Becoming a People of Prayer: A Sermon for the New Year

Lord, we thank you that you are here, and though we cannot see you, you're invisible, we long to behold you and to know you.

Father, I pray that you would speak through your word through me, your servant, today.

That you would grow within us an awe of who you are and a love for you and a holy fear of you,

that we might more completely and perfectly know you and love you and walk with you.

Lord, speak for your children are listening. In Jesus' name, amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

On November 13th, I was cruising through town from one event to another, and I arrived at Dig and Delve, a conference I know a lot of us were at.

And I was met as I came in by Richard Long, who a lot of you know, and he was like,

Daniel, did you hear? We need to be praying for Paris.

And I was just like, what are you talking about?

And he was all distraught, and a lot of people were looking at their phones.

And I'm always on my phone. I'm always keeping up with the news.

But I'd been away from my phone for like 20 minutes because I'm still a new driver, so I still obey the laws of the road.

And so I hadn't looked on my phone while I was driving, and I'd missed that the Western world was just smashed by these terrorist attacks in Paris.

And it really affected a lot of us.

All around the globe, people were, myself included, changing our Facebook profile pictures to the picture of the French flag over our picture.

I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about.

And the most commonly hashtag thing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that weekend, about 70 to 90 million hashtags, was pray for Paris.

Hashtag pray for Paris.

And as that weekend went on, and everyone and everywhere, non-Christians, Christians, people of faith, people of no faith, hashtag pray for Paris,

it hit me that we were all saying that.

I think that alliteration was compelling.

But I didn't know how many of us were actually doing that.

So we organized an impromptu prayer meeting for our church called Pray for Paris.

And as we put that together, people from the church mentioned to me, whether by email or just through people, mentioned, like, why are we just praying for Paris?

Over the same weekend, there was terrorist attacks in Nairobi.

Over the same weekend, there were some horrific natural disasters in other parts of the world.

I mean, Paris has the media attention.

We're all hashtag praying for Paris.

But the rest of the world is on fire as well.

And I really appreciated that feedback.

And so at that prayer meeting, we didn't just pray for Paris.

We prayed for so many different things of the brokenness around the world.

And what hit me was that even as so many of us around the world of the 70 to 90 million hashtag pray for Paris people,

so many of us, whether they were people of faith or not, knew that we had to pray not just for what was going on in Paris,

but for stuff around the world when it really came down to it.

But at the same time, like so many people, and I'm sure others in the church, I'm not the only one,

that struggled to actually live out what we were saying, which was that we should be praying.

And since then, I started praying more about that and our church.

And I knew I was going to get to preach a New Year sermon today.

And so as I was praying about what to preach about, what began to be put on my heart was to preach a sermon on prayer

that would help cast 2016 as a year that our church becomes an even more prayerful church.

And so as I was doing that, I started listening to various sermons and stuff on prayer.

And I got to hear a really, really, really good talk in many ways from an older man on prayer.

And he was just driving home how often in the Bible when it speaks about a revival and a spiritual awakening

and justice coming to the land and all of these things,

the thing that the Bible is calling for there is for prayer.

Famously, I think it's 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 says that if God's people who are called by his name

2 Chronicles 7:14

will humble themselves and pray and seek his face, then he will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

It was spoken specifically to the people of Israel, but the concept remains that

if we long to see the world become a more whole place, that what we need, what is called for is prayer.

Prayer. And I know that our church, this is a church that loves the scriptures.

We have, I'm not usually the one preaching, usually it's George.

He's an incredible preacher.

And I think that's why a lot of people come to this church, because we love the scriptures.

And in our Bible studies, even in our Sunday school with the kids, we're teaching the word.

We love the word.

And this older man in the talk I was listening to was saying,

this guy, he loves great preaching too.

And he says, you know, the scriptures are so important and we need to know them and to obey them.

But he said, look, that passage on calling for revival is not calling for better preachers.

It was calling for prayer.

And he was saying, this was a talk back in like the 70s or the 60s.

And he was saying, you know, we've never had so many well-qualified and excellent preachers.

And he was listing off the famous preachers of the day.

And he said, but look at America.

He's American.

Look at America.

And he was talking about the deep brokenness happening in the country.

And America and Canada were on this path toward even greater brokenness through the sexual revolution and all of that at that time.

He said, we're having great preachers, but he was calling for prayer.

And as I was listening to this and wondering if that was the passage I would preach on,

one of the things that began to hit me was that in his words, the very things he was saying,

and often the way that I approach trying to become a more prayerful person is to try to keep on more and more guilt to see,

to make myself a more prayerful person.

And so Shirley, our communications assistant at the church and I started meeting for one week

as I was trying to get ready for the sermon every morning before we started work to pray for God,

to help me put together a message on prayer and to help our church become more prayerful.

