The Astonishing Faith of a Gentile Woman (Matthew Sermon 72)

Introduction

There are many admirable attributes of the human nature that God could have chosen to focus on concerning our salvation. He could have focused in on wisdom. He does praise young King Solomon highly and rewards him highly for asking for wisdom to lead God’s people. Wisdom was rewarded and praised and is an admirable trait. He could have focused on courage or boldness, like the courage of Samson  facing all those Philistines with the jaw bone of a donkey, or the boldness of Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed the word of God boldly. He could have zeroed in on that character trait for the salvation of our souls.  He could have zeroed in on compassion or humility or generosity or kindness. He could have focused on love. Love has an entire chapter in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13.  Love is even compared to other admirable attributes; “And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” But it was none of these character traits that God zeroed in on for the salvation of a sinful soul. No, it was faith that God zeroed in on. “The righteous will live by faith,” the scripture says. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Why faith?

Faith Comes From God

God hates our boasting.  He has very wisely saved us in a way that we cannot boast about the process. How can you boast about faith? What does faith do but receive what God will give. That’s all. It’s like the eyesight of the soul,  it just receives what’s there. It doesn’t create anything. It just receives what God is willing to give. How do you boast about that? Imagine standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon and you saw all those purples and browns and reds, and you saw the beauty there and somebody said, “Isn’t that incredible? Isn’t God magnificent to make something like that!” And someone else said, “Yeah, but my eyesight, now, I can see it, okay. I have great eyesight. Let’s talk about that for a while.”  There’s nothing to talk about. “Yeah, that’s good, that’s good. Why don’t you go sit over here and think about your eye sight while I look at this grandeur.” “It’s out there, it’s magnificent, it’s glorious and my eyes just happened to bring it into me that I may receive it.”

So how can we boast about our faith? How wise is God! But also, in a perverted way, how wise is Satan to attack faith so that we don’t understand it properly. We must have clear teaching about faith, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding about faith as well. There are well-publicized movements that focus on faith: The faith healers, the Word of Faith movement, etcetera, that sees faith somewhat like a commodity that you can trade with God based on if you have enough. Like a bag of gold dust hanging at your belt, and God’s got His scales, and if you’ve got enough faith, like a commodity, you can pour your faith on to the scale and it’ll trip over, and God is forced to give you what you ask for. It’s like a commodity that you can have and you got to go get more if you don’t have enough. If you’re pulling out your little bag and God looks at you, “I tell you right now, you don’t have enough faith. So go get some more faith and then you can have the thing you ask of Me.”  In the end, faith turns in somewhat of a work of man, that if you have enough of this thing called Faith, then God’s got to give you whatever you ask. The dark side of that whole word of faith approach is that, if you have any kind of suffering in your life, if there’s a loved one, like the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter who is demon-possessed, or you have some illness, or there’s some issue and you come to the matter, and you don’t get the healing and the person dies, or something, it’s because you didn’t have enough faith. So now, not only do you have the loss of the loved one, you now are told that was, indirectly told it was your fault, that if you’d had enough faith, this would never have happened. It’s similar to Job’s friends basically saying, “Well, I see that you’re going through great suffering. Just want you to know it’s your fault. And if you would just kind of out with it about your sin, then we could get on with the healing and all that.” It’s about the same thing. You’re left devastated. 1980 Harvest House published a book by Larry Parker entitled We Let Our Son Die. The book tells a tragic story of how Larry and his wife, after being influenced by one of America’s numerous Word of Faith or Word-Faith teachers, withheld insulin from their diabetic son, Wesley. Predictably, Wesley fell into a diabetic coma and died. The Parkers, through that whole process, were warned about the impropriety of making a negative confession, saying anything negative about the whole thing. They continued to trust God and to speak words of faith concerning this matter until finally he died. Even after his death, they refused to have a funeral, but instead had a resurrection service for their son, trusting God based on a revelation they’d had that their son would be raised from the dead. It wasn’t until a year later that they started to realize that they’d gotten hold of some bad teaching, and it focused on this matter of faith.

If it were just limited to the seriousness of that situation, physical death for a loved one, that would be bad enough, but instead it’s going to the heart of the way that God saves our sinful souls. We are justified by faith. We must understand it, therefore. We don’t go to the Word-Faith teachers, we don’t go to these fad, weird movements to find out what faith is. We must go to the Scriptures. The verses today are one of the accounts that I would bring someone to who wanted to understand what is the nature of true faith. Why? Because Jesus commends this Syrophoenician woman for her faith. He focuses on it. In verse 28 it says, “Jesus answered, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

I. One of Jesus’ Most Puzzling Encounters

The Context of Jesus’ Interaction with the Canaanite Woman

It’s good for us to learn from the Syrophoenician woman, to find out from her example what is great faith, faith that Jesus will commend. As we come to this encounter, we’re coming to, I think, one of Jesus’s most puzzling interactions. Admit it, haven’t you wondered about this one before? It’s a little bit strange. Robert Stein in his book, Difficult Passages in the Gospels, chooses this as one of the passages he deals with. Why is it difficult? Stein says this, “The problem is obvious. Jesus’ words appear harsh, austere, insensitive. They seem atypical of Jesus. In the Gospels, He is portrayed as a kind, loving and compassionate savior. The words of this account would cause little difficulty coming from a mean, harsh, unloving individual. The Jesus of the gospels, however, is a loving and kind Jesus with a special compassion for the outcasts of society, and this woman is an outcast in the Jewish mind.” That’s why this passage is difficult.  It seems strange that Jesus would answer like this.

Let’s understand the context, first of all. It begins, verse 21, “Jesus left that place or leaving that place, He withdrew.” Now the Greek word “there” just means, it means more than just went away. He’s in effect bringing about a strategic withdrawal in His ministries, retreating strategically at this point. Why? I think to escape the building pressure. The pressure was building around His ministry. Pressure from the huge multitudes who are crushing in on Him on every side, demanding, yearning for Him to meet their physical needs. In Mark 6:31 it says, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, ‘Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So, they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” That’s the retreat approach.

