Unsanctified Compassion

When our compassion is not shaped by Christ, it will eventually stand in the way of Christ. Love that feels kind can still block the very growth, healing, and obedience God is working toward.

Speaker:	Cameron Mathers,
Series:	Hall of Mirrors
Date:	21st Jun, 2026
Download:	Unsanctified Compassion
Plays:	0
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Sermon notes:	PDF Unsanctified Compassion WHEN LOVE GETS IN THE WAY Ungodly Compassion vs. God-Shaped Compassion Sermon Outline & Discussion Guide  |  Matthew 16:13–23  |  Father's Day Sermon Outline Big idea: When our compassion is not shaped by Christ, it will eventually stand in the way of Christ. Love that feels kind can still block the very growth, healing, and obedience God is working toward. Introduction: The Satnav Illustration Picture a satnav set to an “avoidance” mode — no left, no right, no motorways, no people — until it can no longer find any road at all. Love that avoids every cost, risk, or discomfort can do the same thing to a person’s life: it blocks the very path God is offering. Definition: ungodly compassion — love that protects people from the very thing that would make them stronger. Not because love is bad, but because it can be misdirected. Scripture: Matthew 16:13–23 Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and then, “But who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” — and Jesus blesses him and names him the rock on which the church will be built. Jesus then tells the disciples he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised. Peter rebukes him: “Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you.” Jesus turns and says, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me. For you are not set on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Lesson 1 — The Question That Reveals the Heart If we don’t see Jesus clearly, we won’t love people wisely. Everything begins with “Who do you say I am?” — a question about identity, not just religion. How we see Jesus shapes how we see and love everyone else: Only a gentle teacher → we avoid hard truths Only a judge → we avoid compassion Only a comforter → we avoid sacrifice Only a rescuer → we avoid responsibility Ungodly compassion hides truth to spare feelings; God-shaped compassion speaks truth to heal futures. Jesus corrects Peter’s vision before he corrects Peter’s behavior — compassion always flows from who we believe Jesus is. Lesson 2 — Revelation Builds True Compassion Emotion may feel like love, but only truth knows how to love. Peter is practical and well-meaning — the same instinct that drew his sword in the garden also made him resist the cross. Peter was looking at the present; Jesus was looking at eternity. Emotion reacts; revelation responds. Emotion protects people from discomfort; revelation prepares people for growth. Illustration: a parent who ties a child’s shoe forever isn’t helping — they’re preventing strength. Ungodly compassion gives comfort; only God-shaped compassion gives healing. Lesson 3 — The Cross Tests Compassion Real compassion must embrace the cross, not avoid it. If compassion avoids the cross, it becomes opposition. Jesus reveals the road: following God involves real cost — loss, sacrifice, obedience that hurts. Peter means well, but “meaning well is not doing well.” “Get behind me, Satan” — Jesus isn’t calling Peter evil; he’s naming the role Peter has stepped into: an accuser pulling Jesus off God’s path. Where Misdirected Love Shows Up Today In personal relationships Protecting people from consequences Avoiding hard conversations Rescuing people God is trying to grow Prioritizing peace over truth In the church Avoiding hard truths and accountability Avoiding calling sin what it actually is Prioritizing attendance over transformation and discipleship Weak compassion produces weak people; God-shaped compassion produces a whole person. The “Get Behind Me” Moment Peter tried to protect Jesus from the cross; Jesus embraced the cross to save Peter. Jesus didn’t just die for us — he died instead of us. Parenting illustration: stopping a toddler from touching an electrical socket, or letting go of the bike seat so a child learns to ride — love sometimes means allowing discomfort, not preventing it. Reflection questions raised in the sermon: Where am I protecting someone from the growth God wants for them? Where am I resisting God’s path because it’s uncomfortable? Where has my compassion become a hindrance? Closing Charge Love people towards the cross, not away from it. Love people into obedience, not out of it. A child needs love and correction; an adult needs courageous truth — God gives both. He loves us too much to protect us from the cross; he sent his Son to carry it and calls us to follow

   

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Climactic meal of the series (two more after the resurrection)
It's the last passover before the cross. Jesus is about to fully usher in the new covenant, making the Passover meal they are about eat the last one and starting a radically different passover that we celebrate as the Lord's Supper/breaking of bread/ communion / eucharist depending on what you want to call it.

