In our world mercy seems to be in desperately short supply. Everyone seems very confident that they are right and that those that disagree are either ignorant or evil and probably both. This week we are going back into the letter of James and we are going to look at a single idea, it is an idea we see Jesus speak to on more than one occasion. It is this idea of mercy and judgement.

Last time we were in James we looked at the sin of partiality and James said, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”. After which he goes on to describe how according to the law partiality is a sin like any other and breaking any law is damnable. Today we are going to look at his final warning regarding the sin.

James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Our need of mercy is clear to anyone that still has a conscience. If we were to try and justify ourselves based on our perfect adherence to any law we would all be condemned. When we fail to recognize this, we begin to demand a sort of variable justice on others. This is how this passage connects to James’ teaching on the sin of partiality. When we start to value money, power, and influence over faith in the mercy and grace of God we invariably start to pervert justice and fall into sin.

Without the pure gift of God’s mercy and grace we could never stand before the justice of a righteous God. When we forget our own depravity we lose our ability to show this same mercy to others. When we withhold the grace of God from others we shut off our own supply. Jesus describes this in Matthew 7:1-2.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

Can we stand up to our own judgment? How will we measure up to our own standards? Jesus tells us we will be measured with our own ruler.

And again in Matthew 6:14-15 we see how our forgiveness from God is connected to our forgiveness of others.

For if you forgive others their trespasses,

There are many other such references in the teaching of Jesus as well. To show mercy is the best way of proving that the mercy of God is real. To show mercy to others opens the gates of heaven to us, and allows God’s mercy to flow to us. It is the height of arrogance to think that we are entitled to a mercy that others are not worthy of. It is the height of wickedness to receive mercy and then refuse to show mercy. Let’s look at one more story to illustrate the point that we must never receive the mercy of God without showing it to others.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

This story gets even more shocking when you convert the amounts used in this story into more familiar amounts. The first servants debt would take more than 1000 lifetimes to repay at a day laborers wages. The second debt would take just over 3 months to repay at day laborers pay. This should help us to forgive this week. We must remember that the debt we owed to God was literally unpayable and he forgave us at great cost to Himself. The debts of others to us are trivial by comparison. It is only when we forget the magnitude of the mercy that we have been shown that it becomes difficult for us to show mercy to others.

This week, let’s remember the words of James, “judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment”. And let’s, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” as Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians. This week let’s let the unimaginably great mercy and forgiveness we have been given, flow through us to others.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

This is the blessing Paul gave the believers in the Philippian church and it can be ours this week as well, if we will learn to let the mercy God has shown us flow through us to others.

Have a great week!