From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Power of Faith – Part 2

Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.         (Matthew 17:20b)

Jesus seems to contradict Himself, first rebuking the disciples for having small faith and then telling them that even the smallest faith can move mountains. But as He made clear in the parable of the mustard seed, the seed does not represent littleness as such, but rather littleness that grows into greatness. “When it is full grown,” He said, “it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree” (Matthew 13:32). Small faith can accomplish great things only if, like a mustard seed, it grows into something greater than it was. Only when small faith grows into great faith can it move a mountain.

Mustard-seed faith is persistent faith. It continues to grow and become productive because it never gives up. It’s the sort of faith exercised by the man who kept knocking on his neighbor’s door late at night until he got a response (Luke 11:8).

Jesus also illustrated mustard-seed faith in the parable of the oppressed widow (Luke 18:1-8), a parable He gave specifically “to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). When we are tempted to become discouraged, that’s when we need to be persistent in prayer.

Ask Yourself:
How have you seen your faith grow throughout the years? And what have been some of its greatest catalysts? Knowing that seasons of ease and plenty are rarely fertile ground for an increase of faith, how does this affect your reaction to the troubles you’re facing now?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Power of Faith – Part 1

The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith.”
                                (Matthew 17:19-20a)

Little faith is the kind of faith that believes in God when you have something in your hand, when His provision is already made. When things were going well with the disciples and everything seemed under control, they found it easy to trust their Lord. But as soon as circumstances became uncertain or threatening, their faith withered. Their faith was like the faith of most believers in all ages. When we are healthy and have the necessities of life, our faith is great and strong, but when we are in need, our faith is small and gives way to doubt.

Great faith trusts God when there is nothing in the cupboard to eat and no money to buy food. Great faith trusts in God when health is gone, work is gone, reputation is gone, or family is gone. Great faith trusts God while the windstorm is still howling and persecution continues.

It is encouraging to realize that even the apostles always had to rely on Jesus to minister effectively. To strengthen their faith and their sense of dependence, the Lord sometimes made them wait — just as He does with believers today. And as He does so, we will grow stronger in faith by ever-increasing challenges that expose our own weakness and drive us to the Lord.

Ask Yourself:
What is the Lord asking you to wait for today? If you could step back and look at it objectively, not being as torn up by the fears and emotions involved, what would you say you’ve learned in your waiting times? What have they helped you see in yourself?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

A Demon Expelled

“Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him,
 and the boy was cured at once.”     (Matthew 17:18)

When Jesus rebuked him, the demon had no choice but to come out of the boy. But before he departed, the evil spirit made a last attempt to destroy the boy: “Crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead!’” (Mark 9:26).

As soon as the demon was gone, “the boy was cured at once.” While the child was still in the death-like stupor in which the demon left him, “Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up” (Mark 9:27). He could now play like other boys, with no fear of suddenly being thrown into a fire to be burned or into water to be drowned. He would have no more seizures, no more foaming at the mouth or grinding of teeth.

Although Jesus already had successfully cast out countless demons from people, Luke reports that on this occasion the crowds “were all amazed at the greatness of God” (Luke 9:43). “Greatness” is from a word that refers to great splendor or magnificence. Peter used it to describe the divine majesty that he, James, and John witnessed at the transfiguration. It was perhaps with that glory in mind that Luke here used that term to describe the crowd’s amazement.

Ask Yourself:
What does it take for you to be vividly aware of the “greatness” of God? Must it always be something loud or amazing or obviously miraculous? Or would you say you’ve sensed His greatness in quiet places, with little fanfare, on very ordinary days? If not, why not?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

A Perverse Faithlessness

Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”
                                (Matthew 17:17)

Here Jesus gives us a rare glimpse into the depths of His divine heart and soul. Having been accustomed to having angels instantly do his bidding, He was grieved at the blindness and faithlessness of God’s people Israel, especially His disciples, whom He had personally chosen, taught, and endowed with unique power and authority.

The entire generation of Jews was faithless, represented on this occasion by the crowd, the disciples, and the self-righteous scribes who were there to entrap and discredit the Lord if they could.

The people were not only unbelieving but perverted as well. Although many of His listeners were also morally perverted, Jesus was here speaking primarily of the spiritual perversion that is inevitable in those who are unbelieving. Any person who does not genuinely trust God cannot escape having a distorted view of Him and His will.

But Jesus would not vary from His divine mission nor give in to Satan’s temptation to despair over the faithlessness of the people. He was on earth to do His Father’s business, from which nothing would deter Him. So he said to the boy’s father, “Bring him here to Me.”

Ask Yourself:
What do you make of Jesus’ frustration? Do you sometimes sense His frustration with you? Do you not know that even though His every action toward you is love, true love can sometimes be demanding — because true love is intent on taking you where you really need to be?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Powerlessness of the Disciples

“I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.”
(Matthew 17:16)

While Jesus had been on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, the man had brought his demon-possessed boy to the other disciples for healing. But they couldn’t heal him. It seems strange that the disciples now failed where once they had succeeded. When Jesus had sent them out the previous year (Matthew 10: 6-8), the disciples were highly successful in “casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them” (Mark 6:13).

What had gone wrong or changed? They still had Jesus’ promise and His power, yet “they could not cure” the boy. The explanation for their failure is therefore obvious. They failed to use the power available to them. With increasing frustration and anguish, the father understandably turned away help from the disciples and turned to Jesus Himself.

Throughout the history of the church, the faithlessness, weakness, and indifference of Christians has caused many seeking unbelievers to turn away help from God’s people. Sometimes, like the father in this story, they turn to the Lord Himself. And He is always the best One to turn to.

