Mark 9:14-29
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14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.
15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.
16 He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”
19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”
20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.
22 “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, 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.”
26 Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.”
27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
28 After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
29 And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
I. We focus on the wrong things.
I. We focus on the wrong things.
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.
15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.
16 He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”
19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”
A. How often do we see our fellow man as a debate to be won over a person who needs healing.
A. How often do we see our fellow man as a debate to be won over a person who needs healing.
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.
15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.
16 He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
Illus: WHat is astounding in this passage is the mess that Jesus purposely walks into.
The scribes “the learned” and the crowd were arguing about a boy.
THe boy in large part lost his humanness because the crowd saw him as an issue. He was was a fight to be won, not a person.
How often do we do that? An event happens in our nation, and we all retreat to our political or cultural narratives.
Look back at the things you have cared about the most over the past few years. How often have you allowed the culture wars of our country to turn your hearts away from loving people.
For the church we must regain the love of people again. We must see people as beings created in the image of God again.
When we dehumanize and politicize people, we are degrading the image of God.
People are not issues, they are image bearers of God.
1 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.
4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.
7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.
B. When we view the world through a culture war mindset, we show ourselves to be faithless.
B. When we view the world through a culture war mindset, we show ourselves to be faithless.
16 He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”
19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”
Illus: I believe much of the culture war that we face every day is a tool used by the devil to distract us.
Think about it. God gave us clear instructions on this earth. We are to love people as God loved us, forgive them, sacrifice ourselves for them, bring the gospel to them, and teach them to follow Jesus.
Pretty simple.
Then a cultural storm arises. We see it on the news, or read about it on the internets. All of a sudden our blood is boiling, and we are angry at folks God called us to love and sacrifice ourselves for.
The devil has realized that if we can care about whatever cultural topic of the day we will end up hating those on the other side… the exact opposite of what is necessary to reach them with the gospel.
Where we are called to love and sacrifice for our fellow man we end up screaming at them. Where we are called to love our enemies, we end up hating them.
When we engage in a foolish culture was we end up making ourselves pharisees who care more about how we look, than the mission field God has given us.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
II. Hope is in Christ, not our strength.
II. Hope is in Christ, not our strength.
20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.
22 “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, 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.”
A. We doubt the power and love of God.
A. We doubt the power and love of God.
19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”
20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.
22 “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
Illus: Why was the crowd arguing, instead of running this boy to Jesus....
1. They were not looking for a solution, they were looking for a win.
2. They did not believe/ Care that God would heal this child.
3. they did not truly believe in the benevolence of God, not were they benevolent themselves.
When we retreat to argument over prayer, when we seek to scream more than love… we show what we really believe deep down. We show that our faith is in something else besides God, and that the solution is in something else other than his way.
If we truly believe in the power and love of God, we become driven by the power and love of God.
That means we cease fighting with the world like that changes lives, and take up God’s playbook… to go and die for our enemies.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
10 then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
B. It is OK to be weak.
B. It is OK to be weak.
(man doubted himself not God)
23 Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
Illus: What happens in this mans life is that he sees the emptiness of the broken world around him, turns to Jesus, admids his weakness, and places his hope in God’s hands.
You know what that is called. Faith.
Faith is admitting that you are not strong enough but God is.
1. The world is broken around us.
2. life is found in turning to Jesus.
3. We are incapable of fixing ourselves. (and others)
4. We place our weakness in God’s hands.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord,
8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.
III. Do we actually seek God?
III. Do we actually seek God?
26 Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.”
27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
28 After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
29 And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
God desires to lead us to a complete dependence on Him. That is the starting place of prayer.
God desires to lead us to a complete dependence on Him. That is the starting place of prayer.
Illus: We are not called to ignore the foolish world around us.
We are called to react differently to the world around us.
Instead of reacting immediately, jumping to our culture war camps, and hating those who view the world differently… our hearts should turn to prayer.
LEt me give you three things to pray for as you feel pulled into the culture war.
1. wisdom.
2. those involved.
3. you own heart… to love those you disagree with.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.