Real Life Selkirk
**July 12** Spiritual Grit (Matthew 15:21-39)

  • Sermon

    Key Passage

    Matthew 14:13–21 NIV
    When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

    Series Introduction

    The book of Matthew is where we get our definition of a disciple
    Matthew 4:19 ESV
    And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
    Biblical Disciple Defined:
    Following Jesus
    Changed by Jesus
    Obedient to Jesus— Making Disciples
    The book of Matthew is where we see our calling as disciples:
    Matthew 28:19–20 NIV
    Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
    So we are using the book of Matthew as our Field Manual on how to live as disciples.
    We have walked through the book of Matthew to this point.
    As we have crossed Matthew 14, we have hit the 1/2 way mark of the book.
    Identity of the King
    Matthew goes to great lengths to introduce Jesus as the Messiah, King, God in the flesh, and savior.
    A disciple is someone who sees and knows who Jesus is.
    Not what preachers say, not what culture says, but rather, what the the Word of God says.
    Authority of the King
    We have just completed a segment where we have emphasized the authority of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom He brings.
    You will see how the passages and teachings of Jesus drive us to a humble surrender to Jesus Christ, His authority and His Kingdom
    This isn’t me imposing this upon the Scriptures. This is the emphasis of Matthew and what he draws out of Jesus life.
    A disciple is someone who lays their lives down to follow Jesus
    That is our calling. My authority or His.
    Kingdom Living
    Now, we will move to a part of the book of Matthew that will emphasize Kingdom Living
    I know this has had practical elements that we can put directly into our lives.
    But Jesus’ identity has been established and His authority has been seen.
    Some have surrendered to the authority, others have rejected His authority.
    Now, Jesus’ ministry will begin to focus on His disciples and those who are choosing to follow Him and what life in the Kingdom means for them.
    These next few passages don’t just convict. They meddle. They meddle with our lives. Our core beliefs.
    God, through His Holy Spirit is going to start pointing at some parts of our lives that we are uncomfortable with.
    This is sanctification. This is the consequence of a surrendered life as a disciple. This is a life that looks more like Jesus as we follow Jesus.
    We don’t wear Jesus down to our sinful nature
    As we devote ourselves to Him, He wears down our sinful nature into conformity to His holiness.
    As a disciple of Jesus, this is our journey.

    Sermon Introduction

    I love how the text moves in our passage today.
    For the last few weeks, we have been looking at the teachings of Jesus.
    I remember when I was at North Idaho College, training for my future career in Law Enforcement.
    We would take classes about law, arrest techniques, and driving cars very fast.
    But do you know what we weren’t doing? We weren’t out there being cops doing these things in the field. We were learning about them.
    I remember talking to my classmates about how hard it is to learn these things, but not being able to see them in action in real life.
    There is a difference from the classroom and real life. This is true in almost every area of life.
    Parenting: Most of us were better parents with more answers, and then we had kids.
    Work: Most of us felt more equipped after an education, but then we started the job.
    Me as a cop: I thought I had been trained with all of the answers, then someone wanted to square up with me and fight.
    The disciples had just heard about:
    The Kingdom of Heaven being like seed on good soil
    The Kingdom of Heaven being like yeast in bread
    The Kingdom of Heaven being fruitful
    The Kingdom of Heaven having eternal Heaven and Hell consequences.
    These are great things to learn, especially from the mouth of Jesus.
    But then real life meets our passage today.

