25-1026p Transcript

(0:38) Oh, good evening. Hope everybody had a nice day today.

(0:44) Oh, this evening’s lesson is going to be an adaptation from last Sunday, rather a couple (0:53) Sundays ago, when I taught the class. And it’s, I guess, titled Jesus Sets a Pattern to Follow. (1:03) And Jesus had different methods of teaching.

A lot of times he’d do an object lesson where he’d (1:13) take a child from the crowd and put the child right next to him and then explain that the (1:21) kingdom of heaven is like this child. And you have to receive the kingdom of heaven as a child does. (1:29) That’s an object lesson.

He also did the Socratic method. And he also taught silently. (1:40) And he would do things that his disciples were to pick up on.

And one of them was the idea (1:52) of going to the Jews first. That was the prime focus of his ministry, was to go out and seek (2:01) the lost sheep of Israel. And then once the commission started, go to the Jews first, (2:10) then to Judea, then to Samaria, and then all points around the globe to the Gentiles.

(2:17) Because Jesus was going to make one flock out of the two people, out of the Jews and out of (2:24) the Gentiles. They’d become one flock. And Paul even emphasized that in just his writings, where (2:37) he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of anyone (2:44) who believes.

First for the Jew, then for the Gentile. So there’s a pecking order there. (2:52) And Jews first, they were God’s people, God’s chosen people.

And then the blessing, (3:04) and the promise made Abraham, would also fall to the Gentiles. And we could be a part (3:12) of God’s family, adopted in or grafted in, as it says in Romans 11. And so Jesus would often (3:24) teach this silently, even though he gave these orders to his disciples, he was also showing them (3:32) there is a time and a place where if there is a soul who’s hungry for the word of God, eat him.

(3:43) So in my personal studies, what brought me to this, I was focused on (3:48) the story of the faith of the Canaanite woman. And it’s actually a very, to me, a very touching (3:55) story. I could never imagine what demon possession would actually be like.

It must have been (4:06) horrible. And this poor woman’s daughter, young daughter, was possessed. And she (4:17) probably tried everything she could to exercise this.

But the good news came to her one day. (4:25) So anyhow, it’s interesting when you’re doing studies, you can go over something (4:40) a hundred times until finally, and I believe it’s the Spirit, Holy Spirit, (4:46) clicks that light bulb on above your head. And you’re like, oh, why didn’t I see this before? (4:54) And that’s kind of like what it was for me.

But it wasn’t a great big revelation. It was just (4:59) something to connect more dots. I’m a dot connector.

I like seeing things how they fit together. (5:07) I used to fix copy machines, so I had to know when this gear turned, what was the effect down the (5:15) chain? Anyhow, that’s how it is kind of here. So in Matthew 14 and 15, that’s where I primarily was.

(5:26) I noticed this pattern, sort of, if I can call it that. And the way Jesus prepared his disciples (5:34) when they were to go out and preach to the world. And what he did was by example, it was subtle (5:43) and not even spoken.

So he didn’t make it plain to them at that time, but he expected them to get it. (5:53) And at one point, he even says to them, don’t you understand yet? When they fed the 4,000, (6:03) after they had fed the 5,000, they were still asking, where are we going to get food? (6:09) Don’t you get it yet? Anyhow, this is born out of this whole thing. So anyhow, (6:21) after Jesus completed his ministry and he rose from the dead, and he came back and he wanted his (6:29) disciples to understand plainly these instructions in the Great Commission.

And in Acts 1, 6 through (6:37) 8, he said to them, and so when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, (6:46) at this time, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you (6:54) to know the times or ethics which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you shall receive (7:01) power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem (7:08) and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. So here’s this (7:15) pattern they were to follow.

And he spoke it plainly here to them. (7:21) And so first, they were to go to Jerusalem, meaning they were to be witnesses of Christ to (7:28) the Jews, their own kin people, their brothers and sisters, who were also called the lost sheep of (7:36) Israel before they go to anybody else. And lost sheep of Israel was a term coined for the people (7:45) of Israel back in the day when the prophets were out there warning them to repent.

