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Episode 861: In this episode, we explore Matthew 6 and the Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful.” Jesus challenges us to examine our motives when doing good, reminding us that mercy is meant to glorify God, not ourselves. We discuss mercy as action, love as a verb, and the difference between public praise and eternal reward. A thoughtful conversation on humility, generosity, and storing up treasure in heaven.
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Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
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You're listening to the Bible, guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible guys. We are talking about the Beatitudes of Christ as given in the Sermon on the Mount and Matthews five, six. And seven Matthews and chapters. I was so focused on doing this. Yeah, yeah, I liked it. Though. Matthews is good Matthews. They make good bows. Sounds like Matthews name. Yes, yeah, that Saint Matthews. Yeah, okay, all right, so Matthew chapters. I thought you're gonna say Matthew's gospel in seven chapters five, six and seven, longest message Jesus preached. That's right. And so anyway, along with the beatitudes are other things in the Sermon on the Mount that coincide with the beatitudes, which is the premise of our series. Yeah. I made the statement that that the Sermon on the Mount is the longest message Jesus preached. And I don't know, we don't know that. Oh recorded right, It could have just been Matthew's favorite message Jesus preach. He said, man, that one that he preached that would have taken nine chapters. It was a snoozer. It's the only one that he took notes. Yeah, exactly. But he was taking fastidious notes on the Sermon on the mount. So John's like, why did you take Notesthew's like, oh, I forgot, dude, I forgot. My p Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I forgot that. I forgot to turn on the recorder. Yeah that's right. Yes, that's right, that's right. Yea. So but the Sermon on the mounts the longest one recorded in the Bible record. Yes, that's correct. So anyway, we are before we getting too that, we had a segment and it is guess the word. I feel pressure on these because it says, can Chris guess the word? Slash words based on Jeff's clues without Jeff the forbidden man. Remember the last time you said you liked it the other one? Yes, these are hard at okay, these are hard for from from this perspective for me. Okay, so I have five words I'm not allowed to say what I'm trying to get you to say the big word? That's right? And are they thematic? It doesn't look like it, okay. And uh, And by the way, if you're watching on YouTube. We will put the fir hopefully we'll put the forbidden words on the bottom of the screen that Jeff is not allowed to say. You can play along with us, Yes, try to race Chris. Okay, we go, all right. Kind of a seventies eighties meal that was kind of a log of meat span that would have like breadcrumbs in it. Stuff you put a sauce on top of it. She would bake it. Yes, there you go. I'm not sure I was allowed to say meat because it's in meat loaf. Yeah, but it didn't say I couldn't say meat. I didn't say meat loaf, and meat loaf's one word, that's. Right, but but you're not allowed to say it derivenive of the word. Hey, by the way, uh, I wasn't looking. Yeah, but why did you say seventies and eighties because you don't wear a meat loaf I have. Well, so if you get old Betty Crocker cookbooks from the seventies and eighties, it's like the third thing in every cookbook. Ok yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, as opposed. To yeah, well, I mean you're a chef. If you're watching a sitcom from the seventies, and eighties moms serving meat loaf. Okay, right, yeah, you know you know that's true. Okay, remember I told you I was going to can't take hunders when I ordered. Meat, I like me love too. Yeah, buffalo meat Okay, buffalo, yeah, buffalo it was okay. Uh. Big people don't they don't stride. They what stride? They walk? Oh there you go. So you said walk, Now I can say walk, right, Okay, So they don't walk. They big big people don't walk. They no, no, they don't walk or run they no, no, no no no. So if we say weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. Okay, So big, big people don't walk. They tumble. Oh man, Okay, there are animals who also walk this way kind of a back and forth, kind of a back and forth sway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, if you wanted the donated car, you donated to Mother. Nature. No, no, what's the There's there's an organization, a nonprofit in the area that you can donate cars to called Mother Oh man, there's a road in the area. Is his name? I can't We're gonna have to give up on this one. Wabble. That's a hard one. Oh I would think that's an over week kind of a shuffle. That's why I said big people. Oh, I was thinking giants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was literally thinking, oh. Yeah, yeah, really yeah yeah, huh yeah. Okay, So all right, here's here's one you were afraid to say, like, yes, okay, here we go, here we go. Oh that's that's the missing clue. Yes, missing clue is the entire time. I was like, I was thinking giraffe because you're like, you're like, some animals do this too. I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, here you go. Ready. Uh a gag that you blow up that makes a large