DEEP Trust

"Do you trust me?"

Backtrack with me. About a week ago, my wife and I were deciding on who would make the chili for The Great Chili Cookoff at church. I really wanted her to give me a chance because chili (besides Ramen Noodles and Pop Tarts) is one of the few things I know how to make.

After some goading, she agreed. I started to work. I put in the red beans, black beans, chili beans, and kidney beans. I cooked up the hamburger meat and tossed it in. I poured in spices, chili powder, and my own special ingredient. I put it all in the crockpot and went to work. 

Around 5pm, I went home to get the chili and bring it to church. When I entered my house, I noticed something -- the ladle was not where I left it, there were some spices on the counter that I didn't use, and when I opened the lid I saw GREEN THINGS (vegetables) floating in my chili. 

I guess my wife didn't trust me as much as she said. 

Today we are continuing our series called DEEP by taking a look at DEEP TRUST. This is in a pretty interesting place in our series. Over these past weeks, we have considered the deep things of God. We learned how deeply clean he has made us through the blood of Jesus. We saw how deep his commitment is to us. We learn about his deep mercy and his deep compassion. We learned about how deeply serious God is about us. 

Now we get to answer one question from God: Do you trust me? Today we'll find out what deep trust looks like and why it can be so deep. Open up your Bibles/get your Bible apps loaded to Mark 7:24.

I. What Deep Trust Looks Like

Mark 7:24 says, “Jesus went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered house and did not want anyone to know it.” Tyre isn’t a place that Jesus went all that often. In fact, if you chronicle the events that we do know about Jesus’ life, Tyre doesn’t get a lot of mention. Jerusalem, yes. Bethlehem, sure. The Sea of Galilee? Repeatedly. But Tyre isn’t a common place for Jesus to do miracles. In fact, it seems like he treats it almost like a getaway. Noticed that he entered “a house.” He didn’t head to the Synagogue to address the people. He didn’t go to the market square to heal those in the streets. He didn’t even stand at the entrance where there might be a rock for him to stand on and shout sermons. 

Jesus seems to be taking a break. Mark tells us, “He didn’t want anyone to know that he was at the house.”

Yet a woman finds out about Jesus. She went to see him anyway. She asked him to do something incredible. Through her story, we learn three important things about trust.

1)      DEEP TRUST trusts When the Time Seems Inopportune.
 
When someone is taking a break and is off of work, that’s not the best time to ask them to do work.  

THINK ABOUT IT: Have you ever been to the doctor and then a few hours after the appointment, you get a question? “Oh shoot, I should have asked him about it.” Maybe you write it down on a sticky note as a reminder to call in tomorrow.

What’s not recommended? Stalking his Facebook profile to see where he is, finding out that he’s at the State Fair, following his Instagram to see that he’s near the fried food, and tapping him on the shoulder while he’s holding his kid’s hand to ask, “Doc? I wanted to ask you a question about my appointment. Could you take a look down my throat again?”  That’s not polite. It's an inopportune time.

It certainly seems like this was an inopportune time to talk with Jesus. Yet, "As soon as she heard about him,” not “when she saw him,” or “when he happened to be close by,” No. She only heard that he might possibly be somewhere around town – "the woman whose daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet." She trusted that he would help her.

This is DEEP Trust. DEEP TRUST trusts WHEN THE TIME SEEMS INOPPORTUNE.  

Is your faith like that?

• “Oh shoot. It’s 10 o’clock. I was going to say my morning prayers, but I forgot. Now it’s too late.”
• “I can’t possibly ask God for help now; I should have done that last week when Pastor preached in his sermon.”
• “It’s not Sunday morning anymore? Oh no. I forgot my prayer request. I’ll have to wait a whole week. Hope I don’t need it until then.”

If that’s your way of thinking, this woman puts you (and me) to shame. We need a deeper trust.

2)      DEEP TRUST trusts When Things are Scary

Look at what the woman asks Jesus to do. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. You, like me, probably don’t have any experience in this task. Take a note. Driving out demons isn’t easy.

Halloween is coming up. You might see kids dressed as goblins, ghouls, spirits. Some are cute-- like Casper the Friendly Ghost – or they might be goofy like Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. Others might be scary looking. But even when you see those scary looking monsters, remind your kids – this is just pretend. There are kids behind those masks. Those scary things aren’t real. 

But you know what is real? Evil spirits. They are real and very powerful. One of them had possessed this little child. Can you imagine how terrifying that might be? The child couldn’t speak for herself; she couldn’t think for herself; and she couldn’t control her own body. She was a prisoner in her own body. He was so strong that she couldn’t stop it.

I’m sure that this woman had tried everything up to this point to stop the demon. Medicines? No effect. Healing balms? Nothing. The doctors? Baffled. The religious leaders? Unable to do anything. In fact, for all of the different specialties that we have in the triangle– Nose Doctor, Foot Doctor, Cancer Doctor, Infectious Disease Doctor, there isn’t such a thing as “Demon Doctor.” Go ahead. Ask Siri.

That’s because demons are more powerful than humans. They are more powerful than physical medicines. Demons are very powerful and that’s downright scary.