And as we began praying before God, asking for his help, not just for the church as a whole, but for ourselves,

it began to hit us that so often the way we approach becoming more prayerful is by just trying to willpower

or guilting ourselves into it and all of that.

And so instead, the passage I'm preaching on is a passage that's not really even on prayer.

It's this really broken, raw, I think beautiful passage of a woman who is crying out to Jesus for help.

And I think that though this is in no way an exhaustive sermon on prayer and the reasons we need to be praying

and the ways to pray and all of that stuff,

there's just a little glimpse of something in this passage we're looking at this morning

that I think will help all of us thrive as a church evermore becoming a prayerful church.

So I'm going to read the short text again and then we'll go through it more slowly.

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying,

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

But Jesus did not answer her word.

And his disciples came and begged him, saying,

Send her away, for she's crying out after us.

Jesus answered,

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But she came and knelt before him, saying,

Lord, help me.

And he answered,

It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

She said,

Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered her,

A woman, great is your faith.

Be it done for you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed instantly.

The first thing that struck me as I was reading through this

and seeing what lessons we can learn from this broken mother of a demon-possessed daughter

is the faithfulness in her endurance in crying out to Jesus.

It doesn't just say that in verse 22 that she cried out,

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

But it said she was crying.

That means she was saying this over and over and over again.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

She's crying out and she's crying out.

And the whole time she's crying out,

Jesus is not saying a word.

He's ignoring her.

I don't know if I'm the only one who's ever gone to give someone a high five

and they don't give you a high five back.

It's called standing you up.

At least back in grade school, that was really embarrassing.

And not just for kids.

That's embarrassing for any of us.

When you're crying out to someone,

when you're trying to get someone's attention

and they're just ignoring you.

That hurts.

That's embarrassing.

And that hurts if it's just like you're in the car cruising through town

and you go to give the person beside you a high five with your other hand

and drive safely.

But you're driving and if it's just you and them,

that'd be embarrassing.

But to be crying out in front of a crowd of people

and to have Jesus who you're crying out to just ignoring you,

that is really embarrassing.

That is profoundly discouraging.

I know that for so many of us,

when it seems like God is not hearing us,

I know at least for myself,

I then stop praying about it.

And so the first thing I hope that this passage will help for us

is that for those of us who have been burdened for things

that we've been praying for

and we haven't seen God answer us,

it seems that he's been silent,

that this passage would reawaken our going to God in prayer,

our endurance.

For some of us in the room,

I think it's family members that we have believed for

and prayed for that they would come to know Jesus

and years have gone by and they haven't.

And it's just so easy to think,

this person is never giving their life to the Lord

and just to stop praying about it.

I know for others of us in this congregation,

you have prayed for and advocated for big issues,

for the vulnerable,

regarding human trafficking, sexual abuse, abortion,

for years and years,

decades longer than I've been alive.

And you haven't seen things get better in Canada.

In fact, in many ways, they've gotten worse.

It's so easy, it's so much easier

to just not pray about that stuff anymore

because it's so hard to pray for those things

when we don't see God answering.

I just want to encourage you as your brother in the Lord

from this passage to keep on praying for those things.

God doesn't promise he's going to answer

the way we want him to answer,

but just like this woman, to keep on praying.

I don't know what the story would have been like

if this woman, like I have been,

just stopped praying for those things,

just let it trail off.

But I'm so thankful for the sake of her daughter

and for her own sake that she kept on crying out

and crying out and crying out.

Now, she's crying out.

It's bad.

She's being ignored by Jesus.

It's not what I'd expect from Jesus.

Probably not what she expected from him.

And then it gets worse.

The followers of Jesus, his disciples,

begin saying to Jesus, send her away.

If being ignored isn't bad enough,

now his followers are saying, send her away.

At this point, most people stop following Jesus

or just want nothing to do with them.

I know that because of the amount of people that say,

I'm not a Christian, not because I don't like Christ,

but because I don't like Christians.

I don't like the followers of Jesus.

But this woman is just like,

Noah, it doesn't matter how much of a tool

these people are who follow him

and who are his, I need him.

And so she kept on going after him.

Let us not be discouraged by how brutal

other Christians or even ourselves can be,

but let us look to Jesus and endure in faith.

She's crying out.

She's crying out.

It's even embarrassing having them

saying in front of others, like, send her away.

She doesn't let up.

And then finally, Jesus, the one who she needs

and who she's crying out to and looking to

for her answer, opens his mouth.

The expectation in her heart at that point.

It's like you're going for so long through a dark tunnel

and finally you see a light at the end of the tunnel.

And the light is not even stationary.

It's coming towards you.

Your rescue is coming.

Jesus opens his mouth to speak and bam,

it's not a light, it's a train.

It just flattens her.

Send, his words are,

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

That's verse 24.