Two plans- Satan's plan and God's plan Luke 22v1-6
John 10 tells us that Satan came to steal, kill and destroy. His plan has always been one of destruction. We see him at work in these first few verses of todays’ passage

Verse 3 “Satan entered into Judas”
What does that mean exactly? I looked up the word entered and it is used in lots of places for ordinary physical entering of homes, cities and synagogues. It’s not a special word just used for Satan!
The are lots of words in Scripture for when people are affected to a greater or lesser extent by the demonic. Possession is not one of them! That implies complete ownership. Words that are used are demonised (affected/influenced by a demon to a greater or lesser extent), with an unclean spirit, having a demon, troubled by a spirit, afflicted by a spirit, seized by a spirit

Judas is clearly demonised to a greater extent here.
A lot of fear and a lot of loose language around demons – “possession” being an awful term, not in Scripture.

First question most people ask is can a Christian be possessed?
Not a Biblical term! If anything a Christian has been bought by Christ 1 Cor 6:20
You are a new creation – you spirit which was dead has now been made alive in Christ.
But you still have a mind that can be filled with all sorts of nonsense, giving the demonic a foothold for oppression or affliction or even demonisation
And you have a body that can be likewise be afflicted and oppressed.
We are commanded to heal the sick, cast out demons and preach the gospel.
If we lead someone to Chriost and not heal them, they stay sick. I think likewise they can still be afflicted, oppressed or even demonised – where demonised means influenced by a demon to a greater or lesser extent.

I see three main effects of demons in people’s lives

1. Temptation – most temptation is just us, but there can be demonic temptation, where it seems ever so enticing. What does God say in 1 Cor 10:13?
2. Oppression / affliction – the devil wants to steal, kill and destroy, so he will attack, he will try to scare you, some sickness is demonic (not all!). You may give him a foothold see Eph 4:27 Where Paul warns not to give him opportunity with things like anger and stealing.
3. Demonisation – where a demon can influence you to a greater or lesser extent, producing bondage, patterns of temptation and weakness that are not solved by repentance.

As C.S. Lewis wrote “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
Derek Prince of Ellel believed that 70% of Christians were demonised, earning them the reputation of finding demons in every cupboard. That sounds somewhat excessive to me!
I’ve had some pretty nasty demonic encounters while we have been planting The Gateway, particularly at night. One of the great heroes of our faith, Mr Smith Wigglesworth, told a story of one night while asleep. He had been having terribly frightening dreams. At some point he awoke and aware of a demonic presence, looked around the room. There, near the foot of the bed was Satan himself. With a sigh, Smith simply said, “Oh, it’s just you.” rolled over and went back to sleep. I’ve not been like that – but they go pretty quick when you cry out to Jesus!

If you have patterns of sin or bondage, oppression or sickness that just won’t go with prayer and or repentance, then we will happily help you get free.

Back to the passage – Judas who had made it a habit of stealing from the common purse and was clearly allowing a stronghold of temptation to be built up in his mind, was entered by Satan – that’s got to be the highest level of demonisation ever to betray Jesus and of course he regretted it, so was still able to think clearly.
Satan’s play is to destroy Jesus, kill him. There’s a line in The Lion Witch and Wardrobe where Aslan says “if the witch knew the deeper magic.” Satan thought he was winning by having Jesus killed, but it was God’s plan all along. Jesus was willingly going to the cross to die for us on our behalf, for our sin. The deeper Magic as CS Lewis put it in his allegorical story is that the resurrection would vindicate Jesus, defeating death and sin and sickness and bringing in the new covenant of grace. Where we are forgiven and made sons and daughters of God, adopted into God’s family by faith.

