The Power of a Changed Attitude (3)

Moving from pride to compassion

Key Text:

Luke 10:25–37 NKJV

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Introduction:

Q. What comes to mind when you think of the word attitude?

The word "attitude" refers to a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically reflected in a person's behavior. It can also describe a posture or position of the body, especially one that expresses an emotion or intention.

Our attitude often times provides the framework to how we see and understand life. It is impacted by such things as:

a. Information we have been exposed to:

Upbringing. How we have been trained by either parents.

Information we have chosen to believe.

b. Experiences we have been exposed to.

Past experiences.

Experiences that have been passed down to us.

c. Environments we have been exposed to.

All of this shapes our attitude, which is the lense we see life through.

Overview.

Today I want to speak on the subject entitled: The Power of a Changed attitude: Moving from pride to compassion.

The objective is to challenge us believers to confront pride and passivity in our own hearts, and embrace a Christlike Compassion that actively sees, steps into, and serves the needs of others, especially in times of need.

The reason to why I chose this subject, is because in light of current events, I believe this is a moment in time where it is important to show compassion.

Thesis:

A changed attitude moves us from pride that limits love to compassion that heals wounds, breaks barriers, and reflects the very heart of God.

Definition of Compassion is the ability to recognize the suffering of others, be moved with genuine concern, and take action to help relieve that suffering.

Compassion falls under the family of empathy:

Cognitive empathy: This is the capacity to percieve and know what other people feel. It is the ability to put yourself in other peoples shoes.

Emotional empathy: emotional empathy allows us to make an emotional connection. It allows us to respond when friends, co-workers, our community is going through a vulnerable situation.

Compassionate empathy. Compassion is where we take action and seek to utilize resources to help those in need.

Today, we have a community that has been hurt, and it is easy to respond with what we think should happen and point the finger. We can respond with praying wich is the best thing we can do. But we can also respond with compassion. This is what Jesus did. As the church, this is something we should do.

My objective today is to help us see how moving from pride to compassion helps us do three things.

See beyond ourselves.

Step into their struggle.

Serve with love.

Message:

As we look to scripture, Jesus’s kind of leadership was a compassionate kind of leadership. It was a leadership where he saw the needs of humanity, humbled himself and acted. and it is the kind of leadership he requires of his church to follow.

Context:

This is what we see in the parable of the good Samaritan. This particular parable takes place when a lawyer who is an expert in Jewish law was testing Jesus. He askes “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Here we understand that the layer tried to justify himself by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Moreover, although he knew the law, he did not know the most important part…In loving his neighbor as himself.

I wanted to use this parable because I think that the lawyers attitude, can reflect a lot of peoples attitude in some ways:

A. He had an attitude of pride and self-justification.

The lawyer approached Jesus trying to test him. Moreover, once Jesus pointed the question back to him he tried to justify himself.

Here his attitude revealed pride, wanting to define who was his neighbor, in a way that would excuse him from loving certain people.

B. Jesus demonstrates the attitude we should have, one of compassion.

In this parable we see a few players:

The man who had no name that fell amongst theives.

Something we must undersatand is, travel was not something that was considered save at that time. And most scholars show that the type of road that he fell on was a that was steep, and dangerous to ride on.

it wasnt dangerous just because it was steep, it was dangerous because theives would hang around there.

b. We see that he was traveling, but he fell amongst theives. To me this shows that an unfortunate circmstance happened to him. Here we don’t know if he was a wealthy man, poor man, a Pharisee, levite etc. We just know that an unfortunate circumstance happened to him that could have happened to anyone else.

2. We see the Levites, and the Pharisees.

These were people of stature, they were people that knew the law and had a certain amount of status.

Moreover, we see how they saw the incident and passed by.

One may have stopped and looked, felt bad, then passed by and did not do anything.

3. There was the good samaritan.

The Samaritan was someone who was considered an outsider by the Jews. He was someone who Jews did not engage with.

Moreover, the Samaritan was moved with compassion, putting his own life at risc by coming down to him, mounting him on his animal, bringing him to an inn, and paying for the service.

Message:

Compassion sees beyond self.

As we look to the text, the lawyer only saw in terms of his own pride and justification in terms of the the things he has done by up keeping the law etc.

Moreover, it was out of his pride that he asked Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” putting a limit on who he is to excercise the greatest commandment of love on.

Similarily, the Levite and the priests did the same thing, seeing the man who fell amongst theives, being blinded by their own self-intrest and pride.

However, the Good samaritan saw beyond and saw the man needed help. He chose to see beyond himself.

II. Pride avoids where compassion steps into the struggle.

I love the book called Dare To Lead by Brene Brown. In this book she really tackles what it means to lead with Vulnterability and what it means to lead with compassion. Moreover, here she emphasises how Passivity is the enemy of compassion.

“The near enemy of compassion is complacency. In other words, just not lifting a finger..Thinking that non-action is wise.”

That is what the Levites and Pharisees did. They saw the man but were not active and showed no compassion. Moreover, we see that the good samaritan was stirred to action

By stopping and drawing near, The Samaritan did a few things:

A. He crossed cultural and racial boundaries.

Remember, the Samaritans did not engage with the Jews. Samaritans were outcasts and considered half-breeds.

When we are to be compassionate people and act like Jesus, we should be willing to draw near and not just keep our distance.

B. He had empathy toward him.

With empathy, you are willing to get in the mud with them and not just see things from a far.

It was his empathy that was willing to bandage his wounds, and put him on his animal, not leaving him the way he found him.

IN our lives, whether it is our schools, workplace, and neighborhoods, compassion means that we show up, draw near and share the burden.

What we saw happen this past week is not just their problem, it is our problem because it is our children.

III. Pride protects self, but Compassion serves with costly love.

We see that the Samaritan gave something. This was his time, oil, wine, donkey, and money.

Pride asks “what is in it for me? Compassion says “what can I give so healing can happen.

Compassion is simply sacrificial.

As Christians, we should understand that compassion calls us to invest ourselves for other’s healing. When one part of the body hurts, we all feel it.

Conclusion:

IV. The power released when we move from pride to compassion.

We have the power to heal brokenness.

We see brokenness everywhere, whether it is in the homes, communities, churches, school systems etc. But in order to heal, we cannot be passive, we must engagne.

. Compassion breaks barriers.

When we operate by compassion, we are bridge builders. Regardless of race, class, or even culture, we should be intentional about helping people.

3. Wnen we move from pride to compassion, we reflect the heart of God.

Ultimetly the Good samaritan was Jesus. Humanity was the one that fell from grace, but Jesus drew near to us, he had compassion on us.

Call to action:

As I close, I want to encourage us to not be passive. Let us be like Jesus and draw near. Let us pray for our kids, neighbors, etc. Let us show compassion and heal.

Take away:

“When we move from pride to compassion, we become vessels of God’s healing love in a broken world.”