Do It Now!
Introduction
My wife Clair reckons that in many ways I am like my Dad. I guess in many senses she’s right. I have the same temperament as my Dad, I whistle almost as badly as him and I have a strong sense of family commitment as he had. However there is one trait that I carry that he never had – which is the tendency to procrastinate.
Being honest, at times I tend to be like a butterfly that flutters here and flutters there without any apparent sense of direction or purpose. My Dad was a very methodical kind of man who took one step at a time, whereas I tend to get interested in one activity and soon get bored and go off to tackle something else.
For instance if I set-to tidying up my office in our home, I would start sifting through the piles of paperwork and soon find a book or an article I hadn’t seen for sometime and end up reading it rather than getting on with the task in hand. If Clair were here today she would also testify to the number of unfinished DIY jobs that I have still to complete around the house!
My Dad had a saying that he often used when it came to urging me to get on with a task and it was – Do It NOW!
Edward Young once said that ‘Procrastination is the thief of time.’ It has also been said that men do procrastination better than women. Men tend to think ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing tomorrow.’ But the truth is that putting things off can often lead to additional problems.
Overturned wagon illustration
There is a story of a farm boy who accidentally overturned his wagonload of Corn in the road. The farmer who lived nearby came to investigate.
"Hey, Willis," he called out, "forget your troubles for a spell and come on in and have dinner with us. Then I’ll help you get the wagon up."
"That’s mighty nice of you," Willis answered, "But I don’t think Pa would like me to."
"Aw, come on, son!" the farmer insisted. "Well, okay," the boy finally agreed. "But Pa won’t like it."
After a hearty dinner, Willis thanked his host. "I feel a lot better now, but I just know Pa is going to be real upset."
"Don’t be foolish!" exclaimed the neighbour. "By the way, where is he?"
"Under the wagon."
[PAUSE]
In the text that we heard from Matthew 15:21-28 we find that Jesus was not one for Procrastination. He had a purpose and a plan for his life and he didn’t want to be distracted in any way.
Why was He there?
He had gone to the Mediterranean shore region of Tyre and Sidon, that today we would call the Lebanon. We don’t know why Jesus went there, maybe it was to have a break from all of the healing, preaching and teaching that was dominating his life at this point.
Maybe he wanted to get away from the Pharisees and teachers of the law that he chastised over their interpretation of their purification and cleansing rules, because the time wasn’t right for the Christ to be arrested and punished.
Maybe Jesus wanted to get away from it all and go somewhere nobody knew of him, or possibly he just wanted a holiday with his Disciples knowing that his end was soon to come upon him.
In the equivalent passage in Mark 7:24-30 we are told that Jesus ‘entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.’
Whatever the reason for going to this region a Canaanite woman, who is described in Mark’s version as being a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia, came and pleaded that Jesus heal her demon possessed daughter.
Jesus responded in an uncharacteristic way for Him, and if this passage were to be the only one you ever read, it might give you a totally distorted picture of what Jesus was like.
When Jesus was in Israel we read in the scriptures how he had real compassion for the sick and the needy and yet here he initially doesn’t respond at all. He does absolutely nothing and it is the Disciples who urge him to do something if only to send the woman away. They see this woman as being a nuisance and they just want her gone.
Have you ever felt the same way?
Someone turns up unexpected and you had planned what you were going to do for the day and suddenly here is a distraction. Now if it was me then I would probably be glad of an excuse to break off what I was doing, but if you were more determined to see your set task through then this unplanned visitor could be a real frustration.
Jesus had a mission to fulfil. It was to offer Salvation to the Jews. It wasn’t time for the mission to the Gentiles. Jesus’ task was to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. However his main area of work was with the Jews, the chosen people, and it was his Disciples and the Apostle Paul who would reach out into the Gentiles.
So here then was this Gentile woman, who like the Centurion whose servant needed healing, had more faith than many of the Jews that Jesus had encountered.
This unnamed woman prostrates herself in front of Jesus and cries out for the sake of her daughter, whose needs became her needs. Such was her love for her daughter that she was prepared to appear vulnerable for her sake.
College attender illustration
There is a story of a young woman who left for college one autumn. Before she left, she asked her mother to look after the potted violets and her aquarium in her bedroom.
Her mother, who often seemed distracted, assured her that she would water the plants and take care of the fish. The daughter left with assurances from her mother that everything would be cared for.
