This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you back to the look we're having this week at Matthew chapter
7, first part of the chapter. We're in day four of that look together at what
Jesus has to teach us about, instead of judging, having a different kind of
spirit because of God's grace in our lives. We've seen together that hypocrisy
is focusing on the speck in another person's eye while ignoring the plank in
your own.

That integrity is removing the plank from your own eye. Today we're going to
reflect on the truth that mercy is removing the speck from your brother or
sister's eye. A lot of people miss this part of what Jesus said.

They think only about the plank and the speck. They don't hear what he said at
the end. Listen again to what he says in verse 5.

Jesus says, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye. " But he
doesn't end there. He ends by saying, "And then you will see clearly to remove
the speck from your brother's eye.

" Jesus did not tell us here to pretend that there's not a speck in your
friend's eye or to only be concerned with the plank in your own eye. He said,
"No, be concerned with that first, the plank in your own eye, but then also be
concerned about your brother, your sister, the speck that's in their eye. Get
the plank out of your eye and then you can see clearly enough to help your
friend to get the speck out of his eye, her eye.

" How are you going to help your friend if you can't say, "I noticed that
there's this speck in your eye, can I help? " We live in a society that happens
to believe right now that the opposite of judgment is tolerance. And tolerance
is falsely defined as accepting without opinion, without comment, whatever
choice is another person makes.

But Jesus tells us here that the alternative to judgment is not tolerance, it's
mercy. The alternative to being judgmental is not ignoring other people's
faults, it's showing that Jesus has forgiven all of our faults. Being biblically
non-judgmental doesn't mean that you pretend that you don't see another person's
sin.

To do that would be living in denial actually. Of course you see other people's
sins, many of them are very obvious, just like your sins are very obvious, more
than you want to realize. The question is this, what are we going to do about
it?

And being non-judgmental means we recognize that we all face the same
temptations. It means we don't see anyone as outside the circle of God's grace,
as beyond the bounds of our forgiveness, as outside the limits of our love.
Jesus really is teaching here an advanced degree course in relationships and
life.

I know that I struggle with learning how to show mercy without showing judgment.
It's easy to be judgmental, to end up gossiping about somebody's problem rather
than offering care. It's so easy to settle for this false mercy that offers care
but lacks the courage to tell the truth.

As I read these words of Jesus, the most shocking and controversial thing that
he teaches me, that he teaches us about our mercy towards other people is this,
mercy is not optional. Mercy is not optional. Not if you want to experience and
enjoy God's mercy in your own life.

Now wait just a minute. If you're theologically astute, you might be saying,
wait, wait, wait, wait, doesn't God say that his mercy is a free gift based on
his grace, not anything we can do? How can you say I've got to show mercy to
others in order to enjoy his mercy?

And of course, you're right if you're thinking that, salvation is not a work
that we do. It certainly is a gift of God. This is the truth I believe to the
depth of my soul.

It's a gift of God only by God's grace, only by God's gift. This belief can
sometimes for us as followers of Jesus lead to this strange place when it comes
to the way that we receive and give mercy. We say we believe God has shown mercy
to us and we've accepted this gift through faith and his mercy and forgiveness
are guaranteed by his love.

But when it comes to our expressions of mercy towards others, we seem to think,
oh, those are just all due to my human frailties, whether they're up or down.
Sometimes we forgive, sometimes we say we just can't. We choose to show mercy to
some but decide others aren't deserving of mercy because of the depth of hurt
that they've caused us.

But Jesus puts his finger on that kind of thinking and he calls it clearly
wrong. Remember, we looked at this a few weeks back at the end of the Lord's
Prayer after teaching his disciples to pray, "Forgive our sins as we've forgiven
those who've sinned against us. " In Matthew 6, Jesus says, "If you forgive
those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. "
Now, if our forgiveness from God is not based on any work we can do, how could
Jesus say things like this? We dealt with it a couple of weeks ago but let me
just remind you, it's because Jesus knows the human heart.

Jesus knows that those who cannot find it in themselves to forgive haven't
really understood what it means to be forgiven. If you're struggling somewhere
in your life with an inability to forgive, you might be thinking right now,
well, you're not being very merciful towards me, you're not being very
understanding towards me, you haven't been through what I've been through. And
you don't know how showing mercy towards that person, forgiving that person,
would be almost impossible.

