From The Mountaintop To The Valley

Introduction

Most of us know the feeling of being snapped back into reality. Typically that expression is used when after a moment or season of peace is experienced, you come face to face with trials, conflict, difficulty once again which remind you of the brokenness or hardness of the world.

A few weeks ago I was able to attend the Together For The Gospel conference in Louisville with a few other guys from the church. For three days we just got away and worshipped Jesus together with about 12,000 other brothers and sisters in Christ. We laughed a lot, we sang together, we sat under incredible preaching together, we encouraged one another. It was a great time, and just kind of a break from my typical responsibilities.

But as soon as I returned home, I was faced with life again and the highs and lows that come with ministry. “Okay, there’s work to be done.”

A lot of us probably experience this when we return from family vacation, or a quick weekend getaway. Whenever, we’re able to get away to be refreshed and renewed, we know we’re going to be returning “back to reality.” The pressures of life, the stress of life, the conflict of life, the brokenness of life.

No, more clearly is this reality seen than in Mark 9.

Verse 14 says,

Mark 9:14 (ESV)

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

If you recall from last week, we walked through the transfiguration of Jesus.

Jesus is changed for a moment before the three disciples with him, Peter, James, and John. They see Jesus in all his glory. A snapshot. A foreshadowing of the glory to come. They saw him truly as King and Lord. The experienced both Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, they heard the audible voice of God speaking to them from a cloud.

Maybe this is where we get the phrase, “mountaintop experience” but either way can you just imagine the thrill these disciples were feeling?Can you picture that descent down the mountain? The questions they must have been asking, the discussion they were having with each other. “Can you believe what we just saw?!” “Can we go back?” They still didn’t understand it all, but man, they must have felt like they were floating down that mountain.

And what do they walk into? Conflict. Arguing. Religious leaders attacking the disciples. Right back into the brokenness of the world. A child possessed. It’s that snapback to reality. It’s that reminder to them, and us that glory has not yet fully come. There’s still suffering, there’s still sin. There’s still brokenness.

We all feel that right? So, where do we find the power and strength to persevere?

The transfiguration of Jesus was this foreshadowing of the glory to come. Jesus’ mission was suffering first, glory later. His suffering led him all the way to the cross. And in his resurrection he was glorified and exalted. Like Jesus, we’re called to follow him which means, suffering first, glory later. It means, like Jesus we too, take up our cross daily, die to ourselves, and follow him.

And like Jesus, there’s coming a day for those who belong to him where we will be glorified (Romans 8:30) and finally freed from sin and death, to forever live the mountaintop experience with Christ in all his glory, but until that day, we persevere and endure in a world in need, keeping our eyes on him.

So, again I’ll ask the question. Where do we find the power and strength to persevere? What often is the reason for our failure to endure? What hope do we find in Christ through pain and hardship?

Mark’s aim is to reveal to sufficiency of Christ in the valley of life. Let’s seek to answer these questions from the text this morning.

Let’s first look at,

The problem we all face

We’ve already touched on the conflict that Jesus and these three disciples are immediately walking into as they descend this mountain. They’re coming from the mountaintop into the valley. But, what specifically is the issue at hand that the Scribes are arguing with the disciples about and what’s the true underlying problem we see in this that affects all of humanity?

So, in verse 16, Jesus asks, “what’s the problem?” “What are you all arguing about? We see the answer in verse 17 and 18.

Mark 9:17–18 (ESV)

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.”

Well, here we go. Jesus comes face to face once again with this great enemy of God, Satan. These demonic powers which have wreaked havoc on God’s good earth, amongst God’s creation. We’ve seen encounters like this in Mark 1 and Mark 5. Satan is an absolute hater of God. His motivation is to destroy the image of God in mankind.

Their aim is to steal and to kill and destroy. Jesus says as much in the gospel of John.

John 10:10 (ESV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

In Mark 5, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man who lived out among the tombs who would bruise and cut himself with stones. In this encounter as soon as the demons are removed they enter a herd of pigs who instantly run down the side of a cliff in to the sea and drown. Satan’s motivation is to kill and destroy.

It’s here, that we see this great enemy of God up close once again. This young boy has been overtaken, possessed by demonic influence. It seizes him, harms him, distorts and perverts the image of God in humanity. If you jump down to verse 22 you see once again Satan’s aim to kill and destroy.

