• Galatians 6:2 (GOD’S WORD)
Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we are asking you to give one day’s income to help feed the world. Before we go any further I think we ought to ask if it is fair for any of us to be asked do that! I know that as your pastor I’ve encouraged you to come prepared today to give, but should we be the one’s to help feed the world? Maybe we should ask someone else to do it instead.
Let’s take a look in the mirror this morning and see if it is fair to ask us to give so much at one time. I mean can we really afford to do this?
In 2003 the US Census Bureau reported an increase in poverty among Americans; nearly 35,000,000 Americans live below the poverty level. What exactly does it mean to be poor? And how many of us might qualify as being poor? Perhaps when you see how much American poor have you will quickly realize that the poor in America are not so poor after all.
• 46% of all poor households own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor is a three bedroom house and with 1½ baths a garage and patio. (I for one am jealous of the garage.)
• 76% of poor households have air conditioning. (I’m jealous again.)
• Only 6% of poor households are overcrowded; more than 2/3 have more than two rooms per person. The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, and many other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are of average citizens in foreign countries and not those classified as poor.)
• Nearly ¾ of poor households own a car. 30% owned two or more cars.
• 97% of poor households have a color television; over one half have two or more color TVs. 78% have a VCR or DVD player. 62% have cable or satellite TV reception.
• 73% of poor households own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and 1/3 an automatic dishwasher.
• 89% of poor families report having “enough” food to eat, while only 2% say they “often” do not have enough to eat.
(THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION – January 5, 2004; http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm)
With a careful look in the mirror I’m sure that all of us are as well off or better than the average or person in America. I think it’s safe to say that all of us can afford to do something to help feed the truly poor in the world.
30,000 people die each and every day from hunger related issues. One writer described it as, “a tsunami, every ten days!” That is truly catastrophic! Who do you know in America that died of hunger?
The World Bank describes half the earth’s population as “poor”, living on less than $2 per day and half of them as “extremely poor”, living on less than $1 per day. That means three billion plus people struggling each and every day to eek out a living. And that number includes multiplied millions of children. UNICEF reports that more than half of the children in the developing world are severely deprived of one or more of the necessities essential to childhood:
• 640 million without adequate shelter
• 500 million with no access to sanitation
• 400 million with no access to safe drinking water
• 300 million lack any access to information
• 270 million with no health care services
• 140 million who have never been to school
• 90 million who are severely food-deprived
(Convoy of Hope – http://www.convoyofhope.org/go/church/one_day_to_feed_the_world)
When compared to the poor and hungry around the world all of us can afford to give one day to feed the world. But for the next few moments lets look beyond being able to afford it, and let’s explore why as Christians our hearts should be motivated to want to give to share with others.
We are COMPELLED BY COMPASSION to H. E. L. P.
• Galatians 6:2 (GOD’S WORD)
HELP carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.
We H. E. L. P.as we:
Heed the compassion command,
Empty self,
Lift the burden, and
Pay the price.
I. HEED the compassion command.
• Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
• Galatians 6:2 (The Living Bible)
Share each other’s troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord’s command.
1. This is not just the Apostle Paul’s personal view, opinion or a friendly suggestion. We are compelled by compassion by the command of Christ.
• Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . . Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
a) It’s not good enough to just love God. We are commanded to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
b) When we see someone in need we’re not supposed to just feel sorry for them; that’s just sympathy. We take the next step when we feel empathy for someone and try to feel what they feel; we make their pain our own. But sympathy and empathy are not enough. We are to be compelled by COMPASSION.
c) What is compassion? Dictionary.com defines compassion as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” Compassion goes beyond sympathy and even empathy. Compassion wants to do something to help the person who is suffering. Compassion feels the sorrow and then does something about it.
2. Jesus heeded the command of the Father and only did what the Father God wanted Him to do (see John 5:19). Jesus was compelled by compassion because it was the Father’s desire.
a) Jesus is our example of compassion, to be compelled to do something.
• Matthew 9:35-38 NIV
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
b) Notice, Jesus was not just feeling sorry for people. Jesus was doing something about it going from town to town preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and healing every disease and sickness. But think about this with me. What Jesus alone could do was not enough. When Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion upon them and then told his disciples to pray that the Father would send our more workers!
c) It’s as though Jesus tells His disciples, “I can’t do it alone.” Jesus instructed the disciples and us to ask the Father to send out workers who are compelled by compassion just like Jesus—servants of the Father ready to do something about the suffering that they see all around them.
3. HEED the command of compassion: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
a) Jesus was asked by an expert in the law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turned the tables on this religious lawyer and asked how he interpreted the law. He told Jesus that we must love God with all our hearts and then love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus told him that he had answered correctly. This man could be certain that if he would obey these two commandments he would receive eternal life.
b) I think the lawyer felt trapped by the law. Luke said this man wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, “WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?” Jesus answered by telling him the story of the Good Samaritan.