She's crying out, crying out.

So faithful, so faithful.

People pushing her away.

She's crying out and then he opens his mouth.

I'm not here for you.

And her answer is, her reply is unbelievable.

Verse 25.

But she came and knelt before Jesus.

The one who's ignoring her,

the one who just said, I'm not here for you.

And she kneels down and says, Lord, help me.

This gets right to what prayer is all about.

In that we often approach,

I've often approached prayer, if I'm honest,

as if it's some type of Christian magic.

Magic is not like a non-Christian prayer.

Magic is the opposite of what prayer is.

Because in magic, you're trying to assert your mastery

over the spiritual and physical universe,

to manipulate it to get what you want.

It's putting yourself as Lord over creation.

But in prayer, you're looking to the one,

in her words, Lord.

You're looking to the king of the universe saying,

would you do this?

Could you do this?

Please do this.

By virtue of that, you're acknowledging

you're not the master of the universe.

You're not able to manipulate the universe.

You're looking to him who can,

who is in charge.

It's the reverse of magic.

And this is important for us because

so often when we start trying to become more prayerful,

we begin to kind of key into these like stuff

that's not biblical about how we can get God

to bring his kingdom, his revival,

his breakthrough, his healing,

whatever it is we're looking to him for.

And we begin like in some different denominations

have their key words.

If you just pray this way,

for some of us who are in some more certain circles,

it's like if I pray loud enough,

if I pray with enough passion.

I've been at prayer meetings where people are like,

hey, we need to pray louder.

And so people start being, dear God,

and they're just passionate.

And you'll be like, that was a great prayer meeting.

Why was it a great prayer meeting?

Because we pray loud enough.

And it's just like if we pray with enough enthusiasm,

then God will rend the heavens and come down

as if we can yell our way to getting God

to do what he wants us to do.

For others, it's actually a reverence thing.

I got rebuked earlier this year

when I was on a missions trip

and I was praying in the view of some as too casually.

And it's like, no, you need to speak with,

they legit said, you need to speak with these and vows.

I was like, then God will hear.

I'm like, what are you saying?

And if you believe that, talk with me after.

I'll fight you.

There's not magic words to try to get God

to do what he wants us to do.

She's just looking to him.

At the Pray for Parish prayer meeting,

at one part, we started praying through Psalm 2

as a way we'd read the words.

You know, why do the nations conspire

and the people apply in vain?

And so we were praying, God, right now,

this is what's happening.

The nations, people are conspiring

to destroy innocent lives.

And we're just praying through the Bible.

And sometimes when we hear people doing that,

it can make us feel like,

oh, I don't know if I can pray so fancy.

I don't know if I can pray the Bible like that

or pray like Owen Ripley in his most beautiful way.

But this woman's prayer is simply,

Lord, help me.

Just humility, just looking to God

with the words that she has,

looking to him for help.

And sometimes it's not so much

about the words that we say,

but we think that if we can do the right stuff,

then we can get God to answer prayers.

I know that this church sacrificed so very much

when we left St. Albans

and left our name, left our building,

sacrificed so much and came to this place.

And I say we, but I wasn't even part of that sacrifice.

I came later.

But many of you, you gave up so much

of security and comfort

and so much of the beauty of that name

we had for so long

and having our own building

and all of that stuff.

And you sacrificed so much.

And I've been told that there is,

for a lot of us,

a belief that in sacrificing all these things

and being so faithful to the scriptures

and being so faithful to God

that he would give us a building.

And it's something that is still in the hearts

of many of you.

And so you're praying for a building.

I've joined you in praying

that God would give us a building if it's his will.

But the years have gone by

and no building has come.

And it can be really, really discouraging.

But I want to encourage you,

if it's still in your heart,

to pray for a building,

to keep praying for it.

But also to remind you

that no amount of sacrifice

on our part as a church

puts God in our debt

to give us something that we long for.

For others, it's like,

if I just live a very chaste, pure life,

if I am faithful in my spiritual disciplines,

if I pursue the Lord,

if I'm content in his goodness,

if I walk in purity,

then he will give me the woman

or the guy of my dreams.

But no amount of being faithful

in any of those things

will get you those things that you long for

and you dream of and you're praying for.

And if that is your attitude,

if this woman had a sense of entitlement,

like I've been so faithful crying out,

I've been so faithful.

I'm looking to Jesus

when my fellow Canaanites are looking to pagans,

like God, surely you're gonna help me.

And if that was her attitude

when Jesus says,

I'm not here to help you,

then if it's entitlement that you're going for

and you see that he is not tracking

with your sense of entitlement,

then you're not getting on your knees.

You're leaving.

You're peacing out.

I know this is true

because I've lost many friends to this,

specifically the one regarding relationships.

I've seen people faithfully following God

as single people

for years and years and years.

