Quick Note – Judges 8:22-23 – Give God the Glory

Judges 8:22-23 – Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”  Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”

In high school and college, I received a lot of rewards for my academic excellence.  I was somewhat of a scholar, so I did very well in school.  I still remember during my high school graduation when they were giving out subject awards, I received about eight of them.  In college, although I did struggle during the first year, eventually a similar thing happened.  When graduation came four years later, I also received several awards.  Because of these times when I have received recognition, I became quite proud.  I began to believe that I was the best of the best and someone who should receive a lot of respect and praise.  However, in the last seven to ten years since leaving college, I have realized that I was mistaken.  It was not because I was great that I received those rewards.  It was not because of my own strength or smarts.  It was because God was helping and enabling me during those times that I was able to excel.  Rather than praising myself and becoming puffed up, I should have been bringing glory to God. 

In our passage today, the people of Israel had just defeated Midian, a country that had been oppressing them for seven years.  God had chosen Gideon, a man of low esteem, to lead 300 men to defeat an army of 120,000.  Because of this great deliverance, Israel wanted to make Gideon and his children the king.  They wanted Gideon to rule over them.  They were giving praise and honor and glory to Gideon.  However, Gideon knew that this victory did not come from his own strength but from God’s grace and power.  So rather than taking the kingship, he pointed them towards God.  Gideon said, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”  He wanted to bring the people’s focus back to God.  He wanted them to give God the glory. 

In the New Testament, when Jesus was starting His ministry, John the Baptist, who was the foremost prophet of that day, was told by his disciples that many of his followers were flocking to Christ rather than to him.  Instead of being upset about losing followers, John the Baptist said something profound, “28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”  (John 3:22-30).  John knew that people should be flocking to Christ not to himself.  He wasn’t upset when people turned to Christ; he was glad that they were giving God the glory. 

In our lives, I am certain that there are times when we will receive praise.  We may be praised for our good works.  We may be praised because of the schools we have gotten into or the jobs that we have obtained.  We may be praised for our high salaries or bank accounts.  There are many times when we will be recognized, and it will be deserving.  When those times come, it is our opportunity to be a witness for Christ.  It is not wrong to be grateful for the praise and to receive it humbly.  I know how nice it feels to be distinguished; I have chased after it myself.  However, rather than allowing the praise to be focused on ourselves, we must use that opportunity to point people towards God – the One who enabled us and truly deserves the glory.  Give God the praise. 

Philippians 2:3-8 – Humility vs Discrimination

Philippians 2:3-8 – “3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

With all the protests that have been happening in the United States lately due to the recent unnecessary death of George Floyd, I was compelled to think about racism and how it still exists in the world today.  It was hard for me to understand what was going on and why people were protesting, because I have never experienced such blatant discrimination myself.  I am an Asian American man, who was born into an upper middle-class family in a big city known for its diversity, so what would I know about racism?  Not much, clearly.  But as I thought about what racism, or in more general terms, discrimination, stems from, I could only think of one thing – pride.  Discrimination stems from pride in oneself thinking that one is better than another for reasons that cannot necessarily be controlled, such as age, sex, race, and in some cases, socioeconomic status.  The current issue being brought to our attention these past few days is discrimination based on race with the Black Lives Matter movement, but last year the issue was discrimination based on sex with the Me Too movement.  This inappropriate attitude of the heart has existed for the longest time throughout the world – the only thing that seems to change is the group that is being persecuted.  In current day America and most of the Western world, we see racism and sexism at the forefront.  But in Victorian England, it was socioeconomic status, as illustrated by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and in the current Middle East, we see it being religion with different sects fighting against each other.  No matter what the reason, discrimination is wrong, and it all seems to stem from pride.  So what can we do about this sinful characteristic that is ingrained into our hearts?

The answer is given to us in Philippians 2:3-8, the passage for today’s short devotional – “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”  The answer is humility.  Although Paul wrote these verses likely to address a problem of disunity in the church at Philippi, his words apply to the disunity and discrimination we see in the world today.  We as people need to humble ourselves and consider others more significant than ourselves.  To seek the interests of others, as well as, our own.  To have the mind of Christ.  We are asked to put others before ourselves, just as Christ Jesus put us before Himself, when He came to this earth to die for our sins.  Jesus Christ is God’s Son, who gave up all His glory, all His majesty, all the praise that He was worthy of, to become a man, to become a servant, to be born into the lowliest conditions of a manger in Bethlehem, so that we as sinners and enemies of His could be saved.  He not only lived as a man, he died as a criminal, being put to death in one of the most horrid, cruel, and shameful ways, by being nailed to a cross, naked and scorn for people to mock at although He did nothing to deserve that.  Our God, our Savior, our Lord gave Himself for His enemies.  He gave Himself for us, even before we were born, even when we were still rejecting Him.  Romans 5:8 states, “…But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  The only way we can cure this problem is to submit ourselves to the mind of Christ – to have His Spirit, His love, His heart flow in and through us.  This can only happen when we repent of our sins and give our lives to Jesus Christ and allow His Spirit to work in us.  He has a spirit of humility, and that same spirit can live in our hearts today.

