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Faith Series
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We're beginning a new series on faith today — a great faith series in two parts. It's the latter part of the year, and this is a time when you can start to lose your faith and your optimism. You can begin to feel that God hasn't done for you what you'd hoped He would. Over the next two weeks, I want to create in you a boost in your faith. It's going to be simple, but simple things often have a profundity about them.
Let me quote Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up."
Isn't that true? At this time of the year it's so easy to look back and wish certain things had happened, or to look around at our country and our world and be worried. But faith says, "I'm not looking at any of that. I'm looking up and I'm trusting God."
I've entitled today's message The Gospel of Faith. We're going to look at Mark's gospel, which commentators regard as the gospel of faith, because faith is emphasized throughout it.
John Mark is the writer of the Gospel of Mark. It's the shortest gospel in the Bible, but it's the punchiest. He doesn't start with the birth of Jesus — he starts straight away with the preaching of the gospel. He keeps us fast-paced because he wants us to understand that it's about Jesus and about to Jesus.
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John Mark is an interesting character. You read about him in the book of Acts. He has two names:
He had two names because he was ministering to Jews, and later in Acts he's called only "Mark" because he's ministering to Gentiles. He was the cousin of Barnabas, and you find him with Paul and Barnabas. When Peter was let out of prison — remember, they prayed Peter out of prison — he went straight to John Mark's house.
Here's the key: people ask, "Who wrote the Gospel of Mark? He wasn't around with Jesus." But Peter traveled with Mark, and Mark would have interpreted for him to the Greeks. Everything Peter said, Mark repeated — and you retain a lot when you do that. As a result, he writes this punchy gospel. He leaves out the nativity, the Sermon on the Mount, and many details. He focuses on what Jesus said and did, and the response of faith.
Before we open this up, remember this — I'm hoping you'll go home and read the book of Mark. Every chapter speaks to the fact that Jesus is God. At a glance you might say that's not true; people usually say John is the gospel of Jesus' divinity. But actually, if you read it carefully, Mark's gospel speaks powerfully of His divinity too.
For instance, when it opens, John the Baptist is preaching and declaring that Jesus is the one from Isaiah 40:
"Prepare the way for the Lord; make straight the paths of the Lord."
The word "Lord" in the original Hebrew is Yahweh — God. He's basically saying, "God is coming." As you go through the gospel, you see Jesus speaking to a storm — only God can do that. You see Jesus saying to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven you" — only God can forgive sin. When He's arrested and they ask, "Are you the Son of God?" He says, "I am."
This profound gospel encourages us to move fast, to act, to respond, and to build our faith. Are you ready this morning?
This might sound like basic teaching — it is, but people don't understand it. You can only become a Christian through faith in Jesus, not by attending church. You can't get to heaven by being charitable, or even by giving big amounts of money. People have given twenty million dollars later in life to try to make up for all their sins and corruption. You can't do that.
It's by faith in Jesus that you go from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. You've got to trust in the person of Jesus, because faith is not just hoping — it has an object, and that object is Jesus Christ.
You can't have many faiths. Not all roads lead to Joburg. Finding God is putting your faith in the person that He sent for our sins. The gospel opens with these profound words in Mark 1:15:
"Repent and believe in the gospel."
Turn from your own way, your own mindset, your own religious experience, and trust in the person of Jesus, because He is here. That's the good news — God has made a way. You don't have to create a way yourself.
So salvation is trusting in both the deity of Jesus and the sacrifice of Jesus. You can't believe in His sacrifice unless you believe in His deity. Before you can believe anything about the kingdom, you have to believe that He is.
What does great faith look like? It is responsive — it acts on what God says. It's not passive. It doesn't deliberate, dissect, or overanalyze. It responds.
Mark emphasizes the immediate responses people made to Jesus. The Greek word euthus ("immediately") — an instant response — is mentioned 41 times in different ways.
In Mark 2, Jesus says, "I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home."
"And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'"
The paralytic didn't examine his condition. He got up, responded to Jesus, and went home. He ended up carrying that which had carried him. That's what can happen to us when we respond in faith to the words of Jesus, which we still have recorded in Scripture. Don't hesitate. Respond by believing what Jesus tells you to do.
