I BELIEVE! OR DO I?
Warsaw Christian Church, Richard Bowman, Pastor Emeritus
Text, Mark 9:14-29: And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” 17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless[a] generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I [b]bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If[c] you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
Our text today covers a wide range of topics. The overriding theme is faith. We noticed four key players in this episode. First, there is the utter lack of faith seen in the crowds. Jesus describes the crowd as a faithless generation. Then there is the faith of the disciples who are unable to heal this demon-possessed child. They are not without faith, but clearly do not understand how faith works. 3rd, there is the faith of Jesus, who exhibits perfect faith. Finally, there is the faith of the father of the ill child. As we look at these four examples of faith (or lack thereof), may our faith be strengthened.
Jesus, Peter, James, and John are returning from the Mount of Transfiguration. They encounter a crowd arguing with the other Apostles, Who Were absent during the transfiguration. We are not told precisely what they are arguing about, but we can make an educated guess. The Apostles tried to heal this boy, but they failed. The scribes were there, probably hoping to catch the Apostles making some error so they could ridicule them. They knew these were men who were close to Jesus. The scribes are undoubtedly bemoaning this failed healing. They are probably thinking something like this. See, we knew that Jesus was a false prophet. Closest disciples seem to think they can call down the healing power of God whenever they wish, but clearly, they cannot. The disciples and Jesus are false prophets. They are religious charlatans.
The crowd is religious, but without faith. They are gloating over the failure of the Apostles. They reject Jesus, and when you reject Jesus, you are rejecting God. These unbelievers like to ridicule the failures of others, but they cannot do any better. At least the Apostles attempted to help the lad.
Do churches today have unbelievers who participate in worship and other church activities? Yes, they do. There are people in churches who are religious but lack real faith in God. Paul described such persons as those who hold outward forms of godliness but deny their power. (2 Timothy 3:5). They have all the outward trappings of Christianity. They joined the church, were baptized, partake of the Lord’s supper, contribute, hold an office, and some of these folks are even found in the pulpit. Outwardly, they look like Christians, but they have no faith in the power of God. They may even pray sometimes, but they don’t expect anything to change because of their prayers.
The Apostles who sought to heal the boy were one step ahead of the unbelievers. They believed in the power of God. They had seen that power at work in Jesus and their own ministries. They believed Jesus had given them power to heal in his name. They tried to heal the boy, but failed, and they don’t know why. Jesus says the problem is in their prayer life. It is not perfectly clear what Jesus is saying to his apostles, but I share with you what I think is going on. Jesus had given the Apostles power over illness and unclean spirits. The Apostles apparently concluded that they could exercise this power according to their own will, that the power of God was now resident within them. They tried to heal the demon-possessed boy, but the demon ignored them. Embarrassing! Now they face the ridicule of the scribes and the unbelieving crowd. Jesus later explains the problem. They acted without prayer, and when humans act without prayer, we act without faith.
The Apostles had not bothered to ask God what to do with this father, who had asked them for help. Without bothering to pray, the Apostles acted. They went up against the power of Satan and learned that they had no power resident within themselves. They were defeated. They had faith in their powers to heal, and they learned that faith in self is useless against the power of Satan. What they might have done was to humbly pray, Oh God, we are helpless to bring healing to this boy who is afflicted by Satan. We need to hear from you. What do you want us to do? Do you want us to heal in the name of Jesus? They needed to pray before they acted. Had they prayed first, they would have known what to do.
How does this apply to us? We lack apostolic power, but we are called to be servants of Jesus. We are called to proclaim the gospel. To live holy and godly lives. To pray for the sick. To be active in His church. How do I know if I have been called to be a pastor, elder, deacon, or committee member? Before you accept or reject any opportunity to serve Jesus, you need to pray. You need to pray until you have a sense of divine direction. We need to understand that Jesus is the head of the church, and before we say yes or no to ministry opportunities, we need to talk to him. The Apostles learned that lesson the hard way. God allowed them to fail so they would learn how dependent they were upon him.
When we are young, we often make vocational decisions based on income potential, retirement, fringe benefits, etc. While such factors do come under consideration, we need to pray first and ask the Lord of the church, How would you have me spend my life?
The fourth and final example of faith in our text is that of the boy’s father. I think we can fully identify with this man. The father weakly asked for Jesus' help. He says, in effect, I don’t know if you can help us. Your disciples indeed dropped the ball. But if you can help, please have pity on us. The disciples assured him they could heal the boy, and when they failed, the father was naturally a bit skeptical about Jesus.
Jesus seemed surprised by this weak request. He believes, but he also admits that he is full of doubts. Belief and unbelief are mixed together in this man. Jesus assures the man that with faith, all things are possible. There are no limits on God’s power to change our circumstances. There are no diseases beyond God’s power to heal.
I wonder if his problem is similar to mine? If you ask me, do I believe God can do anything and that nothing is impossible with God, I would answer without hesitation. Absolutely! I believe there are no limits on what God can do. So why do I not see more evidence of God’s mighty power to answer my prayers? In general, I believe God can do anything. But when I pray for a specific situation, I struggle with doubt. I do not doubt God’s power, but I am not always sure about his will. I believe God can heal all manner of back problems and neuropathy, but I am not convinced that He wants to heal me.
This is the problem we see in our text. Does this worried father believe? Yes, he believes God can do anything. Does he believe God will specifically heal his boy? He admits that here he struggles with doubt. He asks Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief. There is a lesson in prayer here for all of us. When we pray, we must always ask ourselves, Do I really believe this prayer will do any specific good? Do I really believe that Mary or John will be helped or healed? If doubt is present, we must add another request to our prayer. Father, help me overcome my unbelief. We probably realize what a heinous sin it is to doubt our heavenly father, so we may try to cover it up.
To admit doubt does not necessarily mean that God will not help. The man in our text admitted his doubt, and Jesus granted his request. What if he had tried to fool Jesus? What if he said, Lord, I have no doubts whatsoever. He might have tried to convince Jesus that he had unwavering faith when he did not. When we do that, our prayer is rooted in dishonesty. Do we really expect God to answer dishonest prayers?
I recall an old Western starring Jimmy Stewart from many years ago. His table prayer amused me. I can’t quote it exactly, but I want something like this: Lord, we thank you for this food. Of course, we did all the work. We clear the land. Planted the crops. Did the harvesting and the cooking. But we thank you anyway. I am not sure that was a model prayer, but at least it represents honesty.
When we pray, yes, we believe God can do anything, but is there a hint of doubt mixed in with our faith? We don’t doubt God, but we may doubt that it is His will to answer our prayer. God will never act contrary to His will. Do our doubts cancel out our right to pray? No, while such a prayer lacks perfect faith, it has the virtue of being honest. God hears honest prayers. Of course, I do not have time to talk about other aspects of prayer this morning. The point I want to leave with you today is this. Ensure that when you approach God, your words accurately reflect your heart's true state. If not, further lessons on prayer will serve no purpose. The very first lesson on prayer is this: Be honest! Let the words of your prayer reflect the true condition of your heart. Let us pray…
Father, I want to be the first to confess that my words in prayer are not always honest. There is often doubt present that I fail to mention. Help me, Father, to pray honestly. May the words of my mouth be in harmony with the state of my heart…in Jesus’ name…
