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Sept. 11, 2020
The Most Offensive Thing Jesus Ever Said | Pastor David Hughes
Welcome and thank you for joining us for the Church by the Glades Podcast. If you would like more information about church by the Glades, including service times and directions, visit CB glades dot com Way. Hope you enjoyed today's message. What is up? Chu rch by the Glades. Oh, it is so good to be back in the room with you right now. If you're watching online right now, we actually have hundreds of people in this room. There's 2000 seats, so we have socially spaced and we're being really safe. But it's good to have you in the room. It's so good to have you in the room right now. Welcome back. In fact, you know, we've been test driving this, you know, live service for this is the second week on Thursday nights. I feel like it's going pretty good. Do you feel do you feel safe? Do you feel safe? They they feel safe. We we've really been very diligent about following the guidelines of Broward County, Florida Try to keep our people safe at the same time, do church. In fact, I think it's going so good on Thursdays. I think we're ready for the weekends. I think we're ready to go ahead and start weekend services at church by the Glades. They're excited about it. Hopefully, you are. So here's the game plan will start September 19th at this campus. All Grass for Saturda y Night service and then on the 20th will open up for two services on Sunday morning at Sawgrass campus, and we'll go ahead and open Lake Worth up that Sunday as well. So Palm Beach County here we come and give us a couple weeks and we'll bring sample road online as well. Uh, prison campuses. We're waiting for the state of Florida to authorize that. So keep praying for our brothers and sisters and the prison campuses. But thank you for being here if you're logged online. That's great. You're just like my vi rtual Amen corner. Give me my virtual. Amen. Corner. Come on, guys. Where's the virtual? Amen. Bring him up, I promise. There in the house, the oh, good to see you guys. Literally logging on from all over the country all over the world, just like you. That 's a valid way to do church. So if if you you know if you're uncomfortable or you're watching right now from Iowa. I've got friends watching from Iowa. Got friends watching right now. Arizona, Brandy's and national branding her boys glad you're with us rig ht now. All right, So if you're in some other part of the country, of course, online is your option. But here in South Florida, if you are feeling cautious, if you're staying at home, if you're kind of hunkered down still because the cove it is valid. Conn ect with us. Engage. Grab your coffee right now. Get your Bible list. Dig into God's word together, by the way. Share. Invite someone give it up for them. They're gonna fight somebody right now. Go ahead and use your format. This is gonna be a very importa nt conversation today. I believe so. Go ahead and share right now. Eso if you if you're cautious, is cool. Now, if you live in Broward or Palm Beach and you've been to the mall or the beach or the gym or to Disney World, I'm not judging. I've been twice Al l right. I've been to my judging. Hey, come back to church. Come back to church. We've made this a safe experience. So if you're out and about get back to God's house. Don't be everywhere during the week. Don't study like no, I don't know if churches say n o. You get back to church. Amen. Give up. Amen. All right, let's jump into it. The conversation today. Let me open the conversation this way. Years ago, I read a story that was presented to be factual, about two sisters, Very good friends. Lived together. They were order ladies, uh, been living the same small house for decades. And they had an argument. They had a falling out. They had a up. Well, they got offended. They got so offended to each other, neither one will bridge the gap. They stopped speaking t o each other. In fact, they got so bad they painted a white line down the middle of their small house and once they'd on one side and once they're on the other. And I thought that is such a sad picture of what a fence does. When you get offended, you limit yourself. That environment was limited. It was
designed to be shared, enjoyed by two people. But they something divided that environment. They no longer spoke to each other. And then I read the story. You know how my mind works. I start thinking it's a sm all house. Did like Was the kitchen on one side? Yeah. I hope they had two bathrooms. I hope they had to. What if they just had one bathroom? What if the kitchen was on one side and the bathroom was on the other side? Which one would you choose? Which woul d you choose right now? Would you prefer, You know, go ahead. Put in the chat, which you would choose because I love food, but I'm picking. I'm picking the bathroom. I'm picking the bathroom. My brother. Who in this room and pick the bathroom. Who would pi ck the kitchen? No way. No way. No, you You go down the gas station for burrito. Don't use the gas station bathroom anyways, but a fence does that. And if you're Washington, a different country