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Our church began 2014 by introducing our theme for the new year: Consumed with Compassion!  The Word of God tells us: And of some have compassion, making a difference.

Looking at the story of the Good Samaritan we see several things:

1). Compassion takes a Vision (Luke 10:33).  The Good Samaritan “saw” the need.  He did not look the other way.  We must have eyes that are open to people’s needs.

2). Compassion takes Effort (Luke 10:34).  The Good Samaritan “went” to him.  The needs of people in our society are great.  It takes more than just seeing their need, we must also take the time and effort to go to where they are.

3). Compassion makes our Hands Dirty (Luke 10:34).  The Good Samaritan “bound” up his wounds and poured oil and wine on the injured to help him.  Often the compassionate work we do gets our hands dirty either literally or figuratively.  It takes going to difficult situations and help difficult people.

4). Compassion takes Time (Luke 10:34-35).  The Good Samaritan put him on his own beast, took him to the inn and then “took care of him”.  The Word of God also tells us that he stayed the night and did not leave until the “morrow”.  Personal Sacrifice is the cost of compassion.

5). Compassion demand Follow up (Luke 10:35).  The Good Samaritan vowed to come back that way again and see if there were any further needs that he could meet.  He did not help and leave forever, but rather helped and than came back to help some more if need be.

Let’s be Consumed with Compassion!

The passage of the True Vine in John 15 has been preached, taught, written about and studied many time.  One simple application I have made comes from my own garden.  I have a small grape arbor.  Each fall I cut back the vine – I prune my grapes.  It was difficult for me to do that the first couple of years as I had just started to get my grape vine going. However, the reason I cut back the vine is because no matter how extensive my grape vine grew – I was not trying to grow a large vine with pretty leaves.  I was trying to grow grapes.  It I wanted shade I would have planted a tree.  I wanted the grapes.  I want grapes for canning. I want to eat the grapes.  I cannot use beautiful grape leaves.

In the Christian life we struggle when trials come.  We don’t like the pruning.  We understand getting sin out of our lives, but we really struggle when God prunes seemingly good things from our lives.  Why did our parent get dementia?   Why did we lose that job or not get that promotion?  Why did my child fall ill?  We struggle with things that enter our lives that seem like they conflict with our happiness.

The bottom line is – we are not here to grow nice leaves.  As Christians our purpose is not to look nice and ‘pretty’ in our Christian life.  God’s goal for us is to be fruitful and then to produce more fruit.  We want to be a nice looking ‘plant’ in God’s garden.  God wants us to be productive and give forth that which He designed us for.

We are not here to grow nice leaves – we are here to produce fruit!

– Pastor Wes Gunther

After spending the better part of the last week in the area Children’s Hospital with family, I am again reminded that there are so many hurting people.  As Christians, Christ wants us to find them and minister to them.

Words like ‘Prayer’, ‘God’ and ‘Miracles’ are very popular in the Children’s Hospital waiting rooms.  They may not be popular subjects in our culture, in our government, or in our educational institutions today – but they are extremely popular during a crisis.

Christ went to the people in need.  There were many that flocked to Him as they saw his power and healing – but there were many others that Christ went to find:  the woman at the well, Zacchaeus, the disciples on the boat, etc.  Christ went to them in their time of need.

There are many, many hurting people today. I believe it is the responsibility of the Church and Christians in general to know where they are and share with them. Crisis and illness are difficult times, but they are difficult times that often lead people to openness in regards to spiritual things.

The church that I pastor has seen steady, sustained growth for the past nine years.  There were 32 my first Sunday in the fall of 2004.  We now average near 140.  We have grown at an average rate of about 10% per year.  Oh, and we use only a piano and organ as instruments while singing hymns out of a hymnbook.

I know there is a lot more to our church, and to every church, than the music.  However, I dare say that most of the people who have visited our church from another area church have come because of the music.

We have specific reasons that we use the traditional music that we use.  We think it provides the right foundation for the rest of the service.  However – no one – and I mean no one that has ever come to our church because of the music has told me how much they appreciate our ‘stand’ or how much they admire our ‘standards’ on the music issue. Without fail they tell me that the music in their old church was just “too loud”.  That’s right: TOO LOUD!

What?  Is it true that the music issue to most people is not an issue of right or wrong worship styles?  Is it true that while the more contemporary churches are spending a lot of money on enhanced sound systems and semi-professional bands and while traditional churches such as ourselves are preaching the importance of the ‘old fashioned way’ – that in reality most people are affected by the decibel level?  The answer is a resounding – YES!

According to my personal physician, the number one reason that people are now coming into his office is migraines.  We are told that the Autism birthrate in the United States right now is 1 in 88 (per the Center for Disease Control).  That is ten times higher than it was a decade ago.

If our congregations are dealing with migraines and other head ache issues and if our children are dealing with the sensory issues of Autism – than why in the world are we playing our music so loud that it is negatively affecting people.

Just a thought to ALL churches, traditional or contemporary:   The music is TOO LOUD! Turn it down!  Technology is great – but it is hurting your congregations’ heads and ears.

Sometimes it is not a spiritual issue.  It is a common sense issue.

Pastor Wes Gunther – Cedar Hill Baptist Church, Dillsburg PA