Priority: Compassion

So this is the final sermon in an 8 part series on the priorities of a local church.  It’s certainly not an exhaustive series… we may hit some of these priorities again in the future and we may talk about other priorities… but

if you take a comprehensive look at Scripture at least eight priorities emerge pretty clearly…

Worship

Witness

Discipleship

Leadership

Prayer

Spreading

Mutual Care

And the final priority we will focus on today is…

Compassion

Now…before we go any further I want us to think about what compassion is.   Compassion is…

Personal and corporate expressions and means to relieve human suffering, near and far, to show the justice, mercy and soul–satisfying beauty of Christ. - Pastor Ryan

Now I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about this sermon for weeks… and frankly I’ve been dreading it… not sure if a preacher is allowed to say that…but just keeping it real.  Compassion is a HUGE topic.  What’s more how do I help you…help us…in a sermon… to become more compassionate?

Just defining and dissecting compassion in an academic way isn’t going to work… and neither is me yelling at you for a half hour to “be compassionate!”  While compassion is something that is done and lived out it’s more than that… it’s about a posture of the heart… and I can’t change anyone’s heart.

And as I was pondering this dilemma it struck me that perhaps the best way to talk about compassion… while facilitating an increase of compassion in our own hearts, is to approach compassion mainly from the angle of seeing it expressed and illustrated in Jesus Himself.

Because one of the ways God conforms us to the image of Christ is through us beholding Christ.

…we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

(2 Corinthians 3:18)

In other words “beholding is a means of becoming.”  You become like what you behold…what you enjoy…what you admire… what you fix your gaze on… and to the degree that we are drinking in and seeing and savoring God and who He is revealed to be in Jesus, is the degree that we will be changed into His beautiful image…

And so this morning we are going to behold the glory of the Lord in the life of Christ… in a story that puts His compassion on display in a beautiful way

and it’s the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

And my hope is that as we behold the glory of the Lord in the compassion of Jesus, it will move and transform our hearts to be a little more like His.

Cameron already read the story from the gospel of Matthew…and as we go I’ll be pulling in some details from the other gospel accounts that Matthew doesn’t give us to help us flesh the story out further…

The heart of compassion

Now, I want to briefly give some context for this story… right before Jesus does this amazing miracle, something tragic happens.  King Herod Antipas was in charge at this time… he was the son of the more famous Herod who attempted to kill Jesus as a child and wiped out all of the little children in Bethlehem.

And evidently the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because Antipas is equally evil and he ends up capturing and eventually beheading Jesus’ cousin and friend, John the Baptist.  And Matthew 14:12 says that John’s followers took and buried the body, and told Jesus the horrible news.

And that sets the stage for what comes next…verse 13…

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

(Matthew 14:13)

Now… we know that it was a regular custom of Jesus to withdraw from the crowds and spend time alone with God the Father for prayer, communion, and refreshment… You can imagine the average day of ministry for Jesus…where He is teaching and healing and serving… it would have been absolutely exhausting physically and mentally…

Not just for Him but for His disciples serving with Him… in fact…in Mark’s account Jesus says to His disciples,

“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

(Mark 6:31)

So probably Jesus’ intention is for all of them to separate from the crowds…

But in addition to the normal weariness that Jesus would have felt…  Matthew gives the impression that the murder of John was a significant trigger to Jesus’ desire to get away…

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew…

(Matthew 14:13)

And naturally He would want some time alone…not just to rest but probably to grieve, to mourn… to seek refuge in His Father.   Maybe even to contemplate His own mission and impending death.  Well that was Jesus’ plan… but then we’re told that,

But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

(Matthew 14:13)

When you’ve got thousands of people after you, combing the countryside… it’s hard to hide… so, verse 14… when

…When he went ashore he saw a great crowd…

(Matthew 14:14)

Folks this was not Jesus’ plan.  He wanted time for Himself… He’s certainly earned it.  And as that boat is getting closer to the beach and He's seeing a growing throng of people waving and shouting and pleading for Him what do you think is going through His mind?

I can tell you what I’d be thinking.

I don’t know about you but when I’m really tired…really worn out…really drained after just giving and giving and giving to people… and if on top of that I’m going through hard times myself…

And I lay my head down on that sofa and suddenly the phone rings and it’s somebody else asking me for help…to serve them in some way… can I just confess to you that sometimes my attitude is not great… it’s not always cheerfulness at yet another opportunity to serve…

In fact I might even be irritated and angry.

