Outline of the Sermon I Gave Today- “Openhearted Mercy”

Openhearted Mercy

 

How have you experienced Jesus’s openhearted compassion and acceptance in your life?

There are four main ways in which Jesus’s openhearted mercy has manifested itself in my life.

I.                    Jesus’s consoling compassion

A.    I regularly approach God in prayer and meditation

1.      I feel that Jesus is always there with a warm embrace for me

2.      During my Christian meditation- I let go of my on-going stream of consciousness and thought and I just rest peacefully in Jesus’s presence

B.     I come up to First Baptist regularly to pray alone in the sanctuary

1.      I feel enveloped by an immense calm and peace there

2.      It is reassuring, calming and healing

3.      I feel God’s presence welcoming me there with open arms

II.                 Love

A.    This type of readily available consolation helps me feel loved

B.     Knowing that Jesus accepts me encourages me to show this love to others

1.      I try to do that within my own circle of friends

2.      I do it through activism for the communities that I’m a part of

a.      Transgender

b.      LGBT

c.       Mental Health

d.     The poor

C.     I have written and published several books on these topics and I regularly write letters to the editor trying to stick up for my communities

D.    Jesus loved and accepted tax collectors, common thieves, Roman Soldiers, prostitutes, lepers, and everyday men, women and children

E.     About the only people that He had no use for were the self-righteous religious elite of His day (the Scribes and Pharisees)

1.      Sadly, we have our own modern-day equivalents of the Scribes and Pharisees

 

 

 

III.              Faith

A.    I find it very inviting and reassuring to follow Jesus, because of His open-armed embrace of anyone who sincerely wants to follow Him

B.     Matthew 11: 4-5

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report back to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

C.     This passage readily illustrates Jesus’s compassion

1.      Lepers at this time were widely shunned by everyone and were forced to live separate lives in their own leper colonies and yet Jesus embraced them

D.    It is much easier to believe in someone who believes in you

E.     I have found it to be very humbling and empowering during the course of my lifetime when people that I have respected have showed faith in me

F.      My friend, Debbie’s, confidence in me

G.    I believe that Jesus does that for me and that He offers that vote of confidence to each one of us

IV.              Hope

A.    Luke 23: 39-43

39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”

40But the other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God,” he said “Since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

B.     Jesus offers us the ultimate hope of everlasting life with Him in paradise

C.     He freely offers that hope of salvation to anyone who would take up their cross and follow Him

D.    We don’t have to earn this love, we just have the opportunity to accept this non-discriminatory grace

E.     Even someone such as me is included in this open offer of salvation

 

V.                Conclusion:

I feel very fortunate to be a part of this church, but I often feel under the judgment of many people in the mainstream who have stereotyped me and as well as my brothers and sisters in the LGBT community, the transgender community, the mental health community and my fellow community members who live in poverty or near-poverty conditions.  In paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words from years ago: (we would just ask to be) “judged by the content of our character”.   So, I hope that we can all rise to the example that Jesus set out for us in love.  Jesus charged us to minister to and to care for people of all walks of life and to spread the good news of the Gospel to all creatures.

 

VI.              Some questions to consider:

 

Have you noticed this openhearted mercy at work in your life or in the lives around you?  What are some examples?

 

Has Jesus’s accepting compassion lit a fire of mercy in your own heart?

 

What have you been led to do out of a sense of this love in the past?

 

What might you be led to do in the future on Jesus’s behalf?