Introduction: (Play Video – Open Your Eyes) How is your vision?
Would you characterize your vision as 20/20 or do you need a little help to see things clearly. Ophthalmologists tell us it is normal for our eyesight to start to become weak as we enter our forties. By the time we are in our sixties, 94% of us will have some sort of weakness in our eyes causing us to need some type of vision enhancement.
Our eyesight is truly precious to us, we have all marveled at the beauty of God’s creation that we have seen; Sunrises and Sunsets, The oranges, reds and browns of fall foliage and the greens and blues of the oceans and lakes.
So is it any wonder that in a recent survey to the question; Of the 5 senses which do you believe is the most important, an overwhelming majority said, “The Sense of Sight” For many of us the ability to see is paramount to enjoying life.
Today I want us to focus on what do you see?
We are in a new series titled “I Will” we are looking at 4 resolutions we should consider if we are going to please God this year.
Two weeks ago we looked at the idea of leaving a legacy – I will be faithful, for there are those who are coming behind me. We realize the church, like the culture is in a state of change and it is vital that we remain faithful so the generations coming behind us will find faith.
Last week we addressed the topic of loving God’s people as we stated we would love to those around us striving for harmony among brothers and sisters in Christ, we discovered our love for one another is a sign to unbelievers that we belong to Jesus.
Now we move to a new resolve – I will be compassionate to those who need me. My challenge to you is this; Are you aware there are people who need you?
I did not say are you aware there are people who need the church
I did not say are you aware there are people who need the gospel
I did not say are you aware there are people who need to repent
Are you aware there are people who need you
As a believer in Christ, we do not live for ourselves, but for others. The example of this is seen in the life of Jesus. His life was a life of interacting with others.
Nicodemus The Woman at the Well The Rich Young Ruler
Lazarus Mary & Martha Peter, James, John
The other disciples The women caught in adultery
As Jesus interacted with them he did with grace, truth and most of all compassion. I believe it was the characteristic of compassion that drew people to Jesus. It is also the characteristic that will draw people to Christ’s church.
To help us understand the compassion of Christ we need to look at one section of scripture that reveals our Lord’s heart. Here we see the motives and the methods of his ministry.
Matthew 9:35-38
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."
To help us understand the ministry of compassion we have to ask ourselves two questions, first…
1. What did Jesus See?
As we come to the conclusion of chapter 9, Matthew records for us this unique insight on what Jesus was experiencing everyday. AS Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, we discover the people are astonished by the teaching of Jesus as someone who has spoken with authority. Not only did he have authority in his teaching, soon word spread that he had authority over sickness and demon possession.
Because of this Jesus was attracting a large following. In John’s gospel, we read that Jesus feed 5,000 men in one setting. There is no way to estimate the number of people who were following Jesus at this time, all we know is that the crowds were large.
We do not know the occasion of why Jesus made the comments he made, maybe Jesus was coming over a hilltop and he saw the crowd waiting for him, maybe he looked over his should as he looked behind him. What ever the occasion we know what Jesus saw. Verse 36, he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. Looking at the crowd he did not say wow, look how many people are listening to me! Look at my followers; they would make a great army! He saw people and he had compassion.
The word compassion means intense feeling for another person. It looks beyond their situation and looks at their need.
In John 11, when Jesus saw Mary and her friends weeping over the death of Lazarus, “Jesus was deeply moved and troubled” It was not that death had taken Lazarus; he had the power to remove the curse of death. It was the fact that his friends were deeply hurt that he felt for them.
Compassion is not simply feeling sorrow for someone, it is a feeling of identifying with what they are experiencing and that is what troubles us.
When our lord was filled with compassion what did he see?
People who were harassed and helpless
In verse 35 we read that Jesus was healing the people of their sickness and disease. But verse 36 tells us he saw something they did not know they needed – they needed to free from the bondage of sin. Jesus saw their hearts and knew inwardly they were harassed and helpless, the NASB says they were distressed and downcast. Jesus saw the crowd as being inwardly devastated by their sinful and hopeless condition
They had no spiritual guidance
Like sheep without a shepherd. Now I want you to think about that for a moment. Jesus is sees this crowd he is filled with compassion for them because they were in spiritual bondage.
In the middle of Israel sat a temple – a place of worship a place of refreshment, however the spiritual shepherds of that day (The scribes and Pharisees) had made the temple a place of rituals and regulations. The spiritual shepherds gave them no fresh pastures to feed, no cool water for refreshment, no place to find rest from a wicked world; only burdens and not blessings. Imagine, God’s chosen people had been left to perish.
C. If we are not careful we become like those shepherds.
We can be so focused on ourselves; we do not see what Jesus saw. When it comes to seeing like Jesus I thought of some dangers we can face…
Blindness – We do not see others, we can become so busy in our own life we fail to see anything else, thus we become blind to those who are around us.
Out of focus – We just do not see things clearly – when things are out of focused they become distorted. We have the tendency to believe there are not many people who have needs or the reason they have needs is because of their lifestyle choices. We can have the disease “Hardening of the HEART-ARIES”
Tunnel Vision – We see forward but we don’t see those around us. We can become so heaven focused that we are no earthly good.
