Matthew 15:21-28

MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER

LIFE OF CHRIST #30

 

Name some good things that have been made better over the years. (Look for answers such as cars, computers, appliances, televisions, videos etc. etc.)

How have they been made better?

 

Faith is a good thing.

1.     It is required for eternal life.

John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

  

2.     It is required to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

3.     It is required for our prayers to be answered.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

 

4.     It is required for living the Christian Life.

Colossians 2:6 - As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

 

Faith is a good thing that can be made better.

There was once a man by the name of George Mueller, who at one time was caring for a few orphans by faith.  By the time he was done he was caring for a couple of thousand by a strengthened faith. He never asked for money, but the Lord always sent it in.

 

Faith is a good thing that can be made better.

 

Colossians 2:6-7 - As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: [7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

 

James 1:3-4 - Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. [4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

 

I was once on a deacon board when my Pastor was being unfairly attacked. It got so bad that there was talk of us leaving and starting another church. This never happened.

 

The problem was eventually resolved and years later the Pastor received an apology. We as a deacon board drew closer together and learned some lessons for future ministry. As a result of the trial our faith became stronger. God took a good thing, our faith, and made it better.

 

Surely, you and I will face many trials as Christians. Each trial should be an opportunity for a good thing, our faith, to be made better.

 

We are continuing our chronological study of the Life of Christ.  Last time we saw our Lord Jesus send the disciples away in a boat so they wouldn’t be involved in a movement that prematurely wanted to make Christ king.

He went to a mountain to pray, and then, in the midst of a storm he walked on water, and Peter too, walked on water.

 

This week we meet a Gentile woman with a sick daughter.

Jesus takes a good thing, her faith, and makes it better.

This woman teaches us what to do for our faith to be strengthened when it is being tested.

 

Vs. 21 - It was rest time. It was a withdrawal for a short time, from the hostility of the Jewish leaders.  Jesus went into Gentile territory.  This is the region around two large cities on the Mediterranean Sea.  This was an area you might have heard referred to as Phoenicia. Today it is known as southern Lebanon. This was the first time in Jesus ministry in which he actually entered pagan territory.

 

Mark 7:24 - And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

 

Because it was rest time, the Lord Jesus did not want anyone to know that He was there. But notice that Jesus could not be hid. There were so many needs, so many people seeking Jesus, that humanly speaking, there was no hiding Him.

 

Vs. 22 – Now comes this woman of Canaan, a Gentile woman.  She has some faith, for she calls him “Son of David”. She recognizes that He is Israel’s Messiah, or King. She wants Jesus to heal her daughter who is grievously possessed by a demon.   

 

Now, from this woman, we learn how to take a good thing, faith, and make it better.

 

KEEP ASKING

 

Vss. 22-23 – It is the man or woman of faith who asks God for things and expects an answer. This woman came to Jesus with her request.

 

He did not answer her. He was silent.

 

Why was Jesus silent?  He was probably silent because His ministry at the moment was centered on the Jewish Nation.

I feel there is another reason Jesus was silent.

I believe that Jesus was testing her faith, making it stronger.

Would she give up if He did not answer her right away?

 

You and I should be concerned about many things.

 

·       We should be concerned about the physical needs of others.

·       We should be concerned about the spiritual needs of others.

·       We should be concerned about those who do not know Christ as Savior.

·       We should be concerned for the marriages of others.

·       We should be concerned for our children and grandchildren.

·       We should be concerned about our trials and tribulations.

 

What should we do about these things?

 

Matthew 7:7-8 - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: [8] For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

 

We are to be continually bringing our concerns to the Lord in prayer.

 

But sometimes, like this woman, God will appear silent. Your answer will not come right away.

Why?

God is probably testing your faith.

He is training you to trust Him for the answers.

 

We should do what this woman did.  She kept on asking.  

Matthew 15:21-28 - PAGE 5

In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus told a story about an unjust judge who didn’t care about God or man.  A widow came to Him seeking justice and he ignored her. He was silent. The woman kept on asking the judge. She kept bugging him, until eventually he gave in. 

 

Jesus’ conclusion to the story was this in Luke 18:7-8,

And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? [8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

 

This Gentile woman did this very same thing. She was so persistent in her asking that the disciples wanted her sent away because she was bugging them.   

Like this woman, we should make our faith better by continually asking.

 

BE ASKING

BE REVERENT – Vss. 24-25

 

Jesus answers the disciples, probably in hearing range of this woman, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

 

Jesus was not in Israel at the time.

The woman asking for help was of a race that Israel was to have nothing to do with, the Canaanites.

 

Jesus certainly cared about the woman.

Jesus certainly cared about those who were not Jews.

 

However during Jesus’ earthly ministry he was sent to minister to his own people. When Jesus sent the disciples on preaching missions, He told them to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”. (Matthew 10:6)

 

After Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and rose from the dead He sent the disciples to the whole world declaring the Gospel.