Or again, this crowd, after Jesus had fed the 5,000 in John’s account, are pressing in on Him and want to seize him and take Him by force and make Him king.  Jesus’s response here is the same. John 6:15, “Jesus knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by a force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.” So again, He’s withdrawing. Strategic withdrawal. There’s a pressure from the crowd, the adoring and needy crowd. Secondly, there’s pressure from the secular authorities. The king, for example, Herod Antipas, who thinks that Jesus may be John the Baptist risen from the dead and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in Him.  He killed John and so Herod may be pushing matters to accelerate Jesus’s death. That may be some of the pressure that Jesus is feeling.

I think in the immediate preceding account, however, is pressure from the Jewish religious authorities. The Scribes and Pharisees who had already decided, in Matthew 12:14, that Jesus had to die. They already decided that, and now they are basically amassing evidence or pushing a case so that they can have Him executed. The previous encounter was about hand-washing, and the ceremonial law, the ritual washing and all that. In that account, Jesus offended them and the disciples told Him about it. In Matthew 15:12, the disciples came to Him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”  So for all of these pressures, I think Jesus desires a strategic withdrawal to let things cool off a bit. It’s like it’s boiling over and it’s going too fast, it’s time to cool it off a bit because everything’s been timed out. There’s an exact time for Jesus to die, it’s not yet.

There’s another aspect, I think, and that’s so that Jesus could focus on His apostles and just work with them for a while and just pour Himself into them and build them up. But it didn’t work, because it says in Mark’s gospel in this parallel account, Mark 7:24-25, “Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet He could not keep His presence a secret.” No way to keep the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, a secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at His feet. That’s how the encounter begins. So Jesus is trying to find a quiet place to work with His disciples, but it’s no good. The woman finds Him and presses her need forward at this moment.

Now, Tyre and Sidon are an interesting place in Biblical history. They are notorious to some degree in Jewish history. The region of Tyre and Sidon had a good beginning in scripture, as the wise king Hiram was a good friend to King David, and once David had established himself in Jerusalem, sent him timber and different materials to build his palace. In the time when Solomon, David’s son, was building the palace, he again supplied him with building materials. They had a good relationship. But it went south from there, after King Hiram. Tyre was a gentile trading area where  goods would be sent out all over that region of the Mediterranean. They became very wealthy, plying that commercial trade. With it came all of the corruption of being a nautical seaport. All kinds of evil, as a matter of fact, Isaiah likened the region of Tyre and Sidon to a prostitute plying her trade. It’s somewhat of a defiled area, defiled by their wealth and their prosperity. Worse, they involve themselves in buying and selling human slaves from the ancient Near East, from Edom, and even including the Jews, buying and selling them. This is talked about in the book of Amos. But worse still, when Jerusalem fell, the people of Tyre and Sidon mocked and celebrated the fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel talks about this. In Ezekiel 26, “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate to the nations is broken and its doors swing open to me now that she lies in ruin, I will prosper.'” Judgement comes on Tyre and Sidon. In Ezekiel 28, the oracle to the King of Tyre is couched in such language that you’re not sure if it’s talking about the human king of Tyre or Satan himself, implying that, it’s like demonic forces are behind Tyre and Sidon.

Several prophets, therefore, predicted the total devastation of Tyre and Sidon, including Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah.  However, Jesus knew the people of Tyre and Sidon even a little bit better.  He made some remarkable statements about them. First of all, He knew that hundreds of Gentiles had been coming to see Him and to listen to Him preach and to have their illnesses  cured. In Luke 6:17-19 it says, “A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, those troubled by evil spirits, all of them were cured and the people tried to touch Him because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.” This whole region is coming to listen to Jesus preach, and He’s healing them. One of Jesus’s most amazing statements though, He made earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, when He denounces the Jewish cities in which most of His miracles had been performed because they didn’t repent. He said, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack cloth and ashes. But I tell you, it’ll be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.”

Now, who was this woman that Jesus deals with?  Matthew describes her as a Canaanite, the very people that God had commanded Joshua to destroy completely when the Jews conquered the Promised Land. Canaanite women, in particular, were the focus of a warning in Deuteronomy 7:1-6 in which God warned the men of his people, “Do not intermarry with Canaanite women because they will turn your heart away from worship of the true God.”   But Mark goes into even more detail about this Canaanite woman. In Mark 7:26, it says the woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia, so she’s frequently called the Syrophoenician woman. This woman would have been a complete outcast as far as the Jews were concerned. They would have had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all. But yet, she has a tremendous faith in Christ and for all times she’s memorialized here in the text of scripture, as an example of great conquering faith. How beautiful is that? Now what was her plight, what was her problem? Her little daughter was demon-possessed, verse 22, “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him crying out, ‘Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.”

Mark’s gospel heightens the fact that she’s young, she’s a little daughter, using an extra Greek word, so there’s a sense of a little helpless girl being tormented by a demon. Demon possession is a very serious spiritual affliction. A demon, a fallen angel, a spiritual being takes over the mind and personality and even the body of a human being. The demon and demons do  bodily harm to the individual and they cause somewhat of a living hell for those around that care about that individual because there’s nothing they can do. There’s no power that can deal with this demonic force. This seems to have been, if you can imagine, an especially bad case. There’s extra words that give a sense of, she’s suffering terribly from demon possession.

II. What Were Christ’s Motives?

False Options behind Jesus’ Strange Interaction with the Canaanite Woman

Then Jesus begins a series of strange actions at this particular moment. The first thing, is He doesn’t answer her at all. Look at verse 23, “Jesus did not answer a word.” Secondly,  his disciples come to Him and urge Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Jesus seems to focus His ministry only on the Jews, and He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” He says this in her hearing. He doesn’t even address her directly, He just says it to His disciples. Third, in finally dealing with her directly, He seems to insult her and call her a dog. “The woman came and knelt before Him, ‘Lord, help me,’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.'” This is a series of strange actions on Jesus’s part.

