What is Faith?

As Mark recounts the ministry of Jesus, He quickly moves from one story to the next in a rapid-fire sequence of events.

The man we know as John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.  John was sent by God in the spirit of the Old Testament prophet Elijah to tell people that God’s time had come.  John announced the arrival of the promised anointed servant of God who was to save God’s people from their sins, oppression and troubles.

Soon after John baptized Jesus, Herod arrested John for saying things that were not politically acceptable.  Following these events, Jesus began His public ministry.

Immediately, Jesus was extremely popular.  Mark tells us: “One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again.  Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat.  When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away.  “He’s out of his mind,” they said.”  (Mark 3:20-21, NLT)[i]

This kind of busyness characterized the ministry of Jesus.  He attracted so much attention that His family thought He had lost His mind.  He soon moved from ministering in the house to ministering out in the open, in order to accommodate the large crowds.  It was in just such a situation that Mark chapter 3 tells us:  

Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him.  They came from all over Galilee, Judea, ⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon.  The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.

⁹Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him.  ¹⁰He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.  (Mark 3:7-10, NLT)

This method of sitting in a boat to teach was an effective way to speak to the vast numbers of people that came to hear Him. Therefore, in chapter 4 of Mark, we find Jesus again teaching from a boat.

The parables Jesus uses are well known for their simplicity and depth of meaning.  Mark 4 verses 33 and 34 tell us:

³³Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.  ³⁴In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.  (NLT)

Mark 4:35 finds Jesus and His disciples finishing a day of teaching.  They are sitting in a boat so that the crowd would not crush Jesus in their desire to get close.  There were other boats around them, as those who had boats took advantage of getting as close to Jesus as possible.

Jesus says, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”

“So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).”  (Mark 4:36, NLT)  

Jesus uses the convenience of already being in a boat to get away from the crowd and rest.  There is a cushion in the boat.  The New Living Translation says that He had His head on the cushion.  However, the original says that He was on the cushion and He was sleeping.  There He is as comfortable as possible in a small boat sound asleep.

While they were crossing the lake and Jesus was sleeping, a great storm came up.  Huge waves threatened to swamp the little boat.  In fact, water was quickly filling the boat.  Soon, they would all find themselves under the waves.

They wake Jesus shouting this question, “Teacher, is it of no concern to you that we perish?”  (Mark 4:38)

Let us pause here to ask a question.  How many times have we asked God the same question?

Does the sin and evil in the world ever cause you to ask, “God do You not care?”  

My son and I have been going through a history of World War II.  The number of casualties is so large that it numbs the mind.  As the historians talk of millions upon millions dead, I have no comprehension of how this can be.  Actual films taken during the war bring some reality as we see piles of mutilated bodies covered with flies lying in fields, ditches and along roads.  There are those that seeing such things not only ask, “God do you not care?” but also reject God altogether as either non-existent or uncaring.

When our lives are on the line, this question becomes urgent.  It is one thing to see other people perish, but it is another thing when it is my life.

The disciples had seen Jesus heal every kind of sickness and cast out demons.  Every day they watched all who came to Him walk away healed.  They were His devoted followers and believed that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  They heard His parables and then had them explained to them.  They were immersed in His teaching.  They of all people had faith.

In the storm, their lives were on the line, testing their faith.  In response to their fear and anxiety, Jesus asks them a pointed question, “Why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  (Mark 4:40, NLT)

What is this faith He is talking about?

“When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Silence! Be still!’”  (Mark 4:39, NLT)  In response to this, verse 41 tells us that the disciples were terrified and were asking each other, “Who is this man?”

Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”  (NLT)

The disciples were overwhelmed, dumbfounded and terrified by the things they were seeing.  While faith is the assurance of things we cannot see, what they saw and could not comprehend shows us where the disciples’ faith was still lacking.

It is one thing to confess with the mouth, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”  (Nathanael to Jesus, John 1:49, NLT)  It is another thing to see demonstrated the meaning of this before one’s very eyes.

Fear and an unwillingness to obey expose to me where I, like the disciples, still lack faith.  

The test of faith comes when our life is on the line.

