Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,
and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.
A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here,
and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,
but because we're following Jesus together as one community,
and as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good.
They don't need God's grace, and no one's so bad that they can't have it.
And so that's why we turn week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.
We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark,
and you'll remember that the Gospels tell us the story of Jesus in His life and His death and His resurrection.
If you've looked at this morning's passage, you may have noticed something strange,
which is that we ended chapter 6 last week, and suddenly we've jumped to verse 24 of chapter 7.
And so you might be thinking, what happened to 7, 1 through 23?
And the answer is we did cover it. We just covered it a little bit early.
When I was gone on vacation and Wes Cowton came here as a guest preacher,
he preached 7, 1 through 23.
And so I figured I would spare you hearing the same passage preached twice in a six-week period.
And so that's the reason we're moving to verse 24.
Now, in the last couple portions that we've looked at in the Gospel of Mark,
we've had these negative examples.
We talked last week about the negative example of the disciples
and the fact that they were hard-hearted.
They did not understand that Jesus was the good shepherd who had come to care for them.
And when you looked at 7, 1 through 23,
there was also the negative example of the Pharisees who were consumed,
not with hardness of heart, but self-righteousness.
They believed all that mattered was what was on the outside.
Jesus rebukes them and tells them that it's what's on the inside that's actually important.
And so now, after those two negative examples,
we're finally going to have a positive example of what it looks like to have great faith in Jesus.
The disciples had too low a view of Jesus.
The Pharisees had too high a view of themselves.
Here we have a woman who, in the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 15,
Jesus says,
O woman, great is your faith.
So we have just a simple question as we come to this passage this morning,
which is this,
how do we have great faith?
We're not going to be like the Pharisees or the disciples.
Instead, we want to be people who see Jesus for who he truly is.
And so it's for that reason we're going to turn now to Mark chapter 7.
As we turn, remember that this is God's word.
And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold,
even the finest gold,
and it's sweeter than honey,
even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb,
which is why we read now starting at verse 24.
And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know,
yet he could not be hidden.
But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him
and came and fell down at his feet.
Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
Verse 27.
And he said to her,
Let the children be fed first,
for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
But she answered him,
Yes, Lord.
Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
And he said to her,
For this statement you may go your way.
The demon has left your daughter.
And she went home and found the child lying in bed,
and the demon gone.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.
Our Father in Heaven,
we praise you and thank you again for the miracle that you speak to us.
You're not a God who's far away and distant,
but you're a God who's close and near.
And one of the ways that we know that is that you've given us your Word,
that we could hear and learn.
And so we ask for that this morning,
that you would use these words from hundreds of years ago
to make an impact on us and our lives,
that you would encourage us,
you challenge us,
but even more than that,
you would help us to see Jesus for who he truly is
and respond to him with joy and love and gratitude.
Now, we ask these things thankful again
that we don't have to earn them or deserve them,
but instead we simply ask them in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I'm wondering what you would say if someone asked you,
what are the major challenges that Jesus faced in his ministry here on earth?
Some of you might immediately think,
well, he had this opposition from the Pharisees.
We might also think of the ways in which the disciples failed to understand him.
They abandoned him in his darkest hour.
And those things would be true.
I don't want you to miss another challenge that Jesus had,
though at least here in the Gospel of Mark,
we see Jesus had trouble finding time to eat.
And we've seen that a couple times.
Back in chapter 6, remember things were so bad,
they were so hectic,
after his disciples returned from the mission that he had sent them out on,
that they didn't have time to eat.
And that was when he pulled them away
and meant to go on a retreat,
and the 5,000 came and he had to feed them.
And so there's a certain irony here that we didn't talk about,
the fact that Jesus' disciples can't eat,
and what they end up doing is having to feed other people in the midst of that.
That's not the only time we saw that, though.
Remember in chapter 3, the same thing happened.
The crowd had gathered around Jesus.
They were pressing in so much that he was not able to eat.
And that's when his family came,
and they tried to stage a little bit of an intervention
to rescue Jesus from himself and his reckless schedule.
That helps us understand what's happening at the beginning of this passage.
Verse 24, we find out Jesus did not want anyone to know
that he'd gone away to this region far away from Galilee.
Potentially, Jesus here is still trying to get the break
that he's been working at for multiple sections now.
And yet, it seems like every time it's impossible for Jesus to escape
and have some time to himself
because he's constantly followed by these folks
who need his healing and his power.
And of course, that's exactly what we see here.
Verse 24, yet he could not be hidden.
Jesus wants some time away,
and more and more that is impossible for him.
