Sunday Sermons
Help My Unbelief
In the ninth chapter of the gospel of Mark, Jesus encounters a man who has a demon-possessed boy. The despondent father says to Jesus, “But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” (Mark 9:24). Jesus abruptly responds back, “If You can? All things are possible to him who believes”. The desperate father then cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (9:25).Imagine the audacity of saying to Jesus Christ, “If you can”! No wonder Jesus said, “If you can!” “What do you mean by saying to Me, ‘If you can?’ All the might of the living God is at the disposal of the person who trusts Him!” “If Jesus marveled at the faith of a Gentile which trusted the fullness of His divine power, He also marveled at the disbelief of this Jew which thus coolly and presumptuously questions the sufficiency of that power” (McGarvey pp. 424-425). Be impressed that Jesus still expected this man to believe in the face of the disciple’s failure and the seemingly unanswerable attacks of the scribes. What a great example. Jesus forced this man to make a decision. So many people want to sit on the fence or be a skeptic, but Jesus does not allow any middle ground, one either believes or not. What a model of repentance! “What insight to call his little faith ‘unbelief’” (Fowler p. 627). Here we see a tremendous contrast with the scribes. They did not want to believe in Jesus, no matter how much evidence He presented, yet this man wanted to believe. Do we earnestly desire such faith, or are we looking for reasons to remain skeptical? He has an overwhelming longing to be all that it is possible for him to be, and this is the kind of faith that Jesus longs to find. The good news is that God has already given us everything we need to become believing in the Bible (Romans 10:17). Yet in this lesson I want to look at various barriers to belief that we are tempted to erect, because as one comes to Christ and investigates Christianity one inevitably experience waves of uncertainty about the whole thing.
Is this the end of any chance at happiness?
One common misconception about Christianity is “if you commit your life to following Christ, you can take your freedom, your individuality, your sense of adventure, and any hopes you have for fulfillment in this life, and kiss them all goodbye” (Becoming a Contagious Christian, Hybels and Mittelberg, p. 167). The Bible does not teach the loss of individuality, but it does teach the loss of selfishness (Luke 9:23). It does teach that we need to place God first in all things (Matthew 6:33), and consider the needs of others as more pressing than our own (Philippians 2:3-4). Yet this is not the end of happiness, but the true beginning(1 Peter 3:10 “The one who desires life, to love and see good days”; Philippians 4:11 “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am”). Jesus noted, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Unfortunately too many people have a distorted image of Christianity in which they think they are going to lose more than they will ever gain (Romans 8:18; Mark 10:29-30). If this worry fits your situation, would you think for a moment about the following: God sent Jesus to die for us (John 3:16), so why are you so sure that God is more of a taker than a giver? In light of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, it is rather silly to think that in becoming a Christian one is going to give up more for God than one will gain. The truth is we can never give up more than God has already given us! Jesus made it very clear in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. Jesus did not come to destroy our lives or to make us miserable.
“I have questions”
That’s good, it shows that you are thinking! Yes, there are many questions that pop into our minds when we consider the Bible and the existence of God. Some questions deal with why God does not stop all the suffering, others deal with whether or not we can trust the Bible or if it has been accurately translated over the centuries. Christians are actually commanded to be ready to answer such questions (1 Peter 3:15). God certainly does not want brain-dead followers, rather He desires people who will take their questions and explore the Scriptures as they search for answers. God says this is a very noble-minded endeavor(Acts 17:11). The “Christian faith” is built upon evidence, and not wishful thinking (Acts 17:2-3; John 20:30-31). The good news is that answers actually exist for all of the above questions and many more. Allow me to note some observations in this area:
· “While Christians have questions to deal with, those in the alternative camps have conundrums from which there’s no logical escape. After studying the other options carefully, seeker after honest seeker comes to the conclusion that it takes more faith to deny Christianity than it does to actually embrace it” (Hybels/Mittelberg p. 175). For example, the Bible offers good and sound reasons for why innocent people suffer, such as the fact that other people often abuse their freewill. Suffering can be beneficial (James 1:2-4), and this life is a small fraction of our existence. Yet if we remove God and Christianity from the picture, such a move does not remove the existence of human suffering, but now we are faced with a conundrum, for innocent people now suffer for no good reason, and without any comfort that the innocent will ever be rewarded or the guilty brought to justice! Now that’s a problem! May I suggest to you that any question like the above, in which you remove God and the Bible, creates a far bigger problem.
