Awww, come on & give the Lord a praise in this house! He is worthy is he not! We bless God on today. You may be seated in the prescense of the Lord. This passage is pregnant with possibility, and I could really preach about 3 or 4 messages from this one text, I could talk about perserverance, or faith, or humility... I really could, but God is leading me to deal specifically with verse number 27 where this woman who is pleading with the Lord on her daughter’s behalf says to Jesus, "But even the dogs are permitted to eat crumbs that fall beneath thier master’s tables." And that’s what’s getting to me, that’s it. She could have asked Jesus for a "Buffae" style blessing, but, but instead she says, "Lord, I’ll take even a crumb blessing." And so for just a little bit of time I want to talk as the holy ghost shall lead & guide from the subject of, "I’ll Take A Crumb, Please!" Y’all ain’t hearin’ me this morning...
My brothers and my sisters, if I could keep it real with you for just a little while on today, I am convinced today beyond a shadow of a doubt that sometimes we as the people of God can be very selfish when it comes to the Lord blessing us... We don’t feel like as if the Lord has really truly blessed us unless we have a "Full Course Meal" for a blessing. In other words if I can make it plain for you, we don’t feel content with the smaller blessings in life and we can’t be satisfied with how God blesses us unless he blesses us to the brink to where our cup is overflowing and to where all is well and life is great and we have absoloutely no problems at all. Y’all ain’t liking me, that’s okay, I didn’t come to make any friends today I came to give a word from the Lord, like me or not! But unless we are recieving a "Full Course Meal" blessing, we just aren’t content. We think that God’s blessings should just be out on a Buffet table where we can sample a little bit of this & a little bit of that, and we can choose how God blesses us! And I don’t know where in the world we come off thinking that we are so Holy & so good that we should be able to choose how we get blessed, but naw Baby, it just don’t work like that! God blesses as HE sees fit! And then we have the audacity to get mad at God if he blesses somebody else with a full course meal, and all we get is some crumbs! Who do we think we are? I don’t know about you but with God, I’ll take even a crumb blessing, and as the old folks used to say, "Any way you bless me Lord I will be satisfied!" And as the text here shows, God made her crumb blessing a full course meal blessing in the end. And so I guess now you’re probably asking, "Well preacher, what in the world did she do that made her crumb blessing turn into a full course meal?" Well, i’m so glad you asked because there was a few things she did that made her blessing a great one, and I’d like to share them with you on this morning if I could, can I teach you for awhile?
The first thing that made her crumb blessing so great was that she was willing to test the waters and go beyond her comfort zone and cultural barriers. You see she was a Caananite woman, who in those days were thought to be a part of the gentile population, and as most of you who are any bit Bible saavy already know the Jews didn’t mess with the Gentiles. Jesus even said in this passage in verse 24, "I was sent to only help the people of Isreal- God’s lost sheep, not the Gentiles." In those days the word was only supposed to be imparted for and to the Jews, and this woman knew that and yet she was still willing to attempt to defy cultural barriers. She even ended up worshipping him in the passage and calling him Lord and in those days that was, was a definite "No, no." So she was willing to get up out of her comfort zone and be challenged. And that’s why so many of us as believers are not getting the full blessings of God! Because we wanna sit back in our comfort zones and drink Iced teas & lemonades all day long & kick our feet up... But God doesn’t want us to be comfortable! God oftentimes will have you do the uncomfortable thing... Can I get a witness? But how many of y’all know that it’s the uncomfortable stuff that really oftentimes grows us up the most & truly blesses us?! I ain’t gettin’ no amens today! And so the first reason her blessing was so great is because she was willing to be uncomfortable. Somebody oughta say uncomfortable.
The seccond thing that made her crumb blessing so great was that she was willing to humble herself and lower herself below what she knew she was. Look at verse number 26 in the text. Jesus says, "It isn’t right to take food from the children & throw it to the dogs." Jesus was drawing a comparison here, to make it plain he was saying, "It’s not right to give you the same word & healing that I give the children of Isreal because you are a dog." And yes, I know it doesn’t sound right but any way you look at it, Jesus called this woman a dog. He calls her a dog. And despite that she still presses him. She was willing to be humbled and even humiliated, called a dog, just to get a crumb blessing. Y’all aint saying nothing! And that’s what also made her blessing so great! Sometimes in life you’ve gotta be used as a door mat, called all kinds of names, gossiped on, lied on, cheated on, hurt, abused, used & mistreated, for God to give you a "Full Course Meal" blessing. God never said that life would be easy or a piece of cake, or that we wouldn’t be used as a doormat... God wants us to be a people that are willing to go through some things to get blessed. And so, and so, she was also greatly blessed because of her humility & humbleness.
