Duh! It Only Works One Way

It Takes Faith

Living our day to day lives requires more faith that we realize, maybe. I’m not talking about faith in Jesus, necessarily. That is, till later. For now, I’m talking about day to day stuff.

How much faith does it take to get into your car, push the button or turn the key, and drive?

I expect my engine to start and the car to go when I do what I always do.

I will confess, I know very little about what is going on under the hood.

A friend in LR was helping me with my son’s car and helped me understand the basics. He put in simple terms that I could understand. My son’s car wasn’t starting. I need simple terms, I’m a simple guy.

He said, you need air, fuel, and a spark. If the car won’t go, then it’s got to be one of these 3 things.

Ironically, the problem turned out to be the key. Which is a testimony to how complicated cars have become. And why we need more faith than ever to drive.

His car was an old Nissan sedan. But the keys had chips in them that the car would recognize. If the car didn’t recognize the chip in the key, it wouldn’t start. It prevents the car from getting stolen.

When we bought the car, we had extra keys made. In case he lost one, we’d have extras. More than 1 extra. We discovered that if a new key was activated so the car would recognize its chip, then the old key was de-activated. Only 2 keys at a time would start the car.

So, w/ the new key it would start. If we tried one of the old keys, it would only crank. It had gas, the spark plugs were working, and the air intake was sucking air. We all learned something that day.

So then, we knew we needed 4 things. Air, gas, spark, and a chip the car recognizes.

My new car has a push-button start. So, the key isn’t an issue. Sara’s still has a key start. Still, there is a lot more going on under the hood than just 4 things. If I have a problem, then I’m lost I’m calling someone.

When I turn her key, or push my button, I have faith that the car will go. I don’t understand everything else that makes it go. I just have to trust it will go. That’s faith.

I don’t know everything. What I do know is supplemented w/ faith, and I can drive my car.

I mentioned I have new car. It’s new to me. It was used when I bought it just before Xmas.

I never had any issues w/ my GMC. 137,000 mi and going strong. Until one Friday. We were running our usual errands in Flag. Sara gets out to go into a store and says, “Hey, Your car is making a funny noise.”

The technical term: Funny noise. It was chug. In time w/ the valves.

I noticed, it was. For the first time. I made the appt to get it in. My mechanic called me and said, “Steve, I wish I had better news. We found metal fragments in the oil filter.” Something was coming apart in the engine. It was going to die.

The only options I had were to rebuild the engine, replace the engine, or trade the vehicle.

As I said, I’m lost under the hood. Peace of mind driving up and down I-17 is important to me. So, I traded the vehicle on a newer Toyota 4Runner. I lost faith in my GMC. Fact was, it was going to fail.

I have faith, now, in my Toyota. Push the button, it starts, it goes.

I know the basics about what makes the car go. But what I don’t know, is covered by faith. I don’t have to know everything to have peace of mind driving it.

For what I don’t know, I know a guy. We all got a guy. You’ve got a guy, too.

We just got back from vacation. I don’t understand what keeps an airplane in the air. I get the basics. Due respect to our pilot and mechanic friends. The big engine spins, forces air over the wings, the flaps make the plane go up and down.

But then, you look in the cockpit and see all the dials, digital readouts, pedals, sticks, levers, and everything else. And if I didn’t have faith in the pilots, mechanics, and structure of the plan; then I wouldn’t board it and fly over the ocean for a vacation.

My point is, to live our daily lives, a lot of faith is required. We can’t know and understand everything. A little faith combined w/ what we know, gets us started down the road. As our faith grows deeper, we get farther. But we cannot wait until we know everything, understand everything, or have all the faith we need to get started. Truth is, we’ll never know enough, never be able to do enough to control everything we deal w/.

Our faith is based on facts. But, we’ll never have all the facts. Our faith works in the cracks between the facts.

We’ve just go to go, and our faith will grow.

There is a great prayer that is uttered by a desperate father. He had faith a little faith in Jesus. But, He needed more. The discs had too much faith in themselves. They needed more faith in Jesus, too.

This story is written about in Matthew 17, Luke 9, and Mark 9.

We’re going to be in the Mark passage this morning.

First, let me set the context.

