TOPIC:‌“Compassion - The Virtue We Must All Exhibit”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Colossians 3:12

 

‌‌“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

‌‌clothe yourselves with compassion”

 

‌In recent weeks I have been preaching a series of sermons on those virtues that God desires for those of us who are His children. Today we consider the virtue of compassion that we as believers must all exhibit.

 

‌A. B. Simpson was right when he wrote: “There must be a new man first before he can wear his new clothes. You would not put clean and beautiful garments on an unbathed person.” Once we have put on Christ we are ready to take off those things that are not Christian and put on those things which reflect our new life in Christ. This is what Alexander Maclaren calls “the white robe of Christlikeness” or what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Roman Christians: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14).

 

‌The virtue compassion is the one that the New Testament writers above all others assigned to Christ. God sovereignly selected to emphasize this facet of our Savior's life more than any other. He wanted this virtue to be seen in Christ so that each one of us would realize how important it is for us to exhibit it before others.

 

‌Listen to me: It may be possible to be compassionate without being Christlike, but it is impossible to be Christlike without being compassionate. Let us then look at the compassion of Christ as set forth upon the pages of the New Testament.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, first of all, the EXPLANATION of what it means to be compassionate. The KJV renders the word in verse 12 as “bowels of mercies.” I can understand this as I will explain in a few moments. Berkeley has it: “tenderness of heart.” Phillips prefers: “merciful in action.”

 

‌Compassion is an emotion that moves one inwardly, affecting the very depths of one's being. It is defined as a sympathetic response to another's distress. Since the experience of true compassion leaves one feeling as being hit in the gut, it is not surprising to find the noun “bowels” being used 12 times in Scripture and each time it depicts godly compassion.

 

‌Compassion is truly a spiritual emotion as it describes precisely the character of Jesus. On 8 different occasions Jesus exhibited . . .