#AsWeGo - Message 4 Consuming Compassion Joshua J. Masters January 20, 2019 OUTLINE Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 1 Corinthians 9:19 (NLT) A. Introduction. (Matthew 5:46-48; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21) Being the church requires Living a COMMISSIONED life. Unity in COMMUNITY. CONTRIBUTION to the body. CONSUMING COMPASSION. B. Consuming compassion is developed by 1. Seeking Christ s HEART. (Matthew 9:36. C/R: Matthew 14:13-21, 20:33-34; Mark 1:41, 5:19; Luke 7:13) 2. Remembering my own BROKENNESS. (Romans 5:5-8. C/R: John 10:7-11; Romans 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 1 Timothy 1:15-16) 3. Building Intentional RELATIONSHIPS. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23. C/R: Matthew 9:37; Mark 2:15-17; 1 Peter 3:15-16) ENGAGE Do you have a consuming compassion for others? Spend time reflecting on how compassion is developed. Ask God where your heart needs to be broken for others. Post a picture or text on social media using the hashtag #AsWeGo and tag @BrookwoodChurch so we can engage with one another. NOTES TO PRODUCTION: Please keep all underlining, italics etc. for the teleprompter. All text highlighted in yellow or green are on screen text. Please change the letters to those colors on the teleprompter (as opposed to highlighting). o Sections of Highlighted text with Bold Underlines are to be emphasized on the teaching screen (NOTE: This is only true for text that is highlighted as well). COLOR KEY: Yellow: Scripture; Green: Outline Page 1 of 14
#AsWeGo - Message 4 Consuming Compassion Joshua J. Masters January 20, 2019 Good morning Brookwood! Today we come to the end of our series on what it means to be the church But my prayer is that it s a starting point for us to develop more missional lifestyles. The #AsWeGo series has really been one long message, with each week being a point in a larger sermon, because in order to truly BE the church, we need to grow in all four areas we ve explored. Week one was our first point: The mission of the church as a whole. We have a purpose as one body. We have a mission that should be reflected in everything we do. Are you living a missional life? Being the church requires living a COMMISSIONED Life. Then we talked about having a love for one another IN the church having unity in our purpose. Growing together, worshiping together, and caring for one another. That s because Being the church requires unity in COMMUNITY. Then Last week, JC talked about our third point: The need for us to contribute to that community with our gifts, attitude, and resources. Being the church requires CONTRIBUTION to the body. Those three components of being the church have been challenging and if you go back and listen to those messages, you might discover any one of them seems impossible to live out in a sincere way let alone participating fully in all three. How do we maintain a sincere focus on our mission *proclaiming the gospel to a broken world in the way we live our lives, *building a community of selfless and joyful partnership within the church, Page 2 of 14
*and contributing everything to the success, purpose, and needs of the body? The answer is in our fourth and final key point. Being the church is only attainable when we develop the same love for others that Christ had for us. Being the church requires CONSUMING COMPASSION. Not occasional compassion. Not convenient compassion. Not momentary compassion, But a consuming compassion that directs the motive behind every action, word, and thought in our lives. Without a consuming compassion for others, nothing we do in the church will bear fruit. JC introduced the beginning of this passage when he discussed attitude last week: Look at Corinthians 13: If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn t love others, I would have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1 3 (NLT) Many of us have read that over and over, but what does it really means for the church? Let s highlight what s being accomplished here If you heard of a church with people who were: If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn t love others, I would have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1 3 (NLT) If we heard of a church doing all those things, it would seems like a pretty incredible church but look what it says: but if I didn t love others, I would have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3b (NLT) We can learn to go through the motions (and even do a lot of good in our community) by doing all the things we ve talked about in this series, but if it s not motivated by a consuming compassion if it s not rooted in love we ve gained nothing. Page 3 of 14