Don’t you know how hard it is for me right now?  Can’t you see what I’m going through?  I’m being crushed with the weight of the world and you want just a little more from me?

If I were Jesus…when I saw everyone on the shore waving at me… I would have turned that boat around and went the opposite way.  And aren’t you glad I’m not Jesus?  How does Jesus respond?  I love this.

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them…

(Matthew 14:14)

This isn’t the first time the multitudes stirred up this feeling in Jesus… Elsewhere Matthew writes that

…he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

(Matthew 9:36)

They were harassed… harassed by demons… by afflictions… by chronic pain and disease… harassed by grief and sorrow and poverty… harassed by political oppression… by bullies like Herod and the Romans… they were harassed by heartless, hypocritical religious leaders who were anything but compassionate towards their needs…

But they’re also helpless… unable to do anything about their problems.  And Jesus has compassion for them.

The Greek word Matthew uses for compassion is splanchnizomai.

The word means to feel affection and sympathy… it’s related to the word Splanchnon which refers to the inner organs… the heart…the entrails…the seat of the emotions from which flow sympathy.  When you’re stirred to deep emotion…it’s not just a mental thing… there’s actually a physiological component to it isn’t there? You feel it in your gut…

And… despite Jesus’ own need for rest and time alone with His Father, Jesus…upon seeing the crowds and their need…experiences splanchnizomai….  this surge of compassion.

Unlike Jesus… our natural tendency is to focus mainly on our own needs and interests while minimizing the needs of others.  Now… God is not expecting us to deny or neglect our own legitimate needs.  That would be masochistic.  Instead, God wants to tenderize our hearts to the degree that we can have deep sympathy and concern for others like we do for ourselves.

This is something of what Paul is getting at in Philippians 2 when he says,

…in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

(Philippians 2:3–4)

And so really the foundation of compassion is a humble attitude of the heart where we love and value others enough to… in a sense… feel their pain and sympathize with them in their affliction.

And may God so tenderize our hearts here at Main Street Church as we prayerfully ask God to cultivate that attitude in us…

But here’s the thing…while biblical compassion has a strong “feeling” component…it’s more than a feeling…

We’ve set a low bar for compassion in our culture.  We change our profile picture on social media or slap a bumper sticker on our car about some cause… to communicate to the world that we are compassionate… I’m not against bumper stickers or social media… but the scriptures are pointing us to something more… I’m reminded of where James write,

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

(James 2:15–16)

James doesn’t commend you for having sad feelings and well wishes for a person in need… instead, he expects us to meet the need.  Because biblically, a heart of compassion leads to

Acts of Compassion

There are multiple Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible that are translated as compassion…words like splanchnizomai lean into the emotive elements… others are more “action words.”  Combined, we get a clear picture of what biblical compassion is.

Theologian John Frame helpfully defines biblical compassion as

“…a sympathetic view of another’s distress motivating helpful action…”

BB Warfield describes it as “an internal movement of pity” that leads to “an external act of beneficence..”

And this is what we see exemplified in Christ.  When Jesus sees the needy crowd… and His heart is broken and stirred… He doesn’t just feel bad about it…He enters into their need to alleviate it…

…he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

(Matthew 14:14)

Now just imagine… you’ve got literally thousands of people on the shore…many of them with physical afflictions…

And if He is having individual, personal contact with every one of these people…which is normally how He healed… this must went on for hours…remember Jesus is already exhausted and wanted rest and renewal for Himself and His disciples but His compassion overcomes His own interests…He heals them and then we’re going to see Him provide food for when they are hungry…

And this shows us something else very important about biblical compassion

Biblical Compassion cares about physical needs

There are some Christians that downplay ministering to people’s bodies.  To them the spiritual is what matters.  The temporal needs of people aren’t all that important.  Let’s focus on eternal things!

And so they’re very locked in and focused on preaching to people…giving them truth…giving them Bible… getting them saved…getting them untangled from sin… getting them to heaven…

But Biblically speaking we are both body and spirit… interrelated and interconnected… one affecting and influencing the other…You could say we are embodied souls… Of course the spirit matters… but biblical compassion also cares for the body and temporal needs.

In fact, if we really care about ministering to someone spiritually, we need to realize that sometimes physical suffering can get in the way of someone’s spiritual receptivity…

When God raised up Moses to deliver the people of Israel from slavery, God gave Moses words of truth and encouragement…and then Moses turns around to share this truth with Israel… and we’re told that

…they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

(Exodus 6:9)

The physical suffering of the people made it hard for them to hear spiritual truth and the promises of God.

