April 22, 2001
Sand Flat Baptist Church
David Yarbrough
Growing On Purpose
Mark 9:2-29
Illustration: We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second- floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect.
Illustration: Many cars today have low fuel lights to warn the driver before running out of fuel. What happens if you ignore that little light? Many Christians today are suffering from spiritual neglect. It’s not that they don’t believe in reading the Bible, or prayer and going to Church. It’s just that they neglect these things. The Church is a place were we get refueled spiritually. At church that is were the issues of the heart are touched. The most intimate relationship a person can experience here on earth is marriage. In God’s Word of God Christ refers to His Church as His bride. Your Church should be a place were you experience an intimacy with your savior.
1. We grow through Mountain Top Experiences (v.2-13)
a) We can’t stay on the mountaintop.
We all love mountain top experiences, these are the joyful, victorious times of our faith. These are the places we want to be spiritually, but our faith is a journey not a stopping place.
b) We must take what we learn on the mountaintop into the valley.
A true God experience will change us. If we’ve had a mountain top experience with God then we should be closer to God than ever before. We must take what we learned on the mountaintop into the valley below to help carry us through to the next mountaintop.
2. We grow through Conflict. (v. 14-20)
a) v. 14-17 When someone questions what we believe and why we believe it.
We dig into the Bible and study it trying to back up what we believe. In the process we learn and grow in our faith.
b) v. 18-19 When we try to do spiritual things in our own power and fail we learn that spiritual things can only be accomplished with God’s power.
c) v.20 Anytime we get close to Jesus the devil will throw a fit. The last thing the devil wants for us is to get close to God. Anytime we make a commitment to God or take on some spiritual responsibility the devil will throw a wall-eyed fit.
Notice in verse 17 the father states that he brought his son to Jesus. But notice who asked for help in verse 18 - the disciples. While Jesus was up on the mountain the disciples down among the people were His representatives. People today are bringing their friends who need God to church because the church should be Christ representatives here on earth. But the church today experiences the same problem the disciples did on this day, it’s unable to help some who are in desperate need of ministry. These people who are in such need – need not only to be brought to church they need to be brought to Jesus. They don’t need religion they need a relationship with God. The church must be focused on pointing people to Jesus not the minister or to the programs, but to the one who can truly meet there deepest need. And Jesus should be the main focus of every minister and ministry of every church.
Illustration: In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he o worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also, “ he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” That usher’s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior.
3. We grow at the end of our rope.(v.21-23)
a). v.22 The boy’s father is loosing hope after Jesus’ disciples were unsuccessful in helping his son. He also listened to the arguments of the religious leaders as to why they couldn’t help the boy.
4. We grow through Confession. (v.24-29)
a) The boy’s father had some faith but he realized he didn’t have enough. He needed help with the part of him that was discouraged, disappointed and disillusioned. God always knows where we are by confession we acknowledge that we need God’s help.
Illustration: When you get a flu shot your getting injected with a very small amount of the sickness. So small that it shouldn’t make you sick and should keep you from getting very sick. Many people in the Church just want flu shoot Christianity. Not too much to were they turn into fanatics, but just enough to keep them from going to hell.
b) v. 29 Prayer moves God. An active prayer life gets us in the right spiritual condition to fight off the attacks of the devil, and to be able to minister to those around us.
Conclusion:
Illustration: Behind the scenes of an Arizona circus, Bobb Biehl started chatting with a man who trains animals for Hollywood movies:
"How is it that you can stake down a ten-ton elephant with the same size stake that you use for this little fellow?" I asked, pointing to a baby elephant who weighed three hundred pounds. "It’s easy . . . " the trainer said. "When they are babies, we stake them down. They try to tug away from the stake maybe ten thousand times before they realize that they can’t possibly get away. At that point, their ’elephant memory’ takes over and they remember for the rest of their lives that they can’t get away from the stake."
Humans are sometimes like elephants. When we are teenagers, some unthinking, insensitive, unwise person says, "He’s not very good at planning," or "She’s not a leader," or "Their team will never make it," and zap, we drive a mental stake into our minds. Often when we become mature adults, we are still held back by some inaccurate one-sentence "stake" put in our minds when we were young. Today you are an adult capable of much more than you realize. You are far more capable than you were even twelve months ago, and next year you will be able to do things you can’t imagine doing today."
Bobb Biehl, Masterplanning.
For some people sin has placed a stake in there spiritual life also. They have tried and tried in their own strength to remove it to no avail. Now they believe they’re attached to this sin forever with no hope of release. Jesus through His death on the cross has the power to remove any and every stake that hold us back regardless of the size. But it’s up to us, we must ask for His help, we must confess our weakness and we must trust Him with the outcome.
And like the disciples if someone comes to us or to our church for help. We must be prepared spiritually to help them. “This kind can come out only by prayer.” In our own power we have no human ability to truly help someone spiritually, this is done by the work of God the Holy Spirit. This is why we must be in tune with God through prayer at all times not only for our own spiritual health, but also to those who come to us for help.
Is there something today you need help with? Do you know someone who is questioning his or her faith down in the valley of oppression? Just like the father in this story we all need Jesus’ help with something in our life. But He doesn’t for His help He let’s us make the choice. The decision is ours to make, the help is available from Jesus, it’s all there for the taking if we really want it.
