Weblog

Friday, 02 January 2009

  • You people are dogs!! // Part 2

    Yesterday I wrote about a few statements that Jesus made to a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28. I split the blog so you could digest and ponder on how this all ties in together and why Jesus acted in such a harsh way.

    We know why Jesus reacted the way he did to this woman. It was because she was a Gentile from an area known for its wickedness. We know that the Jews stayed away from these types of people because they did not acknowledge God. Jesus specifically told her that he was sent for the Jews. So why did he heal this woman's daughter after he ignored, rejected, and insulted her?

    Jesus was not giving into the cultural bias that existed. Jesus did what he did for a reason. So let's dig a little deeper and find out why he reacted in such a way.

    If you read the passage right before that of the Canaanite woman, the story begins to make a little more sense. Take a look at  Matthew 15:1-20. In this passage, Jesus was arguing with the Pharisees about the issue of cleanliness.

    You must remember that Jesus quite often used shocking, yet effective, ways to get his point across and teach what needed to be taught.

    I can picture Jesus just tearing into the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were angry because the disciples didn't regularly wash their hands before they ate which, according to Jewish tradition, made the disciples unclean. Jesus quickly defended the disciples and basically threw the Jewish idea of cleanliness (a.k.a. purity) right out the window. He explained that purity was not about how clean a person was on the outside but, rather, how clean the person was on the inside.

    "While He explained His perspective to the Pharisees, they got angry and walked away. He explained it further to the disciples with a word picture, but they missed His point. Everyone around Him seemed unable to grasp that fundamentally, purity is about the heart. It is not about what you eat or do not eat. It is not about whether you wash or do not wash."

    After this argument with the Pharisees and Jesus trying to explain purity to his disciples, he went to Tyre and Sidon. This brings us to the story of the Canaanite woman. So do you see why he went there? He went to the most unclean place possible to teach his disciples about real purity.

    Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. The woman cried, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus ignored her. Jesus rejected her. Jesus insulted her by calling her a dog. "Rather than respond to Jesus with contempt, she simply expressed her great need: 'I might as well be a dog, because that is how much I need you to work in my life. I need you. I need you. I need you. Help me, please.' That is precisely the response Jesus wanted. Her expression of need is the ideal picture of true purity."

    So let's think about that for a minute. If this woman's response is a picture of true purity, then we need to examine our view of true purity. "When Jesus wanted to illustrate real purity, He did not choose a woman commended for her moral perfection; He chose one who knew how much she needed Him. In that dirty place, Jesus found something clean. What could be clean about her being willing to be called a dog? Desperation. Desperate situations make for pure people, because in that desperate moment, those people see their need most clearly."

    Did you get that? "This desperate woman wasn't thinking about her motives. She wasn't thinking about how foolish she looked. She wasn't thinking about the judgmental glances from those around her. She was thinking about one thing: her need for Jesus. Isn't that what real purity is? Is it not single-mindedness? Is it not whole-heartedness? Is it not complete dedication? That is purity - not necessarily the complete absence of the immoral. Jesus saw the purity of desperation in this woman - the very thing the Pharisees and even His own disciples lacked."

    "Those who know they have nothing before the Lord come in purity because they know they are needy. What we see in this woman - this unclean, 'second-rate' Gentile woman - is purity. Not only is she a lesson in purity, she is a lesson in faith, and maybe those two attributes are linked more closely than we realize."

    He didn't say, "Woman, you have great purity!" He said, "Woman you have great faith!" He said this because when we express our need, we are saying something about Him. It's not easy to be in need and ask for help when it's frowned upon by our whole society. So when we are willing to go to God with nothing and express our need for Him, in desperation and humility, what we say about Him is that He is our Great Provider. We acknowledge that we need Him more than anything in this world. Isn't that why we go to Him in the first place? When we approach the throne of God in this manner, we lower ourselves and exalt Him. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be - less about us and more about Him? It sure is. And that, my friend, takes great faith.

    I am going to leave you with an ending quote from the author, Michael Kelley. Think about the questions he poses. Feed on them. Be real with yourself and with God.

