But we are thankful we can gather again this year. There have been many wonderful, precious times, and we have had opportunities to gather over this Columbus Day weekend.
I thought I would start us off tonight with a great challenge, the challenge of the hymn that nobody knows. I happen to like it. You will see in a minute why that hymn was so on my heart. But anyway, you know, the theme for this year is Lord of the Harvest. So let us look at the verses that we have been assigned as the theme verses for this time.
The verses are out of Matthew 9:36-38.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples: The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
And then in Colossians 1:10-12.
That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
And then finally, out of 2 Timothy 4. I charge you therefore before God—2 Timothy 4:1-2.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
And if you looked at the email you received, and also the website, the way the brothers have expressed the burden for this time—I am going to quote what they wrote.
Our attention this year has been drawn to our Lord’s heart of compassion for the multitude of weary, scattered, and lost ones, and the plentiful harvests that He sees in them. This gives urgency to His charge to those who follow Him: to walk worthy of the Lord, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints, and to serve as shepherds and co-laborers in His harvest now, even as we look forward to His appearing.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful as we gather tonight. We gather upon a solid and sure foundation, our Lord Jesus Christ. We gather because we know the foundation of this time was in Your heart, Lord, and You have made every bountiful provision for it.
So, Lord, we come, just really praying that after traveling and settling in, we would say, “Be still, O my soul.” That we, in a spirit of Mary, could sit at Your feet, Lord, to have our eyes upon You, putting aside distractions, things we have left behind, things that we might have to look ahead to. But, Lord, this weekend we would find the one thing that is necessary, and it is beholding You in a very fresh and living way.
We come. We open our hearts. Lord, You have chosen this specific theme for this time, and we have come with a great anticipation of how You want to use these verses to equip us for the days that we are living in, to reveal to each of us more and more of Yourself, that we could be those who are found co-laboring with You, to Your glory and to Your honor. In Your precious name we pray. Amen.
You know, this theme—the Lord of the Harvest and His charge—I have been very blessed by the verses. When I first received these verses, I did not understand. They just seemed three disconnected sets of verses. But it is wonderful, as you stop and consider, how the Lord starts to weave things together, and we see His beautiful heart.
Quite often it is that tapestry which, as you look at it at first, you do not really understand. But the more you behold Him, the more you behold His Word, you start to see the Holy Spirit weaving it together to reveal His heart to us.
In these verses we see His great heart of compassion, brokenhearted for the condition of the multitude—ones weary, without hope, scattered, disheartened, you know, just living in a lost, perverted world. I mean, does that not sound like today? I mean, you look out at the hopelessness of so many people, trying to find love in all the wrong places, and just the hope that they try to put in material things and other things of this world, and it just leads to more and more despair.
Oh, how our Lord’s heart is for those who are out there seeking. But they do not even know what they are seeking. Yet He is the Seeker, and He will find them. His heart is so full of compassion, just for them to come to know Him. And the question is, who will go out to Him? Who will go out for Him? Who will go out to them?
And this is what these next couple of verses really blessed me as I started looking at them, because they really show us the why. You know, why is He sending them out, and what is the great charge that He has upon them? Because in each of these we see His compassion going out to those who have been lost. His compassion going out, that they could be saved. That they could not only enjoy the joy of that initial salvation—tremendous as that is—but that they could come into walking in a manner worthy, pleasing to Him, in a full, experiential way of knowing Him: a full salvation. Not just knowing about Him, but coming into the reality of the One who died for them, who loved them, and has drawn us to Himself.
Because one day, as it says in 2 Timothy, our God will return, and praise God for that. But what is He after? When we speak about God’s end, what is He after? What is His purpose?
And it has often been said, often been mentioned, how God is looking for that eternal, corporate companion for His Son, that bride, to share in the riches of the inheritance we have in Him. And He is looking now for the manifestation of His life in us. When He looks upon us, He is not looking so much at our outward actions. He is looking at our heart. He is looking at our life. How much of Himself does He see? Are we walking in that worthy manner?
It reminds me of when Adam first saw Eve, and we know what he said from a natural perspective. Physically, he said, “Oh, this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” But from a spiritual perspective, when our Lord returns, His desire is for His life to be manifested in His bride, so that in a spiritual way He can say, “Oh, this is bone of My bone, flesh of My flesh.” His heart is satisfied. There is a life in the bride that answers to Him.
