Believe 8 - Compassion
Psalm 82:3-4
November 9, 2014
It’s hard to believe we’re in week 8 of Believe. We’re moving very quickly and I’m really liking the progression of the topics. After today, we only have 2 more weeks until we finish the first section of Believe.
To recap, and we’ll do this after week 10 as well. This is where we’ve been . . .
We believe in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator of the heavens and earth. We believe this great God is also a very personal God who desires to be in relationship with us. As a personal God, He sent His Son to the cross to die for us so that we could experience Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And I believe the Bible is the true, written word of God.
I also trust that God calls me His dearly loved child and He has adopted me into His family. So, I am always His, chosen by God. As a believer in Jesus Christ, and a child of God, I seek to identify with a church, this one in fact. And God started the church so we could find community with one another, to encourage and help one another, because on our own, we are sinful people, which is why we needed a Savior, One who could redeem us from the penalty we deserve.
Instead, God offers us Grace, so we don’t receive the punishment we deserve. Not only do we not receive what we deserve, we receive God’s mercy - we receive what we don’t deserve.
So, with all that in mind, today we’re looking at compassion. God’s compassion and His call for you and I to demonstrate compassion to the world. I trust and believe God’s heart is full of compassion. The question for us is what about our hearts? How much compassion do we have and show?
God tells us He is compassionate and merciful. Those two words are used for compassion in the Bible. The NKJV and ESV refer to God as Merciful, while the NIV and others refer to God as Compassionate.
In Exodus 34, after Moses destroyed the first set of the Ten Commandments and was finishing with the second set, we read this ~
5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the Lord.
6 And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished;
He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
What a powerful passage for us to hold onto from God. Some of the power in this passage is the fact that this is not one person’s feelings at a given moment. This is a proclamation made by God for all humanity to hear. God wants us to know He is ~
Compassionate
Merciful
Gracious
Slow to anger
Abounds in Love
Abounds in Faithfulness
Forgives – Wickedness, rebellion and sins!
That’s great news folks! We should be falling on our faces as Moses did and worship God and give thanks for this precious and powerful gift.
Paul often reminded us to imitate him as he imitated Jesus. Let’s cut out the middle man, Paul, and imitate Christ. There is so much we can imitate, as it pertains to compassion, we read the following in the Gospels ~
1. Matthew 9:36: When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
2. Matthew 14:14: When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
3. Matthew 15:32: Jesus called his disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.”
4. Matthew 20:34: Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him.
One thing comes through loud and clear from Scripture — Jesus had a compassionate heart. Jesus identified with the people who were the outcasts, the ones who were rejected by society. If you were sick, Jesus was attracted to you, and if you wanted healing, you needed to be attracted to Him. So, we see the Father and Son filled with compassion, we also see the Holy Spirit in that mode as well.
As Jesus is preparing the disciples for His death, He told them in John 14 ~
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
So, what’s our job? Or as Randy Frazee asks in the Study Book, Think, Act and Be ~ What is my responsibility to other people? We hear the call in scripture as well.
Micah 6 tells us ~ 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Our memory and key verse also tells what we should be doing — 3 Defend the weak and SLIDEthe fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. – Psalm 82:3-4
That’s a lot of scripture to get us going. We can read it all, and be like the Pharisees and Levites and know the Word backwards and forwards, but use all of the seemingly loopholes so we don’t have to help anyone.
Let me give you an example . . .
I’m going to use an illustration from Winnie the Pooh. Here is a scene from Winnie the Pooh and let’s see if we can see ourselves in this story ~
One day, Eeyore was playing on the banks of a river . . . and accidentally fell in the water. After struggling to make it up the bank, he was exhausted. Eeyore began to lay on his back and was floating down the river anticipating that this ride will be his last. He knows there’s a huge waterfall at the end of the river, and he certainly will not survive it.
As Eeyore is floating down the river, Pooh Bear is walking along the river bank. Eeyore suddenly appears floating downstream … on his back, looking very troubled about the possibility of drowning.
