Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

You don’t have to raise your hands but I would like you to think this morning,

Am I a compassionate person?

Ask yourself this question.

As I have been asking myself this question this week I have come to the realization that this is truly an area that I need to grow.

It is easy for me to have compassion for those that I know and care about.

I would jump in and help in a heartbeat if I am able to do so.

It is much more difficult though when it comes to strangers.

Questions arise in my mind, especially with people seeking money or other things of the sort, are they really in need or are they just lazy living off of other people’s generosity.

I have seen much of this which more often than not has caused more of a callous to form rather than a compassionate heart.

What is the line between having and showing compassion and being taken advantage of.

That is why I believe many of us err on the side of not showing compassion rather than moving with compassion.

We don’t want to be taken advantage of.

We don’t want to be used.

We work hard for what we have earned.

That statement there in itself though is the beginning of the issue.

We must though also break the boundary of compassion being something that is shown monetarily.

While yes we can show compassion with our money.

We also can show compassion through our presence.

Through our actions.

Through our speech.

Where do we begin to grow in compassion?

How do we put on compassionate hearts?

When many examples, especially in scripture.

When we look to those examples, we will grow in compassion when we put on what we see modeled.

Paul’s command to his readers.

We must begin understanding this call by first observing the person making it.

Paul’s background.

Before his conversion Paul actively preserved and protected the religious traditions of his forefathers.

Considering himself an “orthodox” Jew, he was zealously committed to eradicating apostasy.

Going further than his peers, he became a member of the Pharisaic sect (see Saldarini 1988: 134–43) and took it upon himself to persecute the Christian church

We see from the book of Galatians a bit of Paul’s zeal.

And in Acts we see how Paul took his faith very seriously.

Paul’s life before he came to Christ certainly does not appear to be one of compassion.

He ravaged the church, drug men and women off to prison and approved of the execution of Christians.

Paul was convinced he was doing what he must to protect his way of life.

That mean being ruthless in his actions, no mercy, no compassion.

If you were a Christian you were a threat and must be dealt with accordingly.

Something extremely significant and dramatic would have to happen to get Paul to change his path, his mind, his faith.

This direction change of course began on the road to Damascus.

At Paul’s conversion he was confronted by Jesus.

What I am not trying to say is that Paul went from hardened killer to sniveling baby.

Paul’s conversion did not change his personality.

That is though one of the thoughts for the thorn in Paul’s flesh, that it was the memories of all the Christians that he had persecuted.

All we have to do to see this look to the letters that he wrote and the travel that he did.

Paul’s zeal for Jewish religion transferred to a zeal for Jesus and for His church.

In the December 1956 issue of the National Geographic Magazine, there appeared an article, under the title, “In the Steps of Paul.”

The author or authors, who had done considerable research on Paul’s travels, estimated that his missionary endeavors consumed some twelve thousand miles, some by ship on the mighty Mediterranean Sea, and also across its “arms”—the Aegean and Adriatic Seas.

In addition, hundreds of miles were traversed by land.

He visited approximately fifty cities in his evangelistic endeavors (McRay 2003, 11)

Paul desired to see people begin a relationship with Jesus and as Christians grow in their love for the Lord.

The way he did this was through example and instruction in Christian living.

Paul does not mince words, he is not wishy washy when it comes to instruction.

That is one of the main reasons why he is writing to the Colossians here.

To head off trouble at the pass so to speak.

The way he did this was by encouraging fellow believers to become more like Jesus.

He encouraged them to put on traits of Jesus that they might become more like Jesus.

Paul’s command to the Colossian believers.

Bringing us in specifically to our text Paul instructed to Colossian believers to put on compassionate hearts.

What does this mean?

What does it mean to put on a compassionate heart?

To define compassion -

sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it

compassion n. — a deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering.

The Greek word here points to where this comes from.

It is something that is deeply seated within us.

Striving of the bowels - deep seated emotion.

Yearning of the innermost nature.

Paul here is instructing his readers to have this in their lives.

To have compassion that flows from inside of you.

But what exactly is compassion?

We need a few other definitions to really help us to understand.

Beginning with the opposite of compassion.

Apathy - is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern.

It is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

Sympathy - Having similar feelings as another person.

An example of this might be - Oh I’m sorry your dog died, that is such a sad thing.

Empathy - Being aware of, sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing another persons feelings, thoughts, and experiences.

It is as if their feelings have been projected on to you.

An example of this could be “Oh, I’m sorry to hear your family member passed away.

I know some of what you are feeling because I lost my family member.

Compassion - One way to understand compassion could be sympathy and empathy sort of combined together but with an added bit of desiring to alleviate the other persons distress if possible.

It is pity with an urgent desire to aid or spare.

What situations can you think of that a person may be in where another might have a compassionate response.

Perhaps you see someone struggling to haul their groceries out to their car.

Perhaps you see someone struggling to carry their groceries because they didn’t grab a basket.

Perhaps its asking a friend or coworker how they are doing with a specific situation, offering encouragement, letting them know you are there if they need you.

Maybe its showing the new person a few tricks of the trade to help them get a better start.

Compassion isn’t simply about being friendly, its about caring for others, truly caring.

You never know what even a simple hello or smile might do for someone’s day.

This is the idea of what Paul is calling his readers to, to put on compassionate hearts.

He is calling his readers to this out of his own example and the example he has in Christ.

Paul is calling his readers to grow in Christ by putting on the compassion that Jesus modeled.

Christ our example.

If it is true that when we are putting on these traits that we are in essence putting on Christ, we must look to know what that means and how it ought to affect us.

Jesus is our great example for putting on compassionate hearts because he is the only one that has a truly compassionate heart.

To do this I want to look at Jesus examples from his ministry.

When we read through the gospels we get many examples of Jesus compassion.

His compassion always had purpose and intention.

Compassionate heart of action.