The Power of Compassion Dr. Jim Denison Matthew 18:10-14 March 16, 2014 PK Harbor Chapel

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1 The Power of Compassion Dr. Jim Denison Matthew 18:10-14 March 16, 2014 PK Harbor Chapel University of Houston sociologist Brené Brown has a lecture titled "The Power of Vulnerability" which has been viewed 14 million times since it was put online. Her basic premise is that each of us is one difficult experience away from being what she calls "those people." Dr. Brown: "Most of us are one paycheck, one divorce, one drugaddicted kid one serious illness away from being 'those people' the ones we don't trust, the ones we pity, the ones we don't let our children play with, the ones bad things happen to, the ones we don't want living next door." Each of us has been a lost sheep at one point or another. We are here today because the Good Shepherd came to find us. I am a Christian because a church in Houston bought an old school bus, put the name of the church on the side, and went out knocking on doors to find kids who would ride their bus to church. They came to me I would never have come to them. They initiated the relationship, or I would be lost today. You are here because someone reached out to you a parent, friend, pastor. Now Jesus wants us to do for others what he has done for us. We are the hands and feet of Christ. We are his body, his presence in the world. He wants us to love others the way he loves us. Such compassion is critical in a world that rejects our faith more than ever. We've been discussing the shift in our culture from the church as central to the church as irrelevant to the church as dangerous. People like Richard Dawkins are claiming today that "religion is the root of all evil." Christopher Hitchens said that "religion poisons everything." There is more animosity toward our faith than ever before. Terrorist attacks against Christians escalated 309 percent between 2003 and Ninety percent of all people killed for their religious beliefs are Christians. You've heard of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in California and author of the bestselling, The Purpose-Driven Life. When his mentally ill son committed suicide last year, someone tweeted, "I would've committed suicide if my dad was Rick Warren too." But if a skeptical, angry world can see our faith in action, our compassion in love, they will see that we are not what they are told we are. They will see God's love in ours, and they will want that love. We were each made with a "God-shaped emptiness" (Pascal), so that "our hearts are restless until they rest in him" (Augustine). When we demonstrate the compassion of Christ, we extend the Kingdom of God. How do we do this today? All rights reserved. For more information, see Page 1

2 Why to initiate compassion Our text begins: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones" (v. 10a). "See that" is an imperative, a command from the Son of God. "You do not despise" could be rendered, "you do not look down on, disregard, treat with contempt." "One of" shows that every individual matters to God. "These little ones" refers to the child Jesus has just set in their midst (vs. 1-5). Children were possessions in his world, not people. Jesus turns that lie on its head: "For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" (v. 10b). "Their angels in heaven" is the primary phrase people cite in claiming that we each have a specific guardian angel. Further support is found in Acts 12, where an angel released Peter from Herod's prison. He ran to a home in Jerusalem where fellow believers were praying for him. But when he knocked at the door, they were shocked and said "it must be his angel" (v. 15). Scripture doesn't say whether we each have a specific angel assigned to us through our lives. But we do know that angels are surrounding us right now: "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14). Here's Jesus' point: the angels who guard children are always in the very presence of God himself. They have constant access to him. Thus they can intercede on behalf of the children they protect. And they can tell the Father about our sins against those they protect. If you knew that I was the son of the president of the United States, you would treat me with great respect and care. Verse 11 states: "For the Son of Man came to save what was lost." Notice that it is not present in the NIV text, but is added as a footnote. This statement is found in Luke 19:10, but not in the best manuscripts for Matthew 18:11. Why? The New Testament was written in Greek on papyrus, a kind of paper that disintegrates over time. As a result, we do not have the original documents for any ancient book, whether it was written by Plato, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, or Matthew. We have copies, the best ones written on parchment (a kind of animal skin) that date to a few centuries after the originals. The best New Testament ancient copies we have are called Codex Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. They go back to three or four centuries after Christ. None of them has verse 11. However, copies dated centuries later do. Most likely, a copyist wrote these words in the margin as a commentary on this text, much as we take notes in the margins of our Bibles. Then the next person copied the note, and the next put in the text. When the King James Version was translated, the earlier manuscripts had not yet been found. The oldest copies the KJV scholars had included verse 11, so they included it in their translation. We now know that it was not part of the original, which is why all All rights reserved. For more information, see Page 2

