Strengthen my Faith Week 4

[00:00:01] Well, hey, good morning and thank you for tuning into our west campus livestream. My name is Chet and I'm the campus pastor here. And if you're watching and checking out Christ Church, I would love for the chance to meet you, shake your hand, hear your story. So make sure to come in person for one of our services. And we have a great opportunity to come for the first time on October 5th, we'll be having our Fall fest. We have a ton of fun activities for the kids. We'll also have all our life groups and different ways that you can connect and find a place and build relationships. And so if you've been thinking about coming in person, that would be the perfect time to come and we would love to have you there. And today I'm going to continue a sermon series we've been in called Strengthen My Faith. We've been talking about this idea of faith and talking about how God shows us what it looks like and how he helps us to strengthen it. So we're going to talk about that today. But just before we do, would you pray with me? [00:01:03] Father, thank you so much for your grace and your mercy and your kindness to us. Lord, I pray that we could grow in our faith, that our faith could be strengthened, that we could be people, Lord, that honor you with our faith. So teach us your way, Lord. Help us. Show us. Make this all connect to our hearts. We ask this in Jesus name. [00:01:26] Amen. [00:01:28] Well, just this last week, Ally and I, we took our girls and our son Teddy and we went on a little family adventure. And we went to Rocky River Reservation, which was awesome. If you've never been there, it's free, it's really great. It's super fun for the kids. And we had a great time, too. But after we were in the little nature center and saw all that, we went on a little kind of hike, slash walk with our kids. And we went up to the top of it and at the top of Rocky River Nature Center. Sorry, it's a long word to say. [00:02:05] Long name to say is what's called the Fort Hill area. [00:02:11] And at the top of it is this ancient burial mound or this ancient, what they think was kind of an ancient fort. And in fact, they think it's so old that it was probably like 2 to 300 years before the time of Jesus. I mean, this is old over 2,200, 2,300 years ago. [00:02:33] And what remains of it today is just these little basically bumps in the ground there at the top of this really high cliff overlooking Rocky River. [00:02:45] And so we got to the top of it, and I knew it was up there because I've seen it before. So I brought all the family over to the viewing area, and I said, kids, look at this ancient fort. Isn't it amazing? And they looked around and they're like, well, I don't really see anything. I said, look, it's right in front of you. And I was, you know, just being playful, and they said, what is it? I said, you see those two little. And they're just, like, maybe a foot high. It's these two little bumps in the dirt there. That's what it was. But. But thousands of years ago, apparently it was this. This huge and this great fort, and they found all these cool artifacts. And truly, it really is fascinating to me. But. But today, if you didn't know it was there, if you didn't see the plaque there, you would not recognize this really significant archaeology right there in front of us. [00:03:40] And what we're going to see today is a story that's kind of similar to that. We're going to see a story where Jesus recognizes this woman's faith, and he says, your faith is great. [00:03:55] And as we see it today, again, it's easy to miss. And in fact, without Jesus's perspective, we might not see it. But today, I want to show you it and show what it looks like so that we can learn what great faith really is, and we can help to build it into our lives. So today we're going to look at Matthew. Each week, if you've been following along, we've looked at a different gospel. We looked at Mark, and we looked at Luke, and we looked at two different stories of faith. And today we're going to look at Matthew, and next week, we'll look at John's Gospel. But here's the story. In Matthew's Gospel, it's Matthew 15, starting at verse 21, and it says this. [00:04:37] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [00:04:43] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. [00:04:57] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away, for she's crying out after us. [00:05:09] He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [00:05:16] But she came and knelt before him, saying, lord, help me. And he answered, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall for from the master's table. [00:05:35] Then Jesus answered her. O woman, great is your faith. [00:05:42] Let it be done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. [00:05:50] Now, I will tell you this is an unusual story. [00:05:53] And years ago I preached on this story. And I remember preparing for that sermon and just like wrestling with what is happening in the story, how best to understand it. [00:06:04] And I've always been intrigued by it, but I've never felt a great comprehension of it. But today I feel like it's starting to make more and more sense to me. And I believe this story. It shows us this picture of faith that I don't want you to miss. [00:06:24] And what seems so unusual in this story is going to be so insightful to what God wants faith to look like in our lives. [00:06:34] And to just make it very simple, when Jesus says, this woman has great faith, what does he see that is so great? And here's what I would argue to you today is that great faith that Jesus shows us in this woman and that ultimately God wants for