Crumbs Are Just As Effective

Does anybody in this church have a need in your life? Most everyone here has several important needs. I would go a step further and say that most people in this church today have one or more major needs in their lives and some may not see how their needs can be met. Some people of looking at devastating family problems. Some are looking at financial difficulties. Some are looking at a problem with a child. Some say their own souls and realize that they are lost. Some are looking at a disease and wondering what lies ahead. Some are looking at their parents and realizing they won't be here forever. I could stand here all day and name a list of problem that a many of you are facing right here today.

In the midst of your problems, you need someone to help you. You need someone you can turn to for your solution. You need God to work in your life. You don’t need Him to lift every burden, just the heaviest. You don’t need Him to move every mountain, just the highest. You don’t need God to give you the whole loaf, just a crumb.

That is the situation we are looking at in this passage today. Jesus is approached by a mother who is in a desperate situation. She needs something in her life. She comes to the Lord and as she does, she is not asking for the whole meal, she is just asking for the crumbs. She is just asking Jesus to move in her situation.

Jesus had just told the Pharisees, the scribes, His disciples and the multitudes that nothing in and of itself is unclean, Mark 7:14-16. He told them that defilement is from within, Mark 7:20-23. His message was simple: What a man has in his heart is what he truly is!

As soon as that encounter is over, Jesus and His men go to Tyre and Sidon, which are in the heart of Gentile territory. Once again, they try to get some rest from the pressures of the ministry. But, we are told in verse 24 that “He could not be hid”. That is always the case! When Jesus is in a person, a family, a church, a community, or wherever, He simply cannot be hidden! Word will get out that He is in the house. That is why we should do everything we can to ensure that we create an atmosphere where He can work among us!

In this text, a burdened mother locates Jesus. She begins to petition Him for the help she needs. She faces several challenges, but she persists and she gets what she came for.

As I preach this text today, I want you to understand that there is hope for you. God has the solution to your problem. I want to share a few thoughts from this passage that may help us find what we need for our own lives today. I want to preach on the Topic: Crumbs are just as effective!

I. v. Matt 15:25-26 THE MOTHER AND HER REQUEST

A. The Reason She Came – This woman came to Jesus because she was concerned about her daughter. The child was demon possessed and was probably acting out in violence and anger. She needed help in a desperate way. It may be that the demon in causing bodily harm to the child. This was the situation in the case of another demon possessed child, Matt 9:22.

B. The Reason She Cried – Matt 15:23 tells us that she “cried” after Jesus. The word means to “croak, to shout after another.” It is the idea of a loud, persistent shrieking. This woman was shouting to Jesus for the help she needed. Why was she so frantic? She was heartbroken over the condition of her child and she was determined to get her child the help she needed.

C. The Reason She Called – Verse 25 tells us that this woman had “heard of Him”. Perhaps she had heard about how Jesus had healed all manner of diseases; about how He had opened the eyes of the blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf; about how He had driven the demons from other people. She may have heard about how Jesus had gone over into the country of the Gaderenes and had delivered the man possessed by a legion of demons Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39. She may have said, “If He can deliver that man from a legion of demons, surely He can deliver my daughter from the grip of one devil!”

This woman came to Jesus because faith and hope had been aroused in her heart. She needed something that society had not been able to provide. She was looking for something that her dead religion had been powerless to give her. She needed a solution that she had not been able to provide by her own self-efforts. She was desperate and she saw Jesus as her only hope!

How many of you can identify with this poor, anxious mother? Perhaps you are dealing with a child that is out of control. Perhaps you are at your wits end over some situation in your life and you need help. Perhaps you have exhausted every means at your disposal and do not know where to turn for help. Maybe what you need is salvation. Or, maybe what you need is restoration and forgiveness. Whatever the need in your life may be today; you should take a lesson from this woman: Get that need to Jesus!

Regardless, of what you face in your life today, the answer will be found in Him! He can move your mountain; meet your need; save your soul; forgive your sins; touch your loved ones; you name it, He can do it! But, you have to get to Him! Don’t be afraid to call on Him; He invites you to come, Matt 11:28; Jer 33:3. You do not have to bear this burden alone! Bring it to Jesus, He cares, 1 Pet 5:7; Heb 4:15 and He can help, Heb 4:16.

