Compassion Takes Action, by Nicole Furno

Dannah Gresh: God commands us to be compassionate. Nicole Furno explains where that comes from.

Nicole Furno: The source of our compassion is not natural, but supernatural. The source of our compassion is the Holy Spirit!

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Brokenness: The Heart God Revives for July 3, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’re continuing in our series“A Lifestyle of Compassion.” Here’s Nancy.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Keith Green, who has been with the Lord since 1982, was known for his passion for Jesus and for people. That’s a passion that enthusiastically spilled over into his music. 

Song: “The Sheep and the Goats” by Keith Green

And when the Son of Man comes and all the holy angels with Him,
Then shall He sit on His glorious throne,

And He shall divide the nations before Him, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Nancy: This piece is a musical retelling of the parable Jesus told in Matthew chapter 25. It’s often referred to as The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.

Song:

And He shall put the sheep on His right but the goats on His left.

Nancy: In this song, Keith represented the sheep in Jesus’ story with a major key that’s full of joy and beauty.

Song:  

And He shall say to the sheep, come ye, blessed of My Father,
Inherit the kingdom I have prepared for you from the foundation of the world!

Nancy: To show the contrast between the sheep and the goats, he shifted to a minor key representing the goats. Keith Green used some sanctified imagination to expand on the conversation between the King and the goats.

Song:  

Depart from Me, you cursed ones, into everlasting fire,
Prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat.¹

Nancy: Again, that’s Keith Green with “The Sheep and the Goats.” It’s a powerful song, nearly eight minutes long, and I’d encourage you to listen to the whole thing at some point. Well, that parable is actually the passage Nicole Furno is going to be talking about today as we continue exploring the subject of compassion.

Nicole took a moment to introduce herself to the women attending the Revive Our Hearts Sisters in 

MinistrySummit held some years ago. Let’s listen.

Nicole: For those of you I haven’t met, I’m a Physician’s Assistant, and my husband, Rob, is an ER physician. This past February we had an amazing opportunity to travel to Nepal for a medical missions trip where we worked with girls who had been rescued from sex trafficking. 

Once we heard about this trip, we prayed about it and we really felt like the Lord was calling us to go, so we signed up to go. Right after we signed up they said, “Oh, we didn’t tell you that the accommodations are going to be rustic.” 

And I said, “Oh Honey, what does that mean?” 

He said, “Well, we’re going to be spending five nights in a tent in the Himalayan mountains close to the Mt. Everest base camp.” 

I was shocked! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a bit of a germaphobe, and I’m also a native Floridian, which means I tend to love to be warm!

This probably won’t be a huge surprise, but I’m really not a rugged outdoorswoman; I tend to love the great indoors! (laughter) So it was with much apprehension and a lot of luggage that we went to Nepal.

I’ll just make a long story short and tell you that yes, I was cold. Yes, I was afraid of Himalayan black bears attacking our tents! Yes, we ate things like chicken necks and water buffalo . . . and there’s not enough ketchup in the world to make water buffalo taste good! 

But what I want to say is that, despite all these things, the Lord met me there in Nepal. He knew I had many needs, and He was faithful to meet those needs. Rob and I left Nepal feeling fulfilled, hopeful, and so blessed by meeting the needs of the beautiful people of Nepal!

The reason why I begin with this story today is because the world tells us that we need to take care of yourselves first. We’re told that self-care is the most important thing. But we know that this is what Jesus taught: He didn’t teach us that our greatest need is to take care of yourself. He taught us that our greatest need is for Jesus Christ.

What I have found is that as I meet the needs of those around me is that God is faithful to meet my needs. What we’re going to do during our time together is we’re going to take a look from a lesson at Matthew chapter 25. This is the story of the sheep versus the goats.

After we take a look at this passage, we’re going to look at the biblical definition for the word “compassion.” We’re also going to see how Jesus modeled this while He was here on earth. Then finally, we’re going to look at how we can live with this same compassionate lifestyle that Jesus modeled while He was here on earth. The title for today’s lesson is “Compassion Takes Action.”

I’m going to read Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31 and going to verse 46:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” 

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” 

And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

Then they also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” 

Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (vv. 31–46)

And so, taking a look at the text of Matthew 25, we can see that Jesus has just told two parables. He talked about the parable of the ten virgins and then He also talked about the parable of the talents. And what He was teaching in these parables was that we need to be alert, we need to be ready and prepared for His return. And the way we can do that is by not being lazy servants but by using the gifts and talents that He has given us. 

