Sermon Recap | 09/27/2026
Date: September 27, 2026
Speaker: Pastor John Hardie
Sermon Series: What a Kingdom, What a King
Sermon Title: Mercy — This Is Messy
Scripture: Luke 5–7
Message Summary
As Jesus moves publicly through Luke’s Gospel, the Kingdom of God begins disrupting expectations. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, calls the tax collector Levi and then eats with people considered sinners, and receives the extravagant devotion of a woman whose presence makes a Pharisee deeply uncomfortable. In each encounter, Jesus extends mercy—and mercy makes things messy. His actions challenge religious assumptions about who deserves forgiveness, who belongs at the table, and who can receive a new beginning.
At the heart of these encounters are mercy and grace—attributes of God that enable our salvation. Mercy is life-saving forgiveness: because of God’s mercy, we do not receive what our sin deserves. Grace is God’s favor beyond what we deserve: through grace, we receive a restored relationship with God that our own goodness could never earn. Jesus demonstrates both as He meets sinners not with indifference toward their sin, but with forgiveness, restoration, and an invitation into a new life.
This mercy is not something Jesus invented in contrast to the God of the Old Testament. When God reveals Himself to Moses, He declares Himself compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness—while remaining just. Jesus reveals the fullness of God’s mercy. Wherever His Kingdom breaks in, mercy can disrupt the established order, challenge our self-righteousness, and offer new beginnings to people we may have already written off.
Quote of the Week
“Mercy creates some disorder, breaks rank, isn't just. But in an important way, that's just what we need. A new order. Wherever God's kingdom is breaking in, we want to be there no matter how messy or how disruptive.”
— Pastor John Hardie
Key Lessons
1. Wherever Jesus is at work, things can get messy as the new Kingdom order breaks in and takes hold.
The mercy of Jesus disrupts old assumptions and established boundaries as God’s Kingdom creates something new.
2. God’s mercy allows a person to become someone he cannot make of himself—someone who desperately needed a fresh moral start, and who was given it from above.
Mercy does more than overlook the past; through Christ, it opens the way to a genuinely new beginning.
3. With Jesus, God does not suddenly become merciful. He reveals the fullness of His mercy. He shows His face.
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” In Jesus, we see the mercy and compassion that have always been at the heart of God’s character.
4. Sin is indeed a problem, but it is worse when you look down on other people’s sin more than your own.
Pretentiousness—pretending you’re better than you really are—is a particularly sticky kind of sin. We may fool others, or even ourselves, but we cannot fool Jesus.
5. Never fret over justice and righteousness: God is just, and He will judge in His time.
We can trust God’s justice without withholding mercy from others.
Reflection Questions
Where might Jesus be challenging my expectations about who deserves mercy, forgiveness, or a fresh start?
Do I truly recognize my own need for God’s mercy and grace, or am I more aware of the sins and failures of others?
Is there someone I have effectively written off whom God may be calling me to view through the lens of His mercy?
What would it look like for me to “make room for the messiness of mercy” in my life, relationships, and church this week?
Prayer Focus
Lord, thank You for being a God of mercy and grace. We confess that we need both more deeply than we often realize. Keep us from looking down upon the sins of others while overlooking our own need for forgiveness. Teach us to trust Your justice while freely extending mercy. Give us courage to welcome the new beginnings Your Kingdom creates, even when they disrupt our expectations or become messy. Make us a people who have received much mercy and therefore show much mercy to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