here in the US, offenses becoming so common were quick to be o ffended. These days we go looking to be offended these days. This is no longer the U. S. A. United States of America is the U. S. O Theoneste ending state of offended. And we get offended by friends. Get offended by acquaintances. We get offended by people we don't even know. And if some famous person says or does something we deem are perceived to be offended, what do we do? We cancel them, We write them off. We live in this culture of cancel. We cancel the famous people all the time. The career is ruined. I'm not saying that. I don't believe in accountability when egregious things happened. People need to be held responsible. I believe in grace and forgiveness. But if you commit a crime, you're responsible, all right. But sometimes the offenses is nuanced. We go looking for it, and we can't so people out. So let's talk about being offended. And by the way, as I enter this conversation, I'm really prayer folks. I thought someone's gonna be offended. I'm talking about being offended. And if right now you don' t like this topic and your attempted to log off, don't. Please don't Let's have a conversation. In fact, if you're that person that you're living like very offended right now, you're easily offended. You troll social media, looking to be negative and criti cal and offending your the very person I wanna talk to today. In fact, I believe God brought us together. We're gonna have a Jesus conversation about this desire that we feel to be so offended. So right now there's bitterness in your spirit or unforgivenes s. This is gonna be a great talk. Matthew. Chapter 15, Matthew, Chapter 15. Uh, this is and by the way, I don't really have a title for a messages. But here's my title today. I want to call this the most kind, compassionate, loving thing Jesus ever said. N o, that's not really my title. The title Is this the most offensive thing that Jesus ever said. I'm gonna show you in the Bible. Clearly, the most offensive thing that Jesus ever said I'm just telling you it is Offensive is not sinful because it's Jesus, b ut it is offensive. You should see the way they're staring at me right now in the room. I'm just telling you, Matthew, Chapter 15 Jesus has this conversation with this woman, and if you take a half step back, you don't give Jesus bonus points for being Jes us. You just look at this conversation. What it is, what he says so offensive. It is so offensive. So let's talk about a fence I'll give you a history of a fence. What you're finding Matthew. Chapter 15 offense is as old as Genesis Chapter four, because al l the way back to a cane and Abel member, Kane was offended that God regarded his brother's offering, not hiss. It led to the first homicide in human history, and then it'll be around till the end of the age, Jesus said in Matthew 24 Verse 10. Here's one o f the signs of his second coming. The end of the age, he said, will be wars and rumors of wars, and it'll be earthquakes and famines. You probably heard about that gives a detail, he said. And by the way, at the end of time, many will be offended. He says that in the time will be a hypersensitivity to a fence. Maybe he's coming soon. And so
Matthew, Chapter 15, this is conversation going on. Jesus and this woman, it's remarkable. I want to do. Today is a little bit bit of verse by verse, Bible study and lis ten. Jesus was not above offending people. I give you some background to the story. Um, it seems like in life we like to divide people into different camps. Insiders and outsiders, right insiders and outsiders. And it happens in culture. It happens in race . It happens in politics. It happens in religion, like every religious group where the insiders, when they're the outsiders, it's kind of it's us versus them is our tribe versus their tribe. Okay, so is that kind of background in this story. Now the religi ous insiders of Jesus, they were called the Paris is They were hyper religious. They knew the Scripture there were other moral, but at the same time, they're very uptight. Very condemning, vory judgmental, acted very superior. And these insiders, the Faris sees, didn't like the way Jesus responded to outsiders. So they didn't like that. Jesus treated outsiders like insiders. Are you with me? Their main complaint. Their their main reason of a fence with Jesus with the fact he loved broken people. And they wo uld criticize him for associating with people they deemed unworthy outsiders. If you will, you know sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus, if you're the holy Man, if you're this righteous rabbi, why you hanging out with these thes outsiders jus t hanging out with insiders like us? And so guess what Jesus went back and forth and you kind a lot of heat from the Faris sees. In fact, Chapter 15 is I've been working through this, and by the way, here's the reason why I'm teaching on this. I didn't pla n to teach this story. In fact, I wouldn't teach on the, uh, the story of Jesus feeding the 4000. Hopefully, in the near future, I will, too. Great miracle Jesus feeds the 4000, and I'll say that. But here's my process. I know I got some young pastors in t