Mercy & Forbearance

From Matthew chapter 9 verse 10 And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Peter looks at John, John looks at Thomas, they shrug their shoulders. I mean, before these guys started hanging around with Jesus, they themselves would not have been caught dead eating with tax collectors and sinners.

This is all new to them, they don't know what to say. So Jesus himself comes to the rescue and gives them an answer. But when he heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Go learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

Jesus was quoting from Hosea 6.6, a passage which those Pharisees knew very well in their heads. The Pharisees were extremely religious. And they just could not understand how Jesus, if he is a man of God, could be so loose as to fellowship with sinners.

There was something about Jesus' approach to God which was extremely disturbing to these religious men. There was an openness, an ease with people, that made the Pharisees uncomfortable. These Pharisees who had been taught all their lives that you stay away from worldly people.

Now if you went to one of the synagogues controlled by the Pharisees, couldn't the Pharisees then control most synagogues as the Pharisees today control most churches? You'd find the atmosphere of that of a closed corporation. If you don't belong here buddy, you don't belong, so what are you doing here? On the other hand, if you went into one of these gatherings where Jesus is teaching, you'd find the atmosphere open, people seem to feel at home, they're glad to see you, they say hello, they call you by name. Scribes and Pharisees there are mixed right in with tax collectors and sinners, even a few priests.

Now the difference between those Pharisee dominated synagogues and those gatherings where Jesus was teaching was that in the synagogues dominated by the Pharisees, the atmosphere was one of judgment. Whereas in Jesus' gatherings, the atmosphere was forbearance. People were forbearing toward each other, toward the newcomer, toward the sinner who comes stumbling in and out of the world looking for some kind of help, forbearance.

The generous overlooking of insult or injury. Now let's face it, most of our churches today resemble much more closely the Pharisee dominated synagogue than they do these gatherings where Jesus has them at Matthew's party or where he's teaching. Tax collectors and sinners don't feel too comfortable.

In fact, a good number of the people who go to those churches, these churches, our churches, don't feel too comfortable. It's like doing penance, you know, watch them as they approach the door, they stiffen, then they put on the missionary smile, you know, check me off God, I'm going in there to suffer for an hour. Oh hello Mrs. Smith, you old bag.

I remember what you said against me behind my back. Hi brother Bill, good to see you. I wonder what he did with his time all week.

Uh oh, look who's here today. He came to repent. He's been on a toot all week, now he's going to repent so his wife lets him back in the house.

Hi Charlie, good to see you. Long time no see. Forbearance.

Where's the forbearance? The enemy of forbearance, of course, is self-righteousness. When I'm full of my own righteousness, other people's sins look to me to be very sinful indeed. When I'm full of my own righteousness, I become extremely short of patience with a self-righteousness I see in almost everybody else.

And I set out on a crusade. I'm going to bring them people to repentance. Totally unaware of how blind I am to my own desperate need of repentance.

I rise up early. I sit up late. I eat the bread of sorrows.

I regard my life as one big, unappreciated sacrifice. Why, almost single-handedly, I hold the body of Christ together with my zeal for the true way. I have a private line to heaven, and I know what needs to be done, and I know who the troublemakers are.

Then one day, in his mercy, the living God stops me in my tracks. Call off the crusade, he says. Come over here and sit down.

Hold still. And learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

All the things that your zeal is trying to do will accomplish nothing until you repent of your own, your own lack of mercy. And as he sat at a table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. When the spirit of the risen Jesus is truly welcomed into our midst, he transforms us from one of those Pharisee-dominated synagogues into that joyful celebration party, dinner party at Matthew's house.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. The most meaningful offering that we can present to God, the clearest way we can show our gratitude to him, is by first showing forbearance toward each other, all the way down the line. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

We're so grateful for the forgiveness, the healing, the new life which has come to us that we can afford to be generous with each other. Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice, let all men know your forbearance. There's a fellowship, and we'll put it over in Canada so nobody tries to guess where it is.

