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COMPASSION 1
SO, GOD HAS FEELINGS TOO!
(cmpas1.doc)
/(All definitions come from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance unless otherwise stated.)/
DO YOU KNOW WHAT HURTS ME?
The Bible tells us to love our neighbor  - and Jesus portrayed the true nature of that love in the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan.
He taught that love sees a need or a hurt and responds to it.
A story related by Madeleine L'Engle in her book Walking On Water underscores this truth:  A rabbi known for his deep piety was unexpectedly confronted one day by one of his devoted young followers.
In an outburst of feeling, the youthful disciple exclaimed, "My master, I love you!
The teacher looked up sadly from his books and asked, "Do you know that hurts me, my son?"  His question puzzled the young man.
Composing himself, he stammered, "I don't understand your question, Rabbi.
I am trying to tell you how much you mean to me, and you confuse me with irrelevant questions."  "My question is neither confusing nor irrelevant," the rabbi responded.
"For if you do not know what hurts me, how can you truly love me?"
 
        Let me rephrase that question, "If we do not know what hurts people, how can we truly show them the love of Jesus Christ?"
All around me I see hurting people, but I don't see many people who can sympathize, relate to, or have compassion on those who are experiencing difficulty.
Perhaps we have been anesthetized to the pain of hurting people by the news media.
Every day the television, radio, newspaper and tabloids remind us of a world filled with hurting people.
A tornado deals death and devastation.
A flash flood sweeps many away into sudden death.
Two ships collide and 2,000 people lose their lives.
An airplane crashes and 250 are killed.
Terrorists slaughter missionaries.
A father murders his family.
A young mother is dying from AIDS because her late husband was promiscuous.
Divorced parents fight for the custody of their bewildered children.
There is much pain in this world that we seem to be oblivious to?
Well, God has refocused my vision through the lenses of Luke 4:16-20.
In this passage of Scripture, God has called me to have compassion on hurting people through the preaching of the gospel.
I have devoted my life to preaching the gospel to the poor, to proclaiming consolation for the broken-hearted, to proclaiming freedom for those who are imprisoned, to proclaiming liberty to those who are downtrodden, to proclaiming recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaiming this season of grace.
This is my call, but it is not mine alone.
It is the call of every Christian and particular the call of every member and constituent of The House of the Lord.
\\         So, why aren't we heeding God's call to show compassion to hurting people?
Perhaps we don't hear the call?
Perhaps there are other calls competing for our attention?
Perhaps we don't know the Bible that well?
Perhaps we don't know God that well?
At any rate this is a major problem, because compassion is a major call to all who are Christians.
The lack of compassion around me, as I view things, plus the severe need to know the character of God catapulted me into a biblical study of one of, if not the, most dominant characteristics of God:  His compassion.
So, as I did in my major study on faith, I began to survey every place that the word compassion and its cognates occur in the Bible.
The word "compassion" and its cognates are found some 113 times in the NASB.
I have studied the Hebrew and Greek derivation of every word translated "compassion, compassions, or compassionate" in every text of the NASB and it is plain to see that this is a major attribute of God and a major biblical doctrine!
I have decided to share my findings with you in a systematic and exhortatory way.
In order to understand the importance of compassion in the scheme of biblical doctrine, it is important to return to the author and giver of all compassion:  Jehovah God.
As I have already stated, the words "compassion," "compassions" and "compassionate" occur 113 times in the NASB, but it is important to note that virtually all of these occurrences have to do with the nature of God.
 