    Topic- True Compassion

    Over the last couple of months, I feel God has been working on my heart. As I prepared this sermon, I want to share three areas that I observed in my world where I saw God’s work in my heart:
    Story #1-
    On June 1, I logged onto my social media. (I am moving away from social media in my life. If you’ve sent me a friend request and I haven’t responded...sorry) But I check on the important things, like my Minnesota Vikings.
    I saw that they had changed their team logo on the profile to a rainbow version of their team logo.
    My first response was, “Ugh, here we go again. Another month of jamming sinful behavior down our throats.”
    I scrolled through a few of the comments and saw vile responses on two sides of a matter that our world wants to fight about.
    I tend to lean toward the, “Well, I’m going to unfollow my team for the month to make a point.” line of thinking.
    This is when God convicted my heart:
    This is an issue that has struck not just hundreds of thousands of people in our nation and in our community.
    This is an issue that has struck my own family.
    What does God see in this moment?
    Does He want to join in with a few Holy zingers?
    No. I don’t believe so
    I believe this breaks the heart of God.
    There are people, created in His image, created to know Him, created to find their identity in Him who have believed something else
    They have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and have chosen a lifestyle and an identity as their Lord and are proclaiming it from the rooftops.
    If their identity is not in Jesus, their eternity is hell.
    God loves them. God is brokenhearted. Am I?
    I started thinking about my daughter. I’m brokenhearted about my daughter who is caught up in this lie.
    It is my hope and prayer that there is a believer who has enough of the heart of God to show compassion to her, not the comments that I saw on social media.
    My daughter needs Jesus, not a lecture.
    Story #2-
    Around a month ago, I was dutifully working on a sermon in my living room.
    I really get focused on sermons. I pray, I ask God for guidance. I study, read, listen and learn.
    I want to Gospel to impact lives! But I also forget that sometimes God is preaching a sermon that isn’t in my notes.
    My doorbell rang and a longtime neighbor that I have known only by waving through the years was standing there.
    Her daughter had been arrested and released from jail. Her daughter had nowhere to go, no money, no friends, no home. My neighbors house was not an option because of her release terms from jail.
    I had a sermon to prepare. I had God’s work on my plate. I have to give you guys the best.
    But God showed me my heart. Standing before me was a desperate mother. She was broken and hurting and I was the only Christian she knew that might help.
    Understand this, I’ve never asked her for anything and she’s never asked me for anything.
    The reason she was standing before me at that moment was God.
    I sat down and listened to her and told her that I would be willing to talk with her daughter and see if I could help.
    She left and I went back to my sermon, but only for around 30 minutes because the daughter came to my front door.
    Lisa and I invited her in, fed her dinner and found a place for her to stay.
    She had a need, but she had a different need.
    She was where she was because she had a lord of her life, but it wasn’t Jesus.
    My heart broke for her, knowing that her destination is hell apart from Jesus.
    That is why it was worth dropping my sermon for the day.
    I don’t say this to brag, but rather to share with you what God is doing in my heart.
    I open up with these two stories because I hear the words of Jesus in our previous parables, but when it comes to real life, it has taken the work of God in my heart for me to change.
    We stand here every week as a church and say,
    Vision:
    We exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time.
    Our passage today shows us at the ground level how this must begin.
    We don’t learn theological points, then convey those theological points for the salvation of others.
    God’s word has to take root in our hearts
    Our hearts have to break. Our sinful lives have to change. We have to conform to the eyes, hands and heart of Jesus! Otherwise, no soul will embrace the Gospel from our message.
    We are talking about the word, “compassion” today.
    It is something we see in Jesus.
    It is something the disciples knew in theory, but their practical knowledge fell woefully short.
    Today we are going to look at the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000.
    This is a powerful story that I believe God wants us to be very familiar with.
    Many of us have heard this sermon preached about the “Multiplication of Jesus”
    How we give Jesus our loaves and fish and he will prosper us.
    There is a multiplication teaching to this passage. But it is in the context of the heart of Jesus
    This passage is about the heart of Jesus.
    It is recorded in all four Gospel accounts
    It is the only miracle other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four gospel accounts.
    Why do you suppose that is?
    There is something in this passage that reveals the heart of God that He wants us to see.
    Question to Answer:
    What is true compassion?
    This is a question we will all wrestle with in our lives.
    What is compassion?
    What are the boundaries in compassion?
    What is Jesus asking of me?
    This will all boil down to clear teaching in our passage today.

    True Compassion is seeing what Jesus sees (verses 13-14)

