Lord, we thank you that you are here, and though we cannot see you, you're invisible, we long to behold you and to know you.
Father, I pray that you would speak through your word through me, your servant, today.
That you would grow within us an awe of who you are and a love for you and a holy fear of you,
that we might more completely and perfectly know you and love you and walk with you.
Lord, speak for your children are listening. In Jesus' name, amen.
Please be seated.
Amen.
On November 13th, I was cruising through town from one event to another, and I arrived at Dig and Delve, a conference I know a lot of us were at.
And I was met as I came in by Richard Long, who a lot of you know, and he was like,
Daniel, did you hear? We need to be praying for Paris.
And I was just like, what are you talking about?
And he was all distraught, and a lot of people were looking at their phones.
And I'm always on my phone. I'm always keeping up with the news.
But I'd been away from my phone for like 20 minutes because I'm still a new driver, so I still obey the laws of the road.
And so I hadn't looked on my phone while I was driving, and I'd missed that the Western world was just smashed by these terrorist attacks in Paris.
And it really affected a lot of us.
All around the globe, people were, myself included, changing our Facebook profile pictures to the picture of the French flag over our picture.
I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about.
And the most commonly hashtag thing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that weekend, about 70 to 90 million hashtags, was pray for Paris.
Hashtag pray for Paris.
And as that weekend went on, and everyone and everywhere, non-Christians, Christians, people of faith, people of no faith, hashtag pray for Paris,
it hit me that we were all saying that.
I think that alliteration was compelling.
But I didn't know how many of us were actually doing that.
So we organized an impromptu prayer meeting for our church called Pray for Paris.
And as we put that together, people from the church mentioned to me, whether by email or just through people, mentioned, like, why are we just praying for Paris?
Over the same weekend, there was terrorist attacks in Nairobi.
Over the same weekend, there were some horrific natural disasters in other parts of the world.
I mean, Paris has the media attention.
We're all hashtag praying for Paris.
But the rest of the world is on fire as well.
And I really appreciated that feedback.
And so at that prayer meeting, we didn't just pray for Paris.
We prayed for so many different things of the brokenness around the world.
And what hit me was that even as so many of us around the world of the 70 to 90 million hashtag pray for Paris people,
so many of us, whether they were people of faith or not, knew that we had to pray not just for what was going on in Paris,
but for stuff around the world when it really came down to it.
But at the same time, like so many people, and I'm sure others in the church, I'm not the only one,
that struggled to actually live out what we were saying, which was that we should be praying.
And since then, I started praying more about that and our church.
And I knew I was going to get to preach a New Year sermon today.
And so as I was praying about what to preach about, what began to be put on my heart was to preach a sermon on prayer
that would help cast 2016 as a year that our church becomes an even more prayerful church.
And so as I was doing that, I started listening to various sermons and stuff on prayer.
And I got to hear a really, really, really good talk in many ways from an older man on prayer.
And he was just driving home how often in the Bible when it speaks about a revival and a spiritual awakening
and justice coming to the land and all of these things,
the thing that the Bible is calling for there is for prayer.
Famously, I think it's 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 says that if God's people who are called by his name
will humble themselves and pray and seek his face, then he will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.
It was spoken specifically to the people of Israel, but the concept remains that
if we long to see the world become a more whole place, that what we need, what is called for is prayer.
Prayer. And I know that our church, this is a church that loves the scriptures.
We have, I'm not usually the one preaching, usually it's George.
He's an incredible preacher.
And I think that's why a lot of people come to this church, because we love the scriptures.
And in our Bible studies, even in our Sunday school with the kids, we're teaching the word.
We love the word.
And this older man in the talk I was listening to was saying,
this guy, he loves great preaching too.
And he says, you know, the scriptures are so important and we need to know them and to obey them.
But he said, look, that passage on calling for revival is not calling for better preachers.
It was calling for prayer.
And he was saying, this was a talk back in like the 70s or the 60s.
And he was saying, you know, we've never had so many well-qualified and excellent preachers.
And he was listing off the famous preachers of the day.
And he said, but look at America.
He's American.
Look at America.
And he was talking about the deep brokenness happening in the country.
And America and Canada were on this path toward even greater brokenness through the sexual revolution and all of that at that time.
He said, we're having great preachers, but he was calling for prayer.
And as I was listening to this and wondering if that was the passage I would preach on,
one of the things that began to hit me was that in his words, the very things he was saying,
and often the way that I approach trying to become a more prayerful person is to try to keep on more and more guilt to see,
to make myself a more prayerful person.
And so Shirley, our communications assistant at the church and I started meeting for one week
as I was trying to get ready for the sermon every morning before we started work to pray for God,
to help me put together a message on prayer and to help our church become more prayerful.
