The Call of John to Mercy

Giving us the word and preaching us, preaching to us, in the power of the Spirit. So why, why don't you guys welcome our own pastor, Milton Vincent. thanks, Mike. well, it's good to see all of you here today, and, hopefully, in fact, I am confident that your heart has been as blessed and lifted up by the worship as mine, has been.

Let me invite you guys to turn in your Bibles to, Actually, I'm not even sure where, John won. John won. And we are continuing in our series through, on the topic of a call to mercy, and, Lord willing, this may shift a little bit, but the plan is at this point for next Sunday to be the last, message on, this really critical, topic. And I was very blessed by Mike Barry's message last week on the call of James to worship as he or to mercy, as he took us through the epistle of James and showed us what God had to say to us in this area of compassionate ministry.

This is the definition of mercy, compassionate ministry to those in dire need, and we're finding the Bible has much to To say about this subject. And last week, we looked at what James had to say. Today, it is my assignment to look at the call of John to mercy. And we'll be looking at John's writings as we find them in the New Testament.

Think about it. What, what books did John write? He wrote the Gospel of John, which coincidentally is named after him. 1 John, 2nd John, 3rd John, and he wrote one other book.

What is that? Revelation. So, he ranks right up there with Paul as one of the two most significant contributors to the body of our New Testament. And so any series like this, we would be remiss if we did not.

take the time to look at what John had to say, by way of an encouragement to us in this area of mercy, ministry, just generously showing practical love to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And the theme, the way we're gonna, fit all this together today is cultivating a good eye. that'll be the subtitle, of the message, cultivating a good. I, a few years ago, actually, a couple of years ago, I, I've always read a lot and I've enjoyed reading, but a couple of years ago, my enjoyment of reading began to diminish because I couldn't read anymore.

It seemed like, there was always a glare, on the, whatever I was trying to read, and so I'd have to adjust the book to get, to be able to read it where the glare was not bothering me. And it also seemed like someone had dimmed the lights. Wherever I wanted to read, there just wasn't the light that there used to be. And so I began to read less and when I did have to read, I was not enjoying it.

And I remember at one point, I was up here preaching and I went to read a passage and I couldn't read what I was supposed to be reading and I just quoted it from memory, from my study during the week, but I was like guessing as I went. And I knew at that point, that, someone's either dimmed the lights on this planet, or something's happening to me and so I ended up, getting a pair of reading glasses from the dollar store and suddenly the lights had brightened and I was able to read again.

I went to the doctor and, because I was concerned that I was going blind and he ran a battery of tests and when he got done, he said, you have 20, 25% vision. And I said, well, that doesn't make sense cause I can't read anymore.

He said, that's because you're over 40. And he said, your cornea is hardening and it's not as flexible, so you can't focus like you used to with something that's closer up and so you need glasses. So I've been wearing them ever since, but it was at that point that I realized that the problem was not something external to me. The problem was with me.

It was with my own eyes, and with the miracle of modern technology, there's something that can be done about that so that my eyes are better and can function better than they were before. And that's what we want to focus on this morning from a spiritual standpoint is cultivating a good. I. It's interesting on the subject of mercy ministry and generosity, it's, it's amazing how often the I shows up in the passages on this subject.

In Matthew 25, for example, Jesus is judging the sheep and the goats, and he's got the sheep on his right, the goats on his left, and he speaks to the sheep, and he says, Blessed are you, come into my kingdom. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was in prison, you came and visited me. And he lists off all the things that they did for him, and, and their reply to him, 3 times, they say, when did we see?

When did we see you? When did we see you? When did we see you in these types of needs? And he said, and as much as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.

Jesus then speaks to the goats. And basically banishes them to eternal judgment, and he says, because you did not minister to me when I was hungry and thirsty and so forth, and their reply was, when did we see you? The eyes are important in this narrative. You think of the story of the Good Samaritan and how the man was beaten and left half dead by the side of the road, and Jesus, as he tells the story, a priest came by, and in the narrative, Jesus says, and when he, the priest saw him, he passed by on the other side.

So the priest sees the guy from a distance, but he decides, I don't want to look more closely. So he goes to the other side of the road. Why? So that he would not see as fully as he could see.

What the need was. It's like the priest knew if I walked on the side of the road that the man is on and if I let myself look at him, it's going to call forth a certain sympathy and compassion from me, and there's obligation all involved in that, and I don't want to mess with that. I'm going to go to the other side of the road. I'm gonna walk on by and I'm not going to look.

