Following Christ: Reaching Out

Reaching Out Like Christ

Collin Leong. 13/10/2017

I. Introduction: The Unreached of The World

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matt 24:14)

Interesting Statistics (Source: Joshua Project)

• The top 10 countries with the largest Christian populations include all of the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). (Operation World 2010)

• South Asia has more than four times as many unreached people groups (3,324) as any other region of the world, totaling 1,664,000,000 individuals

• Southeast Asia has 544 languages (16,200,000 speakers) without scripture, Jesus film, Gospel recordings, or God's Story video.

• Northeast Asia has the highest number of individuals practicing Animism (68,500,000), followed by East and Southern Africa (47,000,000). (Operation World 2010)

• 336 of the 544 people groups in China do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.

• Iran is the country with the fastest growing Evangelical population at 19.6% annual growth. (Operation World 2010).

The 10/40 Window characterised by:

- Least evangelized countries; 

- The most unreached people groups and cities;

- Dominance of three religious blocs

- Preponderance of the poor

- Strongholds of Satan

II. Understanding The Motivation of Jesus in Out-Reach

Self-Analysis #1: When you joined a short-term mission, or reached out to pre-believers, or assisted those in need in the past, why did you do it? 

When this question was asked in the group, the answers given were varied. For example, "Out of obedience to God", "it’s my Duty",  "I have been blessed and it's right that I return it", "I don't want the person I love to go to hell".  These are all right answers. In fact, other honest answers could also be "the church nagged me to do it", or "I feel guilty not doing it and it gives me a sense of achievement." 

Well, whatever the reasons you might have done it, it is better than not doing it at all. However, the Bible is clear about one key reason Jesus did it. Compassion.  

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion [moved with compassion] for them, because they were harassed [fainted] and helpless [scattered], like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

In the days of Jesus, there are just as many poor, invalid, elderly, sick, abused, lonely, sorrowful, sinners, etc. people as we have today in our part of the world. Yet, for some reason, we do not often feel the same way Jesus did. If we want to "follow Jesus" in "outreach", then we need to understand and share the same motivation that Jesus had.  

In verse 35, it said Jesus taught, shared the good news, and healed every disease. But he didn't just do the outreach mechanically. He did it with compassion. Or rather, He did it because he was compassionate for the people. 

The word “compassion” comes from the Latin root “passio”, which means suffering. (eg: the “passion of Christ”).  “Com-passio” literary means “to suffer together”.  Webster dictionary defines it as “suffering with another, hence, sympathy; sorrow for the distress or misfortune of another with a desire to help”

Compassion is different from pity or empathy, for it is more than the ability to identify with the other party. Compassion is a feeling that desires to take action in order to alleviate suffering. The Greek word translated to compassion is "splanchnizomai" ("moved with compassion" in KJV) and is also translated to the word "bowels" in Philippians 2:1 - "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies..." It indicates that compassion is something you feel deep in your guts and it pains you for not taking action. 

 III. We are asked to be Compassionate like Christ

One of the key character of God is compassionate, mercy and loving-kindness. 

• Psalm 86:15 “… merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”
• Lam 3:22-23  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning..”

Everyday, God looks down and feel compassionate for the people who are lost and suffering. Christ is the compassionate savior: 

• Matthew 18:12-14   “he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray..”

• Heb 4:15-16  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses”

One fascinating habit of Jesus was His willingness to go out of his way to attend to just ONE person, usually a stranger, and to minister to the person. These included the woman at the well, the bereaved widow at Nain, Jairus whose daughter passed away, Lazarus who died, Nicodemus at night, and so on.  Despite the critically important things Jesus had to tell the world and the little time He had left on earth, he still took time to attend to seemingly insignificant individuals - including sinners such as the adulteress whom He rescued from being stoned to death. 

In Jesus, we saw that holiness and truth can exist together with mercy and forgiveness. He fulfilled the ideals of Psalms 85:10 - "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Jesus often rebuked the pharisees and religious lawyers in His days because they were self-righteousness and had no mercy. “Woe to you as well, experts in the law! He replied. “- You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load." (Luke 11:46).  We must not fall into the trap of having our compassion strangled by the ropes of legalism.

Watch this video about a man who sacrificed all he had in order to reach out to small towns near his city. 

Without genuine compassion for people, our efforts in reaching someone or some groups will never last a month, much less 16 years like what we saw Joseph did in the video above. Compassion requires us to give our tears, our time and our touch - even as Jesus touched what was considered religiously "unclean" (eating with sinners) and physically contagious (healing lepers.)

IV. How do Develop Compassion Like Christ?

Self-Analysis #2: What makes me lack the same compassion that Christ had for the lost and the needy? Why do I feel detached and indifferent to pre-believers and suffering around me on a daily basis? 

