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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor March
10, 2002 The
words translated "compassion" and
"mercy" in our English versions
of the Bible actually represent
at least five Hebrew and eight
Greek words, so there are some
nuances of meaning that don't
fully come across in English. 9-The
God
Who
Fills
Heaven
and
Earth In
other words, "compassion" is
experiencing the hurt or distress
or others and wishing you could
do something to relieve it. Mercy
is the next step, when
opportunity and ability are
present and you take action to
relieve the suffering. So
technically one could be
compassionate without being
merciful, because a lack of
opportunity or ability may
prevent you from doing anything
about a particular need. But when
opportunity and ability are
present, true compassion will
produce mercy. The
Bible declares to us that God is
full of both compassion and
mercy. He feels the hurt, the
pain, the sorrow -- and He acts
to do something about
it. But
wait a minute. There is a
difficult question we have to
grapple with here. If you go tell
someone that God is loving,
compassionate, and merciful, that
person, if he or she has any
knowledge of the Bible at all,
might ask you how a compassionate
and merciful God could do some of
the things He did in the Old
Testament. For
example, in the conquest of
Jericho, in Joshua 5 and 6, God
told Joshua to kill everyone in
the city, including the women and
children. No one was to be spared
except Rehab and her family
because she had assisted the
Israelite spies who had entered
the city earlier for
reconnaissance. How
do we find love, compassion and
mercy in that? First,
we have to remember that God's
nature is always in perfect
balance. God's justice and
holiness always balance His
compassion and mercy. God's love
is not mushy sentimentalism or
sloppy agape; His love is holy
and redemptive. Also
remember that God knows
everything. He even knows the
future. Before you were born God
knew if you would accept His
offer of salvation through Jesus
Christ. God can see into our
hearts, He knows all about us,
more so then we know
ourselves. In
light of that truth look at
Deuteronomy 9:5. You
see, God was giving this land to
Abraham's descendants and driving
out the people who lived there
because of the wickedness of the
people who possessed the land.
They had grossly distorted God's
intentions for life. They not
only worshiped idols, they
sacrificed their children to
them. They were all severely
demonized. God was using the
Israelites to execute judgment on
them for their sin. I
think that in the case of the
Israelites conquest in Canaan,
God's goal was to eradicate a
cancer from the earth. This
wasn't the first time God had
done this. Remember the flood in
Noah's day? And what about Sodom
and Gomorrah? Maybe
God, in His perfect wisdom and
understanding, knew that these
people had moved beyond
redemption -- not that God didn't
still love them and desire for
them to repent. But maybe He knew
they were so immersed in sin they
never would repent. Maybe God
knew if any of them were left
among the human community they
would infect others with their
wickedness. Wouldn't that justify
His actions? Even
in civilized society, we justify
our own acts of destruction with
similar logic. Why do we have the
death penalty? It is because some
have moved so far into wickedness
they are a threat to
society. How
did the international community
deal with the mad cow disease a
couple of years ago in the sheep
and cattle of Great Britain? An
embargo was issued by the U.S.
government prohibiting the
shipment of all meat from Great
Britain to this country. All the
sheep and cattle in whole
geographic areas where the
disease was discovered were
killed and burned, even if
particular, individual herds had
not shown any sign of the
disease. If
I were a rancher whose herd was
destroyed when there was no
evidence of disease in them I
would consider that unfair. I
wouldn't be able to see
compassion and mercy in that
action. But with the knowledge we
have of this disease, the action
was necessary to prevent greater
damage, namely the potential
destruction of a major food
source in England and other
countries. In that light, such
destruction is considered a just
act, indeed, an act of
mercy. Please
understand that I'm not trying to
equate human and animal life --
that's inappropriate. But the
logic is the same. We are willing
to justify harsh action toward
some people or some things when
it is necessary for the
protection of the whole. We
justify that based our knowledge
and understanding of the total
situation. Even
so, our limited and understanding
is limited and imperfect. God, on
the other hand, has perfect
knowledge and understanding. He
knows everything. So
when God ordered the destruction
of Jericho, we have to trust that
He did so out of love, mercy, and
compassion -- love for the human
race and compassion upon those
who would have been entrapped in
the wickedness that would have
infected human society had those
people been allowed to live. God
acted with unlimited knowledge
and understanding. Let's
talk about some of those other
harsh-sounding stories that seem
to negate the declaration that
God is compassionate and
merciful. Prior
to the flood God told Noah to
build the ark as an instrument of
deliverance to preserve both
human and animal life upon the
earth. The ark is a symbol of
God's grace and mercy. Surely it
took years for Noah and his sons
to build the ark, giving those
who watched its construction had
ample opportunity to repent, but
they didn't. They brought
destruction upon themselves. "What
if you could find 50 righteous
people would you destroy them
along with the wicked?" Abraham
asked. God said, "If I find 50
righteous, I will spare the whole
city." Then Abraham said, "What
it there are only 45 righteous?"
