True Values: Compassion
Text: Matt. 9:35-38
Introduction
1. Illustration: In the summer of 1982, I spent the summer in Europe working with a group called Youth With a Mission. Most of my time was spent in Amsterdam, Holland. Now, Amsterdam is notorious for being the drug dealing capital of the world, as well as a hotbed for sex trade (prostitutes, sex shops ect.). When I first got there it drove me insane. It was nasty, dirty and sinful. After a day or so in the city, we went to a farm that was several hours away from Amsterdam for training, and I told the Lord, "don’t ever send me back there!" At the end of the training period, we were split up into three teams; one went to France, one went to Germany, and one went back to Amsterdam. Guess which one I was on? That’s right, I was back in Amsterdam, but this time it was different. God had changed my heart towards the people of Amsterdam. This transformation took place after I saw a poster that contained Matthew 9:36 (NLT) "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." The Lord had allowed me to see these people through his eyes.
2. Jesus displayed compassion more than anyone that has ever lived, and as His people, we should display His compassion for lost and hurting people.
3. The word that is translated compassion refers to "the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else" (R. Bultmann, TDNT II 477).
a. Outside of a few references in Jesus parables, anytime that compassion is mentioned in the Gospels it is associated with Jesus.
b. Aside from love, compassion is Jesus most defining characteristic.
4. For us to pursue the compassion of Jesus in our lives involves:
a. Outreach
b. Discernment
c. Willingness to Help
5. Read Matt. 9:35-38
Proposition: We should be driven by compassion because Jesus was driven by it.
Transition: From Jesus life we see...
I. Compassion Involves Outreach (35)
A. Jesus Traveled
1. The motivation for Jesus ministry on earth was His compassion for hurting people.
a. His compassion for hurting people caused Him to act to relieve their suffering.
b. Matthew 14:14 (NLT)
Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
c. Not only did He have compassion on those who came to Him, but he also went looking for those who needed Him.
2. One of the most striking things about v. 35 is "Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area..."
a. He didn’t merely sit around and wait for people to come to Him, but He went looking for people that needed Him.
b. He knew that there would be people that for one reason or another could not or would not come to Him, so He sought after them.
c. He traveled to the towns and villages, mostly on foot, because His compassion drove Him to do so.
d. Too many in the church today have a "Field of Dreams" mentality to ministry: "if you build it, they will come."
e. We cannot not always wait for people to come to us, but we have to be willing to take the message of Jesus’ love to them.
f. Notice also that Jesus didn’t just go to the big cities, but to the towns and villages; anywhere there were those who needed Him.
3. Furthermore, He went where they were, "teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom."
a. Jesus taught, as did Paul, in the synagogues because they were the educational and community centers of the day (Keener, IVP NT Commentary: Matthew, 100).
b. They didn’t have internet, cable, or DVDs. Their source of information, and community involvement came from the synagogue.
c. Jesus went their to teach because He knew that is where the people would be.
d. Again, it’s not about people coming to us; we have to be willing to go to them.
e. Acts 10:38 (NLT)
And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
4. Another thing that we should pay attention to in this verse is "he healed every kind of disease and illness."
a. He didn’t just preach and teach to them, but He met their needs.
b. It is hard for someone to hear the message of the gospel when their stomach is empty, or they are cold and have no place to live, or they are hurting.
c. Moreover, notice that Jesus healed "every kind of disease and illness."
d. Spiritual and emotional pain is every bit a real and painful as physical pain.
e. "Jesus cared about people in their totality and was concerned for their pressing needs" (Keener, 101).
B. Reaching Needs
1. Illustration: Peter Ustinov said, “Charity is more common than compassion. Charity is tax-deductible. Compassion is time consuming.”
2. Outreach needs to be the driving force of every church.
a. We cannot sit back and expect people to come to us; we have to go to them.
b. Mark 16:15 (NLT)
“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
c. If we are not reaching out to our community we are nothing more than a social club.
3. Outreach needs to be fueled by compassion.
a. If we do outreach so that we have more people in church or because the offering will be larger then we are doing it for the wrong reasons.
b. Outreach needs to be our driving force, but it has to be fueled by the fact that we care about people.
c. If we do not have compassion for those who do not know Christ then our outreach is pointless.
4. Outreach needs to focus on every need.
a. We need to meet people’s spiritual needs.
b. We need to meet people’s physical needs.
c. James 2:15-16 (NLT)
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
d. We need to meet people’s emotional needs.
Transition: Furthermore...
II. Compassion Involves Discernment (36)
A. When He Saw the Crowds
1. When dealing with compassion towards people, we need to insert a word of caution which says that it is not just blind emotion.
a. Let me refer back to our definition of compassion which says it is "the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else."
b. There is a difference between having affliction thrust upon you and asking for it.
c. We need to be discerning and know the difference.
