Life Group Leaders’ Notes
Title: Blessed When You Receive & Show Mercy
Key Text: Matthew 5:7
We continue this series on ‘How to be blessed in life’, based on Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on The Mount in Matthew 5. Here Jesus gave them made eight powerful statements known as the beatitudes, each of which outlines how we can have true and lasting happiness. Each one of them are teachings that are so different to what our culture tells us.
We come to Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
It was the mercy of God to send Jesus to a world in sin, to take upon himself that he didn’t deserve, so that we wouldn’t be tried for our mistakes. And He wants us to receive mercy and to show mercy.
We all need to recognise our need for mercy (Matthew 18:23-27; Matthew 6:12; Romans 3:23; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 6:23)
We all can receive mercy (Matthew 18:26-27; Lamentations 3:22-23; 1 Timothy 1:13-14; Ephesians 2:4-5)
We all must share mercy (Matthew 18:28-35; Matthew 18:21; Matthew 5:7)
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We all need to recognise our need for mercy
Jesus told this story in Matthew 18:23-27: “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
Here we read about a servant in great need for mercy. He had great debt. Debt he couldn’t settle. He owed thousands and had no way to pay. The only way they could find to settle what was owed was to go into slavery so that they could pay back what they borrowed.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray “And forgive us our debts’ in Matthew 6:12 He wasn’t referencing financial debt but the debt of sin. The bible tells us this in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
Mark 7:21-23 says “For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Each one of us, have failed to keep right before the Lord and have fallen short of his standard as a holy God. Maybe you’ve hurt someone, spoken bad about people, maybe you’ve disrespected your wife, or spoken with anger to your kids.
This is why we all need to experience God’s mercy if we want to live free in this life and live in blessing. Because where there is sin there is a great price to pay “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
Debt/sin makes you anxious and fearful and can take you to a dark place as it amounts up, pulling you away from God’s presence.
Have you messed up in life? Well, there is hope for you and there is hope for me even if like the servant in the parable there is a debt, we ourselves cannot pay.
We all can receive mercy
Matthew 18:26-27: “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.”
Imagine how the servant felt and how you would feel when in one moment all your debts and cancelled and the great weight you have been carrying is completely released. Well, that’s what it is like when you receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. No more guilt. No more shame. No more heaviness. Just a whole new life of joy and freedom.
The Bible says God is a God of great mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 says: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Psalm 103:8 says “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
In the Psalms, King David sang praise about the mercy of God 19 times. David knew all about God’s mercy. He had been exposed by the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba and for having her husband killed to cover up his sin. But when he repented, he received God’s forgiveness.
In the New Testament the apostle Paul, who had led a terrible persecution against the early Christians, could never forget the great mercy of God towards him. Because of God’s mercy, the chief opponent of the church, became one of the greatest leaders of the church.
He wrote in 1 Timothy 1:13-14: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
For Paul the whole of Christianity is linked to mercy. That’s why he wrote in Ephesians 2:4-5 “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”
The whole message of the gospel is about God’s mercy. When God looked at the world and saw people unable to pay the debts of their sins, Jesus paid in full all our debt by dying in our place on the cross. God knew we couldn’t make the payment, so he offered himself so that our slate could be wiped clean.
How desperate are you to receive forgiveness and mercy from God today? This servant got down on his knees and he begged because he knew that the king could take away this burden. Today God can take away your burden and lift off that heaviness. That guilt you’ve been carrying, those mistakes you’ve made, the sin that has consumed your life can be taken away today.
We all must share mercy
We’ve read how this servant who had debt of thousands was let off by a merciful master. It’s a great story but it has a terrible twist at the end Let’s read on from verse 28…
Matthew 18:28-35:28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him.
‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Can you imagine?! This guy who was just released from such massive debt then turns around and has a man thrown in prison because of the small debt he owed! Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. this is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The servant was quick to receive grace, but slow and bitter to let that grace flow unto others. Are you a merciful person? You have been shown mercy, but do you show mercy. Not now and again but always.
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
People close to us can hurt us. A parent who you feel neglected you. A partner who has mistreated you. A friend who dishonoured you. It can cut deep and cause emotions of distress and anger, making us hard and judgmental towards people.
But here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught this in Matthew 5:7, that if we are merciful to others, then we shall receive mercy ourselves.
Choosing to forgive is one of the hardest things God asks us to do, especially if we believe the person who hurt us is in the wrong and doesn’t deserve to be forgiven, but God instructs us to do so. Peace and joy will meet you on the other side. I want to finish with a….
When Joseph met his brothers’ years after they disowned him and sold him into slavery he could’ve showed vengeance. He had the power to, but instead it says: (check ref) he ‘reassured them and spoke kindly to them.’
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said “None of us has by nature a forgiving spirit. And if you now have such a spirit, you have it for one reason only. You have seen what God has done for you in spite of what you deserve, and you say, `I know that I am truly forgiven; therefore, I truly forgive.”
Today you need the mercy of God. You need to receive the mercy of God and you need to show the mercy of God. Let’s pray.
Ministry: First I want to pray for those who need to know and who want to know God’s mercy.
Today, is the day to come clean and to cry out to the Lord for his mercy.
Is there a relationship that you knew wasn’t right and you wish you hadn't been in?
Have you been one thing in front in somebody but spoken badly about them behind their back?
Someone you have done wrong in business? Have you taken something you shouldn’t have? Have you been unfaithful?
Maybe you always want to win arguments at home and it brings bigger arguments that bring a wedge division?
God’s mercy means that He is willing to forgive you even though you don’t deserve it….Come and confess today your need for his mercy. Jesus shed his blood on that cross so that we can receive God’s pardon.
Have you been mistreated by someone close to you and you still have a hardness to them for how they treated you? There’s a wave of anger when you still think about them or that situation?
Ask the Lord now to come and reveal himself to you and to help you because when Jesus said Matthew 5:7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.’ As you release those people who have wounded you he will come mercifully upon you and soothe your heart.
