Faith & Compassion

Matthew, chapter 15. Matthew, chapter 15. As you can tell, we've added some new things, and I'm very thankful for all of the men. There's a bunch of guys that helped out. I'll start naming names, but I'm going to leave somebody out. Just know there was a bunch of guys that worked on this over the weekend with putting these TVs in and putting these lights in. And we've got good stuff

going on this summer. As a matter of fact, and I'll let Second Service know this too, by the end of the summer, the sanctuary will look very different. The back wall of the sanctuary is going to move back about 10 foot. And so, to add some more chairs to the sanctuary, and all of the sound and video booth will be located on this side over here. So, good things are coming up. I'm really

excited about it. So, be patient with us if sometimes you come in and go, huh, that doesn't look as pretty as usual. There's cords hanging down or some such thing like that. Just know it's making improvements so that things look better. But man, I think it looks great up here this morning. So, praise God for all those guys that were willing to do that work. So, okay, we pick

up in verse 21 of chapter 5. And the last time that we were together, we saw that Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees and the scribes in regards to tradition. He was dealing with them on the tradition that they dealt with of hand washing. They looked at his disciples and said, they don't wash their hands like everybody else does. They don't wash their hands,

like we do. And it had nothing to do with cleanliness, and it had everything to do with ceremony. And so, Jesus reminded them that your ceremony does nothing to change your heart. What actually defiles a person is what's inside of their heart, because what comes out of the heart are things like murders, and adulteries, and fornications, and evil thoughts. And may I say,

unfortunately, this week absolutely revealed the truth of that verse. This week absolutely revealed the truth of the fact that what comes out of our hearts is the truth of the heart. What comes out of our hearts are evil, both the act that was committed and oftentimes the response to the act. We have seen so much evil come out of the hearts of men. And I'll point out the same

thing this week that I pointed out last week. The only thing that can change the evil heart of men is the truth of Jesus Christ and the work of the gospel. We could make every law on the books. We could ban everything that we wanted to, but deep down in the heart of each and every one of us is an evil that cannot be tamed. With any other thing other than the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so that was very clearly displayed for us this week. Well, now Jesus is going to depart. And really what we see today is him move into some Gentile regions to do some work of the ministry, which is kind of interesting because you may remember that last week we said that Jesus declared all foods to be clean, right? We talked about that in Mark when he said that it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person. Well, that was really important because not only

does that mean that we're going to be clean, but we're going to be clean. And so that's what we're talking about. It doesn't mean that we can eat bacon, but it also means that you and I as Gentiles can be considered clean because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's kind of what we see here today. And so there's two things that we're going to look at today. And actually the title of today's

message is faith and compassion, because really we see a story about faith and then we see a story about the compassion of Jesus. And so we pick up in verse 21 and this is what it says. Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out saying, have mercy on me, Lord, son of David. My daughter is cruelly demon possessed,

but he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and implored him saying, send her away because she keeps shouting at us. But he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came again and began to bow down saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

But she said, yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And then Jesus said to her, oh, woman, your faith is great. It shall be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at once. Now, the first thing I take note of in this aspect of faith, because that's what this first point encapsulates, is we're talking about the first point of faith. And we're talking about the first point of faith.

The first thing I take note of is the region that Jesus moves into. He moves into a very Gentile region. He moves into the area of Tyre and Sidon. Now, that doesn't always mean a whole lot to you and I because we don't always understand why that would be significant. Well, it's significant for a couple of reasons. Number one, because Tyre and Sidon were areas that at one point in time were

somewhat enemies of the nation of Israel. I think that's why Matthew does a really good job because he's writing to the Jewish people to point out that Jesus was beginning to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. As far as they thought, Tyre and Sidon was pretty far outside of their realm of normal. But the second reason why it's important is because that is a Gentile region. Jews and

Gentiles didn't get along very well because the Jews were God's chosen people. And while that should have meant that what they would then do is take the message of the truth of the holiness of God to the nations around them, instead they began to view themselves in a favored way that caused them to look down on Gentiles, that caused them to look down on the nations around them and end up calling them dogs. And they always said that Gentiles were what God would use to stoke the fires of hell. Now, I'm sure you've never looked at people that look different from you or act different from you or believe different from you and thought the same thing. But I hear that that's what goes around sometimes in churches. So Jesus goes into this

region, to this Gentile region, because there was one person that he needed to reach. Because the reason why Jesus goes into is that Jesus moves into a Gentile region and is approached by a Gentile woman. Now, if we were reading Mark's account of this, it would refer to her as the Syrophoenician woman. And as a matter of fact, some of the headings of your Bibles may even say Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman. But do you notice what word Matthew does not use? He does not use the word

