TEXT: Matthew 5:3-10

SUBJECT: Watson on the Beatitudes #5

Tonight, with the Lord’s blessing, we’ll continue the Puritan study we started a few weeks ago. It’s called Thomas Watson on the Beatitudes. The word, "beatitude" means happiness. Thus, far, we’ve seen the happy person is one who is "poor in spirit", who "mourns", who is "meek", and who "hungers and thirsts after righteousness". These people are happy already! And, one day, they’ll enjoy a perfect happiness.

One more thing: Only these people are happy! No one else is. Or can be. If you want to be happy now and forever, you must be the kind of person described in the Beatitudes. But looking at them, you feel terribly discouraged. How can you make yourself into this kind of person?

The answer is: You can’t. Nobody can. That’s why you must be born again. Only through the work of God’s Spirit in your soul can you become the kind of person you have to be—if you’re to ever be happy. In this life or the next.

The Beatitude we’ll study tonight is number five,

Thomas Watson begins the chapter by defining his term. What does it mean to be merciful? He says,

This is not the clearest thing Watson ever said, so let me translate it for you. Mercy means sensitivity to people in pain with a desire to help them as much as you can. A merciful man notices the suffering of others, sympathizes with them in it, and tries to help them out of it.

He’s the opposite of the self-centered man who never notices people in trouble and the sentimental man who notices, feels rotten about it, but does nothing to help.

The trait is well illustrated in the story of The Good Samaritan. There, we have a man ambushed on the road, robbed, stripped naked, and left for dead. Before long a Priest comes by, but couldn’t care less. Then, we have a Levite who notices the poor man, feels sorry for him, but does nothing for him. Finally, we have the Samaritan, who sees the man, feels for him, and fixes him up. That’s mercy in a nutshell: sympathy in action.

Mercy is never easy to give. It takes time or money, it inconveniences you terribly, and often is not repaid or even appreciated. You’d think showing mercy would make you cranky and cause you to lose in the end. But our Lord says otherwise,

To whom are we to show mercy? You can’t show mercy to God—not directly, at least, because He doesn’t need it. No, mercy is shown to other people. Watson says

Where do the streams of mercy go? Watson says to

Our first obligation is to the souls of other men,

What if you were a doctor with two patients clamoring for your help. One had a splinter, stuck under his finger nail. The other was having a massive heart attack. Which one would you treat first? You’d treat the heart patient, of course. Why? Because cardiac arrest is way more serious than a sliver. Now, that’s not to say a sliver doesn’t also need you attention. It hurts terribly and, if untreated, it could become infected, and cause all kinds of problems. But again, you’ve got to set your priorities.

Christians need to remember this. Charity work is good work—no one can criticize it. Our Lord did a lot of it. But, as good as it is, it’s still secondary to man’s deeper needs. When it comes to showing mercy, we’ve got to keep first things first. We’ve got to help souls.

How do we do that? Watson says in four ways,

I don’t need to elaborate on these points, do I? Let me only exhort you to act on the truth they teach and you already know. Sinners are lost and must be damned forever! You and I have the only medicine that can cure them, the Gospel. Let’s pity their poor souls, exhort them, rebuke them, and pray for them.

O how blessed are those who have mercy on the lost!

This is one I wouldn’t have thought of, but it certainly belongs on the list. How often have we been cruel (or, at least not careful) about the names or reputations of other people? We gossip about them, we believe gossip, we assign evil motives to them, we pick their good works apart, we magnify their character flaws, and so on.

This is not merciful! And Watson takes us to the woodshed on this one!

He goes on to name the two traits that cause us to slander others. They’re not truth and justice! But pride and envy.

He has a lot to say here, but let me mention just a little bit of it: Watson equates cruelty—not only with wicked gossip—but also with listening to it and not defending people when others slander them. When someone tears me down, I want you to stand up for me. I owe you the same courtesy. Again, we don’t have to defend each other’s faults, but neither do we have to dwell on them or let the faults become "the whole picture".

Be merciful to the reputations of other people. That’s Number Two.