Those are the ones who have walked worthy. They have allowed Him to do a great conforming, transforming work within their hearts and lives, not doing things for themselves, but doing things for Him, co-laboring with Him, caring about the things that are His, bearing good fruit, and coming into that true experiential knowledge of who He is, the great reality of His life.
Praise God. And as ones respond to this call, as ones respond to the charge that He has given, we see His life manifest more and more.
What is this charge? It is called, you know, He is the Lord of the Harvest, and He has His charge. And if you read those theme verses in 2 Timothy, it says, “Be ready.”
Now, oftentimes when we think of “be ready,” we as believers—I am going to sidetrack a second here—we as believers have a tendency. Some can kind of focus on the beginning, the initial salvation. Wow, that is wonderful. We have got to get everybody saved, and praise God, we do. Others focus on the end. Be ready. Got to get ready. Got to get ready. Be ready for the future. Oh, and praise God, we have to do that.
Well, how do you get from point A to point B? It is this process here of life. It is the process of the way of the cross. It is the process that we go through so that His life is formed within us. And that is what we are about this weekend. It is about this: He wants to share with us this process of His life working in us, being ready now.
Today, to come in and co-labor with Him. Come in and shepherd different ones, in season or out of season, convenient or inconvenient, favorable or unfavorable circumstances, co-laboring with Him, because He has a desire that each one of us would respond.
It responds not only to Him, but to all of our brothers and sisters, and to the lost world. It is a tremendous heart. It is a tremendous work He is doing. And it is an aim of being ready in season and out of season.
And because we, as we are sharing these things, keep in mind that all He is sharing about—what He is looking for, what He is desiring—is that that gospel would be going forth beyond just the gospel of salvation. This is a gospel of the kingdom: His life among His people, preparing a people for that one day of His glorious return.
I remember how Ed Miller used to express it, and I am going to paraphrase, because I cannot remember it exactly. And he said, you know, how are we going to tell Him we love Him so much, when our Lord returns in the future, if we have not told Him today that we love Him so much? He is looking for this: the way we prepare for the future is today. Loving Him today. Having a heart sold out for Him today. And He sees that, and He works within us.
And that is why, really, what I am sharing is more of an introductory word. Because when we think of all that the Lord is wanting to do, it is a tremendous thing. And as I give this introductory message every year, it seems, I do it in fear and trembling. Because I get to speak first, but then I have these three other guys, and I do not want to say anything that they are going to get mad at me about, and pick on me, and accuse me of being a thief and a robber and a plagiarizer and all of that.
But I am protecting myself tonight. So I am going to try to stay away from their area, whatever that is. We do not even talk beforehand, so who knows what they are going to share. But we will find out tomorrow. So I am threading my way through this by the grace of God.
But what really—when we see this, and we talk about this process that God is wanting to do, the reason we want to look at that, and even consider bringing up the end of what He is after, His charge, is because it gives us a glimpse of His perspective of why He is doing things. If we see why God is doing that. Why is He calling us to co-labor with Him? Why is He calling us to shepherd one another? Because there is an end in view. There is a process. There is an end in view.
And because of that, He shows us this, so that when He speaks of His compassion, when He speaks of walking in a worthy manner, when He speaks of being ready, it fits in with, “Oh, it is because this is where He is wanting us to go. This is the process we are going through to achieve His desire of being made ready for His return, that precious bride.”
So, with this in mind, first I would like to focus on this word compassion. You can probably tell what this is by the hymn and everything. As soon as I read that first verse and what the brothers wrote, this whole thought of compassion has really been pressing in upon me in a very precious way. Because it speaks over and over again, as you look throughout the Gospels, how our Lord was moved with compassion. I mean, He was moved with compassion here. He was moved here. He healed the blind. He is moved here. He raised the dead with compassion. So what is this compassion that motivated Him so much to do this?
Now, our English word is a combination of an old English, old French word meaning—and you will love this phrase, you will love this definition of compassion—to suffer with one another. Okay? How is that for cheering you up tonight? Compassion means to suffer with one another. And if you do not like that one, you can say it means sharing one another’s affliction. Okay? So pick, you know, choose which one of those you like.
