Share Jesus’ Love

What a joy to travel around and share Jesus’ love with people.  Today we have a group of students from Michigan Lutheran Seminary High School who traveled to Texas in order to share Jesus’ love with the Youth Campers at Shiloh (that is, if they get their electricity back on line!)  After this past week of Teen Camp I was very much looking forward to joining you here for worship.  You all know that it’s been a busy couple of weeks traveling to Austin for Lucy’s baptism, then to Illinois for the WELS Missionary Kids’ Retreat, then the Janet Rondeau memorial on Friday. But, it has been a good kind of busy. You see, this business all had to do with gospel ministry. All along the way I have shared the main idea of our Gospel lesson for today with people:  Share Jesus’ love with others! To share his love acknowledge the blessings of baptism, emphasize keeping Jesus at the center of marriage, reminding Teens that Jesus is their armor to fight against temptations, and comfort families in mourning with our resurrected Lord.  So, I was looking forward to worshiping with you this morning because once again I am energized by Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew chapters 9 & 10 to:

Share Jesus’ Love

With A Heart That’s Filled With Compassion

You know how important it is to have a genuine interest in a project before you tackle it. But, even when you have a great interest sometimes the details can bog you down.  You want to know the Who, why, what, and where?  You heard the list of names Matthew gave us of the men Jesus called to be his 12 Apostles. Please remember that these men were not seminary graduates.  They may have had some synagogue training in the youth, have learned about the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, but at this point they hadn’t gone anywhere or said anything.  Yet, Jesus (the Who) called them for his very important project—to share Jesus’ love with others (the Why).  At this point in Matthew’s account they had heard Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, healed people, and calmed the storm. They had a general idea why they were following Jesus, and now they knew they were to be his witnesses (the What), but they sure didn’t know the specifics yet (the Where). So, Jesus gives them some roles to Share Jesus’ Love with the world with a heart that is filled with Jesus’ love.

To fill their hearts with his love, these men followed Jesus and watched him in action. “³⁵ Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.” The disciples learned some things about Jesus as they followed him. Jesus was constantly working. The Sabbath was not his “day off” but it was his opportunity to teach the people. If there were people present, Jesus was all too ready to tell them about the kingdom of God. If they were sick he healed them. Jesus was all about the people.  At one point his mother and brothers and sisters even tried to get Jesus from the crowds because they thought he was working himself to death.  Well, in a sense they were right. He was on call 24-7.  He didn’t say this is my church time and this is my family time and this is my work time.  Jesus was always ready to proclaim the Good News about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus was also compassionate. He saw the people for who they were.  They were created by the Father and his Father wanted these people with him in heaven someday. Jesus’  heart burned with a passion to save these people. And Jesus knew what they were up against.  Their leaders were telling the people that the key to getting right with God was a life of obedience. Obey God’s laws and our laws and you’ll find peace. You can imagine what happened to them.  They either despaired trying to keep all the laws, or they gave up. Either way, they had no peace. He saw them “troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Have you ever felt the same kind of compassion for someone like Jesus felt? Has anyone ever heard your compassion in your voice or seen it in your eyes? Maybe your friend is miserable because he doesn’t feel like anybody loves him and doesn’t know Jesus loves him.  Your classmate can’t think straight because he doesn’t know Jesus can help. Your son or daughter is carrying a load of guilt because they don’t believe Jesus forgives them. Your fellow-worker is going to hell because he doesn’t believe Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life.  Have you ever felt compassion for these people? I don’t mean to be nasty, but sometimes people show more love and concern for their pets than they do for the people they know. Our Family, Relatives, Acquaintances and Neighbors have hurting hearts, not to mention the almost 8 billion people of the world we don’t even know!  Look at people the way Jesus looked at people. Have a heart that is filled with compassion.

I am quite confident that the folks here today have all experienced Jesus’ compassion. You all believe God’s Word that Jesus lived, died and rose again in order to save you from the punishment of your sins. You have experienced the compassion of Jesus when he washed your sins away in baptism.  You experience Jesus’ compassion when you are wrestling with a serious sin, or sickness or heartbreak having lost someone you love.  Then you commune with him at his Holy Meal and hear the words, “for the forgiveness of your sins. Peace be with you,” and return to your seat with the taste of Jesus’ compassion on your lips.  Be filled with Jesus’ compassion for us, and share that compassion with others.  You have a heart that has been filled with Jesus’ love.  Now it’s time for us to Share Jesus’ Love

With a Heart That Is Filled With Jesus’ Love

Don’t worry, at this point I’m not going to change the tone of this sermon and  preach to you how you can fix all the problems of your life.  Then I would be like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day telling you all the things to do in order to make it all right.  I am going to follow Jesus’ lead.  Jesus was about to send out his disciples on their first missionary experience and he had plenty to share with them.

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to himself and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness…6 Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ 8 Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse lepers. Drive out demons.”

Matthew 10:1, 6-8

The same Jesus who created the world, who humbled himself to take on human flesh, who came to fulfill his Father’s desire to save the world from the flames of hell, had a plan for his witnesses.  He wanted them to have a heart that beat with Jesus’ love. Where Jesus had gone, they were to go.  What Jesus had said, they were to say.  What Jesus had done, they were to do.  All of this with a heart filled with Jesus’ love for them and for the people. It was all pretty simple.

And it is still pretty simple. Jesus tells us where to go: “Make disciples of all nations.”  Jesus tells us what to say: “Your sins are forgiven.”  Jesus tells us what to do: “Baptize them and teach them everything I have commanded.” Jesus gives us his promise: “I’m with you always to the very end of this age.”  It is simple because Jesus’ command goes where we go, to say what God’s Word says, and to do what God’s holy Word calls us to do. All these choices he leaves with his people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with his Word, and filled with compassion for the lost, and filled with Jesus’ love.  Yes, motivated by Jesus’ love for us we lay out our best short-range plans and our best long-range plans because we are listening to Jesus’ voice summarized with these words: “Freely you have received; freely give.”

So, we have had a couple of very busy weeks.  A Baptism, WELS Missionary Kids’ Retreat, Teen Camp, and a Memorial Service. And here we are today in God’s house to worship, praise and thank him for his grace and mercy during these wonderful gospel filled days.  Looking forward we have some gospel-filled busy days!  We have a Voters Meeting to discuss the ministry plans of our church, VBS and before you know it we’ll do our Thanksgiving Food Drive and then it’s Christmas!  These are all opportunities for you and me to serve people by having compassion for them and sharing Jesus’ love with them. What Jesus said to the 12 disciples is still true for us today; ““The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.” Therefore let us pray that the Lord would fill our hearts with compassion for the lost.  Pray for young men and women to consider entering into full time gospel ministry as pastors and teachers.  Pray for missionaries that go where we cannot go. And today, let us remember one more prayer.  Let us pray that the Lord will continue to fill our hearts with Jesus’ love so that we would have hearts filled with our Savior love and filled with a desire to follow Jesus’ command to Share Jesus’ Love with the people in our lives.  Amen!