    Matthew 14:13 NIV
    When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
    Matthew helps us set our context here. We can see the purpose behind the movement of Jesus.
    It says, “When Jesus heard what had happened...”
    We ask the question, “What did Jesus hear had happened?”
    The passage just prior, two things are revealed.
    First of all JTB, Jesus’ cousin, had been killed by Herod
    Second, Herod had heard about Jesus and believed Jesus was JTB resurrected from the dead.
    In grief and in complications we see Jesus’ response
    Grief because his cousin had been killed
    Complications because Herod now possibly had his sights set on Jesus.
    This is a place where we can see the humanity of Jesus.
    Both of these pieces together compounded would make anyone emotionally overwhelmed.
    Being emotionally overwhelmed in this life is a reality
    God created us in His image. We see that God has emotion. Strong emotion.
    He exhibits joy, anger, pleasure, and peace.
    We too carry emotion.
    As a response of hearing this about Herod and JTB, Jesus withdrew by boat to a solitary place.
    If you remember, Jesus had gone to his hometown and preached.
    The people there didn’t have much faith. However, the people in the places surrounding His hometown seemed to desperately want to hear him.
    Nazareth is around 10 miles from the Sea of Galilee, so Jesus withdrew to the sea of Galilee, got into a boat and went to a solitary place
    Why do you think he went to a solitary place?
    To be with God.
    After He dismisses the crowd, he sends his disciples into the boat and he goes up on the mountain by himself to pray.
    The whole purpose of Jesus in this moment was to be with the Father.
    I want to explore this.
    It is a bit of a rabbit trail, but we don’t have too many verses to cover today.
    Is anyone in this room overwhelmed? Stressed? Worried? Battling the news, grief and struggles this world offers?
    There are always responsibilities, but the greater the worry, grief and stress, the greater we need to be in a solitary place with God.
    You may have come to church today to find hope in your circumstance. I want you to know that church will not provide that solution. A sermon will not provide that solution. Five points on how to find peace in life will not provide that solution.
    God is your solution. God and only God.
    And you may be here today and need to hear this: Get alone with God. Get rid of all of the distractions. Shut your phone off. Turn down your computer. Get a babysitter for the kids.
    Go to God. Go to the Word. Spend time pouring out your heart, your fears, your worries, the consequences to Him.
    Allow Him to strengthen you. Build you. Carry you.
    Matthew 14:14 NIV
    When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
    Spending solitary time with God is necessary and good, but sometimes there are disruptions.
    Can I get an amen?
    Let’s notice this. There is an interruption here.
    Was God in the interruption? Yes.
    Did Jesus still make time to be alone with God? Yes.
    Jesus got into the boat and started going to the isolated place and people on the shoreline said, “That’s Jesus in the boat. Let’s follow Him!”
    They probably had their binoculars and started tracking where he was. Others started following the crowds.
    It built up so much and they traveled on foot through enough towns that a massive crowd.
    I want you to see this:
    When Jesus landed, did He see 5 minutes of isolation? Did He see his quiet time with God?
    No, He saw the crowd.
    I want to pause here because interruptions are a big part of life.
    Believe it or not, I am an introvert at heart.
    That means that I find my energy from not being around crowds, rather than from being around people.
    For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me. God put me in a place that I have to work with people, but people drain me.
    Now I have discovered that God is glorified in my weaknesses. Go figure. He should have said that somewhere.
    In reading about being an introvert, one thing that stood out to me is that interruptions frustrate everyone, but they especially anger introverts.
    It is because when they are formulating a thought, that thought literally touches every part of their brain before crossing the road and coming out of their mouth.
    That is why introverts sit at a table think of the right thing to say when the conversation has moved on to three different topics.
    But in this process of figuring out what to say and how to say it, if the introvert is interrupted, you have taken a massive part of their brain processing and flushed it before anything could be formed.
    That is why other people are so much work. You have to have conversations with them.
    You burned their limited energy with other people.
    It’s hard not to see interruptions as personal or at a minimum a frustration in life.
    It is rude, or a problem that needs to be solved or ignored.
    I want you to see what the heart of Jesus is.
    Remember, the heart of Jesus demonstrates the heart of God.
    Jesus saw the crowds and He had compassion on them.
    I want to bump over to the book of Mark and see what Mark highlights about this explanation:
    Mark 6:34 NIV
    When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
    Do you hear the heart of Jesus?
    They were like sheep without a shepherd.
    Jesus has used this language before. He sees these people as sheep.
    Sheep need a shepherd
    Sheep are defenseless
    Sheep fight with each other
    Sheep will wander off and get themselves killed
    Jesus sees these people like this
    There were people claiming to be shepherds, but the sheep were either being neglected or abused, or completely abandoned.
    Jesus saw people who needed a savior.
    He had compassion on them.
    Who was in the crowd?
    There were likely people who leaned toward the Roman govt
    There were people who leaned toward the Jewish leadership
    There were sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes
    There were righteous church attending folks.
    What did they all have in common? They needed a shepherd from where they were in life.
    And they knew they needed a shepherd. That is why they came to Jesus.
    Do you see this in Mark 6? How did Jesus help to meet the needs of the people?
    He taught them the truth from the mouth of God.
    God give us your eyes
    May we not simply see you for who you are
    May we see those around us as you see them
    They are not problems, political issues, or interruptions
    They are hearts and souls that are lost apart from Jesus
    True Compassion is seeing what Jesus sees

    True Compassion replaces our ideas of compassion

    Matthew 14:15 NIV
    As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
    As evening approached.
    I want to pause there.
    What had Jesus done with these people.
    He had compassion on them. They likely had needs of every sort as they came to him.
    There were thousands and the numbers were likely growing by the minute.
    Jesus taught them until evening.
    There is a spiritual endurance these people had.
    They didn’t come to Jesus and say, “We are awaiting our 30 minute sermon”
    They came to Jesus. He had compassion on their soul. And He presented the truth to them.
    This was not a series of motivational thoughts. This was not a 5 minute devotional.
    Do you think a 5 minute devotional is going to transform your life?
    Or do you think pressing in to the King of Kings because He is the source of truth and He is showing His compassion by sharing the truth of the Bible with you. This will transform your life.
    They were there until evening.
    The disciples were probably getting hungry and they were seeing that it was getting dark.
    They thought, “Well, we’d better bring this to an end. These people don’t have any food and asking them to stay any longer is unreasonable.”
    They felt that they would do the compassionate thing and send people home...away from Jesus.
    Here is where assumptions kill.
    The Pharisees assumed they knew what the Messiah was supposed to do—They were wrong and they missed Jesus entirely because of their assumption
    The people in Jesus hometown assumed they knew Jesus identity (his father, mother and siblings)— They were wrong and they missed Jesus entirely because of their assumption
    Even Herod assumed he knew who Jesus was as a prophet—He was wrong and he completely missed Jesus.
    Here, the disciples assume that they know what is best for the people.
    Is this because they had gone to Jesus and said, “Lord, these are your sheep and you are the shepherd, what do you want us to do?”
    Or did they assume some level of authority and say, “We know what is best for these people.”
    They assumed God’s will, however, Jesus would not let them miss this opportunity to build their faith.
    Matthew 14:16–17 NIV
    Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
    Jesus says, “If we are going to to this in your wisdom, then show me the power by which you are going to perform.”
    They had already crossed that bridge in their mind. They had already asked the question, “Is there enough food present in the crowd?”
    The answer was a resounding “no”
    I want you to see this. This has been one of the biggest failure points of my life and of my ministry.
    I see a need, I see a person, I see a situation and I come up with what I feel is the best circumstance I could think of.
    So often, my solution seem inadequate and doesn’t seem to do anything.
    In fact, when I look at the problems in the world around me and my capability to do anything, it leaves me largely paralyzed.
    If I cannot help them all, I’d rather just not help anyone.
    That is the solution that the disciples found themselves.
    We can’t help these people, so let’s send them home.
    I want to make this point significantly clear today.
    I cannot give true compassion. It is not capable within myself
    I can see needs. I can feel hurt with people. But I cannot have any sort of compassion apart from the heart of God.
    It is God’s compassion they need. Not mine.
    My compassion is a flawed helpless compassion that is limited to my wisdom and strength.
    His is a compassion that can change the hearts and lives of the worst sinner.
    In themselves, they did not have the capability, vision or power to demonstrate God’s compassion.

