Now the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on in Hebrews chapter 4 is beginning
there in verse 14 where the Bible reads,
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
What I want to preach about this morning is the subject of having sympathy for other people.
And that's exactly what the Bible is saying here in verse 15 when it says,
We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
You see, Jesus Christ is one who can have compassion on us and sympathy with us because
of the fact that he has lived through everything that we've gone through.
He's been tempted in all points like as we are, yet he was without sin.
In fact, eight times the Bible specifically directly mentions Jesus as having compassion
on someone.
And the word compassion means sympathy.
It's pretty much an exact synonym of the word sympathy.
Now go to Romans chapter number 12.
We could spend an entire sermon just talking about Jesus Christ sympathizing with people
and having compassion on people and go through all these different instances in his life.
But what I want to focus on this morning is how we should sympathize with other people
in our lives.
Now first of all, look at Romans chapter 12 verse 15 just to help you understand what
it means to sympathize with people.
It says in Romans chapter 12 verse 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them
that weep.
What does that mean?
Feel what they're feeling.
Try to put yourself in other people's shoes and try to understand what they're going through
and what they're coming from is what the Bible is saying.
It says in verse 16, be of the same mind one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
What does it mean to condescend to men of low estate?
Try to understand what it's like in their position and sympathize with them.
Flip over to chapter 15, just a few pages to the right in the Bible.
Romans 15 verse 1 says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak
and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that
reproach thee fell on me.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Now watch this.
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according
to Christ Jesus.
So the Bible says that God is the God of patience and the God of consolation and that God wants
us to be like-minded one toward another.
You know if Jesus Christ can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, if Jesus Christ
has compassion on us and sympathize with us, and if he will have patience with other people
and console other people when they're going through a bad time, he says we should be like-minded
one toward another and have that same spirit that was in Christ Jesus.
Look at the next verse.
It says that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the
glory of God.
He's saying God is patient with us, we should be patient with other people.
We should console other people and just as Christ received us, we should receive one
another.
Of course we sing the famous song, just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was
shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee O Lamb of God I come.
Just as I am.
Jesus Christ isn't waiting to accept us until we're perfect.
Until we've turned from all our sins as has become such a popular teaching.
No actually we come to Jesus Christ by faith and he'll receive us by faith.
Whosoever believeth should not perish but have eternal life.
And he says well then receive one another.
It just says he's received us.
We need to be- what I get from this also and flip over if you would to Titus chapter 3,
is that we should be patient with people who are on a different level spiritually than
where we are.
It's easy for us sometimes who've been saved for 5 years or 10 years or 20 years.
You know I myself personally have been saved for 27 years.
So it's pretty easy to get to a point where you get frustrated with other people and you
don't understand that other people are maybe newly saved or they've only read the Bible
a little bit, maybe they're barely in church and then you just freak out because they have
some doctrine wrong or because maybe they have some sin in their life that you got rid
of you know 10 years ago.
But you have to remember that there was a time when you were a babe in Christ.
And there was a time when you were even unsaved and doing all kinds of bad things and saying
all kinds of stupid things and believing all kinds of false things.
And often times I can't even believe what some people's doctrine is and I'm like how
in the world can anybody believe in this?
And then I remember that when I was a teenager I believed in that because that's what I was
taught at my church.
And so he's saying we need to be patient with people and we that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak and not to just think to ourselves you know oh aren't they
pathetic.
No we're supposed to and when it says strong there by the way that's not talking about
you know a body building contest.
Okay when it says those that are strong he's talking about strong spiritually.
He's talking about those that are mature in the faith, those that have great spiritual
strength.
He's saying they need to bear the infirmities of the weak.
What does it mean to bear the infirmities?
To put up with or to go you know the infirmities the weaknesses that other people have and
to be patient with them and to understand.
Look what it says in Titus chapter 3 verse 2.
It says to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle showing all meekness unto all men.
Verse 3 for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived.
Do you see that?
That's something to keep in mind.
