I Believe Help My Unbelief

I'd like to begin by reading from the ninth chapter of Mark, starting at verse 17. One of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit, and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.

And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

And Jesus asked the father, How long has he had this? And he said, From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.

Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out, I believe, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.

And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. But if you can do anything, have mercy on us, have pity on us, and help us.

And immediately Jesus comes back and says, What do you mean, if you can? Believe, all things are possible to him who believes. And immediately the father of the child cried out, I believe, help my unbelief. Now notice, Jesus did not rebuke this desperate man for his unbelief.

He rebuked his disciples for their unbelief, but not this man. Jesus took this desperate man, who believed and doubted at the same time, who wanted to believe with all his heart, but had been disappointed and let down so many times that he was afraid even to dare to hope that his misery could ever live. Jesus took this man and raised him up into a faith that was burning with the joy and the victory and the power of God.

Now who of us can't identify with this desperate man? For we too are finding that there are areas in our lives where we find it hard to believe. Hard to believe because we've been waiting for a long time to see some crack in our prison wall, some change, some opening. In this area of our life, whatever it happens to be, we've almost given up hope.

And we're saying, Lord, I can't take another disappointment. But if there's something you can do. And he goes back and says, What do you mean? Believe.

All things are possible to him who believes. And now, in desperation, we finally cry out, I believe. Help my unbelief.

And things begin to happen. A few weeks ago, a sister who's been serving the Lord and who has been serving this body of believers for a good long while expressed three areas where she's having trouble believing in Jesus. And these three areas are not unique to her.

Most of us would have to admit that at least sometimes we also have trouble, first of all, believing that Jesus will indeed hear and answer these prayers we're praying. We're having trouble believing, secondly, that Jesus really is coming back. And we're having trouble believing, thirdly, that we will in fact be with him in the kingdom in its fullness.

That Jesus hears and answers these prayers. That he's indeed coming back. And that we will in fact be with him in his kingdom.

Now, if we're having trouble believing in Jesus in these three areas, it's utterly impossible for us to live the life that he's calling us to live. To be the light of the world. To make disciples.

To free the captives. In these areas, we can't afford not to have faith. So what do we do? When we're having trouble believing that Jesus hears and answers these cries, these prayers we raise to him.

Jesus promises that if we abide in him and his words abide in us, we can ask whatever we will. And it will be done for us by the Father. This is how the Father is glorified.

This is how we bear fruit. Asking and receiving, just as Jesus did during his own flesh and blood ministry. Everything turns on prayer.

The New Testament comes alive when we know that we can ask and receive. That this really does happen. See, but when we begin to wonder whether anything's coming from these prayers.

Whether they're really being heard. Whether our union with Jesus is doing anything to wing those prayers to the Father's heart. When we begin to wonder these things, then our prayers shrivel down and they become like routine.

A kind of ritual we're going through. We're talking to ourselves. And many of us grind on for years, saying our prayers with little or no hope of anything coming of it.

Until finally one of two things happens. Either we give up in despair, in which case there's little that God himself can do for us. Or we start getting desperate.

When we start getting desperate, then the Spirit of God can move. Oh Lord, I've been praying and praying and nothing seems to be happening. The problem is still there, the mountain isn't moving.

But if you can do anything. And he comes back, what do you mean if? Believe. All things are possible to him who believes.

And then in desperation, now we're getting serious. We cry out, I believe, help my unbelief. And now things begin to happen.

They always do. He never fails. What are we going to do? When we're having trouble believing that Jesus really is coming back.

Everything that Jesus ever taught and everything that he did is aimed at the hour of his return. His death on the cross and his resurrection are for the purpose of making ready a people who will shine at that hour. Reading from Luke chapter 12, verse 35, Jesus says, Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them set a table and he will serve them. If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds him so, blessed are those servants.

But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have been awake and would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The world is going to go on its way, right up to the last minute, buying and selling, just as it is in Noah's day, marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking, and like the flood which came and swept them all away, the return of the Lord will be a devastating surprise.

