We continue in our series on Hope Found Here and this month our focus is on the Compassion of Father God. This morning what I want us to consider together is The Commandment of Compassion.
To focus our thoughts this morning consider these words:
Psalm 103:13 says, “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.”
Psalm 145:8, “The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.”
In Luke 6:36, Jesus said “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”
What do these verses tell us?
God is our compassionate Father, He is merciful, patient and loving. We are meant to be compassionate. In fact, to show compassion is a commandment, a commandment from Jesus to His disciples, a commandment from Jesus to you and me.
“You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”
So here is the question: Are you following or ignoring the command of Jesus to be compassionate?
Let me put the question another way: Are you demonstrating the love of God to others? Are you caring for others or only caring for yourself?
It is possible for us to be so tied up with our own needs, wants or desires that we leave no time or space for showing compassion to others. If we are so busy with ourselves we can neglect others yet Jesus commands each of us to be compassionate.
We can make excuses:
“Oh, I didn’t notice that person needed help..”
“I thought someone else would get involved...”
“I’m far too busy with stuff that I need to do in my own life.”
Instead of showing compassion we can be negligent, indifferent or selfish.
So, let me ask the question again, are you following or ignoring the command of Jesus to be compassionate?
Are you willing to be more compassionate? Are you willing to be more sensitive to the needs of others? Are you willing to demonstrate the love of God?
Compassion is an expression of love.
Your love for others is an expression of your love for God. Remember the words of Jesus in John 13:34-35,
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Another command from Jesus to us. Another commandment that we should not ignore if we are His disciples. Listen to the words of 1 John 4:7-12, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.”
Compassion is an expression of God’s love for us and an expression of our love for God.
How do we show compassion to others? In love, in mercy, providing help, giving comfort, showing care - actually doing something! It’s about looking for the opportunity and then actually demonstrating the love of God by being compassionate.
The Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:2-5 said, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”
Do you think sharing someone else’s burdens is beneath you?
Whose burden’s are you carrying right now?
Maybe right now more you are the one who is struggling, burdened, discouraged and you are hoping that someone will have compassion, maybe right now you are praying for someone to say, “Can I help carry your burdens? Can I share the load with you?”
Are your actions and words enabling someone to feel encouraged, supported and loved?
Don’t think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.
In Philippians 2:3-4, The Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Don’t be selfish, be humble, think of others, take an interest in others, as Jesus commanded “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Being a disciple of Jesus is more than just coming to church once or twice a week, it’s more than just knowing Jesus.
Being a disciple of Jesus requires that we become more like Him.
Being a disciple of Jesus requires us to obey His commandments to us.
As followers of Jesus we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us, to change us from the inside out, so that we are compassionate, so that we are loving, so that we can serve God as He has called us to serve Him, to bring glory to Him and not ourselves.
We need to know who we are in Christ. We need to read and apply The Word of God to our lives each and everyday. Need another example? 1 John 3:17-18 “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
Do you know of someone in need right now? Can you help them? Spiritually, physically or financially, will you be compassionate to them? Not just people who are part of this church, but your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, who can you show compassion to today?
Many people have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour because someone was willing to demonstrate the love and compassion of God to them in a practical way. Maybe you find it easy to be compassionate to some people but hard to show compassion to others. Listen to the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 6:27-36 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that?
Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
Compassion is not always easy. Compassion for those we love may require little effort, but Jesus commands compassion from us to the undeserving, unloving, unappreciative, and unkind...
Compassion for those who hate us, curse us, slap us, for those who in many ways are unworthy of love, that is hard, impossible even, if we try to do it in our own strength. When you are at the end of your natural abilities then you must rely on the grace of God to sustain you.
The final thought is this:
Real compassion requires effort, real compassion costs, but real compassion is what Jesus commands us to have. Some of the teachings of Jesus are easy to follow, some we would perhaps rather ignore, but love and compassion is something all of us are commanded to have.
Our compassion must be based on the love, grace and mercy God has given, and continues to give to us.
Father God loves us because of who we are in Christ. Father God has compassion on us because of Jesus.
God is compassionate, you can be compassionate.
So this week, today, right now, choose to show compassion, choose to show love, choose to be compassionate, just as your Heavenly Father is compassionate. Your love and compassion will prove to the world that you are a disciple of Jesus.
=== COMMUNION ===
As we come to our time of communion, let me remind you of something, God’s love for you, God’s love for me has nothing to do with our worthiness.
Romans 3:23 tells us, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
God is Holy, we are not. As sinful people, our good works can not connect us to God; being religious can not connect us to God, the philosophies of this world will never connect us to God, and our own morality will never save us.
None of us are worthy of God’s compassion, none of us are worthy of God’s love, but because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, God has compassion on those who trust in Jesus as Saviour. As Romans 3:24 tells us, “Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
None of us deserve God’s love, our sin and our rebellion cause us to be separated from God. None of us deserve God’s compassion, but when we repent and turn from our sins and place our faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour we are forgiven.
We are made right with God through faith. Romans 3:25 tells us. God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.
Jesus went to Calvary and died on the cross, He, the spotless one, the perfect one, was willing to die for you and for me. Jesus paid the price for all who would believe and trust in Him.
Trust in Jesus gives us full access to God the Father, we have peace with God, we are forgiven all of our sins, past present and future sins are all dealt with in the sacrifice of Christ.
When we come to Jesus, the Bible says we are born again, our old life has gone, we can experience an abundant life in this world, and when we step into eternity we have the assurance of eternal life with God.
The Apostle Paul described it this way in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
As we come to the communion table remember: God loves us, God has forgiven us, God has compassion on us, not because we deserve it, but simply because we have repented, turned from our sin and placed our trust in Jesus.
What we have on this table is simply bread and juice, the bread reminds us of the body of Jesus broken for us and juice juice reminds us of the blood He shed to wash away our sins.
If you know Jesus as Lord and Saviour we invite you to join with us as we remember together what Jesus did for us.
If you do not know Jesus as Lord and Saviour, then as the servers serve, you do not have to participate.
Come to this table, not because you must but because you may, not because you are strong, but because you are weak.
Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come, but because you need mercy and help.
Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love Him more.
Come, because He loved you and gave Himself for you.
Come and meet the risen Christ, for we are His Body.
Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love.
Come, when you are doubtful, to be made strong in faith.
Come, when you are regretful, and be made whole.
Come, old and young, there is room for all.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26,
For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.
Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