And the Levite did the same thing when he saw him from a distance, he passed by on the other side and got as far away from the guy on the road as possible so as not to have to look at him. You guys ever done that? I have at times observed myself doing this very thing. I'm at a gas station trying to pump gas.

I need to get it done so I can go do something else. Some guy comes up and he asks for some change that might be in my pocket, and there have been times where I have deliberately just given a quick answer and I won't even let myself look at the person in the eyes. Why? Because if I look at him in the eyes, I'll see him as a person.

He will be more real. His need will be more real, and there will be a sense of obligation that goes with that. And so it's just simpler to not even look, just give a quick reply and just pretend he's not even there. I've done that.

If we're going to be generous, we need to look and see. I was reading in a newspaper 2 or 3 weeks ago about a convenience store somewhere in the Midwest where a lady had been shot by a thief who had come into the store. She's lying on the floor dying. And when the police were watching the video of what happened in the store, they had on video the woman lying there dying and bleeding to death.

5 shoppers stepped over the woman as they continued their convenience shopping. One of the women, or one of the shoppers actually took their cell phone. And took a picture of the woman. And then continued with their shopping.

Now, why is that so shocking? You guys didn't gasp as much when I said they stepped over her continuing their shopping. It is all the more callous for someone to actually look. And still walk on by.

And so it's easier to just not look, to not see because we don't want to see the needs that are around us. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus actually attaches generosity to the eye. and Matthew 6, Jesus says, don't lay up treasure on earth. You guys know that passage, but lay up treasure in heaven, where your treasure is, that's where your heart's gonna be.

And in that passage, talking about money and laying up treasure in heaven, the very next verse, He makes this statement, the eye. And at first we're like, what does the I have to do with laying up treasure in heaven and where our treasure is? That's where our heart's gonna be. Well, look at what he says.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. And guys, that word that is translated clear there, that Greek word, in Romans 12:8 and in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. is translated generous or liberal.

Literally, Jesus is saying, if your eye is generous, If your eye is generous, then your whole body will be full of light. And the beauty of what he's teaching is if you have a generous eye, to the degree that your eye is generous towards others, to that degree, the light of God. will be your experience in your inner person. But verse 23, if your eye is bad or evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.

Understand that biblically, if someone had a bad eye, What that meant is that they were stingy. That's literally what that meant. In fact, in Proverbs chapter 23, Solomon says in verse 6, do not eat the bread of a selfish man. And in the new American Standard, it says, a selfish man, literally though, in the Hebrew text, it says, do not eat the bread of an evil-eyed man.

Do not eat the bread of a man who has a bad eye. What does he mean by that? He means a stingy man. He says to you, eat and drink, but his heart is not with you.

In other words, even when he's being generous, he's doing it only because he's obligated to, and his heart is not with you as you enjoy what he is giving to you out of obligation. In Proverbs 28:22, Solomon says, a man with a bad eye hastens after wealth. He wants that wealth for himself. And then also in Deuteronomy chapter 15, an interesting passage shows up there where God is talking to the Jews about how to help a poor brother if he has some financial need in terms of lending to that brother, and yeah, he might, be able to pay you back, but, but understand that back in Bible times or in, in Israel, they had the sabbatical year, every 7th year was a sabbatical year and any outstanding debts.

That were in existence when the sabbatical year began, all of those debts were immediately erased. OK? So if you had a poor guy come up to you and say, hey, can, can I borrow $1000 from you? I'll pay you back over the next 4 years.

As you're thinking that through, you're thinking, well, the sabbatical year is 7 years from now. He says, he'll pay it off in 4 years. Yeah, here, take this money. But if a poor guy came up to you and said, can I borrow 1000?

I'll pay you back. And it's one month before the sabbatical year begins. How would that factor at all into your thinking? I know it would at least show up in my brain.

Well, God knows our hearts, and look at what he says in Deuteronomy 15. If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand from your poor brother, but you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Beware that there is no base thought in your heart saying the 7th year, the year of remission is near, and Your eye is bad towards your poor brother and you give him nothing.

In other words, if you got a bad eye in a situation like this, you'll realize the sabbatical year is coming, the debt will be erased, so what, I don't have anything to loan you.

If you got a bad eye biblically, you're a stingy person. If you've got a generous eye, a good eye biblically, that means that you are willing and eager to give, to give generously to meet the needs of those that God brings across your path. And if you have this good eye, Jesus said, your whole being will be full of the light of God. Don't you want that?