In Mark 1:30, Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. Why? Because they knew He could fix it.
Is Jesus your first port of call? Is that where you go when you feel sick in the morning? By all means, make a doctor's appointment, take medication, and do the basic things — but first, immediately go to Jesus.
"So He went and took her by the hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them."
Notice — He didn't pray. A lot of us are begging God instead of responding to what He's already done and said.
Jairus's daughter, twelve years old, dies. Jesus makes His way to the house, taking only three disciples — men of faith. You don't take people of unbelief into a room where you're trying to raise the dead, because a bit of unbelief in a room can dampen an entire atmosphere.
"He took her by the hand and said to her, 'Talitha koum' — 'Little girl, get up.' And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about... at this they were overcome with amazement."
Again — no prayer. Here's what you need to understand: when Jesus speaks, dead things come to life. Dead things in your life come to life at His word when you believe His word.
In Mark 1:17, Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people," and immediately they left their nets and followed Him. They didn't ask, "Do you belong to a union? What about pay increases? Medical aid? Benefits?"
Ministry is about faith. It's about responding to Jesus and to His call on your life. If any of you feel called by God, respond immediately — He'll take care of the rest.
As Martin Luther said:
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."
Do you have that kind of faith?
Miracles don't happen without faith. Mark often ties the miracles of Jesus to the personal faith of the people He encounters.
For twelve years she bled, spent all her money on doctors, and was no better. She got down in the crowd and touched Jesus' garment. He turned around and said, "Who touched me?" The crowd and disciples were astounded — there were crowds of people.
But Scripture teaches she said to herself, "If I but touch His garment, I will be made well." She didn't ask Him. She didn't say, "My name is Martha, I'm from down the corner, my uncle owns the barber shop, we've done a lot for the community — do you think you could maybe help?" She just drew down.
Sometimes we don't draw down — we beg God. And He says, "Don't beg. Just believe that what I've said and done is sufficient. Don't stop believing." Twelve years of bleeding stopped in an instant by faith.
A father brings his son to the disciples, who can't heal him. The boy is thrown to the ground, foaming at the mouth. In Mark 9, the father says, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
If you can? Imagine asking Jesus that! Of course He can.
"Jesus said, 'Everything is possible for one who believes.' Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!'"
I want to encourage you — you've got troubled children? Don't hesitate. Don't waver. Of course He can help them, with their sicknesses, their challenges, their troubled minds and hearts. When you feel the devil has a grip on your children, keep trusting Him. He is able. Keep praying for them.
God's power is often severely limited — not because He's unable to work, but because our faith is small and we've begun to worry. Never say "if you can" — say God is able.
Faith is not without challenges, and you have to cut through the fear. Mark highlights the disciples' fear and testing during the storm on the lake in Mark 4:
"And Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they woke him and said, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'"
How can you ask Jesus if He doesn't care? But storms will make you think God doesn't care. It's easy in this room, with worship and visuals, to believe He cares. But by Monday, Tuesday, Thursday — by the second half of the year — unbelief can set in. We've got to look the testing in the face and say, "I knew you were coming. I won't give in."
He does care. Maybe you've lost your job, been retrenched, had a bad diagnosis, or you're sick again. Life is full of challenges — we're living under the fall. Life's not fair, but God is good. Keep trusting Him and allow the testing to come, saying, "You will not weaken my faith."
We can be very positive in the meeting — full of faith, clapping, phone down. But Monday and Tuesday you might find grief and testing by fire. You've got to say, "I remember Mark's gospel. I remember Jesus, and I will not give in, in Jesus' name."
It's easy to build faith when you recognize Jesus is in charge. Mark stresses Jesus' authority and divinity strongly. Jesus has authority over the weather, over sickness, over disease, over sin, over death. That's all authority. People respond to that authority and their faith grows.
In Mark 15, the centurion beneath the cross, when everything went dark and Jesus died, said, "Truly this is the Son of God." He acknowledged God's only Son on the planet.
When we recognize this, we can relax. It's when we don't recognize He's in authority that we want to take control or make a plan.
"And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Silence! Be still!' And the wind died down and became perfectly calm. And he said to them, 'Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?'"
A lack of faith doesn't recognize that He's in charge. If you knew He was in charge, you'd let Him sleep! You couldn't wake Him, because you'd trust that He's in control. But they panicked. We always resort to our own means when we forget He's in authority.
"And they became very afraid and were saying to one another, 'Who is this then, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'"
Here's a thought: the universe obeys Jesus. And when nothing is happening, it doesn't mean He's lost His authority.
Right now, South Africa might look like a runaway train. You look at the world and think God has wound up the clock — like those old alarm clocks with the bells — put it on the mantelpiece, sat back in the rocking chair, and told the angels, "Don't disturb me until it goes off." No! He is involved. When you don't see things happening, God is still in control.
Think of raising children. When they're small and you ask them to fetch a cup from the cupboard — if it's not fine china but from Mr. Price, it can drop on the ground. The tendency is to want to hold it tight, to help. But you stand back. Then they drop the cup, and you think, "That's five rand — there are more cups. Come, let's sweep it up together."
God doesn't intervene in everything. He wants to see things played out according to His purpose. Sometimes you think He doesn't care — no, He's in absolute authority. Your faith needs to be at its height when things are quiet.
The chaos in our world can make us cry, "God, how could you let that happen? Have you read the news, Lord?" The Lord knows everything that's happening and will step in at the right time, because He's in control. It's hardest to have faith when nothing seems to be happening — but that's exactly when we must.
You can't have your church have faith for you. You must have personal faith, and it must be persistent. Your faith can't just exist in a service where the atmosphere is right — you've got to carry it into your home. On a Wednesday morning, mid-week, you say, "We heard that on Sunday, we read that last week, and we're going to continue. It feels like everything's contrary, but we will not let our faith waver."
In Mark 7, they brought a deaf man with a speech impediment. Jesus took him aside, put His fingers in his ears, spat and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven, sighed, and said, "Ephphatha" — "Be opened."
"And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly."
I want you to believe for your immediately today. Don't have a "you never know" attitude — expect it. I always pray expecting pain to go immediately. If it doesn't, I'll pray again, expecting it to go immediately. Not "well, you never know, let's give it a go." We have a constant hope in the word of God. We pray and believe.
In Mark 2, four men carried a paralytic. Unable to reach Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof and lowered him down.
"And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'"
I want to encourage you to have faith for other people — personal, persistent faith — because the person you're believing for might not have any faith for themselves. Maybe they said to that paralytic, "You can get well," and he replied, "It's very kind of you. Every time you come around I feel lifted." They had more faith than him — but their persistent faith was what Jesus recognized. He didn't say "your faith" to the paralytic; He said to them, "Your faith has made this man well."
How many of us could see others helped if we had personal and persistent faith? As Andrew Murray said:
"Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation."
In Mark 10, blind Bartimaeus keeps calling out to Jesus.
"And many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'"
Was he put off? No. Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." They said, "Take courage. Get up. He's calling for you." Throwing off his outer garment, he jumped up and came to Jesus.
"And Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has saved you.' And immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road."
Jesus responds to personal faith and persistence.
We start by entering the kingdom through faith in a person — not just coming to church, not just vague hope that "when I die, maybe I'll get in, maybe Peter will have my name on a list." No — it's faith in the person of Jesus. Having had that faith, we persist, we respond, we believe, we don't give up, we go through testing. And then, having done all that, we share our faith.
You can only share your faith when you really know who Jesus is by faith.
Mark's gospel ends in chapter 16:8 — what we call the first ending. They go to the tomb, there's the angel, they're told, "He's risen — tell the disciples." It ends on a high note: Jesus came, He served, people were healed, He's gone to heaven, but He's alive!
But they found the Washington Codex — a copy of manuscripts with the addition from verse 9 to the end — and here they found that Jesus commissioned them to go and share their faith. Let's read from Mark 16:15:
"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.'"
Not "he who has disbelieved shall find another religion and another road, and it'll be okay for him." No — shall be condemned. That means there's an imperative for us to share our faith, because there are not many faiths and many roads. Faith has its object in a person. It's not just hope, and it's not about behavior — it's faith in a person that either saves you or doesn't save you.
If we believe that, we should be sharing our faith.
