A New Heart | Week 1: A Compassionate Heart — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:05[music]
2. 0:11[music]
3. 0:34So last Sunday night, couple few days
4. 0:37ago, I took my daughter Any on a bike
5. 0:40ride. She's 13, still likes to hang with
6. 0:41her dad. And it was dusk. We live in
7. 0:44that Pierce Park neighborhood of
8. 0:46Appleton and we like to go through the
9. 0:48park. So, we're driving up after a
10. 0:50little biking and we see these flashing
11. 0:52lights in the park and we're like,
12. 0:54"What's going on?" Right next to the
13. 0:56playground. So, I said, "We should go
14. 0:58check that out." Like, you know, you got
15. 1:00to see what's happening. So, there's two
16. 1:02ambulances and a fire truck and we get
17. 1:04up and nobody's there. And so we stand
18. 1:07right across the street and out comes
19. 1:08this kid on a stretcher and he's propped
20. 1:11up with his back like this. His arm is
21. 1:14is in a like a sling and he's got a neck
22. 1:16brace on and he's got a stunned look on
23. 1:20his face as if he's just totally in
24. 1:22shock and then there's this kid with his
25. 1:24head down walking behind him. Now I
26. 1:26don't know what happened but I
27. 1:27immediately made up a story in my head
28. 1:29of what went down. You see, at Pierce
29. 1:32Park, uh, in in that neighborhood, we
30. 1:34have a one of those zip lines that you
31. 1:36can, you know, send a kid on and then
32. 1:38they go to the end and they come back.
33. 1:39And I, uh, I I've watched kids play on
34. 1:42this when I brought my kids there and
35. 1:44these teenagers will come and just push
36. 1:46each other too hard. And I'll sit back
37. 1:47think, "You're going to break it and I
38. 1:48want to say something." And and so I
39. 1:50just pictured in my head that that
40. 1:52there's two bikes, teenage boys probably
41. 1:53pushed that kid too hard. He went
42. 1:54somersaulting through the air because he
43. 1:56hit so hard, landed on his neck. And
44. 1:59that's how I ended ended up in the
45. 2:01stretcher. And so the the emotion that
46. 2:03arose in my heart as I saw that poor boy
47. 2:05coming coming toward me and getting
48. 2:07loaded into into the ambulance was
49. 2:09serves your right dude for doing
50. 2:11something stupid.
51. 2:14Like there was something in me that was
52. 2:15like finally somebody's paying the price
53. 2:17for this foolishness. And I turned to my
54. 2:19daughter and I said, "Let me just tell
55. 2:20you how dumb teenage boys can really be.
56. 2:23And since you're 13 now, you really got
57. 2:26to watch out for guys like that. And
58. 2:28then I went on my way and we biked back
59. 2:30home.
60. 2:32And then the next day, I had to get up
61. 2:33and write this sermon, which happens to
62. 2:35be on compassion.
63. 2:37[laughter]
64. 2:40You're welcome.
65. 2:42>> And the Lord
66. 2:45brought me back to that moment where I'm
67. 2:47staring at this boy and he and he and he
68. 2:50said, "I want you to think about what it
69. 2:51felt like to be him.
70. 2:53Imagine being on that stretcher and your
71. 2:56arm is broke and maybe you're not going
72. 2:58to be able to walk the next day." Who
73. 2:59knows? I don't know what was wrong with
74. 3:00him. But he said, "Imagine what it was
75. 3:02like to be the boy who probably pushed
76. 3:04him and the phone call. what it's like
77. 3:05to be one of those parents as they
78. 3:07receive this message from from the kid.
79. 3:09And uh and I realized that I had seen a
80. 3:12suffering person that night without
81. 3:13really seeing him.
82. 3:16And before compassion had a chance to
83. 3:18rise up in me, I had already explained
84. 3:19his suffering. I blamed him for it and I
85. 3:21judged him. And then I put him in this
86. 3:23category of reckless teenage boy without
87. 3:27a face or a name. And God reminded me,
88. 3:29he said, "Joel, that boy has a name.
89. 3:31He's made in the image of God. I love
90. 3:33him. He has a family who loves him.
91. 3:36And then I thought about my boy. I got a
92. 3:38boy.
93. 3:40And if that were to happen to him, I
94. 3:42wouldn't want some dude just sitting
95. 3:44there judging him. I would want somebody
96. 3:47to sit over there and pray for him and
97. 3:50have compassion on him. And then I had
98. 3:52to step back and go, what is going on in
99. 3:54my heart?
100. 3:56And I had to wrestle with the reality of
101. 3:59uh judgment rose in my heart quicker
102. 4:02than compassion.
103. 4:05And I don't share that to say that I
104. 4:08think I'm some uniquely cold-hearted
105. 4:10person. I think we all can recognize
106. 4:12that impulse in ourselves, can't we?
107. 4:15It's really easy for us to judge before
108. 4:18we have compassion. It's really easy for
109. 4:20us to to categorize people. And it
110. 4:24happens in, you know, little subtle ways
111. 4:26where people come up and go, "Oh, I'm
112. 4:27just so exhausted." And you look at them
113. 4:29go, "Yeah, aren't we all?" And then we
114. 4:31go into the story about why we're so
115. 4:33tired. Rather than listen to them. We do
116. 4:36it uh we do it when
117. 4:39our kids come to us and they say, "I'm
118. 4:41overwhelmed." And we listen to their
119. 4:43stories and we're just listening for how
120. 4:45they're bad time managers so we can
121. 4:47correct them and help them figure out
122. 4:48how to better use their time rather than
123. 4:50listen to what they're actually dealing
124. 4:51with. It happens when our wives or our
125. 4:53spouses come to us with a problem and we
126. 4:56give them a three-step plan for getting
127. 4:57right out of that jam. As if they asked.
