God’s Amazing Mercy
Longsuffering: We have provoked him.
These graces are not isolated character qualities – like items on a buffet, to pick and choose according to taste. To study them in isolation from the new creation in Christ is to treat them like luxury items – it would be wonderful to have them, but it cannot be helped if we do not. They are not luxury items, but the Lord God’s image renewed in us by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. We were made in God’s image, but by our rebellion that image was shattered, with few shards remaining. But Jesus Christ is making us and all things new (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5). Consider God’s amazing longsuffering toward us, his slowness to anger. He is not quick-tempered. He is patient and persevering in his mercy. Each of our sins provokes his holiness, and he might justly judge us for any one of them. He gives daily gifts to all for which we can barely mutter a bland thanksgiving. This insults his goodness. As believers, we have received all his common gifts and his uncommon ones – faith and repentance, truth and grace, compassion and fellowship with him, all because the Father sent his only begotten Son to redeem us from all our sins. How do we often respond to his kindness? Ingratitude, neglect, cold and worldly hearts, complaining. How does the Lord respond to us? Longsuffering, steadfast in his mercy and love. Peter said that his “longsuffering is our salvation (2 Pet. 3:15). Scripture constantly testifies to this truth – we provoke the Lord by our sins, but he does not treat us as our sins deserve (Ps. 103:10). He is slow to anger, views us tenderly, and waits upon his grace in us to bear fruit.
Forbearing: He has endured us.
A vital aspect of his mercy toward us is forbearance. Without this, he could not endure a relationship with us. Forbearing is the language of tenderness; the Lord bears with us. “Love endures all things, bears all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). He puts up with us. He knows our frame, our weakness, our sinfulness. It is not that he winks at these things, for they are obnoxious to him. They are also our fault, for we brought sin’s ruin upon ourselves and perpetuate that ruin by constant sinning. And yet, he will still love us and draw near to us. He will allow us to come into his presence with “boldness and confidence” by the faith of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:12). He does not keep us at arm’s length. Even the best believer, the holiest and the most loving is, if judged by his own merits, offensive to the Lord. Remember: he humbles himself even to look at what happens in heaven and on earth (Ps. 113:6). If we had higher and truer views of the Lord’s greatness, holiness, and beauty, we would be constantly surprised by his goodness to us, that he even takes notice of us at all. “What is man that you are mindful of him?” How much truer is this of sinners. Why would the Lord want to have much to do with us? Why would our Savior speak of revealing himself to us, and together with the Father (and Spirit), of coming to dwell with us (John 14:21-24)? It is one of the Lord’s most remarkable mercies that he endures us so patiently, that he simply puts up with us.
Forgiving: He has put away our sins
But, imagine the mercy of God that he actually removes the causes of his provocations against us! He has clothed us with his Son’s righteousness and cleansed us by his blood so that he is pleased and satisfied with us! He rests in his love toward us (Zeph. 3:17)! This is the wonder of his mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. He is longsuffering, for we are his children and should love him completely, without any reservations. But he graciously forgives our cold hearts. The word translated “forgiveness” means to be gracious, kind, to freely and fully bestow. So precious is the blood of his incarnate Son and sufficient his sacrifice that he freely and fully forgives us. He blots out our sins. He removes the grounds of his provocation and is not exasperated with us. As our Father, he views us as his children. He knows our frame and weakness, but he sees in us another frame, a full righteousness, a union with his Son that means we are righteous in his sight, nothing lacking. As the righteous Judge, he sees no sin in us, for Jesus Christ has paid it all for us. As loving Father, he sees not only what we are and have done, but also what we have become in Christ and what we will become in fullness when he perfects his saving work in us. He does not forgive us because we deserve it, ask enough, or do enough good works. He completely pardons us the moment we look upon his Son and believe in his name. Can there be any greater motivation for each one of us to come to Christ, believe in his name, turn away from our foolish attempts to purify ourselves, and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation? Come, believe, and rejoice!
