Jump Start # 592

Matthew 15:28 ‘Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.”

We continue our look this week at the compliments of Jesus. We are seeing what impressed the Lord. Our passage today is found in a very interesting story that takes place in the region of Tyre. Jesus traveled to this northern region to escape some of the crowds. He had hoped to not be spotted there, but He was. The area was mostly Gentile. A Canaanite woman came to Jesus, begging and pleading for the Lord to save her daughter who was demon possessed. An interesting exchange takes place. The disciples tell Jesus to send the woman away because she was shouting at them. The Lord didn’t answer her at first. When she continued her pleas, He reminded her that He was sent only to the house of Israel. She persisted. The Lord then said that you don’t take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. It is here that she asked only for the crumbs. The Lord was amazed. He healed the daughter immediately. Great faith moved the Lord.

There are several interesting thoughts here:

• This woman had several things against her. She was Gentile. The region she was in was mostly Gentile.
• Her daughter was cruelly demon possessed. This may have been the only Gentile who was demon possessed. This shows not only that Jesus had authority over the spirits, but over all spirits, even what the Gentiles had. Jesus wasn’t just the Savior of only the Jews.
• This woman didn’t give up. She was persistent. She was a mama bear fighting for her sick daughter. There was no one else that could help.
• The disciples complained that she was shouting at them. She was talking to Jesus, not them. The disciples were always quick to send people away, and not just send them away, but send them away with their problems. Sometimes the easiest solution is not the best.
• Three times in the text this woman calls Jesus “Lord.” She also refers to Him as “the son of David,” which is remarkable coming from a Gentile.
• The exchange about giving food to a dog, implied that she was a “dog” but that didn’t bother her. It was not an insult, but a fact. The Jews came first. The thought is, mom doesn’t cook a meal and the first thing she does is put a plate of the food down for the dog. Mom doesn’t cook for the dog, but for the children.
• She understood that the “crumbs” were enough. She didn’t fight for her position. She didn’t say that her child deserved the bread that the children were getting. She knew that the crumbs of blessings, that which wouldn’t be used, was enough to heal her daughter. She never asked for anything to be taken away from Israel.
• Jesus cast the demon out of this girl without actually seeing the girl or being in her presence. Jesus did not have to exam her, evaluate the situation or even say a prayer. It was done. It was done immediately. What power! What compassion!

This exchange, persistence, understanding of Jesus, and trust in His power impressed Jesus. Just the chapter before, when Peter was walking on the water and started to sink, Jesus said, “O ye of little faith.” Before that, Jesus noted the lack of faith in Nazareth, where He spent most of His time. But here, in Gentile area, with a Gentile woman, Jesus is seeing impressive faith.

Impressive faith—it’s not necessarily going overseas to teach or doing great things. It’s trusting the Lord and believing in what He could do. It is the faith that believes Jesus can turn a marriage around. It is the faith that believes Jesus can help a prodigal. It is the faith that believes Jesus can stop an addiction. This woman didn’t give up. She didn’t give up when Jesus said nothing. She didn’t give up when Jesus told her that He was sent for Israel. She didn’t give up when the disciples said, ‘she her away.’ She didn’t give up when Jesus said the food is for the dogs.

Faith doesn’t quit. Faith doesn’t quit when it comes to a mountain. Faith doesn’t quit when it seems like the odds are against you.

This kind of faith is not in a system, or a church, but in the Lord. Great faith is not based upon how high you went in school. It is not based upon how successful you are financially. It is not based upon how easy or problem free your life has been. It is not based upon our ability to solve our problems or even work through them. It is found in the Lord.

Jesus was impressed. This woman never walked on water. She never taught multitudes. She never healed anyone. We do not even know her name. Doesn’t matter. She believed with all her heart that Jesus could help her. Her faith taught the disciples some lessons that they needed to learn. Faith is what matters.

Sometimes I sense that we may have outgrown the need for faith. We study. We know. We want deep thoughts and deep answers. It is that simple, trusting faith that impressed Jesus. One of the first hymns that we learned says, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Simple, trusting faith—that’s where it is at. Don’t leave that. Don’t outgrow that. Don’t become too smart for that. Don’t get too busy for that. Don’t let the problems kill that faith. Don’t let silence end that faith. Don’t let others who are telling you to stop or go away silence your faith.

Jesus loves me, this I know…

Roger

Jump Start # 591

Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’”

We continue our look this week at the times Jesus complimented. We are noticing in this the things that impressed the Lord. What often impresses us, doesn’t God. God is interested in the spiritual—faith, dedication and trust in Him.

Our passage today takes us to the parable of the talents. Notice the compliments here, “Well done…good…faithful.” Jesus was pleased with what happened. It was a job well done.

This parable is in a series about the judgment of Jesus. The master, Jesus, goes away for a time. He returns and an accounting of what was done with what they had takes place. There are three servants in this story. Each is given some talents. We tend to think of talent as ability– such as, some have a talent to sing. I missed that one. Actually, talent is a type of money. Each man was expected to use that money, talent, to generate more. Jesus said to one of the slaves, “You ought to put my money in the bank…” The principle and application would apply to our abilities and opportunities.