And so all of us, as we've been going through this series, one of the questions that ought to be coming to our minds today as we're talking about the eye is like, God, give me a good eye. And how can I have a good eye? How can I cultivate a good eye so that I can be this way? Well, as we look at what John Talks about in the Gospel of John and in his epistles, especially, we're gonna pull out 6 descriptions of a good-eyed person, 6 descriptions of a good-eyed person.

And as we look at these descriptions, you'll see what it is that you should do if you want to cultivate, and protect a good eye in this context. All right. Description number 1. of a good-eyed person is that he sees Christ in his incarnation.

He sees Christ, he beholds Christ in his incarnation. In John chapter 1, in verse 14, John says, and the word talking about Christ became Flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory. John is like, I actually got to see the glory of the word made flesh. In First John chapter one, John begins this epistle by saying what was from the beginning, what we have heard, What we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at.

Notice there's two verbs for seeing here. What we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life, and then he goes on to talk about Christ, the word of life by way of introducing the epistle of First John. But John would say, if you want to understand where I'm coming from and everything I write, you gotta understand that I've seen something. I, I've seen his glory.

I have seen Christ in His incarnation. John is dealing with enemies of the gospel who were believing and teaching that Jesus is God, and yes, he was on earth, but he was not fully man. He was not a physical entity. He was not a physical being.

so they denied his incarnation. They would say he only appeared to be a man. He only appeared to be flesh, and John would say, that is absolutely not true. I saw him.

I touched him. I handled him, and I know that he was and is flesh in his incarnation. And so someone with a good eye is someone who sees Christ in his incarnation. One of the things about John that you notice.

Is that of all the writers of the New Testament, John seemed to especially savor the physicality. Of the incarnation. Now, all of the writers believe that and, and even spoke about that to one degree or another, but John, honestly, seems like a very physical individual. If you were a member of Cornerstone, He would hug people a lot.

He just appreciated the physical contact and, and hence because of the enemies he was dealing with, enemies of the gospel, and because of his own personality, he really savored the physicality of the resurrection of Jesus. And even the physical dimension of his own connection with Jesus. In fact, when John is talking in his Gospel in John 13 about the Last Supper, John records a detail that the other gospel writers do not record, and that is that he leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper.

And look at how he focuses on this.

John 13:23. There was reclining on Jesus' breast, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved, and who is that? That's John, all right? That's his way of describing himself.

Verse 24, and Simon Peter, therefore gestured to him and said to him, tell us who it is, of whom Jesus is speaking, when Jesus had said, one of you is gonna betray me. And so verse 25, and he, leaning back thus on Jesus' breast, he, he just wants to state that detail again because he savored it, said to him, Lord, who is it? And then if that's not enough, at the end of the Gospel of John, after Jesus was raised, how he was, talking to Peter and telling Peter, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, do you love me?

And so forth, and, he was talking about the fate that would befall Peter.

In the future, and as Jesus and Peter are walking together, there's a point where Peter turns around and look at what happens. John records this. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back on his breast at the supper. John states that detail again.

John is the guy that if he were our scheduled speaker for today and I were to say to him, how should I introduce you? He'd say, hey, just can you mention that I leaned on Jesus' breast? At the Last supper That was not a boastful thing. He cherished that.

I can imagine his thought that when in the vision of revelation, he sees Jesus coming out of the heavens on a white horse as the King of kings and Lord of lords. I just wonder if the thought occurred to him that I leaned my head on the breast of that one. He savored that of all the gospel writers, John is also the only one. We find this in John 20:22, who records the detail that Jesus breathed on them when he said, receive the Holy Spirit, and I'm sure John never forgot that.

sensation. There's a physicality to, to John and the things that he records that we don't see quite to the same degree in some of the other writers, though it is certainly there and every other writer of the New Testament. Now, why is talking about the physicality of Christ in his incarnation, why is that even relevant to what we're talking about when it comes to mercy, ministry? here's why.

The fact that Christ became flesh legitimizes the physical as an arena of legitimate concern for Christ followers. The fact that Jesus actually entered into flesh and became flesh has a sanctifying effect, as it were, upon the arena of the physical and the material as a legitimate arena of concern for those who follow Jesus. Jesus obviously cared about the physical. God obviously cared about the physical that, and the material that he would cause his son to become incarnate.