128. 4:59Not that I have an experience with this,
129. 5:04but what we do is we we assess, we
130. 5:07judge, we dismiss
131. 5:10before we ever allow pain or somebody
132. 5:12else's experiences to arise in our heart
133. 5:14in a way that enters into that with
134. 5:17them.
135. 5:18See, now that's how a heart grows hard.
136. 5:22Yeah, I think we like to think a heart
137. 5:24grows hard through cruel acts randomly
138. 5:27done. It doesn't, though certainly do.
139. 5:29But the heart grows hard through tiny
140. 5:31little acts, actions of dismissal and
141. 5:34not paying attention to the hearts of
142. 5:36people around us. And every day we're
143. 5:39presented with opportunities to step
144. 5:40into the compassion, step in two
145. 5:42situations with compassion. And we so
146. 5:45easily and often walk away.
147. 5:48And I think God wants us to move in a
148. 5:51direction of a compassionate heart. If
149. 5:53we can move in the direction of
150. 5:54hardness, we got to believe because we
151. 5:56have a good God who is compassionate
152. 5:58that our hearts can move in a different
153. 5:59direction. And we believe because of the
154. 6:01promises of God and because of who he is
155. 6:03that our hearts can be different. That
156. 6:04he can form our hearts into into a
157. 6:06different type of heart. And that's the
158. 6:08promise of the series. We're going to
159. 6:09call it a new heart because we believe
160. 6:11that God can take our heart of stone and
161. 6:13make it into a heart of flesh. And we
162. 6:15get that from the word of God. We
163. 6:17believe that our hearts can be different
164. 6:19and can be changed and transformed into
165. 6:21different hearts. And we get that from
166. 6:23the story going way back into Ezekiel
167. 6:26when God made a promise thousands of
168. 6:28years ago to the Israelites. And the
169. 6:30Israelites are meant to be a picture of
170. 6:33what we're like. And the story of the
171. 6:35Israelites is God gave them this
172. 6:37promised land, released them from
173. 6:39slavery, and then generation after
174. 6:41generation, they keep denying God,
175. 6:43worshiping idols, and after a while,
176. 6:45their lives end up in bondage, and they
177. 6:48end up living with the consequences of
178. 6:50their actions in exile. And in exile, he
179. 6:53sends this promise to them. He says,
180. 6:55"It's going to be different. I'm going
181. 6:57to bring you back." But he knows that if
182. 6:59I just put them back there, they're
183. 7:01going to be the the same thing is going
184. 7:02to happen over and over. So, he makes
185. 7:04this promise, and I want to read to you
186. 7:05from Ezekiel.
187. 7:09He says, "I'll give you a new heart,
188. 7:11and I'll put a new spirit in you. I will
189. 7:14remove from from your heart. I I I I'll
190. 7:17remove from your heart of stone and I'll
191. 7:20give you a heart of flesh and I'll put
192. 7:22my spirit in you. That is a wild promise
193. 7:25that he said you're you're going to have
194. 7:27an old cold a heart the natural state of
195. 7:30the heart is is fragile and unresponsive
196. 7:32to God and cold. And he says I want to
197. 7:35grab that thing and I want to make it
198. 7:37more human and I want to give it flesh.
199. 7:39I want it to be responsive to God. I
200. 7:42want you to have a totally transformed
201. 7:44and different heart. And he says, "I
202. 7:45promise I'm going to put my spirit in
203. 7:47you to do this." So, he's promising more
204. 7:49than good behavior. So, I'm going to
205. 7:52work in your heart to soften the
206. 7:53hardened places.
207. 7:56And as he does, we're going to begin to
208. 7:58look more like the father
209. 8:01up here.
210. 8:02Now, we just went through this series,
211. 8:05the prodigal father. And the what we did
212. 8:06in that series was we looked at we
213. 8:08called it the prodigal father because of
214. 8:10what he's really like. He's overflowing
215. 8:12reckless with his love and grace and joy
216. 8:14and and and kindness. And the the vision
217. 8:18of the that series was we don't want to
218. 8:20just understand that God's loving. We
219. 8:21don't want to just receive what the
220. 8:23loving heart of God. We we're not just
221. 8:25even meant to recognize ourselves in the
222. 8:27two brothers. The deeper challenge of
223. 8:29the parable is to become like the
224. 8:30father. That we're not meant to just
225. 8:33live in the father's house as children,
226. 8:34but to become like the dear father. And
227. 8:36so we believe because of these promises
228. 8:39of scripture and the Holy Spirit living
229. 8:40inside of us that we can be prodigally
230. 8:43generous and compassionate and loving
231. 8:45like the father. And so the heart of
232. 8:46this series is how? Because you might
233. 8:49have noticed in your life that when you
234. 8:51came to Jesus, he didn't just kind of
235. 8:53magically make you this perfect example
236. 8:55of a Christian. You still struggled. And
237. 8:57then as you walked, you notice some
238. 8:59people seem to be more like the father
239. 9:01than others. Why? Because there's
240. 9:02something about us that participates.
241. 9:06in our own heart transformation. And
242. 9:08some of us are more apt to do that than
243. 9:10others. I want to help us think through
244. 9:12how do we actually transform our own
245. 9:15hearts. And so I'm going to bring back
246. 9:17over and over in this series what I
247. 9:18introduced last week. There's a process
248. 9:20for heart transformation for spiritual
249. 9:22formation. And I get this from Dallas
250. 9:24Willard who has borrowed and worked with
251. 9:26many other ideas, but this is probably
252. 9:28the most concrete way I understand this.