Syrophoenician. What does he refer to her as? He refers to her as a Canaanite. Why? Why does Matthew do that? Well, because the Canaanites were the arch enemies of the Israelites. They were enemies of the children of Israel. When the children of Israel came into the land of, wait for it, Canaan, it was completely run by the Canaanites. Who were they supposed to utterly

wipe out because they were so heinous in the sight of God? They were supposed to destroy the Canaanites. And yet now Jesus moves into a Gentile region, the region of Tyre and Sidon, an enemy region as far as the Jewish nation was concerned. And he comes across a Canaanite woman, an enemy of the Jews. And yet Jesus is there to deal with her. If you will, everything about this woman was

going to go against her. She was from the wrong region. She has the wrong background. And she's a woman. Listen, if you want to understand women's rights, you'll understand what Jesus does every time he talks to women. Because at this point in time, at the point in time when this was written, women and men didn't talk to each other on any sort of a cordial, social sort of a level. Women

were considered to be property at this point in time. And yet Jesus finds himself talking to these women. Not only was Jesus a man talking to a woman, but he was a rabbi talking to a woman. Another very big deal. And Jesus spoke to her with great respect. Talk about women's rights. Jesus did more for women's rights than anyone marching right now has ever done for women's rights. Now, as we look at this conversation that takes place, we're going

to see that she's going to make a request of Jesus. Notice what it says. A Canaanite woman from that region came out and made a request of Jesus. And Jesus said, I'm going to make a request of Jesus. And began to cry out saying, have mercy on me, Lord, son of David. My daughter is cruelly demon possessed. Now, take note of how she approaches Jesus. Because as she approaches Jesus, she makes

requests of him. And as she does so, it's in a very specific way. As a matter of fact, as far as the Jewish community would be concerned, she addressed him in the proper way. She said, Lord. And then she referred to him as son of David. She was approaching him in the best way that she as a Gentile woman could with the knowledge that she had. And she said, Lord, I'm going to make a request of

Jesus. And as she approaches him and says, Lord, have mercy on me, son of David. She then presents her request. Because her daughter had an issue. The issue that her daughter had is that she was demon possessed. But if we want to know just how bad the demon possession was, we're given the little adverb that starts off there. It says that she was cruelly demon possessed. It's kind of

interesting how she presents it, right? Because as she looked at her daughter, she didn't just see that her daughter had an issue. She saw that her daughter had an issue. She saw that her daughter had an issue that was destroying her life. That was destroying everything about who she was. She said, Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is cruelly demon possessed. Now, Jesus is

going to react in a way that doesn't make sense to us. And it doesn't make sense to me if I'm being completely honest, even at this point in time. Jesus ignores her. Notice what it says right here. But he did not answer her a word. As a matter of fact, we're going to see Jesus sort of rebuff her a little bit, kind of push her away a little bit. Now, I read a lot of commentaries on this because I found

myself going, this is the only time in scripture really that you see Jesus not immediately say or address the issue that's laid out in front of him. And a lot of commentators gave a lot of different reasons. And I'm not saying those reasons are wrong. What I am saying is scripture doesn't say why Jesus did this. And so I have to kind of just be silent when scripture is silent.

I don't know why Jesus just ignored her to start with. What we're going to find is that eventually he answers her, but why does he ignore her to start with? And why doesn't scripture tell us why he ignored her to start with? You know why? Because sometimes in our lives, doesn't it feel like Jesus isn't listening? Now, don't give me the right answer or don't give me the spiritual

answer. Give me the real answer. Doesn't it sometimes feel like Jesus isn't listening when we pray? Like we've been bringing a request to him for all this time and it feels like he hasn't answered us a word? I think the reason why Jesus responds to her this way is because he knew that everyone throughout history would at some point in time feel like Jesus isn't listening. Perhaps you have a loved

one that you're praying for that you want to see come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and you've been praying for them for years. And Jesus, it feels like hasn't moved the dial an inch to bring their heart closer to Jesus. You have a loved one that's bound up in some sort of an addictive issue. You have prayed for them and prayed for them and prayed for them, and it doesn't seem like Jesus has budged the dial a bit. Perhaps you're tired of seeing all of the violence take place

in the world, and you want to see God bring a stop to all of it, and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying, and it doesn't feel like anything is happening. I think Jesus did this because he knew that throughout the centuries, people would feel like this. And you know what else I know? I know that Jesus had a plan. This woman didn't understand that. She didn't understand that.

The plan at the time, quite frankly, I still don't fully understand why Jesus did this. But what I do know is that Jesus had a plan for how he was going to deal with this. And it reminds me of a scripture out of the book of Deuteronomy. Moses was telling the people, he said, the hidden things belong to God. The revealed things belong to you. In other words, there's going to be points in time where

you find yourself going, I don't know why God's doing what he's doing, but I don't know why he's doing, but what he's told me right now is to do this. What I know is to do this. And so I'm going to do what I know to do. And what this woman's going to know to do is not give up. I'm going to do what I know to do, and I'm going to trust him with the things that I don't understand. Because

brothers and sisters, I don't think the past couple of years that we've had are going to be the last time that we say, I don't understand what God's doing right now. I don't understand what's happening in the world right now. Because there's going to continue to be times that you don't understand. But what you can do, is what you know to do. Because the hidden things, those belong to God. The wise belong to God.

