Jesus Teaches His Disciples (Part 1) Series

Introduction:

A. One day, Charlie Brown was complaining because his team lost another baseball game.

1. He said, “I get tired of losing…everything I do, I lose!”

2. Lucy attempted to console him with these words: “Look at it this way, Charlie Brown…we learn more from losing than we do from winning.”

3. Charlie Brown screamed: “That makes me the smartest person in the world!”

B. I would have to agree with Lucy, we often learn more from our failures than our victories.

1. In today’s section from the Gospel of Mark, we will see the apostles of Jesus experience some failure and we will also see that they tried to learn from it by asking questions.

2. There’s a Chinese proverb that goes like this: “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”

3. Sometimes we have to face being a fool for five minutes so that we can be wise for eternity.

C. Today’s section from Mark begins a long section encompassing several chapters where Jesus teaches His disciples some very important lessons about discipleship.

1. Those inexperienced disciples really needed to learn these lessons, and I’m guessing that we could use a little instruction in these areas as well.

2. Because it is such a long section with many different teaching opportunities and subjects, we will work through the section in bite-sized pieces.

3. Today, we will work through Mark 9:14-32, and as we begin with verse 14, you will notice that it continues the story from last week.

4. Last week, we explored the transfiguration of Jesus, when Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him up a mountain and was transfigured before them.

5. On the way back down the mountain, Jesus told them to tell no one about this until after Jesus’ had risen from the dead.

6. As Jesus, Peter, James and John returned to the other 9 apostles, they found themselves confronted with a crowd and a commotion, which leads to the first lesson Jesus wanted to teach them.

I. Lesson #1 was about PRAYER (Mk. 9:14-29)

A. Let’s pick up the story in Mark 9:14-16: 14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him. 16 He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”

1. With the vivid images and sounds of what took place on the mount of transfiguration still fresh on the minds, Jesus, Peter, James and John came down the mountain and returned to the 9 and found them embroiled in a religious debate.

2. The heated contest was raging between the 9 disciples who didn’t get to go up the mountain and the scribes – they were probably another “truth” squad sent from Jerusalem.

3. From what it sounds like, I’m guessing that the scribes were winning the debate.

a. It looks like the scribes had taken charge of the crowd and were berating the disciples because of their failure to cast out the demon from the boy.

b. The scribes may have been making demoralizing remarks about the apostles’ failure and may even have been saying critical words about Jesus, their rabbi.

c. The scribes were likely saying that their powerlessness meant that their message was meaningless.

4. Jesus asked, “What are you arguing with them about?”, but both groups remained silent.

B. Finally, the father of the demon possessed boy spoke up and explained what was going on.

1. Mark wrote: 17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” (Mk. 9:17-18)

2. Matthew tells us that the father made his way to Jesus and knelt before him (Mt. 17:14).

3. Our hearts go out to this man as he describes the miserable life his son was experiencing because of the demon possessing him – he was deaf and mute, and had physical symptoms that resemble epileptic seizures – collapsing, rigidity, foaming at the mouth.

C. Jesus was deeply affected by the mean-spirited scribes who were using such a disappointment to discredit His work and that of His apostles.

1. So, Jesus cried out: “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” (Mk. 9:19)

a. Can you imagine how frustrating this must have been for Jesus?

b. Just a few minutes ago, He was basking in the glory of God, but now He was dealing with the failure of everyone to believe.