Context

It hadn’t been that long before that Jesus told the disciples to feed the thousands on the hillside. It happened twice. Neither time they had the resources to do it. But, once they asked Jesus for help, He blessed what they had, then they were able to feed everyone w/ an abundance left over.

One child’s happy meal was multiplied by Jesus and none of the thousands left hungry.

Remember this.

The discs had accurately ID’d Jesus as the Messiah. They understood He is the One that came from God to save us from our sins and lead us into our PL, heaven. They got it.

He told them He was going to build His church, this new org, on faith like the faith they just confessed.

But, they did not fully understand the implications of a close relationship w/ Jesus. So, He instructed them about what it meant to be a follower of His. And, there is no halfway follower. Either, you’re all in or all out.

That does not mean every follower needs to fully comprehend the implications. But, what it does mean is every follower is on the path to comprehension and understanding. At any given time, we still may not fully appreciate what’s involve in our rel w/ Jesus.

That’s when Jesus said that followers pick up their cross daily, deny themselves and what they want to choose what Jesus wants for them. Lose you life and gain His. Hold onto yours and not get His.

The discs are learning what a mature disciple looks like. There was a learning curve them. It was steep. Jesus was with them for 3 years. It’s been more than 2 years so far w/ where we are in this series. They still have a way to go.

Would they want to follow thru w/ the sacrifices Jesus was asking of them? Is the rel worth it? Can He do what He said He could do? Is He who He says He is?

Right after, He took his closest 3; Peter, James, and John; up on a high mountain where He began to pray. The discs dozed. They were awakened by a bright light and conversation.

The light was the glory of God that lit up Jesus from the inside out. He morphed. He transformed. He was illuminated by the glory of God that is w/in Him. He was joined by Moses and Elijah.

This was a brief foreshadowing of what Jesus will look like when He returns. They still did not comprehend that He would be leaving them. So, a return was not on their radar, at all.

The bright light, glory proved Jesus is God. Moses and Elijah proved there is a heaven and the faithful will live there forever. Yes, whatever sac Jesus asks of us, it’s well worth it.

They have faith to be saved. They are saved men. All the discs are, except Judas. But, their faith is still limited and their learning curve is still steep.

Jesus is preparing them, unbeknownst to them, for leading this new org w/out Him present w/ them. They were about to be faced w/ the reality of living in a world in the absence of X.

The Prince of this world is evil. The King of the Kingdom is good. Temporarily, they are living on earth tho citizens of Heaven, and will have to deal w/ the powers that corrupt the earth.

They are about to be confronted directly w/ these powers as they come down the mountain.

The trip was short. It is amazing how short of a distance it is from the mountain top to the valley. From glory and faithfulness to failure due to a lack of faith. It take little time to get there. And that’s where they found themselves immediately after.

They were in the state of confusion.

Confusion

Mark 9:14–18 NIV

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of 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.”

As the 4 come down, they encounter this situ. The other 9 discs are arguing w/ the teachers of the law, Jewish leadership. Maybe you’ve walked up on an argument before. Not knowing what it was about but obviously it was agitating and ppl were getting emotional. It was chaotic.

Jesus asked what it was all about.

Right away, the issue presented itself. The argument among the discs and teachers was secondary to the real issue.

A desperate father had a son who was possessed by a demon. He was controlled by evil, Satan. When the demon exercised its authority, it hurt the boy. The seizures are hard to go thru and hard to watch. Luke pointed out the damage the demon was doing was life-threatening.

It was a tense situ. The emotions began to rise when the father couldn’t find Jesus but brought his son the the discs for help.

The discs wanted to be seen as authoritative, capable in their own right. After all, they were tight w/ Jesus. The teachers had been authoritative before Jesus showed up on the scene. So, jealousy abounded.

Fear. Anger. Angst. Jealousy. Pride. All influenced the argument going on around them.

Jesus walks up and the crowd ran to Him. Everyone was just a little put out by this.

The father asked the discs for help. But they were ineffective. They couldn’t. And they didn’t know why.

The teachers antagonized them. They saw weakness and took advantage.

And the father grew more desperate.

Jesus called them out. Of all the issues being confronted in this episode, the single greatest was the lack of faith by everyone present.