But really, within the family of God, it is the care we have for one another in the body of Christ, in the house of God, the family of God. It is that real caring, suffering, longsuffering with one another throughout all of that.
Now, in English there are actually some other words that are pretty similar to this, but there is also a distinction between them that actually amplifies the meaning of both of them. And it shows us, really reflects more and more, the fullness of God’s character and His heart.
Just for example, let us look at two words that we use interchangeably quite often without even thinking: compassion and mercy. Oh, so—but there is actually a little difference between compassion and mercy. Okay. So we are going to have a lesson on words for a moment. Okay.
But if you think about compassion, I am going to just read some definitions here. Compassion involves a deep awareness of the suffering of others, coupled with a voluntary response to come alongside them—not above them, but alongside them, walking with them, almost like that Parakletos, the word for the Holy Spirit, coming alongside. Coming alongside them, to walk with them during a time of suffering or affliction.
I will read that again. It involves a deep awareness of the suffering of others, coupled with a voluntary response to come alongside and walk with them during a time of suffering or affliction.
And then when you compare it to mercy, you can see how closely related it is, but there is a distinction here. Mercy is the act of showing kindness or forgiveness to someone whom you have the power or authority to punish or do harm to. You choose not to punish. You choose not to do harm. There is a slight difference here between compassion and mercy.
Now, that mercy again is closely related. It is the act of showing kindness or forgiveness to someone whom you have the power or authority to punish or harm. So you see that, in mercy, there is somebody over somebody else who shows mercy to that person. In compassion, there is an equality. There is a coming alongside, brother to brother, sister to sister, walking with them through this.
And what that shows us is a fuller aspect of God’s heart. At times our God is so merciful, but He is also a God of compassion. And it is not just that they are trying to pick different words to describe Him. It is actually showing us the fullness of God’s character and nature. At times He is very merciful. At times He is very compassionate, coming alongside like the Good Shepherd. Praise God for that.
There is also another word we can use at times, compared to compassion: compassion and pity. Now, I picked these out of the dictionary.
Compassion arises from a genuine understanding and empathy for another’s pain, recognizing their inherent worth and equality. It is active, and it motivates you to take meaningful steps to alleviate suffering and support a person’s well-being.
This compassion arises—this is the world’s definition, or Webster’s definition. It arises from a genuine understanding and empathy for another’s pain, recognizing their inherent worth and equality. It is active, and it motivates you to take meaningful steps to alleviate suffering and support a person’s well-being.
Okay, pity. It stems from a sense, again, of superiority or condescension toward the person in distress. It involves feeling sorry for someone without necessarily understanding their experience or addressing their needs. You do not do anything for them.
Well, we just see more and more in this word compassion. It is a very active word. It is an action-oriented word. And we see how, as we start to see some of this definition and understanding of compassion, it opens up the heart so we can see, when He was moved with compassion, what He was doing. He was not just standing there. He was not just being condescending. He came alongside. He walked with ones through things. He brought them to a place. He always brought them to Himself.
And if the eyes of our hearts can be opened to really see this, the multifaceted, manifold love that comes forth from Him, as we see Him manifested in lives as that God of compassion, we start to grasp something of it. And we see how this compassion can, all of a sudden—it is a powerful word. It is an action-packed word, with a purpose and an end in view.
He has that compassion for ones because He wants them to come to Himself and to know Him. And He comes alongside. He goes to the center. He picks them up out of the depths of despair and brings them to Himself. He just does not pick them up out of the depths of despair, give them a new set of clothing, twenty dollars, a debit card of a hundred dollars, and say, “Be well; be warmed.” No. He walks with them. He gives them hope in a new and fresh way.
There is nothing passive at all about compassion. And praise God, our compassion, when we talk about having compassion—our compassion comes from seeing His great love, from seeing His love and His desire for that bride, His heart of compassion.
If we can grasp more of the Lord’s heart of compassion for us, for His people, for His bride, for the lost, it impacts us. It causes us to love one another as brothers and sisters in a stronger, more intense way. It causes us to be willing to go through things with ones who are suffering, coming alongside them, that they can gain Christ. It gives us that genuine heart for the gospel to go out, and to see saved those who were lost. May our hearts be captured by His compassion.