And as the years go on,

God doesn't come through

for the thing that they're praying for,

for that godly spouse.

And so they walk away from the faith

in bitterness and disappointment.

And I want to encourage you,

it doesn't matter what we've done

that is so awesome,

we never put God in our debt.

This woman, she does not approach Jesus

in any sense of entitlement,

though there's urgency,

but no entitlement.

It's a profound humility

as she gets on her knees.

And it says,

Lord, help me.

I pray for such humility for myself.

Before moving on,

there's another thing

as she says,

Lord, help me.

She's actually advocating for her daughter.

And I'm sure that there would be

some help to her

if her daughter wasn't demon-possessed.

But I don't think when she says,

Lord, help me,

it's like, Lord,

I don't want to have to stay up

through sleepless nights anymore.

Like, help me

because I, you know,

it will help me

if you help my daughter.

Like, I just need some relief.

I really believe

that she's so closely identified

with the plight of her daughter

that as she petitions Jesus,

she seamlessly switches out

from saying,

Lord, help my daughter.

And she's just saying,

Lord, help me.

She's so closely identified

with the vulnerability

of her daughter

that's become her own cause.

And you'll see this

as a pattern of prayer

throughout the scriptures.

Famously, Daniel,

in Daniel chapter 9,

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

he's repenting for the sins

and he's repenting,

confessing as if it's his own sin.

For the sin of the people of Israel.

And you see that he is,

in his praying for the people of Israel,

he ends up identifying so closely,

like this woman,

he's saying,

basically,

Lord, forgive me.

Lord, help me.

Or Lord, forgive us.

Lord, help us.

Even though it's them,

in a sense,

that he's praying for forgiveness for.

And this isn't the kind of thing

that you can just muster up

if you just try a little harder.

But as we begin

to increasingly seek God in prayer

for all manner of brokenness in our lives,

whether it is a personal pain

or it is regarding

the most vulnerable Canadians

or it's regarding people in Paris

or whatever it is,

there is a sense

that you may discover

that you're yourself

beginning to pray like that.

And that's a biblical thing to do

where you're so closely identifying with them

that it becomes your own cause.

She's on her knees.

She's so humble.

Lord, help me.

Verse 26.

And he answered,

it is not right

to take the children's bread

and throw it to the dogs.

Reading what other theologians

and other pastors say about this,

I find that this makes people

very, very uncomfortable.

How is Jesus?

Who, like the scripture says

that God is love.

Jesus is God.

Jesus is love.

How does Jesus say such a thing?

And so you have theologians saying

maybe in the original language

it's possible that

it wasn't actually the word dog.

It could have been translated

as puppy maybe.

So he's like,

it's not right to give the children's bread

to puppies.

Like good academic theologians saying

like maybe this explains

how Jesus said this.

Now, I'm not an anthropologist,

but it seems that whatever culture

or language you're looking at,

comparing a woman to a canine

is not actually like an endearing term.

It's not like,

it's not like,

oh, my little cookie.

Like it's,

he just compared her to a dog

in the context of

I'm not here to help the dogs.

It,

and as I was reading that

and praying through that,

it began to hit me that

that when people are going through

really tough, tough stuff,

the kind of stuff that it seems

like God is ignoring you

or it seems like,

it really seems as if God himself

is calling you a dog.

When my friends have,

have gone through

a deep,

horrific abuse,

it,

it seems as if God is so far away

or even worse,

like,

like he's crushing them.

That's what it seems.

And,

and people will say

with the best intentions,

maybe you or I have even said

the kind of thing,

like one day you'll understand.

It doesn't make sense now,

but you'll understand.

I don't know if this woman

or,

or theologians

2,000 years later

ever get to understand

why Jesus said what he said,

but we know that he said it.

I really don't think this woman

will ever get to understand

why Jesus said what he said.

She just knew that he said it.

But somehow,

despite,

despite what was happening

in that current context,

she still knew something of Jesus.

That though she didn't understand

what he was doing

or why he was doing it

or how if he's in control,

these bad things can be happening

to her daughter

and all of that stuff,

she isn't going anywhere else

but Jesus.

Somehow,

she understands that

despite everything that's happening,

despite what she's hearing

from Jesus,

she has this incredible faith

that he is powerful,

that his love is steadfast.

That he is powerful

and his love is steadfast.

I'll prove it to you

in a minute,

but first,

why was she with Jesus

when she could have been

pursuing someone else?

Maybe there was a,

maybe she had a really kind mom

or maybe there was some lovely,

like,

I don't know,

there's kind,

lovely people in every culture,

but she wasn't with them,

she was with Jesus

because she needed someone

that just didn't care

about her daughter.

She needed someone with power

to do something about it.

