Kerry Shook - King of Compassion
We're leading up to Christmas, and I'm really praying that we'll prepare us, in this series, to experience the most meaningful Christmas of our lives. That's my real prayer for you today, that God will help us prepare our hearts so we can experience the most powerful Christmas we've ever experienced in our lives. I mean, you can celebrate Christmas without ever experiencing Christmas, and I want us to prepare our hearts to not just celebrate Christmas, but to really seize the blessings of Christmas this year.
I don't want you to miss your Christmas miracle. I want you to unwrap the blessing that God has given you that has your name on it this Christmas, and to do that, we have to let the King of the manger rule in our lives. And the only way we'll be able to truly trust him to be the King of our heart is to realize he's the king who cares. The King of creation became the King in the manger, so he could show us that he's the King who cares, the King of compassion.
I want you to look at Luke chapter 4. Would you stand in honor of God's Word? And here we see Jesus coming back to his hometown, and he teaches in the synagogue there at Nazareth. And here's this hometown hero that everyone's skeptical about, who comes back to teach. They've heard that he works these miracles, he's this astounding teacher, and so it's all packed out in the synagogue. And the way they did it was whoever was reading the Scripture that day would just pick up where the other person left off the Sabbath before.
And so they handed Jesus the scroll of the Old Testament and it was open to Isaiah 61. That happened to be the Scripture reading where they had left off, in Isaiah 60, the Sabbath before, and so Jesus was to read Isaiah 61. But it wasn't a coincidence, it wasn't just random, because the God of the universe had planned that his Son would be there in that little synagogue in Nazareth that day and that the Scripture would be right there at Isaiah 61, he planned that before he made the foundations of the earth.
And so here's what happens. "The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; he has appointed Me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captive shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to Him.' He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at Him intently. Then He added, These 'Scriptures came true today!'"
You can be seated. Jesus was saying, "This prophecy is about me, this is my purpose for coming into your broken world on the first Christmas. I came to bring good news to the poor and powerless, I came to heal the brokenhearted and restore broken lives and broken relationships, to set free those who are chained by their sin and their shame and their guilt and their fear. And I came to give the hope of salvation to the hopeless, and it's for anyone and everyone who will come to me". Jesus said, "This is my purpose". The King of creation came to show us he's the King who cares. I said last week that creation shows us that God is powerful, but it's Christmas that shows us that he cares, he's the King of compassion.
And if you're a Christ follower, you need to understand that the King of compassion has commissioned you into his army of compassion. Jesus's mission is supposed to be our mission. When Jesus spoke these words in that synagogue in Nazareth that day, you need to understand that his message and his mission flew completely in the face of what was going on in the culture of that day. You see, the Roman Empire had conquered Israel, the Middle East and the whole world in that day, and Roman culture, which came from Greek culture, involved the worship of a pantheon of gods. I mean, that's gods with little g. And all these gods rarely interacted with human beings, but when they did, it didn't go well for the human because the gods were all about themselves, they didn't care about human beings.
And as a result, Roman society was very cruel, there was no value placed on human life, children were often discarded and thrown away. If you had a baby girl, but you wanted a boy to help you in the fields or to be an apprentice for your job, you would just take that baby girl and put her on the trash heap, and no one thought anything of it, no one cared if your kids weren't as productive as you thought they should be or you just got tired of them, then you would just leave them on the streets to live and beg. There were thousands of street orphans and no one thought anything of it. The poor and the sick were treated as invisible, completely ignored. Those with leprosy were thrown out of town, forced into leper colonies because no one wanted to be near them. And women were treated as property, totally dehumanized.
The whole society was based on survival of the strongest, and you just trample on everyone else. And that's what was going on when Jesus said, "I didn't come to this earth at Christmas to set up a political kingdom of earthly power, even though I'm the King of creation and the King of the universe". Jesus humbled himself and came to earth to be the King of compassion, not to be served, but to serve others, to bring healing to those who are hurting. And he spoke that message of compassion and he also modeled the message of compassion. You see, he shared it and then he showed it, because he wanted us to get it, he wanted us to follow in his footsteps, to be commissioned as an army of compassion, he wanted us to fulfill the purpose that he started.