And as we began praying before God, asking for his help, not just for the church as a whole, but for ourselves,
it began to hit us that so often the way we approach becoming more prayerful is by just trying to willpower
or guilting ourselves into it and all of that.
And so instead, the passage I'm preaching on is a passage that's not really even on prayer.
It's this really broken, raw, I think beautiful passage of a woman who is crying out to Jesus for help.
And I think that though this is in no way an exhaustive sermon on prayer and the reasons we need to be praying
and the ways to pray and all of that stuff,
there's just a little glimpse of something in this passage we're looking at this morning
that I think will help all of us thrive as a church evermore becoming a prayerful church.
So I'm going to read the short text again and then we'll go through it more slowly.
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.
But Jesus did not answer her word.
And his disciples came and begged him, saying,
Send her away, for she's crying out after us.
Jesus answered,
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But she came and knelt before him, saying,
Lord, help me.
And he answered,
It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
She said,
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered her,
A woman, great is your faith.
Be it done for you as you desire.
And her daughter was healed instantly.
The first thing that struck me as I was reading through this
and seeing what lessons we can learn from this broken mother of a demon-possessed daughter
is the faithfulness in her endurance in crying out to Jesus.
It doesn't just say that in verse 22 that she cried out,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
But it said she was crying.
That means she was saying this over and over and over again.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
She's crying out and she's crying out.
And the whole time she's crying out,
Jesus is not saying a word.
He's ignoring her.
I don't know if I'm the only one who's ever gone to give someone a high five
and they don't give you a high five back.
It's called standing you up.
At least back in grade school, that was really embarrassing.
And not just for kids.
That's embarrassing for any of us.
When you're crying out to someone,
when you're trying to get someone's attention
and they're just ignoring you.
That hurts.
That's embarrassing.
And that hurts if it's just like you're in the car cruising through town
and you go to give the person beside you a high five with your other hand
and drive safely.
But you're driving and if it's just you and them,
that'd be embarrassing.
But to be crying out in front of a crowd of people
and to have Jesus who you're crying out to just ignoring you,
that is really embarrassing.
That is profoundly discouraging.
I know that for so many of us,
when it seems like God is not hearing us,
I know at least for myself,
I then stop praying about it.
And so the first thing I hope that this passage will help for us
is that for those of us who have been burdened for things
that we've been praying for
and we haven't seen God answer us,
it seems that he's been silent,
that this passage would reawaken our going to God in prayer,
our endurance.
For some of us in the room,
I think it's family members that we have believed for
and prayed for that they would come to know Jesus
and years have gone by and they haven't.
And it's just so easy to think,
this person is never giving their life to the Lord
and just to stop praying about it.
I know for others of us in this congregation,
you have prayed for and advocated for big issues,
for the vulnerable,
regarding human trafficking, sexual abuse, abortion,
for years and years,
decades longer than I've been alive.
And you haven't seen things get better in Canada.
In fact, in many ways, they've gotten worse.
It's so easy, it's so much easier
to just not pray about that stuff anymore
because it's so hard to pray for those things
when we don't see God answering.
I just want to encourage you as your brother in the Lord
from this passage to keep on praying for those things.
God doesn't promise he's going to answer
the way we want him to answer,
but just like this woman, to keep on praying.
I don't know what the story would have been like
if this woman, like I have been,
just stopped praying for those things,
just let it trail off.
But I'm so thankful for the sake of her daughter
and for her own sake that she kept on crying out
and crying out and crying out.
Now, she's crying out.
It's bad.
She's being ignored by Jesus.
It's not what I'd expect from Jesus.
Probably not what she expected from him.
And then it gets worse.
The followers of Jesus, his disciples,
begin saying to Jesus, send her away.
If being ignored isn't bad enough,
now his followers are saying, send her away.
At this point, most people stop following Jesus
or just want nothing to do with them.
I know that because of the amount of people that say,
I'm not a Christian, not because I don't like Christ,
but because I don't like Christians.
I don't like the followers of Jesus.
But this woman is just like,
Noah, it doesn't matter how much of a tool
these people are who follow him
and who are his, I need him.
And so she kept on going after him.
Let us not be discouraged by how brutal
other Christians or even ourselves can be,
but let us look to Jesus and endure in faith.
She's crying out.
It's even embarrassing having them
saying in front of others, like, send her away.
She doesn't let up.
And then finally, Jesus, the one who she needs
and who she's crying out to and looking to
for her answer, opens his mouth.
The expectation in her heart at that point.
It's like you're going for so long through a dark tunnel
and finally you see a light at the end of the tunnel.
And the light is not even stationary.
It's coming towards you.
Your rescue is coming.
Jesus opens his mouth to speak and bam,
it's not a light, it's a train.
It just flattens her.
Send, his words are,
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
That's verse 24.
She's crying out, crying out.
