Feb. 3, 2020
Both mercy and enabling are costly, painful, and messy, and both include giving people multiple chances—but they are NOT the same. Enabling helps people stay trapped and enslaved in an attempt to make ourselves look good, and mercy frees and empowers people by connecting them with God Himself.
Series: Moral Boundaries: What God Wants
Speaker: John Pryor
Notes:
Mercy strategically provides time and space. Enabling ignores or justifies sin, adapting and planning in ways that help others stay trapped and enslaved. Mercy offers hope and freedom as well as patience.
Psalm 85, Lamentations 3:22-23, Matthew 5:7 & 6:14-15, Matthew 24:14, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Peter 3:19-22
Mercy provides practical tools and a new start. Enablers generously and creatively help others sustain bad habits and avoid punishment for their actions. The Merciful pour their generosity and creativity into setting others free.
Exodus 24:4-7, Psalm 19, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 10:25-37, Joshua 20
Mercy provides hope and tangible goals. Enabling gives up, accepting the pain and messiness of sin as inescapable or even part of God's design. Mercy refuses to accept chains as normal and sacrifices to destroy them.
Psalm 18:25-36, Jude 20-25, James 1:2-15, Matthew 18
Lord, I will…