II. v. Matt 15:27-28 THE MOTHER AND HER RESOLVE

This woman comes to Jesus for help and when she doesn’t get the response she imagines, she stays after Jesus until she gets what she wants.

A. v. 23-27 The Obstacles Of Faith – She had to overcome many obstacles in order to secure her daughter’s healing. It seemed that she met resistance to her request at every turn. Yet, she persisted until she achieved her goal. Look at some of the obstacles she faced and overcame by faith.

1. The Obstacle Of Race – Verse 26 tells us that this woman was from Tyre and Sidon. Matt 15:22 tells us that she was a Canaanite. This reveals two things about this mother. First, she was a descended from a cursed people. When Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan, they had been commanded to totally destroy the Canaanites, Deut 7:2. She was a member of a doomed race. Second, she was from a region known for vile religious practices. This woman had two strikes against her from the very start.

2. The Obstacle Of Religion – She came to Jesus and called out to Him and said, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David”. Here she was a Gentile mother crying out to the Jewish Messiah. She had no right to come to Jesus through the door of Judaism. She was a Gentile and according to Matt 15:23, Jesus gave her the response she deserved: “He answered her not a word.”

3. The Obstacle Of Racism – When the disciples see and hear this Gentile calling out to their Messiah, they react by telling Jesus to send her away! They wanted nothing to do with her. She was not one of their people! In their eyes, she was different and that was enough to justify them not caring about her at all.

4. The Obstacle Of Rejection – As Jesus speaks to this woman, His words appear harsh to our ears. His words must have shaken her to the very core of her being. His words probably broke her heart. Matt. 15:23-26 adds much detail concerning this conversation.

First, Jesus simply ignores her. It is as if He turns a deaf ear to her cries for help. Then, He tells her that His whole purpose in coming to this world was to reach the lost sheep of Israel. When she persists, Jesus tells her that she is a dog and does not deserve the children’s bread. The disciples rejected her and now it appears that Jesus is rejecting her too.

5. The Obstacle Of Reality – The realities of this situation are harsh! Her daughter was possessed by a devil. She was a member of a doomed race. These religion men did not seem to care about her or her situation at all. It must have appeared to her that her situation was hopeless.

Some are looking at some of the same barriers today. You might be lost and know you need Jesus; but you feel like you have no right to come to Him. You know you are from a doomed race. You have discovered that religion will not work. You have experienced the rejection of the religious people around you. Yet, you still want to see your life changed. Let me tell you that you can come to Jesus! If you do, He will not turn you away, John 6:37.

Others have been praying and seeking God about matters that trouble your heart. You have cried out to Him and asked Him to do this or that in your life and there has been no answer. You feel like giving up! Let me encourage you today. God’s silence is not an indication of God’s unwillingness to meet your need. God’s silence serves to temper our faith and to remind us that He operates on a different schedule than we do.

What obstacles are you facing today? Persist in seeking the Lord and in His time, you will see every barrier fall! Your faith will not be defined by what you receive from God; but by what it takes to stop you from getting to God! What’s stopping you?

B. v. 27 The Opportunities Of Faith – As Jesus speaks with this woman, He never slams the door of hope in her face. Jesus says, “Let the children first be filled…” That word “first” was exactly what this broken-hearted mother needed to hear! Jesus did not say, “You cannot have what you are looking for!” He said, “I have come to the children of Israel. And, they must be filled first.” She took that to mean that “seconds” were available.

You see, these obstacles that were thrown up by the Lord Jesus were not placed there to discourage and defeat this lady. The obstacles were placed there to mature her faith. Watch the progression.

1. Matt. 15:22; Mark 7:25 – She calls on Jesus based on His role as the Jewish Messiah. She receives no help there. She has no right to approach Him on that ground.

2. Matt 15:24-25; Mark 7:27 – She hears Jesus tell her that His mission here on this earth is to the nation of Israel. When she hears this, she moves beyond seeing Him as a Jewish Messiah. She now sees Him as her only hope. She sees Him as being worthy of worship. In Matt 15:25, she bows down to Him; humbles herself at His feet; gives Him the worship He deserves; and appeals to Him for the help she needs.

3. Matt 15:26-27; Mark 7:27 – Now, she hears Jesus compare her to a dog. The Jews looked at all non-Jewish people as dogs. The word they used refers to a “mangy, cur”. It is used as a metaphor of people who are “unclean, filthy and dirty.” In fact, the Jews used this word to refer to sodomites and homosexuals. Jesus used that word in Matt 7:6.