So faithful, so faithful.
People pushing her away.
She's crying out and then he opens his mouth.
I'm not here for you.
And her answer is, her reply is unbelievable.
Verse 25.
But she came and knelt before Jesus.
The one who's ignoring her,
the one who just said, I'm not here for you.
And she kneels down and says, Lord, help me.
This gets right to what prayer is all about.
In that we often approach,
I've often approached prayer, if I'm honest,
as if it's some type of Christian magic.
Magic is not like a non-Christian prayer.
Magic is the opposite of what prayer is.
Because in magic, you're trying to assert your mastery
over the spiritual and physical universe,
to manipulate it to get what you want.
It's putting yourself as Lord over creation.
But in prayer, you're looking to the one,
in her words, Lord.
You're looking to the king of the universe saying,
would you do this?
Could you do this?
Please do this.
By virtue of that, you're acknowledging
you're not the master of the universe.
You're not able to manipulate the universe.
You're looking to him who can,
who is in charge.
It's the reverse of magic.
And this is important for us because
so often when we start trying to become more prayerful,
we begin to kind of key into these like stuff
that's not biblical about how we can get God
to bring his kingdom, his revival,
his breakthrough, his healing,
whatever it is we're looking to him for.
And we begin like in some different denominations
have their key words.
If you just pray this way,
for some of us who are in some more certain circles,
it's like if I pray loud enough,
if I pray with enough passion.
I've been at prayer meetings where people are like,
hey, we need to pray louder.
And so people start being, dear God,
and they're just passionate.
And you'll be like, that was a great prayer meeting.
Why was it a great prayer meeting?
Because we pray loud enough.
And it's just like if we pray with enough enthusiasm,
then God will rend the heavens and come down
as if we can yell our way to getting God
to do what he wants us to do.
For others, it's actually a reverence thing.
I got rebuked earlier this year
when I was on a missions trip
and I was praying in the view of some as too casually.
And it's like, no, you need to speak with,
they legit said, you need to speak with these and vows.
I was like, then God will hear.
I'm like, what are you saying?
And if you believe that, talk with me after.
I'll fight you.
There's not magic words to try to get God
to do what he wants us to do.
She's just looking to him.
At the Pray for Parish prayer meeting,
at one part, we started praying through Psalm 2
as a way we'd read the words.
You know, why do the nations conspire
and the people apply in vain?
And so we were praying, God, right now,
this is what's happening.
The nations, people are conspiring
to destroy innocent lives.
And we're just praying through the Bible.
And sometimes when we hear people doing that,
it can make us feel like,
oh, I don't know if I can pray so fancy.
I don't know if I can pray the Bible like that
or pray like Owen Ripley in his most beautiful way.
But this woman's prayer is simply,
Lord, help me.
Just humility, just looking to God
with the words that she has,
looking to him for help.
And sometimes it's not so much
about the words that we say,
but we think that if we can do the right stuff,
then we can get God to answer prayers.
I know that this church sacrificed so very much
when we left St. Albans
and left our name, left our building,
sacrificed so much and came to this place.
And I say we, but I wasn't even part of that sacrifice.
I came later.
But many of you, you gave up so much
of security and comfort
and so much of the beauty of that name
we had for so long
and having our own building
and all of that stuff.
And you sacrificed so much.
And I've been told that there is,
for a lot of us,
a belief that in sacrificing all these things
and being so faithful to the scriptures
and being so faithful to God
that he would give us a building.
And it's something that is still in the hearts
of many of you.
And so you're praying for a building.
I've joined you in praying
that God would give us a building if it's his will.
But the years have gone by
and no building has come.
And it can be really, really discouraging.
But I want to encourage you,
if it's still in your heart,
to pray for a building,
to keep praying for it.
But also to remind you
that no amount of sacrifice
on our part as a church
puts God in our debt
to give us something that we long for.
For others, it's like,
if I just live a very chaste, pure life,
if I am faithful in my spiritual disciplines,
if I pursue the Lord,
if I'm content in his goodness,
if I walk in purity,
then he will give me the woman
or the guy of my dreams.
But no amount of being faithful
in any of those things
will get you those things that you long for
and you dream of and you're praying for.
And if that is your attitude,
if this woman had a sense of entitlement,
like I've been so faithful crying out,
I've been so faithful.
I'm looking to Jesus
when my fellow Canaanites are looking to pagans,
like God, surely you're gonna help me.
And if that was her attitude
when Jesus says,
I'm not here to help you,
then if it's entitlement that you're going for
and you see that he is not tracking
with your sense of entitlement,
then you're not getting on your knees.
You're leaving.
You're peacing out.
I know this is true
because I've lost many friends to this,
specifically the one regarding relationships.
I've seen people faithfully following God
as single people
for years and years and years.