Two weeks after leaving, the girl called home, and, in the course of the conversation asked how the violets were doing. The mother apologized that she’d forgotten to water them and that they all died.
A couple of weeks later, the daughter telephoned and inquired about the goldfish, the mother confessed that she had been busy and had neglected to feed them, and had found them all dead. After a long pause, the young woman asked with anxiety in her voice, "And … how is Dad?
Unlike this neglectful mother, the Canaanite woman was anything but neglectful. The only thing that she neglected was the social custom where Gentiles and Jews would avoid each other. This mother was not about to let a social barrier get in the way if she could help it. Can you see this mother’s loving devotion? She was interceding for her daughter who did not have the capacity to take up the matter herself because of her demon possession.
The woman knelt down in front of Jesus and says ‘Lord, help me!’ because she has nowhere else to go. If Jesus the Son of God could not save her daughter then all hope was gone. There are times in our lives when we come to realise that only the Lord can save us from despair. This was one such time for this woman.
However, Jesus made her work for her miracle. He said something that could be construed as being offensive:
“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.
To call someone a dog in that time was an insult, just as it would be today, but in those days it meant that the person was impure and unclean.
The term Dog was commonly applied by the Jews to Gentiles because they were considered to be no more likely than dogs to receive God’s blessing.
By calling her a dog Jesus was testing her faith, although He already knew how she was going to respond before she spoke a word. The woman did not argue with Jesus “Yes, Lord, she said “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
This woman chose to use the phrase that Jesus had used thereby implying that if being a dog meant receiving God’s blessing she would accept that to get her daughter healed. Such was her devotion to her child. The love of a child can drive a parent to any lengths if that child’s life is threatened.
I’d like to read you a poem that was written by a mother who loved and cared for her child who was seriously ill. It is called ‘My Child’
My Child
I would like to rejoice with the rest, Lord,
But there’s a great big ache in my heart -
For someone I love is suffering, Lord,
And I don’t know how to start.
Will you help me sing carols again, Lord?
And make all my fears depart?
Will you lead me safely to Bethlehem
To worship with all my heart?
I feel like a child myself, Lord,
Lost and unsure of my way;
For my son is suffering now, Lord,
And all I can do is pray.
There’s a gift I would bring you today, Lord,
Which - with love - at your feet I will lay.
’Tis the life of my son, that thy will may be done;
Then - with faith - I will go on my way.
I will go with your peace in my heart, Lord,
To rejoice in the age old way;
Secure in the promise you made, Lord,
Through your Son on that first Christmas Day.
It’s a promise I claim for each one, Lord,
Of a Saviour to ransom us all -
That the joy of that day forever will stay,
Till we answer the last trumpet call.
[Alma Beech]
Jesus was very impressed by this woman’s faith and so her daughter was instantly healed.
Although Jesus was diverted from his original task there was a purpose to this action. Not only did it provide the healing this woman’s daughter needed, but it also contrasted with the actions of the Pharisees recorded earlier in the same chapter who Jesus described as hypocrites when he cited Isaiah 29:13
These people honour me with their lips,
But their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
Their teachings are but rules taught by men.
At the start of this sermon I mentioned that Jesus was not one to procrastinate. Bringing souls in distress to Salvation is why He came to this world.
D.L. Moody illustration
The evangelist D.L. Moody always regrets one action he took that came to haunt him. He was preaching in Chicago on October 8, 1871, and his message was ‘What will you do with Jesus?’
He concluded his sermon by saying, "I wish you would seriously consider this subject, for next Sunday we’ll speak about the cross. Then I’ll ask you, ‘What will you do with Jesus?’"
They concluded the service with a hymn, but the hymn never got completed-the roar of the fire engines filled the auditorium. The famous Chicago fire of 1871 broke out that very night and almost wiped the city off the map.
That sermon on the cross never came. Afterward Moody often said, "I have never since dared to give an audience a week to think of their salvation."
How many were ready? How many were hearing the voice of God, and would have laid their souls before Christ that evening? Procrastination robbed salvation.
Conclusion
Sadly my dad wasn’t around to pass on his wisdom to D.L. Moody, but when it comes to your salvation don’t put it off, accept Jesus into your life. If you have already done so along time in the past then renew your commitment to Him and Do It Now!
AMEN.