*Condemnation doesn t draw people to Christ love does. *Programs don t draw people to Christ sincerity does. *Pitches don t draw people to Christ compassion does. Love is the mission of the church. Look how Paul describes that mission 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 14: Christ s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old self. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view 2 Corinthians 5:14-16a Is every action in your life controlled by the love of Christ or do you still see people from a human standpoint? Because living FOR Christ also means living for others we must learn to see others as He sees them rather than how the world sees them. We re given new life for a purpose. Jumping down to verse 18: And all this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, Come back to God! 2 Corinthians 5:18 20 (NLT) Our message to the world is not a threat it s a plea! We are to be controlled and compelled by the love of Christ. The mission of the church is to bring the light of Christ to a world without hope so it s not enough to have a love for other believers, we must also have love for those we don t agree with the same consuming compassion Christ has shown us! If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:46 48 (NLT) We re expected to love differently. Page 4 of 14
But if we re honest, our love and our compassion are often fleeting. Love is a decision, but it s not a light switch. We need to DEVELOP compassion for this broken world and for one another. So how do we do that? Let s look at 3 ways we can learn to develop consuming compassion. The first and most important step is this: B. Consuming compassion is developed by 1. Seeking Christ s HEART. When Paul was describing the mission of the church that we read a few minutes ago, he also said: we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 2 Corinthians 5:12 (NLT) You can serve in ministry your entire life and never truly develop a heart for those who don t know Christ. We talk a lot about being transformed to become more Christ-like (Ephesians 4, Romans 8, Romans 12). But I think many of us still interpret that to mean becoming less sinful which is certainly part of our transformation, but if we re going to be more like Christ, we must also learn to love like Christ. We must seek to develop Christ s heart of compassion. Jesus displayed a great deal of emotion. It s all throughout scripture God is an emotional God. Not a weak, unjustified emotion like mine crying at every cheesy Hallmark commercial that comes on. I m talking about emotions that are sincere and rooted in love. Jesus felt (and still feels) very deeply for people. *We see Him feeling such anguish at Gethsemane that His sweat was like drops of blood. *We see Him weep for the people of Jerusalem. *We see Him weep for the loss of His friend. Jesus had a deeper compassion for the fate of others than most of us allow ourselves to have. In fact, look at Matthew 9:36: Page 5 of 14
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36 (NLT) Now I wouldn t advise developing your compassion for others by walking up to people and saying, Hey, you look like a confused, helpless, sheep. That will not be well received. We don t like those adjectives in our culture, but if we re honest, that s the state of our world, isn t it? People are wandering around, looking for fulfillment and answers in a world that doesn t offer any. People look to self-empowerment, possessions, the affirmations of internet fame, and even the government for provision and significance. But all those things come up empty. Most people wander through this world with continual and consuming anger, fear, or sadness because to them, hope means getting through the day or at best, leaving a legacy before they die. But even that falls short, because deep down they know every human legacy is eventually lost to history. Many people don t even recognize the pain they re carrying because it s all they ve ever known. To them, success is just an unintentional rebranding of their fear. **Some of us in this room still live like that Some still live in the pain of this world, But others of us scowl at it, Resenting the brokenness of the world instead of being moved by it. But Jesus saw the world fraught with pain and it moved Him to action. When we read, Jesus had compassion on them, we usually skim over the word compassion. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36 (NLT) We interpret it to mean, He felt like helping them but it s so much more than that. In his 1914 Christmas Eve sermon, Charles Spurgeon pointed out that this word, compassion, did not exist in the Classical Greek. Page 6 of 14
The Gospel writers had to create this word because there was no word in the language that accurately conveyed the depth of emotion Jesus felt...an emotion so deep it was visible to the disciples. It was a cry from His inner-most body that could not be hidden or denied. *We see it again in Matthew 20 when Jesus encounters two blind men. *In Mark when He encounters the lepers and the man being controlled by demons. *In Luke 7:13 when the widow s son dies. *We see it when He feeds the multitudes An overwhelming and emotional response to the suffering and eternal fate of others. Is that the heart you have for people who are hurting and lost? If not, ask God to give you HIS compassion. Just like the prayer in the song we sang this morning Break my heart for what breaks Yours Ask Him to let you see others through His eyes instead of your own. But another way Jesus will build that compassion in us is if we re willing to honestly reflect on the compassion He s shown us Consuming compassion is developed by 2. Remembering my own BROKENNESS. It was Christ s compassion that called you out of the darkness. It was Christ s compassion that rescued you. Do you remember that? Or have we grown so comfortable in our faith that we feel entitled to our salvation? Jesus didn t come despite your brokenness He came because of it. Look at Romans 5: For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:5b 6, 8 (NLT) Page 7 of 14
