Mark 9:14-16 (NKJV) 14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”
For many years God has given me a theme for the year. The last six years, I feel that these themes are very specific words to me, my congregation and when I travel, to those people as well. This year that theme is “If you can believe: All things are possible to him who believes!”
Both in my preaching and in this space we have been developing that thought. I want that to be my first thought whenever I am faced with physical impossibility. Mark 9 is the story of a father with a sick child. He was faced with the impossibility of his situation. If something did not change for his son, the boy would have no life in that society. He heard of Jesus and came to him knowing that the Lord could do something for him.
There were a number of things that happened to erode his expectations until, when Jesus did show up on the scene, all he could muster was, “If you can, would you please do something for us?” I believe that is far from the faith he started with. When he was challenged by Jesus with my theme for the year, his answer was, “I do believe. Help me with my unbelief!”
I think that is where many of us are today. We do believe. We are still born again. We still believe that God is the almighty and therefore the solution to all things. However, disappointments, discouragement and failures have caused us to allow the active part of faith to be eroded until we no longer expect God to do what we know he can do. That is what we want to change this year.
As I was praying about where to go next, the Lord seemed to be leading me back to the same scripture I have been dealing with all year. As I read Mark 9 once again I noticed a parallel that I want to share with you today. I do not believe the erosion of our expectancy is by chance. This is a war and the devil knows that he cannot get the faith of most Christians. He is not convinced that he cannot erode that faith until it is ineffective. He has done it too many times to believe it will not be effective now.
There is something in this chapter that I noticed. Jesus was not there when the father came to him for healing. I have pointed this out many times this year but when I read it again something clicked. Jesus was on a mountain talking with Moses and Elijah.
My mind was brought back to the incident at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 32 the people of Israel went to Aaron and asked him to make them a god of gold that they might worship. Why did they do this after all God had done for them? They did it because Moses was not there. Moses was the connection to the presence and power of God for Israel in that day. When he was not there the voice of unbelief moved in to try and draw Israel away from the truth.
When the father came to Jesus he was not there. Just as Moses was on the mountain with God, Jesus was on the mountain with Moses and Elijah. In the days of Jesus earthly ministry, he was the connection to the power and presence of God. When he was not there the voice of unbelief tried to make the father’s faith ineffective. It almost succeeded!
As I was thinking about this, I began to see what Paul called “the wiles of the devil.” He has ways he uses to defeat the church and as long as they work he will continue to use them. Paul told us we should net be ignorant of these “devices.” When we understand what the devil is doing his power is diminished many fold.
Israel had seen God do many great things. However, as soon as Moses was not with them they gave in to the voice of unbelief. I think Aaron is one of the weakest characters in the bible. He should have stood his ground. He was Moses representative. He should have stood before the people and declared, “God has done great things for us and we will not begin to doubt him now!” Instead he made an image of the kinds of gods that were worshiped in Egypt. The same Gods that Moses, by the power of God had overcome!
The disciples had seen Jesus do many great things. When they were unable to help the father they should have said to him, “I am not sure why we are not able to overcome this problem but we will not stop believing until we find the solution. Not only that, but Jesus will be back. Just keep believing!”
Instead they allowed the Scribes to gain control of the conversation. The voice of unbelief always wants to get the believer into a discussion. We should never argue with unbelief. We do not have to justify why we believe. We should do what Jesus did with the voice of unbelief during his temptation in the wilderness. He did not try and reason with it nor explain why he believed. He simply told the devil, “It is written.” We might say it this way. “Shut up unbelief. I believe what the bible says, period. I don’t need to hear from you.”
By the time Jesus came back, the scribes had the disciples on the run and the father’s faith compromised. That is always what the voice of unbelief tries to do. It is up to us not to allow that.
In verse 19 Jesus makes an important statement.
Mark 9:19 (NKJV) 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
Who is he talking to? Who is he talking about? I believe he is talking both to and about all of them. The scribes should have known who he was. Many of them did know but accepting that he was the Messiah would have required that they change how they viewed things. It would have made their position and power moot. They chose not to believe.
The disciples had walked with Jesus. He had given them authority. They saw how he operated and were given the benefit of his private and personal teaching ministry. They should have known better. The father is least to blame. He was the victim of what had become a systemic problem. Still, he should not have let the voice of unbelief overcome him.
A systemic problem is one that has become so rooted in the culture that individuals have a very difficult time overcoming it. In the days of Moses this systemic unbelief was caused by 400 years of slavery. They did not know any other life. Moses overcame the systemic unbelief because he was chosen by God and because of his experience in the wilderness.
By the time of Jesus, it had been another 400 years during which there had not been a prophet in the land. There had been no miracles. Israel had been conquered by Rome. They still had the law but Paul said they had a form of Godliness but not the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5.) The system had replaced faith. They did their best to follow the law thinking that this natural action would save them. It could not.
When faced with the reality of the spirit, the voice of unbelief will always try to enforce the status quo. In the people who are part of the system, that voice is the loudest of all. They cannot accept that they could have been wrong all that time. It was this systematic unbelief that kept the scribes from believing, that intimidated the disciples and robbed the father of his expectancy.
I believe that we are in the same situation. Tomorrow we will see how and what to do to defeat the voice of unbelief.
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