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Help of the Helpless · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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We can turn back to our reading in Mark's Gospel, chapter 7.
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We can read again at verse 26.
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Verse 25.
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When you come to the Gospels in particular as you find Jesus' ministry ongoing, how many times do you see him challenged and facing opposition?
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You may expect it to be the other way around that Jesus has come and he's declared why he's come.
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He's declared throughout the Gospels that he's come to seek and to save the lost, that he's come to give his life as a ransom for many.
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You see the mix.
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You see that there are those, there are many who look at him and despise him and reject him and put him away.
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But that there are those who will see him for who he is.
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And here in the beginning of chapter 7, you see the opposition of the Pharisees once more.
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In verse 1.
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Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed.
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So they immediately found fault.
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They immediately found problems with him.
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But Jesus knows their heart.
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And that's what he says to them there in verse 6 and verse 7.
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Well, as Isaiah, the prophet written,
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This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
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So he's getting at them.
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He's challenging them even as they are challenging him.
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But do you ever see Jesus think, what's the point?
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Why do I bother?
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Is it really worth going on with this?
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Is it worth going from place to place and proclaiming this good news that I have?
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Nobody's listening.
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You never see him with that kind of attitude.
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Everywhere he goes, every place you see him, there are always those who will come to him and who will listen.
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And there's always a point to his ministry.
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There's always a purpose in his ministry.
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Even those who are rejecting him, they are being challenged.
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But behind it all, you see the many who come.
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And the many who come from all different places and backgrounds and experiences in life.
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And yet who come to see who Jesus is.
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Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
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There's that statement in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19.
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He came to those who would realize their great need.
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He came to people, no matter who they were, no matter where they were, and no matter when.
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So we're not just looking at Jesus saving people in the Gospel days.
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We are here this evening remembering that this is a Jesus who still saves.
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Who still calls his people to himself.
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And so what you see as you go through this chapter.
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It's even in the face of the opposition from the Pharisees and the scribes.
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Opposition that would go on and on.
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What you see is the work goes on as well.
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His purpose goes on.
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His ministry goes on.
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And it goes on in amazing ways.
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Spectacular ways.
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Ways that leave people amazed and astonished beyond measure, as it says in verse 37 at the end of this section.
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His ministry leaves people marveling.
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Just like the psalm that we sang at the start.
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When there's a psalmist with all these questions.
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Where are you, Lord?
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Have you left us?
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Have you abandoned us?
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But then the psalmist comes and says, then to me came these thoughts.
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And on this I will rely.
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And how he goes on to say, you are the God of miracles.
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Whose power the nations view.
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That he is a God who is working.
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And so in these verses that we've read together this evening.
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You see the challenge.
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But then when you come to verse 24 down to the end of the chapter.
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You have these two different accounts of Jesus meeting with people and in their different needs.
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And they're remarkable encounters.
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They're amazing encounters.
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First with the Syrophoenician woman.
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And then with the man who was deaf and mute.
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They're both remarkable encounters.
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And quite beautiful in the way that Jesus comes into the midst of this situation.
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Having just been challenged by the scribes and Pharisees.
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And we've really got an illustration of what John tells us in his first chapter.
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In John chapter 1 verse 11 and 12.
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John gave these words.
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It says about Jesus.
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He came to his own.
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But his own did not receive him.
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That's the very thing that we see here.
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With these scribes and with these Pharisees.
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He came to his own.
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But his own did not receive him.
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But then John goes on to say.
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Yet to all who received him.
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To those who believed in his name.
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He gave the right to become the children of God.
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And that's to all who would come.
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To those who believed in his name.
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He gave the right to become children of God.
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And that's the remarkable thing that we see in this passage.
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The remarkable way that this woman and this man who was deaf.
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The way they are able to become the children of God.
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Despite everything that's going on in their lives.
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Despite everything about them.
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As we will see in a moment.
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They're really people who we wouldn't expect to come to Jesus in this way.
