Matthew 9:36-38 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
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We are going through the Proclaim evangelism training curriculum in our church care group on Tuesday nights. At the end of one of the sessions last week, my care group leader asked what statement or idea during the session really stood out to us. Some in the group mentioned that it was reassuring to hear the author of the curriculum admit that he still felt fear every time he shared the gospel. As we went around the room one of the other responses to the question caught my attention. A person mentioned how a quote by L.R. Scarborough in the curriculum had really made them think about urgency in evangelism. The quote reads:
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“If we could only have a five minute glimpse into Hell our evangelism would be changed for a lifetime.”
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There is no doubt that this power packed quote denotes urgency and virtue in outreach. The only other comment I would make is that when you take a close look at Matthew 9:36 the context of Jesus’ compassion for the lost is not the afterlife, but this life. As I think about Jesus’ heart in evangelism in the New Testament I see a lot of passages where Christ seemed to have both an eternal and an immediate rescue at heart. His words in Matthew 9:36 above indicate as much. “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them……. they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Many theologians and teachers define hell as eternal separation from God. When Jesus saw the multitudes He saw both the eternal separation, and instantaneously grievous to His soul was their immediate separation. Jesus understood that the difference between being harrassed in this life, and not being harrassed was the peace of the presence of Himself now. Jesus’ compassion welled up to overflowing in His human and divine heart because of what He saw in the people’s present spiritual condition with a clear view to their subsequent eternal condition. With minimal research I found at least a dozen passages that open with the words Jesus saw , or seeing Jesus..... Jesus seems to have had spiritual bifocals. Jesus saw the state of the human soul both near and far. He could see the misery of a soul without God’s presence in this life, and see the misery of a soul without God in the next. Both represented oppressive, hopeless, harassing darkness to his 20/20 spiritual eyes.
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By far one of the Chapters I have found most effective in preaching compassionate concern for the lost has been Ephesians 2: 11-12 which reads:
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“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands---remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world “
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Whenever I have preached this passage I have tried to draw attention to the word remember which I think is one of the absolute keys to us as weak humans to being able to convene a Christlike compassion from the bowels of our inner man. After reading this passage aloud, I would then ask Christians in the congregation to close their eyes for just a moment and reflect on statements like these:
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…… remember when you were strangers to the covenants of promise, and you were without hope and without God in the world? What was life like for you back then? Do you remember how heavy the troubles of your life were when you carried them alone? Do you recall how little peace you had, how unstable your state of mind was in those lost days? Was your outlook for the future the same as it is now? Do you remember how much guilt and unforgiveness you felt , the ever present condemnation, shame, and fear you had. Your fear of life, of hell? I remember vividly my days without God, His promises, His Spirit, His Son, His Hope and it was it was living hell.
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Its true that Jesus had a compassionate advantage over us in that He could infinitely observe the human soul without the cataract of self pre-occupation, or a finite ability to understand the human condition outside of his own experience. Proverbs 14:10 says noone can fully understand another persons sorrows, or another persons joys. Fortunately for us, we have someone inside us who can, and if we are willing to confess our shortsightedness, or even partial to complete compassionary blindness, then He can do the necessary surgery on our hearts eyes, and we will see both the waiting open graves, and the weary march towards hell.
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The first thing we first have to do is ask God to assess our own sight and its perception of the human souls around us. A lot of us can see the far away tragedy of a person’s eternal separation from God, but can’t see the end of our nose where there are those who are harassed and without a shepherd right now. Some harassed to the point of alcoholism, drug use, depression, hypertension and suicidal despair. Some of us need Christs' healing salve to help us see at all because we have become near sighted from constantly glaring at our own Christian reflection that now we can't see a stone's throw past our own comfortable Christianity. Many of us are blinded by an obsession with the tedium of our own lives that we can't see the expansive harvest in the field just beyond the boundary stones of our front yard. Are we even seeing the state of our neighbors souls that are ten feet in front of us? Do we even try to imagine how hopeless they are, and how downcast their spirits must be in light of the accelerated , unkindness, immorality, and uncertainty of this modern day world? If so, does that sight evoke compassionate soul concern? I have found that remembering what Christ has done for me and reflecting on what life in this world would be like without Him can be the strongest impetus for my own evangelism, alongside a passion for God's name to be hallowed. We need to see ourselves again without God and without hope in this world and remember what it was like for us, and what it still must be like for our neighbor. We need to pray for Christ to revive our eyes to see our neighbors as He sees them. Jesus saw the crowds, a word which literally means “common people”. He saw that they were harassed and enslaved , having no shepherd. They were distressed which means “thrown down” implying that their guilty consciences and hopeless outlooks had them living on the brink of utter defeat.
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Folks, no matter what the exterior of the people we live by may look like, regardless of how nice the cars, homes, manicured lawns, or how seemingly balanced their lives may appear. Remember to be without God in this chaotic, sinful unanchored world is at the least a metaphor for the literal hell. We are surrounded by people who look just like us, and who seem outwardly controlled and self reliant, but if they don’t have Christ they are just pretty shells filled to the brim with spiritual unease. They may say their okay, act okay, or they may even be running away from God at a heat, but trust me in the closet of the lost heart the soul is restless and desperate. The lost soul may even attempt to kill itself trying to numb and staunch its own quivering spiritual nerves. They may appear by all accounts to be collected, well mannered, tax paying, benevolent, disciplined, and seemingly joyous, but inside their heart there is a genuine state of emergency.
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The following poem of Paul Lawrence Dunbar a son of former slaves emphatically reflects how a tormented souls can seem okay to an unsensitive eye:
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We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from death souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
If we are to ever hope to have a compassionate concern that even remotely resembles Christ’s we will have to remember our own hell we were freed from, and also ask virulently the Spirits help to awaken our consciousness to our neighbors Godless, hopeless, promiseless hell.
One more time close your eyes. How would you feel if you had to face the current financial uncertainty, health issues, joblessness, ism, school s, rebellious children, the negativistic and skeptic worldview, the unkindness of modern society, all without God, the Savior, the Holy Spirit, the Word, or the Body?
I have a wonderful pastor at my church who in his sermon said:
“Any day your sins are totally forgiven, and God’s wrath is totally removed is a great day”
Then by the same token, any day a persons sin remains unforgiven, and God’s wrath still abides on them is a terrible day. Jesus didn’t just see people milling about busily, and He didn’t just see people bound for hell. Jesus saw people without Him, and without hope in this world, and He understood a state of emergency when He saw it. My hearts cry for the church in this world, who are the ambassador's of His offered hope in this world, will take firm hold of the cloak of our Savior's garment and plead that He would let this mind also be in us. We can open our eyes now.
POWERFUL! God open our eyes to have YOUR vision for reaching those still in need of a Saviour!
Posted by: Christi | October 30, 2008 at 08:13 AM