Transcript

Does Anybody Care?

Matthew 9:36-38
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Pastor Randy Smith

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Recently I received the following letter from a local telephone crisis center:

Dear Pastor,

This has been a very difficult year for many of us considering the economic situation and the challenges facing us in 2009. It is the same for people in crisis who have been calling our 24-hour crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline since 1975. Last year, we received nearly 35,000 calls from people in distress."

If you can get beyond the stoic personalities and beneath the happy masks that people wear, you will soon come to realize that many are hurting deep down inside. You see, when individuals are willing to "open up" and make themselves vulnerable, they often reveal a wellspring of pain that comes bubbling up from the deep recesses of their heart. The agony traces from regret to confusion, from loneliness to hopelessness and from grief to depression. Scarred from their own mistakes and scarred from the treatment of others and scarred from the unfavorable circumstances in life, too many people are a lifeless shell going through their daily motions without any sense of joy or purpose. From their perspective the world seems at ease, oblivious to their predicament and unmoved to offer them any compassion. As their heart bleeds they think to themselves: "Does anybody care?"

This morning as we finish the ninth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, we will study just three verses that provide a transition, a transition from Jesus' miracle ministry to His discipleship ministry. But in contrast to the size of these verses is the information contained in these verses - information that exposes the heart of our Savior. What a window we have into His compassionate nature, and what an explanation we have as to how He seeks to minister to hurting people, and what a lesson we have of what we need to be doing ourselves.

This morning before Communion, we are going to study the subject of compassion.

1. FEELING OF COMPASSION

Let's first begin with what I am calling, "The Feeling of Compassion." Verse 36, "Seeing the people, He [Jesus] felt compassion for them. Stop right there.

Jesus did not come to preserve endangered insects or plant more trees. He came for people. He came to help people at the points where they are hurting the most. And with His eyes of omniscience, He was able to see deepest pains hidden away in the deepest crevices of their hearts. As verse 36 says, when Jesus saw the people, He felt compassion for them.

That word compassion is an interesting one. In its original Greek (splagchnizomai) it literally means "feel something in the bowels." Though this might not sound very romantic (we often don't speak of loving someone with all our bowels!), it does speak of an internalized pain. As a result of a personal situation, I am sure we have all felt the pain of a broken heart or a churning stomach. The verse is teaching us that the compassion of Jesus is not a superficial, sentimental concern. The verse is teaching us that Jesus sees our pain, and it affects Him within His innermost being. In other words, because of His great love He identifies with us and our pain becomes His pain (cf. Jn. 11:38).

In going through my Bible I uncovered 77 verses that directly speak of God's compassion. He is described as being "full of compassion" (Jas. 5:11). Isaiah 49:13 says, "[He has] compassion on His afflicted." As I was reading Nehemiah Thursday night I came across three verses that speak of the Lord's "great compassion" (Neh. 9:19, 27, 31). The Scripture is emphatic that our Triune God is a compassionate God.

The Scripture is also emphatic that God's compassion is conditional. In other words, there may be reasons why we sometimes do not experience the fullness of God's compassion. For instance, do we fear Him? Psalm 103:13, "Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him." Do we repent from our sin? Proverbs 28:13, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." Are we His servant? Psalm 135:14, "For the LORD will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants."

Have we come to know our Savior in such an intimate way that we have truly received and understood His compassion? Is this just abstract information for Sunday morning discussion or is this something we have appropriated personally in our lives? Do you only know about God's compassion, or have you also personally experienced God's compassion?

If you have, you will realize there is Someone who is able to come to your hurting heart. And if you have you also will be compassionate like your Master. We find our compassion met in Christ. We fill up with His compassion. We then extend His compassion to others.

We need more compassionate people because we live in a world that almost completely lacks compassion. Just the other week my daughters' basketball team was being crushed by the opponents. And while the other team was rolling up the score, a mother was nonstop with her outspoken comments. My toleration hit a boiling point when she started shouting at the referee for a questionable call. "Bad call! Bad call!" she yelled repeatedly at the top of her lungs. Let it be stated that this is a league for 2nd-4th graders. To which I said (probably much louder than I should have), "Your daughter's team is winning 16-2!"

