A Daughter's Faith
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
Story of how to get on my moms good side, knowing what moved her and what she responded to as kids. FCF we don’t like to trust, we think Jesus is pleased with us because of our talents, our skills, our good works, when the bible says what pleases God is faith.
TEXT
When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the sea. One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live.” So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第5章
耶穌又坐船渡到那邊；還在海邊的時候，有一大群人向他圍攏過來。22 當時來了一位會堂的主管，名叫葉魯。他一看見耶穌，就俯伏在他腳前，23 迫切地求他說：「我的小女兒快要死了，請你來按手在她身上，把她救活。」24 耶穌就和他一起去了。
一大群人跟著他，擁擠著他。
BIBLICAL FAITH IS HUMBLE
BIBLICAL FAITH IS HUMBLE
Let’s first look at this man Jairus, Jairus wasn’t just any normal man he was the leader of the synagogue.ruler of the synagogue: It was his duty to select the readers or teachers in the synagogue, to examine the discourses of the public speakers, and to see that all things were done with decency and in accordance with ancestral usage. He also must be aware that his authorities the Pharisees are out to capture and kill Jesus, or at least, he must know that they hate Him. Yet all of this doesn’t keep Jairus from falling at Jesus’ feet. This is desperation. This is extreme humility. It is never easy for a man to beg much less a man of this standing. Why was this man so desperate? It says that his daughter was near the point of death. Luke tells us that this was actually his ONLY daughter, could have been his only child. Surrounding his culture at this time there was a superstition that an early death might appear to be the result of God’s judgement. So Jairus pleads with Jesus to come lay hands on his daughter so she might live. I want us to stop and put ourselves in Jairus’ shoes. I wonder if any of us have ever felt this kind of pain, or have been in such an urgent situation. What Mark wants us to see about Jairus’ faith is that biblical faith requires humility. Now there were other Jewish teachers who were known to sometimes be able to heal and to drive out demons, did Jairus first go seek them out? I’m not sure, but the text says as soon as he saw Jesus he runs into the midst of the crowd, into the midst of many people who knew who he was, who he probably wouldn’t have been around, and begs Jesus. In both of the accounts today, Mark wants us to see how faith begins with an awareness of our need. True humility is a right understanding of who you are, and a right understanding of who God is. The bible says that if we really want to come to Jesus, we don’t come in an attitude of pride, where we think we have it altogether, but we come to Jesus, like Jairus, aware of our urgent need and that only Jesus can save. The bible presents maturity as being more aware of our sin and more aware of the grace of God. Pride will keep us from experiencing the grace of God. The worst sin in the New Testament, the sin that God hates, is hard hearted-ness. We saw earlier in Mark that Jesus was grieved at the hardness of heart of the Jewish people. This is a heart that is unwilling to admit they are in need of the mercy of God. How many countless Pharisees came into contact with Jesus during His ministry yet because of their pride did not put faith in Christ? Christ responds to a humble faith.
But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:
God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.
You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第4章
但 神所賜的恩更大；所以聖經上說：
「 神對抗驕傲的人，
賜恩給謙卑的人。」
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 詩篇卷51
神所要的祭，就是破碎的靈；
神啊！破碎痛悔的心，你必不輕看。
That’s why we say a lot that the church is like a hospital. It’s a place that in order to get in, you have to admit you are in need of a doctor. Every single one of us.
How hard is it for us to come to the Lord with humility and tell Him our needs. Mom’s I know there is a temptation to try and hold everything together, but Christ is a compassionate Savior, who responds to your humble faith, when you come to in your need. Jairus shows us the faith that Christ responds to is a faith that comes from humility. Where are you needing to bring your needs before Him today? Do you see Christ as a hard manager who just wants you to get your duties done without being needy? The point of being a christian is that we are in need!
