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Faith for Excruciating Times
18 Plays29 days ago
Series: Discernment of Jesus' Person
Mark 5:21-6:6
Recommended
Transcript
The Inevitability of Death and Faith Crisis
00:00:01
Speaker
I want to begin this morning by sharing some breaking news. So just look up here real quick for me, if you will. um A current poll shows that 10 out of 10 people will personally experience their own death in their lifetime. Maybe it's not breaking news. For some of you, that reality is a little closer than others. We never know, quite frankly, when that time will come.
00:00:29
Speaker
None of us are immune from the tragedies of life.
C.S. Lewis on Grief and True Belief
00:00:32
Speaker
If there's anything that can really shake somebody to their very core to rattle them of their faith, it is the loss of somebody in their life. C.S. Lewis wrote a book about the grief he experienced when he lost his wife to cancer. In this book, A Grief Observed, Lewis writes, you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or its falsehood becomes a matter of life or death to you." He goes on and says, it's easy to say that you believe in a rope to be very strong and be very sound as you merely use it to tie up a box. He said, however, if you use that rope to hang and dangle yourself over a large cliff, you better be sure you've really tested and trusted that rope in the first place.
00:01:27
Speaker
C.S. Lewis touches on something that many of us experience during tragedies. Mainly, it's a crisis of faith. It's not something often spoken about from the pulpit. People will call it doubt. It's easy to hang on to faith when things are going well, but when we struggle because of something traumatic in our lives, our faith is really tested.
Doubt and Faith During Tragedy
00:01:53
Speaker
And we're left hanging over a cliff often wondering, is God going to show up? And friends, let me guarantee, this is the perfect time that the enemy loves to step in. And he loves to sow seeds of doubt. We can end up questioning God's goodness, and perhaps even God's very existence.
00:02:20
Speaker
It's a time, friends, when We don't really want to show that we have weak faith, but our weak faith kind of rises to the surface. And we don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that for you. What I want you to have is strong faith. Say strong faith. What I want you to have is powerful faith. Say powerful faith. What I want you to have is effective faith. Say effective.
00:02:51
Speaker
It's only proven effective when the trials come, when the storms come, when the excruciating times of tragedy strike our lives.
Faith Responses in Mark 5-6
00:03:01
Speaker
Friends, this is what we're gonna look at today in Mark chapter five, going into chapter six. If you have your outlines, you'll see we're gonna talk about two tragedies. One of disease, one of death. We're all gonna see two responses of faith to those tragedies.
00:03:19
Speaker
And we're going to answer the question this morning, in the face of life's tragedies, what kind of faith are you and I called to exhibit? If you have your Bible, which I know you do, turn with me, Mark chapter five. Mark chapter five. Do you remember last week we said that Jesus' authority was, we use this word, all-encompassing, right? It covered over nature.
00:03:46
Speaker
It covered over the demonic we saw last week. This week, it's going to cover over disease and death itself. On his way to the other side, we said last week, he experienced a storm, a traumatic storm that we said was beating up the boat, to which Jesus simply said, stop, and it stopped. He had that same authority over the legion of demons, you'll remember. He said, out, and they went out.
00:04:16
Speaker
He's over the natural, he's over the supernatural, and today we're gonna see him go back to the other side, back to the Jewish territory, where he's gonna experience two more unclean events.
Jairus and the Hemorrhaging Woman: Stories of Faith
00:04:30
Speaker
He's gonna experience an unclean woman who has 12 years been bleeding, and we're gonna see he's gonna encounter an unclean corpse, somebody who has passed away.
00:04:43
Speaker
Two stories going on. I don't want you to miss this today. That's why I took the time to put it in your outline. The stories are intricately written today in such a beautiful way if you're somebody who loves literature, you'll want to read these stories over and over because the author's doing something really special with them. That's why I put the two parallels in your outline. You'll see they're very closely written. The first story, the outer story is this story of Jairus's daughter who is dying. you'll You'll be very familiar with this story. And the inner story, which parallels this, is the story he deals with this hemorrhaging woman. So let's begin with this outer story, if you will. Look with me, Mark 5, beginning in verse 21. Verse 21 says, Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side, where a large crowd had gathered around him on the shore.
00:05:38
Speaker
Then a leader of a local synagogue whose name was Jairus arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet pleading fervently with him, my little daughter is dying. Please come and lay your hands on her. Heal her so that she might live.
00:05:59
Speaker
Friends, here's an interesting beginning of this story that we're told. There's a crowd around Jesus. he's His popularity is growing, and he's back in Jewish territory, and it says this unlikely person, a man, a prominent man, who is over the synagogue, who's respected, cuts through this crowd of people, and he does the unthinkable.
