SERMON TITLE: Gifts of the Spirit: Mercy
SCRIPTURE: Romans 12:4-8 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 5-4-25
Watch the sermon here
Take notes here
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
(Josh gave an update on Scott McKee, an EPC Pastor at Ward Church, who had an event to encourage and celebrate his ministry since his cancer has returned. Josh did an interview with Scott during our Exile Series through Daniel, which you can watch here.)
We’re continuing our series in Romans this weekend — taking a final look at the spiritual gifts that Paul mentions in his letter so we all understand what these gifts are and how they’re to be used in our faith family. These aren’t all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible — just the ones Paul mentions here in Romans.
So — for the last time for some time — the purpose of the spiritual gifts is this: Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. - Lexham Survey of Theology
Here’s what Paul says about the gifts — in Romans chapter twelve — beginning in verse four. There we read…
Romans 12:4–8 ESV
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
We took two weeks to explore the gift of prophecy. Then we looked at the gifts of service, teaching, exhortation, and giving. And — last week — we looked at the gift of leadership. Which means that — today — we’re going to look at the final spiritual gift that Paul lists in our verses — the gift of mercy, which he mentions in verse eight where he writes…
Romans 12:8 ESV
8 the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
So let’s begin by answering the question, “What is the spiritual gift of mercy?” The definition of this gift that I shared with you a few months ago is…
Mercy
The gift of mercy is the divine strength or ability to feel empathy and to care for those who are hurting in any way.
Like the other spiritual gifts that we’ve looked at — mercy is something that’s both a spiritual gift and is something that all Christians are to practice regardless if we have the gift or not. Which means — no matter if this is a spiritual gift you have — and regardless of your temperament or personality — being merciful towards others is something you’re to regularly practice if you’re a follower of Jesus.
Jesus made this clear when he told a parable — a parable is a short story meant to teach a moral lesson — and the parable I’m referring to is known as the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Luke 10:25–37 ESV
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Jesus purposely made the religious leaders — the priest and the Levite — merciless in the parable. And the individual — who the expert in religious law couldn’t even bear to say who he was — the despised Samaritan — is the one who is merciful in the story. So what’s the point of the parable?
Jesus is telling us that we can be very religious and — yet — lack mercy. We can do rigorous religious activities and still miss the point of what it means to follow him.
This is what the prophets of the Old Testament had told the Jewish people.
Micah 6:8 NLT
8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
And…
Zechariah 7:9–10 NLT
9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.
And we’re to be merciful towards others because God has first been merciful towards us. As we also read in Scripture…
Psalm 103:8 ESV
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
And…
Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
And…
Psalm 145:8–9 ESV
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
And possibly the greatest display of God’s mercy is seen when…
John 11:35 ESV
35 Jesus wept.
We worship a merciful God — thus we’re to be people who are known for our mercy.
Yet — we want to better understand how the spiritual gift of mercy is a benefit to us as a local church. So let’s look at a few examples of this gift in Scripture. But — before we do so — I want to share a quote on mercy that I think paints a clear and compelling picture as to why this gift is so vital to our life as a faith family. Here’s the quote:
Mercy means to be led by God to be compassionate in our attitudes, words and actions. It is more than feeling sympathy towards someone; it is love enacted. Mercy desires to answer the immediate needs of others and alleviate suffering, loneliness, and grief. Mercy addresses physical, emotional, financial or spiritual crises with generous, self-sacrificial service. Mercy is a champion of the lowly, poor, exploited, and forgotten, and often acts on their behalf.
We’ve seen how mercy is something that all Christians are to live out — yet — for some among us — because of the Spirit’s empowering presence in you — you’ve been gifted with mercy in a way where you can’t help but desire to meet the immediate needs of others, to alleviate their suffering, loneliness, or grief. You can’t help it — it’s like you’re compelled — to serve those who are poor, exploited, or forgotten by others. What a needed and necessary gift if we want to be the church that Jesus gave his life for us to be.
Speaking of Jesus — here's an example of mercy from his life. One day — as he and his disciples…
Matthew 20:29–34 ESV
29 went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
When you read the gospels — pay attention to how many times Jesus is stopped like this — where his plans are interrupted by the needs of others. And how — instead of moving on to the business at hand — he paid attention to the interruption — for often — the interruption was the business his Father wanted him to attend to.
