Quick Note – Romans 8:18-25 – What Do You Want for Christmas?

Romans 8:18-25 – “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

During the Christmas season, one of the most common questions that are asked is “What would you like for Christmas?”  Parents ask their children this question to find out what present they need to place under the Christmas tree as Santa that year.  Husbands ask their wives this question so that they won’t get in trouble for not buying any gift at all.  Friends ask their friends this question so that they won’t buy a completely useless gift that is either returned or placed in storage.  It’s an important question for the giver to ask to avoid wasting money, but it is also an important question for the receiver to ask him/herself so that he/she can better understand what he/she values.

When I asked myself this question, I came up with a list of material things that ranged from new board games (a hobby that I really enjoy) to a new laptop computer (that doesn’t sound like an airplane that is about to take off the runway).  These were all valid things to want for Christmas and would answer the question asked of me by anyone who might want to buy me a gift, but it made me think of whether this was actually what I was also pursuing in my life.  Was I living my life for the things of this earth – chasing the material rather than the spiritual?  Did I long for my heavenly home and being in the presence of my Lord Jesus Christ, or was I content to live my life here on earth?  These are the questions that I want you to think about today as we look at our passage in Romans 8 today.

In our passage today, Paul begins with a very strong statement by saying “that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed…”  At the time, Christians suffered large amounts of persecution for their faith.  Those who were Jewish like Paul were often excommunicated from their families and synagogues.  Those who were Gentiles were likely seen as weird foolish people to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  And soon very many of them would be persecuted to the death by the Roman Empire for not worshipping the emperor.  It was not easy to live as a Christian.  Yet Paul, who suffered beatings, imprisonments, and even stonings, could confidently say that these difficulties were nothing compared to the glory that was coming for being a child of Christ.  How could Paul say this?  Because his hope and his desire were not the things of this earth but the things of Christ.  Instead of looking for the comforts of this life, he looked toward the glory that would come with being adopted as a child of God, the redemption of his body, and the return of Jesus Christ.  He had no problem suffering when his hope was secure in Christ.

But Paul was not the only person that longed for the rule of God, all of creation also looked forward to that day (vs. 19-21).  We are told that creation “longs” for the revealing of the sons of God.  When Adam sinned, the ground was cursed, and the world fell into corruption.  This is the reason why we see all the disasters and troubles that we now have on this earth.  But creation itself, including the animals, the plants, the ground, the sea, the moon, the stars, everything longs for the day when it will be restored to the perfection that made it good in God’s sight in Genesis 1.  This will only happen when Christ returns bringing with him a new heaven and a new earth.  This is why Creation looks forward to that day.

Paul then says that Christians who are filled with the Spirit also “eagerly wait” for that day (vs. 23).  It was this statement in vs. 23 that forced me to consider whether I was also looking forward to that day or if I was content to just live my life in this world.  We as Christians should be anticipating the day when Christ returns – the day when God’s kingdom and rule comes upon this whole earth.  We should not be chasing after the things of this earth but “longing” just as Creation longs for the rule and reign of Christ in our lives.  Throughout Scripture we are told that we need to seek heavenly treasures rather than the things of this earth.  For example, the heroes of faith described in Hebrews 11 constantly looked forward to the promises of God, whether it was Abraham who was looking for “a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God,” or Moses who chose “rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”  These men and women of faith considered Christ to be greater than all the riches of this earth.  David is mentioned in passing in Hebrews 11, but his desire for God and His rule could be seen in many Psalms that he wrote, of which, Psalm 37 is only one example – “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (vs. 4)  We should be like the Christians before us and who will hopefully come after us – longing to be with Christ.

Matthew 6:19-21 sums up what I want us to think about today – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What you long for in this life indicates where your heart is.  Are you seeking the things of this earth that are fleeting and passing?  Or are you looking for treasures in heaven, which can never be destroyed and have eternal value?  So as we reflect on what we want this Christmas materially, let us spiritually also eagerly look forward to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and desire His reign in our hearts and lives today.

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