For example, salvation is about the forgiveness of sins and inheriting eternal life and heaven.  Jesus says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  (John3:16, NLT)  Along with this, the Bible teaches that salvation is for everyone who believes.  However, our tendency is to act as if we need to do something to inherit eternal life.  We try to clean up our life.  We try to be good enough.  Our life is on the line and we want to be sure, so we work to earn as much favor with God as we can.

Faith worships, and gives thanks for a salvation freely given and freely received.    

Faith can look at the evil that is in our world today, and realize that it is for this very reason that Jesus had to die.  Faith is what allows believers to face death at the hands of their persecutors because they know that the One who calmed the wind and the waves holds them in His hands, and nothing can snatch them out of His hands.

Faith is not something we can create in ourselves.  The disciples in the boat in the very presence of the Son of God demonstrated the human weakness that always falls short.  

However, God gives faith.  In the case of the disciples, Jesus was teaching them and building their reliance on Him.  In our case, He does the same.  He never tests us beyond what we are able to bear, and the Holy Spirit is our teacher.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (ESV)  Here it teaches that the faith that saves us is the gift of God.  It is not our own doing.  

This is important for us as believers because we live by faith.  Our relationship with God is one that is by faith from start to finish.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Here is the confidence we have before Him:  “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6, ESV)[ii]  

This confidence tells us that no matter what storm assails our small boat, we will be okay as long as Jesus is in the boat with us.

Do you have this confidence today?  Is Jesus in the boat with you?  Have you seen His glory so that your confidence is unshakeable?

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[i] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Intentional Ministry

My daughter moved from Denver to the Los Angeles area.

My wife, son and I helped.

After church on Sunday, we left home for Denver pulling a trailer behind our small SUV.  (It has a four-cylinder engine, i.e. small.)  It was midnight when we arrived at her apartment on the campus of Denver Seminary.

It started snowing over-night.  We woke up to several inches of snow covering everything, and no sign of it stopping.  My son and I started carrying stuff down the stairs (that’s right, she was on the second floor!), and loading it in the trailer.  It was zero degrees outside (not Celsius).  The extreme cold and snow were our constant companions while we filled the trailer completely full (i.e. every space was stuffed with something.)  We carried stuff through the snow and stuffed her little Ford Taurus as well, even strapping a cargo carrier to the top of the car.

Finally, by 2 O’clock Tuesday afternoon the apartment was clean, everything was packed and we were ready to go.

It was still snowing, but it was now -1 degree Fahrenheit.

My little four-cylinder engine had a difficult time getting the trailer rolling.

The motor in her little Ford had trouble getting started.

However, with a little coaxing and patience both cars were on the road.

This stage lasted about five minutes.  The Ford blew its engine.  Did I mention it was an old Ford Taurus?

-1 degree weather, the car had not had time to warm up and my wife and daughter were sitting beside the road in a freezing, dead car.

We rented the smallest truck U-Haul had, loaded everything from the car into the U-Haul, and hooked the trailer to the back of the U-Haul.  We spent the night in a hotel there in Denver.  The next day we junked the car and were on the road again by about 2 o’clock.

After two days of perfect driving weather, we arrived in Pasadena 10 hours after the Rose Bowl parade.  After driving twelve hundred miles, we missed the parade.

After a Sunday morning service, I am usually tired.  However, getting my daughter moved was a higher priority than rest.  Snow and cold are not conducive to packing and loading, but she needed to be in Pasadena to start classes the next Monday.  It was a relief to be rid of the car, but the truck was an unexpected expense.  In any case, we were committed.  We were intent on getting to California.

This trip ended up being a wonderful time for us together as a family.  We had no trouble deciding what to do next throughout the trip because the goal was clear.

Life is full of distractions, good and bad, that can get us off track.  It is possible to travel through life and never get anywhere because the goal is unclear.  It is possible to travel through life and fall short of the goal because of distractions.  It is possible to start out with the goal clearly in mind, but stop short because of obstacles.

The sight of sunny ski slopes tempted me, but we did not even slow down as we zoomed by on our way to California.

In His 33 years, Jesus accomplished what the Father had sent Him to do.

Distractions, obstacles, opposition and temptations did not stop Him.

