What do we see?

The Compassion of Christ

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Mt

two questions for us

What do we feel?

what do we see?

When we think about what is around us

when we drive down the streets of Claremont, Springfield or wherever we live or are at

what do we see?

what do you feel?

Jesus as He is going around sees the people

see the crowds and feels compassion

Compassion- is to feel a deep sympathy

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 88.80 οἰκτίρω; οἰκτιρμός, οῦ

to show mercy and concern, with the implication of sensitivity and compassion—‘to have mercy, to show compassion, mercy, tender compassion.

it was a constant feeling that Christ had when He saw people

Mt

Matthew 14:14 ESV

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

and again in

Matthew 15:32 ESV

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Why did Jesus have compassion?

because of how he saw them

Often times we walk the streets and we see the pollution and the weeds of society

broken families

drug addiction

alcohol

and what we see are weeds

What does Jesus call them?

He had compassion because He saw them as sheep without a Shepherd

they were harassed by wolves

they were unable to protect or guide themselves

they were harassed by the religious leaders

but yet they were still sheep in need of a Shepherd

the difference between them and us is that we have the shepherd they need

we were once just like them

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We were sheep harassed by the world

with no protection

with no guidance

just following the ways of the world

but God being rich in mercy because of His great love for us made us alive

He sent the shepherd to find the sheep

In John Chapter 3 Jesus with Nicodemus

Nicodemus represented the best that the nation had to offer

sanhedrin, ruling council, pharisee

but even Israel’s best lacked knowledge and the nations unbelief

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

God’s motivation toward people is love

which is a gift for all

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:24 ESV

and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

The cross is an act of Love

Christ came not to condemn sinner or the world

the religious leaders had been doing that

with the law they ruled over them

Romans 8:3 ESV

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

romans 8:

But Christ came to “seek and save that which is lost”

Ezekiel 18:23 ESV

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

What do we see?

Ez 18:23

cause what we see will effect how we feel?

are we motivated by love?

do we sheep harassed and in need of a shepherd?

do we see a harvest?

Often times we get a fortress mentality

church doesn’t want to be polluted by the world

What does the harvest look like

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mt 9:10-

Sinners

broken families

the drug addicts

the alcoholics

- Laborers into His harvest

Matthew 13:24–30 ESV

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Mt 13:

God is the Lord of the harvest

we don’t get to chose the fields

we are called to be faithful servants in the fields

God sorts it out in the end

the Harvest is plentiful