The Flourishing of Faith: Mark 7:24-30

Introduction

Brothers and sisters, in the last two sermons through the Gospel of Mark, we encountered Christ contrasting hypocrisy and holiness. The religious authorities of Jesus’s day made up rules. They imposed these rules on others. They made rules that contradicted the very laws of God. They focused on outward behavior, while forgetting the matters of the heart. By focusing on the outside, they missed their most urgent need. They like all of us had hearts that give birth to wicked deeds. They like us needed a heart transplant. They needed the very person they were rejecting. They needed Jesus. Mark now tells us a story that is a shocking contrast with Jesus’s dispute with the Pharisees. We will take up a vital question: instead of making up rules like the pharisees, how should we respond to Jesus? However, before I answer the question observe four aspects of the story.

Retell

To begin, observe shelter sought: 24

After the public dispute with the religious authorities and private instruction of his disciples, Jesus left Galilee. Mark doesn’t tell us why. Perhaps it was the hostility of the religious authorities and Herod. However, we need not speculate too much. Our Lord went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Both Tyre and Sidon were major port cities along the Mediterranean sea. The region was mostly gentile. Jesus went into a house for some privacy. Jesus according to His humanity needed rest. He didn’t want people to know who He was or that He was there. While He wanted privacy, he got noticed. His fame had spread even among the gentiles.

Next, observe deliverance desired: 25-26

A mother of a demon possessed little girl came and fell at his feet. She begged him as an untrained dog begs for food at the dinner table. She came as a dehydrated man in a desert comes to a flowing stream of clean life giving water. This woman was not a Jew by birth but a gentile. She is called a Syrophoenician by Mark, conveying that she might be a greek speaking Syrian. She is called a Canaanite by Matthew. Both instances make clear, she is not Jewish. As a parent begs a physician to cure their child of a deadly cancer, she begged Jesus to free her daughter from demonic possession. Would He do it?

Later, observe faith found: 27-29

Jesus’s response might shock some of you. In Matthew, we are told he ignored her for some time. When he did respond he said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Her reply is a bold display of faith. She said, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” The woman is certainly right. Even well fed dogs ravenously gobble up the crumbs children drop.

To understand this exchange let me explain what each part of the metaphor means. The children are Israel, who God had adopted by way of covenant. The dogs are gentiles, which according to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant are unclean. The bread and crumbs are the Gospel and the blessings that flow from it. Jesus is saying that He came first for the Jews. Scripture teaches that salvation comes from the Jews. It is to and through them that salvation comes and then spreads to the gentiles. By saying “first” Jesus leaves room for the bread to go out to others (Rom 1:16; 2:10; Acts 1:8; 13:46, 47)

The woman's reply shows confidence that Jesus has more than enough grace and mercy to fill the needs of the Jews. His grace and mercy are so abundant that they overflow even to the gentiles. Jesus is a bottomless spring that fills and overflows our cups that need His grace. He is bottomless basket of bread able to feed all needy souls. As God had promised and we see foreshadowed here the river of God’s grace flows to the Jews and beyond to the gentiles.

Jesus reply shows his delight in this woman’s faith. He said, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” According to Jesus in the preceding story, out of the heart the mouth speaks and the hands act. Thus, this woman’s words convey the disposition of her heart. From her heart comes words of faith. Her confession confirms her confidence in Christ. Her faith leads to flourishing. Her daughter is delivered.

To conclude, observe deliverance dispensed: 30

The final verse confirms what Jesus says. The woman went home eagerly. She found her daughter as Jesus had said. She was well. The deliverance desired ends with deliverance dispensed.

Transition

You have observed shelter sought, deliverance desired, faith found, and deliverance dispensed. This story answers the question I stated earlier: instead of making up rules like the pharisees, how should we respond to Jesus? The answer is Place faith in Christ. In the time remaining, let me give you two things that accompany this faith.

Apply

Faith is an empty hand and open mouth. It is not a work. It is accompanied by works. As an empty hand receives the gift of salvation in Christ. As an open mouth it drinks of the everflowing grace that pours out of Christ. Place faith in Christ.

1. Place faith in Christ with humble hope.

The woman came to Jesus as a humble beggar. She displayed humility in the way she approached Him and spoke to Him. Though she was humble she also had hope. She had hope in who Jesus was and what He could do. Jesus was a man who dined with sinners, healed the sick, and silenced religious authorities. Jesus was no ordinary Jewish man. She came to Jesus with the hope that He would do what she requested. This hope was more than wishful thinking. Christian hope is the assurance of something not yet fully recieved.

