Sermon Title: The Lord, a Compassionate and Powerful God
Scripture Reading: Exodus 34:1-9
Introduction
Last week’s message was entitled, “The Man Who Made the Master Marvel.” The story was one containing a life-altering crisis. The main character was a Roman centurion who lived in Capernaum. The subject of the text was faith. The encounter, which caused Jesus to marvel (be amazed), taught us how to define, develop, and display faith.
Faith is often given and cultivated in the soil of crisis and is displayed by humble submission and reliance on Jesus to release His power by the means of His Word in accordance with His will.
This week we will read about an even greater crisis, an even deeper compassion, an even more miraculous miracle, and learn a more important lesson. This lesson is not about the faith of man, but the character of God as displayed in the life of Jesus Christ.
Read Luke 7:11-17
- This miracle account is unique to Luke and records the first of Jesus’ three miracles of raising the dead (Luke 8:40-56; John 11:1-44). With the centurion, Jesus was summoned. With the widow, Jesus came unannounced.
- The centurion was, by worldly standards, self-sufficient. The widow, by worldly standards, couldn’t have been more destitute.
- In Luke 7:1-10, the centurion’s faith was displayed as an example to us. In Luke 7:11-17, the compassion of God, as seen through Christ, is displayed as an incentive for us.
Read Luke 7:11
Nain is mentioned only here in the Bible. Nain was a small town which now has about 200 residents. [1] To make the trip from Capernaum to Nain was to travel twenty miles southwest of Capernaum. The mileage mentioned here will be a very important element to consider as our story develops.
Read 7:12
Remember what I mentioned in the introduction?
- An even greater crisis: This man is not a sick, paralyzed servant. This man is dead and in route to his burial. In Luke 7:1-10 Jesus helped a wealthy centurion and a dying servant. In this text, Jesus helps the first and second most helpless people on the planet: First, a dead man and a very close second, an orphaned parent. In this text, Jesus helps a lady who has lost her husband and only son. This widow suddenly has no source of protection, income, security, family, or love. In addition to the sorrow she would feel after the loss of her husband and now the loss of her only son, she is left in the most vulnerable position culturally possible: she is now an orphaned adult.
Thus far in Luke we have read of crisis after crisis. It is important to understand what I am about to share, because we who are familiar with the definitions of sovereignty and providence can become cold and cynical seeing all of this hurt and pain.
“There is nothing in this story that is not full of misery. And all this misery, it must be remembered, was brought into the world through sin. God did not create it at the beginning when he made everything “very good.” Sin entered the world…and death through sin (Romans 5:12). There would have never been any tears or illness or death or funerals on the earth if there had been no sin. We must bear with this state of things patiently. We cannot alter it. We may thank God there is a remedy in the Gospel and that this life is not all there is. But in the meantime let us lay the blame at the right door. Let us lay the blame on sin” (J.C. Ryle). [3]
- An even deeper compassion: “To set the scene, it is important to appreciate the nature of burial customs in Judaism. First, a person was not prepared for burial unless death was certain. Second, a family tore their garments as a sign of mourning and closed the eyes of the corpse to show that death had come. Third, to prevent deterioration the body was anointed and buried quickly. Generally not kept overnight in the house, the corpse was wrapped in cloth on a burial plank, not in a coffin. Thus, as Jesus approached the woman, the funeral procession was moving out of town, with the mourners present to bury the visible, but covered body momentarily” (Darrell L. Bock). [1]
How does this prove an even deeper compassion? Remember, Nain was twenty miles from Capernaum. This boy would have been in the ground within the hour. What did it take to arrange the circumstances such that Jesus met this family at the city gate? Compassion.
If Jesus would have gone all the way through with His visit at the centurion’s house, He would not have gotten to Nain in time to perform this miracle for this widow and her son.
Therefore, should we marvel at the centurion’s faith? Yes and no. We should marvel that God gave the centurion faith so great as to have “one eye” on Capernaum and “one eye” on the widow and her son.