us is great. Faith is paradoxical, meaning it combines at least two things that don't seem like they go together, but actually do. That's what a paradox is. It's in an apparent contradiction. On the surface, it doesn't seem like these two things can go together, but they actually can. [00:07:13] And so here's what the paradox is. It is a sense of deep humility, deep radical humility, and a sense of bold assertiveness. [00:07:26] What great faith is, it's a combination of those things, of great humility and great assertiveness. And this woman shows us those qualities in action. So let's talk about this. Now. The first thing we have to recognize in this story is the setting of it. You can easily read over it. But Jesus is outside of Israel. [00:07:49] And what's interesting about the ministry of Jesus is that he has literally changed the world thousands of years after he died and resurrected and ascended. But you know what? Jesus really didn't go very far geographically. [00:08:06] And almost his entire life was spent within the boundaries of ancient Israel, except for. For perhaps this moment. And he's just outside of it, not very far, but just a little bit outside of it. And this woman, who Matthew tells us was a Canaanite, approaches him. Now, that may not jump out to you, but that would have jumped out to the people who originally heard this story, because Matthew was primarily writing to a Jewish audience to help them to understand who Jesus was and how he fulfilled all the Messianic expectations of the Old Testament. And when they hear the word Canaanite, they would immediately have been appalled because the Canaanites were the great ancient enemies of God's people. [00:09:01] And so here is Jesus outside of Israel, which is unusual. And then here's this woman who is a descendant of. Of the ancient enemies of God's people. [00:09:13] And crazy enough, she is going to be an example of faith for us all. And I just want to pause here for a second, because what it shows is this beautiful reality that Jesus is able to make enemies into examples. [00:09:33] Now he's able to make enemies, not. Not make an example of them. He could do that too, but he is able to make them an example themselves. And that's what this woman ends up becoming. See, in life, we tend to want to make examples out of our enemies. [00:09:51] And that's just kind of the normal and natural thing that when people hurt us, when people do evil and wrong, when people mistreat us, we'll often just want to mistreat them back. We'll want to draw away from them. We want to harbor bitterness and hate and resentment. Maybe even we'll wish ill for them in our hearts and in our most real thoughts. [00:10:17] But what we see here is that Jesus has this incredible ability, this power, this mercy and this grace that transforms people from the inside out. In fact, one of the greatest examples of this would come a little bit later, after this story, and it would happen in the life of a man named the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul, for his earlier life, he was an enemy of the Church of Jesus Christ. And he says so himself. He was working to see the Church destroyed, to see its people imprisoned, killed, harassed. He wanted nothing but bad for them, and he was driven to do it. But then one day, Christ showed up in his life and offered forgiveness and mercy and grace. And the man who was once an enemy became an example to us and for all of history of a man that is fully committed to the cause of Jesus Christ in the world. And so I just tell you that to say that, that Christ has this beautiful ability. And part of the reason this story is here and part of these unusual elements, I believe, is to help us to see that. [00:11:37] Because here's the truth about your life and my life, that whether we realize it or not, at one time we were enemies to the cause and the purpose of Christ. Now, maybe not the way that Paul was, maybe not in the way that other people were, but in the way that we were doing our own thing. We were living life Without God, we were saying, yeah, you might be Lord, but I'm going to be Lord of my own life. Here's what the. The way the Apostle Paul says it, he says, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall be. Shall we be saved by his life? [00:12:20] And what Paul is saying is. He's saying, look, whether we want to admit it or not, whether we recognize it or not, we all start out as enemies. And Christ reconciles us through his grace and his mercy. And his grace and his mercy is absolutely transforming that it can make an enemy into an example. And now here's the second thing that's so profound about that, is that as Jesus has done that for us, Jesus then calls us to do that for others. [00:12:54] So if you're listening today and you're a follower of Jesus, then you need to know that you were once an enemy. You were once an outsider. But now he's brought you in and he's forgiven you, and it's been all an act of mercy and grace. [00:13:08] And now he calls you, and he calls me to look at the other people in our life, the people that hurt us, the people that wrong us, maybe the people that gossip about us, the people that make fun of us, hurt our feelings, people that mistreat us. [00:13:25] Jesus says, and now, as I have loved you at your worst, as I have forgiven you, as I have given you grace, now you must do that to others also. [00:13:38] And for some of us today, maybe the next step on our faith journey is to forgive someone from our heart. [00:13:45] Maybe the next step on our faith journey where we're saying, lord, strengthen my faith. Give me faith that honors you. Maybe the way we honor him today is as he