There’s some mitigating factors. We don’t have facial expression or body language or tone of voice, we don’t have any of that. We just have His words and you know, there’s a way to say something that doesn’t sound as harsh. It could be playful, like a riddle. He could be saying it like that. We don’t know. We weren’t there, so we don’t know the non-verbals that went along with this statement. Secondly, the Greek implies that Jesus had a longer conversation with her than is recorded here. Jesus was saying to her, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread.” It’s not just one simple proverb, and then He’s done. It seems like He’s having a conversation with her, but you only get part of it here. Then also this word dogs, it’s not the harsh word for dog, like a rabid beast that roams the streets picking through garbage and is a threat to the populace, that kind of a dog, like a roaming wolf. But rather, the word used here is more like a household pet, like a puppy. So it would be like, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their puppies.”

There’s some mitigating factors but all of that said, it’s still a strange interaction on Jesus’s part. What is going on here? What were Christ’s motives? That’s what we have to ask. Why did He treat her like this? Let’s rule out some things that cannot be. Let’s rule out false options. It’s not because Jesus didn’t care about Gentiles.  Let’s start right there. He knew very well that Abraham had been promised 2,000 years before  in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Jesus knew that very well because Jesus’s Heavenly Father, said in the words of Isaiah the prophet[Isaiah 49:6], “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant. To restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.” That’s too small a commission for Jesus just to save the Jews. “Ask of me, and I’ll give the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the Earth as your possession.”

After Jesus was born, Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God saying, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.” If Simeon knew that, Jesus knew it; can we concede that? Jesus knew very well that He was to be the light for the Gentiles, and in His ministry, Jesus had already dealt many times very positively with Gentiles — the Roman centurion He deals very graciously with and very lovingly with. Then there’s the Samaritan woman, the half-breed, half Jewish, half Gentile, but He is so loving and gracious to her, He doesn’t hesitate at all.

After Christ’s resurrection, He would send His disciples to the ends of the earth, and one of the places they would go would be this very region of Tyre and Sidon.  He had a saving plan for them, and soon, in the Book of Acts, there’s a church in this area beautifully growing. Paul, on his journey to Jerusalem back to Jerusalem, lands at Phoenicia. He goes and visits the disciples in Tyre and they welcome Paul warmly. Through the spirit, they warn him not to go to Jerusalem and after that they take him out with his entourage, and they kneel on the beach together, and pray. There’s such a loving encounter there  in  a church made up of people from Tyre and Sidon. Jesus knew all of this would come. Clearly Jesus had a saving intention for the entire world, including the people of Tyre and Sidon.

Secondly, it’s not because He lacked power to do miracles in Gentile territory. Jesus is God omnipotent, there is nothing He cannot do. He’s not more God in Israel than He was in the gentile areas. There’s nothing He cannot do, and He’s going to prove this directly by giving her her request. There’s no lack of power to do miracles, not at all.

Thirdly, it’s not because He lacked mercy or compassion for her plight or her daughter. Jesus was infinitely filled with mercy and compassion; the most perfectly compassionate man in history. Four separate times in Matthew’s gospel, it links one of Jesus’s miraculous healings to his compassion, his heart is moved with compassion and He heals. Basically anybody who comes to Jesus as a beggar, humbly asking for a healing like this, they get it. It doesn’t matter who they are, so it can’t be that He lacked compassion.

And it can’t be that He was weary and annoyed and irritable after a long hard day. You may be like that from time to time, maybe not, getting irritable and saying something you wish you hadn’t said. Has that ever happened to you? You wish you could have the words back. James 3:2 says, “We all stumble in many ways.” Isn’t it true?  We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, what is he? He’s a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. Is there a perfect man? Was there a perfect man who was able to keep his whole body in check? Yes, His name is Jesus. He never stumbled in what He said. Never. So it’s not that He was weary and irritable after a long, hard day. I’m not saying Jesus didn’t get weary, I’m not saying He didn’t get tired, I’m not saying that there aren’t temptations, I’m just saying He never yielded to any temptation and everything He said was perfect. Jesus spoke the words of life. He says in John 6:63, “My words are spirit and they are life.” Jesus is the Word of God; He doesn’t throw words aside like you and I do. When He speaks there’s a reason.

Fifth, it’s not because He’s taking a break from ministry and doesn’t want to care for her needs at this point. “I’m on vacation.” That’s not it. Jesus could both take a strategic retreat, and care for her needs as He does. He’s not shocked or dismayed when there’s a huge crowd in Tyre and Sidon that hears of his being there. He’s not surprised at all, He knew full well that this was going to be part of his ministry.

Six, it’s not because there’s only so much bread for the children and once it’s been given out, there’s none extra. Do you think Jesus would have been more taxed to feed 6,000 than He was to feed 5,000? What do you think? There’s a little extra miracle-working power, a little more sweat on Jesus’s part, it’s impossible. 60,000, 600,000.  He fed 2 million Jews in the desert for 40 years. Is the arm of the Lord too short? He can do anything. It’s not because there’s only so much bread for the children and once that’s gone, then the dogs eat or the children are going to starve, that’s not it, at all. It’s not because the woman didn’t ask properly or with enough humility or enough faith or any of that, none of that.

The Redemption Plan of God for the Jew & the Gentile

Why then? First let’s look at redemption, the redemption plan of God to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. This principal is stated again and again in Scripture. After Jesus was raised from the dead, the apostle Peter spoke about this to the Jews in the temple, [Acts 3:26], “For you first, you Jews  God raised up his servant, and sent him to bless you, by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” The apostle Paul taught this, and lived this out again and again in His ministry. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, but every city he went to, he went first to the synagogue, didn’t he? That’s where he started.

