Living Compassionately

Scriptures that shape us

Think of a passage of scripture that has shaped and continues to shape who you are. Today I am sharing from two scriptures that have shaped me personally and as a minister. These passages continue to shape who I am, and the ministry to which God has called me to serve. What is that passage for you? One excercise of growing together is being shaped by scripture together. I’d love to do a sermon series based on passages of scripture that have shaped and continue to shape you. Together we can grow in our relationship with God and one another by allowing the scriptures that have shaped us personally to shape us as the body of Christ.

Today is the first Sunday of 2021 I give thanks to God for his presence with us through the storms of 2020 and I look forward to what he will do in and through us in 2021. It’s no accident the start of a new year follows our eager expectation advent. Remember advent is a journey. With eager anticipation of what God will do in 2021 as part of that journey we eagerly wait with hopeful anticipation Advent 2.0. The second coming of Christ. What do we do while we are waiting? Isaiah 58:1-10 and Matthew 25:31-46 tell us what to do while we are waiting. Because we the people of God have embraced the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ we have entered into the journey of advent, which along the journey while we wait for Advent 2.0 God calls us to live compassionately.

How can you see this compassionate living God calls us to at work over this past year and how can it be at work in 2021. Advent 2.0 is coming and we have work to do.

Isaiah 58/ Matthew 25

Both these passages could stand a sermon of their own, but as I reflect on one I hear the echoes of the other. Isaiah tells us what true worship or fasting looks like, while Matthew 25 tells us what to do while we eagerly wait for advent 2.0. No matter how we look at it God in our worship calls us to compassionate living. God in our waiting calls us to compassionate living.

What does compassionate living look like in these passages?

THE ECHOES

-caring for those in prison

-caring for the homeless/wanderer stranger

-caring for the hungry and thirsty

-caring for the naked

-Caring for the sick

These are the echoes I hear from these passages. How do they relate to preparing for Advent 2.0? They tell us how to live compassionately, and they tell us how to minister to the communities God has called us to serve.

The separation of the sheep and the goats passage is Christ’s last sermon to his disciples that began in chapter 24 these two chapters focus on being ready for the second coming of Christ. Here in Matthew 25 Christ finally ties an end to how things are going to be when he does return.

Sheep and goats graze together but are separated at night.

Matthew 25 When Christ mentions the least of these brothers and sisters of mine he is talking about others positive reception of him, his messages and the treatment of those who follow him. However that does not mean that Christ is absolving us from compassionate living to others not yet of the sheep fold of God. What makes me say that?

Leviticus 19:33–34 NLT

33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. 34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

When I was a stranger you took me in, verse 35 the word for stranger in greek is xenos its where we get the word xenophobia, it means stranger or foreigner. God clearly tells his people in Leviticus 19 to treat the foreigner, the stranger as if they were your own native born. In other words the same way you treat those who are of your household or in the case of the church not yet part of the family of God.

Brothers and sisters we are judged by God on this and this alone have you welcomed the grace of God that brings salvation into your life? Lives that have been changed and are being changed by this grace demands compassionate living. Over the course of 2020 how has God enabled you to live compassionately? I give thanks that the grace of God that has brought salvation to my life has allowed me to live compassionately this year.

FAITH ON FOOT

*Alex, James and Jim,

*Pandemic Pizza

While we wait for our advent journey to come to completion the call of God is clear for his people to live compassionately. How will the grace of God who has brought salvation to us enable us to live compassionately in the community of Leiscester?

Conclusion

These passages continue to shape who I am, and the ministry God has called me to serve because I believe the revival we faithfully pray for, starts with all of God’s people living compassionately. The grace of God found us in the prison of sin and death and set us free. The grace of God found us when we were strangers wandering from the fold of God and took us in. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as we wait for Christ second coming we live compassionately.

What is an example? Programs can over complicate what is already simple.

Healing Choir story Quilt

God made it easy:

Care for the homeless/stranger wanderer

care for those in prison

care for the sick

care for the hungry and thirsty

Care for the naked

To sum it all up be moved with compassion like Christ was when we encounter those suffering in our communities.

As we get ready to gather around God’s table today how will God call you personally and us as a church to live compassionately in 2021?

PRAY FOR SERVICE UNDER THE BRIDGE

How can we be the people who spark the flames of revival we’ve all prayed for? I am convinced to live compassionately will start it because of

Isaiah 58:6–10 NLT

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. 7 Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. 8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. 9 Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! 10 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Almighty God your world is still suffering from the darkness of 2020 help us your people be your light in 2021.