Don't Lose Your Compassion, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you something. Have you ever seen a situation in front of you? I know I have. And you just walk by, run by, drive by, and try to stay as uninvolved as you can possibly stay. See how this works? Have you ever seen something like that and thought, just get by here. You see, is it easy to walk to the other side?

You see a guy half dead along the road? Yeah, it is, isn't it? It really is.

Why do we do that? Jesus said it's real easy. You have no compassion.

You see, you don't have compassion. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

B.B. Warfield in his wonderful work on the life of Christ said that his whole life was a mission of compassion. Think about it. Everything Jesus taught out of compassion, he preached out of compassion, he healed out of compassion, he died out of compassion. Everything that Jesus did was out of this idea of compassion.

That's who he is. Look at chapter 15, just one more verse for Jesus. Chapter 15 of Matthew and verse 32.

It's everything. He's got compassion about everything, big things, little things. He has compassion. Verse 32, Jesus called his disciples and said to him, I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat and I do not want to send them away hungry for they might faint on the way. Wow. You mean he has compassion because people are hungry?

Yes. Not just because they're lepers or not just because they're blind or not just because they're dead. He has compassion because they have a need.

And it always sparks them to action. Question again, do you have compassion? Do you have biblical compassion? You see, that's the question and the most important one without a doubt.

Many of you do. This past Friday, I had the privilege of with a person from our body going up to Angola prison and able to be introduced to a ministry up there. An incredible service being done on behalf of some of the inmates up there and saw how organized this was.

Not only to serve these inmates in a very specific and wonderful way, but to even serve their families back here. And all of this is because there are individuals in our state that have compassion for their need. You see, not all you know that's a good idea, that's a sad situation. These are people that say, let me roll up my sleeves, what can I do?

What can actually be done? You see, compassion requires action. And it doesn't have to be something very large. Some of you have enormous amounts of compassion. Some of you have great compassion for the unborn. And you're very much involved in things like that.

I think that's a wonderful idea. But it's not always something big. It can be something small. I can remember not that long ago, it was an evening, and I was coming into my office and met on the corner over there people from my church. And it turned out that there was a neighborhood woman who was suffering from Alzheimer's. And she wanted somehow to get to East Jefferson Hospital. And she was very disoriented. And two people from our church stayed with her for a very, very long time until the police came.

What was that? That's compassion. You see, compassion isn't, oh, that's a sad situation. Compassion is, that's a sad situation, what can I do? You see, what am I going to do here in this particular situation? Now, you might be thinking that, okay, so it requires an action. But that was Jesus.

So I want to use another example for the second point. And I want you to go with me to Luke chapter 10, a very famous section of Scripture. Luke 10, verse 25. This is the parable of the Good Samaritan. And Jesus wants to make a very important point here. The interpretation of the parable, by the way, has to deal with how a person gets saved.

But the application will not be mistaken. There are many applications to this parable. It says in verse 25 that a lawyer stood up and put him to the test. Now, when you see lawyer, I know what you're thinking. It's not that kind of lawyer. What he means as a lawyer, this is an expert in the Old Testament.

Very likely as a lawyer, he would have memorized most of it. He knows the Old Testament inside and out. And notice his questions, he's going to ask two of them, are not honest questions. He doesn't really, he's not looking to convert. He's looking to try to trip Jesus up.

That's what he's looking to do. That's why it says he wants to test Jesus. So he gives his first question. He said, Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? See, he's heard about Jesus. He's heard what Jesus has talked about.

He doesn't believe that at all. He's a very, very religious man. He's extremely self-righteous. And he believes that God is going to definitely give him eternal life because of his religiosity. You see, because he does the law, he's going to have eternal life. But he's heard that Jesus talks about something else. And so he does this to Jesus.

You've got to love the Lord's response. He said to him, what is written in the law? How does it read to you? Now, he knows that the lawyer knows. You see, he goes, look, what's written in the law?

How does that read to you? Now, it's a right answer by Jesus. But the lawyer gives an even better answer in a sense, another right answer. What's what the lawyer says? The lawyer says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbors yourself. That is amazing that he could say that. Because that's how Jesus summarized the whole law. And that lawyer summarized it the same way. And notice these words, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. Now, he doesn't realize it, but he's condemning himself while he's giving the answer. You see, does anybody love that way? All, always and everything. Sort of like just keeping the law.

Does anyone keep the law perfectly? You see, that's the delusion of the religiosity. So he says that to Jesus. And then Jesus, I love his response, he said, you have answered correctly.

Do this and you will live. Now, some people have said, Jesus is, he's way off here. That's not even the gospel. How does he believe someone can work their way to? That's not what Jesus is saying.

You'll notice in the numeric and standard, the NIV is not very good here. But the words of Jesus are do this and you shall live are all in capital letters. That's a quote. What's happening right here is Jesus is quoting the book of Leviticus. Leviticus 18 in verse 5. That if you do all the law, you can live. Paul picked up on that in Galatians 3 10. He said, cursed is everyone who does not abide by the all the things written in the book of the law to perform them.

He said, you said all, everything. Love God with all you got. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Do it, you'll live. If you can keep the law perfectly, you could have life. Now, Jesus is trying to get out of self righteousness because we know nobody keeps the law perfectly.

Except Christ himself. So that leads him. His mind now is going fast.

He's a smart man. So he thinks about it and he says to Jesus, I've got to justify myself. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. See, the inference would be, I think Jesus. Well, let me. I got it. I know what I'm going to do.

Who's my neighbor? You say, well, why would he say that? For good reason. He's been taught by the rabbis to love the Jews and they hate everyone else. You hate everybody. You see, I hate gentiles.

I hate Samaritans. I hate anyone who's not Jewish. That's what I've been taught. Now, by the way, that's not what the Old Testament teaches. In Leviticus 24, it says, you are to have the same law for the alien as for the native.

I am the Lord your God. In Leviticus 19, treat, he says, the alien, he said, as your native born, love them as yourself. That's Old Testament.

But they ignored that. They hated their enemies. That's why Jesus said, love your enemies. Pray for your enemies.

They hated Jesus for that. That's why he wants to figure out who is my neighbor. If you're talking about me just loving my two best friends, I think I can do this. But who are you talking about? See, that's the other question.

We have to be careful in who is my neighbor. In fact, this is a dilemma. Hold your place here with me and just go to 1 John 4, near the back of your Bible, 1 John 4 and verse 20. John picks up on this and I think it's important verses for you to see. These two verses bother a lot of Christians.

And I can understand why. Because these two verses are really convicting. Verse 20 says, John writes this, if someone says I love God. See, if I would ask for a show of hands, how many of you love God? You say, I love him. I love God. Yeah, I love God. I love God.

Okay, wait. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Oh, it was easy to say I love God.

Boy, it's harder to do, though, than love my brother. And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. You see, I can't say I love God, but I really don't hate people. What the scripture says is you don't love God. You see, that's why he said, who's my neighbor?

If you're talking about a select few of people, I can love them just like I love God. But what are we talking about? That allows Jesus to give a parable. And it's the parable of the Good Samaritan. And it's a very important parable in that sense. Jesus replied and said this, back to the Luke passage. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

He means topography. He's up high in Jerusalem. He's going down near sea level into Jericho. It's a treacherous route.

It's as bad as it could be. It winds through the mountains. It's still a dangerous route, but back at this time, it was just loaded with all kinds of crime. It was a place you never walked alone. It'd be like a back alley in an inner city.

You just don't spend a lot of time there by yourself. And so that's what he's doing. He said a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers. Notice, they stripped him, they beat him, and they went away, leaving him half dead. That's a mugging. And by the way, he's really mugged.

He's in real difficulty. Jesus uses the term he's half dead. This is a guy just laying there. Now, remember, this is all to answer a simple question, who's my neighbor?

See, who is my neighbor? He said there's a guy laying there that was half dead. Then he says this, and by chance, a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed to the other side.

Now, let me explain something. From a Jewish point of view, who are the most spiritual people down to the least spiritual? The Jews had categories for everyone. Right at the top of their hierarchy, the most spiritual people, a priest, a Levitical priest. He is by far the most spiritual. Number two, a Levite. He's not one of Aaron's son, but he's a Levite.

He serves in the temple, but he's not a priest. That's number two. Number three, a Pharisee.

He keeps the law. Pharisee would be number three. Number four, all the rest of the Jews. They would be number four. Number five would be tax gatherers and sinners who are Jewish, like Matthew and people like that. Number six would be Gentiles.

And number seven, Samaritans. They're the lowest group of people on earth. The Jews hate them. They won't speak to them.

They will not walk through Samaria. So Jesus loves that thought and is mine. So the priest, it says, went to the other side.

And the question is, when you read commentators, is why? What was he thinking? And I've read stuff that said, well, he realized by the condition of the men he could be dead. And so if he went over and got near them or touched them, he'd be ceremonially unclean. And then he'd have to go through a lot of rituals and time to get.

OK. The question is, what is the priest thinking? And the answer is this.

Nothing, because he doesn't exist. It's a story, OK? It's a story.

That's the point. Jesus is just telling you a parable. There wasn't really a priest. This is the story of a parable. He went to the other side. And you're going to see in a moment why he did. Then the next one.

He said, likewise, a Levite also, when he came to the place in Psalm, he passed to the other side. Now, let me ask you something. Have you ever seen a situation in front of you? I know I have. And you just walk by, run by, drive by, and try to stay as uninvolved as you can possibly stay? You see how this works? Have you ever seen something like that and thought, just get by here? You see, is it easy to walk to the other side?

You see a guy half dead along the road? Yeah, it is, isn't it? It really is.