The world lacks compassion, but that should not be the case for those who are united to a compassionate God. Like our Savior, we should be compassionate. The Scriptures bring forth this responsibility. Colossians 3:12, "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Zechariah 7:9, "Thus has the LORD of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother." 1 Peter 3:8, "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit."

Beloved, we are called to love others as God loves us. That is a call not only to receive God's compassion, but also to then extend that compassion to others. We are never cul-de-sacs of God's gifts. We are always conduits that allow those gifts to flow through us to others. And if we love others the way God loves us, the pain of others should be our pain as well. Let me ask you, are you connected enough to the life of this church to know and experience the pain of your brothers and sisters to the point where you feel it as Jesus did, deep within your guts?

I have never expected anyone to manifest all the spiritual gifts. I hope you have afforded me that same grace as well. I believe we all have responsibilities to teach and evangelize and administrate, for example, to some degree, but I don't believe all of us possess each spiritual gift in its fullness to the point where we are able to major in that particular area. We are all unique, strong in some areas and a bit weaker in other ones. That is what makes us interdependent. That is what makes it necessary for all of us to serve. That is what makes our church great.

When I examine my life in light of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible, I find myself weakest in the area of mercy. I wouldn't say I am an unmerciful guy, but my fastball is in the areas of leadership and teaching. I will get through 22 times of teaching and preaching this month, but if you asked me to be a hospital chaplain I'd be admitted myself after 2 days on the job!

Yet with this said, I am often asked about the most difficult elements of my job. People often think it's the long hours or hard work or strain on my family or the need to always be an example 24 hours a day or dealing with criticism. Those are tough, but my greatest pain comes from the overwhelming concern I have for all of you. From a guy who just said he is not the most compassionate in the world, has come a concern that has resulted in irregular diets, tearful days, sleepless nights, chest pains and several ulcers.

Maybe I internalize too much. Maybe I need to cast more of my cares upon the Lord. Maybe I need to limit what I receive. But I do know that we would be inhuman if we didn't feel the pain of our children. Just as Jesus would be un-God if He didn't feel the pain of His church. Shouldn't we feel this pain for the church as well? I know that great pastor the Apostle Paul said, "Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:29, 28).

In last Friday's Grace Quote the C.H. Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers" commented, "[A minister's] work, when earnestly undertaken, lays us open to attacks in the direction of depression. Who can bear the weight of souls without sometimes sinking to the dust? Passionate longings after men's conversion, if not fully satisfied (and when are they?), consume the soul with anxiety and disappointment. To see the hopeful turn aside, the godly grow cold, professors abusing their privileges, and sinners waxing more bold in sin - are not these sights enough to crush us to the earth? The kingdom comes not as we would, the reverend name is not hallowed as we desire, and for this we must weep. How can we be otherwise than sorrowful, while men believe not our report, and the divine arm is not revealed?" (The Minister's Fainting Fits, Lectures to My Students, Lecture XI, 1856).

2. REASON FOR COMPASSION

That brings us to our second point. What was the reason for our Lord's compassion?

According to verse 36, Jesus felt compassion because "the people…were distressed and dispirited." They were, according to other translations, "worried and helpless" (GNB), "harassed and helpless" (NRSV, REB, NIV), "harassed and neglected" (JB). We could say Jesus looked at the people and saw hurting individuals that were worn-out and exhausted and beaten-low and abused and cast down, unable to rescue themselves and unable to be truly comforted by others. Despite the fact that almost all of these people were cloaked in religious packages, He knew they were hurting deep down inside.

These people were hurting because they are described in verse 36 "like sheep without a shepherd."

This is a common metaphor used of God and people throughout the Bible. We are often compared to sheep, defenseless animals when it comes to a multitude of hostile enemies. Animals unable to provide for themselves - vulnerable, stubborn, independent, helpless and wearied. God on the other hand is the Shepherd (Num. 27:17; 1 Ki. 22:17; 2 Chron. 18:16; Zech. 10:2). As Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep" (Jn. 10:11).

As our Lord gazed at the precious people standing in His company and perceived the anguish of their souls, His heart was broken. It was broken not because they did not have their superficial desires met. It was broken because they were lost in this life and they were heading to an eternal hell in the one to come. It was an unthinkable sight. They were sheep without a Shepherd.