he room and young preachers watching. Okay, here's my process. Whenever I teach a narrative in the Bible, I just read and re read that story. First thing I do before I go to a commentary or study source or computer, I just pick up the Bible and I read the story for myself, prayerfully time and time and time again. Then I get my phone and you version, and I just listen to it when I'm multitasking, I'm making my egg white. On in the morning, I start listening to God's word. I just saturate myself in that stor y over and over. Just get so familiar with it. So I want to teach this story the feeding of the 5000 It's found in Matthew, Chapter 15. But you, you you verse, is that you? First you first. That's the cable. You versus the cave. Which one? You version. You r version's one for life. They're just awesome. By the way. You can't just You can't just do the part of a chap. You have to listen to the whole chapter. So this story was also in the chapter and the more I listened, I thought God nudged me. Teach this sto ry. Teach us about Jesus having this conversation with a woman that no one would blame her if she walked away offended If she canceled out the King of Kings, no one will blame her. And so I'm gonna take you to that story. But Jesus was not above offending people. Before I get to that story, Look what it says in verse 12. The disciples came to him and asked, Do you not know the Pharisees were offended? They heard this and she's like, Yeah, good, they should be. Sometimes Jesus doesn't care much about your fe elings, right? If you're a little too comfortable if you feel superior if you feel arrogant. Hey, might come out to you a little bit. So the Ferris he's in. Jesus. Oh Lord, I think you've offended them. Good. So sometimes he could be offensive. But that's not the most offensive thing he ever said. Let's drop down and pick it up. Verse 21 Just verse by verse. My favorite way to study the Bible and this text is so rich this is read through the scripture together. So 1st 20 ones on the big screen behind me, yo u read the highlighted words or put in the chat, if you will. Here we go. Leaving that place. Jesus withdrew. Excellent, withdrew to the region of tire and side, and that would be finish. It's on the coast. So
leaving he went through. What's Jesus doing? T his is Jesus going on vacay right here. So he needs a break. If you read the preceding chapters, ministry has been game on, and there's all this pressure. Pressure from the Paris ease pressure from his enemies, pressure pressure from the multitude, need hi s help? It's just people all the time. She's like, Guess what? I got to decompress. So disciples you look worn out. We're gonna go to finish a and it's on the coast. Maybe Jesus went to the beach. Seriously, It's on the Mediterranean. Can you imagine Jesus with flip flops and board shorts and sunglasses, Ray bands and sunscreen on his nose? He's taking a break. Jesus has put his iPhone on airplane mode. Sometimes for those of you who worked too hard and too much and I want to take a break every once, my, yo u need a break. Every once in a while, you got to go ahead and withdraw, get some quiet time with your God and and decompress. Breaks are biblical and Jesus took naps. Somebody tweet that breaks our biblical and Jesus took naps. That's for my workaholics a re watching right now. So he withdraws to Phoenicia, the region of side an entire. And the story continues in Verse 22 is rich. It just drips with great information. When we're through Verse 22 kind of carefully. It's on the screen right now. Here's what d oes it says a Canaanite woman Stop! Got to preach that que tonight woman. Now the topic today is being offended. This statement drips with a fence see the Canaanites and the Jews had an acrimonious relationship that went on for generations. For centuries, there was animosity between Jew and K tonight the Canaanites as a broad title for a number of small people, groups who lived in and around the promised land. As we studied in the last Siri's Joshua, Chapter five, the people lived in Jericho. Canaanites, ri ght? So they had all this bad blood for all these generations, to the point that in this day, the first century, Canaanites and Jews wouldn't have a conversation. But here we see the beginning of this narrative. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out. Lord, son of David, have just know right away Relation Lee. It is remarkable that a Canaanite woman comes up to a Jewish rabbi and besieges his help. I love it, she says, Hey, have what? Have mercy at this campus. Tonight, Lucas let our p rayer moment. He refers that operable where Jesus talked about two men who went to the temple and one guy was pretty proud of his religious accomplishments, his superiority, what he had done, his morality. God blew them off. But a broken guy who made some mistakes Making a comeback, man. That guy said, Hey, mercy. Although this candidate woman didn't say Hey, Jesus, I feel like I'm entitled. I'd like to have what is fair. I feel like I justly deserve you don't want that from God. I don't care how good you t hink you are. You feel like God has not been fair to you. You don't want