Look be patient with other people because we ourselves also used to be foolish.
You say well I've never been foolish.
Well I guarantee you that every person in this room has been foolish because the Bible
says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will drive
it far from him.
We all were born into this world and lived the early part of our lives doing a lot of
stupid things because we were children and all children do foolish things.
But I'm sure many of us were foolish in our teenage years or even into our adult life.
He said to us keep in mind just remember that we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior
toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior that being justified by his grace we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It's not our goodness or our righteousness that has brought us to the point that we are
today.
It's the fact that Jesus Christ has saved us by his mercy, by his grace and that he
has patiently taught us and chastened us and disciplined us and it took us years to get
where we are today or even decades to get where we are today and so we need to always
remember that we used to be wrong on a lot of things, we used to do a lot of wrong things
and we need to be patient with the fact that other people might just be at a lower level
spiritually but they're on their way to becoming something better.
You know what I look at with people is just what direction are they going.
You know I'm not going to sit there and look down on somebody because they're a babe in
Christ because they're a new believer.
Now you know when I see somebody just going the wrong direction getting worse and worse
and worse you know that's a problem but if I see somebody who's in a bad place spiritually
but they're learning, they're growing, we need to be patient when people take time to
learn and grow and so forth but not only does the Bible teach that we should sympathize
with those who are at a lower level spiritually, the Bible also teaches that we should sympathize
with those who are going through suffering in their life.
Now go to Hebrews chapter number 13, the book of Hebrews chapter 13.
What does it mean to sympathize?
It means to feel what they're feeling, to rejoice with them that rejoice, to weep with
those who weep and to be able to put yourself in their shoes and say wait a minute here's
a person who's saying something stupid or doing something stupid but you know what I've
done stupid things, I've said stupid things, try to put yourself in their position.
You know a lot of times people will be suffering and going through really hard things in their
life and that's why they're being a jerk to you and you might think to yourself man this
guy's really being a jerk or this person was really rude to me but sometimes you just
don't know what kind of things that are going on in their life that are making them act
that way and so you have to sympathize with people.
I mean think about it, what if you lost a child or what if you lost your job or what
if you found out some horrible news and then somebody comes and talks to you, would you
maybe snap at them or be rude to them just because you're going through something else
bad in your life.
So you have to be able to sympathize with people and understand what they're going through.
Look what the Bible says in Hebrews 13 verse 3, it says remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them and that's what sympathy is, as bound with them, put yourself in their
place and them which suffer adversity.
So even if somebody's not in prison just suffering any kind of adversity, just going through
any kind of a bad time or hard trials.
He says them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.
He's saying I mean to the point where you like literally feel what they're feeling.
That is the empathy that you would have with them.
He says remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity
as being yourselves also in the body.
You don't have to turn there but in Colossians 4 18 the Apostle Paul when he's signing off
on the letter to the Colossians, he says the salutation by the hand of me Paul, remember
my bonds, grace be with you, amen.
He said just remember the fact that I'm in prison right now.
Don't forget about me, sympathize with me.
Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.
But not only should we sympathize with people that are at a lower level spiritually, they're
babes in Christ or they're just not as far along the path spiritually as we are, not
only should we sympathize with those who are suffering and going through adversity but
we should also sympathize with the poor.
Turn to Proverbs 19, Proverbs chapter 19.
There are a lot of things that people are going through that you might not even know
about.
They might be having marriage problems, they might be having financial problems, they could
be having health problems that they don't want to talk about and when it comes to compassion
and sympathy in the Bible, one of the words that comes up a lot is grace or mercy.
And if you look at the, you go ahead and turn to Proverbs but in the original scripture
that we looked at in Hebrews chapter 4, when he said that Jesus Christ is not a high priest
that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, he follows that up by saying
let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
So how does this play out?
If we sympathize with people, we're going to give them grace, we're going to give them
mercy because we understand, hey, I know what you're going through, I feel what you feel,
therefore I'm going to extend grace unto you, I'm going to extend mercy unto you, meaning
I'm going to maybe overlook some things that you've done wrong because of the fact that
you're going through a bad time.
