What’s your Passion?
When people talk about passion, they describe passion as “suffering” to refer to the
sufferings of Jesus. Each of the four Gospels has what is called a Passion narrative,
which records the sufferings of Jesus from the night of His arrest to His death. A
part from the physical suffering of the Passion, we must not forget that Jesus also
experienced the mental agony of being betrayed by His friends and forsaken by His
followers. Most of all, there was the spiritual suffering Jesus experienced. He knew
that He was to take on the sins of the world, being “made sin, who knew no sin” (II
Corinthians 5:21), and thus would be separated from God. This was why Jesus, at
a moment, uttered His stark cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Mark 15:34).
I think to best describe passion, you must indicate what a person is willing to go
through for what they believe. In Hebrews 12:2 the Bible says “looking to Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God”. We know that Jesus had a passion for the things of God, by what He was
willing to go through. The devil tried to get Jesus to take a short cut and not go to
the cross in Matthew 4:8-10 “again, the devil takes Him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And
says to Him, all these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me.
Then says Jesus to him, get you from here, satan for it is written, you shall worship
the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve”. The devil had gotten his
authority from Adam.
We have to remember that after the devil tricked Adam and Eve, mankind died
spiritually and could no longer fellowship with God. God’s plan for reconciliation
involved His Son (John 3:16). Jesus agreed to come and reconcile mankind back to
God. We are told in Philippians 2:5-8 says “let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God. But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a
man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the
cross”. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, exactly reflected the Father’s compassion in
His dealings with a fallen humanity. Jesus healed diseases and infirmities, cast out
devils, empowered others, and sent His disciples out to do likewise. Following
Jesus’ example, Christians are to show compassion in dealing with others. Jesus
set for the example in the parables of the good Samaritan, who had compassion on
a wounded traveler (Luke 10:33), and the prodigal son, whose father had
compassion on him when he returned home (Luke 15:20).
Jesus exemplified God’s compassion in His preaching and healing (Matthew 9:36,
14:14), in His concern for the lost of humanity (Luke 19:41), and finally in His
sacrifice on the cross (Roman 5:8). The church is to demonstrate compassion as
one facet of the love Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:37-40) “Jesus said to him, you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the
law, and the prophets”. The usage for compassion is always both a feeling and the
appropriate action based on that felling.
We know that Paul had a passion for the things of God, by what he suffered. Paul
said “follow me as I follow Christ”. The apostle Paul listed a number of qualities that
the Colossian church “as God’s chosen ones” was to incorporate; the first was
compassion (Colossian 3:12). It was to be an integral part of the concept of the
Christian community. Jesus reaffirms Peter’s passion by asking him “Peter do you
love Me”, 3 times and telling him to feed His sheep. The other disciples also showed
their passion, they all suffered many things and was put to death, except for John
who they tried to kill, but he did not die, and they shipped him away to the isle of
Patmos. The good news with which the first Christians changed their world was
based on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (I Corinthians 15:3-4).
The Greek word for compassion means literally “to be moved in one’s bowels”. The
term points to the very core of one’s inner feelings, much as the term “heart” does
today. One’s intense inner feelings should always lead to outward compassionate
acts of mercy and kindness. We can all be as passionate for the things of God as
anyone in the Bible (James 5:17) “Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we
are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by
the space of three years and six months”. You have to ask yourself, what drives
you on?
Your passion should comes from God, Jesus came to baptize us in the Holy Spirit
and fire, and He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4-6,8) “and being
assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which says He, you have heard of
Me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from here. But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is
come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth”. Ephesians 5:18 tells
us “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit”.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: May 23, 2008
When people talk about passion, they describe passion as “suffering” to refer to the
sufferings of Jesus. Each of the four Gospels has what is called a Passion narrative,
which records the sufferings of Jesus from the night of His arrest to His death. A
part from the physical suffering of the Passion, we must not forget that Jesus also
experienced the mental agony of being betrayed by His friends and forsaken by His
followers. Most of all, there was the spiritual suffering Jesus experienced. He knew
that He was to take on the sins of the world, being “made sin, who knew no sin” (II
Corinthians 5:21), and thus would be separated from God. This was why Jesus, at
a moment, uttered His stark cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Mark 15:34).
I think to best describe passion, you must indicate what a person is willing to go
through for what they believe. In Hebrews 12:2 the Bible says “looking to Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God”. We know that Jesus had a passion for the things of God, by what He was
willing to go through. The devil tried to get Jesus to take a short cut and not go to
the cross in Matthew 4:8-10 “again, the devil takes Him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And
says to Him, all these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me.
Then says Jesus to him, get you from here, satan for it is written, you shall worship
the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve”. The devil had gotten his
authority from Adam.
We have to remember that after the devil tricked Adam and Eve, mankind died
spiritually and could no longer fellowship with God. God’s plan for reconciliation
involved His Son (John 3:16). Jesus agreed to come and reconcile mankind back to
God. We are told in Philippians 2:5-8 says “let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God. But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a
man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the
cross”. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, exactly reflected the Father’s compassion in
His dealings with a fallen humanity. Jesus healed diseases and infirmities, cast out
devils, empowered others, and sent His disciples out to do likewise. Following
Jesus’ example, Christians are to show compassion in dealing with others. Jesus
set for the example in the parables of the good Samaritan, who had compassion on
a wounded traveler (Luke 10:33), and the prodigal son, whose father had
compassion on him when he returned home (Luke 15:20).
Jesus exemplified God’s compassion in His preaching and healing (Matthew 9:36,
14:14), in His concern for the lost of humanity (Luke 19:41), and finally in His
sacrifice on the cross (Roman 5:8). The church is to demonstrate compassion as
one facet of the love Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:37-40) “Jesus said to him, you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the
law, and the prophets”. The usage for compassion is always both a feeling and the
appropriate action based on that felling.
We know that Paul had a passion for the things of God, by what he suffered. Paul
said “follow me as I follow Christ”. The apostle Paul listed a number of qualities that
the Colossian church “as God’s chosen ones” was to incorporate; the first was
compassion (Colossian 3:12). It was to be an integral part of the concept of the
Christian community. Jesus reaffirms Peter’s passion by asking him “Peter do you
love Me”, 3 times and telling him to feed His sheep. The other disciples also showed
their passion, they all suffered many things and was put to death, except for John
who they tried to kill, but he did not die, and they shipped him away to the isle of
Patmos. The good news with which the first Christians changed their world was
based on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (I Corinthians 15:3-4).
The Greek word for compassion means literally “to be moved in one’s bowels”. The
term points to the very core of one’s inner feelings, much as the term “heart” does
today. One’s intense inner feelings should always lead to outward compassionate
acts of mercy and kindness. We can all be as passionate for the things of God as
anyone in the Bible (James 5:17) “Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we
are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by
the space of three years and six months”. You have to ask yourself, what drives
you on?
Your passion should comes from God, Jesus came to baptize us in the Holy Spirit
and fire, and He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4-6,8) “and being
assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which says He, you have heard of
Me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from here. But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is
come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth”. Ephesians 5:18 tells
us “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit”.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: May 23, 2008
