Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matthew 5:7)
In one of Jesus’ more well-known parables, he tells of a king who is settling accounts with his servants. One of those servants owes a tremendous amount of money, more than he could ever realistically repay, and the king orders that the servant, his family, and all he has be sold so payment can be made. The servant falls to his knees and begs for more time. The king, in a lavish act of mercy, goes beyond the man’s request and instead forgives the whole debt. End of story, right?
Unfortunately, the parable goes on and tells how this servant who has been forgiven so much refuses to extend similar mercy to another servant who owes him a far less amount than he owed the king. One gospel recounts that he actually begins to choke the other man, demanding to be paid back. The other servant begs for mercy but receives none. Other servants report this to the king, who in wrath reinstates the debt of the unforgiving servant and throws him in prison. The point is clear: those who have received great mercy themselves should extend great mercy to others.
Saints, we have received great mercy from our Heavenly Father through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Though we were dead in our sins and transgressions, He in his great love made us alive in Christ. And now we are called to extend love and mercy to others. One of the ways we do this as a body is through our Mercy Fund. And I am encouraged by the report from our deacons about how you generously gave to the Fund and how we were able to show mercy to others through the Fund.
In 2023, around $16,000 was given to the Fund. That is one of the highest year’s giving in the history of the church, if not the highest. That money was then turned around to meet various needs in our community. Some of those were the needs of basic life, such as rent and groceries. Some went to emergency needs, like car repairs and medical expenses. Given the growing mental and emotional health crisis in our community, we funded some scholarships for counseling through New City Counseling. And we were even able to extend mercy outside of our community as we sent funds to help those families impacted by the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, a school connected with one of our sister PCA churches.
The Apostle Peter in his first epistle reminds us that once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (2:10). Two verses later, he speaks of how we should live our lives in such a way that the pagans may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (2:12). Amongst those good deeds, surely will be the acts of mercy done by God’s people. Let us continue to go deeper into the mercy of God that we have received so that we might become more merciful as a result.