But why was she with Jesus

pursuing him

when she was a Canaanite

and the Canaanites

had their own gods

and they believed

that their gods had power

and they had people who,

like,

witch doctor type people

who showed

this,

this types of power,

who, like,

actually could legit

use witchcraft to do things

and she's not following them.

She's following,

pursuing Jesus.

Why is that?

Because the Canaanite gods

were known for power

but not known for kindness

and mercy

and love.

And she knew that,

like,

in that context

that a demon-possessed girl,

like,

to us it would,

it would look something akin to,

we might just write it off

as, like,

special needs of some kind.

And in that culture,

someone with that

is more than taboo.

They're more than an Ocast.

They are to be,

they are,

in many cases,

they would bring out

their children

and have them be just,

like,

killed by neglect

off in,

like,

a desert place

trying to hide them

from everyone

so they would not be

associated with their kid,

the very kid she's identifying

with so closely.

So she knows

the Canaanite gods

might have power

but they're not,

they're not loving.

She knows that

there's others

who might be loving

but they don't have power.

She has this confidence

that Jesus

is the one of power

and of love

and she's not going

anywhere else.

And you'll see that

elsewhere where,

in John chapter 6,

John 6 · chapter mention

Jesus is, again,

saying things that,

that people don't understand

why he's saying it

and it seems bizarre

and kind of whack

and so he's talking

about eating his flesh

and drinking his blood

and people are like,

that's messed up

and so a lot of people

who were following him

begin leaving.

And,

and Jesus turns to Peter

and says,

are you going to leave too?

And Peter's response is,

where else can I go?

You alone have the words of life.

And that's what kept Peter

following Jesus

and I think that's what kept

this woman pursuing him.

She,

I'm sure that she would have

loved to go somewhere else

that would have been more polite

and less embarrassing

and,

and gotten her what she wanted

more quickly

but she has this attitude

of,

there's nowhere else I can go.

He,

you alone have the words of life.

She,

she knows he's both powerful

and that he's loving.

And,

and I'll prove that to you

in a second

of how we know that,

not just by,

but how we actually know

that she believed that.

But first there's,

as she cries out to him

in such humility,

I am in awe of,

verse 27,

yes Lord,

yet even the dogs

eat the crumbs

that fall from their

master's table.

Yes Lord,

yet even the dogs

eat the crumbs

that fall from the master's table.

She's saying,

yeah,

sure,

I'm a dog,

but,

but even your crumbs

are enough.

Your crumbs,

there's life in your,

even in your crumbs.

There is,

there is salvation

and rescue for my daughter

even in your crumbs.

So,

I'm a dog,

give me the crumbs.

And Jesus answers her,

oh woman,

great is your faith.

Be it done for you

as you desire.

He gives her

that thing

that she's been advocating for.

He doesn't always promise

that he'll do that for us,

but,

but she in,

in this incredible,

vulnerable,

broken place

gets to encounter Jesus

in a way that

no one else around her

got to.

Like,

there were so many people,

I'm sure that they all

had various areas

of brokenness in me

and they're following Jesus

and they loved him

for the miracles

and for the bread

and all these things.

They were big fans of Jesus,

but,

but this woman gets to actually

encounter him.

She,

others are seeing him

and knowing about him,

but she actually gets to know him

in this intimate way.

And as I was looking at my own life

of things that I,

I shy away from praying for,

I,

I think I'm not alone

in being someone,

that there are topics

that I don't want to go pray for

anymore

because I'm afraid

that if I go there,

it's just going to be

too vulnerable.

It's just going to be

too painful.

And this woman

does not shy away

from going to that place

of deep vulnerability

and pain.

When we were at the

Pray for Paris prayer meeting,

like,

there was,

like,

four of us

at the church office

praying.

And we started off

with,

like,

praying Psalm 2,

just praying exactly

what's there.

Like,

oh Lord,

why do the nations conspire

with the people's

Paul and Vain?

That's what's happening,

Jesus.

Would you come

and bring your peace?

And then toward the end,

it talks about the King,

the promised one,

Jesus,

being on the throne.

And my prayers went

from this,

like,

really,

like,

positive stuff

that,

like,

to,

I found myself

praying things

that I was starting

to be like,

oh my goodness,

like,

Shirley and Ross

are going to start

thinking,

like,

I'm some heretic.

Because I started

praying,

like,

Jesus,

your word says

you're on the throne,

but it doesn't seem

like you're on the throne.

Your word says that,

God,

you're a good father,

but it doesn't seem

like you're a good father

right now.

helpless father

who might be good,

but can't help us.

Or it seems like

you're a really cruel father

allowing this stuff

to happen.

And I'm starting

praying these things,

I'm like,

what am I saying?

Like,

I'm on staff at this church,

I can't say stuff like that.

I'm paid to be positive,

you know?

But,

it's a very biblical thing

to pray those very

raw prayers.

