"What About This Thing Called Faith?"

Instructions About Genuine Faith

Matthew 17:14-21

20 September, 1998

Introduction

What about this thing called faith? What about this thing called faith? History is filled with examples of men and women of God who had a definite, strong and genuine faith in God and what He was able to accomplish in their lives and in their circumstances. As a young man preparing to go to China, Hudson Taylor determined to learn to live by faith alone while he was still in England. His resolve was "to learn before leaving England to move man through God by prayer alone."

He worked for a doctor and was paid quarterly. When the time drew near to receive his salary, Taylor was disturbed that his employer said nothing about it. Taylor had only one half-crown piece, but he determined not to break his resolution and ask for his salary.

While visiting a needy home on the Lord's Day, Taylor felt led of God to give his last coin to the needy family. The next day he received an anonymous gift through the mail, four times what he had given to the poor!

The following Saturday, the doctor finished up his work and said, "Taylor, is not your salary due again?" Taylor told him that it was and became disappointed when he learned that the doctor had forgotten about the salary due and sent all his funds to the bank! So he prayed about the matter (for he had bills of his own to pay) and left it with the Lord.

That evening, the doctor visited him and said that one of his richest patients had come over after hours to pay his bill! He gave the money to Taylor. Hudson Taylor had learned he could trust God and therefore go to China as a missionary. (Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 240)

We hear about stories like this and maybe ask ourselves, "Is that for real? Is it possible to have the kind of faith that we read of these men of God in history? Is it possible to really have that kind of faith?

What does genuine faith look like? What does it take to believe God to do what we never ever thought He would do? Why do we struggle with faith the way we do sometimes? Is it due to a lack of understanding about what faith is? Is it due to the fact that we don't think we are worthy of God working in our lives the way He worked in the lives of men like Hudson Taylor?

A couple of Sundays ago, we considered the faith of the Syro-Phonecian woman who came to Jesus for Him to heal her daughter who was demon possessed. We saw how Jesus was all but amazed at the faith she had. We saw how He worked on her behalf and healed her daughter, even though she was an undeserving Gentile. And we considered the fact that faith was and is important to Jesus.

The disciples struggled with this faith issue as many of us do. We see Jesus on numerous occasions being a point of frustration with them at their lack of faith. This was the case in the narrative concerning a father bringing his son to them to be delivered from a demon as recorded in Matthew 17:14-21.

So we find Jesus coming down off of the mountain where He had been transfigured into light. He and Peter, James and John are now joining the others after a very memorable mountain top experience. While they were up there, a man had brought his son to the other nine disciples that they might pray over the young boy, that he might be delivered him from a demon that had been tormenting him for many years. It was a chaotic time as people were running to the scene and as the 9 disciples had even engaged in a discussion with some scribes about the situation. And so Jesus confronts and questions his disciples about the situation with a certain amount of frustration. He deals with the demons, frees the young boy, and uses the opportunity to teach His disciples a very important lesson about faith - something that Jesus did quite often with the 12.

The faith that Jesus is talking about here is that simple trust and confidence in God, specifically in the area of kingdom work. He is not talking about a faith that God will just give a person any and everything he might personally want for himself. But it is a faith to believe God to use us to do the work He has called us to do. Sometimes personal issues come in to play, but the context tells that this the faith Jesus is speaking is in the realm of kingdom work. It is a faith that believes God to do what we cannot do in the work He has called us to do.

As I have studied this narrative I have discovered some very important things about genuine faith as I see Jesus teaching His disciples (which includes you and me) about this thing called faith.

Jesus mentions here that all the disciples needed was a faith as small as a mustard seed. The word Jesus uses here is most often used to mean something that is little or small in number. In reference to faith, it can mean to be scant of faith and refers to someone whose faith is small and weak. Here, though, it means littleness or imperfectness of faith. So the mention of their faith being small as opposed to having faith the size of a mustard seed refers to their faith being imperfect or impoverished rather than being little. Faith that is small as a mustard seed, which is popularly viewed as the smallest of all seeds, can actually be effectual. But poor faith, like that of the disciples can be ineffectual. Jesus is basically telling His disciples that what they need is not a giant faith but a true, and authentic faith - a "faith, that out of a deep, personal trust, expects God to work."

