Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Announcer (Male): Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you're here with us today. We're going to continue our series called The Keys to a Blessed Life. Now in these messages, Rick walks through Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. So let's jump right in with part one of your Ministry of Mercy.

Pastor Rick Warren: One of Saddleback's values, one of our 10 key values is every member is a minister. Not everybody's a pastor, but if you're called to follow Christ, you're called to serve. To be a servant is to be a minister, to be a minister is to be a servant. The word "serve" and "minister" are the same in the Bible. And the Bible says every believer is a minister.

Now we all minister in different ways, but anytime you help somebody else in Jesus's name, that is called ministry. As they said, the Bible says there are different kinds of service, different kinds of ministries, but there is one ministry that we all have in common. And that's what I want us to look at this weekend. I call it your Ministry of Mercy.

God wants you to be an agent of mercy in the world. There's not enough mercy in this world, and God wants you to be a provider. He wants you to be an agent. He wants you to be a purveyor of mercy in the world.

Now, in the fifth key to a blessed life, Jesus says this, Matthew 5, verse 7. "God blesses those who are merciful for they will be shown mercy." In other words, what you give out, you're going to get back. What you give, you're going to get. God blesses those who are merciful for they will be shown mercy. This is the fifth key to a blessed life.

You got to learn to be a minister of mercy. Now, what is mercy? Well, usually we think of two things. Usually we think of forgiving people who don't deserve it, or we think of helping people who can't help themselves. And those are two definitions of mercy that we typically think of.

But mercy, which by the way is a part of God's character, has so much more to say and to do in your life than simply those two things. Mercy is really like a it's like a diamond. It's multi-faceted. And this weekend, I want us to look at seven facets of mercy. Seven ways that you can transform your relationships.

Because I guarantee you, if you'll learn how to be an agent of mercy, it's going to change your work relationships, your marriage, your friendships, your family relationships, any other relationship you've got if you learn how to be an agent of mercy. But before we look at how to practice mercy in your relationships, I want to just ask the question, "Why?"

Why in the world should I be merciful? So just write these four down. This is just kind of a little introduction here. And the first reason that we need to show mercy is because God has shown me mercy. God has shown me mercy. The Bible says that God is merciful. It's emphasized all through the Bible. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of scripture that talk about God's mercy and his love, his compassion, and his grace.

Let me show you a couple verses. One is up here on the screen. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4 and 5 says this: "God's mercy is so abundant and his love for us is so great that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience, He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace you have been saved." God has shown mercy to us.

Now, the point is this: God wants me to act in the same way toward other people. He wants me to pass on the mercy that I've received from God. He wants me to pass on. Look at the next verse that's there in your outline, Matthew 18. "Shouldn't you have mercy on others just as I had mercy on you?" Jesus is telling a story here about an unmerciful employee.

And he he owes his boss some money, and the boss says, "Well, I'm going to show mercy on you. Let's just clear your debt. We'll just wipe it off and just say we're even." And the guy can't believe it because he's been shown such great mercy. But then he goes out to some people who owe him some money, far less money, and he starts grabbing them by the throat and says, "Pay me or I'm going to have you thrown in prison."

When the boss hears about it, he goes, "What are you doing? I was merciful to you, and you're not merciful to the people around you? You're a wicked guy." And he throws him in prison. God says if I show mercy to you, I expect you to show it to others. God has shown me mercy. Second reason: God commands me to be merciful.

God commands me to be merciful. There's a verse in the Bible in Micah, and I'm going to show it to you up here on the screen. It's it's again, one of many verses. "God has told you what is good and what He requires from you." Okay, so whatever comes next is what God says is good and is required of you. Here's what's required of you: three things. "To do what is right with others, to love being merciful to others, and to live humbly in fellowship with God."

Now, leave that up there for a minute. That's if you want to summarize what life's all about, God says, "This is what's required of you if you're going to be in my family, if you're going to be my child. You got to do what's right with others, you got to love being merciful to others, and you got to live humbly in fellowship with God." One third of God's requirement for you on this planet is to learn mercy. Why? Because God is merciful.

Let me shock you with this next statement. God says that being merciful is more important than worship. Did you hear that? God says that you being merciful to other people is actually more important than worship. Hosea 6, verse 6. God says this: "I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to be merciful."

