Woman of Great Faith
Mother’s Day
Chuck Sligh
May 10, 2015
TEXT: Please turn to Matthew 15
INTRODUCTION
Being a mother is a great privilege, but also a great challenge. I like the way the late Erma Bombeck put it:
I’ve always told [my children], “The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth. The hardest part is showing up for it each day.”
Mother’s Day is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produced to wash dirty faces, all the old gum they held in their hands, all the noses…they wiped, and all the bloody knees they made “well” with a kiss.
This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing all those sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all the football games in the rain.
It’s appreciation day for making your children finish something they said they couldn’t do, not believing them when they said, “I hate you,” and sharing their good times and their bad times.
Their cards probably won’t reflect it, but what they are trying to say is, “Thank you for showing up.”
There are many women in the Bible who would provide excellent sermon texts for Mother’s Day. I’m thinking of women such as Jochabed, the mother of Moses; or Hannah, the mother of Samuel; or Mary, the mother of Jesus.
But today I’ve chosen an almost unknown woman. Matthew does not even tell us her name. She had everything stacked against her. But she was a woman of great faith. She exemplifies for ALL of us the kind of faith and prayer life we should have, whether you’re a mom or not; whether you’re male or female; whether married or single. And she was a woman who received an answer to her prayer.
Look with me at our text as we consider three points this morning.
I. FIRST, WE NOTE A MOTHER WHO REVEALED HER PROBLEM – Look with me at verses 21-23 – “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.”
There are many troubled mothers in the world. There are many mothers with broken hearts today. There are mothers who are troubled because one of their children is suffering some terrible ailment or handicap or mental or physical or developmental incapacity. There are mothers trying to protect their children from the ravages of war or famine or disease or a poor environment in a drug-infested neighborhood. There are mothers with troubles in their marriages who are trying to hold things together for the sake of the kids—but it’s rough.
The mother in our text also was troubled because she had a desperate need! She had other problems, I’m sure, but they seemed small in comparison to the problem she was facing right then. No doubt she had faced many trials with her daughter before, both great and small. Like any mother, she knew what it was to be by the bedside of her sick child when she developed a high fever. In that primitive day without modern medicine, she undoubtedly had experienced the fear and anxiety that gripped parents when their children became ill, knowing there was a good chance it could kill her daughter. To all parents, all other problems seem small when our children are at stake.
But this woman was now facing a need that was greater than anything she had ever faced before—something I doubt anyone in this building has ever been up against. Her daughter was demon possessed. And not simply possessed, but this woman told Jesus her daughter she was “grievously vexed,” meaning that the demon tormented her mercilessly.
I believe that a demon can only have control of a person’s life if they voluntarily give over a critical area of their life to satanic control, so this leads me to believe that this daughter was probably at least a teenager.
You know, any problem a mother faces can be deeply troubling, but the most distressing of all parental problems is the devil’s attack on our children. That’s why we must constantly pray for God would to protect them from sinful things which can allow the enemy to get a foothold in their lives. We cannot be with them twenty-four hours a day, so they need constant prayer because it’s when they’re not under our supervision and guidance that they’re most vulnerable to attack.
And make no mistake about—Satan is out to get your children. ON TV and IN MOVIES, he’s out to rob them of their innocence. In the music industry, he’s out to destroy their moral compass and diminish their godly aspirations. On the street, he’s out to tempt them and enslave them with alcohol, drugs, pornography. Oh, how they need our prayers!
As this woman came to Jesus, everything was against her:
• First, her ETHNIC BACKGROUND was against her:
Verse 22 tells us that she was a Canaanite—a Gentile. The Jews were terribly racist against all Gentiles, Canaanites in particular.
• Second, her GENDER was against her, for most Jewish rabbis paid little attention to women, and treated them like children.
• Third, it seemed that the DISCIPLES were against her.
This woman came to Jesus by faith and she WOULD NOT GIVE UP! She basically made a pest of herself until the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to do something about her and send her away.
• Finally, her RELIGION was against her.
By religion, as a Canaanite, up until then she had been a pagan, which might explain why her daughter was demon possessed since the religion of the Canaanites was particularly depraved. But on THIS day there would be a change!
II. SECOND, NOTICE WITH ME A MOTHER WHO REMAINED PERSISTENT IN PRAYER – Matthew 15:22-27 – “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.”
Notice that this woman came to JESUS with her problem. Blessed is the woman who knows where to go with her problems! When a woman has problems with her children, too often she goes to the wrong sources for help: She goes to the latest secular child-rearing guru spouting the every-changing psycho-babble of our day. She goes to talk show hosts on television.
Praise God this woman hadn’t heard about of these things! But she HAD heard about Jesus! And she had heard that NOT ONLY could He heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and make the lame to walk again, but that all demons and spiritual principalities and powers were subject to Him. She came to the ONLY ONE who could help her.
