BS2G - CHRIST'S ACTIONS REFLECT HIS HEART
Compassionate
A heart that is gentle and lowly has compassion for people, and Jesus showed that compassion time and again in many circumstances. First, we see his heart towards the multitudes that started to come to him in all their sin, hurts, sickness, and troubles.
Matthew 9:35-36 / 14:14 / 15:32
He couldn’t walk past the unfortunate without listening to their plea.
Matthew 20:34
He loved His own people the Jews, and the great city of Jerusalem where David had sat as king. But He was overcome by their obstinate refusal of His coming as the Messiah.
Matthew 23:37
Jesus had compassion for the untouchables in the society --- which at that time were the lepers. He refused to keep his distance and actually moved towards them so He could touch them.
Mark 1:40-41
Jesus could weep with those who were weeping in the grip of death itself.
Luke 7:12-13 / John 11:32-35
In all these verses, the common word describing Jesus is compassion. In Greek this word refers to the bowels or guts of a person. It was an ancient way of expressing what rises up from the innermost part of a person. Jesus couldn’t help acting as He did because it rose up from the very depths of who He was.
Jesus didn’t just have compassion for his own people. He lived in a country occupied by Romans and they too had problems, sickness, and difficulties.
Luke 7:2-10
The Jewish people had a lot of trouble with Jesus helping a Roman or a Samaritan. They were hated enemies and you don’t help an enemy. But Jesus saw them as children of God, the same way that the Jews were children of God. He was no respecter of person. His deepest anguish was the anguish of another and He forgave and helped those who least deserved it but truly desired it.
But…what about the harsher side of Jesus? As we saw in the last study, He had nothing but “woes” for the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. How does this square with His compassionate heart?
The mercy of Jesus and the wrath of Jesus are not at odds. They are like a see-saw that rise and fall together. At his core Jesus will most naturally display affection and mercy towards sinners and sufferers. When he sees the fallenness of the world He moves towards the problems and not away from them. We have the tendency to feel that when we have “blown it” the most, He’ll want nothing to do with us. Quite the opposite. That’s the time to draw close to Him for His arms are always open and extended to us.
The Old Testament had a lot to say about clean vs. unclean because moral dirtiness is contagious. But what do we see Jesus do?
Matthew 9:9-10
He moved TOWARDS the unclean tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners.
Who objected to this?
Matthew 9:11
Notice that they don’t confront Jesus directly but ask his disciples who were in range of Jesus’ hearing them. They were cowardly at heart.
It’s Jesus that responds to their question. And He tells them, as well as us today, WHY he moves towards anyone in need.
Matthew 9:12
WHO does Jesus call and invite to repentance?
Matthew 9:13
But, aren’t we all sinners? Yes, but some of us still think we are “good people” and it’s those that Jesus can have nothing to do with. Until we see our “sin problem” Jesus has nothing to offer us.
In moving towards the sinner, Jesus was reversing the whole Jewish system. According to Leviticus 5:3 when the clean touched the unclean, he became defiled and unclean. But when Jesus touched the unclean, HE didn’t become unclean. Rather THEY became clean!
His entire earthly ministry was restoring dignity and humanity to undeserving sinners. As He moved from town to town and was confronted with the sadness of sin and its consequences, he spread “the good contagion” of his tender mercies that cleansed sinners. He is exactly the same for us today.
Hebrews 13:8
Today Jesus is even closer to us than when He walked the earth because He dwells within us by His Spirit.
Christ’s heart is never drained by our coming to Him. Because He came to earth to serve, forgive, and heal, His joy increases when we receive what He offers.
On the other side of the cross Jesus had the joy of seeing His people forgiven and reunited with His Father. But ultimately what does He want?
John 17:24
Jesus wants US! And when we choose to become part of His family (or His body) what does He keep doing for us?
Ephesians 5:29-30
We are part of Jesus and He is comforted whenever He sees you and I drawing from the riches of His atoning work. Just as we enjoy seeing success in our work, so does Jesus. It is pure joy for Him to see anyone of us benefiting from the sacrifice of His life.
Hebrews 12:2
Jesus can Sympathize
Jesus can have compassion for us because He is able to sympathize with us. He did exactly as His Father had done.
Psalm 103:13-14 / Isaiah 63:8-9
But there is another reason Jesus can sympathize with us.
Hebrews 4:15
To sympathize means to suffer with someone. Jesus has been on the same path as we are on --- despised and rejected by men, lonely, abandoned, and betrayed. Jesus knows the strength of temptation better than any of us.
