[bright music] >> Wow, what an awesome
privilege it is to be back home, and I really do consider
Biola University to be home. I love this school so much, it got me in trouble
with about 2,400 students in Wheaton, Illinois just a couple weeks ago.
[audience cheers] I stood up in chapel, where they had paid money
to fly me out there, and I greeted them as the
second best university in the country, right behind Biola, so ... [chuckles]
[audience cheers] I don't think I'll get invited back, but hey, I had one shot at the mike and I said that's what I'm gonna do. So, what an honor to be here with you. I am just so excited. I'll talk some more about
this in our afternoon session, but God continues to do great
stuff through our church in Memphis, Tennessee. We asked the Lord to send us to the most difficult
urban center in the country that was racially divided
along black-white lines, and as of the 2000 census,
that was Memphis, Tennessee. A lot of people told us
that we could not plant a gospel-driven,
disciple-making, multi-ethnic, Revelation 5:9 and 10 community there, and God, we just believed
him, and eight years later, we're about 65% white, 35% black, 1500 people, about to
launch our third location, and we are just really excited about what God is doing out there. I brought with me one of the young men in our residency program. We are really passionate about
preparing and launching out the next generation of leaders, and so, we send them to
seminary, pay for 100% of it, and we're gonna actually
start a scholarship here at the school, as well. Been talking to Dr. Corey, and we're training up these young men. So I want you to welcome Derrick Puckett with me this morning. Why don't you stand up, Derrick. [audience cheers] He and his wife, Kaley, and
sweet daughter, Ramiyah, just moved down from Indianapolis, and they're living in Memphis, Tennessee. We are glad to have them. If you have your Bibles, please meet me in Matthew, Chapter Nine. I could talk forever, I'm a black preacher. I could just give
introductory mark forever. Shout out to Dr. Corey and the
Chairman, Stan, and his wife. I'm just so excited to be here, but you didn't ask me to come to tell you how excited I am to be here. There's a word that God has on my heart as we prepare to launch
this conference today, and happy to be with my friend, Glen. But racial reconciliation, caring for other people doesn't happen unless we have this one fundamental Christ-honoring trait. It's this thing called compassion. Pick me up in Verse 35
of Matthew, Chapter Nine, and hear now the Word of the Lord from this all familiar passage: And Jesus went throughout
all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease
and every affliction. When he saw the crowds... Verse 36, here it is: He had compassion for them. Why? Because they were harassed, helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 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." If you lived in Cartagena
in the 17th century, no doubt, you became well
acquainted with and knew a lot about a Jesus-lover
named Pedro Claver. Pedro Claver was neither
black nor was he a slave, but Pedro Claver, this
gospel-driven Jesus lover, described himself this way: Pedro Claver, friend and servant of black slaves. When the slaves would first
come into Cartagena there in the early 17th century, the first person they
would see would be Pedro. Pedro would be standing
there with baskets of food because he knew that most of these slaves on these slave ships were malnourished. They didn't have the kind
of food that they needed, and so, he would greet them with food. He would also be standing
there with baskets of clothing waiting to clothe these
underdressed slaves. And he would also stand there waiting with a team of doctors to attend to their physical bodies knowing that many of them would be sick. In fact, some of them
would become leprous, and he was so concerned over this, that he would, out of his
own pocket, help to build a leprosarium to care for these leprous black slaves. Ah, but to know Pedro is to know a man who did not just care for
the physical needs of people, no, Pedro knew that they
had a much greater need, a spiritual need. So, one of the first
things Pedro would do is he would gather the slaves together, and would bring an interpreter, and would sit down with these slaves, and proclaim to them the
Gospel of the Kingdom of God. He would share the Good
News of Jesus Christ, citing such scriptures as Romans 5:8: That God has demonstrated
his love towards you in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for you. Oh, if I could just pause and say that's one of my favorite
verses in all of the Bible: That God demonstrated his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. One of my favorite words in
Romans 5:8 isn't so much "God" or "demonstrated" or "loved," but one of my favorite
words there is "while." That God didn't wait for Bryan Loritts to cure his problems before
he sent Christ to die for me, that God didn't wait for us
to get over the addictions or the porn problem or the drugs or the alcohol or the lying problem, but God saw us in the midst of our mess, and he purchased us as is with all of our faults, flaws, failures. This is what Pedro would proclaim to them, and several of them
would come to know Jesus, and then Pedro was concerned
about discipling them and nurturing them and the unheard of, that a non-black free person would disciple slaves in 17th century Cartagena! And so, he would teach
them the complex doctrines to get essential doctrines of the faith, and it said that Pedro Claver