And Jeremiah (7:55) in Jeremiah 50, verse 6 said, my people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to (8:04) go astray. So this was an indictment against the leadership of Israel.

Because when they would (8:14) teach, they would scatter the flock. The flock wouldn’t learn anything. And quite often it was (8:22) the leaders back then leading them into idolatry.

They even had pagan idols set up in the temple at (8:32) one point. So anyway. So secondly, they were to work their way out of the city to the surrounding (8:39) areas such as Samaria, where the half Jews lived.

And they were the ones who mingled with the (8:47) Gentiles long ago. And they had a blended style religion which makes it worthless. And (8:56) the religion was of Judaism and paganism.

So the Jews literally viewed these people as being (9:06) unclean, both in person and spiritually unclean. Kind of like a leper only had to deal with them (9:17) if they had to conduct business. And then after that they were to go to the Gentiles who lived (9:24) everywhere else.

So during Christ’s ministry, you can see the order in these verses. Jesus (9:32) commanded his disciples who to preach to and who not to preach to. And in Matthew 10, 5 and 6 he (9:40) said, Jesus sent these 12 out and commanded them saying, do not go among the Gentiles and don’t (9:49) enter into any city of the Samaritans.

Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (9:56) So you can see the order, but it was in reverse here. We even see Paul, who was called the apostle (10:03) to the Gentiles, following this same pattern of going to the synagogues first, seeking out the (10:11) Jews first, who were the lost sheep of Israel.

And he knew that’s where they would be found. (10:18) And after that, then he went to the Gentiles. And an example of that is in Acts 13, 46 where Paul (10:25) says, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that God’s word should be spoken (10:35) to you first, since indeed you trusted from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

(10:42) Behold, we turn to the Gentiles. So that was an example of them going to the synagogue and the (10:49) Jews rejecting what they had to say, rejecting Christ. And so, you know, we go to the Gentiles (10:57) now.

So the first time, as far as I can tell, that Jesus taught this pattern of go to the Jews first (11:09) and then to the others is found early in Jesus' ministry in the Gospel of John. After the wedding (11:16) of Cana, where Jesus performed his first public miracle of changing the water to wine, he left (11:24) there to go to Jerusalem to prepare for the first Passover during his three-year ministry. (11:32) And when he got there, he saw what was going on in the temple and cleansed it.

And there he taught (11:40) the Jews and healed their sick. And after a very heated exchange with the non-believing (11:47) Jewish leaders, he decided to return to Galilee. But before he went at nighttime, Nicodemus, (11:55) who was a Jewish leader, came to him at night and asked him privately about the coming kingdom of (12:05) God.

And they taught in Judah and they baptized the believers in the Jordan River on their way (12:16) to Galilee. And from there, on their way to Galilee, they stopped in Samaria to a town called (12:23) Sychar. And that is where Jacob’s well was.

A lot of history there. And his disciples went on (12:34) to go buy food, but Jesus stayed by the well. And there he had a discussion with a Samaritan woman (12:43) who came to draw water.

And so she was a mix of Israel blood and Gentile blood, (12:53) and probably a mix of religion as well. And there had been a discussion (13:04) about where they worship, whether it’s in the mountains where the Samaritans do, (13:11) or whether it’s in Jerusalem, and the type of worship. And Jesus set her straight on all of (13:20) those things.

And then he told her something about her life that nobody could possibly have known. (13:29) And he revealed to her all the marriages that she had gone through and that the man that she (13:36) was living with currently was not her husband. And right away she perceived him to be a prophet.

(13:47) And she knew enough about the law. And so she said, well, when the Messiah comes, (13:55) he’ll explain all these things to us. And this is the first time, and probably the only time, (14:02) Jesus plainly stated to her, I am he.

And he never did that for the Jews. I’m the Messiah. (14:16) It was just to this Samaritan that the Jews all looked down their nose at.