253. 9:30And it's called the Vim method. So there
254. 9:31has to be a vision, intention, and
255. 9:33means. It's not the most creative title,
256. 9:35but it's easy to remember. And so the
257. 9:37vision is that you have to have some
258. 9:39idea of who God is and how great he is
259. 9:42of what he's really like. And we have to
260. 9:43believe in that vision that that heart
261. 9:45of God can be our heart. That we're not
262. 9:48meant to just admire the father. We're
263. 9:49meant to become like him. And so the
264. 9:51vision is you can become like the
265. 9:53father. You don't have to be stuck in
266. 9:55your addictions, in your tendencies, in
267. 9:57your woundedness, and in your hurt
268. 9:59there. Through life, you can be
269. 10:00transformed into the heart of the
270. 10:02father. That's the vision. And there has
271. 10:04to be an intention. You have to at some
272. 10:06point choose that's the life I'm going
273. 10:08to pursue. Now, you can be a Christian,
274. 10:10you can be saved, but you can be stuck
275. 10:11your whole life. At some point, you got
276. 10:13to go, I am going to become like the
277. 10:15father. I'm going to lean into the
278. 10:17spirit that lives inside of me, and I'm
279. 10:19going to become like him.
280. 10:22And once you make that decision, then it
281. 10:23comes to the means. How? What are the
282. 10:26things I can do in my life to help me
283. 10:28become more like the father? A lot of
284. 10:30times we call these spiritual
285. 10:31disciplines. I want to go through each
286. 10:32one as it relates to compassion
287. 10:35and we're going to do some more in the
288. 10:36next couple weeks. So, how then do we
289. 10:39become compassionate? Well, it isn't by
290. 10:41trying to will ourselves into it. It has
291. 10:44to start with a vision of what God is
292. 10:47really like and that we can become like
293. 10:50him. I want to read I want to vision
294. 10:51cast for you out of the Psalms. If you
295. 10:54have your Bibles, this is spend some
296. 10:56time with us this week. If you have your
297. 10:58Bibles, open up to Psalm 103. We'll
298. 11:00start in verse 8. And this is what God
299. 11:03is like. And this isn't just what he's
300. 11:05like, but this is what he he's calling
301. 11:07us to be like. So when I read this, this
302. 11:09is who he is, but it's also who you're
303. 11:11meant to be. And here's what it says.
304. 11:13The Lord, oh, the Lord is compassionate
305. 11:17and gracious and slow to anger and
306. 11:20abounding in love. He will not always
307. 11:22accuse, nor will he harbor his anger
308. 11:25forever. He does not treat us as our
309. 11:28sins deserve or repay us according to
310. 11:30our iniquities.
311. 11:32That's what he's like. For as high as
312. 11:34the heavens are above the earth, so
313. 11:36great is the love for those who fear
314. 11:38him. As far as the east is from the
315. 11:40west, so far has he removed our
316. 11:42transgressions from us. That is what God
317. 11:45is like. And if that's what he's like,
318. 11:47church, is he not a great and incredible
319. 11:49God? Can I get an amen? I mean, he's
320. 11:51good. He's a good God. That is who he
321. 11:54is.
322. 11:56And that's who we're called to be. Not
323. 11:58in the same measure of God, of course,
324. 12:01but at some level. This is the heart he
325. 12:03wants to instill in you.
326. 12:06That doesn't mean he's indifferent to
327. 12:08sin.
328. 12:10He serious. He takes sin seriously. He's
329. 12:12truthful. He understands how we've
330. 12:14chosen to hurt people, but he doesn't
331. 12:16reduce us to the worst thing we've done.
332. 12:17It says he does not treat us as our sins
333. 12:19deserve.
334. 12:22Now, that's very different than the way
335. 12:23I treated that
336. 12:25kid on Sunday night
337. 12:28that would what what instinctively rose
338. 12:30in my heart on Sunday was
339. 12:33a sense of justification and judgment
340. 12:36like huh well I mean you act stupid
341. 12:39you're going to get stupid results kid
342. 12:41that's like what naturally came into my
343. 12:42heart and I had to step back and go what
344. 12:45is going on inside of me here and then I
345. 12:47had to realize God God never treated me
346. 12:49that way and I was a predigiously
347. 12:52foolish teenager I mean dumb dumb things
348. 12:54that I did. I I should have ended up in
349. 12:58stretchers. I've done things where I
350. 12:59just I got lucky. I don't know if God
351. 13:00have mercy on me, but my foolishness
352. 13:02didn't stop at being a teenager. I was a
353. 13:04foolish young adult, very foolish. I was
354. 13:07a foolish adult. I have been a foolish
355. 13:09father. I have been a foolish husband.
356. 13:12In fact, there's times I'm a foolish
357. 13:14pastor. I have been foolish all over the
358. 13:16place. And yet, God does not treat me
359. 13:19according to my sin. He has been
360. 13:21gracious with me. He holds me
361. 13:22accountable,
362. 13:24but he doesn't treat me as my
363. 13:25foolishness deserves. And I'm grateful
364. 13:28for that because what I've realized
365. 13:29about God is God's compassion doesn't
366. 13:31deny the truth about us or me. But what
367. 13:33he doesn't let it do, he refuses to let
368. 13:35the truth about our failure erase our
369. 13:37humanity, our dignity, or who we are.
370. 13:41He sees us differently. He treats us
371. 13:43differently. And that's the heart that
372. 13:45God wants to form in us. It's also the
373. 13:48heart of the father. It's why it's such
374. 13:50a compelling story to go through the
375. 13:51prodigal because you see this son who is
376. 13:54a reckless teenager. Part of us hears
377. 13:56the story and does not like what the
378. 13:57father does because we've seen so many
379. 13:59dumb teenage boys do stuff like this.