Sympathy for the poor, look at Proverbs 19 verse 17.
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will
he pay him again.
And then look at chapter 28 verse 8.
It says he that by usury, usury is the charging of interest, this is banking, he that by usury
an unjust gain increaseeth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity
the poor.
What does it mean to pity the poor?
To feel sorry for those who are poor.
That's what the Bible's saying with pity.
Go to 1 John chapter 3 and while you're turning to 1 John chapter 3, I'll read for you from
Galatians 2 verse 10, only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which
I also was forward to do.
Now here's the thing about poor people is that some people have never had any financial
problems in their life.
There are people out there, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hand, who's never had
financial problems, who's, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hand, you know, I've never.
But you know what I've noticed though, I've been around people who've never gone through
financial problems and often they do not have any sympathy for those who do.
They look at people that are poor or people that are struggling financially and they just
think they're an idiot, that's why they're struggling financially.
There are people who think that, but I'm telling you something, there are people that are poor
and there are people who are struggling financially who are not an idiot and they're not lazy,
but they're actually just going through a bad time, they're down on their luck, there
are different reasons why people are poor.
And I can honestly say, you know, I've been poor, now I've never been really super poor,
I've never been to the point where I couldn't pay my bills or anything, but you know, when
my wife and I first got married, we lived a very modest life and I made a very low amount
of money, I only made a few bucks above minimum wage, and my wife and I, we lived in a small
apartment in a not great area and our bed was just a twin mattress on the floor, okay,
we had two plates, two glasses, two forks, two spoons, and we finally after several months
somebody gave us a table and two chairs and then we wanted to invite our friends from
church over and we said bring two chairs because we only have two, but for the first few months
we sat on the floor and ate, literally, we didn't even have a table, we didn't have a
couch, we didn't have any furniture for a couple months, and we would never go out to
eat unless my parents took us out to eat, and then they were buying, you know, and that
was the only way that we would go out to eat in the early days, but you know, we were just
happy because we were just excited to be married, we loved each other, we didn't need all the
frills, so you know, I know a little bit what it's like to have a lot of month at the end
of the money, you know, instead of money left over at the end of the month, and I know what
it's like to struggle and not sure if you can pay bills and you know, kind of trying
to move things around and rob Peter to pay Paul, so I know a little bit what that's like,
but you know what, even if I haven't been completely poor and destitute, I try to have
sympathy for those who are poor, sympathy for those who are struggling financially,
and trying to understand where they're coming from, and I think that in some ways it's good
to go through hard times financially yourself, and I've gone through times where I got into
credit card debt and had to pay it off and everything, and that was a pain in the neck,
but it's almost good to go through that because you don't get this arrogant, prideful attitude
of anybody who has any financial problems is an idiot, or they're not a hard worker,
and it's not true, and the Bible tells us that we should care about the poor and remember
the poor and pity the poor and reach out to the poor, and I can tell you this, when I
was in my early married years, I wasn't lazy, and I wasn't stupid, but I struggled to provide
for my wife, and then as children came along, I struggled to provide for them, because it
can be hard, it can be a challenge.
The Bible says in 1 John 3 verse 17, but whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, what's that say?
His bowels of compassion, right, isn't that like sympathy?
How dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
A lot of people who've never gone through financial problems, they can't relate, they
can't understand what it's like to struggle financially, but other areas of life as well.
For example, marriage problems.
Somebody who's never had any problem in their marriage, their marriage has just been smooth
sailing, oh yeah, people like that don't exist, no I'm just kidding, but you know, I mean
it's probably pretty rare, if they do, but honestly, you know, people who haven't had
marriage problems, they just think like, oh you're having marriage problems, you must
be an idiot.
Or like, what are you talking about, you're having marriage problems, you're just, husbands
love your wives, that easy, you know, wives, reverence your husband, submit to your husband,
love your wife, it's that easy, you just do it, it just works, it's like no, sorry, that's
not how it works, I mean if you just loved your wife right, it'd be perfect, no, wrong.
