Sermon - Reminiscere 2021 - Matthew 15:21-28

 

A couple weeks ago on Valentine’s Day we talked about one of the three great Christian virtues: love. Love is gentle and kind, it submits and gives in for the sake of the other. Love is sacrificial. In general, it appears we American Christians do a good job talking about love and encouraging this virtue amongst one another. However, faith is also a necessary virtue, and over the past few wealthy generations, we’ve not practiced this virtue quite as much.

Faith is different from love. Love may be gentle and submissive, while faith is stubborn and unmoving. Faith endures. Faith is like glue which bonds two objects together. With high quality glue, the two objects become one, and the weak object gains the strength of the stronger object to which it’s become attached. So a weak and easily broken veneer becomes much stronger when glued to a thick surface. Likewise, the weak human becomes as strong as God when the human has faith in the Lord.

To illustrate this we can look at Jacob wrestling with God. On the surface this sounds ridiculous! A mere human wrestling with the almighty creator of the universe and winning! That’s simply impossible! Man cannot even see God’s face and live, let alone enter into a wrestling match. But the point here is that Jacob had faith in God. Though Jacob himself was a weak sinful mortal, he trusted in the Lord for his preservation, and therefore he was attached to God and was as strong as God. The only way Jacob could wrestle with God and see Him face to face, was through faith which relentlessly trusted in the Lord.

We see this same thing occur with the Canaanite woman. She had apparently heard of Jesus and His teachings and miracles. Though she was a Gentile, she had heard that Jesus came not for the righteous but for sinners. She realized her great burden, and trusted in the Lord’s promise: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Though Jesus ignored her, said that He wasn’t for her, and called her a dog, she remembered that Jesus promised not to break the bruised reed or snuff the smoldering wick. In other words, this Gentile woman had great faith in the Lord, based upon His promises, in spite of her present experiences. On account of her faith in the Lord, she received that for which she asked. “Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”

So do you see what faith does? It clings to God in the midst of adversity. Faith is stubborn and relentless, it doesn’t give up or become discouraged, but because it’s attached to God and strengthened through the Holy Spirit, it only becomes greater. It’s like metal which though burned in the furnace only becomes stronger. This is what God’s gift of faith does in you as well. Though you experience trials and adversity, your faith remains glued to Jesus and you grow stronger when you face tribulations. 

It’s a faithless and weak generation, therefore, that doesn’t hold fast to Christ’s promises and the Lord Himself. We are only as strong as the One we have faith in. So when God’s Word is either watered down or absent from our lives, it means that our faith will be weaker since it doesn’t have those promises to abide in. So if you don’t know the Lord or His Word, then your faith will be weaker, and so will you.

But because the Holy Spirit promises to work faith in them which hear the Word of God, we have a boundless supply of faith in the scriptures. As often as you hear His promises and believe them, your faith grows more tightly bound to God. Growing in the virtue of faith is as simple as hearing God’s voice in the Bible. If you desire to be faithful and strong in the Lord (which you should), then it’s as simple as listening to Christ’s promises.

This faith which God bestows upon you through His word is active in your life. There are two major aspects of your life where you’re given the opportunity to exercise your faith: The first regards clinging to God’s Word during times of wealth and luxury, and the second regards clinging to God’s Word during times of adversity and sickness. In both life and death we are called to be faithful.

So what does it look like to be faithful during times of luxury and ease? It means to stubbornly abide in God’s pure plain Word. We must not let any of God’s Word be lost or changed in order to make it more comfortable. We must not permit any errors or abuses to creep in. Afterall, our faith is funded solely upon the Words and promises of Jesus Christ. When those words are changed or lost, we are losing the very thing which grants us faith. The word must remain pure and unadulterated.

There’s a reason we Lutherans are so insistent on getting the words just right and being precise and exact about what it is we believe. There’s a reason we object to errors and changing the plain meaning of God’s word. There’s a reason we don’t just brush over theological differences among differing denominations. There’s a reason we insist that God’s word doesn’t change with the times. 

That reason is that God’s Word is our source of faith and strength. That word is what sustains us in times of sorrow. That word gives us faith to endure in times of affliction. That word was made flesh in the person of Jesus and from Him we are redeemed from all our sins and granted eternal life. When we lose God’s Word, we also lose God and the salvation that He’s won for us.

So when the world entices us with its easy riches and pleasures, if only we give up just a few little parts of God’s Word: let us be faithful. Let us abide in the unchanging Word of God, no matter how much the world mocks and derides us. Let us be stubborn and unmoving, let us be stuck in God’s Word, because only in Him do we have the words of eternal life.

A beautiful illustration of this is in John’s Gospel. After Jesus taught the crowds that if they wish to be saved they have to eat His flesh and drink His blood, nearly everyone left Jesus, only a few remained. This was such a hard teaching that few could stomach it, and nearly everyone who had followed Him turned back. But His apostles remained faithful. When Jesus asked if they were going to leave too, they responded, ‘Where else would we go? Only you have the words of eternal life.’ So we too, though the broad and easy road entices us, we remain with Christ since only He has the words of eternal life.

The second part of life when we are called to remain faithful is when life is miserable and death is nearing. When we’re afflicted with great illnesses or bodily ailments, like the Gentile woman we call on the Lord for help. When the Lord seems to ignore us and our plight remains with us, we persistently continue to pray to the Lord. When the illness grows worse, and it seems as if God is punishing us, we recall His promises and continue to trust in the Lord. When He calls us dogs and we reach life’s end, we cling to Jesus’ voice and are gladly His dogs since it means that we’re at least in the Lord’s house and eating at His feet.

When we remain persistently faithful to the Lord, remembering His great promises of salvation, even in the midst of death, the Lord is certain to fulfill His promises. Even when death strikes, our faith clings to Jesus and so with Him we will be risen from the dead. Since our faith is attached to God, we mortals are immortal. Faith means that we are not just dogs in God’s house, but He’s made us kings and queens; we are His heirs of the kingdom of heaven, His beloved sons and daughters.

Dear friends, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall remain faithful. So let us hold fast to the grace of God and find the Lord a very present help and refuge in our every trial and temptation.