Now, what is he saying here? He's saying, "I don't want your acts of worship. I want you to be merciful." This is much more important. In fact, this verse, Hosea chapter 6, verse 6, is so important, Jesus quotes it two times in his ministry in two totally unrelated situations in debates with the Pharisees. This is one of the most important verses in the Bible, so look at it again.

"I don't want your sacrifices, I want you to be merciful." God is saying, "I prefer a flexible heart over an inflexible ritual." I don't care if you come and saying, "I praise you, I love you, you're great," and all of that, and then you go out and you treat people like dirt. You treat your your wife or your husband or your children or your friends or the people you work with or people who are working at fast food joints, whatever.

He says if you don't treat people with mercy, you've missed the whole point. God has shown me mercy, and He commands me to be merciful. There's a third reason I need to learn what we're going to look at this weekend, and it's because I'm going to need more mercy in the future. I'm going to need more mercy in the future. You're not going to be perfect between now and when you get to heaven.

And the Bible tells us that we cannot receive what we are unwilling to give. And so, in James chapter 2, James 2, verse 13, the Bible says this: "You must," circle that word must, "You must show mercy to others, or God won't show mercy to you." But here's the good news. "The person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment."

Don't you want to be able to do that on Judgment Day? To be able to stand without fear on Judgment Day? It says, "The person who shows mercy can stand without fear on the Judgment Day." Now there's a fourth reason, and that is showing mercy brings or causes happiness. Showing mercy brings happiness. It's really the source of happiness.

The Bible teaches over and over in scripture that the more merciful I am, the happier I'm going to be. Remember the Beatitudes? The word "blessed" also means happy, *makarios*. He's saying, "Happy are the merciful." If you want to be happy, you need to learn this quality. And the more you learn this quality, the happier you're going to be. Look at this verse on the screen.

The Bible says if you want to be happy, Proverbs 14:21, "Be kind to those in need." And then he says, "It is a sin to despise anyone." And let me show you another one, Proverbs 11:17 says this: "A merciful person helps himself, but a cruel person hurts himself." So you actually help yourself when you are merciful. I love this verse, Proverbs 11:17 in The Living Bible. It says, "Your own soul is nourished when you show mercy. Your own soul is nourished when you show mercy."

So these four reasons: God has shown me mercy, He commands me to be merciful, I'll need mercy in the future, and it's the key to happiness, tell me that this is an important quality that I need to build into my life.

All right, let's look at how can I learn this quality of mercy in a world that's not very merciful, it's pretty unmerciful. How do I fulfill what God calls my Ministry of Mercy? Some of these ways you're quite familiar with, but I guarantee you there's a few of them that you've probably never even thought of. "Oh, that's a part of mercy?" And yes, it is too. Let's look at them. Number one: Be patient with people's quirks.

Be patient with people's quirks. I'm talking about don't look at them right now. Their idiosyncrasies, their their peculiarities, their their mannerisms, their their odd behavior, their irritating habits. You know what I'm talking about, right? Okay. You show mercy, you show mercy when you don't get irritated, and you don't get angry, and you don't get uptight with people's personal quirks.

And we've all got them. You've got them. I've got them. And we've all got these little mannerisms and irritating habits, way of speaking and thinking and talking and acting. When you control your anger and when you refuse to get upset by people's quirks, you are showing mercy. It's a very practical way.

Now, I want to give you maybe the most important marriage advice you'll ever get in your life. It's the next verse. Ephesians 4:2: "Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other's faults because of your love." Circle the phrase "making allowance." Making allowance for each other's faults.

You see, you married a sinner. Guys, and she married a bigger one. Two imperfect people cannot make a perfect marriage. You have faults, your spouse has faults, and marriage is the a great marriage is the union of two great forgivers. That's what makes a great marriage. It's the union of two great forgivers.

Now, it says here, "Make allowance for each other's faults because of your love." The number one place you need to learn to show mercy is at home. It's at home. Why? Because you see each other's faults far more than anybody else does. And you're up close and personal with those faults, and you've got to live with them the rest of your life.

So show mercy. Show mercy. You know, when I used to do marriage counseling, I discovered that marriages don't die usually because of one big catastrophe. Marriages are buried because of a lot of little digs and just little nagging and digging and nagging and digging. It says, "Make allowance for each other's faults because of your love."

