The Credentials of the Kingdom

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” This common phrase used by entitled people, and is typically used when that entitled person thinks their credentials are enough, when in reality, they aren’t.

For example, After trying to get into a tennis-players-only club, one very, very famous actor (who’s name will go unsaid) responded after being denied: “Do you know who I am?” In which the staff kindly let him know that they did know who he was, And they knew that he was not in fact a member of tennis-players club, and so his admittance was rejected, leaving the actor left with the realization that his credentials were not enough.

In New York City, it is illegal to let your dogs run without a leash, and so when one CNN anchor was asked by a Park Ranger to put their dog on a leash, they responded in shock, asking them, “Do you know who I am?” In response, the Park Ranger kindly informed them that they didn’t care who they were, and whoever they were, did not permit them to let their dog run without a leash. And so they were left surprised having found out that their credentials were not enough, and so they promptly went and leashed up their dog.

After being pulled over by the police for going for 57 in a 40 mile-per-hour-zone, one politician wasn’t happy that the police thought that they had the right to pull them over. And so after threatening the cops job and insulting them, they asked the cop if they knew who they were, In response, the police officer said he did - and then he kindly handed the politician their speeding ticket, leaving them left with the truth that their credentials were not enough.

One more. After believing they were the privileged people of God who were accepted members into God’s kingdom simply because of their ethnicity, The people of Jesus’s day bumped into Jesus, who pointed out to them that they were not in fact the privileged people of God who were accepted members of God’s kingdom simply because of their ethnicity, In fact, as Jesus told them - they were guilty, unclean sinners, who would be cast out of God’s kingdom

And yet still, after seeing Christ’s credentials, that He lived the perfect life, taught the perfect teaching of God, healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons, They responded by asking Jesus the old familiar question: “Do you know who I am?” And who were they? They were the son’s of Abraham! - they said. They were the faithful followers of Moses! They were the obedient followers of God’s law! And yet, Christ turned them away leaving them wondering why their credentials were not enough.

And why were they not enough? Because they thought they were worthy, but the truth was, they were unworthy They thought they were clean, but the truth was, they were unclean! They thought they had been fed and nourished by the Word of God, but the truth was, they were in fact starving from trying to dine upon the traditions of men. And consequently, this resulted in them being COMPLETELY rejected from the Kingdom of God.

With this in mind, we find in our passage this morning that the credentials of the kingdom do not include the things the Jewish people thought were included. Race - doesn’t matter Ethnicity - doesn’t matter Perfectly obedient to God’s law - not gonna cut it. Lots of money? Not even close to enough Poor? doesn’t matter since money can’t buy you your way in anyways So how then do we get in then? By faith in Christ. But it is a faith that manifests in 3 ways. And here they are:

The Kingdom’s credentials require recognizing you are:

1. Unworthy
2. Unclean
3. Unfed

1. Unworthy

If you were with us last Sunday, then you saw how the religious leaders tried to condemn Jesus and His disciples over the tradition of handwashing. They basically tried to argue that if you didn’t wash your hands before you ate, you would become unclean. And so to not wash your hands was sinful disobedience to God. Legalism is sure is fun stuff!

And in response, Jesus completely destroys their legalism and points out that sin isn’t an EXTERNAL problem, it’s an INTERNAL problem. And this internal problem we have comes from the human heart - which is sin-ridden and full of evil!

Now, just a quick reminder, but if you remember Mark’s account, what does Jesus say there about purity laws? “Thus he declared all foods clean.” Which was an extremely radical statement! And, as we’ll get to here in a minute this radical statement actually paves the way for what we see happening in the rest of Matthew 15. But for now, just remember that Jesus is breaking down the divide between the clean and the unclean Everyone got that? Jesus is breaking down the dividing between the clean and the unclean.

OK, so with that in mind, what happens in the rest of Matthew 15? Slow down… I’ll answer your question… but first let’s set up the background details here.

First, where does Jesus head to? To the distract of Tyre and Sidon, Which are gentile cities that about 40 miles north of Galilee.

And when Jesus wanted a break from the crowds, when He wanted to some rest, He would often go to these gentile areas in order to avoid the massive Jewish crowds. And so here we find Him withdrawing once again like He often did. Except all of that get’s interrupted when this loud lady shows up and refuses to leave Him alone!

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.

Matthew 15:22-29 ESV

Now answer me this, who does Matthew say this lady was? A who? A Canaanite. What’s that? It’s not only a gentile, but a Canaanite who was the sworn enemy of Israel. A people who God commanded the Israelites to completely wipe out And yet, did Israel do that? No they didn’t. And because they didn’t the Canaanite people were a constant thorn in their side throughout Israel’s history.

And so not only was she a gentile, she was a Canaanite. And, not only was she a Canaanite, she was a woman. Which made what she was trying to do even more shocking, because back in Jesus’s day women weren’t allowed to approach a Rabi like this and interact with them. It would have been completely inappropriate. So when we take all of this together: The fact that she was a gentile woman, who also was a Canaanite, it is really quite remarkable that she approaches Jesus AT ALL! Especially in such a direct way!