would take a piece of cloth, would fold it so that there
would be three corners, and he would illustrate
the Trinity to 'em. See, the three corners represent Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but it's one cloth. Thus, he would minister to the bodies and the souls of these slaves, and he would do that until he died. If you were to ask Pedro, "Pedro, why do you spend so much time "caring for these people? "I know you're busy "and the amount of ministry
demands on your life, "why do you go to such extremes?" Pedro would answer, "I care for these peoples. "I have compassion for them." I feel compelled under the Holy Spirit to say this to you: I went to school here
and I thank God for it. Everything that I've become
in this life is ultimately because of the sovereignty of God, but the sovereignty of
God through the investment of this school in my life. But I want to tell you, this school prepares us to be people who will go out and receive a paycheck, many of us, to bring the Kingdom here on Earth. Here's the danger: The danger is we can become professionals! The danger is we can
preach for a paycheck! The danger is we can disciple, and evangelize, and plant churches just to put food on the table. I know far too many
professional Christians who have no compassion. I beg you in the words of John Piper, "Brothers, sisters, "we "are "not "professionals." It's a scary thing to do the work of the ministry devoid and detached from any compassion. As we come to our text this morning, we're gonna see a busy Jesus. In fact, if you read
the Gospel of Matthew, one of the major sections in Matthew is Matthew, Chapters Eight and Nine. I want to implore you, just read it in one sitting. Matthew, Chapters Eight and
Nine, we see Jesus moving at a frenetic, breakneck pace. It's a succession of 10 miracles, and I wish I could really
walk you through it. Most of these miracles, hear
it now, are interruptions. Most of what happens in Matthew,
Chapters Eight and Nine, doesn't show up on the iCal app of Jesus. It's not scheduled. He can finish preaching. He's coming down from the mountain preaching the greatest
sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. He's probably tired in his humanity, up pops a leper, he deals with the leper. Moments later, up pops a centurion. A little while later, he's so tired, he just wants to get some sleep. He's sleeping in a boat, and boom! Up pops a storm, and he's
gotta deal with that. A little while later, he's teaching and in the middle of
teaching, the roof opens up, and a paralytic drops in on him literally, and he's gotta deal with that! I mean, it's one
interruption after another, and yet, here's what blows
my mind about Jesus... I'm at your neighborhood. You read the Gospel of Jesus Christ, most of his most
impactful ministry moments were those that were not scheduled. I gotta say this to we Americans who worship the idol of busyness, who love to talk about how
jam-packed our schedules are. How many ministry moments have we missed just this week? Because we're overscheduled. You're driving down the street, the spirit is on you about pulling over and ministering to that person, but you're overscheduled. We see a Jesus who wasn't too busy to
deal with the lepers, the centurions, the storms, the demoniacs, the paralytics of life. Because Jesus had margin in his calendar, he was able to change the trajectory of so many souls. I want to beg you, do not revel in busyness, leave margin in your schedules. So, when you come to Matthew Chapter Nine, and boy, I've gotta fly, we see a Jesus who's extremely busy. Look at Verse 35. Matthew says that Jesus went
throughout all the cities, all the villages teaching
in their synagogues proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease,
and every affliction. Stop right there. Scholars, it's interesting to
see them go back and forth. They're saying, "Is he
really doing all of this? "Is he really going to all the cities, "all the villages healing every
disease, every affliction?" They go back and forth, when I should say that's
to miss the point. Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is totally extending himself, totally doing all that he can, he is incredibly busy. Yet, in the middle of his busyness as he's preaching and teaching, here's a guy who is totally spent. I get it. Just this month alone, I've preached over 40 times this month, and it's been a crazy month! If I'm Jesus, I'm going, "That's
it, I'm tired, I'm done!" But when he gets finished preaching, he didn't slip out the side door. He stands and heals people, lays his hands on 'em. Jesus why do you do this? Verse 36: When he saw the crowds, he had... Underline it, make a mental note of it, type it in your phone. Compassion! What is compassion? Anytime we talk about biblical compassion, there's always three components. Number one, the primary component for compassion is compassion assumes need. There is no such thing as compassion unless there is this need. Hear the need. Why did Jesus have compassion? Where's the need? Verse 36, they were harassed! The Greek word for harass, it means to be beaten down. It means to be troubled. It means to be burdened. Jesus looks out there and he doesn't just see
one massive humanity. This isn't about another gig or building a platform to build some mega church. He says guys look at them, they're harassed, they're beaten down! But secondly, compassion
doesn't just assume need. There is an emotive component to compassion. The Greek word for compassion, it means to feel moved by. In the Latin, the idea of
compassion literally means to suffer with. You hear those emotive terms? Here's my concern for