380. 14:01But this father,
381. 14:03he knew the wounding, the pain of a son
382. 14:07denying him. And he waited as this kid
383. 14:09came back. And the kid did everything
384. 14:11wrong. And how does a father respond to
385. 14:14him?
386. 14:15This challenges us. It says that while
387. 14:17he was still a long way off,
388. 14:20his father sees him and is filled with
389. 14:22compassion and runs to him and embraces
390. 14:23him and kisses him and puts a robe on
391. 14:25him and and he puts a ring on his finger
392. 14:27and his sandals on his feet and throws a
393. 14:29party and it's like, "What are you
394. 14:30doing?" But that is what God is like.
395. 14:32Like that's the prodigal over like
396. 14:35lavish love of the father. And again, he
397. 14:38is he knows pain. He knows rejection and
398. 14:41woundedness. And yet he does not allow
399. 14:43his heart to harden with contempt. In
400. 14:46that moment, he chooses to pause, to
401. 14:49pray, and show compassion to this little
402. 14:51boy, this son of his, that comes back.
403. 14:53And then he celebrates us.
404. 14:55He runs toward him. And that's the
405. 14:58movement of compassion. Compassion, it
406. 15:00sees, is moved, and it draws near.
407. 15:05And that's the same movement God wants
408. 15:06to put in our hearts. He wants to bring
409. 15:08that to us. So what does that look like
410. 15:10in real life? Let me put up a little
411. 15:11chart here so you can see the difference
412. 15:12between a a a hard heart and a
413. 15:14compassionate heart. So what a what a
414. 15:17compassionate heart does. It listens
415. 15:19before evaluating and a hard heart
416. 15:21evaluates before listening. So someone
417. 15:23tells you about a conflict and you
418. 15:26listen to a compassionate heart listens
419. 15:28for the hurt. U a hard heart immediately
420. 15:30decides who was wrong, looks for blame.
421. 15:34A compassionate heart draws near with
422. 15:36mercy. A hard heart keeps a safe
423. 15:38distance.
424. 15:39You all been shopping. You've seen that
425. 15:41mom or dad with a kid who's crying and
426. 15:43making a a disturbance in the in the
427. 15:46grocery store and you get annoyed
428. 15:48because you're so you're busy. It's not
429. 15:49it's not easy shopping for fruit. So
430. 15:51you're like what are you doing? I got a
431. 15:53lot on my plate right now. And you kind
432. 15:54of you're tempted to be like get that
433. 15:56kid in line. You're like shoot him a
434. 15:58shoot him a look. Like you know
435. 16:01a compassionate heart sees that.
436. 16:04Smiles, nods. You know, once you've had
437. 16:06kids, it's a lot easier because you've
438. 16:07been there. Compassionate heart says,
439. 16:10"Okay, can I help?"
440. 16:12I mean, hard heart
441. 16:16recognizes shared humanity.
442. 16:18You can see it in each other in a in a
443. 16:21compassionate heart recognizes people. A
444. 16:24heart a compassionate heart recognizes
445. 16:26shared humanity. A hard heart reduces
446. 16:28people to categories.
447. 16:30And we do this when we drive. So when
448. 16:32you get behind somebody and they pause
449. 16:33at a green light and when we're in our
450. 16:34little boxes of cars, we don't see
451. 16:36people. We just see annoyances in our
452. 16:38way. And so a hard heart hits the hits
453. 16:40the horn and says, "Come on, man. Get
454. 16:42with it and get moving." Compassionate
455. 16:44heart just waits
456. 16:46and doesn't worry about losing two
457. 16:48seconds of their day. I mean, there's a
458. 16:51huge difference. God wants to instill in
459. 16:53us a heart that brings so much
460. 16:54compassion and patience and kindness and
461. 16:56goodness into the world. And and here's
462. 16:58the good news. He doesn't expect us to
463. 16:59do that on an empty heart. It's not. He
464. 17:01He's done something ahead of us to he's
465. 17:03he's shown us compassion if you pay
466. 17:05attention in a way that fills our
467. 17:08hearts. And that's what he says. That's
468. 17:10what Paul writes in second Corinthians.
469. 17:12If you want a beautiful passage about
470. 17:14compassion in one in chapter one, right
471. 17:17away he opens with this. He says the he
472. 17:19says of God, he's the father of
473. 17:21compassion and the God of all comfort
474. 17:24who comforts us in our trouble.
475. 17:27What is our greatest problem is that we
476. 17:30are born with a hard heart. We're born
477. 17:32stiff- necked people who sin is so easy.
478. 17:34It's our default. And rather than wait
479. 17:37for us to get our act together, the
480. 17:39Bible says that while we were still
481. 17:41sinners, Christ died for us.
482. 17:46Our default nature is selfishness. I
483. 17:48mean, that's what that's easy for us to
484. 17:49do. And he said, "While you were still
485. 17:51sinners, that's why we celebrate
486. 17:52communion on the cross rather than he
487. 17:55said there's there's no forgiveness
488. 17:56apart from the shedding of blood." Well,
489. 17:58he says, "I could take your blood, but
490. 17:59I'm going to send my son." And he died
491. 18:01on the cross for us so that we' we'd
492. 18:03have our sins forgiven. We have a path
493. 18:04unto eternal life. And then he rose from
494. 18:07the dead to make that that way possible.
495. 18:09He sent Christ to show us a different
496. 18:11way. And so he's moved toward us with so
497. 18:13much compassion
498. 18:16that if we lean into that when we
499. 18:17celebrate communion, when we do these
500. 18:19things, he fills us up so we can go back
501. 18:20out into the world with that
502. 18:21compassionate heart.
