Flourishing in Pity - February 16, 2025
Dennis R. Wiles
First Baptist Arlington
February 16, 2025
2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew)
WINTER 2025: Happiness Is . . .
The Beatitudes
January 5 – March 4, 2025
Flourishing in Pity
Matthew 5:7
Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ
Theme for Winter 2025: Happiness Is . . .
Vocabulary Work
- The Greek Translation on the Hebrew Bible translates the Hebrew word, hesed (love, lovingkindness, steadfast love, loyal love, goodness, mercy) with the Greek word, eleos (mercy, pity, compassion).
- Eleos in the Greek New Testament belongs in the semantic domain of mercy, pity, love, tenderhearted, compassion, and favor.
Biblical/Theological Reflection
Mercy is a complex concept in the Bible. It is one expression of a divine attribute of God. Flowing out of His love, God displays His compassion towards us through His mercy. His mercy is undeserved and is closely connected to His grace.
“Have mercy (chanan) on me, O God, according to your unfailing love (hesed); according to your great compassion (racham) blot out my transgressions.”
-Psalm 51:1
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions . . .”
-Ephesians 2:3-5
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
"God loves to show mercy... His anger must be released by a stiff safety lock, but his mercy has a hair trigger.”
-John Piper
On a human level, mercy is the ability to “feel” for others, experience pity, sympathy, empathy for them, and respond in grace to their need. It embodies both an attitude and an action. It also applies to the concept of demonstrating mercy through forgiveness.
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
-Luke 6:36
Parables of Jesus (One slide)
- The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
- The Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)
“Blessed are the merciful” – this is a statement about who we should be becoming!
Meditation on Mercy (Charles Spurgeon) (One Slide)
- It is a tender mercy
- It is a great mercy
- It is undeserved mercy
- It is rich mercy
- It is abounding mercy
- It is unfailing mercy
Promise: We will be blessed, and we will receive mercy (because we need it)!
Our community of faith can only live out its mission if God’s mercy is on display and it is woven into the fabric of our identity as the people of God.
