The Call of Cornerstone to Mercy

The call of Cornerstone to Mercy, and I want to give you 6 musts, 6 things that we must do in response to what we have been learning. In recent weeks on the subject of mercy ministry. Remember, mercy is compassionate ministry to somebody in need, especially dire need, and that could be spiritual need, especially it is a physical, need, when we see somebody that God brings across our way or God brings us across their way, who is in dire physical, material, and even spiritual need.

we are to compassionately address that need.

That's what this series has been about and all the things that we have learned. we want to talk today about how we need to respond to that. So 6 things that we must do. By way of starting off though, this morning, I wanna share with you, over the years, there have been moments where God has taught me or convicted me in this area of mercy ministry.

And one such occasion was about 12 years ago. I, my wife and I went to a Christian bookstore in Colton. And the sun had just set. I remember it being dark.

And as we got out of our car and we're walking through the parking lot towards the front entrance of the store, I saw a homeless looking man standing at that door. At the entrance and instantly, I just did some immediate processing. I thought this guy is standing there, he's gonna ask us for something, for money or whatever when we hit the door, and he's standing in front of a Christian bookstore so as to capitalize on, Christians, and trying to appeal to their best sensibilities to try to get money from them.

And so immediately, my heart was cynical.

And I just determined I'm gonna go into that store. I'm not even gonna pay any heed to this guy. And so, we approached the store and as I approached the door, the guy doesn't ask me for anything. instead, he spoke a blessing and then opened the door for me.

And my wife. I walked through still cynical, saying, OK, he's just doing that because when I leave, he's gonna ask me for something. We weren't in the store for long. When we came out of the store, I fully expected the guy to be there, but I looked around and the guy was nowhere to be found.

And instantly, this feeling of conviction came over me. And I was haunted by that moment and my attitude over the next few days. And a few days later, I sat down and I began working on a poem and I wrote my thoughts and my prayer to God in this poem, and it's entitled, I Saw You, Jesus. I saw you, Jesus, the other day, and I ignored you to my dismay.

Though I speak much to you when I pray, I did not then have a word to say. You were standing in front of the store. I'd never noticed you there before. You were disheveled, homeless, and poor.

Yet for me you kindly opened the door. You look like a beggar from the street. I thought you'd ask for something to eat. So going inside, I hastened my feet and would not let our eyes even meet.

But then you did not beg me for a bite or anything else to ease your plight. Instead you gave me a smile so bright and a word of cheer to bless my night. I thought to myself, that man is weird. He'll beg for me later, I sneered, but leaving the store outside, I peered and saw that you had disappeared.

Then I was smitten, and I decried my blatant cynicism and pride. You were so kind, but away I shied. I saw you, Jesus. Twas you I denied.

And then there's a postscript to this poem. It says you caught me, great angel, unaware. I am ashamed. I showed no care.

Please teach this calloused heart to dare to see the needy. And love you. There Ultimately, in just this poem, there's one thing I'm asking from God, and that is Help me to see. I need to see, teach my heart to dare to see the needy, and then to love you.

There And that leads us right into the very first essential, the very first thing that we must do by way of responding to what we have been learning about, and that is we must ask for eyes to see. And then use them. When it comes to mercy ministry, we will never extend compassionate ministry to someone in dire need. Unless we see someone in need, and we will only see those in need if we want to see those in need.

So we must ask for eyes to see and then to use those eyes that the Lord gives to us. In Proverbs 28:27, Solomon says, He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. Again, like we talked about last week, it is so easy. To just close our eyes to those in need so that we do not see them, because if we see them and look upon their need, it will stir up compassion and a sense of duty and obligation towards them.

And so it is simpler, it is safer to just close our eyes and turn away and not look upon those who are in need. The result is that there are many around us that are in need, but we don't see them. And we don't see them because we don't want to see them. I shared with you last Sunday how there have been times that I've been at a gas station pumping gas and someone comes up to me and they're wanting some money or whatever, and I, there have been times where I won't even make eye contact with them, and I just brush them off and there's just no connection there.

I won't even look at them in the eyes. I shared that with you last Sunday by way of confession in our staff meeting on Tuesday. Of this past week, Terrence Dick, who is one of our interns here at Cornerstone, shared with us that he had been reading from Acts chapter 3, and he was struck by the example of Peter who did the exact opposite of what I confessed to having done. You guys know in Acts 3 where Peter and John are going into the temple to pray and There was a lame man that they used to sit at the gate of the temple, and he would sit there and, and ask and beg for money as people would walk in and out of the temple.