To the Jew first, he says in Pisidia in Antioch. He and Barnabas had preached there. The Jews become hostile, they begin to reject the message. This is what Paul says in Acts 13:46, “Then Paul and Barnabas answered the Jews boldly. ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first; since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles.’” Do you see that ordering? Now, “you Gentiles.” I’m a Gentile, too. We should not feel offended by this. This was just God’s strategic ordering, this is what He chose to do, and He says it again, and again. He wrote about it in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile.” This was God’s strategy. That Jesus, the Son of God, would go to his own people, and they would reject Him,  and that they would turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and then on the third day, He would be raised to life. That was part of God’s strategy. It’s spelled out very plainly in John 1:11, “He came to his own, but his own people did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children, not born of the flesh, or of blood, or of water, but of the Spirit of God.”  Jesus says in verse 24, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Christ hadn’t died on the cross yet, so the barrier to the Gentiles was still up. There was still a barrier separating Jew from Gentile which was spoken of in Ephesians 2 where Paul said, “Therefore remember, that formerly you who are Gentiles, by birth and called uncircumcised, by those who call themselves a circumcision that done in the body by the hands of men.  Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. That’s what you were, but now he has destroyed in his body the barrier between the two, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace and in this one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility.” This hadn’t happened yet. The curtain in the temple, hadn’t been torn in two from top to bottom, so there were still a focus on the Jews. Also, there’s a strategy here. Jesus is focusing on the children of Israel, but within them, his disciples, and within them, the 12 apostles. He’s got a strategy to pour Himself out. It could be that He’s saying, “Look, I’m here to focus on the apostles, it’s not right for me to be doing a wide ministry of the Gentiles, right now. I’ve got to spend time with these men and pour myself into them.” That’s all possible.

One of the most common answers to this is that Jesus was doing it to test her faith.  More specifically, He’s humbling her, and seeing if she would overcome the obstacles. Perhaps this is true, but I don’t think it goes far enough. I think Jesus knew her heart very well. He wasn’t merely testing her faith, I think he was actually developing and strengthening her faith and then putting it on display for us.  Like a physical therapist will develop a weak or injured muscle by opposing motion so that the person is forced through some pain to strengthen that weakened muscle and develop it.  The therapist in a very wise way will oppose the motion and strengthen and build up that damaged muscle. So Jesus seems to oppose her and fight against her despite the fact that He really does desire to give her what she wants. Ultimately, He means to put this woman’s faith on display for all time.

III. True Faith Put on Display

The Focus of Faith

So, what is the nature of true faith, what then is true faith? Well, first, it has a basis in something.  We don’t have faith in faith itself. There are a lot people like that — True faith is a leap into the black darkness. You imagine some pitch black night and you’re on top of a skyscraper and you’re running off screaming into the dark hoping something’s going to catch you, and that’s faith. That is not faith. It’s not essentially our optimistic outlook- “I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows. I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows.”  John McArthur said this  sort of faith is essentially faith in faith, which is to say no faith at all. “To jump out of an airplane with a parachute is an act of faith. To jump without a parachute, while exclaiming I believe, is an act of stupidity. To say no more than I believe in love, or I believe in believing or I believe it will all work out is contentless faith, and therefore, pointless and powerless.”

Faith focuses on something.  It focuses on God — His nature, His promises, His work in the past as revealed in Scripture. That’s what faith focuses on. This Canaanite woman clearly had heard of Jesus’s miracles, she knew of the Jewish prophecies concerning the Messiah. Look at the title she uses and the expectation she has that Jesus will heal her daughter. Lord, son of David, she calls him. How does a Gentile woman know Son of David?  Faith comes from hearing the message about Christ; that’s where her faith has come from.

The Reverence of Faith

We see also the reverence of faith. She calls him Lord. Later on she bows down before him and worships him. She is submissive, she is reverent, she doesn’t presume on him, she doesn’t demand from him. How different is that from the “name it and claim it” crowd that bosses God around like he’s some kind of a house boy as though God somehow loves to be bossed around like he’s a house boy. He doesn’t. He is a sovereign king and it says in Ecclesiastes 5:2, it says, “Do not be quick with your mouth, and do not be hasty in your heart to bring up anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on Earth, so let your words be few.” Stand in awe of God.  The more you believe, the more reverence and awe you’ll have for God. You’re not going to boss him around. I hate that aspect of that Word of Faith movement, it forgets reverence. Remember what Abraham said, when carrying on intercessory prayer over Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18?  Abraham spoke up and said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord though I am nothing but dust and ashes. . .” So also the Syrophoenician woman, she had a submissive humility to her.

The Confidence of Faith

We see also the confidence of faith. She was absolutely certain that Jesus could do this, wasn’t she? That’s why she kept coming. She’s so persistent, she calls him Lord, so she knows he can do all things. The essence of great faith is great confidence that God has the power to do what you ask him to do.  Abraham had it in Romans 4:21, “Abraham being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.” That’s our God; that’s the confidence of faith. He can do anything, infinitely more than you could ask or imagine.

The Repentance of Faith

We see also the repentance of faith. “Have mercy on me,” she calls. She recognizes that she doesn’t deserve anything from the Lord; she’s a sinner. She may not know the verse because it hadn’t been written yet, but she understood the concept, that Paul wrote in Romans 9:15, “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” God has the power sovereignly to decide who He’s going to have mercy on and who He won’t. So you come asking for mercy, you come with repentance, humility, knowing that you don’t deserve a favorable outcome. Once we acknowledge that we are sinners, all we can do is cry out for mercy and humbly accept what God chooses to give. Anything we get is more than we deserve. Repentance and faith, I think are two sides of the same coin. Genuine saving faith involves turning away from wickedness and sin and turning to the Lord who can save you from it.It’s both.

The Persistence of Faith

We also see the persistence of faith. Jesus puts up one road block after another and she overcomes every one of them. True belief is persistent. Notice also with intercession here, she has linked herself to the plight of her daughter. That is true intercession. You want to know what  intercessory prayer.  It is when you really care about the person and what you’re praying for as though it were happening to you. Look what Jesus says in  verse 22.  “ Have mercy on me,” she says. In verse 24, “Lord help me.” I think God sometimes tests our prayer because we don’t care about people enough. Let me just speak about myself. I think that God tests me in prayer because I don’t care about people like I should and so sometimes he wants me to come on more strongly, and care more about what I’m praying for. He doesn’t give it to us right away. So faith overcomes all obstacles through persistence.