Now, after Jesus told us why he came, in Luke chapter 4, he showed us why he came in Luke chapter 8. So, look at it with me. In Luke chapter 8, beginning with verse 43, "And a woman was there who'd been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 'Who touched Me?' Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.' But Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.' Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'"
This miracle shows us that Jesus is the King who cares. Unlike the false gods of the Romans, we have a God who cares about us. In that culture, this woman had three strikes against her, she was a woman and the culture devalued women, she was poor and the poor were totally ignored, and she was sick, and the sick were outcasts who people avoided. This woman was considered worthless in that society, but not to Jesus.
The King of compassion placed the value of heaven upon her, and he places the value of heaven upon everyone that he created and died for, because he's the King of the outcast and forgotten, he's the King of all the losers and the King of all the lonely, he's the King of the worthless, he's the King of the poor and powerless, he's the King of the shattered and broken, he's the King of the desperate who are at their dead end, and this woman was desperate, she was truly at her dead end. She had had an illness for 12 years, she had gone from doctor to doctor to doctor and no one could do anything about it.
She was labeled incurable, she was labeled "no hope," she was labeled "write her off," and she spent all her money on all these doctors and her condition was just getting worse. She was broke and she was broken, she was facing a barrier she felt like she would never get beyond. And are you facing a barrier today that you feel like you will never get beyond? What are you going through that you're thinking, "I'll never get through"? What is it that hurts you so deeply that you feel like you'll never recover from it?
Here's the great news from this miracle. It's when you've got nothing left that God can give you all you need, it's when you've got nothing left, God can give you all you need. Do you feel like your tank is empty, you got nothing left today? That's the place where God can give you all that you really need, it's only when you get to the place of no hope that you can find the only hope. And just when she thought there was no hope, she heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming through her town. And she had heard how this Jesus had healed the sick and worked miracles, rumors were flying around, and suddenly just a little bit of hope started to well up in her spirit, and she started to place a little bit of hope she had left, and it wasn't much, on our only hope.
The woman was labeled incurable, she was destitute, but that wasn't the worst of it. Because of her bleeding, according to Jewish law, she was considered unclean and everyone she touched would be considered unclean, so she wasn't allowed to touch anyone. She couldn't touch anyone, no one could touch her, and so she probably hadn't felt human touch in over 12 years, she hadn't felt an arm go around her and hold her, and say, "It's going to be all right, it's gonna be ok, I'm here with you, I care about you".
Can you imagine never having human touch for 12 years? She hadn't felt anyone hold her hand or give her an embrace of encouragement, just a hug, she was totally rejected and excluded from connection. Now, I don't know what her greatest fear was, but I can only imagine that it was the fear of being alone for the rest of her life, the fear that no one would ever touch her again, she would never be able to touch anyone again, of never having anyone hold her tight and tell her it was going to be okay, the fear of never being accepted into a family, of never having someone who really understood her and cared about her pain.
You see, this fear of disconnection is one that we all have, it's really deep in our souls because God created you for connection, connection with him, connection with others. And when we start to lose connection with people we love, people we care about, this fear rises up in us and it causes us to do all kinds of things that just create more disconnection. We all have that fear of disconnection, the fear that no one else really understands the burden I'm carrying or the deep wounds that are in my heart.
You can have friends and acquaintances all around you and feel completely alone, you can be in a crowd and be all alone, but I want you to know the King who cares says to you, today, "I came at Christmas so you will never have to be alone". Maybe no one else understands you, maybe no one else really understands the hurt and the burden you're carrying. God understands, God knows, God feels the pain even deeper than you do, you are not alone. Jesus would be passing by, but he wouldn't pass this woman by, he cared about her, and he won't pass you by if you just reach out to him. Take the little bit of faith you have, maybe it's all you got left, and just reach out to him.
