“What the Lord Requires” – Love Mercy – Micah 6:8

A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day.  One day, when he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer.  As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times.  When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there.  When I got shot, you were by my side.  When we lost the house, you stayed right here.  When my health started failing, you were still by my side... You know what?"  "What dear?" she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.

"I think you're bad luck...”

The jokes about marriage are endless.  I heard a guy the other day say that the first 10 years of marriage are the hardest.  I asked him how long he had been married and he said 10 years.  I’ve heard it said that marriage requires a man to get 3 types of "rings":  * The Engagement Ring  * The Wedding Ring  * The Suffe-Ring.

Jill tells her husband, "Jack, that young couple that just moved in next door seem such a loving twosome. Every morning, when he leaves the house, he kisses her goodbye, and every evening when he comes home, he brings her a dozen roses.
Now, why can't you do that?"

"Good grief," Jack says, "why I hardly know the girl."

Why is it that nearly all marriage jokes are derogatory?  You rarely ever hear a joke about marriage that is not making fun of it somehow.  And that’s a shame because a sound marriage is one of the best things that can happen to a person.  We all know that a sound marriage is a lot of work but anything worth having is going to be and just like anything else, you get out of marriage what you put in.  But, because you do have to put out some effort, it also makes a perfect illustration for our subject today.

Some of you may have seen that we are going to be talking about mercy today and you are wondering about the connection between marriage and mercy.  And I’m sure there are some jokes to be made right there but aren’t you glad I’m going to skip ‘em?  Yes, today we are going to continue our look at what the Lord expects of us from the popular verse Micah 6:8.  We saw last week how important it is to know what God expects of us.

There is an innate need given to us by God…to know God; to see Him or understand Him or be able to describe Him and, ultimately, to worship Him.  And we can’t truly worship God without knowing what He expects of us and what pleases Him.  So, this passage, broken down and stated as simply as it is, is vital to our Christian walk. We saw last week in looking at the first part about how to act justly that God doesn’t want our sacrifice.  He doesn’t want what belongs to us.  He wants us.

So, let’s read the passage and then we will see how mercy and marriage go together and how that ties in to giving God all of ourselves.  Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

A pastor was giving a lesson to a group of children on the 23rd Psalm.  It says that “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of my days” but a little boy said he didn’t like that.  The pastor asked why that could possibly be a problem and the boy said he didn’t mind mercy following him around but he didn’t know who Shirley Goodness was and he didn’t want her following him.  I don’t know about you but I need mercy following me around and following closely.

And we all know what mercy is, right?  But, as I often do, I wanted to know exactly what Micah was talking about here and so I looked up the original word he used and its definition.  Most of us would define the word something along the lines of “not getting what we deserve” and that is true for mercy but the original word has a little richer meaning.  The original Hebrew word is “Checed” (Ke-sed). 

And in general there are 3 meanings of checed that always interact.  It means “strength”, “steadfastness” and “love”.  And any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all 3 inevitably loses some of its richness.  “Love” by itself can easily be sentimentalized and “strength” and “steadfastness” suggest only the fulfillment of a legal obligation.  (Strong’s Concordance)

But when you put them all together you get a great picture of what God requires of us but is also perfectly illustrated by a sound marriage.  Let’s think about those ideas of strength, steadfastness and love in context with mercy for a few minutes.  Let’s start with strength.  And I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking that it’s obvious that I have been going to the gym and working out and getting all buffed up and so why don’t I just illustrate strength by doing something like that guy did in Runaway Bay a few weeks ago during that strongman show.

I don’t have any bats to break or steel rods to bend but I found this telephone book and I’ll just tear this in two like he did.  Or maybe not.  I can’t do it.  Do you know why?  Well, obviously, I’m not strong enough.  In fact, I’ll go on to say that not only am I not strong enough but I don’t have the steadfastness or the love to get it done.  I can’t tear this phone book without help just like none of us have the strength, steadfastness or love to remain married without help.  But this is exactly where Philippians 4:13 comes in.  As you know, it says, "I Can Do All Things through Christ Who Strengthens Me" and one of those “all things” is marriage.