John imbibed this, and John was definitely concerned for the spiritual well-being of people, but he was also concerned about this, this physical and material well-being. Of those that he ministered to. In fact, in 3rd John 2, as he's writing to, the person that he's writing to, he says to them, beloved, I pray that in all respects, you may prosper. That's talking about material prosperity, and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

Man, I want your soul to prosper, but I, I, I also, my, my honest heart's desire for you is that materially, your needs would be met, that God would prosper you, and that even your physical health. would be good. So John cared about the spiritual, but he cared about the physical as well. Someone with a good eye is someone who beholds Christ in his incarnation, and they don't just behold the person of Christ who became flesh, but they also behold through the eyes of the writers of the Gospel, such as John.

they, they behold Christ and his incarnate ministry when he was on the earth. And what we observe as you read through the Gospel of John, is that Jesus cared very much about the spiritual well-being of people. He deeply cared about that. He died for that.

In fact, it's interesting in John's Gospel, There are times where Jesus is talking about spiritual things and meeting spiritual needs, and his listeners thought he was talking about the physical. and Jesus has to correct them. To Nicodemus, Jesus says, you must be born again. Nicodemus is like, well, how can I get back in my mother's womb and be born a second time?

And Jesus is like, I'm not talking about physical birth, but spiritual birth. To the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus starts talking about the water that he had to give, that if someone drank it, they'd never thirst again. And the woman's like, Give me a drink of this water. And he's like, well, I'm not talking about physical water, but spiritual water.

And John 6, Jesus is talking about bread that That has come out of heaven to nourish people on earth. And the Jews said, give us this bread to eat. And Jesus essentially says, I'm not talking about physical bread. But I'm talking about spiritual bread, I'm talking about me.

And so you read through John's, gospel, and it's very evident Jesus cares about the spiritual. But we're not gonna belabor that because we all already know that. but when you go through John's Gospel, you also observe that Jesus cared very much about the physical. And John did not record a lot of miracles.

The ones he did record, you see on the screen behind me, and the ones he did choose to record, I think because they're so few in number, should draw even more earnest attention to the ones he selected. look at this, in John 2, the first miracle is he provided wine at a wedding. He, and, in fact, this was his first miracle. But if you stop and think about it, think about the nature of this miracle.

No one was dying. there was no life at stake. they're at a wedding, and from all indications, everyone had already had wine. And so there was stuff to drink and, and if they couldn't drink any more wine because it had run out, there was certainly water to drink.

And in fact, we know there was water because they had plenty of water to pour in the containers, as Jesus had instructed. So there's plenty of water to drink and everyone had already had some wine, so, this was not so much a mercy ministry miracle, and no one's life was at stake, but nonetheless, Jesus decided, I'm gonna make this my first miracle wherein I reveal myself. And it's, it's the smallness of the miracle as it were. this is huge, but you guys understand what I'm saying.

It's not like someone was dying and he was resurrecting them. It's, it's the fact that this was not such a great emergency, where life was at stake, that Jesus would choose to actually perform this miracle, actually show something about his loving concern and attention to the physical and the material. Jesus spared the host embarrassment. That was what he accomplished on one level through his miracle, and through that miracle, people got to drink some tasty wine rather than drinking water or drinking nothing at all, but everyone would have been fine without it.

But that he chose to do this miracle shows. When no life was at stake, how much he actually is engaged with and cares even about the little things in the physical and material realm. In John 4, he healed the dying son of a government official. John 5, healed the lame man by the pull of Betheda.

In John 6, he fed the 5000. And what, we talk about that miracle a lot, but, but again, with that miracle, honestly, if Jesus didn't perform that miracle, would anyone have died? I don't think so. They were famished, but they all could have eventually made their way back home.

No life was in jeopardy. but nonetheless, Jesus is thinking they're hungry, they've been following me and And I don't want them to go home hungry. I don't want them to experience a physical, being famished physically and at least just being in a weakened state. I'm going to perform this miracle to prevent that and also to reveal my glory.

Again, the fact that he would choose to perform this miracle when no Life was at stake tells us something of how truly engaged he is and concerned he is about the physical and the material. In John 9, he healed a blind man who had been blind from birth. In John 11, he raised Lazarus from the dead, which was a true mercy, miracle, not even so much to Lazarus, but to his family who were just torn up and shattered with grief. And then you also look at another detail that only John records, and that is in John 14.

This was not a miracle, unless you want to call it a miracle of humility, where Jesus girds himself with a towel and renders the service of a servant, and washes the disciples' feet. That's just If the disciples didn't get their feet washed, They would have been OK. They weren't going to die. there was nothing.

emergency about this situation. But Jesus observes that their feet are dirty, their physical feet are dirty, and no one has washed their feet when they have come in. And Jesus decides, I will tend to this. And yes, he intended to teach a powerful spiritual lesson about himself, about humility, and about humble service to one another.