Well, Peter and John are going into the temple, and there's this lame man who is sitting there. And look at what happens in the narrative of Acts 3 verse 3 and 4. And when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms, but Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him. I'm sure that many before Peter and John walked right on by, did not even look.

They'd seen the guy there before, and many would have not even been able to tell you that there's a lame man at the temple, but Peter stopped and he stared at the guy and invited him to look. At us, it's interesting how the Lord gives opportunity to practice what we're learning. after last Sunday, what I shared and then what Terrence Dick shared, later in the week, I was in the drive-through at Burger King just down University, and this guy came up while I'm waiting for my food and began to Share a need and ask if I could help, and I can say, I stared at the guy.

my eyes were riveted right into his eyes and I listened to every word he spoke.

And when he was done, I set about seeking to address his need, but just, it's like, Lord, thank you for the opportunity. To just be able to look at this man in the eyes. And practice what often I have failed to practice. Folks, really, the mercy ministry, ultimately, it begins in the heart, but it passes through the eyes.

it has everything to do with our eyes. just look at this and, and. The scripture in Matthew chapter 9 verse 13, Jesus quotes the Lord from the Old Testament, where Jesus says, but go and learn what this means. He's just saying, go home and learn something, learn what this means.

When God says, I desire compassion, that's the word for Mercy and not sacrifice. And so we can look at that and say, well, God wants compassion. He wants mercy from us. But where does that come from?

If you go through the gospel accounts, one of the things you'll notice is that whenever it is said that someone was moved with compassion, preceding that is the fact that they saw. Matthew 14:14, Jesus saw a great multitude and felt compassion for them. Mark 6:34, on another occasion, he saw a great multitude, and he felt compassion for them. In Luke 7:13, Jesus comes across a woman who is mourning the death of her own.

Son, and it says, and when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her. In Luke 10:33 in the story of the Good Samaritan, when he, the Samaritan saw him, the man by the side of the road, who had been beaten and left for dead, he felt compassion. Luke 15:20, the story of the prodigal son. where the son had wasted his father's inheritance and then came back in repentance.

And Jesus tells us that story so that we know what our Heavenly Father is like. And Jesus said that this young man's father, when he saw him, felt compassion for him. In Mark 10:21, even when the rich young ruler came to Jesus, it says, and looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him. When Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem, in his triumphal entry, it says he saw the city, and he wept over it.

And so I ask you today, what do you see? What do you see? We may be looking at the same thing, but do all of us see the same thing? What we need to ask the Lord for is a good eye.

Ask Him to give us eyes to see and then to be willing to use those eyes that He gives to us. Now, I warn you, you may be shattered by what you see. It may ruin your day. And that's honestly why we don't want to see.

My daughter, Brooke was able to go with the Paynes to Uganda for almost 3 weeks this summer. And she genuinely was shattered. By what she saw, the economic deprivation. that she witnessed profoundly impacted her.

And left her as she witnessed some of that just devastated. And so, even though what we see is going to impact us in that way, we must say, God, Give me eyes to see. I want to see the suffering. I want to see the need.

There's a second thing we must do in response to all that we have learned from Scripture, and that is that we must work to cultivate a mindset of mercy. Please do not think that this 1 month and a half month series is sufficient and that now Cornerstone is forever a merciful church. Why? Because we did a series on mercy.

this will not make us a merciful church. In fact, I fully believe that if, after all that we have learned, when this series is over, if we do not individually assume a responsibility to cultivate a mindset of mercy, within a few weeks or a few months, Cornerstone will be exactly like it was before, and we will be a very unmerciful church that happened to have done a two-month series on mercy. So we must do work and that work is to cultivate a mindset of mercy. And just as an example of this, let me share with you a couple of things.

first of all, about a month ago, I was listening to Mike, Barry and I were driving back from a conference and we were listening to a message by John Piper, on this particular subject. And in the message, John Piper gave some statistics. And I want to share some of those stats with you, but the stats aren't really the point. I want to put before you the way that John Piper responded to those statistics.

But here's some of the statistics that he mentioned in his sermon. 70 million people in the world live on the brink of starvation. Just on the very brink of starvation, 70 million people, 800 million people live in absolute poverty, which is like one step away from the brink of starvation. One half of the children who are born in absolute poverty do not live to see their fifth birthday.

Imagine that being a reality here at Cornerstone, that just of every child that's born, half of them don't live to see their 5th birthday. The average person in the poorest third of the world will earn $300 a year. The average person in the richest third will earn $18,000. How much do you make?

