Mustard Seed Faith

Psalm 86:16–17 “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant. Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.”

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Reading

Mark 9:14–29 ESV

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Matthew 17:20 ESV

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.”

Sermon

The Transfiguration

Next morning cam down the mountain to the disciples

Mark 9:14 ESV

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

Crowd surrounding the 9 and scribes arguing with them

Mark 9:15 ESV

And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.

Jesus’ unexpected and notable arrival results in great relief

Mark 9:16–18 ESV

And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

Jesus askes “What are you arguing about with them?”

A man speaks up

Teacher / Lord

I brought my son to you

He has a spirit that makes him mute (seizes him to the ground, foams at the mouth, grinds teeth, becomes rigid)

Demon possession shows a hostility to God and anyone who serves Him

So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able

Mark 9:19 ESV

And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

O unbelieving generation

How long am I to be with you?

How long am I to bear with you?

Bring him to me

Mark 9:20 ESV

And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

They brought him

The spirit convulsed the boy

he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth

Mark 9:21–22 ESV

And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

Father replied, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Mark 9:23–24 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

there was doubt

possibly concern about the willingness of Jesus

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:25 ESV

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Jesus provides a clear example

He addresses the nature of the unclean spirit (demon) - mute and deaf spirit

This does not necessarily imply that the boy was deaf

But the demon has refused to listen to the legitamate authority of the disciples

Jesus provides a command which is specific - “Come out of him, and never enter him again”

Mark 9:26–27 ESV

And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

The demon cryied out and convulsed the boy

The significant convulsion is replaced by stillness, leading the crowd to assume he was dead

But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose

Mark 9:28–29 ESV

And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

The reliance on the Power of God is absolute

Matthew 17:20 ESV

Faith of a mustard seed can move mountains

Both Matthew & Mark convey that:

authority divorced from prayerful dependence on God, becomes hollow

While prayer rooted in genuine faith becomes effective

Prayer today

Gifts of Apostles have ceased

Prayer remains

Prayer includes recognition of God’s overrulling providential purposes

It is not pressumtueous to know the will of God for all who suffer

Nothing is more cruel than to blame a sick person for failed healing to be determined as a lack of sufficient faith

Prayer is offered in confidence that God will answer, and that He will be Glorified

Miracles served as signs to unbelievers

But for the early church Christians the notion “faith guarantees healing” is contrary to lived experience of committed and faithful believers facing persecution"

Paul’s thorn in the flesh

Sick Trophimus in Ephesus

Faith in Scripture demonstrates itself both in deliverance from suffering and in maintaining peace and hope within suffering—believers were tortured, imprisoned, stoned, and put to death, yet “gained approval through their faith.”

God’s glory manifests not only in healing but equally in granting a spirit of hope and peace to those he does not heal, for that too is a miracle of grace.

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Closing Prayer

Doxology

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