He intended to do all that, but the fact that he would choose this. Such a menial and from some standpoints, even unnecessary task to engage in shows how fully he engaged he is in the physical and the material. These are some of the things that John records, and someone who is a good-eyed person is someone who takes the time to behold Christ in his incarnation. His person, he was in flesh that says something about the arena of the material and the fleshly in terms of being an arena of concern and then also Christ's ministry.

He cared about the spiritual. He cared about the physical, he cared about the material. And if you want a good eye, folks, you will take time to gaze upon this incarnation. At Christ.

Now, we were not on Earth when Christ was here, but John was, and the writers of the gospel accounts either were or they talked to people who were, and we can behold Him in a powerful way through the New Testament as we have these things recorded. If you want a good eye, take time. To gaze upon Christ in his incarnation. There's a second description of a good-eyed individual, and that is that he sees the greatness of the love that God has shown him.

He sees the greatness of the love that God has shown him. If you want a good eye, you want to take the time to contemplate not only Christ in his incarnation, But you want to take the time to contemplate the love that God has shown you, and seek to comprehend the greatness of that love that he has shown you. And 1 John 3:1, John gives this command. See, that's the command.

John saying, I want you to see something, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us. He, he's not even saying see the love. He's saying, see how great a love. He's saying, I want you to look at this and don't stop looking at this until you walk away, having comprehended how great this love is.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God, and such we are. There's actually two things here. Number 1, what a great love it is that God would make us as children. We were rebel sinners running headlong away from God.

deserving of his wrath, and yet God would send Christ into the world to die, to bear the wrath we deserve, so that God could then adopt us into his family and to make us His children. That's an incredible love that has been shown to us. But I also think we should focus on the word called. It's one thing for God to make us His children.

It's another thing for Him to be willing to call us. His children. Do you guys understand that? I've shared this with you guys before, but, and I know a lot of parents do this just messing around with their kids.

But when I was a kid, if I was being a good kid, my dad would claim me. I was his boy. But if I were acting up, I was referred to as my mom's son, and he would say, take care of your son, your son, and there was a distance there and he was just joking around, but the truth is, I personally have given God billions of reasons to To say, OK, I've made you my son. I can't undo that, but let's keep that our little secret.

And you don't tell anybody, and I definitely won't tell anybody, and I've given God every reason to do that. But the fact that even since salvation, I've given him a million billion reasons to Distance himself from me, the fact that he still says that's my boy, that's my son, and you can call me Abba, as we sang this morning, that's That he would call me his son. With the track record that I have. is a great love.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that He would make us His children and call us His children. You go through first, John. Just by itself. You see how John just bathes the readers in the love of God.

6 times, he refers to them as beloved or loved ones, not only saying I love you as I'm writing this epistle, but you're loved, you are beloved, you're loved by God. In chapter 4, verse 19, John says he first loved us. If you want to know why we God, the focus ought to be on the fact that he first loved us. That's the only reason we love Him.

We're responding to his first love. In chapter 3, verse 16, he says, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us. So John is focusing our attention on what Christ has done. And laying down his life for us.

And then also in 1 John 4:10, he says, and this is love, that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. You guys understand what propitiation means? Propitiation means this, we deserve the eternal anger of God, the explosive wrath of God for all of eternity. But when Christ died on the cross, God allowed his anger to fall on Jesus.

Jesus absorbed that anger to where now when we believe in Jesus, we are brought into relationship with God. And there is not an ounce of wrath. Left for us to bear. Of all the doctrines of the gospel, this is the one I say to myself the most often.

This is one of the most precious gospel doctrines to me, that 100% of God's wrath has been absorbed by Jesus. And now God relates to me only with grace. There's not one ounce of wrath ever. No matter what I do.

There's not an ounce of wrath from God that ever comes in between us in our relationship. Christ bore it all. This is love. See how great a love this is.

And what, even since coming to know the Lord, I have sinned, you have sinned, but first John 2:1, if anyone sins, we are always having an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, who is holding firm our justified, favored status. with God to where there is no wrath that comes into our relationship. So it's not just his past work of saving us and justifying us. It is the daily work of Christ in conjunction with the Father and the Spirit and maintaining our justified, gracious standing.

with God. And 1 John 4, John says, we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the savior of the world. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. Guys, listen, if you want a good eye, You need to see Christ in his incarnation.