When I looked at that 18,000, I'm like, that's the average of the richest third, and how much do I make? Guys, the poorest among us in this room is living like royalty compared to hundreds of millions of people in this world. We are living in extravagant wealth compared to what they know. So, John Piper in his message gives some of these statistics, and then, I just, I just want you to observe what he says about them.

He says, you need to know that one of the effects that these realities has on me is to incline me away from finery and the symbols of wealth. You guys know what finery is? It's, it's the stuff that we have that we don't need. It's, it's instead of buying a very functional pair of jeans, we pay $50 extra for a brand name.

That's finery. Just the, the finest of the fine and paying extra money for that. John Piper is not saying that all of that is automatically wrong. He's just sharing personally the effect that these statistics have on him.

That these realities has on me is to incline me away from finery and the symbols of wealth. Now look at what he says, I try to keep the destitution and suffering of the world before me. I keep records of these things. I ponder them and hold them before my mind.

What is that about? I'm sure that doesn't make his day. It doesn't make him happy, but here's a guy who tries to keep destitution, suffering before him. He keeps records when he finds statistics.

He saves them so that he can go back and look at these statistics, and then he says, I ponder them and I hold them before my mind. In that same message, he talks about a picture, a photo that he has. I don't know what it is that he has in his office that, that He sees every day that he goes into his office that represents the destitution and the poverty that many experience in the world, and John Piper wants that reminder. He goes on to say this, he says, I do this because I fear the inoculating effects of wealth and a fine culture on me.

In other words, for me, the more I take the loss and the desperate condition of the world seriously, the more uncomfortable I feel with the symbols of wealth and refinement that tend to distance me from the poor, including 195 million Christian brothers and sisters in the least developed countries. Of the world Now, he adds a balancing touch here. He says, don't conclude from this that I naively think that the solution to poverty is for all of us to toss out our refrigerators and computers, take the bus and close down the universities.

Nobody is going to be helped by us turning our backs on the refined achievements of modern technology.

In fact, these things need to be used with big hearts and big discernment for the sake of the poor. But I do believe that if we could all spend a year in DACA, Bangladesh or Calcutta, India, the way we think and feel about finery would be profoundly affected. I urge you to keep these realities in the circle of your awareness, lest you become anesthetized by American abundance and affluence. Words of wisdom.

See, the thing is, we have in front of us without even trying every day abundance and affluence, and that affects us, does it not? It affects us. So, we actually have to work to stick something else in the front of our awareness, and that is the fact that not everyone in the world lives as we live, and there is need, there is need. If you watch enough television, 20 minutes out of every hour.

The whole point is, here's what you need. You need this, you need that, buy this, buy that, and our focus gets completely inward, and so we buy and consume, buy and consume. When what the Lord wants is for us to Look and see the needs of others, and to actually cultivate a mindset of mercy. I met a guy several months ago.

who is a professor at a seminary in Pennsylvania and he lives in Pennsylvania. And, he came across the gospel primer and, he ended up contacting me and asked for an interview and so we did a, a written interview and he posted that on his website, and he's got an interesting website. The name of it is to tell youhe Truth.chummonkey.com. interesting collision of two, ideas there, but, nonetheless, I started logging on to his blog site after I got to know him from time to time and, back in April, I believe it was, I went onto his blog site and encountered this picture.

It is a picture taken by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Kevin Carter. and, he was in Sudan, and this is a picture of a little girl. Who was on her way. She was on almost a 1 mile long journey by herself to go to a United Nations food station.

Because of the heat and her own physical weaknesses, she had to pause frequently to rest, but had no reprieve from the heat. And as she walked, A vulture followed her the whole way to the food station. That's her reality. Kevin Carter snapped this picture.

And after, and the, the next year, he won a Pulitzer Prize for this photo, but people had a question for him. And that is, did you do anything for the girl? And he said, actually, I followed her all the way to the food station. And then I left and I don't know what became of her.

I did chase the vulture away. So he did that But some have asked, why didn't you gather this girl up in your arms and carry her to the food station? And carry her back. To the place where she lived.

How could you walk away? Well, this guy on this blog site said that this is one of the pictures that he keeps in front of him. He says it creates a cardiac arrest spiritually inside of me. And it reminds him of James 1 of true religion before God and the Father is this.

To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. This is not the picture that puts you in a good mood. But this is a Christian brother who deliberately puts this image in front of him. Because it then puts his mind where it should be, and that is cultivating a mindset of mercy.