So Jesus is continuing in this teaching by explaining how we can be ready and prepared for His return using the gifts He’s given us, but also by meeting the needs of those around us (by telling us the story of the sheep versus the goats).

From this passage we can see that the sheep are called “blessed.” Why are they called blessed and why do they get to inherit this kingdom prepared for them? Verses 35 and 36 tell us that it was because of their actions. When they saw needs around them—even if they were just small needs—they were faithful to meet those needs.

So these sheep are called blessed, but then also in verse 37, they are called “righteous.” We know that their actions didn’t make them righteous. If we look at other passages in Scripture, for example, Romans 3:22 says that righteousness comes through faith. 

But it was because the sheep had been declared righteous in Christ, this spurred them on towards love and good deeds. We can also see that the sheep were really shocked! They even asked Jesus, “How did we serve You directly, Jesus? When was this?”

And Jesus very lovingly responds in verse 40 (I like the NIV translation): “Whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters . . . you did for me.” You might wonder, Who are the least of these, my brothers?

From some of the commentaries I read, it is believed that Jesus was referring to other disciples or other Christians in this passage. And that’s because this term “least of these” can also be viewed as another way of saying, “little ones.” Whenever Matthew referred to little ones in his gospel, he was always talking about other believers or disciples.

While Jesus was likely referring to other believers, when we look at the whole canon of Scripture, we know that we’re supposed to meet the needs of both believers and nonbelievers. You probably know that Proverbs 19:17 says: 

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord.

And Proverbs 14:31: 

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him. 

We also know from looking at James 1:27 that genuine faith is demonstrated by living out our faith, by things like being generous and compassionate towards widows and orphans.

So, yes, Jesus calls us to serve the needy and the naked and the imprisoned, but especially the needy and the naked and the imprisoned Christians of the world. Just for another note on Matthew 25:40, sometimes this verse can be misquoted and people say, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you’ve done it to Me.”

But what it says is, “Whatever you’ve done to one of the least of these, you’ve done it for me.” So even one act of compassion done on behalf of one person, Jesus sees it, and Jesus rewards it. I love what D. A. Carson says about this verse. He says that “Jesus makes compassion for His followers equivalent to compassion for Himself.”

So we see the action of the sheep are contrasted with that of the goats. And while the sheep are called blessed, the goats were called cursed. In verse 44, the goats asked Jesus, “When did we not minister to you?” 

This world “minister” means “to render help or to meet a need.” So the goats didn’t render help; they didn’t minister; they didn’t meet the needs of those around them. And the result was that they entered eternal punishment while the sheep got to enter eternal life. So we can see from this teaching that Jesus wants us to live like the sheep.

The sheep lived according to the two greatest commandments, which are: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The sheep weren’t overwhelmed by the needs of those around them; they didn’t turn a blind eye. But when they saw even the simplest of needs, they were faithful to meet them.

And because of that, they were ready for Jesus’ return, and they also got to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world! So now, let’s take a moment to look at the biblical definition for the word “compassion.”

I looked it up in the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, and it literally means, “to be moved in one’s bowels.” And I thought, Ooo, what does that mean? The Hebrews believed that the bowels or the intestines were the seat or the source of your emotions.

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of where maybe we have a powerful reaction to something, and we can feel it in our gut. So the Nicole paraphrase for compassion is to feel something in your gut for someone else.

I also like this from the Evangelical Dictionary of the Bible. Their definition goes beyond this gut feeling, and it says that compassion is “the disposition that fuels acts of both kindness and mercy.” 

So from this definition we can see that compassion has a very active component to it. That’s what separates it from words like pity or concern or commiseration or benevolence. Compassion acts to relieve suffering. So, as I was preparing for today I began thinking, What’s a good illustration for compassion? I came up with a great illustration, you guys!

Jesus is the best illustration for living a life of compassion. Not only did Jesus teach about compassion, like I just mentioned with the passage about the sheep versus the goats, but in three different passages in the Book of Matthew, we can read about how Jesus saw crowds and He had compassion on them. 

