Colossians 3.12-17
The most compassionate organization on earth is the Church of Jesus Christ. Throughout its history it has left in its path a string of hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for unwed mothers, food pantries, clinics, homeless shelters, rehabs and a host of other entities which clothe the naked and feed the hungry and visit the sick and imprisoned.
Some of the criticism leveled at us has been justifiable. There have been sincere, albeit, misguided attempts at times, to do God's Work with less then actions of pure love and desirable results. Over the years there have been hypocrites like Annanias and Saphira, who lied to the Holy Spirit and what church has not had a Judas show up in its history?
Yet, I find myself often going back to the words of Dr. E. Stanley Jones, the Methodist Missionary to India, "The church with all her faults is still the best serving organization on earth. So get in and serve!"
We are to reflect Jesus, our LORD. He is the Head of the Church. We are to have His mind, His attitude. Over and over again we see His compassion in the Gospels:
Mark 1.41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His Hand and touched the man.
Matthew 9.36 When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 15.32 Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, "I have compassion for these people, they have been with Me three days and have have nothing to eat. I do not want to send the away hungry or they might collapse on they way.
Matthew 14.14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
We see that Jesus had great compassion- we are to follow Him.
In this section of Deuteronomy we see how Christ fulfilled this and we as His followers, His Body, of which He is the Head are to be. We are called to be people of compassion.
1. To Those In Debt To Us. - vs.10-15
Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
Moses is instructing the people to treat the poor with special grace.
As believers and followers of Jesus we are to have compassion on those in need. Our hearts are to be full of mercy for them.
Romans 13.8 Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another.
Give freely even to those who cannot pay you back. We are in their debt.
May the LORD fill us with His Spirit to be full of compassion.
2. Have Mercy on The Extremely Needy. vs.17-18
The alien
The fatherless
The widow
All of these have special needs, emotional needs.
The alien is in a country that is home to us but not to them.
The fatherless literal orphans, also those forsaken by their parents (Psalm 27.10)- many today like that.
Today around the globe the Church ministers to those in each of those groups. Think of the orphanages, the Christian Adoption Agencies.
When World Vision was started in 1950 by Bob Pierce, who attended Pasadena Nazarene College as a young man, he drug his filming equipment all over Asia, particularly through Korea after the war ended, came back tot he US and would go around to churches and show his films and make appeals for people to help and within 15 years World Vision was caring for 65,000 children in 20 countries. He died at 64 years of age in 1978 but the work continues with the two Christian Relief Organizations he began: World Vision and Samaritan's Purse. Franklin Graham was trained to take over when he was dying with Leukemia. Franklin saw a branch of Samaritan's Purse spring up World Medial Mission. Today a doctor can go and serve in a Third World Country on his vacation through them. Our own denomination, because of the mission work of the past, now has a child sponsorship similar to World Vision, through our missions. You can go to www.nazarene.org and find out about it. You won't hear much about this in the mainstream media this evening but Heaven is recording these things for eternity.
Moses is giving the people God's Word. Remember where you came from, have mercy on those in need. Have compassion. Reach out to those from others places in the world who have come here to America. Show the love of Jesus to those who are fatherless or without a husband.
Beware of this new phenomena called Compassion Fatigue. Jesus dealt with it when He said to His disciples, "Come lets get some rest."
But a great problem facing us is on the other side of the coin...
3. Watch out for Greed! vs.19-22
Give to people freely. fields, vineyards, olive groves were open to the public for gleaning. If someone was hungry a meal was always available in Israel!
Luke 12.15
These items have spiritual significance. No charge for the things of God.
Be like Christ, Be People Of Compassion.
No comments:
Post a Comment