For those who have the spiritual gift of mercy — you can’t help but read this passage from Matthew and think, “Yup. That’s exactly what you do. You stop and care for the person in need. And how dare the crowd try to get the two guys to be quiet!” If I may tap into your gift of mercy for one moment — for those of us without this gift — let me admit — it’s easy to miss the interruption as God’s business. I know this isn’t good of us — but — when you don’t have the gift of mercy — even when we know the commands about being merciful — it’s easy to be just like — not only this crowd — but Jesus’ own disciples — who once — when they were with Jesus and…
Mark 6:34–37 NLT
34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” 37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
It’s easy to ask “With what” — or to tell some blind beggars to be quiet — before, “This is an opportunity to be merciful” crosses our mind. We’re working on it — but know that this is why we’re so thankful for the Spirit’s empowering presence in you through the gift of mercy. For those with this gift rarely ask “with what” when told to feed a large crowd — or shush those begging for Jesus to heal them — and this is the Holy Spirit at work in and through you for our benefit — especially when someone’s in desperate need of mercy.
And — as Paul says — you do so — you show mercy — and you do so with cheerfulness. Meaning — unlike others of us — who don’t have the gift — sometimes our mercy comes off a little less cheerful — or lacks it altogether. But for you — because of God’s Spirit displaying himself through you in this way — you’re able to lift the spirit of those who are suffering.
Again — we’re all growing together here — and thank you for your patience and mercy towards those of us without the gift.
John Owen — a pastor who lived in the 17th century — wrote, “Mercy has to do with man's misery.” Historically — in the church — the people who have been known as ministers — or servants — of mercy — whose ministry is often called “mercy ministry” — are the deacons. Our deacons have been brought up a few times in these sermons on the spiritual gifts and — as you’ve heard me say before — this is an important group of individuals in the life of our local church. Now we add to our running list of why they’re important: they are our ministers of mercy.
Deacons first appear on the scene in Acts chapter 6. We’ve looked at this passage a few times before — so we won’t turn there now — but here’s a snapshot of what was going on. The church had grown quite quickly and Christians — of both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds — were all figuring out how to follow Jesus together. But they were still dealing with cultural hangups — like we all do — resulting in some of the widows in the church not having their needs met.
So the apostles — the key leaders in the church at this time — told the people to select individuals who would make sure the widows' needs were met. Because — not having what you daily need to survive — is a recipe for misery.
Seven individuals were selected and they are the first deacons — or ministers of mercy — in the church. And their important ministry of mercy continues today.
Here at Gateway we have 15 individuals — men and women — who serve as our deacons. To ensure that everything they’re responsible for is covered — they’ve divided themselves up into four teams. A group of deacons is responsible for preparing the communion elements and cleaning up after our monthly communion services. Each Gateway campus has its own communion team. In a few minutes we’ll be taking communion at both of our campuses and know that a deacon was the behind the scenes hands preparing the bread and juice for all of us. An act of service for which we should all be thankful.
Now — though important — preparing communion doesn’t fit the ministry of mercy that we’ve been looking at today. Again — deacons do many important tasks for us — not all are acts of mercy. But earlier I said that the deacons have divided themselves up into four teams.
One of those is the Benevolence team which oversees the distribution of benevolence funds to those within our church family who are in need of financial assistance. Priority for assistance is given to church members — specifically those who are sick, handicapped, single parents, or elderly — though other members or active regular attenders may also be assisted through the fund. This is definitely a ministry of mercy.
There’s the Service team which helps with meeting a variety of hands-on, physical needs within our church family. These needs include setting up Kidway spaces each weekend, shoveling church entrances on a Sunday morning, and providing building access for a variety of events held at the church. Additionally, they handle requests for physical help such as yard work, help moving, or light construction work for people in need. There are definitely times when this team does acts of mercy.
Finally, there’s the Food team which is responsible for a variety of food needs within the church. These include funeral meals, as well as food and snacks for volunteer training and church or outreach events. One of our deacons also oversees our Meals Ministry, which comes alongside Life Groups to provide meals to people after a new baby is born, or someone has surgery, when there’s a death in the family, and so on. Again — many times when this is a ministry of mercy.
