transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:02] Hello, and thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. And today, we are continuing in a series called The Miracle of Mercy. Rick will show us how God's mercy can lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the way you live. All right, let's get started with part one of a message called Being an Agent of Mercy in the World.

Speaker 2:
[00:27] Now, we've talked many, many times that God has five purposes for your life. He wants you to know and love him. That's called worship. He wants you to belong to his family. That's called fellowship. He wants you to grow spiritually and become like Christ. That's called discipleship. He wants you to learn how to serve other people and not be self-centered. That's called ministry. And he wants you to share the good news with other people. That's called your mission in life. Now, mercy has application for every one of those purposes. The Bible tells us that when you show mercy to other people, it's an act of worship. It shows you love God. The Bible says that when you show mercy, it builds fellowship. It brings people together. The Bible says that when you show mercy, you become more like Christ. You grow spiritually. The Bible says that when you show mercy, it's a service to other people. It's a ministry. And the Bible says that when you show mercy, it is a form of your mission, of sharing the good news. And so you fulfill your purpose in life. One of the ways you do that is by showing mercy to other people. I want us this weekend, in the last message in this series, to look at mercy as a witness, specifically being an agent of mercy in the world. When I was a little boy, I dreamed of being a secret agent. There was a show on television called The Man From Uncle. Does anybody remember this show? You're extremely old if you remember this show, okay? There was another one called I Spy. Does anybody remember that movie? I Spy, yeah. And then of course it was James Bond. And I was just obsessed with this idea of being a special agent or a secret agent. And even as a little boy in like the third and fourth grade, I read all these books on the FBI and on the CIA and on Interpol. Because I always thought, how cool would it be to be chosen to be an agent that represented something really significant in the world? Well, God has chosen you to be a significant agent in the most significant cause in the world, which is called the kingdom of God. And God wants you to be an agent of mercy in the world. And it's one of the ways that we actually share our faith. Now, Jesus said in Acts chapter one, verse eight, he said this right before he went back to heaven, after he resurrected from the dead. He said, you will be my witnesses. Now, what is a witness? Well, if you go to a courtroom, a witness is somebody who just tells what they saw happen. It's not the job of the witness to convince the jury. It's not the job of the witness to be the prosecution. It's not the job of the witness to be a defense. The witness just says, this is all I saw. This is what happened to me. And when Jesus says, you'll be my witness, you're the only one who can be the witness for you because nobody else knows how God has worked in your life besides you. You're the authority on you. I can't be your witness. Nobody else can be your witness. Only you can tell what's happened to you. And when you tell that, that's called your story or your testimony. Just like in court, people give a testimony. Now, a lot of people think, well, I only have one testimony. No, no, no, you've got hundreds of Christian testimonies. Anytime God has done something in your life, you've got a story about it. That's called a testimony. If God has helped you overcome worry and fear, that's a testimony. If God has helped you manage your anger better, that's a testimony. You may have a testimony about your health, how God helped you through a difficult health crisis. You may have a testimony or a story about how God helped you when you were in a financial crisis or how God saved your marriage or how God put back a relationship. You literally have hundreds of testimonies. And the one you share is just the one which ever relates to the person you're talking to. You are the authority on you. And to be a witness simply means I share what God has done in my life. You don't have to know a lot of scripture. You don't have to be a theologian. You don't have to be able to quote