Compassion of Christ

This has been a slow week posting wise for me. I have been doing a lot of thinking about my sermon in a couple of Sundays. Since I don't have a chance to preach on a regular basis at the moment, I do a lot of reading and thinking about what I might like to preach on: a topical sermon or which book to preach through. I haven't wanted to get too far ahead in preparing my sermon, because I want it to be fresh and at the fore front of my mind. (I also have limited short-term memory space!)

There has been a text that God placed on my heart over a year ago. I have preached a few times since then and the time was never right for this text. Now I know that God is saying to preach this text. It is Matthew 9:35-38. This is the pivotal point of Christ's ministry. In chapters 5-7, Jesus preaches His amazing sermon on the mount. Then in chapters 8-9, He spends a lot of time teaching, performing miracles, calling some disciples and traveling all over Galilee. It is at this juncture that Jesus, in His humanness, seems to be overwhelmed, and in His divine nature, He felt a level of compassion for the people that we will never be able to experience.

To me, the key to this passage is the compassion of Christ. The Creator of all things is looking upon His children that were created in His image, and sees the lost and dying world on a whole other level. When I am at a sporting event, I see the players, the workers, the people. I see the loud, boisterous fans, the laid back fans, the drunks, the rich, the beautiful and the average Joe. Christ sees the heart. He sees the woman who has agonized for a decade because of the abortion she had at 16. He sees the man who has had numerous affairs behind the back of an unsuspecting wife. He sees the young kids that are cutting themselves, sniffing glue and hooked on pornography. He sees the old man who hasn't talked to his oldest son in 17 years and would like to say he is sorry before he dies. He sees the many people who are ravaged with cancer but don't realize it. He sees the people that will die in the next week and have never heard His gospel. This is only the outer layer of the compassion that Christ has for us.

What would you do? What would you change in your life? Think about it. I am.