Many Hebrew and Greek words are needed to comprehend the many-sided concept, offering synonyms such as “kindness,” “loving-kindness,” “goodness,” “grace,” “favor,” “pity,” “compassion,” and “steadfast love.” Prominent in all these words is the compassionate disposition to forgive an offender or adversary and to help or spare him in his sorry plight.

In the NT a very descriptive Greek word is used for Jesus’ mercy toward the needy (Mt 9:36; 14:14; 20:34). It expresses his pity and compassion by means of an intense verb literally translated “to be moved in one’s bowels.” The Hebrews regarded the bowels (heart) as the center of the affections. Our Lord is described as being fervently moved in his inner-being and offering benevolence toward the needy and acting to relieve their suffering.

4.  Love for enemies (5:43-48)

‘Love your enemies’ is undoubtedly the invention of Jesus’ own mind, and it stands out as fresh and unforgettable. ‘Love your enemies’ is not advice for the Stoic who must remain even tempered in the face of a fickle world but involves intense emotion. Jesus is not offering us prudent wisdom. Jesus does not promise that love will turn enemies into friends as many in the postmodern church often seek out. Rather, Jesus is calling for a ‘love which does not depend upon some-thing.’ ‘Loving your enemies’ seems to contain what may have been a novel demand: do good to the enemy, despite the circumstances and the results. This is related to mercy because offering love toward someone is rooted in giving it to someone who cannot “pay you back.”

Governor Neff, of Texas, visited the penitentiary of that state and spoke to the assembled convicts. When he had finished he said that he would remain behind, and that if any man wanted to speak with him, he would gladly listen. He further announced that he would listen in confidence, and that nothing a man might say would be used against him.

When the meeting was over a large group of men remained, many of them life-termers. One by one they passed by, each telling the governor that there had been a frame-up, an injustice, and judicial blunder, and each asking that he be freed. Finally one man came up and said, “Mr. Governor, I just want to say that I am guilty. I did what they sent me here for. But I believe I have paid for it, and if I were granted the right to go out, I would do everything I could to be a good citizen and prove myself worthy of your mercy.” This, of course, was the man whom the governor pardoned.

5.  Reframing from judging others (7:1-3)

Finally, mercy involves reframing from judging others. “Sinful” judgment is a hypocritical judgment. A hypocrite is often guilty of the very sins he condemns and blind to his own because he is preoccupied with another’s offence. Such self-righteousness, says Jesus, is like ignoring your own “plank” for a “speck of sawdust.”

Mercy does not judge because the recipient has been forgiven by a greater judge. God law is humbles us here because sins committed against him is greater than a sin committed against you. “Don’t judge” does not mean “don’t think.” John Stott remarks that the phrase, “Don’t judge” is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Mercy takes into account the equality of both parties: you and the person you’re dealing with. Every form of “sinful” judgment is when someone internally places himself on a “more deserving plane” than the other. Blessed are the merciful, for they see themselves on the same playing field.

Concluding story:

“Revelation” opens in a doctor’s waiting room where Ruby Turpin is waiting with her husband, Claude. As she often does, Mrs. Turpin passes the time by categorizing the other waiting-room inhabitants by class—“white trash,” middle class (like her), and so forth. This is the segregated South, so there are no black people here, but Mrs. Turpin is happy to judge them, too.

She identifies a pleasant-looking woman as one of her own class, and they begin an idle conversation that centers first on their possessions and eventually on their disapproval of civil rights demonstrators. They conclude that it would be a good idea to send all black people back to Africa. During this conversation, the other woman’s daughter, Mary Grace, an obese college student with severe acne, has been making faces directly at Mrs. Turpin. At last Mary Grace cracks entirely, throws her book (Human Development) at Mrs. Turpin, and then physically attacks her. When Mary Grace has been subdued, Mrs. Turpin begins to think that the girl has a message for her, and when she moves closer, Mary Grace calls her a warthog and tells her to go back to hell where she came from.

Later, at home, Mrs. Turpin is deeply shaken by the message. At last, while hosing down the hogs, she questions God about why he sent her such a message when there was plenty of “trash” in the room to receive it. His answer comes in the form of a vision of people marching to Heaven, a procession led by all the people she has most held in contempt. The vision fades, and Mrs. Turpin returns to the house in the midst of a cricket chorus of hallelujahs. Critics have disagreed about the meaning of the end of this story, but Mrs. Turpin’s serious acceptance of the violent message of grace and the imagery of the ending seem to suggest that her vision was a gift of mercy that has clarified her vision of the world, its people, and her possessions.

Conclusion

What we need is a revelation that we are equal in the eyes of God. Christians further the kingdom when they live in that existential honesty: about themselves and their neighbor.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.