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People who wouldn't expect to be classed children of God.
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And yet he has given them the right.
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By coming.
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By faith.
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The Jews reject him so often as we see in these gospels.
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But those who are not his own in that sense.
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The Gentiles.
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The two kinds of people you had in these days.
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Were the Jews as one group of people.
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And the rest were classed as Gentiles.
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And the Jews were of course special to the Lord.
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And the Gentiles were very often looked down upon.
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And yet he gave the right for them to become the children of God.
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To come by faith.
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And what we find here is that there is help for the hopeless.
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For those that seem to be a hopeless case.
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That things seem beyond the reach of God.
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That there is help available.
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There's a hymn, I'm sure many of you know it,
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Abide With Me.
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It's a very commonly sung hymn.
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It was written by Henry Francis Light.
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And he wrote this hymn.
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He was a Scotsman.
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Who ministered in Ireland and in England.
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But he suffered with tuberculosis.
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And he died in his early 50s.
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And it was just a matter of weeks before he died.
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That he penned this hymn, Abide With Me.
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His longing was for the Lord to be with him.
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And it's actually a hymn that's sung every year at Wembley.
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And thousands are gathered there for the FA Cup final every year.
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And this hymn has been sung just before the FA Cup final since 1927.
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Every year it gets sung.
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And you hear this great chorus of people singing.
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And you wonder, do they realize, do they know what they are singing?
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And the words are there so wonderfully.
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And it's one line that speaks of,
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When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
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Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
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Powerful words when you think of the situation the hymn writer was in as he wrote them.
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On his deathbed, just weeks before he passed away.
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But help of the helpless, the one who would abide with him.
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And this passage shows us that Jesus is that help of the helpless.
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That he is the one who will abide with his own, that comes to his own.
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And so this evening as we gather, we can come without our own questions.
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We can come seeking to understand things ourselves in the midst of maybe feeling that sense of hopelessness.
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We can maybe feel it in our own helplessness in different ways.
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We can have times when we feel helpless in the midst of family trials, times of illness.
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There can be many things going on in our lives.
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We can feel helpless in the midst of financial difficulties.
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We can feel helpless in the midst of decisions that we're trying to make going forward.
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And above all, we can feel helpless when it comes to our own mortality and our own eternity.
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Where can we go for help in that?
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Where can we turn?
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Well, it's to the help of the helpless.
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But I think it's important too that not just that maybe some of us have these questions,
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but that even if we don't have these questions, that we must realize that there are many who do.
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That there are many people out there who have all of these kinds of questions.
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When they are feeling helpless, when they are feeling unworthy,
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when they are feeling there's nowhere to turn, that we realize that there are people like that.
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And that we have one that we can direct them to.
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The one who is this help for the helpless.
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We can come to Jesus.
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And we can point others to Jesus.
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We find here this help for the helpless.
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We're going to focus mainly on the woman who had this daughter who was demon-possessed.
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But we'll see too how it ties into with a man who was deaf.
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The help for the helpless.
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And the first thing we see here is how Jesus' ministry is ongoing.
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It's just after he's had these challenges with the scribes and the Pharisees that we come to verse 24.
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And from there, he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
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So he went away.
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His ministry spreads out further.
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First to Tyre and then to Sidon.
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And when you look at these kinds of places that he was going,
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there weren't easy places to go.
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There were very difficult places to go.
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There were places that were full of false gods.
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Different kinds of gods.
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There were very much a pagan society.
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But even there we find that Jesus was being spoken of.
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That word of him was spreading.
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That people were hearing about him.
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And you see it there in verse 24 as it goes on to say.
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He entered a house and did not want anyone to know.
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Yet he could not be hidden.
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The news of him was out there.
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People were hearing.
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People were curious.
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People were wondering who this man was.
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And he was seen as perhaps one who could help.
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And that is true of this woman that we meet here in this passage.
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She had heard of him.
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It says in verse 25 that immediately a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet.
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News was spreading.
