Reworked sermon, "Mercy not Sacrifice"

So, Pastor Meyer was rightly concerned that my sermon might be misconstrued as a false 'works righteousness' gospel.  This draft puts the Gospel first.  St. Augustine helped me get my thoughts together, but his City of God was left on the cutting room floor in this version.

MERCY NOT SACRIFICE

Paul presents the Gospel of Christianity in 1^st Corinthians chapter 15. Jesus Christ is God.  He came to Earth and died for our sins.  He was raised from the dead, ascended, and reigns over us.  I didn't always believe this truth.  I lived to please myself.  I am a fallen man.  I am selfish, and greedy, and lazy.  There is only one kind of person, the sinful person.  But I have faith in Christ and He has redeemed me.  Paul, in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, states “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“ I am sinful and deserving death, but now I trust Jesus as my redeemer and serve Him as my King.  Reading further from Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  If we have accepted Jesus’ lordship over us, the Holy Spirit comes to aid us and dwell in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit guides us so that we can show the fruit of our redemption.  Today we are going to learn about the fruit of mercy.

Around 700 years before God came to us as Jesus, a prophet who spoke for God named Hosea said these words:

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy not sacrifice.” 

Jesus used the words of Hosea, the words of God to Hebrews living centuries before, to rebuke some of those who thought they were living as God wanted them to.

Matthew’s gospel reports many encounters of Jesus and a group of very religious people called the Pharisees.  The Pharisees thought that they were doing the right things in how they honored God.  They tried to perform every part of God’s law that required personal sacrifice.  They wore the right things, they walked and talked the right way, and they made the right offerings of their belongings at the Temple of God.  They thought they were doing what God wanted by this kind of sacrifice.  But Jesus taught them something different. 

In Matthew 9 verse 13 and again in Matthew 12 verse 7, Jesus quotes Hosea.  I will read the verses:

9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

To both groups he implores them to learn and apply mercy, rather than require sacrifice.  This call for mercy is stated even more explicitly in Matthew 23 verse 23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Jesus was telling them that they had been deceived by Satan into believing they were honoring God with personal sacrifices, when what God wanted, what God wants, is mercy.  Jesus tells us to put two rules first.  To love God, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  So, how do we show mercy the way that God wants us to show mercy?

In the 10^th chapter of Luke’s gospel, a man asks Jesus this question directly.  This lawyer stood up and asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus’ answer is a story.  It is a story about selfishness and sacrifice, but most importantly, it is a story about how to show mercy.

I will read from the Word; Luke 10:30-37

Jesus replied, “A man Jerusalem  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

TempleYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Love your neighbor as yourself.  These men would not have wanted to be left for dead.  They were not being neighbors.

The Samaritan had no idea whether the robbers were gone for good.   He sacrificed his safety to help the stricken man.  He had some place to be and a journey to complete.  He sacrificed his time to care for the man.   He had limited resources as all of us do.  He sacrificed his money to care for the man.  But Jesus does not tell us he is doing right by the man because of his sacrifice.  Jesus tells us that the Samaritan has done right because his sacrifices come from a heart of mercy.  So, how can we love our neighbors?  How can we show our heart of mercy?

What if you know someone whose loved family member has died?  How can you show mercy to them?  You can go and comfort them.  You can help them in their daily tasks; things which may be hard for them to do while in mourning.  You can offer them food.    What if your neighbor has lost an animal?  You can show mercy by helping them search.  What if the food they have stored has gone bad?  You may offer them some of what you have stored.  If a boat is damaged, you can help repair it.  If a child needs an adult to walk with them to make sure they get to school safely, you may escort him.  If a home needs repaired, you may help.  If a child needs clothes to go to school you may give money to aid her.  All of these things are sacrifices on your part.  You may be sacrificing your time, your strength, your food, or your money.  And remember, if you do them to seek your own glory, so that you become puffed up because you have sacrificed, you are not showing a heart of mercy.  You must do these things simply because you love your neighbor.