00:06:28
Speaker
Now you and I, when we read this, probably don't really understand what's going on. This is a respected man in the community and he's so desperate that he casts aside all his dignity and he throws himself at the feet of Jesus, pleading with him. You can look right there at what he says. Please help my daughter.
00:06:59
Speaker
who is just coincidentally 12 years old. Anybody with young kids right now as I look out? Just keep that in your mind, 12 years old. 12 years old who is dying, or the actual condition here, this word is really, ah it's critical, this is eschatos in the Greek. He's letting you know she's sinking fast.
00:07:23
Speaker
It's the same picture you have when the hull of a ship crashes and the water starts pouring in and the ship is going down. It's this word picture that he's saying, death is knocking at this little girl's door. It's a dire situation. It's a life or death situation. My little daughter is dying. Jesus, please, come now. What's interesting to me is that we're told the severity of the condition, right?
00:07:52
Speaker
This isn't a little girl that has some disease. She doesn't have a bad cough. She's not lame or paralyzed. It says she is dying.
00:08:05
Speaker
The author is doing something here simply by telling us she's dying and she's not sick. She doesn't have a disease. She's not lame because, friends, we've seen Jesus already heal all that.
00:08:20
Speaker
type of sickness. He's already cast out demons. He's already quieted the storm. He's already healed people who were paralyzed. But death is something different. And the author's letting you know. It's inevitable. It's critical. It's eminent. It's right at the door. And if this daughter dies, hear me right now. It is catastrophic.
00:08:45
Speaker
Perhaps you've walked through something like this before in your own life.
00:08:52
Speaker
the unthinkable catastrophic loss of a child.
00:08:59
Speaker
Death comes for all of us, but there's a certain type of unthinkable loss that comes when the loss of a child occurs.
Desperation-driven Faith and Jesus' Response
00:09:10
Speaker
Can shake a person to their very core. Can make them start questioning their faith. Can rattle them.
00:09:21
Speaker
And all sorts of doubts can just start pouring in. Can you imagine just for a second how desperate Jairus is in this moment? How hopeless he must have felt? How helpless he must have been? Because if you're a father right now, you know your job is to what? You have one job with it comes to your children. Protect them.
00:09:45
Speaker
Your job as a man, as a father, is to protect your children. And here is a prominent man who is in the community who is well known, who can't save his daughter. Now, while the text doesn't explicitly say this, I think I can make an inference and be safe here, because these two stories are so paralleled.
00:10:06
Speaker
I bet he's already exhausted all his own capabilities to get his daughter fixed. He's probably gone to the synagogue. He's probably gone to the doctors. He's probably gone to healers. And he's gotten no response. His daughter is dying, but there is one thing he hasn't tried yet. He's heard about this man that can heal, this man, Jesus, who's become so popular that the crowds keep coming around him.
00:10:37
Speaker
Jairus knew he trusted and he believed that if Jesus would simply come and touch his daughter, she would indeed live. And Jesus needs no convincing. Look, verse 24. It says, Jesus went with him. Wasn't Jesus questioned him exactly how sick is she? It shows that Jesus really cares for this young girl. It says he immediately went.
00:11:08
Speaker
And the crowds followed with him. And you would imagine, verse 25, if you're unfamiliar with this story, you would think Jesus was going to Jairus' house right now. Verse 25 should read, Jesus went to Jairus' house and he immediately healed this girl. But what does verse 25 tell us? Look with me, it says, a woman in the crowd had suffered 12 years with constant bleeding. And you're going, wait, what a so wait what happened?
00:11:36
Speaker
No, he's going to Jairus' house to save Jairus' daughter. But friends, there's this interruption in the story, and this is where the inner story starts.
00:11:48
Speaker
Let's look at this inner story. It says, there's a woman in the crowd who had suffered 12 years with constant bleeding. How old was Jairus' daughter? She was 12. Now, here's a woman who had been suffering for 12 years. The author's doing something here.
00:12:04
Speaker
So she'd been suffering for 12 years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal for many doctors and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them. But she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. And she had heard about Jesus. so She came up behind him through the crowd and she touched his robe.
00:12:28
Speaker
What's going on with this lady? 12 years she's dealt with this problem of bleeding, some type of hemorrhaging, right? We're not told here by Mark exactly what that is. But as an ongoing constant problem that has made her ceremonially unclean, she can't go in the temple, she can't worship, she can't go around other people, she's like a leper, she's an outcast, she's exhausted everything she could possibly do herself.