We don’t have time to turn to all these passages today, but if you want to write them down you can. Scripture says in Matthew 9:36, when Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them and then He asked the disciples to pray for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

We can also look at Matthew 15:32. Jesus called His disciples, and He said He had compassion on the crowd. As a result of that, He fed the 4,000. He knew that they were hungry, and He met their needs.

Then we see in Matthew 15:32 that Jesus had been talking for three days (that’s a long time to be talking). The passage says the crowd was hungry. Jesus had compassion on this crowd, so He performed a miracle and fed the crowds.

Some of us despair when our pastor goes over by fifteen minutes because we want to get to Sunday lunch! But Jesus had compassion on these people who had been listening to Him for three days, and He fed them.

We can see from these three interactions of Jesus with these crowds, He wasn’t bothered by the crowds. He wasn’t inconvenienced by them. As you know, I’m an introvert, so I can be a little overwhelmed by crowds. But not our Jesus, no!

He didn’t even wait for the people to ask for something. He was moved with compassion, and He did something for them. So not only did Jesus interact with the crowds, but we see for the widow at Nain, in Luke 7, He had compassion on her, and He raised her son from the dead!

In Matthew chapter 20 there were two blind men. Jesus was filled with compassion and healed their sight. For the leper in Mark chapter 1, Jesus was filled with compassion for him and healed him, it says.

So from the three interactions of Jesus with the crowd as well as these three miracles I just mentioned briefly, we can see that not once did Jesus feel compassion in his gut. . .and do nothing . . . and do nothing. (I have a strong-willed four-year-old, so I’m very good at repeating myself!)

So far we’ve looked at Jesus’s teaching on compassion—the sheep versus the goats. We’ve looked at the definition and how Jesus is the perfect illustration of compassion in action. But how do we live with this compassionate lifestyle?

What if we look at a crowd and we’re not filled with compassion for them? Because after all, acts of compassion are rarely convenient, and we’re all likely busy women. We have jobs, careers, families, schedules we’re trying to maintain.

One of my girlfriends recently said, “We’re kind of like the airlines: we’re overbooked, we’re oversold, we’re over capacity, and we need somebody to get off the plane or to take a later flight!” But what we can see from the life of Jesus is that His opportunities to show compassion, a lot of times, were on His way to doing something else.

I think in our lives, some days we have our schedule, our agendas, and we’re going to be on our way to doing something else. And Jesus is going to give us an opportunity to stop, to be filled with compassion, and to do something!

So, sisters, may we welcome what we would consider these “interruptions,” and use them to bless others and to meet the needs around us. But again, how is it possible? If acts of compassion are rarely convenient, and we’re all overbooked—we’re oversold—how is it possible to live a compassionate lifestyle?

Well here’s some good news, ladies! The source of our compassion is not natural, but supernatural. The source of our compassion is the Holy Spirit! And so the good news is that that same Spirit that resided inside Jesus Christ now lives inside each of us, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of Jesus Christ. We can ask for a fresh filling of that Spirit when our hearts are hardened towards the crowds around us or towards the needs of those around us.

In addition to asking the Holy Spirit to fill us with His compassion, something else we can do is we can remember and we can respond to the compassion that God has shown us because we know that it was because of God’s compassion that He sent Jesus to earth. It was because of Jesus’ compassion that He left the comforts of heaven to come to earth to die on our behalf.

And so, it’s not about mustering up our own compassion or trying to kindle it on our own. But as we fully remember and we remember the compassion that God, in Jesus, has shown us, that will fill us, and it will simply spill out onto those around us.

So, praise the Lord! Our source of compassion is not natural but supernatural, it’s supplied by the Holy Spirit, and it’s in compassion to the response to the compassion that God, in Jesus, has already shown us. 

I wanted to ask us two questions as we seek to apply this message to our own lives. The first one is as individuals, but then also as the global church. Are we living like sheep, or are we living like goats? Are we bearing fruit in keeping with repentance?

You know, if our churches aren’t filled with compassionate believers who are letting their faith take feet, then that means we’ve strayed from some of the core teachings that Jesus taught us about when He was here on earth. And if we’re not responding with actions of compassion, it means we’re living like goats and not as the sheep.

And the second question I’m going to ask of you, but I’m also going to ask of myself: what is one act of compassion that you can do for one of the least of these? And as my third grader will attest to, I am not great at math! But I do know that one is greater than zero, and that helping one person is greater than helping no one!