This is not easy.  This does not come quickly.  If you have a selfish heart, it will take time to change.  But the Holy Spirit is with us to help us change.  Every one of you who has accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior has the Holy Spirit to help you.  Ask Him for help.  In the Bible, Jesus called on some people to give up everything they had to follow Him.  It may be that Jesus is calling you to the same, but my advice is to start small and ask for help through prayer.  Begin by looking around where you live and finding one thing you can do to serve your neighbor and show your love for them each day.  The very smallest things in your eyes may bring joy to your neighbor.  Perhaps there is trash near their house you could remove for them.  Where I come from, simply smiling and saying hello to everyone throughout your day can show them that you care for them.  You could carry something for them when you see them walking by with a heavy burden.  Try it.  (*Todd suggests using a personal anecdote of a native of the island solicited by asking folks to tell me “the nicest thing someone has done for them”*) My experience is that every act of love I do makes me want to do more.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit within me. 

God, in his mercy, looks beyond our selfishness and loves us.  It can be hardest to show love to those who do not return love to you; but Jesus’ example can teach us something about this as well.  Samaritans were not accepted in Jewish society.  Their tribe was considered inferior and many times throughout their history, the Jews had done evil things to them.  And yet, this Samaritan chooses to reach out to a man in need who was of a different tribe and show him mercy.  We do not do the things God wishes us to do at all times and yet God reaches down to us with Grace and sends His Son to rescue us, as an act of love despite the fact that we do not always show Him love in return.

Praise our Heavenly Father.  He has shown us Grace.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us go now and show mercy to each other.  Amen.

My first sermon.

I decided to post this transcript of what is to be my first sermon.  Obviously, I hope to preach from notes rather than from a full script like this one, but I thought it would be good to organize my thoughts on paper in a complete narrative just so I could see about how long it is in English.  The sermon will be translated as I speak into at least 1 additional language and possibly two.  This transcript takes me approximately 10 minutes to read with proper inflection and articulation.  This means that at best it will be 20 minutes when translated but perhaps longer than 30 minutes.  I also plan on signing a praise song in English (a capella solo) and then offering a prayer for acceptance of the sermon and the Spirit's guidance of my words prior to beginning.  It is to be delivered to a rural Rwandan population living on an island in crowded, materially impoverished, conditions.  I would appreciate any input you may have.  Thanks in advance.

MERCY NOT SACRIFICE

Around 700 years before God came to us as Jesus, a prophet who spoke for God named Hosea said these words:

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy not sacrifice.”  

We are going to talk a little about what this means this morning.

Around 400 years after Jesus came to us, there was a man who lived much nearer to here than where I am from.  This man, Augustine, was an African.  His blessed mother prayed and prayed that Augustine would find his way to salvation through Christ, but this took a very long time.  Augustine was around the same age I was when he was saved by the Spirit of our Lord.  He was about 32.  He later became bishop of a city in North Africa and presided over his churches at a time when the great Roman empire was disintegrating.  Augustine thought of all these things and wrote a book called The City of God.  In it, he discusses something which should be obvious to any of us who have spent much time here.  There is a great conflict going on around us and there are two ways to live.  We can live as if we are a part of the City of Man, enslaved to our selfish desires and motivated only by what pleases us; or we can live as if we are a part of the City of God, released from enslavement to our passions and able to work to restore God’s perfect order to society.

Why do I bring up the ideas of Augustine this morning?  Because, I want us to remember that Christ has been working in Africa for a long time.  But our Enemy has been at work here as well.  Just as everywhere on Earth, there is a struggle between the City of Man and the City of God.  The question I have for you this morning, is “How do you live?  As a citizen of the City of Man, or as a redeemed and blessed citizen of the City of God?”  For those of you who have accepted Jesus as your savior, you may quickly answer that you are a part of the City of God, but there were many in Jesus’ day who thought this as well, and Jesus had something to teach them.  Jesus used the words of Hosea, the words of God to Hebrews living centuries before, to rebuke some of those who thought they were living as God wanted them to.

Matthew’s gospel reports many encounters of Jesus and a group of very religious people called the Pharisees.  The Pharisees thought that they were doing the right things in how they honored God.  They tried to perform every part of God’s law that required personal sacrifice.  They wore the right things, they walked and talked the right way, and they made the right offerings of their belongings at the Temple of God.  They thought they were doing what God wanted by this kind of sacrifice.  But Jesus taught them something different. 

