He will quiet you by His love

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Lord, have mercy on me

David Pawson, Cornerstone Community Church (11 Oct 2014)
 
Sermon passage - Matthew 20
Labourers in the vineyard

Jesus's parable is about how the Kingdom of Heaven operates on earth.

Key question: Was the vineyard owner less than fair or more than fair?

A lot of people go through life complaining and grumbling about injustice. "Life is not fair!" For us, it is about what we deserve, what is due to us, what we should get and so on.

But God never promised us that life would be fair.

Back to the key question thrown up by the parable:

The vineyard owner was more than fair in this instance because the first group got what they deserved but the latter group got his mercy.

From this parable, we get the difference between earth and the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Earth operates by merit
The Kingdom of Heaven is about mercy.

"If we got what we deserve, I would not be here preaching to you, and there would be no one listening too." - David Pawson

The world is all too keen to place justice and mercy as polar opposites but both of them operate together. They travel along the same road but mercy goes farther down the path to give us what we do not deserve.

At the end, God will give everyone what we deserve. His justice.

Who then will get God's mercy?

Mercy is extended as a choice of the giver. There are three keys to receiving God's mercy.

1. God extends mercy to those who ask for it. Some people don't ask because they don't feel bad enough. Luke 18:9-14
Ask and you shall receive

Pawson shared about a US army chaplain who ministered to the Nazi criminals at Nuremberg. He didn't provide this Daily Mail link but the account of how the chaplain ministered to the Nazis is worth a read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577470/The-chaplain-Missouri-tried-save-black-souls-Nazis-Nuremberg-Untold-story-pastor-told-Goering-Jesus-just-smart-Jew-moments-swallowed-cyanide-pill-escape-gallows.html

2. We receive God's mercy by passing it on. Like electricity, mercy needs a contact point to flow in and out.
Matthew 18:23-35
Pawson spoke of how an elderly lady came to him for healing. He asked her if there was anyone she needed to forgive, and she said she would never forgive her husband. So he told her that he will not pray for her healing. Pawson noted to us that forgiveness unblocks the healing power of God. In contrast, resentment and bitterness block the healing power of God and stop the mercy of God from flowing in.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy.

3. God shows His mercy to those who do not take advantage of His mercy, that is, those who exploit His grace.
Pawson told this analogy:
A bystander saw this guy at the beach walk into the sea and then struggle in the water. So he took off his clothes and shoes and went to rescue the guy. When the guy made it to shore, he turned to the bystander and thanked him. After that, he walked back into the sea again. The bystander who had already worn his clothes took them off again and rescued the guy again. The guy thanked him and then walked back into the sea. Pawson asked the audience, "How many times should we rescue him? Seventy times seven?"
The man enjoys being saved but doesn't want to be saved.

If we truly repent, God gladly forgives.

Pawson asked: How many of us wake up every morning and ask for God's mercy instead of asking for His blessing, His healing, His favour and so on?

I Am the People, the Mob - Carl Sandburg (from Chicago Poems, 1916)

I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass.
Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?
I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes.
I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.
I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me. I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted. I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and makes me work and give up what I have. And I forget.
Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then—I forget.
When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer forget who robbed me last year, who played me for a fool—then there will be no speaker in all the world say the name: “The People,” with any fleck of a sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.
The mob—the crowd—the mass—will arrive then.