A Compassionate Savior

A Compassionate Savior

Mark 6:30-34

Open your Bible to Mark 6.

A lot of people have a broken idea of who God is. Some people see God as being so high and mighty that He doesn’t have time for people like you and me. Others see Him as an affectionate old grandfather who winks at sin, wags his finger and just kind of watches with amusement to see what’s going to happen next.

Well, God is high and mighty!

He is “separate from sinners.” He’s untouched by our wickedness and can’t look at our sins. He certainly doesn’t wink at our sins and sit back as the universe does its own thing. He is a God Who is in control of all things at all times. But, like a loving grandfather, He is a God Who cares. He has compassion for us.

It may surprise people to think about God being compassionate. He’s often pictured as a God of wrath and judgment. And that is certainly one side of His character. But He is also a God of love, compassion and intimacy. He is a God who cares.

One reason He cares is because He knows what we face in life. He knows this because He came to this world and lived among us. God actually clothed Himself in human flesh so that He might live among men and die on a cross for sinners.

While He was here, He endured more than His share of pain, poverty and suffering.

· He knows what it’s like to do without.

· He knows what it’s like to be rejected.

· He knows what it’s like to be hated.

· He knows what it’s like to suffer pain.

· He knows what it’s like to be hungry, thirsty and alone.

· He knows what it’s like to face death.

Jesus walked through this world and experienced what He did so that He might better help you in your time of need.

As we continue our study of Mark’s Gospel, we discover Scripture that tell us without a doubt that Jesus cares about us.

Let’s pray and then we’ll read our text.

Pray!

Mark 6:30–34 ESV

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

I want us to look at two different groups of people that the Savior has compassion for. First, He cares about

Laboring Servants

And as we see His compassion for these laboring servants, we’ll first look at their:

activity

Our passage takes place just after Jesus sent the twelve disciples out to preach, teach and heal. Their ministry had been a great success and they return to tell Him all about what had happened.

They’re excited about what they’ve witnessed among the people. I can imagine them gathering around Him trying to talk at once. It was an exciting time in the lives of these men.

There really is no greater thrill in life than to serve when He’s blessing that service. When you stop to consider where you came from and how He saved you. Then, to think that He would allow you a small part in His work, is a blessing too great to comprehend.

Yet, the Bible is clear; He saved us to serve Him not to sit idly in pews.

· He redeemed us so that we could serve Him.

· When He saved us, He equipped us for a special place in His work.

· Our service proves the reality of our salvation.

Some people say they can’t serve because they don’t have any training. Look at the disciples! They were sent out with very little training and limited knowledge. Don’t wait until you know it all to do something. Act on what you know and trust Him to teach you as you go.

There was their activity and then His:

advice

When Jesus hears their report and sees their enthusiasm, He gives some strange advice.

A lot of people would have said that it was time to seize the moment. The people were listening, the crowds were coming. It seemed like the perfect time to send the disciples out again to preach, heal and increase the crowds. Jesus, on the other hand, calls the disciples away for a time of rest and refreshment.

I think there are several reasons why He did this. I think those reasons are still important today.

First:

The stress of ministry is enormous

When the disciples returned, they found Him surrounded by crowds of needy people. The people were coming and going at such a hectic rate that Jesus and His men didn’t even have time to eat a meal. That kind of constant stress would wear anyone out.

Jesus knew that His disciples needed to rest their bodies if they were going to be as effective as they could be in their work for Him. So, He takes them across the lake so that they could be reenergized.

There’s a word here for us as well. God didn’t design these bodies to go like we force them to. He never intended for us to run through this world with a cell phone to our ear, a planner in our hand and a schedule so full of activity that no one could possibly get it all done. God expects us to take the time our bodies need to rest.

Our days, months and years have all been discovered through observation.

· One revolution of the earth was called a day.

· One lunar cycle was called a month.

· One revolution of the earth around the sun was called a year.

But, have you ever considered that the seven-day week wasn’t man’s observation? The seven-day week was God’s idea.

God said that man should work six days and rest one day. God knows our bodies aren’t designed to function all the time without rest. So, He set aside one day when we’re to stop working and just rest.