There's a lot that goes into it, you know, there's a lot, and it's hard, and if it weren't
hard then you wouldn't see all the divorce that you see, but some people, they don't
sympathize with that, because they've never gone through it, you know, it reminds me of
a story that my parents would tell, about how they had, they had my older sister Ronnie,
and then they had my older brother Clint, so first they just had a girl and a boy, they
had the two kids, and both Ronnie and Clint were really well behaved little kids, and
they were very good and obedient, and nice kids, and my parents said they used to look
at people whose kids were disobedient, and just think, why don't these people spank their
kids, these people are just totally failing at parenting, you know, if they would just
spank their kids, their kids would be good, look how good our kids are, and then they
say, and then we had Steve, and then we realized, you can have a bad kid without, you know,
making big parenting mistakes, because I was just a really wild and mischievous and disobedient
little toddler, you know, once I got older, I straightened up, but they just said, you
know, we just couldn't believe it, because these people's kids would be such brats, and
we're like, what are you doing, just spank your kids, for crying out loud, and then they
realized like, no matter how much we spank Steve, like he's still being a brat, you know,
and they say, you know, I turn their back on me for one second, I go to the bathroom,
put toothpaste everywhere, and spin the toilet paper, and everything, but anyway, you know,
they couldn't sympathize, right, they'd never been there, they'd never had those kind of
problems, but not only that, go back to Exodus chapter 23, the Bible also teaches that we
should sympathize with those who are foreigners, people who are here from a foreign country,
the Bible says we should have sympathy for them, so who does the Bible clearly teach
that we should sympathize with, people who are babes in Christ, people who are at a lower
level spiritually, number two, we should sympathize with people who are suffering in prison and
going through hard times, you know, a lot of people just look at people in prison and
just think, oh, they all deserve to be there, well, that's not true, Jesus and the disciples
were in prison a lot, a lot of the prophets were in prison, and you know, a lot of people
today are in prison that don't belong there, and so we should sympathize with people, or
okay, let's say they did break the law, let's say they did make a mistake, but you know,
you can still sympathize with them, now, obviously, some people, you know, have done horrible
things that have put them there, I'm not saying sympathize with those people, but I'm saying,
you know, most of the people in prison, 90% of the people in prison have not committed
a violent crime, why wouldn't you sympathize with them, even if they did make a mistake,
even if they did something stupid, you know, sympathize with those that are bound, and
especially those who are there completely unjustly, but not only that, we should sympathize
with the poor, and not just look down on them, or just disdain them for being poor, like
they must be lazy or stupid, now let me tell you something, there are people who are poor
because they're lazy and stupid, no question about it, the Bible teaches that, read the
book of Proverbs, he says over and over about how people are poor because they're being
lazy or because they're being stupid, but you know what, that's not everybody, so you
shouldn't just judge without even, you know, knowing what the situation is, and just see
somebody who's poor and just automatically assume they're failing, now a lot of times
they are being lazy, a lot of times they are being foolish, but we shouldn't just assume
that, and we should still sympathize with the poor, but not only that, the Bible teaches
that we should have sympathy with foreigners, okay, look at Exodus chapter 23 verse 9, it
says, and thou shalt not oppress a stranger, and just so you know, when the Bible says
stranger, it means foreigner, it's an old word for foreigner, it means, you know, like
Moses said, I'm a stranger in a strange land, he wasn't saying, hey, this place is weird,
what he was saying is, I'm a foreigner in a foreign land, that's what the old word strange
means, so it says also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, watch this, here's the sympathy,
for you know the heart of a stranger, you know what it's like to be a stranger yourself,
seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt, flip over to Leviticus 19, Leviticus 19, he
says you used to be a foreigner in Egypt, you know what that's like, so don't turn around
and treat foreigners bad when you get to the land of Israel, and this is something that
needs to be preached today, in the United States, because there's a lot of just propaganda,
and a lot of talk radio out there, that is setting out to demonize foreigners, and to
