“Power Failures” never come at a convenient time. They usually come in the middle of a good movie that you’ve been waiting to watch or you’ve really gotten into. I remember one time I was watching a movie that was like four hours long and three and a half hours into the movie the cable company had a power outage. I was so frustrated and I never did find out what happened in the end. If there is ever a good time for a power failure it’s when you aren’t there to know you’ve had one. Obviously if a power failure last long enough it can have some consequences that are not pleasant. I remember when we had the power outage with the tornado that hit a couple of Easters ago. I was beginning to worry about the food in the refrigerator and freezer. That’s always one of the things you worry about when a power outage seems like it’s not going to be a short one. They always tell you to make sure you open your refrigerator and freezer only when necessary during an outage. Of course you have to be careful with your appliances. They advise you to turn off or disconnect appliances that will go on automatically when the power comes back on. Power failures can do some serious damage in some cases. And of course when the old power failure strikes when you are sleeping and you don’t know your alarm clock has now been disabled that makes for a crazy morning when you awake. Power failures just aren’t a good thing.
Today in our text some of the disciples had a power failure. I believe their power failure brought some negative consequences. This morning we are going to look at those consequences and how they can apply to our lives when we experience a power failure.
To set the stage for our text today, Jesus had been up on the Mountain with James, John and Peter. It was a tremendous time of them experiencing the power of Jesus as He transfigured before them. While they were there Elijah and Moses even made guest appearances. Peter wanted to build shelters for them all and never leave there. As they were coming down the mountain Jesus had told them not to tell anyone about this experience until He had risen from the dead. They still didn’t know what that meant. When they got back to the other disciples they were surrounded by a crowd and they were arguing with teachers of the law.
Mark 9:14-29
I like the way the book of Mark describes this incident because it gives much more details than the other gospels. Jesus is asking what the argument is about. A man in the crowd, the father of the boy, steps forward and says,
“I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of his speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit but they could not.” It’s interesting to note that many commentators say the boy symptoms seem to suggest epilepsy. But the scriptures seem to suggest demon possession so I’m going to go with that. Maybe it was demon-induced epilepsy. Jesus responds by saying, “Oh unbelieving generation, how long must I stay with you.” I believe Jesus’ words here were aimed at his disciples whom he was very disappointed with. Now Jesus’ words here seem to suggest that the disciples had a lack of faith. But according to Mark that wasn’t the full story. The disciples were baffled. It wasn’t that long ago that Jesus had given them the power and authority over demons when he sent them out into the towns and villages. They successfully drove out demons from people. It was evident that they had been given the power. But in this one case they had a power failure and they could not drive the demon from this boy. Maybe with each attempt their faith began to lessen. So when Jesus went inside away from the crowd they asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus replied, “This kind can only come out by prayer.” It seems that the disciples had taken the power that they had been given for granted. They no longer depended prayerfully upon God for it, and their failure showed their lack of prayer. To keep the power you must stay connected to the power source. The disciples seemed to think that once they had it they should just keep it. But their power to do the work of God and break down the strongholds of the enemy were tied to their prayer life and their relationship with God. Unfortunately we as Christians I believe get caught up in that same trap. We go through that time where our devotion life with God is strong and we can feel his power working through us. We begin to feel good about that. Then when our time and connection with God begins to slip it never occurs to us that when that happens we are destined for a power failure. Because when you do not have the connection you need with God then it becomes something done in your power and not Gods. We are left scratching our heads and saying, “What’s going on?”
But the bad thing is, our power failure can have negative consequences to us and to others as well. The disciples’ power failure here was not without consequences. When Jesus came upon the disciples he found them surrounded by a crowd and the teachers of the law were arguing with them.
The disciple’s power failure was fuel for the fire for these teachers of the law. Jesus had done so many great miracles. Oh sure they tried to speak them away and minimize the impact of them. Then Jesus had followers who were doing great things in His name. But here, right here they were given
what they wanted an open door to slam them and point out how they and this Jesus person were nothing. These teachers of the law jumped on this opportunity and engaged the disciples over their failure in front of a large crowd. Because of their power failure they became vulnerable to the enemies of Christ. They gave them much room for criticism. But we do the same thing when we have a power failure in our life. If you are a Christian and you are claiming it, I’m not sure you really can be a Christian and not be claiming it, but if you are claiming Christianity people are watching you. It’s not just the people who are curious about your faith. But it’s also the people who are opposed to your faith. Enemies of Christ are watching you and they are waiting to see a power failure in your life. And when we have a power failure we open the doors to the enemies of Christ; those people who are so calloused and hard hearted that they will never allow Jesus to prove to them that He is the Son of God. And just like these teachers of the law engaged them in front of a crowd so their failure would be known, you can be that the enemies of the cross follow that same pattern today. They won’t confront you with your failure when you’re by yourself they will do it with a crowd or they will make sure that people are standing around you. Why? Because they can have a greater impact that way. When they bring out your failure to a crowd maybe there are people in that crowd that might have been leaning toward conviction from your life. If they can help it, they won’t be when their through. Yes, when you have a power failure in your life you become vulnerable to the enemies of Christ.