503. 18:24And that's what he says. That's how Paul
504. 18:25kind of brings this together. He says so
505. 18:29that we can comfort those in any trouble
506. 18:31with the comfort ourselves have received
507. 18:32from God.
508. 18:34Says God did this so that we can go. So
509. 18:36our the compassion we've been shown
510. 18:38isn't meant to just stop with us. We sit
511. 18:39back and go, "Cool. I'm good. I don't
512. 18:40care about anybody else. It's meant to
513. 18:42to flow into us and through us into a
514. 18:44world that needs it. And God is saying,
515. 18:46I can change your heart so that you can
516. 18:47be like that. You can be like the
517. 18:49father. That's the vision. And that
518. 18:51compassion can flow from you. It doesn't
519. 18:53judgment doesn't have to be your first
520. 18:54response.
521. 18:57That's just the vision though. How do we
522. 18:58get there?
523. 19:00You have at some point got to choose.
524. 19:02This is the path I'm going to take.
525. 19:03That's where intention comes in.
526. 19:06So the intention part is how does I I've
527. 19:09got to choose the way of compassion as
528. 19:11opposed to my way. And here's the
529. 19:13reality. That's not an obvious choice
530. 19:16because if you know anything about
531. 19:17compassion, you'll know it's messy. To
532. 19:19be comp to be compassionate, you got to
533. 19:21slow down. You got to listen. Like
534. 19:24struggling people are messy. You got to
535. 19:26make room in your life for people who
536. 19:27don't fit in categories. You have to be
537. 19:29willing to allow your heart to be
538. 19:30broken. Compassion isn't easy. And we
539. 19:33live in a world that rewards
540. 19:34productivity and efficiency. AI is
541. 19:36making it even worse. It's like
542. 19:37everything's got to be so quick. Nothing
543. 19:39about compassion is generally quick.
544. 19:41It's slow. You got to sit with people.
545. 19:44You got to long suffer. And we're like,
546. 19:45our culture, our lives don't fit that.
547. 19:48And that tension isn't new.
548. 19:51God Jesus spoke to that very clearly
549. 19:54with with something called the Good
550. 19:55Samaritan. You all know the story. Many
551. 19:56of you do know the story. But let me
552. 19:58give you a little walk through here.
553. 19:59Somebody asked Jesus, "Who's your
554. 20:01neighbor?" And Jesus says, "Well,
555. 20:04let me tell you a little story." That's
556. 20:05what he would do. And he says, "There
557. 20:07was a man who was walking from Jerusalem
558. 20:10to Jericho. It's a very treacherous road
559. 20:12with robbers on it. Well, they robbers
560. 20:14come out, beat him, and steal all of his
561. 20:16money. And so, he's lying dead on the
562. 20:18side of the road. And then into that
563. 20:20scene walks a priest who you would think
564. 20:23would have the heart to care. And he
565. 20:25sees the man and he goes the other side
566. 20:27of the street, gets out of the way, and
567. 20:29walks away. Then comes a Levite, another
568. 20:31religious professional. It's kind of a
569. 20:32big deal. The kind of person you think
570. 20:34would do something, and he sees him and
571. 20:36he says, "Not today." And he walks by.
572. 20:38Now, Jesus doesn't tell us why. He
573. 20:41doesn't explain that to us. He simply
574. 20:42says, it points out these guys saw
575. 20:45suffering
576. 20:47and moved on. And then comes this
577. 20:50Samaritan
578. 20:52who just the least likely person you can
579. 20:54imagine to do this. A reviled person.
580. 20:56somebody who wouldn't like you wouldn't
581. 20:58even want helping you comes
582. 21:01and the Bible says Jesus says in the
583. 21:03story he saw him and he had compassion
584. 21:05on him
585. 21:07and he lets his compassion rearrange his
586. 21:09journey. So if you read the story, it
587. 21:11goes in detail through he saw him and he
588. 21:14picked him up and he tended to his
589. 21:15wounds and then he put him on his donkey
590. 21:17and he took him to an inn and he paid
591. 21:18the inkeeper and then he said, "I'll
592. 21:19come back and I'll pay you on the way
593. 21:21back." And so it was a multi-day thing.
594. 21:24And what I love is that he Jesus did not
595. 21:30did not underexlain the cost. He's so
596. 21:33real about the cost of compassion in the
597. 21:35story.
598. 21:37And then at the end he asks the people
599. 21:39talking to him. He goes, "Who's who's
600. 21:40the neighbor here?"
601. 21:42And the only obvious answer is, "Well,
602. 21:44the one who showed mercy." And what does
603. 21:46he say?
604. 21:48Go and go and do likewise. Go do the
605. 21:51same. In other words, I don't want you
606. 21:53to admire the Samaritan. I want you to
607. 21:55be the Samaritan.
608. 21:58And then he goes on, he says, Paul
609. 21:59writes or Jesus says it like he says it
610. 22:01so clearly in Luke, you must be
611. 22:04compassionate just as your father is
612. 22:06compassionate.
613. 22:09It's like he commands it of his people.
614. 22:11You you must show this. And all of us
615. 22:13are probably thinking inside, I want to
616. 22:15be compassionate. I do. I love it. I
617. 22:17felt God's compassion. I love it when
618. 22:19people like give me the benefit of the
619. 22:21doubt and show me compassion. But
620. 22:25in me still dwells this judgment. In me
621. 22:27still is this sense of like that's not
622. 22:29always my first default and I don't have
623. 22:32time for this in my life. We have all
624. 22:34these excuses inside of us. And so
625. 22:36that's the tension that we wrestle with.