You may then ask me why there are so many Christians who have this type of discriminatory attitude.  And I will tell you, it is likely because so many of us would rather be concerned about ourselves and our desires than to live in the way and manner that Christ taught us – to put others before ourselves.  Jesus Christ taught His disciples to live as servants of God Himself first and then as servants of others.  We are told to love one another and to love our enemies.  We are taught to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  We are told to consider others more significant than ourselves.  Why aren’t we living in that manner?  Jesus Christ gave His life up for us, and we ought to have that same heart and mind.

I don’t want to sell short or ignore the injustice that has been happening based on race, sex, age, and socioeconomic status.  I don’t want to discount all the work and changes happening through politics and movements and protests and the like.  I don’t want to say that we shouldn’t stand up against what is wrong and fight for what is right through the platforms given to us.  I definitely don’t want to speak as if I have all the answers on how to fix this broken society.  But I do want to point us to the real and true problem of pride.  And that problem can only be fixed by placing the only Person who deserves honor and praise on the throne of hearts – Jesus Christ.

Sermon – James 4:6-10 -Submit to God

James 4:6-10 – “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Do you remember the time when you were first learning to drive?  Either your driving teacher or your mom or your dad was sitting on the passenger side, while you had both hands on the wheel.  They would tell you to check that your seat belt was on, put your hands on 10 and 2, and slowly pull out of the driveway.  Everything seemed calm as you rolled out onto the street and were driving your first block up to the STOP sign, when suddenly you hear, a yell, “STOP!!!  STOP already!!  Put your foot on the brake now!!”  You throw your foot on the brake and look at them as you see their hands and feet in driving position, slamming the brake on the floor, as their faces tensed up in fear as if their lives had just flashed before their eyes.  They act as if they are in the driver’s seat with full control of the car.  I think that is probably why driving instructors have that extra wheel in their cars.  They need to have backup control of the car, in case, you make a mistake.  They need control.  What’s funny is that you may think that this will stop once you got a license, but it doesn’t.  You think that your parents or spouse or whoever will trust you to drive the car safely and well, yet it still continues.  When I drive with my parents, I still get told what to do when driving – “Stop! The light is turning red,” (The hand on the pedestrian walkway still reads 10 seconds to cross.  Of course, it won’t turn red yet.), or “You’re driving too close to the right lane,” or my favorite, “Why didn’t you turn already?”  The back/side seat driving never stops; the person who does it just changes.  The reason for this I think is that everyone feels like they need to be in control.

It is hard for us as human beings to give up control and to put ourselves under somebody else’s provision, safe watching, and control.  We feel like if we don’t have full grasp of the situation, full ability to change it when necessary, full freedom to fix it the way we want, that something will always go wrong.  We often feel like we are the only ones who can do something right.  I won’t pretend like I don’t have that same problem.  When I used to teach undergrads how to run experiments in the lab, I was always afraid something would go wrong.  Instead of, teaching them and then trusting them to know what to do, I would watch them like a hawk, making sure that everything was done the exact way I had showed them.  I needed to control the situation.  I think a similar thing happens when people are starting to fall in love.  They start losing control of the situation, because they are now becoming dependent or vulnerable to another person.  When they realize they have lost full control, then they run from it, fearing that all will go wrong, sabotaging the relationship.  All because they feel like they need control.

This is why one of the hardest things to do in life is to submit.  Submission is looked upon as indicative of weakness.  Like if you submit to another, you are telling the world that you will be under the control of someone else, that you are a slave or someone of less value than the person you submit to.  It is seen as a failure, in which, you admit that you need this other person or can no longer fight for control.  That is why submission requires the breakdown of your pride, which is a big task to ask anyone to do – to give up his pride.  Submission is difficult, and to unbelievers, it looks even worse when someone submits to God.  To many of them, because they do not understand who God is or even believe that He exists, they treat your submission to God as foolishness.  They see you as a person with no drive, no self-confidence, no direction, and no decisiveness.  They see you as a person who is just trying to pass the blame to someone else.  They don’t understand it, so all they see is weakness.  But submitting to God is never weakness, it is actually wisdom and strength. 