· There is a point in our questioning that we need to ask ourselves honestly, “Am I putting more energy into seeking to find perplexing questions than in finding answers?”
· Intellectual questions about God or the Bible are at times smoke screens for an unwillingness to make some overdue changes in one’s morality. “Some use philosophical-sounding objections in an effort to keep the focus off of their ordinary, old-fashioned sin” (p. 175).
· I remember when I first encountered the gospel and I also spent some time throwing out objections or questions, but the true motive was an attempt to find someone who would tell me what I wanted to hear, that is, that I did not have to change my life. All of our objections and questions cannot change one fundamental truth, that is, to go to heaven we need to obey what God says (Matthew 7:21; Hebrews 5:9), which includes stopping sinful behavior (Galatians 5:19-21).
· I have also seen people believe an accusation against God or the Bible, such as something to the effect that the Bible is not reliable, and yet they never investigate the truthfulness of such a claim. I find this no different than listening to and embracing idle gossip that we might hear about someone. In all fairness, we would not want people accepting the gossip that people were spreading about us, how much more should we critically examine the gossip and rumors that people spread about God and the Bible. The reason why we are tempted to uncritically accept accusations against God or the Scriptures is because we often are looking for a convenient reason to escape our responsibilities to Him and others(Matthew 22:37-39). Because in the very moment we accept the existence of God we are also confronted with the selfish and foolish manner in which we have both treated Him and others (James 3:9; 1 John 4:20; Romans 13:8-10).
· The good news is that the same questions that we might have about God or the Bible are the same questions that people have asked for centuries, and good answers for all these questions have already been recorded. We need to remind ourselves that we are not alone and neither are we that unique (1 Corinthians 10:13) in the questions we have, or the needs and concerns that fill our hearts.
Bad Examples
An all too-often barrier to faith is the bad example set by professed believers. People can be turned off from Christianity because of the hypocritical example set by some professed “Christian” that we knew. We might have even thought, “Well I am better than them and I am not even a Christian, so if they are saved, then obviously I have nothing to worry about”. I certainly can identify with the above feeling, but the truth of the matter is that the hypocrisy of some professed Christians did not excuse my sins. I am responsible for my own sinful choices and I cannot blame anyone or anything (such as environment) (Ezekiel 18:20). Secondly, as I read the Bible I also found that God will condemn hypocrites as well as unbelievers (Matthew 18:6-7; Mark 16:16). Hiding behind a hypocrite or claiming that some professed Christian or church did me wrong in the past, will not exempt me from God’s judgment, rather I will end up sharing a very miserable eternity with all those who set such a bad example (Revelation 21:8).
· Yet at the same time that we complain and gripe about the “hypocrites in the church” do we also secretly enjoy seeing people fail? I think at times that we rather enjoy the presence of hypocrites because they make us feel secure in our lack of obedience to God. It seems like we reason something to the effect that, “If I can find people who are worse than me then I must be safe”, when the reality is that God will not save anyone who is in rebellion, whether they are members of the church or whether they do not believe at all (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).
· I know that spiritual cynicism runs deep in people. We tend to make the mistake of equating Christianity with eccentric diets, pyramid marketing schemes, subliminal tapes, and every other fad or trend that sounds too good to be true. Yet Christianity does not promise instant success, trouble free living, material gain, or other motivations that appeal to self. Christianity is very honest (Acts 14:22). People are skeptical of the claim that the Bible is truth (John 17:17), the one absolute truth for all time (John 12:48), yet the only option to this is living in a world without any absolute truth—which would be a reality filled with consequences and applications that we would not like. You may not initially like the claim of absolute truth, but I want to tell you that none of us would want a world in which there are no absolutes.
Concluding Comments
· People matter to God (1 John 4:19; Luke 19:10)..
· There are far higher purposes here than having a job and paying the bills (Matthew 6:34).
· There is an answer to every sinful thought and activity that presently enslaves you or anyone you know and love (John 8:34).
· No man or woman has to remain as they presently are (Acts 17:30).
· Christianity is a great adventure in which you can become a very useful and effective instrument in God’s hand (Romans 6:16).