And we have to always be clear. We often will use the phrase “our compassion,” and it comes through us, but it is really not ours. It is His compassion being manifested through us as we yield to Him. Truly, not I, but Christ.
Now, as we look at this theme verse in Matthew, where it talks about Him having compassion, it uses a Greek word there. And this Greek word is only used in the Synoptic Gospels, and it is only used in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is just used these few times there.
It is not even—this is actually a strange word. You can tell how much I love words. It sounds funny, being an accountant, but I like words. I like to know where they came from. What do they mean?
But this word, actually, if you look for this Greek word in the New Testament for compassion, you do not find it in the Greek literature. It is not used in classical Greek literature, in any writings they have at all. Because what it was—the Jews at that time, who had been dispersed and were writing in Greek, took a Greek word, added something else to it, and created this word compassion.
The original Greek word that they took, and then added something else to, meant “bowels.” Now, that sounds funny today, to talk about your bowels. But back in those days, all that meant was something coming from within you, something very deep from within you, that was so genuine, that was so real. We would say today, it came from your heart. So they took this word and adapted it to mean, this is compassion. It is a deep coming from your heart, flowing out to others.
As we said, it is only used in the Synoptic Gospels. And as I was thinking about that, and seeing compassion and love so related to one another, it made me ask the question, why is it not used in John’s Gospel? If it is used in these three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—why does not the apostle of love use this word, this specific word, in his Gospel?
And so, as I was thinking about it, I looked back at the way it was used in the Synoptic Gospels, and it is always showing us an outward action of our Lord, of how He is showing compassion to ones, doing this, doing that. We will look at a few examples in a minute.
But then, as you look at John’s writings, John really goes into the heart of the other Gospels and shows us more the fullness of God’s heart in each of these things. So he shows us what was behind those actions, the action of His heart.
And you start to notice in John’s Gospel that there ends up being a parallel between the way the word compassion is used in the Synoptic Gospels and the “I Am” sayings in John’s Gospel. Because the “I Am” is saying, “This is who I am.” It is exposing Himself. And it really allows us to gain a further understanding of the compassion of God.
It is such a common word at times, but there is such a preciousness to it. And I am just hoping the Holy Spirit can capture our hearts tonight to really see the God of compassion. What a compassionate heart. He is far beyond sentimentality, way beyond that. He is pouring Himself out in such a full way. So let us look at a few of these comparisons of the “I Am” sayings.
If we look at our theme verse, Matthew 9:36, that is where we see the word compassion was used, where it says:
And seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited, like sheep without a shepherd.
And then if you look over at what John wrote in John 10:11, he writes:
I am the good shepherd; and the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
In this comparison, He is the Good Shepherd. And this Shepherd, He saves the sheep. He cares for the sheep. He feeds the sheep. He provides for the sheep. He protects them. He guides them. He leads them. He is the leader, the master of their life. And His whole life is occupied and given to these sheep. That is why it says He is willing to lay down His life for the sheep.
And given the culture of that day, when Jesus spoke about the sheep without a shepherd, they understood what He meant. It does not really ring a bell with us today, but really, in those days, they saw the necessity of that flock of sheep having a shepherd. Otherwise they would just self-destruct, which is what is going on among the multitudes, among the world today. They do not have a shepherd, and they are just self-destructing.
But this Good Shepherd—it is a clear message of the heart and character of our Lord, far beyond just feeling sorry for them or having pity. Coming alongside, and actually laying down His life for them. Shepherding them in a way.
And the beautiful thing about shepherding: you look at David, as you look at other shepherds in the Scripture. You are out there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You know, David was sleeping under the stars. If you want to—it is beautiful—go through the Psalms sometime and look at David’s revelation of God just as he looked up at the heavens at night. “It declares the glory of God,” and all the majesty of Him, just by being out there. He was with those sheep at night, all the time caring for them.
And this is how we see our Lord Jesus. And He said, this multitude—this is who I am. I have come to be that Shepherd. And who is going? Then He asked the question, who will go out? Who is willing to co-labor with Me? Who is willing to be another shepherd with Me, to care for ones, to lay down your life for one another, to be those who are coming alongside?