(14:23) So that’s a very special privilege there. Meanwhile, as he’s talking to her, the disciples (14:29) come back, and they found Jesus and she in conversation. Right when she was getting ready (14:35) to turn, she headed off to town to exclaim to everybody about the man who had told her (14:43) everything about her life.

And his disciples were astonished that he was actually talking to a woman (14:52) alone, and above that, a Samaritan woman. So they were kind of shocked because of the cultural thing, (15:04) but they wisely held their tongues. Jesus said to his disciples, (15:09) my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.

Do you not say (15:16) four months more and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. (15:23) They are ripe for harvest. And the majority of the people back then, especially the peasants, (15:30) would normally wear white smock-looking things, white tunics.

And what Jesus was seeing was the (15:38) woman coming back with half the town, and they were all wearing these white garments. (15:44) And that’s what he actually meant. Look, the fields are white, and that’s another (15:52) agricultural term that the wheat has matured and it’s time for harvest.

(15:58) The fields are ripe for harvest, and it was all these Samaritans coming to them. (16:05) And so, you know, I don’t know if it dawned on them what he was actually talking about, (16:14) because they were saying, who gave them food? They didn’t make the connections. And so anyhow, (16:24) we see that Jesus stayed on a few days there and taught the Samaritans, and many of them believed.

(16:32) And, you know, it was a wonderful experience and beneficial for the non-Jews. So Jesus, (16:42) without explaining it to the twelve, planted the seed that even the mixed-race people that they (16:50) looked down their noses at of Samaria should have the gospel preached to them, even though (16:56) there was a set pattern they were to follow. Somebody was hungry, they wanted food, and Jesus (17:04) gave them the bread of life.

So Jesus established the preaching pattern to his followers that you (17:11) go to the Jews first, and if they reject you, which they did, then you should go to the Samaritans (17:18) and then the Gentiles. And isn’t that exactly what the parable of the wedding feast was about? (17:26) The king who had a son who was getting married was going to have a wedding feast, so (17:36) the invitation goes out to all the family, the Jews, and they all came up with excuses for not (17:44) coming. So the word reaches the king, he’s very angry, and he says, fine, go out into the streets (17:51) and find whoever you can and bring them into the wedding feast.

So those people represent (17:58) the Samaritans and the Gentiles. And so even in his teachings, he was planting that seed. (18:08) He didn’t come out and say, go to the Gentiles or go to the Samaritans, but they had to rationalize (18:16) and make that connection.

It was one of those silent sort of teachings that he did through a (18:25) parable. But here, he did it by example without saying a word, other than, look at the fields, (18:32) they’re ripe for harvest. So next, let’s look at what leads Jesus to the Canaanite woman.

(18:40) In Matthew 14, 13, we have Jesus having compassion on the crowd of Jews who followed (18:47) him across the lake because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And that was, again, (18:53) an indictment on the Jewish leaders because they didn’t have time for teaching the poor. (18:59) When they did instruct, it was usually error because they were teaching Judaism, which were (19:05) the man-made laws that would oftentimes usurp the law of God, the Torah.

So Jesus, being the good (19:15) shepherd, he taught and healed and fed 5,000 of them. And then they realized, wow, this guy can (19:25) feed all these people. Let’s force him to be our king.

And so Jesus perceived that. He got into (19:31) the boat and went across the lake to Gennesaret, which is a little south of Capernaum, where (19:41) Peter’s from, on the west side of the lake. So Jesus, again, taught and healed the sick Jews, (19:48) got in arguments with the Pharisees about traditions.

And here’s these man-made rules (19:55) that he was up against again about cleanliness. Why do your disciples not wash their hands before (20:03) they eat? They’re unclean. And so Jesus had to straighten them out about that.

And so he addressed (20:10) matters of the heart. Now, it’s not what goes into your body by dirty fingers. It’s what comes (20:20) out of the mouth from the excess of the heart.

What’s in the heart, the mouth will speak. (20:27) That’s what makes a man unclean, Jesus said. So anyhow, after dealing with those hardened hearts, (20:36) he again went to the Gentile territory.