For the next two weeks, we (Pastor Charles Cutney and I) will talk about a passage from James 4:6-10.  When James wrote this passage to his fellow Christians, he was trying to address a serious problem in the church – they were arguing and quarreling over the things that they coveted, building friendships with the world rather than God.  Their covetousness and lusts brought them away from God.  By studying this passage, we can learn about how to fight this problem and develop a closer relationship with God.  Doing so takes two steps; first is submission to God, which is a step in the right direction, and the second is to resist the devil, which is a step away from the wrong direction.  What we will focus on today is submitting to God.

What Does It Mean to Submit to God?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word submit means “to yield oneself to the authority or will of another” or “to defer to or consent to abide by the opinion or authority of another.” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/submit).  The Greek word for submit is hupotasso, which means “to arrange under, to subordinate” or “to subject one’s self, obey” or “to submit to one’s control.”  In Greek, it had two similar meanings based on whether you were part of the military or not.  If you were in the military, it meant that you were placing yourself as a solider under the command of a specific leader.  And if you weren’t in the military, it meant that you were acting with “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.”  (Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon)  Simply put, submission meant to give control of your life to another person.  James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.”  So how do we even do this?  What does submission to God require?

First and foremost, it requires humility.  Vs. 6 tells us, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  It is impossible to submit to God without humility.  The decision to put yourself under the control of another requires this type of attitude.  There is no way around it.  You can’t submit, if you are proud.  If you think of yourself as a person who knows better than God, who thinks that you can make a better decision for your life, then you will never submit to Him.  Instead, you will fight Him on every decision.  You will argue with Him on every point.  You will “assert your authority.”  Submission requires by definition, a willingness to put yourself lower, to see yourself as someone who knows that the other one is better.  It is an attitude of humility.  It is a choice to put yourself under God’s control.

Second, to submit to God means that you have chosen to put yourself under His rules.  You cannot submit to God, if you are going to blatantly disobey Him.  That is not submission, for in that case, you have not given Him authority of your life.  In vs. 8-9 of James 4, he tells the people to “cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let you laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”  Was James some masochist, who was asking the people to hurt themselves?  No, not at all!  James was telling them that they needed to repent, that they needed to change their hearts, that if they were to submit to God, they would need to turn away from their sin and turn to God.  How can you say you have submitted yourself to a king, if you will not obey the king’s orders?  Of course, that is no submission.  You may say that you have, but your actions speak otherwise.  When you submit to God, you choose to follow His law.  Submission requires obedience.

Thirdly, submitting to God means that you are drawing close to Him (vs. 8).  You need to get to know the person you are submitting to.  When you understand who a person is that is when you know whether he or she is a person worth submitting to, and that can only happen, when you get to know that person better.  James 4:8 tells us to “Draw near to God.”  We need to get closer to Him.  And the way we do that is by first, getting to know His Word through reading the Bible, because that is how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.  And second, by obeying His Word.

Psalm 15 says, “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?  Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”

Psalm 24:3-6 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.”

These two psalms share one simple idea – it is the person who obeys God that draws closer to Him.

Why Should We Submit to God?

So the question we need to answer now is “Why?  Why should we submit to God?  Why should we give Him full-control of our lives?”  No person in his right mind would just give up control of his life to another person for no good reason.  When you are in love, you do it because you love and trust that person and want to make them happy.  When you are at work, you do it to your boss, because he has possibly earned the title and the respect.  If you are speaking to the President, you do it because of his position.  You willingly submit yourself to others, when you feel that they are worth submitting to.  So why should we submit ourselves to God?  There are three main reasons why we should.

First, we should submit ourselves to God, simply because He is God.  Based on His position, we have no reason not to submit ourselves to Him.  Psalm 100:3 states, “Know that the LORD, He is God!  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”  God is the Creator of the universe; He is the Lord of all Creation; He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords.  He is God.  He is the omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and omnipresent (all-present) God.  This God of the Bible that we read about, that we hear about, that is talking to us through His Word right now is the one and only true God.  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 states, “Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  Do you see God trying to give us a strong reason to submit to Him, as if He has no rights to our lives?  No, not at all!  He just tells us, “I am God.  Submit.”  He needs no argument.  He needs no reason.  We should submit to Him, simply because of who He is.  And if that hasn’t convinced you, take a look at the second half of Psalm 100:3, “…It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”  We belong to God.  God created us to honor and praise and give Him glory.  God purchased us through His blood.  He made us, and He deserves our submission.  Just ask yourself.  If you made a machine, put all the components together, what do you expect the machine to do?  You expect it to the do the job you created it to do.  You don’t tell the machine, “You must listen to what I say, because of this reason and that reason.” No, you simply expect it to do so.  You made it.  It’s your machine.  It should obey you.  For no other reason, we should submit ourselves to God, simply because of who He is – He is God, and He deserves our respect.