Why do we do that? Jesus said it's really easy. You have no compassion. You see, you don't have compassion. Now, I know what you have.

You have what I have, a whole bunch of good excuses, right? You never know. It's going to be a setup. And there could be other guys behind that rock over there. And we go over there, he's going to hit me on the head. Right? That way, that keeps you from doing anything. We have all these answers. So, they both go and walk to the other side.

Now, watch. But a Samaritan, that would be the one word that that lawyer didn't want to hear. Not a Samaritan, the half-breeds, the lowest of the lows. They hate Samaritans. They don't speak to them. When they go north to Galilee, they don't walk through Samaria.

They cross the Jordan and go up the east bank and back into Galilee. They don't even want to have Samaritan dust on their shoes. And Jesus says, but a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him and when he saw him, what's the difference between a Levite, a priest, and a Samaritan?

It's right there. He felt compassion. He felt compassion.

Look at this poor man. And it wasn't just how he felt. Remember, the first point is compassion always goes into action. But a second point is this, and compassion always cost you something. Compassion always cost you something if you have compassion.

And you're going to see it right here. It says, and he came to him and he bandaged up his wounds. And he poured oil and wine on them. The wine would be the disinfectant. The oil would be to soothe them.

This guy is beat up really bad. He said he put them on his own beast, probably a donkey. And he brought him to an inn and he took care of them. He didn't bring them to an inn and then go on his journey. He didn't take them to, you see, just somewhere and say somebody else can handle this. No, he stayed and took care of them.

Notice the next verse says, on the next day. So who spent the night with this guy? Mr. Samaritan. He's still there. He's still taking care of them. On the next day he took out two denarii. And he gave them to the innkeeper and he said take care of him. Now two denarii with a typical, this is more like a house than a real inn, but that would have probably given you up to a month or two of care for this guy.

He could have been housed for the next month or two. That's a lot of money. He said take care of him.

He's in bad shape. Now watch. Whatever more you spend when I return I will pay you. I don't care what it costs. How?

How do you do that? You have compassion. You see there's no sacrifice too great here. It cost him a lot of money. It cost him a lot of time.

He didn't care. There's a man in great need and he was there to meet the need. You see compassion is a deep feeling that becomes a sacrificial action to meet a need. Compassion is a deep feeling that becomes a sacrificial action to meet a need. That's what biblical compassion is. Now when he finishes telling that story Jesus says this. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor?

You got to love this. Now you want to say wait, wait, wait, wait. The victim's the neighbor. Who's my neighbor?

He goes no. Are you the neighbor? Who is the real neighbor here? A priest? A Levite? Or a Samaritan? He says who is a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers hands?

And the lawyer said the one who showed mercy to him. I imagine he hated saying that. Notice what Jesus said to him. Go and do the same. You need to imitate a Samaritan in my story. He doesn't just say that to them by the way. He says it to you and me.

Go and do the same. Compassion is a deep feeling that becomes a sacrificial action to meet a need. So let me ask you the same question again. Are you a compassionate person? See are you a compassionate person from a biblical point of view?

Greg Gorchow writes this. When was the last time you missed out on doing something that you really wanted to do because you chose instead to invest that time in someone else? If you've done any of these things recently then I praise God with you and for you. He said do not miss divine opportunities. I cannot tell you how many times I have missed them because of my own selfishness. I want to do what I wanted to do instead of being there for the open interruption of the Holy Spirit of God.

I don't know what this looks like for you. Maybe God wants you to pick up the phone and call someone. Maybe you're driving somewhere and you see a person with a flat tire and you spring into action. Whenever you see a need what will your response be? How do you respond?

This one's mine. I'll take care of it. Or do you say really I don't have time for this? He said if you're a person, if there's a person at your work that is obviously burdened maybe you should stop and listen. Or you can pretend that you don't see them or their need.

Whatever you choose to do and this is the most important part, it's completely up to you. He said but to say that you care about people and not act as and not care about people at all. Compassion requires action and compassion always costs you something. Compassion is a deep feeling that becomes a sacrificial action to meet a need. Are you a compassionate person?

Let's pray. Father I'm afraid for most of these people as with myself I could say sometimes. I'm not even sure I could say most of the time.

I know I can never say all the time. Father I pray that we see how important this is. Compassion is waning in the culture in which we live.

The needs are escalating, they're everywhere. Father whenever you put someone in our path, our daily path, our life and they need compassion, use us. May we see it, feel it deep in our inner being and then act upon it. Father whenever we do that the need is met. You are glorified and it is for our own good. Father thank you so much for having deep compassion for us. You loved us so much when we were your enemies you sent your son to die for us.

He loved us so much that he lived the perfect life and died in our stead. Father I pray that we use Jesus Christ as our model. That of all the different things we can be as a people I would pray that we are known as a people of compassion. I pray that for your glory and for our good in Christ's name, Amen. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for you can listen online or if you prefer you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.