Ask Yourself:
What have you sometimes sought help in, only to find the resulting help to be unsuccessful or (at best) incomplete? What have you learned fro putting more trust in others than in Jesus, from allowing your faith to be dependent on even the most faithful people in your life?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

A Father Pleads For His Son

When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.”
                                (Matthew 17: 14-15)

From somewhere within the crowd of people, which included the other nine disciples, this man approached Jesus with humility and reverence. He fully believed that Jesus could bring sanity and wholeness to his son, his “only boy” (Luke 9:38), who had had this terrible affliction since childhood (Mark 9:21).

Like the Greek term it translates, “lunatic” literally refers to something related to the moon (lunar). The Greek word was used to describe what we now understand to be various nervous disorders, including epilepsy, that cause convulsions.

The father sensed what Jesus verified, that the boy’s affliction was not simply physiological or mental but demonic. When he brought him to Jesus, he described his son as being “possessed with a spirit which makes him mute” (Mark 9:17). Whenever the “spirit seizes him . . .he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves” (Luke 9:39).

You can well understand the father’s deep anguish and why he pleaded with Jesus to have compassion on his son and restore him to health. He came to the only One who could help.

Ask Yourself:
When you feel overwhelmed or outmatched by the various challenges of life — be that job-related, or family crises, or health issues — how quick are you to run to Jesus as your source of help? In what ways could you testify to His ability to meet your deepest needs?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The True Link To John the Baptist

He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.                                (Matthew 17:11-13)

Jesus responded by first acknowledging that there is an “Elijah” who is yet to come, and when he arrives he “will restore all things” just as Malachi prophesied. But the Elijah prophesied by Malachi was not to be a reincarnation of the ancient prophet. Rather, as the angel of the Lord told Zacharias regarding his son, John the Baptist, the prophesied forerunner would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). John would minister in much the same style and power as had Elijah.

Why then, some wonder, did John himself disclaim being Elijah in (John 1:21)? He denied being Elijah because like Jesus, he realized the question was about a literal, reincarnated Elijah. He also understood that the questioning of the Jewish leaders originated from unbelief, which they manifested when they imprisoned him and then beheaded him.

The full wickedness of the Jewish leaders became clear when they rejected and persecuted the Son of man Himself. But in the last days, the Lord will send another like Elijah, and the Messiah himself will return, this time to establish His eternal kingdom in power, righteousness, and glory.

Ask Yourself:
These wide-eyed students of Christ’s would go on to become pillars of the early church. It’s interesting to see them here — so young, so green, so needy of Jesus’ teaching. Is there a younger someone in your life who needs the direction and counsel you could give?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
Misunderstanding About Elijah

His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say
that Elijah must come first?”     (Matthew 17:10)

Having just seen Elijah on the mountain, a natural question for Jesus’ disciples was, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” That particular teaching of the scribes was not based simply on rabbinical tradition but on scriptural teaching. Through Malachi the Lord declared, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

The prediction that the actual Old Testament person of Elijah would be the forerunner of the Messiah and His judgment was well-known to Jews of Jesus’ day. Therefore, Peter, James, and John could not have helped wondering how the appearance of Elijah they had just witnessed fit in with Malachi’s prophecy. They wanted to know why Elijah did not appear before Jesus began His ministry.

Unfortunately, the scribes had made many embellishments to Malachi’s prophecy. They taught that Elijah would come again as a mighty miracle-working reformer who would bring order out of chaos and holiness out of unholiness. But that is not an accurate picture of Jesus’ forerunner, whose description he would immediately clear up. Check out tomorrow’s study for Jesus’ explanation.

Ask Yourself:
How do some of our cultural traditions and “givens” cause us to misread certain aspects of the Bible, including the words and teachings of Christ? What are some of the most common misunderstandings that you hear people make, and how can you respond to them?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
Aftermath of the Transfiguration

Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” (Matthew 17:7-9)

Jesus’ first actions and words after His mighty display of splendor were those of gentle and loving care. Knowing the great fear of His 3 beloved companions, Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” As they looked up, it must have been a great relief to see “no one except Jesus Himself alone.”

The disciples realized they had witnessed a preview of the Lord’s second coming glory. And once they regained their composure, they must have had a strong desire to run down and report their astounding experience to the other disciples and to anyone else who would listen. But then the Lord said, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” How extremely difficult it must have been to keep the vision to themselves.

But the wait would be worth it for the people. For when they would hear the story after Jesus had risen from the dead, it would be clear that He had not come to conquer the Romans, but to conquer death.

Ask Yourself:
From terrifying glory to gentle compassion — that is the blessed entirety of our Lord’s nature. And He knows just when to reveal either or all of them to us, depending on our need, depending on His purposes. Worship Him today for His absolute completeness.

From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Father’s Testimony of the Son – Part 2

A voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.”         (Matthew 17:5-6)

Directly addressing the 3 disciples — perhaps Peter in particular — God said, “Listen to Him!” He was saying, in effect, “If My Son tells you He must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, believe Him. If He tells you He will be raised up on the third day, believe Him. If He tells you to take up your own cross and follow Him, then do it. If He says He will come again in glory, then believe Him and live accordingly.”

Peter and his two companions now knew they stood in the awesome presence of Almighty God. As would be expected, all three fell to the ground in fear.
The combined awareness of the Lord’s grace and His majesty, His love and His justice, His friendship and His lordship should cause a kind of spiritual tension in every believer. On the one hand, you rejoice in your loving fellowship with the Lord because of His gracious kindness, and on the other hand you have reverential fear as you contemplate His awesome holiness and righteousness. As you walk in obedience, you’ll experience the comfort of His presence. But if you are disobedient, you ought to feel the terror of His presence as well.

Ask Yourself:
When was the last time you fell facedown in awe before the Lord, or even in desperation because of your sins or other problems that caused you to pour out your heart before the only One able to help? Why is this not our natural tendency, and how can we change that?