Faith

Opening

Open Bibles to Matthew 17:14-21

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

assurance - a promise or a certainty

conviction - is a firmly held belief

Saving Faith Vs. Living faith

Saving faith we are certain that Jesus is the way the and the life and that we have hope through him

That because of him, we are declared righteous before God

And we have this conviction - this is what we believe

Once we are saved, we now have a living faith

That once we were saved and justified before God - Ephesians 2 tells us that there are good works prepared beforehand for us to do

And now we live out our faith - assured that God is with us, with hope that no matter what comes in the day, we have the conviction that even though we cant see him, nothing can overcome us - not even temptation

This the living faith is what we will be talking about today

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Have you ever had a mountain top experience with God and then wondered where did it go?

And its like when you are on the mountain top - you feel so close to God, the Holy Spirit is moving you, you are in a state of blessing

This could be and should be Sunday morning worship, or a worship night, camp, or a season of blessings

And the next thing you know, its like hey, where did it go?

Its Monday morning and you just got cut off on the freeway and your reaction wasnt Christ like, or maybe your boss asks you to fudge the numbers on a project

Its been a week since camp and the sins and habitual patterns of sin that you repented of are tougher to refrain from and you fall back into it

Things have been going so well in life and then you are hit with big burdensome news

When you are on the mountain top it is easier to be in your faith, living out your faith,

But what happens when we arent in the mountaintop setting?

2 perspectives

For us tonight, I want us to look at two perspectives of this story and how it relates to faith

Disciples

What we did not read is that Peter, James, and John, directly beofre this text witness the transfiguration of Jesus and all of his glory on the mountaintop

They of course have faith on this mountaintop and are in awe of what they are witnessing

And these men, Peter, James, and John will become great men of God who with the power of the Holy Spirit start spreads the gospel like wildfire

Peter and James will be martyred for Christ

And yet - directly after this mountain top experience they arent able to do the Lords work

What they were once able to do, they are now falling short

It’s like a super hero movie where the superhero accidently displayed the power he has but when he intentionally tries hes like “oof” and its funny for us but embarrassing for them

And so in private they go to Jesus and they probably whisper to him because of their embarrassment and asks him why they failed

And Jesus exposes them in a way that is humbling

That they just needed a small bit of faith - like a mustrd seed small

But somewhere between the transfiguration of Jesus to this account of healing

The disciples still had a saving faith in Jesus, but their living faith in their healing abilities shifted from Christ to themselves

And Jesus said - if you would have just had a small bit of faith in me and in my power, and in my might, in that moment - then you would have all the power you need

Jesus teaches - A tiny grain of true living faith, rooted in submissiveness to God, is effective.

Dad

We cant really know for sure if the dad was a believer or not but the dad had a love for his son so great that he is willing to do whatever it takes to get him healed

And so he hears of Jesus and his disciples who are suppossed to be able to heal his son

And then he brings his son before the disciples and they are unable to get rid of the demon

And so the disciples in their embarrassment has to refer to Jesus

Hey man, I dont know whats happening, this usually works - but just go to Jesus

Yes yes yes, I know we failed but our teacher never fails

So, humanly speaking - after the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon - there had to be at least a mustard seed of doubt that Jesus would be able to heal him

But since he knows Jesus is the teacher, he goes to the teacher

And he makes sure to rat out the disciples - like your disciples are wack

But Jesus, he isnt wack so he does heal his son

Jesus casts out the demon

Despite the failings of the disciples, the boy was healed

Application

Disciples

And as we look at these 2 perspectives we can find application for us in both

We are followers of Jesus Christ

We have faith in Jesus Christ

But our faith must be living and active

It must be submitted in Christ

And if we doubt either of these - our faith cannot be effective

This is why we still sin - when we sin we elevate ourself over Christ

In those moments when God is giving us a way out - we still choose ourself over our faith

We become like the disciples in this story

And then we come to God like why God? Why did I fall into that temptation?

You needed faith - even just a faith as small as a mustard seed

And the beauty of our God, the beauty of Jesus is not that he condemns his people

He doesnt fire the disciples - rather he still used them in mighty ways to carry out the work prepared before hand

In the same way, there is forgiveness, mercy, and grace for us when we fail to live out our faith

And God can still use us for mighty things to advance his Kingdom

But we we must have a faith, even the smallest of faith, fully submitted to him to be effective

Dad

Dispite the disciples open and public failings, Jesus still worked

There are many people in this world that are like this dad

They see the open and public failings of the church, they see the failings of us as believers, and they have a mustard seed of doubt in Jesus

But yet they are still longing for truth - they have an emptiness and are seeking how to fill it - and so there is part of them that wants to push past the doubt to seek the truth

And its in those moments, that in all humility - we point them to Christ

Look, dont trust me, I fail and thats why I need Jesus - but trust Jesus

And you take them through scripture - you plant seeds - and then you trust Jesus to do the work

Mission

And this is where the mission of New Day comes from

Helping real people meet the real Jesus

To bring a New Day for a new church in different communities

That we are a people humbly submitted to Christ, walking and living in faith, always pointing to Jesus