Have you recognized new mercies this morning?

Beautiful Eulogy – Blessed Are the Merciful

Good morning. For many – let's just say "all of us" – we often need new mercies in the morning. And thankfully, God has revealed to us that His mercies are new every morning.

I certainly need them right now. Here is the state of my family affairs this morning:

My wife has a body-breaking flu that has plastered her horizontal;

My oldest daughter has a fever and eye-crossingly painful sore throat;

My youngest daughter sleeps all day with chills, shakes, and an earache that brings her to tears regularly;

My youngest son smells like death incarnate right after he releases liquid fire created and sustained by whatever he eats;

But at least my oldest son is pretty good besides his barking cough.

But even all these things are child's play for God revealing His mercies to me today if I ask to see with His eyes. Because even in the midst of one of the most somber reflections on the sin of men and women in all of Scripture – the prophet Jeremiah's Lamentations – I find these words:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

 

One of the ways God regularly reminds me of His mercy is through song. In 2013, Beautiful Eulogy released their "Instruments of Mercy" album. It's unique. It's honest. It's truthful. And it's innovative. You can download the entire album for free here. Seriously. They give their music away. 

While there are many songs off "Instruments of Mercy" I would love to take the time to wax eloquently about (hear "You Can Save Me," "Symbols And Signs," "Release Me From This Snare," "Organized Religion," and "According To God," for starters), one of the tracks I have been impacted most by is not even a song. Track 8, "Blessed Are The Merciful," is simply a sermon clip by Art Arzurdia, pastor of Trinity Church of Portland, Oregon. 

Listen to these words:

Are you merciful? 

Why?  

Because Jesus healed the sick. 

Because Jesus fed the multitudes.

Because Jesus gave legs to the crippled.

Because Jesus granted sight to the blind.

Because Jesus opened the ears of the deaf.

Because Jesus found prostitutes and tax collectors and drew them into the sphere of His love.

Because Jesus touched the untouchable and loved the unlovable and forgave the unforgivable and welcomed the undesirable.

Because Jesus even now saves the otherwise unsaveable.

Why?

Because they deserve it?

"When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared 

He saved us.

Not because of works done in righteousness.

Not because we met Him halfway.

Not because we took the proper steps forward and in good faith have elevated ourselves to the place of the deserving poor.

But because of His mercy" (Titus 3:4-5).

We are here because Jesus Christ didn't say in cold indifference, "Give them what they deserve. They brought it on themselves."

Jesus Christ is the mercy of God.

And seeing us in our misery and need, He doesn't just feel for us.

He takes the necessary action to relieve our distress. 

He leaves the eternal glory of heaven and the perfect fellowship of the Trinity. 

He condescends to us, lives among us, suffers like us, dies for us. 

Do you understand this?

Have you experienced this?

How then is it possible to experience this and not display it?

It isn't possible. 

You haven't experienced it if you don't display it.

The evidence of God's mercy in your life isn't determined by how much theology you know, by how many books you read, but by your active goodness to people in misery and in need. 

"Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy" (Matthew 5:7).

Even in the turmoil of a family fighting the Black Death (ok, not quite), there are still infinite mercies to discover and share. But do I want to discover again new mercies while cleaning up diarrhea that's pouring out of my youngest son's clothes? And if so, will I pray that the mercies revealed might pour out of me? 

Because there's still a lot of rot pouring out of my heart that needs God's mercy each day. And yet He continues to pour out His mercy abundantly on me instead. And if I have experienced this and know this to be true, then I have a deeper reservoir for mercy than I can possibly imagine.

How will I know I'm beginning to fully understand His mercy? When I find it easier to release God-given mercy on those I do know and don't know, those who live in the house next to me and those who beg on the street near me, those who disagree with me to my face and gossip about me behind my back, those who befriend me and those who betray me. In Jesus, I can give mercy to all.

The only way for me to do this is to have a "Beautiful Eulogy" of my own, to accept Jesus' words that my life is not my own. He gracefully purchased it and raised it from death to life to live for Him and others instead of myself. His justice is so much more righteous than my own sense of self-justice. I can trust and accept God's righteous judgment and I can find reconciliation and mercy like I would never know otherwise. In His fascinating and magnificent story, I can live by His mercy and become an instrument of mercy.

"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" (Ephesians 2:4-5). 

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16). 

"For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:13-17). 

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (I Peter 2:9-10). 

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" (Jude 1:20-25).

– Sully

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