The Humility of Faith

We see the humility of faith. Jesus said, “You know it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.” What came out of her mouth next, just moved me this morning as I was thinking about this text. It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs. “True Lord,” she said. Wow. Where’s the pride at that point? Where is the bridling up?  “I’ve got some things that… I’m pretty good here. I’m not a dog at least.” There is an incredible humility here in this woman. “True Lord,” she says. “I’m closer to a dog than I am to you.” John the Baptist put it this way, “After me will come one who’s more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Is that true? The angels hide their faces in front of Jesus. She accepts it.  “Yes, I’m a dog, less than a dog, but please heal my daughter anyway.” Here’s the miracle of grace, that God can take a dog and make her one of his children.  It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs. How about if he makes her one of the children, how about then? Does He have that kind of power to take a wretch and make us His treasure?  We’re worse than dogs when we rebel against the king, but God’s grace is sufficient to take us out of that rebellion and save us entirely. This is the reward of faith. Look at verse 28, “Then Jesus answered, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” You know, I’ve heard this expression, “We need to storm the gates of heaven.”  I don’t like it. It implies that heaven is like a walled fortress against us, somewhat our enemy, and we have the power to overcome that adversary and make him give us what we demand which He doesn’t want to give.. It’s wrong. It forgets how powerful He is. It forgets how loving He is, how much readier to give us blessing than we are to ask for it. Forget storming the gates of heaven. Go like a child to your father and ask. “Which of you fathers, if a son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” That’s the way to think, and if He doesn’t give it right away, He’s strengthening you and helping you. He’s got a plan and the reward of faith is that your request is granted, dear woman, and her daughter was healed from that very hour.

IV. Application

This is an incredible miracle, really, it is but I think there’s a greater one, far greater, and it has to do with the greatness of the blessing and the greatness of the cost.  What did she get for all of that? She got a healed daughter. You may be sitting here today listening to me in an unregenerate state. You may never have a demon-possessed daughter. Does this passage have anything to say to you? Yes, it does. Jesus has something far greater to give you then the healing of a demon-possessed daughter. He has eternity in Heaven at His right hand where there are pleasures forevermore. He has full forgiveness of sins available for you. You may not have a demon-possessed daughter, but you have a sin-saturated soul. If you’re sitting here listening to me, in an unregenerate state you are not ready to die. There is a record against you of all that you have ever said or done and you’re not ready to face that record.

If you’re here today in a graceless state, if you don’t know Christ as your savior, you’re not ready to die. All you have to do is believe in Him. Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, just like yours, and He is eminently capable to cover all of your sins through simple faith. That’s all it is. Just receive what He has promised to give. “If anyone comes to me, I will in no wise cast them out.” Trust in Him. You may be listening to me and you’ve already trusted in Christ. Are you done coming to Jesus? No. That was just the first time you came. You know you’ve come again and again and again. He is still more ready to give you what you’re asking for, than you are to receive it. It will always be that way.

Pray then like this woman and care about somebody else the way she cared about her daughter. Take up their case and press it in as this woman did, not storming the gates of heaven as though heaven’s your enemy. Heaven’s your eternal home; you’re going to live there forever. It’s not an enemy, but with persistence and with humility go and ask for what God has laid on your heart and ask until He gives it to you, and let his wisdom decide when that will be.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

So much misunderstanding and false teaching about the role of faith in the Christian life

Well publicized are “faith healers,” who fit into the general category of “name it and claim it Christianity,” or the “Word of Faith” movement

The “Word of Faith” movement sees faith somewhat like a commodity… if you have enough, you can trade with God… if you don’t have enough faith, God will not heal you or bless you

Basically it turns faith into man’s work by which he makes himself acceptable to God

Even worse, Word of Faith teachers openly say that, if you have any trouble or difficulty in your life—any financial, health, relational troubles—all of this can be traced to one thing:  you don’t have enough faith

So, if your loved one dies, not only do you have to deal with the sadness of the loss, but also knowing it was in some sense your own fault… “If only you’d had more faith this would never have happened!!”

Similar to Job’s friends… comforting him in his loss by saying it was all due to his sin

In 1980 Harvest House published a book by Larry Parker entitled We Let Our Son Die. The book tells the tragic story of how Larry and his wife — after being influenced by one of America’s numerous “word of faith” (or “word-faith”) teachers — withheld insulin from their diabetic son, Wesley. Predictably, Wesley went into a diabetic coma. The Parkers, warned about the impropriety of making a “negative confession,” continued to “positively confess” Wesley’s healing until the time of his death.

Even after Wesley’s death, the Parkers — undaunted in their “faith” — conducted a resurrection service instead of a funeral. For more than one year following their son’s death, they refused to abandon the “revelation knowledge” they had received through the “word-faith” movement. Eventually, they were tried and convicted of manslaughter and child abuse.

Many other similarly tragic stories could be recounted. And yet, the carnage unleashed by this movement is not limited to physical death. Literally thousands are swallowing the spiritual cyanide dispensed by the word-faith teachers, leading to the shipwreck of their faith in God.

Hank Hanegraff:

for the word-faith teachers, healing and prosperity became so important that they had to find some way to guarantee them, and they did this by exalting man’s faith at the expense of God’s sovereignty. Thus, they developed the doctrine that God created the world out of nothing by faith, and that He created men as “little gods” to exercise the same kind of faith. Faith therefore becomes a powerful force that gets results, whether in the hands of a believer or a nonbeliever.

