Put Yourself In Their Place
9/4/2011 Psalm 8:1 Matthew 9:35-38
How many of you know that God has equipped you with what you need to make a difference in the lives of others. You are going to be surprised at how many people have looked up to you and admired you for who you were when you get to heaven. Right now for good are bad, you are making a difference in the lives of others. Our theme for the next few weeks is Making a Difference. We will be preaching messages entitled “Put Yourself In Their Place”, “We’ve Got The Best”, “You’ve Got Good News” and “Invite Them On The Journey.”
Let’s suppose for a moment that it was Friday night and you wanted to go to a movie. You’re running late for the movie because you got home late, and then once you put down the keys, you forgot where you placed them. It was frustrating but you did find them. You finally jump into the car and you’re on way making good time until you come up behind a blue car. You are on a two lane road with a solid yellow line down the middle which means no passing. The car in front of you is doing twenty in a thirty five mile an hour zone. You want to grab some popcorn before going into the movie. You are starting to wonder, where did the person in front of you get her license. What’s going on in your mind at this point?
Would it make a difference to you, if you knew that woman was heading home from the hospital to an empty house. She had driven to the hospital an hour earlier. Her husband of 40 years and her only son had arrived at the hospital dead after being in an automobile accident. She didn’t have anyone she could call on to come and drive her home. She didn’t want to leave her car at the hospital. She was crying and driving 20 miles an hour in a 35 mph zone right in front of you. If you had of known this information, you would have still been late for the movie, but you probably would have had some compassion. You probably would have prayed for her. What you would have done is that you would have put yourself in her place and thought what you would have needed if you had been her.
Do you know why we don’t treat people with more grace and more love. It’s because we do put ourselves in their place. Do you know why we fight as much as we do at home. It’s because we do not put ourselves in their place. The last time you were in an argument, how many of you are convinced you would have won the argument if the other person could have put himself in your place and seen things from your point of view. It is a form of selfishness and pride, to insist that how we see something is the only way that it really is.
We even think the way we see people, is the way they really are. Yet not a single one of us can look at a person and see what’s in his or her heart. No matter how well we look like we are together in the eyes of others, we all have some issues in our lives that need to be dealt with. If we are going to make a difference in the lives of others for God, we are going to have to put ourselves in their place every now and then.
There are times when we quickly put ourselves in the place of others. Suppose you were going down the street and saw a person in the driver’s seat of a parked car looking asleep or unconscious. You also saw smoke and flames starting to come from under the hood of the car. What would you do? How many of you would try to get the person’s attention? How many of you would try to help the person out of the car? How many of you would say, “if they wanted my help, they would ask.” Many of us would risk our own safety for a total stranger to try to alert that person of the danger that surrounds them. We know what their future is going to be if they do not act.
One of the reasons that Jesus came into the world was to make people aware of the danger that surrounds them on a spiritual level. John 3:17 (NIV)
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. . In our Scripture passage this morning it read
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."
One of the things that Jesus does do, is that Jesus puts himself in our place. Although he is completely holy, he does not look at us and say, boy you really don’t measure up. You got issues on top of issues. You come back to me after you’ve gotten yourself a little more together. When Jesus puts himself in our place, he see’s that we have issues, but he also sees that we cannot do very much on our own about those issues.
Is there anybody besides me, that promised, “I’ll never do that again” and that even though you meant it at the time, “you still did it again.” There is a nature in all of us that keeps us from being able to keep our promises to do better and to try harder. That nature is called sin, and it is determined to mess up our lives. We can have the best of plans for our future, but just one sin can change it all around. It has nothing to do with God punishing us or God trying to teach us something. It is simply getting the consequence of our behavior.
The passage of Scripture tells us that Jesus went to the people and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus immediately put himself in their place to see what was the world really like from their perspective. What was it that they were experiencing? What was it that they were going through.
Jesus knew if he was going to make a difference he was going to have to go to the people. It would be nice if people came to the church to say, what answers do you have for me. But most people are not going to come. Most people have no idea of the answers we have. Most people do not even think we have anything to say that could help them out. A lot of people think they have people problems, when what they really are facing is a sin problem.
Your not getting along with your boyfriend has more to do with sin, than it has to do with the problem facing you. It’s not he’s talking to too many girls, it’s probably he has a problem with lust. Promising you he will not talk to any more girls, does not remove the lust that is still there. What he needs is repentance and the power of Christ to overcome it. There are other people who recognize there is a sin problem, but they think the sin is completely in somebody else. They think if only that person would change. Another person’s change has little to do with the sin in my heart.
You see the only place that deals with the sin problem is the church. We are the ones that Jesus is going to give help to. When Jesus saw the people he was moved with compassion. Jesus wants to help everybody. But he can only help those who want to be helped. This word compassion describes the deep inner mercy of God. How many of you want to experience more of God’s mercy? How many of you know it was not your great wisdom that brought you to where you are. It was God’s mercy. The very fact that you got saved was evidence of God’s mercy. God put himself in your place, and saw what you needed and gave it to you. If you put yourself in the place of others, you’d know they would have to have God’s mercy as well.
