Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.22 – June 2000

 

Jesus Brings Out the Worst In You

 

A Sermon by Rev S Bajema

on Mark 9:14-29

Scripture Reading: Mark 9:2-29

 

Congregation in Christ Jesus… 

Whatever we would think of our Lord and Saviour, and especially of what it would be like meeting Him, I don’t think we’d imagine that it would be anything but the happiest of occasions.

We read in the Gospels of people literally dying to see Him, lunging desperately to just touch the hem of His clothing, or delighting to pour the most expensive perfume over Him, and so many other similar stories.  They tell us of how positively men and women thought of meeting Him.

So what are we to make of this text which tells us not about just one type of person who didn’t really want to meet Jesus, because we know the Pharisees could be like that, or even two, because we could throw in the Herodians as well, but three!  And all at one time!  Three different kinds of people whom Jesus shakes up here really badly.  He did bring out the worst in them.

And, even more strangely, of these three we would say that while one definitely didn’t want to meet Jesus, and another one didn’t know either way about meeting Him, yet the third should have felt quite the opposite.  Well, who could this third group be?  Boys and girls, whom do you think I might talking about – who of all the people we meet in our text do you think should have been really close to Jesus?

Well, let’s see who we meet in the text?  There’s those teachers of the law, the crowd, the demon-possessed boy, his desperate father, and the disciples.  Who would have been closest to the Lord?  The disciples, of course!

They were the special ones chosen by Jesus to later be the firm foundation for the New Testament Church.  It would be through their mouths and actions that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus would spring forth beyond Israel.  And, yet, Jesus here shows how they hadn’t been talking to Him at all!

Our first point is just this…JESUS BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN YOU…  THOUGH YOU THINK YOU’RE SO CLOSE!

What is happening?  Well, Jesus certainly tells His disciples what is not happening!  “Oh unbelieving generation,” Jesus cries out, “how long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you?” (vs.19).

As he explains later, the disciples had not been praying.  In fact, the scene at the beginning of this text has happened because they were trying to do it on their own and had got caught out.  Like Moses, when he struck the rock in the wilderness for water, they had tried to do it themselves.  And they suffered.

Not that they expected to fail.  Jesus Himself had given them His power to cast out demons and do all kinds of miracles, and they had done it before.  And that was just it – they thought they were fine!  They thought they had it all.  And it was just their silly old pride.

Pride – you know, that thing which comes before a fall.  That’s why the ever-present paparazzi of that time – the teachers of the law – soon pounced on that!

Congregation, the disciples had left the humble dependence upon the Lord in prayer.  They had been humming along so well in their own lives they had slipped further and further away.  In that they’re no different than we can be two thousand years later.

It reminds me of a poem.  It goes like this…

I got up early one morning
   And rushed right into the day!
I had so much to accomplish
   That I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me
   And heavier came each task,
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered,
   He answered, “You didn’t ask!”
I tried to come into God’s presence.
   I used all the keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
   “Why child, you didn’t knock!”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
   But the day toiled on, grey and bleak.
I wondered why God didn’t show me
   He said, “But you didn’t seek!”
I woke up early this morning
   And paused before entering the day,
I had so much to accomplish,
   That I HAD to take time to pray.”

This last verse was the lesson the disciples would learn, too.  They had to trust Jesus and Him alone.  When they didn’t, not only they fell but the whole cause of Christ tumbled as well.

You see, congregation, then we cannot be the channel for God’s Spirit to bless us and those around us – whether in this church or in this world.  Unless we’re spiritually on our hands and knees before the Lord, we can never stand up for Him in this world.  “Take time to be holy”, dear friends, by first taking time to pray.

You know that, believer, but you cannot hear about it enough.  So often in church history we can see believers who seemed to be so busy for their Lord, and they were so involved in everything, and yet the church and the nation of that time fell away even more from the Lord.  And then you heard all the right expressions and saw the good actions, so that things on the outside looked the same as before, but inside they couldn’t have been further away.  Just like those nine disciples.

I began with this group whom Jesus brought out the worst in, which was their failure to pray, because what we see in the second one whom Jesus brings out the worst in, is the very one who is waiting to take both the disciples and others away from Jesus.

So, boys and girls, who do you think would have been the one furthest away from Jesus in this passage?  It’s not the disciples.  So is it the teachers of the law, the father of that very sick boy, or that boy himself?  Or is there still someone else?

Ah, isn’t there the one who’s in that boy?  What about the demon himself?  Wasn’t he the most obvious display against Jesus?  Because what do we see that demon doing, even when Jesus is actually there?

That’s why our second point is that… JESUS BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN YOU…  BECAUSE YOU’RE FAR FROM HIM.

As the Son of God Himself, God with us, the Prince of Heaven, the almighty Creator of this world, the Saviour and Judge, is right there, this demon throws the boy into another convulsion.  Satan shows his worst to not only prove how far away he is from Jesus, but to taunt Jesus too.

You see, he would have been gloating after the mess those disciples got themselves into.  And through the teachers of the law he was rubbing it in even more.  Even when Jesus suddenly is there, and surprises those arguing, Satan and his host are quick enough have another go.