The Psalms,

a third of the 150 Psalms,

I'm not going to math,

but it's a lot of Psalms,

are filled with prayers

like that.

They're saying,

God,

how long will you

forsake us?

God,

in Psalm 88,

like,

darkness is a better friend

than God,

is basically what he says.

He's crying out

with bringing the fullness

of their pain

and their brokenness

and their vulnerability

to God.

I want to encourage us

as a church

not to shy away

from those areas

that are so painful,

so raw to bring to God.

Because as she brought

that stuff to God,

as she brought her

brokenness to Him,

she got to encounter

the reality of who Jesus is.

It took a lot

of endurance.

It took profound humility.

But she got eventually

to encounter Him.

So I want to encourage us

not to shy away

from those broken things,

whether it's the brokenness

in Paris that just

hit a chord in me

that evening,

or if it's brokenness

in our lives,

to take that stuff

to God

as we long

to encounter Him.

Now,

how did this woman

have such endurance?

How did this woman

have such humility?

How did she be so willing

to be vulnerable

with Him?

How did she know

that He was both powerful

and had steadfast love?

How did she have

all of that?

Because I can read this

and be like,

hey, I need to be

like this woman.

I'm going to go home

and I'm going to be

like this woman.

I'm going to pray

for that stuff.

But if you're anything

like me,

you go from going to pray

to the next thing

you're on your phone,

checking Facebook

and Instagramming,

whatever.

Like,

it's difficult

to be enduring

in prayer

and all of this stuff.

How do we not

just do this

for a minute?

How do we actually

follow her example

and seek God's kingdom

for this broken world?

The key to that

is in the opening words

that she says

over and over.

Verse 22,

Have mercy on me,

O Lord,

Son of David.

I don't know how

this Canaanite woman,

the Canaanites

were supposed to be

exterminated.

They were supposed

to be wiped out

back hundreds of years before.

She was such an outcast.

She's not of the people

of Israel.

She's not of the people

who were the people

of God,

but somehow she has

come to believe

that Jesus is the Messiah

for Israel

and she understands

that that has

incredible implications

for her.

She believes that Jesus,

she's using this Jewish term,

this messianic term,

she's calling him

the Son of David.

Somehow she had

come to believe

and had come

quite literally

to follow

the Son of David.

Now,

it's not referring to,

she didn't,

she wasn't mistaken

about like,

oh,

someone's like,

hey,

that's not actually

the Son of David,

that's actually

the Son of Joseph,

like adopted,

but you know,

that's not what was

going on right there.

In saying the Son of David,

she is recognizing

that he is the Messiah,

the long-promised

descendant of David.

And other people

may have seen Jesus,

but she was,

to use the word

the Bible uses sometimes,

she was like beholding

Jesus for who he is.

She was seeing

and seeing like

in who he really is

and it was changing

everything for her.

It's why she was able

to do all the stuff

that I'm saying

we need to do as a church,

humility and endurance

and all this stuff,

because she was beholding

the Son of David.

What was she beholding?

In John,

rather in Revelation

at the end of the Bible,

the follower of Jesus,

a friend of his named John,

sees this revelation

of who Jesus is

and the fullness

of his brilliance.

And it says,

as he sees Jesus,

it's in the first chapters

of Revelation,

John sees that

Jesus' voice

is like a trumpet,

that his hair

is like wool,

white as snow,

that his feet

are like burnished bronze,

that his voice

is like the roar

of many waters,

that his eyes

are like flames of fire,

that his face

is like the fullness

of the sun

at the full day.

It is glorious.

And you'll notice

that he keeps saying

like this,

like that,

because there are no words

in any language

to describe

what Jesus actually

looks like and sounds like

because he's that majestic

and beautiful

that words fail us.

We can only use similes.

He's like that.

He's like this.

You can't describe

how glorious he is.

But that's not actually,

the fullness of that

is not what this woman

beheld.

She didn't see

the eyes like fire.

She saw,

she just saw

this person

in front of her

that the Bible says

there was nothing

attractive about him,

but still she beheld

the Messiah,

the son of David.

She,

in calling him

the son of David,

she knew something

of the Messiah.

This is the one.

She beheld the one.

Somehow she knew

he,

this is the man

that was promised

that would crush

the serpent,

the devil.

What that means

for her,

for she who,

daughter is afflicted

by a devil.

She knows he's the one

who's going to crush

the devil's head

with his heel.

She sees the one,

even as a king,

an oak cast

that the scripture says

in Genesis 12

would be a blessing

to the nations.

She sees the one

who the scriptures say

will gather the oak cast.

She's an oak cast

and she sees

what that means for her.

The scriptures prophesy,

this is the one

who will bind up

the brokenhearted

and bring freedom

to those who are in captivity,

who will set the oppressed free,

who will bring good news

to the poor,

to the lost.