At the start of His 3-year public ministry, Mark shows that Jesus came with a definite purpose.

In verses 29 through 39, we see how intently Jesus stayed focused on His purpose.

Mark 1:29-39 starts after Synagogue services finish on the Sabbath.  The preceding verses tell how Jesus had taught that morning.  Everybody had been amazed at His teaching.  Jesus had even cast a demon out of a man when the demon had tried to interrupt the teaching.

The synagogue services ended so Jesus, James and John went to Simon and Andrew’s house.  (Mark 1:29)  Jesus and His four disciples went to spend their Sabbath afternoon with family.  Peter’s mother-in-law was confined to her bed with a fever.  They immediately let Jesus know about her.  Jesus healed her.  The healing was immediate and complete.  The fact that she was able to wait on them right away shows there were no residual effects of the fever.  No dialogue is reported.  The actions of Jesus are reported.  Later in His ministry, the Jewish leaders criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, but this time this was a private miracle, witnessed only by the family members.

Verses 32 and 33 say, “That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus.  The whole town gathered at the door to watch.”[i]  (NLT)

They waited until evening because the work of getting the sick and demon-possessed people to Jesus would be a violation of the Sabbath.  However, they did not wait for the next day.  As soon as it was possible, people flocked to Jesus.  They had heard His teaching in the synagogue.  They had seen Him cast the demons out of the man in the synagogue.

Mark and Luke tell us that Jesus healed many people and cast out many demons.  He did not start until after sunset so it is not hard to imagine that this went on well into the night.

If one continues to read Mark, he or she will find that Jesus gets so busy healing the sick and casting out demons that in chapter 3 His mother and brothers come to try to take Him away.  (Mark 3:20, 30)

Instant success, instant popularity and a huge gathering of people were all there for Jesus.  So, what did He do?

He got away by Himself to pray.  Verse 35 says he got up before daybreak.  I liked how the Greek said it, “He departed having risen when it was still very much night and was praying.” He got away.  His departure is the emphasis of the sentence.  Why did he do this? 

Peter’s family probably could have used more help.  Capernaum probably had more sick and demon possessed.  Jesus seems to have seen these things as a possible distraction.

When everyone got up in the morning, they noticed Jesus was missing.  Simon and the others went looking for Him.  When they found Him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”  

Jesus’s response is the point of all that He has been doing.  Jesus says, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too.  That is why I came.” 

He is giving the reason for what he is doing.

Driving to Denver was not our purpose when we made our trip.  Loading stuff into the trailer was not our purpose.  Getting rid of an old car was not our purpose.  These were steps along the way.

Jesus is stating His purpose.  My own translation of what He says is, “Let’s be going into the neighboring towns, in order that I might preach because for this purpose I came forth.”  His purpose is the preaching.  This verb means to herald or proclaim a message. He had to move on to keep from being distracted from His purpose.

Luke tells the story of Jesus announcing His ministry in Nazareth, His boyhood home.  It goes like this:

¹⁶When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.  ¹⁷The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.  He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

¹⁹and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

²⁰He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.  All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.  ²¹Then he began to speak to them.  “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”  (Luke 4:16-21, NLT)

Here also, it states that the Lord anointed Him to deliver good news and to proclaim a message.  Everyone was staring at Jesus, because He had stopped in the middle of the passage.  He was not there to establish a political kingdom yet.  Therefore, His statement that this Scripture was fulfilled that very day was referring to the proclaiming of the Good News.

Jesus’s purpose according to His statement in Mark 1:38 was to preach.

Casting out demons and healing the sick were the consequences of His preaching.

Demons are representatives of darkness.  John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”  (NLT)  By His very presence, Jesus exposed demons.  In the synagogue, it was His teaching that exposed the demons.  As people brought their troubled family and friends to Jesus for help, the demons troubling them were exposed and cast out.

Jesus is the answer to demon possession and oppression.  Demons are no less active today than they were in Jesus’s day.  They may have changed tactics to fit our rational culture, but they are active.  The answer is the gospel.  The name of Jesus carries the authority to cast out demons.  It is not a ceremony, or a certain set of words that carries authority.  It is the person of Jesus.

