9/10/23 Mark 7:24-37 “God’s Greatest Love Story”

06 Sep 9/10/23 Mark 7:24-37 “God’s Greatest Love Story”

9/10/23    Mark 7:24-37         “God’s Greatest Love Story”

We used to have a camper over in Minnesota lake country for many years.  This was always a sad time of year as we would have to close up the camper for the winter.  At least we could take a relaxing last look of the year at all the wonderful colors of fall.  Some years the temperatures would be in the 80’s and some years in the 50’s.  But no matter what, fall was here and is here and I have one question.  Where did the summer go?  It seems just a couple of weeks ago that the fields were just turning green and now they are getting to be golden.  Some of you might disagree with me on this but I remember when I was young, it seemed that the summers were long.  Somehow as I have gotten older, time seems to go faster and faster.  It just seems to be flying by.  Anyway, I hope you all have had a good summer and now let’s have an even better fall.  Some of you who have missed some or all this summer’s services may have missed some of my best sermons ever.  I like to say that because I couldn’t write a sermon by myself to save my life.  I give all the credit to Jesus and only to Jesus.  Today, we are going to continue our look at Mark 7.  Jesus has just fed the 5000 with next to nothing and last week we looked how our hearts get blackened by sin.  Others can’t make us sin.  This comes from within.  Your sin ultimately comes from you.  Today we catch up with Jesus as He is traveling to a couple of places.  Let’s see what we can learn from these two stories.

I have noticed the couple of years how organizations have jumped on the anti- bullying bandwagon.  This is a good thing as far as I can see.  However, I don’t see how passing another law is really going to help.  This is basically a moral problem.  I don’t know that legislating morality has ever worked.  Here is what I mean.  I think that bullying begins when kids are young and experimenting with who they are.  I’m talking grade school children trying on different roles that we have talked about before.  Some of the time these kids don’t have a filter system in place yet so they do things that are both good and bad without much thought.  Reacting negatively to someone being different than us is the beginning of bullying and other things.  The problem comes when many of these children have no one to tell them what is right and what is wrong.  Parenting skills are disappearing.  Many children don’t go to church so there is another huge void in their lives.  The answer to bullying begins in the home and church.  Then we would only have to enforce rules already in place in our schools.  I am very happy to say that by the time I have been working with the children in the churches we have served, they all seem to have very tender hearts.  This is just another case where the worldly ways are totally wrong and the ways of God are right.  Now let’s notice how this applies in these two situations.

The first thing Jesus did here was he went to Tyre which would be modern day Lebanon.  This had been settled by the Canaanites who Israel was supposed to have driven out after the exodus.  They didn’t and at the time of Jesus, the Jews still considered these people to be outsiders and pagan.  They were Gentiles in a region where there weren’t many Jews.  What I’m trying to say here is that Jesus went where Jews weren’t welcome and Jesus was a Jew.  If you have ever read anything about India, you know that their lowest class of people there are the untouchables.  No one even touches these poor people.  This is what the Jews thought of the people of Tyre.  They thought the people of Tyre were untouchable!  To the people of Tyre, the Jews could be considered bullies.

Now let’s look at the next story of the man who was deaf and could hardly talk.  First of all, how many of you have known someone who has been deaf from birth?  I have had 2 friends like this that I can think of right off.  One of the things we don’t think about is that in order to speak words correctly, we have to hear them so we can repeat them back.  This is what make people like Helen Keller so remarkable.  People who are born deaf cannot hear speech so they have a real hard time to pronounce words correctly.  Consequently, they do not talk much and some don’t talk at all because the words are garbled and hard to understand.  To be their friend, you have to be patient and listen intently.  Many times, these people have few friends.  I have found that most people of the world avoid these people as much as possible.  They are just too different and people don’t want to be bothered.  It doesn’t slow Jesus’ mission down that this man has been shunned by society.  Jesus goes to this man who has endured a lifetime of bullying.  It doesn’t slow Him down either that the woman was a foreigner.  Jesus is telling us that He is for everyone.

Now I know that you do a fair job of extending Jesus to anyone and everyone in your churches.  I think you would welcome any person who walked through your doors and that is very good.  However, you might be a little reluctant to go and extend a hand to a Muslim or someone who it totally different than you.  You might not want to walk that extra mile that Jesus wants you to walk.  We do not live in a very culturally diverse community.  But try to remember that when bad times strike a family, you are to minister to all people regardless of who they are or what they look like.  You are to minister to all in the name of Jesus Christ.  And if you are not ministering in the name of Jesus, then you could just as well go home.

Another thing to notice in this passage is that Jesus is leading the way.  He didn’t follow a bunch of people to Tyre.  When He got done showing the Gentiles there that they could be accepted into God’s kingdom, then He led the way back to this deaf man.  He led the way.  Soon He would be gone and then the disciples would take over and lead the way.

This really goes right along with what we just talked about. You are not only to minister to everyone you meet, but you are to lead the way in ministry.  Have you ever noticed that people seem to come to you with problems or when things go south on them?  This is because people look to people of Christ when things go bad.  They want you to act in some way that will help or comfort them.  It might be that you will contact me or another clergy.  It might be that you help set up a fund for a family in need.  It might be that you listen to someone’s deepest problems.  Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to lead the way for this person or persons.  They may be living without God.  They may be someone you don’t even like very much.  It doesn’t matter who they are, go to them with the love of Jesus.  Lead others to help.  Just try to do what Jesus would want you to do.  Try to do what Jesus wants because to do nothing would be a sin.