Sure, some people can make it through marriage without Christ.  It certainly happens.  But since God is the Author of marriage and it was His idea, it is only through Him that we can have a sound and fulfilling marriage.  And it takes both spouses, even then.  But when both spouses understand that and embrace Christ first and their spouse second, it becomes a marriage that honors God and when you honor God He will honor you.  In John 12:26 Jesus says, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  God says the same thing in 1 Samuel 2:30.  “Those who honor me I will honor.”

And when God honors a marriage, He gives you the ability to have the strength, steadfastness and love that you need when your spouse needs mercy.  Marriage is such a good illustration of what mercy really means because there is a legal aspect to marriage.  We looked at what the Bible says about marriage last Wednesday night.  We have looked at it before but it keeps being requested and every time we learn something new.  And this was a big part of what we talked about.  Part of what makes marriage holy before God is that there are laws pertaining to it and it requires a commitment.  It requires a commitment.

Couples who live together without being married have no real commitment to each other. They might say they are committed but legally, if they don’t want to be together all they have to do is divide up the cd’s and figure out who gets the cat and walk off.  And without getting into another big issue, that is why God expects a commitment from His bride, the church.  And how many times does the bride of Christ, the church, need mercy?  All the time.  Thank you Lord for being merciful to us, your bride!

But whether it is God being merciful to us, or Christ to His bride or you to your spouse, it takes strength to be merciful.  The definition of mercy includes not getting what we deserve.  When somebody does something wrong toward you, something really bad, something they know will bother you and they make the choice to do it anyway, what is your natural response?  Revenge?  The silent treatment?  Even divorce?  It’s hard to show mercy at a time like that.  But that is exactly what God requires of us.  That’s why mercy requires strength, because it is hard to do.

 

Now, I have seen the way some of you drive.  And if you can’t show mercy to somebody who cuts you off or forgets a blinker, I feel sorry for your spouse.  If you can’t show mercy in the little, easy things, what is going to happen when somebody really needs mercy or the relationship falls apart?  What is going to happen when you have to make the decision to be like Christ and just show somebody mercy?  Will you be able to do it?  Maybe you ought to start with the little things and build up your mercy strength.  Because when you can’t show mercy to somebody who needs it, and that is going to be all of us sooner or later, that shows your lack of spiritual strength, your mercy strength.  And that is not Christ-like and it’s a sin.

Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.”  God the Father was strong in his mercy towards us as Romans 5:8 says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Did we deserve that mercy?  Of course not.  Again, if it was deserved, it wouldn’t be mercy.  That took strength for Him to be able to show us that mercy and when it comes to God and us it also takes steadfastness.  Steadfastness means unchanging or constant and in relation to mercy it is shown when mercy is needed over and over.

Does that sound like your relationship with the Lord?  It does mine.  How about your relationship to your spouse?  Psalm 40:11 says, “As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”(ESV)  David knew God’s mercies to be constant and unchanging.  Could that be said of you?  I’m not saying you should allow someone to take advantage of your good nature.  I’m just saying how many times do you show mercy before you say that’s enough?  How many times has God showed you mercy?  That’s the answer to that.

In Matthew 18, Jesus taught Peter to forgive, “Not 7 times but 70 times 7!”  Mercy and forgiveness go hand in hand and not to forgive and not to show mercy is sin.  You know what?  Let ‘em take advantage of your good nature.  You do what you are supposed to do and let them deal with God about what they are doing.  Your good nature is the nature you receive from the Lord anyhow so that is between them and God.  Mercy towards them is between you and God even if it happens over and over again because that is the very essence of mercy in that it involves steadfastness.  Your mercy, like God’s, should be unchanging and constant.

In 2 Samuel 9, we see that Mephibosheth is lame in both feet.  In those days there was no Medicare or Social Security and to be lame and unable to work meant you were fully dependent on somebody else and if nobody helped you it could easily mean death.  But Mephibosheth got a call one day to go before King David.  He had never met the king.  He had never done anything for the king and so I can imagine his shock to know the king wanted to see him.  And when he gets there David said, “Don’t be afraid for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul and you will always eat at my table.”