has forgiven us. We need to forgive someone in our life. [00:14:00] We need to release the bitterness, we need to release the hate. We need to stop gossiping about them, and we need to treat them as Christ has treated us. [00:14:11] Now, here's the second thing I want you to see in this story is that there's a powerful moment of both challenge and mercy. And allow me to explain this for a second. [00:14:25] So this woman, in desperation, she goes to Jesus, and she is not shy about it. [00:14:32] She is going and asking and pleading and saying, lord, help. Because her daughter is having this spiritual attack. [00:14:41] And again, I think that any parent understands where this woman's coming from. When something is happening to your kids that you can't solve, you can't fix, it's beyond you. Yeah, you don't care about dignity. You don't care about social protocol. Whether you're courageous or not, you're going to act courageous because you're going to do everything you can to help them. And that's where this woman is at. So that part isn't that surprising. [00:15:08] But here's what's surprising about this story. She goes to Jesus, and at first it seems like Jesus gives her the cold shoulder. He doesn't answer her. [00:15:18] And then the disciples say, jesus, can you help her? [00:15:23] Because I think they're just like, just get her away from us. [00:15:28] She just keeps asking and pleading, can you help her? And Jesus says, no, I've only come for the house of Israel. [00:15:37] And kind of what he's saying there is my ministry is to Israel. [00:15:43] And what we see in the history of salvation is that it began in Israel and it began with God's covenant people. And Jesus said, no, I'm very focused. [00:15:54] And for me to fulfill this divine agenda, this is the priority here. [00:16:01] And so in a sense, it seems like this woman is kind of being cast to the side. And then she just goes kneeling before Jesus, and she just won't stop. And Jesus then tells her this story, if you will, it's kind of a parable. [00:16:17] And he says, it's not right to throw to the dogs the food that is meant for the kids. [00:16:26] And it's a story that says, ultimately, look, you're not a child, you're a pet, you're a dog. [00:16:36] And I can't give the food that is meant for the children to the dogs. That would be the wrong order. Now, this would be a challenging experience for this woman. [00:16:48] This could be a confusing experience. [00:16:51] But yet in it, the woman also sees an offer of mercy. [00:17:00] Now, I'll be honest, if I was that woman, I probably would have missed it. But she doesn't miss it. And here's just what I want to point out today, that in so many times in your life and my life, there are going to be moments where faith is called out of us. But it's going to feel challenging and it's going to feel confusing. [00:17:23] But behind it is an offer of mercy. [00:17:26] You see, there are going to be so many times in our life where we might sense have a sense of God's silence. [00:17:34] We might feel like, oh, he's dismissive to us. [00:17:38] We might feel like, oh, he's uninterested, or we're not a priority. But here's just one thing I want to pull out of the story and show you that all that was Happening did not break this woman's faith. [00:17:51] It pulled a greatness out of it. And so what that means for you and for me, that in these difficult and confusing moments where faith feels like such a challenge, I want to encourage you to accept the challenge of it, to lean into it. Because within every challenge is a new mercy that Christ wants to give you, and that faith is pulling out of you. See, one of the things that we learn about Jesus is that he is a wonderful counselor. [00:18:26] He knows when to be absolutely tender, and he knows when to push us. [00:18:33] He knows when to give a word of encouragement, and he knows exactly when he needs to give a word of challenge. [00:18:42] He knows when to rebuke and he knows when to teach. [00:18:46] He knows when to shower us with affection and when to push us forward in courage. He's a wonderful counsel, and he knows what each of our lives and our hearts and our faith needs. [00:19:05] And I wonder if we can trust him in the challenge and trust him for the mercy like this woman ultimately does. [00:19:13] Now, let's then talk just for a few minutes about what this faith looks like. What is great about this woman's faith? Well, here's the first thing I want you to see is that this woman had a listening faith. [00:19:29] Now, here's what I mean. This is so cool. Jesus, like I said, he talks to this woman in a parable. And the parable is about children and dogs and dinner. [00:19:40] And this woman responds to him from this parable. She says, all right, I might be a dog, but guess what? Children are sloppy eaters and they make a mess when they eat. And so if that's the case, then I know there's going to be crumbs that come from the children's table. Can I have one of those? And she answers him from this parable. Now, here's what's really, really interesting about that, is that when this story is told in the Gospel of Mark, we read it in the Gospel of Mark as well. It's the first time in that gospel where someone hears a parable from Jesus and actually understands it and respond to it in the right way. [00:20:20] See, so many times people hear what Jesus said, but they're not really listening. [00:20:26] They hear it, but they don't understand it. And so many times, even the disciples are like, jesus, we heard what you said, but what does it mean? [00:20:35] We don't get it. Well, this woman hears, listens, understands, and responds, which means she's really