Yet the woman approached Jesus. And notice her words, (Matthew 15:22) “Lord, Son of David. Have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” It’s the same here as it was in the Mark version. The woman implores Jesus to do his job. She asks him to have mercy. She asks him to drive the demon out.

There’s no hint of “This might be a bit beyond you Jesus, so if you can’t do it, I understand.” Nope. She is confident that Jesus has the power to do it. This is another aspect of deep faith.

DEEP TRUST trusts WHEN THE SITUATION IS SCARY. 

Is your faith like that?

• “I just got another bill in the mail and I don’t have any money left! No one can help me.”
• “There’s a hurricane coming this way and it’s destructive."
• “I have cancer. There’s nothing that can be done. I’m a goner and I’m terrified.” 

If that’s your way of thinking, this woman puts you (and me) to shame. We need a deeper trust.

3)      DEEP TRUST trusts When The Answer isn’t What You Expected.
  
Before we move on, a little poll. Based on what you know about Jesus, how do you expect he’s going to react to the woman? He’s probably gonna help her right? We just heard a story last week where he came up to a blind man and healed him just like that. Everytime I read this story, I’m expecting Jesus to do the same with this woman.

But that’s not what happens.

“Let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Ummm. What?

Here’s an instance of the Bible helping us understand the Bible. The book of Matthew adds a helpful detail to this account. In 15:24 he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” That’s a true statement. In fact, it’s exactly what God had planned on for millennia.

Because it was to Abraham, the great, great, great, great, many times grandfather of the Jewish people that God had promised, “All nations will be blessed through you.” It was to Abraham's descendants – Isaac, Jacob and Judah that the promise was repeated. It was too this nation of Judah that God revealed himself with miracles and kept the promise of the Messiah alive.

Yes, Jesus was sent to and among the Jewish people. It was because that was the promise he had made to the Israelites. In his metaphor, the Israelites were the children. The blessings of his presence was the bread. And the dogs – well – that was the Canaanites.

Follow, Jesus’ logic then. We don’t usually cook up a fine steak meal, fresh off the grill, some steak seasoning on the top and a fancy Whole Foods sauce covering it. Place a freshly buttered corn on the cob on the side with a nice arugula salad with finely chopped carrots on the floor for the dog. Then, tell the kids – “Go ahead and grab whatever Fido leaves behind.”

Essentially Jesus was saying: I was sent to help the children of Israel. You are only a dog.

By the way, there’s never a time in history where it's’ a compliment to be called a dog. D-O-G. I realize that D-A-W-G, dawg, gets used nowadays as a way to greet a friend, but that’s not the kind of dog Jesus was talking about.

One might expect that the woman would get angry. She should let Jesus have it. She put herself at risk coming here. She only did so because he was her only hope. She even threw her face on the floor. This wasn’t what she expected.

But her trust doesn’t falter for a moment.  “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” The crumbs are miraculous. A crumb of your time will solve the problem. A crumb of your power will destroy this demon. A crumb of your mercy, will save my daughter.

That’s deep Trust. DEEP TRUST trusts EVEN WHEN THE ANSWER ISN’T WHAT YOU EXPECT.

• “I was praying for a child. But I don’t have one yet. God, I trust you.”
• “I was praying for that job, but I didn’t get it. God, I still trust you.”
• “I was praying for my health, but it’s getting worse. God, I still trust you.” 

That's incredible trust. It's a trust that's hard to come by. HOW CAN WE EVER TRUST LIKE THAT?

II. How Can Trust Be that Deep

Jesus, the marvelous God of heaven and earth, marveled at the woman's great trust. “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon?...was gone.

The reason her trust was so deep was because her trust was in God! The doer of the impossible, the merciful of the merciful, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth.

Think about the three aspects of trust we talked about today. 

She trusted…even when the time seemed inopportune, because there is no inopportune time for God!
She trusted…even when the circumstances were scary, because there is nothing so scary that God can’t defeat.
She trusted…even when the answer wasn’t what she expected, because she knew that God loved her to the very fibers of her being.

None of this came about because she clenched her fist, closed her eyes, contracted her abs and thought, “Trust!” This came about because she knew of the Savior. She heard of his deeds. She learned of his incredible mercy.

Her trust was based on her Savior. Her Savior is your Savior.

It's like if you were looking for a surgeon. You don't just trust anybody. If the online reviews are good, his nurses say that he's good, and a few friends of yours can tell you from personal experience that he does  a good job -- then your trust in him is built.

It's the same thing with God. 

He has done marvelous things. He walked on water, stopped storms, healed the blind, made the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the mute to talk, the dead to rise, and when he himself died -- he came back to life! He destroyed sin; defeated the devil; and destroyed death!

The WHAT NOW is so simple this week. If you want incredible trust, study God’s Word. If you want your trust to grow, come to church. If you want your trust to become deeper and deeper, get involved in a Bible study. That’s it. Take God's Word seriously. Make church unmissable. 

Make God's Word that important. Please put Jesus at the center of your trust. It will grow. Amen.