Three Marks of Authentic Discipleship
Mark 11:22-25
Introduction: This
week I thought of the story of the rambunctious boy who was sitting near the
front of a southern church, but seemingly unable to stay still. Finally, his
dad had enough. He picked him up, put him over his shoulder, and headed down
the center aisle toward the foyer. Of course, all heads turned, and seeing that
he had an audience, with much of the church was looking his way, the boy said,
“Y’all pray for me now!”
Our subject today is prayer, and our attitude in prayer. Our attitude
toward God, and our attitude toward one another. As we have walked through Mark,
we’ve been looking at his story of Jesus from at least two perspectives. On
the one hand, the historical account of Jesus revealing himself through His
works and words, and calling people to believe and follow Him. On the other
hand, we know that the Gospel writer was writing 20-30 years after the
resurrection, to a group of believers already under oppression of Rome. Even
though our circumstances in life are quite different, we are essentially in the
same moment of redemptive history as they were, between the Resurrection and
the Parousia. Mark’s intention was to deepen their faith and strengthen
their hope in the midst of their trials. I believe that is God’s intention
for us as well. We’ve seen that as Mark writes this gospel. he is fleshing out
his answer to three life-giving, faith-deepening, hope-strengthening questions:
1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? and 3) What does it mean to follow Him?
The disciples are growing in their understanding of the answers to those
questions, but they are still not where they will be after the resurrection and
Pentecost. Here Jesus teaches about prayer, one of the primary means that God
uses to deepen our faith and to strengthen our walk with Him. E.M. Bounds, in
one of his many books on prayer, expressed the idea when he said,
The
central significance of prayer is not in the things that happen as results, but
in the deepening intimacy and unhurried communion with God at His central
throne of control in order to discover a "sense of God's need in order to
call on God's help to meet that need…"
In other words, it is not only that
God acts in the world through our prayers, but in the very process of praying
He is working in us, growing our faith, deepening our relationship with Him.
Context: This
scene comes after the Triumphal Entry, the cleansing of the Temple, and the
cursing of the fig tree as Jesus came to Jerusalem this final week. His
rejection by the leaders was coming to a climax and would soon lead to the
Cross, just as He had prophesied on the way. Still, He is teaching the
disciples, preparing them for the life and the mission that He was about to
entrust to them.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to
its roots. 21 And Peter
remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has
withered."
Jesus uses that observation by Peter
as a foil to continue his training, this time, shifting the focus to prayer,
and our attitude toward God and men as we pray.
The BIG Idea: Forgiven and forgiving, we come to
Him in prayer, knowing that we can trust Him, even as He patiently grows our
faith.
I. Faith: “Have faith in God” - Trusting God, taking Him at His Word (22).
Ray Stedman commented on what Jesus meant by the phrase, “Have faith in
God…” He said the Lord meant “…to trust that the living God knows what he is
doing, to believe what he says, to obey what he commands, and to open our life
to him so that he may enrich us, and flow through us, and make us a fruitful
person, or a fruitful nation, as the case may be…” It means acknowledging
who God is, trusting that He acts in the way that is best, always consistent
with His character. Essentially it means entrusting ourselves to Him. C.H. Spurgeon said…
I would recommend you either believe
God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God,
every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place
between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the
deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is
poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good
for much.
Jesus said, “Have faith in God…” In contrast to empty religious traditions (remember the symbolism of the fig tree, and the implicit rebuke of the
unbelieving leaders!). This begins with recognizing who God is. Our faith
is only as good as the object of our faith. I like to walk outside for exercise
during the summer. I still don’t put too much faith in drivers yielding to
pedestrians (Of course, I live in NJ!). To use Spurgeon’s phrase, we can trust
God “up to the hilt”! He is the same God referred to in the opening words of
the Bible, “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth…” He is our Maker, our Master, omniscient
and omnipotent, omnipresent and eternal, just and holy, but also merciful and
gracious. He is Good, all the time.