3 modern translations put it in the footnotes instead. None of this should bother us regarding the trustworthiness of the Bible. The New Testament is, by far, the best-attested ancient document in history. For instance, we have only nine or ten good copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars, none made earlier than 900 years after Caesar. Tacitus, the greatest ancient Roman historian, wrote 14 books of his Histories; we possess only 4½, none made earlier than the tenth century A.D. We can find only five manuscripts of any work of Aristotle, none copied earlier than fourteen centuries after Aristotle wrote the originals. By contrast, we possess 5,000 ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, and 10,000 copies in other ancient languages. Fragments and parts of these copies date back as early as 30 years after the originals were written. Complete versions of the Gospels, Acts, Paul's letters and Hebrews date to the early part of the third century, Revelation to the latter half of that century. Complete volumes date to the fourth century. Extensive quotations of Scripture in the letters of early Christians date to A.D "Textual critics" are scholars who devote their attention to comparing ancient manuscripts and trying to produce a copy as close to the original as possible. Those who work with biblical texts believe that the Old and New Testaments we possess today are virtually identical to the originals. The only questions which remain affect matters of spelling, punctuation, and isolated verses; none relate to essential doctrines or practices of the faith. Now Jesus makes his point via a parable: "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?" (v. 12). "Wanders off" is actually, "is led astray, deceived." He will "go" ("proceed, hurry") to "look for" ("seek, investigate, look with urgency") the one that wandered off. "And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off" (v. 13). He is "happier" ("exultant, more rejoicing") about this one sheep than the 99 that were not led astray. Jesus concludes: "In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish" (v. 14). "Perish" could be translated, "lost, ruined, destroyed." Scripture is clear: God "wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). In fact, he "is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Now he calls us to love others as he loves us. How to initiate compassion So, how do we give others the love God has given us? First, be grateful for the Shepherd who saved you. All rights reserved. For more information, see Page 3

4 Think back to your salvation experience. Know that the Good Shepherd left the 99 to come find you. Realize that he loves you as much today as he loved you then. Serve him out of gratitude for such grace. Not so he will love you, but because he already does. Not so he will bless you, but because he already has. Give others what God has given you. Second, relate to God as a sheep to a shepherd. In Psalm 23, David says of God: "He makes me lie down in green pastures" (v. 2a). That's because sheep will eat poisonous weeds unless the shepherd takes them to the green grass. "He leads me beside quiet waters" (v. 2b). That's because sheep are terrified of running water and will not drink it (they are eight times heavier wet than dry and drown easily). "He guides me along the right paths" (v. 3) that's because sheep will wander off wrong paths and die. Sheep are not smart animals; have you ever seen a "trick sheep" at a circus? They are not able to defend themselves; have you ever seen a sign on a fence, "Warning: Bad Sheep"? God wants us to depend on him as a sheep depends on a shepherd. Ask him to lead you to the lost sheep he wants you to serve. Ask him to show you what to say and how to say it. Know that he wants to use you more than you want to be used. Repent of selfreliance and trust God to use your life to bring other lives to himself. Third, take the initiative to reach those who have been led astray. Now we are ready to help others as we have been helped. Understand that they have been "led astray" by the enemy: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are no better than those who have not yet found Jesus. In fact, we are "beggars helping other beggars find bread." This is a spiritual battle, in which God wants to use us as his instruments for the salvation of many. As he sent out the Seventy (Luke 10), as he commissioned us to "go therefore and make disciples of every nation" (Matthew 28:19), as he told us to "be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8), so we are to initiate compassion today. Conclusion Compassion was the key to early Christianity's success and growth. When people abandoned unwanted babies, the Christians rescued them and raised them as their own. Believers bought prostitutes and slaves, then sent them free. When plague swept through Rome and everyone fled, Christians stayed behind and ministered to the suffering and dying. And such compassion changed the world. It still does. Is Mother Teresa known for her theological insights, remarkable as they were, or for her compassion? Pope Francis is working to reform the Vatican Bank and All rights reserved. For more information, see Page 4

5 restructure the Catholic curia, groundbreaking steps in church history. Is he known for such reforms, or for his compassion? The world can reject our theology, but they cannot reject our love. Two years ago, our oldest son was diagnosed with acinic cell carcinoma, a cancer of the salivary gland, and underwent surgery and radiation that saved his life. His kind of malignancy has a 30 percent recurrence rate, and can come back in 15 or 20 years as easily as next year. As a result, he will be scanned for the rest of his life. If doctors were to discover a cure for acinic cell carcinoma, wouldn't we rejoice? Wouldn't we want to share it with everyone who has this disease? With everyone who might get it? This week, would you ask God to place a lost sheep on your heart? Ask him to show you ways to share his love with this person. You'll be used for eternal significance. Is there a greater privilege in life? All rights reserved. For more information, see Page 5