Well, to learn the true nature of faith, it’s best to look at the Scriptures…

This encounter between a Canaanite woman and the Savior of the World is a good display of true faith in action… and also of the Lord’s wisdom in developing faith by challenging it

Jesus commended this woman as an example of GREAT FAITH

Vs. 28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Let’s learn from her, and from the Lord, what is GREAT FAITH

I. One of Jesus’ Most Puzzling Encounters

Robert Stein, Difficult passages in the Gospels:  “The problem is obvious.  Jesus’ words appear harsh, austere, insensitive.  They seem atypical of Jesus.  In the Gospels, He is portrayed as kind, loving, and compassionate. The words (of this account) would cause little difficulty coming from a mean, harsh, unloving individual.  The Jesus of the Gospels, however, is a loving and kind Jesus with a special compassion for the outcasts of society, and this woman is an outcast in the Jewish mind.”

Let’s set the context

A. Jesus Retreats

1. Greek word means more than just “went away”

2. Jesus was effecting a strategic withdrawal from Judea

3. This was a strategic retreat… to accomplish a certain purpose

4. Why?  To escape building pressure that would bring issues to a head too soon

a. Pressure from the huge multitudes that were crushing in on Him at all times, with their overwhelming needs (for miraculous healings) and their inappropriate demands (that He become their King immediately)

Mark 6:31-32  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  ³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

John 6:15  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

b. Pressure from possible arrest at the hands of Herod Antipas, who thought Jesus was John the Baptist, risen from the dead

c. Pressure MOST OF ALL from the Jewish religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees, who had already decided Jesus had to die (12:14) and whom Jesus had deeply offended in Matthew 15

Matthew 15:12  Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

These three pressures, PLUS Jesus’ desire to be alone with His disciples and do some intense discipleship made this a strategic withdrawal

5. BUT it didn’t work!!

Mark 7:24-25  Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.  ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet.

B. Tyre and Sidon:  Notorious in Jewish History

1. Tyre and Sidon were well-known in Jewish history… a center of a prosperous pagan society founded on shipping, trade and commerce all over the Mediterranean

2. First entered Jewish history in a positive way:  Hiram, king of Tyre, sent King David a wondrous gift after David had established Jerusalem as his capital city

2 Samuel 5:11  Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.

3. Later Hiram sent Solomon building materials and a skilled craftsman for the Temple

4. Amazingly enough, materials and craftsmen came from Tyre after the exile to Babylon to help rebuild the temple as well!

5. BUT the flip side was far darker

a. Tyre and Sidon represented worldly prosperity and luxury through abundant sea trade… likened by Isaiah to plying the trade of a prostitute

b. Worse, they were actually involved in the slave trade… selling people to Edom and even buying and selling Jews

Amos 1:9-10  This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,  ¹⁰ I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses.”

Joel 3:4-6  ‘Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? … You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

c. Worse still, they mocked and celebrated the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians

Ezekiel 26:2-4  “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’  ³ therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves.  ⁴ They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock.

d. Oracle to the King of Tyre quite probably a hint concerning Satan himself… implying Satan was actually the true ruler of Tyre and Sidon

Ezekiel 28:12-17  “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.  ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.  ¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.  ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.  ¹⁶ Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.  ¹⁷ Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

e. Therefore several prophets predicted the total devastation of Tyre and Sidon, including Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah

6. YET for all of this, Jesus knew them better

a. He knew that hundreds of Gentiles had been coming to see Him, to listen to Him preach and to have their illnesses cured

Luke 6:17-19  A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,  ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured,  ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

b. one of Jesus’ most amazing statements was about how much readier the Gentiles of Tyre and Sidon were to respond to the Gospel than were the Jews of His hometown

Matthew 11:21-22  “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

7. Jesus’ strategic retreat to this region exactly paralleled Elijah’s exile to this place during his flight from evil King Ahab, which Jesus had referred to in His very first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth

Luke 4:24-26  “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.  ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.

C. Who Was this Woman?

1. Matthew describes her as a Canaanite, the very people God had commanded Joshua to destroy completely when the Jews conquered the Promised Land

2. Canaanite women in particular were the focus of a major warning from God

Deuteronomy 7:1-6  you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.  ³ Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,  ⁴ for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 

This woman in previous generations might have been seen as a major temptation for the people of God… but Jesus has saving intention toward her

3. Mark goes into even more detail about her

Mark 7:26  The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia.

4. So, this woman would have been a complete outcast as far as the Jews were concerned… a Canaanite woman

5. BUT YET she has a tremendous faith in Christ, and is for all time memorialized in Scripture as a clear example of conquering faith

D. What Was Her Plight?

1. Her little daughter was demon-possessed

Vs. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”

2. Mark’s gospel heightens the fact that she was young… he says “Her little daughter”

3. Demon possession is a very serious spiritual affliction

a. A demon takes over the mind and personality and even body of a human being

b. The demon or demons do bodily harm to the person and make the lives of everyone around them a living hell

c. Nothing could cure this little girl

4. This seems to have been an especially bad case… an extra Greek word is used to heighten that sense

E. Jesus’ Strange Actions

1. First, He didn’t answer her at all

Vs. 23  Jesus did not answer a word.

2. Second, He seems to limit His ministry to Jews

Matthew 15:23-24  Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”  ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

3. Third, in dealing with her directly, He seems to insult her and call her a dog

Matthew 15:25-26  The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.  ²⁶ He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

4. Mitigating factors

a. We don’t have a record of tone of voice or facial expressions

b. The Greek implies Jesus had a longer conversation with her than is recorded here… literally “Jesus was saying to her, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs”

c. “Dogs” here in Greek is not the wild, aggressive stray dog that roams the street and fends for itself by fighting off other strays and picking through garbage;  the word used here is more like “puppies”… a family dog that’s almost one of the family

YET… for all of that, Jesus’ actions seem strange

II. What Were Christ’s Motives?

A. Ruling Out False Options:  It Was Not Because…

1. Not because He didn’t care about Gentiles, or had no saving purpose toward them

Genesis 12:3  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Isaiah 49:6  he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Luke 2:28-32  Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:  ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,  ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people,  ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

a. After Christ’s resurrection, He would send His disciples to the ends of the earth

b. One of the places they would go first would be this very region

Paul, on his journey to Jersualem, landed at Phoenicia, and went and visited the disciples in Tyre