Biblical Faith Is Bold
Biblical Faith Is Bold
Now Jesus agrees to go with Jairus, and I want you to imagine you are Jairus here. They are moving through the crowd and Mark suddenly brings us a huge plot twist. He says there is a “woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.” If you are reading this for the first time, you are probably like, okay Mark thanks for the detail, but come on get the man’s daughter, she’s about to die! But this woman has a serious condition. It says that she has had a bleeding problem for 12 years. The wording that Mark uses here is an expression to describe not just physical suffering but also emotional suffering. You see a woman who had this type of bleeding issue in this culture would have been considered unclean by the law
“When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days, though it is not the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond her period, she will be unclean all the days of her unclean discharge, as she is during the days of her menstruation. Any bed she lies on during the days of her discharge will be like her bed during menstrual impurity; any furniture she sits on will be unclean as in her menstrual period. Everyone who touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第15章
「女人若是在月經污穢期以外，血漏多日；或是月經污穢期過長，患有血漏症；她在這些血漏的日子是不潔淨的，好像她在月經污穢的日子不潔淨一樣。26 她在血漏症的日子躺過的床，都像她在月經污穢時的床一樣；她所坐過的家具，都不潔淨，像月經污穢的時候一樣。27 觸摸這些東西的，都不潔淨；要洗淨自己的衣服，用水洗澡，並且不潔淨到晚上
Mark tells us this woman has 2 things going against her, first is the sickness, and then the social shame that came because of her disease. Not only that but she had spent all that she had trying to get doctors to fix her, but the situation only grew worse. In the time of Jesus it was only the upper class who could afford doctors, so this woman was someone who had probably spent her own fortune trying to get doctor after doctor to fix this issue. Every time she would pay more money, knowing that at some point it would run out, and every time there is that moment of hope, maybe this is the time, maybe this time it worked, but not only did it work, it worsened. Extreme desperation. Mark says “having heard about Jesus”. Now the point that Mark wants to bring out of this woman’s testimony is that biblical faith is not only humble, but it is also bold! The text says ‘having heard about Jesus, she came up behind the crowd and touched his clothing.” Notice that her boldness wasn’t based upon who she was, but her boldness was rooted in who Jesus is. Mark says she heard about Jesus. It was because of what she knew about Christ that caused her to do something beyond her own strength, even beyond all reason! She was in the crowd, do you think she might have seen and heard Jairus’ request, knowing that the Lord was moving with Jairus in a hurry to heal his dying daughter? But it didn’t matter, she thought if she could just touch Him, and go unnoticed she would be healed. That’s great faith.
There is a story of the King of Prussia and he brought the Captain of the England army to his castle. The King of Prussia then brought out some of his leading soldiers all which stood over 6 feet tall. HE then asked the captain of England “Do you think any army in all of England would fight my men, man for man” The captain replied “I don’t know whether the same number could beat your giants, but I know of at least half who would try!”