But not all that one might call “faith” is the faith that saves. Mere
intellectual assent is not enough. Remember James 2:19, “You believe
that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder!” Most
people will say they believe in God – by which they mean that there is a higher
power of some kind out there. Many people construct in their own minds their
idea of what God must be like, essentially a God they design according to their
liking. That is idolatry, not faith! The God who is, has spoken. He has
revealed Himself in His Word. And the Word was made flesh and lived for
awhile among us (Jn 1:14; Heb 1:1). Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Trust the God who “is” – trust Him as the Way of Life!
But even believing that the true God, the God of the Bible, the God who
came incarnate, Jesus, is real, and that He involves Himself in history, is not
yet saving faith. Saving faith means recognizing who He is, understanding our
sin problem, and so trusting in what He has done for us as our only hope
of salvation. Sin left humans in a terrible predicament, alienated from God and
destined for judgment. God is holy and His justice demands that sin be
punished. But the righteous justice of God was satisfied when Jesus, the
sinless, perfect Son, took our sins in His body on the Cross. Isaiah prophesied
that act when he said, “All we like sheep
have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all…” That is grace, and it is applied in
our lives through faith. And so, forgiven
and forgiving we can come to Him in prayer, knowing that we can trust Him, even
as He patiently grows our faith.
II. Prayer:
Expressing our desires to God we submit to His will (23-24).
23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and
thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what
he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever
you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be
yours.
This one verse that is sometimes
used as a “proof-text” for those who hold to a “health and prosperity”
theology. The idea they take from the passage is that if your faith is strong
enough, you can ask whatever you want from God and He will do it. Rather
than seeking and submitting to God’s will, that is essentially putting His will
in submission to ours! We can’t take a verse and isolate it from the
broader context of Scripture. Jesus is not saying that we can force the
hand of God. No, we cannot manipulate Him! To have faith in God means we
recognize who He is, and if we do, we’ll trust Him and submit to His lordship,
acknowledging Him in all our ways (Prov 3:5-6).
What it means to pray “in faith”
– It means trusting that all things are possible with God! That is
exactly the point of what Jesus is saying. Nothing is impossible for the Creator,
the One true God, the God who is, the God we worship. Remember how Sarah
laughed when the angel brought a message to her and Abraham that they would
have a son in their old age? The angel’s question, “Why did you laugh… Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” (Gen
18:12-15). Mary too received angelic revelation about an even more fantastic
idea, that she, a virgin, would bear a son. She asked, reasonably, “How can this be since I have not known a
man?” The angel’s answer, “Nothing is
impossible for God…” (Luke 1:34-37). But move a mountain? Just like the
language of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, Jesus uses hyperbole
to make His point emphatic. He is not talking about literally casting a
mountain into the sea! Whatever the
mountain might be that we face, whatever the seemingly impossible obstacle that
is before us, we can trust that the God who made the mountains is bigger than
anything we face. Nothing is impossible with God!
If we believe God, as Jesus
prayed in the Garden, so we also submit our will to the Father. That is what it
means to believe, to have faith in God: Recognizing who He is and to responding
rightly to Him. If He is Lord, then He is our Master. If He created the
universe, that means it all belongs to Him! We can trust that He is good (all
the time!) and that He does good, as He has revealed throughout history. And so,
we pray as we look at the mountains in front of us, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” We pray with Jesus in the
Garden, “Nevertheless, not my will, but
your will be done.” That was stated
in the prayer that Jesus gave as a model to His disciples: “…Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name. 10 Your kingdom come, your
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...” (Matt 6:9-10). Someone
said, “Keep praying, and be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your
prayers!” He always knows what is best! William
Barkley said, that when we pray, we should remember: 1. The love of God that wants the best for us. 2. The wisdom of
God that knows what is best for us. 3. The power of God that can
accomplish it. *And so, forgiven and forgiving we come to Him in prayer,
knowing that we can trust Him, even as He patiently grows our faith. So, 1) we
have faith in Him, 2) we pray to Him, and 3)…
III. Forgiveness: As forgiven people, we extend grace to others (25-[26]).
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against
anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses." [26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will
your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."]
The Lord’s prayer is one of the
most commonly memorized passages of Scripture, and it includes a reference to
this same teaching, “Forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors…” As people who have seen their desperate
need and called on God for mercy and grace, we should be humbled into being
gracious and forgiving to our fellow humans. Jesus told a parable on the
subject in Matthew 18:22-35. In that context Peter asked Jesus how many times
he had to forgive his brother, even up to seven times? Peter most likely
thought he was being overly generous with that idea. Jesus’ answer probably
shocked him…
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy
times seven. 23
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to
settle accounts with his servants. 24
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand
talents. 25 And since he
could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children
and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have
patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him, the
master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went
out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and
seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' 29 So his fellow servant fell down
and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 He refused and went and put him
in prison until he should pay the debt. 31
When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly
distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken
place. 32 Then his master
summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me. 33
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on
you?' 34 And in anger his
master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will
do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your
heart."
As forgiven people, we
are compelled to be forgiving people. If we could grasp the debt we
owed, the price that was paid to reconcile us to God, we would see that we are
the servant who owed an impossible, unpayable debt! How can we not then forgive
one another? Loving God is one thing, loving my neighbor is quite another! Remember
the little poem, “To live above with
saints I love will certainly be glory… To live below with those I know… well that’s
another story!” Paul said this to the Ephesians,
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption. 31 Let
all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you,
with all malice. 32 And be
kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God
in Christ forgave you…
(Eph 4:30-32).
The context is prayer. “When you stand praying…” The
posture of prayer [standing] is not the key thing here, but the fact
that we are coming before God and lifting our voice to Him, speaking to Him. Someone
expressed this in a humorous little poem:
“When you stand praying forgive,
if you have anything against anyone, so that your heavenly Father may forgive
your trespasses…” This is not questioning our salvation if we harbor an
unforgiving heart. Our sins are covered forensically by the blood of Christ
when we are justified by faith. But an unforgiving heart is sin, and sin
will impede our walk with God. God chastens every son He receives, He
will deal with us, because He loves
us, as necessary, to lead us to repentance. In that context of disrupted fellowship,
we are much less likely to be praying in submission to the will of God. James
describes the expectations of a “double-minded man” in prayer…
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all
without reproach, and it will be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who
doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose
that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways… (James 1:5-8).
It is the same idea, praying in faith
means single-mindedly believing God, entrusting our need to Him, recognizing
who He really is, trusting in Him, submitting to Him. And so…
What is God saying to me in this passage? Forgiven and forgiving we come to
Him in prayer, knowing that we can trust Him, even as He patiently grows our
faith.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage?
1) Believe: Let’s start
with faith, that is where Jesus started in 11:22, “Have faith in God.” Do
you trust Him? Will you take Him at His Word? Lord I believe, help my unbelief!
2) Forgive: Some time, somewhere, you have been
hurt by someone. It can happen in families, it can even happen in the church, between
believers. We can harbor a grudge, we can let bitterness take root in our
hearts. Or, we can let it go. That is the root meaning of the word “forgive” in this context, to release,
let go. Let it go! If we remember how much we have been forgiven, can’t we
release that hurt to God, and ask Him for the grace to forgive?
3) Are you facing a mountain of a problem right now? Do you
believe that God works through the prayers of His people? Keep praying. Nothing is too difficult for
God! Maybe you are heart-broken over someone near to you who has not yet
believed… Don’t give up. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. We are
interceding on their behalf with the Creator of the Universe. He is mighty to
save! As you pray, ask that God would open their hearts, and by His kindness
lead them to repentance and faith. As
you pray God will work, in your heart as well as in theirs. And let’s pray for
our church, our community, our nation, Father, Abba, your kingdom come, your
will be done, may your name be praised in all the earth! AMEN.
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