Look up this verse on the screen, James 2:13 says: "The man who makes no allowances for others will find none made for him." None made. Show mercy. The Bible says we show mercy by being patient with each other's quirks, our foibles, our weaknesses, our mistakes, all of the things that make us make us human. You say, "I I really want to do that. How do I how do I get more patient with my kids, with my spouse, with my friends? How do I get more patient?" One word: wisdom.

The wiser you get, the more patient you will be. The Bible says this in James chapter 3: "The wisdom that comes from Heaven is pure and peace-loving and gentle at all times." Circle "all." "Gentle at all times, and is willing to yield to others." Wisdom is full of mercy.

So the wiser you get, the more merciful you get. A lot of people who think they're wise aren't. They're pompous. Pompous. You thought I was going to say that word. Wisdom is full of mercy. Now, notice it says there, "Wisdom from Heaven is peace-loving." If you're not peace-loving, you're not wise. It says, "It's gentle at all times." If you're easily irritated, you're not wise. It says, "It's it's it's willing to yield." If you're unwilling to yield, you're not wise.

The wiser I become, the more patient and merciful I become. The more unbending, the more irritating, the more angry, the more I get upset, the more foolish the Bible says I am. If you're easily irritated, you're not wise. So be patient with people's quirks.

Number two: The second way to practice mercy this week. Help anyone hurting around me. Help anyone hurting around me. There are hurting people all around you, but too often we're too busy to notice it. If you care, you'll be aware. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to teach this very point about helping the hurting around us is the meaning of mercy.

A guy came to Jesus one day and he said, "Jesus, what's the most important command in the Bible? Okay, give me give me the bottom line here. I don't have time to read the whole Bible." So what is it that matters most? And Jesus said, "Oh, that's really easy. It's two things: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. That's the whole Bible in a nutshell. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself."

Now the guy wants to get out of this and he's kind of weaseling out of it. So he says, "So, love your neighbors as yourself? Yeah, who's my neighbor?" And Jesus says, "Well, let me tell you a story." And he tells the story, the famous story of the Good Samaritan, of the man who was going down the road to Jericho, and he is he's robbed, and he's beaten, and he's abused, and he's left for dead at the side of the road.

And three guys pass by him, and two of them do nothing. And the third guy of another race and culture stops and helps him, nurses him back to health, puts him on his donkey, takes him to a a a a hotel or motel, checks in, pays the bill for the guy, and says, "If if he has any other bills, I'll when I come back by, I'll pay for it."

And Jesus looks at the guy and says, "Who's my neighbor?" He says, "Who do you think was the neighbor?" And the man says, "The guy who showed the most mercy." The guy who showed the most mercy. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being merciful. And we help those around us. Look at some verses here. Proverbs 3:27. "Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it." You got to look for it.

Now, by the way, when you are helping people in need, and there are going to be people in your in your area of life this week that God intentionally puts in your life to allow you to practice mercy. They're going to have an emotional need, they're going to have a physical need, a financial need. They may just need assistance. They they may need, you know, help you to care for them in some way.

God, when he's watching you, is not simply watching what you do, He's watching your attitude. Look at this verse, Romans 12:8. "When you do acts of mercy, show mercy with what?" Cheerfulness. Yeah, circle that. "With cheerfulness." He says, "You don't do it grinning and bearing it. You don't do it with a grudging attitude." I love this verse, Romans 12:8 in The Message paraphrase. Look up here on the screen. It says this: "If you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them, keep a smile on your face."

That's good word. Keep a smile on your face. That, friends, is mercy. Mercy is being patient with people's quirks and it's being helpful with people's hurts.

Number three: Third way you can show mercy this week: Give people a second chance. Everybody needs that. Give people a second chance. We forgive the fallen, especially those who have hurt you. You need to forgive. Now that's not normal, is it? Normally, when somebody hurts us, we want to do one of two things: either A, get even, or B, write them off.

Somebody hurts you, you don't want to be giving them a second chance. Your natural inclination is that guy hurt me at work. You know, he messed me up, he, you know, he put me down in front of somebody else, whatever. You either want to get back or you want to write them off. But here's what the Bible says, Ephesians 4: "Don't get bitter or angry or use harsh words that hurt each other. Don't yell at one another or curse or ever be rude. Instead, be kind and merciful and forgive others just as God forgave you."