626. 22:38So I think there is a desire in us for
627. 22:41compassion but it's not our default. So
628. 22:44what do we do so that our heart which is
629. 22:46stony and busy and like that's not our
630. 22:49default. How do we change that so it's a
631. 22:50soft human heart? Well, that's where we
632. 22:52get into the means. These are the things
633. 22:53you can do to do the things you can't do
634. 22:55in your heart.
635. 22:57So, how do we how do we get a
636. 22:58compassion? What are some things we can
637. 23:00do in our day-to-day lives? Now, this is
638. 23:02where I'm going to talk to you over the
639. 23:03next few weeks about spiritual
640. 23:04disciplines. These are exercises you can
641. 23:07do. And a spiritual discipline according
642. 23:09to John Ortberg who's really influenced
643. 23:12by Dallas Willard a lot of these
644. 23:13thinkers here he says a spiritual
645. 23:15discipline is something we can do by
646. 23:17direct effort that helps us become
647. 23:18capable of something we can't do by
648. 23:22direct effort.
649. 23:25Now spiritual discipline isn't how you
650. 23:27earn favor with God. You have all the
651. 23:28favor you need. He already sent Jesus
652. 23:30Christ. You're already loved. You're
653. 23:32already his child. So you don't have to
654. 23:33earn anything. They just make you
655. 23:36available to the transforming work of
656. 23:37the spirit differently.
657. 23:40So I want you to think of this. You
658. 23:42can't make yourself feel compassion.
659. 23:44Last Sunday the instinct default
660. 23:48reaction without thinking for me was
661. 23:50judgment not compassion. I just have to
662. 23:51wrestle with the fact that that's still
663. 23:53in my heart.
664. 23:55Okay. So I can't force myself. I I'm not
665. 23:58always compassionate. So how do I become
666. 24:00compassion? The spiritual disciplines
667. 24:01place you in ways differently before the
668. 24:03Holy Spirit.
669. 24:05that so he can have some transforming
670. 24:06work in your heart done. Think of it
671. 24:08like training versus trying. I could try
672. 24:10to be compassionate or I could train to
673. 24:12be compassionate. You want to run a
674. 24:13marathon. The path to running a marathon
675. 24:16isn't sitting in your basement drinking
676. 24:17beer and playing video games. You can as
677. 24:19sincerely as you want show up on race
678. 24:21day. You're not making it through.
679. 24:22You're not going to it's not going to
680. 24:23happen. You make 5K unless you're a
681. 24:26really good athlete. It's probably not
682. 24:27going to happen.
683. 24:29If you want to run a marathon, we all
684. 24:31know the path to this, don't we? you
685. 24:33gotta go. And if you can't run, I did a
686. 24:35I did a couch to 5K once. I I I was like
687. 24:37mid-30s. I'm like, I'll take up running.
688. 24:38I couldn't barely make it a mile. So, I
689. 24:40got the couch to 5K app and it walked me
690. 24:42through how to do it. And by the end, I
691. 24:44did it. But I trained. I couldn't just
692. 24:46get out the gates and run a 5K. I had to
693. 24:48train. It's the same thing spiritually.
694. 24:51You want you want to become
695. 24:52compassionate. Use your time and energy.
696. 24:54Arrange your life so that you can you
697. 24:56can train in for it. Now, I want to give
698. 24:57you a really easy way to do this. This
699. 24:59is the best way I've learned to do it.
700. 25:01and involves a couple of disciplines and
701. 25:03I call it the the three P method. Pause,
702. 25:06pray, pursue.
703. 25:08Pause, pray, pursue. And I'll go through
704. 25:10these briefly. And so you want to pause
705. 25:12before you judge anytime you experience
706. 25:14suffering. Pause before you judge. We
707. 25:17always have an we have an emotional
708. 25:19experiential reaction to any suffering
709. 25:22we see. So pause and then pray for the
710. 25:25person and then pursue the next
711. 25:28compassionate step. Pause. Pray. pursue.
712. 25:32So, pause before you judge.
713. 25:35Now, why would we want to do that?
714. 25:38Because we want to pay attention to our
715. 25:39default reaction. You don't need to
716. 25:41judge your own heart in this. Just stop
717. 25:42and go, "What's going on within me?"
718. 25:45See, pausing allows us to have a moment
719. 25:51where we can look inward rather than
720. 25:52outward. Pausing allows us to notice the
721. 25:56thing that's happening in our heart in
722. 25:57the in the instance of it happening.
723. 26:01And God really really appreciates that
724. 26:04we would do this because it allows us to
725. 26:06see what's going on in us before we
726. 26:08assume what's going on out there. And
727. 26:09this was so important to Jesus
728. 26:12that he wrote and he and he dedicated
729. 26:15time to this kind of judgment in the
730. 26:17sermon on the mount. This is what he
731. 26:19writes. Why do you look at the speck of
732. 26:20sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no
733. 26:23attention to the plank in your own eye?
734. 26:26First take the plank out of your own eye
735. 26:29and then you will see clearly.
736. 26:32He's talking about judgment. He's saying
737. 26:33if when we pause but we allow ourselves
738. 26:36to go, what's going on in my heart? Am I
739. 26:38what am I feeling? What are they elicit
740. 26:40in me? What bias is coming up here? Like
741. 26:43with me and that kid in the park, it's
742. 26:44like I have a thing against teenage boys
743. 26:45in parks. They seem dangerous. So why is
744. 26:47it? What is it in me that wants to lump
745. 26:49them into category?