And as the years go on,
God doesn't come through
for the thing that they're praying for,
for that godly spouse.
And so they walk away from the faith
in bitterness and disappointment.
And I want to encourage you,
it doesn't matter what we've done
that is so awesome,
we never put God in our debt.
This woman, she does not approach Jesus
in any sense of entitlement,
though there's urgency,
but no entitlement.
It's a profound humility
as she gets on her knees.
And it says,
Lord, help me.
I pray for such humility for myself.
Before moving on,
there's another thing
as she says,
Lord, help me.
She's actually advocating for her daughter.
And I'm sure that there would be
some help to her
if her daughter wasn't demon-possessed.
But I don't think when she says,
Lord, help me,
it's like, Lord,
I don't want to have to stay up
through sleepless nights anymore.
Like, help me
because I, you know,
it will help me
if you help my daughter.
Like, I just need some relief.
I really believe
that she's so closely identified
with the plight of her daughter
that as she petitions Jesus,
she seamlessly switches out
from saying,
Lord, help my daughter.
And she's just saying,
Lord, help me.
She's so closely identified
with the vulnerability
of her daughter
that's become her own cause.
And you'll see this
as a pattern of prayer
throughout the scriptures.
Famously, Daniel,
in Daniel chapter 9,
he's repenting for the sins
and he's repenting,
confessing as if it's his own sin.
For the sin of the people of Israel.
And you see that he is,
in his praying for the people of Israel,
he ends up identifying so closely,
like this woman,
he's saying,
basically,
Lord, forgive me.
Lord, help me.
Or Lord, forgive us.
Lord, help us.
Even though it's them,
in a sense,
that he's praying for forgiveness for.
And this isn't the kind of thing
that you can just muster up
if you just try a little harder.
But as we begin
to increasingly seek God in prayer
for all manner of brokenness in our lives,
whether it is a personal pain
or it is regarding
the most vulnerable Canadians
or it's regarding people in Paris
or whatever it is,
there is a sense
that you may discover
that you're yourself
beginning to pray like that.
And that's a biblical thing to do
where you're so closely identifying with them
that it becomes your own cause.
She's on her knees.
She's so humble.
Lord, help me.
Verse 26.
And he answered,
it is not right
to take the children's bread
and throw it to the dogs.
Reading what other theologians
and other pastors say about this,
I find that this makes people
very, very uncomfortable.
How is Jesus?
Who, like the scripture says
that God is love.
Jesus is God.
Jesus is love.
How does Jesus say such a thing?
And so you have theologians saying
maybe in the original language
it's possible that
it wasn't actually the word dog.
It could have been translated
as puppy maybe.
So he's like,
it's not right to give the children's bread
to puppies.
Like good academic theologians saying
like maybe this explains
how Jesus said this.
Now, I'm not an anthropologist,
but it seems that whatever culture
or language you're looking at,
comparing a woman to a canine
is not actually like an endearing term.
It's not like,
it's not like,
oh, my little cookie.
Like it's,
he just compared her to a dog
in the context of
I'm not here to help the dogs.
It,
and as I was reading that
and praying through that,
it began to hit me that
that when people are going through
really tough, tough stuff,
the kind of stuff that it seems
like God is ignoring you
or it seems like,
it really seems as if God himself
is calling you a dog.
When my friends have,
have gone through
a deep,
horrific abuse,
it,
it seems as if God is so far away
or even worse,
like,
like he's crushing them.
That's what it seems.
And,
and people will say
with the best intentions,
maybe you or I have even said
the kind of thing,
like one day you'll understand.
It doesn't make sense now,
but you'll understand.
I don't know if this woman
or,
or theologians
2,000 years later
ever get to understand
why Jesus said what he said,
but we know that he said it.
I really don't think this woman
will ever get to understand
why Jesus said what he said.
She just knew that he said it.
But somehow,
despite,
despite what was happening
in that current context,
she still knew something of Jesus.
That though she didn't understand
what he was doing
or why he was doing it
or how if he's in control,
these bad things can be happening
to her daughter
and all of that stuff,
she isn't going anywhere else
but Jesus.
Somehow,
she understands that
despite everything that's happening,
despite what she's hearing
from Jesus,
she has this incredible faith
that he is powerful,
that his love is steadfast.
That he is powerful
and his love is steadfast.
I'll prove it to you
in a minute,
but first,
why was she with Jesus
when she could have been
pursuing someone else?
Maybe there was a,
maybe she had a really kind mom
or maybe there was some lovely,
like,
I don't know,
there's kind,
lovely people in every culture,
but she wasn't with them,
she was with Jesus
because she needed someone
that just didn't care
about her daughter.
She needed someone with power
to do something about it.