They welcomed Paul warmly and through the Spirit warned him not to go to Jerusalem

Acts 21:5  All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

c. Jesus clearly had a saving intention for the entire world, including Tyre and Sidon

2. Not because  He lacked the power to do miracles in a Gentile land

a. Jesus was God Omnipotent… there was nothing He could not do

b. Jesus was no more or less powerful in Tyre and Sidon than He’d been in Judea

c. Jesus could do anything His Father’s perfect wisdom and love called on Him to do

d. He would prove this decisively in a moment by healing her daughter

3. Not because  He lacked mercy or compassion for her plight or that of her daughter

a. Jesus had the most perfect compassion of any human being in history

b. Four separate times in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ deep compassion is specifically mentioned as the focal point of the miracle

c. His compassion was especially moved by earnest faith and deep humility

d. Anyone who came to Him empty and as a beggar went away full and rich, with their need abundantly met

e. Jesus did not lack compassion for this woman or her daughter, even though she was a Gentile

Jonah 4:10-11  the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  ¹¹ But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

This woman was created by God, knit together specially in her mother’s womb

This demon-possessed daughter Jesus Himself knit together in this same mother’s womb

Jesus did NOT lack compassion on either one of them

4. Not because  He was weary and annoyed and gave her a surly answer based on His fatigue

James 3:2  We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

a. Perish the thought!!

b. Here we are thinking as man does, not as God does

c. Yes, Jesus had retreated from the crush of the ministry in Judea

d. Yes, part of the motive was more time alone with His disciples

e.  Yes, Jesus got weary and needed rest and refreshment

f. BUT NO, these things never bubbled over into a surly, self-centered, churlish answer

g. The weakness of our flesh sometimes

Illus.  Reading an article about President Eisenhower’s encounter with British General Bernard Montgomery while giving Montgomery a tour of the Battlefield at Gettysburg.  Eisenhower was an amazingly patient man, good as a conciliator, an excellent compromiser, and therefore the perfect choice as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, because he could keep the peace well between American and British interests.  He was also very patient and understanding with such boisterous and flamboyant generals as General Patton for the Americans and Montgomery for the British.

But on this one afternoon, May 27, 1957, as now President Eisenhower was giving Montgomery a tour of Gettysburg (which Eisenhower loved so much he bought a home in 1950 adjoining the battlefield), Montgomery so provoked and him and annoyed him and prodded him about the battle, criticizing both Union and Confederate generalship, that Eisenhower lost his famous cool demeanor

It can happen to anyone…  someone is annoying, prodding you

Perhaps it’s your boss, an annoying coworker, an opposing motorist or a police officer;  perhaps a referee at a ballgame or another shopper at the supermarket

All of us have to admit we’ve been prodded by our own weariness and weakness into an angry or sinful outburst, or at least a snide remark or sarcastic put-down

h. But let’s remember who we’re talking about… Jesus Christ was God in the Flesh… WORDS were everything for Him

John 6:63  The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

5. Not because  He was taking a break from ministry and didn’t want to care for her needs at that point

a. Jesus could do both!

b. He wasn’t shocked or dismayed the crowds had found him there

c. He knew full well this was part of His ministry

6. Not because  there was only so much “bread” to be fed to His children, and if He gave some to her there wouldn’t be enough for them

a. Jesus had limitless power and ability

b. He wouldn’t have been any more taxed to feed 6000 than He was to feed 5000

c. How many candles can be lit from one candle?  Is there any limit

d. How many healings could Jesus do

7. Not because  she didn’t ask properly or with enough faith

a. Jesus commends her faith in the end

b. He wasn’t forcing her to give more or He wouldn’t respond

c. It wasn’t that she hadn’t groveled enough and He wanted her to show proper respect

It wasn’t for all these reasons… why then?

B. The Proper Order of God’s Redemptive Plan:  Jews First

1. To the Jew First

a. Peter spoke about this to the Jews in the Temple

Acts 3:26 “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

b. Over and over the Apostle Paul displayed God’s commitment

c. “To the Jew first, then to the Gentile”

d. He acted it out in his ministry… always going to the Jewish synagogues first

e. He spoke it to hostile Jews who were rejecting the gospel

Acts 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas answered [the Jews] boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

f. He wrote about it in Romans

^NIV Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

This was God’s strategy

It was part of God’s redemptive plan for Christ to be sent FIRST to His own people, then to have them REJECT HIM so that He would die on the cross

^ESV John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

So Jesus declared the FOCUS of His ministry… it was the Jews

Matthew 15:24  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

2. Christ Hadn’t Died Yet, so the Gentiles were still on the outside

a. The Gentiles were excluded from citizenship among the people of God by the Laws of Moses

b. Once Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two and the barriers to access to God were removed for everyone, including BOTH the Jews and Gentiles

c. Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:11-15  Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)–  ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations

C. The Proper Order of Christ’s Strategic Plan:  Apostles First

1. Christ also had come to this region to focus on His disciples

2. One way to understand His statement is that the disciples are the children and the children’s bread is the dedicated time Jesus came to Tyre to spend with them

3. Jesus could only be doing one thing at a time in the days of His ministry on earth

4. He had focused on the “lost sheep of Israel”… within them He had more narrowly focused on His disciples

5. Within them more narrowly pouring His life into the Twelve Apostles

6. “It’s not right to stop working with these so I can do a healing ministry here in Tyre and Sidon”

D. To Test Her Faith?

1. Common explanation:  Jesus was testing her faith, seeing if she would come back

2. More specifically, He was humbling her and seeing if she would overcome the obstacles

3. Perhaps this is true, but it doesn’t go far enough

4. I think, knowing her heart, Jesus was not merely testing faith, but I think He was DEVELOPING and STRENGTHENING her faith, as well as putting it on display for the rest of time

Illus.  Physical therapist strengthens weakened muscles by testing them vigorously, even OPPOSING the motion so the patient has to exert more force, more willpower, more strength, thus developing the weak muscle

