COMPASSION
BRINGING A SICK WORLD TO CHRIST - Part 2 of 2
Mark 2:1-12 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
Note: The people were in this place because Jesus preached [the word].
1. COMPASSION MOTIVATES BELIEVERS
Compassion is the fuel that enables & drives us. It is the only fuel that will enable us to fulfil God’s will and finish the task He has set us. In this passage, compassion was the four men’s motivation to get their sick friend to the feet of Jesus.
* If we are fuelled / motivated by a desire to be recognised, we will never finish our journey, our course. Only the compassion of God in our heart compassion will keep us on track.
* Any other desire, e.g. personal gain or a desire for prominence and we will not make it.
A. CARE IS NEEDED
Everything we do is measured by God against compassion. How we are motivated / moved can only be measured against the compassion of Jesus Christ.
We must never be filled with pride - the sense of our own importance - or we will end up like Lucifer.
2. OUR MOTIVATION
What is our desire to grow?
* Is it to be noticed, to have a big church?
* Why do we do what we do?
Remember that at the judgement seat of Christ we will not be judged solely by what we have done, but by why we did it. Our motives are constantly under God’s microscope, so we need to continually check ourselves.
We need to love people as individuals, not as a crowd. When we preach, we do so to enable the Holy Spirit to speak to each individual soul, so they will receive life.
* Compassion is not natural. It is neither emotion nor sympathy. It is supernatural! Sometimes the Lord gives us a message, a prophecy, even an entire service -- all done for one individual. Does that not show a merciful God?
* No matter how big the meeting, God looks at individual hearts. He singles people out from the crowd and ministers to them and so should we!
* Compassion does not come by education or study! You cannot teach compassion; there is no degree course at Bible College. You cannot read a book that gives ‘Five Steps to Compassion’.
3. HOW DO WE GET COMPASSION?
Back to the passage. The four men were moved by compassion for their friend, so:
* How do we receive compassion?
* How are we moved with compassion for a lost and dying world?
A. ONLY BY SEEING
We get compassion by ‘seeing’! Consider Matthew 9:36 & 14:14.
Mat 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Mat 14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
In these passages, Jesus saw the crowd as individuals, their pain, sickness, emptiness, loneliness.
Compassion is not something you can psyche up; you cannot study it up, work it up; you must see something. That is why many Christians do nothing - they see nothing.
Jesus continually encouraged His Disciples to ‘see’ something, which would produce compassion that would in turn move them to action.
Remember, the root of the word ‘saw’(‘eido’) used in this context, means, “to look at something and have a full understanding of the situation and what’s required to put it right.”
Many people are moved to action for the wrong reasons, to:
* be known
* have prominence
* like to receive a pat on the back etc.
Is that your motivation? If it is, you will never make it in serving God.
B. ANOTHER EXAMPLE
In John 4, Jesus had been talking to a Samaritan woman and while waiting for the people to come out of her village, His Disciples returned. As they were, no doubt, watching the people come towards them, Jesus grabbed their attention and said to them:
John 4:35 "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
What Jesus was saying was, “I want you to see something.” Because, unless we ‘see’ the need, the pain of what people are going through and unless we have a full understanding of what people are going through and what’s required to deliver them, then we’ll never be moved to action to bring people to the feet of Jesus.
4. NOW IT GETS PERSONAL
John 4:35 “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
Mat 9:36-37 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few.
Let us consider the truth that is shown in two of the previous passages. In John 4:35, Jesus says, “Lift up your eyes and look ... they’re already white for harvest.” In Matthew 9:36-37, His point is, “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.”
There is a tremendous harvest all around us in Europe, awaiting a great reaping. However, Western Christianity has bred many Christians who are more concerned with:
* Position
* Prestige
* Finances etc.
These real labourers are the ones who are moved with compassion to do what God has called us to do. All of us, here today, need to be counted among these people.
A. HOW DO WE DO THIS?
The spirit of the worker must be released in each church. Leaders need to let go and the church needs to take up what their leaders have purposely laid down. You know, we are so familiar with the need for the five-fold ministries, but we nearly universally miss or ignore the next verse. Ephesians 4:12 shows us the very purpose of leadership. It has not to do the work; it’s, “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
Now, ‘equipping’ in Greek is ‘kartatismos’. This word is used of ‘setting broken bones in place’; ‘mending fisherman’s nets’; ‘putting things back in place’.
Tradition and church history have put the people of God out of their right place; they have become ‘pew warmers’. We have to be willing to put this right and leaders are ordered - through the five-fold ministries - to put the people of God back into their right position, to mend the brokenness caused by gifted Christians lying impotent and to get them out to go and catch the unsaved & the lost. Yet, are we all willing to be trained to take up our ‘work of ministry’?
Note: The phrase ‘work of ministry’ simply means to serve (diakonos) ... i.e. to serve God.
Used of setting broken bones in place - also of fishermen mending their nets - putting something back into its right position.
B. THE NEXT PHASE OF OUR CHURCH
Let us go back to Jesus’ command to the Disciples in John 4:35, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
He told them to ‘Look!’ This word is ‘theaomai’, which means the difference between ‘paying a visit’ and ‘passing by’. With people, do not take bypasses or flyovers, but use the slip road and come off and spend time ‘checking out the situation’, i.e. get involved. Too many Christians use the bypasses, which mean they think they have seen and have knowledge and understanding of the situation, but they have not.
C. WHAT HINDERS US?
So, why do we look and not see? Because our minds are preoccupied with things that should not preoccupy us, i.e. non-essentials such that we do not see a lost, dying and hurting world. This means we are not moved with compassion. We need to see it and understand the eternal consequence of souls falling into hell.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), the beaten man is the symbol of what the devil has done to the World. In this parable, the Priest and the Levite ‘saw’ the Samaritan. The word ‘saw’ is ‘eido’ and it means ‘to fully understand the situation and what is required to change it’. Here, the Priest and Levite ‘saw’; the Samaritan ‘saw’ but only he had compassion. All three ‘saw’, but only the Samaritan had compassion. Three of them fully understood this man’s need and what was required to change it, but only one responded. The first two counted the cost and used the by-pass; only one made the visit. The Samaritan was God’s third choice; the other two could have had the same joy of serving God, but only the Samaritan said, “I’ll do it!”
Both Reinhard Bonke and Ray McCaulay say they were God’s third choice for their ministries. Why? Because in each case, two people before them saw the need yet counted the cost and then stopped.
Let us not be hindered by the cost. The Lord never counted the cost of our salvation. Let that be the measure that we use. See the need? Meet that need in Jesus’ name.