But why was she with Jesus
pursuing him
when she was a Canaanite
and the Canaanites
had their own gods
and they believed
that their gods had power
and they had people who,
like,
witch doctor type people
who showed
this,
this types of power,
who, like,
actually could legit
use witchcraft to do things
and she's not following them.
She's following,
pursuing Jesus.
Why is that?
Because the Canaanite gods
were known for power
but not known for kindness
and mercy
and love.
And she knew that,
like,
in that context
that a demon-possessed girl,
like,
to us it would,
it would look something akin to,
we might just write it off
as, like,
special needs of some kind.
And in that culture,
someone with that
is more than taboo.
They're more than an Ocast.
They are to be,
they are,
in many cases,
they would bring out
their children
and have them be just,
like,
killed by neglect
off in,
like,
a desert place
trying to hide them
from everyone
so they would not be
associated with their kid,
the very kid she's identifying
with so closely.
So she knows
the Canaanite gods
might have power
but they're not,
they're not loving.
She knows that
there's others
who might be loving
but they don't have power.
She has this confidence
that Jesus
is the one of power
and of love
and she's not going
anywhere else.
And you'll see that
elsewhere where,
in John chapter 6,
Jesus is, again,
saying things that,
that people don't understand
why he's saying it
and it seems bizarre
and kind of whack
and so he's talking
about eating his flesh
and drinking his blood
and people are like,
that's messed up
and so a lot of people
who were following him
begin leaving.
And,
and Jesus turns to Peter
and says,
are you going to leave too?
And Peter's response is,
where else can I go?
You alone have the words of life.
And that's what kept Peter
following Jesus
and I think that's what kept
this woman pursuing him.
She,
I'm sure that she would have
loved to go somewhere else
that would have been more polite
and less embarrassing
and,
and gotten her what she wanted
more quickly
but she has this attitude
of,
there's nowhere else I can go.
He,
you alone have the words of life.
She,
she knows he's both powerful
and that he's loving.
And,
and I'll prove that to you
in a second
of how we know that,
not just by,
but how we actually know
that she believed that.
But first there's,
as she cries out to him
in such humility,
I am in awe of,
verse 27,
yes Lord,
yet even the dogs
eat the crumbs
that fall from their
master's table.
Yes Lord,
yet even the dogs
eat the crumbs
that fall from the master's table.
She's saying,
yeah,
sure,
I'm a dog,
but,
but even your crumbs
are enough.
Your crumbs,
there's life in your,
even in your crumbs.
There is,
there is salvation
and rescue for my daughter
even in your crumbs.
So,
I'm a dog,
give me the crumbs.
And Jesus answers her,
oh woman,
great is your faith.
Be it done for you
as you desire.
He gives her
that thing
that she's been advocating for.
He doesn't always promise
that he'll do that for us,
but,
but she in,
in this incredible,
vulnerable,
broken place
gets to encounter Jesus
in a way that
no one else around her
got to.
Like,
there were so many people,
I'm sure that they all
had various areas
of brokenness in me
and they're following Jesus
and they loved him
for the miracles
and for the bread
and all these things.
They were big fans of Jesus,
but,
but this woman gets to actually
encounter him.
She,
others are seeing him
and knowing about him,
but she actually gets to know him
in this intimate way.
And as I was looking at my own life
of things that I,
I shy away from praying for,
I,
I think I'm not alone
in being someone,
that there are topics
that I don't want to go pray for
anymore
because I'm afraid
that if I go there,
it's just going to be
too vulnerable.
It's just going to be
too painful.
And this woman
does not shy away
from going to that place
of deep vulnerability
and pain.
When we were at the
Pray for Paris prayer meeting,
like,
there was,
like,
four of us
at the church office
praying.
And we started off
with,
like,
praying Psalm 2,
just praying exactly
what's there.
Like,
oh Lord,
why do the nations conspire
with the people's
Paul and Vain?
That's what's happening,
Jesus.
Would you come
and bring your peace?
And then toward the end,
it talks about the King,
the promised one,
Jesus,
being on the throne.
And my prayers went
from this,
like,
really,
like,
positive stuff
that,
like,
to,
I found myself
praying things
that I was starting
to be like,
oh my goodness,
like,
Shirley and Ross
are going to start
thinking,
like,
I'm some heretic.
Because I started
praying,
like,
Jesus,
your word says
you're on the throne,
but it doesn't seem
like you're on the throne.
Your word says that,
God,
you're a good father,
but it doesn't seem
like you're a good father
right now.
helpless father
who might be good,
but can't help us.
Or it seems like
you're a really cruel father
allowing this stuff
to happen.
And I'm starting
praying these things,
I'm like,
what am I saying?
Like,
I'm on staff at this church,
I can't say stuff like that.
I'm paid to be positive,
you know?
But,
it's a very biblical thing
to pray those very
raw prayers.