- A more miraculous miracle: In Luke 7:1-10 Jesus displayed His power over sickness. In this passage Jesus displayed His power over death.
- A more important lesson: God displays His power, not first because of faith, but because of compassion. Hence the sermon’s title, “The Lord, a Compassionate and Powerful God.”
This leads us to what we need to know this morning: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18 NASB).
The word “explained” translates a form of the verb exegeomai, the source of the English word “exegesis” (the method and practice of interpreting Scripture). Jesus “exegetes” God to us. [2]
Here (Luke 7:11-17) we learn from Jesus that our God is a compassionate and powerful God. It is not enough to have a God that is either supremely compassionate or powerful. If God were compassionate, yet not powerful, He would be a good confidant, but He could not help us. If God were powerful, yet not compassionate, He would be a hard taskmaster, driving us like cattle. But because God is compassionate and powerful, He cares and is able to help.
Read 7:13
The Lord Jesus Christ had compassion on the hopeless and hurting widow.
“Compassion, rightly understood, means entering into the passion, or suffering, of others. It means setting aside our own concerns, our own fears, our own needs, and not just supplying but feeling the needs of those around us” (R.C. Sproul Jr.).
Compassion translates a form of the verb splagchnizomai, which is related to a noun that describes the inner parts of the body (like the words “heart” or “gut”). [2]
Have you ever seen or heard something so tragic and felt such sorrow like someone punched you right in the gut? Jesus felt her hurt and moved towards her with words of comfort. Jesus, however, offered more than heart-felt compassion and words of comfort: He offered power to change.
Read 7:14-15
According to Numbers 19:11-22, anyone who touched a dead person or anything associated with a dead person became ceremonially unclean. Jesus touched the coffin to show His power over sin. Jesus touched what was defiled and remained, “holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26).
Jesus addressed the boy directly. Jesus talked to a dead man who could not hear and could not see. Jesus spoke life into this dead, helpless soul. Jesus resurrected the boy to show His power over death.
Read 7:16-17
What did we learn today? We learned from Jesus that our God is a compassionate and powerful God. What should we now do because of what we have learned?
- In the midst of life-altering crisis, we must trust the compassion of God towards us.
Turn to John 11
John 11:1: Mary and her sister Martha had a brother named Lazarus who was ill and dying; John 11:4: Jesus states the purpose for Lazarus’ illness, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (v. 4b); John 11:5-6: Jesus did not come to relieve their pain, because He loved them; John 11:15: Jesus purposefully did not go there and was glad for it; John 11:21: Martha had a valid and great concern to help her brother; John 11:25: Jesus shared Martha’s concern (vv. 33, 38), but had a concern that was greater: That they would know Christ more intimately; John 11:33, 38: Jesus was deeply saddened and at the same time glad (v. 15) for this crisis, yet moved towards the hurting with compassion and power.
- When we understand the compassion of God towards us, we should be filled with awe and praise, which should then motivate us to spread a report about Him in “Judea and all the surrounding country.”
We were like the widow, penniless, alone, and without any hope. We were like the dead son, unable to help ourselves while marching towards an empty, eternal existence. Like them both, we didn’t ask for help, but Jesus orchestrated all the dominoes of circumstance, and interrupted our march to the grave.
Like the dead boy, He came to us in power, personally addressed us, and commanded us to live. Like the widow, He came to us compassionately, returning to us new life, new love, and a new hope.
On the Cross, Jesus Christ marched towards death. In His death He displayed His power over sin by touching our sin without being defiled and then He showed the power to overcome death through His resurrection.
If Jesus has touched your sin and raised you from the dead, you should see new life which is evidenced by awe and evangelism.
Sources
- Brock, Darrell. Luke 1:1-9:50. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994.
- MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke 1-5. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009.
- Ryle, J.C. Luke. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1997.
- http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/passion/
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