Who is God? God is Merciful

Exodus 34:6-8 (ESV)
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.

(This is part 15 of our study on ‘Who is God‘)

God is merciful.

One of the most amazing things about God is His mercy. Because it is His mercy, balanced with His righteousness and holiness, that gives us Jesus. It is His mercy that brings us salvation. It is only by His mercy that we are here today.

What is mercy? The dictionary says something like this – Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

Mercy is one of the key themes throughout the Word of God, throughout all of time. It was Gods mercy that kept the world turning when Adam and Eve sinned. It was mercy that kept the promise of God alive when His chosen nation turned away from Him – over, and over again. It was Mercy that caused Jesus to become man and pay the price for our sins.

The Bible is full of stories of mercy. The exodus. The bronze serpent (Numbers 21). The sins of David, and all of the other Kings of Israel and Judah. Even small parables like the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

Psalm 103:8-14 (ESV)
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

Personal Application

What does this mean for me?

God is merciful towards those who fear Him, to those who love Him. Go back and read the verses from Exodus and the Psalm above. God knows us – He created us! He knows our weakness. Yes, He will punish sin, but He will also be merciful with us. God doesn’t just take us outside and shoot us at the first sign of dissent! Instead, he might in his mercy correct us in some way, but He will also forgive us. We could never pay the debt for our sin – but it has been paid for us. God is merciful.

Yes, we need to look out for sin. Yes, we need to avoid sin. Yes, we need to put our words into action and do the right thing. But when we fail (and fail we will), God is merciful!

God is merciful to others. Sometimes we look on others, and forgetting even the grace that God has had towards us, condemn them in our hearts because of their actions. We look, and we judge (and could probably do with a reading of Matthew 7:1-5 again). But God is merciful! Who are we to know the heart of that person? Who are we to know whether God is working in their lives as well? Who are we to know anything? And who are we to forget that for our own sins we deserved death and eternal punishment for rejection of our very own Creator! God is merciful not just to you, not just to me, but in some way God is merciful to all people – we need to thank Him for that (for we are part of all people), not take time to judge others.

2 Peter 3:8-10 (ESV)
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

So in the end, what are we to do? We need to know – completely know – that God is merciful. Part of that knowledge has to also be that God is Holy (for it is because He cannot stand sin that we even needed mercy). We all need to see the absolute depravity of our natural state, and then we can truly understand and rely on the mercy of God.

Psalm 57:1-3 (ESV)
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

God has a purpose for you (or, what is Gods will for my life?)

Ephesians 4:17-18 (ESV)
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

What is Gods will for my life? What am I doing here? What am I supposed to be doing?

Is there even a plan for my life?

If God loves me, why am I still sitting here not knowing what to do?

These are all valid and frequent questions in our lives. Now I am not going to tell you exactly what you should do – sorry! But I do want to go through some basic Biblical principles to help in our daily and lifelong search for Gods will.

In all honesty, you have to remember that the testimony of most people is that Gods will is most evident in retrospect. It is often difficult to see God working, or why things are happening. But when you look back and see where you have come, you will be amazed at all the ‘little moments’ that meant nothing to you at the time, but ended up guiding you and defining your life.

Firstly, I want to affirm something important. God has a plan for your life. Are you alive? Yes? Then God still has a use for you, God still has a plan for you. We don’t serve a God who sits back, watches the scenery and makes adjustments as He goes. No! We serve a sovereign God, a deliberate and purposeful God, who has a plan for everything, as amazing as that sounds.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So, we know God has a plan for our lives. How can we find it?

Faith

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We first have to have faith. Have faith first in God, then in the fact that He is sovereign. Once we know that God exists, and we know God has a plan, we have a foundation to go forward. Without a foundation of faith in God, it is very hard to do anything else!

Stop worrying

Matthew 6:27 (ESV)
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

You got it, stop worrying about it. There is a distinct difference between ‘concern’, ‘interest’ and ‘worry’. We all want to know what God wants of us in our lives – that is natural. He gave us that desire when He made us! But worrying about it isn’t going to help! We need to take more active measures. So starting with faith, that utter knowledge and conviction that God DOES have a plan, we can take it to Him in prayer…

Pray

You got it, pray. Pray for guidance. Even more so, when you are worried, instead of fretting about it, take it to God in prayer! It doesn’t need to be long winded and formal (see mark 12:38-40 for example) – just call out!

Mark 9:23-24 (ESV)
And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Maybe you will just call out something like this. “God, help me. I don’t know what you want, and I am worried about it. Help me to have faith! Help me to have peace in the knowledge that you do have a plan! Guide me now, in Jesus name”. Nothing fancy, just honest, open communication to God.