fair or just from God. Let me break it down and appraise you biblically, the Bible says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God All means in that context all it means me. And it means you. We've all fallen short. Okay, now three chapters with right in Romans Chapter six, Verse 23 he says, And the wage that just payment for sin is eternal death Don't want that I don't want would I deserve I don't want what I married I d on't want God. What is fair? Don't give me fair. Give me mercy. Give me mercy. So this thing remarkable Canaanite woman. She comes asking for the right thing. By the way, she calls him the right thing. She she says, Lord, a Canaanite woman all this racial tension, all this animosity, years of bad blood. Lord, it means you're the one in authority. You are the master. You are. You're the boss, right? And then she says, Son of David. That's a technical term for Messiah. She's done her homework. She had done he r Jesus research. It is remarkable. Guess what you need to do your Jesus research if you're watching right now, I don't know for certain who Christ is. Just from a spiritual point of view, a historical sociological
point of view. No one has rocked humanity in history more than Jesus do your homework. So again, it's remarkable. This woman who is a pagan, she's an idol worshiper. For some reason, she comes to Jesus, asked himself, and she even knows he's the son of David, that he is the messiah, that he is th e son of God. That's all in this remarkable verse. Verse 22. Now why would she do this? Why in her city and her hometown in front of her friends, when she run up in humble herself in front of a Jewish messiah and ask for assistance? Why, let's finish the v erse. Here's the reason why my daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly. That's why. Quickly. Demon possession. This is not a sermon on demon possession, maybe wood frame. That is the way theeighties describe severe mental illness. And perhaps yo u're correct. Or maybe like me. You think this is something way more sinister, supernatural and dark. But her kid ISS suffering. And the reason this Canaanite woman comes running up to this Jewish messiah calling him the son of David receiving him, submitt ing him his Lord. It's her kid. It's her kid. Her child is sick. Her child is suffering parents. You understand, don't you? Hey, hey, Devil Devil mess with my job. Take my job. Hey, devil, take my money. Hey, devil. Um, you can take my house. You could rea p on my car. You can take my own health. Don't mess with my kid. Don't mess with my baby. See what I love. We read in this first the reason why she's coming to Jesus because this breaks every single social protocol. She's desperate. She's desperate. This v erse drips with desperation. Guess what? Sometimes it's good to be a little desperate. It'll make you do some things. You look at things in a new way. You look for new solutions, your open. You'll appraise your own behavior. Definitely. Sometimes life gets desperate. You start looking for Jesus. So anyways, this verse is remarkable. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Jesus, crying out, Lord, Messiah, son of David. Have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed and suffering. Now look at Jesus re sponse again. The title of the talk is the most offensive thing Jesus ever said. Here's the first part of the next verse. Verse 23 begins this way and go. But Jesus did not answer a word that's offensive. She pours out her heart. She crosses this this barr ier of Jew and gentile. Lord Jesus, help! My daughter is desperately sick. Help me quiet. She gets nothing. She's ignored. It's offensive. Ever pour out your heart to somebody in a text and they don't respond. But this is public. I mean, this is offensive. Forget he gets bonus points for being Jesus. I'm not saying it's simple, but this is offensive. I mean, she's been who to blame her if she's not really really. I roll up to you, a Jewish rabbi here in my city, in front of my neighbors ask you for help. Yo u give me the side eye. Don't say anything. If she walked away, who would blame her? If she walked away, She'd miss her moment. Mr. Miracle, Jesus says nothing. Now wait. Let's watch this verse impacts, um or this. This is remarkable right here. Didn't ans wer a word. Heaven is quite ever pray and heaven not respond. Ever asked for God's help and you get nothing The most painful season My life a mere praying about a situation for months And God didn't say no. God said nothing. Jesus ignores her by the way sh e asked more than once. She asked more than once. Look at the screen, right? Right. Now Give me to add the rest of verse 23 guys. Well, but he did not say a word and answer to her. And his disciples came and asked him repeatedly This the amplified translat ion. And I picked it because it shows this verb This a linear, tense verb in the most accurate way. But his disciples asked him repeatedly because she's asked over and over. Jesus Lord, son of David, have mercy. My daughter Jesus Lord, son of David, please have mercy. My daughter says over and over so repeatedly they ask him. Hey, Lord, get rid of her. This is awkward. People are watching, right? We're here on vacay. This is downtime. They asked repeatedly or get rid of her. Be crazy. How