So Jesus seems to OPPOSE her and FIGHT AGAINST her, despite the fact that He really DESIRES to give her what she wants

Ultimately, Jesus wants to put this woman’s faith on display for all time

III. True Faith Put on Display

A. The Basis of Faith

1. Faith must have a BASIS… something to trust, a reason to believe

2. We don’t have faith in faith itself…

a. True faith is not blind… a leap into the dark

b. Nor is it an optimistic outlook

I believe, for every drop of rain that falls,
A flower grows…

I believe that somewhere in the darkest night,
A candle glows…

John MacArthur:  “That sort of faith is essentially faith in faith, which is to say no faith at all.  To jump out of an airplane with a parachute is an act of faith.  To jump without a parachute while exclaiming, ‘I believe’ is an act of stupidity.  To say no more than ‘I believe in love,’ or ‘I believe in believing,’ or ‘I believe it will all work out’ is contentless faith and therefore pointless and powerless.”

3. Canaanite woman clearly had heard of Jesus’ miracles and knew of the Jewish prophecies concerning the Messiah… look at the titles she uses and the expectation she has that Jesus WILL be able to cure her daughter

“Lord, Son of David..”

She calls Him… she has HEARD of Christ and has believed what she has heard;  FAITH COMES FROM HEARING THE MESSAGE ABOUT CHRIST

B. The Reverence of Faith

1. She calls Him “Lord”

2. Later on, she bows down before Him and worships Him

3. She is submissive, reverent… not presuming on Him or demanding from Him

4. She knows He is exalted and treats Him accordingly

Application:  The “name it and claim it” word of faith folks get very demanding with God, as though God is pleased with being bossed around like He were some kind of servantboy

When we come with a request to the Lord, we should be reverent and submissive…

Ecclesiastes 5:2  Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few…. Stand in awe of God

Genesis 18:27  Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,

C. The Confidence of Faith

1. There is no doubt in her mind whatsoever that Jesus is CAPABLE of doing this

2. That is why she is so persistent, as we shall see

3. She calls Him “Lord,” so she knows He can do all things

4. The essence of great faith is great confidence that God has the power to perform the thing which is desired

Romans 4:21  being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Ephesians 3:20  to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

D. The Repentance of Faith

1. “Have mercy on me” she calls

2. She recognizes she doesn’t deserve anything from the Lord…she’s not in a position to demand anything

Romans 9:15  he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

3. Once we acknowledge that we are sinners, all we can do is cry out for mercy and humbly accept what comes… anything we get is more than we deserve

4. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin… genuine saving faith involves BOTH repentance concerning our sinfulness and faith in Christ concerning what He has promised

E. The Persistence of Faith

1. Jesus puts up ONE ROADBLOCK AFTER ANOTHER, as we have mentioned

2. First, He doesn’t answer her;  then He speaks to His own disciples in her hearing, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”:  then He says “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs”

3. True belief is PERSISTENT, and does not easily give up in prayer

4. Notice her persistence springs also from her LOVE for her daughter

True intercession:  to link yourself up entirely with the misery of another and pray for that person as though it were happening to YOU

Vs. 22   have mercy on ME!  Vs. 24  “Lord, help ME!” she said.

I think God tests us in prayer to strengthen our compassion, so we care MORE for the person we’re praying for

5. Faith OVERCOMES all obstacles and keeps persisting

Genesis 32:26  Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Genesis 32:28  “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

Revelation 2:7  To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Romans 8:37  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

F. The Humility of Faith

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Amazing answer!! She finds hope even in a seeming put-off…

The image is a household dinner table;  there must be some runoff, some extra that could fall from the table after the children are all fed

1. We’ve already noted her role as a suppliant… begging for mercy

2. We’ve already noted how far she goes with it, even prostrating herself in front

3. When Jesus treats her like this, she doesn’t bristle, she doesn’t bridle up against His words

4. He calls her a dog of sorts, but she actually agrees

“True, Lord”… she says

Yes, I am a dog, and less than a dog… but please heal my daughter anyway!!

5. Faith takes its rightful place and says appropriate things

Mark 1:7  And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

Matthew 8:8  The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

The arrogance of the Word of Faith approach, the name it and claim it, is it advocates demanding things from Almighty God… it speaks against saying “If it is your will, Lord”… it advocates things like

STORM THE GATES OF HEAVEN… I’ve always found that weird… like heaven is some enemy fortress and we need to storm heaven and plunder heaven for what we want

NO!! Humility of faith sees things as they really are—God is infinitely powerful, wise and loving;  we are amazingly weak, ignorant, and selfish… we come humbly and ask for what is on our hearts as it lines up with His word

G. The Reward of Faith

Vs. 28  Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

1. Faith perseveres to get the reward… it perseveres until it obtains

2. Jesus made her wait some… he makes other people wait MORE

3. But in the end, she got what she wanted

4. The ultimate reward of faith is this:  eternity in the presence of Almighty God;  not merely healing for a demon possessed daughter

5. True faith receives everything God has promised

Ephesians 1:3  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Psalm 16:11  You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand

IV. Application

A. Learn to Pray Like This

1. Do you care enough about others to take their case to Jesus

B. God’s Silence

1. Sometimes God seems totally silent, and that can be a terrible trial

2. Be willing to persevere in prayer even when it seems nothing is happening

C. Learn the Lessons of Great Faith

1. Make sure your faith has a strong BASIS in the Word of God… find out HIS nature, HIS purposes, HIS promises, and base your faith on that

2. Be reverent in your approach to God… understand how exalted He is, and speak to Him accordingly

3. Be strengthened in your faith and grow in confidence… know that God can do IMMEASRUABLY more than all you can ask or imaging, then ask confidently and trust Him to give you according to His will

4. Be repentant in your faith;  let God speak to you of your sin and be humble and willing to hear what He says;  do not be proud but be willing to ask for His mercy

5. Be persistent… don’t give up quickly

6. Wait on God until you have your reward