This Sunday we begin a sermon series called “Help My Unbelief.” This series is designed to explore the doubts that coexist with our faith -- the questions that nag us and draw us to seriously consider abandoning God. The issues that we’re going to discuss over the next ten weeks reflect our struggles about God’s goodness in the face of evil; the ironic notion of the church as an agent to heal the broken; the uniqueness of the Christian message in a world of many other religious traditions; the challenges of scientific discovery to long-held tenets of Christian faith; the silence of God when we desperately long for His speech; the way the Bible often seems so inadequate to address our contemporary situation.
These questions are drawn not from a textbook, but from our lives -- from the questions you’ve asked me as your pastor; from the questions I myself have had and still wrestle with.
This Sunday we start this series with a story from Mark 9 where a man with a desperately ill son seeks help from the disciples only to face failure (once again). Into this scene of despair Jesus steps. Yet before He acts, He draw the father into divulging his frustration and pain. Jesus then offers the man unimagined grace to which he responds “I do believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
That cry is one of the most honest prayers ever recorded. It is the pray of faith and desperation; the longing for God in the midst of a hopeless situation. It is a prayer for us to learn from and to emulate -- to not downplay our doubt, but to bring it to Jesus.
Join us this Sunday to see how Christ answers this prayer and how your own doubts and frustration can lead to an unexpected experience of grace and peace. See you Sunday at 10 AM for worship and at 9 AM for Sunday School for children and adults.
Grace,
Sam
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The message today seemed to suggest that the belief God cares about has more to do with a rectification of the one’s attitude toward God than striving to believe a proposition per se, and even that “striving to believe” is in fact contrary to God’s kind of faith. I was encouraged. And yet consider Mark 11:23-24:
ReplyDelete"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
This sounds like Jesus is encouraging effortful self-persuasion and the willful suppression of doubt. The focus seems to be on the proposition that “it will be done for him” rather than on the underlying relational factors (although v 22 mitigates this to some degree). Thus, it is discouraging for folks who feel that they have sincere, honest reasons for skepticism, suggesting God can’t be counted on to help them with it when they ask (even if occasionally he might roll his eyes and help one or two of these disappointing deadbeats anyway, as in Mark 9 or John 20). Furthermore, for such people it seems to create a competition between tenacious honesty and faith.
I don’t want to believe all that, but if it’s wrong, I want to know it’s wrong, not just optimistically try to ignore it. How do you respond? (I welcome thoughts from everyone)