But that’s not all, that’s not all, the final reason as to why she was so greatly blessed or as to what made her crumb blessing so special was that she was willing to perservere. And how many people know that perserverance pays off? By the time you get to verse 27 in the text she’s been ignored by Jesus, turned down, tried to be put away by the disciples, called a dog, and yet, look at what she says, "Yes Lord, but even the dogs are permitted to eat crumbs that fall beneath thier master’s tables." And after all of that, in verse 28 the Lord grants her request. She was willing to perservere, and that’s what God is looking for today, a people that will perservere and endure, who will move on through trials and tribulations, who will stand the test of time. We as Christians far too often are lazy, we give up too easy, and we’re fickle. It’s time for us as believers to get up, get out, and start perservering for the things of God!! And so God wants us to perservere and that’s what made her blessing so great, she perservered.
Well, I think I’ve taught you enough now and now I almost feel like preaching. Somebody oughta say, "Keep It Real Kev." Hmmm... Well now we find ourselves this week, landing in the book of Matthew, chapter number 15, down around verse number 21, uh-huh, and we find Jesus leaving Gallilee and going down to the region of Tyrie & Sidon, and along the way he is confronted by this Canaanite woman whose daughter is being tormented with an evil spirit, and she comes to jesus and asks him to "Have mercy on me oh Son Of David!" And the Lord says.. Nothing! Ha, nothing, no "I care", no "Yes i’ll hear her!", No , "No I won’t", ha, Jesus says NOTHING! ha, I need to stop right there and let you know that just because you ask, ha, does not mean that God will immediately respond, ha, but God’s delays, ha, somebody say it with me, are not God’s denials! Ha, somebody knows what i’m talking about, ha, he may not come when you want him to, ha, but he’s always, ha, ON TIME! ha, he’s an on time God, ha, yes he is! ha, well now, ha, Jesus ignores this woman ha, but you see she keeps on pressing, ha, so much so, ha, that now, ha, the disciples, ha, ask the Lord, ha, to send her away, ha, for her begging, ha, had become bothersome, ha, and then Jesus turns and says to the woman ha, "I was sent to the people of Isreal, ha, God’s lost sheep, ha, not the gentiles!" And so now, ha, the woman’s faith, ha, becomes radical, ha, as she comes, ha, and kneels down before him, ha, and worships him, ha, and begs him again, ha, "Lord, would you pleeeeaaasseee help me!", ha, I need to stop right there, ha, and let ya know ha, that sometimes ha, it takes you to get up outta your comfort zone, ha, and worship God, ha, in an uncomfortable place, ha, in order, ha, for him to move, ha, he wants your worship, ha, he wants your praise, ha, can I get a witness? Ha, well, ha, now Jesus, ha, goes on to say, ha, "It isn’t right ha, to take food, ha, from the children, ha, and throw it, ha to the dogs.", ha, Jesus, ha, calls her a dog, ha, yet she still, ha, perserveres, ha, she still ha, presses on, and I just stopped by to tell ya, ha, if you’re in a situation today, ha, and you feel, ha, like God’s not answering, ha, like it’s not gonna work out, ha, keep on pressing! Ha, keep on pressing! ha, keep on, ha, trucking on, ha, anyhow, ha, cause there’s a blessing ha, in the pressing! Well, now, ha, i’m going back to my seat, ha, i’m about to lose, ha, my mind! ha, but can I keep it real, ha, for about 2 more minutes? ha, the woman then says, ha, after Jesus, ha, called her a dog, ha, "Yeah Lord, ha, you’re right, ha, but even the dogs eat crumbs ha, from thier master’s tables!", ha, she pressed on, ha, she didn’t give up, ha, she didn’t throw in the towel ha, but also ha, she said, ha, can I make it plain? She said, ha, "I don’t need, ha, a full course meal, ha, I don’t need, ha, steak, or patatoes, ha, I don’t need ha, fine wine, ha, but could you pleeeaaasseee, ha, give me, ha, a bread crumb, ha, a french frie, ha, a pea, ha, a piece of crumb, I don’t need the whole thing, ha, but I’ll take a crumb, ha, I’ll take a crumb, I’ll take a crumb!" SHOUT YES! Somebody, didn’t get it! ha, I wish I had, ha, about 25 people, ha, up in this house, ha, who would make up thier minds today, ha, that they don’t need, ha, a full course blessing, ha, but that they’ll take a crumb! ha, anyway you bless me Lord, ha, I wiiilllll, ha, be SATISFIED!!!!!!!! And look at what happens, ha, I’m closin’ the book, ha, but God says, ha "Woman, ha, your faith is great! Your request is granted! ha, if you thank God today, ha, for the crumb blessings in your life, ha, then I dare you, ha, get up on your feet, ha, and give God, ha, a crumb blessing praise all up in this house, ha, like you’ve lost your mind! ha, he’s worthy! ha, he worthy! ha, shout yes! yes! yes! yes! SAYYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m done, i’m done... I’ve preached too hard. But sometimes in life, you’ve gotta learn that it’s okay to take the crumb blessing. We as Christians need to learn to not be so picky about our blessings, but to thank God for what we do have. God just wants us to be content. We need to really learn to say, "That any way you bless me Lord, I will be satisfied!" Amen, amen. I pray you’ve been helped. And may God bless you & Heaven smile upon you... The doors of the church are open...