The truth is the more deeply you've been hurt, the more your mind can rebel
against this thought of forgiveness. But Jesus, he's honest with us here, he
helps us with this struggle that we all have by not pulling any punches, he just
makes it as clear as a bell. The words that I'm sharing with you, they're not my
words, they're the words of Jesus.

So why would Jesus be so harsh seemingly? So insensitive on this issue,
especially when he knows that it touches such a deep place of hurt in so many of
our lives. Yeah, he knows the hurt.

He knows how difficult it is to forgive. He died on a cross to pay the price for
our sins. Yes, he knows forgiveness is not easy.

Jesus also knows that a flat out refusal to forgive is a sure indication of
what's going on in a person's heart. He knows how easily we can allow bitterness
to first stain and then destroy all of our relationships. He knows how Satan
loves to use our refusal to forgive to keep us from the transforming grace of
God in our lives.

Let me be clear here, I'm not talking about the time it can take to process
through our emotions and faith and choose to forgive. I'm talking about going
year after year after year with a lack of mercy in your mind towards someone.
I'm not talking either about trust, I'm talking about forgiveness.

If someone steals money from your company, if you ever trust them again with
your finances, it'll only be after that trust has been regained over time. Trust
will take time to rebuild. It may never be rebuilt, yet merciful forgiveness is
to be offered immediately.

Mercy is the right response to those who receive God's mercy. So how does this
come into my life? How do I show mercy?

Of these three that we're talking about this week, rejecting hypocrisy, choosing
integrity, showing mercy, genuine mercy without a doubt takes the most courage.
Now why? Because not just because it's hard for us, but because it's hard to
accept for others sometimes.

Mercy is often rejected. People reject God's mercy all the time, and His mercy
is perfect. So naturally they're going to reject our imperfect expressions of
mercy.

Mercy is always to be offered, but it's not always accepted. If you think that
people will always respond well to your acts of mercy, you're honestly kidding
yourself. When I'm angry at someone who responds with kindness towards me, that
kindness actually can make me feel even angrier.

I stubbornly, I want to stay angry, and I'm not happy that that someone is
putting a finger on a sensitive prideful nerve maybe in my life. When you say to
someone, "Okay, I've dealt with this. I've gotten a plank out of my own eye, but
I see you're still hurting.

You're still blinking. There's a speck in your eye. Is there anything I could
do, I love you, to help you get that speck out of your eye?

" As easily, as kindly as you try to say it, you're going to get all kinds of
reactions. Some people are going to say, "What speck? Who do you think you are?

Keep your nose out of my business. Keep your finger out of my eye. " Sometimes
you're going to be rejected for your expressions of mercy towards others.

So what do you do? What do you do when an offer of mercy is rejected? You do
what Jesus did.

You do what Jesus does. You continue to show mercy. He offered merciful
forgiveness even while being ridiculed, rejected, nailed to a cross.

When you're offering mercy, just remember that you, I, others, we often
initially see mercy as a threat rather than an expression of love. We treat God
this way all the time. Instead of feeling drawn in by the love, the forgiveness
of Jesus, we feel threatened by how God could step in, could mess up my life,
you've heard people say.

When you are rejected for an expression of kind mercy, remember you're in some
pretty good company. The Old Testament prophet said these familiar words, "What
does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with
your God.

" Jesus, we looked at this earlier in the Sermon on the Mount said, "Blessed are
the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. " We need God's strength for this.
Let's ask for it.

Our Father, you have shown us mercy. Help us to be merciful people. Help us to
show mercy towards others.

The mercy of forgiveness, the mercy of kindness, the mercy of love, the mercy of
helping with the speck that's in their eye. Lord, others have helped us. We are
grateful.

And help us to be a strength that helps somebody else. Lord, if and when we're
rejected, help us to know that you will never reject us. But also help us to
never give up.

Just like you never gave up on your mercy. Never give up on your mercy for us.
We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Tomorrow we're going to end this week by talking together about your
personal experience of God's mercy.