God said, "I'll spare it."
Abraham goes on: "What about 40?
30? 20?" I mean Abraham is really
pushing against God's
grace. Now,
look at Genesis 18:32. What
would you call that -- except
compassion and mercy? As
it turned out God didn't find ten
-- and He destroyed the cities.
But He did send angels to get Lot
and his family out before the
destruction came. In
the Old Testament, God's
compassion and mercy are evident,
but sometimes they are expressed
in ways that are difficult for us
to understand. In the New
Testament, these qualities are
revealed clearly. Let's
look, for example, at Ephesians
2:1-5: All
of us also lived among them at
one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature
and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature objects of
wrath. But
because of his great love for
us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in
transgressions -- it is by
grace you have been
saved. And
also Romans 5:8: Anyway
you look at it, that spells
compassion and mercy. OK,
so God knows everything and He
always in ways that ultimately
are compassionate and merciful.
And we personally know the
benefits of that compassion and
mercy in Christ. But so what? How
do those facts change our lives
today or tomorrow or the next day
What are to do with
this? Look
with me at three brief
Scriptures. They're short, but
they say a lot. First, Luke
6:36: Also
1 Peter 2:10: And
Matthew 10:8: The
bottom line is that not only is
God compassionate and
merciful, He wants us to
be that way too, through the
power of His Holy Spirit in
us. Now,
remember that being compassionate
and showing mercy doesn't mean
condoning of sin; it doesn't mean
interfering with God's work in a
person's life by saving them from
hardship the Lord has allowed
into their lives to discipline
them and perfect them in
holiness. But
here's what it does mean: Being
compassionate and merciful means
we try to identify with others,
their hurts and struggles, and
encourage them in their walk with
God. We want to help them
overcome all obstacles to
abundant living. It means that as
we have opportunity and ability
we give aid to the poor and the
tragedy-stricken. It means we
don't judge or condemn others
because of their sin, but we
gently show them and try to lead
them in the way of righteousness
and redemption. The
Lord is full compassion and
mercy. And He calls us, and has
empowered us, to be like
Him. Now,
that's my sermon. Did you hear
it? Will you do it?
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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of the
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
A
merciful, compassionate God
(Eleventh
in the series, Knowing
God)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
Psalm
103:8-10
James 5:11b
But the basic ideas are these:
compassion is a "deep awareness
of the suffering of another
coupled with the wish to relieve
it," while mercy is
"compassionate treatment" and the
"alleviation of
distress."
In
this
series
'You
call that
merciful?'It
is not because of your
righteousness or your
integrity that you are going
in to take possession of their
land; but on account of the
wickedness of these nations,
the LORD your God will drive
them out before you, to
accomplish what he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
Killing
the cancer
Mercy
in the midst of
destruction
What about Sodom and Gomorrah?
In Genesis 18, we learn that God
told Abraham of His intention to
destroy the two cities because of
their wickedness. Abraham was
concerned because his nephew,
Lot, lived there -- so he
bargained with God.
and Gomorrah, by
19th-century British
artist John
MartinThen
[Abraham] said, "May
the Lord not be angry, but let
me speak just once more. What
if only ten can be found
there?" He answered, "For the
sake of ten, I will not
destroy it."
The
fuller revelationAs
for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in
which you used to live when
you followed the ways of this
world and of the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the spirit
who is now at work in those
who are disobedient.
But
God demonstrates his own love
for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for
us.
His
character in usBe
merciful, just as your Father
is merciful.
….once
you had not received mercy,
but now you have received
mercy.
Freely
you have received, freely
give.
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020310a: A Merciful,
Compassionate God.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado