Sermon – “Compassion”

Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. ² And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. ³ So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, ⁵ “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”

⁶ Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹ When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” ¹⁰ And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.

¹¹ Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. ¹² And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴ Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

¹⁶ Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”

We’re going to go to Luke Chapter 7 The small thing I titled this message compassion and we know that Christ has compassion he had compassion on us compassion that compelled him to come to earth compelled him to go to the cross but he had compassion on people when individuals individual leave not just that he died for the sins of the whole world but he had compassion on individuals in the friends that you and I and we too need to have compassion I think I’ve talked about compassion a lot probably lately but Luke Chapter 7 vs 1316 here the word of the Lord.

Now when he concluded all his saints in the hearing of the people he entered Capernaum and a certain centurion’s servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die so he’s only as deathbed so when he had heard about Jesus he sent elders of the Jews to him pleading with him to calm and heal the servant and when they came to Jesus they bade him earnestly saying that the one for whom he should do this thing was deserving for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue Then Jesus went with them in a hit when he was already not far from the house the sin turun sent friends to him saying to him Lord do not trouble yourself for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to you but say the word and my servant will be healed that is key will get to that further in a message for I am for I also am a man placed under authority having soldiers under me and I say to one go and he goes and another come and he comes into my servant do this and he does it when Jesus heard these things he marveled at him and turned around and said to the crowd that followed him I say to you I have not found such great faith not even in Israel. And those who were sent returning to the house found the servant well who had been sick and it’s so now we moved to what is really the 2nd story in this passage Now it happened the day after that he went into a city called Nain and many of his disciples went with him and a large crowd and when he came near the gate of the city behold a dead man being carried out now if they lived in the cities they get it like in Dru’s they didn’t bury their dead within the cities they always buried them outside the city so there this is a funeral perspires session they’re going outside of the city so they’re carrying him out there it’s an open coffins are carrying his man out who had died to go outside the city to have the burial

so he was being carried out he was the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a large crowd from the city was with her and when the Lord saw her he had compassion on her and said to her Do not weep then he came and touch the open coffin and those who carried him stood still and he said Young man I say to you arrives so he who was dead sat up and began to speak

while.

Jesus turned a pure possession perception a time of mourning into a time of celebration him up friends he can do the same thing for us he can turn our sorrows into joy he can turn our weeping into laughter he can turn whatever we’re going through into ta into a time of celebration and great joy and he presented the sun to his mother then fear came upon all and they glorify God saying a great prophet has risen up among us and God has visited his people and this report about him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding regions may God had His blessings to the hearing in the reading of His Holy Word let us pray Heavenly Father we do thank you and praise you praise you that you are the giver of life Father God that you can raise dead bones up father that you can raise the dead back to life that they can set up and began to speak Father we thank you and praise you for that by that we know that we were were we were dead in our trespasses and sins until you sent your son and father we thank you for that life that you’ve given to each of us by that every day that we can rejoice in the life that we have now but in also in the life that we are going to have the father prayed to help us to remember that every day help our hearts to be joyful when thankful in Father may your spirt be upon us every day and guide us and direct us and help us to share that testimony with others for your glory and for your honor in Jesus’ name amen

you know the there’s some common threads that go through these 2 separate stories and there are some differences also but the common thread is deaf we have this Inter in servant who’s laying on his death bed ready to die you know.

It’s not a fun thing to watch someone die anything but fun you know they they are grasping for their breath or they’re gurgling so they knew that this servant was about to die maybe he had an extreme fever I don’t know but they said you know time was of Essence hurry go find Jesus is bringing that will lay though it will touch this servant and make him well and then of course the mother son had already passed he’s dead there have been a funeral

but Jesus interrupted so death is a common thread through this but the 1st thing a look at is this inter against servant you know this Miracle is amazing but you look at this servant

he had favor in the eyes of his master

I mean you think about a master that has slaves servants whatever you want to call him most of the time well you would think well of if one got sick. Would just get another one right I mean they did not look very highly or favorable on their their their servants or their slaves for them it was just a means to get something done but for this master to send for Christ to come and he always servant tells me that this was a faithful servant he was a man of character he was one that was could be trusted in all things one that would not just give I serviced to his master but would do the right thing even when his master wasn’t looking I think of Joseph

when we think of someone being his servant being faithful How could you not think of Joseph I mean whether he was in prison or whether he was a servant and ponder 1st house in part of his house he put him in charge of everything is everything I have is yours except for my wife

in his house flourished he was a faithful servant this man I believe was a faithful servant. 1st Peter to 18 says servants be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good in general but also to the harsh

so no matter how your master treated you as a servant you’re to be faithful not just giving a service you know we all we think if we weren’t employed by somebody in a sense we’re kind of their servants Yes we’re getting paid but we shouldn’t just be giving our service

I will speak Depp out here a limb is out to believe that Christians ought to be the absolute best and most faithful and trusted workers in every workplace

the boss shouldn’t have come track us down and find us someplace in a corner with the feet propped up taken a nap and we’re supposed to be work and that’s not being a faithful and trusted servant or employee I believe this man was a faithful servant his master cared for him so let’s look at the sin turns character

a centurion is a captain in the in the Roman army

you know member back in Daniel talking about all the different things well we’re now into the Roman Kingdom Rome is you know conquer new world they would send out they would have governors and leaders in every region where they’d come in and take over night have sinned turnings or captains So just think of another country coming then and where half and obey their laws and not our own that’s what it would be like so the room had settled in on Drew some Israel and they would impose taxes but this man was a good man

he was a good man he was a faithful man.

You know most masters are going to said care about their servants but he did.

You know any fees in chapter $6.00 verse 9 it says in you masters do the same thing to them giving up threatening knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him so he’s tellin you know some people think about slaves and master and servant thinking why would God even allow that want friends because God has given free will we go back to that but God knows that man is going to do that but he so he says yes you’re going to have servants but you’re to treat them kindly you treat them with respect you’re to treat them with compassion even servants

so he tells Masters how to treat their servants or their slaves whichever you like to call them but you’re not to abuse them.

But treat them kindly he had concern for his servant

his character is honorable because even the Jews the elders of the Jews the scripture said that he asked the elders of the Jews to go and seek out Jesus in bring him

so you’re thinking I’d be thinking wait a minute the Jews hate the Romans they impose taxes on us they do this they treat us harshly but not this Inter and he was kind to them as a matter of fact they went in beg Jesus to come on behalf of this Inter in saying that he is well deserving of this because he loves our nation he loves our people

he even build us a synagogue where we can go and worship that’s pretty impressive

Proverbs 272 says let another man praise you and not your own mouth a stranger in not your room lips so whenever the Jews went and they’re saying in his praises not even sell my friends we are not to brag ourself up.

But let someone else sing your praises

and then don’t get proud about that

but we are to be humble let someone else lift us up

I think this Inter and actually believed in the God of Israel I truly do

and I believe I know that he had amazing faith

you know there’s only a couple of times mentioned in all the scripture in the New Testament where Jesus is amazed or says that he marvel in Mark chapter 6 verse 6 and this is a New Living Translation of course this wasn’t about their faith says he was amazed at their unbelief This was when Jesus was in his hometown they wouldn’t believe him so he could not do any miracles there because of their unbelief says he was amazed by the rumbly I hope he is not amazed by our unbelief

but in our passage today disinterring sent those friends

and he said to tell him I’m not even worthy to come to you

but he said to Jesus just say the word that’s a message you sent just say the word and he knew that his servant would be healed

he had faith that Jesus did not even need to come he didn’t have to come in lays hands owning or annoyed game do any of those things but say the word that amazed Jesus he turned to the crowd and he said I have not found such faith not even in all of Israel as this in Turkey and Hass

I hope he would not say that about us that this foreigner has greater faith than you because we know the Scripture says if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can say to the mountain be removed and it will happen

you know always as I work through the scriptures and prepare things I think well how does how can this apply to today today the day that we live in. And I think there’s an aspect of this passage it truly does apply

how many here today has actually seen Jesus himself heal somebody

I’m better is no hands went up because of that said well by the pressure for him nobody has right

we’ve not seen Jesus and self now we have probably seen miracles I have and I know where the park aim from but I’m not actually seeing Jesus himself do it right because we haven’t seen him

this Inter and had not seen Jesus he had not seen any of the miracles that he’d done that he has done we know he’s heard that the blinded eyes were open he know that deaf ears were opened up the people could hear that the mute spoke he know that demons were the liver of cast out of people that were possessed he had heard all those things but he himself had not seen he had not seen it with his own eyes so worded that faith in Jesus come from it came from the testimony of others

he heard what Jesus has done

my friends we have heard.

What Jesus has done we have read what Jesus has done do you have faith do you have faith that he can come and he will your servant or say the word and heal your servant

you know faith has been defined in so many different ways but to define it in its simplest terms fate is trust

it’s trust do you trust Jesus do you trust him with your life do you trust Him

for your provision do you trust him with your all. I know that you’ve probably heard this maybe many times before Charles Lowden was a French tight rope walker in an acrobat he toured the United States in the mid 1900 s. and it was best known for crossing the Niagara Falls usually without a safety net he did it many times in many different ways he did it blindfolded he did it in a sack Now I asked myself How would you do that in a sack I don’t know who I don’t know how you do that in a sec maybe had a sack over his head I don’t know but he did it in a sack he did it on stilts he did it even sitting down and eating an omelet partway crossed and then finished his journey across I call that crazy probably the most daring Pete was to push a wheelbarrow loaded with a heavy sack of concrete across the wire with all that weight the slightest overbalance would flip the will bear avi’s hands and possibly him off the wire into the falls but blowed in was the ultimate showman he was a master of the high wire he regularly took the will bear all the way across the falls without an issue one day one particular day after successfully going across there with wheelbarrow load in asking him Press reporter says Do you believe that I can do anything want to tightrope Oh yes Mr Blow didn’t said a reporter after what I’ve seen today I believe that you can do anything do you believe then said blood and that instead of a sack of cement that I could put a man in this will barrel a man who has never been on a tight rope before and wheel him safely across without a net to the other side oh yes Mr Blunt said a reporter I believe it good said Lowden get in.

Get in.

You know it’s one thing to express belief to express faith but it’s entirely different thing to get in isn’t it

my friends Jesus Christ is God in the wheelbarrow get in

get in and trust hidden and is good in him with your life and trusting him having faith in him is it not

I have not seen him but I trust him

can you say that I have not seen him but I trust him because of the words that I have heard concerning him so if so get in the wheelbarrow

and Jesus Dr

Heymann

compassion is another common thread in these 2 stories as a already expresses and Turin had compassion on his servant

that was the driving force to send him to call for Jesus but also Jesus had compassion on this mother

this Mother Nature made no request of Jesus did she she didn’t cry out to Jesus to come and raise her son this woman was mourning

she’s with a crowd of people and I believe that she was all she was probably hearing was noises murmuring because the her friends and neighbors and family was mourning with her

you know whenever you lose someone that is extremely dear or near to you

your life’s a blur you probably don’t even remember who you would talk to in the last couple weeks or even a month

into bury a son you know.

I can’t even begin to say I would know what that would be like whenever my wife step grandfather passed away and that when he passed away or step father passed away I went to pick up her grandfather’s. But I got to experience his grief when he got into the car and was in tears and just sobbing because says no one should ever have to bury a child I don’t care if that child is 65 years old or 75 years old you should not have to bury a child this mother was mourning she didn’t even know Jesus was any were she to know he was within a 100 miles

she did not ask him to do anything but he saw her sorrow he saw her mourning and he had compassion on her and he went to her

and I don’t know that we can fully understand her grief today in today’s time

because there’s her the one who was going to take care of her old age today that

we could go get so security or there’s all kinds of assistance out there for the widow this lost her husband and her son but not in that day

so we can’t even understand the grief that she was in but Jesus did he had compassion on her and he felt her pain Isaiah 6389 says for he said Surely they are my people children who will not lie so he became their savior in all their reflection he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bore them and carried them all the days of old in their of clicks and he was afflicted You know I’ve heard people say oh I feel your pain I feel your pain

no you don’t I don’t care if you’ve experienced.

A identical situation you do not feel that person’s pain because you don’t know how much that person love that person that they lost so you can’t really feel their pain.

You can’t really understand it because everyone experiences pain and suffering differently to a different level

but Jesus Christ can and does feel our pain

and has compassion he’s the only one that can truly sympathize with the pain that we are experiencing the suffering that we are experience in our lives he had compassion on the widow he saw and felt her pain even though she made no request he interceded he interrupted his funeral praise the Lord

Jesus my friend see these people there’s a passage in Matthew 1926 it says but Jesus be held them and said unto them with men this is impossible with God all things are possible he be held them behold manged to look on to observe to discern clearly

that is what Jesus does he discerns clearly you know wrote a book a while back and actually I’m reading part of it now and I may have shared this before so did bear with me. It talks about you know you all have these fake your favorite t.v. series or whether it’s a movie or whatever you always have been t.v. series or movies what they call extras right you know what I’m talking about the extras Well the extras are those people that you see in the same is that you see that they’re not really important you don’t know their names you don’t know you know they don’t get the credits on the screen or none of that but they’re the boss standards are the people on the sidewalk this walking by while the cameras focus in on the main characters right they are the ones in the restaurant sitting down you see all the other tables have people on them or at them but the camera focuses on the main character’s not the up out of n.c.i. ass where one likes and see the ass right you know that the camera focuses on Gibson.

McGee and Bishop and focuses on them but there’s all these other people in all these scenes right but the camera does not focus on them but imagine sitting down trying to watch that show that show or movie and the only ones in the whole seeing is the main characters no one else there what wouldn’t be very real like would it I mean if every Seeing you had 3 people send it to table no one else around the sidewalk on to catch the bad guy no one else is there they wanted to be realistic but the camera still only focuses on the main characters my friends Jesus focuses on people. Even the extras so let’s call them extras those are the people in the grocery line that you don’t know their names there they actually.

But now you see a familiar face you see a relative or good friend boom going to focus right on them and go to him right but all there are so many extras in our lives isn’t there stop and let that sink in for a minute it’s a grocery store there’s extras. At the restaurant there’s extras out walking on the street there’s all kinds of extras people around us there we didn’t tend not to interact with

that’s not the way of Jesus he focuses on them he interacts with them we need to become intentional in sharing Jesus with those extras all around us we need to be intentional on helping those all around us did need compassion we need to become intentional about it focus on people

we need to see people or not look past them we need imitate Jesus right let’s imitate Jesus in this

lastly

while good long today and boy imagine if I had the whole message that call out that I didn’t lose.

And lastly is this Interior’s faith his faith what healed that servant

faith was it just the power of Jesus no it was the faith of this Inter in

the faith of this interior and I want to read the same story from Matthew because in Matthew’s version is this Inter in talking with Jesus then Jesus said to the centurion Go your way and as you have believed so let it be done for you and his servant was healed that same hour my friends as you have believed it will be done for you

it all goes back to faith doesn’t it all goes back to trust. If Asians 3. 14 through 21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth his name that he would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ made well in your hearts through faith Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints What is the with and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes all understanding that you may be filled with all the fullness of God

Now to him is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we think according to the power that works in us to him Be The Glory in the church by Christ Jesus forever more and ever amen it is his power in us but is our faith that he uses if we do not have the faith if that’s Inter and did not have the faith that Jesus could heal that servant he would have died

it is his power in us and it’s our faith the faith that we have so we should pray Lord increase my faith increase my faith today lord that my faith will move mountains the my faith will open blinded eyes that my faith in you will open deaf ears

that my faith in you do what God will do all things he can do abundantly above all that we even he can do more than we can even imagine

now his his power is so awesome that we truly can’t even fathom it but it’s there if we just believe it reach out let him work in and through us for His glory to God Be The Glory not ourselves book for His glory believe in have faith Amen.