1996 SINGLE SERMONS
MERCY AND GRACE
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 28, 1996
EPHESIANS 2:1-9
On September 1, 1923, there was a massive earthquake in Japan. It was one of the largest earthquakes in the history of the world, registering 8.5 on the Richter scale. This earthquake virtually destroyed the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. 200,000 people died. Incredibly, 2,500,000 people were left homeless.
Now, the response in America was overwhelming—an overwhelming response of prayer and compassion. In those first 6 months following that earthquake, this nation sent 150 ships laden with food, clothing, supplies, and medicine. The Emperor Hirohito, who at that time was crown prince, sent a message to President Coolidge and the message included these words: “Thank you. Thank you with undying gratitude. The people of Japan are eternally grateful. They will never forget.”
Well, only 18 years later, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy, with 360 airplanes launched from 33 ships, bombed Pearl Harbor, declaring war on the United States of America and bringing this nation into World War II. I think it’s safe to say they forgot. I think it’s safe to say that their gratitude was not undying.
Now, as we come to the communion table this morning, we are mindful of the fact that in many parts of the world, in many parts of the church of Christ, communion is called the Eucharist. This word Eucharist literally means “gratitude.” It means “to give thanks.” As we come to the table this morning, that’s what God expects of us, that we would come with thankful hearts. Jesus said, “As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.” You see, He doesn’t want us to forget. He wants our gratitude to be undying. He doesn’t want us to forget what He’s done for us, and He doesn’t want us to forget to be grateful.
Now, as we come to the table this morning with thankful hearts, God wants us to be grateful for two things—just two things. God wants us to be grateful for His mercy and God wants us to be grateful for His grace. Mercy and grace.
The word mercy comes from the French word merci, which means “thanks.” The word grace comes from the Latin word gratia, which also means “thanks.” It shouldn’t be difficult to remember to be thankful for mercy and grace.
This church is located on Grace Boulevard. We had the privilege of naming the street. Initially we thought we were going to be able to name Fairview as well and we were going to call the two streets Mercy and Grace. Of course, we thought about Bob and Jim for a while, but decided on Mercy and Grace. This morning, as we come to the communion table with thankful hearts, we just want to focus briefly on what it means to be thankful for God’s mercy and God’s grace.
Now, first of all, mercy. Biblically, the word mercy is the Greek word eleos. This word is sometimes oversimplified. It’s a pretty complex word. Eleos is used in the Bible in three different ways. First of all, sometimes biblical mercy refers to forbearance, God’s forbearance. It is the delaying of judgement and the delaying of wrath. The Bible tells us that, as we sit in this worship center this morning, at this very moment, God is forbearing. God is forbearing the world. God is forbearing the iniquity and the sin of the world. He is delaying judgement. He is delaying wrath. And why is He doing that? Why is He having mercy?
We’re told in 2 Peter chapter 3 that God is doing this because He “is not willing or wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance, that His gospel might go forth to the nations.” And so as we come to this table this morning, we come thankful for His mercy—thankful for His forbearance—and that He is delaying judgement for the sake of the gospel, that it might be taken to the nations.
Now secondly, in the Bible this word eleos, this word mercy, refers to compassion. It refers to the care that is given to someone who is afflicted, oppressed, or suffering. Now, in Luke’s Gospel, in the 10th chapter, we’re told how Jesus gave the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus described the Jericho Road and a man who fell amongst robbers there and was stripped and beaten and left half dead by the side of the road. Jesus tells us that a priest and a Levite went by and they did nothing. But a Samaritan came and he was moved with compassion. We’re told that this man showed mercy to the one who fell amongst the robbers. The word for mercy there is eleos. You see, he gave care to a person who was suffering, care to a person who was afflicted.
So often as you go through the Gospels, you see time and again people calling out to Jesus, begging for mercy, asking that He would deliver them from their affliction, from their suffering. In Matthew’s Gospel, the 9th chapter, we see Jesus in the town of Capernaum. Two blind men come up to Jesus and they cry out saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Eleos. Mercy.
In Matthew 15, Jesus is in the region of Tyre and Sidon and a Canaanite woman whose daughter is ill comes up to Jesus and says, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David. My daughter is gravely ill. Have mercy.” In Matthew, chapter 17, Jesus has just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and there is a father there, a dad, and his son is demon possessed and suffering greatly. This dad comes up to Jesus and says, “Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on my son who is sick and is suffering terribly. Have mercy.” Eleos. Rescue us from this affliction.
In Mark, chapter 10, Jesus is at the gate of the city of Jericho. There’s a blind man there. His name is Bartimaeus and he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” In Luke’s Gospel, the 17th chapter, Jesus is on the border between Samaria and Galilee and ten lepers riddled with leprosy standing at a distance call out to Jesus saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Have you ever cried out to Jesus in that way? Have you ever said, “Lord, Master, have mercy on me”? Maybe you’re feeling like that today. Maybe you’re going through some suffering, some affliction. Maybe you’re feeling oppressed. Maybe you have a disease and you’re saying, “Lord, have mercy, have mercy.” Maybe you don’t feel very thankful. Maybe you feel like you’re on the Jericho Road and you’re just lying there and God hasn’t shown up and He hasn’t sent the good Samaritan. Our Lord Jesus would remind you this morning that He cares. He does have compassion and His mercy takes many forms. Sometimes in His mercy He uses the situation that we’re experiencing to make us grow because His great concern in your life and mine is sanctification. He also would remind us that much of His mercy is not known to us. Think of the diseases, the oppression, the affliction, and the accidents that could have happened to us but have not happened to us. That’s His mercy too. We can’t sit here today and know all of His mercy, all the times and all the ways that He’s delivered us, but He asks us in faith to come to this table this morning and say thank you.