• Luke 10:30-35 NIV
30 . . . A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ’Look after him,’ he said, ’and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
c) This story shows us what it means to be compelled by compassion willing to step in and help others. We HELP as we Heed the command of compassion, but the only way we can begin to do that is to Empty self.
II. EMPTY self.
1. The prideful and self-centered leave no room in the heart for compassion.
a) The priest and the Levite had no room in their lives for the man who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead. They “PASSED BY ON THE OTHER SIDE.” While they both saw the man and his need they had their own agendas to keep. If they stopped to help they might get dirty and worse according to the law they might defile themselves if the man were already dead. They didn’t have time to get involved or offer any help. Besides it wasn’t their problem. Perhaps they would say a prayer for this poor soul as they continued on their journey.
b) Even good religious people can be too full of themselves and have no room in their hearts for compassion. Granted they may feel sympathy and even empathy for those in pain; they might even ease their consciences by offering up a prayer on behalf of those who suffer. But no compassion fills their heart because there is no desire that compels them to do something to alleviate the pain of those who suffer.
• James 1:27 TLB
The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord-not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.
c) We could paraphrase James this way, “The Christian who pleases God, is the one who sees the needs of others and makes room in their life to do something to meet their needs. Followers of Jesus are not to think only about themselves like everybody else does.”
2. The compassionate have emptied self to make room for others.
• Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
a) The Good Samaritan made room in his life to help meet the needs of others. He was not just thinking about himself and what he had to do. We too must in humility put the needs of others first.
b) Genuine humility is not thinking less of oneself. Such a self-imposed humbleness is really pride turned upside down because one’s focus is still self-centered. “I’M not good enough. I’M not strong enough. I could never do that. I’M not as smart or as good looking. I’M a nobody.” I, I, I, I, I—the focus is all on self, and any way you look at it that adds up to PRIDE!
c) Genuine humility puts the needs of others ahead of one’s self. Jesus is the perfect example of humility. He was God. He did not humble Himself by taking on a less than God attitude and belittle Himself in His thinking and the way He talked about Himself. Jesus remained fully God, but put our needs ahead of His comfort. Jesus emptied Himself. Jesus did not hold onto His rightful place in heaven, but He let go of the glory of being God and became a man, more than that Jesus became a servant and died upon the cross for our sins. Jesus humbled Himself putting our need ahead of His own interest and then did what only He could do to meet our need. We must follow Jesus’ example and empty ourselves so that we too can have a heart of compassion motivated to meet the needs of others.
3. Compelled by compassion to H.E.L.P. others as we HEED the compassion command, EMPTY self and third we:
III. LIFT the burden.
1. Compassions strong desire to relieve the suffering of others takes action. Compassion is ready to DO SOMETHING!
a) The Good Samaritan had compassion and took action to lift the burden of the man suffering along the side of the road. The Samaritan cleaned the man’s wounds and bandaged them; he lifted the man out of the ditch and put him on his donkey. The Samaritan took the man to a nearby Holiday Inn and stayed with him through the night carrying for his needs. The Good Samaritan did something to lifted the burden!
ILLUSTRATIOIN: Perhaps you have heard the story of the fifth-grade class at Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California. The fourteen boys in this class all had no hair; each had gone to the barber and had his head shaved. Only one of the boys, however, had no choice in the matter. Ian O’Gorman was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, and his hair was falling out, so he shaved his head. The other thirteen boys in Ian’s class knew about his sickness and that he would have to come to school without any hair.
Ten-year-old Taylor Herber wanted to do something to help his friend. He talked to the other boys, and before long they all trekked to the barbershop. "The last thing he would want is to not fit in," said Kyle. "We just wanted to make him feel better."
Ian’s father, Shawn, choked back tears as he talked about what the boys had done. He said simply, "It’s hard to put it into words."
(From Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul, 1996 by Jack Canfield)
b) These boys lived out Galatians 6:2 because they emptied themselves and did something to lift their friend’s burden.
2. What are the burdens that people need to have lifted off them?
a) A burden is any weight or pressure a person is forced to carry that exhausts the strength of the individual’s body, mind and spirit. Burdens grow heavier and heavier weakening the whole person until ultimately crushed under the weight of the burden they must carry.
b) Some of the burdens that crush our lives include:
The burden of work. Contrary to popular opinion our work is not a result of the curse of sin. Sin’s curse just made our labor harder and heavier to bear.
The burden of sickness and personal affliction. When I’m not feeling good, I’m a big baby and don’t want to do anything for myself. Pain and illness is something we would all like to do without.
The burden of relational conflict. Family issues between parents and children, adultery, divorce, back-biting and arguments, jealousy, resentment, anger, these are but a few of the things that will drive a wedge between relationships creating weights to heavy to bear.