Now, my point is not to legalistically say we all got to be like John Piper and like this guy, and, but the point is, do, do we at least comprehend the wisdom of this? We got affluence and abundance all around us. We don't have to make decisions to put that in front of us, but can we just learn from these brothers that there is wisdom, there is value in deliberately putting before us reminders that not everyone lives as we live. And that we deliberately take such steps to cultivate a mindset of mercy within us.

If we don't decide to do that and to daily cultivate that, it's not going to happen. Parents, we need to cultivate in our children a mindset of mercy. and again, Hollywood is not at all interested in cultivating in our children a mindset of mercy. The media that they're exposed to is not designed to cultivate within them a mindset of mercy.

Their PlayStation and Xboxes are not crafted to create. In them a mindset of mercy. Nothing wrong with any of these things. But if we as parents do not work to cultivate a mindset of mercy, and putting the needs of others before the eyes of our children, guess what?

They're not going to have a mindset of mercy. And so we've got work to do. on ourselves and on those that we are seeking to influence. There's a 3rd thing that we must do, in response to all that we've learned, and that is, we must realize how close the subject of mercy is to the heart of God Himself.

In fact, don't just stare at pictures of need and deprivation, and read statistics and memorize them and contemplate them. If you really want a heart of mercy, a mindset of mercy, take some time to stare at your God. Just look at him and study his heart as it is revealed in the Word of God. And you will learn that he is passionate about mercy.

And you will want to be like him. We've seen how close this subject is to the heart of God. It's the heart of the gospel, God coming to meet those in abject spiritual poverty, God becoming poor, being born in a cow stall, being born in poverty, being homeless during his public ministry, so as through his poverty to make rich, those of us that were spiritually poor. We also, Mike took us to the Gospel of Luke, and we saw all the things that Christ taught About reaching out to those that are in need and a concern for the poor.

We saw in the Book of Acts how the early church cared for one another, and the result was that there was not a needy person among them because they would even sell the stuff they had in order to give to meet the needs of their brothers and sisters in the Lord. We went through the epistles of Paul, Carlos preached that message. And how many of you recall how many points were in that message? 40.

The number keeps growing, doesn't it? there were 26 points, and what, he still didn't even cover it all. It's everywhere in Paul's epistles. James, it's all throughout the epistle of James, telling us what true religion is.

This is true religion. To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. And to keep oneself unstained by the world, why would that be the thing that comes out of James's mouth? This is the essence of true religion.

Mercy That's the spirit speaking through him. And John, first John. If you have this world's goods and you see your brother who has need and you close your heart against him, how in the world can you say that the love of the Father abides in you? It's everywhere.

And what guys, we haven't even gone through the Old Testament. It's everywhere throughout the Old Testament. Just two passages that remind us of how close this is to the heart of God. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul is talking about how he met up with Peter James and John, who were pillars of the Jerusalem church, and they had spent some time together talking about the gospel and, and they ended up walking away, giving the right hand of fellowship to each other and commending each other's ministry.

But look at how Paul describes this encounter. He says in Galatians 2:9, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas, that's Peter, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Verse 10, they only asked us to remember the poor. The very thing I also was eager to do.

get that, they're talking about the gospel and coming to agreement on it. They're commending each other's ministry. And Paul is, is about to leave, and Peter, James, and John Pillars of the Jerusalem Church are like, hey, Paul, can we ask one thing of you? Practically speaking, sure, what is it?

Remember The poor Paul Psyche I am eager To do that. These are the leaders of the early church, and this is the one thing that they want to challenge Paul with. Also, in Jeremiah 22:16, God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, and he's talking about King Josiah during the days of his reign. And of Josiah, the Lord says, he, Josiah, pled the cause of the afflicted and the needy, then it was well.

In other words, it went well in his kingdom, and in his life, and then God says, is that not what it means to know me? he cared for the afflicted, he cared for the needy. Isn't that what it means to know me? If me, this is what you will do.

In fact, this is what it means to know me. You cannot know me and not care about the afflicted and the needy. And so, if you've learned nothing else over the last several weeks, learn that, that God speaks much to this issue, and it's everywhere in Scripture, and it is very close to his heart. He himself says, this is what it means to know me.

This is true religion. This is the essence of religion, true religion. There's a 4th thing that we must do if we are to respond properly to what we have learned in this series on mercy, and that is we must realize that sins of omission are just as important to God as sins of commission. See, it's not enough to say, well, I, I've never heard a poor person.

I've never mistreated a poor person. I've never kicked a poor person. so, therefore, I think I'm OK. No, we gotta go beyond that.