The word used here is different. This word means “little puppies”. It refers not to mangy, dirty dogs; but to a little puppy that is a beloved pet in a house. It refers to an animal that is looked on as a part of the family.

I always imagine that Jesus has a twinkle in His eye as He says this and she immediately catches the meaning. The image here is of a beloved puppy sitting under the table while the family eats a meal. It sits there hoping and expecting that someone will slip it a piece of food. The puppy can see the food. It can smell the food. It knows what it wants is within easy reach. It just needs someone to acknowledge it and give it a bite.

She says, “I know that it isn’t right to take the food from the children’s table and give it to the dogs. But, even the dogs are sometimes treated to a morsel from the table. All I am asking for is a crumb.” She wasn’t asking for everything, just for a puppy’s portion!

Can you see how Jesus took this woman and her small faith and led her along and helped grow her faith? The obstacles of faith almost always turn out to be opportunities in disguise. When we continue to seek the Lord in spite of every hindrance we will eventually see Him do what we need done.

C. v. 28 The Obligations Of Faith – A lot of people would have given up! Jesus ignored her; the disciples played the race card; Jesus even compared her to a dog; yet she persisted. Most folks would have thrown up their hands in frustration and stormed off in anger saying, “I don’t need this! So much for your God of love; for your message of compassion and your narrow, bigoted religion! I don’t want anything to do with a God or a religion like that!” That is the way many react when they do not get what they want, when they want it.

But, not this woman! She persisted in spite of everything that was thrown into her pathway. Why? She persisted because too much was at stake! Her daughter needed to be delivered from bondage. Her family needed to be saved. She needed help and she was determined to get it! A crumb might have been all she could get; but she knew that a crumb from His hand was more than enough! She wouldn’t give up until she got what she needed!

How much does your problem mean to you? Have you encountered some obstacles along the way that have made you throw up your hands and quit seeking God about the answer you need? Have you looked at the hypocrisy of the church and concluded that since God’s people don’t care, you won’t care either? Have you decided that God can’t help you and Jesus can’t save your soul?

I dare not, too much is at stake! Be like this poor mother. Keep bringing that need to Jesus until He answers. Keep seeking His face until He responds. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking and in His time, He’ll hand you down a morsel of answered prayer! Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”)

III. v. 29-30 THE MOTHER AND HER REWARD

A. Jesus Responded To Her Faith – He was amazed by the depth of her faith! In fact, this woman is only one of two people Jesus referred to as having “great faith”, Matt 15:28. The other person was a Roman Centurion who came to Jesus to have Jesus heal a sick servant Matt 8:5-13.

Amazingly, both of these people were Gentiles!

Jesus had tested her faith with hard words and her faith had risen to the challenge! Her faith exceeded that of the people He had come to save! Here was a Gentile dog that had more faith than the Jewish scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and priests. This kind of faith excites the Lord!

B. Jesus Rewarded Her Faith – He rewarded her faith by giving her exactly what she asked for; He healed her daughter! Her faith was so strong that she didn’t ask for proof, but she took Jesus at His word and turned around and went home to her family. When she arrived home, she found her daughter healed and her family restored! What a blessing! What a challenge!

I realize that some people are looking at situations and problems that are every bit as hard and as painful as that faced by this woman. I know that many have prayed and sought God about situations and things remain the same. I know that the devil and the flesh are whispering in your ear right now. They are saying, It’s no use! God doesn’t care! Go away and don’t bother Him with this anymore. It’s never going to change.” I know that some are discouraged and defeated and wondering if there is any use or any help.

Let me encourage somebody that when you have come to the end of your rope and you have given up, know that the crumbs are just as effective. There is hope in the crumbs. There is life in the crumbs. Salvation is in the crumbs. Healing is in the crumbs. Deliverance is in the crumbs. Peace is in the crumbs. Love is in the crumbs. Joy is in the crumbs. Forgiveness is in the crumbs. You don't need the hold loft, all you need is a crumb. Because the same ingredients that's in the loft is in the crumbs. Just give me the crumbs. Give me the crumbs, give me the crumbs, give me the crumbs. Jesus said I come that you may have life and have life more abundantly. So, He died that you might live….