The burden of loss. Sometimes life just isn’t fair and we find the rug pulled out from under our feet. Natural disasters can devastate our lives. An auto accident or house fire can happen without notice. The loss of a job brings insecurity. A thief steals what we have worked so hard for. The economy takes a downward turn and our life’s savings melts away.
The burden embarrassment or emotional pain. Low self-esteem crushes our spirit from the inside out. Thoughts of suicide and harming oneself flood our thoughts. Some of these are more than just self-inflicted pain, but are indications of demonic oppression that crushes the soul.
The burden guilt and sin weighs heavily upon us and separates us from God. Temptation weighs heavily upon us and we fear that there is no escape. The burden of sin is the heaviest of all burdens. No man can help to free us from it’s weight. But praise the Lord; we don’t have to carry our burdens with only human strength!
3. Jesus is our burden bearer. He lifts our burden!
• Psalms 68:19 NLT
Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms.
a) We are never alone! Cry out to Jesus. God lifts our burdens.
ILLUSTRATION: Most of us are probably familiar with the story of footprints. A man has a dream and sees his life as two sets of footprints in the sand, but notices that when ever he goes through seasons of hardship and pain instead of two sets of footprints there is only one. He asked the Lord, “Why did you leave me alone and all by myself when crisis and trouble came into my life?” The Lord answered him saying, “Child it was then that I carried you.”
Another version of the story includes yet another question about the footprints in the sand. “Lord, I understand that when there is but one set of footprints you carried me, but what is the meaning of the footprints that are all mixed up going to and fro turning in every direction? Was I lost or running in fear?” The Father answered again, “No my child, you were never out of my sight. It was then that we danced!”
b) God not only will lift our burdens, but will also fill our hearts with joy! Released from the weight that pulled us down WE ARE FREE TO DANCE!
• Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
c) Jesus not only lifts our burden and gives rest to our weary soul, but Jesus also replaces our burden with a burden that is light! Jesus fits us with a yoke and joins Himself to us. His strength becomes our strength. He equips us to go to others and lift their burdens off them before they are crushed under its weight. As we carry one another’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ we discover that the burdens with lift as the hands of Jesus are light. We don’t lift them in our strength, but in the strength of the Lord who is yoked to our side.
4. Compelled by compassion to H.E.L.P. others as we HEED the compassion command, EMPTY self, LIFT burdens and finally we:
IV. PAY the price.
1. Compassion will cost us something.
a) The Good Samaritan was willing to pay the price. Not only did the Samaritan pay the price of the time that it took to care for the needs of the man left for dead along the road, but he also paid the price financially giving the innkeeper the money to care for the injured man, and promising to pay any other costs necessary to restore the man to health. Remember also that the Good Samaritan was willing to pay the price without any expectation of ever being repaid! No agreement was entered into obligating the Jewish man to repay the Samaritan once he got back on his feet. The Samaritan’s willingness to pay the price without any expectation of repayment is underscored when you remember that the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. They were like modern day Jews and Palestinians, or blacks in the south and the white hooded KKK members. They didn’t get along with each other!
b) We too must be willing to pay the price! To give of our time, our strength, our emotions, and to even give of our money to help lift the burdens of life off of those who are oppressed.
2. Let’s follow the example of Jesus and pay the price!
• 1 John 3:16-19 NIV
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
a) Jesus paid the greatest price. He laid down His life and died a criminal’s death brutally executed on a cross. Jesus paid the price with all that He could give—HIS VERY LIFE.
b) If we see others in need and have no compassion, no motivation to do anything to relieve their suffering when it is in our power to help, HOW CAN THE LOVE OF CHRIST BE IN US? Actions really do speak louder than words.
c) Convoy of Hope does not just tell people that Jesus loves them. Convoy of Hope is compelled by compassion to show them the love of Jesus by meeting their needs. Providing food and water opens the way to share with people about the love of Jesus. In the last few years over 7 million people have been helped around the world in 70 different nations by the efforts of Convoy of Hope. These people have been helped with over 45 million dollars worth of food and supplies; that’s 741 containers or 11,000 tons (22 million) pounds! But more importantly through the combined efforts of Convoy of Hope and some 160,000 volunteers, over 200,000 people have made a commitment to Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and savior.
3. One Day to Feed the World.
a) Compelled by Compassion to H.E.L.P. We help as we HEED the compassion command, EMPTY self, LIFT the burden, and PAY the price.
b) We have the opportunity today to do something. We all can only live one day at a time. None of us can relive yesterday. We cannot live tomorrow. We can only live for today. We exchange our lives at work for money; every dollar we earn represents time that we have lived. This morning we can commit one day’s pay as an offering above our tithe to help feed people around the world. As we partner with Convoy of Hope we can take one day’s wage and multiply it to be the equivalence of giving a week or more of our income.
• Proverbs 19:17 NIV
He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and He will reward him for what he has done.
CONCLUDE with offering video and ONE DAY TO FEED THE WORLD offering.