The revealed things belong to me. Because what I know to do is to keep obeying, to keep praying, and to keep trusting. Because while I don't see the plan just yet, I know that God has one. Just like she didn't see the plan, but she felt like Jesus probably had one. And so the first thing that happens is that Jesus ignores her, didn't answer her a word, notice what his disciples say, because they're super spiritually sensitive.

And his disciples came and implored him saying, send her away. She keeps shouting at us. Jesus, would you just give her what she wants? She's becoming obnoxious. She won't stop shouting. She won't quit, right? She won't quit yelling about this kid that's demon possessed. Could you just give her what she wants, so that we can finally get out of here and be done with this

whole thing, right? It's kind of like an older sibling and a younger sibling, and they're like, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. When the younger sibling won't stop crying, and the older sibling's like, just give them what they want. I'm tired of it, right? Oddly enough, I think I had a dog that felt that way at one

point in time. When we first brought my oldest daughter home, she cried a lot. And I will tell this story with her in the second service. And I won't give her any money. Somebody told me that there's a pastor out there that every time he tells a story about his kid without asking their permission, he gives them like $5 or something like that. I'm like, first of all, I ain't got

that kind of money, right? Second of all, no. You just have to, I throw my life out there. Anyway, so we bring my oldest daughter home, and she's a tiny baby, and all she did for the first three months of her life was cry. And we were like, oh, sweet Jesus, we got a defective one, right? All this one does is cry. I don't know what to do. We'll never go to a store again. We'll never sleep again. I'm going to die.

And so I had this dog, and he's the one that I will always refer to as the only dog I ever actually owned, because he was the only dog I ever actually owned. And he was the only dog I ever It didn't matter what anybody else did. He was mine. And so when Beck would hear her cry, he would just kind of go and lay back down like, would you give her something? Just give her what she wants.

I'm tired of listening to her cry. Well, anyway, that's what the disciples are doing. So not only does she have all of these other things against her, but Jesus isn't listening, and the disciples don't like her. Everything is going against this Canaanite woman. And notice what Jesus says. If that wasn't enough, Jesus said, I was sent out only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

What am I going to do now? Verse 25. But she came and began to bow down before him, saying, Lord, help me. Second request, right? First request, he ignores her. His disciples want her to go away. And then he finally says, this isn't why I'm here. I'm here for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Again, why? I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no

idea. Because that's not for me to know. What's for me to know is the faith that she continues to express in the midst of all this. Because you notice this second request. What'd she do this time? This time she came and she bowed down. The idea literally prostrate herself before him. She bowed down before him. And she said, Lord, help. Do you know what I love about this is the

first time she came with all of the right language. She came with all of the right speech. She came with all, if you will, she prayed in King James, right? That's what she did the first time around. She prayed in the most eloquent language that she knew how to. But when that didn't work, she got down to the nuts and bolts of it and got real simple and just said, Lord, help me.

And sometimes I think that's all Jesus wants from us is just to quit worrying about whether or not I say the right words. I always, it makes me so sad when people are like, I don't want to pray out loud because I don't know the right words to say. I'm like, listen, I'm still trying to figure out the right words to say. Sometimes all I know how to do is just groan a little bit. Scripture says that's when the Holy

Spirit really intercedes for me. That's probably when real prayer is happening. Don't worry about having the right words to say. Just say what's on your heart. And that's what she does here. She bows down and she says, Lord, help me. And I don't think it was just one time. I think this was a repetitive thing that she did. Lord, help me. And then notice how Jesus responds.

He answered and said, it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. This almost, seems harsh on the part of Jesus, right? Because remember, how did the Jews refer to the Gentiles? Well, they would call them Gentile dogs. This was, if you will, a racial slur at this point in time. That's what they referred to the Gentiles as. And so when Jesus says, listen, it's not good to take

the bread from the children and give it to the dogs. We have to understand something. First of all, Jesus was acknowledging that she was not a part of God's chosen people and needed her to realize that too. Why? I don't know. That's what he did. But the second thing is that Jesus very much softened up what he said to her. We don't get this indication, unless you're reading the King James or the New King James. It does say

the little dogs. The idea behind that phrase is those are the dogs that dwell in the house, as opposed to the dogs that run wild in the streets that caused all kinds of issues. You see, the dogs that ran wild in the streets that people were scared of, that's the Greek word that they would use to refer to the Gentiles. The word Jesus uses here, is a household pet, something that is very tender, but something that is still not one of the kids.

And you would think, after this point in time that this woman would say, how can you even talk to me this way? What am I going to do now? That's not what she says, because then she makes a third request of Jesus. But she said, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their... from their master's table. And then Jesus said to her, oh woman, your faith is great.