listening to what he is saying. She's listening to understand. [00:20:53] And I wonder in our lives and in my life. Just make it personal how often I'm really trying to listen to what God is saying to me. [00:21:05] Interestingly enough, I read a little bit about listening this week, and it was from Stephen Covey. I'm rereading his book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and I really like that book. But he talks about the ways that we listen where it actually makes us not listen well. And he says these are typically our four natural responses when someone is talking to us. And here's what they are. He says, number one, we evaluate what they're saying. Either I like it or I don't like it. It's good or bad. [00:21:37] Number two, we probe. [00:21:39] We just ask like 20 questions. [00:21:43] And, you know, it's kind of like if you're a parent, when your kids, they coming home from school, you're like, what'd you learn today? Nothing. Yeah, well, did you remember anything? Nope. Well, what did you do? And you just kind of like, keep asking these questions, but you get nowhere. And we think that's good listening. But what he says is that's actually counterproductive. [00:22:04] The third is we advise we listen to someone. Oh, yeah, here's what you need to do. Here's what I experience in my own life. So let me tell you what it is. And then the last one is we interpret. We kind of say, well, this is what they really mean. But he says, those are our natural responses. But all of those actually hurt our ability to truly listen. And as soon as we go down one of those paths or a couple of those paths, we actually are not really listening to understand the person. And I read those four, and I was like, well, I'm in trouble because I do all those four all the time. [00:22:44] And I was like, so what then do you do to actually listen to people? And here's what he said. Number one, you mimic content. So you just repeat back to them what you hear. Number two, you rehearse the content. You. You then say it. You summarize it in your own words. Number three, you reflect the feeling. [00:23:07] Because many times there's what's being said, but then there's the feelings behind it. And that's what really matters. That's what communication is really about. And you. You reflect that feeling. So, and number four, you rehearse content, reflect feeling. And anyway, if you just think about this, this is kind of what that woman does. [00:23:27] She actually listens because she reflects the parable. She also reflects the feeling and the message of it. And Jesus says, yes, woman, your faith is great. Why because it's a listening faith. And here's what I'd ask you today. I believe one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves in all our seasons of life is, what is God speaking to me? [00:23:53] And so many times when I am struggling, I go to that question, and it helps so much. And so many times I realize I'm living life, and I think I'm doing it with God, and I think I'm doing it by faith. But I realize I'm going, but I'm not. Listening to him in his voice, in his wisdom, in his direction is the one that matters most. But it's one I need to make the effort to listen to. And I think this woman does it. Here's the second thing I would say. This woman shows a humble faith. There is so much humility in these verses. [00:24:34] See, when Jesus says, hey, the. The kids are the ones that need to be fed first. They're the priority. She doesn't fight him on it. [00:24:45] She doesn't say, well, Jesus, I deserve to be at the table too. [00:24:51] She accepts it with humility. [00:24:56] And you know what? She's also deferential. She doesn't try to change that order. And here's what I see as so humble about this. She's ultimately saying to Jesus, look, I don't have any claim on you. [00:25:12] I don't have a claim on your help. And I understand that there's a priority that you're working. I accept that. [00:25:22] And she defers to it. And what I see here is a woman who is radically humble in her sense of self, but she's also deferential to God's purpose. She says, I'm not asking you to change the order. I'm just asking for crumbs. [00:25:38] See? She says, okay, I get it. It doesn't have to be my will or my way. But I recognize that there can still be blessing for me as you seek your kingdom first. And it's a beautiful humility. She says, yes, let your priority be right. Let your kingdom be first. Because I know if your kingdom is first, there will be abundance for me, too. [00:26:04] And it's a humble. It's a deferential faith. And I find it a faith that I want more of. Because so many times I'm like, no, Lord, I want it my way. [00:26:17] It's got to be how I think, how I envision. Lord, I want my priorities. [00:26:22] But the strongest moments of faith in my life are when I say, no, Lord, I want your priorities. [00:26:30] Let it be in your order, in your way. And this woman does that. And not only is it a humble faith, but it's an assertive faith. [00:26:40] So yes, this woman says, I have no claim. [00:26:44] Your kingdom come, your will be done first. [00:26:47] But still I believe you can help me, and you are generous enough to do so. [00:26:57] And this woman kind of reflects the story in the book of Genesis where the ancient patriarch named Jacob, he experiences God in a very physical way. And the Bible tells us this crazy story where he wrestles with this angel of the Lord all night. And they come to the point where he's wore out, but he says, he says, I won't let you go until you bless me. [00:27:28] And he gets this divine blessing. And it's this kind of unusual story, but it shows this quality of assertiveness or