The Psalms,
a third of the 150 Psalms,
I'm not going to math,
but it's a lot of Psalms,
are filled with prayers
like that.
They're saying,
God,
how long will you
forsake us?
God,
in Psalm 88,
like,
darkness is a better friend
than God,
is basically what he says.
He's crying out
with bringing the fullness
of their pain
and their brokenness
and their vulnerability
to God.
I want to encourage us
as a church
not to shy away
from those areas
that are so painful,
so raw to bring to God.
Because as she brought
that stuff to God,
as she brought her
brokenness to Him,
she got to encounter
the reality of who Jesus is.
It took a lot
of endurance.
It took profound humility.
But she got eventually
to encounter Him.
So I want to encourage us
not to shy away
from those broken things,
whether it's the brokenness
in Paris that just
hit a chord in me
that evening,
or if it's brokenness
in our lives,
to take that stuff
to God
as we long
to encounter Him.
Now,
how did this woman
have such endurance?
How did this woman
have such humility?
How did she be so willing
to be vulnerable
with Him?
How did she know
that He was both powerful
and had steadfast love?
How did she have
all of that?
Because I can read this
and be like,
hey, I need to be
like this woman.
I'm going to go home
and I'm going to be
like this woman.
I'm going to pray
for that stuff.
But if you're anything
like me,
you go from going to pray
to the next thing
you're on your phone,
checking Facebook
and Instagramming,
whatever.
Like,
it's difficult
to be enduring
in prayer
and all of this stuff.
How do we not
just do this
for a minute?
How do we actually
follow her example
and seek God's kingdom
for this broken world?
The key to that
is in the opening words
that she says
over and over.
Verse 22,
Have mercy on me,
O Lord,
Son of David.
I don't know how
this Canaanite woman,
the Canaanites
were supposed to be
exterminated.
They were supposed
to be wiped out
back hundreds of years before.
She was such an outcast.
She's not of the people
of Israel.
She's not of the people
who were the people
of God,
but somehow she has
come to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah
for Israel
and she understands
that that has
incredible implications
for her.
She believes that Jesus,
she's using this Jewish term,
this messianic term,
she's calling him
the Son of David.
Somehow she had
come to believe
and had come
quite literally
to follow
the Son of David.
Now,
it's not referring to,
she didn't,
she wasn't mistaken
about like,
oh,
someone's like,
hey,
that's not actually
the Son of David,
that's actually
the Son of Joseph,
like adopted,
but you know,
that's not what was
going on right there.
In saying the Son of David,
she is recognizing
that he is the Messiah,
the long-promised
descendant of David.
And other people
may have seen Jesus,
but she was,
to use the word
the Bible uses sometimes,
she was like beholding
Jesus for who he is.
She was seeing
and seeing like
in who he really is
and it was changing
everything for her.
It's why she was able
to do all the stuff
that I'm saying
we need to do as a church,
humility and endurance
and all this stuff,
because she was beholding
the Son of David.
What was she beholding?
In John,
rather in Revelation
at the end of the Bible,
the follower of Jesus,
a friend of his named John,
sees this revelation
of who Jesus is
and the fullness
of his brilliance.
And it says,
as he sees Jesus,
it's in the first chapters
of Revelation,
John sees that
Jesus' voice
is like a trumpet,
that his hair
is like wool,
white as snow,
that his feet
are like burnished bronze,
that his voice
is like the roar
of many waters,
that his eyes
are like flames of fire,
that his face
is like the fullness
of the sun
at the full day.
It is glorious.
And you'll notice
that he keeps saying
like this,
like that,
because there are no words
in any language
to describe
what Jesus actually
looks like and sounds like
because he's that majestic
and beautiful
that words fail us.
We can only use similes.
He's like that.
He's like this.
You can't describe
how glorious he is.
But that's not actually,
the fullness of that
is not what this woman
beheld.
She didn't see
the eyes like fire.
She saw,
she just saw
this person
in front of her
that the Bible says
there was nothing
attractive about him,
but still she beheld
the Messiah,
the son of David.
She,
in calling him
the son of David,
she knew something
of the Messiah.
This is the one.
She beheld the one.
Somehow she knew
he,
this is the man
that was promised
that would crush
the serpent,
the devil.
What that means
for her,
for she who,
daughter is afflicted
by a devil.
She knows he's the one
who's going to crush
the devil's head
with his heel.
She sees the one,
even as a king,
an oak cast
that the scripture says
in Genesis 12
would be a blessing
to the nations.
She sees the one
who the scriptures say
will gather the oak cast.
She's an oak cast
and she sees
what that means for her.
The scriptures prophesy,
this is the one
who will bind up
the brokenhearted
and bring freedom
to those who are in captivity,
who will set the oppressed free,
who will bring good news
to the poor,
to the lost.