It shall be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at once. I love this because she gets a little bit creative. Her persistence and creativity causes her to say, I'm going to keep petitioning as much as I can until you finally meet my request, because the need is so dire. And so she says, listen, even the dogs get to eat the crumbs off the table.

And I think at that point in time, Jesus was just like, oh, I can't take it anymore. Woman, your faith is great. By the way, from what I can tell in the Gospels, this is one of the only times that Jesus actually directly tells someone how great their faith is, and it's a woman. He says, oh woman, your faith is great. Your request is taken care of. It says her daughter was healed at

once. Can you imagine? Jesus just performed one of the greatest acts of healing, which, by the way, what was wrong with this girl? Remember, she was... demon-possessed. And how did Jesus heal her of this demon possession? From long distance. He just said, she's healed, and she was healed at once. Jesus didn't have to be there. Why? Because Jesus' power is so great, even over the demonic world. And as we see all of the things happening in our world

that at times appear very demonic, we need to understand that greater is He who is in us than He that is in the world. And so Jesus heals this girl from a long ways away. Can you imagine the mom at this point in time? She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore.

She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. She's like, oh, I can't take it anymore. I'm like, I wish Matthew would have talked just a little bit more about how she felt, but you can probably imagine, right? You can imagine how she would have felt at this point in time. I bet her walk back to her house was faith-filled and apprehensive at the same time. We'll call it cautiously

optimistic on her way back home, because while she believed, she hadn't seen yet. And can you imagine when she got home and her daughter was in her right mind, completely normal, undoubtedly saying, it's just like Jesus said. Her faith was so great that Jesus rewarded her in such a fantastic way. Well, again, I can't always give you the whys, but I do think there's three lessons about faith that we learn from this story. Three lessons that we learn because of this woman's

faith. Number one, her faith was humble. She'd take part of the, she'd take note of the humility that was in her in all of the requests that she made. Really, her humility started out with the way that she addressed Jesus. She referred to him as Lord and the son of David. In other words, she was understanding that he is so much greater than her. And so she came to him very humbly,

but then when it still didn't work, she humbly bowed down before him. And then she humbly kept making requests of him because there was great humility in the way that she asked. You know why sometimes I think that we don't always have our prayers answered? Sometimes I think we don't have our prayers answered. Because we don't ever pray for them. Because we don't ever go to God with them. Do you know,

I think sometimes the greatest sign of, and I'm talking to me here too, sometimes the greatest sign of pride in our lives is our unwillingness to take things to the Lord in prayer. Because we think, I can handle that on my own. That's one that I can handle on my own. And one of the greatest signs of humility is a consistent prayer life. Because prayer is the distinct understanding that

can't, but he can. And so her faith was humble. Number two, her faith was persistent. Her faith was persistent. What I really appreciate about this woman's faith is that she did not know how Jesus was going to respond. We have the benefit of knowing the end of the story, but she did not know. But you know what? She was not going to give up until Jesus had answered her request. If you

will, until Jesus. Had answered her prayer. And God desires that persistent faith from us too. That persistent faith that says, I haven't seen it happen yet, but I'm going to continue to believe. I haven't seen it happen yet, but I'm going to keep going. I haven't seen it happen yet, but I know what he's promised. And so I'm going to just keep believing. I'm going to keep believing the promise that he's

made, even though I haven't seen it yet. Our greatest act of persistent faith is our continuing to pursue Jesus as long as we live on the top side of this earth. Because we all, we all know that there's a promise that we're looking for that we have not seen yet. And that promise is eternal life with our Savior in heaven. But as we continue to seek after him, as we

continue to seek after the Lord, it shows that persistent faith in our lives. And so her faith was persistent. But the third thing that I want to point out to you is that her faith was in Christ. Her faith was in Christ. I've heard it for years and I continue to hear it now. When things go bad, people say, we just have to have faith. And these people may have no faith in Jesus whatsoever, but they say,

we just have to have faith. And I remember asking one time, faith in what? And they said, well, the fact that things are going to work out. I'm like, well, that's so sad, right? I just have faith that things are going to work out, right? Listen, our faith is only as good as the object in which we place it. I always like to use this example because it's the most colorful one I can

think of and the one that sticks in the most people's minds. I can have all of the faith in the world and you could have all of the faith in the world and my ability to dunk a basketball, right? You could think to yourself, Ryan, I believe in you. I believe that you could dunk a basketball and you could put all of your faith in that. But the problem with putting all of your faith in that is that I cannot dunk a basketball. First of all,

I'm short. I don't know if y'all notice that about me or not, but I am. I'm a pretty short guy and I have the vertical leap of a five-year-old, right? It just, it doesn't go very far. I remember I was playing a basketball game and I was playing a basketball game and I was playing a basketball game a rousing game of horse in my driveway with a good friend of mine one time. And my goal was set

to eight foot because my girls were very small at that point in time. And can I just be honest and say eight foot really is the best place for me to have the goal? Anyway, so I had the goal set to eight foot and he dunked and I'm like, bro, you know I can't do that. And he's like, it's an eight foot goal. You can do this. And I was like, I just don't think that's true. He goes, just, just try.