    True Compassion offers the little we have to by used by Jesus for His purposes

    Matthew 14:18–21 NIV
    “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
    I know everyone wants to jump right to this passage and jump on the prosperity gospel train.
    If you put a little offering in the offering plate, God will multiply it!
    If you do a little, God will give you a bunch.
    So we give under this compulsion.
    Is this compassion? Is this surrender? Is this lordship?
    It is not an act of trust, faith or surrender to go to God and say, I’m giving you something and I expect you to give me back more.
    This is you trying to be God, while using God’s power for your own gain.
    This is the heights of idolotry.
    God is not an idol. He is not to be used for our own gain.
    He is to be glorified in the hearts of all who surrender to Him.
    Jesus showed them His heart.
    His heart was first of all compassion for the lost. They were lost and they needed the truth.
    But the need for their daily bread came to the surface and Jesus had compassion on them as well for this need.
    So Jesus asked His disciples to give him all they had.
    What they had was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
    Now, I love this.
    Jesus could have asked everyone to sit down and He could have drawn up a Wonderbread snow-storm. And Wonder bread could have fallen from the sky and everyone could have eaten.
    But Jesus didn’t do this.
    He took all that the disciples had to offer.
    It wasn’t too little. It wasn’t insignificant.
    What they had needed to be surrendered entirely to Jesus.
    Notice that Jesus gave thanks for the bread.
    He didn’t tell the disciples, “thank you”. He told God, “thank you”.
    Your food doesn’t come from your grocery budget or from the grocery store. It comes from God.
    He then broke the bread and gave it to the disciples
    I want to pause here and point to a massive ministry truth.
    The source of our heart should be the love and compassion of Jesus for a lost and dying world.
    Many people put offering in the basket or give online.
    Praise God for that. That is necessary and good.
    But what I want you to see is that they didn’t just give what they had to Jesus, Jesus gave it back to them to give to others.
    The resources required them to do the ministry Jesus wanted, based on His compassion for the people
    They participated in Jesus multiplication.
    But it wasn’t for them. It was for the glory of God and His compassion on these people.
    Are you willing to give what you have because God has opened your eyes to what He sees.
    But then use the life and heart He has given you to be part of what God does in someone else's life?

    Conclusion

    A few weeks ago, I was reading Nehemiah and he had heard about how Jerusalem was in ruins.
    It broke his heart. I want you to know that he could have used his salary, his influence and his ideas to start making a change.
    Instead, He went to God in prayer.
    He then allowed Himself to be used by God as part of the solution.
    The king asked him why he was sad. The king had never seen Nehemiah sad before.
    Before answering, it says that Nehemiah prayed to God before answering
    He then told the king about the situation in Jerusalem and how it broke his heart.
    The king sent him to rebuild the walls
    This is a story about the power of God, when it is led by God.
    In Nehemiahs, own strength, it would have been a guaranteed failure.
    In God’s hands, the compassion of God, True Compassion was seen for the people of Israel and Nehemiah played a big role.
    The difference between the 5 loaves and 2 fish is that in the hands of the disciples, it was worthless. In the hands of Jesus it met the need and revealed His nature.
    Church, when we opened this message today, we asked a simple but life‑altering question:
    What is true compassion?
    And we began by looking at our own lives—our reactions to culture, our frustrations with people, our interruptions, our assumptions, our limits. We saw how easy it is to know the teachings of Jesus in theory, but how hard it is to live them when real people with real needs show up at our door, or on our newsfeed, or in our family.
    We said earlier that the book of Matthew is our Field Manual for discipleship. Not just learning about Jesus. Not just agreeing with Jesus. But becoming like Jesus.
    And today, in Matthew 14, Jesus takes His disciples out of the classroom and into the field. He takes compassion out of theory and puts it into real life.
    And here is what we learned:

    1. True compassion is seeing what Jesus sees.

    When Jesus stepped off that boat, He didn’t see an interruption. He didn’t see a burden. He didn’t see a crowd that needed to be managed.
    He saw sheep without a shepherd. He saw souls. He saw eternity.
    And church—this is where compassion begins. Not with our opinions. Not with our politics. Not with our comfort. Not with our preferences.
    Compassion begins with spiritual vision—seeing people the way Jesus sees them.