He will bring salvation

to the nations.

This is the one

whose very name

is Healer.

This is the one

who,

it says in Isaiah,

is wonderful.

He fills us

with wonder and awe

that he is the prince of peace

despite the chaos

he might be going through.

He is the one

that brings

and establishes

a kingdom

that will outlast

every,

it will outlast Herod,

it will outlast Pilate,

it will outlast

every Caesar,

it will outlast

every president

and prime minister.

He is the king of kings

whom no oppressor

will ever be able

to get into his empire

because he is above all

and he,

his will will be done

and she sees that

despite all the brokenness

that's who he is.

She beholds

the one

who isn't just

a great teacher

and a path to wisdom

but he is

the very source

and the embodiment

of wisdom itself.

He's not a source

of enlightenment.

He is the very light

of the world.

She sees him

who we cannot speak about

as simply a great teacher

or a great king

or a great prophet

of the past

but someone who we must

speak about

as alive today

because he defeated death

and lives even today.

She sees the one

who we can't just speak about

as someone alive today

as if I'm telling you

about some great

inspiring hero

that just got a Nobel Peace Prize

but we have to speak about

as the one

who's always in the room

with us

because his name

is Emmanuel

God with us.

He's present here

and Jesus

I thank you

that you're here.

God I thank you

Jesus that

you're not just

our guest of honor today

but that you're the reason

that we're here.

We've gathered

in your name

to worship you

the very one

whom this woman

is crying out to

and even as I speak

about prayer

and brokenness

and vulnerability

Jesus

I know that

these things

are not foreign

to you at all

but that you entered

into the fullness

of our pain

and our brokenness

that by your very wounds

and by your death

we would receive life.