Ryan, you're athletic. You can do this. So I pick up the ball and I don't even dribble because I think that's a bad idea. That's how I fall down. I run with it and I jump up in the air and I do my best Michael Jordan impersonation that I can. And I hit the front of the rim with the ball and the ball goes bouncing back in the yard. I'm like, see, I told you all the faith in the world that I

cannot dunk that basketball. Now, if you were talking to like nineties, Michael Jordan, of course you look at him and go, that guy can dunk a basketball. Why? Well, because first of all, he has all of the physical giftings in the world to be able to do it. But second of all, he's proven it time and again. He's proven it time and again. He's proven it time and again. He's proven it time and

again that he's able to do that, right? There's entire highlight reels that are nothing but all of his dunks, right? You can put faith in that because he has the ability and he has the proven track record. Her faith was in Christ. Why? Because he had the ability and he had the proven track record. Friends, don't just have faith that things are going to work out. Have faith in the one who

can work things out for our good. Because he has the ability and he has the proven track record. He's never let anyone down yet. He doesn't plan on starting with you. It was a wonderful story of faith, and it's amazing to see that her faith that was humble, persistent, and in the right place, Jesus worked it out the way that he saw fit. Well, now we move on to this next story because Jesus continues on with his

journeys, and we talk about compassion. Verse 29 says this, Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, he was sitting there. And large crowds came to him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at his feet, and he healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

And Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now for three days and have nothing to eat, and I don't want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way. The disciples said to him, where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd? And Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have? And they said, seven and a few small fish.

And he directed the people to, and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and giving thanks, he broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were 4,000 men besides women and children. And sending away the crowds,

Jesus got into the boat and came in to the region of Magadan. Now, this story sounds really familiar, doesn't it? Almost like we've read this before, except it's a different story. And we know it's a different story because of a handful of things. Number one, it's in a different place. Number two, it's at a different time of year. Number three, the number of people is different. Number four, the amount of goods used to feed all

the people are different. And then, of course, number five, they picked up a different number of fragments. There are some liberals, liberal scholars who say, oh, it's the same story, the disciples are just exaggerating things. That's not true at all. It's a completely different story with completely different details. We call those two different things. So, what we see, first of all, is that Jesus has now left the region of Tyre and Sidon,

but he remains in a somewhat Gentile-dominated region. It says that, departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, he was sitting there. From other gospel accounts, we know that where he went to was known as the region of the Decapolis, which is 10 cities that were Roman-dominated, and in general, mainly Gentiles, or at least mixed between Jews and Gentiles. However, most scholars believe a predominantly Gentile area. So, interestingly enough, Jesus is still

among the people that all of the Jews would consider unclean, and he's going to minister there. And as Jesus shows up there on the mountain, it says he was sitting there. And as he's sitting there, it says, large crowds came to him, bringing with him, and it lists several different issues that the people were dealing with. Interesting, isn't it? Jesus is in another time where he was probably trying to get away a little

bit, and as he was trying to get away a little bit, crowds came to him, and they brought to him people that were in desperate need. And these people that were in desperate need had desperate physical ailments that they were dealing with, desperate physical things that they were dealing with. And it says that Jesus did something interesting with them. It says that these people were brought to Jesus, and at the very end of verse, they were brought to Jesus, and they were It gives one simple little explanation of what Jesus did. It says, and he healed them.

It's the only commentary we're given on what Jesus did with these crowds that showed up, and I find myself wondering, what did that look like? I would assume, I could be wrong, but I would assume that as Jesus is sitting on this mountainside, he simply is hanging out with the people, and one by one, another person brings someone to him that has some sort of an ailment. Someone brings someone up that can't walk themselves, and so they had to be killed. And so Jesus perhaps lays hands on one, and their legs are completely restored, and they're able to walk again. They bring someone who is blind, and as they bring someone who is blind to him, Jesus

somehow maybe touches his eyes or does something along those lines, and that one receives their vision. They bring someone along who is maimed, and perhaps Jesus even, if your theology can fit this, grows an arm back on them. I don't know. Jesus can do whatever he wants to do. They bring to him those who are mute, and perhaps Jesus touched their mouth or simply said, begin to speak, and they begin to speak. However he did all of this,

he healed all of these people, may I point out, most of which were probably Gentile by this point in time, most of which were probably the ones that most of the Jewish people didn't like that much, and yet Jesus was healing all of them. It reminds us a little bit about the fact that the gospel goes first to the Jews, but then also to the Gentiles. And while we don't always, in our culture, see as much of the physical healing that Jesus does, it does still take place, and I absolutely believe that if Jesus wants to do that, he'll still do that today in our day and age. I've seen it happen. But as I've mentioned time and again,

the greatest miracle that Jesus performs in anyone's life is the miracle of salvation, because that miracle of salvation is the miracle of salvation. It doesn't just restore lost limbs, restore the ability to walk, restore the ability to speak, the ability to see. It makes the dead alive. And in the same way that Jesus ministered to every single one of these people that came to him, he wants to do the same for all of the people that come to him now. He does whatever work he sees fit in their lives, and he heals them all.

