A Remnant Remaining in Christ's Kindness

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins in salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 15th chapter.

Glory to you, O Lord. So Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

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. And 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 master's 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.

This is the word of the Lord. To you, O Christ. In the name of Jesus.

Have you ever been in a circumstance where you felt completely out of place, like you were in the wrong place altogether?

I've had this happen to me a few times, and this will help form the basis of our understanding of our texts today.

Years and years ago, when my kids were little, Josh used to attend a Christian school, and he was pretty young.

This may have been like kindergarten or first grade, and they were having a Christmas pageant. Now, a little bit of a note, winters in Southern California are like the summers here.

The people in Southern California have two seasons. It's really hot and warm.

There's like nothing else after that. And it's really funny watching Southern Californians, when it's 50 degrees wearing parkas.

It doesn't make any sense. But anyway, so it was Christmas time.

My biological father was visiting, and my dad is a golfer, and I used to be a golfer.

I've given it up for the most part. But we decided that we would spend the day golfing that day, and so we were wearing shorts and, you know, kind of casual shirts.

And, you know, after playing a round of golf, you're not exactly clean. And I thought it would be a great idea, for whatever reason, because I'm stupid, that my father and I would attend the

Christmas pageant, you know, having gone straight from the golf course to the church. And upon walking into the auditorium, we realized we were egregiously underdressed.

And the look from people that we received was actually quite interesting, because people were looking at us like, whoa, they're letting anybody in nowadays.

And you can tell, like, some of the people were saying, well, they do allow, you know, people who are in poverty to attend this church and this school.

So, well, you get the idea. We were grossly out of place.

But have you ever felt that way as you read the Scriptures? Let me explain what I mean by that. When you read the Scriptures, especially when you get to the stories in Genesis of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, and the nation whom

God chose, the people whom He chose to reveal His Word, to perform

His miracles, to set free from slavery, and then even going into the New Testament, you'll note that, well, you know,

Christianity started off as a thoroughly Jewish affair. Have you ever had the feeling, it's like, well, you know,

I just don't even, you know, I feel like I don't quite fit. I don't quite belong, you know, because I have such a strong European heritage, or I'm not

Jewish at all. And so there's these feelings of, like, spiritual inadequacy, like somehow we're part of a group, we're in a building, we're in a congregation where we kind of stand out as people who, you know, we really shouldn't be there, right?

And then you have the challenge of kind of sorting this one out. But what about the people who are genetically related to Abraham today, who, if you say these words,

Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, they don't react with indifference, they react with, like, full -on hostility.

And then also kind of in that same vein, and we'll talk about this as we develop our thought today, in that same vein, what do you make of the people today who are believing some of the craziest things, like they believe in sneaky squid spirits, or they believe that, you know, if you sow a $1 ,000 seed offering, that God's going to make you a millionaire, or that they believe that God blesses same -sex marriage, or all kinds of weird perversions that are running around the landscape today, and claim that you're racist and bigoted and homophobic if you actually say, well, the

Scriptures don't say that. You know, what do you make of people who are clearly believing things that are just, well, it doesn't make any sense.

It seems like it's irrational. Well, our epistle text is going to help us with that today.

And so I'm going to work back through the bigger context of Romans 11, and we're going to sort a few things out, and we're going to note that there's a very, very stern, firm warning for us today in this text, and what

I've said sets the basis for it. So in Romans 11, it says, Paul asked,

I asked then, has God rejected his people? I mean, it's a legitimate question. I mean, that's kind of the question on the table for us today.

Has God rejected the Jews? Well, listen to what Paul says. He says, by no means. He says, I myself am an

Israelite. I'm a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

And of course, everybody recognizes, well, Elijah is an Israelite himself. So here's

Elijah's complaint to God. He says, Lord, they've killed your prophets. They've demolished your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life.

But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

So too, at the present time, and this exists to this day, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace.

And so you'll note that although a large percentage of people who are descendants of Abraham to this day do not believe that Jesus is the

Messiah, they do not believe he is the Son of God, they reject the fact that Christ has bled and died for their sins, yet you can also point to people today who are genetically descendants of Abraham who believe in the

Messiah, and that's the point. So God has not rejected his people, and he has reserved for himself a remnant from that race.