And how does Jesus respond to her request to heal her demon possessed daughter? Verse 23: “But he did not answer her a word.” Do you see that? He straight up ignores her! And after all, why shouldn’t He? she was a a gentile woman, who was Israel’s sworn enemy! What right did she think she had to talk to Him, let alone request His aid?

As Matthew tells us this woman is persistent. She refuses to give up! And so she keeps crying out with praise and flattery, calling Jesus “Kurios” or Lord - and the messianic title “Son of David.”

In response to all of this, the disciples respond in irritation, and beg Jesus to send her away, because she’s annoying them. And Jesus says no, He wont’ help her because "He came only for the lost sheep of Israel.” Which is quite interesting, because we’ve already seen Jesus interact with and heal gentiles before, so what’s with the attitude of indifference here? Well, I’ll tell you - but not yet. I don’t want to spoil it! So let’s keep following the narrative.

Next, the women comes before Jesus, and she falls down before Him and begins to beg, And the Greek word for this is what’s called a present progressive. And no, that won’t be on the test. It just means she kept on begging Him over and over. Nothing would stop her No one would stop her, Not the disciples, not Jesus, not anybody! She was going mama bear for her child and so she was absolutely determined!

And then, if you thought Jesus’s response of ignoring her was harsh, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Look at verse 26.

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Matthew 15:26 ESV

Did Jesus really just call her a dog? Yeah… He sort of did... And in that culture, this was a whole lot more offensive that it would be even today.

Who is a man’s best friend? A dog But not in Jesus’s day. Back then dogs were mostly wild and savage scavengers, who were dirty, flea-bitten, and mangy. So to call someone a dog was lot like calling someone a pig today. And back then, the Jews would often insult the gentiles by calling them, “GENTILE DOGS” because of how unclean they were for not following the Jewish purity laws. And so in this verse, we find Jesus calling her a dog. So what are we supposed to do with this?

Well, again, the Greek helps us out, because in the Greek Jesus uses a word for dog that basically mean “puppies,” OK, so that’s a little bit better - but He’s still calling her a dog, isn’t He? He is. So what’s that spoiler I didn’t want to tell you about before about Jesus’s attitude of indifference? OK, now I’ll tell you

Jesus is basically doing some play-acting here. He’s going along with the Jewish mentality towards gentiles, and He’s doing it to teach His disciples an important truth. and that truth is, the unclean are no longer considered unclean... And Jesus is showing that with this gentile woman, The gentile healings, And the Gentile feedings of the 4,000.

So with this in mind, what I think Jesus is doing is that He seems to be making this puppies comment to this women in a sort of tongue and cheek kind of way. Which is why He uses the softer term for dog, instead of the harsher one that He would have used if He was simply trying to insult her as the Jews commonly did. And He’s doing this to test her faith, and - as we said before, teach His disciples an important truth about the cleanliness of the kingdom.

And then in response, we see this woman become the ultimate debate champion. Now, imagine being one of the 12 disciples here... Normally, whenever someone like the religious leaders challenge Jesus, Jesus always out-argues them But not here. Here, Jesus concedes the argument to a woman! A gentile woman! Look at her clever argument in verse 27

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

And then verse 28 for Jesus’s response:

Matthew 15:27 ESV

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Matthew 15:28 ESV

Why does Jesus tap out here? Well, for one, it’s what He was after in the first place, But think back to what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount. “Blessed are the MEEK, for they will inherit the earth.” And if anyone qualifies as being meek and humble, surely it is this Canaanite woman.

After Jesus ignores her, After He says, “I’m not here for your kind.” After Jesus calls her a dog, does she respond by indignantly shouting “HOW DARE YOU!”? No. No she doesn’t. What does she do? She accepts all of Jesus’s diagnosis, and yet she appeals to Jesus to heal anyways.

And when you understand what all is going on here with that, you’ll understand why Jesus says she has GREAT FAITH! For great faith she has

Why? Because after Jesus tells her that she’s unworthy of being at the table, she doesn’t fight it. After Jesus tells her she’s unworthy of the bread of the kingdom, she agrees. After Jesus tells her all of this, she doesn’t stand on her rights, She doesn’t get upset and angry with Jesus for His prejudice comments, She completely accepts His diagnosis, and is not offended by Him. Which is remarkable, because do you remember what Jesus said back in Matthew 11? He said:

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Matthew 11:6 ESV

And blessed is this woman indeed for her lack of offense, as Christ heals her daughter instantly. And why? Because she recognized that she was unworthy, And she recognized that she was unclean, which leads us to our second point.