people in your lif e we're trying to keep you from Jesus will persist at it. And it crazy how people in your life who claim to be your friends, right? We'll try to keep you from God and work very hard at it. Why is that? They're threatened or they're not haters. But they hav e some agenda that if you connect with God's gonna mess him up a little bit. So your boys like, man, you keep doing the church thing. I don't know about you doing the church thing is they like you not doing the church thing or your boyfriend's like, Look, don't take the God thing too far. I like our president. Relationship has it. Don't take the God. Thank you. You see, here's what's going on. People who benefit from your bondage will always fight against your freedom. So the disciples like Yeah, get rid of her. Get rid of her. Get rid of her. Alright Because she she keeps shouting like this. Funny. Send her away. She keeps shouting after us. Us, us. She's not after us, right? She could care less about the disciples. Hey, you people, you're in the way. I'm t rying to get to Jesus you 12 people. You're my wife trying to get to him. How many times the disciples get in the way of Jesus. People are looking for Jesus and Christian leaders think it's about them. It's not about them, it's about Jesus. Oh, keep shouti ng after us. There's not us, not us. And again, her response in the next verse is remarkable. Look at Verse 24. I love this woman because this is offensive. He and his first thing, he says, by the way, and you're not gonna like it. Here's what the hero is. What Jesus? When he says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Translation. A lady there insiders and they're outsiders. You're an outsider. Here's were saying, You are not my priority. Wow, that's offensive that is so offensive, By the way, it's not the most offensive thing, he says. That's not that's highly offensive. I didn't come here for you. I could help you. But they're important. You're not important there. My tribe. You're not my tribe. They're my people. You're not my people, their inside rs. You're now saying you're not my priority. And she's desperate. So what she do? She gets angry. She storms off. Are you kidding me? I humbled myself. I'm polite. I'm persistent. I'm Pat. Are you kidding me? No. Look at her response. It is brilliant. Ver se 25 will blow your mind on the screen right now. The woman came and knelt before him. Lord help me. And the Greek word here for Nelp it's translated in many places. Worship when God seems to be stiff arming you. And you keep worshiping when God seems to be silent or even offensive. I'm helping other people. I'm blessing other people they're getting. There's I never seem to get mine. You could think your worship. It reminds me a little bit of job in the story of job in the Old Testament job like lost every thing. Like he lost all his property and even lost his kids. And he lost his his livestock and everything, right? He was like destitute is depressed. His wife said his wife gave some wonderful, encouraging advices. Hey, job, curse God and die. That's a goo d woman right there. Curse God and die. The Bible says no. He worshiped. He worships. Remarkable, exemplary. But I will say this job had an intimate relationship with God for decades. This woman's a K tonight she's a pagan. They worshiped idols. They had a goddess. They worked in the goddess and eso. She's not about Jesus for like a week and a half. And though he's offensive, she pushes past the offensive. Now we've had multitudes or layers of a fence barriers. If you're she pushes past the barriers and she still worships Jesus. She's remarkable. She's remarkable. It's incredibly like Oh my gosh, What? Jesus said the last versus so offensive. It's so offensive. Wow! Okay, wait for Verse 26 Verse 26. Ready, he replied. Jesus replied, It's not right to take th e Children's bread to this nice lady. This this wonderful worshiping lady, this'll passionate. It's not right to take the Children's bread and toss it to the That's it. That is the most offensive thing that Jesus ever said. Is it clear? Here is this poor w oman. But make this modern day right this modern day on the coast of Israel. And
here comes this desperate worshiping woman asking for help, and he calls her a dog. If someone caught that on their cell phone, they would post that sound bite on Instagram an d Jesus is canceled 100%. He called her a dog. Stop giving the Jesus Jesus bonus points right? I'm not, is Jesus. Given the benefit of doubt, stop just conversation at face value for a dog at the now I love. I love how scholars try to get around this like try to make it like less offensive than it truly is, because this is just offensive. Uh, like like some of the scholars will break down the original language. Like I read, one guy said, I said, Well, they're actually two words in Greek. The New Testament, written in Greek, uh, two different words for dog, and one is like a street dog, like a mongrel, like a mangy mean dog. Alright, that's not the word used here in the New Testament. I