Jude 22b, "And of some have compassion, making a difference."
First came the light. Then the firmament. Then God lit the starry host.
Then He made the fish of the sea and all the tribes of the animal kingdom.
After that God was ready for man. He made man in the image of Himself.
It was marvelous. Every tree that grew was pleasant to the eyes. Rivers
flowed peaceably through verdant valleys. Every sound was a melody Every
scene was a delight. There was no war to unrest the breast; no sickness
was there to cause a fear of death. The leaf never withered; the wind never
chilled. No perspiration ever moistened the brow. There was no profanity
to curse the ear. There was no weariness, no heat, no cold. No blossoms
were smitten by a tempest. Man had not learned to sigh or weep. There was
no withering frost to chill the rose. There was no shadow of guilt ever
known. For Adam there were choirs of birds to sing to him.
Yet something was missing! Adam needed someone to share with him. He
yearned for companionship. He longed for communion with a kindred soul.
He needed one whose wants and joys were like his own. The virgin world
was cold and blank.
HERE SHE COMES! Dressed in all the beauty for a human being to possess!
Milton said, "She was adorned with what all of heaven and earth could bestow
to make her amiable. Grace was in her steps. Heaven was in her eye. Every
gesture possessed dignity and love. Perfection was stamped upon her. The
sons of God shouted for joy, the morning stars sang together, and Eden
was transformed! The earth was sad, the garden wild, the hermit sighed,
until woman smiled."
Not a creature since Adam has escaped that need for companionship. The
weary housewife, the trudging laborer, the busy student, the aged mother,
the harried boss and, I must confess, the preacher behind the pulpit -
all have a need for someone to offer to them compassion.
Compassion is the nurse given to mankind. Compassion cares for the helpless.
It mothers the orphan, feeds the hungry; clothes the cold, helps the helpless
and raises the fallen. Compassion shines upon coldness and warms it. Compassion
shines upon suffering and relieves it. Compassion shines upon sorrow and
cheers it.
God has given us His men and has called them from the north, east, south
and west to stand behind pulpits to have compassion upon mankind.
Her name is College Wife, USA. She was married to her child- hood sweetheart.
They lived in an apartment and sacrificed for years. Finally they were
able to buy a little house. A small down payment was made, and monthly
payments were paid. They drove an old rattletrap for years; now finally
they are able to get a small new car. Things are looking up! Her husband
got promoted at work. She sings in the choir; he is an usher. They both
teach Sunday school classes.
One Sunday night her husband walked the aisle during the invitation.
She wondered why When they got home, he said to her that God had called
him to preach. Suddenly all of her dreams were ended; the air castles were
broken on the pavement of providence! They put the house up for sale. They
sold the new car and bought an old one and put what belongings they had
in a U-Haul trailer and came to Hammond, Indiana, to attend Hyles-Anderson
College. They couldn't afford a little house like they had back home. They
couldn't even afford one of the nicer apartments. The little house has
now been traded for an attic apartment. The shiny new little car has now
been sold, and an old one has taken its place. Her husband enrolls in college.
He goes to college at 7:00 a.m. in the morning and gets through just in
time to go to work. He works into the night and gets home and has a few
hours to sleep. She hardly sees him. Oh, by the way, she has a few children
for whom she cares. No longer does he come in at 5:30 after a busy day's
work to spend the night with the family She who was Miss Typical Housewife
now is Miss Typical College Student's Wife. There are four years, maybe
five, maybe six, maybe more before it will all be over. She needs a man
of God to stand behind the pulpit on the Lord's Day who feels her heartache,
who feels her loneliness and who really cares and offers compassion.
Her name is Grandma. She has seen her last child leave the marriage
altar. Her husband was taken to Heaven. She tried to keep house as long
as she could, but she began to fall. She couldn't see too well. Her hearing
was failing. Her hands were trembling. Her brow is furrowed, her face is
wrinkled, her shoulders are stooped, her steps are uncertain. One day the
children had a meeting. They had to do something with Grandma. She suggested
that they put her in a rest home. Ungrateful children said, "Well, if that's
what you want, that's what we'll do, Mother;" and there she sits with hands
that never open a letter, ears that never hear the ring of a phone, cheeks
that never feel a kiss, feet that never take her outside, eyes that never
see loved ones or friends. She hardly knows her grand-children, and there
she sits fellowshipping with her memories- memories of days when she washed
and ironed and cooked and cleaned house and was in the busy activities
of rearing a family, but now those days are gone!
A church group came by the rest home. They said they were running a
bus to church. Now she can get on the bus and ride to church. There she
sits in the auditorium. She needs a man of God to walk to the pulpit, to
open the Book and offer her compassion. She needs to feel that someone
cares, for compassion makes a difference!
His name is Johnny. His address is Ghetto, USA. He is a bus kid. He
doesn't know where his daddy is. One day his parents called him in and
told him that Daddy was leaving. His only Christmas is if the church remembers.
He has never had a birthday cake or seen a new pair of shoes on his feet.
He has never heard, "You are a cute little fellow." Such words as steak,
love, peace and kindness are part of a foreign language as far as he is
concerned. He didn't know he wasn't normal until he saw other boys and
girls that had nice things. His mom leaves for work every morning early
and comes back home late at night. He may suspicion you at first a little
bit, and he may disturb your worship service, but he needs somebody to
care. Oh, I know, buses are expensive. Your auditorium is pretty You now
have a good drive-in crowd, and Johnny is a financial burden, but there
he sits covering up a hole in his pants. Little Johnny needs someone to
car. He needs a pastor who has compassion which makes a difference!