You see, this woman just scraped together every last bit of hope and courage that she had left, and she shoved aside all of her fear and her shame, and she stepped into the crowd that day when Jesus was passing by. And I mean, it was a crowd. I just want you to get it, wherever Jesus went, this crowd would just develop. The crowd followed him from town to town, and when he'd get to a town, then the crowd would just become huge and they would press down. It would become dangerous sometimes, this huge crowd. They had to whisk Jesus away at times, this huge crowd just pressing in around him, just to see Jesus, just to find out who this miracle worker was and what he was all about, or, "Maybe he'll do something for me today," and, "He fed 5,000 on the hillside, maybe he'll feed us today".
You know, they just wanted to see the miracles, a lot of them. And this crowd got huge as he walked down those streets, I'm sure it was just packed out, it probably started getting dangerous, people started getting squished together, and I'm sure some started feeling anxious, and that was the crowd that she stepped into. I can't even imagine the courage it took to step into that crowd. I just imagine her tucking her chin in and pulling her cloak close to her face to avoid being recognized, and she pushed her way through the crowd, just probably overwhelmed by the physical contact after years of not being touched at all.
And finally, she pushed her way to the front of the crowd, right behind Jesus, and in an act of scandalous faith, she reached out and touched the hem of his cloak, and was instantly healed. Look what it says, in Luke chapter 8, what happened when she was healed. "She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 'Who touched me?' Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.'"
So she touches the King of compassion, who shows us that he's also the all powerful King of the cosmos, the King of healing, and she experiences the healing power of Jesus and the overwhelming feeling of being pain free for the first time in 12 years. Her heart must have stopped, though, when Jesus stopped. He turned around and he said, "Who touched me"? And the crowd, even the disciples, didn't realize a miracle had taken place in their midst, only Jesus and the woman knew that a great miracle had just taken place. I mean, what an incredible King we have. Without even a word being spoken, he knows and responds when one of his children reaches out to him in faith.
I love Psalm 139:4, it says, "Before a word is on my tongue You, Lord, know it completely". Maybe you're hurting so much you can't put prayers into words, Jesus already knows your deepest hurt. When there are no more words left to say and there are no more tears left to cry, you just reach out to the King of compassion because he already knows your deepest need and he has the power to meet it. Now, even though her bleeding had stopped, she would have still been considered unclean until she had undergone this elaborate washing ritual prescribed by Jewish law. But after she was healed, Jesus immediately called for the woman, as if to say, "There's never a time when you cannot approach me, you can never be too unclean to come to me".
Is there an area of your life where you feel unclean? A sin, a struggle that you're too ashamed to bring into the light, maybe you feel you're unworthy of a miracle. Hey, none of us deserve God's miracles, we don't deserve God's miracle of forgiveness and cleansing. And maybe the enemy is telling you what the people told this woman, "You're unclean, you need to hide your mess from God and everyone". Maybe you're feeling ashamed and you're filled with guilt because of your sins and struggles, here's the good news, you just reach out and touch the King of grace and he will cleanse you, heal you, restore you, and make you whole again.
And reach out to a trusted friend, a pastor, one of our prayer team members, and tell them your struggle, because they're not gonna go, "Oh, I need to tell some other people about this". No, they're gonna go, "Hey, I hear you, I'm gonna pray with you and I wanna help you through this so you can have victory". You're never too unclean to come to the God who cares, and reach out and touch this King of grace who will forgive you and make you whole again. After the woman reached out and received healing, Jesus said, "Who touched me"? And the disciples said, "Hey, everyone's touching you, everyone is pressing in trying to get close to you. What do you mean? I mean, we're all touching you, Jesus".
But look what Jesus said, in Luke 8:46. "But Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.' Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed". Jesus said, "Someone touched Me". He was saying that someone reached out with a little bit of hope and found that I'm the only hope, someone who felt weak reached out and received my power, someone who was losing the battle just reached out and took hold of victory, someone who felt like they were at the end just reached out and found a new beginning, someone who felt like no one cared just reached out and found the King who cares.
You see, Jesus really knew who touched him, and this woman knew that Jesus knew who touched him. Jesus was all God, so he knew everything, but he asked, "Who touched me," so that she would come forward. But I love the line in that passage that says, "Seeing that she could not go unnoticed". I love that, it's one of my favorite passages in all Scripture, "Seeing that she could not go unnoticed". Unnoticed by whom? She could have gone unnoticed by the crowd, I mean, they never had noticed her, they had never cared about her problems and pain, she was invisible to them.