But if it is by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

So then Paul asks the question, what then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking, salvation, being declared righteous, justified before God.

They have failed to obtain it, but the elect, they have obtained it. And then listen to these words in verse seven, but the rest were hardened.

Now that's a tough thing for us to take in, but that's a reality that we need to consider here.

So you'll note there's a reason why those who persist in unbelief regarding the

Messiah, and this is going to be both Jews and non -Jews today, their hearts are hardened, and they are going to believe the most crazy things.

But we should not be prideful, saying, well, at least we're not stupid like them, that's a totally wrong attitude, okay?

You'll note, they were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day, and David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.

So when we hear God gave them a spirit of stupor, that's an interesting word. Sometimes if you just say a word several times, it kind of confuses you.

When I say the word stupor, and we say it stupor, stupor, stupor, I think of a German World War II airplane, you know, there was a group of stupors out there and they bombed us, that's not what stupor is.

Stupor is this concept of God giving them over to a spirit that is something to the effect of being drunk, not capable of rational thought, stumbling, bumbling, that's kind of the idea, incapable of walking a line, you can't reason with somebody who's had three or four too many drinks, that's the concept of a spirit of stupor.

And you know, God is the one who gave them over to it. So then

Paul then asks the question, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

And this is not a valid question, Paul says by no means, he says rather, and then listen to this part, through their trespass, salvation has come to the

Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. And this is a part of the revelation that is in scripture that we have to come to grips with, that this is, when we look at why some believe and some are hardened, there's purposes behind it and it's kind of a two -sided coin.

On the one side of the coin, they have, by their trespass, by their unbelief,

God has pretty much said, fine, I'm taking my salvation and I'm making it available to everyone, people of all nations, all languages, all tribes,

I'm gonna make it available to all of them. But you're gonna note then that because of this then, the goal on God's part is to make them jealous.

Seems kind of weird, right? Well, so listen to what he says. Now if their trespass means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the

Gentiles, and it does, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I'm speaking to you Gentiles in as much then as I am an apostle to the

Gentiles. So I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus to save some of them.

And there it is again, jealous. Jealous regarding what? For if the rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what would their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

If the dough that is offered as the first fruits is holy, then so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But if some of the branches were broken off, although you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and you now share the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant towards the branches.

If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

So the idea here is this, regarding the jealousy, it has everything to do with the free forgiveness of sins, of no longer being bound to the rules and regulations of the

Mosaic Covenant. A good way to think of the jealousy is along these lines. People who today are descendants of Abraham and are still thinking that they have to keep the

Mosaic Covenant, yet they don't. It's impossible to keep the Mosaic Covenant today because there is no temple.

And so they've kind of crafted their own religion that is not the religion of the Old Testament. But they look at us

Christians and they go, these Christians have the forgiveness of sins given to them freely, daily, without cost, without works, without all the rules and regulations, without requirements to keep the feast days and circumcision and all this kind of stuff.

And those Christians, they're allowed to eat bacon, which I think is a good thing.

Yeah, I think that's a good thing because bacon should make everybody else jealous. And so you know, we receive from God mercy, grace, and favor without works as a gift.

Well, they're striving to attain these things by their Torah keeping and never attain them.

But you're gonna note then that what I talked about, us being in a place where it seems like we don't belong, where we don't quite fit in.

Well, that's true because you'll note here, Paul says that when it comes to Israel, some branches were broken off and all of us, we are wild olive shoots, we've been grafted in among the others and we now share in this nourishing root of the olive tree.

So on Israel, Israel's now likened to a big old olive tree. Certain branches that were cultivated have been broken off and God has gone and said, oh, let's find some wild olive shoots.

Let's see here, what do we got? We got a Mikey, we got a David, you know, we got a Josh, we got a

Don and a Marilyn and an Ashley, we'll graft them all in. And we're all wild olive branches and we've been grafted into Israel.

And so in a lot of ways, we can say, you know what? We don't belong here, we don't.

And the other part of it is, if you really think about what God is doing here, Sunday after Sunday, forgiving our sins, cleansing us, assuring us of eternal life, comforting us with the promises of the world to come and the riches of God given as a gift, we recognize this.

None of us deserves to be here at all. I don't deserve to be here.