believe the New Testament divinely inspired God let the Holy Spirit and G od let the Holy Spirit. God is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit live Matthew to choose the exact word. He does not choose the word for a mongrel. A street dog. No, this is a word for a puppy. A cute pet dog that lives in the house. I don't care. He stuck o n her, a dog for a dog. And by the way, just to be technical. Jesus didn't speak Greek. He spoke Aramaic, which has no such distinction. He called her a d a W G in front of people that's offensive. And if she'd have been mad, got up off her knees, looked a t and discussed that. Who do you think you are? She thought, you know, Heard you were different. Heard you were kind. Are you help people? I heard you were compassionate, but you're just offensive. If she'd walked away, you couldn't blame her. But she didn 't. She didn't She didn't look. Look what she says, What? She says, What she says, That's that's That's a spray. Like what? She says. Look at Verse 27. This is what I love. My Bible says. Why I don't do crack. I just read my Bible. I don't need drugs. I ju st read because Because the statements like this so leaves us. And Jesus, by the way, does everything on purpose. Jesus does everything on purpose and out of love because he knew this lady had this Inter. He knew that she had this kind of resolved. So Jesu s replied, it's not right to take the Children's bread and toss it to the dogs. Yes, it is, Lord, she said. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Masters. Are you kidding me? Wow. Okay, um, I get it. I get it. I'm an outsider. You're here for Israel, and they're the Children were not the Children. They're the chosen or not chosen. They get the bread. Could I have a crumb? Now, listen, listen. Why? Why Why Why would you do this? It's her daughter. I mean, it dies down a little sick. She's, like , really six. His body. It's mine is everything. It's her kid. Hey, listen, probably teenagers watching right now in the room right now. I know his parents. We fall short up. Charlie, we messed up all the time. Mom and I could be inconsistent, but for the kids, man, your parents would go through hell or high water for you. And she's not asking for her own health or her own fame or her own healing for her, it's about her kids. So I think that's why she hangs in there. And then I love she asked for a crumb Go d, I'll take a crumb son of man Messiah. You got a crumb for me? Hey, I know you're the bread of life. The bread of life. I'd like the whole loaf. I prefer a biscuit. But you got a crumb. I'm cool with the crumb. You see what he's figured out? She called h im the son of David, Son of a Messianic term. You're the son of David. You're the son of God. God, God is unlimited God, Look, She's known God for a week and a half. She's recognized that praying to her idols wasn't doing it. I love people. That was self e valuate. Hey, I'm praying this little statue, but my sick kid and before my kid got sick, going to temple worship in the statue was fine. Everybody did it. But now that I'm desperate, I'm tired of praying to a rock, a lifeless rock. I need something that I 've heard about this. Jesus, I've done my research, My homework. I think he's the son of man. So he's the son of man. He is the son of God and God made the universe. God is so powerful. God
is unlimited. Later on, many years later that theologians call him omnipotence. Not in the Bible, but the world. He's all powerful. He's omnipotent, so I don't need all this power. But if the bread of life could spare a crumb a little tiny leftovers power, she more than sufficient to meet my daughters need. So Hey, Jesus , I get it. I'm not one of the Children. I'm coming. I'm an outsider. Can I have a krump? Gonna have a crumb? It's brilliant, all these barriers of offenses because Jesus is saying offensive things. And if you're someone right now and you're watching and y ou're getting offended all the time and you're posting negative stuff because you feel so passionate, you feel like it's your responsibility. Be offended. I got a verse for you. You can't argue with the Bible. You can argue with me all day long. I don't ca re. I'm probably wrong with the Bible. you cannot argue with Proverbs 1911 is on the side screen. Look what it says here. Ah, persons Insight gives him patience. And his virtue is to overlook. Say it again. Over. Look what? And a fence and a culture that g oes looking for a fence were called Is God people to overlooking a fence. You have the spiritually sponsor. That kind of hurt, But I'm okay. I should be angry. But guess what? I'm gonna choose me. I should get mad, but I'm gonna choose forgiveness. I'm ove rlooked this messing issues are important. We shouldn't have, like, passionate points of view right now. But listen, she overlooks all these barriers of a fence barrier after barrier. Jesus. You know, he ignores her. They said, I'm not here for you. You're not my priority. You're an outsider. He calls her a dog. He said one thing, but multiple things, in fact. Why? Why? Why did Jesus put these barriers? He didn't only talk to people like this, in fact, was spiritually outsiders. He's