Someone has said that preaching a sermon is equivalent in mental and physical stress to working eight hours. I’ll be more effective on Sunday if I get the rest I need on Saturday night. I’ll be more alert and more able to serve the Lord effectively. From the looks of things, it wouldn’t hurt some of you to go to bed a little earlier either!

God wants us to serve Him, but He doesn’t want us to kill ourselves in the process! We must take the time our bodies need to rest. Someone wrote a poem that goes like this:

Mary had a little lamb.

‘Twas given to her to keep,

But then it joined the local church,

And died for lack of sleep.

The stress of ministry is enormous and:

They were in danger of becoming prideful

If these men had been sent right back out and had seen the same or even greater results, there was a danger that they might begin to think that they were something special.

The truth was, they did nothing! They were successful in the sense that Jesus was successful through them. All they did was go out and He did the work. It wasn’t about them; it was all about Him! So, Jesus removed them from the limelight for just a little while to help them keep things in a proper perspective.

The truth is that if we’re not careful, we can fall into the trap of thinking that we’re something special. If we’re not careful, we can become prideful and forget that anything good that comes from our lives comes from the Lord.

God can use us in amazing ways because He’s the source of our strength and deserves all the glory. But, when we think that any successes that we may have are the result of our own strengths and abilities, we’re headed for a really big fall.

I guess that what I’m saying is that we need remember where our blessing come from. It isn’t from the preacher, a teacher or anyone else. Our blessings come from Him and He alone deserves all the glory.

He cares about laboring servants and He cares about:

Lost Sheep

Jesus as His disciples make their escape from the crowds, but they didn’t slip away unnoticed. The people saw them leaving on a boat and ran around the shore of the lake to the other side. People from other towns along the Sea of Galilee joined them and by the time Jesus and the disciples got to the other shore, there was a very large crowd waiting expectantly.

A lot of people would have been angry if their plans for an evening of rest and relaxation were interrupted by a crowd. Those people would have seen the mass of people as a nuisance and ignored them and their needs.

Not Jesus!

34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them…

When you see a person with a need, there are several emotional responses you can have.

Apathy

This is an absence of emotion. You see the need, but you simply don’t care. You’re not moved by it. There is a lot of apathy in our world today.

Sympathy

This refers to a harmony of feeling. In other words, you see a need and you know how they feel because you’ve felt that way too.

Empathy

This is an emotion that’s stronger that sympathy. When you empathize with someone it means that you hurt with them. It means that you feel the pain they feel.

And then there is:

Compassion

When the word “compassion” is used in the Bible it means, “To be moved inwardly; to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity and empathy.” It’s talking about someone’s deepest possible feelings. It’s the same as saying that you feel something from the bottom of your heart.

Someone has defined compassion as “Sympathy coupled with a strong desire to help.” Since sympathy refers to “The capacity to share feelings, to enter into the same feelings, to feel the same thing.” So, compassion is “sharing the feelings of others and possessing a desire to help them in their trouble.”

When Jesus saw the people, He was touched by their need and He was moved by a strong desire to meet their need. He had compassion.

Let’s look at His compassion for these lost sheep. First:

The reasons

When Jesus looked at the people, He saw them as a flock of lost sheep. He was stirred by the vision of them as helpless lambs, with no one to care about them.

Yeah, they had their leaders and officials. But those men didn’t care about the people. The Pharisees, the scribes and the Sadducees, they only cared about the people doing things their way. They wanted the people to march to their tune; obey their rules and keep lining their pockets. All so they could continue to live their over-the-top lifestyles.

When the Jewish religious leaders looked at the people of Israel, all they saw was a people that existed to serve them. When Jesus saw the people of Israel, He saw them as they really were: lost sheep in need of a shepherd.

The image of lost people as sheep is powerful. You might know, sheep are about the dumbest animals on the planet. They have no sense of direction. They’re also absolutely defenseless. There is no animal as needy and as dependent on human as the sheep.

When Jesus refers to lost people as sheep, He’s not trying to insult them, He’s just telling the truth! And that’s because:

Sheep without a shepherd can’t find their way

Apart from Christ, no lost person would ever find their way to God. They are hopelessly lost and they need a Shepherd to come and rescue them. We should be thankful that is exactly what He does!