Second, we should submit ourselves to God, because of what He has done.  If God was a cruel master, a person who sought our destruction and pain, you could possibly make an argument that He isn’t worthy of our obedience (although simply because of His position as God, He is).  But God is nothing like that.  Our God provides and protects us.  He looks out for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28).  Our God gave Himself up for us.  He sent His only begotten Son to die for us (John 3:16), and He died for us when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8).  Even before we knew Him, He had chosen us to be a part of His family.  He loves us.  If that is not a good enough reason for us to submit ourselves to Him, I have no clue what else can convince you.  We should be thankful for all that He has done.  By not submitting yourself to Him, you are acting like a spoiled brat, who though he has received everything good from his parents, still screams and yells and treats his parents with disrespect.  We are lucky that God is so patient with us, because I can tell you honestly, that if I act how I do with God, with my parents, I probably would have been kicked out a long time ago.  If we are willing to act gratefully to our parents, why would we not do so for the One who gave up everything for us though He deserved that from us?

Third, we should submit ourselves to God, because of what He will do.  Based on James 4:6-10, when you submit yourself to God three things will happen.  First, God will give you more grace.  Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.  And in vs. 6, we are told that God gives more grace and that God gives grace to the humble.  What grace are we talking about?  In the context of this passage, James was telling his fellow Christians, that God will give you the grace to resist sin.  In the earlier verses, it speaks about how the people were falling to their lusts and how they were choosing friendship with the world rather than with God.  In vs. 5, he told them that God was jealously yearning for their spirt.  So in vs. 6, he told them that God will give them grace – grace to fight back from the control of sin.  But we can extend that meaning just a little more by considering other passages in the Bible about grace.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith….”  We don’t deserve salvation, and He gave that to us.  That is grace.  We are told throughout the Bible, that we are given the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; Ephesians 1:13).  We don’t deserve His presence continually in our lives.  That is grace.  God has given us His grace in salvation and will continue to give us the grace to resist sin.  Similarly, the second thing that will happen is that God will draw nigh to us (vs. 8).  This is associated with the first thing that will happen, because it is by grace that we even get the opportunity to know God.  It is by grace, for we have done nothing to deserve His love and His relationship with us.  Most people when they are in love, come to a point where they feel like they don’t deserve the other person.  They realize that they have done nothing to deserve that love but are just grateful for having the opportunity to get to know and spend time with the one they love.  They are glad for that closeness that is shared between them and only them.  That is what is going on here.  When you draw near to God by submitting to Him, He will draw near to you.  He will pull Himself closer and allow you to get to know Him more.  Who would not want to get to know someone who is like our God?  We scramble for the opportunity to get to know celebrities like Steph Curry or Steven Spielberg or for people like me comic book writers like Robert Venditti.  We work for the chance to even meet them, but in this case, God is coming to meet us.  That is such a beautiful and gracious gift and such a good reason to submit to Him.  Lastly, when you submit to Him, He will exalt you (vs. 10).  Throughout the Proverbs, we are told that the proud will fall, and the humble in spirit will be exalted.  And we are reminded here again.  God takes those who are weak, who are dependent on Him, and He lifts them up.  It may not be at this time while we are here on earth, but we will get to take part in His glory when He returns.  And what greater glory could there be?

If for no other reason than being who He is, we should submit ourselves to Him.  But He gave us more reasons when He sent His Son to die for us.  He gave us more reasons when He showed us His love.  He gave us more reasons when He led us as a Shepherd.  And He continues to give us reasons as He builds our relationship with Him.  Place yourself under the authority and control of the One who died for you and continues to love you today.  Give yourself to God.  It may seem like weakness to the world, but you will be at your most powerful, for you have just chosen to ally yourself with God.

Sermon – Three H’s in the Syrophoenician Woman’s Plea for Help

Today, I would like to share with you one of my favorite stories from the Bible.  It is one of my favorites, because it is one of the few times, something seems to catch our Lord by surprise.  Of course, we know that God could never be tricked or shocked, because He is all-knowing; but there are a few stories in the Bible, where the verses make it sound like God was pleasantly surprised.  The story that I would like us to turn to today is the story of the Syrophonecian/Canaanite woman and her demon-possessed daughter.  This story is recounted in two of the Gospels – Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30.  The stories are almost exactly alike, but each one gives a little insight to the story that the other one does not have.  By reading and examining them both, we get a better picture of what happened and how we can learn from that one Gentile woman and her plea for help.  To really get what is happening, we need to first read both passages, so take a minute and look at them with me:

Matthew 15:21-28 – “21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 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.” 23 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.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”

Mark 7:24-30 – “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. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”