And so this time he went way north and west along the (20:49) Mediterranean Sea in between Sidon and Tyre, however you say it. And so in that area you’ve (21:04) got about 25 miles in between those towns, and then at least 25 miles to where the sea was. (21:12) So it’s a pretty big area.

And the text for the Faith of the King Night Woman (21:20) comes from Matthew 15 and Mark 7. And it reads, and departing from there, Jesus went away again (21:28) into the region of Tyre and Sidon. And there he entered a house and didn’t want anyone to know it. (21:36) Yet, he could not keep it, his presence, secret.

In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman (21:45) whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit, came and fell at his feet. The woman was (21:52) a Greek born in Syrian Phoenicia. She cried out saying, have mercy on me, Lord, son of David.

(22:00) My daughter is severely possessed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples (22:08) came up and asked him saying, send her away because she is crying out after us.

But he answered and (22:16) said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. First let the children eat (22:23) all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their (22:30) dogs. Yes, Lord, she replied.

But even the little dogs under the master’s table eat the children’s (22:39) crumbs. Then Jesus answered and said to her, oh, woman, your faith is great. Because of this answer, (22:47) go your way.

The demon has gone out of your daughter. Let it be done for you as you want. (22:55) And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

And going back to her home, she found the child (23:03) lying on the bed, the demon having departed. Now this sort of answers what John read for us (23:14) from Matthew about knocking and the door will be open. Seek and you’ll find.

(23:21) Now, Jesus was testing this Gentile woman’s faith to see if she had enough faith to believe in him. (23:34) So Jesus, after contending with the unbelieving Jews in John chapter 4, went to the Samaritans (23:43) who were half Jew, half Gentile, and he had a fruitful outcome there where many of them (23:49) became believers because of the woman at the well. Here, once again, he had a heated discussion (23:56) with Jewish leaders who had hardened hearts.

So he left there along the coast of the great sea (24:05) and went to the Gentiles. And as Jesus was traveling with his disciples, this Gentile (24:13) woman who heard about Jesus saw him out right away and found him. It was a lot like this morning.

(24:26) How did Aaron find where Moses was when he was in Egypt and Moses was in the country of Median (24:36) talking with God? How did he know where to find him? (24:41) How did he escape the watchful eyes of the taskmasters as he was knee-deep in mud making (24:51) bricks for Pharaoh? God called him that invisible voice that draws. And here, it was Jesus' intention (25:07) to help this woman. So Jesus, through the Spirit, (25:17) drew this woman to him.

You know what a needle in a haystack that would have been like for this poor (25:25) woman who knows where she was from to go door to door. Do you know where I can find the Savior? Do (25:30) you know where I can find Jesus, the Son of David? It would have taken over a year for her just to (25:39) find him, I would imagine. So this is beyond the law of probability for her to find him so quickly.

(25:50) This is God’s intervention and providence at work. God loves this woman, and he didn’t want her to (25:59) suffer or the little child to suffer. So she was drawn to Christ by God.

So here, once again, (26:15) we have Jesus traveling along with his disciples, and this woman who had heard about Jesus sought (26:21) him out and found him so she could petition him to heal her daughter. And she kept crying out (26:29) after him to the point where the disciples basically asked Jesus to give her what she (26:36) wanted just to get her to leave them alone, because it annoyed them. It bothered them the (26:44) same way when the people came, the mothers came, with their little children for Jesus to lay his (26:51) hands on them and give them a blessing.

And what did the disciples do? Shoo, shoo, get out of here! (26:57) Damascus doesn’t have time for this. Their hearts were hard, they had no compassion, and Jesus (27:04) rebuked them for it. Suffer the little children that come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven (27:11) as these.

You would think that the disciples would start connecting dots, right? And get the lesson. (27:24) But once again, they showed that they didn’t have compassion for the very people that they (27:31) were going to end up bringing the gospel to. God wants us to do everything out of love, (27:40) and they were lacking it at this point.