Read the Word

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Read your Bible. Don’t expect it to pop out and say ‘DZ, you need to go and apply for a job at Boeing today’. Do expect it to speak into your life however, because God speaks through His word. Expect it to guide you, teach you, adjust you, move you, in ways you don’t even expect. And as you grow closer to God, you will find your way!

Seek counsel

I know this one seems obvious, but seek some counsel with Godly people. We can’t always see everything in our lives! I was reading just the other day about a guy who is now a pastor. Before he was one he was struggling mightily with what God wanted him to do – he really didn’t know, and was lost. But he was at a Bible study, taking and teaching, when a wise, godly old lady said to him ‘you have a gift, have you thought of being a pastor?’. He didn’t seek the counsel, but he remained in the presence of other Christians, doing God’s work, reading the Bible and praying, and it came clear as day to him.

Have Peace

Romans 15:13 (ESV)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

This is the final point, and for many of us, the place we need to come to before we can take the next step forward. Because for you to have peace, your foundation needs to be secure. Your faith in God is secure, full in the knowledge that He has a plan for you, He knows what He is doing, and He will reveal it the moment you need to know more – not a moment sooner lest you pre-empt God, not a moment later so that you will miss it.

Have peace, knowing that God has a plan for your life – a full and complete plan, that is Good, and part of His will.

Quote of the Week

Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic (self evident; obvious). . . Do not defend God’s Word, but testify to it . . . Trust to the Word.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What are you doing for God?

James 1:22-25 (ESV)
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

There is a lot of focus in some parts of the Church these days on mission. Living missionally, ensuring that the poor are fed, ensuring that communities are supported. Going out into the world to do the work that Jesus commanded us to do.

Some of these people and churches are doing amazing good works in the name of Jesus. They are reaching people. They are feeding the poor, helping widows and children, and generally doing the social work of the Gospel. This, in many cases, is a great thing.

But there remains a question mark – which Gospel are they proclaiming?

Ephesians 2:4-10 (ESV)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The verses here in Ephesians that were written by Paul are well known to many – and rightly so. They are central to our faith and our understanding of the Gospel of God.

We were dead in our sins. There was nothing we could do, or can do, to solve this problem.

But God is gracious, and has saved us through faith, despite our inner condition.

And this was of God alone. There was nothing about us, nothing we thought or did, that brought us this grace.

For many people, this is not the Gospel! The Gospel for them is the social gospel – living ‘the life of Jesus’. In the end, this gospel that many people live, whilst it is lived with good intentions, is nothing but good works! And we can see straight away, that we are not saved by good works, not matter how good our intentions are.

We are saved by grace, through faith, so that no one may boast.

Is this the Gospel you know? It is not always the Gospel that is preached, or how the gospel is understood by many people, even those who would honestly call themselves Christian. If you ask your modern day ‘evangelical’ Christian what it means to be saved, you may get responses like -

• Jesus calls us to live lives as good people and to try and do good to others
• Jesus was a great teacher who by His example led a life we should all emulate
• Jesus calls us to accept His love, and go and love others in the same ways.

Is this the Gospel? No! There is no mention of sin, of atonement for sin (which means blood and death), of resurrection and new life. There is no mention of grace, faith or scripture. Jesus was not just a good or great teacher, a moral leader or example how to live. He was God incarnate on the earth, come to pay the price for sinners like you and me!

But wait, there is more!

Why were we saved? “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

We are not saved by good works, but for them.

I have nothing against people serving our communities socially – this could well be the works that they were saved for. But I want to make sure we all take an honest look at our works, at the things we ‘do for God’. There are good works that lead to nothing, because they come from our own desires in an effort to please God – and there are good works that He has planned for us to walk in – once we come to terms with the fact we are saved despite everything else in our lives.

So the question is not ‘what are you doing for God’, but ‘why are you doing these things?’. If your answer is that you are saved and God has called you to them, then Amen and Amen.

But if you find yourself wondering if God really accepts you, or if God really approves of these works, or hoping that all the things you are doing will be enough that God will like you that little bit more than He does now – it is time to stop, read the Bible, and examine your life in light of what you find.

Prayer

Lord God, teach us to rest in your grace alone. Help us to understand, that no matter how good our works seem to be to us and others, that it is through your grace alone we are saved. Help us to see that if our works are not based first on your saving grace, then they are worth nothing! Draw us ever closer to you as we learn that you, not works, are the center of our faith. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Quote of the Week

(On the topic of Giving)

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words,’ if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.

C. S. Lewis – Mere Christianity