Mercy would have been to give the guy a few bucks and wish him well.  Some say mercy would have been to just put him out of his misery since he would never be able to repay the mercy or give back in any way.  But steadfast mercy from David meant that lame man who didn’t deserve it and couldn’t repay it would always, for the rest of his life literally eat like a king.  For years and years Mephibosheth enjoyed David’s mercy.  Nobody would have blamed David if he had not done anything.  Even Mephibosheth would not have complained.  But I wonder how many people saw that and thought there is something different about that king.

How many people are looking at you and are wondering about what kind of person you are?  When they see that you have road rage and you try to catch up to somebody on the highway so you can tell them or show them how you feel, they see somebody that acts just like everybody else.  When they see you forgive your spouse and show mercy one time but not the next, even that is done by pretty much everybody.  But when they see you show mercy, and you show it over and over again even to those who don’t deserve it and can’t repay it, they see Jesus in you.

 

 

We have made a concerted effort to learn how to make disciples around here.  We have learned how to give our testimony and how to lead someone to have a life-changing relationship with the Lord and how to encourage them in their walk.  That’s what it means to make disciples.  But let me ask something of you.  Please don’t try any of that if you can’t show mercy.  If you can’t show strong and steadfast mercy then don’t say anything.  If you talk about Jesus with one side of your mouth and refuse mercy to those that need it, you are a banging gong just getting on people’s nerves as you act like everybody else in this world.

Because the difference in a relationship with Jesus and every religion in this world is that people should be able to see our love.  And without mercy, you don’t show love.  And Jesus says in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  But don’t say you have love if your life doesn’t reflect it.  You see, love is the last requirement for mercy.  True mercy involves strength, steadfastness and love.

I said before that part of what makes marriage holy before God is that there are laws pertaining to it and it requires a commitment.  So, is that why you stay married?  Is that what has kept you together for 20, 30, 50 years; the law?  I’m quite sure that if it had not been for the law that some of you might not be together today but what keeps you together and what allows you to show strong and steadfast mercy is love. 

With strength and steadfastness you can keep a law.  But with love, you don’t need a law.  With love, showing mercy is not something that is dragged out of you that you give because you have to or you will look bad.  When your mercy is infused with love for that person and a love for Jesus, anything else is out of the question!  Who wants revenge on someone you love?  Who wants to give the silent treatment to a loved one?  And you don’t divorce someone you love because you know that love has come from Christ in Whom we can do all things, including making the choice to love and show mercy to a spouse or anyone else that may have done us wrong.

Years after the death of President Calvin Coolidge, this story came to light. In the early days of his presidency, Coolidge awoke one morning in his hotel room to find a burglar going through his pockets. Coolidge spoke up, asking the burglar not to take his watch chain because it contained an engraved charm he wanted to keep. Coolidge then engaged the thief in quiet conversation and discovered he was a college student who had no money to pay his hotel bill or buy a ticket back to campus. Coolidge counted $32 out of his wallet -- which he had also persuaded the dazed young man to give back! -- declared it to be a loan, and advised the young man to leave the way he had come so as to avoid the Secret Service! (Yes, the loan was paid back.) (sermonillustrations.com)

That is mercy shown by someone who loved to show mercy!  And that is what we are called to do.  Don’t begrudge someone some mercy.  Micah doesn’t say that we should act justly, walk humbly and…cut some people some slack every now and then.  He says to love mercy!  Love it.  Do it strongly and continue to do it and do it in love.  That’s what the Lord requires.  And when he says that the Lord requires it, it means that anything less is disobedience, and disobedience is sin.

After invitation:  I haven’t mentioned BOOCOD here in a while but most of you know that is the benefits of obedience and the consequences of disobedience.  And that is perfectly illustrated right here.  For those who don’t show mercy, none will be shown but Jesus said blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.  I don’t know about you but I need, I have to have, strong, steadfast and loving mercy all the time.  Lord please help us to be obedient and to reflect you as we show mercy to somebody this week.