The Ministry of Compassion

Matthew 9:35-38

Scott Thomas

Christ Church, Nashville

July 10, 2022

35 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. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Introduction

Why do we exist as a church?

Why do we gather together?

Why do we sacrifice time and money to devote to a new church in the heart of the city?

How are we going to expand and gather more people for this mission?

The Gospel of Matthew 9:35-38 gives us the answer to all of these questions.

Background

35 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.

Jesus was the only one who had done the teaching and healing up to this point. But this was the turning point. One man could not accomplish all that God had sent Jesus to accomplish.

Jesus went (continually) throughout all the cities and villages. This was a comprehensive and intentional activity. This is where we get the mission statement phrase, “City Church exists to intentionally share the hope of Jesus with all people.”

We don’t want to target or exclude one ethnicity or age or socio-economic people. Jesus proclaimed (or heralded) this good news tirelessly to all people. To herald something means that we are messengers of news that has occurred or is about to occur. In the case of Jesus, it was both.

What has occurred: We have sinned or violated God’s laws and we are guilty.

What will occur: We will be punished according to our deeds.

What good news (gospel) accompanies this? We have a Savior who will take the punishment on our behalf and we will be set free and declared innocent. Further, He will set up His kingdom and He will be King.

Jesus removed illness in an unprecedented fashion and thus gave further evidence of his divine nature. This also points to the Kingdom of God: a sin-free, illness-free, pain-free, guilt-free, shame-free community ruled by a sovereign King.

1. What do you See?

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

When we are sharing the hope of Jesus with people, we will begin to see what Jesus sees.

When we fail to serve others, we only see ourselves; our suffering; our problems; our needs.

But when we devote our lives to serving others, we see their needs and suddenly our needs diminish in our minds.

What do you see in your neighborhoods?

What do you see in your family?

What do you see in your workplace?

What do you see in your city?

Jesus saw sheep without a shepherd. He described them as helpless and harassed.

Helpless is a picture of sheep wounded by animals or thorny bushes. The open cuts make the sheep vulnerable to infection and further pain and greater sickness.

Harassed (or cast down) is a picture of sheep lying prostrate in pain and agony and vulnerable to further violation and possible death.

We are sheep: defenseless creatures vulnerable to attack. Sheep cannot find proper nutrition without a shepherd and they can endanger themselves without proper shepherding.

ISTANBUL TURKEY: Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 50 to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived, newspaper reports said yesterday. Shepherds from Ikizler village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free, the Radikal daily said. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $100,000.

Goats manage quite well by themselves but sheep without a shepherd are illustrative of people who are in great danger and without the resources to escape from it.

Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd. Psalm 23 says,

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

What do you see? Are you happy to eat your breakfast while people run to their cliff of sin and jump off believing there is no consequence?

2. What do you Feel?

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus felt compassion for the helpless and harassed sheep.

Webster Dictionary defines compassion, “sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”

In the Bible, compassion is only associated with Jesus. Compassion does not describe mankind; it describes a divine nature and that is exactly why it is an important emotion to exhibit.

In Matt 14:13-14, Jesus saw a great multitude and he felt compassion and healed their sick.

In Matt 15:32, Jesus had compassion for the multitude and for their need to eat. So, he provided a miracle to feed 4,000 people.

In Matt 18:21, the parabolic king had compassion for the man who was deeply indebted to him and he released him from his debt.

In Matt 20:30, 34, Jesus met two blind men on the road to Jericho and had compassion on them and he opened their eyes.

In Matt 23:37, Jesus felt compassion for Jerusalem and desired to gather them near his breast like a hen would her baby chicks.

No other religious system includes compassion. All other religious systems base themselves on a legal standard that demands adherence or else face the consequences.

Butch and his wife, Heidi and five young kids went on a camping trip in the mountains of AZ. Mom gathered what they needed for the night and Dad set up the camper. The kids were excited about this new adventure. Butch finished the camper and started counting the kids—one, two, three, four. Horror came upon Butch when he didn’t see number 5, his 22-month old son, Kingston. His wife shared this dreadfulness because he was just hanging around her feet and she didn’t notice him wander off. Butch ran barefoot into the woods calling his son’s name. Mom called for help. Twenty minutes later, a sheriff arrived but their son was still missing. The Flagstaff search and rescue team and the County Sheriff's began a calculated hunt. After an hour, Butch was still panicking about his son’s plight. Mom was crying while keeping the other four kids safe. Helicopters with infrared sensors joined the search and rescue team but they still failed to find the lost boy. The sun was getting ready to set. You could hear Butch’s voice desperately crying out in the woods for his son. Two hours passed and it was almost dark in the dense forest. Their baby boy was still missing. One of the rescue team leaders walked into an area and thought he heard a child’s cry. Sure enough, the 22-month old boy was sitting on the ground with skinned knees, dirty diaper, and no shoes. His sad face was muddy from the ground and his own tears. The rescue team member brought the boy to Mom at the campsite. Butch was still looking for his baby boy among the trees. They found a tearful but determined Butch in the woods and he ran back to the campsite. When Butch saw his son after their two-and-a-half-hour search, he embraced his baby with the best Dad hug ever and cried while clutching his son in his arms. He emotively clung to his baby because he didn’t think he would ever see his son alive.

3. Compassion Moves Us to Action?

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus used ‘harvest’ as a metaphor for people. The harvest is people far away from you. The harvest is people who have wandered away from the flock.

The idea is that there are people who are ripe for inclusion in the Kingdom of God.

Local farmers recruited some of us poor college students to harvest their fields. I didn’t learn a thing about farming except that when the crop was ripe and ready, it was urgent to cut it and get it out of the field or they would lose it forever.

A crop of people needed workers and Jesus said they were few.

If we are moved with compassion, action is required. ‘Therefore’ means that action is required based on the preceding information.

The action Jesus gives is prayer.

We naturally think of our personal action and commitment and that is included.

The really effective response is prayer. We are praying for workers to be focused on the harvest of people whom the Lord has made ready.

The only plan Jesus has to harvest the souls of people is His disciples.

Lord, send out more workers!

Conclusion

Church planting doesn’t start with a strategy and a vision statement; it starts with brokenness for the lost and a determination to form a rescue team to reach our friends, family, and neighbors before the harvest opportunity is gone. The harvest is ready now. It is not time to sleep. It is time to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). It is time to pray for more workers.

"Father, we meet to worship you in a building that in many ways represents us: Worn, Broken, Full of memories--some good, some bad. It is a history that includes pain. A history that has left many of us calloused to You and Your people.

As we enter this old former bar, just like many who have gone before us, we seek and long for rest, comfort, joy, and friends. Will you meet our longings by revealing Yourself?

You are our refuge; will you make this building and these people a safe place for the hurt, the wandering, and the lost?

You are Father. Will You unite us here as your children?

You are peace. Will you give us rest from performance and instead transform us through rest?

You are Truth. Will You reveal truth and grace in this place?

You are Savior and Lord. Will You save Your people and reign victoriously in our lives so that our history is forgiven? For only in You can we find renewal, redemption, new life and freedom from the bondage of our sin.

Through the revival and transformation of this building, may this city, and these people, make You known! As you have graciously given us a building, we give it back to You for the good of this city and for Your glory! May You be glorified in its use!"