Let’s summarize both iterations of the story into one here.  First, Jesus Christ went away from the region He was currently in and went to Tyre and Sidon.  Tyre and Sidon are currently cities in Lebanon, but they had their histories steeped in Phoenician culture from which we get our current English alphabet.  These two cities are mentioned quite often in the Bible for various reasons, but they were best known for their merchant culture and maritime prowess in ancient history.¹  By the time of Christ, they were still likely commercial powerhouses but not as powerful as before.²  Nonetheless, they were Gentile areas.  In this area, Christ went likely to rest since it says in Mark 7:24, “…And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know…”  But as always, people flocked to see Jesus.  One of these people was the Syrophoenician woman we will learn from today.  She came seeking Christ to heal her daughter of demon possession.  When she called out to Him, at first, Christ did not respond.  Then, she went to the disciples, who after getting annoyed by her persistence, called Christ to take care of the “problem.”  Christ then told her that it was not fit that He should serve her before the children of Israel, to whom He was called to serve.  Interestingly, the woman continued her begging and said, “Lord, help me.”  Christ then further elaborated on His first statement by saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  By this point, you would have expected that the woman would have gotten the message and left, but she did not; instead she said something quite profound, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Hearing this statement of faith, Christ then healed her daughter and let her go her way.  In this story, we can see that the woman desperately needed help from Christ that she could get nowhere else.  This need was manifested in her begging and pleading the Lord to heal her daughter.  In her plea for help, we can see three admirable qualities that we should apply to our lives and our prayer.  These characteristics are easy to remember because they all start with the letter “H” just like the word Help – 1)  Hunger, 2)  Humility, and 3)  Hope.

Hunger

The first characteristic that we need to notice in the woman’s plea is her HUNGER.  She longed for her daughter to be healed, longed for it so much that she would not let anything stop her, which can be easily attested to by her perseverance.  Just look at how hard she worked just to find Jesus Christ.  She likely knew nothing about this Man outside of the little tidbits she heard about Him from others across the border; yet when she knew that Christ was in the area she did not stop when He was not publicly out.  She went out seeking Him, seeking the place where He stayed, even though, He was “in hiding.”  She sought for the Lord God, and He was found.  Have you ever been in a situation where you are looking for something or someone?  With the technology we have today, we can likely find it at our fingertips, and no longer do we need to work very hard to find someone.  But in the past, people had to put in a lot of detective work just to learn a smidgen of information about someone.  I know that this might sound weird, but I have actually developed a skill in finding people using Google and Facebook.  With just a few facts, I can find a person, but usually, I have to work pretty hard and test many search terms just to get a little headway.  I need to want that information so much that I will keep trying.  One of my favorite comic book characters illustrates this hunger well.  Surely, we all know who Robin is.  Robin is the sidekick of Batman.  To tell you the truth, there were actually a number of Robins, since Batman had some grow up, some die, and some just move on.  The third Robin, Tim Drake, unlike all the other Robins, actually surprised Batman by finding out his identity.  He did so by doing everything in his power to understand and research who Batman really was.  He hungered for the opportunity to work as Batman’s sidekick and did not even let a hurdle like a secret identity to stop him.  He did all the leg work needed to find a man “in hiding.”  This Syrophoenician woman knew that she needed help and hungered for the One who could provide it, searching with all her heart.  We can learn from this woman, for often, when we ask Christ for something, there is no heart of hunger.  We don’t really want to know more about Him.  We don’t really want to seek His will.  We don’t really want His purpose in our lives.  We just say we do but put no effort in seeking and asking Him for it.  Christ says that those who seek Him, find, and those who ask Him, receive; but it requires a desire for what we seek and ask for.  Of course, we must make sure that our desires are in line with the Lord, for those who delight themselves in the Lord will receive the desires of their heart, not because they will get all the lusts of the world but because their one and only desire becomes Jesus Christ and His glory (Psalm 37:4).  Like it says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  If you don’t hunger for Christ, how can you put all the effort needed to find Him?

Her perseverance was not only illustrated in her seeking the Lord, but also in constant begging for His mercy.  When Christ did not respond to her first plea, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon,” she pestered the disciples for help.  She pestered them so much that they wanted her to go away.  Then when Christ told her that He was called to serve the children of Israel, she still asked for help.  And even after being told that it was not meet for her to receive that gift, she still begged Him for it.  She continued to ask and ask and ask.  Now, Christ warns us in Matthew 6:7-8, not to pray in the way the Gentiles do thinking that they will be heard for their many words, but He never condemns the attitude of perseverance in prayer; He condemns faith in words instead of God.  Just look at the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 – “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”’ 6 And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’”  He encouraged people to continue praying, but the thing is so many Christians when they don’t hear from God right away stop praying.  They won’t persevere.  They won’t continue. They get discouraged.  We must continue in prayer with the Lord, for He will answer in His time.