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And she came and fell at his feet.
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Her daughter was ill.
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Possessed by a demon.
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She was desperate for help.
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Here is someone who is helpless.
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But when you look at her.
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And when you look at this situation.
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You find that there are a number of different challenges to be overcome.
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Even just to come to this point of being with Jesus.
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There were challenges that had to be overcome.
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And yet you see the wonder of the grace of God working in this.
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And the first challenge she had to overcome was being seen as an outsider.
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Being seen as an outsider.
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It says then in verse 26.
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Now this woman was a Gentile.
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A Syrophoenician by birth.
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So immediately there was this barrier that was up.
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The last person you read about in this gospel of coming to the feet of Jesus.
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Begging for help was Jairus.
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Whose daughter was unwell.
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But Jairus was a Jewish leader.
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You could almost say that Jairus had a right to come.
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That he knew where to go.
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And that the way was open for him to come.
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It wouldn't have been a surprise for anybody to see Jairus come and plead with Jesus.
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But it's so different for this woman.
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A Gentile.
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A Syrophoenician by birth.
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She was a woman for a start.
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To come begging of Jesus.
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It would have been frowned upon by so many.
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You see it throughout the gospel so often.
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As a woman comes to Jesus.
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You think of the woman at the well in the gospel of John.
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The woman was there at the well.
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And the disciples came back.
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And saw a woman with Jesus.
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And they were questioning in their head.
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Why is she here?
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And you see it so often.
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That these women coming to Jesus.
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It was difficult.
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Because there was barriers up.
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There was challenges up.
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Straight away.
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And this was a Greek.
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A complete outsider.
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Someone who would have been seen with no right to come to Jesus.
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And yet here she comes.
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You see Jesus is not looking on the human status here of where she's from or who she is in that sense.
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But she's looking on the human need.
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Although it's not at first appear just as obvious as you read on.
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There is a concern for this woman that works itself out as we go through.
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But the first thing we see is the sense of an outsider coming to Jesus.
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But again it's a reminder that he has given a right to all who come by faith to be called the children of God.
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And it is so often the case that we can feel a little of an outsider ourselves when we come to church.
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How can we possibly come to Jesus?
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How can I come without a church background or a church family?
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How can I come as someone who's never darkened the door of a church?
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Well the gospels remind us that it's for all.
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For all to come.
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Or people will come and say but I have no idea how to approach the Lord in prayer.
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I have no idea what words to use.
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Or I don't know what I should wear.
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There can be so many questions and doubts.
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And we come work out our own conclusions and say I can't go.
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Well this woman although she could have had all these doubts and fears.
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She never comes to that conclusion that I cannot go.
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Instead she comes begging.
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And there are so many people around us who will automatically come to their own conclusion.
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That I cannot go to church.
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I will not be received.
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I will not be welcomed.
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It's a bit like a story I read.
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And it sounds a silly story in many ways.
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But it's a way our minds can work.
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It's about a man who was out in his car one night.
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And he got a puncture.
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And he had a spare wheel.
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But he didn't have a wheel spanner.
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So he couldn't get the nuts opened on the wheel.
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And he saw a farmhouse way up the road.
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And so he thought well there's bound to be help there.
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And he started walking towards it.
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But automatically his mind started working in a different way.
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He started questioning.
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Maybe they won't have the right spanner.
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And then he started thinking well it's late at night.
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They're probably going to be angry with me for knocking at the door so late at night.
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And disturbing me.
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It's disturbing them.
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And he started getting angry in his own mind.
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And so that when he came to the house.
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And knocked on the door.
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And the owner came to the door.
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He automatically had a reply.
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He says you can keep the wheel spanner.
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I wouldn't take it even if you offered it to me.
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And the man was stunned.
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He thought I've never met this man before.
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But it's just the way the mind can work.
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It automatically comes to conclusions about things.
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That work things out in their own mind.
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And how many people around us have already worked out in their own minds.
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What to expect if they come to church.