Another thing that happens in both of these stories is that the people know who Jesus is.  Now He is not talking to Pharisees or kings.  He is among the regular people, the working class, you and me.  Jesus goes to a foreign land, Tyre, and the people all know Him or know of Him.  As much as He tries to keep his presence a secret, it leaks out and the needy people come flocking to Him.  When Jesus comes to Decapolis, another pagan area, the people know of Him and they bring the deaf and mute man so he could be healed.  It seems that by this time Jesus had a reputation as a man who would stop and help people.  It didn’t matter who you were, He was known to stop.  I want you to think about this a little.  Did Jesus ever refuse to help someone in need?  We all know that He tried to escape the crowds who were after Him.  After all He was part human and He would get tired.  It seems that in our stories we read, the crowds always found Him and He would help again.  He seemed almost tireless.

This is important to us also.  When I was younger, I could never figure out why we were to strive to have good reputations.  Sometimes when we are younger and we don’t know Jesus or don’t know Him that well yet, it gets hard to understand this concept.  As a matter of fact, if we take a close look at this, it would seem that because Jesus had such a good reputation, people just kept coming to Him seeking help.  He was very busy because of this good reputation.  Now you might ask ‘if a good reputation makes us work harder, then why would you want one?’  The answer to this is quite simple but if you don’t know Jesus, it might be hard to understand.  When you do the work of Jesus, then you are doing good work.  Nothing bad can come from Jesus.  So, when we are working for Him, we will always end with satisfaction.  We live in a world that is looking in all the wrong places for satisfaction, anywhere and everywhere.  And here it is, right in front of our noses.    All you have to do is repent your sins to Jesus and ask Him into your life.  Then He will lead you to satisfaction.  You may be right in that it might be hard work, but it will be some sort of work that you like.  I think that chances are you will love this work.

So, these are the types of things you can expect when you are working for Jesus.  You will help anyone who comes across your path and you will do it joyfully.  And the people will come because they know your reputation as a Christian.  Years ago, when I was young, I used to wonder why people would always come to my dad to get advice.  I’m beginning to understand about his reputation as my reputation as a man of Jesus continues to evolve.

There is a part of this story that has troubled some folks and maybe you are one of them.  When Jesus is talking to the woman from Tyre, it sounds like He is rebuking her.  One of the things to understand here is that Jesus first came to and for the Jews.  This is where He started.  What we are beginning to see and we really see this by the time Paul comes on the scene, is that the Jews are rejecting Jesus.  They figure that God has to be who they say he is or he isn’t God.  Of course, this is wrong as we cannot define who God is.  God is God by His own definition and not by any human definition.  This has caused problems since the beginning of time.  This is why we can’t have prayer in schools anymore.  We like to define God.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, this can’t be done.  It does not work.

So, what happens here is that Jesus is beginning to take the message outside the Jewish faith.  This woman is not a Jew.  This woman wants her daughter healed.  Remember that Jesus knows the answers before He asks the questions.  In this case Jesus is testing the woman.  He wants her faith to heal her daughter.  He doesn’t want her to think that He is just some sort of traveling healer.  You see, Jesus is not a circus performer.  Jesus usually doesn’t do miracles like this unless you believe.  That is what He wants this woman to understand.  Yes, He did come to take care of the Jews first but if a pagan woman like this comes to Him in faith, He sure isn’t going to turn her away.  He will not turn away anyone because Jesus is for everyone.

I think that we really have a faith problem in this country today.  For the most part you can look around and see that there is really no faith or faith is in the wrong things.  The sad part is that many people who think they have faith, are actually putting their faith in something that they have to define.  This woman from Tyre didn’t try to define Jesus.  She just knew who He was and she accepted it.  For the most part we are unable do this.  We try to make our faith in our works and this is worthless.  If you are defining who Jesus is, then you are worshipping a false god.

I think that we get tested like this all the time.  Unfortunately, often times these tests come in the form of trials and tribulations.  This is the way I came to faith in Jesus.  I was down and out.  Jesus picked me up and I’ve been walking with Him ever since as best I can.  You see Jesus doesn’t want us on our terms.  He can’t use us if we are too busy telling Him what to do.  He wants us to surrender completely to Him.  He wants us to put our total trust in Him.  In return for this, He will lead us to a better life.

You see that is all Jesus has ever wanted for us, a better life with Him.  Some of us have to be tested a little harder than others because I have a little thicker skull.  It is hard for me to learn.  You might know people like this.  Don’t be afraid to keep acting, talking and being like Jesus in front of people.  Sooner or later, they may finally get it.

One of the worst things we can do as Christians is ‘give up.’  Today, we have seen Jesus go to places where He shouldn’t have gone and people respond to His message.  People respond to His message today.  Jesus didn’t give up on people.  Even when He was dying on the cross, Jesus was ministering to the men hanging and dying with Him.

We are entering a new church year for programs and everything really.  Some of these programs are new and hopefully exciting.  I hope that as many of you as possible take advantage of these opportunities to get to know God just a little better.  Don’t forget about a neighbor.  Don’t forget about your friend from high school who is seemingly lost.  Invite all people you know to join us or you in your local church.  Sometimes we might even have to give people a ride.  Sometimes we might have to treat them to something to eat.  Just try to do whatever it takes to help someone come to Jesus.  And most of all, don’t give up on someone.  If they say ‘no’ once, then ask again next week.  Their eternal life may depend on you.  This is an awesome responsibility when you think about it.  With Jesus you can make a huge difference in your community.

Next week I’m are going to revisit a series called, “The Story.”  Hopefully, we can take 31 weeks and go through the Bible and learn more about this tremendous, awe-inspiring love that Jesus has for us, for you.  Hopefully, we will be able to better understand the greatest love story ever told, the love of God for His people.  The best part of all of this is that you are His people.  Don’t ever forget the love Jesus has just for you.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.