What if all you can do is pray? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Evil is real; Jesus is all-powerful; unbelief is crippling, and prayer is vital.
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:14-31
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
Last week, we looked at the transfiguration and saw Jesus in His glory--completely unveiled--but also Jesus demonstrating that glory all the more in His purpose--coming as our Messiah to defeat sin for us. This passage picks right up where that one left off. Jesus and the three disciples are coming down from this literal mountaintop experience and are met with this scene of desperation and despair. There’s a crowd surrounding the remaining nine disciples, who are arguing with some scribes. Then a man from the crowd tells Jesus that the cause of this argument is the condition of his son, who is possessed by a demon which throws him into violent seizure-like fits. The father brought the boy to see Jesus, but He wasn’t there, and the disciples haven’t been able to help--which surely the scribes saw as a perfect opportunity to challenge Jesus’ authority. It’s mayhem!
I mentioned this in passing last week: I don’t think this is an accident. That mountaintop was beautiful, but now Jesus shows us why we need so badly to understand the truth about Him. Basically, I have four quick points this morning, which happen to also be our takeaways, so this could be record-breakingly brief ☺. Yet, these are truths we really need to let simmer. The gist? Evil is real; Jesus is all-powerful; unbelief is crippling, and prayer is vital.
I. EVIL IS REAL (14-18)
For each of these points, there seems to be a direct connection to what we see Jesus saying in this account. Verse 16 highlights this first point.
16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
The answer to this question gets to the heart of the issue: sin. What was this argument about? A man had brought his demon-possessed child to be healed, and the disciples were powerless to help. We see the the reality of evil on so many fronts here.
Demon. Maybe the most obvious example is the demon itself. It’s easy for our 21st century minds to write this part off as archaic. There are probably many people here who would assent to believing in demons, but just as many who would likely find themselves backpedaling if they were asked about it in a “non-Church” setting. So, let’s be clear: this wasn’t an issue “back in the day” that we no longer have to deal with, or a “metaphoric expression” used to explain “bad things”. Satan and demons are real. We may never have an encounter like this in our lifetime, but we will face their influence and need to remember this. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:11-12 “11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Destruction. Demonic powers are real, and they are destructive. We see this in the condition of this poor boy. Their purpose is to pull people away from Jesus by whatever means necessary. Yet, they don’t cause our problems, they just play on what’s already there. Remember, we’re sinners all by ourselves; we don’t need any help to excel in that arena! That’s clear in this passage as well. The demon might be the most dramatic image of evil, but it’s not the most widespread. The most rampant evil demonstrated here is personal sin, and it’s just as destructive.
Doubt. We’re going to talk more about this in a later point, but we see this illustrated in the doubt of… well pretty much everyone in this passage. And honestly, this doubt really comes back to selfishness. The scribes doubt Jesus’ authority because He’s not what they want. The disciples are being doubted, but had to be doubting themselves as well because they were unable to cast out this demon, and, as we’ll see in a minute, that seems to have been the issue: they were trying to do it in their strength. The only one who is demonstrating much faith at all is this father, but he’s shaken by the whole situation, too.
Divisions. And all this leads to divisions because sin is self-serving. James 4:1-3 puts it better than I ever could: “1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
The three disciples come down from a glimpse of heaven and are reminded why they need a Savior. This world is enslaved to sin, and we’re powerless to prevent it...because we’re part of the problem! BUT-->
II. JESUS IS ALL-POWERFUL (19-27)
In verse 19, Jesus makes a very telling statement.
19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
Frustration? This has a ring of frustration, and rightly so. He knows His time here is short. He is on His way to be crucified. Why? To die and rise again to defeat sin for these people who are completely missing the point (and us who are no better!).
Key Truth: Bring him to Me. Yet, what strikes me more in this verse is the statement that almost seems to answer those first two questions. Really, this is the point of this whole passage. This crowd, like the world, is in a state of sin-driven chaos. Yet, there is hope, and He just came down the mountain! Don’t we see the gospel here again? Just like when the disciples were out in the storm and Jesus descends from the mountain and comes into their chaos and calms the storm, we here see Jesus coming down from the mountain, where clearly we saw Him in all His heavenly glory, and walking into this display of sin and saying: Come to Me! Bring the boy to Me!
Two points here. 1) Only He is powerful enough to be the solution to this perceived problem--the demonic possession. Jesus alone has power over the spiritual realm...because He created it! 2) Only He is sufficient to meet the real need--forgiveness of sin, disbelief. This is the focus. Jesus coming and defeating sin. That’s why I went ahead and read verses 30-31 with this passage. Right after this happens, Jesus is alone with His disciples and tells them clearly, again, what He came here to do “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise” (31b). We saw His power in the transfiguration. Here we see both His power & His purpose on display.