Ultimately, it's not, that you've not mistreated a poor person. What God's concerned about is what have you done for that person. You guys know the story in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus. If you read that story, you observe that Lazarus was a, a, a poor homeless man, and then there was the rich guy who had everything, and it states that Lazarus, the poor man, longed for crumbs from the table of the rich man.

And the implication is, he never even got The crumbs. He longed for just the crumbs and never got them. But you read that story, you can read it 100 times over, and never will you find in that story anything that the rich man did against Lazarus. He never made fun of him.

He never kicked him. He never abused him. He never threw him out or he did nothing actively wrong against him. The implication though is that the rich man was condemned for the good that he failed to do.

Randy Alcorn says this regarding this passage and the passage in Matthew 25. He says the rich man who passed by poor Lazarus is condemned not for a specific act of exploitation, but for his lack of concern and assistance for a man in need. The passage suggests that the rich man either should have brought Lazarus to his table or joined him at the gate. Ignoring the poor is not an option for the godly.

Likewise, in the account of the final judgment, the sin held against the goats. You guys know that judgment scene, we talked about that last week, where Jesus says, depart from me into everlasting judgment and punishment, because when I was hungry, you didn't give me something to eat, thirsty, you didn't give me something to drink, and he lists off all the things that they did not do. Randy Alcorn says, in the account of the final judgment, the sin held against the goats is not that they did something wrong to those in need, but that they failed to do anything right for them.

Theirs is not a sin of omission.

are of commission. But of omission. Yet it is a sin of grave eternal consequence, guys. They were damned forever for what they failed.

They do. That that is extremely sobering. Randy Alcorn says we cannot wash our hands of responsibility to the poor by saying, I'm not doing anything to hurt them. We must actively be doing something to help them., again, let me remind you of this passage, Proverbs 28:27, He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

In the Old Testament economy, all you need to do to live a cursed life and to receive many curses from God upon your life is to close your eyes to the poor. That's it. You don't have to kick them, you don't have to exploit them, you don't have to mistreat them, you don't even have to oppress them. All you have to do is close your eyes to the poor, and there are curses in the Old Testament economy that come into your life.

In other words, those curses come to those who do nothing to help the poor. You say, well, Pastor Milton, one of the things that's challenging for me is, extending hospitality and showing love and meeting the needs of people that I don't know all that well., that's, that's a real challenge for me. I can understand doing it for someone that I know and I know their full history, but someone comes up to me, they need something, I just have a hard time reaching out to them and addressing their need when I don't know the details and the history of their life.

And what, honestly, That resonates with me because I have felt myself feeling the same thing.

But what, that exact objection is found in scripture. Did that? And that objection is found in the mouth of a man named Nabal. Who was a worthless man.

The story is told in 1 Samuel 25, where David and a few 100 of his men were hanging out in a certain area and Nabal was a very rich man, had thousands of cattle. David sent one of his messengers to Nabal saying, hey, we need some food and some hospitality. is there any way that, you can maybe feed my men, and extend hospitality to us in this way. And so David sends a messenger to introduce himself and his situation to Nabal.

Listen to how Nabal responds to this, but Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men whose origin I do not know?

He had nothing against David. He's just, I don't know the guy. And so, how can you expect me to extend hospitality and give my food and provision to someone whose origin, I don't know? Well, how does the Lord respond to that?

Does the Lord say, well, I understand that and I will bless Nabal for his conscientiousness? No, as the, the narrative unfolds, it says about 10 days later, it happened that the Lord struck Nabal and he died. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord. The Lord has returned the evil doing of Nabal on his own head.

In other words, to fail to address the need of someone in a situation like this is evil doing. And so we ought to be sobered by that. Now, my point is not, if you ever fail to extend mercy, you're gonna get killed by the Lord for it. That's not the point.

This is a story that we find in the Old Testament that I only cite to just remind us that these things are important to God. And that sins of omission in this area are just as important from God's perspective as sins of commission. And let's be sobered by that. Let's be challenged by that and realize that we need to go beyond just saying, well, am I doing anything against the poor and mature beyond that and ask, what am I actively doing for the benefit of the poor.