Hunger drives a person to push past his normal limits to achieve something.  He will climb the highest peaks, swim the deepest depths, and push through the hardest walls, if that will help satiate that hunger.  Take a lesson from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, where Captain Barbossa did anything to satiate the curse of endless hunger.  Take a lesson from basketball players, who push towards championships because they are “hungry” for it.  Take a lesson from the Syrophoenician woman, who hungered for her daughter to get better, persevering through whatever obstacles were there.  As Christians, we must hunger for Christ and what He wants to do in our lives.  We must seek it and continue seeking it until it is revealed to us.  This does not mean that we keep asking when He says, “No!”  But to keep coming to Him when all seems silent.

Humility

The next characteristic we must take note of in her plea for help is HUMILITY.  The Syrophoenician woman displayed great humility.  Before diving into this any farther, let’s take a moment and perform a thought experiment.  If you were insulted by a person, you were asking help from what would you do?  Would you continue to ask for help?  Or would you completely stop, keep what is left of your pride, and leave?  Most of us, if we were being truthful with ourselves, would likely stand up and leave.  We wouldn’t take the insult sitting down but would rather keep our dignity intact.  But look at this woman after Christ said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” basically referring to her as a dog in that statement.  She simply confirmed the words with the answer, “Yes Lord…”  And it doesn’t sound like a “Yes, Lord” that is just said to keep the peace; but one that truly saw this Christ in an elevated position and respected Him.  In those two words, she did two things that indicated her attitude of humility.  She first exalted Christ, for she respected what He said and confirmed them with a simple “Yes, Lord.”  She didn’t accuse Him of bigotry, sexism, or racism; she simply recognized that He was above her and had every right to say what He did.  Usually, when you respect a person’s position, you will value their words, and she did just that.  Second, she lowered her position by accepting the term dogs.  The one place of clear contention for many politically correct lawyers is the term dogs as a reference to Gentiles, yet she didn’t act defensively.  She simply accepted her position in the eyes of the Lord and humbled herself before Him.  She did not try to dictate to Him how she should be treated; she simply left herself in the hands of God.  If she was going to get help from Him, she knew that she needed to humble herself before Him and recognize her need for Him.

Have you ever tried to help someone who asks for your help but is too busy trying to tell you his opinion instead of listening to your advice?  I have trouble like this when I try to help people with academic problems like math.  Instead of listening to me explain how to solve the problem, they just keep trying to tell me how they did it and how it should be right.  But I can’t help them if they aren’t listening.  What I have to do is stop them from talking, demand their attention, and then explain the solution to the problem.  After they stop to listen, they usually get it in my first explanation.  If they really wanted to obtain the help from me, they needed to humble themselves and listen.  It takes humility for them to ask and then receive that help.

As Christians we must recognize that we must come to God with humility.  The God we serve is no ordinary God.  He is the Creator and Lord of the universe, the King of kings, and the Almighty.  He deserves our whole respect and praise.  Yet very often, we will not come before Him humbly but with a plan in mind for Him to follow.  We treat Him like a genie or a servant who should grant our every wish.  We must humble ourselves before Him and recognize that what we are receiving from Him is grace and mercy.  God need not hear us.  God need not answer us.  God need not do anything we ask Him to do.  He does what He does for us because He loves us.  First, we need to recognize our need for Him and to come before Him in prayer.  Second, we must be humble enough to accept His will on that request (i.e., If we are asking for guidance, we must be humble enough to take whatever path He guides us to).  Each and every one of the pleas we bring before Him should be done with humility, fully trusting Him and recognizing His Lordship over your life.  The Syrophoenician woman did not tell Christ, “You must give me bread.”  No!  She humbly accepted His decision to not be given bread and asked for something else “the crumbs,” which is the highlight word of our next point.

Hope

The last characteristic we should take notice of in her plea is HOPE.  Hope according to Google is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen” with the archaic meaning of “a feeling of trust.”  Today, we only use the word hope to mean a desire for something to happen, as in, “I hope I win the lotto today” or “I hope I get to the party on time even though traffic is awful.”  We may have little to no faith in that thing happening, but we “hope” for it.  But hope should really indicate a trust that something will happen, that archaic meaning.  It should go hand in hand with faith.  For hope without faith is wishful thinking.  The Syrophoenician woman was not just a wishful thinker but a person who had great hope.  You must first notice who she placed her hope in – Jesus Christ.  She did not place her faith and hope in man, although one may argue she did when she pestered the disciples; she placed her faith in Christ, trusting that He was the solution to her problem.  We can all attest to times when we have wrongly placed our hope on someone or something.  This happens a lot in politics where people place their faith in politicians who are lying through their teeth about promises that they will never keep.  They trust these men and women to give them a bunch of things, but instead the politicians end up lining their pockets and supporting only those who will back their campaign further.  Their hope is misplaced.  We must take care who we place our hope in, for misplaced hope is just as bad as hope without faith, it is unfounded trust.  Psalm 118:9 tells us, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.”  Instead of placing faith in man or in yourself, place your faith in God.  He promises to never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) and to work all together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  He is not some politician whose feelings shift with the wind.  No!  He never changes and is always faithful.  Like the woman, we must place our faith in Him.