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Or to come to Jesus.
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And it can often maybe leave them feeling that sense of anger.
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Because they've come to their own conclusions.
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That God is not fair.
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God is not just.
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Why would he allow so many things to happen in this world that are so unfair?
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And immediately they're coming with a sense of anger towards God.
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Because that's what's worked in their own head.
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But the gospel helps us to break down these barriers.
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And to show that the door is open for all.
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That Jesus welcomes all on the same level.
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To all who come by faith he has given the right to be called the children of God.
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And so this woman overcomes that barrier of being an outsider.
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And we have to help people overcome that barrier too.
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Because there are so many who feel outside of this church.
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Outside of the gospel reach.
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Outside of faith in Christ.
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That it's almost impossible to come over these barriers.
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But the gospel is there to show that Jesus is there for them.
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The second thing she has to overcome is the reality of her hopeless situation.
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In the middle of verse 6 it says,
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She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
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It was a hopeless situation.
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Her daughter was possessed by a demon.
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And it's very likely that this was not the first person that she had come to for help.
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That others had not been able to help her.
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Like the woman who had the issue of blood.
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That we read of in the gospels as well.
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How she came to Jesus having spent everything that she had trying to find a cure.
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She had been trying for years, 12 years to find a cure.
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And there was none until she came to Jesus.
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It was likely this woman would have been doing the same.
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Begging with others for help for her daughter.
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And yet nothing was working.
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But she doesn't give up.
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She had heard about Jesus.
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She had heard about him and she came and fell at his feet as it says in verse 25.
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In what was seemingly a hopeless situation, she comes begging.
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And the same is true with the man who was deaf.
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It says in verse 32,
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They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.
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And they begged him to lay his hand on him.
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This idea of begging is there in both situations.
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Pleading with the Lord.
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Desperate before the Lord.
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And what a reminder to us of our need to come.
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And to encourage others to come.
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And to beg and to plead at the throne of grace for ourselves and for others.
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To see that Jesus is the one who is able to help in a hopeless situation.
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And there are so many of them.
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And yet Jesus is the one who is able to help.
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There was someone who once said,
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Between the great things that we cannot do and the small things we will not do,
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the danger is that we shall do nothing.
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And that's so often where we find ourselves.
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Between the great things we cannot do and the little things we will not do,
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we end up doing nothing.
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And that's the way we can be with the Lord.
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When our situation feels hopeless.
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It's like the little things are so unimportant there's no point.
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And the big things are impossible so there's no point.
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And we do nothing.
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And the devil would like nothing better than for us to be inactive in that sense.
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But when you look at this woman,
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and when you look at the friends who brought the man who was deaf and with a speech and pigment,
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they came begging.
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They came pleading.
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They didn't see their situation, hopeless as it was, as impossible for him.
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It's not impossible for Jesus.
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And that's what we have to remember.
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What by all accounts was impossible for the natural person,
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we see Jesus here who's able to help.
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That's something for us to remember, for ourselves and for others too.
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That however impossible a situation seems,
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we are to bring it to the Lord and he is able.
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Again, you see it in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18,
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where the question is asked,
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who then can be saved?
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And the answer Jesus gives is,
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what is impossible with men is possible with God.
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And something for us to remember.
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To remember for ourselves or to remember for others around us.
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Whether you feel like the Gospel has passed you by.
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Whether you feel the burden of your sin is too much.
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Whether you feel that your heart is so hard and cold,
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the Lord would never receive you.
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It's to remember that what is impossible with us is possible with God.
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And that in a moment, in a blink, the Lord can change us.
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And that's what you see with both these situations.
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In a moment, in an instant, the Lord brings change.
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She had to overcome the hopeless situation.
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The same as the deaf man.
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But they came to Jesus.
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The third thing we see with this woman is she had to overcome rejection.
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And like I said earlier, when Jesus looks at the human heart,
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when he looks at the human situation,
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it's interesting the way he handles this situation.