This is an old-fashioned word. It means money. Watson means we’re to be merciful to people who owe us money. He doesn’t say we can’t collect what is coming to us, but we’ve got to be loving in our demands and patient in the repaying of loans. Watson says,

When it comes to lending money to friends, a good rule-of-thumb is this: If you don’t expect to get it back, you won’t be mad when you don’t. Hope for it; pray for it, even; ask for it. But don’t demand it and threaten and so on! Be merciful with people’s debts.

Next we have offenses. This is a biggie!

When I wrong others, I want mercy. But when others wrong me, I demand justice. That cannot be right. Our Lord said,

If I give justice only, that’s all I get in return. And therein lies the rub: We cannot live on justice alone. We need mercy—a lot of it. And if we need it, we’re bound to give it.

Finally, we ought to be merciful to the needs of others. The old fashioned word is wants, but it means "needs".

I don’t usually go for alliteration, but here it works: consideration, commiseration, and contribution. In other words: Think about the needs of other people, feel for them, and relieve them if you can.

Whenever you exhort people to generosity, someone will object to it. He’s for in theory, but there’s always a reason he can’t do it himself—at least not now. Watson hits the three big reasons (or, excuses).

If I give to others, I won’t have anything for myself.

This is the most common excuse. And, if the world were ruled by accountants, it would be right. But, of course, the world isn’t ruled by some cosmic CPA, but by the Lord who is immensely generous and doesn’t keep books at all! Therefore,

Everyone who gives to the Lord knows this is true. The only ones who don’t believe it are those who never tried it! Malachi 3:8-12 issues a promises. And it’s one that has never been repealed.

I cannot do much.

This is an easy one to dispose of. Watson says,

I don’t have anything to give.

You should be happy I’m here tonight—and not Thomas Watson. He tears into people who say this—

That’s not very nice! But it’s perfectly true. People have nothing to help others, but they have enough to eat out when they want to and to go to the movies when they need a break. Nothing wrong with going to a restaurant or a movie, but you can’t do those things and say you’ve got nothing to help others with.

Watson doesn’t leave it there. He assumes some people really have no money to spare—not a dime,

In short, everyone has been blessed. And ought to bless others in return.

At the end of the chapter, Watson offers several encouragements to mercy. Here are some of them, sharply abridged.

This is exhortation at its best! Some men take pride in "not accepting charity". Yet the pride is unfounded. Everyone accepts charity—including those who’ve never taken a penny from a human hand. The sun is charity, the rain is charity, food, clothing, shelter, all are charity. Even the stuff we work for and buy come to us, partly through charity. How could you but a wool sweater if there were no sheep? How could you eat a steak if there were no cows? And so on.

If every creature of God gives, how can we hoard everything for ourselves?

One reason we don’t want to help others is because "The money or time you need is…mine!" If it were yours, you could do anything you wanted with it. But, of course, the Bible says it isn’t yours, but God’s! He leases it out to you for His benefit. And how could you make Him happier than to use His time and money for His people?

When we think of sin, we usually thing of bad things. But that’s not all sin is. It’s also the lack of good things. The Shorter Catechism says,

If the Law of God commands mercy, then not conforming to it is sinful. Even if you don’t cheat others or do them wrong in some other way.

The last motive is also the most important,

Every believer knows the mercy of God. And shall we receive that mercy to overflow and then be cheap in giving it to others? No one is more godly than the merciful man.

If you show mercy to others, you won’t end up with nothing. In fact, the opposite is true.

Some of the mercy comes in this life. Watson, knowing His Old Testament better than most of us do, finds several blessings in this life promised to the merciful. Here are three of them: material goods, children, and long life,

These are blessings to be had in this life. Who is less happy than a miser? Who is more hated than he? Who is laughed about behind his back more than the cheapskate? Who worries more than the man who loves money more than people? It’s a terrible life to live.

There’s another blessing in the world to come,

There’s no better investment than the Lord’s people. Whether they pay you back or not, the Lord will. With interest!