746. 26:51There's a log in my own eye. And if I
747. 26:53remove that and get that out of the way
748. 26:55and now I can see clearly, this is just
749. 26:56a hurting boy. When we when we stop and
750. 27:00take the log out of our eye, we can
751. 27:02start to see clearly. And it's not like
752. 27:05we can confess whatever's on our heart,
753. 27:07it doesn't make it right, but it allows
754. 27:09us to at least stop
755. 27:12and own our part in it and respond to
756. 27:14it. So what's going on in here? And let
757. 27:16me say, church, what the world needs is
758. 27:17a church that's more introspective.
759. 27:21We really need to slow down and pay a
760. 27:23little more attention to our hearts and
761. 27:24talk less.
762. 27:26Pay more attention to the world around
763. 27:27us. The world needs question askers of
764. 27:30ourselves and others.
765. 27:32So, we can do that. First thing, pause.
766. 27:34What's going on in me? Next, pray. This
767. 27:36is where intercession comes in. Pray for
768. 27:38the person across from me. Now, prayer,
769. 27:40what? Think about what prayer does in
770. 27:42that moment. When you're tempted, like
771. 27:43you're all wrapped up with what you're
772. 27:45feeling and you stop in a moment where
773. 27:47you're wanting to judge, you're you're
774. 27:48feeling something, you're triggered, you
775. 27:50pause and you pray for that person, what
776. 27:52you're doing is you're taking the energy
777. 27:54away, the attention away from yourself
778. 27:55and focusing it on someone else. So, for
779. 27:58in that moment, you're not being
780. 27:59selfish. Now, you're thinking of another
781. 28:01person, literally praying for them. And
782. 28:03when you're tempted to give your wife
783. 28:05some plan she didn't ask for or or or
784. 28:07explain to someone else how you're
785. 28:09feeling, you stop and rather than think
786. 28:11you can fix it because we all know we're
787. 28:13very limited ability to make a
788. 28:15difference in this world. Like to to
789. 28:16truly change somebody
790. 28:18and in that moment we take their
791. 28:20situation and bring before God who can.
792. 28:23Intercessory prayer, praying for another
793. 28:25person is one of the most selfless
794. 28:26things you can do. It literally builds
795. 28:28in us like it allows God to help us be
796. 28:31less selfish because that moment in our
797. 28:33life we were less selfish. And so then
798. 28:35we can pause and see what's going on in
799. 28:36us and we can pray and bring that before
800. 28:38the Lord. And the last thing is pursue
801. 28:40the next compassionate step.
802. 28:45So when we pause, we look inside, we
803. 28:48pray for that person, then we just
804. 28:49listen. God, what would you have me do
805. 28:52here?
806. 28:54And God's not always going to give you
807. 28:56another step, but when he does, you
808. 28:57pursue that next step. And that doesn't
809. 28:59mean we got to take responsibility for
810. 29:01everyone's failure. That doesn't mean we
811. 29:02got to solve every problem. But it does
812. 29:04mean that God is often going to invite
813. 29:06us to do something. And that might be as
814. 29:08simply as just listening, offering some
815. 29:12help,
816. 29:14not doing something,
817. 29:16but he's going to invite us to do
818. 29:17something. And then what that can look
819. 29:19like, let's say you're driving,
820. 29:21you're in that situation where somebody
821. 29:23has the audacity not to go the instant
822. 29:26that light turns green and and you can
823. 29:28stop. This can happen so fast. And in a
824. 29:30moment, in that instance, you can in
825. 29:32that impulse stop and go, well, I'm
826. 29:33going to pause before I hit that horn.
827. 29:36I'm going to pray because that's a real
828. 29:37person. I bet they're having a bad day
829. 29:39or they're distracted. And then it's
830. 29:41simply, what's the next merciful step?
831. 29:43Put that hand away and don't beep the
832. 29:45horn and make their day worse. You see
833. 29:47how quick that can happen? In an
834. 29:48instant, you got a shot at pause, pray,
835. 29:51and pursue the next merciful step. Maybe
836. 29:54it's you go home and you notice your
837. 29:56spouse or your kid or a friend is
838. 29:57withdrawn or they're crabby or they're
839. 29:59sn they're just kind of snapping at you.
840. 30:02Rather than assume that's about you,
841. 30:05maybe what you do is you just pause for
842. 30:07a minute and go, "Okay, what's going on
843. 30:09in me with their their whatever's going
844. 30:12on over there is doing this in me."
845. 30:16And then you pray for him and then you
846. 30:18just simply now you can just get
847. 30:19curious. You don't seem like yourself
848. 30:21today or you seem withdrawn. Is
849. 30:24everything okay? And the next merciful
850. 30:26step is simply curiosity.
851. 30:29Again, the world needs so much more
852. 30:30curiosity from God's people. He's
853. 30:33inviting us to care, to pay attention,
854. 30:35to notice.
855. 30:36And every single day is going to provide
856. 30:39you with an opportunity for this type of
857. 30:42training. And you're not always going to
858. 30:44get it right.
859. 30:46And that's okay. I didn't get it right
860. 30:48last Sunday.
861. 30:50I I should have handled that
862. 30:52differently. I should have gotten more
863. 30:54curious. But instead, I saw this poor
864. 30:57boy in a stretcher and my default was
865. 31:01not to pause, not to pray, not to pursue
866. 31:04the next merciful step. No, I just
867. 31:06judged him. And I said, "Well, that's
868. 31:07what you get when you do stupid things."
869. 31:08And I made it a teaching lesson for my
870. 31:10daughters about the foolishness of
871. 31:12teenage boys. And then I moved on with
872. 31:14my day.
873. 31:18Then I sat down to write the sermon and
874. 31:21God I allowed myself to be still and God
875. 31:24spoke to me and he brought me into that
876. 31:26boy's world. So my pause came. It just
877. 31:29didn't come in that moment. Sometimes
878. 31:30your pause will happen in the moment.