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And in Matthew's Gospel, it's recorded a little bit more about this encounter.
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In Matthew 15, verse 21 to verse 28,
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it's the same encounter, but it goes into a little more detail.
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And in Matthew's Gospel, it says that the woman came to Jesus,
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fell at his feet, and she was in tears.
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She's crying.
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She's begging for help for her daughter.
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And in Matthew's Gospel, the first thing it tells us of Jesus' response is in verse 23,
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and it says that Jesus said to her not a word.
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He didn't open his mouth.
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He said nothing.
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It's almost like he ignored her.
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And then when you see him finally speak, as we see here in verse 28,
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sorry, verse 27,
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what does he say to her?
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He says,
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It's almost like he's belittling her in front of everybody.
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that he has come first for his own,
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and that the others can be left until last.
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To take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
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He's almost calling her, in this case, that she's that dog.
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But he doesn't send her away.
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And in many ways, as you look at this,
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although it sounds so cruel,
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there's almost a challenge in these words.
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How much do you want me?
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How much do you need me?
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And when you look at the answer that she gives,
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it's so beautiful.
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She says in verse 28,
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Yes, Lord.
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It's almost like she's agreeing with him.
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I agree with you.
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But then she goes on to say,
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Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
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She's saying,
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Even a crumb from the master's table can help me.
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That is how much she recognizes her need.
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That is how much she recognizes that Jesus is able to help.
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Do we have that view of Jesus?
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Even a crumb from the master's table can help me in my situation.
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Jesus is testing her here.
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But when you look at the longing that she has,
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you see that being tested, she still comes.
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And Jesus then says to her,
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For this statement, you may go your way.
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The demon has left your daughter.
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He's looking for this statement of faith.
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Because all who come by faith
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have been given the right to be called the children of God.
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And here is a child of God coming,
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recognizing that even just a crumb from the master's table
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is able to help.
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She doesn't throw her arms up and say,
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How dare you call me a dog?
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She doesn't throw a fit and just go out in a rage.
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She shows him how much she needs him.
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She shows him how much she is depending on him.
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And today, people so easily take offense
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that if you were to say to someone,
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As you come here, you come as a sinner.
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People would say,
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How dare you call me a sinner?
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How dare you say that to me?
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I'm a good person.
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You know nothing about me.
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We don't need to know anything about anybody
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because the Bible tells us that we are all sinners.
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Every one of us.
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We are all like that.
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And it's not to take offense
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and to say, How dare you?
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But to say, Well, where can we go for help?
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Where can we find even a crumb
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from the master's table that is able to help?
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Well, it's to come to Christ.
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It's to come to Jesus.
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To come acknowledging our dependence upon him
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and to see the abundance of the grace of God
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that is sufficient for all things.
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The crumb from the master's table was enough for her
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because she came by faith.
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And maybe we come at times with that sense of rejection.
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Maybe we feel the Lord isn't interested
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or ignoring us and our needs.
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Just like the psalmist,
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will you forget for all time?
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But do we have faith to keep begging?
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To keep pleading with the Lord?
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This woman begged him.
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This deaf man begged him for help.
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And he answered.
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And so we too must plead with him.
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We must see that we depend on him.
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That he is able to help.
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That he is able to see our need.
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That he knows our need.
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Hebrews 4 verse 15 says,
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Jesus knows our weakness.
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Jesus knows our helplessness,
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our hopelessness in so many situations
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that we find ourselves in.
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But the question is,
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do we believe that he is there?
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Do we believe that he is able to help?
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This woman came begging.
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And it says in verse 30,
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she went home and found the child lying in bed
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and the demon gone.
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The Lord had helped.
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This man who came with his friends,
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who was deaf and speech impediment,
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his ears were opened, it says in verse 35,
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and his tongue was released
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and he spoke plainly.
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He was helped.
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Because there is help for the helpless.
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That we see that he is there.
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And that we show others that he is there.
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There was a woman called Florence Chadwick.
