Human Indifference Destroys Relationships
An all-creatures Bible Message

Human Indifference Destroys Relationships
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
22 June 2014
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Matthew 10:24-39
Romans 6:1-23

Human indifference destroys relationships because it causes a rift between family and church members, and even God over issues of compassion.
 
Note what we are told in Matthew 10:24-39…

24. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

No matter how much we think we know, or how important we think we or our ideas may be, we are never above Jesus.
 
We should always be subservient to Him.

25. "It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

We may be able to become equal to Jesus in some things, but we are unable to be better than Him.
 
However, there were many people who considered Jesus’ compassionate teaching to be of the devil, because of their hardness of heart.
 
And, this problem still exists today, but many of these hard of heart people have distorted what Jesus taught us about living in the heavenly will of God, and then claim that they are following Him in their worldly ways.
 
This is the same thing as claiming Jesus is of the devil.
 
So, knowing the human indifference and hardness of heart of these people, Jesus tells us…

26. "Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
 
27. "What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

The factory farming industry and corrupt politicians try to silence compassionate people from disclosing the horrors of their animal operations.
 
What Jesus is telling us is that nothing that these corrupt people do or say can ever be hidden, for eventually all their evil acts will be known to the world.

28. "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

These evil people, who bring so much suffering upon animals, act like they have no fear of God, but they are mistaken, for they will have to answer to God for their evil actions.

29. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
 
30. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Human indifference places no value upon these suffering animals, but we are told that everything they do is known to God.

31. "Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.
 
32. "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
 
33. "But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

Then Jesus tells us how human indifference destroys relationships.

34. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
 
35. "For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 
 
36. and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. 

Those who follow Jesus’ teachings and become the loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God are mostly ridiculed by the people who cause so much suffering and death in the world around us, and they try to use peer pressure to belittle anyone who is truly compassionate, even members of their own family.
 
We hear from people all the time who tell us that when they came to truly love animals for whom God made them to be, and stopped eating them or their by-products, they were made to feel very uncomfortable in their church, and even had problems within their own families.
 
This is part of what Jesus talks about next.

37. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

There is a lot of peer pressure within family groups, and members are pressured to conform to the family’s way of life, even when it goes against God’s heavenly will.
 
Jesus is telling us that if we allow this kind of pressure to compromise our living in God’s heavenly will, including our compassion for animals and the fact that we no longer eat, wear, or use the products of animal exploitation,  then we are no longer worthy of Him.
 
Therefore, we are never to compromise our compassionate way of life in Christ Jesus, even if every member of our family and church turns against us.
 
We are to remain as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God who care about the whole of creation.

38. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
 
39. "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. 
NASB

We believe that this is the problem with most churches and families; they know the truth, but they allow peer pressure to influence them to live in the ungodly ways of this corrupted world.
 
This happens because human indifference destroys relationships, particularly our relationship with God.
 
With this in mind, let’s take a look at Romans 6:1-23…

1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?
 
2. May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

This is what compromising our living in the heavenly will of God here on earth does to us, because here on earth there should be no deliberate human inflicted pain, suffering or death.
 
Compromising makes us start sinning again, even after the Holy Spirit has entered our lives and changed us into loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God who live in His heavenly will.
 
This is turning our backs to our Savior.
 
And Jesus says, “May it never be!”

3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
 
4. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

There is no longer any human indifference to the suffering of creation in this new life in Christ Jesus, and we do everything we can to free creation from its present corruption, beginning with what we eat and wear.

5. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
 
6. knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
 
7. for he who has died is freed from sin.

This ends human indifference, and shows us how loving and compassionate our relationships with each other and all the animals should be.

8. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
 
9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

And we should be doing everything in our power to eliminate all human inflicted suffering and death from our lives.

10. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

And we should be doing the same thing.

11. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

This is what being born again is all about.
 
Human indifference destroys relationships, but a truly born again, spirit filled person no longer has any indifference to the suffering or death of any other human or animal, and they build lasting and loving relationships.

12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,
 
13. and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
 
14. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

This is what we have been talking about. 
 
Peer pressure, compromise, and human indifference are counter to this heavenly will of God.
 
Compared to eternity with the Lord, our life on earth is very short.
 
Is it worth losing eternity with the Lord in order to satisfy those who pressure us into following their worldly ways?
 
Our answer is a resounding NO!

15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
 
16. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Those who compromise the heavenly will of God, and present their human indifference to the suffering of creation as an excuse for doing nothing, are in fact slaves of the devil.

17. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
 
18. and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

This is the way we all should be living.

19. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
 
20. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
 
21. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
 
22. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
 
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NASB

Are we ashamed of our human indifference to the suffering of creation?
 
Have we turned our lives around and allowed the Holy Spirit to change us into loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God who work to free creation from its present corruption? 
 
If we haven’t, now is the time to do it.
 
We can all be peacemaking children of God.
 
We can end human indifference.
 
We can free creation from its present corruption.
 
We can!
 
Amen.

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