879. 31:32Sometimes it'll happen later. Sometimes
880. 31:33it'll take it might take years for you
881. 31:36to pause, but you can pause. And I
882. 31:38paused and I got into his world. And
883. 31:40then I started to pray for him. I felt
884. 31:42like God say, "Yeah, pray for this poor
885. 31:44boy." Imagine like he's his family. He
886. 31:46He might not I don't even know if the
887. 31:47kid's paralyzed. I don't know what the
888. 31:48deal is. I just realized the hardness of
889. 31:50my heart and I said, "I better pray for
890. 31:51that boy because Lord, I I don't know
891. 31:53who he is. I can't do anything about
892. 31:55it."
893. 31:56And then I had to pursue the next
894. 31:58merciful, compassionate step. And for
895. 32:01me, that wasn't going to the boy. I
896. 32:03don't know who he is, but God said, "You
897. 32:06need to go to your daughter
898. 32:09because you just discipled her in your
899. 32:12judgment.
900. 32:13You just showed her what it looks like
901. 32:16to stereotype and objectify people and
902. 32:20you need to go back to her and tell her
903. 32:22that what you did was wrong." And so I
904. 32:24did. I had a conversation with her. I
905. 32:26said, "Hey, you remember that boy?" She
906. 32:27said, "Yeah." I go, "Hey, here's what I
907. 32:29did."
908. 32:30And I didn't see him. And I I I judged
909. 32:34him and I invited you into it and we
910. 32:36didn't really do anything about it. You
911. 32:38I said I said, "You know what we should
912. 32:39have done? We should have just stopped.
913. 32:40We should have called out what was going
914. 32:41on. I should have been honest about what
915. 32:43I was feeling. I should have said, "We
916. 32:44should just pray for that kid." We could
917. 32:45have sat right there and just prayed for
918. 32:46the kid, not made a scene of it.
919. 32:50And she looked at me like I was a little
920. 32:51crazy because I was going really deep
921. 32:52into it. She's 13, but she understood.
922. 32:58And so God called me to humble myself
923. 32:59before her and explain that situation to
924. 33:03her. And here's what here's what God
925. 33:05showed me this whole week as I was
926. 33:07wrestling with this
927. 33:09because I felt I felt like I felt awful
928. 33:11after. I mean I God didn't mean to
929. 33:13condemn me when he points these things
930. 33:14out. He's not trying to shame you. But
931. 33:16what he told me he was so gracious, so
932. 33:18generous. He said, "Joel, your first
933. 33:20reaction doesn't have to be your final
934. 33:21response."
935. 33:23And this is what's true of you, too.
936. 33:25your your first reaction does not have
937. 33:27to be your final response because the
938. 33:29truth is you're going to go into this
939. 33:30week and you're going to have a lot of
940. 33:33opportunity to show compassion or be
941. 33:35judgmental.
942. 33:38And what God's inviting you into is not
943. 33:39to shame yourself for the internal
944. 33:41response. It's just to pay attention to
945. 33:42the condition of your heart when you
946. 33:45encounter it. And it's going to happen
947. 33:46multiple times today and throughout the
948. 33:48week for you to pause,
949. 33:52check what's going on with you, pray for
950. 33:54the person involved, and then pursue the
951. 33:56next merciful step. And it's in the
952. 34:00continual awareness of this, of the
953. 34:03confession, the prayer, the humility,
954. 34:06the choosing the merciful, the
955. 34:07compassionate path that God gets a hold
956. 34:09of our heart and begins to change it.
957. 34:12It's in the daytoday. Again, it's not in
958. 34:15cruel acts done randomly and
959. 34:17occasionally that our heart grows hard.
960. 34:19It's in the small tiny steps that we
961. 34:21take every single day to miss the pain
962. 34:24around us. You don't have to fix
963. 34:26everything. But church, may you go into
964. 34:28this week and just pause before you
965. 34:32judge.
966. 34:33Okay? And then pray for the people
967. 34:36involved and then pursue whatever that
968. 34:39next merciful step might be. If it even
969. 34:41not be hit that horn, pause
970. 34:44and let the God of the universe who put
971. 34:46the Holy Spirit in you begin to
972. 34:48transform your heart into a heart of
973. 34:50flesh and give you the compassion the
974. 34:52world needs from the church. This is
975. 34:55what he's called us to. And your heart
976. 34:57can be softened. And I pray that that be
977. 35:00something he does in you. Let's pray.
978. 35:03Lord, I I do I ask that you take our
979. 35:06heart of stone in the stony places that
980. 35:08still exist and in mine and in those in
981. 35:10our church here. Lord, help us become
982. 35:12aware of where our hearts are really at.
983. 35:14You don't condemn us for that. You just
984. 35:16invite us, Lord, into a different
985. 35:18reaction. Holy Spirit, get a hold of us
986. 35:20as a church. Transform our hearts, Lord.
987. 35:24Help us become people who are
988. 35:26compassionate by not by that be our
989. 35:29default. Not what we have to try to do,
990. 35:31but instead of being people who uh go to
991. 35:34judgment, we become people who are
992. 35:35compassionate. Let that flow, Lord,
993. 35:37through you, into us, and into this
994. 35:39community who needs to know your love.
995. 35:42So Lord, we ask you to make us into
996. 35:43those kind of people. And only you can.
997. 35:45And God's people said,
998. 35:47>> "Amen." God bless you, church. You want
999. 35:49prayer, come on up. If you want to know
1000. 35:51Jesus more, we'll love to tell you about
1001. 35:52him. Otherwise, if you got tech or
1002. 35:54singing or musical ability, East Lounge
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