/(So, to begin our monumental study of the biblical doctrine of compassion, let's study God's revelation of Himself in the Old Testament with respect to His compassion.)/
To understand God's revelation of Himself with respect to compassion, we must begin with His self-revelation with respect to love:  because His compassion flows from His love, which we shall abundantly see.
        A.
H. Strong categorizes the attribute of God's love as one of the absolute or immanent attributes /(i.e.
ending within God and inherent within Himself as a part of His nature)/.
As we start this discussion, we must keep in mind that we will be using some new and difficult terms.
Every term will be amply explained and illustrated.
Consequently, let me begin that practice right now.
There are /absolute/ attributes of God, i.e. those which end within Himself.
And there are /relative/ attributes of God, i.e. those which are extended to His creatures.
We must wonder, although we refer to some attributes of God as absolute, can any attributes of God really be absolute?
If they were really absolute, if they really ended within God, then how would we know about them?
We know about them because God has chosen to reveal them to us.
Therefore, we must understand that the attributes of God are in some facets both absolute and relative.
So, when we define God's attributes as /absolute/ and /relative/, we are talking about their dominant characteristic.
\\ /(We are now ready to define the love of God from which His compassion flows.)/
 
        A.
H. Strong defines God's love as the divine nature in virtue of which God is eternally moved to self-communication.
Once again, although this is absolute, i.e. it ends in God, i.e.
He has not given mankind an eternal impulse to self-communication, its manifestation is relative.
Our impulse to communication is temporal and tainted!
He further describes the immanent love of God as a rational and voluntary affection, grounded in perfect reason and deliberate choice.
So, God's love is an emotion or sensibility that is surrounded and supported by His intellect and His will.
Therefore, it involves God's entire Being, intellect, emotion and will.
/(Now we are ready to look at God's self-revelation with respect to compassion.)/
The most frequently used Hebrew word for the concept of compassion is the primary word /racham/ (raw-kham'), 7355, which literally means to fondle, love or be compassionate.
This is very instructive, because to be compassionate is basically to feel or demonstrate love.
Hence, as I stated before, compassion flows from love.
This word is usually used of God.
We will see in our study that this relative emotion and demonstration of love flows from the absolute lovingkindness of Jehovah God.
Therefore, the emotion and demonstration of compassion is a relative attribute, divine perfection, or characteristic of the personality of Jehovah God.
Compassion is the relative demonstration of God's immanent love.
Let me approach this from another vantage point.
Although we will not have time to study the word "mercy," it is interesting to note the relationship of mercy to compassion.
Mercy is one of several synonyms for compassion and A. H. Strong expressly categorizes mercy as one of the relative or /transitive/ attributes of God.
The word /transitive/ means having relation to Time and Space.
Therefore, since mercy and compassion are synonyms and mercy is a relative, transitive /(related to time and space)/ attribute of God, then compassion must also be a relative, transitive attribute of God.
We have proved this syllogistically.
Remember your syllogisms:  if a = b and b = c; then a = c.
If compassion = mercy and mercy = relative, transitive attribute of God; then compassion = relative, transitive attribute of God.
If you did not understand all of that:  don't worry!
I will state it and explain it over and over again in the next 14 messages.
So, hand on!!!
 
/(It will be difficult to go any further in this discussion of compassion without some kind of definition of the word "compassion."
I intend to develop a full blown definition of the word "compassion," but for now let me give you a short definition of the word "compassion.")/
\\         Compassion is "a deep feeling for and an understanding of suffering with an accompanying desire to relieve that suffering"  (Webster's Third New International Dictionary).
Therefore, compassion is a deep feeling for suffering that is grounded in the understanding thereof, which often issues into a conscious desire to relieve that suffering.
In short, compassion is a deep feeling for suffering, based on understanding the condition, which impacts one's will.
Even though compassion is predominantly a feeling, it involves one's whole inner man, i.e. intellect, emotion and will.
/(Our definition so far has indirectly come from the Bible, the definition of the original Hebrew word for "compassion", my general Bible knowledge and some definitions from A. H. Strong.
But let's go much further than this, by studying the various occurrences of the words "compassion," "compassions," and "compassionate," in the Bible and making observations, interpretations, applications and doctrinal propositions or principles.
I have grouped together all Scriptures that use a particular Hebrew or Greek word according to frequency of usage.
Then after observation and interpretation, I have drawn from that group of Scriptures a propositional statement or principle.
Although I drew these principles from an inductive study of the Scriptures, we shall, for the sake of simplicity, begin deductively with the principle.)/
Principle #1:  Jehovah God, as to His nature, is love.
He consistently demonstrates His love by being compassionate.
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