2. In v. 36, Matthew tells us "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
a. In cases like this, Jesus looked at them and saw a genuine need.
b. He saw that they were confused and helpless because of poor spiritual leadership.
c. Whenever this happens God steps in and becomes a shepherd to His people.
d. Ezekiel 34:11-12 (NLT)
“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day."
e. Jesus discerned that they had a need, and His compassion motivated Him to meet that need.
3. However, there were times when Jesus discerned something else.
a. Luke 9:59-62 (NLT)
He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.” Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
b. There were times when Jesus questioned peoples motivation, attitudes, and habits.
c. He knew that to simply hand them whatever they wanted was not the best way to help them.
B. Being Wise
1. Illustration: "The supreme end of education is expert discernment in all things the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit."
2. Matthew 10:16 (NLT)
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
3. In our compassion, we must be wise.
a. The majority of people who ask for help are sincere, honest folks that just need a little assistance to get over the hump.
b. However, there are those people who have learned to play the system and have become dependent upon it.
c. We need to be wise enough to discern the difference.
4. In our compassion, we must give a hand up and not a hand out.
a. If we increase people’s dependence on the system, we are not doing them a favor.
b. Our goal should be to help them get better and not get by.
c. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach him to fish and you feed him for a life time.
5. In our compassion, we must be discerning and not judgmental.
a. This is not a call to judge anyone because Scripture clearly warns us against such behavior.
b. On the other hand, we are called to be good stewards of the resources at our disposal.
c. In my mind, this is the beauty of our Angel Food Ministry.
Transition: We must also see that...
III. Compassion Involves Helping (37-38)
A. Send More Workers
1. Jesus tells His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few."
a. The same word that Jesus uses here for "workers" is the same word that He uses in 10:10.
b. Matthew 10:10 (NLT)
Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed.
c. The idea here is that Jesus expects His own disciples to be the ones who go and bring in the harvest (Keener, 197).
2. Jesus intends for His own disciples to have the same heart of compassion that He does.
a. Luke 19:10 (NLT)
For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
b. You see, when the harvest is ready, the farmer doesn’t go stand in the barn and tell the wheat or corn "come on in!" Rather, he goes out to the field, gathers the crops, and brings them in.
c. If we are truly Jesus disciples, then we need to go out and compel people to come to Jesus because we have the same heart of compassion for them that He does.
3. Not only does Jesus expect us to go into the harvest fields, but He expects us to pray others to join us in His work of compassion. He said, "So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
a. Not every Christian will be called to go into foreign lands to bring in the harvest, but they are all called to pray and ask the Lord to send out more workers (Keener, 198).
b. Jesus indicates that the work is ready to be done, but that there are not nearly enough workers to bring in the harvest.
c. Therefore, we need to pray, out of a heart filled with compassion, for the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers.
4. We may also find that as we pray for others to be sent into the harvest fields, that we ourselves will here our own call.
a. God may begin to speak to us and begin to fill our own hearts with compassion for a particular group of people.
b. He may fill us with a heart for some group of people who have never heard the gospel.
c. He may fill us with hearts that break for someone else the way this His does.
d. So pray to the Lord of the harvest, but as you pray, keep your own heart open to His call.
B. Involvement
1. Illustration: Jerry Sillcocks is a New York firefighter and a Christian who helped search for survivors at “ground zero.” He writes that he and his co-workers called this place the “pit.” “Almost everywhere I looked, mighty columns of steel were twisted into sad, pointless sculptures, towering over the tragic scene as we worked to find survivors. Gray smoke was everywhere. I’m no theologian—I’m a New York firefighter—but I can’t imagine Hell being much worse than the ‘pit’.” “I have no idea what Hell is truly like” Jerry writes, “But I’ve seen a place so bad that I want to do everything I can to make sure my friends, family, and neighbors know Jesus and will spend eternity with Him.” And this is the job that all of us are called to do!
2. We need to be willing to have hearts of compassion to go out into the fields.
a. Heart that cry for the lost.
b. Hearts that seek the lost.
c. Hearts that show genuine concern for those who do not know Jesus.
3. We need to be willing to pray for more workers.
a. Pray for more workers to go into the harvest field.
b. Pray for those already in the harvest field.
c. Pray for their needs, hurdles, and hurts.
4. We need to be willing to pray for the harvest.
a. The harvest is ripe, so we need to pray.
b. The hour is now, so we need to pray.
c. The need is huge, so we need to pray for hearts of compassion.
Transition: We need to seek to have our hearts filled with the compassion of Jesus.
Conclusion
1. We value compassion because Jesus valued compassion.
2. Compassion involves:
a. Outreach
b. Discernment
c. Helpers
3. Is your heart filled with the compassion of Jesus today?
