공동체와 양육

Loving Them by Trusting in God (Mark 9:14-29)

2009.03.15Rev. 에디 변

Faith is needed both to do God's work and to see God at work, and that faith is revealed by a heart that prays and trusts in God alone rather than in prayer or fasting themselves.

Faith is needed to accomplish God's work (vv. 14-19)

When the disciples failed to cast out the demon, the crowd and the teachers of the law pressed in to mock them. Jesus arrived at just the right time, and he called the generation faithless. Their failure was connected to a lack of faith. Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God, and Romans 14:23 says that whatever does not come from faith is sin. God's work must be done in faith, not in our own skill or words.

Do not trust in prayer itself, but in the God who answers

Prayer can become a magic formula, as when people treated The Prayer of Jabez like abracadabra and expected a genie to grant their wishes. A high school girl who wore a cross for luck trusted the symbol rather than the Savior who died on it. The same danger waits for us in our prayer and fasting. We must not trust our prayers or our fasting but the God who hears prayer and honors fasting. Prayer is not a formula; it is a relationship with God.

Faith is needed to see God at work (vv. 20-24)

The father said to Jesus, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus answered, if you can? All things are possible for one who believes. The issue is not God's ability or willingness but our unbelief, and the greatest obstacle to God's work is a lack of faith, not Satan or the critics. The father made no excuses and did not blame the disciples. He cried out, I believe, help my unbelief. Even small faith, like a mustard seed, is enough for God to move mountains in our lives.

Christ's authority frees us and gives new life (vv. 25-27)

Jesus rebuked the deaf and mute spirit and commanded it to come out and never enter the boy again. The boy looked like a corpse, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, who can raise dead souls and breathe new life into them. No power is stronger than his name, and greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Through his authority we declare that demons must flee.

Faith is revealed by a heart that prays (vv. 28-29)

Later the disciples asked Jesus privately why they could not drive the demon out, and he said this kind can come out only by prayer. They failed because they did not pray or turn to the Lord in trust. Prayer is faith turned to God, banking our dreams, our lives, and our healing on him. A person who does not pray shows that he trusts his own ability. So we pray as Christ taught us, for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Apply to Life

  • Let us pray for them earnestly, crying out to God and placing all our hope in him.
  • Let us fast for them, confessing that we do not trust our own strength but the strength only God can provide.
  • Let us examine our lives and ask whether we have been trusting in our own prayers and fasting instead of in God.
  • Let us love them by trusting in the Lord alone for their salvation, for those who hope in him will not be put to shame.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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