When Jesus looked at the crowd, he did not see people who had it altogether. One of the greatest lies we have believed from the devil when we look at others is that they have it altogether. We convince ourselves that they really do not need Jesus. So we are like the person who sees the person in the burning car, but goes on about his or her business thinking, they really do not need my help. Somebody else will come along if they need help later.
Jesus saw the people as being harassed and helpless. How many of you have ever been harassed by life. Time you get pass one problem here comes another one. You think something has been worked out, here it comes back in your face again. You think your job is secure, here you are back on the unemployment line. You thought the argument was over, here they come bringing back up the same mess all over again. Life is a time of harassment and everybody is being harassed by something in life. God uses those harassments to show us, we are not all that, and we are not God. Harassments come to reveal our need for God.
The world would have us believe that certain people are immune to harassment because of their money or their fame. I can tell you right now Beyonce and Jay Z are going to go through all the difficulties every couple goes through with a pregnancy. It will be a strain on their marriage. There will be mood swings, short tempers, misunderstandings, body changes just like with any other couple. They will also share some good times. Their money and their fame will not escape them from the harassments of life. When we discover what people are being harassed by, then we can talk to them about how God can work in that situation. People need to see God as being relevant to their situation, to be open to hearing about God.
When we discover their own harassment and where they realize they are helpless, we can point them to the God who is excellent in all things. We can tell them as the song says “I searched all over and couldn’t find nobody. Nobody greater than Him.” Jesus saw the people as helpless and harassed as sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd are defenseless. All they can do is run. When a lion or a wolf comes, sheep are no match for the battle. No sheep has ever bitten a lion to death. Satan comes as a roaring lion. So many of us get eaten up because we try to charge him in our strength, instead of running to the shepherd.
There is but one shepherd to run to that can make a difference. The world has its shepherds of the bottle, shepherd of the drug, shepherd of the money, and shepherd of the fame, but these things do not change hearts. These things do not make God more real. These things do not offer a lasting salvation. If you put yourself in their place and saw where they were putting their hope, you’d want them to know there is a Savior who has come to give them healing and life.
Jesus showed them compassion by doing four things. First of all he went to them where they were. Second he taught them the truth about life and how disappointed life can leave you feeling apart from God. Third he preached the gospel of the kingdom, which means he offered them an invitation to become a part of the family of God. He let them know that God was there to receive them, if they were willing to come. Fourth, he healed every sickness and disease that was among them.
There is nothing in this world greater than the power of God. The only way to get in touch with that power is to come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Before you get to Jesus, you have to be willing to let go of the shepherds you have been following. There are so many people we come into contact with that does not know the great shepherd Jesus even exists. Jesus says, there are so many people who are ready to know the truth, but there are not enough workers willing to go and tell them. Will you pray that we here would be willing to go into the fields for a harvest. One of the best kept secrets in Cleveland, is what God is doing in the lives of people here at Glenville New Life Community Church and all this church offers to those who are a part of it. It’s a shame we are keeping this secret to ourselves.
We have to allow God to move us to that place, that when we run into people who are being harassed that we’re willing to tell them. I know a Shepherd who can make a difference for you. His name is Jesus. You know what Jesus means to you. You know you wouldn’t be what you are today. Why not put yourself in their place. If you were them, don’t you think, they would want to know if there was help for their situation. We’ve got to love Jesus enough, to allow God to give Him to others through us.
Put Yourself In Their Place
9/4/2011 Psalm 8:1 Matthew 9:35-38
How many of you know that God has equipped you with what you need to make a difference in the lives of others. You are going to be surprised at how many people have looked up to you and admired you for who you were when you get to heaven. Right now for good are bad, you are making a difference in the lives of others. Our theme for the next few weeks is Making a Difference. We will be preaching messages entitled “Put Yourself In Their Place”, “We’ve Got The Best”, “You’ve Got Good News” and “Invite Them On The Journey.”
Part 1
You The Movie—The Lady From The Hospital
Part 2
Why We Fight At Home—Lack Of Grace
The Last Argument
My View Selfishness & Pride
Part 3
We Don’t Know People
All Issues & Pride
Quickly Put OurSelves In Place Of Others
Burning Car
Risk We Take
Part 4
Jesus Came Into The World John 3:17
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. . In our Scripture passage this morning it read
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."
Jesus Puts Himself In Our Place
Me & My Promises
Jesus Compassion—Sheep Without shepherd
Jesus Went to People
We Must Go To People
World Thinks We’re Not Relevant –Why They Don’t Come to Church
The Real Sin Problem
Church Deals With Sin Problem
God Shoes Us Mercy
Everybody Harrassed
Nobody Immune
Harassment Points to God
Problem Of The Sheep
The False Shepherds
The True Shepherd
Four Things Jesus Did
1. Went 2. Taught 3. Preached, 4. Healed All
2. Ask To Pray For Willing Workers
3. The Great Glenville Secret
4. Allow God To Move Us to That Place
5. Allow God’s Love Through You.
Will You Make Yourself Available
Will You Take two Cards
