Mercy and Justice: The call to serve our city

Luke 10:25-37 - The parable of the good Samaritan

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The immense need in the city could fill an entire sermon. Alot of my thoughts and views are from a book... In alot of my sermon, you will find echos of this book.

Ministries of mercy - Tim Keller

The necessity of mercy

The law of God can be summed in two things: loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. There are two kinds of responses. One is okay,i follow the law... I don't murder, steal, etc. The other is...utterly hopeless. We fail to fully love God as we ought. We fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are left humbled. The teacher of the law tries to justify himself... He asks Jesus to clarify the law, to try to whittle down the law of God to something manageable and doable. But this is not what Jesus does. Instead he tells a parable. The story of one who risks his life, provides for his needs, and gives sacrificially.

What is the point of this?
It is the way to salvation. To provide for tangible needs, that is how we know that we are saved. It does not save us, but it shows that we are saved...it is the fruit of the Spirit. This is a mark of genuine faith. It is not optional. It is not solely for those with a gift of mercy. It is for all christians.

The nature of mercy

We usually try to limit the scope of mercy. There are three ways we try to do this.

Who: we try to avoid people who are different. Class, race, social, economic, etc. We are called to love even those we hate.

When: we feel like we should not give mercy to those who don't deserve it. Those who made poor choices... This is not dismissing wisdom, but we should remember that we are undeserving of God's mercy.

How much: The Samaritan shows us how much. He risks his life. He gets dirty, tired, and poorer to love his neighbor. He takes on the sorrow of his neighbor. It takes sacrifice.

Motivation of mercy

How are we supposed to do this?
Guilt is not enough. How about obligation? That is ultimately not enough. The law cannot provide us the motivation. It only tells us that we should. We don't have the power to do it. We are not generous enough to show mercy like that. We can only be this radically merciful when we see that we were the one who was bloodied, beaten, and dying hopeless...lying on that road. And Jesus came and saved us in all those ways.

Method of mercy

Practical thoughts

First we need to see. We cannot just walk by it. We have to see it and engage. We cannot just see it and walk by like the priest and the Levite.

We are not called to help everything and everyone. We need to be wise about it. We need to do it in community. Evangelism should be done in community; same for mercy. We should provide mercy in a targeted, deliberate, and organized way.

We should work with churches. It would be arrogant to think we can serve the city as individual churches. We should make strategic partnerships with other churches who are already providing mercy. Our name does not need to be on it. We are doing this for the kingdom, not so that our church would be known.

Serve in mercy not because of guilt or obligation, but because of God's mercy.