Verse 25, immediately, a woman comes to him.
She has this problem, which is that her daughter has an unclean spirit,
and it sounds like she knows a little bit of Jesus and his power,
and so she thinks this will be her answer.
Now that Jesus has entered the region in which she lives,
she will have a chance at a miracle.
But we find out something unexpected and different about this woman,
that she's a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth.
Now this reference, Gentile, when we see this in the New Testament,
it's talking about someone's ethnicity,
and it's a way of saying this person is not Jewish.
We heard this in the Old Testament.
The phrase would be used, the nations,
which is a way of talking about those who are not part of God's chosen people.
And it's not just that she's not ethnically Jewish.
We also find out she's not Jewish by geography.
She's a Syrophoenician by birth.
That's a reference to the region in which she grew up,
the region in which Tyre and Sidon are located.
These are cities that are in the area of Phoenicia.
So she's in this city that's in a larger area
that's separated from the land of the people of God.
Mark here is driving home the point for us
that she is an outsider in multiple ways.
She is not just non-Jewish by nature.
She's also not a Jew by nurture.
By ethnicity and geography, this woman is a Gentile.
And so she is the wrong person,
in the wrong place,
with the wrong gender.
And on top of that, she doesn't have an unclean son.
She has an unclean daughter.
Mark is portraying for us
this overlapping complex of cleanliness issues.
There's a constellation of reasons
why Jesus would be expected
not to interact with this woman.
It's not just that she's in the wrong place, though.
Jesus is also in the wrong place.
It should be a surprise to us
that Jesus has decided to travel to this region,
which is northwest of where he was in Galilee.
Jesus almost never plays away games.
This is one of only a few times
where we see Jesus in Gentile territory.
We have only seen it once before in the Gospel of Mark.
Think back all the way to Mark chapter 5,
when Jesus healed a man with a demon
who was in the country of the Gerasenes.
We find out later in the story of the Bible,
in Acts chapter 10, verse 28,
that Jews were not supposed to visit Gentiles.
And so Jesus is going outside of the expectations
and rules of his people,
both in the region that he's visiting
and the woman that he's interacting with.
Why?
It's not a coincidence that this story comes at this place
because in the section right before it,
the section that Wes preached on,
chapter 7, verses 1 through 23,
Jesus has this encounter with the Pharisees
where he talks to them about this issue of cleanliness.
And if you think back all the way
to when Wes preached on that,
he tells them,
it's not what's on the outside that makes you unclean,
it's what's on the inside.
In other words,
Jesus here is giving us a text case
of what he's just taught.
Jesus, let's see if you actually believe
what you just said in the previous passage.
Let's see if you're actually going to act on it.
And he does.
He finds maybe one of the stickiest issues
that he can to prove that he believes what he's taught.
To prove that he's not afraid
of being made unclean on the outside,
he's more concerned with what is on the inside.
And so it's with all of that background
that we understand we have a test case here
that Mark is presenting us with
to show us that Jesus is going to put his money
where his mouth is.
We pick up then again in the story,
here this woman comes, verse 25 and 26,
she immediately enters into this confrontation with Jesus.
It tells us that she fell down at his feet,
verse 25, verse 26,
she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
And the verb tense of this word beg
indicates that this is not something that she did once,
it was something that she did over and over again.
This woman is showing us how desperate she is
as she creates a scene right in front of Jesus
so that she has the best chance possible
of healing for her daughter.
And it's at that moment
that Jesus does something unexpected and surprising.
Think back to what we've seen before.
Chapter six, he sees the 5,000 on this hill
and we're told that he believed
they were like sheep without a shepherd
and he was filled with compassion.
The end of chapter six,
our passage from last week,
what does he do?
He's going out and healing people
right after he's had this interaction with the disciples.
So our expectation would be
that Jesus, of course,
would be happy and willing to intervene
in this woman's life.
That he would be filled with compassion
and sympathy for her.
That he would want her daughter
to be healed immediately.
We would think after what Jesus just taught us
that he would be eager to show
that he's not afraid of someone who's unclean.
And Jesus does the exact opposite.
He insults this woman for her race.
He flips the tables on us
as we're expecting this momentum,
as we're seeing the direction he's headed,
as we think that Jesus is going to make good on his word,
he does something that should catch us off guard.
Verse 27,
And he said to her,
Let the children be fed first,
for it is not right to take the children's bread
and throw it to the dogs.
The woman asks for healing.
He calls her a dog.
Now, some folks have pointed out
that the term he uses for dog here
would not be a stray dog,
but a pet dog.
