Category: Compassion

Sheep Without a Shepherd

7/12/2022

Scripture Reading: Mark 6:33-34 NASB95
The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. [34] When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

If there is a phrase that defines the pop-culture of today's America, this would be it: "Sheep Without a Shepherd." Many of the decisions being made by the power brokers of America (movie executives, government officials, corporations, teacher's unions, etc.) reflect a culture that is in rebellion without a clue. There is a "push" to abandon the moral ideals upon which our country was established without the benefit of "better" ideals. (I am not under the illusion that America has ever been a perfect nation, but our imperfections just reveal that the depraved hearts of mankind have a hard time living up to the moral standards that they are trying to establish)

The Prophet Isaiah describes mankind in the following terms: Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." That describes "us" before we met Jesus. Rebels without a cause. Sheep without a shepherd. Blind people wandering in darkness.

Jesus rightly defined the crowd that was waiting for His arrival on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. They were lost sheep and Jesus was moved with compassion. Jesus' reaction to the shepherdless sheep is the same reaction that "we" should have towards the lost sheep in our time. Compassion should be the compelling emotion that keeps us on mission. Believers in Christ, we are Christ's Ambassadors, and our mission is to represent Jesus to our world.

Questions to Consider:

Why do we often feel as if we are fighting against flesh and blood in the spiritual war that rages around us?
Is it possible to hate sin and love sinners? (How do we do that?)
How does compassion make us more effective in our mission of reaching the lost?

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Criticism over Compassion

4/20/2021

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Text: Mark 2:23-28 23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Cross Reference Verses:

Titus 3:9-11

Matthew 7:1-5

Matthew 12:1-8

Psalm 73

Questions to consider:

1. Are you struggling with bitterness today? Will you take the time to confess, repent and pray that the Lord would help you remove that root from your heart?

2. How can you and I guard ourselves from having a critical spirit?

25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

The problem with the Pharisees is that they believed that they had control over the interests of God and they held everyone to the same unattainable standard of perfection. A perfectionist mindset will always be accompanied by a critical spirit. I am a testament to this in my own life. I am very much a perfectionist and other perfectionists like me will agree; the person we are most critical of is ourselves. But our critical attitudes will always pour out on others as well. I am under the belief that it is impossible to be compassionate when we are critical. Stop for a second and think of the times you have been critical of others and ask yourself if you were able to show compassion. Leonard Ravenhill said: "Notice, we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray! For prayer is a great deterrent."
Jesus addresses this principle in one of the most quoted (and mis-quoted) passages in Matthew 7:1-5. Jesus tells us to not judge, lest we be judged, and then goes on to explain a person who has a log in their eye trying to remove the speck from their brothers eye. Jesus says in verses 4 & 5 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. The revelation here is that there is a person who is critical (judging) of the speck in their brothers eye, while they themselves have a log stuck in theirs. They desire to show compassion and remove the speck from their brothers eye; but the tenderness and careful examination needed to remove the speck is impossible when you have a log hindering your view. Instead, that person should acknowledge their own inadequacies and remove the critical, judging spirit from themselves so that compassion can flow freely. Removing a log is much easier than removing a small speck, but how easy and comforting it is for us to notice the small things in others to distract us from the 'log-sized' issues in our own lives.
This is what was taking place in the lives of the Pharisees that confronted Jesus. They were consumed with a critical spirit so that they could not even see that the disciples were simply hungry and needed something to eat. In the same account recorded in Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees in verse 7 by stating: “But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. Not only does Jesus declare that His disciples are innocent of wrongdoing, but He gets to the heart of the matter which was that the Pharisees were far more concerned with outward sacrifices, that in their mind, displayed true devotion to God. If your visible, outward sacrifices were not appropriate in their eyes, then you were in the wrong and it was a guarantee that they were the ones to bring that to your attention.
A critical spirit is extremely destructive in the church of Christ and is the fruit that is produced from a tree of bitterness. You can always trace a critical spirit back to a place of bitterness. Those who are critical are those who have allowed a root of bitterness to grow and produce the fruit of gossip, slander, criticizing, control and judging one another. These Pharisees that confronted Christ were bitter towards Christ because the people were taking notice of how Christ spoke with authority unlike the scribes (Mark 1:22), and because He would not submit and follow their rules like other men had.
Psalm 73:21-22 says: When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, 22Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
The Psalmist says that his heart became embittered after seeing the prosperity of the wicked and how they prosper and do not face plagues like other men (verses 3-9). And when bitterness slowly began to creep in, his heart was pierced and he became senseless and ignorant like a wild beast. This is what we see in the interactions between Christ and the Pharisees; senseless, ignorant arguments from a place of bitterness, wrought with criticism, and completely devoid of compassion.
Church, we must understand the destructive nature of having a bitter and critical spirit and how it shuts off the flow of compassion. Are we more concerned about being right, or being loving? Are we more concerned with getting our way, or preferring others higher than ourselves? Are we humble enough to acknowledge our imperfections and confess that Christ is our perfection?