demonize, especially, you know, the illegal immigrants from Mexico, and demonize them,
and they shouldn't have any rights, beat them, throw them in jail, and send them home, or
honestly, we need to sympathize with these people, because they're, first of all, a lot
of their suffering is not their fault, because of the fact that they're in a country that
has a corrupt government, and a lot of the people in the government over there are on
the take from the drug cartels and everything, and so there's a very corrupt government down
there, and then there's also a lot of corrupt things that our government is doing that has
caused a lot of the problems down in Mexico, for example, the subsidizing of this Monsanto
Roundup ready corn, up in the United States, this GMO garbage corn that we grow in the
United States, is subsidized by the government, where the government pays them to grow corn,
and to sell it at a price cheaper than what it costs them to grow it, and then the Mexican
farmers can't keep up, and then we export the food down to Mexico that's cheap, and
by the way, it's cheap because it's garbage, genetically modified junk, and then the Mexican
farmers can't make a living, so then they got to go to the cities and try to make a
living, and then they're working in these factories where they're getting paid some
insanely low wage, you know, do you really blame them for crossing the imaginary line
to try to, you know, make some money, and do something with their family? But again,
people don't sympathize, they say, oh, a bunch of Mexicans coming up, it's like, well, why
are they coming up here, though? Do you really care? Does it really matter? Well, they're
destroying our country. No, we're already doing a good job of that ourselves. You know,
us white people in America are doing a great job destroying our own culture, and destroying
our own country, so we can't really blame anybody else. Honestly, I mean, that's the
case. And some people might not agree with that, but honestly, I don't really care. The
Bible says that we should treat foreigners well, and I'm just going to obey the Bible.
And the Bible says in Leviticus 19, 34, but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall
be unto you as one born among you. Now what does that say? They should be treated just
as well as if they were born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, if they came from another,
and it's not just Mexico, if they came from any country, they should be treated as one
that is born among you. And he says, thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. And you don't have to turn there, but Deuteronomy
says the same thing in chapter 10 verse 19, love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt. Now, I'm not saying that foreigners should come here and
try to change our country to make it like their country, because if their country is
so great, then it's like, why did they come here? You know, I think that people should
come here and fit in, in the sense that if I went to Germany, I would go in and I would
speak German, you know, and I would eat sauerkraut for breakfast and whatever. But I'm not gonna,
you know, I'm not gonna sit there and go there and say, hey, you need to accommodate me in
English everywhere I go and everything I do and just demand that, because that's Germany,
it's not America. You know, or if I went down to Mexico, I wouldn't just demand and expect
everybody to speak English and everybody to take my American dollars and every, you
know, no, you have to go there and realize that, okay, this is the way this country is,
this is the way this culture is, and when in Rome, you do as the Romans do, okay? I'm
not saying that we should bend over backwards to the point where we just want to turn this
into Mexico or something, okay? This is still, you know, the United States of America, we
speak English, yada yada. But you know what, though? We should treat foreigners well and
love the stranger as ourself. And you know what, yeah, should people who live here speak
English? Yes, I believe that they should. But I still have sympathy to understand that
learning a foreign language is a lot harder than you think. And especially if you come
here as an adult, it's gonna be very difficult and very hard to learn the language. You know,
you have to sympathize and understand that. That's what I'm saying. Also, while you're
in Leviticus 19, look down at verse 14. You're in Leviticus 19, look at verse 14. It says,
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt
fear thy God, I am the Lord. So another person that we should sympathize with are those who
are disabled. And he's talking specifically here about people that are deaf, people that
are blind. He says, don't curse the deaf. And he said, why would anyone curse the deaf?
Well, if you've been around a lot of deaf people, you'll know that a lot of deaf people
are disliked and difficult to get along with because deaf people are very different, okay?