That makes it less of an insult.
That does not stop it from being an insult.
Okay, if someone calls you a pet dog,
you're not going to think,
Man, that's such a great thing they said to me.
I'm glad I'm not a stray dog.
I mean, yeah, it's better to be a pet dog
than a stray dog.
Jesus just said,
She's a dog among humans.
You cannot avoid the way
in which he's just insulted her.
On top of that,
dog was a term that Jews would use
to refer to Gentiles.
This is a type of slur
that Jesus is using against her.
And he's actually making a point
that we see throughout the Gospels.
He's making this point
that he's come first to the Jews
and then to the Gentiles.
So when he says,
Why would I do this
when the children should be fed first?
What he's saying is,
Why would I help you,
an unclean Gentile woman
in a Gentile territory
with a daughter who's demon-possessed,
when I have Jews who need me?
Why would I not follow
the priority of my ministry?
In the parallel passage in Matthew 15,
he tells her,
I was sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel.
That's why, by the way,
we don't see Jesus leaving Israel very often.
That's why in Romans 1, verse 16,
Paul tells us that the Gospel
was first to the Jews
and then to the Gentiles.
And yet that doesn't answer the question
of why Jesus responds in this way.
Because he's just taught us
that uncleanness doesn't bother him.
He's just demonstrated
that unclean areas don't threaten him
because he's the one
who chose to travel there.
So why is it that Jesus
insults this woman?
I want you to think about it this way.
When I was in my final year of seminary,
I was trying to find a job,
any job,
and so I was beating the bushes
to figure out what openings
there might be.
And one of the opportunities
that I explored
is something you all are familiar with
if you've been with us for a while,
which is to work for our college ministry,
RUF.
Jonathan Clark preached here
maybe a month ago.
He's starting a new college ministry
at UCCS.
And so I was trying to figure out
what would be an opening for me
to be able to serve in ministry.
And as someone coming out of seminary,
if you're a new grad,
it's much harder to find jobs
than if you're someone with experience.
And so I was talking at that time
to this college ministry
about a potential opening
at a school in New England.
And I called the man
who was in charge of hiring for this job,
and we had an hour-long conversation.
During that hour-long conversation,
that man kept challenging me
and pushing me at every turn.
He was borderline a jerk
for an hour on the phone.
Okay?
At the end of the phone call,
he says this,
I'm sorry if I was hard on you,
but if you can't handle me,
you can't handle this school.
What was he saying?
I was testing you
to see what you were made of.
The fact that I was a jerk to you
was part of the interview
because I wanted to see
if you were going to be able
to push back on me.
I wanted to see
if you had the spine
to handle the types of students
that I know are at this school
because if you can't stand up
for an hour on the phone,
there's no time that I have
to talk to you anymore.
He was testing me.
He wanted to see what was there.
Now, long story short,
that school didn't just not open up for me.
It didn't open up for anyone.
There still is not an RUF there.
But I learned something important
about life and about that man
in that moment.
People will do things to you
to see how you respond.
Jesus here, like a good teacher,
is testing this woman.
He wants to see what she's made of.
He wants to understand
the level of her faith.
That's the way tests work.
If you're a student or in life,
tests reveal and show
what's already there.
Tests allow a chance for you
on the outside
to demonstrate
what was already on the inside.
That's, by the way,
part of what happens
in the book of Job.
God uses Job
to demonstrate Job's faith
in the midst of suffering
and to show him off
as an example to the devil.
Here, Jesus is testing
this woman's faith
to show her off to us.
A good teacher, right,
if they're testing you,
they hope that you pass.
No teacher who's worth anything
sits alone in a room
putting their hands together
and giggling
about how no student's
going to be able
to mount this test.
No, a great teacher
wants you to pass.
A great teacher's
preparing you
throughout the school year
to do as well as you can.
A good teacher
is cheering you on
because they want you
to succeed.
The test is there
so that they can show off
what you know.
Jesus here is testing
this woman
so that he can show
what she knows
and believes.
And so we see
in verse 28
that she passes the test.
She enters into
his illustration
and demonstrates
her faith
by showing
that she understands
the nature
of God's grace.
Yes, I'm a dog.
But don't you give
good things
even to pets?
Yes, I don't have
anything
that should impress you.
I have no reason
to ask something
from you.
But isn't that
the type of person
that you are?
Aren't you
the type of person
who gives
money and bread
without price?
Aren't you the person
who cares for people
who can't give
anything back?
Aren't you the type
of person
who shows mercy
even to dogs?