    2. True compassion replaces our assumptions with Jesus’ heart.

    The disciples thought they were being compassionate: “Send them away, Lord. Let them get food. Let them take care of themselves.”
    But they never asked Jesus. They assumed. And assumptions kill compassion.
    We do the same. We assume we know what people deserve. We assume we know what God wants. We assume we know what will fix the problem.
    But Jesus says, “They do not need to go away.” “You give them something to eat.”
    True compassion doesn’t start with our ideas. It starts with Jesus’ heart.

    3. True compassion offers what we have to Jesus and trusts Him to multiply it.

    The disciples looked at their hands and said, “We only have…”
    Five loaves. Two fish. Not enough.
    And Jesus said, “Bring them here to me.”
    Church, this is the turning point of compassion. Not when we have enough. Not when we feel enough. Not when we understand enough. Not when we fix enough.
    But when we bring what we have— our time, our tears, our prayers, our resources, our broken hearts— and place them in the hands of Jesus.
    Because in our hands, it’s never enough. But in His hands, it becomes more than enough.

    So what is true compassion?

    Let me answer the question plainly:
    True compassion is seeing people through the eyes of Jesus, surrendering our assumptions, and offering what we have to Him so He can do what only He can do.
    True compassion is not sentiment. It’s not convenience. It’s not tolerance. It’s not agreement. It’s not withdrawal. It’s not self‑protection.
    True compassion is the heart of Jesus expressed through the hands of His disciples.
    And church—this is where discipleship becomes real. This is where the kingdom moves from theory to life. This is where the Holy Spirit begins to meddle with our hearts. This is where sanctification takes root. This is where we stop wearing Jesus down to our image and let Him wear us down into His.
    This is where we become a church that truly lives our vision:
    “To reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time.”
    Not with lectures. Not with arguments. Not with assumptions. But with compassion— the compassion of Jesus Christ flowing through us.
    May God give us His eyes. May God give us His heart. May God give us the courage to bring our loaves and fish to Him. And may the world be fed—not by our strength, but by His compassion working through us.
    We must see as He sees
    Realize we are truly insufficient
    He is more than sufficient

  • Sermon

    Key Passage

    Matthew 15:21–39 NIV
    Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

    Introduction

    There is a phrase in the Bible that sounds like the worst phrase in the world.
    For some of you who grew up on Sunday School, flannel graph and a steady diet of the King James Version of the Bible, you will be very familiar with this phrase:
    Galatians 5:22 NKJV
    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
    That phrase, “longsuffering” is a pretty descriptive phrase
    This is one of the verses that I will look to the KJV and say, “Ol King James, he nailed the idea of this word”
    In our modern English translations, it is mostly translated as “patience” or “forebearance”
    I don’t know what “forebearance” means.
    Patience seems like I am at the DMV waiting for my number to be called.
    But “longsuffering”?
    I think we all get the idea of what that word means.
    I know this sounds a little dramatic, but when I think of long-suffering, one of the first things I think about are going to Walmart with my beautiful bride
    You can put me out on a baseball field, a basketball court or a football field and I could play all day long.
    You put me behind a Walmart shopping cart for five minutes and my knees hurt, my back hurts, and I turn into a whiny little pansy that wants to go sit in the car and take a nap.
    Another word that we can use that we are familiar with today is the word, “grit”.
    Grit is the ability to do “longsuffering” well.
    Spiritual Grit is what we will see in our text today.
    It’s not easy living in the world we live in.
    We have a vision as a church that we exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time
    This means that we have to engage into hostile territory. We will take hits. It may be confusing.
    We need to develop Spiritual Grit if we will make headway in our world to accomplish our vision
    We need to develop spiritual grit if we want to make it through Mondays
    Jesus never called us to an easy road. He called us to a narrow path. That narrow path may be difficult to find sometimes. It may have rocks and trees covering the path. It may be steep, too steep to seem reasonable.
    The only way to walk the narrow path is with grit.
    In our passage today, we see two stories of people who showed tremendous grit.
    We will look at their examples and answer this question:
    How can I grow in spiritual grit, when I feel like quitting?

    Connect to the audience

    There are a ton of examples of grit and perseverance in History.
    When inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison failed over and over and over.
    Which ultimately led him to say, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
    Grit, longsuffering, perseverance
    Vince Lombardi famously said, “Quitters never win, and winners never quit”
    The great theologian, Rocky Balboa, “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward... That’s how winning is done!”
    In life, it’s easy to quit things:
    New Year’s resolutions
    Jobs
    Friendships
    Marriages
    Churches
    even God
    When things get hard or confusing, quitting becomes the flashing neon sign in front of us that promises escape and hope
    Our world has a tragic deficit in grit. We live in a world of comfort and service. If anything isn’t to our liking, we take our business elsewhere.

