“Strange Faith”
Preacher
Pastor John H. West

Date
October 11, 1998

Scripture Text
Matthew 15:21-28

 

Faith is the Key

Faith is the essential key to any healing ministry. One woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment in faith. A leper cried out to Jesus in faith. The blind boy dipped in the water by faith. The centurion went to Jesus in faith in behalf of his servant. The Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith.

Your home can only be healed by faith.

Your marriage can only be healed by faith.

Your body can only be healed by faith.

Faith is the tangible reality of the intangible promises of God.

Hebrews 11:6

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

 

Matthew 15:21

Jesus leaves the comfort of His home in Capernaum to go 50 miles into the land of the Caananites. For two years, Jesus’ only ministry was to the children of Israel. Here, He reaches Gentiles. It is like many of us in the church. We attend church our entire lives. Now, we must take our faith out to the streets.

We don’t mind clapping our hands in church, but we hide it when we go outside. If our faith is to be real, it should be real not only in the church, but out in the streets. Church is the filling station so we can live our faith outside.

Are we selfish?

Do we pray selfish prayers, like "Lord, bless me and mine" or are we mature enough to pray for the boy on the street corner with his pants hanging down? Do we pray for the woman on the corner who is slipping and sliding and on her way to hell? Do not just talk about them... pray for them!

The church should not spend its money on itself. Sometimes it seems as if we actually do eat too much at Siloam. Sometimes, we need to wrap our food up and take it to the person who doesn’t have any food for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The Syro-Phonecian Woman

Jesus went outside of His security zone to show His compassion in the land of the "outsiders." The woman in our key scripture was Syro-Phonecian. A Caananite. A Gentile. This non-Jewish woman cried out for help from a Jewish Messiah. She was not a Jew. Her people were enemies of the Jews for thousands of years. Yet, she had faith. Sometimes, you find faith in the strangest places.

Faith outside the church

We think that the church is the headquarters of faith. However, some people outside of the church have more faith than some of the people in the church. Some people in church will get angry if you sit in "their seat," but if you go outside, a wino is quick to share his bottle with you. There is faith outside of the church... but it is not a mature or developed faith.

Jesus’ troubling behavior

The Syro-Phonecian woman asked Jesus for a blessing but Jesus ignored her. The disciples did not seem to care about her getting her blessing... they asked Jesus to send her away. Jesus told the woman that he did not come for the Gentiles but for the Jews. It is not proper to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.

Those are strong and troubling words from Jesus. Isn’t He the healer of all? Isn’t He the one who stopped in a crowd of people, then turned and said "Who touched Me?" Jesus does three things that appear out of His character:

    1. He ignores her
    2. He rebuffs her
    3. He insults her (calling her a dog)

What was Jesus up to here? Was He a racist? Was He prejudiced? There are three possible answers:

Perhaps He was testing her Faith

This woman was a Gentile. As a Caananite, she may have heard about Jesus’ miracles... but she would not have heard His message. Jesus did not come just to heal, He came to save our souls.

Perhaps He was teaching His disciples a lesson

The disciples asked Jesus to send the woman away, to get rid of her.

The disciples didn’t care to see this woman healed. They just wanted her to shut up. Some people in church will allow you to say "amen," but only when the choir is singing. You can raise your hands a little... just stay in your seat.

Maybe Jesus wanted the disciples to see how ignorant their thinking was.

Perhaps Jesus meant it...

Perhaps the time for the Gentiles had not yet arrived. Jesus could have been saying, "Later... not now."

Remember the wedding at Cana? The wine ran out and Mary asked Jesus to do something. Jesus replied, "My hour has not yet come." Maybe Jesus was saying to the Syro-Phonecian woman: "Hold on just a little while and your healing will come."

Still... a troubling message

Regardless of what Jesus’ intent was, His words were a strong response to this woman’s request.

We Live By Faith

God does not always heal immediately. Sometimes it seems that God is not listening. Sometimes it seems that God does not care. Sometimes it seems that God is saying "NO!" Regardless, we need to live by faith.

We live in a society that has instant coffee, microwave popcorn, microwave TV dinners, etc. We need to remember that God does not conform Himself to our schedule. He has His own time schedule, His own agenda. Just remember that God is never early and He is never late.

The Caananite woman had faith, regardless of what Jesus did or said to her. Still, she kept on pleading. When Jesus called her a dog, that did not stop her. She said that even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. She was saying, "Lord, You don’t have to give me a big blessing... I’ll take a few crumbs."

This was an example of mustard seed faith. God’s crumbs are enough to get the job done.

If you asked, do not stop. Keep on asking and keep on bombarding heaven until the doors open and the blessings come forth.

Don’t tell God what, you want, how you want it or when you want it. God gives us what we need according to His riches in glory.

We need strong faith to fill the church with unsaved people who are seeking the Lord. We need strong faith to stop majoring in minors. We need strong faith to seek the lost.

The woman was not a Jew, but she had faith. We need to be a people of faith... committed to Jesus Christ so that the world may see and believe.