He will bring salvation
to the nations.
This is the one
whose very name
is Healer.
This is the one
who,
it says in Isaiah,
is wonderful.
He fills us
with wonder and awe
that he is the prince of peace
despite the chaos
he might be going through.
He is the one
that brings
and establishes
a kingdom
that will outlast
every,
it will outlast Herod,
it will outlast Pilate,
it will outlast
every Caesar,
it will outlast
every president
and prime minister.
He is the king of kings
whom no oppressor
will ever be able
to get into his empire
because he is above all
and he,
his will will be done
and she sees that
despite all the brokenness
that's who he is.
She beholds
the one
who isn't just
a great teacher
and a path to wisdom
but he is
the very source
and the embodiment
of wisdom itself.
He's not a source
of enlightenment.
He is the very light
of the world.
She sees him
who we cannot speak about
as simply a great teacher
or a great king
or a great prophet
of the past
but someone who we must
speak about
as alive today
because he defeated death
and lives even today.
She sees the one
who we can't just speak about
as someone alive today
as if I'm telling you
about some great
inspiring hero
that just got a Nobel Peace Prize
but we have to speak about
as the one
who's always in the room
with us
because his name
is Emmanuel
God with us.
He's present here
and Jesus
I thank you
that you're here.
God I thank you
Jesus that
you're not just
our guest of honor today
but that you're the reason
that we're here.
We've gathered
in your name
to worship you
the very one
whom this woman
is crying out to
and even as I speak
about prayer
and brokenness
and vulnerability
Jesus
I know that
these things
are not foreign
to you at all
but that you entered
into the fullness
of our pain
and our brokenness
that by your very wounds
and by your death
we would receive life.
In Jesus
I know that
as I talk about
beholding who you are
that there are some of us
in this place
who know exactly
what I'm talking about
know exactly
of the joy
and the glory
and the meaning
and the purpose
and the life
of beholding you
but God
the haunting thing
is that it's only
a memory for them
that though they have
had such incredible times
over the years
of beholding you
and savoring
who you are
not just believing
about you
but following you
that Jesus
is now simply
something of their past
and Jesus
I pray for
our church
that you would
help us
to behold you
afresh
that you would
give us
a fresh revelation
of who you are
that you would
help us
not just to know
things about you
but to know you
that we wouldn't
just talk about you
and sing about you
but that we would
speak with you
just like this woman
did
and Jesus
I pray for
my brothers and sisters
in the room
who they're tracking
totally with where it's at
that their life
is one of beholding you
and savoring you
and loving you
and all of that
Lord
that you would
care for us
in such a way
that there would not
be a time in our lives
where it becomes
just a memory
Lord I pray for
years from now
when we're all
much older than today
and we've been through
stuff we never thought
we'd have to go through
and it feels like
our teeth are kicked in
that God you would
be there with us
Emmanuel
that even in
everything that life
throws at us
in the disappointments
and in the successes
and in everything
we would behold
you Jesus
continually
and Jesus
I pray for those
who even now
as I speak to you
who is here
in the room
with us
that they
legit think
I'm speaking to
an imaginary friend
that you would
gently
but so very clearly
reveal the reality
that you are not just
the God that works
for me
and works for some of us
but that you are
the true
and living God
that you are
the only way
and the only truth
the only life
Jesus
it's in your name
that I ask this
Amen
I'm sorry
we're not done
that begs the question
how do we behold
Jesus
how do we
actually not just
know about him
but how do we know him
and there's so many
things we could talk
about if
we wanted to do
a full day
on beholding Jesus
the scriptures
are an incredible
place to go
to begin to
see the stuff
that this woman
did about who
the son of David
is
this woman
knew something
of the scriptures
that's how she was
able to know
that he is
the one
who the scriptures
speak of
as both being
in Psalm 62
the one of
power and steadfast love
that's how she knew
that was the case
no matter what he said
we can speak about
how worship
is when we're singing
songs to God
that's one of the ways
that helps turn our
hearts to the glory
and the goodness
and the reality
of who he is
we can speak about
the reality of
stepping outside
of our comfort zone
and going to these
things where it's
risky and difficult
with God
we go there
and how we get
to behold God
coming through
for us
and there's so many
ways to behold God
all of them have to be
in line with the scriptures
or you're not beholding God
it's someone else
you're beholding
and it's not going
to be what you need
but it starts
all the same way
and that is
this woman
doesn't just say
son of David
have mercy on me
but she is continually
crying out
oh Lord
son of David
and then when she
gets on her knees
in that place
of such vulnerability
her words are
not just help me
but Lord help me
and this is consistent
with a broader teaching
of the Bible
throughout the pages
of scripture
that there are
two ways
to do life
one that is dead
and one that is alive
and those two ways
can be
some have said
accurately so
that the two ways
are chalked down
to this