We cannot develop a passion for those who need God s grace, if we ve forgotten our own need for it. It s a difficult prayer, but ask God to show you who you are without Him and what your eternity looks like without His grace. Then you ll see the pain of this world with new eyes. Let your identity be rooted firmly in who you are with Christ but let your compassion be motivated by who you were without Him. Do you remember what He saved you from? Do you remember what s coming? **I want everyone to turn to this passage: 2 Thessalonians 1:7. It s on page 955 if you have the Bible we use from the bookstore. I want you to hold it in your hands. Read it with your own eyes. when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 9 (NLT) We don t like that verse, do we? We don t think much about Heaven because we can t imagine the glory of it. And we don t think much about Hell because we can t fathom the consequences of it. It s easier for us to be focused on the here and now, but we cannot develop a consuming compassion for the world without reflecting on the greater truth of eternity. Yes. God is love, and God is filled with grace, but that s only valuable if He s also just. God is perfect and holy. He cannot commune with sin. So the consequence of sin is eternal separation from Him. But look at the next verse: When He comes on that day, He will receive glory from His holy people praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about Him. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 (NLT) That includes you. That s grace. Page 8 of 14
God is just but the Father allowed His own son to take that punishment on your behalf. Jesus willingly left the glory of Heaven (where He was already being worshipped) to surrender His life for you. The compassion you ve been shown by God should be the source of your compassion for others. Look at the verses in your hand. How can you live in the promise of verse 10 without having a consuming compassion for those still facing verse 9? Hell is not the message of the church but it should be the motivation of the church. But here is the sad truth: the sacrifice of Christ has become a cliché in the church. It no longer affects us as it should. There are no words left to adequately convey the depth of compassion Christ showed for you so we must ask Him to reveal that to us in our hearts. We must return to the place where we re desperate for God s grace in our own lives and desperate to see God s grace in the lives of others. Look at Paul s perspective: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in Him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15 16 (NLT) Remember, Paul actually participated in killing Christians. But God used the story of his transformation to draw others into the Kingdom. God used Paul to spread Christianity across the entire known world and Paul was able to take part in that because He never forgot what he d been forgiven of and he inherited Christ s compassion for those who didn t know Him. That s your purpose too. But you can t develop a compassion for people you re never around. True Compassion requires proximity. So Consuming compassion is developed by 3. Building intentional RELATIONSHIPS. Page 9 of 14
We must build intentional and sincere relationships of integrity with people who don t agree with us and love them. You heard the verse last week: Don t just pretend to love others really love them. You don t need to be an evangelist to influence the culture. You influence the culture by living and loving differently. Remember the book we re recommending for this series, Surprise the World by Michael Frost. This will teach you simple ways to build relationships with people outside the church. Maybe you re not ready to share a meal with 3 people a week like we talked about earlier in the series but maybe you can bless someone with a random act of kindness and begin investing in the lives of others. Listen, this culture is so starved for authenticity that the smallest gesture of sincere concern for someone else can impact the lives of others! But we need to be willing to become intentional in our relationships, and risk opening our hearts. Jesus spent time with people and He was often criticized for the type of people He spent time with (Mark 2:15-17). He was criticized because He spent time with people the church had rejected. He was willing to seek them out, spend time with them, and sincerely love them. He had compassion for those the religious people had tossed aside. Remember our verse from earlier? When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36 (NLT) Now let s keep reading Verse 37 He said to His disciples, The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields. Matthew 9:37 38 (NLT) Even before Jesus declared the Great Commission (that we talked about in week one), Jesus was imploring the disciples to focus on the people who don t understand the loving grace of God. Page 10 of 14