And a lot of people don't understand them and don't sympathize with them. And they just
will think to themselves, oh, wow, this deaf person is very strange or, oh, this deaf person
is very rude or they're being a jerk. But here's the thing. Have you ever been deaf?
You know, being deaf would be pretty awful. And so don't curse the deaf. Don't look down
on the deaf or get angry at the deaf. And look, I've had deaf people be very rude to
me or act very strange around me. But it's because they get frustrated because think
about it, it would drive you crazy to be deaf. I mean, it's hard being deaf. Now, being blind
is something that we could probably understand a little bit because we've all gone out in
the dark and you can't see where you're going and we've kind of experienced that. Or you
could even put on a blindfold and experience it. But being deaf is something that none
of us have ever experienced and we don't really have a clue what it would be like.
And so why don't we think about that instead of seeing deaf people and thinking, oh, that
person's weird or, oh, that person is rude or, oh, that guy, you know. Instead we should
love those people and say, you know what, they're going through something that's very
hard that I've never gone through and try to understand where they're coming and try
to love them and reach out to them, try to get them saved, you know, and whether that's
through learning sign language or through, you know, text or subtitling or whatever you
can do to reach deaf people because, you know what, they're people that need to be saved
and honestly it's not that they're bad people. It's just that they're misunderstood sometimes
because of the fact that they're living a hard life, you know, and the Bible says that
when they go to heaven they're going to be able to hear again. So, you know, praise the
Lord for that. But, you know, when it comes to the blind, I remember Jack Hiles told a
story because he passed through a huge church. He told a story that he would on a weekly
basis blindfold himself for a little while and perform his normal daily tasks blindfolded
just in order to try to sympathize with, because they had, the church had a big deaf, or not
deaf, good night, blind ministry. They had a blind ministry and he wanted to love and
sympathize with the blind people in his church so he would blindfold himself and try to go
about his business and it made him realize, wow, it's really hard being blind and it made
him be able to pray for them and sympathize with them more. Not only that, go to 1 Peter
chapter 3 and you notice how many examples the Bible has about this thing of sympathy.
It's an important subject. I mean, first of all, we saw that Christ was very sympathetic,
compassionate. He was touched with the feeling of the infirmities of others, but then we
see all these admonitions in the Bible telling us, look, have sympathy for those that are
in prison. Have sympathy for those who are going through any adversity. Sympathize with
the poor. Sympathize with those who are foreigners in a foreign country and struggling with the
language, struggling with the culture. Have sympathy with people who are deaf and blind
or any other disability. I mean, these people are suffering and you need to try to feel
what they're feeling so that you can extend grace and mercy unto them. But not only that,
the Bible also teaches that we should be able to sympathize with our spouse. Now, a
lot of problems that people have as husband and wife in a marriage is because they don't
understand where the other person's coming from. They're not putting themselves in their
shoes. It's just everything is just me, me, me and it's from their perspective instead
of trying to put themselves in the other person's shoes and understand what their wife is going
through or understand what their husband is going through. Because honestly, if they understood
what the other person is going through and how the other person feels, then it would
be easier for them to extend mercy and grace to their spouse and not just get angry or
just think, well, it's impossible to please you. It's impossible to deal with you. You're
just impossible to live with. No, instead, try to understand where they're coming from.
