FAITH IS ALL IT TAKES (MT 9:18-22)

SERIES: DON’T BELIEVE IT, PART 2

GCEFC: JULY 26, 2009

INTRODUCTION

1. This morning our summer sermon series brings us to Matthew chapter 9, where one of the most common Christian errors in thinking is exposed.

2. In this series, Don’t Believe It, we’re looking at commonly held beliefs among Christians that are believed to be taught in the Bible. But as we explore them together, we’ll discover the Bible does not teach them at all.

3. In this passage, Jesus is on his way to the home of a Jewish official named Jairus, whose young daughter has just died. Jesus is going there to raise her from the dead.

4. But as they’re walking along, Jesus is approached by a woman who had her own physical issue. We pick up the narrative in V20: Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed from that moment.

5. Those who have heard or read this story often misunderstand what it says. On the surface the passage seems to be teaching a particular aspect of faith.

6. The most commonly held belief about faith is that faith has an inherent ability to accomplish a desired result. That faith has a power in and of itself that when released, can accomplish great things.

a. So you’ll hear someone say: I know the diagnosis is grim, but if you just have faith— you’ll get well.

b. Or: I know we’re down by 10 runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes on the worst hitter on the team. But if we just have faith—we’ll win.

c. Even this passage seems to be saying that it was this woman’s faith that healed her. That there was some power resident in her faith that accomplished her healing.

d. In fact, isn’t that what the passage says? This woman had a physical malady for 12 years. Her faith was so strong that she believed if she only touched the edge of Jesus’ garment—she would be healed!

e. And what does Jesus say to her? Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you!

7. So shouldn’t we believe there is power in the very act of faith? That whatever we believe can happen will happen? Or as the positive thinking gurus claim: Whatever you can believe you can achieve?

8. But is this really true? Does the Bible really teach this?

A. A DEMONSTRATION

1. This is one of those cases when it might be easier to demonstrate the principle than verbalize it.

2. Weak and strong wooden platform demonstration.

3. What I want us to see from this demonstration is that it was not my faith that brought the results. There was no resident power in my faith one way or the other.

4. The object I had faith in was the one that failed. And the object I had no faith in was the one that succeeded.

5. Which tells us that it’s not faith itself that accomplishes the result—rather it’s the object of the faith. It’s what the faith is placed in that matters.

6. Even though my faith was strong in the first case—the object of my faith was weak—so it didn’t hold me.

7. And though my faith was weak in the second case—the object of my faith was strong—so it held me up.

B. THE PASSAGE REVISITED

1. So let’s revisit MT 9 from a different perspective.

2. This woman had incredible faith. But what was her faith actually in?

3. We’re told that she believed if she simply touched the edge of Jesus’ garment, she’d be healed. So what does this mean?

4. It means she had incredible faith in Jesus. Her faith in his ability to heal her was so strong and so certain that she didn’t think it was even necessary to speak to him.

5. She thought just touching his garment would be sufficient—and it was.

6. But what about Jesus’ remark that it was her faith that healed her? Well it was her faith that healed her. But it was her faith in Jesus that healed her—not faith itself.

7. The object of her faith was Christ. It wasn’t her faith in faith that healed her. It was her faith in Christ that healed her.

8. Just as it wasn’t my weak faith in the stronger platform that held me up. It was the stronger platform that held me up.

9. Just as it wasn’t my strong faith in the weaker platform that let me down. It was the weaker platform that let me down.

10. Faith is only as reliable as its object. Weak faith in a strong object will bring good results. Strong faith in a weak object will bring disastrous results.

11. This is why Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. He was saying that small faith in a powerful God can move mountains.

12. He wasn’t saying that faith in some general, ill-defined, positive thinking way can move mountains. He’s saying faith in him can move mountains because he can move mountains.

C. ADDITIONAL BIBLICAL SUPPORT

1. The next passage, which we’ll look at briefly, may teach this principle even more clearly.

2. MT 9:27: As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith will it be done to you’; and their sight was restored.

3. In this passage Jesus asks the blind men if they believe he is able to heal them. They respond with an unequivocal yes.

4. He then says as he’s healing them it’s according to their faith that their healing has come.

5. This means exactly what it means in the previous passage. What healed the blind men is their faith in Jesus’ ability to heal them.

6. He asks them if they believe he can do this? They say yes, they believe he can. They have faith in what Jesus can do. He’s the object of their faith.

7. And he heals them according to their faith. That is, in agreement with it, consistent with it, in conformity to it.

8. This means that their healing came because their faith was in agreement with Jesus’ power, ability, and desire to heal them.

9. Had Jesus chosen not to heal them, no amount of faith in the world could have brought it about. Their faith agreed with what Jesus desired to do. So it was as good as done.

10. Even if the faith of the men had been weak—they would have still been healed. Simply because the object of their faith—Jesus—was strong!

D. THE POINT

1. So how does this apply to us?

2. It means we must understand the nature of faith as taught in the Word of God. The Bible does not teach that faith saves us. It teaches that Jesus saves us.

3. Faith is an English word that translates a Greek word that has the essential meaning of TRUST. To have faith in Jesus means to trust him.

4. He’s the strong object in whom we trust. It’s our faith in him that results in our salvation.

5. JN 3:16 does not say that whoever has faith shall not perish but have eternal life. It doesn’t say that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life.

6. What it says is that whoever believes IN HIM. Whoever has faith IN HIM. Whoever trusts IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.

7. Don’t be misled by the modern concept of faith. Rely on what the Bible teaches about faith. One will delude and confuse. The other will bring forgiveness, salvation, and life.