And that s where the chapter ends and it s a very unfortunate chapter break. Remember, the chapters and verses are not divine. They were added by man for reference and this was a bad break, because it gives the impression you can pray for harvest workers and be let off the hook yourself. But the very next thing Jesus does is send the disciples themselves out. Pray for more workers but go. You go. Go and make disciples share the Good News, and THEN pray God will send more. But you know where the more come from? They come from the people He sends US out to love. Have you been changed by Christ? Have you been forgiven by Christ? Are you the same person you were before you met Christ? *If we ve seen change in our lives *And we understand what we ve been forgiven of *And we understand the consequences of not being made new in Christ how can we not be motivated into the world? How can we not be desperate to build relationships with people we disagree with like Jesus did? And you might say, Well, I m not Jesus. True but if you ve been born again you have Jesus in you. Scripture says the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you! Paul wasn t Jesus either, but he had a consuming compassion for a lost world He said, my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts 20:24 (NLT) He was overwhelmed with a desire to reach the world! 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Now, I don t want us to read this as a lecture on evangelism, so I m going to read it from the Message first. Focus on the emotion of what Paul is saying here: Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living Page 11 of 14
immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized whoever. I didn t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! 1 Corinthians 9:19 23 (MSG) More literally he says, Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ When I am with the gentiles When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can do to save some. (NLT) Paul is desperate to connect By any means necessary short of sinning. I will go where others won t go, I will serve those who others won t serve. I will meet them where they are I will engage with them where they are. I will look for opportunities to build relationships with those I don t agree with. I will adapt to their culture while still living a Christ-filled life. I will not be influenced by the culture, but I will freely and lovingly walk into it with the assurance and compassion of Jesus Christ so even a few might see the light of Jesus. We must reach the culture where the culture lives! That s why we ve been changing the tone of our social media engagement with our hashtag for this series. Use the engage section of your outline this week but moving beyond this series, reach into the culture by engaging with people on social media with love, and compassion, and dignity. It s time for the American Church to stop seeing people in this world as our enemies and start seeing them as people our real enemy is pursuing. Consuming compassion. But Josh, I don t know anyone from outside the church. Are you willing to? Because people who need the hope of Christ are everywhere. The culture of Greenville is changing South Carolina has been changing. Page 12 of 14
People are moving here from all over the world, and we can no longer afford to assume they ve grown up in the church. And we can no longer afford to assume those who did really know Jesus. We must now be the body of Christ to a broken world. We have to go where we re not comfortable. Are you willing to be uncomfortable? Because Compassion that costs you nothing is only pity. Easter is exactly 3 months from this weekend. Every year, Perry asks who you re going to invite to hear the story of Christ s saving grace. For most people, the answer is no one because we don t have relationships with people outside the church. We don t have a consuming compassion. But what if we spent the next 3 months being intentional in our relationships? What if we were kind, and compassionate, and sincere with the people around us? What if we starting interacting with people, not to convert them, but because we actually love them? And what if those people were open to hearing the gospel on Easter, because you just spent the last three months SHOWING them the gospel in how you live your life? What if we had to set up chairs in the concourse because thousands of people were saying yes to our invitations And what if when the final day does arrive, the person you invested in were standing next to you before the Lord instead of being lost? What a glorious reward. So we conclude this series with the question we asked on week one: Do you want to BE the church or do you just want to come to church? I m looking for an answer. Do you want to BE the church? Then don t stick the notes from this series away in the back of your Bible. Page 13 of 14
Read the Scriptures again and again. Let them be a turning point in a life that is lived for something greater than yourself. Come to the Night of Worship tonight experience the power of God s love. Engage with the Holy Spirit, and then take that into the world. You have a mission. You have a place in this community. You have something to contribute. And if we re willing to pray for consuming compassion, God will use us to transform this community. The greatest witness for Christ is sharing who you used to be but living who you ve become. <PRAYER> Page 14 of 14