Okay, now look at this in the Bible. 1 Peter 3, verse 7. It says, likewise, ye husbands
dwell with them, talking about dwelling with your wives according to knowledge. What does
that mean to dwell with your wife according to knowledge? To know them, to understand
them. He says, giving honor unto the wife as under the weaker vessel and as being heirs
together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one
mind, watch this, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be
courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing,
knowing that ye are therefore called that ye should inherit a blessing. So after he
just finished talking about, for verses 1 through 6, about how the wife is supposed
to obey her husband and that he is her boss and so forth, he says also, but the husbands
need to dwell with their wife according to knowledge, meaning know their wife, understand
their wife and it says that they should give honor unto her and that they should have compassion
one for another. That means that the wife should have compassion on the husband, meaning
sympathize with the husband and try to understand what it's like to have to pay the bills, you
know, to understand what that burden of providing for the family is like and just to try to
understand what kind of needs a man has or what kind of a mentality that a man has. Look,
women don't think like men and men don't think like women. I mean, there's a completely different
way of thinking and one of the biggest mistakes that you can make in your marriage is to assume
that your spouse thinks anything like you because they don't. Men and women just have
a completely different way of looking at things, a completely different way of thinking, so
you have to sympathize. So basically, your wife could be upset about something that you
think is just nothing. So that's where you need to have compassion, sympathize and try
to understand where she's coming from or you could get, you as a husband could get upset
about something and your wife is just like, why would that make you upset? What in the
world? But to you it's a big deal because you're a man and different things bother men
and different things bother women and so as a married couple, the Bible says, yes, love
his brother and yes, it's great to love each other but you also need to have compassion
one of another, sympathize with one another, know each other, be pitiful one with the other,
have pity on them and understand the struggle of being a man or understand the struggle
of being a woman that's going to be different than your struggle. Everybody in life struggles.
We all have our own battles that we face and our own challenges and struggles but the struggles
of being a wife are completely different than the struggles of being a husband. We
have to strive to understand what our wife is going through and women need to strive
to understand what their husband is going through and extend grace and mercy because
of that knowledge. Now flip over to Matthew chapter 7 and I'll close with this and while
you're turning there, I'm going to give you an illustration because I learned something
about this yesterday. I learned how to sympathize with my wife because I ran an ultra marathon
yesterday. This is the first time I've ever run a race before and I ran a 31 mile ultra
marathon and I had to climb 7,000 feet up. It was pretty much all uphill and I was doing
great, I was feeling good, everything was going great, I was having fun, you know, about
halfway through I started to go through some dark places but I came out of it, I was feeling
good, everything was going great, I was feeling great, I was having a great day, I'm looking
at the clock and saying, you know what, I'm for sure going to finish on time, I'm on schedule,
I'm out of the woods, everything's going great, and then I'm cruising along, at this point
it was like a done deal, it's in the bag. I got like 3 miles from the finish line and
all of a sudden I just broke down crying and I have no idea why. I wasn't sad, I wasn't
happy, I wasn't like crying tears of joy because I wasn't feeling a lot of joy, I mean I was
like oh cool, I'm going to finish, this is great, but I wasn't sad, I wasn't angry, there
was zero logical reason for me to just 3 miles from the finish line in this ultra marathon
with just sun beating down, it was a really hot day which made it hard, and I just broke
down crying and I have no idea why, and then the whole last 3 miles I was just like fighting
back the tears for no reason, and it's funny because everybody else, I ran with and passed
and they passed a lot of people who were going through a lot of pain throughout this day,
this ordeal, and you know I saw a lot, I heard a lot of expletives and I saw a lot of just
suffering written on people's faces because you know it's hard, but in the last 2 or 3
miles everybody's smiling because it's over, and especially the last 2 miles are all downhill,
the whole rest of the race is uphill, so everybody's like we made it, everybody's just smiling and
happy and thrilled and I just have no idea why, but I can tell you why, it's because
of the fact that when you put your body under that kind of pressure and exertion, it releases
these stress hormones and that basically it was just a physical, it wasn't anything that
was going on in my mind because I was not happy, I wasn't sad, but it was just a chemical
reaction of these stress hormones of just putting that kind of stress on my body that
just made me burst out crying for no reason, now here's a, you say what, what does this
have to do with anything, this is why your wife just burst out crying for no reason,
because of hormones, okay, and I'm like, I understood what it was like to be a hormonal
person for like just a few minutes in this, in this race, I understood what it was like