Now…we see Jesus’ concern for physical and temporal needs constantly in His ministry…  once two blind men approached Jesus pleading for help…everyone else was irritated at their disruption… but

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight… 

(Matthew 10:34)

Another time Jesus encountered a man with leprosy… which was one of the worst things you could be afflicted with in 1st century Israel… you were financially and socially isolated… no one wanted anything to do with you… and this man came to Jesus begging to be healed… and he says,

“If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” 

(Mark 1:40-41)

There was time where Jesus was faced with a yet another hungry multitude… and Jesus said,

I have compassion on the crowd because they…have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry…

(Matthew 15:32)

And there are many more examples of this.  Now Jesus didn’t heal everyone in Israel… and He doesn’t heal everyone today… some of you continue to suffer from physical ailments… and we learn from other scriptures that God often has reasons we cannot discern for why sometimes He delays relief and we have to trust Him with that… But if Jesus truly has compassion for His people… You can be sure that Jesus even now grieves with you in your pain…He is moved to the core of His being…. and you can be certain that if He doesn’t heal you now… He’s going to heal you later…

If you’re in Christ… rest assured that one day He will call His people out of the grave and renew and recreate their bodies so that they will no longer be susceptible to pain, sickness, and death.  In fact Jesus went through the worst pain and agony possible on the cross to guarantee your future healing…Because…

Jesus…in His compassion, cares about physical needs… But…with that said…

Biblical Compassion cares about spiritual needs

There are other Christians that see the many examples of compassionate concern for physical needs in the Bible and that becomes their primary focus.  Feed the hungry… give to the poor… help a refugee in need… dig a well in Africa… whatever it may be… and they downplay the spiritual.

There’s little to no preaching of the truth… little to no gospel… little to no concern about people’s souls… and if we’re simply helping people with their physical and temporal needs then that is compassion.

But again the Bible speaks differently.

Let’s go back to Jesus… on the lake…his boat approaching the needy crowds… we’ve been looking at Matthew’s account of this but lets switch over to what Mark tells us as he gives us another detail that’s very important…

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

(Mark 6:34)

Ok…that all sounds familiar so far….but how is the compassion of Jesus put on display?  Matthew says He healed their sick, right?  Guess what Mark says. Mark says he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd…

And he began to teach them many things.

(Mark 6:34)

So was He healing people…or was He preaching and teaching?

Gospel of Luke tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds,

…he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.

(Luke 9:11)

Jesus was ministering to the body and the soul…. He had compassion on their physical needs AND their spiritual needs.

I think that would be surprising to some people.  For some, preaching and teaching doesn’t seem compassionate.  But Jesus understood that their souls needed cared for… they needed spiritual refreshment…

Remember, they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd… and among the chief harassers were their own spiritual leaders…False shepherds…

Who were harshly ruling over them… and leading them astray with false teaching and a bunch of religious rules and regulations that provided them no hope and only enhanced their sense of guilt and shame.

And so as Jesus approaches this desperate crowd on the shore He comes to them as a true and better shepherd to rescue them.  And He teaches them truth.  He spoke to them about the Kingdom of God.

Which would have most importantly included the hope that could be found for their weary souls in Him…Yes He was healing them physically… but He was teaching and encouraging them to provide spiritual healing…

In fact, Biblical compassion recognizes that an overemphasis of physical needs can be hazardous to one’s spiritual health.

Case in point…after Jesus miraculously feeds them by creating bread and fish for them all…

The book of John picks up the story of what happened the next day.  The people are thrilled about about Jesus.  They’re like “Hey!  You’re like Moses… who miraculously fed our forefathers in the wilderness with bread for 40 years to keep them from going hungry!  Do the same for us…just keep feeding us every day!”

And Jesus turns to them and says,

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

(John 6:35)

Of course Jesus met their physical needs out of compassion… but the larger point of it all was not merely to satisfy a temporary hunger… it was to be an illustration pointing to Jesus…the true bread… who can forever take away man’s deepest hunger in the soul that no earthly thing can come close to satisfying.

Jesus tells them,

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

(John 6:49)

In other words your ancestors had the thing that you so desperately want and where are they now?  Their skeletons have long decomposed in the wilderness… and if you are fixed on meeting your physical needs only it will not end well for you…

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world (or to get healed…or to be fed…or rescued from poverty… or have clean water…or a roof and clothing) and forfeit his soul?

(Mark 8:36)

Going without physical food will kill your body in a few days… but going without spiritual food that is only found in Jesus will destroy you eternally.