In answering the above, our group's answers for lacking compassion include self-preoccupation, busyness, embarrassed to approach for fear of rejection, unable to relate to the person's situation, and the feeling that our involvement won't make a difference. A brother shared that to have  that kind of compassion necessitates giving up some of our own ambition 

Sometimes, we may even think the person deserves the suffering - eg, if the person is a gambling addict, then he deserves to be begging and we shouldn't give so as to encourage his addiction. However, we saw Jesus publicly forgiving the adulteress and the tax collector - it was done in such a way that do not condone their sins but was in fact life transforming.  In other words, compassion should be delivered with wisdom. 

From the analysis exercise, we each know very well we have a long way to go to reach the level of compassion that Jesus had. But we can develop it just by these four steps as observed from Matthew 9:36-10:1

1. Open Your Eyes

v36: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Sometimes we don't feel anything because we don't even notice the lost and sufferings around us. Jesus felt compassion when he saw the people. He observed. He analysed. He understood. If we begin to deliberately observe and pay attention to people, we will learn to recognize their suffering and thereby develop compassion for them. Like anything, we can get better and faster at detecting needs when we practice observing. 

2. Bow Your Knees

v37-38: Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus sets an example by praying first, before starting a mission. How often do we actually pray for the people we see each day? We may only pray when we are being requested, such as some crisis or concerns that one of our group members have.  However, we do not pray earnestly each day for our neighbors, colleagues, or strangers we meet on the road.

Praying for people develops compassion simply because it aligns our heart with God's heart. Since God's heart is mercy and loving-kindness to his creatures, we will also catch the same attitude towards them. 

3. Listen Attentively

Matt 10:1 "And he called to him his twelve disciples..."

God’s plan for mankind's salvation involves his disciples - all of us. However, it is not by force or pressure – it is by developing a compassion like Christ because without it, God knows we will not succeed. Part of developing compassion is to listen to what He has to say as we pray, or even as we open our eyes to people around us. It could be a simple nudge that says "help the old woman across the road", or "spend five minutes with the beggar at the corner", or "Buy some groceries for the poor neighbor across the street".  As we obey simple "compassionate" acts like these then our attitudes and actions begin to change.

4. Use Your Gifts

Matt 10:1 "And he … gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction."

Some of us felt that we do not have the talent or skills for outreach. And others felt that we have no power  to change anything. The reason we think this way is because we misunderstand what outreach really is. When Jesus reached out to the people, it was not always about debating heaven and hell. Many times He simply taught, healed, ate, pray and fellowship with them - with both saints and sinners.

In Matthew 10:1, Jesus gave the authority to His disciples to bless the needy with gifts of exorcism and healing, for these are the acts of outreach of the Gospel. Jesus told the disciples to serve the people, and said "Freely you have received; freely give." (Matt 10:8) In the same way, we have been freely given the gifts of the Holy Spirit for outreach. We may not be able to heal the blind, but we can bring spiritual light to the dark; we may not be able to cast out demons, but we can free the hearts trapped by sin. Romans 12:6-8 lists some of such gifts, and Jesus Himself acted based on the same abilities:

• Gift of Prophecy- He Exorcised (Mark 9:22,25), He Forgave (Luke 7:48-50)
• Gift of Serving - He Died (Jn 10:16) 
• Gift of Teaching  - He Taught  (Matt 9:35
• Gift of Encouragement - He Shared (Matt 9:35)
• Gift of Giving - He Fed (Mark 8:1-2)
• Gift of Administration - He Protected (Jn 8:3-11), He Reconcile People (Jn 19:26)
• Gift of Mercy - He Healed  (Matt 20:29-34), He Comforted (Lk 7:12-13)

How then can we say we do not have the charisma for outreach, when literally, the word "gifts" in Romans 12:6 in Greek is actually the word "charisma!".  As I once said to a conservative Brethren Assembly, "Every Christian is charismatic!" because each one has at least 1 or 2 spiritual "charisma!"

V. Conclusion

Reaching out is not only about proselyting. It is also not just about carrying out the actions of a ministry. At the root of it, it is about seeing people with God's eyes, feeling for them with God's heart, being available for God to touch someone, and serving them within the capacity and gifts God has given us.

Self Analysis #3: Spend 10 minutes now practicing the four steps for developing compassion:

- First, open your mind's eyes to someone or a group of people that you know have needs.

- Second, pray for them, ask God to provide for them and for laborers to serve them. 

- Third, listen to what God is saying to you - how should you be involved? 

- And fourth, decide one ONE simple action you are committed to take based on what you hear from God. If you have difficulty here, ask why, and pray that God will remove the hindrances and give you the power to overcome.