to be you know this hormonal, you know just no reason, but look honestly, and you know
it sounds like I'm joking, but I'm honestly dead serious right now, because you know I
am honestly dead serious right now, because women have these hormones going on that men
don't have, and especially when they're having children, you know and then they go through
this cycle, they're giving birth, then they're postpartum, and there's all these issues with
being postpartum, and there's issues with being pregnant, and then there's just issues
on a monthly basis, and then there's just issues when it ceases to be with them after
the manner of women as the Bible calls it, and there's all these hormones, and here's
the thing, I can remember a bunch of times where my wife's crying, and I'm just like
why are you crying, I don't know, and you're just like, what is the deal, and you're
just like, or even just not just crying, just sadness, anger, and it's just like where
is this coming from, and you're like I'm a man, talk to me logically, you know like
I want to know the logic, why are you crying, but here's the thing, you have to understand
sometimes that's just how women are, and if you understand that, if you dwell with
them according to knowledge, and understand women sometimes just break down crying for
no reason, and you can't like freak out about it, and try to figure out why it's happening
because there is no reason, there is no logic, okay, instead if you would sympathize and
just understand, oh her hormones are doing something weird, you know too much stress
or whatever, then you could be nice, and extend grace and mercy instead of just jumping
down her throat, and I can't believe it, I do everything right as a husband, and all
you can do is break down crying, and whatever, she can't help it, you know it's just life,
but anyway here's a good closing verse, Matthew 7 verse 12, and this is one of the most famous
verses in the whole Bible, Matthew chapter 7 verse 12, therefore all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the
prophets, this is commonly known as the golden rule, and some of these people will just paraphrase
this as do unto others as you would have them do unto you, he says all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, and how are you gonna do
that, well you have to be able to sympathize with people, and ask yourself this question,
what would I feel, or what would I do if I were in that person's position right now,
how would I feel, and honestly this is what we ask children all the time, where children
will slap their sibling in the face, whatever they do, and you say, how would you like it
if your sibling walked up and slapped you in the face, or how would you like it if your
sibling took your toy without asking, oh I wouldn't like it, well okay well that's what
you're doing, and this is how we even as adults need to think about things, we need
to be able to sympathize and put ourselves in other people's shoes, understand where
they're going through, and treat them how we would like to be treated in that situation,
whether that's a foreigner or putting ourselves in the position of what if I'm in a foreign
country, you know where I'm struggling to get by, or what if I were you know having
these hormonal upheavals, or what if I were a deaf person, what kind of struggles would
I be going through, what would I want people to do to reach out to help me, or what if
I were blind, or what if I were in prison, or what if I were experiencing the loss of
a loved one, or had a child that died, or had a spouse that committed adultery, or whatever
the case may be, you know Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, if he can come down onto
our level and figure out what we're going through, when he's the most exalted supreme
being in the universe, you know can we as mortal men just take a tiny little step down
maybe, and condescend to men of low estate, and maybe just understand where people are
coming from, that are not as spiritually mature as we are, or don't have the money that we
have, or don't have the spiritual strength that we have, we need to sympathize with other
people, and if you're not, then you're not Christ-like, this is one of the main things
about the life of Jesus Christ, total compassion, total putting himself in other people's
shoes, I mean he took upon himself the form of a servant, and lived amongst men, and that's
why when you pray to Jesus, and you tell him what you're going through, he's not just
thinking to myself, oh that's such a stupid petty thing to worry about, are you really
that upset about that? No, because he's been here, and he knows what it's like to be
despised, to be rejected, to be a man of sorrows, to be hungry, to be thirsty, to have
problems with his siblings, and problems with his parents, you know he's been through
everything, and so we need to have the same mind one toward another as Romans 15 said,
let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, Father we thank you so much for salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank you that we have that high priest that can
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Lord, help us to take advantage of that and
to come boldly to your throne of grace, and to pray to you and find grace to help in time
of need, and Lord help us to extend mercy and grace unto our fellow Christians and
unto our fellow man, and to just understand where people are coming from and sympathize
with them, and have compassion on them as you've given us in so many scriptures, and
Lord help us in our marriage to try to understand things from the other person's perspective
even though we're very different Lord, help us to try to as much as we can understand
where they're coming from, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.