You don't deserve to be here. And that's kind of the point. So you'll note then that Paul's admonition is, don't be arrogant toward the branches that have been broken off and have been hardened.

Don't do that. Because well, pride comes before a fall. And note what he says then.

You do not support the root, the root supports you. But then you'll say, well, branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.

That is true, that is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief.

But listen to what he says then. You stand fast through faith. And you'll note that if you're standing fast through faith, not by your works, this requires you to maintain a position mentally of one of humility.

Because I didn't earn salvation. It's been given to me as a gift. You haven't earned salvation. It's been given as a gift.

So we hold on through faith. So don't become proud. Instead, fear.

And this is that stern warning. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

So note then the kindness and the severity of God. Severity towards those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you.

And then listen to the words. Provided you continue in his kindness. So how does one continue in the kindness of God?

Well, what is the kindness of God? The kindness of God is the good news that God so loved the world, every tribe, every nation, every language, that God gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish.

And you can almost write into the subtext of that portion of the Gospel of John chapter three, would not perish as they deserve, as I deserve, as you deserve, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. And so you'll note that many manifestations of arrogance and self -righteousness appear within the church, appear within our own lives.

And these are the things that we are being warned against here. The sin of arrogance and pride, that was the sin of the devil.

And so in different manifestations of this type of religion, which masquerades as Christianity, oftentimes in self -righteous systems, they have these multi -tiered systems set up where there's a group of people who've figured out, they've figured out the secret, they've had the breakthrough, they've figured out the secret to how to live super -de -duper holy lives, sinless in all capacities.

At least that's the claim. And then you've got another group of people, another tier, those who are striving, trying to figure out how the people in the first group are pulling it off.

And of course the people in the first group, oftentimes they'll be willing to tell you their secrets if you purchase their book, follow their plans and their steps.

But then there's a third group. There's a third group in those kinds of systems. The third group are those who are just tired.

They've tried climbing the mountain and can't figure out how the people at the top are claiming that they're pulling it off, or worse, they can see their hypocrisy.

All their claims of being righteous and holy, they can see right through it, and they can see their arrogance and pride.

And what do they do? They backslide, they fall away. Or maybe they keep coming to church, but people say of them, they're not even trying.

But the thing is is that that's not Christianity. I mean, continuing in the kindness of God causes us to recognize that arrogance and self -righteousness are completely out of place.

In Christianity, there are only forgiven sinners. There is no secret to holiness.

There is no group of people who've figured out how to pull it off. Everybody has to pray daily, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

So continuing in the kindness of God is to continue in the gospel, continuing to believe that Christ's forgiveness is death on the cross is enough to save even you.

And then the kindness of God given to you through the gospel, you share with others in words as well as actions, doing your good works in love for your neighbor's sake.

Deviate from this, then note that what the scripture says, note the kindness and the severity of God.

If God did not spare the natural branches because of their unbelief, because of their self -righteousness, he won't spare you either.

This would be the equivalent of going back to Egypt, if you would use the metaphor from the Old Testament.

So then note, continue in the kindness of God, otherwise you too will be cut off.

And even if they do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted in for God has the power to graft them back in again.

For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

So lest you be wise in your own sight, which is foolishness, I don't want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And so in this way, all of Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when

I take away their sins. So as regards to the gospel, those who've rejected

Christ who are genetically Jewish, Paul says they are enemies for your sake because their rebellion has caused

God to bring salvation to the nations. But as regards of election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

For just as you at one time were disobedient to God, now you have received mercy because of their disobedience, so that they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may receive mercy.

You see, their disobedience means our salvation, and God showing mercy to us may in fact cause some of them to be jealous so that they too can receive mercy like we have.

And then this is where epistle text ends, and this is a good place for us to kind of wrap this portion of the thought up.

For God has consigned all, everybody, Jew, Gentile, German, Polish, Norwegian, it doesn't matter what your ethnic heritage is,

God has consigned all to disobedience so that he may have mercy on all, every single one of us, that's the point.

Self -righteousness, arrogance, pride, they're ruled out. It's absolutely ruled out.

You see, God wants and desires to forgive everybody of every tribe, nation, and language.