This is the kind of bold faith that moved this lady to do something that could have even gotten her killed. We read the verse earlier that this woman was unclean according to the Levitical law, that means even being in this crowd would have made everyone else unclean! Then she reaches out and touches Jesus. There was instant healing. Jesus knows power has gone out from Him. So he calls to the crowd “who touched me” The disciples respond thinking Jesus are you crazy, the crowd is pressing all around you many people are touching you. No, who touched me in faith. Mark says the woman came, in fear and trembling, remember she could die for this, and told Jesus the whole truth. The whole story, all about her uncleanness, all about her bleeding, about her money being spent, right there in front of the entire crowd. Surely she thought, that’s it, I’m done. All the crowd must be angry as well, not to mention Jairus who is wanting Jesus to hurry up to get to his daughter, but Jesus wants Jairus to know there is another daughter who needs to be restored, there is another daughter who needs to be saved. So Jesus looks at this woman, and in a tender compassionate voice, says “daughter”. That word daughter in the greek is one of the most tender and affectionate words you can use for your child, Jesus says daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace. Notice Jesus doesn’t say your touch has saved you, or your money has saved you, Jesus says your faith has saved you. Whereas before she spent a life’s fortune on doctors all it took was reaching out to Jesus in faith. Jesus doesn’t ask for her money, Jesus responds to her faith. This is the compassion of Jesus, letting everyone know, letting all in the crowd know that her identity has been changed, she is no longer unclean anymore, but she is saved, healed, and His daughter. She is his. She’s new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第5章
如果有人在基督裡，他就是新造的人，舊事已經過去，你看，都變成新的了
12 years of misery, social shame, and disease gone. By the power of Christ. All this Jesus does for free. I want us to notice that. There are people, even people who call themselves Christian pastors, and they lie and make you believe that unless you pay a certain amount of money that you will not be healed, or Christ won’t respond to you, that is a lie, Jesus’ power, His healing, His salvation is a free gift that we obtain through our faith! Just recently I was at a hiking trail and like a lot of trails in Taiwan there was a temple sitting in the top of the mountains. So I walked in and talked to the lady at the desk. I asked her which temple this was, and she said it belonged to this one man, who because he done many good deeds, because he had helped many people, he was able to go to heaven. I sat there and listened and thought how sad is that message. That if you were this woman, unable to help people, unable to do “good deeds” because of your illness you have no hope! But the Gospel is so much better, we don’t have eternal life because of our good deeds, but we obtain eternal life through faith because of Christ’s good deed on the cross! Biblical faith is bold. Hebrews 4:16
Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第4章
所以，我們只管坦然無懼地來到施恩的寶座前，為的是要領受憐憫，得到恩惠，作為及時的幫助
Moms today, are you hiding in your shame? Would you see Jesus as compassionate and tender? Where do you need to come boldly before the throne of grace, to lay everything at His feet, to tell Him “the whole truth:” and let Him speak to you His love, His healing, and your identity.
Biblical Faith Is Patient(Tested)
Biblical Faith Is Patient(Tested)
This final aspect of faith that Mark wants us to see is that biblical faith will always be tested. Biblical faith is patient. We live in a culture where the idea of having to wait for something is almost considered wrong. Everything needs to be faster, everything needs to be more convenient and available, think about the convenience of Taiwan. You can be in the mountains of Taiwan and you will still find a 7-11 and a Family Mart right beside each other. We live in a culture not just where everything is immediate, but where we believe we are ENTITLED to things being immediate. And when we take that approach to Christian faith we will have our world rocked! It had been moments ago where Jairus heard Jesus tell Him, I’m coming. In that moment Jairus’ hopes would have sailed, would have been lifted, but with each interaction with the woman, and as time ticked, I believe his hope, his faith was tested.