    "In a culture of abundance, of relative economic stability and suburbia, of 401(k) plans and insurance policies, we have to wonder: Are we ever really conscious of our need? Our desperation? If not, do we ever approach Jesus whole-heartedly? Without being cognisant of our need, do we ever come in purity?"

    In Christ,
    Rod
    ______________________________________________
    ** All quotes from the Bible and Michael Kelley.

    Threads Media
    Michael Kelley Ministries
    Lifeway Christian Stores

Thursday, 01 January 2009

  • You people are dogs!!


    I am doing a Bible study called “The Tough Sayings of Jesus.” This Bible study, wrote by Michael Kelley, digs deep into some things that Jesus said that are hard to swallow. I’ve read these passages before but as I dig deeper into them and really focus on them, I can’t help but say to myself - “Wow! Did Jesus really just say that? That was pretty harsh! Did I read that right? What did Jesus mean by that?”

    Today I read about a few statements that Jesus made to a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. I was very surprised at the way Jesus responded to this woman. Take a look:  Matthew 15:21-28

    My first thought is - Why in the world did Jesus ignore this woman? But then I read the background of this woman and where she was from. “Tyre and Sidon (two non-Jewish cities)…were frequently referred to in the Old Testament as symbols of paganism and godlessness; in fact, they were specifically condemned by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. According to these Old Testament prophets Tyre and Sidon were poster children for the righteous judgment and anger of God.”

    “To the Jewish people, the word Gentile became synonymous with pagan and heathen.” The Jews were to set themselves apart from those who didn’t acknowledge God (which were usually the Gentiles). That gives me a little better understanding of the situation. Not only was this woman a Gentile, but she was from a place that was wicked and did not acknowledge God. This is why the disciples urged Jesus to send the woman away. But I’m still left to wonder - Why did Jesus ignore her?

    My next thoughts are - Did Jesus just basically say that he wasn’t going to do anything because he was sent only for Jews? Did Jesus just insult this woman and call her a dog simply because she was not a Jew!? And did she just accept the fact that she was a dog like Jesus had called her? Why did Jesus go ahead accept her plea and heal her daughter after ignoring her? What in the world is going on here!?

    Then, little by little, it all begins to make sense. This woman did something. She called Jesus the “Son of David” which was a Jewish title. Not only that, but she was eager for Jesus to help her. She knelt before him and begged him to help her. She must have been familiar with who he was.

    “She was in passionate and desperate need and was doing her best to approach Jesus with the utmost respect despite the upturned noses of the disciples. She actually seems like the ideal person for Jesus to help. She believed He could help, she approached Him in the proper way, and she was passionate about her situation… So surely Jesus would help her - right?”

    But he didn’t. At first he ignored her just like the disciples. Then he told her that he was only sent for Israel. But the woman didn’t take no for an answer. She kept crying out for him to help her. I can just imagine this woman continually crying out until she got Jesus’ attention. Finally Jesus acknowledged her. He insulted her by calling her a dog because of who she was. That doesn’t sound that bad at first, but there’s something we have to keep in mind. “Dogs were not very commonly kept as pets in that day. They were scavengers. They were filthy, and they were dangerous.”

    Even after the insult, the woman still doesn’t give up. She basically told Jesus that she knew what they thought of her and that she accepted that; and then she pretty much asked Jesus to have pity on a dog like her. Wait - what!? Did this woman just lower herself to the position of a dog?

    Then Jesus healed her daughter. So I’m thinking - Is this all? Jesus lowered this woman to the likelihood of a dog before healing her daughter? There’s got to be something more to this!

    There is. And I’ll let you know just what it is in my next post. For now, I want you to soak in what I’ve written so far. The reason I am doing this is because you need to really soak this part in (plus this post is long enough as it is). Study it. Pound it in your head. The next part will blow you away just like it did me!

    In Christ,
    Rod
    ______________________________________________
    ** All quotes from the Bible and Michael Kelley.

    Threads Media
    Michael Kelley Ministries
    Lifeway Christian Stores

Tuesday, 05 August 2008

  • Missions First =)

    I went on my very first mission trip this summer. I went with Bro. Floyd (my preacher), Robert and his 7 year old, Brandon. We went to Elkton, Kentucky to help a Missionary Baptist Church rebuild after an electrical fire burned their building to the ground. You know what the sad thing is? Instead of the community and other churches reaching out and helping this church, they scoffed at them for getting outside help to start rebuilding. One of the members of the neighbor churches came by the week before we came and made this remark to the pastor - "Why should your church get help when ours can't?"