    What Satan Wants

    Satan doesn’t fear your talent. He doesn’t fear your personality. He doesn’t fear your church attendance.
    He fears your grit.
    Because grit keeps you with Jesus long enough to receive what Satan cannot steal.
    If he can’t stop Jesus from blessing you, he will try to stop you from staying with Jesus.
    No grit means broken relationships. No grit means unanswered prayers. No grit means shallow faith. No grit means a powerless church.
    A church with grit is a victorious church. A church without grit is a defeated church.
    Reiterate the question:
    How can I grow in spiritual grit, when I feel like quitting?

    Preaching

    I am going to walk through both of these texts in a way that we can see from a big picture what is happening.
    We will also clear up some questions we may have about the text.
    Then I will use principles from both stories to make some important points for today.
    Matthew 15:21 NIV
    Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
    Short background here:
    Jesus was gaining significant publicity in northern Israel, so much that the Jerusalem leaders sent some Pharisees to investigate Jesus.
    They came up with a clear purpose. The first thing they saw was Jesus’ disciples not washing their hands and they condemned them.
    Jesus then justified His disciples then condemned the Jerusalem Pharisees.
    The Pharisees were offended
    So we see here that Jesus left His ministry in northern Israel and went up to Tyre and Sidon
    These were beautiful cities on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
    If you look at the word used here, it says that Jesus “withdrew”.
    He had been doing ministry and the crowds had been pressing in to Him
    He needed some time on a Med Sea Air BNB.
    In these last few weeks, we can see the humanity of Jesus.
    In His grief, he went up for solitude and silence on the mountain.
    Now, he is withdrawing from His ministry for a few days.
    Does this mean that God is not God? No.
    Does this mean that Jesus is human like you and I and there are times that we need to rest?
    Yes!
    Tyre and Sidon were around 30-50 miles away from where he was in N. Israel and they were Gentile cities.
    As we will see in our text, Jesus says that he came for the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus’ ministry was for the nation of Israel. The Gospel is for the world.
    So for Jesus going up to Tyre and Sidon, it is a break away from His ministry to rest.
    Does God need a break? No. But He took one on the Sabbath to show us that we need to have a healthy rhythm of rest and work.
    Story #1
    Matthew 15:22–28 NIV
    A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
    So here is the overview of what happened here.
    I’m sure by hearing this, you may have some questions. Or you may think that Jesus is a little bit of a jerk.
    We are listening to this conversation with ears from the 21st century and imposing our views upon Jesus in 1st century Israel before Jesus went to the cross, resurrected from the dead and before the Holy Spirit came to all believers.
    Let me bring some clarity to this passage:
    Jesus goes up to Tyre and Sidon for a little vacation
    A woman comes up to Him and recognizes Him and begins to cry out to Him, “Lord” (correct), “Son of David” (also correct), “have mercy on me” (also correct).
    She says that her daughter has a demon and is suffering.
    Jesus did not answer her, and the disciples said, “Let’s send her away.”
    I wonder if this is a situation like Jesus feeding the 5,000. Jesus is waiting to see what the disciples do.
    When they play their hand and say, “Send her away from Jesus” Jesus steps in.
    He says, “I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.”
    We need to understand this: Jesus came as a son of David and the son of Abraham.
    God had made a promise to Abraham that through his seed the whole world would be blessed.
    That was a promise made about Jesus
    So now as that promise is fulfilled, we see that the seed of Abraham came first for those who had the promise.
    After the resurrection, that Gospel message would be opened up to the rest of the people of the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.
    In looking at the life of Jesus and the church, we need to look at it like a curtain that is being opened. We can only see what is being revealed. As Jesus continued His life, we learn more about Him, His purpose and God’s plan.
    Soon the curtain would be open and include the non-Jewish people around the world.
    But at this point, the curtain was only partially open because there was still no sacrifice for the sin of the Gentiles.
    Jesus hadn’t died yet.
    The woman falls before Jesus and says, “Lord, Help me!”
    A desperate plea.
    Again, Jesus sounds like a jerk, but he is explaining to her what I just explained to you.
    “It is not right to take the children’s bread and feed it to the dogs.
    At this time, Jesus’ ministry was for the lost sheep of Israel.
    These are the “children” he references.
    He says, at this point of my ministry, there are people who are inside the scope of Jesus’ ministry and people who are outside of that scope.
    Again, when Jesus dies on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn and the Holy Spirit came and the Gospel became accessible to the whole world.
    This is not a statement that Jesus didn’t see her, or love her, or recognize her need.
    It was a statement of Jesus doing what He was sent to do.
    The woman responds, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table”
    Basically, “The smallest portion of what you offer is more than enough for me.”
    I want to read to you a verse that Jesus had said earlier. Matthew 11:21
    Matthew 11:21 NIV
    “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
    Jesus saw her persistence. She wasn’t going to be denied. Jesus saw her faith and responded by healing her daughter.
    He went to a portion of the curtain that hadn’t been opened yet and did the work anyways.
    Story #2
    Now we move on to the second story:
    Matthew 15:29–31 NIV
    Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
    Jesus moves down now back to the Galilee region. We can read in the book of Mark that this was on the NE corner of the lake.
    He didn’t go back to the region where he did most of His ministry, but He did return to northern Israel.
    People in that region brought everyone who had any kind of an ailment to Jesus and He healed them.
    Matthew is very specific here highlighting that this is a picture to these people about the nature of who Jesus is:
    Prophecies from Isaiah 61 that Jesus had read earlier in His ministry say that the Messiah would do these things.
    Then when JTB was thrown into prison and had a moment of doubt, Jesus pointed to these same kinds of miracles and identified Himself as the Messiah.
    Now, the people in this region were seeing the Messiah for the first time.
    Matthew 15:32–39 NIV
    Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
    So the crowd hangs with Him for three days and they get hungry.
    The rest of this passage ought to sound familiar.
    Jesus has compassion on them because they are hungry.
    The disciples look at each other and say, “Whatever shall we do?”
    Jesus takes the exact same ingredients and does the exact same miracle and makes the disciples do the exact same thing as he did just a chapter before.
    Now, I know we all struggle with faith, but even Jesus had to be like, “Seriously?” to the disciples.
    Jesus feeds 4,000 just weeks after he feeds 5,000.