Jesus gave each slave differing amounts—based upon their abilities. One received five, another two and the last received one. The first two servants doubled their amounts. The last man buried his in the ground. Jesus never compared these men to each other. He never expected them to do as much as the other. He did expect them to do what they could. Doing nothing was not acceptable. It is easy for us to compare one to another. We do that. Preachers often do that. That kind of thinking often leads to jealousy, feeling inferior, or making us think we are big shots, when we are not. We are all simply servants in God’s kingdom. We need to be thankful for each other. It’d be tough if all the work fell upon one person. It doesn’t. We are all gifted by God in different ways. I’m glad for that. There are those who seem to know just what to say in that special way that touches a wounded heart and helps them out. There are those who are always reminding us to walk faithfully with God. There are those with great insights and others whose vision plans great things. Each busy in their own way. Each doing what they can for the kingdom. Don’t beat yourself up because you can’t do this or that. God made you the way you are. Find what you are good at and then get busy. Sometimes we don’t know what we are good at until we give something a try.

In our parable, the master was gone for a long time. He returned. The Lord judged each man separately. He was pleased with the first two. He uses the same words of compliment to them. Now, look at the compliment:

• WELL DONE: This comes from Jesus who did all things well. He was perfect in all things. He never missed an opportunity, He never spoke out of turn, He never had to apologize, He never had to ask for forgiveness. The praise is not for the amount, but for the dedication, the loyalty, the staying with it. Well done speaks to how the job was done. It was not sloppy. It was not poorly thought out. It was not ok. It was “well done.”
• GOOD: this describes character. This is a rare compliment in the Bible. There are only four people called good—a servant in the O.T. (2 Sam 18:27); Joseph, who buried Jesus in his tomb (Lk 23:50); Barnabas, the encourager (Acts 11:24); and Jesus (Lk 18:18-19). The servant was good. His heart was good. He did well because he is good within.
• FAITHFUL: this defines the type of servant that he was. He was faithful to his master. He was faithful to the job given to him. He stayed at it and with it and was devoted to what was before him. Verse 16 tells us that the one who received five talents “went immediately and traded them…” He went to work immediately. He put the Master’s interest first. Whatever he was doing, he stopped and went to do what the Master wanted. He didn’t put it off, like a term paper—only thinking of it the night before and when panic sets in, the job is just thrown together. Not this person. He’s good at heart and is faithful to the task. Some workers are like that. Give them a job and look out, they will pour every ounce of energy into it. They can be trusted and left alone. The others are not like that. Given a job, they’ll toss it on the desk and go about what they were doing. They’ll finish their conversations, their personal business and other things and when the boss is away, they often will use the opportunity to goof off even more. The servant in our story was faithful.

Faithful is what Christians ought to be. Faithful to God’s word. Faithful to the task given us.

Here in this simple parable, Jesus give us three wonderful descriptions of what disciples today ought to be doing. We need to be doing God’s work. Faithful to the task, good at heart and desiring to accomplish what He has set before us—this is what runs through the veins of disciples today. God’s work comes before our work. God’s work is eternal, life changing and can alter generations of families.

Jesus was impressed with the heart, work and job of these first two servants. We all have things we are doing in the kingdom. Some are busy helping with our worship. There are many things that go on behind the scenes. Lights have to light, sound has to go forth, recordings must record. There are song leaders, sermons, classes, prayers that are part of our worship to God. These can be thrown together and it comes off that way, or we can do the job well. Time, effort, energy put forth to make worship the best that we can make it. We can be satisfied with substandard work, or we can do the best that we can. I’ve seen both. I’ve been part of both. When everything is hitting on all cylinders, worship is up lifting, encouraging and awesome. When it’s a mess, how embarrassing and robbing of God, and shameful that we offered that to Him! But don’t limit these thoughts to only worship. It’s about all of our service to God.

Encouraging, serving, sharing, teaching—all of these can be done with the spirit of doing our best, or just doing it because we have to. Our attitude and spirit has as much to do with the success of something. Faithful—dedicated. Working not to please men, Paul told servants, but as to the Lord.

It’s an honor that God invites us and includes us in His work. I think if I was running things, I would only allow certain people to be involved. The rest of us will mess it up somehow. God doesn’t feel that way. The President doesn’t include me in his work. The governor doesn’t. But God does. He wants us busy in His work. How impressive that is. God trusts us and is counting on us to be His hands, feet and eyes. He works with us and through us. If you are going to do a job, do it right the first time. If you don’t, you’ll probably have to go back and do it again. Put effort, thought and energy into what you are doing. Pray about it. Think about it. Do your best. Make every sermon the best that you can make it. Teach every class the best that you can do. Lead every song…send every card…make every meal to be shared…do it with faithfulness and do it well.

What you do may not grab the headlines, but the spirit and manner in which you do it catches the eyes of God. Well done…what great words from our Savior!

Roger