I wonder to what extent we do really expect God to work in our midst.

Jesus had previously given His disciples the authority and the power to do what they were now unable to do. So they had obviously seen God work in this way.

We are told as recorded in Mark 6:12,13 (and this is after Jesus had sent them out with power and authority over unclean spirits) "They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them."

And then we read in Mark 6:30 of their return from their mission work that "the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught."

And now here they are, faced with a similar kind of challenge and they are unable to deal with it. You would think that they would have remembered how God had worked in the past - how God had worked in their midst to deliver people from unclean spirits, to heal people of sickness and infirmities. And how God had enabled them to teach the truths of the kingdom. But for some reason, it appears that they had forgotten what God done in their midst on previous occasions.

And you and I have seen God work in so many ways in our lives. We have seen Him work in such a way that there was no doubt it was the hand of God. We seen God provide in ways that are almost in the category of the miraculous. We have seen Him do what we never thought would ever be done.

And yet, when we are faced with what we consider to be insurmountable odds, we panic, and we fret and consider it a hopeless cause. and we forget that the same God who has done so many great and mighty things in our midst in the past is more than able to do those same kinds of things in our midst today.

I cannot help but be reminded of the stories that surrounds that building of this structure that we know worship in.

There are so many testimonies of how God provided in so many was in the building of this building:

In the midst of it all, the people of this church believed that it was God's will to build here and believed that God would provide.

Is it possible that God is challenging our faith even now where are in the life of this church?

Is it possible that we are right where these disciples were - having a hard time exercising the kind faith that believes God to move us over the mountain?

Even though the disciples had faltered in their faith, the father of this demonized boy did have a certain degree of faith. The word used here for faith actually means "a belief in or trust in God's power and His nearness to help. It speaks of a confidence that God or Christ is in a position to help someone out of distress." But even this father, himself was still struggling with his faith. And it is in this context that he asks Jesus to help his lack of belief. What is he doing by asking this question?

And do you know how Jesus helped this man's unbelief? Part of the answer is found here in Mark 9:25-27

He healed that father's son and that father could not help but now to genuinely believe. He now had a faith in Jesus that he had not had before.

So how does God enable us to believe? May I suggest two ways?

And when it is all said and done, it is not so much our faith that enables us to what God has called us to do but it is all God - it is His work of grace, His work of faith - and His work period.

When Jesus spoke about moving mountains he wasn't speaking of bulldozing a literal mountain but He was using a phrase that was very familiar to the Jews of that day. He was actually using a term that referred to the great teachers of those days who could really expound and interpret scripture and who could explain and resolve difficulties. Such teachers were known as an uprooter or a pulverizer of mountains. To tear up, to uproot, or to pulverize a mountain were all regular phrases for removing difficulties. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 2. p. 169)

This removing of mountains was a common proverbial for overcoming great and enormous difficulties. And again, He is specifically referring to the works of the kingdom for which these men had been given authority to do.

Basically what Jesus was saying was that if you have this kind of faith, then all difficulties in the work you are called to do can be solved, and even the hardest task can be accomplished. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 2. p. 169)

How can you be intimidated by something that is not as big God?

The answer Jesus gives to the disciples in response to their question here in Matthew 17:21 and in Mark 9:29 is probably the main reason they were not seeing any results. Not only was their faith in poor condition but they were neglecting to draw on the power of God through prayer. And being that the reference to fasting is not found in most manuscripts, the emphasis here is simply on prayer. Faith is very important but prayer is equally, or maybe even more important.

As we have already been reminded, Hudson Taylor was certainly a man of great faith. But his faith never presumed to move him apart with the absence of prayer. The story goes that in 1853, when he was a young man, he was making his first voyage to China, when the vessel he was traveling on was delayed near New Guinea because the winds had stopped. A rapid current was carrying the ship toward some reefs and the situation was becoming dangerous. Even the sailors using a longboat could not row the vessel out of the current. The captain of the ship commented to Taylor, "We have done everything that can be done."