    Definition

    As I said earlier, we are talking about grit today.
    Our question is: “How can I grow in spiritual grit, when I feel like quitting?”
    Here is why we are going there:
    In both stories, we can see that these people had some grit. They had significant spiritual grit.
    The woman would not be deterred.
    She would not take silence or no for an answer. She was persistent. Others may have quit. She didn’t.
    The crowd sat listening to Jesus for three days without food.
    There was something that Jesus offered that caused them to look past their physical hunger and say, “We are staying. As long as Jesus will allow us to stay, we aren’t moving. Others may have gone home at dinner time, but this crowd of people showed grit.”
    All of us feel like quitting sometimes.
    Grit is what grows within us when we choose not to quit.
    If that is you right now, this is for you. You need to hear this.
    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
    We are not. some of us are really soft spiritually.
    We aren’t spiritually ready to roll out of bed in the morning, let alone engage in a spiritual battle for the lost souls in our world.
    I want to use this woman and this crowd as the teachers to show us a few things about life.

    Our grit reveals what we believe about Jesus

    First, let’s look a the woman.
    What did she believe about Jesus?
    Did she believe that Jesus was an option among many and if He didn’t listen to her, then she would move on to plan B?
    Absolutely not.
    Listen to how this woman identified Jesus, “Lord, Son of David”
    She knew and believed that Jesus was the Lord, the Messiah, the Son of God.
    There was no other option.
    A few weeks ago we talked about faith
    Faith is knowing the God of the Bible
    Faith is surrender to His sovereign authority
    Faith is humble obedience to His commands
    She may not have known much about the Jewish religion, but what she did know, she absolutely believed.
    Now, lets look at the crowd.
    I love baseball, but if a baseball game lasted for three days and they ran out of hot dogs, I’d go home before it was over.
    What would cause me to stay somewhere that there was no food?
    Only something that was more important than food.
    Their willingness to withstand their hunger for days shows that they viewed Jesus as more important than their daily bread.
    So what did they believe about Jesus? I don’t know exactly, but I do know that they believed that Jesus was more important than their food.
    So what do I believe about Jesus? Not what does the Bible say about Jesus. What do I truly believe about Jesus?
    I look at this woman and I look at this crowd and I am not humbled, I am humiliated.
    These people had grit, not because they were uncommonly strong.
    These people had grit because they knew who Jesus was.
    Do I have grit in prayer?
    When Jesus seems silent?
    Jesus was silent to this lady and she kept going. She knew Jesus heard. So she just kept on.
    What about when others said, “She should go away and try something else”
    Many may have quit. She didn’t. She kept going to Jesus.
    Do you remember that word from a few weeks ago? Tharseo.
    It means “Take Courage” not “Take Comfort”
    Spiritual grit is a dogged understanding that Jesus is the only solution.
    There is no other. If you go to Jesus, you continue to go to Jesus. There is no plan B
    There is no higher calling. There is no greater option.
    It is Jesus and only Jesus.
    I quit praying so easily.
    I get discouraged so quickly.
    I even get discouraged and quit before I pray. Let alone after pursuing Him.
    How do I grow in grit, when I feel like quitting?
    Seek hard after Jesus and don’t quit.
    Don’t stop praying after a 5 minute devotion.
    This woman didn’t stop. Read this. Listen to her desperation. Look at her persistence.
    Does this sound like you in prayer?
    It doesn’t sound like me. I’m too soft.

