Faith in his all-sufficiency

We'll now be reading from Matthew chapter 17, and we'll be starting at verse 14.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him, and kneeling before him said,

Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly.

For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.

And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.

And Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?

How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out?

He said to them, Because of your little faith.

For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,

you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move,

and nothing will be impossible for you.

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them,

The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,

and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.

And they were greatly distressed.

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma tax went up to Peter and said,

Does your teacher not pay the tax?

He said, Yes.

And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying,

What do you think, Simon?

From whom do kings of the earth take their toll, or tax?

From their sons, or from others?

And when he said, From others, Jesus said to him,

Then the sons are free.

However, not to give offence to them, go to the sea and cast a hook,

and take the first fish that comes up,

and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel.

Take that and give it to them, for me and for yourself.

Well, my name's Dave.

I'm one of the pastors here.

A warm welcome to you if you're visiting this morning.

Well, I would love to have a manual for parenting.

A recipe.

I'm pretty hopeless at cooking.

I need Emma to give me, like, a step-by-step instruction on what to do.

Just a recipe for parenting would be wonderful.

How and when to discipline.

Oh, gee, that's tough to work out.

Like, we're coming up with seeing, like, private schooling, public schooling,

home schooling.

Like, that's just a confusing question.

To know exactly what to do in every moment.

How to respond.

To ensure that my children will grow up as whole persons knowing the Lord.

I want a recipe.

I'd love a recipe for lots of things.

Like, what on earth am I meant to do as a pastor and say to people?

What am I meant to do?

I'd love a recipe for this sermon, to be honest with you.

I want a recipe.

Just give me a step-by-step instructions to follow.

There's a more obvious form of living the Christian life based on a recipe.

And I came across it again this week watching the recent SBS documentary,

The Kingdom.

I don't know if you've seen it yet.

A guy named Dave is interviewed after being burnt by the church.

And he says this.

All the things that people promised would happen, a great life, happiness,

great relationships, being quote-unquote blessed, owning a house,

being in a great position, all happened after I left the church.

After years of devoting his time and his money, genuinely believing that life would work out,

and it didn't, and the recipe failed him, and he was disillusioned.

So there's the obvious form of recipe theology.

If you put in this, this, this, God will bless.

I think there's a more subtle form of recipe theology.

Recipe faith.

That while taking into account that life is hard and that the great reward is future primarily,

there's still this lurking expectation that if only you follow the steps that Jesus commands,

life and ministry will basically work.

Things will basically work out.

What we've got in our passage today, I think, is a really strong contrast to what we saw last week.

Last week, three of the disciples are up the mountain and they are blown away by the divinity of Jesus.

His light shining through.

But down the mountain, presumably happening around the same time,

the other nine disciples are confronted with failure.

Peter.

And then Peter, he thinks he knows the recipe.

He thinks he knows the law to follow, to pay the temple tax, which we'll come to,

but Jesus blows that recipe thinking away.

So we've got this contrast.

Having seen the all-sufficiency of Jesus up the mountain,

we've seen in the gospel so far that Jesus is the glorious son of God

and it's confirmed to us in the transfiguration.

Then we've got down the mountain, any superficial idea of faith that it's about following steps

and it will work.

That superficial idea of faith is not faith.

We don't trust in a recipe.

We trust in a person.

So I want to ask the question,

what does it mean to have faith in the all-sufficiency of Jesus

as we've seen him on the mountain?

Well, first in our passage,

we're going to be confronted with the biggest problem we've got

and that's our unbelief.

Then we're going to see three ways that we are to trust that he is all that we need.

In facing overwhelming obstacles, he is all we need.

In dealing with our failure to trust him, he is all we need.

And he is our obedience.

So let's get into the story.

What does it mean to have faith in the all-sufficiency of Jesus?

This story about the demon-oppressed child, it's confronting, isn't it?

I think it's confronting on a number of levels.

It's confronting because it challenges our Western worldview of a materialistic,

there's no such thing as a spiritual realm kind of culture we live in.

It's confronting at that level.

It's confronting because it's just a horrible situation.

This child is suffering terribly.

But it's most confronting because of Jesus' response.

He rebukes.

Mark's account of this episode puts the focus on the father of the child.

It's quite a famous phrase, he says.

I believe, help my unbelief.

I think every Christian can resonate with that.

I believe, but help my unbelief.

But Matthew leaves that out, which suggests that his focus is on the disciples' failure,

the nine disciples' failure.

To feel the shock of Jesus' response, put yourself in the shoes of this distraught father.

Like, your child, your son is tormented.

This is beyond epilepsy, as hard and dangerous as epilepsy can be.

This is something beyond that.

Mark and Luke add the detail that he's mute.

He can't communicate properly.

When he does, he cries out.

And it's trying to kill him.