And Jesus here,
verse 29,
is delighted.
He is the teacher
who is thrilled
to see his student
get an A.
He says to her,
For this statement
you may go your way.
The demon
has left
your daughter.
In the same passage
in Matthew 15,
he says,
O woman,
great is
your faith.
Jesus is asking
whether she would
see and believe
and act
on his goodness
and she
does.
Jesus is testing
her
and she
passes.
Now I told you
at the beginning
we were looking
to answer the question
of what does it mean
to have great faith
and how can
we be people
of that type
of faith?
And we see
at least a couple
things that I want
to focus on
in this woman.
First,
her persistence
and second,
her humility.
Now first,
her persistence
and second,
her humility.
One of the
characteristics
of faith
is that it
is relentless.
And it's relentless
not because the person
who has faith
believes they deserve
something,
but because that person
with relentless faith
understands God
and his grace
and his character.
A person
with great faith
does not give up
easily.
That person
comes back to God
again
and again
and again.
In fact,
this is a theme
that we see
throughout the Bible.
In Genesis chapter 32,
Jacob wrestles
with God
throughout the entire
night
and refuses
to let him go
until God
blesses him.
Jacob is relentless
in his encounter
with God.
Luke 18,
Jesus tells this story
about a persistent
widow who needs
justice from a
terrible judge
and so she harasses
him over and over
again until he
gives her what she
wants.
And then Jesus
says,
that's the way
you should be
in prayer.
You should be
coming back
again and again
telling God
what you need
and want.
Same thing
happens here.
This woman
is not put off
by Jesus' answer.
She doesn't say,
oh, okay,
I guess you're not
here to help
people like me
and then walks
away.
She has
Genesis 32,
Luke 18
type of faith
that refuses
refuses to let
go and refuses
to give up.
And Jesus
loves her
persistence.
Jesus loves
the fact that
she is
relentless.
Remember the
disciples in
chapter 6,
all the disciples
had was a lot
of fear.
Here instead,
she continues
to ask for help.
brothers and
sisters,
having great
faith means
that we
keep asking
God again
and again.
Having great
faith means
that we
don't give
up.
Having great
faith means
that we're like
the widow in
Luke 18
who keeps
crying out
for justice.
Keep asking.
God invites
you to
test him.
God loves
great
faith.
And so
keep asking.
Keep asking
that God
would change
you and
your heart.
Keep asking
God that he
would change
the hearts
and lives
of those
you love.
Keep asking
God that he
would redeem
past failures
and sins
and mistakes
yours
and the
ones of
those you
love.
Keep asking
God to
protect you
from sin
and compromise.
Keep asking
God for the
wisdom that
you know you
need and you
don't have.
Keep asking
God to give
you purpose
in your work
that you
could sustain
and bless
others.
If you
want to have
great faith,
keep asking.
in the
words of
Winston
Churchill,
never,
never give
up.
And for the
Christian,
never give
up in
prayer.
Keep
coming back
to God.
God.
That raises
another question
for us
though,
which is
how do
we
sustain
that
kind
of
persistence?
How are
we able
to stay
relentless
before God
week in
and week
out,
day after
day?
Well,
she shows
us the
answer for
that as
well.
We stay
persistent
in our
faith because
we rely on
God and
his character,
not ourselves.
We're able
to remain
persistent in
our faith because
we rely on
God's character,
not ourselves.
And so we
see this
tremendous
humility that
the woman
models for
us.
She is not
coming to
Jesus based
on her
status.
She's not
coming because
she's a Jew
because she
isn't.
She's not
coming because
she's from
the right
place because
she isn't.
She's not
coming because
she's the
right gender
because she
isn't.
She is
coming because
she knows
that Jesus
is a man
of mercy.
And so we
see that
humility in
verse 28
when she
says,
even the
dogs under
the table
eat the
children's
crumbs.
In other
words,
I know
I'm a
dog.
I know
I haven't
earned anything
from you.
I know
I don't
deserve
something
from you.
And I
know that's
not what
matters.
I know
what matters
in this
situation is
your mercy
and your
grace.
I know
the kind
of character
that you
have.
I'm aware
of the
fact that
you're at
least as
kind as a
regular human
is to her
pets.
And so I'm
crying out,
I'm calling
on you to
be that
kind as
well.
And so
that's why I
pray every
Sunday when I
end our
prayers together,
I say we
ask these
things not
because we've
earned them
or deserved
them.
Because we
want to be
people like
the Syrophoenician
woman.
We want to
recognize before
God that we
can keep coming
back with
courage and
confidence because
we're not
relying on our
merit.