The “I Am” gives us a little more of a glimpse into the heart of what the Lord is saying here, when it says they are sheep without a shepherd. It is a cry of His heart. He is not just describing something physically. He is saying, “Oh, these dear ones, they are lost. They need someone to come in, to come alongside them, to walk with them, to protect them, to lead them, to guide them, to be willing to lay down their life for them. This is who I am.”
And this is what He is calling us to in this day: to manifest compassion in that way, of a good shepherd.
If you look also in Matthew and Luke, it is recorded when He is feeding the five thousand, and again the four thousand. This word gets used for each of the feedings. Well, look at Mark 8:2. He says:
I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
Oh, it does not take much to kind of go over to John’s Gospel, and most of us could probably start to see, in John 6, where Jesus says:
I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
He is not only just talking about nourishing them physically. He is presenting Himself. It is that essential sustenance that really provides spiritual life, so that the deepest needs within the human soul will be fulfilled, the deepest needs within the person. He said, “You are hungry. You are thirsty. The world can give you temporary bread, but I am the bread of life.”
Life that really comes in. It shows you, “I will be with you through the famines of life, not just the temporary, fleeting satisfaction the world has. But I will come in. I will feed you with life, in the various aspects, when there is that deep need within you that nothing can meet. There will be this bread of life. This bread will come in and nourish you.”
Because sometimes we think of—I know myself at times—I just think of eating. I think most of the time when I am eating, I am not thinking of nourishment, you know? I am thinking, “Wow, that tastes good. That looks good.” Most of you know, I am a hamburger person. I love a good hamburger. I forget about the nourishment and everything. I am just not looking at that.
But He sees beyond the hamburger. He says, “Huh? That meat. There is a lot of protein there. That is good for you older people. You know, you need to eat your protein.” So He goes deeper into our very need and meets us.
Oh, thankful that we have the bread of life. We have the Word of God, which is a bread of life, that we can feed upon every day, to come in and nourish our inner being, to give us strength, to give us sustenance, to go on and face all the challenges and the things that we have going on, that we encounter day by day, whether school, work, home, wherever. Praise God.
This is the compassion He has for each one of us, of providing for every aspect of our life.
Remember, there was another one of the stories here where He shows His compassion. There was the widow of Nain, whose son had died. They are leaving town. They are having the funeral procession. The widow was so distressed. The Lord comes in. In Luke 7:13 it says:
When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
Now, He was a stranger. He had just come, just meeting this dear one. He came up. He touched the coffin. The bearers came to a halt, and He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And we know how that young man arose.
Again, it does not take long to try to draw a parallel with an “I Am” there in John. If you go to John 11:25, Jesus is speaking there with Martha and Mary, and says:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even if he dies. I am the resurrection and the life.
He is declaring His power over death. We will see Him later, in His own, with that heart of compassion. We see His heart of compassion, the victory that He has over death, that testimony that “I am the resurrection and the life.” When He, through His own life, goes to the cross and offers Himself up—the death on the cross, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension—what a victory we see there over death. He says, “I am that resurrection.”
And what He is doing here: He is opening the way of salvation to all mankind, to everyone out there. Spiritually, you are dead. There is no hope for you anywhere else. Your families may have prayed for you for years, but you still do not receive Him. But praise God, there is a hope still there. There is a way of salvation, even for the dead of this world, the spiritually dead. Praise God, that life can come in.
See, that is life. That is the Spirit moving. Hallelujah. Okay. I do not know what I said, but anyway, we will see.
But we see how that resurrection life just comes in and overflows in such a wonderful way: salvation to all mankind. We ever stop. It was out of that heart of compassion that He said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and He showed what that was. Far more than just for this one particular young man, but for each person. Oh, praise God. What a hope we have, of ones who appeared so dead, without hope, even dressed in burial garments and taken out to the cemetery. But it is never too late. Praise God. We have “I am the resurrection,” and He has overcome.
Another example here: He is approaching Jericho. There are two blind men who come out, and they cry to Him, and He says—they say, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” And again in Matthew 20, He turns around. He looks at them, moved with compassion. Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
The blind were made to see. John 8:12:
Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Not only just removing physical darkness, far beyond just healing a blind person. Not just giving them light, but giving them the light of life, that they could see, that the eyes of their hearts would be opened. The eyes of their heart could then see the hope of their calling. They could see the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. They could see the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. There was a light that came in, that our eyes were opened.