the Bible. You just share what God's done in your life. Now, Jesus did not say you will be my defense attorney. It's not your job to defend God. Jesus did not say you will be my prosecutor. It's not your job to convince people. That's God's job. That's the Holy Spirit's job. Your job is just be a witness. I don't know. This is what happened to me. And only you are the authority on you. And nobody can even challenge it because they're not you. You are the authority on you. You will be my witnesses. Now, what's the best way to do that in today's world? Well, as the world becomes more, how shall I say it, unkind, more mean, more unforgiving? Let me ask you this. Is the world becoming more loving or more self-centered? Self-centered. There's no doubt about that. Is the world today more polite than 10 years ago or more rude than 10 years ago? Yeah, more rude. We know that. The world is not getting more loving. The world is not getting more kind. Wars aren't going away. Racial violence and stress and bigotry is not going away. Profiling prejudice isn't going away. The politics is getting more close or more divided? Divided. We know this. And so, you might write this down. In an unkind world, in a mean world, our greatest witness is showing mercy, because it's so unusual. Showing mercy means thinking about the other person instead of thinking about myself. It's doing what's best for them rather than what's best for me. Every time you show mercy in the world, that's your greatest Christian witness, because we're in a world that's very unmerciful. We're in a world that's very unforgiving. We're in a world where you're taught to put down other people. In fact, one of the highest forms of humor is put down. And some of the highest paid comedians are those who know how to put down certain races or certain segments of society. And those sarcastic and cynical jabs, they make their money. And coming into a very unkind, unloving, unforgiving, mean world, when people show mercy, people go, that's what I expect a Christian to be. That's what Jesus Christ would do. He showed mercy. Jesus said in Matthew 6.36, show mercy to others, just as your father shows mercy to you. So what I want to do is we wrap up this campaign we've been in, is talk about how and where you do that. How do you show mercy and where do you show mercy? So just quickly, we're gonna look at a few principles of mercy, and then we're gonna look, spend most of the focus on the places of mercy. And I want you to hear some just stories, examples of how normal people are sharing mercy as a witness in their daily life, all right? So let's look at some principles of mercy. Let me give them to you real quickly. Number one, if you wanna build a lifestyle of mercy, start looking and listening for people's needs. That's the starting point. Start looking and listening for people's needs. The needs of people in your neighborhood, the needs of people at work, the needs of people in your family, the needs that you hang out with at soccer games. Mercy always begins with awareness. It begins with paying attention. It begins with noticing. If you care, you will be aware. If you don't care, you're not aware. Now, the reason why we're not very merciful is not that you're a bad person. It's not that you are just a totally mean person. It's that you are too busy. I said this several sessions back. The number one destroyer of mercy in your life, the number one thing that keeps you from being merciful is you're just too busy. Because when you're too busy, you're moving from event to event, from project to project, from one thing on your schedule, next thing on your schedule, and you're not paying attention to the people around you. If you're not paying attention, if you're not noticing, if you're not looking, if you're not listening, you cannot possibly be merciful. But if you care, you'll be aware. The Bible says in Philippians 2.4, look out, look out for one another's interest, not just your own. As I said, mercy begins with looking and loving and listening. And actually, attention is an act of love. You know, when my kids were small, I remember I would be sitting on the sofa reading the paper, and Amy would come up to me as a little girl, and she'd say, Daddy, and I'd say, yes, honey. And I'm reading the paper, she goes, Daddy, yes, honey. Daddy, yes, babe, what do you need? And she would pull the paper down, grab my face in her hands, and say, Daddy, look at me.

Speaker 1:
[09:43] Why?