that there is
in the heart
of every person
it's like there's a throne
it's whether
if thrones aren't your thing
it's like the command
control center
of who you are
and that there's
two ways to live
either you can live
with yourself
as the one
on the throne
of your heart
as the Lord
as the king
of your life
or you can live
as having the one
who created
the universe
and designed you
and made that throne
in your heart
for him to be on
have Jesus be the throne
of your
the king of your heart
the king of your life
either you're a follower
of Jesus
or you're a follower
of yourself
or other
things that
do not deserve
your allegiance
and the way
that you see
in another part
of the scriptures
there's a
I think it might be
Luke 9
where there's a woman
who she's living
life like this
she's bound up
she's at some kind
of skeletal issue
and for years
and years
all she has seen
is herself
all that she sees
and then she
like this woman
cries out to Jesus
cry out to him
the Lord
saying would you
rescue me
and Jesus rescues her
he becomes her king
and as she is
as she is
is saved by Jesus
she stands up
and for the first time
in her life
she sees a face
and it's the face
of Jesus
and she sees
the universe
as it was meant
to be seen
and she worships God
and I think
for so many of us
we really have thought
that freedom
and life
and joy
would be found
as we assert ourselves
as we learn
to control
our destiny
by basically
asserting
ourselves
as the kings
of our lives
and what happens
is that
we get to
really know ourselves
and we get to
we're all about ourselves
and we're just like
this woman
who's bent over
and like
whatever experience
you go through
like whatever you're doing
all you're seeing
you're thinking about
like how did I handle
that situation
how did I do this
how was I there
I was awesome over here
I sucked over there
and all you're seeing
really
you become so obsessed
with yourself
that's no way to live
the answer
is the same
as it was
for this woman
as same
for the one
who is bound up
the same
it's been for my life
is that
the way that we get
rescued from a life
where we are king
of our life
and all we see
is ourselves
and life is like that
no matter how successful
we are
we're all still living
with that anxiety
of if we'll be able
to master
being able to keep
what we've accumulated
all that stuff
life is of you
and what we need to do
is to cry out to God
and say God
be the Lord
be the king of my life
don't just be the one
that I believe
is God
but be the one
in charge of my life
I want to be a follower
of you
not just someone
who believes in you
but someone who
is surrendered to you
and so in a moment
I'll ask you to stand
and we'll pray together
but as I pray
if you're someone
who has not
has not given your life
to Jesus
you haven't been
a follower of him
you're not a Christian
even though you may
identify as one
but you know that
he is not king
of your life
I want to invite you
not to think along
what I'm saying
and say amen to that
but just as you stand up
would you just
even quietly
but out loud
but quiet
you can just quietly
so you're not
distracting others around
you just say
cry out to him
to be the king
of your life
and there's
I'm not going to give you
some magic formulas
and incantation
to if you say
the sinner's prayer
like this like that
just cry out to him
even something like
Lord help me
be my Lord
would you forgive my sin
and would you be
the king of my life
and if that's something
that you pray this morning
or any time in the future
I want to invite you
come talk to me
or George
we'd love to talk
with you more
about how to then
live that out
but I plead with you
not to live life anymore
as someone who just
hears and knows
about Jesus
but someone who actually
has Jesus
on the throne
of your heart
that he would be
your Lord
and your Savior
would you stand with me
heavenly father
so often we know
things that we should do
but we find that we
don't have the willpower
or the strength
sufficient to actually
follow through
and do it
Lord I
confess it so often
I
can hear words about
prayer or anything
and I'm like
hey I'm gonna do that
I'm gonna follow that
example
but I lack the strength
to do it
Lord
we confess that
we have so often
not been like the
Canaanite woman
who found her strength
to walk in
what she needed to
from who you are
instead that we try
to do it on our own
and Lord we confess
that we
are often not like
this Canaanite woman
enduring faithfully
in prayer
and humility
but instead Lord
we give up
too soon
instead we
approach you
but with arrogance
and entitlement
instead we
we
so often
Lord even for me
this morning
forget
to
believe
and stop believing
that you are
good and loving
it's so easy
for other things
to turn our attention
from that
but Lord I pray
that in your mercy
Lord we pray
that in your mercy
you would help us
to behold you
who you really are
I pray that you would
not just in the past
but day by day by day
night by night
be the king
of our lives
Lord help us
help us to be
a prayerful church
faithful
not just better
than the church beside us
or anything like that
but to be
to be living in the fullness
of what it means
to be a church
that prays
and seeks your kingdom
and your healing
and the binding of
the broken hearted
in your name
but Lord help us
to not just be
a prayerful church
help us be a church
that beholds and loves you
with all of our heart
with all of our soul
with all of our mind
with all of our strength
in Jesus' name
Amen
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