And it's not this one. Where they really knew how to rejoice in the Lord. Their worship was without a doubt the most awesome worship many of us have ever seen or been part of.

People would drive, travel long distances to get to that Thursday night meeting where never less than a thousand people were gathered to lift up their hearts in praise to God. The Holy Spirit was in those meetings. People would go in there broken and sick, and they would come out.

Restore body and mind. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice, let all men know your forbearance. Two things characterized that fellowship in its early days.

Joy in the Lord. Forbearance toward each other. The thing was so good that people would come from other parts of the world to see this.

To see a 20th century Christian community with such glorious worship, such a depth of commitment to the Lord and to each other. That it had clearly the flavor of the New Testament. But as time passed, a subtle change began to take place in that fellowship.

The spirit of forbearance, which marked their life together during those early days, began subtly and slowly to give way to the spirit of those Pharisee synagogues. Pretty soon, the openness, the welcome, the friendship with one another. The mercy toward each other began to harden into a strange stiffness beneath the smiles.

Everybody was looking at everybody else. Everybody was on edge. Until finally there came an open split.

Hard words, hard feelings between brothers and sisters, division. And then they found, you know, that the worship just wasn't the same. Obviously something was missing.

About a year ago, a handful of those saints discovered clearly the missing ingredient. It was forbearance. The generous overlooking of insult or injury.

They could see how futile it is to try to praise God when our attitude toward each other is hard and judgmental. They began to repent. Lord, you have commanded us to forgive as we have been forgiven.

By your spirit, you command us now to show forbearance toward all. We confess to you that we have failed you in this. And we repent.

And we cry out to you for mercy and forgiveness. And for your help as we try now to once again open our hearts wide toward one another. Healing is going on in that fellowship these days.

And their praises of God once again have a very authentic ring. Perhaps they have an openness with each other now greater than they ever had before. Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I will say, rejoice. I believe that the spirit of the Lord wants to make his body on earth like that joyful dinner party in Matthew's house. He wants our private lives to be ruled by a spirit of forbearance.

He wants mercy, not sacrifice. All the things we do in the name of the Lord will accomplish almost nothing. They won't accomplish much.

They won't last long. They won't amount to anything unless they are done in a spirit of forbearance. Forbearance, first of all, to the people who are close to us.

The people we live with, work with. How often we take them for granted. We judge them.

We walk around for weeks with an attitude toward them. Ease up. Give them a break.

Show them some of that mercy the Lord has shown you. Forbearance for brothers and sisters in the body. All of them, with no exceptions.

The new ones, the old ones, the happy ones, the sad ones. Kindness. Mercy.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Forbearance for the people who intrude on our lives. You know, the ones who bug us.

They annoy us. They're inconsiderate. Well, maybe you don't have to dance every time they whistle.

But you don't have to walk around with an attitude. Mercy. Kindness.

Forbearance. Forbearance toward the people that we are convinced have wronged us badly. Pray for those who, despiteful views, would persecute you.

Does that just mean people in the so-called world? Pray for them. And not just, Dear Lord, show them how wrong they are. Dear Lord, bless them.

Pour out your grace upon them. Shower them with blessings. The aroma of Christ will fill his house.

The joy of the Lord will rule our individual lives. If even today we take the forgiveness, the abundant mercy that comes to us in this place of worship, at this time of worship, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the bread and wine. And turn it into forbearance toward each other and toward all people.

Let's pray. Lord God, we just ask that your spirit, searching our hearts, would help us to find exactly the step you'd have us take. Deliver us from being caught up in the changes we see needed in the other man or other woman's life.

And enable us to yield to you as you speak to us. And we pray, Father, that you would shower us, even this day, with such a measure, such an abundant flow of your mercy, that we will almost be incapable of holding it back. And by that bursting forth of your grace and love, that we may learn, day after day, year after year, to walk in the forbearance which is Jesus himself.

We ask it in Jesus' name.