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She was the first woman to swim the English Channel
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in both directions.
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And she loved to swim.
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And she loved to take on a challenge.
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And in the early 50s,
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she went over to America
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and off the coast of California,
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swam from an island,
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the Catalina Island it's called,
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to the coast of California.
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It's about 26 miles.
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First time she attempted it,
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it wasn't the distance that was the big challenge to her.
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It was the temperature of the water.
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Freezing cold water.
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And then,
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after a time of swimming,
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a dense fog came down.
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She'd been 15 hours in the water.
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And she was only a mile from the coastline,
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where she would finish,
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when she had to give up.
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And she said,
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I couldn't see the coast.
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I was exhausted,
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and I couldn't see the land.
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But it didn't put her off.
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And a few months later,
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she tried it again.
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And she swam again.
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And then as she was doing the swim,
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once again,
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this fog came down.
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But instead of panicking this time,
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she assured herself,
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by just saying to herself again and again,
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the coast is there.
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Just keep going.
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And she made it to land.
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And she broke the record
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for swimming that distance by two hours.
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And it's a reminder to ourselves,
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just like the coast can seem to disappear in the fog,
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God can seem to disappear in the fog as well.
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And we can get to that stage
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where we feel he's not there.
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And it's easy to see we give up.
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We give up praying for someone.
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We give up pushing on in this situation
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that we find ourselves in.
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We give up in all kinds of ways.
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But what we see here is this woman and this man.
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No one gave up on them.
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And neither did Jesus.
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Hopeless situation.
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Help was there.
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Help of the helpless was there.
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He was there to abide with them.
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When you look at the end of this section in verse 37,
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it says,
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the people were astonished beyond measure,
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saying,
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he has done all things well.
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That is what Jesus is able to do.
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When we put our trust in him,
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there are still crumbs from the master's table
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for all who will come by faith.
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Crumbs that will help us to be called the children of God.
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When we come by faith,
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in the most impossible and helpless and hopeless situations,
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there is help for the helpless in Christ.
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Remember that for ourselves.
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And remember it for those around us too.
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For the many who seem helpless and hopeless,
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that there is help in Christ.
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Come to him.
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Point others to him.
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Even in the midst of the fog,
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when he seems to have disappeared in many ways,
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he is there as help for the helpless.
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Let us pray.
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Lord, our gracious God,
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as we come,
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we thank you that you are indeed there for us.
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That even when our vision is impaired,
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when our faith may be dim,
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we thank you, Lord,
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that you are indeed that help for the helpless.
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And we pray, Lord,
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abide with us.
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Be with us, we pray.
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As we ask it in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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We'll conclude by singing to God's praise
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in Psalm 86 in the Scottish Psalter,
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page 340.
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Psalm 86, page 340.
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We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 5.
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O Lord, do thou bow down thine ear
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and hear me graciously,
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because I sore afflicted am,
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and am in poverty.
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Because I am holy,
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let my soul by thee preserve it,
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O thou my God,
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thy servant save,
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that puts his trust in thee.
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We'll sing from verse 1 to 5
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to God's praise.
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O Lord, do thou bow down thine ear
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and hear me graciously,
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because I sore afflicted am,
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and am with poverty.
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because I am holy,
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O Lord, do thou bless my soul,
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by thee preserve me.
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O God, my God,
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thy servant save,
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thy good's trust in thee.
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trust in thee.
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Say thine unto thee,
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I daily high,
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be merciful to me.
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rejoice,
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rejoice, thy servant soul,
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for Lord,
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I lift my soul to thee.
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for thou art,
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O Lord,
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and ready to forgive,
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for him.
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For thou art,
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and rich in mercy,
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all that call upon thee
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to relieve.
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After the benediction,
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I'll go to the main door
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and close with the benediction.
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Now may grace, mercy,
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and peace from God,
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Father, Son,
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and Holy Spirit
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rest upon and abide with you all
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now and forevermore.
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Amen.
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Yes,
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Thank you.