When God moves in His compassion, He is always wanting us to see, experience, and learn more of Christ. Christ is manifest. Christ is seen, and He is preparing each one of us to know Him in a very living way. Praise God for that, brothers and sisters.
Jesus also uses this word. Now, this will be the last one, right? We are not going to cover all the “I Am” sayings, but the last time He uses that compassion, a couple of times, it is in very familiar parables. And it is the Good Samaritan.
I think we are familiar with the Good Samaritan, how the priest and all went by. They saw this man who had been beaten up, lying by the road, dead. They passed on the other side. But this Samaritan saw this. He was a Jew lying over there. He went over and helped him. He cares for him.
And also in Luke 15, the prodigal son. It says the father had compassion, and the father runs. And they say that is the only time in the Scripture where you see God running. Usually walking, but He is running.
As you can see, as you just consider these two stories—we are not going to go into them—but you see how this heart of love moves them to respond, to go and help those in need, far more than they had even ever asked or thought of. That son, he was just coming back to be a slave. Oh, God’s heart of compassion is, when you come back to Him, He does far more than you ever ask. You are brought back into a place of sonship. What is ruling and reigning with Him? Praise God for that.
Oh, how he cared for that poor one, the Samaritan, how he cared for that one who had nobody else to hope for. Provided everything he needed. And he also gave him a promise. He told that innkeeper, “When I come back, if there is anything else, put it on my account.” You know?
That is what God is saying in our lives. He says, even as you go on through life, as you mess up, as you do things, My compassion never fails. My compassion is there. It is going to be on My account, and I am going to come in, and I am going to lift you up, and I am going to continue to hold you and carry you through until you fully are redeemed, fully restored, fully brought into the reality of knowing My Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Compassion, just to reiterate, is a powerful, active word. It is not a passive word. It is so active. And how much we need this desperately in the body of Christ, as far as caring for one another, coming alongside one another. Not just, as I said, not just sympathizing: “Oh, it is so terrible, you are having to go through this.” No, it is far beyond that. It is going through with ones, with an end in view. It is bringing them back to Christ, because that is the answer to any situation. It is bringing them back to Christ.
We see His multifaceted nature. It is manifested in many different ways, but it is walking through with ones. Sometimes you get your feet dirty. Sometimes you get your hands there. It is not a very pleasant place that you have to walk through with somebody. Maybe they are addicted to something. They are going through a horrible situation. But you come, you walk through it with them, to bring them to Christ. There is always that Christ in view.
And that is one of the big differences between this and what some refer to as the social gospel. The social gospel just wants to do good works, to help. It will feed them. It will clothe them, and they take care of them, and praise God, that is wonderful. I am thankful for that. But there is a last step that needs to occur. It has to come to Christ. They have to be brought to Christ. They might not accept Him. You cannot make them. What is it? You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You know, it is like you bring them there. God provides everything. But we are there. We are walking with them. We are going through their trials with them, helping them.
At times, maybe you have to go to court with them, and take them here and take them there. Oh, it is a messy thing at times. But we are with them, trying to bring them to Christ, so that they can enjoy that glorious liberty of the sons of God and be set free from all that is entangling them.
Thank the Lord for John, the way he explains and expounds upon this word and shows us the very heart of God’s compassion through all the beautiful “I Am” sayings.
Now, as I said, you can tell compassion was on my heart. But as I start toward the end here, let me just touch on a couple of other verses that we have as our theme verses. We had it in Colossians 1:10. I will just read it again to refresh us.
That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
Who ever walked in a worthy manner, fully pleasing Him? Who ever did that? That was only our Lord Jesus. He was the only one who could ever do that. It is His life in us. Praise God.
And so often, as you look at Scripture and it says, “Walk in a worthy manner,” our initial thinking is, “Oh, we have got to do this.” We say, “Oh, I have got to have a heart of compassion. I have got to do this.” We somehow think we have got to do it.
And that is why one of my favorite letters is the letter to the church in Philippi, because it has a couple of my most favorite verses. In Philippians 2, as Paul was encouraging them, in Philippians 2:12, Paul is saying to them:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
And I am so thankful that Paul did not stop there. That is a terrifying verse. “Okay, I have done this. Now you work out your salvation. Now you do that.” No.