I can relate to little Johnny The first toy I ever owned the church
gave to me. The first hamburger lever ate was bought for me by the church.
The first balloon I ever blew up I got at church. I know!
I will never forget the day that I walked into the Fernwood Baptist
Church as a five-year-old lad. The Beginner Superintendent whose name was
Mrs. Bethel, took me to the Beginner Department. She put me on her knee.
My little bare feet were obvious. My knees were showing through the holes
and through the patches of my pants. I had on a little white T-shirt, and
I noticed that all the other little boys and girls had on shoes and the
boys had white shirts and ties. Mrs. Bethel put me on her knee. She said,
"Boys and girls, we have a visitor this morning. His name is Jackie-boy
Hyles. Aren't we glad to have him?" Nobody said a word. Then Mrs. Bethel
looked at me and said, "Jackie-boy, Jesus loves you" I'll never forget
how I felt! Mama had told me that, but nobody else had ever told me! I
looked up and said the first words that I had said that morning. I asked,
"Mrs. Bethel, does Jesus love me as much as He loves the little boys and
girls that have on shoes?"
A tear escaped her eye and invaded my brow as she said, "Jackie-boy,
He probably loves you more than He loves anybody here this morning." The
joy of Heaven flooded my soul as I heard my teacher tell me that Jesus
loved me.
There are millions of little Jackie-boys all over America who need to
be contacted and brought to church, to sit in a pew and look up and see
a man of God walk to the pulpit who has compassion which makes a difference.
Oh, someone needs to care. Someone needs to offer compassion to the
one who cannot hear the whipporwill, to the one who has never heard the
church choir or the voice of the preacher, but who sits in his world of
silence while dedicated fingers reveal to him what is being said. He needs
compassion; it will make a difference!
Someone needs to care about the one who has never seen a sunrise or
a sunset, who has never seen a rose or a daffodil, who has never seen a
meadow or a forest or the dogwood or the azalea. He has never seen a rainbow.
He has never seen his own mother and father. He lives in a world of darkness
following a white tipped cane. He needs somebody to love him. He needs
to feel that somebody has compassion that will make a difference!
He lives at the rescue mission. His world fell apart many years ago.
He was too weak to face reality and now he sleeps on a cot with others
who share his plight. His family has left him, his children do not want
to see him, but he is still a creature of God, made in the image of God!
He is the object of the love of God, Christ died for him, the incarnation
was for him, Bethlehem's manger was for him, the shepherds watching their
flocks by night were for him, the wise men from the East bringing gifts
of gold, frankincense and myrrh were for him. Mary brought forth her firstborn
Son and wrapped Him an swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger for him.
Jesus lived for him. He lived a perfect life for him. He went before Pilate
and on to Herod and back to Pilate for him. He was beaten with a cat-o'-nine-tails
for him. He carried His cross up Golgotha's hill for him. He was crucified
for him. He rose again after 72 hours for him. He ascended back to Heaven
for him. He is now doing His priestly work at the right hand of the Father
for him. He is going to come someday for him. Just a rescue mission man,
and some folks would call him a bum, but God loves him! There needs to
be some place where he can go and sit in a pew and look in the pulpit where
somebody loves him and where a man of God can have compassion on him that
makes the difference!
He lives in Backroom, USA. When he was born he brought the same joy
and happiness to his mother and daddy that all babies bring until one day
they noticed he was not developing as he should. He had a look on his face
that was different from other children. Finally the doctor told the bad
news to the parents that the child was not normal. He would never be able
to learn like other children. He would join the special classes for the
educable slow. Physically he will grow like others, but mentally he will
never develop! He sits over on the left in the First Baptist Church auditorium
with scores of others just like him. He is a teenager now. He looks to
the pulpit. He needs to see a man walk in that pulpit who loves him, who
hurts because he hurts and cries because he cries. He needs a man who has
compassion that makes the difference!
Several years ago a lady came to our church to visit. She did not like
me and she voiced her displeasure at my preaching. However, to my surprise
she came back the next Sunday! She returned that night and the next Sunday
and that night and the next Sunday and that night. I couldn't believe that
she kept coming. Finally one day I saw her in the line outside my door
after the Sunday morning service. She had a harsh look on her face. I found
out later that she had come to rebuke me and to criticize me to my face.
Finally it was her time to enter my office. She walked into the office;
her lips began to quiver and she said, "Reverend, I came this morning to
tell you all the bad things I could think of that I think about you, but
I have been watching the people who come into your office. I saw you as
you wept when you said, "Good-bye," to a college couple who was leaving
to go out into full time work. I saw your lips quiver and your eyes fill
with tears as you talked to another one who had a burden, and then it dawned
on me why I keep coming to your church. I don't like your preaching; I
never have, but something draws me back Sunday after Sunday It just came
to me what that something is. Reverend, it's that moist spot in the corner
of your eye. It's always there. That's the reason I keep coming."
Ladies and gentlemen, that moist spot is a sign of compassion. Oh, for
preaching that is strong, hard, straight and Spirit filled! Oh, for preaching
that challenges, scolds, rebukes, chastens and reproves! Oh, for preaching
that is a warning against sin! Oh, for preaching about judgment, Heaven,
Hell, righteousness and holiness, but may God help us to always have that
moist spot in the corner of the eye! Oh, men of God, have compassion that
makes the difference!
