Community Group Questions
Read Matthew 5:7
Getting Started
What comes to mind when you hear the word "mercy"? How is mercy different from simply being nice or overlooking someone's wrong?
Why can it be so difficult to extend mercy to someone who has hurt, disappointed, or offended me? What does my resistance reveal about my heart?
Other Passages to Look at
3. Read Luke 18:9–14. What does the tax collector understand about himself that the Pharisee does not? How does receiving mercy change the way we see ourselves and others?
4. Read Ephesians 2:1–10. What does Paul say God has done for us because of his great mercy? How does remembering the mercy we have received shape the way we respond to others?
Practical Implications
(Re)Orientation
5. How does Jesus statement about mercy reshape your understanding of what it means to live as a citizen of his kingdom? How does the mercy Jesus has shown us challenge that way of thinking? What does it reveal about the kind of King Jesus is?
Inspection
6. Are there people in your life you find it difficult to be merciful toward? When someone disappoints me, or keeps making the same choices that hurt me, what am I tempted to hold against them? How might my response reveal how I have forgotten my own need for mercy?
Invitation
7. Jesus says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." How does the mercy of God toward us become the foundation—not the reward—for becoming people who show mercy to others?
Prayer focus: Jesus, help me remember how deeply I have been shown mercy, so that the mercy I have received from you can overflow toward others.