"The Children's Bread"

Mark 7:25-30

25        For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

26        The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

27        But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

28        And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

29        And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

30        And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.                                                                                              (KJV)

There are certain patterns in the scripture that we should learn from.  A pattern is a prototype of something that is an original.  It is something that should be followed that becomes the standard for measurement.  Anything and everything of value has been or will be measured at some point in its process.  Unfortunately we live in a world and a society that doesn’t want anything that is absolute.  I personally believe that the word of God is absolute and its patterns will measure us if we will simply submit.  There are something’s we must know and other things we already know but there are times when we do not act as if we remember them.  Today I want to stir up your pure mind by the way of remembrance and to do that I want to begin with some relevant questions.  

Are you ready?  Here we go … Do you believe you have a purpose for being on the planet? Yes or No?  With purpose comes responsibility and accountability …would you agree?  Have you been delivered from anything?  What is it that you have been delivered from?  Most of us know Him as Savior but very few acknowledge Him as Lord so I want to discuss the concept of Lordship.  

In our text even Jesus is seeking a place of rest because He was exhausted physically and spiritually.  All of us must find a place of rest and this must become the place where we cease from our labors and we enter the rest that is only found in the Lord.  Jesus is seen deliberately withdrawing to the boarders of a Gentile country because He needed time to prepare Himself & His disciples for what was ahead.  No self respecting Jew was apt to enter a Gentile area like Tyre which was the capitol of Phoenicia and was immediately north of Judaea.  Please let me make it clear that there is a time to labor and a time to rest.  In the church we have convinced everyone that we must be working or we are not successful.  God even rested when He finished His creation.

I want us to see the picture: Jesus is trying to rest and He is interrupted by a Gentile woman as she starts out with three strikes against her:
   1. She is a Gentile – one of the 7 nations driven out of the promise land
   2. She is a woman

   3. She is interrupting His rest

But when you get desperate enough; when your need is greater than the humiliation, when your need is more important than protocol, when you need requires extreme measures, you will do whatever needs to be done.  She knew Jesus was a Jew and she was a Gentile and that they were enemies.  She also knew that she may find rejection from Him but she was willing to take a risk since she had already rejected by her culture because of her daughter’s condition.  Desperate situations require desperate measures.

There are four things I want you to see here about Jesus Lordship: 
1. Jesus listened to her cry – He didn’t have to but He did

She “begged” Jesus to heal her daughter.  The word “besought” means she literally, “begged” Him to heal her demon possessed daughter.  We must understand that she did not know who He really was because she had limited understanding of who He was.  But it did not stop her because she was desperate.  Here is the point I want us to see: Jesus begins leading her through a process that would lead her to Lordship.  We know Him as Savior because He saved us but we have not fully embraced Him as Lord in our lives.  I will talk more about that in a few minutes.

The second thing He did was:                                          

2. He stressed the need for humility to those that are rejected                                        

Jesus said two things to her that would seem to be rather harsh.  With the Holy Spirits help I want to bring some understanding to what He said and why … are you ready? Jesus said “Let the children be filled first”.  He was saying that the Jews who were God’s chosen people must be reached first.  Please understand that He was not rejecting her only stating what she already knew and what was common knowledge to both people groups.  Jesus had primarily came to the house of Israel that was His ministry purpose to affect and change them.  Yet this woman would learn a couple of things from this and also it would be used by the enemy as a stumbling block for generations to come.  There are some things we can learn from her here.  She learned persistence, humility, and trust.  She also learned that there was only one true religion and one true Messiah … No doubt she worshiped idols.  She must learn to recognize Him not just for the miracles but His Lordship – He was the ONLY hope she really had.

Jesus also said:  “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dog’s”?  I admit that statement bothered me for many years as it did not seem consistent with the character of God and His nature.  So what does this really mean and why did He say it?  The words appear to be harsh but I do not believe He is harsh at all. Sometimes truth appears to be harsh but the motive that is used when it is spoken carries a lot of weight with translation.  I have searched the scripture and never found where Jesus ever rejected anyone.  Even the religious people … He corrected them which they took as rejections but He did not reject them.  So why would He say this to her?  May I propose she had to be moved from her current view of Him to a new opinion of Him.  Her faith was based on what she heard about him not what she personally knew about Him.  This was about developing and growing her faith.

The third thing I want you to see about Jesus here is: 
3. Jesus led the woman to persist and believe

How do I know that?  Look at her own profession when she was confronted with truth.  She admits that she is nothing and accepts the position as a dog from the Jews view point.  However being a dog in the family of humanity entitled her to at least the crumbs that fell from the table of the children.  I want you to see this … it is critical that you do: 

In verse 28: 

And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 

Did you see it? She calls Him – LORD and says yes … in agreement.  This is the point in time when you receive Him as Lord and things change about how you see Him and How you serve Him.  The way you see Him is the way you will treat Him!

Romans 10:9-10

9          That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10        For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (KJV)

A dog was a symbol of dishonor which referred to the wild dogs, the scavenging dogs of the streets.  Calling people a dog in Jesus day was a common practice and it was thought to be a term of insult and contempt.  That is to say that a Gentile was a Gentile dog, an infidel dog.  Later in history Christians were Christian dogs.  But you must see this and know that the word Jesus used for dog was not referring to the dog that came from the street but of the house pet kind, one that was part of the family and cared for and provided for.  The fact that the woman persisted to ask Him is an indication that it was not the same as we have thought.  In fact the word in the Greek indicates a little puppy.   How many know that you don’t look at a puppy the same way you look at a dog?  It is my opinion that Jesus used the word to see what was in her, to stir and activate her nature.  It was a test of her sincerity if you please.  She did not run off but was so desperate for her daughters healing that she would endure whatever it took.  Endure, persevere, and see what the Lord will do!

         

The fourth and finally thing I want us to see here today is:
4. Jesus met her need                                                                                                                  

He cast the devil out of her daughter because she would not quit or stop UNTIL!  There are crumbs that fall from the table every time you eat.  Have you ever tried to eat while you are driving?  Every time you eat in a car crumbs fall.  Every time you eat in church crumbs fall.  Here is the question … what is falling from your table that others who are hungry can pick up?  When He becomes Lord in and over our lives we will change how we approach Him and how we respond to Him.  There is a diet for your destiny and you are not what you eat but rather what you digest.  The church has become cream puffs – soft – looking good – want to taste good.  But what has happened to the prophetic alignment of son and daughters who are children of the Lord of the house?

That is to say: 

    When you don’t act like Jesus

    When you don’t talk like Jesus

    When you don’t walk like Jesus

    When you don’t respond like Jesus   - He is NOT the Lord of your life

Jesus said: “I am the bread of Life”. God help us!  The church in America is anemic, malnourished, and dehydrated.  People every Sunday are setting at tables without food and especially meat wanting a trained professional to do everything for them. 


There are three types of people in the church:           

1. Those with such a big ego they think I am talking about everyone but them today

2. Those that really don’t want to be delivered because they like where they are 
3. Those that have already been or are in the process of being delivered

Deliver us today Lord!