Near-sighted – Never looking farther then our own community or neighborhood to see there are people around the world who have needs.
Far-sighted – we will focus on the needs of a far away country and forget those in Palm Bay and Melbourne.
Friends if we are going to see has Jesus saw we must take precautions against these vision diseases. Someone has written…
Let me look on the crowd as my savior did,
Till my eyes with tears grow dim;
Let me view with pity the wandering sheep,
And love them for the love of him.
I am glad our church has taken a stand to see as Jesus sees…
This year our mission’s budget has monies set aside for the purpose of helping people who are defeated and downcast. Money has been set aside to help our Barnabas ministry continue. In the next few weeks you will hear about new avenues for our food pantry. Did you know we are only 1 of three places in PB that ministers to the hungry of PB. We were recently told South of Jupiter Blvd, there is no ministry set up to help the hungry.
Your generosity with the angel tree ministry has touch 43 families in the last 2 years.
Recently I spoke with Mike Grant, missionary to NW Haitian Ministry. I told him of our plan to give a portion of More that we can Imagine Campaign to the mission in Haiti – Mike said what a blessing with such a large commitment of funds they could buy a truck to get their supplies to their mission. He said often times there are supplies available to them but because they have no way to get to them to the mission because they have no transportation to pick us the supplies, thus the supplies are given to the people of the cities and not in the villages – what you are giving to the Imagine fund is making a difference
We cannot stop seeing the world as Jesus sees the world – Listen the world cries for us do we cry for the world
Bob Shannon shares the following story about helping people, in the fishing villages along the coast of France are many small chapels. In most of the chapels there is a plaque with this simple phrase: "To the Castaways." The plaques list the names of sailors lost at sea, or the names of others saved from a shipwreck, the plaque stands as a memorial to their deliverance.
Every church ought to be dedicated to the castaways; the spiritual castaways, the social castaways, the economic castaways; the castaways who are bruised and battered. We can be a church dedicated to the castaways when we see as Jesus sees.
Once we see as Jesus sees we are now ready for the second question…
2. What did Jesus do?
Jesus filled with compassion; seeing the people distressed and downcast, they were like sheep without a shepherd. He has a strategy for reaching these people.
Look at verses 37-38 again,
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."
I find it interesting the once who was able to walk on water, Healed the lame, the blind and the leprous. The one, who was able to turn water into wine, chose nothing miraculous to deal with these people – he simply told his disciples to pray. The focus on the prayer is what is so amazing – workers, Jesus says there are so many people out their who are hurting & helpless, bruised and battered, Who are in spiritual bondage and my solution for dealing with these broken people is to ask my father to send people to help them.
Even as the Son of God, Jesus could not reach all the people that lived in his country or in his life time, therefore the key to compassion is for God to send workers to touch lives.
It is interesting that the Lord did not tell his disciples to pray for those who were lost. Although it is appropriate to pray for those who are lost. Their first prayer was to pray for the workers who would impact the lost.
Understand it is possible to pray regularly for the salvation of a loved one and to let our concern stop with prayer. But when we earnestly pray for the Lord to send someone to our unsaved family member or friend, we cannot help becoming open to being that someone ourselves. It is possible to pray for someone’s salvation while keeping them at arm’s length. But when we sincerely ask God to send someone to talk to them we place ourselves at His disposal to become the one who may impact their life.
What did Jesus see? People
What did Jesus do? He prayed to his father to send people
When we show compassion to others, we become the answered prayer of Jesus
Let me suggest several ways we can be the answered prayer of Jesus
Learn how to love people.
The only thing God is going to rescue from this planet is people; therefore let us love one another with reckless abandonment.
In his first letter the Apostle John gives us an example of laying down our life when he says, in 1 John 3:17-18, if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him-- how can God’s love be within him? Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.
A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother. She took too long in returning home, thus her Mother demanded an explanation when she finally did return. The little girl explained that on her way she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll. "Oh," said the Mother, "You stopped to help her fix her doll?" "Oh, no," replied the little girl. "I stopped to help her cry." LOVE IS SPELLED T-I-M-E
Jesus wants us to put people first because people matter to God. We put people first when we love them. Love is seen in what we value – what we give our attention do we value people when we.
Be involved in the lives of people.
Don’t merely be spectators in life, live it to the fullest investing in people. What are you investing in today?
The greatest way we can show compassion is tell people about Jesus Christ.
The most compassionate thing in the world is to rescue people from the fires of hell. To help them experience the grace of God which is for all people? It is compassionate for us as Christians to have a zeal for lost people. Friends the world cries for you do you cry for the world?
Who is crying for you today?
Do you know anyone who is outside of Christ.
Paperboy
Letter Carrier
Meter Reader
The one who mows your lawn
The friend who asks for a recipe
Matt 9:36-38, When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." YOU ARE AN ANSWER TO THAT PRAYER
Conclusion:
How is your vision today? 20/20 or does it need a little adjustment, Today, may we see as Jesus sees.
