Caring for People
Love Your Neighbor • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
Welcome
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad. 3 Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him! 9 You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. 14 Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help. 16 The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to remove all memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.
19 One who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all. 20 He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and all who take refuge in him will not be punished.
God cares for the brokenhearted.
We all experience pain, loss, anxiety and depression at one time or another in our lives. This is what it means to live in a fallen world, a world in which death and sin reign and affect us, regardless of our position or our status before God.
Evil and suffering give God's critics plenty of ammunition to question his existence. But having a ready-made apologetic defense of God in the face of our own suffering does not help soothe our wounds.
We can turn to the Scriptures.....
18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.
Yes, God gives us salvation.
But how does he stay close to us at times when we are under fire from the enemy?
How does God stay close to the brokenhearted?
How does he save us from the crushing blows that hammer our souls in the darkest hours of the night?
We are not deists.
We do not believe in a God who set the world in motion and stepped aside to let it spin like a child's toy. We believe that the God of Moses and Israel and David and Jesus-the God of the Bible, your God and my God, is closely involved in our lives.
We may not understand God's ways, but God tells us....
10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will. 11 I call a bird of prey from the east, a man for my purpose from a far country. Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about. I have planned it; I will also do it.
God is very involved in the details and day-to-day workings of his own world. He is involved in your life and mine.
Although we may not understand why we have to go through times of suffering, we know that God uses these moments in our lives to mold and shape us. He uses them to test our faith and mold our faith in Him.
We can look at the suffering of the apostles to see how they responded to suffering....
24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches.
For many things that the Apostle Paul went through, we can still see that he had an unwavering determination to praise God....
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
Find God’s Comfort in your Suffering
Find God’s Comfort in your Suffering
We can find comfort in God when we suffer, when we grieve, when we are anxious and when we are depressed.
God promises us a "peace that surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:6). But he requires us to stay connected to him in order to find that peace.
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Through prayer and worship we can overcome the struggles in our lives and we can find victory and a deep peace that permeates our spirit and persists, carrying us through the difficulties of this life until we reach the glories of grace with God in heaven.
There are two sides of that coin. We must take care of people, but first we must take care of ourselves. We can’t properly care for others if we are not taking care of ourselves properly.
I believe that we are all called to be servants, ministers, even pastors—whether we recognize or admit that or not, as believers in Christ, we each have a calling to do his work. While we not have the vocational calling to fulfill this role, we do have the calling as Christians to do his work.
I believe that wholeheartedly. Maybe I learned that as a Royal Ambassador growing up or maybe I picked it up living in a ministry family. I have been a minister and a missionary for my entire life.
We are called to serve others and just as we have our struggles and our trials, so do those we serve.
Yes, we are missionaries-which is to say that we are called to serve as strangers in a foreign land.
Yes, we are ministers-which is to say that we are called to minister the gospel to those who need to hear the message of Jesus Christ.
But I tell you, even though you may not be called to be a Pastor of a church, all of you are pastors. (The office of Pastor is a different thing from one who is a pastor—one who shepherds others).
Yes, you are missionaries. Yes, you are called if you care for the souls of others. It does not matter if you are men or women, you are shepherds as long as you are found caring for the sheep: the flock of those who come to know the ways of God.
Peter’s Restoration to Ministry
Peter’s Restoration to Ministry
Peter had failed the night Jesus was killed on the cross. However, Jesus himself restored Peter to ministry. Let's read about this restoration in John 21...
15 When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. 16 A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. 17 He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. 18 “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” 19 He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”
Our Work for the Lord is the Product of Our Love for the Lord
Our Work for the Lord is the Product of Our Love for the Lord
Most of us work hard. Some of you work more than one job or have a side gig.
You may be doing it to make ends meet.
You may be doing it because there is too much month after paycheck hits your account.
You may also be a workaholic or used to taking on too many responsibilities.
He may be thinking, as I used to think, "If it's meant to be, it's up to me."
My own problem is that I don't know how to say, "No, I can't do it."
Any work we do for the Lord that is not done as a result of our love for him has the potential to become an idol in our lives.
Works can never produce faith.
But faith can produce love that produces works.
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Jesus made three invitations in the book of John:
Come and see (John 1:39).
Come and drink (John 21:12)
Come and dine (John 21:12).
Peter, as one of his apostles, also took all these steps toward intimacy with Christ. Jesus took care of Peter's physical needs before He took care of his spiritual needs.
Warren Wiersbe puts it this way....
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 397.
How loving of Jesus to feed Peter before taking care of his spiritual needs. He gave Peter the opportunity to dry out, warm up, satisfy his hunger and enjoy personal fellowship. This is a good example for us to follow in caring for God's people. Certainly, the spiritual is more important than the physical, but caring for the physical can prepare the way for spiritual ministry. Our Lord does not so much emphasize "the soul" as to neglect the body.
When Peter met with Jesus it was important that he address his public sin, that is, with the testimony of the other disciples.
Jesus challenged Peter's love for his Lord. He asked him, "Do you love me more than these?" Jesus was probably challenging Peter's claim that he could love Jesus more than the other disciples loved him (John 13:37; Matthew 26:33).
The clear message here is that Jesus is saying to Peter, in essence, "Your love will be demonstrated in the way you care for others, especially those who follow me."
Peter was commissioned as a "fisher of men" but also as a "shepherd of the flock" which is to say shepherd of the sheep of Jesus Christ. He is both evangelist and shepherd. And aren't we all called to do the same?
We want to lead people to the Lord, but also to care for them in their circumstances and help them mature in the Lord.
Jesus gave Peter three commands:
Feed my lambs.
Shepherd my sheep.
Feed my sheep.
The task of a spiritual shepherd is complex and the need is great.
In addition to attending to the physical needs of our sheep and their spiritual needs, we also have to pay attention to their emotional needs.
Who are you pastoring?
Who are you pastoring?
Luke gave us some good advice that we should remember....
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears. 32 “And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. 35 In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
You might not be an overseer or leader (pastor, bishop, elder, deacon) of a congregation.
You may not lead a ministry
You may not even teach a Sunday School class
But you lead in something. You are involved with others.
Who are you shepherding? Who are you discipling?
Even if it is your own family, we all have work to do as shepherds of the Lord's sheep.
Luke's admonition in Acts 20:28 is to "take heed to yourselves and to all your congregation." That one is important.
Take care of yourself first,
then your sheep (whether they are in your family or in your church).
And then those outside the church.
Provide for his spiritual health and be alert for other mental health problems and for his physical needs.
That is the work of the pastor—moreso, it is the work of the believer in Christ.