Mark 9:22 (ESV)

It has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.

Satan knows that he cannot overcome or overthrow God himself and so anything he can do to distort or damage the image of God in humanity is considered a victory in his mind.

Church, may we not take too lightly the demonic influence that is in the world today. We do face a real enemy who is determined to undermine and destroy anything he can get his hands on.

Far too often, and God help us, we fight and struggle amongst ourselves and others and forget the real enemy who is seeking to steal, kill and destroy. And so the apostle Paul reminds us inEphesians 6 to,

Ephesians 6:11–12 (ESV)

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The apostle Peter reminds us as well to be,

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

And not only do we have an enemy roaming this earth seeking to cause destruction but we ourselves are still flawed and prone to wandering and drifting away from Christ. Our own sinful flesh is oftentimes our greatest enemy.

Like the lyrics of “Come Thou Fount” say, “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” I feel that within my bones at times. I feel this tendency to want to take my eyes off of the cross of Christ where forgiveness and redemption is found and instead drift into self-righteousness, thinking I can earn, I can do what is needed for right-standing before God. To think I don’t need him.

Sin and selfishness is woven deeply into my DNA. It’s been there since birth.

In verse 21, Jesus asks this hurting father how long his child had been possessed and oppressed and the father replies, “from childhood.” What a picture that is of our own depravity from birth. That like the Psalmist says,

Psalm 51:5 (ESV)

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 58:3 (ESV)

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Apart from the intervening work of grace in our lives through the person of Christ we are by nature, children of wrath, under God’s righteous condemnation for our sin and rebellion against a holy God.

This is the problem we all face. This is reality. This is life in the valley. We’re sinners in a world filled with sinners under the curse that sin brought that’s under attack from an enemy bent on destroying the image of God.

This is why we find ourselves so often in the valley. And so, we desperately desire a solution to this problem but often fail because we’re not looking to the one who has overcome sin, death, and the Devil. That’s point number two:

The failure we often experience

While Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on the mountaintop the other nine disciples were left down at the base of the mountain. Apparently, people began to recognize them as disciples of Jesus and started to bring the sick and possessed to them for healing. The religious leaders showed up and so conflict soon happens.

But Mark records for us this one interaction between these nine disciples and this young boy who was possessed. And apparently, through most likely several attempts by maybe all of them they still couldn’t get this evil spirit to depart. This most likely is why the Scribes began to jump in with their accusations, most likely questioning their authority, Jesus’ authority. “You guys don’t know what you’re doing. You’re just a bunch of frauds!”

This is the scuffle that Jesus walks into.

And so, this hurting father comes to Jesus and tells him what was going on. “I brought my son to you, to your disciples and they couldn’t do anything to help me.”

Can you almost see this father pointing at the disciples? “They couldn’t do anything.” Maybe they tried to respond, probably not. They’re most likely confused and embarrassed that they couldn’t help.

And look at Jesus’ response in verse 19. It’s a sigh of emotional pain, and dare we say, frustration.

Mark 9:19 (ESV)

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

I think most parents have experienced in their parenting, ”the sigh.”

And most children have experienced from their parents, “the sigh.”

So, your child does something wrong once again and before you say a word to correct, you sigh (example).

What is that? It’s exasperation. Frustration. “We’ve talked about this how many times? When will you get this?” The sigh.

Do, you hear the sigh in Jesus’ heart and voice? “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”

In Mark 6 Jesus sends out the twelve disciples into the surrounding towns and villages to teach and preach. It says he gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal. He tells them not to take anything with them and the reason for that was so that they would lean on his sufficiency. Jesus is enough and he’ll provide what they need. And it says that they cast out many demons and healed many.

And here we are just a few chapters later and try as they might, they can’t cast out this demon. Without a doubt they were confused. They’d done it before, what’s going on this time?

Well, we see what the problem is, we see why they fail in Jesus’ response. Their failure wasn’t that they didn’t try and work hard. The problem was their lack of faith in a powerful God to give them all they need.

In Mark 6 it said that Jesus gave them authority over the demonic realm. The authority came from him, not within themselves. But what’s happening here? Well, you kind of catch it at the end of verse 18 in this father’s response. He said, “They were not able.”