So Jesus, he had a teaching moment for both the woman and (27:54) his disciples. His mission was to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel, but because Jesus and (28:01) his father’s great love for mankind, but God so loved the world, that means everybody, Jesus could (28:09) bestow God’s grace on whom he wanted, even though they were setting a pattern of priority. First go (28:18) to the Jews, then go to the Gentiles.

But it wasn’t so rigid that they couldn’t break that mold, (28:26) or that Jesus didn’t have the authority to do it. He did, and he did. So didn’t God send Jonah (28:36) to preach to their enemies at Nineveh? Wasn’t Nineveh in Syria, and Syria were the ones who (28:43) would eventually carry them off, away forever? The ten northern tribes, and here’s God right (28:51) before this event happens, having pity on them, and wanting them to repent because he was going to (28:59) destroy the city of Nineveh for their evil, so he sends Jonah to preach to them, to get them to (29:05) repent.

Jonah probably had the attitude we would have had. Hey wait, these guys hate us. They’re (29:14) killing our people.

And Jonah did everything to get out of it, just like Moses tried weaseling out of (29:22) going to Pharaoh. I guess we humans are a bunch of weasels. It’s our nature not to want to do (29:32) something.

I guess we’re stubborn. But anyhow, wow I really got off track. That was a fun ride.

(29:48) Anyhow, because of God’s great love, Jesus is going to help this woman. So (30:01) Jesus didn’t respond to her right away. He was silent because her, have mercy on me (30:11) Lord Son of David, she didn’t know him.

She really didn’t know Jewish history. She didn’t know about (30:20) the Messiah who would bless the world and bless her. She’s just parroting perhaps what she had (30:28) heard about this man who’s healing people.

And so, you know, she just parrots this, have mercy on me (30:36) Lord Son of David. She knew the right buttons to push here. And so out of what she figured was (30:43) respect, she still didn’t get what she wanted at this point.

She didn’t have claim to call him by (30:52) that title. So Jesus was testing her to see if she had faith to believe. So he said to his disciples, (31:03) loud enough for her to hear, I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

(31:09) And that must have really struck a panic chord in her heart. And so she bows down in abject humility (31:21) before the Savior and simply asked, Lord help me. Now the true test.

He used a harsh sounding (31:35) metaphor and told her, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. (31:46) Now, some people would have probably gotten offended by that. What? You calling me a dog? (31:53) I’m out of here.

And had given up at that point, but she didn’t leave. The children’s bread, (32:08) of course, is the word of God that was first meant to be given to the children of Israel. (32:15) It wasn’t right because it wasn’t their turn yet to have the gospel preached to them.

(32:23) By referring to them as dogs wasn’t an insult, but it was to show her the order (32:32) in which the gospel was to be disseminated first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (32:39) And in this metaphor, it was about, you know, for anybody who’s had a dog before at dinner time, (32:48) that dog is right there sitting quietly, waiting for the first thing to hit the floor. (32:57) And that dog is the Gentile.

And they know it’s dinner time, but they have no place at the table. (33:08) So any little morsel that might fall, they’re going to try to pounce on. (33:17) And that reply probably hurt her, but this mother’s love for her daughter was so great.

(33:26) It shows how quick-witted this woman was, and you got to give her great credit. (33:32) She said, yes, Lord. And maybe she even owned dogs, too.

But even the little dogs (33:40) under the master’s table eat the children’s crumbs. (33:46) Wow, she actually understood the metaphor Jesus just gave to her, which is powerful. (33:57) You know, here’s a woman that doesn’t know much, probably, about the Jews and the Torah (34:07) or the gospel that Jesus and his disciples have been preaching, but yet she understood (34:14) what he was saying, which was pretty awesome.

And she acknowledged that Jesus was the master. (34:33) And she acknowledged that she wasn’t just a dog, but a little dog, meaning she’s not worthy, you (34:46) know, probably because she was a woman. Men had the hierarchy, and even amongst Gentiles.

