1. Blessed are those who forgive and have compassion v7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Being merciful is being forgiving and showing compassion. It is so important for us to be this way because it is who God is. God is a God of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Being merciful is being like God. “For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Deut 4:31. If God is a God of mercy then we should be a people of mercy. It seems that some of the most unforgiving people are those who are in church. It should not be this way. We should forgive much and often. Jesus told us a great parable in Matthew 18:23-35 that speaks to us about being merciful and forgiving. Hopefully we are more like the king than the servant. But I must admit many times I initially react like the servant more than the king. I want people to forgive me without forgiving people. Mercy involves patience. In this parable the king calls for all his debt to be paid to him. This one slave comes and can’t pay his debt and ask for patience. The king was patient. Actually he was more than patient. We need to be a patient with people. We must realize people will fail us and people will hurt us, but we need to have patience with them just as God has patience with us. Mercy involves being compassionate. The king had mercy on this slave. It was patience that prodcued compassion. We need to be compassionate toward people and show them mercy and have pity also. Mercy involves restoration, or forgiveness. The king had pity on this slave and forgave him his debt. That is what God does with us over and over. His forgives us our debt and restores us. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” 2 Chronicles 30:9. We should also be the same way. Listen if you don’t show mercy, don’t expect any in return. The king forgave this slave all his debt but as soon as he saw a fellow slave that owed him money what did he do, he choked him and demanded his money and when he could not pay he had him put in jail. The king heard about this and brought the slave before him again and basically said since you did not show mercy I will not give you any and he threw him in jail. Jesus then said that God will do this also to any person that does not forgive from the heart.
An unforgiving Christian is an oxymoron. An unforgiving Christians is a illusion, it doesn’t exist. A person who has received the forgiveness that Christ offers on the cross will not habitually be a person who can’t forgive. It is impossible. Who do you need to forgive. What relationship do you need to restore?
2. Blessed are those who care more about the inside rather than the outside v8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Are you a Pharisee or tax collector? Luke 18:10-14 The Pharisee went before God and was bragging about how grateful he was that he wasn’t like the tax collector and then went on to pray to God about all the good stuff he did. The tax collector wouldn’t even approach God and humbly admitted his sinfulness and Jesus said that the tax collector is the one that left justified. Why? Because for the Pharisee it was all about the outside and the tax collector it was about the inside. The pure in heart are those who care more about what God thinks than what people think and they are focused on being clean on the inside more than the outside. The pure in heart are alive to God spiritually. What comes out is an indication of the pureness of your hear. Jesus taught us that in Matthew 15:10, 17-20. Jesus tells us something here about how we can judge the pureness of our heart. And it’s very simple. Whatever came out of your mouth and life indicates what came out of your heart. A spring doesn’t produce salt water. Likewise one who is pure will produce pureness from their heart.
3. You are blessed when you are a fixer instead of a breaker. V9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Is Making peace really a sign of salvation? Jesus said that peacemaker will be called sons of God. Wow. This means if you are into making trouble, stirring up the pot you are the opposite of a son of God. That is scary to me and makes me want to make peace as much as I can. We can’t control anyone and we don’t need to-There is only one condition that needs to be met for you to make peace and that is a willingness on your part. How do you think when it comes to making peace? Do you put conditions on it? I will make peace when this happens or when that happens, when some things get changed around, when the sun stops rising. The bible says 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, llive peaceably with all. Romans 12:18. Quit making a stink and strive for the common good. The message puts verse 9 like this, “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.”As Christians we should all be striving to make God glorious. I think sometimes we need to ask two questions when it comes to whether or not to confront and in confronting not making peace. -Does this involve sin? And Am I taking away from another’s person freedom they have in Christ? If the answer to those questions are no and yes then its not time to confront it is at time to be a peacemaker. Clearly one of the things that gets in the way of us making peace and being at peace is that we don’t zip our lips at time when we should.
4. You are blessed when you suffer and are made fun of for doing what is right
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. I encourage you to go to this link http://www.jdgreear.com/my_weblog/2010/11/time-for-action-on-behalf-of-the-persecuted-church.htmland read about this man who is suffering for his faith in Christ and then ask if you would be willing to follow Jesus if it meant you would face the same thing’s. Jesus said you are blessed when you suffer for me.
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