Well, there's a 5th thing that we must do in response to what we've been learning about mercy, and this is the balancing touch that we've been telling you is coming, and that is that we must appreciate that there are biblically defined limits to mercy. There are biblically defined limits to mercy. And it's not up to us to make this up. This is actually fairly clear in scripture.

on the one hand, there are passages in the New Testament that speak of the universality of the application of mercy, and we're actually told to extend mercy to all whether they deserve it or not. In Matthew 25. Jesus says, I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

So someone is persecuting you, mistreating you for your faith, that is an enemy, they deserve to be an enemy. And yet Jesus would say, if they come upon need, meet their need. In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, therefore, you are to be perfect. In other words, complete in your love towards the deserving and undeserving, even as your Heavenly Father is complete in loving the seemingly deserving and the undeserving.

In Romans 12, Paul words this in a more practical way. He says in Romans 12:20, if your enemy is hungry, now, by the way, this is in a context of retaliation and vengeance, he says in the verses preceding this, don't repay evil for evil, vengeance is mine, I will repay. So this is talking about an enemy that has wronged you, in some way or continues to wrong you in some way. And Paul says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him a drink. If your enemy who has been mistreating you, sinning against you comes upon hard times, and he is without food and without drink, you are to minister to that need. Give him something to eat. Give him something to drink.

So, we have passages like this that seem to say, Minister Mercy. To anybody and everybody. Who has need, whether they seem to deserve it or not. On the other hand, there are passages in the New Testament where mercy is limited from one standpoint.

In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, there were people in the Thessalonian church that did not have the funds that they needed. They were actually poor. From one standpoint, and there were people in the Thessalonian church that their hearts went out to them and so they were giving them money to address their needs, but Paul looks at the situation and he's like, what, these are able-bodied people, they're able to work and earn their own keep. And so Paul tells them, don't give money to an able-bodied person who's able to work and yet who refuses to work.

2 Thessalonians 3:10, if a man will not work, he shall not eat. Paul is saying, hey, as you administrate your agape fund there at the Thessalonian Church, you don't give your money, you don't give food to someone who refuses to work, and yet they're able to, because to do that, is to enable them in their sin. And that is not the merciful thing to do. We don't have time to belabor the details of this other example, but in 1 Timothy 5, the early church seemed to have a list of people that were funded and supported financially by the church, and widows were among that number.

And Paul says, honor widows who are widows indeed, but if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God. In other words, you have a widow in your church and her financial needs are not being met, but she has children and grandchildren. The way you minister in that situation is not by throwing money at this woman's situation, but the way you minister is to seek to influence the family to take care of their mother or grandmother.

This is, he's calling upon the church to exercise a discernment rather than just blindly.

addressing needs in one way and one way only by giving money and by giving food to someone that is in need. He goes on to talk about, a certain age limit for the widows. this applies to those that are over 60. those that are living a life of godliness and good works, and he says, you gotta be extremely careful and ever applying this to widows that are under 60 and to the widows that were under 60, Paul would say, listen, you shouldn't be put on the list where you're supported by the church, you should get married so that you can be supported in that way.

And also, one of his concerns, look at the bottom of the screen, verse 13. Paul says, at the same time, they also learn to be idle as they go around from house to house, not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies talking about things not proper to mention. Part of his point is if you as a church are just providing full support for these ladies that are under 60 and they're not even walking in godliness, all you're doing is contributing to evils that are being committed.

And so he's calling upon the church to exercise discernment.

And so when you look at 2 Thessalonians 3, as well as this passage in 1 Timothy 5, you can put together some principles. What I want to do is give you two truisms, two principles that I think can guide you in the application of mercy. And we get these, points from Timothy Keller in his book, Ministries of Mercy, I think is the title of it. It's a book we've been recommending to you guys.

But here's the way he puts the two pieces of scriptural data together. On the one hand, it's universal, meet the needs of your enemies, those that don't deserve it. On the other hand, you need to impose conditions and restrictions, and, and so forth. You could put that together in this statement, Mercy should start without conditions, but it proceeds with conditions.

It should start without conditions, but proceed with conditions. Now, again, I don't expect this to answer every question. Now, from now on, it's gonna be forever easy. I don't think that, but this will be a helpful guide.

for example, I remember years ago, the way we handled the food pantry ministry is we didn't have it limited to one day. People could come by any day of the week, and either I or Regina or Alvin, who were there in the office would, would talk to them. And our policy was basically, if someone comes by needing food, we want to try to get to know them, but regardless of of whether they reek of alcohol or cigarette smoke or whatever, we will always address their need the first time that they come in.

but we'll try to get to know them, talk with them about the Lord, and, and try to address spiritual needs.

but, If over time, that same individual continues to come back and is not interested in talking about the Lord, won't receive any spiritual help, and they're very resistant to that, then there's a point where conditions begin to set in, and where we stop providing for their physical needs. I remember meeting with a guy who had come by, it was like his 3rd or 4th time coming by. We had just unconditionally given him food up to that point. But I sat him down on this one occasion, and I just said, where's your heart spiritually?