But I want you to notice the result of the healing that takes place. Notice what it says. So, You know why I think it's important that Matthew pointed that out? Because if you remember, Jesus was a person who practiced what he preached. And what had Jesus told the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount? He said, Do your good works in such a way that men glorify,

your Father who is in heaven. Let your light so shine among men that they see your good works, and they glorify your Father who is in heaven. So if that's what Jesus told all of his followers to do, then what would all of the things that he was doing, what were they to do as well? They were to bring glory to the Father who is in heaven. And that's exactly what takes place,

is all of the people are going, God is so amazing because of the work of Jesus that's right here in front of us. And so, as Jesus is showing compassion on all of these people by healing the ones that are brought to him, he's in a somewhat remote region. I want you to notice what Jesus says. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

And I don't want to send them away hungry for they might faint on the way. Ah, another little difference between the feeding of the 5,000 and this feeding of the 4,000. Remember in the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples were like, Hey Jesus, we're hungry. Send these people away so that we can all get something to eat. Hey Jesus, we're hungry. Send these people away so that we can all get something to eat.

Hey Jesus, we're hungry. Send these people away so that we can all get something to eat. This time, Jesus is the one who says, but did you notice how he brought it up? Way different than the disciples. He goes, I feel compassion for these people. That word compassion is really fun. I wish I could pronounce the Greek word because it's like a sphagn, something or other.

But the idea is this, to be moved in one's bowels. That's what the word actually means, right? As a matter of fact, when they said that they were really hit with emotion at this point in time, they would say they feel it in their bowels, right? That sounds so much more awesome than I can feel it in my heart. Like no, I am so moved right now that my bowels can feel it, right?

Like that is some deep emotion, right? Like that's exactly what it meant. But the idea is this, he felt it so deeply that he was moved to action. Because honestly, that's really a pretty good definition for compassion. Moved so deeply that you have to do something. And so Jesus says, I feel compassion for the people because they've remained with me now three days.

Three days these people have been there. Like did they just set up camp? It's like a Christian healing Woodstock, right? Like this is the most amazing thing in the world. All these people hanging out for three days and Jesus just healing people left and right. Jesus goes, I feel like we should feed them something. They've been here for three days now. I'm afraid they'll faint if they try to walk home from here.

And of course, the disciples answer with the same kind of faith that the Canaanite woman had. And they said, where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd? You know, Jesus had to have gone. Don't you remember? Right? Like that's what I would have said. Remember that one time? Remember that one time I was all just like with all of the bread, right?

But he doesn't. It's so great. Jesus just asked him a question. The disciples were like, how are we going to do that? That seems hard. We don't have that kind of food here. So Jesus looks at him. He says, how many loaves do you have? I wish we had voice inflection here. Because if it's me and I'm saying it and I hear it in my head, I go, how many loaves do you have?

Like, right? Let's do this thing again. But I think Jesus probably just genuinely asked a question. Well, what do you have with you? Maybe we could make that work again. Jesus goes, how many loaves do you have? And they said, seven and a few small fish. And at some point in time, you would think one of the disciples would have gone, wait, we've seen this tree before.

I think he can do this. They don't. He says, seven and a few small fish. And he directed the people to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish, giving thanks, he broke them. And he started giving them to his disciples. And the disciples gave them to the people. I would have to think at some stage in the ballgame, as Jesus breaks the bread and starts handing it out, they're like, oh, we should have known.

We should have known. We should have known this is what was going to happen, right? Because they've seen this. And yet they were so forgetful. They were like, how do you not know? And yet, how many times are we just like the disciples? I've learned over the years to be a lot more gentle with these boys than I used to be. Because I've watched myself act the exact same way.

Where I'm like, but Lord, how are you going to take care of this one? I'm like, oh, wait, I remember. I remember that time. Jesus is very patient with them. He breaks the bread. He starts to distribute. Again, we don't know when the miracle happened, the breaking of the bread, the continual handing out of the bread, whatever it was. He begins to distribute.

Then in verse 37, it says, and they all ate and were satisfied. That word satisfied is the same word that would be used for the fatted calf, right? That's how satisfied they were. They were satisfied, as satisfied as a fattened calf. In other words, nobody could eat another bite. And then, of course, there were leftovers. It says, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces.

Seven large baskets full. Seven large baskets full. And it's a little bit different than the other one. There were 12 baskets left over in the other one. But the baskets that were left over in the other one were 12 small baskets. The idea here is these are very large baskets. And there's seven of them. There's seven of them that are left over. And so lots of leftovers because Jesus does exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think.