gonna be very compassio nate now. He might blast the Pharisees, but people who are messed up, jacked up, screwed up. He's very kind. Why hurt? Why the barriers. So I did some research because the Bible doesn't say why I found this, one scholar said. Here's here's why the barriers Here's why the multiple offenses Jesus puts out there is that he, Jesus put up the barriers not to keep her away, but to draw her close. If you watched online, they went Wow! And I read it and did the same thing. I read that That that is yeah. Wow! Then I thought of in fact, I underlined it in the book. I read it. I know like, Oh, that's so good, Put up barriers not to keep her away, but to draw our clothes. And I thought, What does that even mean? Let's be, Doesn't make any sense at all, right? Doesn't ju st let's beyond who puts up barriers to draw people close. This is like like a middle school girl playing hard to get with a guy. What? I don't think it's correct. No offensive. The author. I think Jesus put these barriers because he knew her faith had res olved. I think Jesus knew her faith was fresh. Probably been like a Jesus follower, maybe 15 minutes at this point, but she had developed spiritually muscle in a hurry. So he recognized the main way to get your faith strong and make your faith tough is res istance. So Jesus put these barriers because he knew she had the power through God to push through the barriers. If you want your faith to grow, you gotta push through that resistance in life. So I think that's the reason I don't know. I'm making this up, but I think I'm right. But I had no idea about the barriers of drawing Close barriers don't draw people close barriers like the two women that put a line down the middle of the house Now Verse 28 when she says this whole crumb thing Look what Jesus! Verse 28 This is This is awesome. So Ge's response, he said to her woman, You have Oh, I got to read it better. That woman you have putting the chat All capitals Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted and her daughter was healed in that moment. Gre at face, great face. Why she pushed pushed pats the offensive. Listen, I don't know how to tell you to live life in this broken world without a fence. I wish I could tell you if you do this, you pray this prayer you donate to the church, right? You live
li fe without a fence. I don't know how in the world you do, because we live in this sin stained world and people will be offensive. But the offensive is the events. The offensive is the act. Being offended is my response being offended? I control that that i s my choice. You could be offensive and I can choose not to be offended. Jesus was being offensive. I must say him sinful. But he was close, right? I'm not saying that he's pushed. Don't you do what Jesus did? He calls her a flipping dog. She comes back to the whole crumb thing. When she did, he knew he should shouldn't. He doesn't surprise you. It surprised the 12. He goes, Wow. Her faith has muscle. Her faith has grit. Her faith has guts. G u T z guts. We need people like her. This nameless Canaanite woma n had faith. So a couple of action steps Because this is this is not helpful Unless you think about how you apply this to your life. So really, really fast. How have you done in your recent past with a fish? A fence? What have you missed out on? I wrote do wn some questions. Who has missed out on progress because you chose to be offensive offended. There's there's some process that God was bring you through and you just tapped out because somebody ignored you will hurt your feelings. Example. Hey, are Miami Heat are in the N B. A Eastern Conference championship? Yeah, they have the best record of a five seed in the history of the NBA playoffs. They're doing great. And, of course, we love the heat here in South Florida. Now their head coaches Erik Spoelstra. U h, he's thought to be one of the top three coaches, the MBA probably a future Hall of Famer. But Erik Spoelstra spent over half of his life employed by the Heat. Like, Wow, he's been a head coach like 20 years. No, no. Before he's a head coach. He was an a ssistant coach before an assistant coach. He was a part time assistant coach. Before that, he worked in the scouting department. Before that, he worked in the film room. He started out at age 24 as a film intern. I just wonder how many times in that journe y through that organization was he ignored? How many times has he dismissed how many times he criticized by his boss? How many times the the smartest guy in the room and nobody even cared. He would have been offended. He two missed his success. Who here ha s missed your opportunity because you were offended? You're watching me. Have you got offended? You missed a moment. Um, Lisa Kodro is a phenomenal comedic actress, you know, from television. Her first big break she booked. She booked. Wait. She booked Fra sier. Frasier was a huge hit in the day she booked the pilot because they were shooting the pilot. They thought she was too quirky. That I think they described here is incessantly quirky. And they fired her. Now, if she would been offended and giving up on her dream and love Hollywood, nothing but