And He wants the people to understand that you can send someone on their way with smiles and a full belly all the way to Hell.

Friends, true compassion cares about suffering.  We care about physical needs… we care about temporal suffering… but we care most about eternal suffering…

And so Jesus refuses to make more physical bread for the people that was a distraction to them and He offers the hungry crowd something better.  Himself.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

(John 6:49–51)

Jesus is pointing to His own crucifixion…which will be the means by which sinners can enter into the life of God.  where His flesh…His Body… will hang on a cross as a sacrificial substitute for sinners.

Because God so loved the world that He sent His Son Jesus to take God’s punishment (that we deserved) in our place… so that any who would trust in Him…

…who would stop relying on bread… or money… or sinful pleasures… or popularity… or any other thing to satisfy the hunger of their souls …. and would instead place their hope in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life… and be forever forgiven and free from the burden of sin, guilt and shame.

And true biblical compassion aches for the desperate spiritual condition of billions of souls worldwide…Who…if no one tells them about the Bread of Life… will slip into eternity…forever perishing… without Christ.

So after considering the heart of compassion… and the acts of compassion… I want us to hear

The Call to Compassion

Let’s go back to Jesus on the shore…healing, teaching, ministering to the masses.  Again this must have gone on for hours…

And now it’s very late in the day… the sun is close to the horizon. And the people in their desperation to get to Jesus didn’t really think much about the whole food problem… These harassed and helpless souls have dropped everything just to get near Him…they weren’t thinking about food in the moment.  They’re thinking of healing… of help…of hope…

And Jesus has been the epitome of compassion towards them… how about His disciples?  They had compassion… kind of.

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

(Matthew 14:15)

It seems Jesus has been so absorbed in serving and caring for everyone’s needs He’s not worried about the time… but the disciples are watching the clock and they’re thinking “Welp….It’s time to wrap things up…”.

We need to get these people out of here and maybe they can find a McDonalds or something on the way home… but it’s not our problem anymore…

And Jesus turns to them and says something stunning…

But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

(Matthew 14:16)

Now Jesus is showing you something profound.  He’s revealing to you His central strategy in the advancement of His Kingdom in a desperate and needy World…that is weighed down with physical needs of every kind… and crushed with overwhelming spiritual burdens.  A world starving for forgiveness and love…

And He takes all of those needs and it lays it at the feet of His Church…His people…His disciples… Main Street Church… and He turns to you and says … “they need not go away… you give them something to eat… you comfort them in affliction… you alleviate their physical burdens… and, above all, you give them the gospel of hope which will save and satisfy their souls.

So…. a little known fact about me… one of my favorite music styles is Hip-Hop… and Christian hip hop artist KB’s got this one song where he says,

In a dream

I asked God, "Why do You allow poverty?

The weak under siege, Lord, where was Your relief?

When You could intervene?"

God then looked at me and said

"I was gonna ask you the same thing"

Asked where was God, God asked where were you at?

What if God's plan is to move through when you act?

That’s biblical.  And such sentiments should not shock us if we remember that the Church is not some sort of entity separate from Christ…the Church is Christ’s very Body.

And as His Body, we function as Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth in the world… and we even are to demonstrate His very heart as we join Him in

His global ministry of compassion to a world of sheep without a shepherd.  It’s a daunting call is it not?  It was daunting to His disciples.

He says to them, “You give them something to eat…”.  And how did His disciples respond to the call?  Yes Lord!  Whatever you say we will do!  Of course not!  In Mark’s account…

And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

(Mark 6:37)

That’s nearly a year’s wage for a day laborer. They don’t have that kind of money.

And then they’re scrounging around for food and in John’s account one of the disciples says,

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

(John 6:9)

Jesus has called them to a task that is impossible… and it becomes painfully clear that they don’t have the strength or resources to carry it out.

And Jesus knows this.  And He still says, “You give them something to eat….you take care of them.”

And Jesus gives several commands to the disciples draw them in. When you combine the different gospel accounts we see Jesus telling them to bring him the little food they have…then to organize the people…

He then has them distribute the food…and then he commands them to collect all the leftovers… Jesus is obviously the one who multiplying the bread… but notice…  It’s not like Jesus needs them… but He nevertheless involves them in every aspect of this ministry to compassionately meet the people’s need.