persistence that delights the heart of God. [00:27:41] See, Jesus teaches and Jesus affirms this. He teaches this again and again. He says, hey, ask, seek, knock, and the door will be open to you. He said, keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking. Jesus tells one time a parable about this judge. And he says, there was a judge and he was a bad man, he was unrighteous, and there was a poor widow that came to him that needed help. And he said the judge finally helped her, not because he was a good man, but because the lady was persistent and he was tired of hearing her. So it's easier to help her than to keep listening to this woman make this request. And Jesus taught that story because he said, that's an assertiveness that I want in your life, that you would keep coming to me and you would ask and you would ask and you would seek and you would seek and you would knock and you would knock and you would just keep asking and keep seeking and keep coming before me. [00:28:43] See, I think. And here's what's so hard to grasp about this story. [00:28:48] We know how to be assertive when we have this sense of righteousness in us that, you know, this is the right thing. Like, I remember some time ago we got charged for this renewal of a membership of like this fitness app. And we had tried to cancel it and it felt like really shady and they charged us. So I got on the phone and I called him. I was like, hey, this is wrong. You guys should not charge me for this. And we argued for a long time and I was really heated up and really self righteous and eventually they actually just would not back down. So I ended up having to pay for it. But I was so. I was incredibly assertive. But that's because I felt like I was standing on solid ground that this was wrong. I. This was not right, and they should stop. [00:29:43] But when you don't have a right to stand on, when you're in this rightless position as. As one commentator called it, and you're assertive from that place, then this is where this woman is at. She's saying, look, I don't have a right. I don't have a seat at the table. I don't. I don't have any leverage over you. [00:30:08] But I'm going to keep asking. I'm going to keep coming, because I believe there is an overflowing generosity that can come my way. And this woman had an understanding about God and his blessings that was overflowing, that if God was going to bless his children, that there would be an abundance in it for her. [00:30:36] Yeah, feed the kids. [00:30:39] But you know what? When the kids eat, there will be some for me, too. She's not threatened by God's generosity to others because she knows he is a great and a generous king, and I love that. It reminds me of the story of Alexander the Great. It said that one of his generals came up to him and he wanted Alexander to pay for his daughter's funeral. And Alexander said, okay, I'll pay for it. So the man went to the treasurer and he asked for a crazy amount of money. The treasurer came back to Alexander. He said, hey, do you know how much this guy is asking for? And he told him it was like this insane amount of money. And Alexander said, whoa. [00:31:23] They said, I know. Said, well, actually give him the money. [00:31:28] The church said, how can we give this more money than we've ever given anyone for the wedding? What are you talking about? And he said, no, no. This man honors me. [00:31:36] He honors me in two ways. One, he believes that I have enough, that I'm powerful enough, I'm rich enough. I'm wealthy enough that I have that money. I can let it go, no problem. It says in number two, he believes that I am generous enough that I would be willing to give it to him. He said, this man honors me. Give it to him. And he gave it to him, and he had a great wedding. And there's a sense that this is what that woman is doing to Jesus. [00:32:03] Said, you are great enough that there, you can bless all the kids. And guess what? There'll be some for me because your blessings are in abundance. [00:32:12] And I believe that you would even be generous enough to offer it to me. [00:32:18] And so what is this woman? She's humble, Says, yeah, call me a dog, that's fine. [00:32:23] Even the dogs can eat the crumbs that come. He says, but I'm going to keep asking. [00:32:30] I'm not going to leave until you bless me and help me. Because I believe that assertiveness actually honors you. And today when you think about your own faith and when I think about my own faith, which side do I need to grow in? Maybe I need to just humble myself before the Lord in this season. [00:32:50] I just need to say, lord, I don't deserve it and I've been self righteous, Lord, and I'm sorry and I'm coming to you and I'm throwing myself before your mercy. Maybe we just need to really humble ourselves. [00:33:05] Maybe some of us, we need to not get discouraged and we need to trust his generosity and we need to keep asking and just say, all right, Lord, look, I'm just going to keep asking. [00:33:15] I'm going to keep coming because I believe. I'm not bothering you, I'm honoring you. [00:33:20] I'm not wasting my time, I'm glorifying you. And we need to keep asking and keep seeking because great faith is both those things together. It seems weird, it seems paradoxical, but both those together honor Christ. And Christ says, that's what great faith looks like. Now let's pray that God would help us to have it. Lord, we thank you for this woman's example. We pray that we could practice live out that kind of faith as well. And we pray ultimately that it would glorify you in our lives. [00:33:58] Thank you for your kindness and generosity to us. Help us in this. In Jesus name, amen.