The consequences didn’t stop there with the disciple’s power failure. Look at the father who brought his son to be healed in faith. The man brought forth his son because he had faith that Jesus could heal his son. Jesus was up on the mountain at the time with three of his disciples, his inner circle if you will, so I’m sure he thinks that Jesus’ disciples could drive these demons away. He may have even known that the disciples had previously exorcised demons out of people. But when they had a power failure and could not exorcise the demons he begins to have doubts about Jesus being able to do it. How do we know this? The man says to Jesus, “If you can do anything?” Jesus responds, “If you can’? Everything is
possible for him who believes.” The man was struggling with his belief. He did say a great thing here. He said, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” That’s another lesson in itself. But I think he was struggling with his faith because the disciple’s power failure had weakened his faith. Now I’m not saying that you should be able to prayer and everyone’s sicknesses be healed. Although make no mistake about it, God chooses many times to heal people through our prayers and I have no doubt that our prayers are absolutely more effective when our connection with God is where it should be. There may be people who become disillusioned with their faith if God doesn’t heal someone they love in the way that people were praying. I’m a firm believer God always heals. Sometimes it’s here and sometimes it’s on the other side but God always brings wholeness when we trust in him. But I’m talking about when we assume God’s power and do things in God’s name when we haven’t kept our connection with God. When it fails there might be those who are watching or whom our failure might affect that might have their faith in Christ weakened because of our failure. Our power failures might make us scratch our heads but they may hurt someone else’s faith.
When the disciples had their power failure here came Jesus on the scene right when he was needed. The scripture said when the crowd saw him that they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. Now some people feel like that maybe Jesus still had some after affect from the transfiguration that had just taken place up on the mountain and that is why the crowd was overwhelmed. I guess that is certainly possible, but why would he tell the disciples to keep it a secret then come down the mountain glowing. Some thing that maybe the crowd being overwhelmed had to do with the timing of Jesus coming on the scene. Boy, I know that I certainly can identify with that in my life. I’ve been overwhelmed many times in my life when Jesus came on the scene just at the right time. That’s what happened here. Jesus, who was never late, came on to the scene in just the right time to pick up the pieces of the disciples power failure. He heals the boy, strengthens the Father’s faith in him and shuts up the enemies against Him and His believers. Without Jesus picking up the pieces the power failure could have been a catastrophe. But I believe that Jesus was disappointed that it came to that. He was disappointed that he had to come behind and pick up the mess because the disciples lacked the faith, because
they lacked the prayer to His Father. He had poured so much into them and yet they failed in a great opportunity of ministry. He was frustrated with
them and disappointed, but He never gave up. Yes, another consequence of having a power failure is Christ is left to pick up the pieces of our mess. I can’t tell you how many times in my life that I have goofed things up. Yet, Christ comes along and picks up the pieces and salvages the situation. Maybe many of you have had that same experience in your life. You’ve had a power outage or a power shortage and you just really blew it. But Christ came along and picked up the pieces of your mess. Does he grow frustrated with us? I’m sure at times he does, but just like his disciples he never grows so frustrated that He gives up on us.
I want to speak on just one more consequence briefly of when we experience a power failure as Christians. I believe we are humbled and we regain our balance and our proper perspective. I believe the disciples realized how they had let their dependence upon God get away from them. I believe they realized that they weren’t as special as they thought they were. They needed that daily walk with the Father if they were to continue doing a special work. Although the disciples still needed to learn that a little more. It was only just a little while later they argued over who would be the greatest. But I don’t know about you, when I get carried away in my work for the kingdom and I’m feeling pretty good about myself, a power failure always wakes me up and makes me realize that without God I’m nothing.
Let me ask you this morning, how is your life and ministry as a Christian? Have you had any power failures recently? Let me encourage you that just as you recharge your cell phone every day so your battery won’t go dead, that you should be recharging your spiritual batteries everyday so you won’t lose power. Don’t you want your prayers to be effective? Do you want your life to be used in powerful ways for God? That only happens with a solid connection!
