November 11, 2018
Morning Service

Last week, Greg let me know he would be out of town this week and for today; and that he may or may not be done with the book of 1^st Peter so to feel free to act as God would have me proceed with the message. So I told him that I would begin praying to the Lord for guidance and direction of where he would lead me to go. So after much prayer for the Word our Lord wanted preached today, I felt led to talk about compassion and learning to love like Jesus.

Compassion as defined by Webster is a noun meaning a sympathetic consciousness of other people’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it. There are lots of aspects to the characteristics of compassion, there is pity, sympathy, mercy, and empathy and they are all love in action. The bible tells us in

Psalms 145:8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.

In this verse, the Bible tells us that our God is good and ready to forgive us our sins if we only repent and call on Him. His love has no boundaries and His truth is the One and Only truth, His compassion is so great He is willing to pardon our sins to be remembered no more and this He is willing to manifest toward us as great sinners and this mercy is great on the largest of scales. In the book of

Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

So this tells us of God’s wonderful Mercy and the greatness of it, he does not give a half-pardon or a portion of a pardon, but a full pardon for those whom are baptized and repent and confess the Lord Jesus as the Son of God that died because of our sins and was buried and resurrected on the third day to reign with our Father in Heaven at His right hand. And is now our Lord and Savior and Redeemer to our Father, we put on the righteousness of Jesus to wear on the Day of the Lord to enter into His kingdom. Thank you Lord Jesus for loving us so much! Our debt to our Father in Heaven was unable to be paid by us in any way and because our Father loved us so much, he sent His Son to the Earth and Jesus was willing to do the will of the Father on our behalf. This is an unmerited gift of Love of which we do not deserve, but fully claim to through Jesus our Lord. Our bibles give us the direction we need for becoming saved from the wrath of God which will fall on all sinners who have not repented of their sins and have not taken of the free gift offered by our Lord Jesus who already has paid the price through the great work done on Calvary for us.

To speak about pity and sympathy, these are words we use daily to describe how we feel when we observe others in pain in their bodies, mind, or heart. If we are close enough to the individual suffering, we call this empathy as if we could in some way crawl into the sufferer’s skin and the two of us merge into an emotional oneness. We truly have a heartfelt sense of concern and it is like we see and feel it through their eyes and heart. It is identifying with the sufferer on an innermost level of our being. If we think about this just a little, we can imagine how our Lord is in tune with us in an empathetic manner which we cannot even comprehend with all of our abilities and even with the greatest of the human minds. Jesus said in

Luke 12:7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Jesus said this because He has not forgotten even a single sparrow and we are more valuable than many sparrows.

In Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

These scriptures tell us very plainly that our Father in Heaven and Jesus want us to love Them out of our free will to do so. We can love our God in Heaven because he first loved us and without reserve paid the ultimate price to redeem our souls. The bible tells us how fruitless it is to store up treasures here on Earth, where they can have no lasting value at all. But in contrast to that, to store up our treasures in Heaven where they will remain forever and cannot be destroyed or taken from us.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

The Jewish people of the day when Jesus walked upon the Earth were as a whole found life to be a heavy burden being under the oppression of their Roman conquerors and the rigid rules and structure of the Pharisees. They were economically impoverished and spiritually ignorant, they were “harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd” Jesus went from the  villages to the cities, healing the sick, curing the blind, the lame, the diseased, and demon possessed people.

Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 

Jesus came onto the Earth as compassion incarnate; he made caring for others central in his ministries. He swept aside the legalistic distortions and ethnic limitations and focused primarily on the Grace of God. Our Lord and Savior Jesus modeled perfectly the compassionate neighbor-love that Paul wrote about in his letter to the church in Corinth. The 13^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians is known as the Love chapter in the bible and it tells very effectively how we must have love in our hearts or all the gifts we could possibly have would be nothing without love. The gift of speaking in tongues, gifts of prophecy, gifts to feed the poor, all would be nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Jesus came upon the Earth proclaiming the message of Love and the kingdom of Heaven only being accessible by faith. This was an all-inclusive love that was spelled out in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. The attitude that controls our behaviors in this born again society was to be one of compassion, and demonstrating love in action. We are to provide a caring concern for others as Jesus modeled perfectly in his life on Earth when he walked among us.

Jesus was very compassionate for children. The people of Israel were a society that prized their children. Abortion and child exposure, leaving children outside to die, were practiced by the pagan nations surrounding the Holy Land, and these were sinfully distasteful to God’s elect people. All births were hailed with joy and gratitude. The disciples of Jesus were annoyed by restless children and tried to push them to the outskirts of the crowds, they would order them to be quiet or to go away. The children however sensed the love Jesus had for them and clustered around waiting to be picked up and held in His welcoming arms. Jesus embraced them and even prayed God’s blessing on them surprising the disciples who he later rebuked.

Mark 10:13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 

Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 

Mark 10:15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." 

Mark 10:16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them

Jesus not only welcomed the little children, but declared that these children being so dependent, so trustful, so teachable, and so innocent will serve as models of the faith needed to enter into the kingdom of God in Heaven. He also declared that if anyone caused a child to go astray will suffer severe punishment for doing this.

Mark 9:42 But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. 

In the biblical days, there was a patriarchal society in which women occupied a subordinate position and were treated as social and spiritual inferiors. Jesus was very compassionate for women also and was sensitive to the needs of all people whether male or female. A prostitute approached Jesus while He was eating in the house of a Pharisee. She poured ointment on the feet of Jesus and washed them with her tears. Through the compassion of Jesus, knowing her sorrow for her sins and her and faith, defended that bold extravagant action and sent her away with a blessing of peace. Jesus again disclosed His compassionate attitude toward women when he refused to engage in the stoning of an adulteress caught in the very act. Jesus with pitying tactfulness, handled this situation righteously yet forgivingly. He pardoned the woman of her guilt, warned her against future temptations, and sent her away to live a changed life. He did not condone the sin, but offered a pardon and hope to those women whom society had brushed off as morally worthless. Jesus did not see people in abstract categories such as Jews and Gentiles, men and women, adults and children, however he saw them as individuals made in God’s image and each as a member of God’s family and a potential member of His spiritual family.

Jesus also had shown compassion for others, such as the tax collector or publican. These were Jews who acted as agents of the Roman government and were despised and hated by many. While Jesus was telling a parable, He must have perplexed the listeners when it was a tax collector rather than a Pharisee who received God’s grace.

Luke 18:9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 

Luke 18:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 

Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 

Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 

Luke 18:13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 

Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

And again when Jesus declared the prostitutes and tax collectors who had responded repentantly to the preaching of John the Baptist would enter into God’s kingdom ahead of the self-righteous religious leaders. This probably made the crowd there in the hearing of this angry because Jesus befriended the tax collectors and prostitutes.

Matthew 21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him. 

Jesus had even chosen a Samaritan as the model of God’s own compassion. This was the Samaritan who had compassion on a victim of theft and violence.

Luke 10:30  Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

Luke 10:31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 

Luke 10:32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 

Luke 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 

Luke 10:34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

Luke 10:35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.

The compassion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is not able to be measured in any way that would be humanly possible to understand. However, the example Jesus lived while here on the Earth is a living example in every way of how we must be compassionate with our neighbors. The Bible tells us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Who is our neighbor? As in the parable above of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor is the one who shows mercy to those in need.

Lord please help us to be merciful to those in need of mercy and we will be blessed and shown mercy, in Jesus name we pray.