Paul does not—you know, we have, in the English, it stops, you go to another verse, and sometimes you can almost lose a thought in this Bible when you go from verse to verse or chapter to chapter. They were just written as one stream of thought here. But praise God, he does not stop. He says—and we need to remember this, you know, in our daily lives together, how we need this:
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
He is the one who is doing the work. We are simply those who are granting Him that permission, allowing Him to work within us to do that great transforming work. He is at work in us. Not I, but Christ. Praise God for that. We are thankful for His enabling power, the Holy Spirit. And as we yield to Him, that is how we walk in a worthy manner.
It is because the origin of that walk is in Christ, not I. The origin of our serving Him is in Christ, not I. The origin of our heart of compassion is in Christ, not I. That we can be, because it is fully pleasing to Him. And why is it pleasing? Because He sees His Son. He sees the life of His Son manifest. Praise God for that. That is what He is looking for.
Paul concludes in his second epistle, in 2 Timothy 4, before his death, his final words he is writing:
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
Now, we have already mentioned in there about the “be ready.” Being ready. And I love how it says in season or out of season. Sometimes it is not convenient. Sometimes it is not very comfortable. It can be uncomfortable. It is not convenient.
When God calls us to do something, do you not think He knows our circumstances? He is like, “I want you to do this, Mac. I do not want you to hit the mic, but I want you to do this.” And it is like, “Well, wait a minute, Lord. I was supposed to go to the Yankees game that day. Oh, I was even supposed to do that.” See, I am not even distracted, because they are out. So I can just relax and enjoy the weekend. Ray can too. He is over there crying. Other ones are crying over here.
But we see how the Lord knows right where we are, what is going on. He knows what is going on in our families. He knows our relationships, our obligations at work, our obligations at school. And He says—dude—it is like, oh. Be ready in season or out of season. It is like, do you not think He knows that?
So He is not going to be putting us in a—you know, well, I hate to use the word impossible, because all things are possible with Him. But He is not going to put us in a place that is going to compromise our life, our testimony. But sometimes we have to make a choice. Ah. Mac, what do you want to do? Do you want to have fellowship with these brothers, or go to the Yankees game?
Well, praise God. That is an easy choice. I will take the fellowship of the brothers anytime. You know. And somebody over here will say, “Well, yeah, you just DVD’d the Yankees game.” But no, I did not.
But we see, there are choices that we can make. And that is what He puts before us, that we can be ready in season and out of season. Sometimes you do not think you are ready. And the beautiful thing—you know, when you are in season, I am going to use this conference. It is kind of like, okay, we had to—the ones speaking, the ones teaching the children, all of the various things—we had to prepare for something. So this is kind of in season. You come prepared.
Other times, as you are going through life, maybe at school or at work, somebody asks you a question about the Lord. Huh. Catches you really off guard. You were not thinking along that line. You were thinking—that is the out-of-season opportunity, when you do not think you are fully prepared.
But if we have been in the Word every day, if we have been in His presence every day, if we have established a living relationship with Him, we will discover, even through the bumbling of the first few words that we try to get out as we are trying to think and talk at the same time—and all of a sudden, as we step out and start to share, we might not start very pretty. But then all of a sudden you will notice a verse comes to your heart, and another verse comes to your heart. The testimony comes to you. Things start flowing. And that is because you have a reserve. There is a life there, ready to be used at this point in time.
And once you get over your nervousness about being in an awkward situation and have surrendered to Him, that nervousness settles down. And then, out of season, the life comes forth. That is how we have to be: being prepared in season and out of season, whatever the situation, whatever the time it is. Praise God for that.
It is being ready today. So the more we are ready today prepares us for being ready tomorrow.
But in these two verses, you will notice too, there were a couple of recurring words. A wonderful word that everybody loves: longsuffering. Not just suffering, but long suffering. And as you look back in Colossians, it even says longsuffering with joy. Okay, suffering with joy.
Remember what that definition of compassion was, that English word, to suffer with one another? Sharing one’s affliction. This is the heart of compassion. That is long suffering with some brothers and sisters.