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? But for those who are his followers, who gather in his name and go forth in his name, the same Spirit that calls us together and anoints us with power and sends us forth, keeps reminding us of the goal of it all, what we're about. The goal of it all is the hour of his return. Heaven and earth will pass away, history will pass away, but his word remains and the promise will be fulfilled.

The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So stay awake and keep feeding the sheep. Reading on in the same passage in Luke, Peter said to him, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find still doing.

Truly I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, My master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the men servants and the maid servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect and in an hour he does not know and will punish him and put him with the unfaithful. My Lord is delayed in coming.

Who of us hasn't had to deal with that thought until one of two things happens. Either we despair of his coming and say, He's never coming. When's he coming? Never coming.

In which case there's little that the Lord can do for us. Or we start getting desperate in our prayers. When we start getting desperate in our prayers, then the spirit can move.

And God isn't going to have a nervous breakdown if we admit we're having problems. Lord God, I'm losing my vision of your return. It's no longer clear to me.

I've been reading all these books about the end and about the rapture, and it's more far-fetched to me now than before. But if there's something you can do to restore my vision, and he says, What do you mean? Believe. All things are possible to him who believes.

Believe what I tell you, not what these Christian speculators fabricate, you know, and write their books and make their money. Believe what I tell you, and only that. Vision can be restored to him who believes.

And so we cry out again, I believe, help my unbeliever. And the smoke begins to clear, and we begin to see the world crumbling before our eyes. And we know that that hour is approaching, and that it is near.

So what are we going to do when we find ourselves having trouble believing that we're in fact going to be with him in his kingdom? Jesus promises that if we follow him on this earth, if we walk in his way, if we confess him before men, we will eat and drink with him in the Father's kingdom. He gives us this meal to help us remember so that we can keep proclaiming his death until he comes. Reading from Matthew 26, verse 26.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

He gives us this meal to keep our hope fresh. This meal continuously reminds us that the purpose of his death and resurrection was to make that feast possible. In fact, this food of forgiveness, his broken body and his shed blood, is the fountainhead of power that enables us to live the kingdom life even in this world.

But, even this feast of the kingdom can do us little good unless we approach it in faith, unless we believe. If we see the bread and wine, but can't see through to the body and the blood, this feast can do us little good. See, if we see these people who are eating the meal with us as kind of strangers or casual friends, and can't see through to the fact that these men and women are blood-bought brothers and sisters with whom we are one in the Spirit, by that blood, one body, the kingdom of God already manifested here on earth.

If we can't see that, this meal can do us little good. This is a meal that has to be eaten so that we can see heaven and so that heaven can find its way into our lives now. Either we eat this meal in the cynicism of despair and say to ourselves, what good is this doing? In which case, the meal then becomes a meal of judgment instead of life.

Or, we get desperate and we approach this meal crying out to God, Lord, grant that I may see the kingdom as I eat this ordinary food. And His answer is, believe. You will commune with glory as you eat this meal when you believe.

When we get to the place where we seriously cry out, I believe, help my unbelief, again the fog clears and we see His body broken for us and His blood shed for us and His glory coming to us and we see how we desperately need unity with these brothers and sisters who are communing with us. When we taste heaven here in this meal, it becomes easy for us to know that heaven waits for us over there on the other side. And Jesus asked His Father, how long has He had this? And He said, from childhood.

And it is often cast Him into the fire and into the water to destroy Him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to Him, if you can, all things are possible to him who believes.

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief. That's all it took for Him. And really that's all it takes for us.

The Lord of Lords is among us now to help us. Even as He also commands us now to believe that our prayers in His name are being heard and answered. Believe that the hour of His return is approaching and that it is near.

It will be exactly the time God wants it to be. And believe that we will indeed, if we walk with Him in obedience here, feast with Him in glory. Let's wait upon Him now in silence for a minute.