Truth, Mercy, & Grace

 

Truth, Mercy, & Grace

Galatians 4:12-20

 

In this passage Paul talks about what many people see as things that are not compatible: mercy & grace & truth. Most of us can see that mercy & grace are compatible but don’t see how those two characteristics are compatible with truth.

 

In verses 12-14 Paul talks about the mercy that the Galatian Christians showed to him when he first came to them. Paul had some type of illness when he arrived in Galatia, but the Galatian Christians welcomed him, cared for him even though it was a burden for them to do so. The Galatian Christians modeled the kind of mercy that Jesus showed when He healed people with all types of diseases & injuries. That is the kind of mercy we as followers of Jesus are to show to others.

 

Jesus says in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” The reason the woman at the well in John 4 responded to Jesus was that He showed her mercy. We many times as Christians bemoan the fact that the culture rejects what we belief & what we say. Could it be that they do that because we show condemnation & not mercy?   

 

Jesus has shown it to us.

 

In verses 15-18 Paul says that their mercy had turned to rejection because he was sharing the truth with them. In John 14:6 Jesus reveals to us that He is the Truth. So, as followers of Jesus, we are commanded to speak the Truth. In Ephesians 4:15 Paul tells us to speak the truth in love & that we do that by growing up spiritually to be like Jesus.

 

Jesus did not speak truth to people to condemn or judge them. He spoke truth out of love to transform them. We need to speak truth to our culture & we do it in love with the desire for people to be transformed & turn to Jesus as Savior & Lord. Speaking truth does not mean trying to win arguments or persuading people over to our way of thinking. Speaking truth in love is sharing the truth of the gospel & trusting the Holy Spirit to transform people’s lives.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about speaking the truth in love & trusting the Holy Spirit to use it to enable people to experience the presence of Jesus in their lives.

 

In verses 19-20 Paul expresses his anguish over their rejection of him & how he wants to be present with them & change his tone. Paul wants to be reconciled with these Galatian Christians. We see Paul extending grace to these Christians & desiring for them to relate to him once again as brothers & sisters in Jesus. Paul did not reject them when they seemingly rejected him. Paul instead extended grace.

 

Grace is God’s unmerited & undeserved favor that He gives us. Grace is the source of salvation & all of God’s blessings. Paul captures the essence of grace in Ephesians 4:32. It says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We have been given grace & truth from Jesus. When we sin, grace abounds more so that our sin can be forgiven. Since we have experienced God grace through Jesus, we are to show grace to others.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about showing grace to others because we have experienced God’s grace.

 

We as humans have trouble speaking truth & mercy & grace. Jesus shows us how that looks as He died on the cross. God the Father shows us the truth of what sin does & He judges sin through Jesus’ suffering on the cross. But the cross also shows us God’s grace & mercy.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe