Worship 26 If I Only Had More Faith

[HKHaugan]

If I Only Had More Faith...

Ever felt that way?

Mark 9:14-32 sets before us one of Jesus' healing occasions. Consumed by desperation a father brings his demon possessed son before Jesus asking, with hope and doubt mixed, for some relief. “If you can do anything...help... (vs.22)!” Jesus repeats the first part of the man's plea in the form of a question in order to get to the real inner heart issue in the father, “If you can...? [Are you saying I can't?] Everything is possible for him who believes.” The father responds, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” The mind issue in the father was lack of belief. His heart was broken. “I'll try anything, even Jesus,” might have summed up the father's state of mind.

But there's more here. It also was taking place in the midst of a crowd, the “unbelieving generation (vs.19).” Everyone was absorbed in their own self-centered issues. Jesus was pointing out the real underlying problem of belief affecting all the hearts there.

Several attitudes are revealed here.

First, people had already heard about Jesus and His miracles which is why they came. Secondly, each one came to see for himself if Jesus was for real. Third, each came with his own agenda of needs in mind. Fourth, some came to see if in fact Jesus might just be the Messiah. Fifth, legalists threatened by His presence came to argue with Him. The crowd, a generational representative, was saturated in unbelief, the symptom of culture worship (social self survival) as opposed to God worship (personal eternal life).

If ever there was a cry for the understanding of worship it is in this plea from the boy's father, “Help my unbelief.” God worship takes you outside yourself and into the ever present God. The mind, the heart and the spirit have to be shaken loose from the sin and fear that entrap them. God has created in each of us the capability for worship to give us a way to focus in every next moment.

You hear people say, “I wish I had more faith” or “If I could only have the faith like Billy Graham has.” Those are revealing statements, a clue to their insecurity about life and death, all the in-between things that are beyond our control and the need to learn how to worship personally. Yes, they believe but they don't go any further. Like the people in the Bible after temple devotion we leave worship when the Sunday service is over. Like 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' so what happens in church stays in church. Pray against that attitude. Pray conversely that the end of the service is the beginning of worship.

Their hearts and ours are still far from Him (Mt.15:8, Is.29:13).

All of us go through this to one degree or another. Don't we believe but don't trust to act on it? Calvin remarked, “These two statements (belief alongside unbelief) may appear to contradict each other but there is none of us that does not experience that in himself.”

Jesus recognizes this block to personal worship in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.5). He gives a series of 'blesseds' each building on the other in progression. The purpose of the series is to begin the removal of the block and the restoration of the heart and character of the believer to Him so that their belief exceeds their unbelief. Worship happens wherever we are. Given Jesus-consciousness and social consciousness are we conscious of Jesus in the 'wherever?'

Both Paul and Peter pick up on this.

Paul gives a summary of the problem and a solution in writing to Timothy in Ephesus. “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies [all tangents, distractions, roadblocks to being a worshiping disciple]. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm (1Tim.1:3-7). Paul is suggesting there is a progression to building faith and faith with a purpose. If you survey the context of his teachings on Body of Christ building through spiritual gifts in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 you'll find that context to be love (Rom.12:9, 1Cor.13, Eph.4:16). Understanding personal worship is to follow Paul's command to 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Php.2:12).”

Peter puts it together in very specific order where one leads to the other. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins (2Peter 1:5-9).” From both Paul and Peter we know a disciple of Jesus is always “a work in progress.” Therefore we are worshipers in progress.

From faith to goodness, to knowledge to self-control to perseverance to godliness, to brotherly kindness to love. All of them a work of the Holy Spirit leading us in worship. There are three results we can measure in ourselves when adding them to our faith. First, being closer to God we see ourselves and the rest of humanity from His perspective. Second, growing closer to God we are more confident in meeting people. Third, consciously closer to God we are more able to share our experience of Jesus with others. What we find is His love is involved in each. We love not only ourselves in the process but we learn to love others and our approach is more stable within and balanced without. We are more God-confident, more self-confident and more relationally confident, the shape of the Cross. So we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).