Compassion

Ephesians 4:11–16 NASB

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

“Compassion without Compromise”

Ephesians 4:11-16 [15]

Intro:  The topic of homosexuality and same sex marriage has been debated for years.  The recent Supreme Court ruling has made this hot topic one that cannot be ignored by the church any longer.  Everyone seems to have an opinion and most discussions about the subject can get fairly heated.  I have preached on this subject before but I felt the need to address it again.  Then I thought instead of preaching against something, it would be better to preach for something.  That led me to prepare a message about Gods plan for marriage.  But the more I studied and payed, the more clear God showed me that the biggest issue the church is facing regarding this subject, and many other, is how to respond.  So how should we as Christ followers respond to same-sex marriage or homosexuality?  Better yet, how should Christians approach any subject that stands in opposition to the Word of God?  Those are the questions I want to answer with Scripture today.  However, before we can do that, I find it necessary for me to explain some essential truths that many Christians do not know, have forgotten, or ignore.  Here they are…

God is our authority NOT the majority. 

God hates sin AND all sins are not the same.

God loves people MORE than positions.

With that understanding, let’s read the text…

Ephesians 4:11-16

Zoom in on this verse...

Ephesians 4:15 (NASB)

“…speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, evenChrist…”

Speaking the truth in love = compassion without compromise.

We see this in John 3:16

Compassion w/out compromise means we are…

…people lovers NOT truth shovers.

Many tines Christians come across as caring more about being right than they do about relationships.  And the reason they come across that way is because many times, that’s the case.  We had rather shove truth down someone’s throat than invest in a relationship with them. 

     The Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)

18  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Mein heaven and on earth. 19  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

First, recognize that the Great Commission is a command given to us by the authority of God.   For most of us, this command it the Great Omission!  We are called to make disciples but we don’t do it.  Discipleship only takes place in the context of relationships.  If there is no relationship, there will be no discipleship.  But the reason we are not obeying the Great Commission is because we are not obeying the…

     The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:37-40 (NASB)

“37  And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38  "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39  "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 40  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

See, we don’t obey the Great Commission because of our lack of love for the Lord. 

John 14:15 (NASB)

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

1 John 5:3 (NASB)

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

We need to love God!  Before we can respond to topics and situations the way God wants us to, we first have to respond in love toward Him.  He wants all of us.  Our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind.  We need to love Him with all we have and all we are.  It’s not just a good idea, it’s a command and a requirement.  If we are not doing that, we dare not call ourselves “Christian”. 

That’s the first commandment. 

The second commandment is about loving others.  We need to love people like God loves people.  We need to stop seeing some people as opposing sides and instead see them as people who Jesus came to save. (John 3:16-17).  You want to know how God wants you to respond to someone? Love them!  That should be the first response!

When we love God, we will obey God.  When we obey God we will love others.  When we love God and love others, we will make disciples. And to make disciples, we need TRUTH! 

You might have been given the wrong impression.  Many Christians think that loving God and loving others is keeping our mouths shut.  We hear people preach to us, “don’t judge” but that statement is only a half truth.

God is the Judge and we are not His jury! So don’t condemn!  That being said, please judge based on the Word of God.  You need to be discerning and you need to know the difference between right and wrong, between holy and unholy.  We need the truth of God so that we can make right judgements.  We are not called to condemn anyone, but was are called to confront lies with truth. 

Go back to the Great Commission and you read these words in verse 20:

“…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…”

You cannot make a disciple without the truth of God and the truth of God is the Word of God.  Remember, God is our authority.  His Word is our foundation.  We are supposed to be teaching and speaking and preaching the Word of God. 

We are all sinners in need of a Savior.  That’s what the Word of God tells us.  And when we have put our faith in Christ and repented from our sin, then we are called to speak the truth, in love, to others.  Compassion without Compromise!

Go back to the main text…

Ephesians 4:11-14 (NASB)

“11  And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14  As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming…”

We need the Word to teach and preach the Word of God! The truth must be proclaimed!   

Compassion w/out Compromise means we are…

…truth brokers NOT truth chokers.  

Webster says a broker is “a person who helps other people to reach agreements… one who acts as an intermediary…a person who acts as an agent for others…”

In that sense, Christians are truth brokers.  We are to help people see the truth of God and come to Christ. 

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NASB)

“…we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

We need to be truth brokers.  We need to help people see their sinfulness and their need for a Savior.  We need to intercede for them and pray for them and be a bridge they can cross to come to Jesus.  We are agents/ambassadors for Christ.  We represent Him!

That’s who we are called to be.  We need to take truth, God’s truth, to everyone we come in contact with. that's why pastor’s job is to…

     Equip

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17  so that the man of God may be adequate, equippedfor every good work.”

The Word of God gives us what we need to serve Him.  My job is to equip you to be a truth broker.  All Christ followers should have compassion without compromise.  We should love God and love others by living out and speaking about the truth of God.  God wants you to know Him and make Him known. 

We have a whole world that is living in sin and we are being called of God to engage them with truth so they can come into the light and be saved from their sin. 

     Engage

Instead of loving people by telling them the truth, we mistakenly think we loving people means we keep the truth to ourselves.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Silence isn’t love, its hate!

If you saw a blind man, standing in the middle of the road with a Mack truck headed straight for him, would you be silent?  I mean, you don’t want to have him offended at you because you yelled at him do you?  Isn’t yelling an unloving thing to do?  Who are you to point out this person’s error?  If he gets leveled by the truck, it isn’t going to harm you in any way, is it? 

Isn’t that some absolutely idiotic reasoning?  Of course you’d yell.  You can see what this blind man cannot.  You don’t want him to die! You might hurt his feelings, but you are trying to…

It’s the same with the truth of God! 

You need to engage in conversations about truth.  You will need to know God’s Word for sure.  You will need to talk about sin because coming to grips with our sinfulness is what shows us our need for a Savior. 

We need compassion without compromise!

We need to be speaking the truth in love!

We need to love God.

We need to love people. 

We need to share the truth.