Application

The lesson for the disciples and for us is that Jesus doesn’t just call us to hard things….He calls us to impossible things… and our responsibility isn’t to accomplish the impossible… it’s to merely be available and bring our very meager resources of time, strength, money, talent…whatever it may be… to just bring those things to God…

And as we step out in faith and obedience to what Jesus has asked we can trust that Jesus will make up for our lack and grant us success in carrying out His call of compassion to those in need.  He accomplishes impossible things through weak people…and He gets the glory.

So what does compassion look like for you?  I can only mention a few examples as my time is almost done…

First, remember that compassion cares about physical needs.

Now… we’re not Jesus… I’m pretty confident no one here is called to go down to St Luke’s and supernaturally heal everyone…

but you could still pray for the sick… because sometimes God does heal people.

But even apart from healing there are ways to compassionately minister through acts of benevolence.

Bringing someone a meal may be a huge deal to that suffering person.  Or helping to provide transportation or cleaning the house.  Sometimes what people need the most are compassionate and understanding friends who are willing to walk alongside them in their suffering for years to come.  You can call that the ministry of presence.  And that can go along way.

There are others with financial needs… where there are opportunities to show generosity….

single parents in one income situations barely holding it together… perhaps God is calling you to higher levels of generosity to help them pay for car repairs…or you repair their car for free… or give them a grocery gift card as a surprise one day…

You could volunteer at the Boise Rescue Mission to serve the homeless…or with glocal to serve refugees in need… or support Inspire Idaho doing great work with foster kids…

There are so many needs and you aren’t called to meet them all…and sometimes like Jesus you need to withdraw when you can rest… but there will be opportunities that God will put in front of you to show courageous compassion to someone in need.  It might be a big opportunity…or something you think is small…

Don’t dismiss an opportunity because you feel like it’s small… “well writing a note of encouragement to that bedridden person… that’s no big deal…” Friends I suspect we miss out on a lot of opportunities because we think something is too small to really count.  But no act of compassion feels small for the person who’s on the receiving end.

Second, remember that compassion involves meeting spiritual needs…

There are people in our own church who are battling discouragement, or sorrow, or need guidance, are distressed by trials, or are battling sin.  Will we compassionately come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ, providing spiritual encouragement?

Sympathizing with and helping them…weeping with those who weep… or lovingly bringing the truth of God’s Word to bear on their circumstances?

But beyond that… even more urgently… Are there people around you who don’t know Jesus?  Who haven’t tasted of the bread of life?  One thing we can do is pray specifically for people who don’t know God and pray for soft hearts that they might receive Christ.

But biblical compassion compels us to add action to our prayers.  And so are we also praying for more opportunities to open our mouths to share the gospel directly with them? Do you know that whenever I fervently pray for opportunities God starts dropping them in my lap…it’s crazy how that works.

Maybe you’re called to be a missionary overseas…but if you’re not, do you have a missional mindset where you are thinking about how you might better leverage your relationships and spheres of influence for the gospel?  Is that a priority for us?  It should be.

Because true biblical compassion feels the weight of God’s impending judgment on sinners and the terrible future of anyone who will not repent of their sins and trust in Christ.  We care about suffering.  Eternal suffering most of all.  And the least compassionate thing we can do is withhold the gospel from a world in need.

Jesus demonstrates the epitome of compassion when He weeps over Jerusalem…the city that abandoned God… with people and leaders that will enthusiastically support His murder… and nevertheless Jesus cries out,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

(Matthew 23:37)

Jesus’ heart is shaken to the very core…not because He’s insecure because they rejected Him… but because His very love and compassion drives Him to grief…

And so we should pray that God would stir up in our hearts that kind of compassion and concern for the lost… Lord knows I have room to grow here.

As I invite the band forward to play… The idea of pressing into the lives of others with compassion may feel quite daunting… sharing the good news of Jesus with others may feel terrifying and beyond your ability and resources…If that’s you…. remember the lesson from the feeding of the 5,000… Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to minister in their own strength…or apart from Jesus.  Jesus was with them every step of the way…

Taking their meager resources and multiplying them… doing something incredible through their weaknesses so that He might be glorified.  Jesus loves to do that.  And He will do it with you.  He was with them… and He will be with us…indeed after Jesus commissions His Church to tell the world about Him…He gives you and I this wonderful assurance…He says,

…behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:20)

He won’t let us go it alone….Because Jesus has compassion on us too.

As the band plays instrumentally for a moment, you’ll have a chance to prayerfully reflect on this concept of compassion and what it means for you… and then after a few moments we’ll sing together…

and after that next song is done parents will have an opportunity to get their kids… but for now let’s enter into a time of prayerful response….