And you know, the only one who can really help us with our children ultimately is God, isn’t it? He may use preachers or Christian brothers and sisters to point us back to Jesus and the Bible, but ultimately, JESUS is the answer. He may use Christian books and magazines to help direct us to Jesus, but at the end of the day, Jesus is the one who can solve our problems with our kids. And His book—the Bible—gives the right answers for rearing our kids right.
This woman, though she was previously a pagan unbeliever, came to believe everything about Jesus…
• She believed He was the promised son of David. (verse 22)
• She believed in His deity (she called Him “Lord” in verses 22, 25 and 27)
• She believed in His power to answer her request.
• She believed He was interested and would answer.
How about you, mother—and dads too for that matter? (These principles apply to fathers as well as mothers; husbands or wives; married or single.) Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Have you come to the place where you’ve put your faith in Jesus Christ alone to save you, and not your works, or your goodness, or your religion, or your good deeds? Just as Jesus was the only answer for this woman’s daughter’s problem, He was the only answer for her soul. And He is the only answer for YOUR soul as well. Only He can forgive you of your sin, fill your heart with joy, give you peace and provide you the strength to face life’s greatest struggles.
Now, think about the problems confronting this woman:
• Notice that Jesus did not answer at first.
He didn’t do this to destroy her faith, but to enlarge it—to draw it out of her. Her own replies showed that she was growing in faith. Jesus wanted to test the sincerity and depth of her faith. And this Canaanite woman was unwilling to let Jesus go without an answer to her request, which is exactly what Jesus wanted to see.
• She also faced the problem of insensitive disciples who wanted her sent away.
But again, she would let NOTHING deter her! She came to Jesus with her request repeatedly, proving the depth of her faith.
Oh, that each of you mothers would be a woman of faith like that today! The kind of woman who comes to God for your needs. The kind who will not give up praying and seeking God’s face until He answers. The kind who of woman who PRAYS—and does it faithfully, and without wavering, and earnestly—as this woman did with Jesus.
Has it ever occurred to you that one reason God may not answer your prayers immediately is to test your faith and earnestness and fervency?
James 5:16 says “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Mom—what’s your prayer life like? How faithful and persistent are you in your prayers, especially for your children?
We’ve seen first a mother who revealed her problem to the Lord and second, a mother who remained persistent in her prayers.
III. NOTE THIRD, A MOTHER WHO RECEIVED A PROMISE FROM THE LORD – Matthew 15:28 – “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”
Isn’t that beautiful?: “O woman, great is thy faith,” Jesus said. That’s better than “great is your beauty,” or “great is your wardrobe,” or “great are your professional achievements,” or “great is your community influence,” or “great is your house and furniture and interior decorating.”
Here is the perfect illustration of the 1 Peter 3 woman. Many women devote so much time to their outward appearance that certainly are not insignificant in our relationships with PEOPLE on this earth, but are unimportant to GOD.
Peter said in 1 Peter 3:3-4 – “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
Jesus didn’t commend this woman for the adornment of her clothing, or the style of her hair, or the beauty of her makeup, or the elegance of her earrings. He said, “O woman, great is thy FAITH”!
Now notice the reward of her persistent faith: Matthew says “her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” Her faith was rewarded: She came to Jesus; she would not give up; she had great faith; and Jesus honored her faith and persistent prayer.
CONCLUSION
Moms, and ALL of us here today, what does God want you to take away from today’s sermon?
• Well, let’s start with the most basic question: How is your faith, mom?
Are you saved today—for you can only come to God by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross for you in your place. And if you are already a believer,… How deep is your faith? How strong is your walk with the Lord? How real is your commitment?
• And how is your prayer life?
Where do you go with your problems about your children or in life? When you face life’s problems, do you lean too heavily on your spouse or a counselor instead of the Lord? Or worse yet—do you go to man’s thinking and philosophy for your answers?
All these are insufficient at best and downright dangerous at worst. Come to JESUS with your problems about your children. He’s the answer in the final analysis. Even if He chooses not to answer your request according to your desire, He’s the one who can give you peace in the storm.
You know, women of great faith and prayer could literally change the world. Not only because prayer does indeed change things, but also because of the example persistent, faithful prayer in faith gives to our children that can be a source of great inspiration to them as they grow.
J.R. Miller relates this little story in one of his books:
Once I suddenly opened the door of mother’s room, and saw her on her knees beside her chair, and heard her speak my name in prayer. I quickly and quietly withdrew, with a feeling of awe and reverence in my heart. Soon I went away from home to school, then to college, then into life’s sterner duties.
But I never forgot that one glimpse of my mother at prayer, nor the one word—my name—which I heard her utter. Well did I know what I had seen that day was but a glimpse of what was going on every day in that sacred closet of prayer and the consciousness strengthened me a thousand times in duty, in danger, and in struggle. And when death came, at length and sealed those lips, the sorest sense of loss that I felt was the knowledge that no more would my mother be praying for me.
May God help each of us to examine your heart and make some solemn commitments to trust in God and be committed to faithful, earnest prayer.
