Pastor Brian Lother
Brian: You got all that? Good. Good. How are you doing today? Are you doing good? It's a good to be in the house of the Lord? Is it good for you to join us from the live stream? I know my wife is watching. You are supposed to be in bed watching, but hopefully she is watching today. I sent out a lot of prayer requests today because I don't like flying solo. I've been partnering with her for over 46 years and it just doesn't feel right with her not being here, but every once in a while we are put in these situations and it reminds us how blessed we are, aren't we?
Last week I was sharing about... We looked at the two words that I think best describe the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of God. Those two words are pride and humility. Pride is probably the single word that can be used to describe the kingdoms of this world and humility is the one word that probably best describes the kingdom of God. I know there are other words that can be used to especially describe the kingdom of God, but I think the foundational word that really needs to take roots in our hearts is this word humility.
Remember we looked at the story that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Of course, in that day and age, the Pharisees didn't actually have kind of the reputation that they have with us today. When we think of a Pharisee, if you are called a Pharisee, that's not a compliment to you. You wouldn't want to be called a Pharisee today, would you? But in the day of Jesus, a Pharisee was a highly respected position. And then of course, the tax collectors, I'm not sure how to make out a tax collector to be a good guy in any culture that you live in, the IRS or whatever. Tax collectors were really kind of the... They just were not liked people. If you wanted to world to hate you, become a tax collector kind of thing. This was kind of the contrast that Jesus was making here.
Of course, the Pharisee, when he came to the temple, his focus of course, was on what? It was on how good he had been or how good he was in comparison to how bad everybody else was that he was looking at. Remember when he said, I thank you God, I'm not like these adulterers or these robbers or these people like this, et cetera, et cetera, whereas the tax collector comes to the temple, but he is so full of a sense of unworthiness before God. He stands way in the back and he has this very desperate plea before God. That desperate plea was, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." God be merciful to me, a sinner. Just think what would happen in our world today, if that was the prayer that was being prayed most today, God be merciful to me, a sinner. At the end of the story that Jesus tells, of course, in the end, the tax collector's prayer was the prayer that was heard by God, wasn't it? Not the Pharisee's prayer.
We showed a scripture verse that is prominent in the book of Micah. We'll read it again here. It's found in Micah chapter 6 verse 8, where the prophet Micah says he has shown you oh mortal, what is good. He has shown you what is good. What does the Lord require of you, but to act justly and to love what? Mercy, to love mercy; to walk humbly with our God. I've given some thought to this whole thing about loving mercy. We love mercy when we need it. We love mercy when we need it, but we don't really love it nearly as much when we have to give it, do we? It's a lot harder to get mercy, isn't it? It's a lot harder to love mercy when you have to give it than to love mercy when you need it.
I remember times in my life where I desperately needed mercy and I really wanted it badly. I loved, I craved for it. And then there were times in my life where other people needed me to be merciful to them, and I'll be frankly honest with you, there was a struggle in my heart because I was mad. I was angry. I wanted vengeance. I wanted somehow to be justified, to be shown that I was right. This is a struggle that we all have, but God is asking us today to love mercy, to love mercy.
There is another verse I would like to bring to your attention today. It's found in Hosea chapter 6, verse 6, where the prophet Hosea says, and he is speaking on behalf of God here, and he says, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice”, not all of these things that we think we need to do for God to somehow get ourselves in a better standing or more favor with God. But he says, "I desire mercy." I think this scripture probably tells us more about God than almost all of the rest of scripture. This scripture tells us something very interesting and unique about God, where he says, "I desire mercy." I desire mercy. I love mercy. I desire mercy. Probably outside of the other scripture that says God is love, which is probably the most descriptive scripture of God, I think this one comes in a close second, where this is a great description of what God’s heart is full of and what he desires. Mercy is what is deeply embedded in the heart of God. It's like he can't help it. It's like he can't help it.
Remember the story of Peter after the resurrection and the Pharisees, the religious leaders were telling the disciples to quit talking about that man, Jesus. And what was Peter's response? We are going to throw you in prison, and what was his response? “I can't help it. I can't help it. I can't help but talk about him, because he resurrected from the dead and I ate with them and we touched the nails in his side, the scars in his side. Thomas did all that. And he cooked me breakfast on the Sea of Galilee. He walked through walls. I can't help but talk about him. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. I can't help but talk about him.” In that same way, I think God can't help himself. He is just so full of mercy. That's just how he is. Mercy is what is so deeply embedded in the heart of God. It's what God is all about.