It becomes even clearer in verses 28 and 29 when the disciples ask Jesus privately what went wrong? Why did we fail? Why couldn’t we cast the demon out and Jesus says in verse 29,

Mark 9:29 (ESV)

“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Here’s what Jesus was teaching them here. He’s saying, “guys, you were trying to minister to this hurting family in your own power. Your own strength. You can’t. Apart from me you can do nothing.” What is prayer? It’s dependence upon a holy God. It’s the recognition that I’m weak, frail, helpless, and needy and that God is strong, mighty, powerful, and the great provider.

The disciples forgot this. They were ministering in unbelief. Kent Hughes in his commentary says,

“They believed in the process, they believed in themselves because they had done it previously, but they were not resting their faith in Jesus.”

These are strong words to heed from Jesus this morning. “O faithless generation.” We, today have resources galore at our fingertips for ministry. Seemingly an endless supply of books, and apps, and websites, and conferences to help us grow into maturity and fulness in Christ. And don’t hear me wrong, these are gifts to the church but can also tempt us to look internally to ourselves for strength rather than externally to Christ for power.

Here’s how this can manifest itself in our life:

So, here’s a need: We need help with parenting, discipling our children, so first thing we do is go buy the latest parenting book or listen to the newest parenting podcast and then get to work rather than getting on our knees and crying out to God for help. Help with our hearts and help for our child’s heart. To seek first to hear from him through his Word. Books, podcasts, conferences are gifts. But they come underneath the authority of Christ and Spirit of God at work in our hearts.

Let me give you another that might be harder: We’re faced with sickness, disease, the threat of death, a global pandemic and find ourselves spending more time at the altar of Google searching out remedies, solutions, more information, ways to make our lives more comfortable rather than just first coming to the Lord and saying, “my life belongs to you, I’m trusting you as the great provider for all that I need. You may take it all, even so, you’re still good and you’re still on the throne. Help me believe.”

Now listen, we walk in wisdom. We use our minds. We learn and grow and use the gifts God has made available. But too often, we begin with the gifts rather than the giver of those gifts.

Let’s look finally then to,

The power we receive through Christ

This helpless boy and father are now standing before Jesus. The boy is thrashing around on the ground as evidence of Satan’s intense hatred for Jesus. In verse 21, you see the heart of Jesus revealed in his question. “How long has this been happening to him?” It’s a question of compassion. His heart breaks for this boy and a father who has watched his child suffer for years.

If you ever struggle with wondering if Jesus cares about your suffering or hurt, read through these stories in the gospels. You’ll always come away seeing the heart of Jesus for those who are in pain.

But this hurting dad says to Jesus, “If you can do anything…help us.”

Notice very carefully Jesus’ response in verse 23.

Mark 9:23 (ESV)

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

This father had just said to Jesus, “Your disciples couldn’t do anything. If you can do anything, help us.” And Jesus says, in essence, “the issue at hand here is not my ability. Of course I can. He’s saying to this father, the burden is on you to believe. In fact, all things are possible for one who believes.”

You see, divine ability is not the problem, man’s unbelief is.

Jesus is calling this man to faith because,

Faith is the bridge between God’s sufficiency and man’s deficiency.

That’s it. That, I believe is the point of this passage.

And immediately this father cries out, “I believe, help my unbelief!”

You know what he’s saying? He’s saying, “I’m trying, I do believe, but I know my heart, you know my heart, it’s filled with doubt that I don’t want to be there, but it’s there.”

This is probably one of the most transparent and humble statements from a human being that’s ever been uttered.

Jesus said, believe and I’ll heal your son. All things are possible for one who believes. Most people in that moment would say, “Yes, then I believe. Do it!” But this man, is so honest with Jesus. “I do believe, but I’m struggling. Help me to believe more fully. I want to.” And what’s Jesus do in the remaining verses? He heals. He didn’t say, well, get your faith figured out first and then come back and see me. No, he heals. What’s this teach us about our approach to God? Some really good things? Three subpoints here.

Number one: We approach God with humility.

I’ve said it like this before. Nobody stands at the edge of the Grand Canyon or on the shore of the Pacific Ocean or stares into the night sky filled with stars and then beats their chest claiming their greatness.