And with that then, consider our gospel text. I think our gospel text does a great job of pointing that out.

Woven into that thought that we just heard from Paul, consider the state of affairs between Jews and Canaanites at the time of Christ, the time of his first advent.

Back in those days, the Jews openly referred to Canaanites and those people who were of the nations and Gentiles, they openly referred to them as dogs.

That's a common theme in their writing and in their teaching. And the word used for dogs in the

Greek here, there's actually two words that you could use. The word for dog being used as an epithet, as kind of a racial slur used by the

Jews of Jesus' time, that type of dog would have been the dog that had the fleas, that was mangy, would eat the garbage and be picking through things, and they weren't tame, they were feral and they were disgusting and they would foul up your yard.

That's one word for dog. Now back in the time of the Romans, Romans also kept dogs as pets, but those were the lap dogs, those were the train dogs, those were the dogs who were raised as puppies to actually be in the house and they're every bit just like any dogs that any of us have had.

They're faithful, they're loyal, they're loving, they protect and they bark and they hate postmen and all that kind of stuff.

Even back then they would chase the male guy, but you get the idea. So keep that in mind.

The second word for dog would have been the house dog, the lap dog, the trained dog, and that's a slightly different dog.

So as we read this account, you're gonna note that Jesus, he's outside of Israel now.

He's in the region of Tyre and Sidon. He's in Canaanite territory. And that is important because what's a

Jew doing outside of Israel? Well, Jesus isn't just an ordinary

Jew. He is the son of David and the son of God and he has a point to make here.

And personally having worked through this text several times this week as well as preached on it a few times over the past six years,

I'm beginning to think that Jesus was trying to work out some of the inherent racism that existed within the disciples because of the view that they were taught, had modeled, and even themselves were exemplifying in their disdain of people who were not

Jewish. And you can see that struggle. You can see that struggle even in the book of Galatians.

You can see it in the book of Acts itself as well. So Jesus is in Tyre and Sidon and says, behold, a

Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, oh

Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

Now a little bit of a note. Women are not supposed to start conversations with men in public in the ancient

Near East. That's just forbidden. So this woman's breaking the rules. She's a Canaanite, Jesus is a

Jew. She's breaking another rule. And if you were just to look at her through that type of prejudice, through that type of discord and malice, you can basically say, woman, who do you think you are starting up a conversation with Rabbi Jesus?

You know better than that, you're breaking the rules. Oh, and your daughter's oppressed by a demon? Well, that's probably your own fault.

I mean, you're a pagan, you worship false gods, and Canaanites oftentimes engage in the occult, so you got what's coming to you, lady.

You're one of those dogs. It would be very easy to dismiss her like that.

And here's the thing. You'll note that in her initial crying out, this woman has some pretty good theology.

This is quite the statement. Have mercy on me, by the way, Kyrie Eleison. We sing that every week when we say,

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on me, and then listen to these words.

Oh, Lord, son of David. I think you can make an argument.

This lady knows that Jesus is both the son of God and the son of man. Where did this

Canaanite woman learn this theology? She's only getting secondhand reports about Jesus, and these are the days before Facebook and Twitter, right?

But yet, she knows that Jesus is the one who can help her, and she calls him

Lord and son of David, and she comes with a very serious problem.

But, and this is where it gets awkward, Jesus didn't answer her a word.

Now, I can usually get away with this if I'm in another room and my wife is calling for help and wants me to help with something in the kitchen.

Right? Help, the pot's boiling over. Chris, I need you to come downstairs. I didn't hear you.

Some men, they just turn off the hearing aids, right? Okay? But this woman is crying out in a way that, well, everyone's noticing, and what does

Jesus' disciples say to her? Send her away. Send her away,

Jesus. She keeps crying out after us. And you're gonna note here, I'm really, really discouraged and disappointed by this answer from the disciples.

Do they not yet understand that Christ came to bleed and to die for the sins of the whole world? And that he is, as John the

Baptist said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Do they really not yet get that salvation is for everyone?

And so, with the prejudice they were taught, send her away, she's crying out after us. She's breaking all the rules,

Jesus, and she's a complete pagan. And at first, it seems like Jesus is going along with it.

So he says to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. There, that'll shut her up.

But it didn't. That did not send her away.