I think one of the reasons that he is this way, and this is just my opinion, but I'm sure some philosophy people can talk about this for ad nauseum, but I believe that the reason that he is full of mercy is that God is the only being in the universe that is flawless and perfect. See, we oftentimes think of angels as flawless or perfect and all that sort of stuff, but the only thing in the universe that is flawless and perfect is God. God can never make another God equal to himself. These are kind of philosophical arguments or discussions that people have, but the fact of the matter is I think because everything else outside of God has flaws in it, that is why God is so full of mercy, because he recognizes everything besides himself is flawed. So therefore he is full of mercy and because he is full of love, everything else needs mercy in the universe. Everything needs mercy in the universe. Everything needs compassion in the universe. Everything needs understanding in the universe.
That's one of the things that's a big challenge to us, especially in these seasons of political decision-making and where are we going to go as a country in America, but even let's think more broadly, let's think around the world, all of the issues around the world and how are we going to deal with all of these different things and so forth. There is very little understanding of each camp for another camp, is there? There is very, very little understanding. Yet I believe God is so full of mercy because he understands our flawed-ness. He understands our weakness. He sees us as we are and loves us just as we are. Isn't that incredible?
The best analogy that... The best thing that ever happened to me in my relationship with God was for me to have children, because I began to see how God felt a little bit, how God felt about my children. As perfect a parent as I was, they still had flaws. Sometimes I realize those flaws were because of me. Now, in reality, my flaws are not because of God. God is perfect. He is flawless. But he sees us and he understands where we are at. It's like the song we sing, “He knows our every weakness.” He knows our weaknesses. He knows our flaws. He knows the things that easily beset us. Instead of becoming angry over it with us, he is compassionate and understanding. This is what he says to us "Hey, let me show you a better way. Let me show you a better way. Let me show you a better way."
Everything needs mercy, everything needs compassion, everything needs understanding, obviously, some people more than others. Who did you think of when I just said that? Did you think of yourself, or did you think of somebody else? Yeah, when we think, well, they really need mercy, no, we need mercy. We have to understand that we need mercy. I want to read a portion of scripture from 1st Peter. The context of this particular verse is actually, the preceding verses are actually talking about marriage. It's in Peter chapter 3, verse 8-18. I think there are some things that apply to certainly our marital relationships, but it over spills into all relationships as we read these scriptures together. 1st Peter chapter 3, verse 8-18. I miss my reader here this morning; Jacque, missing you. Summing up, here is what Peter is saying. Summing up, he says, be agreeable. We could stop right there, couldn't we? And just work on that for a month, right? Just let's work on that for a month, just being agreeable.
Be sympathetic. I'm a kind of a type A person. I'm a problem-solver. So when people come and talk to me about their problems, what I try to figure out is what you do wrong, so you don't do it again, but they don't always want to hear what they did wrong. What they really want is sometimes just sympathy, somebody with a sympathetic gear. I've had to learn how to just sometimes back off a little bit and just listen, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate and be humble. Just that opening line and we've got a bunch more verses to look at here yet before we go on. Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. And then just to make sure we know who he is talking to, he says, "That goes for all of you." No exceptions. No exceptions to this rule. No retaliation, no sharp-tongued sarcasm. And boy, can't we get that way when we are talking about the election coming up, right? Can't we just get so sharp tongued and caustic and sarcastic?
But instead, bless. Have you ever thought about how you can bless somebody who you absolutely disagree with? When I read this verse in the past and it said blessed, I said, well, I'll bless Jacque and my boys and some of the people at Hope. No, no, bless to everybody. Be a blessing, be a blessing; instead bless. In fact, he goes on to say, that's your what? That's your job to bless. That's your job to bless. Wow, anybody feeling a little guilty this morning? Anybody feeling like we've missed the mark a little bit? Anybody feeling we need to pray, Lord, be merciful to me, a person who has missed the mark here? But when you do this, you will be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Then he quotes a portion of scripture from the book of Psalms. This portion is from Psalm 34, verses 12 -16. He says this, "Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here is what you do." If you were to go to a coworker and say to that person, do you want to have your day filled up with good, what do you think they would say? Yeah, of course I do. And then you can say, well, here is how to do that, and then quote the rest of this verse. Here is what you can do; say nothing evil or hurtful. I don't want to hear anymore, right? Say nothing evil or hurtful. Snub evil and cultivate good. Run after peace for all you are worth, because God looks on all this with approval and listening and responding well to what he has been asked.
Do you find today that our culture is a little bit in the contrast with what this is asking us to do? As a matter of fact, don't you even find a times our church culture is in the little bit of a contrast to what this is asking us to do? Did not the apostle John say that they are going to know that we are Christians by... Can you finish the sentence? By how much we love, by our love. This isn't a new revelation to us, is it? This is just a friendly reminder about what we have to continually do in order to paint the right picture of Jesus.