myself, for you, for us living in a 21st century world: Everyday we're inundated
with image after image and story after story
about incredible need. You surf the web or you turn on the radio or you watch TV and you hear or read about the abduction in New England or the sex-trafficking
that's happening out in Asia or the race riot that's
going on somewhere, and it's need after need. If we're not careful, our
souls can become anesthetized. Some of us aren't even moved by it. I mean, when was the last time you wept over the kidnap? When was the last time you cried over the abduction? When was the last time you shed tears over that Christian who was murdered? Whenever we talk about compassion, there's an emotional component, but you still don't have compassion. Just because you have need, just because you feel bad, that's not compassion. My wife cries at Hallmark commercials. [audience laughs] You don't have compassion yet. Compassion is only actualized
in this third component. There's need. I see it. I feel it! Thirdly and finally, I do something about it. I do something! He's got compassion on the crowd. What does he do? He heals them. He has compassion on their souls. What does he do? He preaches the Gospel
of the Kingdom to them. Compassion is seeing, feeling, doing! Are you compassionate? Are you compassionate? If you were to come to
Memphis, Tennessee right now or you were to read the commercial appeal, you would know that our city is in a very tenuous place right now. There is what is called
the consolidation issue that is confronting Memphis. What the consolidation
issue boils down to is on the table is an order to bring about the merger of Memphis city schools which primarily comprise the
urban African-American poor with the county schools. This is an uproar because many of our middle to upper-middle class people moved to the county schools because
they're so much better. Now, what you are having
in Memphis, Tennessee is the collision and merger of issues of education, economics, and race. It's a linchpin issue in our town. I'm so proud of my
colleague, Dr. Maxie Dunnam, who pastors a United Methodist
Church, not the liberal kind, but a part of the
confessing church movement. He got up in front of his
several thousand member, upper-middle class white church
and he said these words... Just the other Sunday,
Dr. Maxie Dunnam said, "The educational gap in
our city is astounding. "Let us not be naive to
think issues of economics "and race aren't tied into it. "If justice prevailed, "all of our schools
would have the resources "to be equally effective. "The inequality in public education "is blatant," he says,
"and I believe sinful." This is what he says. A middle-class church that has started a middle-class, upper
middle-class private school, he says this, "It is our statement that if
our church is going to provide "quality education for our "suburban constituency through
Christ Methodist Day School, "justice requires that
we must seek the same "for children in impoverished communities "like Binghampton, and Orange Mound, "and the whole city of Memphis." And so, they're starting a school in which 80% of the people who come there cannot afford to go there. That's compassion. See it, feel it, do it! Are you compassionate, friends? When was the last time you saw need, you felt the need, and you did something about the need? I'm concerned for my kids. Being a parent in the 21st century in the Disneyland of the world, the United States of America, if I do nothing, I will unleash from my house narcissistic, materialistic, spoiled brats who assume that the world is about them. So, when my boys turn 10, like my oldest boy is about to, we do something called manhood training. Now, he's very excited about this. He doesn't realize that a
part of manhood training means now that he can see past the
handlebars on the lawnmower, he's cutting grass. [audience laughs] This summer, I'm getting him a job,
which I think is illegal, I didn't ask any questions. [audience laughs] I'm taking him with me to Honduras. I want my kid to see other kids rummaging through garbage cans for lunch! So, we go down to Target House in Memphis. There at Target House are the parents of kids who've got cancer who come from all across the country to go to St. Jude's. My kids have played Nerf basketball with the likes of young Nolan who just died not too
long ago from leukemia. I want them to see need! I want them to realize that
life is not about Madden 2011! I want them to be moved by this need! My kids are gettin' it! I was with my oldest son the other day, and we're walking down the street, we're going to a Grizzlies' game. I should say we're going to a funeral, and so, here we are [audience laughs] walking down the street. There's a homeless guy. I'm walking, I've talked to him, and my son stayed back, my nine-year old, and he reaches in his pocket and gives him all of his money! I'm going "Yes!" Now, don't deify him because moments later, he punched his other brother in the mouth. [audience laughs] But I'm saying, "Yes, son, you get it." A nine-year old saw it, a nine-year old felt it, and a nine-year old
did something about it. Biola, study, study hard, but never be a professional. The difference between professional and Kingdom workers who walk in the footsteps
of Jesus is one word, compassion. Compassion. >> Announcer: We hope
you enjoyed this message. Biola University offers a variety of biblically-centered degree programs ranging from business to ministry to the arts and sciences. Learn more at biola.edu. [bright music]