And many of us say, if you have been in church life—it does not take too long—you know what long suffering with brothers is. Long suffering with sisters. You have all of their little idiosyncrasies, and all of the dynamics of that, but we suffer long. We hang in there with them. We go through it with them. We come. We are one with them.
And the only way that we can suffer long with one another, being those longsuffering ones, is if we know that it is with a purpose and an end in view. That is why it is so important. People always talk about God’s eternal purpose, and having the bride being ready, the family being built together, the house being built together, all of this. If we do not see the end, if we do not see the purpose, while we are doing this, it can really be discouraging and disheartening, and it is like, why bother?
But if that is driving us, if that is capturing us—this is what it meant when it said He was moved with compassion. I loved how it said over and over, the Lord Jesus was moved with compassion. It was like compassion was this driving force within Him. It was a love that would not let Him go. I hate to even use the word emotion, but it was like a power within that life. It was so driven, because He saw His Father’s heart. He knew why He had come to this earth. He knew He had come to die, but He saw the joy set before Him, and that compassion of the end. It produced Him all the way through.
Brothers and sisters, the days we are living in, the challenges we face, the pressures we are going to face, they are going to increase more and more. This is why we need one another, to walk with one another through these challenges, through these pressures, that we can suffer long with one another, to bring everything about to His glorious end, to all that He is after. Praise God. That glorious thing. What a glorious day that will be.
We, in Richmond, just had a dear sister—many of you know her—Shirley Harrison just passed away. That hymn became more and more on her heart her last few days. We would periodically visit her. And for some reason, she would ask Stella and me to sing to her. Now, we are not going to do that tonight, because we love you.
But just that: “What a day that will be. What a glorious day that will be. My Savior I shall see.” Oh, she just—you could just see her glimpse and all. And so there is a glorious day for all of us. But the glorious day is, our sister was prepared. She had long suffered. She had suffered much, but she was only in that suffering. There was a fragrance that would come out that would encourage you to press on, to keep going on.
We see in this compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ the height and the depth of it, the length and the breadth of this—I am calling it, again, this action-packed word: compassion. It is not sentimentality, not just sitting there, but it is powerful as it goes out.
We might see a powerful storm this weekend, but the compassion of God is greater than Isaias—I think that is how you say it. All right. But we see.
At the beginning, we tried to sing this song in the chorus. We did the chorus pretty well. But the chorus went like this:
What boundless love, what fathomless grace, You have shown to us, O God of compassion. Each day we live is an offering of praise, as we show to the world Your compassion.
I love that. Each day we live is an offering of praise, as we show to the world Your compassion. We show to the world Your compassion each day. May we be that living testimony to Him, showing His compassion to the world, letting His life be manifest through us in different situations—to our families, our brethren, coworkers, students, whomever it may be.
This is walking in a worthy manner, pleasing Him. It is that testimony of being ready in season or out of season. It is that manifestation of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what hastens that glorious day. This is what hastens His return. This is what hastens the bringing in of His kingdom, when He sees the life of His Son in His people.
Oh, brothers and sisters, as we are here this weekend, may the God of compassion touch our hearts in a very fresh way. And may we be those who are willing to be trained, willing to give the Holy Spirit the wonderful freedom to work in each of our lives, so that unconsciously to ourselves, but working livingly within us, all of a sudden there is walking in a worthy manner.
When you are walking in a worthy manner, one of the things that is not there is pride. You do not say, “Yeah, I am walking in a worthy manner. I have got it down. Here we go. You have got to do this.” No. A humility comes forth. It is His life.
As we suffer long, as we care for one another, being ready at His bidding, when He says, “Whom shall I send?” may we be like Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips. I am terrible myself, but here I am, Lord,” because it is all by Your grace, by Your compassion. We have a willingness to respond, to be those shepherds with Him, co-laborers with Him, for all that is upon His heart, and that we could be those who show forth the heart of a God of compassion.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are here tonight because You are the God of compassion. You were the One who saw this. You were the One who bought us. You were the One who breathed life into us. And, Lord, we are thankful that we have this opportunity this weekend. We prayed earlier to sit at Your feet. We open our hearts to You.
Lord, we are not here just to gain knowledge about You, but we are here to have an encounter with the living God, through Your precious Holy Spirit. Work in each of our hearts, each of our lives. In Your precious name. Amen.