Sunday message · Beatitudes series
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Message Summary
In the fifth message of the Beatitudes series, Pastor Phillip Santillan turns to Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” The Sermon on the Mount, he notes, shows signs of God’s kingdom breaking into a world still under sin. Citing A. W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God, which suggests the human race could be described by turning the Beatitudes inside out, Phil contrasts the world’s idea of happiness with the people Jesus calls blessed: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
To understand mercy, Phil says, we must first understand who God is. God did not become merciful in the New Testament; Scripture shows his mercy throughout, from rescuing Lot’s family (Genesis 19:16) to Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, the Psalms, Nehemiah, Isaiah and Daniel. Paul tells Titus that God saved us not because of our righteous deeds but because of his mercy. Mercy is God using his power to extend forgiveness to the guilty and compassion to those in greatest need. That is why the desperate are blessed: God leans into those who lean wholly on him, not because they have something to offer but because they have nothing.
A person who receives mercy will display mercy, and God always desired this from his people, as the Hebrew word chesed shows in Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:8 and Zechariah 7:9. In the New Testament, James writes that mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:12–13), and Paul explains the law of freedom: though all have sinned, God freely makes us right through Christ Jesus (Romans 3). Jude’s call to have mercy on those who doubt (Jude 1:22–23) is one reason Clarity’s gatherings keep seekers in mind.
Phil names two pillars of mercy. First, the merciful embrace forgiveness for the guilty. He admits he was wrong to say we have no choice but to forgive; forgiveness is a choice, which is what makes it beautiful, though we are still called to it. Those who struggle to forgive have often not come to grips with how merciful God has been to them. “Would you choose today not only who you will serve, but who you will forgive?” he asks. Second, the merciful embrace compassion for the suffering and needy. In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), the true neighbor turns out to be the one who showed mercy, and Jesus says to go and do the same.
Phil reads a theologian’s hard words that those unwilling to show mercy to people in physical or economic distress are not believers. Yet for anyone learning to submit all of life to Christ, mercy is not a requirement but “a grand invitation to the purpose that you were created for,” because it was Jesus’ purpose. He came for sinners, desiring mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 9), and one day we will be like him (1 John 3). Phil closes with two questions: Who do you need to forgive? And who in your circle of influence is God calling you to show compassion to?