(34:58) But by acknowledging she was a little dog was showing she knew her place. It was under the (35:06) master’s table. And like all dogs that wait for a crumb to fall on the floor, she knew that even (35:14) the little tiny breadcrumbs that hit the floor would be enough to heal her daughter in this (35:25) metaphor.

And so her honest attitude and understanding was very much cut and dry (35:37) and so relieving, you know, refreshing for the Lord to see, just like the tax collector who was (35:44) in the temple and was the object of one of the Pharisees who were rich and important and telling (35:57) God how great he was and how much he gives and how much better he is than that tax collector. (36:10) And that poor tax collector just stood off to the side, couldn’t even raise his head, (36:15) but beat his breast and said, forgive me, Lord, a sinner. And Jesus, seeing that, marveled at that (36:31) and said, who went home justified, the man tootin' his own horn or the guy who humbled himself (36:46) and exclaimed that he was a sinner and was looking for mercy? (36:52) So it’s like these people were cut out of the same cloth.

So Jesus was so amazed at her faith (37:08) that he granted right away what she came and sought out, ask and it will be given, (37:16) seek and you’ll find, knock and the door will be open. And she did so faithfully. (37:25) Jesus said, your daughter is healed.

And so when that woman got back home and saw her daughter (37:33) healed and being at peace, I’m sure that woman just showered her little girl with hugs and kisses (37:49) and you just know that she was praising the God of Israel for that. (37:59) And what do you think that did for her faith? That made her faith real. (38:12) So after seeing such great faith, and that may have been the reason Jesus went to another area (38:19) immediately after that, to the Decapolis, and he spent time there teaching and healing those people.

(38:28) And after a few days, it was getting late and Jesus had compassion on these people, (38:34) made up mostly of Gentiles. It was in the Decapolis. That’s the Syrian side of the (38:41) other side of the Sea of Galilee.

And this time it was 4,000 people. And Jesus blessed them all (38:58) by feeding them once again, in the same manner he fed the 5,000. (39:04) So without a word, Jesus was setting this pattern for his disciples to follow.

(39:14) Take the gospel first to the Jews, then to the Samaritans, and then to the Gentiles throughout (39:20) the whole world. Jesus broke down their prejudices. They’ve had thousands of years (39:28) of prejudice drilled into their heads.

Isolate yourself from the Gentiles. They’re (39:35) unclean. And then when the Samaritans came along and mingled with those Gentiles, (39:41) oh, they’re even worse than the Gentiles.

So Jesus had to break the disciples' prejudices (39:52) at no fault of their own. This is something passed down from father to son. (39:59) They were raised that way, away from the Gentiles.

Of course, they were ordered not to intermarry (40:08) with the Gentiles, but nowhere did God tell them to treat them like lepers. But God, (40:22) Jesus, broke down their prejudices and showed them, without saying a word, that even those (40:31) unclean people were worthy to hear the good news and to receive salvation. And Jesus did this (40:41) with love as his motivation.

So you find this in the book of Acts, and you see that that is exactly (40:58) what the disciples ended up doing. First, when the Holy Spirit was (41:05) poured upon them by God, and they received miraculous power by Holy Spirit, (41:13) they spent their time in Jerusalem, seeking and saving the lost sheep of Israel. (41:20) And then from there, they went into Samaria, and then from there to all (41:26) points of the earth.

And God’s divine providence saw to it. And we have them to thank for being (41:38) faithful to God, for overcoming their prejudices. And that’s something that we too, as a people, (41:46) have to do.

You know, right now, you know, we were of the world at one time, but many of us (41:55) have been in the Lord’s Church for so long. I hope we don’t start seeing those outside of this (42:01) building as unclean and unworthy of receiving the gospel preached to them or taught to them. (42:10) And so we got to make sure we’re not falling into the same minds that Jesus' disciples did.

(42:21) So I’m going to extend the invitation now. (42:26) And if anybody has need, you can come and let your need be known.