Now notice in that verse, Jesus contrasts or the Bible contrasts mercy with six negative responses. You might circle those. Okay? Because he says if you want to help, if you want to be merciful, he says, "Don't get bitter," that's number one, "Don't get angry, don't use harsh words, don't yell, don't curse, and don't be rude."

Do you see why mercy is so important today? Because that's the way the world acts today. That's the world responds with bitterness, harsh words, hurt. If you don't believe it, just go on the internet. And you'll see that there's very, very little mercy on the internet. How would you rate yourself on mercy? How would you rate yourself? Bitter, angry, harsh words? Do you yell, do you curse, do you get rude? Or are you always kind and merciful, forgiving others just as God forgave you?

How would you rate yourself on this? You see, we want Saddleback to be known not for our size, and not for our great programs or great music or anything else. We want Saddleback to be known, that's the church of mercy. That's the church of mercy. And when you go there, that's the place to get a second chance. In fact, it's in our values.

You know we have this word Saddleback, S-A-D-D-L-E-B-A-C-K, and each letter represents one of our ten values. We talk about it in Class 101. And the first S of Saddleback is "Second Chance Place of Grace." This is a very thing here. It's we want this to be a church of mercy, a second chance place of grace where if you've messed up, you need to start over, you need a fresh start. This is this is the church for you.

And so we are to do we are to give people a second chance.

Number four: Another way to show mercy. Do good to those who hurt me. I am to do good to those who hurt me. You see, if you really boil it down, mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. That's mercy. Giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Why? Because that's what God does with you. God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. If I got what I deserved from God, I wouldn't be standing here. I wouldn't be alive.

But the Bible says we give people what they need, not what they deserve. And we do good to those who hurt. Why should I do good to those who hurt me? How many times have you heard me say, "Hurt people hurt people?" Yeah. Hurt people hurt people. And the people who you want to love the least are those who need it the most.

The most hurtful people are those who need massive doses of love and mercy. Let me ask you, just think in your mind, who's hurt you the most in life? Think about that. Who's hurt you the most in life? They need your mercy. Let me ask you this, who's hurt you the most recently in life? They they need your mercy.

The Bible says this in Luke chapter 6, Jesus says, "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back." He says, "Wait, wait, why would I want to do that?" Well, remember those four reasons we went over? God has shown me mercy, He commands me to be merciful, I'm going to need mercy in the future, and it's the key to happiness.

Anytime you hold on to hurt, you're making yourself miserable, you're not hurting them. Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. You see, if somebody hurts you, that puts you above them if you forgive them. If you get even, you're just on the same level. You're no better than they are if you get even. If you do a hurt, you're beneath them. If you get even, you're even. But if you forgive them, you're above them morally.

Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. "Then your reward will be great," there's a motivation, "and you will be the children of the Most High." In other words, you get the identity because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Is God kind to the ungrateful and wicked? Just look at the world. God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. And so he says, "So, be merciful just as your Father is merciful."

Announcer (Male): Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I've got some great news to share with you today. We've got some generous friends of Daily Hope that have offered a $50,000 matching grant. And now here's Rick to tell you more about it.

Pastor Rick Warren: You know, I just want to take a quick second to say thank you everybody. Because of your generosity, we're able to take the hope of Jesus Christ to the places where there are no Bibles, no believers, and no body of Christ, no no churches at all. Now, as you pray about giving, I want to ask you to ask God about sending a gift that's the largest you're able to give because at this point of the year, we have a donor who has offered to match your gift. That means what you give will be doubled. We get twice the bang for the buck, in other words. So please respond quickly and give in such a way that we can maximize it through this matching gift. And I want to ask you this: Would you pray for us at Daily Hope? Pray as we reach out to people around the globe with hope that people will find Christ by the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. So thank you for being a partner with me to getting the message out.

Announcer (Male): You know, when you give a gift to Daily Hope, you're helping share the hope of Jesus with people everywhere. And during the month of June, your gift will be doubled by the $50,000 matching grant. Go to pastorrick.com or text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that's pastorrick.com or just text the word HOPE to 70309. We hope you'll join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.