Mega Faith

Matthew 15:21-28 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 he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. He 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 masters' table. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly.

Introduction
When I was starting out in ministry, I encountered a situation that very nearly nipped my faith in the bud before it could really blossom. A lady church member died, and left behind three little children. I went to the hospital and saw the children crying, begging God to bring their mother to life. It broke my heart and very innocently I led the people gathered there to pray to God to bring their mother back to life. And after several minutes of storming the heavens, she remained dead. It dealt a blow to my faith. I began to have doubts whether God really answered prayers. If that was true, if God is who he said He is, then the problem must have been with me. My faith was not strong enough. Thats why I failed to make God make the miracles we wanted Him to do. What do you do when your prayers are not answered? When you do not see the fulfilment of what youve always asked God to do? Salvation of your family, the bountiful provision for our family, healing of our loved ones, restoration of broken relationships, whatever the prayer request can be, what do we do if weve been praying for a long time, and the answer does not seem to be coming. What kind of faith is necessary to see answers to our deepest prayers to God? Our topic for today is about mega-faith, just like the faith of the Canaanite woman in this passage. And to have Mega-Faith, there are three things you need to know:

1. You need to turn away from things that you rely on other than God 2. You need to know who you are in Gods sight 3. You need to know who you are praying to

Turn Away from What You Rely On

The setting of this particular scene is the district of Tyre and Sidon, in what would be southern parts of Lebanon and Syria today. While Jesus and his disciples were there, there was a Canaanite woman who started crying out to Jesus. This woman is Canaanite and not a Jew. She did not start our worshipping the God of Israel. She grew up worshipping the god of the Canaanite people. We find in the old testament that among the gods that people from Tyre worshipped was Baal. But when her daughter became demon-possessed she probably called on her peoples gods for her daughter to be freed from the power of the demon. And we surmise that they were all to no avail. When Jesus started his ministry in Galilee however, we read about how the people of Syria heard about his ministry and his reputation for healing the sick and liberating people from the devil. Matthew 4:23-24

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
23

Even from the very beginning, healing non-Jews was part of the ministry of Jesus. I am sure this woman heard about that as well. So in her search to find restoration for her daughter in Jesus, she had to abandon her old faith in what her gods can do, and began hoping for restoration for her daughter from Jesus. Most people never think about matters of faith when everything in life is OK. But once something or someone precious to them is threatened and at the point where all human means of saving them have been exhausted, people begin thinking about powers beyond what is human. People begin thinking about God seriously. But not just any god. People

at a certain point stop playing around with gods of their own creation. They eventually have to confront the one true God who created heaven and earth, and who claims sovereignty over all. Let us ask ourselves, how seriously do you think about God? Do you think about Him everyday, or do you rarely think about him? Are there things in this life that youre relying on to keep life on an even keel? And a serious question we need to ask is, do you have to go through trials before we begin thinking about God seriously? If you want to have mega faith, you need to let go of all other things in this world that you rely on. Then you have to turn to the one who truly has your life in His hands.

Know Who You Are In Gods Sight

There are also things you need to be aware of about this scene in Matthew 15. If you were a Jew, to have a Canaanite woman call on you is a highly inappropriate situation to be in. During the time of Jesus, The Jews have developed a sense of superiority over other peoples, that attitudes towards two groups of people had become unreasonably restrictive. The first is towards foreigners, and the second is towards women. There are regulations in the Torah regarding discouraging intermarriage with foreigners, but most scholars agree today that it is more about preventing the Jews from being tempted to worship foreign gods. But by the time of Jesus, the Jews simply didnt want anything to do with the non-Jews. There are also regulations about inappropriate behaviour between men and women, but over time, the attitude towards women became such that Jewish men would never look at women directly. And here was, right at the very place where Jesus was staying, a Canaanite woman calling out to him. In the eyes of the Jews, she is a person who is not in Gods favour. At the same time, Jesus clearly saw his ministry to be primarily to Gods chosen people, the Jews. So from a ministry perspective, she was not a priority. Jesus was telling the truth, when he said that he was sent only to Israels lost sheep. In short It appears that she did not deserve to be helped by Jesus. Her daughter did not deserve to be freed from the demonic oppression.

This partly explains why Jesus remained unresponsive to the cries of the woman, seeking mercy for her daughter. It is clear that Jesus could help her. He has freed demons from other people before. He has healed the sick among the people of Syria before. He could, if he chooses, help the woman. But Jesus initial response to the woman after a long period of non-response was that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Being a non-Jewish women, she had no right to demand. But she was a woman desperate for her daughter. And even if she knew she was not worthy of Jesus help, she persisted, but humbly. She knew her place. She was willing to beg for mercy just to get the attention of the only person who could help her daughter. If we will reflect on this, we can ask ourselves: do we, on our own, deserve to receive the mercy of God? Do we know our place? Truth to tell, the bible clearly tells us that on our own, we do not deserve any help from God. On our own, we are all sinners, unworthy to receive grace. But we did receive the grace of God, not because we are worthy, be because God is merciful. And so he made the way for men to be saved from their sin, and it is by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin. So that those who humble themselves before God can look to Jesus in faith so that they may be saved, just as we are. So that even now that we have been accepted into the family of God, and Jesus has promised us that whatever we ask in His name, whatever we asked for will be given us, we must always remember that we are merely given a wonderful privilege. Answers to our prayers therefore is not a right. We cannot make demands on God. God is not obligated to answer all our prayers. He does not have to. But he chooses to. If we know our place, and we humbly but persistently ask, God will answer our prayers. We may not get the answer we want, in the form and timing that we expect it to come, but God will surely answer. Afterall, Jesus never said no to the woman directly. Therefore, we beg for mercy.

Know Who You Pray To

Notice that the woman knew who Jesus was, and was calling him by the titles we know identified him. Have mercy on me O Lord, Son of David. This is a Messianic title. This is the title of the promised anointed leader by God who will be the King of Israel who will lead the People of God to victory against its enemies (which in this particular case are the

Romans), and who will restore the Kingdom of Israel to its rightly place at the centre of the world, where God will once more dwell with men in a restored temple. This are the Messianic expectations of Israel. And interestingly we hear it not from a Jew, but from a Canaanite. And it is quite ironic because a foreigner was more willing to recognize the Lordship of Jesus that the great majority of the people of Israel. Jesus had come to his own, but his own did not receive him, but was even rejecting him. The Canaanite woman knew that Jesus was her only hope. She may have tried other ways and other gods. But shes reached the end of her search. Shes come to know him to be the only one who can save. Thats why I think she was willing to persist in asking. She had nowhere else to turn to. All she had was Jesus. She was not to be rebuffed easily. Notice also that even as the Canaanite woman was speaking to Jesus reverentially, she was also engaging him in a dialogue, as when she was responding to the statement of Jesus about bread being given to children and not to dogs. She knew her place, she was just a little pet dog in relation to the people of Israel, but she reasoned out with Jesus. She was speaking to him very personally.

Mega Faith
How about us? Do we know who we are asking when we pray? Or are we taking Jesus for granted? Do we know Jesus to be the Lord of all, the one on whom all authority in heaven and on earth had been given? The one who had authority to say yes to all that we ask of him? Or are we considering other means of getting what we ask for? A truly seeking and persistent heart that recognizes that only Jesus can make a way for us, will find answers to his prayers to God. Reverential, but very engaged personally. Jesus calls this great faith. Or mega faith. Thats what the Canaanite woman had, and thats the reason why Jesus rewarded her with her prayer being answered. Story: Naomi Zacharias coming home and her lost luggage.