When disease and sickness confronted Jesus, they had to yield.  Simon’s mother-in-law could not remain sick in Jesus’s presence.  All who were brought to Jesus for healing were healed.  The only thing that ever stopped Him was unbelief, and unbelief only stopped Him because people did not bring the oppressed to Jesus.  If we do not go to Jesus for help, He will not help us.

Throughout Jesus’s ministry great crowds gathered around Him.  He healed them.  He cast out demons.  He fed them.  However, these things were not His primary purpose.  These things could have become distractions.  Everybody was looking for Him, but He never hesitated in what to do next because His purpose was clear.  In order to stay on the right course, He took time to be alone with God.  We see it in Mark 1:36 when He got up when it was still very much night and went out to a deserted place to pray.  We see Him doing this throughout His ministry.

We benefit from our relationship with Jesus.  Demons are cast out as we draw near to Him.  Marriages are improved by a relationship with Jesus.  Families are held together by a relationship with Jesus.  Alcoholics are freed, lives are changed and conditions improved.  These are consequences of His presence but they are not the primary purpose.

The gospel is still the purpose.  Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”[ii]  (John 10:10, ESV)  

John 17:2&3 also address His purpose.  “You have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  (ESV)

The Apostle Paul says, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”  (Philippians 3:8, NLT)

Have we become distracted?  Do we focus on the consequences of the Gospel at the expense of the primary purpose?

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[i]  Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Authority

I like to cook.

I do not make a large variety of things, and even after years of cooking, I still ask advice from the family expert, my wife.

One of the things I like to make is Chicago style stuffed pizza.  It takes a few hours.  First, I make the dough.  This takes about 2 hours because after kneading it until it is just right, I let it rise.  When the dough is about done rising, I mix basil, oregano and garlic with tomatoes to create the sauce.  Then I prepare the filling; usually sausage or hamburger.  Splitting the dough into two lumps and rolling out the first lump, I put the first layer of what will be the crust in the bottom of the pizza pan.  Meat and cheese go on top of this.  Then the top crust is rolled out and put over the filling.  Sauce on top and then it bakes for about 45 minutes.

This is a rough outline of the baking process, and the pizza is quite good.  The part not yet told is the total disaster area that the kitchen becomes.  Flour, tomato, spices, meat and cheese packaging litter the kitchen, and measuring cups, mixing spoons, frying pan and every surface in the kitchen are a mess.

It takes more work to clean up the mess than it does to make it.

Life also gets chaotic.

If a person does not know the recipe or follow directions, he or she ends up with an unidentifiable mess.  Bad ingredients or the wrong ingredients will also lead to a mess.

The process of living creates messes.  Misunderstandings, mistakes and offenses of all sorts just happen.

A large number of people have recipes for success.  Friends and parents share their recipes informally as advice often whether we ask for it or not.  Many write books, articles, and blogs sharing their recipes for success.  The recipes cover many, many subjects.  There are recipes for success in business, relationships, marriage, finance, sales, and as many other subjects as one cares to mention.

If one reads a couple books on any subject, he or she will soon discover that the recipes are not the same. 

Not all pizza recipes are the same, so one would not expect all the recipes for relationships to be the same either.  However, it also is apparent that not everyone is equally qualified to speak to any given subject.

To solve this problem, we look at credentials.

The person who started a chain of pizza restaurants in Chicago wrote my pizza cookbook.  I know he knows how to make pizza, because I have eaten his pizza.  I follow his recipes, but his pizza is still so much better than mine is.  His pizza is the best in the world.  If you do not believe me, visit Giordano’s in Chicago and check it out for yourself.

Pizza is one thing, but what about relationships; who is the authority we should turn to for relationships?

The bigger questions concern truth, reality and God.  Who can speak to these subjects?  Who can tell us with certainty how to be right with God?  Who has ever gone up to heaven and brought back a report?  Who can say what truth is?

Pilot asked, “What is truth?”

The more we know about the universe, the less certainty we have in describing what it is. The more we learn about the atom, the more of a mystery it becomes.  If we are at a loss to explain the physical world, how can we speak with any amount of certainty about things we cannot see?