Two passover's Moses' and Jesus' Luke 22:7-23

Some background

* The passover was an annual feast, first started the night that Israel escaped from slavery in Egypt, when God told the Israelites to kill a lamb in their home and daub its blood on the door posts and eat a quick meal. The angel of death would passover their home so they were saved. Each years Jewish families would celebrate this with the Passover meal.
* It involved a roasted lamb that spoke of the sacrifice
* Unleavened bread – speaking of the speedy departure, because there was no time for bread to rise
* Celery dipped in salt which was symbolic of the tears of slavery
* Bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of slavery

And other items and ceremonies

There were four cups of wine drunk during the meal
The first was because God promised I will bring you out of slavery
The second promise I will free you
The third promise I will redeem you
And the fourth I will take you as my people.
What a glorious picture in the OT of what was to come when Jesus came.

We've just read he took a cup during the first part – the first cup. To give thanks. He told them to share it among themselves. It's a sign of family! Only close family members or really close friends share a cup!
Then after they had eaten, which would have been during during the fourth cup, Jesus took it and said this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Powerful symbolism
God has brought us out of slavery to sin – you are free!
He has made us free in Christ
He has redeemed you – paid the price to set you free
He has made us His people!

There are lots of ways to explain what the cross has done for us – substitutionary atonement, Christus Viktor, to name two. Jesus gave us an action to remember it and help makes sense of it.
With his actions he was telling us the Passover is over, there is a new Passover now – the Lord’s supper. Breaking bread and eating and drinking wine/juice to remember what Jesus has done for us.

What does the Lord's supper mean? – big deal in the 16th C the meaning of the Christ's words were considered worth dying for an some thought worth killing for. 288 people burned at the stake for the meaning of the Lord's supper. What this passage of Scripture is telling us.
At issue was whether or not the bread and the wine become literally the body and blood of Jesus as soon as the mystical words were pronounced by the Priest.
The issues then is that it becomes a sacrifice undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus was crucified once for all for our sins.

So it spoils the finished work of the cross – it is being repeated every time
It spoils what Jesus did as our Great High Priest, if priest can offer an acceptable sacrifice to God.
And it overthrows the doctrine of Christ's human nature. if Jesus' body is in more than one place at the same time – every altar table, then it is not a body like ours and Jesus is not the last Adam.

So when Jesus too the bread and said “This is my body, which is give for you.” What does He mean?
1) The natural meaning is representation. When someone picks something up and says this is my body, they mean it represents their body, not that it has turned into their body. When I show you a photo of my family and say this is my body, you know I don't mean that the photo has mystically or physically turned into my family.
2) Jesus himself made it clear He was talking figuratively. in John 6 when he speaks of being the bread of life. In v53 he says “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” He realises the disciples are confused in v60 – “This is is a hard saying, who can listen to it. He then tells them “It is the Spirit whop gives life, the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” He is making it clear it is figurative – a spiritual action not a physical one.
There are at least three things “This is my body” means

1) Proclamation
1 Cor 11:256 As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
As we eat and drink we proclaim the gospel, we are proclaiming to each other He died on the cross and he rose again, because he is coming again.

2) Remembrance
1 Cor 11:4-25 Do this in remembrance of me. As we do it we are reminded of Christ. As we sit and stand together, sharing the bread and the juice, we are remembering that he once sat with the 12 about to be betrayed, that He willing gave His body to be broken and His blood to be shed, so that we might live because he died.

3) Feast by faith. John 6:35 says I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. As we eat and drink, we eat by faith, we feed our souls on all that Christ is for us.

What do we do with this passage right here, right now?

Worried about demons – arrange for a chat
The Lord’s super proclaims the gospel – Jesus loves you and He died for you in your place for your sin. So you can be forgiven, accepted and loved by the living God. Put your trust in that today! Pray…

Let’s break bread – proclaiming – He died and rose again, remembering His goodness to us and feasting by faith. Allowing the Spirit of God to refresh and refuel you for the week ahead.

Come and take some bread a cup and why not share it with someone and pray a blessing over them?