The Kingdom’s credentials require recognizing you are:

2. Unclean

In verse 22, what does the woman ask Jesus to do? To “have mercy.” And why does she need mercy? Because she’s knows that what she’s asking for is something she doesn’t deserve! And she doesn’t deserve it because she is unclean, and she knows it. And yet, it is this acknowledgment that brings Christ’s powerful healing, as demonstrated not only through the instantaneous healing of the woman’s daughter, but the numerous healing miracles as described in verses 29-31.

When it comes to Christ’s diagnosis, there are 3 possible responses: We can respond with:

Faith

How can we respond in pride? When we hear Christ’s diagnosis of our sinful condition we can appeal to our merit, as the pharisees did. But, as Christ tells us, none of us can merit a seat at the Kingdom’s table. We all are unworthy. And so if we are going to get any bread at all, we must recognize it comes by mercy not merit.

The second way we can respond to Christ’s diagnosis is that we appeal to our merit, but in a self-loathing way. Which is where we beat ourselves up for our past sins and tell ourselves that we are too unworthy to merit His blessings BUT, instead of appealing to His mercy as the Canaanite woman did, we sit there in our self-absorbed self-loathing, thinking that our merit, or our sin, is more powerful than Christ’s mercy. But it’s not! For God’s mercy is more powerful than our sin could ever be!

When it comes to self-loathing and feeling unworthy of God’s mercy, the 19th century Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne offers some remarkable advice when he said: “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!” I’ll say that again: “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!” And why? Because as Martin Luther once said: "When I look at myself, I don't see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost.”

Church, even the vilest of sinners doesn’t come close to scratching the mercy of God! Which is why we often sing: “What love could remember no wrongs we have done” “Omniscient, all-knowing, he counts not their sum” “Thrown into a sea, without bottom or shore” “Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.”

Why is His mercy more? Because as that song goes on to sing: “His blood was the payment, His life was the cost.”

On the cross, Christ died the death you and I deserved, after living the life you and I could never live! On the cross, Christ who was worthy, bore our unworthiness On the cross, Christ who was clean, became unclean with our sins And He did all of this so that the unfed might be fed. Which leads us to our final point.

The Kingdom’s credentials require recognizing you are:

3. Unfed

In verses 32 through 39, we read a passage that gives us some major Déjà vu. In fact, some liberal theologians have tried to argue that this is the same exact account of the other feeding, but Matthew has just mixed his facts up a bit. Well, he didn’t. In this passage, Jesus feeds the 4,000, which is a largely gentile crowd, not a Jewish one like with the feeding of the 5,000.

But the question is, why two feedings? And the answer to that question comes from the disciples question they ask in verse 33.

And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”

Matthew 15:33 ESV

OK, so if you’re just reading through the Bible and you read this verse, you’re likely going to be shocked by how naive the disciples seems here. It’s like: “Seriously guys…? How are you going to feed the crowd?” “how about the same way it happened in the last chapter with the feeding of the 5,000?” So are the disciples this dense, or is something else going on here?

Well, yes and no. There’s likely at least several reasons why they didn’t think Jesus would miraculously feed them with bread.

The disciples - like most of us - struggle with unbelief.

How many times does God provide for us in a way we never expected, and then 5 minutes later we are like the disciples wondering where our next provision will come from? We all do this! How about that time when God helped you through that difficult situation.... And yet when another difficult situation comes up… what do we do? We worry about how we’ll get more bread... I hate to break it to ya...OK that’s not exactly true, but we are the disciples!

Worry, anxiety, fear, stress, depression - what is all of that? Trying to figure out how we’ll get more bread!

How often do we forget that Christ is our provision who will by no means leave us to destruction? Not any real kind of destruction! And why not? Because on the cross Christ defeated the only thing that could ever really destroy us! On the cross, Christ faced our only real enemy and He defeated it for good! So if Christ was willing to do that for us, why on earth would we think He won’t provide for us? To give us exactly what we need when we need it? As Romans 8:28 says: “All things work together for good for those who love God” - and that even includes a rumbly tummy!

The reason for the two miraculous feedings is to show us something remarkable. It’s to show us that in Christ, the bread from heaven, all the nations of the earth will be blessed! It’s to show us that Christ is the fulfillment of Genesis 12, which prophesied that the nations of the earth would receive blessing through Abraham and his descendants. And this blessing comes by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, who miraculously feeds all of the nation’s needy who appeal to His mercy and ask for the bread from heaven.

Have you received the bread from heaven? The living bread which comes without cost to us, but which came at a great cost to Him?

All of us were dogs who were unworthy of sitting at Zion’s feast. And yet, Christ became an unclean dog so that we unworthy, unclean, and unfed dogs might become the children of God, who are then invited into His feast to sit at His table! and this invitation to sit at His table goes out to all the nations of the world, inviting us all to come and dine.

The feast is coming! The table is set, The invitations have been given, And praise God they are not given only to those with the right national, moral, or religious credentials, But those who have come to realize their only credentials are Christ Crucified! And those credentials alone allow us to eat bread with our eternal King! and not just crumbs as dogs beneath His table, but all of the bread we could ever want as we sit at the table as Children of the king!

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.