The only exception from us is that He never sinned. He is not trapped in the hole of sin with us, and therefore He can pull us out. His sinlessness is our very salvation.
Hebrews 7:25-27
Although Jesus is in solidarity with sinners it’s often the opposite of how we feel. The more difficult life gets, the more we feel alone in it. But it’s right then that Jesus draws the closest to us – how close?
Proverbs 18:24
As our High Priest Jesus sympathizes with us, shows us compassion, and then …. How does He deal with us?
Hebrews 5:2
The fact that a High Priest deals gently with the ignorant and the wayward is the writer’s way of including everyone. For when we are ignorant we commit many accidental sins, and when we are wayward we commit deliberate sins. All of us do one or another.
What brings forth Christ’s tenderness towards us is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to Him. What happens if we never come to Him?
2 Corinthians 5:10 / Revelation 20:12
Whether Jesus will be a Lamb or a Lion to us will be our own choice, but He will not be neutral.
When Jesus deals gently with us, He is doing what comes most naturally. He already knows about our sins. What does He want us to do?
Hebrews 12:1
And how are we to do that?
Hebrews 12:2
In other words, we shouldn’t fix our attention on our sin. We should fix it on Jesus who will be gentle with us and run our race with us.
Even in our sin, what is true?
Psalm 32:1-2
At the cross Jesus’s shed blood covered all of our sins: past, present, and even future ones. When God sees the blood of Jesus over our lives, He does not count our sin against us --- and that’s a fact.
But when we bring that sin to Jesus and acknowledge it what does He do?
Psalm 32:5
If we don’t bring our sin to Jesus what happens to us?
Psalm 32:3-4
Jesus wants to instruct us and teach us the way we should walk through this life. He wants to counsel us and watch over us as we proceed. (Psalm 32: 8) What does He warn us of?
Psalm 32:9
We can be terribly stubborn and want to continue in our own destructive paths. If this is the case Jesus has to be like any good father would be to his children.
Hebrews 12:6-7
Discipline might be a “dirty word” to us because it hurts. But what is God’s goal in all of our discipline?
Hebrews 12:10-11
The Father Himself takes the initiative for our deliverance.
John 6:37
Notice the words used in this promise:
a. “All that the Father GIVES….not haggles over.
b. “…..WILL COME to me (Jesus)” –God’s saving purpose for a sinner can’t be thwarted.
c. “…and WHOEVER comes to me (Jesus)” --- we aren’t dragged to Jesus kicking and screaming against our will. Divine grace can reach down so that our desires can change.
Notice in this phrase the words “come to ME”. We don’t come to a set of doctrines, to a religion, to a church, to the gospel. We come to the person of Jesus – God’s Son who loves us and gave His life for us.
d. “I will never drive away” (or “I will in no wise cast out.”) – This is a promise to meet all objections. You say: “But I did such and such.” Jesus says: “I will NEVER drive you away from me –NEVER!” We will never be able to produce a reason where Jesus will close off his heart to us.
Consider this: It’s actually our sins and weaknesses that are the very reasons we are qualified to approach Jesus! While our grasp of Jesus may falter, His never will!
Psalm 63:8 / Isaiah 41:10 / Isaiah 46:4
A Tender Friend
What title did the crowds give Jesus?
Matthew 11:19
The most despicable people of that time were the tax collectors and the sinners – and here was Jesus befriending them! It was shocking to the self-righteous people, but the label was a great comfort to those who knew themselves as sinners.
Q: What does it mean for Jesus to be a friend of sinners?
It means first of all that Jesus enjoys spending time with us. Sinners always felt welcome and comfortable around him. And we too can be at ease when we are with Jesus. In Him, we have a friend who will always enjoy us and not refuse us.
Psalm 145:18
A true friend pursues us and opens up to us without holding anything back. What is Jesus willing to share with any of us who become his friend?
John 15:15
And finally, Jesus is a companion. Companion is really another word for friend but has the idea of someone who comes alongside of us in our journey.
John 14:6
Jesus as “the way” doesn’t just hand us a map to get us through this life. No, He becomes our personal guide every step of the journey -- if we let Him come with us. His offer of friendship gets below any painful feeling of loneliness that we may have. It’s true that Jesus wants us to be part of his family (the church) and have fellowship with others. But during the times in life when we can’t have the presence of others, Jesus reminds us that He is “closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Next Study: BS2H- The Opposite of Adam