There’s a third meaning for mercy in the Bible, and this is the greatest meaning. This is the theological meaning of mercy. This is the occasions in scripture where eleos, this word mercy, refers to forgiveness of sin—cancellation of debt, removal of punishment. You see, this is what we celebrate today as we remember His body broken and His blood shed: He has forgiven our sin and cancelled our debt. You see, that’s why He cried out from the cross, “tetelestai”—”paid in full.” He’s cancelled the debt. He’s taken your punishment and He’s taken my punishment upon Himself. He bore your sins and He bore my sins in His body on that tree. By His sacrifice we have found forgiveness and the cancellation of debt. And that is mercy, unbelievable mercy. He wants us, this morning, to come to the table and say, “Thank you, thank you.”
He doesn’t just want us to thank Him for mercy. He also wants us to thank Him for grace. The biblical word for grace is the word charis. This is a very special word. In a sense, grace is even greater than mercy. You know, when we think of mercy theologically, we think of escaping the bad things that we deserve. Theologically, mercy refers to escaping the bad things that we deserve. But grace is receiving the good things we don’t deserve. It goes beyond mercy. Grace is receiving the good things we don’t deserve. As we come to the table, we thank Him for His grace. This word charis means “unmerited favor.” It means “benevolent, undeserved.” Grace is unmerited and undeserved.
The word grace is associated with the concept of gifts. As you come to the table this morning, God wants you to thank Him for all the gifts He’s given you. The Bible says, “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above.” I don’t know all the good endowments, all the perfect gifts, in your life, but God wants you to take notice and He wants you to say thank you and He wants to remind you of the greatest gift: the gift of salvation, the gift of Heaven itself. That is unearned, undeserved, and beyond mercy. It is grace.
I know most of you have heard of Howard Robard Hughes. Howard Hughes was born in Texas in the year 1905. He was the son of a wealthy industrialist, and he had an oppressive, obsessive mother. She bathed him in oil every single day and she refused to let Howard play with other children. She kept him isolated from other children because she was afraid of germs and she was afraid that somehow her little boy might pick up some germs from the other kids.
When Howard was 16 years old, his mother died. When Howard was 18 years old, his father died and he inherited the Hughes Tool Company. Through brilliant leadership, he transformed the Hughes Tool Company into a financial empire. By the 1930s and the 1940s, Howard Hughes owned Hughes Aircraft Company, RKO Pictures, and Trans World Airlines. He was considered perhaps the wealthiest man on Earth. He had grown bored with business. He’d become a pilot, a famous pilot. He’d become a famous Hollywood movie producer. He seemed bigger than life. He cut a great image as he got out of the airplanes in his leather jackets and his white scarves and when he came out of the movie theaters in his tuxedos. He had women about him all the time. Money, sex, and power were what he gave his life to—all the materialism, all the hedonism, all the self, and all the ego. Ultimately, it just didn’t satisfy him. He was bankrupt in his soul.
In the 1950’s, he just removed himself from society and he became mysterious. He became a recluse. He bought a hotel in Las Vegas. There he stayed in a hotel room. He bought the hotel so he would never have to leave the room. So there he was, year after year, as he would lay naked in the bed. He just lay there watching movies, sometimes the same movie hundreds of times. He surrounded himself with Mormons. He believed that only Mormons were pure in body and spirit. He required ritualistic washings from those Mormon attendants every day because he, too, was afraid of germs just like his mother before him. He ate nothing but ice cream. It had to be Baskin-Robbins and it had to be banana nut ice cream. He was a nut. He spent day after day in that isolated, miserable existence. He urinated in bottles and he stacked the bottles by the wall of his room.
Finally, at the age of 70, he died. At 6’4″, he only weighed 90 pounds. Of course, that’s when the real story began, because that’s when everybody wanted his estate. Everyone claimed to be his heir it seemed. He allegedly was worth as much as $2 billion. It was later discovered he was worth something less than $400 million, but it wasn’t bad. There were a lot of people who began to show up. They had phony ID’s and they had phony wills. They all wanted to inherit his wealth, and we can understand that. Most of you would like to inherit $1 million, or maybe $100 million. You can understand.
But you see, God wants you to know today that, if you’re a Christian, if you believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, you’re already an heir. You have received an inheritance greater than any inheritance this world could ever offer you. It’s unbelievable. You have received adoption. You have become the sons and daughters of God. You are heirs of God, the Bible tells us, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ and all that is His is yours. He owns the Heavens above and the Earth beneath, and one day He’s going to share it all with you.
As you sit there today, your sin is forgiven you. Your debt is cancelled. Your punishment is borne by the Son of God. You now have received grace. You have been adopted as God’s own children and you are bound for Heaven and eternal life. As John Newton wrote, that grace is amazing and “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ll have no less days to sing His praise than when we first begun.”
So, as you come to the table this morning, come with a grateful heart. As you come to the table this morning, come with thanksgiving, thanking God for His mercy and for His grace. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.