But Taylor replied, "No, there is one thing we have not done yet." There were three other believers on board the ship, and Taylor suggested that each of them retire to his own cabin and pray for a breeze. They did, and while he was at prayer, Taylor received confidence from God that the desperately needed wind would be sent. He went up on deck and suggested to the first officer, who was an unbeliever, that he let down the mainsail because a breeze was on its way. The man refused, but then they saw the corner of the sail begin to stir. The breeze had come! They let down the sail and in a short time were on their way! (Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 240)

So how does faith and prayer go together

When you read about the acts of the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts, you see a group of people who were many times up against insurmountable odds in the work they had been called to do and who had a strong faith in what God could do. But you also see a group of men and women who did what Jesus called His disciples to do in the midst of the work - to pray. The early church and its leaders were a definite praying people and that is why they saw results they say. They realized that if God did not do it, it would not get done. And that is what prayer is all about. It is calling upon the Mighty God to intervene in our lives and in the work He has called us to do. And that is why they saw God move mountains and change the lives of people and build His Church.

If we really want to see God's will and purpose accomplished here in our lives and in this church, I can tell you this - it is going to call for us pray - really pray. If we are really going to storm the gates of hell - if we really want to be kingdom workers - if we really want to see God's hand move among us - we are going to have to take prayer seriously.

George Muller once said, "Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends."

This goes along with what I have already pointed out. The obstacles will always be there but God is able to accomplish His will in spite of them obstacles. The word used for impossible means "to be powerless, to be disabled." It comes from the word dunamai which means "to be able." In other words, Jesus is saying, that if you have this kind of faith, the impossible becomes powerless or disabled.

And consider what Jesus said in John 14:10-14. "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Jesus is saying these words on the eve of His crucifixion. He knows He is about to leave these men. And He wants them to know that because He is leaving them, not only will the work not be stopped but it will actually go on in a power they had yet to experience. Because He was going to the Father, He would be sending the comforter, the One who would give them power from on high to do kingdom work even greater than what they had done when He sent them out for the very first time. And again, this promise of doing works greater than these and receiving whatever you ask primarily has to do with the work of the kingdom and not for personal gain.

John MacArthur says this about John 14:13,14 - "In their hour of loss at the departure of Jesus, He comforted them with the means that would provide them with the necessary resources to accomplish their task without His immediate presence which they had come to depend upon. To ask in Jesus' 'name' does not mean to tack such an expression on the end of a prayer as a mere formula. It means:

 the believer's prayer should be for His purposes and kingdom and not for selfish reasons;

‚ the believer's prayer should be on the basis of His merits and not any personal merit or unworthiness;

ƒ the believer's prayer should be in pursuit of His glory alone. (note on John 14:13,14 The MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1613)

Think about what you consider to be the impossible when it comes to kingdom work. Think about what you consider to be a major obstacle in carrying on the business and ministry of the church. Is it possible that God is challenging us to believe Him to accomplish what we consider to be the impossible?

So what about this thing called faith? Are we a people of genuine faith or not? Are we a people who will pray like mad and believe God to do what we cannot? Are we a people who will refuse to let anything keep us from doing the work of the kingdom? Do we really believe that God can use people like you and me to do the kinds of things we read about in the Book of Acts?

Olympic gold medalist Darrel Pace was to give an archery exhibition in New York City's Central Park, and the event received coverage by all the news stations. Shooting steel- tipped hunting arrows, Pace punctured bull's-eyes without a miss. Then he called for a volunteer. "All you have to do," said Pace, "Is hold this apple in your hand, waist-high." ABC correspondent Josh Howell took a bold step forward. He stood there, a small apple in his hand, a larger one in his throat. Pace took aim from 30 yards away as we all held our breath. Then THWACK-a clean hit that exploded the apple before striking the target behind. Everybody applauded Howell, who was all smiles--until his cameraman approached with a hangdog look. "I'm sorry, Josh," he said. "I didn't get it. Had a problem with my viewfinder. Could you do it again?" Bob Teague, Live and Off-Color: News Biz

In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went beserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn't until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was freefalling without a parachute. Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him, for his faith was in a parachute never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can be just as tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ dare we step into the dangerous excitment of life. When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, p. 91