And those who ate were 4,000 men besides women and children. And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into a boat and came to the region of Magadan. Jesus' compassion was so great for the people that he looked at them and said, they need fed. So he took the little that the disciples had and with great compassion fed all of the people. So what do we take away from this story?

What's there for us to learn here? Four things. Number one, our memories are short. His patience is not. I don't think there's anything that does my heart as much good than to know that even though it is so easy for me to forget how faithful God is in my life, God continues to be patient with me. He continues to be patient with me and say, it's okay. I know you don't remember the way that I took care of you here.

I know you don't remember the way that I took care of you here. I know that you don't remember how well I cared for you here, but I'll continue to be patient with you because that's the kind of God that I am. It's a wonderful thing to go look at the end of the book of Deuteronomy and have Moses recount the journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness. Because one of the things he points out is he says, you don't even realize how well God cared for you through the wilderness.

Do you realize that all 40 years in the wilderness you never once went without a meal? You never once didn't have water. Your clothes didn't wear out. Your shoes didn't wear out. Everything was taken care of you. He said, but your eyes were blinded and you didn't see. But now I want you to see that you were in need of nothing that full 40 years. And in the same way that he cared for you in the wilderness, he'll care for you in the land.

Sometimes we don't see how much God is taking care of us. We don't see how faithful he's been in our lives. Sometimes we don't see how much God has taken care of us. he's been in our lives, but he is. And it's a wonderful thing when God begins to pull those little blinders of our flesh back and we can see, look how well he's taken care of me. I'll never doubt God again. And then it happens again and we're like, Lord, what are you going to do about

this one? And he says, same thing I do every time. I'm going to take care of you. Because even though our memories are short, his patience is not. Number two, compassion moves us to action. Compassion moves us to action. I wonder, and it's just a genuine question on my part, perhaps one that should do a little bit of searching in your own heart. When's the last time you allowed

something just to break your heart? Just to cause you pain, to hurt deep because you see what's going on in the life of somebody else. Listen, compassion is a gift that comes from the Lord, but it's absolutely the heart of our Savior. And he wants to see that same heart moved in us. Because what I find is that when I open up my heart to allow it to be broken for somebody around me, I have to do something. Sometimes it's

small. But this last week, all I've known to do is just to pray for people. To pray for all the folks that were involved in this situation down in Texas. My prayer always goes so much for the parents, the pastors, and the funeral home workers. Because those are the ones that I'm the most closely associated with in these kinds of situations. And all I know to do is just pray for them. And some people are like, there's got to be more than

prayer. We've got to have policy and action. Listen, you can do nothing but pray until you've prayed. Once you've prayed, you can do anything. But it always starts off there. But sometimes compassion has to move you to do something. Perhaps compassion will begin to move you to start to speak into the life of somebody else. Perhaps compassion will move you to provide a meal for somebody. Perhaps compassion will move you to

help somebody find a job or to give them the gospel message. Whatever it is, compassion always moves us to action. And Jesus was no different. His compassion continually moved him to action. Matter of fact, it's kind of interesting to see all those times throughout the gospels that says Jesus felt compassion. And then it is always, followed by, and so he, and there was some sort of an action that took place.

Compassion always moves us to that. Number three, compassion must extend beyond our borders. Compassion must extend beyond our borders. I think it's so easy for us to get into our own world. I think it's easy for us as a church to get stuck in our own world. And I think it's easy for us as individuals to get stuck in our own world. And I talk to the people that I talk to, I don't ever

get outside of that world. One of the things that we saw Jesus do today in both of these stories is that Jesus got outside of the Jewish world. And as Jesus got outside of the Jewish world, compassion extended beyond the borders of the nation of Israel. I think that's an important thing for us to do because it's a little bit of a scary thing to get outside of our own little world. It's a

little bit of a scary thing to get outside of our own little walls. But listen, that's where the lost people are, right? That's where the people in need are is they're outside of our borders sometimes. Not necessarily our national borders, although there's a lot of those too, but they're outside of the borders that you live in. Because all of us get stuck inside these little borders

where we say, I don't really get outside of this particular group. They look different than me. They smell different than me. They talk different than me. They act different than me. Therefore, I don't go there. Listen, if compassion is moving in your heart, you will find that it pushes you outside of your norm. It pushes you outside of those borders. I always like to ask

people this question. Who do you find yourself the most averted to? Who do you find yourself avoiding the most? What type of people? Perhaps that's who needs the most compassion. Perhaps those are the people who are in the most desperate need because they're just a little bit outside of our border. They're just a little bit outside of our comfort zone. That's what compassion extends to. And then number four, a heart of compassion

comes from time with our Savior. I did a quick search of this word to see who talked about the word compassion the most. And do you know who brings up the word compassion the most in their gospel accounts? It's actually Matthew. Matthew uses it five times. Mark uses it four times. Luke only two times. And I found it interesting that Matthew uses this word five times. And only one