Second, take notice of how deep her faith and hope were in Christ.  It was no shallow faith that only believed that Christ could do the common; it was a faith that declared, “Lord, even if I were to receive but crumbs from you, it would be enough to heal my daughter.”  That word crumbs reveals so much about her faith.  For she knew that if she received even just a little of Christ’s mercy, grace, and power that would be enough to work this miracle for her daughter.  Christ’s power was not a cheap piece of currency, but one that was worth so much that even a penny of it was worth more than all the world could buy.  If it helps to put it this way, its exchange rate was good.  Christ told His disciples that if they had faith as big as a mustard seed, they could move mountains (Matthew 17:20), and this woman definitely had bigger faith.  This woman’s faith was to be admired, for she did not question Christ’s power; she actually trusted it more than many other Israelites.  Just contrast her to the Jewish man, whose son was demon possessed in Mark 9:14-29.  When Christ asked him if he believed, he said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  That man still had doubts but this woman had no doubts in her mind about what Christ could do.  It was not that this man did not receive Christ’s mercy for his lack of faith, for his son was still healed; but this woman was commended for her faith.

Much of the time, people place their faith in God hesitantly.  They will ask Him to do something but have a backup plan in mind, just in case, He doesn’t follow through.  They worry and fear and act like He won’t provide for them yet claim that they trust Him fully.  This was not the attitude of George Muller, a famous Christian who started an orphanage in England.  Although this orphanage needed funds to continue to serve the children, he never once asked anyone directly for money; instead, he placed his complete faith in Christ knowing that God would provide for them in His time.³  Even when the cupboards were completely empty one day as the boys gathered to the table to eat, he led them in a prayer thanking God for His provisions.  God then blessed them with bread and milk.  It is amazing what God does when a person trusts in Him fully.

When we come to God in prayer, we must come to Him, trusting Him to do what is best for us.  We must trust in His power, His mercy, and His grace.  We must trust Him fully.  Now, we need not have faith as deep as this woman’s, which could make a declaration like that, but we should earnestly seek to have that type of faith.  She received healing for her daughter, when she was not yet a child of God, how can we not receive something greater being His children?  We must place our faith and hope in Christ.  For our God’s crumbs are worth much more than our world’s gold.

Conclusion

What we can definitely see and learn from this story today is simple – we must be hungry for Christ, we must be humble before Him, and we must trust in Him.  This is true no matter what our plea may be.  It could be a plea for salvation from a person who is not yet a child of God.  He must still be hungry for Christ and salvation from sin; he must still be humble, admitting he is a sinner; he must still trustfully hope in Christ for salvation.  It could be a plea for God’s will from one without direction.  He must still be hungry for God’s work in Him; he must still be humble in submission to His will; he must still hopefully trust in Him to guide Him.  It could be a plea for more wisdom and understanding from one who is not yet mature in the faith.  He must still be hungry for God’s Word; he must still be humble to obey God’s Word; he must still hopefully trust that Christ will reveal Himself to him.  No matter what the plea, this Syrophoenician woman’s attitude in prayer should be followed.  Let us be hungry for Christ; Let us be humble before Christ; let us place our hope in Christ.

1.  http://www.welcometohosanna.com/LIFE_OF_JESUS/030_Ministry10TyreSidon.htm

2.  Holman Bible Dictionary.  http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/view.cgi?number=T5886

3.  Piper, John.  “George Mueller’s Strategy for Showing God” http://www.desiringgod.org/biographies/george-muellers-strategy-for-showing-god

Every Part Important

1 Corinthians 12:12-31 – http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2012:12-31

The human body is an amazing thing in that every single cell, organ, body part, if working properly and correctly, produces a masterpiece of God’s creation.  Every cell (and being a biochemist, I would know) plays an important role in the body, so that if one failed to do its job properly and for some reason began to work contrary, the whole body could collapse.  Take cancer as an example.  Cancer is a bunch of tumor cells that were originally normal cells that developed a mutation that transformed them from cells working toward the greater good of the body to a nutrient-sucking pit that will eventually leave the body dead.  We all, no matter what culture, what citizenship, or what socioeconomic background, can understand the importance of our body working together at all times.  This may be the exact reason why Paul used the body as an illustration of how important it is for each member of the church to use their spiritual gifts to help the church.

