Compassionate Passion
Pastor Darryl Bentley
Midland SDA Church
March 27, 2010
What is Passion?
Many things may come to mind when we think of passion. Some will no doubt think of things regarding a sexual nature. Some will go the other way and think of passion in the context of being driven to do what brings us joy. There is yet another avenue we could explore too.
Have you ever seen people who had a passion for others in the sense that they love to correct or chastise them? You know the type I am talking about. People sometimes get it in their heads that they are the correction police and they are very passionate and dedicated to their mission of fixing everyone. I can honestly say that I do not feel we have that problem in this church district. Does it exist within Adventism? In some places it surely does.
Bringing it Together
Today, I want to talk to you about passion as it relates to Jesus. You see Jesus too was passionate just like many of us. Not passionate in the sensual sense, but passionate with His ministry. In fact the gospel accounts are littered with how Christ was driven to bring comfort to the hurting, healing to the sick, and restoration to the spiritually dead.
You do not have to search very far into any of the gospels to find Jesus performing a ministry of compassionate service. In fact, we could say that Jesus was compassionately passionate regarding His ministry.
Defining the Term
What does it mean to be compassionate (wait for congregational responses)? The Greek word that has been translated as compassion literally means “to be moved in the inward parts”. Have you ever thought of compassion in those terms? When I looked at the Greek meaning for this word my eyes were opened to a new level of understanding for the word “compassion”. It helped me to understand more deeply that when Jesus looks at my condition He does not simply consider me in an intellectual sense. No, when Jesus looks at you and me His heart is moved to the very depths of His divine being.
How do I know this; because over and over again the Bible tells me that when Jesus looked at the crowds or even individual people He was moved in inward parts? He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) that was His passion. Jesus wanted desperately for His people to recognize their need of a Savior, to repent, and follow God with all of their hearts. He was driven to do everything He could to win the hearts and minds of the people. He desired then and desires now that none become lost, and as He went about His ministry His passion for souls was bathed in His deep compassion and sympathy for all mankind.
Survey of Compassion
Let’s take just a few moments to walk through the gospels and see a few examples of Jesus’ compassionate passion in action.
1. Matthew 9:36-38 (spiritual needs)
Ø Jesus was moved deeply by the multitudes wandering aimlessly through their lives without true spiritual guidance. Their leaders failed them miserably and they desperately needed help.
2. Matthew 14:14 (medical needs)
Ø Here again Jesus comes to a large group of people and His heart breaks as He sees them overrun with disease. Moved in His inward parts He offers them healing and happiness.
3. Matthew 15:32 (physical needs)
Ø In this passage related to the compassion of Christ we see that He not only cares about our spiritual and medical needs but He wants to make sure that our basic necessities of life are covered. Jesus truly cares about every facet of our lives.
Compassion for a Widow
I want us to pause now and look more deeply at another example of Jesus compassionate passion. As you have no doubt noticed if you have read the gospels, Jesus was a man always on the move. He did not linger in one spot for very long at all. A few days here and there and He was then off to another place to minister to more needs.
Jesus had been busy throughout the day doing what He did best and it was time to go to another city. That day His path led Him to Nain. Nain was a village in southern Galilee. Nain was a place where Jesus displayed His compassionate passion for humanity.
As Jesus made His way toward the gates of the small city He was met by a procession of people, people who were mourning the loss of a young man who had passed away. Let’s look at this story together.
**Read Luke 7:11-ff**
This mother was at a special point of misery in her life. You see, she not only was mourning the loss of her son that day, but she was also a widow. What this means is she was essentially at a place in her life where she had no one to provide for her needs. In the event that a lady lost her husband in those days it was the duty of the son(s) to take care of their mother and provide for her needs. Now this poor woman was being forced to face the future without those channels of support.
“Do Not Weep”
Jesus came walking along and saw this large group gathered to support this poor widow. As He makes His way over to her Jesus once again was moved in His inward parts. Once again we are about to bear witness to Jesus’ compassionate passion in action.
As He lovingly walks over to the grieving widow Jesus does not say very much at all; simply, “Do not weep.” If we were to stop there these words almost seem cold and insensitive. The ability to understand and process loss was a God-given reaction to what was happening in her life, was it not? But I praise God that the story does not stop there.
“Arise”
After His heart-felt declaration to quell her tears Jesus moves to where to boy lay. Without great fanfare or ruckus Jesus simply walks over and without a word He reaches out to touch the coffin. When He does the bearers halt. And with only a few words driven by Jesus’ deep compassion for humanity He calls for the young man to arise from death.
Can you imagine having been a part of that scene? Not only did everyone in the funeral procession witness this act of mercy and love, but He was also being followed by a large crowd who were following Him from the previous town. Imagine having been part of that vast crowd and witnessing yet another amazing miracle wrought out of Christ’s love for suffering humanity.
The Bible says that the man sat up and began to talk. When He did Jesus have him to his mother. What an awesome display of Christ’s compassionate passion in action. Of course the news of this miraculous event spread like wildfire throughout the area and people marveled at the Savior’s ability and love.
