A Messiah of Compassion
Text: Matt. 9:35-38
Introduction
1. Illustration: "Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too" (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1973).
2. There has never been a more compassionate human being to walk this earth than Jesus Christ.
3. As his disciples we are called to show his compassion to others by:
a. How we respond to their needs
b. How we view people
c. How we show love to people
4. Read Matthew 9:35-38
Proposition: We need to begin to view people through Jesus' eyes.
Transition: One of the ways we do that is by...
I. How We Respond to People's Needs (35).
A. Towns and Villages
1. One of the first things that we notice about Jesus compassion is that it caused him to seek out people in need.
2. Matthew tells us that "Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area..."
a. We learn from the Jewish historian Josephus that at this time there were some two hundred cities and villages in the region of Galilee, an area about 40 miles wide and 70 miles long (MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 8-15).
b. Now that is a lot of towns and villages, but Matthew tells us that Jesus hit every single one of them. Notice the words "all the towns and villages."
c. He not only went to the big cities, but he went also to all the little towns and villages.
d. "He did not wait for the sick to come to him. He himself hurried to them...not overlooking the slightest village (Chrysostom, Ancient Christian Commentary: Ia Matthew, 190).
3. When he got there, Matthew tells us that Jesus began, "teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom."
a. Teaching was something very important in the ancient synagogue.
b. After prayer was given in the synagogue service, a designated reader would stand up and read from the law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.
c. The passage was read in Hebrew and then translated into Aramaic, the common speech of Palestinian Jews .
d. That would be followed by the reading, translation, and exposition of a passage from one of the prophets.
e. The Jewish scholar Philo, who lived in Alexandria during the time of Christ, wrote, "Synagogues are mainly for the detailed reading and exposition of Scripture."
f. The practice of reading and expounding Scripture therefore began as early as the time of Nehemiah and remains the soundest way to preach and teach God's Word.
g. The Master of such exposition was Jesus (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
h. As he did so, he announced the Good News about the Kingdom.
i. That word announced means "to herald a message, to make a public announcement for everyone to hear."
4. Furthermore, Jesus "healed every kind of disease and illness."
a. Teaching and healing go hand in hand with Jesus.
b. His teaching...inspired faith, and so he was able to heal all their diseases and illnesses (Horton, 183).
c. Not only was Jesus teaching the people in need, but he was also teaching his own disciples.
d. Notice that the phrase "healed every kind of disease and illness" is repeated verbatim in Matt. 10:1, where Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples as he is sending them out (France, NICNT: Matthew, 372).
e. However, the point we all need to see here is that when Jesus saw a need he did something about it!
B. Compassion Creates Action
1. Illustration: Finding his newly-appointed pastor standing at his study window in the church weeping as he looked over the inner city’s tragic conditions, a layman sought to console him: "Don’t worry. After you’ve been here a while, you’ll get used to it." The minister responded, "Yes, I know. That’s why I am crying."
2. Showing the compassion of Jesus means looking for needs.
a. Luke 14:21 (NLT)
“‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’"
b. It's not enough to let the needs come to you.
c. It's not enough to meet the needs as they arise.
d. We have to go out and find them!
3. Showing the compassion of Jesus means more than feeling sorry for them.
a. James 2:15-16 (NLT)
15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,
16 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?
b. The compassion of Jesus causes us not just to feel sorry for someone in need, but to do something about it.
c. It means putting our faith into action!
4. Showing the compassion of Jesus means showing compassion to Jesus.
a. Matthew 25:40 (NLT)
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
b. When we help someone in Jesus name it is like we are doing it to Jesus.
c. However, the opposite is also true...
d. Matthew 25:45 (NLT)
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’"
Transition: We also show the compassion of Jesus by...
II. How We View People (36).
A. Confused and Helpless
1. The next verse in our text is perhaps the most powerful illustration of how Jesus views people.
2. Matthew tells us, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them..."
a. The word compassion here is difficult to translate into English.
b. No single English word adequately conveys the meaning of this powerful Greek word (France, 273).
c. To be moved inwardly; to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity, empathy (Practical Word Studies in The New Testament).
d. It is the deepest movement of emotions possible; being moved within the deepest part of one's being.
e. It is the strongest expression of compassion in Greek (Horton, 185).
3. The reason that Jesus had compassion on them as that he was able to see through the exterior and see the real issue. Matthew says it is because, "...they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
a. Confused and helpless has the root meaning of flaying or skinning, and the derived meanings of being harassed or severely troubled.
b. It portrays a predator mangling the sheep and throwing them to the ground (Turner, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew, 144).
c. Illustration: Recently a Facebook friend of mine said that the older he got the more he saw ministry as dealing with vision and mission and less with relationships. I couldn't disagree more!
d. We can see from this text that Jesus was all about relationships because he was all about people.
e. When he saw people in their sin, he didn't see filthy sinners and was repulsed by them. He saw sinners that needed a Savior!
f. He looked at people's condition and said, "What can I do to change this situation?"
g. The crowds continue to be the object of Jesus’ ministry, and the motivating force is his compassion (Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Matthew, 374).
