RESOURCES FOR YOU • Sermons – DVD and online (ppiministries.org/sermons) • The book What Is a Healthy Church Member? • Join a Discussion Group – choice of four days/times • Ask any question you have about the church.
MERCY OVER METHODS
The church is for people, not people for the church.
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9)
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. (Matthew 9:10)
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (Matthew 9:11)
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:27-28)
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24)
How are people in our church doing? Really?
What’s happening in the lives of kids, teens, couples, singles, and older people in our area? How can we help?
When Jesus heard that, He said to them [the Pharisees], “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matthew 9:12)
“But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting . . .
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:13, 16-17)
. . . Love your neighbor as yourself . . . (Leviticus 19:18)
6 With what shall I come before the L ORD , And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the L ORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the L ORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)
How Do We Do That? • Ask God to fill us with compassion toward others. • Take practical steps – whatever they may be – to help people where they are. • Focus on individuals rather than numbers. • Focus on real needs and genuine life change, rather than participation in programs.
More about Jesus let me learn, More of His holy will discern; Spirit of God, my teacher be, Showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus: More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me.
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