"The Mercy Of God"
Sermon Transcript for May 5, 2002
Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:4-7; Luke 18:9-14
By Rev. Mike Beck
I hope when you came in to the sanctuary this morning you saw the communion rails in place and realized that we were going to gather at the Lord’s Table. I hope your heart rejoiced at the privilege of being invited by the God of the universe made known to us in Jesus Christ to come to celebrate His marvelous love in what Christ did for us upon the cross. As we go through the remainder of this service I am always mindful the longer I am here that this chancel furniture and these communion rails are over seventy years old. I invite those of you who are old-time members of Grace to reflect upon those loved ones who have gone on to their eternal reward that knelt here at these rails to share in holy communion as a sign of their faith. And as you come today they gather around God’s heavenly banquet table in what we call the communion of saints to be joined with you.
I want in preparation this morning just to look at two passages that reflect upon the mercy of God--Psalm 25:4-7 and then Luke 18:9-14. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 25, he said, "Show me your ways, Oh Lord; and teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me." In our worship in what we call the "sermon time" on most Sundays we are seeking to open the word of God that we might be taught, that we might be guided. That our lives in turn would reflect those ways that God taught us to obey.
The Psalmist continues there to say, "For you are God, my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." "For you are God, my Savior"—I invite you to reflect upon the word Savior reminding us that there is a reason we need to be saved. In this case, saved from our sins, something we are not able to do by our good works. The Psalmist says, "My hope is in you." And let me invite you to reflect on what your hope is in today. We hope we’ve got money in the bank; it takes money to live. We hope we’ve got a roof over our head, clothes on our back, a car to drive, friends, family, a good doctor, the miracles of modern prescription drugs. We hope in those good things, but friends our ultimate hope as the Psalmist says is in God all day long.
And then the Psalmist says, "Remember me, Oh Lord, your great mercy and love for they are from old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways." How would you like it this morning if through the miracle of high-speed technology we were going to give each of you the opportunity to be seated all by yourself in a seat right here while the rest of us in the congregation watched on the video screen a tape that played every event in your life? That is rather sobering, isn’t it? The Psalmist said, "Remember not my sin and the rebellious ways of my youth." But I want you this morning as we convene together to wrap your arms around the incredible mercy of God. For the surprising thing is, for those whose faith is in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, when you are called to come up here and sit on your seat and watch the video tape of every event of your life, you quickly become surprised that a lot of events have been left out. They are not on the tape. All that you are seeing are those good moments in which you did it right! You served God faithfully. And why have those things been blotted from the tape? Because of the mercy of God. We don’t deserve it. He took those things out.
And then the Psalmist says, "According to your love remember me; for you are good, Oh Lord." Wrap your arms around the first part of that phrase, "According to your love remember me." There are all too many of you that I am looking at this morning that have the wrong idea of God. Your God’s got a frown on His face most of the time. Your God’s making a list, checking it twice, going to find out who’s naughty and nice. He’s writing out all the bad things that you do. "According to your love remember me, Oh God, for you are good." I want each of you to put in your mind right now the most loving member of your family—maybe a mother, father, grandparent, brother or sister--the very most loving member of your family. Think about how you feel when you are around them. Now multiply it by ten zillion and that’s how God views you because of His mercy.
At a conference that Reverend Dan and I attended in Kansas City, the speaker made a statement that I am sure is what directed my thinking to this morning’s meditation. The speaker said this, "Most people," he said, "will never repent because of fear of going to hell. If they repent, it’s because they’ve come in contact with the mercies of God." It’s because they grasp how much of a mess their life is and they come to a God who does not judge them but loves them, forgives them, gives them a second chance because He is a merciful God.
Which brings us to a familiar parable from Luke 18. You’ve heard it many times but I urge you to hear it fresh today. Jesus said, "To those who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everybody else Jesus told this parable." Did you come in the sanctuary doors today confident of your own righteousness? Confident that because of the way you had lived your life this week you were better than most of the folks in Franklin? Did you come thinking you deserved to be here because you had your life pretty well together? If you came with that attitude, you’ll not meet God here. This parable, if you came with that attitude, is for you. It says, "Two men went up to the Temple to pray—one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector." Let’s don’t forget who the Pharisee’s were. They had their act all together; they loved God. They looked great on the outside. They were the most respectable people in the community. They were their religious leader, which sometimes causes me to look in the mirror in terms of the attitude I have in my relationship with God. But it was that group that Jesus was the most critical. He said, "You look great on the outside, but you look awful on the inside. Your heart," he said, "is not right. You came to the church to pray looking down on those who were not as good as they were. And then in to the church comes this tax collector." Now, we’ve got several folks here at Grace who work for the Internal Revenue. We are not talking about you this morning. But in Jesus’ day the tax collectors were fellow Jews who the Jews felt had sold out on their own people to collect taxes for the hated Romans. And often times, when they collected those taxes, they did it unfairly because any extra they got they could keep for themselves. "And the Pharisee when he got to church stood up and prayed about himself." Now look at those three words. Look at what he’s praying. He’s praying about himself. And he says to God, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers." Then he must have caught out of the corner of his eye that tax collector up front and he says to God, "Oh I’m thankful God that I’m not like that guy up there." That’s his prayer. "But the tax collector stood at a distance and he wouldn’t even look up to heaven. And he beat his breast and his prayer is simple. God have mercy on me, a sinner." And how shocked those hearing Jesus’ parable must have been when he closes with these words. He says, "I tell you this man rather than the other went home justified before God."
With what attitude did we enter God’s house today? I hope it was with the attitude, "I’m a sinner. Lord, I don’t deserve to be here, but you invited me to come. Thank you for your mercy." Wrap your arms around how scandalous, how incredible the mercy of God is.
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