Congregation, let’s not be fooled.  While the disciples may have had the unbelief that came because they didn’t practice their faith, this is the unbelief that’s there because it’s so totally against the faith!  And it’s not that the demons don’t believe in Jesus – they do, and they tremble at His Name!  But theirs is no saving faith – theirs is the fear of punishment, of losing the fight.

And what a fight it is!  The fight which is the great battle of the ages – the very reason the Lord Jesus was on this earth.  The battle He would decisively win upon the cross with His sacrifice.  That’s why there are so many demons mentioned in the New Testament.  The devil was going all out to defeat Jesus while he could.  And he thought he had such a chance here!  By reducing this son to complete helplessness, that evil spirit showed his malicious intent to destroy the child and his utter contempt for Jesus.

Dear Christian, there’s someone who’s desperately out to get you.  Not only to hurt you personally, but especially he’s out to destroy you because of whose you are.  You and all of us have to see this.  There has to be that constant watching out.  We have to keep holding out that shield of faith – to deflect his attacks.  That’s how Satan tried to use that boy.  It was to get at Jesus, to be a flaming arrow.

And when Jesus is there, showing his love for that boy, asking about how long the boy’s been like this, there couldn’t be a more wider gap between the kingdoms of darkness and light.  Jesus brought out the worst in that boy – that demon – because it just didn’t belong.

The Lord shows a glimpse of glory come down with this demon exorcised.  Heaven will be just like that – the darkness will have been wiped away and only light can stay.

Mind you, congregation, there is still someone else Jesus brings out the worst in.  Another puzzle for the boys and girls to work out.  So kids, who in our text is at his worst?  And I mean this because this person doesn’t know where he’s at – he only knows that his world is being utterly ripped apart!  He’s at a real loss with himself.  Who is he?

Ah, it’s the father of that boy!  He’s the one who has brought his son so that he could be healed by Jesus.  And when Jesus had been up on the mountain top, it was he who quite naturally thought that the disciples could do it, too.  So when there’s no end to his pain, because the disciple couldn’t heal his son, and all that happens is this argument those teachers have with the disciples, he’s even more desperate.  Any more of these severe physical convulsions and his son will die!  It’s no wonder that when Jesus asks his disciples why they’re arguing it’s the father who answers.

Congregation, here is a parent at his wit’s end.  His love for his son has driven him here, here as a last-ditch effort to save the boy from his terrible condition.  His life has been so full of it he can’t help but tell Jesus.  And while there’s still life, there is still hope.  Not that there’s much of that left in him.  His reply to the question of Jesus about how long the boy had been like this brought out his pain but also his doubt.  Listen to what he asks Jesus: “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

Mind you, Jesus didn’t have to have the biographical details – did He?  After all, He knows everything anyway.  How often don’t we read how He knew what people were thinking in their minds already before they said anything?

However, Jesus asks here for another reason.  He’s drawing something else from that man.  He’s takes that father’s own words – words which seem almost doubtful and He throws them back.  “If you can…?” Jesus replies.  The Lord really takes it up to him.  “If you can?”  You mean you’ve come all the way here for your son to be healed on an off-chance – on a kind of a gamble?  “It’s got nothing to do with me,” Jesus is saying, “it’s really up to you!”

That’s why Jesus points to the only thing that can do anything at all for any man or woman, boy or girl!  “Everything is possible for him who believes,” he says.  For while people may have been healed without having faith, you cannot get through the gospels without realising that having faith in Jesus is the reason that matters most.  Only that brings the ultimate healing!

It all proves our third point….  JESUS BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN YOU…  WHEN IT SEEMS YOU JUST DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!  Because then you do know.  For Jesus brings out the worst in you when you confess that you are the worst!

Believe me, that man was believing alright!  You see… he was praying.  That’s why he cries out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

So, congregation, we have met three different types of people whom Jesus brought the worst out of.  Which one are you this Sunday?

Could you possibly be the believer who’s not connecting?  Life’s humming along, and on the outside all seems well.  But, inside… you’re not well at all!

Or could you be someone who doesn’t even pretend that far.  Maybe you’re here because you had to be – whatever reason that may have been.  But you’d rather be somewhere else.  In fact, your life during the week shows that you are somewhere else – or should I say that you belong to someone else?

Maybe, though, you are like this boy’s dad.  You are desperate, and in that desperation for help you show how much you don’t have your life together.  But you do know where to go.  You are looking for the One who has got it all together.  In fact, you would even say, He is putting your life together.

Now…  what’s the worst Jesus brings out in you?

Amen.

PRAYER:

Let’s pray…

O Lord Jesus, may you have been brought out now as the One in our hearts.  Then this prayer isn’t just words, but it’s bowing before you, being humble and open, because without you we are so totally lost.  O Saviour God, make your Spirit to so live in our hearts that we will always look to you and not to what we think we can do.  And may your Spirit cut to the heart of any here this morning who have not believed that you came to die for our sins and to make us right forever with the Heavenly Father.  Convict them Lord, and so give them the precious gift of faith, too.  In your precious Name we plead.

Amen.