Compassion for the lost and networking with
other churches in demonstrating compassion is in our Church’s Mission
Statement.
What is compassion?
Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy
and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong
desire to alleviate the suffering.
Greek
Splangchnon; plural splangchna
Originally referred to body parts
specifically to the viscera of sacrificial animals – heart, liver, lungs and
kidney (“guts” or “bowels”)
The followings are the verses used by Dr.
Tiong for his sermon:
Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 22:37-39, Matthew
14:14, Matthew 15:32, Mark 1:40-41, John 11:35
Several of these verses contain the word
“compassion” and some about how Jesus showed compassion for the needy.
God’s compassion is the heart of salvation.
Jesus is the expression of God’s compassion for us. It is not about pity for us.
Jesus has the heart for two groups of
people
a) The lost
b)
outcast, sick or poor.
Even though in many Bible stories we could
see Jesus was very busy and yet he had compassion for these two groups of
people.
How do we love God? By loving others.
1.
For the lost – we must share
Christ whenever we have the opportunity.
In this modern time, we got to earn the rights to share Jesus Christ
with the lost. Our actions should tally
with our sharing. Do not say one thing
and do the opposite.
2.
Heal the sick – Jesus had
compassion for the sick and He healed them.
3.
The harvest is plentiful and
labours are few, more so we must share Christ with those who do not know Him.
Being a Christian we cannot be
uncompassionate. He share about the work
of Mother Teresa, and Amy Carmichael, how these missionaries sacrificed their
lives for others. Also in Borneo how SIB
was started by the Australians who had compassion for those in Borneo who did
not know Christ. We must response to
reach the unreached. We are His hands
and voices. We are His channel and He
wants to work through us. God wants us t
participate in His work.
As a Church how do we show compassion to
the lost?
E.g. we have Salvation Amy works,
Breakthrough, Hope Place, Tuition of English, Family Ministry and others. There are so many avenue for us to
participate. It is not necessary to
introduce new activity and organizations to do these work.
Dr. Tiong shared about his experience of
serving in a hospice where a family have 4 retarded children who also suffered
from kidney problems. Last year one
child died while his parents hold his hands.
Another is very sick now. When
Dr. Tiong asked them how they face such hardship and pain, they said it was
God’s grace and mercy. Dr. Tiong said he
could not help but to show support and to hold their hands in the time of
trouble.
In another story, he was helping a rural
woman with her cataract eyes, the operation did not go well and yet the woman
told Dr. Tiong that she could see. Dr.
Tiong knew she could not see. On another
occasion Dr. Tiong asked her why she said she could see when she could not ? She said Dr.Tiong and others had already showed her so much
compassion and help and she could not say she was unable to see.
Net
Working
God wants us to work with others and other
churches. Since, the “Allah” issue we
can see how our Sarawak Churches of various denominations had united together
for the same cause. We have seen many
churches under Kuching Minister Fellowship working together in many projects.
There are many organizations we can join,
Salvation Amy, Alpha, FES, Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade, Breakthrough, Hope
place etc.
Conclusion
Micah 6:8
“He
has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To
act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly[a] with your God.”