He goes on to say here in verse 13, that if with heart and soul you are doing good, do you think that can be stopped? Even if you suffer for doing good, you are better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your heart’s attention and adoration before Christ. I like that line. Through thick and thin, through difficulty or when it's easy, just keep your heart in a place of adoration for Christ. Jacque and I, we were looking for a facility to have Micah's wedding a number of years ago. We were going to have the reception here, but to have the reception here and the wedding here just wasn't going to work, so we were looking for another facility. I happened to be good friends with Father Michael Becker, who was the Catholic priest in St. Michael at the time. He is now at St Thomas College in the seminary there; a wonderful man.
I called him up and said, "Would it be possible for us to have a wedding in your brand new facility?" It's a beautiful, beautiful church in St. Michael. He said, "Well, I have to call the head guy, but I'll get back with you." Well, I had done a pro-life service with the Archbishop, and so he knew who I was. To make a long story short, we were able to use that facility. When we went to look at it, they had this prayer room. We would call it a prayer room, but over the door, it was called Adoration. The only purpose for that room was for people to go in and simply adore Christ. I thought, wow, what a wonderful idea, what a wonderful idea to go and adore Christ. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention or adoration before Christ, Christ your master.
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you are living the way you are, and always do it with the utmost courtesy. I have been witness to before by others who didn't know that I was a Christian and their witness to me was not very pleasant. I didn't feel as though I was being treated courteously. Always have an answer for what truth lies within you, but the answer needs to be given in the most utmost courteous manner. And then keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. I like that. Keep a clear conscious before God so that someone is not going to say, "Hey, I saw you do this."
Keep a clear conscience before God and they will end up realizing that they are the ones who actually need the bath, not you. It's better to suffer for doing good if that's what God wants than to be punished for doing bad, because that's what Christ actually did, didn't he? He was punished for our bad. He suffered because of other people's sins, our sins; the righteous one for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all was put to death and made alive to bring us to God.
I was thinking about some questions that I have been asking myself, and I actually wanted to share those questions with you. The first is this; in what ways can I walk more humbly with God and express mercy in a more tangible way? How can I do that? How can I walk more humbly with God and express mercy in a more tangible way? And then the second question was, how much do I value those people who are connected into my life, who God has put around me? How much do I value those people who God has put around me? Do I really, really see them as on loan to me from God? Because isn't that the truth? I've done a lot of funerals in the last number of years, and I've been realizing more and more that people are on loan to us from God.
I said at Kathy's Memorial service recently, long before Kathy was a wife and long before she was a mother and even before she was a daughter, she belonged to God. She was like this library book that everybody wants to check out of the library. You remember when we used to go to libraries? We don't really do that much anymore, but I remember as a kid, wanting to check out this book and read this book and I go to the library and somebody else had checked it out. And then I put my name on a list. Well, you are the eighth guy on the list, so we'll call you when it's right. Those were the days, right? We have everything at our fingertips now.
Finally, that book came and I got the call and I ran to the library. I got the book and I took it home and I valued it and I cherished it. As a matter of fact, I took my flashlight, got under the covers at night and even read it when my mom and dad thought I was sleeping, because I valued it. But the book didn't belong to me. It was simply on loan to me. I had to bring that book back to the library because it didn't belong to me. If I somehow damaged the book or actually lost the book, God forbid, it was going to cost a lot more than the book for me to replace that.
I've been thinking as I've done so many memorials in the last number of years that all these people that have now passed, they were just on loan to us from God. Did I value them as I ought to have valued them? Do I really see the value in somebody else? Am I treating them with the grace and mercy and the humility that they deserve, because they actually belong to God. They are made in God's image. The third question I've been asking myself is, in what ways have I been merciful? And then the Lord kind of said, as I remembered a few ways that I had been merciful, he said, okay, repeat process and wrench with a dose of compassion. Repeat the process. Just keep repeating the process and then throw in a little bit of compassion as well.
The fourth question is, in what ways can I, in humility, share God's love with my local community? Not just this community, which is the most important community in my life, but the community in which I live. In what ways can I, in humility, share God's love in my local community? As I began to not look at other people's sins, but look more at my sins, I began to see that I started to value the community around me more. By the way, did you make it a week? No. Did you make it two days, three days without looking at somebody else's sins more than yours? Crank it up again. Let's do it again, okay? Let's be committed to look at other people's sins not nearly as much as we look at ours.