    Grit exposes the difference between need and convenience

    There is a difference between what I want and what I need.
    Sometimes I don’t even know the answer to that question.
    There are a lot of things that I have thought I needed in my life that ended up being something I wanted.
    As we said earlier, the crowd saw something in Jesus that was greater than food...for days.
    When we start boiling it down, there isn’t much that would top food on our list of things that we need to survive.
    Water and air probably come before those.
    But when I look at the crowd, they recognized who Jesus is, and they recognized their need for who Jesus is.
    Their need for who Jesus is became the greatest need in their lives.
    This was a change of heart, a change of life, a change of eternity.
    This is an act of desperation. Spiritual desperation.
    They realized that they were starving spiritually and Jesus was the bread of life.
    Also, they recognized that their spiritual hunger was greater than their physical hunger.
    They would not have stayed if Jesus was offering anything less.
    Again, I look at my life and humiliation is what I see.
    We live lives in this world that the enemy swaps in temporary things and tells us they are needs.
    Did you know that my health is a convenience, not a need?
    Did you know that my financial well-being is a convenience, not a need?
    Did you know that my truck, my house, my job, and everything else are a convenience, not a need.?
    I’m not saying these things are bad.
    Also, I’m not saying that God doesn’t care about them.
    What I am saying is that if I had these things and missed my salvation, I would have gained the world and lost my soul.
    We ought to be stewards with what God has given us, but it means nothing if we don’t know the true need of our soul.
    Quitting will keep our eyes focused on what we think is important and we will never see the truth of God’s goodness for what He wants to change within us.

    Grit is the doorway to deeper faith

    Through grit, the woman’s faith was seen.
    Through grit, the crowd saw the compassion of Jesus
    They would have never seen these things had they not persevered. if they had quit. If they were not longsuffering.
    Faith...

    Grit is rooted in humility

    To see this, I want to look at the situation with the woman.
    It was odd seeing Jesus acting so standoffish, wasn’t it?
    She didn’t deserve it. At this stage and at this point, Jesus was there for the Jews, not her.
    But she knew she didn’t deserve, and she persevered.
    Others would have quit.
    We don’t deserve it either

    Grit allows you to deeper experience God’s goodness

    Here is the obvious point. If the woman would have quit, her daughter would still be a demoniac
    If the crowd would have went home, they would have never heard the teachings of Jesus or been fed.
    I want you to know that every request we pray is answered by Jesus.
    He may say yes
    He may say, “keep praying”
    He may say, “no, I’m going to fix that one eternally, not temporarily”
    In every answer, God is glorified in a unique way.
    We will never see and experience the glory of God if we don’t show some grit and hang in there.

    Conclusion

    As we close, I want to take you to a moment in history when grit wasn’t optional—it was survival.
    In October of 1941, Winston Churchill stood before the students of Harrow School during the darkest days of World War II. Europe was collapsing. Britain stood alone. The Nazi war machine seemed unstoppable. The future looked hopeless.
    And Churchill delivered one of the shortest, most powerful speeches ever given.
    He said:
    “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in.”
    Then he added another line that has echoed through history:
    “These are not dark days; these are great days—the greatest our country has ever lived.”
    Why would he say that? Because he understood something: Greatness is not born in comfort. Victory is not born in ease. Hope is not born in convenience. Great days are forged in dark days—by people who refuse to quit.
    Churchill knew that if Britain gave in, evil would win. If Britain gave in, tyranny would spread. If Britain gave in, the world would fall into darkness.
    So he called his nation to grit. To perseverance. To longsuffering. To courage that outlasts fear.
    Churchill wasn’t talking about spiritual warfare—but he might as well have been.
    Because we are in a war too. Not against flesh and blood. Not against nations or armies. But against spiritual forces that want to break your faith, silence your prayers, and pull you away from Jesus.
    And Satan knows something: If you quit, he wins. If you quit praying, he wins. If you quit trusting, he wins. If you quit fighting for your marriage, your kids, your purity, your calling—he wins.
    But if you develop spiritual grit—longsuffering faith—he loses.
    Because gritty Christians stay with Jesus long enough to see miracles. Gritty Christians stay with Jesus long enough to see breakthrough. Gritty Christians stay with Jesus long enough to see deliverance. Gritty Christians stay with Jesus long enough to see multiplied bread.
    So here is the call today:
    Never give in. Not to discouragement. Not to silence. Not to delay. Not to fear. Not to the lies of the enemy.
    Never give in—because Jesus never gives up on you.
    The Canaanite woman didn’t give in. The crowds didn’t give in. And Jesus met them both with mercy and abundance.
    Church—these may feel like dark days. But in Christ, they can become great days. Days of grit. Days of faith. Days of perseverance. Days of victory.
    Never give in. Stay with Jesus. He will meet you.

      • Matthew 15:21–39NIV2011

      • Galatians 5:22NIV2011

      • Matthew 15:21NIV2011

      • Matthew 15:22–28NIV2011

      • Matthew 11:21NIV2011

      • Matthew 15:29–31NIV2011

      • Matthew 15:32–39NIV2011

Real Life Selkirk
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