Pause to Amaze
As I consider Jesus’ interactions with humanity I too am amazed at how deeply He was moved to step in and press the pause button in their lives. I shouldn’t be I suppose but I am. This particular story also makes me wonder just how many times Jesus wants to do something amazing in my life but my rush to do it all myself gets in the way. How much more deeply would our lives be touched if we slowed down long enough to let Jesus come along and offer a word of comfort and peace. How much more profoundly would we experience Christ’s compassionate passion if we allowed Him to break through beyond our selfish barriers of busyness and confusion that we erect around our lives?
So many of us in the church need the touch of Jesus today, we need to experience Jesus’ compassionate passion and we can do that very thing.
Motivation
When we consider Christ’s actions we need to consider what motivated Him. What was to force that drove Him to push His body to the very edge of physical limits time and time again? Why was He willing to go without food and sleep to minister to the multitudes? The answer is quite simple. It really comes down to one simple answer: He was motivated by love friends, a love so intense that we can hardly comprehend it.
Think about it for a minute with me. Jesus was widely accepted in many places that He went, but among His own people He was ridiculed and scorned. He was rejected by His hometown who perhaps knew Him best. He was rejected by the very leaders who were supposed to herald His coming. Instead they felt threatened by Him and sought every way possible to destroy Him. They should have been leading the pack to announce His greatness, but they opted to protect their precious positions of leadership and led many people to reject the Lamb of God.
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is in Romans 5. In verse eight we read that God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That’s the amazing thing about Jesus friends. He loves us whether we love or accept Him or not. Yes, Jesus was and is motivated by a love so deep that He risked all of heaven to come and save us from sin and the second death of Revelation 20:6.
Mimic the Savior
As we read about and discover Jesus method of living a life of compassionate passion it begs the question as to how we can learn to mimic the Savior. How do we learn to love people like Jesus did? How do we allow the pursuit of our passions to be driven by compassion for others?
I think the first key comes in the fact that we have to be driven to love people like Jesus did. This is the hardest part perhaps because sometimes, let’s face it, people irritate us. Sometimes people get under our skin and they drive us nuts. Sometimes people are so different from us our expectations of how people should be that when they do not match up to those expectations we become annoyed at them. When this happens we miss the opportunity to love them. We miss the opportunity to be a blessing to them and to receive a blessing from having reached out to someone in need.
Changing our Perspective
I know that this thought of people getting on your nerves resonates with some of you here this morning. How do I know, because your human just like me and I too have wrestled with this very thing. So how do we change the way we see people? The truth is we can’t. That’s right you cannot change in a deep way how you feel about people who irritate you. You cannot, but Jesus can. Our part comes in that surrender our will to the Lord’s.
Two weeks ago I shared a message with you entitled “Spiritual Rope”. In that message we talked about a need to seek God, surrender to His will, apply His teachings, and then praise Him in all situations both good and bad. We said that these strands form a spiritual rope that tethers us to Jesus. Friends, the only way you and I can become like Jesus is to be connected to Him. That is the first step in loving the unlovely in our lives.
The second step is equally important and that is that we need to pray for those that are difficult to live with. We need to pray for those whom Jesus wants to save through us. We need to ask God to change us. Did you catch that? I did not say that we need to pray for God to change the other person. No, we must pray that God will change us. When we pray for God to change us amazing things can happen. In fact you will be amazed what can happen. I can tell you from first-hand experience that when we pray for God to change us we experience an awakening that only God can give. One day you will wake up and see things differently. It is amazing when it happens.
One day you may work around or live with a person who irritates you to death, and one morning after you have prayed and asked God to change your heart to love all people you will see that person as Christ sees them: as one for whom the God of heaven died to save. That is the key factor in becoming compassionately passionate for humanity; we have to see people like Jesus did.
Righteous Indignation
Yes, there were times that Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites. Yes, there was a time that He went into the temple and threw over the tables. But I submit to you that Jesus truly knew when to get angry. He was never motivated out of selfish gain like we too often are. Jesus was motivated out of a deep love for His Father. He was angry because God the Father was trampled upon. Thus, He was motivated by a deep desire to see people saved from sin. That’s why He alone perhaps could manifest righteous indignation.
I would also submit to you today that more times than not our anger is born out of a sense us feeling slighted. That makes our anger selfish and not righteous.
Becoming Like Jesus
There is hope for us today. We can change from being cold and indifferent towards people. We can become like Jesus if we desire to be like Him. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 3:18.
This passage tells me that when I behold Jesus I become more like Him. When I pray and ask for God to change my heart He will gladly do so, and when you and I become more like Jesus we can have the compassion that He has. When pray to have a love for all people He will hear that prayer and help us to manifest compassionate passion for the world dying around us for need of the Savior. What is your desire today? Do you want to wallow in bitterness toward someone and allow them to rob you of your joy in Christ? Or would you rather pray that Jesus will help you love them like He does? I submit that the latter will give you unbounded joy as you see your heart change toward them and others. You will see your heart soften for those you come in contact with. When that softening occurs you will develop a deep-seated compassion akin to that of Jesus’.
Why not let today be the day that you cast off the tethers of bitterness in your life? Why not let today be the day that you decide to love humanity like Jesus does. Let today be the day that you begin to become compassionately passionate. Let us pray.