Sermon Tone Analysis

Faith that won’t quit

Matt 15

Introduction:

He was seven years old when he had to work to support his poor family.

At age nine, his mother died.

He was 23 when he incurred a huge debt due to a failed business.

At 28 and after four years of engagement, he asked his girl friend to marry him but she said “no”.

He loved another lovely girl but lost her when she died.

At 37, on his third attempt, he was elected to Congress.

After two years, he ran for re-election but failed.

Adding to a miserable marriage at age 41, his four-year-old son died.

At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost.

At 49, he ran for the Senate again but lost again.

He went through a period of depression amidst all the rejection, criticism and rumors.

At 51, he became the President of the United States.

We know Abraham Lincoln today as one of the greatest leaders in world history.

He set thousands of slaves free by passing a law known as the Emancipation Proclamation.

He taught the world that slavery is wrong and that all people should live freely.

When the civil war failed to stop his efforts to abolish slavery, his enemies assassinated him for his beliefs.

People remember him today as a man who stood firm despite strong opposition.

But his struggles formed in him something that very few of us have developed: character, perseverance, faith.

He never gave up.

Are you having a hard time trusting God amidst your difficulties?

Are you disappointed when God seems to be silent or slow in responding to your prayers?

Is your faith under pressure and you feel like giving up?

Are your problems too heavy for you to hang on?

and you are desperate for God’s help?

This morning, we will be looking at a person who had a great problem… but she had great persevering faith and trusted a great person.

And she was described by Jesus as a person of great faith…

Big Idea: God finds pleasure when your faith persists in spite of pressure.

Read Text: (NLT)

21 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22 A Gentile* woman who lived there came to him, pleading, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!

For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely."

23 But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word.

Then his disciples urged him to send her away.

"Tell her to go away," they said.

"She is bothering us with all her begging."

24 Then Jesus said to the woman, "I was sent only to help God's lost sheep—the people of Israel."

25 But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, "Lord, help me!"

26 Jesus responded, "It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs."

27 She replied, "That's true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their master's table."

28 "Dear woman," Jesus said to her, "your faith is great.

Your request is granted."

And her daughter was instantly healed.

Background:

There are three major barriers that she had to overcome.

1.

She was a woman

In this time period, women were considered no more than property.

This woman had a great barrier in just being female.

Not only was she female…

2.

She was a Gentile

Salvation had not yet been offered to the Gentiles at this time.

That’s what Christ meant when he said that he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

– vs. 24… Not only was she a Gentile…

3.

She was a Canaanite

The people of Israel did not like Canaanites.

The Canaanites were the pagans who lived in the Promised Land before Israel came to live there.

This passage is about the faith of a Canaanite woman.

As a matter of fact, it is about the "great faith" of a Canaanite woman.

This would not be such a big deal if Jesus went around applying this compliment loosely, but this woman was unique in two ways.

She was the only Gentile woman Jesus healed in Matthew's gospel, and she is the only person Jesus said had "great faith."

Compare that with the five times he reminded the disciples of their "little faith," and you can see how unique she is.

For the disciples to hear about and witness her great faith is a powerful learning experience for them.

Some lessons we can learn from this woman of great faith…

The faith that God favors is a…

Faith DESPERATE for God’s help

21 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22 A Gentile* woman who lived there came to him, pleading, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!

For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely."

Desperation leads to strong faith.

The story doesn't begin with us knowing about her great faith; it begins in desperation, where great faith often begins.

The Canaanite woman, whose name we never hear, has a daughter whom she describes as "cruelly possessed by a demon."

We don't know exactly what this meant, but it easily could have meant she was afflicted with violently insane behavior, like the man who lived among the tombs in , or that she had terrible seizures, like the boy who often fell into the fire in .

Whatever her symptoms, her mother was desperate for her to be healed - to be free from this terrible state.

Her desperation led to hope - not hope in the folk cures and remedies she probably had tried before, not hope in the best medical advice of the day, but hope in the God of Israel, hope in the Messiah, God's Chosen One.

This hope led to a faith without shame.

Many times we can be afraid to let our faith be known.

Sometimes we don't want to stand out; sometimes we just want to be polite and not "talk religion."

Sometimes we just don't want the added scrutiny that comes when people realize we're followers of Jesus Christ.

This woman was different; she lived out a faith that came from having nothing left to lose, a desperate faith.

She approached this band of disciples and their leader, Jesus.

She screamed out to them from a distance, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!"

She didn't just shout, she screamed - her cries as desperate as the faith she had that Jesus was the One who could make a difference.

She didn't care that the disciples didn't approve.

She didn't care, even as a woman approaching men who were strangers, that she would stand out like a sore thumb.

She didn't care about the things that often make us ashamed.

She had the faith of a desperate mother - a faith without shame.

This should make us think about our faith.

Does it come out of desperation?

Does our faith rise out of a confidence that Jesus is the only One who can bring meaning to our lives, the only One who can bring true spiritual and emotional healing, the only One to whom our lives are worth devoting?

Or, is our faith just a casual thing we do because it's expected?

The Canaanite woman's faith was without shame because she knew Jesus was her only hope and she didn't care what others expected.

“Faith is not merely your holding on to God--it is God holding on to you.

He will not let you go!” -- E. Stanley Jones.

Big Idea: God finds pleasure when your faith persists in spite of pressure.

The faith that God favors is a…

Faith DETERMINED to get God’s response

23 But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word.

Then his disciples urged him to send her away.