she continue audition. She got a job with another pilot on a sitcom called Friends. Yeah, Phoebe, she did pretty well. Who missed out on God because you were offended. Who's watching online? Because, um, you went to church back in the day and someone hurt your feelings. So my dad something did something. I'm not saying that happen, man. Churches do stupid stuff. Our church. We do stupid stuff sometime. Here's the way church works are balls are king our master? The one in charge of the church? Jesus. He's perfect. The rest of us not even close and not giving churches license to do mean things or hurtful things or offensive things. But sometimes it happens. And so you tapped out on church because you're feelings got h urt. The fullness of what God wants to do in your life only happens when you're in relationship with the church. So here's the crazy thing. The vaccine for a church hurt is church. The tonic that God remedy for a church hurt is you come back to church in H ebrews 10 25 it says, not giving up. Don't quit on meeting together a summer. In the habit of doing right, you got to come back to the church. Don't tap out of what God is doing, because we'll do individual unique things. Your life. It always happens
in hi s fullness in the context of the church. Finally, sometimes you miss out on victory if you're offended, What's the greatest catastrophe tragedy of the modern, modern world? I'd say easily. War war, too. 25 million combatants died on both sides. Civilian ca sualties. Twice that many six million Jews die in the Holocaust. 1.1 million Jewish Children. Europe, Pacific Rim, North Africa, Devastated for decades afterwards. Here's the crazy thing. The Nazis back in early 19 thirties, then peaceful Germany. Free ele ction. Germany never had a political majority. The only reason the Nazis came to power was this. The other German political parties couldn't get together. They recognized the danger of the German ideology. But they had these things little factions. They we re offended by each other politically and they cannot unify. If they had, Hitler and the Nazis would never have come to power, and World War two likely would not have happened. Not being offended is a big deal, you know, Proverbs. You know what? This thing we now do? We kind of celebrating. I get offended if you're not offended, is a character flaw. The Bible says love is not easily offended. Last week. Talk about love is. The main thing we do is that love is not easily offended. So we gotta get past this. And so this woman, this woman, she gets her miracle because she's tough. She gets her miracle because she's resilient. She gets her miracle because she has a backbone and the more Jesus was offensive, the more she pushed off. I'll take a crime. Call me a d og. I'll take a crime because I want what you have. Jesus, I want what you have. And then Jesus says disciples like her Faith makes a commentary on the faith. It's remarkable, and sometimes I'm God does that with some hero in the Bible. It makes commentary on their face. Like Abraham, Abraham had saving faith and Jacob wrestled for faith, and Moses had miracle making faith, and David had giant killing faith and Shadrach. Meshach could have been to go ahead, fireproof faith and and job had persevering faith. And Elijah had healing, restoring of life, kind of faith. And Jonah had waterproof and well proof kind of faith. And, you see, all throughout the Bible, you know, Peter had walked on water kind of faith, and part of us had encouraging restored faith, and Paul had faith. He put feet to his faith and took the gospel around the world. But if all those mighty heroes Jesus never said about them Great faith only says that two times in all the Bible, both outsiders, by the way. But this anonymous, nameless Canaan ite woman gets her miracle. And then the King of Kings is, by the way, Hey, disciples. Did you see what she just did? The whole crumb thing. She just said to me, Push through my fence without benefit of the Torah or the temple, Our tradition. She's known a bout me for a week and a half. She's meeting me for the first time. We give her a Bible. She can't find Deuteronomy. She can't find Genesis. But she has great faith. She has tough, tenacious faith. You see, great faith always pushes through the God a fence . So here's the bottom line. If you're a Christian, stop being offended by everything right now, where as bad as the world. We're angry, we're politicized. I get it. They're big issues, but we speak truth in love and love is not easily offended. And guess what? If you've been offended by something, especially, you perceive that God has offended you. This woman's miracle was on the other side of her. A fence. You must push through the barrier of your a fence and the God release his power in your life. It doe sn't take a whole loaf from the bread of life or a biscuit. Crumb will do. Father, God help us be unlike the world, be dramatically different than our culture. Our culture is offended so easily they cancel people so quickly. I don't see you operate that wa y. We love and we forgive and we restore. That's the call of the church way. Make this prayer in Jesus name. Amen