 

This woman still didn’t turn away.

She came to Him and worshipped Him!

 

This woman showed reverence to her Lord.

I personally think that all too often you and I get so wrapped up in our problems that we fail to worship God.

 

When we sing on Sunday Morning it is to be a time of worship.

Psalm 100:1-2 - Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. [2] Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

 

When we come to God in prayer during the week, it should be a time of worship.

Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

 

How can we say we trust Him as God, if we do not worship Him as God?

The more our faith is tested the more we should be drawn to worship Him who is our only Hope!

 

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”

Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944), Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entry 12124. Biblical Illustrator 3.0

 

BE ASKING

BE REVERENT

BE DESPERATE – Vs 25

   

Vs. 25 – Notice the poor, humble cry of this woman, “Lord, help me!”

   

She was desperate.

She had no other hope.

She had no alternate plan “B”.

She knew that if Jesus didn’t do it, it wouldn’t happen.

 

I don’t feel that you and I have learned to be desperate in our prayers.

 

It is the desperate person who will persist in prayers.

In Luke 11 Jesus tells a parable about the person who persisted to ask his neighbor for bread at midnight, because he was desperate to entertain visitors. If visitors were not entertained, it was a black mark against the person and his village. He was desperate, so he kept asking until the man got up and gave him what he needed.

 

In Luke 11, Jesus went on to challenge his listeners to believing, persistent prayer.

 

How desperate are you that your friends and loved ones get saved?

How desperate are you that family problems get solved?

How desperate are you that physical needs be met?

How desperate are you that Christians grow in Christ?

How desperate are you that marriages be healed?

How desperate are you for the Spiritual needs of this church?

 

The more desperate you are, the more you will rely on the Lord and Him only to solve your problem.

If you are desperate, you’ll keep before Him until He answers.

Let me add one word of caution. Please remember that all that we want is not all that the Lord wants. Sometimes the Lord will gently tell us “no” for some good reason. But until He does, let’s keep on asking.

 

BE ASKING

BE REVERENT

BE DESPERATE

BE HUMBLE – Vss. 26-27

 

Vs. 26 – Jesus tells this woman that you don’t take the children’s food off the table and give it to the household puppies.

 

Jesus is not calling the woman “a Gentile dog”, as the Jews often did.

He was just explaining that the food, His ministry, was intended for Israel, and was not yet to be taken away from them and given to the Gentiles.

 

Vs. 27 – Notice the woman’s humility here. She didn’t take offense. She agreed with the Lord!

 

You’re telling the truth, Lord, but even the puppies are allowed crumbs from off the table.

We used to have cats that loved table scraps.  They would get the crumbs, or things that fell on the floor.

 

The woman humbles herself to admit that she doesn’t deserve anything.  However, she wonders if the Lord could spare a few “crumbs” and answer her request.

 

Many would have been insulted, but not this woman. She knew her place.

 

Do we know ours?

Do we realize that we deserve no answers in prayer?

We have nothing and have done nothing to deserve God’s answers.

 

Do we realize that in the only way we can expect our prayers to be answered is when we come and pray in Jesus’ name?

 

John 14:13-14 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

 

If we expect Jesus to do it and not ourselves, we are certainly humbling ourselves.

Yes we must do what He tells us to do, but we must depend on Him!

   

BE ASKING

BE REVERENT

BE DESPERATE

BE HUMBLE

BE CONFIDENT – Vs. 28

 

“Oh woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”

This woman’s faith was a confident faith.

It had been tested, but now it was triumphant!

God took a good thing, and made it better!

 

Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative architects this county ever produced. But his fame wasn’t limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake.

 

When the architect visited Japan to see where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about eight feet of earth on the site.

Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright. Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage.

 

Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and hinged together. Water pipes and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway freely if necessary.

 

Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel, “just in case.”

 

On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print the story if they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse.

 

Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that—it had provided a home for hundreds of people.

 

And when fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel’s pool.

The Imperial Hotel isn’t there anymore. It was finally torn down in the 1960s to be replaced by a more modern structure. Bits & Pieces, January 7, 1993, pp.11-14 http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=308

 

If Frank Lloyd Wright could have confidence in a building that he had made, how much more should we have confidence in our God to answer our prayers!

 

BE CONFIDENT

BE COMFORTED!

 

Jesus told her that she had her wish.

And surely she did.

Her daughter was healed.

 

Can you imagine the woman’s relief?

No more night scenes of a daughter terrified.

No more day scenes of a girl out of control.

No more letters from the teacher.

No more incidents on the school bus.

Jesus gave her comfort.

 

My friend, it is those who have their faith tested, who persist in prayer, that see Jesus answer, and are comforted by His promises to answer.

Take a good thing, and make it better!

First, make sure you have faith in Jesus Christ. Then,

BE ASKING

BE REVERENT

BE DESPERATE

BE HUMBLE

BE CONFIDENT

BE COMFORTED.