A Gift For The Dogs?

A Gift for the Dogs

Matthew 15:21-28

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Merry Christmas! O how this phrase rolls off our tongues this time of year! Just hearing the word “Christmas” can instill in our mind wonderful thoughts of turkey, ham, potato, dressing, cranberry, eggnog and all you can eat puddings, doughnuts, fruitcakes, pumpkin, mince, apple, cherry and lemon pies! It is not just the food we eat that makes Christmas joyous but also the heart-felt hugs and sharing of life’s stories with family and friends that brings a smile to our faces and warms the cackles of our hearts! Despite the positive thoughts there are also negative ones that we have at Christmas as well. What also comes to our minds is the hustle and bustle of trying to “fit” everyone into our visitation schedule, the insufferable car jambs and the never-ending search to find the “right” gifts while we tolerate the pushy and down right rude shoppers in our way! And still for others this season Christmas promotes feelings of inadequacy and injustice amongst the poor of our world.

As I describe these mixed feelings relating to this time of year and I can’t help but wonder if the word “Christmas” has become a “worldly” buzzword that rolls off our tongues, devoid of its true meaning! We casually say “merry Christmas” to those that we meet but rarely are we thinking about nor do we promote Christ laying in a manger. We spend countless hours trying to find the best gifts money can buy in hopes of impressing our family and friends and yet we leave at the foot of the cross nothing more than platitudes of indifference as we hurry by to visit elsewhere! Does not our Creator and Savior deserve our very best gift? While in His sovereignty Jesus needs nothing from us, the gift He wants is our love and allegiance. This first of a four-part sermon series is going to review the story of the Canaanite woman and in doing so reveal the first step in reclaiming the true meaning of Christmas is to remember and share the gift us “dogs” got from Jesus that first Christmas!

Knowing our Status and Mission

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

When Jesus left the Jewish region of Gennesaret (14:34) He traveled between thirty to fifty miles to the region of Tyre and Sidon. While some believe Jesus was merely seeking a retreat from the pressures of controversy with the Scribes and Pharisees and the draining effect of ministering to large crowds,” the length of this journey (perhaps months) more likely points to Jesus’ motive was to evangelise the Gentiles. Shortly after Jesus gets to the border of Tyre and Sidon a Canaanite woman from the region went out and met Him where He was ministering and asked Him to heal her daughter who was demon possessed and suffering greatly! This was a remarkable request considering she was part of a race that goes back to 3000 BC who were “sworn enemies of Israel,” full of idolatry, unclean and therefore presumed by Jews and most Gentiles to be outside of Messianic blessings! The significance of these first two verses is that they represent the “beginning of the end of all barriers to whom the Gospel message would be preached.”

This brings me to my first point: to effectively promote Christ lying in a manger we must be willing to go and tell the world that the mercy we have received has been offered to them as well, regardless of whom they are (Matthew 28:16-20)! It simply is not enough to merely give Jesus platitudes or symbols of allegiance by attending a church service or two at Christmas. Jesus wants our hearts to remember and offer the comfort that we have received (2 Corinthians 1:3-5) when we went from being Gentiles outside of the promise with no hope (Ephesians 2:12-13) to being grafted into His family (Romans 11:11-24)! We must not only be ready to give the reasons why we have hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15) we must GO and make disciples of all nations when ever and where ever asked! The unbelievers in this world are entangled by sin (Hebrews 12:1, 2 Peter 2:20) and are suffering greatly! They desperately need Christians to see the image of God in them (Genesis 1:27) and care enough to point them to His mercy, even though they do not deserve it any more than we did (Ephesians 2:8-9)! We need an attitude adjustment, one that goes from being indifferent to Christmas to one that is so overwhelmed with the mercy we have received that we compelled to share Christ with the world!