00:13:03
Speaker
But she's heard of this guy named Jesus. Do you see the parallels? There's a guy, Jesus, who may just be the solution. So it says she does the most unthinkable thing. She comes out in the open, in the middle of a crowd, which she would never do.
00:13:23
Speaker
If you were an outcast, if you were a leper, or if you had something, some type of problem like this constant bleeding and you were seen as unclean, you would never go out in public like this. But it says she's that desperate. She runs through the crowd, same thing the gyros did, and she throws herself at the feet of Jesus and she reaches out thinking to herself, if I simply do what? If I just touch it, if I just Just touch the road, the hem of the road.
00:13:58
Speaker
She's not a man of prominence. She's a woman who's an outcast. But she realizes just how dire her situation is, just like Jairus did.
00:14:14
Speaker
And when she's tried everything she possibly can herself, she feels like the only way I'm ever going to get healed of this is to throw myself at the feet of Jesus, to which she does. And she reaches out and she touches him in this display of powerful faith, an unclean person touching the robe of the Savior.
00:14:38
Speaker
And i like I love it, looked at the response, verse 30, it says, at once Jesus realized the power had left from him, and so he turns around in the crowd and he says what? Who touched my robe?
00:14:53
Speaker
Let me ask you a question. Did Jesus know who touched his robe? Sure he did. Why does he ask that question like this? It's an interesting question, don't you think?
00:15:04
Speaker
In the middle of a crowd, here's a woman who's so desperately needing him, she throws herself at his feet and touches his robe and it says that immediately she's healed. And if you just look a few more verses down to verse 34, this is Jesus saying, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is now over. He's saying this to the entire crowd.
00:15:30
Speaker
He knows who touched his robe. But he's saying to the entire crowd, hey, stop what you're doing. Pay attention. And everybody stops and they look. And this girl is terrified. Says she's frightened, verse 33. She's realized not just what's happened. Hey, I'm unclean. I'm out in public. I'm at my last straw. And I reach out and I touch the Savior. It says she's immediately healed. And she knows it.
00:15:59
Speaker
And he says, hey, crowd, pay attention. to Look what's going on. And in one sentence, he says, daughter, your faith has made you what? Whole. He's not just healed her physically. He's healed her spiritually, and he has healed her socially.
00:16:21
Speaker
This woman is no longer an outcast. This woman is no longer unable to go to the temple. And he's letting everybody know, look what happened in this person's faith. It wasn't the touching of his robe that saved her. It was her faith.
00:16:42
Speaker
This type of faith is a complete trust in Jesus to handle any situation, including and even a debilitating disease like this lady had. And I just put a note to myself this week as I reviewed this, how fantastic is this type of faith? Who doesn't want this type of faith? This is powerful faith, say powerful faith. This is a faith that does anything at any time, even when the crowds say you would you shouldn't do that.
00:17:16
Speaker
Don't ever come out, you're unclean. Don't go out, don't do that. Do you know how silly you'll be if you throw yourself at the feet of Jesus? This type of faith says, I don't care. I'm willing to risk it, because he's my savior. And it says, this woman is now made whole. Now let's not forget about Jairus and his daughter. Look with me here, verse 35.
The Purpose of Divine Delay
00:17:46
Speaker
It says while he was still speaking to her, this is Jesus speaking to the woman who has now been healed. It says, messengers arrive from the house of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, and they tell him, your daughter is, she's no longer dying, friends, she's dead.
00:18:04
Speaker
There's no use of troubling the teacher now. But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus two things, don't be afraid, just have faith.
00:18:19
Speaker
Let's stop right there for a second. So understand the story that's happening here. Jairus' daughter on her deathbed, he throws himself at the feet of Jesus. Jesus says, let's go. But in the interim, he gets stopped by this other woman to which he heals. But during that time, Jairus' daughter dies.
00:18:46
Speaker
Can you imagine? i just put first observations to myself. Can you imagine how frustrated Jairus might have been at this point? Can you imagine his despair?
00:19:00
Speaker
Jesus, what if you had just shown it up on time? and I don't need a sign of hands, but I'm sure most of you have prayed this prayer at one point or another. Jesus, if you had just shown up on time, so-and-so wouldn't have happened. Why didn't you show up on time?
00:19:19
Speaker
Where were you? Don't you love me? Don't you know I'm devout? Man, I'm in church every week.
00:19:31
Speaker
See, if you're reading this account some 2,000 years later, and you don't really know what's going on in the text, you might very well ask yourself a very similar question. Where were you? Why didn't you show up? But I want you to be real clear on what Jesus is doing here.
00:19:49
Speaker
And I want to explain it, because on the surface value, you may hear this and it may shock you.
