Principles of mercy

There are four principles of mercy that I will give you that are helpful to think about as we consider those that are in need of mercy, but not financial or material mercy.

The first is that all people at times will hide because they fear being rejected. There is a sense in which those that apparently have it all together, or those that do not have so-called needs, may be those that are needing encouragement the most. Because the ministry of the church obviously and naturally turns to those that have obvious needs, but the church rarely takes time to discern those less obvious needs – the ones that are hiding under hearts that need to be overturned and tilled. I think as a pastor that is something that is even an admonishment to myself, as I think about the amount of time that is used encouraging those that obviously need encouragement versus the hard work of tilling the heart to find where encouragement is needed. And that is true in the diaconate as well.

When the Covenanters came out West to Michigan, they found miles and miles of forest. They had to start with taking out trees and stumping before they could even do the work of planting. If two fields are put before you – a field of trees and a field tilled – you automatically go for the tilled. But the encouragement to those that are apparently well says that you need to till the heart. And that takes the diaconate and session working closely together to ask that question, What are the needs? And the needs are not always obvious.

Secondly, encouragement occurs when we help out of love, not out of fear. It is possible for us to be people that minister out of fear. That is true in the life of the church – in the session, as well as in the diaconate, as well as in our individual lives. But we are called out of love to seek the ways that we can show the mercy of Jesus Christ to those that are apparently well. And we have to not have the fear of offending or the fear of maybe upsetting. Sometimes churches can be directed by the fear of those that write the cheques. We need to not do that. But do that tilling of the heart. How can I show you mercy? How can Jesus Christ be shown to you? How can I encourage you?

Thirdly, encouragement occurs when we speak without rejecting. Real encouragement seeks to expose and to speak of sinful fears. And we must speak encouragement with warmth and with biblical comfort. Encouragement is for the sake of the spiritual health of those that even are apparently well. And part of mercy says that we seek out those ways that we can encourage those that seem to not have earthly needs. How are they in need of encouragement? This type of mercy can be done through visiting the elderly. It can be done by going and visiting the lonely. As I think about Acts 6:1–15, I wonder how much of the infighting between the groups of widows was actually emotional and not just hunger. A component in the ministry of mercy is asking, How can we discern what those needs are? This group of people may not need the financial help of the church, but coming with biblical warmth and coming with applications flowing from the gospel could have great benefits within the kingdom of God.

The fourth principle is that encouragement is often non-verbal. There are times when our presence is encouragement. The visit in itself is encouragement. Weeping with those who weep and mourning with those who mourn are ways to come alongside of and to show the mercy of Jesus Christ.¹

Nathan Eshelman