sound. Yeah, there you a whipope cushion. I wasn't allowed to say prank, balloon, noise, sit or gas and waddle. I wasn't allowed to say walk, penguin, ducks, side er baby, and then on meat loaf, I wasn't say dinner, beef, mom, ketchup or oven. Yeah, okay, here's another one. Uh uh. Back in the eighties you used it like a purse, but guys would do it too. Uh no, no, no, no, back in the day, and uh you wore it around yourself. It's fanny peck. There you go. I was allowed to say waist bag, nineties, zipper or tourists. Okay, and then oh no, this is impossible. Okay. The last one musical genre that includes uh like trumpets, pianos, drums, bass, guitars, No, nope, uh, saxophone. It's New Orleans kind of music. Jazz okay, jazz excellent. And then when people are excited they do and they're celebrating something quietly jazz hands. There you go. Yeah, that was a hard I was abound say fingers, shake theater, musical or applause. Yeah, okay, good. So so we couldn't get wattle, but we got jazz hands. Chris, that's awesome. I think I think of in high school musical one he says everybody loves a four square or whatever, and it's it includes And then also I think of, uh, bring it on when he goes, these aren't spear figures, these are. Yeah. So we got fanny pack and jazz hands, and we got those two nailed. What are you trying to say? Nothing? Nothing, I was just just comment I was commenting that we miss waddle. Well, wattle is not a manly term, but fanny pack and jazz hands are manly terms. But you but you can't include Wattle as if the antithesis of miss. I didn't, I didn't, I was not. I was not because you also got whoopy cushion. There's nothing wrong with that. So A. So, guys, So you know sometimes I feel merciless, Yes, and it's mostly because I know I'm playing to the audience. And you know, which is interesting because today's today's topic is mercy without an audience. Okay, well, hey, we are in Matthew chapter six, and we've been talking about how it's interesting to me that when Jesus gives the beatitudes at the beginning, and he talks blessed are those who mourn or blessed are the humble or those who's hunger and thirsts for righteousness, there's something in the rest of the message that he preaches that points back to those topics. Right, They're like the foundation, this is the kind of thing God blesses. And then he says, but religion tells you these things, and you're trying to behave these ways, but the reality is the best way is this way. Right. That's kind of how it works a lot of times. And so here we are we're talking about the topic the beatitude, where he says, God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. And one of the things we think of when it comes to mercy is good deeds, doing good for people. Right and so here he says in Matthew chapter six, verse one, watch out. Don't do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do, blowing trumpets in the cynagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity. I tell you the truth, they've received all the reward they'll ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your father, who sees everything, will reward you. That's a good one. And this goes along with good job of mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. So showing mercy to those in need. Yeah, because part of mercy is caring for people who can't care for themselves or that are in desperate need. Right, I think of there's a really great ministry around the world that does emergency surgeries that are impossible, particularly like cleft palates and bent bone kind of surgeries in the ministries called Mercy Ships, and they pull their ship into the poorest ports in the world and then they just go out and these doctors and surgeons volunteer their time to just do good for people who couldn't otherwise help themselves, that would be living miserable lives or that would not live very long because of it, and they just come in and it's kind of this merciful kind act. And so that's not the only meaning of mercy, but it's one of the meetings of mercy. And so in this situation, Jesus said, hey, don't do it so you get credit so that everybody's like, wow, that's a good guy. Instead he said, there's other motivations, are other reasons, and so yeah, that's kind of the idea behind this one, the connection to Blessed are the Merciful. You know, it's uh, we just actually spoke about this a few days ago on and maybe it's this, maybe I just wrote it. I don't know. It's a recent message a heritage where I talked about how love is not proven with only words. Oh, it's this Sunday coming up. Yeah, it's coming up. Love is not proven with only words, because anywhere in the scripture and it says love one another, what it's saying is is show your love by action. Yeah, that's always. And so love is a verb, and we have a tendency to hear the word love, and we think emotion when it says. We're thinking romance, Yeah, we're thinking, yeah, romance or fuzzy feelings. Yeah, I feel I feel love. When it says love your enemies, it doesn't mean, oh, I feel about that person different than I used to and therefore I'm done. When it says love your enemies, I mean that's fine. Those things are all good and well. But when it says love your enemies, what it is meaning is show your love to your enemies by either apologizing or treating them well when they don't deserve it, or forgiving them, or we're doing something tangible so that your love can be seen and shown to