So, "Seeing that she could not go unnoticed," by who? By Jesus, he noticed her when no one else did, and you can never go unnoticed by the King who cares. Maybe no one else knows what you're going through, maybe no one else understands, maybe you feel like you're gonna go through your whole life and there's not gonna be one person who really understands the pain that you're going through. I want you to know, Jesus notices, he's the great noticer, he sees past the smile on your face and he sees the wound in your heart, and he cares, and he's strong enough to carry the burden that you're carrying and carry you along with the burden.
The King of creation, who became the King in the manger, and who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, is the King of compassion. And those of us who have reached out with a little bit of faith and touched this King of compassion, and experienced his healing and forgiveness and grace, are to reach out and be his arms of compassion, to bring healing to this hurting world. That's our mission too. The first century church followed the King of compassion's example and restored compassion in a compassionless culture.
See, the early church was just a small group of outcasts, they were persecuted by the Emperor Nero. They were just this minority group that had no political influence or clout, very little resources, and they had no platform to influence their society in any other way than the platform of compassion, and that's what they did. You see, Christians would take in all the street orphans into their homes and basically just adopt them. And people were like, "Why would you do that? That's just another mouth to feed, that makes no sense". The Christians would go into the leper colonies to minister to them at the risk of their own lives and people would go, "Why would you do that? That makes no sense".
And everyone knew the safest place for a woman to be in the first century was married to a Christian man because the Christians were the only ones who believed that all men and women are created in the image of God, and he created men and women equal in God's eyes, and we need to value every single person because every person is someone that Christ died for. It was the Christians that just unleashed this platform of compassion and generosity of giving and serving to the least of these, regardless of what they gave back. And they just ministered to, loved, and gave to to meet needs of the poor and powerless even though they couldn't give anything back to them.
Even people who hated them and persecuted them, they just loved them and ministered to them. And it just boggled the minds of first century Romans. And it was amazing what happened, because, in just 300 years, this small group of Christ followers that had been persecuted changed the whole world of that day, the whole Roman Empire embraced Christianity in just 300 years. They went from this little band of outcasts who had no political influence or clout, they didn't have a little militia, they didn't have an army to overthrow the evil Roman Empire, but, in just 300 years, these outcasts who were persecuted changed the whole Roman Empire, the whole Roman Empire embraced Christianity.
So how did they do it, how did they change the world? All they had was a platform of compassion, they just followed Jesus Christ, his mission, and they unleashed this tidal wave of compassion through their giving and serving to the hurting and the hopeless, and the whole world stood up and took notice. So, why do we do what we do at Woodlands Church? We're just obeying Jesus when he said, "Church, you're my body, so you're to be my hands of compassion, to reach out to heal this hurting world with my power. You reached out and touched me, and I gave you grace and forgiveness and power and purpose, peace, and now you're to reach out to others. I will be the strength of your hand, I will use your hand, but you reach out and you touch others in my power, you be an army of compassion".
We're to continue the purpose of the King of compassion, who has commissioned us into his army of compassion for God's glory. I wanna read to you this last verse, Luke 6:38, Jesus says this, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you". Jesus said you get to determine your blessings, you know? "With the measure you used to give out, I'm gonna give you a bigger measure to bring in. You got this bucket that you can give out, and then," God says, "I'll give you a bigger bucket and fill it up because you can't out-give me".
What a powerful lesson to learn. Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given unto you". What a powerful blessing that God wants to give you. You know, Woodlands Church, this church stands on the edge of greatness. We stand on the edge of greatness, but the only way you can experience greatness is you descend into greatness, you don't ascend to greatness. Most people think of greatness as you ascend, you climb the ladder of success and maybe you have to knock some people off along the way. But when you get to the top, you're gonna find it's against the wrong wall, there's no fulfillment, no peace, no purpose, nothing eternal that lasts. The way you get to greatness is, like Jesus, you serve others.