Mark says that as Jesus was still speaking, people came from the synagogue’s ruler house and told him, “don’t bother the teacher anymore. Your daughter is dead.” Finality. I don’t imagine, Jairus was saying joyfully “it’s okay! because Jesus just healed this lady who had a bleeding problem!” No. I would imagine there would be a lot of emotions. Anger, shock, despair, all of the above. Mark says that Jesus “overheard what they were saying” that word “overheard” literally means to ignore. Jesus ignoring what they were saying, took Jairus by the shoulders, looked at Him in the eye, and said “Don’t be afraid. Only believe”. There are two commands that are in this phrase “Don’t be afraid, only believe”. The first “do not be afraid” is a command to change your mindset. Change the way you are thinking. Many times as Christians we can often stop and only give people this first encouragement. Maybe a friend comes and is struggling with anxiety, or maybe a spouse is struggling with fear, and as Christians we often times just say “hey, don’t worry about it, everything is going to be okay.” Really is it? How do we know that? How do we know that their daughter will be healed from cancer, how do we know that they won’t lose their job? We don’t, that is why the second command that Jesus gives, gives us the power for the first. “Only believe” Only believe is a command to change what or who you put your trust in. Jesus looking at Jairus in the eye is saying, “I know what people are saying, I know what you are feeling, but DO NOT BE AFRAID, change your thinking now, how? By putting all of your trust, all of your hope in me.” That is what we need to offer our brothers and sisters. Not “hey just don’t worry”, but “you don’t need to let the fear of losing your job rule your heart, instead put all of your trust, all of your hope in a God who sees you, in a God who loves you, in a God who gave His very own life to save you.”The Christian life is a lot about believing when you can’t see, having faith even when you can’t feel, and most of the biblical heroes up to our day have been men and women who have had serious tests of their faith. I know that many of us right now in our community are going through a similar season in our lives. There are Visa situations, job situations, family situations, relationship situations, all of these situations where God is calling you to believe and to have faith, even when things are unknown. If you are in a season where your faith is being tested, know that you are in good company. I can’t count how many times looking back at my life, God told me to wait for something. Have any of you had that experience? Where maybe you wanted something in a moment so badly, but God didn’t give it to you, and looking back you learned more about His goodness, more about His sovereignty because of it? When I was a young christian some very good advice came to me, and a friend said “Collin, God’s calling, and God’s timing aren’t always the same”. God’s “yes” and God’s “when” aren’t always the same. It’s not about when you and I want things to happen, it’s when He wants them to happen. He isn’t on our timeline, but we are on His. One example is if my wife and I wanted things to go how we had planned then we wouldn’t be here in Taiwan right now. We originally had hoped to plant a church in another city in America in 2018, but we sensed from other leaders around us that we should wait. Praise God we did! We had no idea what He would do in our hearts, in our lives, and change our plans by calling us back here to Taiwan to be with you and plant CityLight Church. “Don’t fear, only believe” Trust. Martin Luther says this about faith
“Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.”
Martin Luther was a man who lived up to that quote as he risked his life many times to stand for God’s word.
So the rest of the story goes that Jesus enters the death chamber and raises this little girl back to life. Jairus gets his daughter back. Big point of this test is the same Jesus who told Jairus He would heal, the same Jesus who eventually did raise his daughter from the dead, was the same Jesus who stood by him and walked with him as he waited. Jesus never leaves us or forsakes us, in times of testing. He never does.
The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 詩篇卷23
耶和華是我的牧人，我必不會缺乏。（本節在《馬索拉抄本》包括細字標題）
2 他使我躺臥在青草地上，
領我到安靜的水邊。
3 他使我的靈魂甦醒；
為了自己的名，他引導我走義路。
4 我雖然行過死蔭的山谷，也不怕遭受傷害，
因為你與我同在；
你的杖你的竿都安慰我。
Finally what Jairus was begging not TO happen, that his only child would die, the Father did for us willing, as He gave up His Son on the cross, so that your sin and my sin could be forgiven. The very thing that would be the worst imaginable fear for any of us parents, out of love, and compassion, the Father and the Son do willingly to save a people for themselves.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第8章
既是這樣，我們對這一切還有甚麼話說呢？ 神若這樣為我們，誰能敵對我們呢？32 他連自己的兒子都捨得，為我們眾人把他交出來，難道不也把萬有和他一同白白地賜給我們嗎？
Do you know this God? Do you know this Jesus?
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Story of us almost losing Isaac in childbirth. Moments where we probably like Jairus think we are forced to sit, wait, and just trust. Know that Jesus is with us. If He didn’t spare His own Son He is trustworthy.
Moms.
WHAT:Mark is calling for you to remember to come to Jesus in all of your needs, come to Him in the big things, in the little things, because HE cares for you. To move in boldness towards Him because of who He is. He can handle all of your stuff. Pray bold prayers because of who He is. Finally if you are in a season where you are being tested, know that He stands next to you, HE hasn’t left you, He hasn’t forsaken you.
WHY? We all need to be challenged in this way, not just moms, because Jesus is this kind of Savior. A Savior who enters into death, and brings us back to life. A Savior who is compassionate, who is tender, and who is trustworthy.
HOW?