So that’s a snapshot of what our deacons do — generally speaking. But — specifically — here are some ways these mercy ministers have allowed the Spirit of God to display himself through their acts of mercy for people in our faith family.
There’s the young mom who’s part of our church. Her husband wasn’t able to work for over a year — due to health issues — and her availability to work was limited because their toddler also had health issues requiring regular appointments at Nationwide in Columbus. How did the deacons help this family? They worked with our local partner — the Women’s Resource Center — and got them diapers. One of our deacons gave them some hand-me-down clothes for their toddler. Meals were coordinated. Gas and grocery cards were provided. And the deacons coordinated eight weeks of childcare while the husband recovered from a surgery.
For two elderly men in our congregation — who were both limited by health issues — the deacons lined up people to mow their lawns and take care of yard work. Similarly, the deacons put a team of six people together to do some fall landscaping for one of our elderly couples who aren’t able to keep up with the yard work as easily as they used to.
For one of our single women — who needed a new roof but didn’t have the funds — the deacons helped her to pay for the new roof through our benevolence fund.
For a family who had some hot water issues — one of our deacons helped them out twice. Once to repair their old hot water heater and then — five months or so later — to help them install a new one.
For one of our young families — who needed some financial help — the deacons were able to help them cover some medical and dental bills, provided them with some food gift cards, and helped them with some car maintenance issues. The deacons provided similar help to an international student studying at the University of Findlay who needed some help with their car.
They helped another of our young couples move. And — if all of that wasn’t enough — one of our deacons even went and helped deter a pesky skunk from one of our church member’s property.
And — oh by the way — that’s just some of the ways the deacons have done acts of mercy in the past year. What a group of deacons we have — ministers of mercy who are allowing the Spirit of God to use them to be a blessing for us.
Now — as we wrap up this series on spiritual gifts — something that’s been encouraging to me — over the past few months — has been the increase among you all in signing up to volunteer in areas of ministry. The church staff have mentioned that more of you have signed up to serve as you desire to allow the Holy Spirit to use you — with the gifts he’s given you — to be a blessing to the rest of us. This has been such an encouragement to me.
I’ve also been encouraged to hear about many of you wanting to explore what gifts you’ve been given. From asking for advice on spiritual gifts tests and how to discern which gifts you have — I’m thankful for the curiosity and interest in wanting to know how the Spirit of God has gifted you for God’s glory and all of our good. Keep searching. Keep serving in different ways. Keep praying and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you your gifts.
Finally, I want to thank our elders. They’ve made themselves available to pray with you throughout this series on the spiritual gifts. They all serve in many other ways — but they didn’t hesitate to stick around after our worship services to bless you — and lay their hands on you in prayer — as you’ve come forward desiring a particular spiritual gift. And so many of you have come forward for prayer — which has been incredible to see.
Your shepherds pray for you — I hope that encourages you — your elders care about you and there’s no group of men I’d rather have by my ministry side than the men we’re blessed with as our elders.
Would you please pray with me?
Heavenly Father, you are the God of all comfort who comforts all of us in our afflictions. And your mercies are new to us every morning. There’s not a day that’s gone by that we haven’t experienced your mercy. What a thought to behold. I wonder how we’ve already experienced your mercy today?
Holy Spirit, thank you for empowering some among us with your gift of mercy. A unique and impactful way you use your people in the most difficult days of life. When sorrow abounds — your stewards of mercy bring healing as you use them to lift us up. When the darkness doesn’t lift — your ministers of mercy bring the light of Christ to shine in our dark world. When our grief is an overwhelming burden — too heavy for us to carry — your servants of mercy put their shoulders under our burden and lift it up — giving us some reprieve.
And — Jesus — this is all possible because of the mercy you displayed in giving your life on a cross for our sins. When mercy was the last thing we deserved — you gave it to us anyway. In fact — when we held back mercy from you — you gave us mercy anyway. What a faithful and merciful Savior you are — thank you for your mercy towards us. And — Jesus — if there are any here who’ve yet to receive your mercy — may you faithfully offer it to them again today.
Right now — Jesus is offering you mercy — forgiveness of your sins — reconciliation, joy, hope, peace — a light shining in the darkness around you. Will you receive his mercy? Will you run to the One whose arms are open — ready to embrace you with unending love?
We pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go knowing the mercy of your God and Savior — and may others experience his mercy through you. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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