James warns us, “. . . not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.  Indeed, we all make many mistakes.”[i]  (James 3:1&2, NLT)

Unlike any other person in history, Jesus had the authority to teach.

His recipe for life is the perfect recipe.  He is the One who came down from heaven and can give us a report. He can say what truth is.  He can tell us with certainty how to be right with God.

At the outset of his public ministry, Jesus demonstrated His authority.

Mark 1:21-28 tells the story of Jesus beginning his teaching ministry.

Verse 21 says, “Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.  When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.”  (NLT)

Wherever Jewish people settled, they built a synagogue.  A synagogue was a place of gathering, worship and learning.  The questions addressed in a synagogue would be questions about truth, reality and God. 

Verse 22 says, “The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.”  (NLT)

Here we see that those present immediately recognized something different about Jesus’s teaching.  They saw He taught with real authority.  This was different from the teachers of religious law.

The teachers of religious law mentioned here are those who are also known as “scribes.”  These men studied the Old Testament and all that the rabbis said about the Old Testaments. They were experts in the Old Testament.  If any man was qualified to teach what the Old Testament scriptures mean, these men should have been.  Later in His ministry, Jesus chastised them with these words, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me!  Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”  (John 5:39-40, NLT)

We face this problem as teachers.  How can the one who has never made a pizza teach how to make a pizza?  How can the one who does not know God teach how to know God? 

This brings us to the question of authority.  Mark 1:22 says Jesus taught with authority.

First, let’s ask, “What is authority?”

According to the dictionary, a simple definition is “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”[ii]  This is a start.  I want to know more.

The Greek word used by Mark is “ἐξουσίαν.”  This is a word created by combining two words, “ek” and “eimi.”  “ek” means "out from," and it intensifies  “eimí”, which means "to be.”  In other words, “eimi” means “I am.”[iii]  The Greeks did not use “I am” to refer to God the way the Hebrews did, but I find the connection curious.  The king has authority by right of who he is; being is enough.  The ultimate meaning of this would be God, and actually, there is no authority without God.

However, there is more meaning to the word authority.  The dictionary said, “the right to give orders.”  Giving orders, means to impose one’s will on a situation and thus bring organization or order to an otherwise confused situation.  It is to establish order.  This is what authority does.

The authority of the recipe brings order from the chaos of my kitchen to produce a pizza.  The authority of the pizza chef resides in him as knowledge gained by experience.

The authority of God brought order out of the chaos of what was formless and void to produce the creation.

The Scribes did not have it within their being to produce order out of the chaos of teachings surrounding truth, reality and God. 

Everything was different with Jesus.  All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge dwell within Him.  All the answers people gathered in the synagogue to get, dwelt within Jesus.  His teaching with authority brought order to the mess of confusion surrounding the scribes’ teaching.

The people were amazed.  They were dumbfounded; open mouthed, slack jawed, thunderstruck.

We have an enemy.  He is the enemy of our souls and of the truth.  He is the father of lies, the deceiver of the brethren. 

When Jesus started teaching the truth, Mark tells us, “Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, ²⁴’Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’”  (Mark 1:23&24, NLT)

Is it not interesting that the demons should ask, “Why are you interfering with us?”  All Jesus was doing was teaching the truth.

The author of all the chaos and confusion in our world is Satan.  This does not excuse those who do his will, but he is behind all of it.  He lies, confuses and twists the truth so badly that the whole world lies in darkness.  Metaphorically speaking, the kitchen is a mess and no one can make a pizza.

In this synagogue, Jesus brought order and truth.  He shut the demons up and imposed His will on them.  Doing this, He demonstrated His authority.  By the right of who He is, He spoke and taught with authority.  As a result, the people said, “What sort of new teaching is this?  It has such authority!  Even evil spirits obey his orders!” (Mark 1:27, NLT)

Whatever mess you might be in, whatever question you may have, whatever you may be seeking in life Jesus is where you need to go for answers.

His authority can bring order to our chaos.

Do not go looking for the recipes of life from those who have never made a pizza.

Look to Jesus.  He is the way and the truth and the life.

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[i] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=authority

[iii] http://biblehub.com/greek/1849.htm