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The Compassion of Christ

3/10/2021

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Text: Mark 1:40-45 40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Questions to Consider:

1. Have you ever felt this type of stirring, uncomfortable compassion for someone in need?

2. What are the things in your life that are keeping you focused on yourself instead of spreading the compassion of Christ?

3. How can you purposefully make it a point to share the compassion of Christ today?

3. How have you experienced the compassion of Christ from people in your church or life? Where would you be if they had not shown you compassion?
Share your experiences below.

41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Mark 1:41-42
When Jesus saw this man come to him and humbly fall before Him and ask to be cleansed, it says that Jesus was "moved with compassion." This word that is used for 'compassion' here is an interesting and powerful word. The word in the original Greek language means: To be moved in 'the inward parts,' especially the nobler entrails – the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These gradually came to denote the seat of the affections"
Compassion is not the same as pity. Pity is standing in a high place and looking down on someone in a low place and feeling sorry for them. Compassion on the other hand, is a feeling inside of our bodies and hearts that stirs us in such a way that causes us to move into action. It could be described as an uncomfortable feeling where our bowels and inward parts are being wrenched on behalf of the person in need.
So, Jesus the Son of God sees this man in need, compassion begins to stir and the bowels and inward parts of Christ begin to turn inside of Him. This man, who according to Jewish law was an outcast in society and seen as an unclean person, was being shown this type of compassion for the first time in his life by the very Son of God.
How do we have this type of compassion for people who are hurting? How do we go from being disciples who pity and feel sorry for the hurting, to people who feel the pain of love? I am certain that one of the main ways to walk in this type of compassion has to do with our identity and the purpose in which we live. This is demonstrated to us through the life of Christ. Mark 10:35-45 is the scene where James and John ask Jesus to be able to sit on His right and left hand in the kingdom of God. The other ten disciples get angry about their request, so Jesus goes on to rebuke them because of their desires to be great instead of desiring to be servants. Jesus goes on to reveal the purpose of why He came and the identity in which He ministered and lived.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
Jesus starts off by revealing His purpose. He says "the Son of Man did not come.." If you are thinking that the Son of Man came with the purpose to be great in the eyes of men and to have men serve Him, you are wrong. That was not His purpose. His purpose is revealed in His identity. Jesus refers to Himself as a servant; not just any servant, but a Servant of all.
If our desire and purpose in life is to be great, to be served, to be worshipped, to be safe-- then we will not and cannot have the compassion of Christ flowing from our lives. We will only have compassion for the one person that truly matters to us; ourselves. But, if we take on the purposes of Christ, if we take on the identity of being servants while here on earth; we will exude the compassion of Christ and change the world.
Church, this requires us to step outside of our safe, pretty lives and outside of the four walls of the church. It is so easy for me personally, to stay hidden inside of my house and act as if I am blind to what's going on around me and the people who are in need. It can become so easy for me to pray for a dying world and the persecuted church, while I am safe. Our absence and idleness is one of the other main reasons why we do not walk in the compassion of Christ. We have become numb and apathetic to a world that Christ came to save. This should not be the case. Jesus wasn't sitting at home when this man came to Him; He was actively on mission to advance the kingdom of God, and walking in His identity as the Servant of All. Opportunities will come as we make ourselves available and willing for the opportunities.

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Discipleship plan

Sheep Without a Shepherd

Criticism over Compassion

The Compassion of Christ

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