your enemies. And so anyway, when it says have mercy on someone, it's actually meaning mercy in action. Right, So somebody asked to know that you're being merciful. And like you said, part of mercy is to help someone in need. Part of mercy is to not give them what they deserve, to hold what they deserve publicly, right. You know, I just saw a sitcom. I'm not going to go through because it doesn't really matter. But I just saw a sitcom where someone was in the rights to do something to somebody and they held back and they demonstrated mercy, and they had all the power, and they demonstrated better character. And I just thought to myself, Wow, that was a public display of Actually it was the Bible Guys that aired this morning. I was in the shower and I actually turned off Oh that aired this morning, And how we talked about we talked about the definition of mercy, and you had talked about how you demonstrate Remember remember turning the other cheek? Yes, And it was the idea of demonstrating that you have the better character. Yes, making that choice. Yes, Yeah, what kind of man am I going to be? It doesn't matter what kind of man they're being or what kind of women they're being. Yes, you're you make the choice what kind of man you're going to be? Rise above that, don't don't don't go down to that level, rise above it. Yeah, to demonstrate and that's part of that's part of mercy as well. Sure to demonstrate that you have the better character. And and by the way, ultimately that's not to make yourself look better. It is it is so that number one, God's glorified. People can say, Wow, look at that person, what's different about them? How could they possibly act that way? And it's because Jesus commanded us to act there, right, And the power of love demonstrated is incredibly powerful. And uh, and that's what Jesus modeled for us. That's what he ultimately did for us. Jesus gives to us both love and mercy when we don't deserve it, right when we do deserve it, you know what I mean. Well, I've had people quote this passage back to me after I would comment on some good thing that we were a part of, either as a church or something that I was able to be a part of in other ministries I'm working with or whatever, and us say a thing or maybe on occasion, some generous thing that we were able to be a part of, and people say, oh, you're not supposed to be making a big deal about that in public, and that's not true as a matter of fact. In Matthew five, as soon as Jesus gets done with the beatitudes, the very next thing he says is you are the light of the world, right, And he says, so, don't hide your lamp under a bushel. Instead, he said, put it out where everybody can see it. And then he goes in verse sixteen, in the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly father. That's right. So the purpose is what so that the purpose is what? The purpose is so that God would be loorals, so. That everybody glorify your father in heaven. Here he says, watch out, don't do your goods to be admired by others. Don't right, don't do your good deeds publicly to be that's the sow. That a public path of the back right to be would. Be the same as so that so that you'd be admired by others, he says, because you'll lose your award from your father in heaven. There is reward, but if you get all your reward here on earth, and there's just no reward in heaven and that's okay, right, that's not bad. He doesn't say don't do good. He's just understanding if you're doing it so that you get praise, if you just donated it needed that million dollars so that your family's name can be on the on the building, Well there's your reward. Good job and congratulations. There's nothing wrong with that. He's not saying that's a sin. He's just saying, don't be counting on also getting a million dollars worth of reward in heaven too, right, you don't don't get the double dip on it, that's all. Yeah, And that's that's really important to understand. It's the motive because you know you just mentioned you know, us mentioning something from the platform and stuff like that in our position, and that's also for the purpose of teaching. It's also for the purpose of encouraging. Right, So if we get up here and we celebrate merciful deeds to people, then all we're doing is we're what are we doing. We're teaching the people, training the people that we should all have. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, that's there's a danger in mercy acts sometimes, you know, for for people who have resources, yea, and we're able to give things to people who don't have resources. It makes you feel like a million bucks. It can almost become addictive where people just love it. They love serving you know, people who are struggling or whatever. And that's not a bad thing. But we have to be careful with the idea of removing human dignity. I can give and you, but you can't. I have so much. I can give away my extras, but you can't provide for yourself, right, And so we don't want to remove human dignity. And so sometimes there's way more blessing when that person feels like God just showed up and blessed them, rather than knowing that guy from the suburbs showed up and blessed me. Right, So there's a tension for me sometimes. And I think it came to light the biggest way. One time, Heritage Church raised a bunch of money to help build a school in northwest Kenya that was also going to be used as a church and it's a base for everything. And it was