    That one week that we were there was amazing. It's crazy because when we go on mission trips, we initially go to help other people who are in need. But what ends up happening? Something in US changes. This trip ended up helping me a lot, although I was there to help others. Isn't it sooo amazing how God works like that? One example - I met a 7-year-old boy named Jake. He was telling me a story and in the story I noticed that he mentioned his dad was no longer alive. I felt sad for him. Then I later found out that both his mom and dad were killed in a car accident one night when he was only 2 years old. He has gone and will continue to go through his life not knowing his parents. His story really tugged at my heart. Let's just say I had a lot of stuff on my mind as I was going to sleep at night.




    I met some amazing people that week. The first morning we were there, I was in line for breakfast fixing my plate. One of the cooks saw I had an ICC shirt on and asked if I went there. I told her that I did. And guess what. This woman went there too! To make things even more crazy - this woman was also from Pontotoc! She was there with her brother, Mike, who led the project (who is also from Pontotoc).




    Not only did we do physical work, we did spiritual work. Each morning, our crew "circled-up" for prayer before we started. We had devotionals after breakfast and lunch. It was an amazing experience to have while helping build on to this church. The very first service in the new (and still unfinished) building was held on that Wednesday night. Those in attendance were both crews and a few original members. It was one amazing service about doing "Kingdom Work". I didn't want to leave. Throughout the week, we accomplished so much, but so much was accomplished in us as well. There's so much more I could share with you about it, but that's it in a nutshell.



    There's so much more that I want to share about this summer, but we'll save that for another post.

    Here's some more pictures from the trip:

Friday, 21 March 2008

Thursday, 20 March 2008

  • Get on the Devil's Nerves

    "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
    - John 10:10

    The devil's main objective is to steal, kill and destroy. We should expect the devil to attack our lives. If we are tearing devil kingdom down we ought to expect the devil to do something to us. We ought to be getting on the devil's nerves. The devil wants to destroy your life. He will do whatever it takes to have you. He knows you. He knows your weakness. He knows what you like. He knows what gets to you. We ought to be working against the devil, doing what God has called and chosen us to do. If the devil has been attacking your life, it is a sign that you are doing damage to his kingdom. You are getting on his nerves. When you get on someone nerves, they usually yell or hit or do something to you or make a reaction letting you know to leave them alone. Can you imagine that you are on the devil's mind? You are all he thinks about. He is plotting and strategizing how to get to you. The devil will attack you because he knows your future. He knows what is coming. He knows the blessing is coming. He knows your victory is ahead so he is doing all he can to mess you up and prevent you from getting to where you need to be. That’s why you had a rough childhood. That’s why you went through some things in your life that were unbearable. He wants to have you. Get on his nerves by doing what you are called to do. Get on his nerves by being obedient to God. Get on his nerves by living a holy and pure life. Cause the devil to hate you. Cause the devil to not stand you. Strike a blow to the kingdom of darkness. Are you getting on the devil's nerves or is he getting on your nerves? What are you going to do to get on his nerves? Go get on the devil's nerves!

    By: Matthew Bacchus
    mailing@tddm.org

jesusteen

  • Visit jesusteen's Xanga Site
    • Name: Roderick
    • Country: United States
    • State: Mississippi
    • Metro: Tupelo
    • Birthday: 7/16/1988
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 2/13/2006

Weblog Archives

Don't worry - your calendar is here… to see it in action just click "Save" above and refresh the page.

About Me

  • Hey! The name's Rod. First of all, I am a Christian. I'm 20 years old. I'm a junior in college. God willing, I'm attending Blue Mountain this fall. If so, I'll be a Church-Related Vocations major with a concentration in Religious Education and Business. I'll also be minoring in Youth Ministry. I'm a sinner saved by grace striving daily to live for Christ in all that I do.

Pulse

Recommended

Chatboard (1)

  • jesusteen
    Hey everybody! :D