And for our local churches, how can we show compassion for the one? This is going to look different for different people. 

• Maybe we can invite someone over for dinner to our home. 
• Maybe we can write a note to a widow to encourage her.
• Maybe we can visit someone at the hospital. 
• When was the last time we went to prison . . . or when was the last time we visited someone in prison is what I meant to say! 

What opportunities has God placed in front of you? What are the resources and the skills that He’s given you?

Maybe you’re an accountant, or maybe you’re a lawyer, maybe you’re a really good cook, maybe you’re good at organizing things. As we said at the beginning, one of the ways we can be ready for Jesus’ return is by using the gifts and talents He’s given us for kingdom purposes.

Another idea is going on a short term mission trip. I feel that with this you could “kill two birds with one stone,” because you could bless the host missionary family, but then you could also meet the needs of those around you.

Galatians 6:10 says, “So then, as we have [the] opportunity, let us do good to everyone . . . especially to those [in the family] of faith.” We know that each meal, each donation, each call, each cup of water, each contribution, each article of clothing, each resource, each visit, each offering, each gift, each and every act of compassion . . . whatever you do for one of the least of these is seen by, will be rewarded by, and ultimately is for Jesus Christ! 

So as I close for today, I want to tell you a story about a mom and her son that my husband and I met at an orthopedic hospital in Ethiopia about five years ago.

When we were there, the doctor told us the story that this young boy had been born with a bunch of congenital deformities, and he couldn’t walk. So each morning his mom would put her son on her back, and she would walk one hour to school in the morning and do the same thing, carry him one hour on her back, on the way home. 

While we were there, this boy (I would say he was about ten years old) had received a life-changing surgery and was learning to walk for the very first time! 

As I saw this petite mom with her tall, lanky son, you just couldn’t believe that this is what she had done for her son. I began to think, What love, what endurance, what perseverance this mom had! This mom’s compassion had led her to action on behalf of her son.

But, you know what ladies? The truth is, before we came to know Christ, we were all just like that little boy. We were limping through life. We were unable to help ourselves. We were weighed down by our own sin. 

But because of our Father’s compassion, He sent Jesus to redeem me and to redeem you. Jesus, our compassionate Rescuer, came to earth and carried His own cross to His own death so He could carry us from death to life! 

Because of the compassion Jesus modeled and that we have been shown, may it be said of each and everyone of us that not once did we feel compassion . . . and do nothing! But let us carry each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. (see Gal. 6:2)

Because as Chrisian women, we don’t follow the ways of the world that say to take care of ourselves first, because we know that our greatest need is for Jesus. As we meet the needs of those around us, He will meet our needs.

So if it’s a cup of cold water for your neighbor, or if it’s a meal for the person across the street, or meeting the needs of someone across the world, as the body of Christ, let’s let our compassion lead us to action on behalf of one of the least of these.

Nancy: Aren’t you thankful for that which Nicole Furno has reminded us? The compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ and the presence of His Holy Spirit in our lives. That’s what makes it possible to show His compassion to others. I love that!

Again, Nicole shared that message at the Sisters in Ministry Summit at the Revive Our Hearts headquarters a while back. I’d encourage you to think of one thing you can do—maybe today or maybe over this holiday weekend—to show compassion to someone who’s hurting.

Dannah: Thanks, Nancy. And to help you reflect the heart of God to others, request your copy of Uncommon Compassion. In it, Erin Davis helps you see that apathy is the norm, but true compassion is uncommon! As Nicole Furno said today, it’s unnatural, it’s from the Holy Spirit. 

Here’s how you can get a copy of Uncommon Compassion. Contact Revive Our Hearts with a donation of any amount. Let us know that you’d like to receive the booklet, and we will send you one. It’s that simple! And then after you’ve read it and started putting it into practice, can you also let us know how God used it in your life? 

To make a donation, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Sometimes we can confuse true compassion with a slavish people-centeredness. Tomorrow, Paula Hendricks Marsteller will help us watch out for what she calls “Compassion Gone Awry.”Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ!

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.

¹ “The Sheep and the Goats,” Keith Green, The Ministry Years, Vol. 2: 1980–1982, This Compilation ℗ 1999 Sparrow Records.

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