Let's look at another verse real quickly, because we are coming to a close here. It's Lamentations chapter 3 verses 19-24. Again, I'm going to read from the message Bible here. I really identify with Eugene Peterson, partly because his background and my background were similar, his roots, his early days. He had a lot more smarts than I ever could hope to have, but I love how he puts so many things in the scriptures. Lamentations 3, 19-24 says this, "I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all." And what's he remembering? Oh, how well I remember the feeling of hitting the bottom. Can any of you remember back that far? Some of us, it has been a long time. But you remember the utter feeling that the like the utter lostness or as he puts it, the taste of ashes, like mourning or like the poison that we've swallowed, the feeling of hitting bottom.
But then he says, "But there is one thing I remember, and in remembering this one thing, I keep a grip on hope." Isn't hope a wonderful thing to be able to have a hold of? Isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to have a hold of, especially in our culture today, in our day and age today? Here is what he kept a grip of hope on. God's loyal love could not ever run out. God's love can never run out. His mercy could never have dried up. They are created new every morning, and how great is your faithfulness, so I'm going to stick with God. I'm going to say it over and over. He is all I've got left, but it's not a good place to be, where the only thing you've got left is God? Isn't that a great place to be? His mercies are new every morning.
I've thought about this. I've thought about the reason his mercies are new every morning is because we are desperate in need of his mercy every day. Now, that is true. That is true, but I also think there are new every morning, not just because we need mercy every day, but because that is just how God is. That is just how God is. He is full of mercy. He is merciful, which means what? Full of mercy. There is no real complication in that definition. Merciful means he is full of mercy. So full, it just spills out of him. It just fills out of him. This is a great message to give people who don't know the Lord. This is a great truth to give people who don't know the Lord.
We struggle with seeing God this way, because most people with ultimate power are ruthless, aren't they? Most people with ultimate power are corrupt. That's the only model we've seen. That's the only model we've seen and they have mastered the power-over approach. They've mastered it, but Jesus is the ultimate expression of humility. Jesus was the ultimate expression of humility, the exact opposite of pride and arrogance. He is the perfect example of where ultimate power has not corrupted ultimately. You know the old slogan; we've heard it probably countless times- ultimate power corrupts what? Ultimately. Except with Jesus. With Jesus, he is so full of humility. He has ultimate power and he has never been even remotely corrupted by his power.
I think mercy flows naturally from humility, and I also think judgment flows naturally from pride. We know that the problems that we all deal with in the fallen world are here because of pride. Pride was the cause of the very first fall of Satan. His fallenness has been brought to this world and this world was deceived by his strategic plans. As a result, we have incredible struggles with wanting to be prideful and arrogant, but humility is the only real solution to the sins of this world. I talked a little bit, last week about the prayer St Francis of Assisi. I just want to cover just four lines in that prayer before we are done here today. I just want to mention, especially for those of you who are watching, but also for those of you are here today, we are going to be printing up this prayer of Assisi, St. Francis prayer of Assisi, because I think it would be great to have you post it up in your house somewhere, your refrigerator, whatever, look at it, read it more often, more regularly and let this prayer, Lord make me an instrument of your peace, let this prayer just take root in your heart. There are four lines that I want to just kind of draw our attention to in that prayer today that I believe are rooted in humility.
The first is this, where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. See, I don't believe if you've been on the receiving end of abuse or hatred, et cetera, et cetera, I just don't think it's possible for you to love back unless you have humility in your heart. Humility in your heart will create the love that is needed in that situation. So wherever there is hatred, let me sow love. The temptation that we all have is this; when people act in a hateful manner, when people act in a manner that is destructive to property or destructive to other human beings, that's hateful. We have a propensity to want to judge that. Don't confuse what I'm saying with condoning, because God doesn't even condone that, but God's remedy to those kinds of situations is to bring grace and mercy and love to those circumstances. That's what he did for us, didn't he? We were living estranged from God. We were living in a sense as enemies to God. We were living in a way that was hateful and spiteful to God and his ways. He won our hearts, not by dangling us over hell, but he won our hearts by his love and mercy and grace. And so where there is hatred, let me sow love.
The second one is this; where there is injury, let me give pardon. Let me give pardon. Where there is injury, pardon. It's hard when you've been injured, especially emotionally wounded and injured. It's hard to forgive, isn't it? It's hard to do that. We see the story of the man who had this huge debt. Somebody did a study on this once and it was like in an annual wage, it would take 2000 years for him to make enough money to pay this debt off. So it was just like not possible. And then this guy that owed this huge debt, he had a person that owed him a week's wage. So it was a big contrast. 2000 years to pay it off and this other guy owed one week. The man that was owed the 2000 years’ worth of wages, he forgave the debt, but the man who had been forgiven that great debt, he exacted payment from the man who only owed him a week's worth of wage. The problem is the man who was forgiven all of this, it didn't result in humility in his life. When we are giving pardon, it has got to happen to those who have injured us. It's tough, but it's Jesus way.