We do not approach a holy God beating our chest claiming our sufficiency and might. There’s no way we rightly can. In a world and culture that pushes self-promotion, personal branding, self-exaltation we live counter-culturally and instead, approach a holy God on our knees in submission to his greatness knowing he will lift us up.

1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Number two: We approach God in our weakness.

Jesus didn’t ask this father to go get rid of all his doubt, all his fear, all his worry, all his sin before he would help. Isn’t that good news that Jesus doesn’t cast us away when we doubt or worry or are filled with anxiousness? He doesn’t tell us to go get clean first before we approach him. No, he calls us to come to him in our weakness and helplessness looking to him as the great provider.

Friend, if you’re here this morning thinking you’ve got to get your life in order and put together before God would ever accept you, let this story of this father be good news to you that you can come before God in your weakness and mess and that he will accept you not based on your performance and how good you live but upon the life of Jesus and his performance and perfect life and death on the cross. He calls you to have faith in his Son, Jesus. And the beauty of what we’ve read this morning is that the faith to believe, the faith which makes us right before God is not based upon our strength, or even the might of our faith, but rather, the object of our faith, which brings life and eternal hope, which is Jesus.

Weak faith in a strong God is superior to strong faith in a non-existent god.

You know what I mean? Jesus said, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Meaning, it’s not the size of your faith that matters, it’s who that faith is in that matters.

This hurting father’s faith was small, it was the size of a mustard seed, but it was in Jesus and so it was sufficient because Christ is sufficient.

Number three: We trust God with that which is most precious to us.

This father hands his son over to Jesus and for a moment things seemed to get worse didn’t they? In verse 25 Jesus commands the spirit to leave and what happens in verse 26?

Mark 9:26 (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.”

For a moment, this father and probably the people around him witnessing this thought, “well that didn’t help. The boys dead now!”

Following Jesus does not mean that everything in life will go just as you planned or hoped. Following Jesus certainly does not mean no suffering, no trials, no pain, no hurt. Surely we’ve seen that by now. But what does happen as we joyfully submit to the Lordship of Christ and hand over to him that which is most precious to us is that through suffering, through pain, through hurt, through loss, He’s enough and he will provide and he will give grace upon grace. He will increase your faith as you wait upon him, as you lean upon him.

And that’s what Jesus does here in verse 27.

Peter, James, and John had to be thinking in that moment, “No, he’s not dead, you just wait.” They had just witnessed his glory. Jesus does not fail. He’s King.

And in verse 27 Jesus takes this boy by the hand and lifts him up.

That father asked Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus just did that.

This young boy and father endured horrible suffering and through it all they walked away with a grander view of Christ and for sure, increased faith.

When we hold on to what’s most precious to us, whatever that may be, our life, our families, our reputation, whatever is most valuable to us, whenever we make it ultimate rather than Christ we find our sense of identity and security in it rather than Christ; and so when suffering comes and the threat of it being taken away from us comes we’re completely lost, and we’ll find life unbearable.

But when we turn over our lives to him and say, you’re enough. You’re good. You’re the great provider. My heart is weak, my heart struggles to believe, but this I know, you’re all I need, help me believe. Then and only then do we find true freedom and joy even through suffering. It’s then that our faith is increased.

Conclusion

We all long for and yearn for the mountaintop experience. That’s where we want to be, that’s where we want to reside. That day’s coming and God in his grace gives us moments to foreshadow that which is to come. But most of our life will be lived out in the valley and so instead of trying to escape it, Jesus, here calls us to trust him by faith as we walk through it.

Jesus has already gone before us. The victory is already ours. He’s secured it through his life, death, and resurrection and so through faith in Christ, we can endure with patience and even joy.

And so, where are you not fully trusting Christ? What are you still holding onto? Is it with your family? Is it with your career? Is it with your finances? Is it with your health? Are you too consumed with comfort to live radically and generously and sacrificially for the Kingdom of God? How are you seeking to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations? That’s going to take risk, that’s going to take time and resources and our lives; that which is precious to us. Is Jesus enough? Yes, but help our unbelief right?

Thank God that though our faith may be weak, the object of our faith, Jesus is strong. God help us to believe and then go.