Merciful Beyond Measure
Luke 6:36-42
July 14, 2019 anno Domini – Redeemer
My religion is between me and God. The Bible won’t back you up on that claim. Your faith, the Christian faith is not and cannot be a private matter. A Christian cannot say, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” You cannot believe in Jesus without it changing your habits, your routine, your religion. You cannot have faith in your heart without it spilling out of your mouth. You cannot have faith in Jesus and not gather with your brothers and sisters in a congregation. You cannot have faith and not be concerned about your neighbor. In the Lutheran Church we love the word alone – We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but once we are saved by grace through faith in Christ we are never alone. Christians belong to congregations and gather with their brothers and sisters to hear the public preaching of God’s Word and receive the Lord’s Supper. Christians look beyond themselves to see and help those in need.
Whether you are an unbeliever or a Christian you have religion. You have habits and customs and rituals that are formed by either the god of self or the God of Scripture. We who believe still have remnants of our former religion, when we worshipped ourselves, when I gave me the glory. That remnant is evident during a Twins game when you judge Byron Buxton lousy for swinging at that off speed pitch while you barely got picked for the t-ball team. You judge the rich as getting everything given to them and the poor as lazy, meanwhile you earned all that you have. Whenever we use a strict measure for others and a generous measure for ourselves we display that old time religion of unbelief.
That’s how we are by birth, by unbelief, but that is not how we are in Christ. Jesus says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Your Father is merciful whether you are or not. Your Father’s mercy does not depend on you. He didn’t say this morning, “I forgive you all your sins if you forgive each other or if you stop gossiping or if you stop worshipping your pleasure.” Your Father in heaven is merciful. That is an undisputable historical fact. For the Father sent His Son into the world. He was born of a woman named Mary in the town of Bethlehem. He lived in Galilee and Judea. He was put on trial in Jerusalem, convicted of claiming to be God, died on a cross. Secular historians record these events, outside of the Biblical record. Three days later He rose again from the dead. He stated that He did this because His Father sent Him. It was God the Father’s will to offer His only Son for your sin. The Father is merciful whether you believe it or not. Your sins are forgiven. He has taken away the sting of death. He promised eternal life to all who believe. And while all of that is for you not one bit of it depends on you. It’s His gift. He is merciful and the proof is in the blood of Jesus, a real man who died on a real cross for your real sins and rose from a real tomb three days later.
Jesus continued, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. At first glance it appears that Jesus says God will treat you as you treat others, but that cannot be the case since Scripture never teaches that. Rather Jesus is describing what faith does and how faith is rewarded. If you believe God is the judge of all, then you will not take judgment into your own hands where it has not been given to you. The Bible says parents are to judge their children, pastors are to judge their flock, congregations are to judge their pastor’s teaching, the government is to judge the people. If you believe God did not condemn you for your sins because of Jesus, you will not condemn people to hell for their sins, but rather urge them to repent, believe in Jesus and be saved. If you believe that God forgave the ocean of your sins then you will forgive the shot glass of sins that others commit against you. Living in Christ’s forgiveness you are and will be forgiven all your sins. These works of judging not, condemning not, and forgiving are the fruits of faith. Those who live in Christ are expected to look alive by their works.
When we these words of Jesus we should remember the parable He told about the man who owed the king $10,000. That man begged for mercy. He couldn’t pay it back and the King was merciful, forgiving him his entiredebt. Then the man left the palace rejoicing and ran into a guy who owed him $10 from the last time they went bowling. The forgiven man should have been merciful, but he threw the debtor man into jail for that $10. His lack of mercy didn’t change the King’s forgiveness, but it did cost him his life.
When it comes to your neighbor, your congregation, your family, you know the measure God has used with you. He has measured out Jesus and heaped Him upon you. He has given you a good measure of forgiveness and life, pressed down, shaken together, running over.
At Redeemer and in every Lutheran congregation there are a significant number of people who are content with a Jesus and me faith. Walk in, get my Jesus, and walk out. Not concerned with my neighbor in the pew. Not concerned about the unbelieving neighbors next door or in my neighborhood. Carrying out my plans, my dream, my effort to retire, with no religion – no habitual care, mercy, sacrifice or desire to know, love, and care for others.
Lest those of you who are involved in so many things at church, who give to Redeemer to the point where you are suffering personally or financially, lest you are rejoicing that THOSE people are getting it good today, let me speak to you as well, for you too have been selfish. In the midst of your work you judge those who aren’t helping, who didn’t show up, and likely you do not know anything about “them” because you haven’t made an effort to know them or care for them. You don’t know if their daughter is in treatment or their son is getting a divorce or if his wife has cancer. How do I know exactly how you sin? It isn’t a secret. I sin in exactly the same way. Lord, have mercy on all of us for our selfishness.
Jesus has a final word for us “With the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Jesus is both warning us and comforting us with His Words. The warning is this – if you treat people like they deserve, if you are fair, God will give you what you deserve and He will be fair with you – that means you’ll get hell for your sins – that’s fair. It’s exactly what you deserve. If you forgive only those people who are really, really sorry and who promise to get their sins under control, then you shouldn’t expect God to have any less standard for you. Be warned of measuring. Repent.
However, in those same words Jesus makes a great promise. When you live out your faith with religion, when you are merciful and forgiving, when you love your neighbor enough to tell them the truth and use God’s Word as your standard – no matter what it costs you, you will never exhaust God’s supply. Christ’s forgiveness covers your sin. You might be judged a hater or bigot by the world, but your Father in heaven has declared you not guilty, loved, His son, His daughter. If you should give of your resources to the point where you are suffering financially (and I’ve never known anyone like that), take heart, the riches of heaven, God’s presence, the company of the saints, the resurrection of your body, will make all your wealth on earth appear no more valuable than a penny on the sidewalk. Your faith will never be disappointed, because your faith clings to Jesus and Jesus never disappoints. He has more forgiveness than you have sin, more life than you have sickness and death. His resurrection is more powerful than the cancer in your body, the locks on your coffin and the cement in your burial vault. So throw away the measure and give out the gifts you have received knowing that your Father in heaven is merciful beyond measure in the name of Jesus. Amen.