And then the third is this; let's not seek to be understood as much as to understand. That's a hard one in our culture today, isn't it? I would much rather be understood than for me to understand somebody. I would rather people understand what I'm saying then for me to understand what they are saying. And yet this prayer in humility says help me seek to not so much to be understood, but to understand. I think in our internet world today, people tried to find information that simply confirms what they value, and in our internet world today. We can do that. We can do that. If you want to join the Flat Earth Society, you actually can't. You can find information that would corroborate your decision to join the Flat Earth Society. You can do that. I'm not joking. There is a Flat Earth Society today; people who believe the earth is flat. There is, and they only listen to certain things that they get from other people who think just like them.
People try to find information that confirms whatever value they hold onto and they ignore any other information that does not align with their views. This is due mostly because we are posturing rather than trying to understand each other. Jacque and I have some friends today at this very moment who are angry with God. They are angry with God. They are angry with God today because they've suffered greatly in their lives. They've suffered greatly in this life. Most of the prayers that they've prayed, whether for healing or what have you, have not worked, have not worked. We can all identify with that, can't we, prayers that have not worked. What we are trying to do is not explain the unexplainable. I can't explain to somebody why their husband is dying from this disease and why this other neighbor, who is just a not very nice person, has good health. I can't explain the unexplainable, but what I try to do and what Jacque and I try to do is just sit with them and walk with them, so they won't be alone in their journey.
The problem with Job's comforters was after a week, they started talking. They should have just kept their mouth shut like they did the first week. They sat with Job. They just sat there and they were his friend. And then they started to talk and then everything went south. Well, what have you done, Job? Why have you done this? You know, yada, yada, yada. If they would have just kept their mouth shut, they would have been great comforters. What Jacque and I are trying to simply do is help these people not to be alone in their journey. We are just trying to understand them rather than for them to understand us. I'm not trying to give them an explanation. I'm just going to say, you know what, I'm going to love you and we are going to walk with you through this, and then trust that God can speak to their hearts, because he can, because he can.
The last one is this; it's in giving that we receive. Now, that's a tough one at times, isn't it? To give to those who despitefully use you, but it's in giving that we receive. It's in giving that we actually show real humility. That is a true expression of power-under; giving out of humility. So I would simply say this; let's avoid pride at all costs. Let's not look at others. Let's keep the lights shining inward. Let's keep the lights shining inward. I would like Micah to come and I want him to sing a song. A friend of his wrote it. It's called, Let There Be Mercy. Let there be mercy. God's heart is so full of mercy, but one of the things he has asked of us is for you and I to love mercy; for you and I to love giving mercy, not just receiving it, but to love mercy. As he sings this song, I ask you to commit yourself to becoming a more merciful person.
I'm not making a judgment that you are not merciful, that you are all judgmental. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that until we are at the place where God is at his mercy, we have more room to grow, don't we? We have more room to grow. So let there be mercy. Let there be mercy. Let our answer be to bring God's wonderful mercy.
{Micah singing]
Brian: Father, may your river of life that is full of mercy saturate us, may come from your throne of grace and saturate our hearts, saturate our minds. May we be with the mercy of our God. May we love, Lord, mercy. May we desire to be more merciful, because in being so we are more like you. I thank you, Jesus that you modeled that ultimate power doesn't have to corrupt ultimately, not if your heart is a humble heart. So today I pray for us all. We are all sinners. We've all fallen short. We all need mercy. We need your mercy today. We need to be carriers of mercy to this world. So I pray in the name of Jesus that we would let the river of life from your throne of grace, saturate our hearts, our minds, our being. Fill us up completely with you. The full measure, Lord, the full measure, and let there be mercy, mercy, mercy. This, we pray Jesus in your name. Let's lift our hands together, shall we? And now may the Lord bless you. And may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you his peace. This, we pray in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For those of you who have been watching by live stream, we'll have a chat, a Zoom chat afterwards. I'll be on that with any of you who want to come on and say, hi, and a few of you who are here who would hang around for a little bit, I would like to visit with you as well. God bless you. Thank you for being here today. May you be filled with the mercy of God and may mercy flow out of you, just like it flows out of our father in heaven. May you have a wonderful day. God bless you.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 8-23-20. If you would like to watch the full service, click one of the links below.