Faith That Glorifies
Mark 9:14-29
Warren Wiersbe once said: “The Christian life is ‘a land of hills and valleys.’” The “hills” are times of genuine spiritual renewal when we’re seeing Christ more clearly and when we sense His presence more fully. We’re growing in our faith, and we have a hunger to know God’s Word and to do His will. These are the “hills” – mountaintop experiences – like the disciples had on the Mount of Transfiguration. We cherish the “hills.” We need these hills. The hills refresh and renew us.
The “valleys” are times for us when we struggle spiritually. It seems to be a challenge to take God at His Word and to trust His plan for our lives. We think about our work in the ministry and wonder if the sacrifice is worth it, or we may be frustrated by a lack of engagement from people – we plan and we organize, we give of our time, and people say, “nah.” That can be discouraging, and we fade into depression, we drift from God’s Word, and our prayer life disappears. These are the “valleys” of the Christian life.
When Peter, James and John came down off the mountain, Jesus led them into the valley below. And in leading them into the valley, Jesus, The LORD of Faith, taught His disciples some very important lessons about effective kingdom ministry work: that it can only be done by the power of God. Genuine believers in Jesus Christ are disciples of Him who live by faith, and Jesus wants His disciples to know that sometimes they LACK faith.
Our faith is imperfect, doubts can mix in (v.14-18)
A man with a demon-possessed son shows up looking for Jesus, but Jesus was up on the mountain. The disciples tried to help but they failed. The disciples loved Jesus. They were committed to Him. This isn’t a matter of genuine faith v. false faith, belief v. unbelief. They had been given authority from Jesus over demons, but in this case, they could not cast out the demon. The disciples discovered that they had limitations in the flesh. This was spiritual work that required spiritual strength. We cannot fight spiritual battles in the flesh. We will lose, just like the disciples.
Jesus is the LORD of faith (v.19-27)
He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He wants our total dependency on Him so that He can do His work.
(v.19): “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? The issue Jesus has is with the disciples but identifies that the problem isn’t a problem that’s restricted to a few people. This is a problem that affects everyone.
Trusting in ourselves demonstrates a lack of faith.
Prayer acknowledges God’s power (v.28-29)
Why did the disciples fail? Because of a lack of faith. (v.29) “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Mature faith says, I KNOW I can’t do this on my own; immature faith says: “I’ve got this.” The point is that a lack of faith ignores the power of God. Have we tried to serve others with the same self-reliance as the disciples? John MacArthur said: “Prayer is the highway that faith takes into the power of God.” We can’t ever approach kingdom ministry from a human standpoint – from the strength of men. It requires faith in Christ, and that faith will be manifest as prayerful dependency.
The mountaintop experiences refresh and encourage our faith. The valley experiences challenges and refines our faith. Both are important. And a faith that glorifies God is one that lives in total dependency to Christ, relying on His power, seeking to do His will.
(Zechariah 4:6b) Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