00:19:57
Speaker
Jesus delayed seeing Jairus's daughter on purpose. I'll say that again. Jesus delayed getting to Jairus's daughter on purpose. And you say to yourself, well, that just doesn't make any sense, Pastor. Why would he do such a thing?
00:20:18
Speaker
Because see, friends, he's already healed the sick. He's already healed the lame. He's already cast out demons. He's already stopped nature. He's already stopped the supernatural. And now what he's gonna do is he's gonna say, I'm gonna wait until she dies because only God can resurrect from the dead. So he has a purpose in the delay. Now, I'll be quite upfront.
00:20:45
Speaker
If you're gyrus, you're probably thinking, I don't understand what Jesus is doing right now. Matter of fact, it would cause me some great despair. He let my daughter die, my little girl die. But what he says to him here, friends, is telling. Verse 36, he simply says two things. Don't be afraid and just have what? Faith. Why does he tell him don't be afraid?
00:21:15
Speaker
because Jesus already knew what he was going to do.
00:21:20
Speaker
See, friends of Jesus isn't sovereign, meaning if he's not in control and he doesn't know what's going on, then that crazy death that just so happens in your life, you think to yourself, where in the world did this come from? That didn't catch Jesus by surprise. He's using that in a certain way, just like he is today. And he says, don't be afraid, Jairus. I know what I'm doing. I wanna comfort you. I wanna encourage you. All you have to do is believe. I told Jim Schreiner today, I had a preaching professor in seminary. He said, I can tell you right now, 90% of your sermons are gonna be believed.
00:22:01
Speaker
He goes, I'll just tell you that right now. He goes, worry about the other 10%. He goes, everything that comes up in the Bible is a matter of your belief. are you goingnna believe ah excuse me Are you going to believe that Jesus is not big enough that he can't cure that disease your family member is going through? Oh, he's bigger than that disease.
00:22:25
Speaker
If you're here today and you're thinking to yourself, I don't know if he can fix fill in the blank in my life. Guess what? He can. See, the word belief here in the Greek is not a one-time event. He's not asking Jairus, just believe today this one time. He's saying, believe and continue believing. Have that type of ongoing, steady, no matter what type of faith that each one of us should display as Christians.
Resurrection and Jesus' Authority
00:22:56
Speaker
Now, I love how this story wraps up. Look at me here, verse 37. He says, then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn't let anyone go inside, because he's at Jairus' house now, except for Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. He says, when they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw so much commotion and weeping and wailing, and he went inside, and he asked. I love this, too. there Sometimes you just get some of these questions by Jesus.
00:23:21
Speaker
And you got you got to kind of know what's going on to really appreciate it. He's like, why is all the commotion happening here? What are you all weeping for? Stop that. This child isn't dead. She's only asleep. Such to which the crowd responded, what? A mocking laugh, right? That's what this is. Says, but he made them all leave.
00:23:50
Speaker
It's a forceful leaving, he kicked him out. And he took this girl's father and mother and the three disciples into the room where the girl was lying, and he holds her hand. He's reaching out and touching a corpse. Somebody that's unclean, the savior, doesn't care, touches her and says, Talith Akum, which means little girl get up. And just like the demon that left, this girl gets up, just like that.
00:24:24
Speaker
they were overwhelmed and totally amazed. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and they they gave her something to eat. why Why just a little detail like that? Give her something to eat? It's because she really was brought back to life. She really wasn't just sleeping. He didn't really just wake her up. She was really dead, and he really brought her back to life, and she was hungry, and he gave her some food.
00:24:49
Speaker
And then he tells this what I like about this. Don't tell anybody else because it's not the time. Friends, do you think that that secret is kept right here after this little girl has been raised? No, they're running out telling everybody.
00:25:07
Speaker
It's a type of faith that Jairus shows here. Jesus, I have no other way to get out of this desperate situation, this hopeless situation, this helpless situation.
Building Strong, Fearless Faith
00:25:20
Speaker
I need a savior. I need somebody who can do the impossible. I need somebody who is over life and death itself. I need somebody who is the master over death and the grave. You're the only person for the job. And it says Jesus restores this young lady.
00:25:39
Speaker
And the crowds jeer him, they laugh at him, but in the end it says they're all overwhelmed and amazed.