And after what we just read in Romans 11, what Christ said is true.

He was sent for the lost sheep of Israel, and we've all been grafted into Israel. And I don't know if you noticed this about yourself, but you were born a pretty mangy sheep, right?

So was I. So this woman, she comes and now she kneels before Jesus.

That's the posture of prayer. Wow. And her prayer is this,

Lord, help me. That's a prayer I've prayed.

And I would bet money that's a prayer you've prayed too. Lord, help me.

In all kinds of circumstances, we pray that prayer. Lord, help me. Have you ever felt like after you've prayed that prayer, that God hasn't heard you?

You ever have the, call them like ricochet prayers, you know, Lord, help me, and it hits the ceiling and ricochets and comes right back down.

Kind of feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? But God hears our prayers.

The scriptures assure us of this. And then comes one of the hardest things that Jesus ever said.

And we'll note the word that he uses. So Jesus answered her, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

And the word for dogs here is not the really strong one. It's the lap dogs, the house trained dog.

It's not good to take the bread and throw it to the little lap dogs. So Jesus did call her a dog, but he didn't use the normal F with that.

And this woman hears these words and in that word she hears hope and a promise.

So she says, yes, Lord. Yet even the little lap dogs, they eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

She's not incensed, she's not outraged, she's not triggered, she doesn't go on social media and let everybody know what a horrible, racist

Jesus is. She just says, yep, that's right. I'm a lap dog, now give me my lap dog portions,

Jesus. And when you think about this, it's absolutely brilliant.

Let me give you another example of this. Luther talks about this idea that someday each and every one of us is gonna stand before Jesus on the day of judgment.

And I know that that creates anxiety, but the gospel should not create any anxiety in you at all. And Luther says that if you stand before Christ on the day of judgment and Jesus takes his glasses and looks down over the top of his glasses and he says to you, off to hell with you.

Luther says you stand your ground. You stand your ground and you say these words.

If you throw me into hell, you're a liar. You can't throw me into hell because that lousy good for nothing

Roseboro pastor guy, he kept telling me Sunday after Sunday that you forgave me of my sins.

He even pointed out in John chapter 20, the sins you forgive will have already been forgiven. So I heard that my sins were forgiven and if you send me to hell, you are a liar.

And then I heard in the words of the institution of the Lord's Supper, take eat, this is my body given for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

You comforted it and assured me through the gospel, through the means of grace, through the absolution week after week that my sins were forgiven and if you throw me into hell, you're a liar.

You're sitting there going, can you talk that way to Jesus? I assure you, you will not need to at all because Jesus isn't a liar.

The point is that Jesus does forgive us all regardless of the sins that we've committed.

He has had mercy on us and this woman hearing Jesus say, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little lap dog.

She says, yes Lord, that's exactly what I am. So give me what is my portion and Jesus commends her and you'll note

Jesus doesn't hand out commendations left and right. There are very few commendations like this in the gospels and this woman is held up as an example of it.

He says, oh woman, and notice what he says, great is your faith. Do you think this woman had great faith before she ever saw

Jesus? I think so. The whole instance shows that this woman had this faith in Christ even before she laid eyes on him.

She knew that he was the Lord, that he's the son of David and she knew this is the one who could free her daughter from the demonic, who could free her from her sins.

And so Christ says to her, be it done for you as you desire and her daughter was healed instantly, that very second.

So brothers and sisters, it is true, we don't belong here. I don't belong here, you don't belong here.

None of us deserves to be here. We're all wild olive shoots who've been grafted into Israel but great is the mercy of Christ.

So note then, this forgiveness we have received not because of anything deserving within us but because of the kindness of God.

So let us not be arrogant towards those whose hearts have been hardened or who believe a strong delusion and believe insanity.

When we see that happening, let us remember that we would be exactly where they are now if it were not for the grace and mercy of Christ.

This calls for us to be humble and to continue to humbly receive from Jesus the forgiveness of our sins.

I assure you, there is not a day ahead of you between now and the day that you die where you will not need to pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

So let us continue in faith. Let us continue in the kindness of God. Let us continue humbly receiving the forgiveness of sins and humbly calling people to repent and to be forgiven.

And maybe, just maybe God may have mercy on some. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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