Last week we started a new series called Miserable Mercy. On Sunday night we shared that Mercy is a gift of relationship. You can’t give mercy until you receive mercy – without receiving mercy we may give compassion or leniency but it’s not truly mercy. We said that mercy was the divine favor, loving-kindness, and desire of a God who sees our brokenness and did something about it. Mercy is a big deal in our faith. It’s really the basis for everything that has happened in the God-story that we all share. God’s Mercy reaching out to the lost and hurting and rebellious creation that God loves with all of his heart!
That’s one part of the Mercy of God that we don’t talk about all that much anymore – brokenness. Oh we talk about how we see it wherever we go, but we don’t talk about the brokenness of humanity that broke God’s heart. It’s not politically correct even in our churches to talk about the effect that this brokenness has had on the creation. We even do our very best to avoid the big word that causes so much tension and gives us the “heeby-jeebies” – sin. I mean when was the last time you heard someone say “we’re a sinful people and our hearts are turned away from you.”? Or when have you last heard a pastor teach on this passage: “But these people have hearts that draw back from God and will that rebel against Him; they have revolted and quit his service and gone away.” (Jeremiah 5:23)?
I wonder if part of the reason we don’t talk about sin, whether personal or corporate (unless it’s a Justice issue for someone or for some people group) is because we’re terrified what it may mean to us? I mean if I really have to look at my life and see all the crap that I do that is really about my “rebelling against Him” and revolting and quitting “his service” I don’t know if I could handle the personal judgment. I know, full well, what Jesus went through on that Cross – I know that he did it for ME (and for you) so that a full on relationship and engagement with the fullness of God could be experienced every moment of the day. Yet, with all this knowledge, I still return to the stuff that is really a “draw back from God.” I could fool myself into thinking that I’m okay and that my sin isn’t really that huge, but if I’m honest, I know what it does to God’s heart.
I think we don’t acknowledge sin because of the guilt that is very appropriately connected to it. However, one of the things we have to remember is that with that guilt there is an equal reaction – thankfulness for the MERCY that has been given to us. What’s wrong with a full Sin/Guilt message is that it lacks the Mercy of a God who has “moved heaven and earth to shower us with loving-kindness”. What’s wrong with the only grace message is that it’s possible for us to never come face to face with the sin and ongoing brokenness that God wants to work out of us. As one of our more popular Pastors in America has said “God loves you exactly the
way you are, God just doesn’t want to leave you there!”.
Mercy is the beautiful central point to the extreme of what we call cheap grace and unsurvivable guilt! My prayer for us is that we would find the center – acknowledge our brokenness and sin – stare it right in the face – and then let the Mercy of God wash over us and raise us up for change – raise us up to live a life of Mercy that can be given to others. Heaven has been moved so that we can know that our sin has been dealt with and that the Mercy of God is available for us to engage and life into – may we be a people who do just that!