It wasn’t that the discs had no faith. But they lacked the necessary faith to help in this situ. They were guilty of a lack of enough of the right kind of faith. So, when Jesus called them out, they were convicted.

Conviction

Mark 9:19 NIV

“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

Jesus, obviously frustrated. Called everyone out.

The discs should have been able to help the boy. More on them in a minute.

The teachers had no faith. Their religious beliefs were based on keeping rites, rituals and rules. Jesus was about a relationship.

Still, he included the discs in this rebuke. To the 3 on the mountain w/ him, what he told them at the time was to tell no one about his until after His resurrection.

Then He said here, “how long shall I stay w/ you?” Implied, the length of time will come to an end.

Did they put 2 and 2 together? A time is coming when He will be gone. Did that register, yet? What will they do when they encounter demonic activity and Jesus isn’t right there w/ them?

What should we do? Jesus isn’t right here w/ us.

He would solve the problem. Bring the boy to me. I’ll handle it. Watch and learn. Please.

Jesus took on the demon. He confronted Him. And He confronted the father and disciples for their lack of faith. There was still a lot to be learned. And sometimes the lessons are hard.

The Confrontation

Mark 9:20–27 NIV

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

Immediately, the demon tried to flaunt its power in front of Jesus. He took control at the sight of Jesus. It has complete power and authority over the boy. It assumes it has power that Jesus cannot handle.

Hey Bubba, watch this. Look at what I can do.

Jesus, calmly ignoring what they demon could do, asked the father how long he been like this. What does it matter, how long? Hurry up and do something.

Jesus has His own time frame. And, whatever the demon did, Jesus could undo.

Sometimes we lose patience w/ Jesus when He delays in doing what we think He should do right now. But always remember, what is done while Jesus is waiting, He can undo and fix everything.

The father’s response to Jesus’ question seems like he questions Jesus’ ability to do anything. Is Jesus stalling? Maybe He can’t.

If you can …

The discs couldn’t. Can you? Jesus isn’t the discs.

For Jesus, it’s not a question of if He can. It’s will He? Anything, everything is possible for one who believes. It’s not a question of ability. It’s a question of willingness. Inability is a symptom of unbelief, a lack of faith.

Jesus can do anything. The question is, will He? Is it the best thing to be done? B/C, Jesus will do what’s best for those involved.

This is when the father uttered a prayer that would be good for us to memorize and vocalize ourselves.

Yes, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Faith is not the absence of doubt. Jesus is not limited to doing only things we understand and can comprehend. Thank goodness.

He’s God. He can think of things we could never imagine. It is not up to us to figure out how Jesus can fix our problems. We just need to have faith that He can. And have faith that He will do what’s best even if it’s not one our top 3 or 4 choices. We may not have even thought of what Jesus ends up doing. It may seem at the time as though it was not what’s best.

But, in time, He proved that what He does for us is always what’s best for us.

We may struggle w/ doubts. Our faith is based on the facts we have and know. But we will never have all the facts. We will never know everything. That’s God.

Our faith works where there are cracks in our facts. If we had all the facts, if we knew everything, we wouldn’t need faith. And Jesus is calling out the discs, the dad, the teachers, and everyone else for their lack of faith, not their lack of facts.

Immediately, he recognized his inadequacy before X. He asked X to help him believe. He no longer doubted Jesus’ ability to perform, he doubted His ability to believe He could perform.

So, he prayed and asked for help. Memorize the prayer and the reason for it.

One of the most important things for us to recognize is our own limitations. We cannot project them on Jesus. He’s God. Only in our arrogance do we limit Jesus to our feeble limitations.

Ask for help and have faith that He can, and will fix what’s broken.

And Jesus did that here. He fixed the problem. The demon was no match. Jesus spoke, commanded it to come out and never return. The demon had no choice, no right nor fight. He did exactly as Jesus commanded.

It hurt the boy. But Jesus fixed the pain it created when it left. He helped him up and gave him back to his father.

The learning curve continued. There was still work to be done w/ the discs. Jesus needed close the loop by correcting what the discs did wrong.

What they did wrong was what the father did right.

The Correction

Mark 9:28–29 NIV

After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

The go into a house, a private setting, where the discs can ask the question. “Why couldn’t we do it?”

What did the father do that the discs didn’t do when he realized he didn’t have the faith necessary to believe Jesus would do something?