We got to talking about the Lord, and I encouraged him because he just lived down the street to attend our church fellowship, and he told me, he says, I'm too busy to go to church. And I said, well, Matthew 6 says that if you seek first God and His kingdom and His righteousness, these things are going to be added to you. you need to put God first in your life. And the guy was stubbornly resistant and defiant, just completely dead, just completely disinterested into that whole aspect of things.

All he wanted was food. And so there was a point where I had to say to this man with a clear conscience, we cannot give you food anymore. We cannot give you food anymore. Mercy starts without conditions.

But biblically you can make the case that as you proceed in mercy. There are conditions. And what are those conditions? Those conditions are, here's the principle that mercy limits mercy.

You can help someone financially up to the point wherein you believe that you're actually doing the merciful thing. But if ultimately, all you're doing is enabling them and their sin, then that is ultimately not the merciful thing to do. Listen to what Timothy Keller says in his book Ministries of Mercy, by way of explaining this concept. He says, we cut off our aid if it is unmerciful to continue it.

It is unmerciful to bail out a person who needs to feel the full consequences of his own irresponsible behavior. Sometimes we may have to say, friend, we are not withdrawing our mercy, just changing its form. We will continue to pray for you and visit you, and the minute you are willing to cooperate with us and make the changes that we believe are needed, we will resume our aid. Please realize that it is only out of love that we are doing this.

Let mercy limit. Mercy And in addition to these two principles that I've, I've thrown at you this morning, another huge principle is just pray, seek for guidance from the Holy Spirit. You can't set up some flow chart that, OK, here's exactly what I'm gonna do in every situation and You, you, you're not gonna be able to do that, but if we're walking with the Lord, and we're just living and breathing in a spirit of prayer, then when opportunities present themselves, we try to apply these principles with the wisdom God gives us, but we're also just seeking for the Lord's leading, and we're trying to do what it seems like the Lord is leading us to do in that given situation.

When you look at scripture, guys, there's different causes of poverty.

There's oppression. Sometimes people are poor because they're oppressed. Sometimes they're poor because crimes have been committed against them. Recently in the news, there was a group of elderly people that had thousands, tens of thousands of dollars in their retirement, and basically all of it got wasted, squandered, and stolen by people who were criminally negligent.

And essentially stole their money and leaving these people destitute and poor. and so it's often the result of crimes against a person. There's also natural disaster that leaves people homeless and, and just conditions of great deprivation and need. there's famine, which is a natural.

Disaster that is prolonged. There's also physical illness. Somebody maybe has been working all their life, but then, a tragic illness has befallen them, rendering them not able to work, and therefore, they are now in a state of poverty compared to where they were before. And so there's a lot of just causes for poverty.

And it is in God's plan that such people be in our lives so that we can address their needs, but we also need to respect the fact that there are many times where poverty is the result of sin. It's the result of sin. laziness is one of them. We're told in Proverbs that a lazy man is going to be poor.

It's often the result of a lack of discipline. In Proverbs 23:21, the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Poverty is also the result of pleasure seeking. Proverbs 21:17, He who loves pleasure will become a poor man.

when I, worked as a screen printer before I went away to college. There were people that I worked with who made more money than I did per hour, and yet they lived in poverty. and one such person, I, I asked him, I said, you and your girlfriend, cause they were living together and they had children, I said, how much money a month would you say you spend on, on booze, cigarettes, and drugs? And he said at least $700 a month.

So here's a man who loved pleasure. That's what he was committed to. And so there were times where his family and even he himself was without some of the basic needs that needed to be met, not because he did not earn that income to meet that need, but because much of it was consumed on pleasure. And so, and it's not that if anyone's ever in that situation, we automatically don't help them.

I'm just saying that we, we try to be sensitive that there's different causes of poverty and mercy always begins without conditions, but as we try to address the spiritual needs in that person's life, There's a point where conditions begin to set in, and we are careful and discerning about how we go about addressing the physical and spiritual needs of those that we are extending mercy to. Lastly, guys, this is my last point. The 6th thing we must do is we must be comforted, motivated, and guided by the gospel on this subject.

How many of you over the last month and a half Have Fallen short of anything you've heard.

Raise your hand. OK, about half of you. I, I, I'm going to just assume, be brazen here and assume that all of us have fallen short. Of much that we've heard, there have been points where I've just had a feeling of guilt just come over me, over how I have fallen short.