at an orphanage that we love working with way out in the bush no no, no, lamoot, and so we build it. It wound up being the biggest building in West Pocot, in East Pocott, I'm sorry, right, the largest building in that area. And when we got there for the grand opening, all the chiefs came in, all all the choirs coming. You know how it is. All the villages from miles day a day away, they all come in for these giant celebrations. We had about a thousand people there. When I came around the corner, there was a plaque on the wall that had my name on it and had Heritage Church's name on it, and it was covered over and they were going to make this big presentation and I made him take it down and the guy who had it started crying. He said, I want to honor you. And I said, listen, if you tell a thousand tribesmen that white people are the ones who can build buildings, not Africans, then they're going to wait for us to come and build another one instead. It needs to be a partnership. We need to celebrate the local pastors who brought the idea to us, and we partnered together, and they also raised some money. We raised thousands and thousands and they raised dozens and dozens. But we partnered together. It has to be a full partnership, or it creates a culture of dependency. And I don't want my name on it, and so they took it. They chipped it off and took the plaque off the thing because I didn't want my name, a heir to name on it. And it was this idea here, right that in that situation, if I took the credit, it feels good. I raised I raised the massive majority of that money. But if I took the credit, it creates a culture dependency where next time they need a building, they're gonna need somebody like me to show backup and build another one, as opposed to let's find the right partnerships, let's work together. Yeah I know that, But like in that moment, who who wants to stand up there and wave their arms and say it's because of me? Yeah, thump your chest. Well I think a lot of people do. And I think that's why Jesus had the challenge. Just shams is on that, right. I guess. So it's just, yeah, you lived in that world. Long enough to know, like every single university building, every single hospital building has some family name on it, right, you know what I mean? People love it, They love having it. Every stadium has a name on it, a new renovation gets done, they get a new name on it. I would need. Yeah. Yeah. So, so if if your intent is to be admired by others, you need to go completely silent. If their intent is to make you be admired by others, it might be a time to maybe step back one level. If the whole goal is to bring glory to God, then he says, let your light so shine before men, that people would see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. Right, So is there a way to deflect the glory to God? If there is, then go public with it. And so what we did was I was up there on stage. As a matter of fact, you know Julius. Julius made me get out when we were dancing. So all the warriors are there and they got all their spears and everybody's got all their stuff on, and they put one of those big things on me in a robe on me, and we're jumping out their spears in her hands and they're beating the drums and everybody's dancing and have lots of fun. And they introduced me along with the three pastors that were from the area and the head of the orphanage, and all four of us stood up there, and then we are in our speeches, gave glory to God that God made it possible that when brothers come together, great things can happen. And so then we started talking about peacemaking. We talked about how God changes us and He's been good and so we choose to be good to others. That was the conversation. So then we give glory to God. It was fine. So it wasn't wrong for me to be on stage, and it wasn't wrong for people to know. But for the next thirty years, if we hadn't taken down that plaque, people walk by and just go, man, that Jeff Forster must be a great guy, and nobody would have said glory to God, right right, Yeah. So another way to look at this version or these verses, excuse me, that's gracious, is to think about it as you could either have your rewards now or you could put them in your rewards savings account. Yes, and neither one's wrong. One just lasts forever, right, yeah, So I'd like to think of it as punting your rewards to your savings account. Yeah right, your eternal savings account. So yeah, you can choose to have everybody go oooh, that guy is great here, or you can have eternal rewards in heaven. So it's just a great frame of mind to think that I want to just pump them to my savings account. And if you're listening and you have a fanamily office and your family foundation gives money, and you're building a wing on a city rescue mission and you have your family you know, the Forster Family Foundation, whatever, there's nothing wrong with that. That's an advertising thing. It's a promotional thing. That's different than the intent of just getting personal credit. Right, So I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with you donating doing good deeds, just on a personal level versus your organization, your organization doing a thing. I think that's different. On a personal level, your intent needs to be give glory to God, not just to get glory for yourself. All right, Well, hey, that's our time, so hopefully we'll see tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,