Secondly, you need to see the great love that God has shown to you. In fact, if this is all that you hear from the message today, I think you will largely be OK. Because I'm convinced that if we would just spend time gazing at Christ and gazing at his love, and seeing how great a love we are the recipients of, we will catch ourselves doing the very things that we have been learning about over the last few weeks. If you want a good eye, you will see Christ.

In his incarnation, you will see how great his love is that you have received. And then thirdly, a third description of a good-eyed person is he loves others the way he sees that God has loved him. He loves others the way that he sees that God has loved him. He, there's a logic.

A person says, well, I see the way that God has loved me, and so, what, I will love others in the same way that God has loved me. That is divine logic that is operative in the hearts and in the minds of those. Who are his children. First John 3:1, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, and then he wants us to think about that.

And then later in the chapter, he says, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. In other words, because you're the recipient of this love, you are indebted. That's the word for debt, the word ought. You owe it to other people to show them the same love.

In the same way that God has loved you. First John 4, and this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. Send His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

You may say, well, I, I would love that person, but you don't know what they've done to me. And what did you do to God? What did you deserve from God? You deserve wrath, but God sent His Son.

God paid the ultimate price to take care of that wrath, so that you can be brought into relationship with Him. So sin is no excuse. If you're going to love others the way that God has loved you, you will love them in spite of their sin. You will actually love them in a way that helps address their sin, rather than writing them off and saying, I love other people who have not sinned against me like this person has.

No, you target even those who've sinned against you, the way God targeted you who had sinned against Him, and were deserving of his wrath. A good-eyed person sees Christ in his incarnation. He sees how great of the love is that God has bestowed on him. A good-eyed person loves others the way that he sees that God has loved him.

And then more practically, a good-eyed individual. Here's a 4th description. When he sees a spiritual need in the life of a brother, he meets that need. A good-eyed person, when he sees a spiritual need in the life of a brother, he meets that need.

We've talked a lot about, physical, material needs, and rightly so, because we have that emphasized in scripture. We've even seen that this morning. But understand that genuine mercy ministry, a lot of times includes, ministering to someone spiritually. When they have a deep spiritual need.

Someone gets overtaken in a trespass. If brothers don't reach out to that person and call that person back to the truth, what, that person is in serious jeopardy, and they may not by themselves even be able to break out of that sin. They've been overtaken by it, and they need the help of their brothers and sisters. That's mercy ministry.

And so, someone who has a good eye. is someone who, when he sees a spiritual need in the life of a brother, he meets that need. Look at this. First John 5:16.

If anyone sees, there's the word sees again. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. Death. I think John is giving this partly as just an example of spiritual ministry.

This is what love looks like. If you want to know what love looks like when you see a brother committing a sin, this is what it looks like. All right? You pray for that individual rather than writing them off, you pray for life for that individual.

Now, John is not saying, if you, if you see a brother committing a sin, That you just walk away and you never talk to that brother about it, but you pray, dear Lord, give life to that person. OK, I've done my duty. I've done the loving thing, and I can sign off on this. No, you gotta look at everything else the Bible teaches.

You need to go to that brother and confront that brother, rebuke them if necessary, go to them humbly and as a fellow sinner, but deal with them about that sin. But as you deal with them, your desire and all that you say is that they might experience life, a life they don't deserve, a life you don't deserve. But you want to contribute to their experience of life, which comes from a relationship with God and spiritual vitality in their lives as a result of that connection with God.

And along with talking to them, pointing out what you've observed, and helping them to see their sin, you pray with them and over them for a restoration of life.

Now that doesn't mean they were spiritually dead. But when we're in sin, guys, how we have the life of God in us, but our experience of that is radically diminished. But we pray for one another, that we will re-experience the joy of our salvation and enter more deeply into that life that comes from the enjoyment of a relationship with God. We don't have time to belabor this.

John, in this context says there is a sin unto death, and he says, and I'm not telling you that you have to pray for that. He doesn't forbid it. He just says, I'm not gonna command you to pray. And in the context, it almost certainly is when someone doctrinally defects away from the truth, the truth of the apostles' teaching about Christ, and they defect without repentance, and John says such individuals go out from us because they were never of us in the first place, but they went out so that it might be made manifest that they were never of us in the first place.

Someone who does that and without repentance. is committing a sin unto spiritual death. But John says, in the Christian community, there are many sins we commit that are not unto death. They are not spiritually fatal.

They could be, any sin could be spiritually fatal if it continues unchecked. But we're all going to observe ourselves and one another's sinning in many ways, stumbling in many ways, and true love is that we step into that person's life, and we help them, and we pray for them, and we contribute to their experience of life with God. I had some people do mercy ministry to me in this area, a week and a half ago. There were two sins that are like joined at the hip, that, that had gotten into my life, but they were just, I just, I never really thought about it.

But about a week and a half ago. In a way that I am still shell shocked by these two sins conspired together and literally just almost possessed me. I got caught up in this, this vortex, this whirlwind, where I experienced the power of these sins to a degree that actually just freaked me out. how sometimes we can allow something in our lives to sin, and then we walk away, and when we walk away, the sin is like, yeah, go ahead.

I'll be here when you want to come back and you could come and go as you want. And we get suckered in. But every once in a while, sin will rise up and it will flex and it will say, you will know the full breadth of my power. And I am not letting you go.

And these sins just took possession of me in an extremely powerful way and I, I had to, I had to confess. these, these sins. I confessed to like 4 or 5 different people. I had 3 of them pray over me, pray for me.

and I to this day I'm still shell shocked by how powerful the grip of those sins became just like overnight. But those who listened to me and those who prayed for me, that was mercy ministry. They saw someone in spiritual need. And prayed for the re-enjoyment of life.

If I did not do something with those sins. And those remained unchecked. They literally would have destroyed me. A good-eyed person, when he sees a spiritual need in the life of a brother, meets that need.

Fifthly, When a good-eyed person sees a physical need in the life of a brother, he meets that need. A brother is not a good person is not just someone who says, I'll address spiritual needs. That's all I care about because that's all God cares about. No, God cares about the physical.

We've learned that. in First John 3:7, but whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in that person? John is clearly saying, you need to do the opposite of what I have just said. When you see a brother who has need and you have the world.

goods, that's talking about material goods, food, and, and money and possessions. If you see a brother who has need of these physical and material things, do not close your heart against that person, but you meet that need, and thereby demonstrate that the love of the Father truly dwells inside of you. In the next verse, he says, little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth, and, and the deeds he's talking about are the deeds of, of meeting the material and the physical needs of your brothers.

We need to care about these things because Christ cared about these things.

A 6th and final description. of a good-eyed person is that he understands that by showing love to others, he makes God more clearly seen. A good-eyed person understands that by showing love to others, he makes God more clearly seen. This is, this is a wonderful concept, and it's a great concept to end the sermon with.

Look at what he says in 1 John 4:12. No one has seen God at any time. In other words, no one has seen the full revelation of God and all of his absolute glory. If we were to see Him, we would die, and we will not see God in this way until we have been glorified, and we have glorified eyeballs in which, with which we can take in that image without being killed by it.

Do you realize, guys, that even to know God, we have to be empowered for that. In Ephesians 3, Paul prays that we would be empowered by the Spirit in the inner man in order to know God. We, even to the degree that we know God, we, we can't naturally take that in and hold that in. We have to be empowered to do that.

It's just like staring at the sun. Our eyes are not made to be able to stare at the sun and not be damaged by it. Well, just in our fallen state, we're not naturally able to know God and contain that knowledge of God without it either doing damage to us or slaying us or just us not even being able to do that at all. The Spirit has to empower us to know.

Him. And so we cannot see God in all of His glory, but look at what he says. No one has seen God in all of His fullness at any time. But if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

That word perfected, follow me guys, means it comes to its intended end. in other words, when you show love to a brother or sister in the Lord, the love that God has shown you comes to its intended destination. All right. So part of what John is teaching is this, when you show love to your brothers and sisters, By meeting a spiritual need or a physical need.

You are making God more visible to them. They're able to see something more of God, a little more clearly than they would have been able to see without this love from God that you have shown them. And also, when you show love to your brothers and sisters, what's happening is the love that came from God that was given to you is now passing on to them, and it's reaching its intended destination. You see, guys, you're not the end of the gospel.

Yeah, God doesn't say, hey, I've, I've shown you love, and, and you're like, well, what do I do with this? He's like, well, just keep it all, because it's all about you. And I died, I sent my son to die on the cross, to lavish all these blessings and all this love on you. And I've deposited it all inside of you, and just keep it all, because you are the end of the gospel.

That's not the message of the New Testament. You're not the end of the gospel. Ultimately, God is. But a passage like this teaches us this wonderful fact that God has given you love, so that that love that is now inside of you can pass through you to another person.

The love that is inside of you from God is actually on a journey, and it's not done with that journey. It's just passing through you on its way to somebody else. And it's not until you let that love pass through you to that other person that you can say, the love that God has shown me has reached its intended destination. Now, once that person receives that love from you, which ultimately came from God, what are they supposed to think?

