Mercy, Not Sacrifice - Illume in a Certain Light (Focus 1 of 4)

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever traded or exchanged? How did it work out?

See what this Spotlight—and series— is focused on.
Tap on the words "Focus 1" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.

Let's talk about lighting a match.
Listen to this clip when you’re ready to begin today’s Spotlight.

(And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)

Illume's logo has a match in it—did you know?



Learn why there are three distinct parts to the logo:

1. Worship - The matchstick (the vertical line) represents you, but all by yourself. A matchstick needs something to happen for it to become what it was truly meant to be. That's how Illume thinks of worship. In worship, you don't offer God anything—he offers you everything you need to be what he made you to be. 
2. Learn - The flame is what happens when God is making you something different than you once were—empowering you and pushing you beyond yourself as you learn to be proof of the light in a dark world. 
3. Serve - The halo (the circle) is what goes out from you to those around you as you, empowered by God and growing in his love, serve in your unique ways. 

This icon represents discipleship; that is, what Jesus means when he says to someone, "Come, follow me." 

Welcome Perspective
KENT WE NEED THIS

Read these words from Micah 6:6–8 together. (After you've read them, click on the word "mercy.")

Take special note of the idea that God desires "mercy, not sacrifice" is embedded in these verses, before moving on to the next section of the Spotlight. Jesus has them and—even more explicitly—Hosea 6:6 in mind when he says these words during his ministry. (More on that later.)

Listen to (and worship with) this song.
After pressing play to start the song, “May You Find a Light,” be comforted by the idea that God walks with all travelers. “Walk humbly with the Lord.”

Notice Jesus’ mercy as he calls his disciple Matthew.

Select a group member to read through Matthew 9:9–13 (NIV)—aloud—to set the stage.

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Then pray the following prayer together, having one group member read each paragraph.


Jesus, we bow in wonder at the expanse of your embrace
the breadth of your inclusion
the surprise of your grace

You seek and seek and seek
Including those we write off as beyond hope
the outcasts
the public sinners
the self-serving
those who collaborate with evil and oppression…

Why are we surprised?
You desire mercy not sacrifice
You are the Great Physician
coming to those most in need of healing

Forgive us
Forgive us for forgetting who you are
Forgive us for forgetting our own sin
and isolation
and collaboration
Forgive us for judging
Forgive our self-righteousness
Forgive us for limiting you
when we are so desperately in need of you
We are “those most in need” as well

Create in us clean hearts and renew your Holy Spirit within us

Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy on us all
Amen

(A prayer of confession based on the call of Matthew © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia)

Worship Perspective
KENT NEEDS THIS

Experience this interactive presentation in responding to mercy.

Define "mercy, not sacrifice." 
All this leads back to this phrase in the story of the call of Matthew, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."


As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Apply it to the following situations to come to a definition of this phrase…

1. The company you work for espouses a set of values that have little to do with the company's actual work and are more about the company leadership's desire to be part of a cultural conversation. Those values aren't your values, and you'd be compromising yourself ethically to give full-throated affirmation of them. What would it look like to continue to be a good worker at the company and "desire mercy, not sacrifice"?
2. What would it look like to leave the company because you're ethically uncomfortable, but to do so in a way that clearly proclaims you "desire mercy, not sacrifice" because you have a God who does not "come to call the righteous, but sinners"?
3. A friend is telling a story about a sexual exploit of some kind—one they don't regret but actually feel pretty good about. What does it look like to be their friend and, while doing so, "desire mercy, not sacrifice." 
4. You have a Christian friend who says portions of the Bible are wrong and inaccurate. You believe the Bible is God's Word and all of it needs to be treated as truth. What does it look like to interact with that friend in a way that desires "mercy, not sacrifice" to keep peace and harmony between you? 
5. You've poured so much time and attention into the business and management of your church's ministry that you realize there are many instances in which you've forgotten about the people—the sick who are part of the church and who aren't yet part of it. Moreover, you're realizing that one of the core reasons you choose the business/management/vision side of ministry over people is that you feel "good ministry" is ministry that accomplishes a measurable number of things and "bad ministry" is defined by failing to reach a measurable. What would it look like to change your perspective on ministry so that you and your church were like Jesus, desiring "mercy, not sacrifice" to be the work of the body of Christ? 

Learn Perspective
KENT NEEDS THIS

Turn your attention toward this neighborhood through the Giving Room.
 
Watch this video to start turning your attention.

At the ground level, desiring mercy means showing mercy. (In fact, many churches have tried to reflect this by calling community service "mercy ministry".) Illume has a partnership with a local food bank called the Giving Room, housed at Epic Life church.

Over this series, you'll have a chance to get to know the Giving Room and its leaders. Since this series is about seeing Illume in a Certain Light, we wanted to give attention in the serve section of the Spotlights to something outside Illume—to avoid getting too "curved inward"—but to choose an organization that is close by and part of the neighborhood (and one that wants to be connected to the people of this church) to see things from their perspective.

Check out the "VOLUNTEER" button on the Giving Room website to see what kinds of volunteer needs they have. Make sure you can answer the following questions:

1. What days need drivers? 
2. Which two grocery stores are listed as places that donate food? 
3. What color sharpie is in one of the pictures? 
4. How many boxes of food do drivers need to be able to fit in their vehicles?

Feel free to submit a prayer request by filling out the below form.
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)

Pray through your requests—together—as a group.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.

Listen to this song and bask in God's mercy.

Let's wrap things up by taking a look at what's Current at Illume.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.