time is it because Jesus says it. All the other times is because Matthew is noting it about Jesus. Now, follow me here for just a minute. Who was Matthew before he came to know Jesus? Matthew was a tax collector. What's the least compassionate thing that you can imagine being at that point in time? Now, listen, if you work for the IRS, I think you're a compassionate person. I have no issue with you. But at this

point in time, tax collectors were allowed to keep anything above and beyond the taxes that they collected from the people. Therefore, tax collectors robbed. The people. Can you imagine a little mother who's trying to take care of her kids because her husband's died and comes to the tax collector, you owe X amount of dollars. But last time it was only this. He goes, prices went up. We're building the nation back better. It's going to be more

expensive. And the prices are going up. This is what you got to give me, right? And so as he does that, he can look this woman in the eye and see that he's charging me. He's charging me. He's more than he should have. But he doesn't care. He doesn't care what it costs her because all he does is he's filling his own pockets. I think that probably one of the least compassionate of

the disciples was Matthew because of who he was before. And yet who brings up the compassion of Jesus more than any of the other writers? Matthew does. Why? Because the thing that changed in the heart of Matthew the most is he had a heart of compassion. Why? Because he had so witnessed it with the way that his Savior acted, with the way that Jesus was. And I

think that the reason why Matthew notes it so much is because that was so far from who he was. And the more he spent time with Jesus, the more he was just like, he's so full of compassion. He's so full of compassion for me. He's so full of compassion for these people. He's so full of love for the people that are around him. And it showed in the way that he wrote. Brothers and sisters, I want us to know

something. Right now, it is so easy for us to close up our hearts, to close our eyes, and to just hide away from all of the pain that we're seeing in the world right now. I don't know how many times I have found myself thinking, I just don't want to talk about it anymore. I just don't want to think about it anymore. I don't want to see people in pain. I don't want to deal with all this anymore

because sometimes it just hurts. Friends, don't run from it. Don't pretend it's not happening because the world is going to change. The world is hopeless right now, and they need a heart of compassion that comes only from time spent with a Savior. I had a bunch of old junk metal in my backyard, so I took it up to the scrap metal place up in Winfield. Real nice guys up there. I sold some scrap metal there. He weighed it. I unloaded

it. I said, how much is scrap metal going for now? He told me, and prices almost dropped in half in two weeks. He goes, they're still charging you just as much for brand new, but they're paying you less for the used stuff because they can make more money that way. We were talking about the things going on in the world, and he said, everything just feels so in upheaval right now. He goes, sometimes it just

feels hopeless. That's talking to a scrap metal guy about scrap metal, right? That's how the whole world feels right now. The whole world is in need of believers in Jesus Christ that have hearts of compassion that hurt so bad that they're moved to action. But listen, you can't work up that kind of heart in yourself. You go start spending time with this Savior. You go start spending time with

this Jesus, this Jesus who felt so much compassion for us that he laid aside his glory to come down and dwell among us and die a death that rightfully belonged to us. You start spending time with that Savior, and you'll find that that compassion will start to move in your hearts. You'll find that that compassion will begin to move you to action. And instead of turning off your heart, you'll start off the news. You'll say, that hurts. I better start praying for those people. That hurts. I better

start ministering to those people. That hurts. They'll never make it home. I need to provide something for them. But the only thing I have to give them is Jesus. Let's all stand. As the worship team comes up to do this last song, I would ask that you would allow that work of the Holy Spirit to do what it needs to in your heart. Perhaps you are kind of like this woman, this Canaanite woman, and you feel like Jesus is silent right now.

You feel like you've been bringing all the same things to him, and it just feels like he's not moving. You want to see him move. You've been praying that he'll move, but quite frankly, it feels like he's ignored you. I want you to know that you need to remain humble, persistent, and keep that faith in Jesus. Perhaps you're feeling like your heart has been a little bit closed off

to people. And it's time to gain that heart of compassion. Brothers and sisters, it's time to pray that God would move, that God would move your heart to feel for those people that are around you. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you, and I just thank you for the time that's been in your word this morning. Lord, I want to lift up the heart of every person that's here

this morning and just ask that you would move as you see fit. Lord, whichever area or both areas that need work and Akbar, try and allow that great person to pray for you. God, I want you to move that heart of compassion. I want you to pray that God would move your heart to feel for those that are around you. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you, and I just thank you for the

lives that you would do what needs to be done draw us near to you keep us humble before you may we spend time with our Savior learning exactly what it means to live a life of love and compassion father we thank you and just pray that you would continue the work that you've begun in here this morning in Jesus name amen be blessed I Jesus Lord there is none like you all of my days I want to praise the wonders of your blood refuse string let every breath all that I am never cease to majesty praises bow down and the seas will roar thank you Lord you keep your promises you love us you're faithful we give you thanks and praise father give us a blessed week in you Lord and what come what may Lord we look to you and

trust you the author and finisher of our faith in Jesus name Amen Lord bless y'all