Pooh calmly asks if Eeyore had fallen in. Trying to appear in complete control, the anguished donkey answers, “Silly of me, wasn’t it.”
Pooh doesn’t see his friend’s pleading eyes and comments that Eeyore should have been more careful.
In greater need than ever, Eeyore politely thanks him for the advice (even though he needs action more than he needs advice).
Almost with a yawn, Pooh Bear notices, “I think you are sinking.” With that as his only hint of hope, drowning Eeyore asks Pooh if he would mind rescuing him.
Pooh pulls Eeyore from the river. Eeyore apologizes for being such a bother, and Pooh, still unconcerned, yet being ever so courteous, responds, “Don’t be silly … you should have said something sooner.”
All around us are friends, neighbors, colleagues classmates, and family who are floating down that long river leading to destruction. We’re the ones on the banks of the river. Will we stand and watch them go over the edge, possibly into a Christ-less eternity, or will we watch them fall over the edge without ever offering to help them. Or will we see them as they really are, in their precarious situation and offer to help.
Who is the Eeyore in your life – – the person who's heart and soul is crying out so they can experience the power of hope and compassion only you can give them through Jesus Christ?
We’re told to be filled with compassion and mercy. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:12 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Peter tells us ~ 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, compassion, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. – 1 Peter 3:8
So, what does compassion mean? Literally, in Greek — compassion means your bowels. How’s that for a lesson today? You see, for the Greek and Hebrew cultures, they believed the bowels or kidneys, intestines, were the place where our deepest feelings came from. They believed the violent emotions and passions . . . deep love and deep anger came from this region. The Hebrews viewed the bowels more as the place of deep love and compassion and mercy.
When we talk about deep feelings or gut feelings, this would be reminiscent of feelings in our deeper organs. Compassion, then, is a word to describe something that moves us deep within. Some would call it getting “a kick in the gut.”
The big difference between sympathy and compassion is that compassion moves you to do something. Often times we see someone who has a need and we’re moved to sympathy. We feel bad for them, we feel for their situation; at the same time, we’re glad it’s them and not us. When we have sympathy we’re not moved to take action. We just feel bad for their situation. That’s about as far as it goes.
When we feel sympathy — “we feel with someone.” When we have empathy — “we feel into someone.” In empathy we enter into another person’s situation; in sympathy we do not.
Empathy leads us to compassion. So, when we’re feeling compassion . . . we enter into someone’s life situation because we feel their pain deep in our own being. Please understand this does not mean you take their pain upon yourself. That’s crossing the line. You enter into their life in order to help them. Most especially doing this in a way which glorifies and reveals the true nature of Jesus Christ.
You see, every time Jesus had compassion on people, He took action. Maybe the deeper question is how do we see people? It’s easy to be cynical and jaded about others. Watch this video ~
When we’ve been burned by others, it’s hard to give again. It’s hard to let our guard down again, and get burned again. Then do it again, and get burned again. But it’s not up to us to decide, it’s up to God to give the reward or punishment. I know it’s difficult when someone comes in and wants money or gas or food. Sometimes, we’ve seen the same person, and the excuse changes with each new visit. So, it’s easy to get cynical and sarcastic about helping others..
But we return to the call of the Gospel message. What made the early church so attractive? They had no concern for themselves as they helped others who were sick. When most of Rome would not help the sick, it was the Christ follower who demonstrated the love and grace of Jesus Christ and made a difference because of their compassion.
While compassion comes from deep within and is filled with great emotion, we must put compassion and action together. It means we act on those feelings. The divine filter of seeing people as God sees them will lead us to both see the need and find the resources to meet them. The next time you feel compassion welling up in your soul, let it trigger action in your hands and feet to be Jesus to “the least of these.”
As Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, 40 Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
Who are the least of these?
The hungry
The thirsty
The naked
The homeless
The prisoner
The sick
The stranger
What difference does this make in the way I live? It makes all the difference!