Well, this love's just passing through. It's on a journey, and I am so thankful it came this way through me, but I will now show love to somebody else. And when I pass this love on to somebody else, I can say that the love God gave to me has reached its intended destination. See, the wonderful picture is that the love of God that has come to all of us.

It should be on a constant journey, just from one person to another, to another, crisscrossing. There should be a traffic of love, that ultimately comes from God. That we enjoy, that we savor, but then we also enjoy that love by passing on that love to other people. Is that not true that when you find great meaning and great enjoyment in something that you cap off that enjoyment by sharing it with other people?

If you really love a particular football team, and you get a lot of enjoyment out of that sport and out of that team, does it not enhance your enjoyment when you are able to share that with somebody else, OK? So we enjoy the love of God by taking it in, but also by letting it journey through us to other people. And as God's love passes through you, To them. Parents, as God's love passes through you to your children, spouses as God's love passes through you to your spouse, brothers and sisters as God's love passes through you to one another, you can then say the love of God has reached its intended destination, and God has been revealed, God has been manifested.

My brother, my sister has experienced God and has a clear vision of Him. Because of his love that flowed through me. To them A good-eyed person is someone who sees Christ in his incarnation. He also sees.

How great a love he Himself has received from God. A good-eyed person. In comprehending this love. loves others the way that he sees that he has been loved himself, and he does this by meeting spiritual needs, by meeting physical needs.

And in doing that, he is encouraged by the thrilling thought. That he is revealing God. Revealing God. And that God's love as it journeys through Him is reaching its intended destinations.

In closing, we have defined mercy as compassionate ministry to someone in dire need. And I don't want you to camp on the word dire. We put that in parentheses. Do not say, well, I'll help other people, but it's gotta be dire need.

what we've seen this morning with Christ? How dire was the need to wash the disciples' feet. Well, I guess we don't know. Maybe they really needed it.

we weren't there, but, but no life was at stake, but Jesus served. And rendered that ministry. How dire was having wine at that wedding. What, what Jesus' example teaches us is to care about not just the spiritual, but the physical and the material, but to not insist that we will only do things for one another if it's dire.

No, we just love loving one another, ministering to one another when the needs are dire, and even when they're not. Because even when we minister, even though Jesus gave wine at that wedding, and it was not a dire need, It was a sign through which he revealed Himself. And so we can reveal God even in sometimes more powerful ways by ministering to one another, even when the need is not dire. And so there are so many.

Opportunities that we have in abundance. To show God, to reveal God, and to allow love to journey through us to its intended destinations. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning. The prayer that, that is gonna be on our hearts next week as we conclude this series is that One of our requests is God give us a good eye.

Give us a good eye, because if we have a good eye, then We're gonna do the things that we've been learning about. And so what we've learned this morning is how to develop a good eye, and at the very least, the first two things are most important, and that is We develop a good eye by seeing Christ. And by seeing how great a love he's shown to us. Us who are sinners who deserve the opposite.

If you gaze at those two things. You will find your eyesight spiritually speaking. Being restored to what it should be. And you will catch yourself doing the very things we've been learning about.

And I'm not saying that we shouldn't be deliberate about it. In fact, we should, we're gonna get into that next week. We need to make goals. We need to deliberately do things that cultivate a mercy mindset.

And if we don't make those goals, it's going to be easy for the birds of the air to come and pluck this stuff away, and in one month, Cornerstone is exactly where it was before, and we've learned nothing. We've only deceived ourselves. So we do need to be deliberate. But I'm telling you, no matter how deliberate you want to be, it's going to be for naught unless you begin with beholding Christ.

And beholding the love and the greatness of this love that has been shown. Marinate in that. Contemplate that, be a student of that. And then observe yourself being transformed by that glory that you are beholding.

From glory to glory. To be just like Jesus was. In his concern for the spiritual, and the physical, in his willingness to sacrifice and even lay down his life. To meet those needs Father, we are a needy people and we still have much to learn.

We are not even in kindergarten. We are in preschool on this subject. Teach us and grow us and help us to be. The people, the Christians, the church that you want us to be so that we can glorify you in the way that we pass your love on.

To others in need. By addressing their spiritual, physical, and material needs, and thus reveal your glory. We ask these things, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen. Amen.

We wanna take a moment to show you some ways that ministry The Ministry of Mercy has been exercised here in the community this last week. And do we have that, ready to go? Right. OK.

You don't have the music. OK. OK. If we could go ahead and we're gonna just show a few slides of a little bit of the ministry that happened this week in the community.