Christian, no matter how rough your life gets or is, you always have humble hope. There is nothing in this world that can take Christ or the blessings promised to you in Him away. In Christ you have justification. That means your sins have been pardoned, his righteousness given to you, and eternal life secured for you. In Christ you have adoption. You are no longer an enemy of God condemned to eternal judgement. You are His son or daughter. When you sin, your salvation is not lost, your condemnation is not reimposed. Yes, God may look at you with fatherly displeasure, but as a dad doesn’t cast out his children for their sins God will not cast you out. In your need, may cry out to God who hears you. In Christ you have sanctification. That means that you have been separated from the kingdom of Satan and placed into the Kingdom of God. It means you are dead to sin and alive to God. In Christ you have perseverance. God will keep you from falling or wandering away from the faith. You will stumble and sometimes fall, but He will pursue you like a shepherd. Put you on his shoulders. Carry you back to safety. In this life you are being moulded by God into the likeness of Christ. In Christ you have glorification. In the future, when Jesus returns you will be given a new imperishable body. Your sin nature will be entirely gone and you will commune with God forever. To summarize, in Christ you have salvation. So, Christian, no matter what is happening to you now, know matter how hard it is, it cannot take any of the blessings of grace you have in Christ away from you.

2. Place faith in Christ with persistent prayer.

Is the Syrophoenician woman not an example of persistent prayer. She came and spoke to the Lord Jesus. She pleaded with Him, the Son of God incarnate, to rid her daughter of demonic possession. There are few things more powerful than a praying parent. Throughout the history of the church it was the prayers of mothers that lead to the conversion of those that would become theological giants. Augustine of Hippo’s mother Monica pleaded to God for the salvation of her wayward son. God answered. Augustine not only was saved but was used greatly by God. In more recent history, J. Gresham Machen was considering rejecting the faith and embracing theological liberalism, which denies all core tenants of the faith, while claiming to still be Christian. His mother pleaded with her Son and more importantly with God. God rescued him from his wanders and he became one of the greatest defenders of the true faith and the founder of what is now Westminster Theological Seminary. Charles Spurgeon’s mother prayed for the conversion of all her children. In Charles’s case, God answered. What is true for these people who are more well known is true of countless others whose name we don’t know. My point is simple, persistent prayer is powerful. My mother’s prayers were used by God to draw me to His Son. Many of you sit here today because someone prayed for you.

Pray for physical needs and temporary comfort, but make praying for everlasting salvation a priority in your prayer life. Pray for the salvation of your children. Pray for the salvation of your unconverted family, friends, and neighbors. Pray for your fellow Christians, that God would protect them, strengthen and grow their faith, and make them more like His Son. Yes, you can pray for yourself and should, but this text charges us to look beyond ourselves to the plights of others. It calls us to take others and lay them at the feet of Jesus. You may have a wayward child, pray for them. You may have an unbelieving friend or maybe even spouse, pray for them.

Vista Baptist Church, may we be a praying church that persistently prays for the conversion of sinners, the edification of saints, and the glory of God. May our prayer meetings and times of prayer be rich with faith even if not rich with eloquence. A church that is rich in faith-filled prayer is far more effective and faithful than a church only rich in money, facilities, and programs.

Conclusion

The observations of shelter sought, deliverance desired, faith found, and deliverance dispensed taught you to place faith in Christ. This faith should come with humble hope and persistent prayer.

Unbeliever, charge of this sermon is the same for you. Place faith in Jesus. You are a sinner under condemnation. God is a perfectly righteous judge. He will not let your sin go unpunished, nor can you escape Him. He has provided the only way of salvation for sinners. Jesus, God the Son incarnate, is the way. He was born according to the promise of God, lived in perfect righteousness, died as a substitute for all who place faith in Him, rose victoriously as a testimony of God’s acceptance of His work, ascended gloriously where He now reigns over and intercedes for His people, and will return triumphantly to rid the world of His enemies and save His people from final judgement. He will establish His people on the New Earth forever. He will cast death, the devil, and those who follow the devil into the lake of fire. Jesus alone is the way to salvation from sin. Will place faith in Jesus today? Don’t wait, if 9/11 taught us anything, then it taught us that you must be prepared to die. Death is an ever present haunting reality that we must all face and after it comes judgement. As sure as death and judgement are, the salvation that comes in Jesus is every bit as sure. Unbeliever, you can have salvation. Place faith in Jesus. Receive His grace now.

Vista Baptist Church, place faith in Christ. He won’t fail us. He won’t let us go. Yes, place faith in Christ with humble hope and persistent prayer. With the mention of prayer, let us conclude with a prayer.