In Jesus

I know that

as I talk about

beholding who you are

that there are some of us

in this place

who know exactly

what I'm talking about

know exactly

of the joy

and the glory

and the meaning

and the purpose

and the life

of beholding you

but God

the haunting thing

is that it's only

a memory for them

that though they have

had such incredible times

over the years

of beholding you

and savoring

who you are

not just believing

about you

but following you

that Jesus

is now simply

something of their past

and Jesus

I pray for

our church

that you would

help us

to behold you

afresh

that you would

give us

a fresh revelation

of who you are

that you would

help us

not just to know

things about you

but to know you

that we wouldn't

just talk about you

and sing about you

but that we would

speak with you

just like this woman

did

and Jesus

I pray for

my brothers and sisters

in the room

who they're tracking

totally with where it's at

that their life

is one of beholding you

and savoring you

and loving you

and all of that

Lord

that you would

care for us

in such a way

that there would not

be a time in our lives

where it becomes

just a memory

Lord I pray for

years from now

when we're all

much older than today

and we've been through

stuff we never thought

we'd have to go through

and it feels like

our teeth are kicked in

that God you would

be there with us

Emmanuel

that even in

everything that life

throws at us

in the disappointments

and in the successes

and in everything

we would behold

you Jesus

continually

and Jesus

I pray for those

who even now

as I speak to you

who is here

in the room

with us

that they

legit think

I'm speaking to

an imaginary friend

that you would

gently

but so very clearly

reveal the reality

that you are not just

the God that works

for me

and works for some of us

but that you are

the true

and living God

that you are

the only way

and the only truth

the only life

Jesus

it's in your name

that I ask this

Amen

I'm sorry

we're not done

that begs the question

how do we behold

Jesus

how do we

actually not just

know about him

but how do we know him

and there's so many

things we could talk

about if

we wanted to do

a full day

on beholding Jesus

the scriptures

are an incredible

place to go

to begin to

see the stuff

that this woman

did about who

the son of David

is

this woman

knew something

of the scriptures

that's how she was

able to know

that he is

the one

who the scriptures

speak of

as both being

in Psalm 62

the one of

power and steadfast love

that's how she knew

that was the case

no matter what he said

we can speak about

how worship

is when we're singing

songs to God

that's one of the ways

that helps turn our

hearts to the glory

and the goodness

and the reality

of who he is

we can speak about

the reality of

stepping outside

of our comfort zone

and going to these

things where it's

risky and difficult

with God

we go there

and how we get

to behold God

coming through

for us

and there's so many

ways to behold God

all of them have to be

in line with the scriptures

or you're not beholding God

it's someone else

you're beholding

and it's not going

to be what you need

but it starts

all the same way

and that is

this woman

doesn't just say

son of David

have mercy on me

but she is continually

crying out

oh Lord

son of David

and then when she

gets on her knees

in that place

of such vulnerability

her words are

not just help me

but Lord help me

and this is consistent

with a broader teaching

of the Bible

throughout the pages

of scripture

that there are

two ways

to do life

one that is dead

and one that is alive

and those two ways

can be

some have said

accurately so

that the two ways

are chalked down

to this

that there is

in the heart

of every person

it's like there's a throne

it's whether

if thrones aren't your thing

it's like the command

control center

of who you are

and that there's

two ways to live

either you can live

with yourself

as the one

on the throne

of your heart

as the Lord

as the king

of your life

or you can live

as having the one

who created

the universe

and designed you

and made that throne

in your heart

for him to be on

have Jesus be the throne

of your

the king of your heart

the king of your life

either you're a follower

of Jesus

or you're a follower

of yourself

or other

things that

do not deserve

your allegiance

and the way

that you see

in another part

of the scriptures

there's a

I think it might be

Luke 9

where there's a woman

who she's living

life like this

she's bound up

she's at some kind

of skeletal issue

and for years

and years

all she has seen

is herself

all that she sees

and then she

like this woman

cries out to Jesus

cry out to him

the Lord

saying would you

rescue me

and Jesus rescues her

he becomes her king

and as she is

as she is

is saved by Jesus

she stands up

and for the first time

in her life

she sees a face

and it's the face

of Jesus

and she sees

the universe

as it was meant

to be seen

and she worships God

and I think

for so many of us

we really have thought

that freedom

and life

and joy

would be found

as we assert ourselves

as we learn

to control

our destiny

by basically

asserting

ourselves

as the kings

of our lives

and what happens

is that

we get to

really know ourselves

and we get to

we're all about ourselves

and we're just like

this woman

who's bent over

and like

whatever experience

you go through

like whatever you're doing

all you're seeing

you're thinking about

like how did I handle

that situation

how did I do this

how was I there

I was awesome over here

I sucked over there

and all you're seeing

really

you become so obsessed

with yourself

that's no way to live

the answer

is the same

as it was

for this woman

as same

for the one

who is bound up

the same

it's been for my life

is that

is that

the way that we get

rescued from a life

where we are king

of our life

and all we see

is ourselves

and life is like that

no matter how successful

we are

we're all still living

with that anxiety

of if we'll be able

to master

being able to keep

what we've accumulated

all that stuff

life is of you

and what we need to do

is to cry out to God

and say God

be the Lord

be the king of my life

don't just be the one

that I believe

is God

but be the one

in charge of my life

I want to be a follower

of you

not just someone

who believes in you

but someone who

is surrendered to you

and so in a moment

I'll ask you to stand

and we'll pray together

but as I pray

if you're someone

who has not

has not given your life

to Jesus

you haven't been

a follower of him

you're not a Christian

even though you may

identify as one

but you know that

he is not king

of your life

I want to invite you

not to think along

what I'm saying

and say amen to that

but just as you stand up

would you just

even quietly

but out loud

but quiet

you can just quietly

so you're not

distracting others around

you just say

cry out to him

to be the king

of your life

and there's

I'm not going to give you

some magic formulas

and incantation

to if you say

the sinner's prayer

like this like that

just cry out to him

even something like

Lord help me

be my Lord

would you forgive my sin

and would you be

the king of my life

and if that's something

that you pray this morning

or any time in the future

I want to invite you

come talk to me

or George

we'd love to talk

with you more

about how to then

live that out

but I plead with you

not to live life anymore

as someone who just

hears and knows

about Jesus

but someone who actually

has Jesus

on the throne

of your heart

that he would be

your Lord

and your Savior

would you stand with me

heavenly father

so often we know

things that we should do

but we find that we

don't have the willpower

or the strength

sufficient to actually

follow through

and do it

Lord I

confess it so often

I

can hear words about

prayer or anything

and I'm like

hey I'm gonna do that

I'm gonna follow that

example

but I lack the strength

to do it

Lord

we confess that

we have so often

not been like the

Canaanite woman

who found her strength

to walk in

what she needed to

from who you are

instead that we try

to do it on our own

and Lord we confess

that we

are often not like

this Canaanite woman

enduring faithfully

in prayer

and humility

but instead Lord

we give up

too soon

instead we

approach you

but with arrogance

and entitlement

instead we

we

so often

Lord even for me

this morning

forget

to

believe

and stop believing

that you are

good and loving

it's so easy

for other things

to turn our attention

from that

but Lord I pray

that in your mercy

Lord we pray

that in your mercy

you would help us

to behold you

who you really are

I pray that you would

not just in the past

but day by day by day

night by night

be the king

of our lives

Lord help us

help us to be

a prayerful church

faithful

not just better

than the church beside us

or anything like that

but to be

to be living in the fullness

of what it means

to be a church

that prays

and seeks your kingdom

and your healing

and the binding of

the broken hearted

in your name

but Lord help us

to not just be

a prayerful church

help us be a church

that beholds and loves you

with all of our heart

with all of our soul

with all of our mind

with all of our strength

in Jesus' name

Amen

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