The Pursuit of the Call: Extending Mercy Where There Is No Grace By Nicole Webb

I'm at a crossroads, family.

Last time we gathered here, we talked about the weight of the call–loving people. We talked about the charge set upon all Believers to go forth, witness and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost and the broken–people.

We talked about the gravity of that charge and also the importance of that charge.

But I've found since our last time together that there's an extension to that charge–a requirement of the call that sometimes feels beyond my understanding, beyond my human ability, and beyond my desire. 

That requirement: extending mercy where there is no grace.

Over the last few weeks, there has been a deeper desire of me to be a display of GOD's infectious and unrelenting love for people with no condition. There has been a charge unlike before to extend mercy and compassion toward those who strike even with ill will and intent.

And I'll be honest, family: I haven't succeeded without shame.

I haven't succeeded in fulfilling this charge without having to take a look at my own self, without having to reveal the times when I have been unworthy of mercy–times when I wasn't so gracious.

There have been times in my life where there was no presence, no residue, no evidence of grace to be found. 

I have been unlovable.
I have been unworthy of forgiveness.
I have been unredeemable.

There have been plenty of others–hundreds in fact–that've seemed way more gracious and worthy of extending mercy to than me. But GOD thought otherwise; He didn't count me out.

There are two parables Jesus used during His ministry here on earth that demonstrate how GOD has innately extended mercy where there seemed to be no grace.

In Matthew 18:10-14, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. If you know anything about shepherds, you know that if one of their sheep gets away, they do what they can to obtain the sheep and get it back among the rest of its flock. Sometimes they go great lengths to obtain that wandering sheep. The scripture says in verse 13, "And if he finds [the wandering sheep], amen I tell you, [the shepherd] rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't stray." Jesus goes on to explain that the parable of the shepherd and the wandering sheep mirrors GOD's relentless pursuit of us–"For the Son of Man has come to save those who are lost...it's not the will of [our] Father in heaven that one of [you] should be lost."

Another parable that explains this is the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. A young man belonged to a father who had great wealth. The young man demanded that his father give him the part of his father's property that belonged to him; he wanted the wealth of his inheritance of his father's land immediately. The father obliged–dividing the land between his young son and his eldest son. Eventually, the young son sold off his inheritance and moved out; he went to wander the world, while the eldest son stayed home. The young son is out of his father's house and thinks he's living the dream until a famine hits the land where he eventually settles. He ends up working as a pig feeder; he went from living in a wealthy place in his father's house–where he lacked nothing–to living in the countryside as a pig feeder. He finally comes to his senses and decides that he's going to HUMBLE himself and return home–in hopes that his father will receive him even if he's only allowed to stay in his father's house as a hired worker.

But instead...his father welcomes him with open arms, celebrates his return and reinstates him back into the family. The parable closes with the father scolding the older brother, who expresses a bit of animosity toward his younger brother. The father says, "But it [is] right to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead but has come back to life! He was lost, [and now] is found"(Luke 15:32).

The sole purpose of Christ's life was reconciliation–a restoration of a broken relationship between GOD and His lost children; a father wanting to be back in relationship with His children who had wandered astray. And no matter how far they wandered off, no matter how prodigal they were, the Father was willing to leave His holy post, willing to leave His kingdom, willing to leave the comfort of His home to bring His child back home.

GOD is the Father and we–before salvation and reconciliation–were the prodigal wandering child. We were that one wandering sheep who GOD left the 99 sheep to go find and bring back. We were the one He left His holy post for in heaven to reach and find here on earth. 

And if you're anything like me, GOD found you in a place were there was no evidence of grace. The word grace means "elegance" or "poise." 

Think about the last thing you lost–maybe a family heirloom or jewelry. For the sake of this conversation, let's use jewelry–a precious and elegant personal ornament.

So, you lost your jewelry and you're really determined to find it. When you go looking for it, upon the end of your pursuit for your jewelry, your hope is that 1.) you find that missing jewelry that you've been looking for, and that 2.) you find it with the same elegance, poise, same grace you last saw it with. But even if you find it lacking that grace, for many of us, if the jewelry has any value to us, we are willing to go great lengths to fix up that jewelry–even spend extraneous amounts of money–to restore the jewelry back to its precious state.

It's the same with GOD and His children; He'll go great and extraneous lengths to restore us and prove there there is evidence of grace.

And as His disciples, His pursuit of the lost–which is a part of the call–is, too, on us. We are called to prove that there is evidence of grace among those GOD has called us to pursue–the lost.

The same expectation GOD had of Christ to extend mercy where there was no grace is the same expectation GOD has of us.

But what does that look like in reality?

It looks like going beyond the four walls of our edifice, beyond our comfort, beyond our current post, and going out into the world–finding the prodigals who we once were. It looks like us. We as GOD's redeemed one are the evidence of grace; our redemption is the evidence of grace. Extending mercy where there is no grace looks like us going great lengths for the ones GOD has assigned to us. We are the evidence.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." In context when it comes to the pursuit of the call, GOD's grace is made evident in His redemptive work in us; for it was in our weakness that His power was revealed. It was in our lowest that He was at His highest, yet He came to our low to bring us up with Him. It was in our desert that He came as the well of living water. It was in our least gracious of moments when GOD extended us mercy.

So, we have no excuse.

In the times we're in, GOD is calling on His disciples to be keen like never before–sensitive like never before. The world is so in need of Jesus; people are hopeless and looking for something to suffice. People are dying and looking for something to revive them. They are wandering and waiting to be found.

We are to go find them. GOD never leaves the one behind.

The command is simple; the charge is clear as it is written in Luke 6:36, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Now go forth, family; and extend mercy...even when the evidence of grace seems as if it is not so evident. You be the evidence of grace on the scene.

Praying with you always,
Nic.