In Matthew 9 verse 13 and again in Matthew 12 verse 7, Jesus quotes Hosea.  I will read the verses:

9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

To both groups he implores them to learn and apply mercy, rather than require sacrifice.  This call for mercy is stated even more explicitly in Matthew 23 verse 23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Jesus was telling them that they had been deceived by the Enemy into believing they were honoring God with personal sacrifices, when what God wanted, what God wants, is mercy.  Jesus tells us to put two rules first.  To love God, and to love each other as we love ourselves.  If we are able to love our neighbor as ourself, then we have become a citizen of the City of God and we have overcome the selfishness of the City of Man.  So, how do we show mercy the way that God wants us to show mercy?

In the 10^th chapter of Luke’s gospel, a man asks Jesus this question directly.  This lawyer stood up and asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus’ answer is a story.  It is a story about selfishness and sacrifice, but most importantly, it is a story about how to show mercy.

I will read from the Word; Luke 10:30-37

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The priest and the Levite were afraid to touch the man because if it turned out that he was dead then they would be impure based on the Temple law and would be unable to go to the Temple until they could be purified.  The Pharisees listening to this story would have understood this and been proud of the men for maintaining their purity.  But following this portion of the law neglected to show mercy for the man who had been robbed and injured.  Leviticus 19:18, a verse of the law the priest and Levite surely knew by heart, states “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Love your neighbor as yourself.  These men would not have wanted to be left for dead.  They were not being neighbors.

The Samaritan had no idea whether the robbers were gone for good.   He sacrificed his safety to help the stricken man.  He had some place to be and a journey to complete.  He sacrificed his time to care for the man.   He had limited resources as all of us do.  He sacrificed his money to care for the man.  But Jesus does not tell us he is doing right by the man because of his sacrifice.  Jesus tells us that the Samaritan has done right because his sacrifices come from a heart of mercy.  So, how can we love our neighbors?  How can we show our heart of mercy?

What if you know someone whose loved family member has died?  How can you show mercy to them?  You can go and comfort them.  You can help them in their daily tasks; things which may be hard for them to do while in mourning.  You can offer them food.    What if your neighbor has lost an animal?  You can show mercy by helping them search.  What if the food they have stored has gone bad?  You may offer them some of what you have stored.  If a boat is damaged, you can help repair it.  If a child needs an adult to walk with them to make sure they get to school safely, you may escort him.  If a home needs repaired, you may help.  If a child needs clothes to go to school you may give money to aid her.  All of these things are sacrifices on your part.  You may be sacrificing your time, your strength, your food, or your money.  And remember, if you do them to seek your own glory, so that you become puffed up because you have sacrificed, you are not showing a heart of mercy.  You must do these things simply because you love your neighbor.

This is not easy.  This does not come quickly.  If you have a selfish heart, it will take time to change.  But the Holy Spirit is with us to help us change.  Every one of you who has accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior has the Holy Spirit to help you.  Ask Him for help.  In the Bible, Jesus called on some people to give up everything they had to follow Him.  It may be that Jesus is calling you to the same, but my advice is to start small and ask for help through prayer.  Begin by looking around where you live and finding one thing you can do to serve your neighbor and show your love for them each day.  The very smallest things in your eyes may bring joy to your neighbor.  Perhaps there is trash near their house you could remove for them.  Where I come from, simply smiling and saying hello to everyone throughout your day can show them that you care for them.  You could carry something for them when you see them walking by with a heavy burden.  Try it.  My experience is that every act of love I do makes me want to do more.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit within me. 

God, in his mercy, looks beyond our selfishness and loves us.  It can be hardest to show love to those who do not return love to you; but Jesus’ example can teach us something about this as well.  Samaritans were not accepted in Jewish society.  Their tribe was considered inferior and many times throughout their history, the Jews had done evil things to them.  And yet, this Samaritan chooses to reach out to a man in need who was of a different tribe and show him mercy.  We do not do the things God wishes us to do at all times and yet God reaches down to us with Grace and sends His Son to rescue us, as an act of love despite the fact that we do not always show Him love in return.

Praise our Heavenly Father.  He has shown us Grace.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us go now and show mercy to each other.