B. Seeing People Through the Eyes of Jesus
1. Illustration: I learned the truth behind this text first hand back in the summer of 1982. I was in Amsterdam, Holland, which just might be the wickedest place on earth. When I first got there I was shocked at the open drug traffic, the sex shops, the prostitutes sitting in storefront windows waiting for their customers. It repulsed me! After a few days in the city, we were transported to a farm in the countryside of Holland, a place as different from Amsterdam as day is from night. While I was there I said, "God please don't send me back to Amsterdam!" When I time on the farm was over, guess where God sent me? That's right, back to Amsterdam. However, this time it was different, because I was different. Now I looked at these same people and instead of being repulsed I said, "Lord, use me to reach these people." All because I saw a poster that said, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
2. When Jesus sees people, he sees sinners that need a Savior.
a. He isn't repulsed by their lifestyles, he is moved to change their lifestyles.
b. He doesn't turn up his nose and walk away, he reaches out, picks them up, and shows them a better way.
c. Luke 19:10 (NLT)
For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
3. When Jesus sees people, he doesn't condone their sin, but he also doesn't condemn the sinner.
a. John 8:10-11 (NLT)
10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
b. He doesn't allow them to stay in their sin.
c. He doesn't abandon them to their sin.
d. He does something to change their hearts!
4. When Jesus sees people, His heart is full of compassion, not full of religion!
a. Religion says, "What you're doing is wrong!"
b. Compassion says, "What you're doing is wrong, now let me help to do what is right!"
5. If we are want to be like Jesus, we have to show compassion to those who are lost.
a. We need to show them love.
b. We need to show them mercy.
c. We need to show them grace.
d. We need to show them Jesus!!
Transition: We need to show the compassion of Jesus by...
III. How We Show Love To People (37-38).
A. Send More Workers
1. The ultimate example of Jesus compassion is mission.
2. First, Jesus shows the problem when he says, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few."
a. Jesus here changes the metaphor from shepherding to harvesting, but He continues to give His motives for ministry and encourages his disciples to take up his mission.
b. The focus here is bringing people in for their own good (France, 273).
c. If you leave grain out in the field and do not harvest it, eventually it rots.
3. The major challenge for Jesus, and our challenge today, is that there is more harvest than there are workers.
a. We have a classic example of that right in front of us - the Block Party.
b. Every year we, along with other churches in the community, host a community Block Party, and one of the questions we ask people when they register is "do you attend church?"
c. Last year our statistics said that around 60% of those who attend the Block Party did not attend church at all-ever!
d. What does this tell us? We have a lot of work to do!
4. So what do we do about it? Well, Jesus tells us to "pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
a. The Lord of the harvest is a title of God that represents His role as judge (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
b. It is interesting and significant that Jesus did not command the disciples to pray for the lost, although that is certainly appropriate.
c. Their first prayer was to be for the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into His harvest (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
5. However, there is another aspect to this prayer, you see in asking the Lord of the harvest to send out workers we have to acknowledge that we could be, and should be, one of those workers.
a. We cannot prayer for God to send out workers if we are not willing to be a worker.
b. We have to not only pray for others to go, but also be willing to be sent ourselves.
c. If you're not a part of the solution you are part of the problem!
B. Mission Minded
1. Illustration: During the time of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Greg Livingstone was asked to give a "missions minute" at a large evangelical church on the East Coast. Since he had only one minute to speak, he decided to ask them only two questions. The first one was, "How many of you are praying for the 52 Americans hostages being held in Iran?" 4000 hands went straight up and he said, "Praise the Lord! Now, put your hands down and let me ask you another question…How many of you are praying for the 42 million Iranians being held hostage to Islam?" four hands went up. He said, "What are you guys? Americans first and Christians second? I thought this was a Bible-believing church!"
This rebuke to the church by Linvingstone served as a wake up call and helped mission-minded Christians see the need for prayer for Muslims. This mission minute was used in a dramatic way to lead to what has been called by mission experts as "the ’decade of Muslims’ in praying Christians hearts."
"More Muslims in Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in all the previous 1,000 years combined."
2. If we are going to show the compassion of Jesus we need to become missions minded.
a. Matthew 28:19 (NLT)
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
b. I know you are probably tired of hearing me quote that verse over the past couple of weeks, but unless we are living that verse we are nothing but a social club.
c. I refuse to be the Pastor of a social club!
d. Unless reaching the lost is our all-consuming passion we might as well close the doors and stay home.
3. If we are going to show the compassion of Jesus we need to become missions prayer warriors.
a. We need to pray regularly for our missionaries around the world.
b. We need to pray for missionaries in the United States.
c. We need to pray for missionaries in Mount Gilead.
d. We need to pray that we become missionaries in Mount Gilead.
4. If we are going to show the compassion of Jesus we need to become missions active.
a. Acts 1:8 (NLT)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
b. Just like an animal always looks for food, we ought to always be looking for someone to tell about Jesus.
c. Not because we're better than they are, but because we have been in their shoes.
d. Evangelism is nothing more than one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
Transition: Jesus let us see people through your eyes!
Conclusion
1. If we are going to show the compassion of Jesus we need to:
a. Respond to their need
b. See people through Jesus eyes
c. Show people Jesus love
2. Is your heart full of compassion, or full of religion?
3. Are you missions minded?
4. Are you a missions prayer warrior?
5. Are you missions active?