The Way We Treat One Another
Patient under Provocation
The Holy Spirit forms some reflection of each of these brilliant facets of God’s mercy in our treatment of one another. We are to “put them on” (3:12). It is a command from heaven to be like our Father in heaven, like the Son who loved and gave himself for us, and like the Holy Spirit who indwells us. Mercy, marvelous mercy must mark the way we treat each other. In many things we offend one another (James 3:2), provoke one another. If it is not a harsh word, then it is a smug look, or a slight, or a whisper. The tongue is set on fire by hell, as James says (James 3:6), so that it is a mercy of God that we do not scorch one another beyond recognition. One minute we are praising and blessing one another, and the next we are belittling and criticizing. How are we to receive and respond to provocations? As our Father in heaven does – a long fuse, a fuse upon which we pour the waters of mercy. The assumption is that if our brother keeps sinning against us “seventy times seven,” we are longsuffering to him. We do not take offense in such a way that the fountains of mercy are dried up.
But how can we be longsuffering when we are so irritated and offended by very real offenses? By keeping our own offenses before the eyes of faith, and the cross of our Savior’s love, and our Father’s longsuffering to us. We must keep the glory of his salvation before our eyes, meditate constantly upon his patience with us, and then by the help of his Spirit refuse to become angry. Longsuffering does not prevent confrontation and carefulness in our relationships. The Lord confronts us, but he does so gently, patiently, remembering our weak and failing frame. We must remember this about ourselves and each other. At our best, we are “altogether vanity,” unworthy of any consideration, saved from our vanity by God’s grace. All we have is a gift (1 Cor. 4:7). The Lord’s mercy and goodness breaks down our pride at being injured and begins to form our Savior’s meekness in us. None was ever as injured, betrayed, and mocked as he, and he forgave and was willing to have his heart broken by reproach (Ps. 69:19-20). It is his living image we must put on, and we must ask him for help and imitate him.
Bearing the Burden of Weakness
And the mercy we are to show toward others is not a bare tolerance, which by itself tends to build up a sense of self-righteousness and pride. We will not get angry, the flesh says, for we are bigger than this, bigger than others and their follies, and so we smugly tolerate them, thinking of them as little children. We grow bigger in our own thoughts and become quite self-satisfied that we are the superiors. Forbearing puts the lie to this form of pride. “Forbearing” is putting up with and enduring the offenses and sins of others with love and grace, wanting to be with them and help them despite their weaknesses. It is our Lord Jesus washing his proud disciple’s feet – not to make a show but because he truly loved them and wanted to do them good by showing them an example that would foster brotherly love between them. It is our Lord bearing with all those who came to him for healing, many with very weak faith, some whom he knew would perish forever – but he bore our weaknesses anyway and did good to us. Forbearing is not injuring those who injure us. It is blessing those who curse us, and doing good to those who hate and abuse us. Forbearance within the body is listening to those who may annoy you, remembering how much we test the Lord’s endurance by our weaknesses. If he wants to be with us, we should labor to want to be with others, and to put off offensiveness that drives believers away from us. If we are not drawing other believers to us, but scattering them, we should ask, “Is Christ in me?” Let us not be so quick to find the cause of disunion in others, but look first at ourselves, our words and attitudes, whether or not Jesus Christ is forming his merciful, forbearing spirit in us.
Graciously Forgive Sin
The apex of mercy – forgiveness. Forgiveness is not holding on to an offense until someone finally grovels sufficiently to warrant being forgiven. This is not the way our Father treats us. Jesus Christ died for no sinner who warranted forgiveness, or asked enough, or felt badly enough for his sins. God treats sinners with kindness and extends the grace of forgiveness to the undeserving. And, yes, we must confess and ask, but why does he promise to forgive “all our unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), except that our asking never merits his mercy, that our asking needs mercy, that our asking is always deficient, usually selfish, and never complete. And yet, he graciously, willingly forgives us. If we are conscious that Jesus Christ has forgiven us, we must drop all complaints we have against others – usually, whether or not they ever ask. If extending forgiveness, or at least being willing to forgive, is always to be based upon being asked, then where is the grace in this? Must we keep a log of all the offenses we have received, only checking off those that we are asked to forgive? Again, the Lord commands us to confess our sins, and as far as we know, we must ask forgiveness of those whom we have truly sinned against. But we must not wait for their asking, but in our hearts remember that Christ has forgiven us. He dropped all his complaints against us, and the Father blotted them out because of the blood of his Son.