The Church is United

The first thing Paul wanted to emphasize in our passage today is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Before even going on to explaining this metaphor for the church, Paul wanted to make it clear for all the Corinthians that they were all united in Christ.  There was no separation.  There were no factions.  All were united in Christ, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free; they were all united by one Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and one body in Christ.  We as Christians also partake of the same Spirit and are part of the same body of Christ.  It doesn’t matter what denomination you come from; it doesn’t matter what specific church you attend; it doesn’t matter whether you are a young or long-time Christian – we are all part of the body of Christ, the same body the Corinthians and Paul was a part of.  There are no geopolitical boundaries, for the church is not just the local group of people you fellowship with on Sundays but all the Christians in the entire world.  There is no difference, for we are all made one in Christ.  Knowing this fact will help us understand the two key things that Paul addressed further along in our passage.

Each Christian Is Important to the Church

The next thing Paul did was address those who felt like they didn’t belong in the body of Christ, basically, the people with low self-esteem who may have thought that they had no right or reason to be given the opportunity to even be part of God’s church.  He speaks to them in vs. 14-20:

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

In any body, if a part/organ was missing, its role could no longer be easily fulfilled by any other part.  For example, if a person lost both eyes, he could not just use his ears to see again; instead, he would be completely blind.  The other parts may compensate so that the person can still live and survive but he would never be able to see again.  If a person lost his heart, no other part of the body could be placed in that hole in the chest to pump blood to all the other organs.  The person would just die.  In the same manner, in the church, God gave each member a role to play, a specific gift which could benefit the church, which likely could only be filled by him and a few others.  He is absolutely needed in the growth and health of the church.  Without him, the church would be out an advantage.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, each one of us is important in the growth of His kingdom, no matter how “insignificant” you may think your skills, talents, and life are.  As vs. 18 states, God gave every one of us the exact talents that He wanted us to have in order for us to use it for His glory.  He chose those specific skill sets for us.  He chose the exact places He wanted us to serve.  He placed us in the areas where He knew we would be most effective.  Being a person with fairly low self-esteem, when I saw this passage it perked me up, because it made me consider the value I have in God’s sight.  I am important in His work.  I am an important piece in His kingdom.  Let us never forget that, for we can do a lot for the body of Christ, even if we aren’t great preachers, evangelists, or singers.  God wants to use you; you are important in His church.

We Must Treat Each Other with Respect

Paul then took the opposite approach and addressed those who did not have a problem with self-esteem but may have had a problem with pride in vs. 21-26.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

One of the most difficult things for those who have been given the spiritual gifts that are a lot more public is maintaining humility.  When one has been given a gift of preaching or teaching for example, it is very easy to fall into the temptation of pride.  Look at how many preachers today are developing a following for themselves instead of for Christ.  Even the famous pastor Francis Chan at one point stepped out of the church to make sure that people stopped looking to him and instead turned their gaze back upon Christ.  When given these roles of leadership or public usefulness, it is also easy to begin looking down on all the other people who do not have those same gifts due to the pride creeping up.  But the key is remembering that God has given each part its role in the body and in the same manner, each person his role in the church.  Not everyone can be preachers, or where would the singing be?  Not everyone could be a greeter, or where would the preaching be?  Not everyone could be an evangelist, or where would the disciple making be?  Each part is necessary and useful, and no Christian should ever think that he is more important than another, for each part is important in the sight of God.  In reality, we need to work together using every gift to bring Him honor and glory.  In the body, though we may treat the brain as the central most important part, we treat other parts with more modesty and care.  Although we may take care of our faces and physical appearances more often and find them to be the most important socially, we personally know that we must take care of our physical hearts much more carefully.  It is the same with the church, God gave the specific roles just the right amount of attention and honor that it needed so that each member could have the same care for one another.  We are all useful and important in the sight of God, so never look down on another Christian, for God loved and died for us all.

We Succeed and Fail Together, so Work Together in Love

The last thing Paul wanted to let the church know was that they succeeded and failed together.  This was found in vs. 26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”  It was a clear statement as to how important our investment in the church is, for we live and die together.  My friend talks about a show he watches called “The Walking Dead,” in which the main character Rick constantly says, “We stick together!”  That needs to be our motto in the church, for no matter what, we succeed and fail together.  Let us encourage and build one another up, for each one is necessary for the kingdom of God to reach its fullest potential in this world.  Paul then takes the rest of this chapter as well as the next chapter (the famous love chapter 1 Corinthians 13) to let the disciples know that the greatest gift they can have and that all Christians could possess is love.  He would go on to say that nothing else mattered if it was not done with the love of Christ.  If the church is really to grow, then we disciples of Jesus Christ must encourage one another in love and good works.  Let us get busy!