Thinking, Acting, Being like Jesus
Humanity and Compassion for others
Introduction-
Turn with me to John 3:16. You see it on the screen.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
That verse packs a wallop!
God loves us so much that He sent his Son Jesus to die for us so that we would not die but have eternal life with Him.
It is easy to get overwhelmed by what is happening in the world today.
Violence
Dictators that pose nuclear threats
Terrorism
Poverty, Disease, Economic crisis, all play a part in causing crisis.
We have states, cities that have no money but they seem to get our last dollars.
As Christians we know the end of the story, God wins!
For people to think or believe that God would create something or someone bigger than Himself is a great stretch of faith to me.
The world talks about saving the world, but very little on obeying the Lord. The Lord tells us to
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
I love police shows-CSI, NCIS, those movies where you have to figure out who did what and how.
But even I have to turn them off sometimes because it is too close to home. I don’t like how people act sometimes.
The problem goes from “What problem do I solve, to what would Jesus have me do?
Being a humanitarian is a good thing. We need people to help people. Jesus commands it.
You want to know what the difference is between a good person doing good things and a Christ follower doing humanitarian things-Jesus!
One does it for the greatest humanitarian act of all time- Jesus dying on the cross for mankind, commanding us to show that love of God to others, and one does it to be a good person.
What we do is to be done for the love of Jesus.
Jesus is our goal and purpose.
First to God, then to God’s people He loves. The focus is Jesus, then the motivation will come from the right place. Love the Lord first, and people as much or more than we love ourselves.
It is hard to believe that God loves the man/women in prison as much as the Sunday School teacher. He loves the poor people in Africa as much as the rich movie stars in Hollywood, but He does.
Lost is lost, starving in
Africa or living in luxury, when it is over, the day of judgment is coming.
Randy Frazee says
All have sinned
All wickedness must be punished.
All need salvation.
All will be offered salvation.
All will be without excuse.
There is an adage that goes- “The ground is level at the foot of the cross”
God will reveal Himself to everyone in some manner.
I don’t know how He will do that but I know it is true because He loves us all and does not want any to perish. It is why we need Jesus.
God loves all people and it is why John records the words of Jesus. “I am the way, the truth, and the life , no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Humanity has been given the greatest gift of all time- His name is Jesus.
All are loved by God and should be loved by those who profess the name of Christ.
Some are caught up that Christians are so narrow minded concerning salvation. It is God’s Word. We should be glad and celebrate that God has provided a way of salvation.
How should that play out in our lives?
Value Human life…from the womb to the grave we are called to love people because God loved us.
The young child who has been trafficked for pay, to the old man who has dementia, all have value to God.
Those that have aborted babies, those that have been hurt by others all have value to God and should have a chance to experience God’s love first hand
We see and treat people the way God sees and treats us.
God looks at our hearts to see what is going on inside our heart, not only what comes out of the mouth.
That is why what we do has to be motivated by the love of God in our lives.
How would our lives change is we would see people the way that God sees them?
What kind of impact would we make if we believed and acted upon the fact that there is only one way to enter heaven and that is through Jesus Christ?
We are compelled by God to tell and invite people to experience Jesus love and forgiveness.
I don’t want to put guilt on anyone but we can talk about new job, cars, football, homes, clothes, and the amazing things that God has done in the past, present and future is believed to be unimportant to share
1 Peter 3:15
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
We cannot talk about humanity without talking about the greatest gift of all to humanity. The gift Christ gave to each one of us who profess His name for salvation, and we cannot be a humanitarian without seeing people through the eyes of Christ.
Do you believe that? If you do, you and I are compelled to love them enough to tell them about Jesus.
Once we get a good handle on what Christ did for us, we can look at this second part-compassion.
Psalms 82:3-4
“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
The task of the kings and judges in the OT was to protect the powerless against all who would exploit or oppress them.
If we are to do the same as Christians and show God’s compassion, we will have to protect the powerless and keep them from being exploited.
The world wants to throw them in a nice box marked “compassion” where you give out to the poor. We are to do that, Jesus commands it, but we are also in sharing God’s love to break the bondage that holds them down.
We live in a society willing to give a hand out as long as it doesn’t cost them anything. From their abundance.
Not many are willing to give a hand up.
My definition of a hand up would be to meet people’s needs as we can as a church but just as important, show them how to see God’s truth that would allow them the freedom that is available in Christ.
Change the world by sharing the truth as well as loving people as Christ loves them.
Compassion has to be more than a mission statement on a piece of paper or a bag of goodies handed out.
It has to be involvement and discipleship and longevity into their lives.
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.”
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Cor. 15:32)
That is not God’s compassion but the world’s selfishness about pleasing themselves.
As believers if we are becoming like Christ, it is compassion lived out in our lives to those that are around us.
Let me give you some scripture
James 2:16
“If any of you says go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it”?
I am not talking as a church, but individually now.
If you can help and you don’t, what good is it?
As a church, we can only give out what is in the storehouse, so this usually falls back on each one of us to what we can do for those around us. Neighbors, those we come in contact with.
“All of you be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”
As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, cloth yourselves with compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
God calls each one of us- remember it is not the handout, it is the hand-up.
To quote Frazee
To show compassion for people like God does
Will change our priorities and how e use our time.
Will set us free to give because we trust God for our needs.
People forgotten by the world will be cared for and restored. (end quote)
We are not just throwing money, but we are investing in people, in our community, in God’s kingdom.
People don’t care how much you know until they see how much you care.
I have compassion for those people! I hate that terminology ! I have compassion for people.
Closing
Jesus model of compassion goes back to one of our first verses. It has made a full circle.
“ love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Compassion is more than just throwing money at something. It is investing in people and looking at their spiritual renewal. You will always have people who are just looking for handouts, we as a church and as a believer must look to the physical and spiritual.
Humanity was given the greatest gift, His name is Jesus!
Because of what Christ has done for us, we, each one of us has a responsibility to love the people that God loves.
Amen.