Importantly we see here that the compassion of Jesus Christ is primarily aimed at those who have not entered a relationship with the living God through Him. It was the people still in their sins, still without the blessings of the church, still living with debilitating guilt, still without purpose and direction and hope in life who brought to our Lord this wretched pain in His midsection. For how could our Lord see this suffering and not be moved? And again, how can we claim to have the "mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16) and not be moved either?

I trust this was the reason why so many of you helped to serve last Sunday during the parade. We prepared and gave away hundreds of hot dogs, funnel cakes and hot chocolates. They don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. We distributed Gospel tracts and shared the Good News of salvation. One man told me he had a conversation with a girl who came in with a button that he thought read, "I love pork." When he questioned her what that meant he quickly came to realize that it read, "I love porn." Please pray for her and the dozens who heard and saw the Gospel in action. It is easy to run from those people with spiked-up green hair and foul mouths and liquored breath. But our Lord ran to them. Remember verse 13 of chapter 9? "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (cf. Mt. 12:7). And as we observed today, Jesus saw these people and exercised compassion because He said they were sheep without a shepherd. Are we able to see these people with the eyes of Christ?

The prophet Jonah was called to share God's love with his archenemies in Nineveh (Jon. 1:2). Jonah balked at the idea and ran in the opposite direction (Jon. 1:3). Nineveh repented. Jonah was rebuked after he demonstrated more pity for a plant than he did for human souls. "Then the LORD said, 'You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand'" (Jon. 4:10-11)?

As we mature in Christ we move beyond the "Does anybody care about me," because we find that need met in Christ (we have a Shepherd!) and start asking, "Does anybody care about them?"

3. SOLUTION TO COMPASSION

The Lord is grieved over the lost souls, so He brings His solution to the problem - our third point. Verse 37, "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.'"

The metaphor is changed from livestock to crops. Here He compares the people to fruit or vegetables ready to be picked. The crop is ready. The harvest is plentiful. People are ready to be reaped into the kingdom.

Remember Jesus when He was in that Samaritan territory after He witnessed to the woman at the well? "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor" (Jn. 4:35-38).

"The harvest is plentiful," but as Jesus says, "The workers are few." Souls for the kingdom cannot be brought in by themselves. People need to be sharing the Gospel and leading these souls to Christ. So first we have compassion (they are spiritually lost). Second we understand the solution (they need Christ). And now third we understand the need (how are we going to get to the message). God is looking for people to help in the spiritual labor! The goal here is to overwhelm us by considering the enormous size of the harvest in comparison to the relatively few harvesters. So what do we do?

The answer is found in verse 38. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Who's in charge of the harvest? The Lord! He is the "Lord of the harvest." Whose harvest is this? The Lord! It is "His harvest."

So we understand that people without Christ are like sheep without a shepherd. It moves us in our innermost being. We enter the field and determine that there is more work than we can harvest ourselves. So we return to the owner of the field and beg Him to send out more workers.

Study church history to this present day. Great movements of bringing souls into the kingdom have always begun with great movements of prayer - not only prayer for people to be saved, but prayer that the saved will be faithful to their high calling. Prayer that we as a church will be moved by compassion over the state of the lost and then leave our comfort zones and enter the field called local missions. Only God can give us a passion for the lost, an eagerness to spread the Gospel, an empowerment for fruitful witness and a multitude of faithful believers eager to harvest. And all this will only happen if we are first laboring in urgent and fervent prayer, both privately and corporately as a church.

God can do all of this without us. But He is gracious to include us in the most important and most fulfilling work ever conceived. He just wants us to see the need and then have our hearts moved, which moves us to depend on Him for any success.

Is this harvest time for the Grace Tabernacle? Do we have the eyes of Christ to see people in the darkness and then the heart of Christ to draw them out? We ask, "Does anybody care about me?" We received that answer today - God does! So we now ask a deeper question, "Does anybody care about them?" Better yet, "Do I care about them?" I believe being used to share the message of salvation is the greatest way to be reminded of and extend to others the compassion of God.