Bridge Church Vancouver

Isa 61:1-3  

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matt. 9:36

Matt. 14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 

Matt. 15:32     Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

Matt. 20:34     Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. 

Mark 1:41     Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Mark 6:34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 

Mark 8:2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.

Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father.

 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

When God breaks in, we see His Greatness and we also discover His compassion.

God has broken in many times through the ages

In Moses day

Moses comes upon a burning bush

Ex. 3:5     “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 

Ex. 3:7     The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.  9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.  10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

God had compassion on his people 

God also demonstrated his compassion to Ruth, Esther, Job, David, and to the whole nation of Israel many times.

God also demonstrated his compassion even to people who were not his followers, not his children.

One such instance is in the book of Jonah perhaps you remember:

God came to Jonah and said “2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

onah 1:4     Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.  5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

 But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.  6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” 

Jonah 1:7     Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 

Jonah 1:8     So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 

Jonah 1:9     He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 

Jonah 1:10     This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 

Jonah 1:11     The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 

Jonah 1:12     “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” 

Jonah 1:13     Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.  14 Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.”  15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.  16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

Jonah 1:17     But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. 

Jonah 2:1    From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.  2 He said:

 “In my distress I called to the LORD,

            and he answered me.

      From the depths of the grave I called for help,

            and you listened to my cry.

onah 2:10     And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 

Jonah 3:1    Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:  2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 

Jonah 3:3     Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.  4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 

Jonah 3:6     When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.  7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

 “By the decree of the king and his nobles:

   Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.  8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 

Jonah 3:10     When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. 

Jonah 4:1    But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  2 He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 

Jonah 4:4     But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?” 

Jonah 4:5     Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.  6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.  7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.  8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 

Jonah 4:9     But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

 “I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

Jonah 4:10     But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

com·pas·sion:

–noun

1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

2.  Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it
 

Compassion takes the form of practical help.

2Cor. 1:3     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

James 5:11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 

Our God has been known through the ages as a God of compassion…

Is. 61:1  The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

            because the LORD has anointed me

            to preach good news to the poor. 

 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

            to proclaim freedom for the captives

            and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2  to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor

            and the day of vengeance of our God,

      to comfort all who mourn,

3   and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

      to bestow on them a crown of beauty

            instead of ashes,

      the oil of gladness

            instead of mourning,

      and a garment of praise

            instead of a spirit of despair.

 They will be called oaks of righteousness,

            a planting of the LORD

            for the display of his splendor.
When God breaks in we discover His compassion that is

Purposeful

He is aware, involved, engaged

Compassion means someone needed help,

He did not rescue them before 

He allowed difficulty to happen and continue

And in that we can experince His compassion 

Moses – Israelites in years of slavery

Jonah – Nineveh – idolatrous, immoral, unjust nation

      Meant people were hurt

      Does not mean God is uninvolved

      Does mean people made very bad choices that brought much hurt on others

Bad things happen in life

We can cry out for God’s compassion and discover his compassion

God uses flesh & blood – humanity – to deliver & exercise his compassion.  He uses people

God sent his son Purposefully

Gal. 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,

Jesus said 

Luke 4:18     “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

            because he has anointed me

            to preach good news to the poor.

 He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

            and recovery of sight for the blind,

      to release the oppressed,

19   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:20     Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,  21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus knew his Father had sent him to deliver compassion and that is what he was about doing.

Mark 1:38     Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

John 18:37     “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

 Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”  

His purpose was to demonstrate his Mercy to His children

Mercy

   1. Mercy is that eternal principle of God’s nature, which leads him to seek the temporal good and eternal salvation of those who, have opposed themselves to his will, even at the cost of infinite self-sacrifice.

His Mercy is to turn to us and do good on our behalf, because we cry out to Him 

He demonstrates His compassion through His people

Even in the Christmas story we can see God’s compassion and mercy

Matt. 1:18     This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.  19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 

Matt. 1:20     But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 

Matt. 1:22     All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” 

Matt. 1:24     When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The Great Lord God was hugely involved in the lives of Mary & Joseph.  Joseph was a righteous man, who loved Mary his wife.  He didn’t want to hurt her, but how could he go on, he was scared, confused, hurt, angry, betrayed.

God let him feel all those feelings, God did not come to him in advance and say, “I am going to do something really cool in yours and Mary’s life, she’s going to get pregnant – but its okay…”

From the very beginning God allowed Mary & Joseph – and everyone else who would encounter Jesus His son to discover His compassion in the midst of their struggle, pain, confusion, 

The same is true for us today.

God Breaks in to our life  - we see His greatness and we discover His compassion, in the midst of our struggle, 

Joseph made a choice to obey God when he woke up.  He could have covered it all up for his and Mary’s own social comfort.  

He could have said ‘ Yea, Mary & I just couldn’t wait, you know it was a bright and stary night…’

But he didn’t, he relied on the compassion God would bring into his life, the mercy of knowing God’s greatness.

In His obedience He cried out for the compassion fo God to carry him and Mary.

You too can cry out for God’s compassion this Christmas season.