If you are
or were relying
on your merit,
you might as
well give up
now.
In fact, I
would recommend
that you never
pray again
because you
have nothing
to offer
God.
This woman
knows that.
That's the
basis of
her claim.
What we're
saying when we
pray in Jesus'
name is that
we know we
can't claim
things for
ourselves,
but God is
good and
Jesus is
good.
We know we
haven't earned
anything and
God tells us
he's going to
listen and
hear.
And so what
she's doing
here is she's
appealing to
God's character.
She's asking
God to act on
what he has
done and who
he is, not
what she's
done or who
she is.
And that's the
same thing we
do when we
stay relentless
in prayer.
We're appealing
to God's
character.
That's how we're
able to keep
coming back
month after
month and
week after
week and
day after
day.
We're like
this woman
reminding God
of what he
has promised
in his
word.
We are
coming back
reminding God
of his
great mercy
and love.
I told you
a few weeks
ago about the
importance of
God being
with us.
And I also
shared with you
that as I
prepare every
week to stand
before you and
present God's
word, I ask
him over and
over that he
would be with
me and he'd
also be with
you.
And when I
pray that I
don't say
because we
are such a
great church.
And I don't
say we need
you to be with
us because we
deserve it.
No, I say we
need you to be
with us and you
should do it
because Jesus
made a promise
in John chapter
14 that he was
going to send
his Holy Spirit
to be with his
church.
And so you
need to honor
your promise.
you need to
do what you've
said you were
going to do.
It's not because
we have earned
it or deserved
it because you
have told us
what you're going
to do.
If you're crying
out to God and
you're asking him
for wisdom in
your life for the
situations that you
face that are
beyond what you
know how to
respond to.
We don't ask
for wisdom because
we deserve it or
have earned it.
We ask it because
God made us a
promise in James
chapter 1 verse
5 that he would
give wisdom to
those who ask
for it.
And so like this
woman appealing to
God's character and
his mercy we do
the same.
God we need you to
give us mercy because
you have said you're
going to do it.
Honor your promise.
If you're a parent
and you're crying out
to God to help you
as you raise your
children you can't
cry out to him
because you are
such a great person.
No you cry out to
him because God has
told us in Malachi
chapter 2 that the
heart and desire of
him is that there
would be godly
children who would
be raised to
worship him generation
after generation.
And so you come to
God and you say this
is what you say you
want and it's not
going to happen unless
you help.
And so I am
throwing myself on
your mercy and your
grace.
If you're someone who
needs help in work and
school you can come to
God and appeal to his
character and say you're
the one in Genesis
chapter 1 and 2 who
said be fruitful and
multiply.
And we're not going to
be able to do it unless
you're with us.
And so we need you to
honor your promise and
your character.
We need you to show up
not because we are
great but because you
are.
God delights in a
persistent faith that
throws itself on his
mercy.
God delights in the
persistent faith that
cries out and claims his
promise and his
character.
there's a beautiful
humble confidence that
this woman has.
There's a beautiful
humble confidence that
comes when we see
ourselves rightly and
we see God rightly.
The humility comes from
seeing ourselves rightly.
The confidence comes
from seeing God rightly.
We understand our
misery and our sin as we
confessed earlier this
morning and we
understand God's grace.
There's a principle in
James chapter 4, 1
Peter 5 that tells us
God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the
humble.
Great faith is
persistent.
Great faith is
humble.
And that's where God
has promised to show
up and do his work.
That's what we're about
to sing together on page
10.
You'll see our closing
hymn before the throne
of God above.
And we're singing about
the fact that our plea is
not on anything we
deserve or earn but on
God's grace.
Verse 1, I have a
strong, a perfect plea
because I have a great
high priest whose name
is love, whoever lives
and pleads for me.
And then in the second
verse we praise God that
we're basing this not on
our merit but on his
grace.
When Satan tempts me to
despair and tells me of
the guilt within, upward I
look and see him there
who made an end to all
my sin.
It's not me, it's God's
grace that gives me
confidence and hope.
How do we have great
faith?
We keep asking.
And we keep asking not
because we deserve it but
because God is good.
He delights to show
mercy to those who know
that they need it.
He delights to show
mercy to you and me.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven, we
praise you and we thank
you that we can come and
speak to you like this
woman.
We ask that you would
give us great faith that
we would never, never,
never give up.
and that we're to come
from our confidence not
in ourselves but in you
and in your grace.
It's with that heart that
we ask all of these
things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I invite you to stand.
Amen.