Sermons
You Can Make A Difference In Someone Else's Life!
Link to sermon video: You Can Make A Difference In Someone Else's Life - R Espinosa
You Can Make a Difference In Someone Else’s Life!
Text: Jude 1:22
If you are burdened for someone who isn’t serving God the way they are supposed to, it’s time for you to do something about it.
Worrying about this person will do no good, but taking action can make a big difference in the outcome of this person’s life.
Each of us can make a difference in someone else’s life!
This is what Jude 1:22 tells us: “And of some have compassion, making a difference.” Do you see the word “compassion” in this verse? This important word is taken from the Greek word eleao, which in this case refers to deep-seated and unsettling emotions a person feels when they see or hear something that is terribly sad or upsetting.
These are the kind of emotions that well up inside you when you see:
- A child whose stomach is bloated from malnutrition and starvation.
- A person who is emaciated and dying of terminal cancer.
- A destitute family that is forced to live on the streets with no food and money.
- Animals that are mistreated or abused or are homeless.
- Those who have served in the military and have been injured and need help. (Wounded Warrior Project)
Jude’s purpose in using the Greek word eleao is very plain. He is doing exactly what television programs do when they flash pictures of starving children with bloated stomachs on the TV screen in front of us. The producers of these programs show us these kinds of worst scenario pictures in order to stir us to action.
These pictures of desperate misery from Third World countries are flashed in front of us while emotionally moving music plays in the background. Then the celebrity host on the program says in an impassioned voice, “Pick up your phone and call today, Your call could save the life of a child.”
These kinds of TV programs are designed to stir up emotional feelings of pity. They know that making verbal requests will never get our attention and they need to use pictures (since they speak a thousand words) to be more effective in arousing pity from our hearts.
Arousing pity is not the ultimate aim of these programs. The horrifying pictures and emotional music background are designed to convince you to pickup the telephone and call to make a donation to help the cause of the sponsoring organization. This compulsion to act and to do something is the moment when pity is transformed into compassion. By itself, pity would simply feel sorry about the situation. But compassion cannot sit by and idly watch the scenario grow worse. Compassion reaches out to act immediately and to do something about the situation.
Jude wants to elicit an emotional response from his readers…
- He wants them to graphically see and understand the seriousness of believers who have backslidden and those who are lost due to a life of sin and disobedience.
- He wants his readers to “feel” for these critically ill spiritual patients.
- He wants them to “feel” their condition so intensely that he says, “And of some have compassion…” He’s urging them to take that pity and turn it into action!
When genuine compassion begins to flow from your heart, you cannot sit idly by and simply feel sorry about a person’s situation. Real compassion says, “I have to get up and do something about this!”
Because Jude uses the word “compassion”, he’s telling us that the spiritual condition of the back-slidden believer or a person who is lost is just as real and serious as the plight of a starving child, a dying man, or an abused animal. If you will allow the love of God (1 John 4:11) to flow through you, it won’t be long until compassion for those who are lost begins to flow from you to them. Then you will be compelled to see them set free from their bondage! That compulsion is the activity of compassion!
We may think that those who were children of God but have fallen away should have known better. If they had stayed faithful in their walk with the Lord, they wouldn’t be in the mess that they are in right now. Isn’t it their fault that they’re in trouble?
The answer to this question may be “Yes, they are to blame for their condition.” However, consider this: Wouldn’t you have compassion on a homosexual who contracted AIDS due to his or her own illicit sexual activity? Although his or her own actions got them into this mess, wouldn’t it still grab hold of your heart when you saw his or her wasting body? Wouldn’t his or her helpless condition make you wish there was a cure for AIDS?
In the same way, those who are lost (due to falling away or never obeying the Gospel) have gotten themselves into their situation based on their actions. We must not shut off the flow of God’s compassion that resides within us. 1 John 4:8 Those who are lost need a touch of God’s power to help bring them back to Him. We cannot let the enemy sow hardheartedness in our hearts toward people who are lost or spiritually sick. Their plight is very serious, and they need our help and prayers of intercession! Luke 15:3-7 (Parable of the lost sheep)
If we know people who have fallen away as a child of God or those who have never obeyed the Gospel, it’s time for us to let the supernatural compassion of Jesus Christ to begin to flow out of our heart toward them. These people need a divine touch from God that will open their eyes and help them realize the condition they are in and bring them back to Him. By us releasing a flow of this powerful force toward them, we could set in motion the very deliverance these individuals need from the powers of darkness that bind their souls and keep them in deception.
This is why Jude urges us to release this delivering flow of compassion to those who are lost. Just think --- by opening our heart and letting compassion flow through us toward these people, we could be the very one God uses to bring them back to Him! (Rom. 5:8)
My confession for today…
I boldly confess that compassion flows through me like a river! Condemnation and judgement have no place in my life, in my thinking, or in the way I relate to other people. I am filled with the love of God, and I allow that love to touch others who are near me. The bowels of my heart release the compassion of Jesus Christ, touching the lives of people caught in the deception of sin and darkness and setting them free.
I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!
Questions for us to consider:
- Do we know anyone who as a child of God has fallen away or those who have never obeyed the Gospel who needs our prayers and intercession right now?
- Have I acted in a judgmental way toward anyone who is lost spiritually? If so, then we need to take the time to get our heart right with God and then pray for those people for their deliverance from sin.
- Have we ever been caught in a deception, but someone loved us enough to help us get through it and make sure that we were right with God? If so, did we ever express our gratefulness to that person for their love and patience toward us during that time?
Prayer
Lord, please help me to not have an attitude where I’m hardhearted, condemning, and judgmental toward people who need my prayers and intercessions. Please help me to not judge them, but to pray for them. Help me to have an attitude where I open my heart and let the compassion of Jesus Christ flow through me to help set their deliverance in motion. Let your compassion begin flowing through me today!
I pray this in Jesus’ name!
Invitation
