The Jesus Way #2 - Compassion - Exodus 34:1-5

Today, we look at the second part of “The Jesus Way.”

If you're helpless, I will defend you And if you're burdened, I'll share the weight And if you're hopeless, then let me show you There's hope in the Jesus way

The first Jesus Way we talked about was forgiveness. Forgiving others for what they have done against us.

Today, we discuss a second word - “Compassion.”

There are a lot of helpless, burdened, hopeless people in today’s world. They don’t need our judgement (it’s easy to judge), they need our compassion.

We need to point them in the Jesus Way with compassion.

COMPASSION: A feeling of sympathy for and a desire to help someone who is suffering or struggling. But we have to remember that we need compassion as much as others.

It is so EASY to think we are SUPERIOR to others.

Let me start with a true story.

2 teenagers - LONG history of CRIME - Robbed YMCA on East Side of NYC

On the way out they saw a young man at the telephone switchboard - they were frightened assuming he had seen them.

Beat him with BRASS KNUCKLES and a BLACK JACK

They thought he was dead and left him behind a RADIATOR near the swimming pool.

Later - Woman came to SWIM and SLIPPED on the BLOOD.

Donald Tippett survived but only had one eye.

The two teenagers were APPREHENDED and brought to TRIAL. Their past records made it sure they would have a LONG SENTENCE.

But Donald Tippett did something amazing - He requested the judge allow BOTH YOUNG MEN to be paroled. He wanted to give them a SECOND CHANCE. He believed they both could CHANGE.

One of the boys BLEW HIS OPPORTUNITY. Committed another crime, was arrested and brought to jail.

What about the other boy? What about his second chance? We will have to wait until the end of the sermon to see what happened to him.

There are thousands of stories like this. Stories of people who made mistakes but were shown compassion.

We love stories like this.

Let’s see a time where God showed compassion on Moses.

Exodus 34:1–9 ESV

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

I would like to us this morning to examine 3 truths as it relates to God’s compassion that we are supposed to show to others.

1. In showing compassion, remember we have all made mistakes and we all carry regrets. (vv. 1-4)

Here we have Moses’ climbing the mountain once again. Why? Because of what he did the first time he came down the mountain (threw the tablets)

Notice how God says it in vv. 1 - “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, WHICH YOU BROKE…”

Do you think as Moses climbed that mountain he thought “this is my fault. I wish I hadn’t gotten so angry and threw those tablets down.” I think Moses was probably embarrassed. He had made a mistake.

I think Moses had some regrets, he knew he had made some mistakes.

Regrets is something all of us face. We MUST remember this! We are all in this together. Moses and every character that are on the pages of the Word of God are sinners, made mistakes, and have regrets.

There are people out there who are plagued by regret! There are some of you who aren’t choosing the Jesus.

There are two major types of regret:

Regret by action - you did something and regret it

Regret by inaction - you didn’t do something you should have and regret it.

Moses’ was regret by action. He knew he shouldn’t have thrown the tablets like that and destroyed them.

What type of regret are you carrying today? Regret by action or inaction?

Regret is not a bad thing as long as it leads to REPENTANCE.

However, REGRET and REPENTANCE are not SYNONYMOUS.

Regret - feeling really sorry and lousy for what you have done; Repentance - taking that feeling and changing your behavior

God doesn’t want REGRET from us. He wants REPENTANCE.

Regret is being sorry—mentally (like Saul)

Remorse is being sorry—mentally and emotionally (like Judas)

Repentance is being sorry—mentally, emotionally, and volitionally (like Simon Peter, the Prodigal Son, King David)

When we show people compassion we remember that we too carry regrets with us. We are no better than anyone else. We have all made mistakes, therefore we should show everyone compassion.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

2. We should show others compassion because God has shown us compassion (vv. 5-6)

Here is the SECOND instance in the Old Testament where God describes Himself. The first was when God told Moses “I AM THAT I AM”

Imagine if you today were trying to describe yourself to someone who had never met you. What words would you use? These are God’s Words describing HIMSELF.

These are famous words. They are words near to the Theology of all Christians and Jews.

God, for the first time in recorded Scripture, revealed His character to the human race.

It is in this description that God reveals His benevolence to humankind.

Let’s look quickly at the aspects of His benevolence:

“Compassionate and gracious” - Stoops to the kindness of an inferior/ God giving to us freely what we don’t deserve

“ Slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth” - God doesn’t have short fuse with us. We all know people who have a short fuse and are offended or outraged at the slightest offense - Not God. He also deals in 100% truth. He has all the facts.

“Maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.” - The three types of sin are listed here: inquiry (premeditated sin), rebellion (knowing the truth and disregarding it), and sin (missing the mark) - POINT: There is no type of sin that God’ can’t forgive

“But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the fathers’ inquiry on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” - In His benevolence He is also completely JUST. He will make sure that the guilty are punished. And many times He will allow the consequences of their sins to pass on to the next generation and the next.

All of these attributes speak of His compassionl

Honestly, with all the mistakes we make and all the regret we carry; we need the benevolence of God!

It’s easy to look at someone else and think they need God’s benevolence - but the truth remains -we all do. We all need His kindness and His grace. Once again, don’t think you are better than anyone else.

3. We all need to worship and lead others to our compassionate God (vv. 7-9)

What was Moses’ response to God describing Himself? The Bible says he IMMEDIATELY (He didn’t wait) bowed low and worshiped.

It is interesting that this is the first time in the book of Exodus that Moses is said to have worshiped Yahweh.

The description of God moved Moses' heart. Even more than when Moses had seen God’s glory.

“When we come to know who God is and all His great love for us, the most practical thing it causes us to do is to worship Him more than ever.”

That should be our FIRST response when we see how good God is! Worship!

And listen, worship isn’t just singing. Singing is just ONE form of worship.

Do you know other ways you worship the Lord for His benevolence? You serve. You give. You study. You pray. You sit in silence and listen to Him.

Do you ever spend time worshiping the Lord when you realize how compassionate He has been to you? Or are you too busy?

IN CLOSING:

Our God is a God of compassion. We should be too. Why does God give second chances and yet many times we won’t?

Moses praises and worships the Lord for His compassion. For his kindness in giving them another shot.

I can guarantee you that God has given you a second chance. Much like the story, I told in the very beginning. Do you remember those two boys from NYC? One of them didn’t take the second chance seriously and ended up in jail.

The other boy, however, was responsive to Donald’s compassion. He went to college and then, eventually, to medical school. He became one of America’s leading surgeons, an eye surgeon, nonetheless..

A reporter, writing about Donald‘s amazing story of forgiveness, said of the surgeon’s accomplishments: “I wonder if he ever performs one of those delicate eye operations without thinking of that night in the YMCA and the young man whose confidence and forgiveness changed his life”

He learned that because of God’s goodness, life can begin again.

May we learn to extend compassion to others, even as God has extended compassion to us.