III. UNBELIEF IS CRIPPLING (19, 23-24)
These last two points go hand-in-hand. In the face of the evil of this world, we can do nothing in our own strength, but Jesus can do… anything. We see this expressed in several verses, but look at verse 23.
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
What This Is Not. This is a verse that is frequently abused, so I want to address that abuse briefly. This man brought his son to Jesus because he believed Jesus could heal him. However, his interaction with the disciples and these scribes had shaken him up, so when he comes to Jesus now, he says, if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us. Jesus then jumps on that “if” word, not because he’s a grammar Nazi, but because this point is so important. The question isn’t in Jesus’ ability. He does not need to prove anything to this man or to this crowd. He is 100% capable of healing this boy. So it’s important to note the healing that does follow is a response to faith, not to the challenge of the scribes.
However, that’s where the abuse comes in. When Jesus says, all things are possible for one who believes, he is not saying faith is like magic, and if you just believe enough you can have anything you want. Remember, the essence of true Christian faith, of being a believer, is turning away from yourself and turning to Jesus. In that turning, we reject our sinful desires that enslave us and leave us 100% in bondage, and embrace our Savior who is 100% in control and 100% capable. This will not mean we will get everything we want, but we will get exactly what we need. So we can approach Him with this confidence: Romans 8:26-28 “26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I know I’ve quoted Tim Keller’s paraphrase of verse 28 here before, but it bears repeating. ‘When we seek God’s will, we might not get what we thought we needed, but will get exactly what we would have asked for if we knew everything He does.’ (That’s a paraphrase of a paraphrase ☺).
What This Is. Again, this is the core issue. The problem is the same in each situation: sin. This world is trapped in sin, and only Jesus can overcome it. This man needed to remember that. So do we. It’s also worth repeating this man did believe, but needed continual help with his unbelief. That’s the tense of the phrase “help my unbelief”. He literally said, “keep helping my unbelief”. In the face of so much opposition, he needed a constant reminder to believe. So do we. How often has our faith been shaken by our circumstances? Faith is a gift from God, and saving faith doesn’t come and go. Those who are in His hands are in His hands forever. Nonetheless, we need to seek Him everyday. We are sinners in a sinful world. Doubt is part of this reality. Yet, failing to see the one who is sovereign over our circumstances in the midst of them is like being set free, but returning to our captivity!
IV. AND PRAYER IS VITAL (28-29)
Then we’re brought to this final conversation between the disciples and Jesus. Understandably, they’re confused. They’d cast out demons before. Why couldn’t they do it this time? Verse 29 gives us His response.
29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Not A Special Demon. Let’s start by noting that this demon was likely not a special breed that needed special attention. The emphasis here isn’t on the demon, but rather on what the disciples were not doing. We’ll see more evidence for this in the following passages, but the disciples weren’t focusing their eyes on Jesus right now. So the implication is that they had tried to cast this demon out in their own strength...and had failed. Jesus’ response? Your strength comes from Me. You were powerless because you did not pray. Which brings me to what I titled the message today-->
What If All You Can Do Is Pray? At one point, I had considered addressing these verses separately, and that’s the title I had given that section in my notes. However, I decided to keep it for this whole section because it encompasses the heart of the passage. We’re powerless; Jesus is not. I’m going to ask this next question fully admitting that I am just as guilty of this as the rest of you. How many times have you found yourself in a situation that seemed completely hopeless, or completely out of your hands, and then caught yourself saying something like: “Well, all we can do now is pray.” Those words are actually true, but our tone of voice often is really saying: Since I can’t think of anything else to do, I’m going to pray on the off chance that it might actually do some good. Or, I’m going to say I’m going to pray, but really I’m just going to let the chips fall where they will. Aren’t we guilty of this?
All You Can Do IS Pray. What else were you planning on doing?! All you can do is pray...and that’s HUGE! That is not to say that we never actually go out and do stuff, but rather that the power and effectiveness of that “stuff” is 100% dependent upon Jesus! Prayer is not a last resort. Prayer coming to the God of the universe who has called you His child and laying your requests before His feet. Prayer is not words we mumble ceremonially because they’re part of our tradition; prayer is real and active communication with the all-powerful God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, please, please, please don’t take this for granted. And please, pray that I don’t either.
TAKEAWAYS
As I mentioned before,the points are the takeaways today. We need to live remembering:
1. Evil is real.
2. Jesus is all-powerful.
3. Unbelief is crippling.
4. Prayer is vital.
No comments:
Post a Comment