Speaker 2:
[09:44] Because I've told you this before, the highest form of love is not sex. It's attention. Attention is the highest form of love. Why? Because attention says, you matter to me. Attention, when you give people attention, you're giving them your time, and your time is your life. You can always get more of other stuff. You can give people gifts, but you can always get more gifts. You can give people money, you can always make more money. You can give people advice, you can always get more advice. When you give people your attention, you're giving them a slice of your life that you're never getting back. So when you give people attention, you're giving them the highest, most expensive gift that you could possibly give them, a slice of your life. And when you look them in the eye, and you pay attention, that is the highest form of love. I've talked to a lot of husbands and dads, who go, I don't get it. I don't understand my wife and kids. I buy them everything they need. I provide for all. They've got a great home. There's no needs, physical needs. What more do they want? They want you. They want you. They want your attention. And it is worth more than anything else you could possibly give them. When you look at people in the eye, and you listen to them with your ear, you are showing mercy. And when you look at them and listen to them, you are paying attention, which is the highest form of love. In Matthew 10 verse 21, one of my favorite verses, a young man comes up to Jesus, he's got a lot of problems, he asks some questions, and the Bible says, Jesus looked at him and loved him. If you love people, you look at them. And when you look at them, you're showing love for them. So start by listening and looking for the people's needs around you. You just need to start practicing that this week if you want to develop the lifestyle of mercy. Number two, here's the second principle of mercy. Don't be offended by their sin. Don't be offended by the sins that they do. You know, grace is messy. Grace and mercy are unconditional. They're unconditional love, which means it's not like go get your act together and then I'll like you. Go clean up your life and then you'll be okay with me. Go make everything right and then I will accept you. Go live the way I think you ought to live and then you'll be fine with me. No, no, no, you just, grace is messy. Grace is unconditional. Mercy is unconditional. And if you're going to minister to people, if you're gonna show mercy to people, you can't be offended by them. Jesus wasn't offended by people and he hung out with the worst kinds of sinners, quote, in that day, the prostitutes, the drunks, the corrupt business people. He hung out with those people. In fact, he was accused of guilt by association because he hung out with people who were corrupt and he hung out with people who were immoral and he hung out with people who were unloving and unkind and manipulative. And yet, he did not, he was not offended by their sin. Let me just say this. The Bible says to look out for the needs of other people around you. I can't look out for them if I'm looking down on them. You can't do it. And so if you as a Christian are looking down on anybody, you're not looking out for that person. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you claim to be a legitimate child of God, you cannot look down on anybody. Nobody. I've often thought one day I'm going to do a series called Things That Jesus Did Not Say. I thought that would be a good series. Things That Jesus Did Not Say. And one of the things Jesus never said was, hmm, you don't have to love that type. He never said that. He never said, oh, that kind of over there, you don't have to love those kind of people. Their politics suck, their lifestyle sucks, their moral vision sucks. No, you don't have to love them because they are way, way off base. Sorry, if you're gonna be an agent of mercy, the Bible says you have to show mercy to everybody. You have to look out for them and not look down on them. Here's what the Bible says, Jude chapter one, verse 22 and 23. Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Okay, so the guy out there, the guy goes, I'm an atheist. Fine, your faith's wavering. I can't look down on you. I'm an agnostic. Fine, your faith's wavering. I can't look down on you. I don't know what I believe right now. Fine, your faith is wavering. I am to show you mercy. The Bible says show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. And then it says and rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. They're making bad judgments all the time. And he says there's still others to whom you need to show mercy. Because of their lifestyle or whatever. He says but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins. In other words, showing mercy doesn't mean I excuse everything and say it's okay. It's not okay. If you're out there and you're addicted to things, that's not okay. And showing mercy doesn't mean oh hey, you know, I'm gonna get addicted with you. Or you're in corruption doesn't mean I go oh it's okay, it's no big deal. No, it is a big deal. But I still show you mercy. I don't get corrupted by it. I don't get myself involved in it. He says be careful, you're not contaminated. In other words, it's a difference between acceptance and approval. Jesus accepts me completely. He does not approve of everything I do. Jesus accepts you completely. He does not approve of everything you do. Jesus accepts everybody else. He does not approve of everything they do. And there's a fine difference. We are to love people, and we are to accept them, but it doesn't mean that everything I do is right. It doesn't mean everything you do is right. It doesn't mean anything everybody else does is right. That's just not true. 1 Peter 4.8 says, Most importantly, love each other deeply. Love has a way of not looking at others' sins. Isn't that beautiful? Love has a way of not looking at others' sins. Now, did you notice these first two points? The first one says, look out for people's interests, and in this point says, don't look out for people's sins. In other words, there's some stuff you should pay attention to, their needs and their hurts and their interests, and there's some stuff in people's lives you shouldn't pay attention to. He says, don't overlook their sins. Love covers the multitude of sins. We are to look out for their interests, but we're not to look at their sins. Ephesians 4.2 says this in the Bible. Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other. Now, for each other's faults, cut each other from slack. That's called mercy because of your love. Now, I want to give you a principle right now that if every Christian in America would practice it, it would change America overnight. And if everybody Christian in the world would practice it, it would change the world overnight. It is this principle, write it down. Don't expect unbelievers to act like believers until they are. That is so simple and it's so logical. But we often don't, we want to expect everybody to act like Christians when they're not even Christians. That's, it ain't gonna happen. You can try to make a law to make non-believers act like believers, it ain't gonna work because the Bible says they don't have the power to change. I couldn't do the right thing until I got God's power in my life. I tried. A lot of things I wanted to change in my life that I couldn't change until I got Christ in my life. Then I had the power to change. To ask a non-believer to have the same moral standards as a believer is nonsense. First, they don't understand it, and second, they don't have the power to do it. And I didn't either, and you didn't either, until you get Christ in your life. That's like getting the cart before the horse. That's why it's really kind of nonsense where there are Christians out there trying to get all of these moral laws put into society to create moral laws to force people to act in Christian ways before they even have the power to do it. The whole Book of Romans says the law is powerless. It doesn't have the power to change people's lives. Only grace changed people's lives. Only mercy changes people's lives. The law has never changed anybody. We could make a law that says we outlaw bigotry. Is that gonna turn a bigot into a lover? No. Only Jesus can turn a bigot into a lover. Only he can do it on the inside. You can make a law that isn't gonna turn a bigot into a lover. It's just not gonna do it. So don't expect unbelievers to act like believers until they are. And you can't be offended by people's sins if you're gonna show mercy. If you're gonna win them to Christ, you just have to love them where they are. Here's a good example of it in Matthew chapter nine, talking about Matthew, who was one of the disciples, followers of Jesus. Matthew was a tax collector. In those days, tax collectors, that was the most hated profession in the Roman Empire. Because Rome said to the tax collectors, here's what we want you to collect. And anything you get above that, you can keep. So it was extortion. And so a tax collector could come to you and say, you owe this much money. You had no alternative but to pay it or get thrown in jail. He would give a little bit to the government and keep the rest. They were all, every tax collector was corrupt. And Jesus goes to a party with tax collectors. And it says that night, Matthew invited Jesus to dinner with his fellow tax collectors. And many other, quote, notorious sinners, end quote. Now, the Pharisees, that's the religious legalist, they were indignant. Why does your teacher eat with such scum? They asked. That's very loving. Okay. When Jesus heard this, that comment, he said, hey, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do. And then he added, now go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to be merciful, not to offer sacrifices. For I, Jesus, have come to invite sinners to me, not those who think they're righteous. And I didn't come for people who think they're well. I came for people who know they're sick, who know they're broken, who know they have problems. I've come to invite sinners to me, not to those who think they're righteous. Now, the religious Pharisees, the legalists, they couldn't get understanding. Why is this guy acting cozy with crooks and riff raff? He's going to all these parties. You know, there's a bunch of drunk and gluttons and, you know, Jesus is a party animal. They actually accused him that in the Bible. He's a party animal. But Jesus was not looking for their approval. What he was doing is he was looking and listening to the needs of other people. He was going to where the needs of other people were, and he wasn't offended by their sins. You can't help somebody you're offended by. You gotta show mercy.

Speaker 1:
[21:41] What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Speaker 2:
[21:51] Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said, you've gotta love God with all your heart, that's worship, and love your neighbor as yourself, that's ministry, that's called the great commandment. And then Jesus said, go make disciples, that's evangelism, baptize them into the family of God, that's fellowship, a sign of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything I've taught you, that's discipleship, and we call that the great commission. We believe at Daily Hope that a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's Word is filled with hope and truth, and the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single one. You know as well as I do that the Word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We could not do this without your support. We're 100 percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast? And would you continue to support us? And write to me, let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me. So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry. And God will bless it, and God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for all the people gonna be in heaven because you cared.

Speaker 1:
[23:39] Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, just go to pastorrick.com. That's pastorrick.com, or you can text the word HOPE to 70309. That's the word HOPE to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next time when 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.