An Uncomfortable Encounter With Christ Series

As Christians we think that when we come to Christ everything will be a bed of roses. At times, we have to wrestle with things that seem the exact opposite of what we know of God. At times, I get questions as a pastor to try to explain the Tsunamis, earthquakes, illness, and such. Quite frankly, there are no real answers.

Some perplexing things are:

1. At times we are confronted with God’s infinite friendship, where at other times we are confronted with the vastness and infinite power of God.

2. At times he seems like a tender father, and at other times he seems like a distant authority in the sky somewhere.

3. We understand that God knows the end from the beginning, yet he tells us to pray and ask for the things we desire. But he already knows what they are and what he will do.

4. We believe in his total control in all things. Yet at times things happen that we know are not part of his revealed will.

5. He wants us to know him but sometimes when we need him the most he does not clearly reveal himself to us.

6. He promises to answer our prayers yet sometimes, he does not seem to answer them when we think that we need them the most.

7. He promises to protect us yet you and I can not deny that we have experience loss, pain, and heartbreak.

Now these issues will destroy your life if you do not have one necessary component. That necessary component is a rock solid assurance in the character of God. When you can not understand what He is doing, the only thing you have left is your certainty that in His essence and character he is absolutely perfect holy and trustworthy. The typical response to people is that they filter God through our experience. We look at God through the filter of what we are going through. We should be interpreting our lives through the filter of what you know about me. Until we get this down, we are going to be victims of life’s circumstance instead of an over=comer and conqueror.

Now we looked at all of this for a reason. We have a women who gets a response from Christ that almost goes against everything we know of Him. As we read Matthew 15:22-28, we will see our Saviour in a light that on the surface is perplexing. It doesn’t sound like the Jesus Christ I know. Prior to this, Christ has been heavily engages in ministry. Recently, he was rebuking the Pharisees. Look at chapter 15:7. The Jews are rejecting their Messiah. They are more interested in keeping their man made religion and customs. He has challenged them openly. It is at this point that He leaves the area and leaves His territory of Israel and going into a Gentile land. Look with me at vs. 21-28.

Does it seem to be an aspect of Christ that we are not comfortable with? Didn’t he say that if we come to him he will not cast us out? (John 6:37 ) He said I will never leave thee nor forsake them. He said come unto me all ye that labour and heavy laden and I will five you rest. Dare we say it, but the Lord almost seems indifferent and cold toward her.

Must we interpret Jesus through situation or must we interpret the text throught the character and nature of God. After all we know that no one cared for this women or her daughter that God. It was not be to terribly long before Christ would lay his life down on the cross for both of them.

I. A women with a desparate heart (vs. 22)

A. She was burdened

1. She was a woman of Canaan crying to the Lord

2. She was not part of Israel and had no access to their promises.

3. She came from the people that years prior God had commanded to be exterminated.

4. She found that none of the God’s her people worship could do anything for her Daughter, so she came to Christ.

5. She cried for mercy because she was absolutely helpless with no claim to come to Christ.

B. She was borrowing

1. She employs a term that she had no right to use

2. She called Christ , Thou Son of David, a highly Jewish term

3. Would have been great if she was an Israelite

4. She knew the terminology and was borrowing on faith that she really did not have

5. Christ did not respond to her.

C. She was broken.

1. She was a mum with a girl who was demon possessed.

2. Grievously vexed means miserably demonize. Demonic possession was rampant during this time.