Here's the deal, what do we do with that guilt? We take it to the cross. If you're here today, yeah, I don't care. I'm the worst sinner in this room.

So I can say this with just complete confidence. no matter what you've done, no matter what sins you've committed, no matter the pain that you've caused yourself, and caused the Lord, and caused other people in your life, I don't care what you've done. Jesus was crucified on a cross, so that those sins can be forgiven. Isn't that awesome.

And even after coming to know the Lord, you're gonna mess up, just like we've all messed up. But every time we mess up, every time we feel guilt, we take that to the cross. And we re-experience and re-enjoy the forgiveness of God. Jesus died for the small sins, the big sins.

He died for the millions of sins that we have and will continue to commit throughout our lifetime. Jesus didn't come for the righteous, He came for the, the unrighteous. He didn't come for the healthy, he came for the sick. And if you are here today and you feel like you don't know what I've done, Pastor Milton, I'm the worst sinner in this room, what, if that's true, You are the most qualified person in this room for Jesus, because that's who he came for.

That's who he came for. So embrace that forgiveness. And in the area of mercy, if we have fallen short, we don't beat ourselves up about this. No, we take that guilt to the cross, and we enjoy the forgiveness and the fact that Jesus died for every sin of commission and omission in this area, and every other area.

And then as we savor that forgiveness and savor what God has lavished upon us through Christ and His death and resurrection, out of the overflow of that, guess what? We got tons of mercy to give to people. We realize our poverty and God's love for us in our poverty, and we want to meet the needs of other people exactly the same way that God has met our needs, that we have not deserved to have met by Him. And we're also guided by the gospel, even taking the principle, mercy starts without conditions, but it proceeds with conditions.

Even in those conditions, we should not be rigid. That you have failed, and because you have failed after warning after warning, I am not gonna address your need. We, we just need to be humbled, guys, by an awareness that, OK, They've blown it. I helped them and they wasted what I gave them.

Well, have I ever wasted what God has given to me? yeah. So, let me at least be humbled by that and factor the gospel in here. I, I've helped this person and they were not thankful.

Have I always been thankful to God for all of the gospel blessings and material blessings that he has given to me? No. But he still lavishes his blessings upon me. Well, I've, I've met their material need and they actually use the funds I gave them for sinful purposes.

That's serious. But have I ever used anything God has given to me? For sinful purposes, God has given me two eyes. Have I ever used those eyes?

For sinful purposes. He's given me material provision that includes a television set. Have I ever used that for sinful purposes? He's given me a mind.

Have I ever used my mind for sinful purposes? And yet does God continue to lavish His goodness and grace on me? Yes. Now that doesn't mean we don't apply conditions, but that even in the application of those conditions, We are humbled And we are guided by a gospel awareness to where we apply even those conditions charitably, with a mindfulness of how charitably God has applied those conditions to us.

Let me ask you to bow your heads. If you're here today and you have never tasted of the forgiving grace of God, You need to know that in this church, seated around you are People who have murdered in their hearts. who have hated People who have stolen. People who have brought her to the lives of other people.

People who've sinned against God. Adulters. Drug abusers. Idolater.

And yet What we all have in common is that we've all come to the cross. And experienced forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus. And all the guilt That we carried around because of those sins. are washed away And God brings us into relationship with Himself.

If you've never tasted of that, today, talk to somebody, even where you're seated, just God, forgive me. I see that you sent your son to die for my sins. And I'm gonna embrace that Lord and look to Jesus as my savior. Help me to just live for you by your grace.

For those of us that do know the Lord, we have much to learn. And much to gain Let us approach the Lord with a humble heart and ask Him. To help us to do these 6 things that we must do. In light of what we have heard.

Father You have lavished your bounty upon us. Though we were naked, poor, miserable, and blind. Help us to give the same mercy and same grace to others. Not only for their benefit.

But for our benefit as we reenact the gospel indeed. Showing the same gospel love that we have received ourselves. Take us as a church where you want us to go. And for that to happen, there's work that needs to happen outside of the walls of this auditorium.

We each need to do our part. In cultivating a mindset of mercy. And may we be willing to do that. By immersing ourselves in the gospel, immersing ourselves in your heart.

And by taking the eyes you've given to us and actually being willing to see, teach us to take our eyes off of ourselves and to look around and to see the needs. And I think we'll be surprised by what we see and maybe be shattered by what we see. But this is what it means to know you. And so that's what we want.

Teach us to love mercy, Lord. And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.