The father asked Jesus for help.

What good would it do to sit in a car, turn your key, push your start button, if the car had no gas?

Some nice tow-truck driver would look at you like you’re an idiot and say, “This kind only go w/ gas.”

Where the father did not have the faith to believe Jesus could do something. The discs didn’t think they needed faith for Jesus to do something. They thought they could do it on their own.

But, we humans are no match for the demonic. They are no match for Jesus. Self-confidence in these situations is disastrous. Confidence in Jesus is victorious.

They didn’t pray b/c they didn’t think they needed to. Jesus was out of sight b/c he was up on the mountain w/ the other 3. What happens when Jesus is out of sight b/c He back in heaven after he ascends in Acts 1?

Does it do any good to ask if He’s not even here? Remember, He promised in Act 2 once He left we’d have power when the HS came into us. We still need to ask. And our confidence must be in God to work thru us. But, we must pray and ask. It’s not just a given. That sort of arrogance, self-confidence, will more often than not lead to failure.

Prayer is the recognition that we need God to work on our behalf. He may do it thru us. And he may do it to us. But, He’s got to do it for us to be successful.

Jesus will build His church. The gates of Hell, the demonic, the evil will not prevent it from happening. He will use us to do it. But we must have the faith in Him, not ourselves, to lead us to ask for help.

When we don’t pray it simply comes down to 2 reasons why:

We believe we can do it on our own.

We believe God is not able, or won’t.

I don’t need God’s help to tie my shoes. I can handle that. I desperately need His help in my sermon prep. We all need his help in our marriages, w/ kids and parents, in our community, leading others to Him, in the Oval Office and Capitol Bldg., Supreme Ct., in our health and finances.

There is no area of our lives where we can do it all on our own and Jesus can’t or won’t help. The more desperate you are, the more you will pray and ask for help.

Memorize the prayer and the reason for it. It will serve you well.

Applications

What is it?

What is the prayer: Yes I believe, help my unbelief.

Why did the father need to pray it? His faith was weak and needed to grow.

Why didn’t the discs pray it? B/C they thought they could do it on their own.

Recognize your limitations. Do not limit Jesus to your feeble abilities. Have faith in Him that He can. Have faith that He will. Have faith that He will do what’s best, no necessarily what you want.

What is it that you need help in today? Ask for help.

Pray

What does how much you pray indicate what you believe about how much help you need.

Arrogance is disastrous. Self-confidence will lead to failure.

Don’t question God’s ability. You don’t even need to question is willingness. Question your own motives and belief that you need to figure out what to ask for and how to ask it to get it. Let God be God.

Pray w/out ceasing? Learn to depend on God more in every situation you face. A quick, simple prayer will help you more than you realize.

Pray a little more.

Faith must grow

You probably have enough faith to be saved. But do you have enough of the right kind of faith to be able to manage the situs you face?

Jesus was preparing the discs to lead this new org after He was gone. Jesus is preparing you for what’s coming next. You may have no idea what’s around the corner. But you may need to grow to succeed in it.

Jesus is leading you to His gym to strengthen your faith.

Trust that He has prepared you for today in what you faced yesterday. You can handle w/ help. You have the faith you need to succeed.

I don’t need God’s help to tie my shoes. I can handle that. I desperately need His help in my sermon prep. We all need his help in our marriages, w/ kids and parents, in our community, leading others to Him, in the Oval Office and Capitol Bldg., Supreme Ct., in our health and finances.

There is no area of our lives where we can do it all on our own and Jesus can’t or won’t help. The more desperate you are, the more you will pray and ask for help.

I don’t need to know everything that’s going on under the hood of my car or in the cockpit of a plane. I have faith in the engineers, mechanics, pilots, manufacturers, and technicians.

My point is, to live our daily lives, a lot of faith is required. We can’t know and understand everything. A little faith combined w/ what we know, gets us started down the road. As our faith grows deeper, we get farther. But we cannot wait until we know everything, understand everything, or have all the faith we need to get started. Truth is, we’ll never know enough, never be able to do enough to control everything we deal w/.

Our faith is based on facts. But, we’ll never have all the facts. Our faith works in the cracks between the facts.

We’ve just go to go, and our faith will grow.