00:25:51
Speaker
Friends, are people overwhelmed and amazed at the kind of faith you display? Or is it laughable? I had a long time pastor that I listened to many, many years ago, and I wrote it down in the Bible. As I read this past week,
00:26:08
Speaker
And I thought, why did I even write this down? It's so silly of an illustration. But he said, in comparing two types of faith, he says, do you have the Pee-Wee Herman type of faith? Do you know who Pee-Wee Herman is? Do you remember that guy? Or do you have Arnold Schwarzenegger faith? And I just wrote Pee-Wee Herman and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I circled it with the word faith underneath it. And I thought at that time, isn't that a silly illustration? But then I thought, today, I just thought,
00:26:32
Speaker
You know, is that the type of faith that we have? This skinny, scrawny little faith that stopped willing to do anything or a big, hulking, powerful kind of faith that says, look at the look at the God that I serve. Look what he can do. We're called to have a strong faith. Say strong faith. We're called to have a powerful faith. Say powerful.
00:27:00
Speaker
And we're called to have an effective faith. Say effective. What does that look like today for you and I? This is where we're going to land today. What does it look like in your life and in my life when we face tragedy?
00:27:13
Speaker
What kind of faith are we to have? It is a fearless faith and a powerful faith. We're taking notes right, fearless and powerful. Faith that is fearless and powerful is one that says, first, I'm choosing to believe in the power and promise of Jesus, regardless of what other people say. It's a faith that doesn't care what other people say. Do you know how much bad theology is spoken at funerals?
00:27:44
Speaker
I'm gonna give you a hint, I'll budge. You know, I know this because I've been there and I've had people come up and say something like this, I'm so sorry for your loss, Jesus needed that person more than you did. And I want to say, really? Is that helpful in the moment?
00:28:06
Speaker
It's not just believers that say this, it's unbelievers as well. Come up with crazy stuff like this. The enemy loves jumping into these types of opportunities and just start sowing seeds of doubt.
00:28:19
Speaker
Did God really say he loved you? Is God really going to be for you? Is God somebody that you can rely on and to depend on? This is what the enemy likes to say. I don't see him showing up in this situation. He must not really like you.
00:28:35
Speaker
If he loved you, he wouldn't have taken your child or your spouse or your brother or your sister. That's the enemy. What has he done for you in return for all your devotion? That's the enemy.
00:28:49
Speaker
Stop listening to what the enemy says to you and stop listening to what those other people are saying to you and stick to what the scripture is saying to you. You want a faith that is fearless and powerful, stick to what the scripture tells you about that type of faith.
Faith in Impossible Situations
00:29:04
Speaker
That's first. Second, if you want a faith that is fearless and powerful, that type of faith says, I'm believing in the promises and the power of Jesus, regardless of my emotions.
00:29:19
Speaker
Your faith isn't rooted in your emotions. I'll say that again. Your faith is not rooted in your emotions. Why do I know that? Because your emotions, especially in the moments of tragedy, fail you. They're all over the place. Our faith is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ.
00:29:39
Speaker
and we're clinging to Scripture and what he says in our hour of need, and when we do that, his word informs us on how we are to respond to what he says is important in that particular time. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 gives explicit instruction on trusting our feelings. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, your own emotion, your own feelings.
00:30:06
Speaker
So rather, in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. In other words, we should put our full confidence in God at at the very core of our being, which includes our feelings. We should avoid relying on our own flawed understanding because you don't know what God is doing in every situation. Just like when we were in the Bible study today, Martha did such a great job, by the way, right? When the boat is sinking and Paul is there with the other prisoners on the ship,
00:30:37
Speaker
They didn't know that the shore was right around the corner. They didn't know that they were all 276. We're going to make it to the shore. God did.
00:30:50
Speaker
Seek to know God in all our ways and then He will make our paths straight. Third, if we want a faith that is strong and powerful,
00:31:05
Speaker
We do so in believing in the power and promise of Jesus, regardless of our situation. If your situation seems impossible,
00:31:14
Speaker
even better. I'll say that again. If your situation seems impossible, even better, because when God delivers you from that, He'll be the only one that gets the glory.
00:31:30
Speaker
If it's an incurable disease, if it's a loved one clinging to life, or some situation in which you think is so insurmountable, you're choosing to believe that Jesus is bigger than that problem. You're trusting, you're believing, you're having faith.
00:31:50
Speaker
when we remember that he's all-powerful and all-knowing and ever-present, that he's over nature, and he has overreach of everything that's supernatural, and he has overreach over everything that's disease-ridden, and he has reach and authority and dominion over death itself. What possibly can be bigger in your life that you are dealing with that he can't handle? To which the answer is nothing.
00:32:17
Speaker
So friends, that situation that you think is too big isn't too big for Jesus. You simply need to throw yourself at his feet and believe.
00:32:28
Speaker
May we be a people whose faith is strong and powerful and effective in the most excruciating times. That it's proven in the moments of tragedies that our faith in God is rooted well. And all God's people say, amen.