Sheep without a shepherd are defenseless

Apart from Christ, no lost person would ever be able to avoid the wrath of God and the punishment of Hell. The lost are in a lot of trouble!

Religious activity, good works, good intentions and being a good person will never be enough to keep you out of Hell. The only hope for sin is the blood of Jesus.

He’s your only hope and the only way of salvation.

Sheep without a shepherd can’t find their way and:

Sheep without a shepherd are dumb

Most lost people don’t even realize that they’re lost. They think everything’s fine. Life is okay and they don’t need to worry. How wrong they are!

But you need to understand that it isn’t going to change by you pointing out their faults. The only thing that will change people is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

I can’t change anyone. You can’t change anyone. Your vote won’t change anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. And the only way for that to happen is for us to be constantly sharing the gospel.

There is the reason for His compassion and next we see the reach of His concern.

The reach

As you look at these verses, you get a sense that even though Jesus saw the crowds, He saw so much more. He saw a massive group of people but He also saw the individuals in the crowd. As He looked out over this mass of humanity, He saw every broken heart, every emotional need and every spiritual problem.

He saw it all! He saw the crippled child. He saw that abused wife. He saw the depressed father. He saw the rebellious teenager. Jesus looked out at a crowd but He saw the individuals!

That should encourage us today.

God sees everything that happens in the entire universe, but He still can focus in on the individual. Listen, He cares about you and about the needs in your life. You can come to Him and find the help you need no matter the problem you face.

Jesus has compassion for all of us.

· He has compassion for those who are scattered and wandering around life aimlessly without purpose or direction.

· He has compassion for those who are trapped in a life of sin.

· He has compassion for those who are sick and suffering.

· He has compassion for those who are seeking something even if they don’t know exactly what it is.

Why was Jesus able to have compassion on so many different kinds of people in so many different settings and situations? Because Jesus, even though He knew all their faults, every single time they messed up, He didn’t let that get in the way of His compassion.

He didn’t look just at what was there to see on the surface, He was able to look at these people and see their deepest needs. He loved them at the deepest level of His being and as a result, He was never impatient with them or offended by their needs.

How do we see people? We often base our evaluation of a person on what we see with our eyes or hear with our ears. We judge them by what’s on outside and often just write them off as a lost cause. They’re no good. They’re beyond hope.

What we need to learn is to look past a person’s exterior to see them as they really are. We must see their needs before we can express compassion to them! My prayer is that we learn to see them as Jesus does!

There is the reason for His compassion, the reach of His concern and finally we see the response of His concern.

The response

These people came to Jesus for help and He didn’t push them away. Instead, Mark tells us, “And he began to teach them many things.”

There, in a backwater of the Roman Empire, Jesus began to teach these people eternal truth. He led those lost sheep into the green pastures of His perfect, filling Word. He caused them to lie down beside the still waters of His revelation.

Jesus gathered up the lost sheep that day and pointed them to God. He almost certainly told them of the true way of salvation. He must have told them of God’s love for the lost. He definitely would have told them of the hope, life, peace and joy that were all available in Him.

He wanted to help and He had the power to help them. So, He reached out and did it!

Do you remember the day He found you wandering in your sins? Do you remember when He lifted you out of your desperate condition, placed you on His shoulders and carried you to a place of peace, safety and blessing? Do you remember when He changed your life?

If you can, then you should rejoice in what He has done for you. If not, then you should come and let Him change your life. He cares about you. He’s able to help you. He’ll help you if you will come to Him by faith.

Where are you today? Are you tired in your work for the Lord? Have you lost the joy of His salvation? Have the things of God become a grind to you? Are you just spiritually tired and worn out? Come to Jesus; let Him restore your soul. He knows how to put the spring back in your step. He knows how to give you joy once again. He cares about what you and what is happening in your life!

Are you a lost sheep today? Are you out there on the hills of sin, away from God and all alone? He cares about you! If you’ll come to Him, He’ll take you in and give you the peace, the joy and the security you need.