I dare say, and it is a little discussed wonder of his mercy, that there are many sins, significant sins in our lives, for which we never ask forgiveness, for he never showed them to us – sins of the heart, sins of habit, sins of constitution. The sins of which we are aware are so basic and constant that if he showed us all the others, we would collapse under the horror of our own ugliness. This one thought should make us very tender and merciful to others – always ready and willing to forgive, never keeping track of a wrong suffered, and remembering how the Son of God has forgiven us. Let him never look at us from the cross and say: “You cannot forgive? Will not forgive? You would claim my blood for your sins, but you hold on to injuries received, nurse them, and demand your petty pound of flesh until it consumes you? Look at my cross and be merciful.
The Reason All Men Will Know by Love
Love Not Limited by Mistreatment
“Blessed are the merciful!” These words take on a heightened significance and deeper beauty when we see them as the way our Father has treated us: such mercy received, mercy that humbles and amazes, transforms the soul. In light of what he has done for us, shown to us, we must put on longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness. And this is one chief way the world will know that we are Christ’s disciples – by the love that we have toward one another. Have you noticed that people are not lining up outside our door because we have all the answers? Normally, men are more willing to listen to the gospel because of kindness received. As we treat one another better, the world around us must take notice – wait – those Christians love in a way we have not seen elsewhere. Their love is not limited by how they are treated. They do not only love those who love them, but they love one another when love is in the pressure cooker of offenses and wrongs suffered, or provocations of various kinds. Those believers are like what it says in the Book: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” To the world? To men dead in sins and determined to kill God and actually did kill the Son of God on the cross? Yes, this is the way he loves us. He was longsuffering, unwilling that any of us should perish, but that all should come to repentance. As we are made new like this, our body shall be built up, and our gospel light will shine!
Forgiveness Extended because of Christ
But, how can we live this way? Offenses occur constantly in our homes, congregations, and neighborhoods. They can rage away for months and years. Most of us have witnessed or been part of unreconciled relationships, even with people we love and have pledged to live in unity. Time passes, but nothing is done. The offense becomes the grid through which everything is viewed and interpreted – every word, glance, rumor. We must return to the cross. The great and strong motivation for forgiveness is that we have been forgiven. Forget this, ignore this reality, refuse to preach this gospel to yourself, and the power to forgive others evaporates under the winds of pride, self-pity, and self-righteousness. But let us see the bleeding Savior on the cross, then his mercy blows away our pride. He loved and died for us. He offered his precious, pure blood, for our defiled, depraved souls. How can we not forgive? Who cares if we are not asked for forgiveness, or were not asked well, or if the relationship remains strained. As much as lies in us, we should look at Jesus Christ and freely, fully forgive. We cannot claim Christ but refuse to forgive one another. He made this clear (Matt. 6:12; Mark 11:26).
Complaints Silenced by Cross
If anyone has a legitimate complaint, it is the Lord – against us, for our sins, for love unrequited, mercy unpraised, grace despised, gifts wasted and buried. But he forgave us. This is the reason we drop our complaints against one another. We need not have perfect resolution – we look at the cross. We need not be recognized as right – we look at the cross. We need not have relational superiority, the “one up” of finally having someone say, “You were right the whole time.” We look at the cross. Whatever anyone else has done to us, it is less than we deserve – for our own sins. And yet God the loving Father and righteous Judge forgave his quarrel with us by laying our stripes upon his beloved Son. His mercy has changed everything for us. It changes us, the way we view wrongs received, and our vain desire to be vindicated. Our song is love. Our hearts overflow with wonder. Our theme is mercy.
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