Every opportunity, fire or water, any opportunity.

There is no peace in this family, no freedom, no hope.

And then when they hear about hope, that others have been healed of this very thing,

he brings his son to the disciples and they fail.

His hopes are dashed.

How would we expect Jesus to respond?

I want him to respond with sympathy.

I want him to respond with instantly removing the pain that this family is going through.

But isn't his response shocking?

Oh, faithless and twisted generation.

How long am I to be with you?

How long am I to bear with you?

Bring him here to me.

Notice he is full of mercy.

He does bring peace to this child and to the family.

He does rebuke the spirit and restore this family.

He does bring peace.

He is full of mercy.

And in chapter 18, he loves children.

Make no mistake.

He wants all his people to have the attitude of a child.

He is very protective of his children.

He loves children.

Let's not make any mistake there.

So why such a strong rebuke?

Notice his answer revolves around himself.

How long am I to bear with you?

His disciples' lack of faith, it's painful to him.

He's got to endure it.

How long am I to be with you?

I think that's similar to the question when Philip asked in John 14,

Jesus just show us the Father and his response, how long have I been with you?

Don't you know me yet?

I think it's similar to that.

How long am I to be revealing who I am to you?

The problem, the offence to God is a willful neglect of the evidence of who Jesus is.

It's not having faith in the evidence of who he is, who he's shown himself to be.

It's twisted.

He uses the word twisted, which I think might be picking up Moses' words in Deuteronomy 32.

After all the powerful signs that the first generation saw in being set free from Egypt,

after all of that, after seeing God's glory on the mountain,

after all he provided for them in the wilderness,

he says they are no longer his children because they are blemished.

They are crooked and twisted generation.

Someone greater than Moses is here, a greater revelation.

I think the twisted is saying the evidence is plain.

The response of trust should be obvious.

But there's a willful forgetting of who he has revealed himself to be.

There's a willful distortion of who he is and what he said.

Our greatest problem is not seeing God for who he is as he has clearly shown himself to be in his son.

So why such a strong rebuke?

Because the disciples' failure was not their incompetence.

It wasn't incompetence.

It was unbelief.

It was a willful forgetting of who Jesus is,

not putting their confidence in him that he is all they need.

Now, if like me, you can relate to the disciples' failure to have faith,

you should want to know what true faith is.

And in the very next section, that's what we get.

We get an explanation of true faith.

The disciples ask him privately,

why could we not cast it out?

In chapter 10, they've been given authority to cast out demons.

They've done it plenty of times before.

Why couldn't we do it?

And his response, because of your little faith.

And when you hear that, doesn't your stomach just drop?

It's like, I knew it.

It's because I don't produce enough faith.

But it's not what we bring to the table.

It's not how much faith we have.

If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,

the smallest seed known in that area.

He's picking an illustration here.

The smallest thing you can think of,

it's not about how much faith.

It's about having any faith.

It's the smallest faith in me.

You will say to this mountain,

move from here to there, and it will move.

Nothing will be impossible for you.

Any amount of faith is enough.

Any.

Because he is enough.

It's not the amount of faith that we bring to Jesus.

Any faith.

That he is enough.

He is enough.

At a superficial level,

the disciples did have a kind of faith,

but something was superficial about it.

They expected to be able to cast out the demon,

but they failed.

So they expected it to work.

Maybe they treated the power as somehow residing in themselves.

Maybe they were treating it as some kind of,

if we say the right words,

then the result will occur.

We can't be sure.

Something is going on

where they have forgotten that Jesus is the source of their power.

To focus on what you can do,

even to ask the question,

how much faith I can bring,

is to focus on self.

The focus is on what he can do.

Even the smallest,

and he will accept even the smallest faith.

It's about our orientation.

Is it on self or on him?

A personal reliance and relationship to him is all we need.

I think faith comes from seeing him.

So it's not looking at yourself,

working out,

do I have enough faith?

It's looking at him.

That's when faith comes.

It's hearing his promises

that produces the faith.

And moving mountains.

Obviously,

that's a figure of speech.

It's used in the Old Testament.

I think at one level,

it contrasts the smallness of the faith.

Like you're facing a mountain.

She's just mustard seed.

That's what you need.

Because it's not about you

and what you can bring to the mountain.

It's about who you've got the faith in.

It's his strength.

Now this promise,

we shouldn't start by asking,

what do I want to happen in this situation?

I'm facing this mountain.

What do I want to happen?

That's not where we start.

This isn't a blank check.

The promise,

I'm going to use Don Carson's phrase,

it's not limited by,

it's limited by context,

not by unbelief.

So we should believe this promise.

This promise is for us.

You will move mountains.

But the context here

is the disciples

are given authority

to serve in Jesus' kingdom.

They can confront anything

that is getting in the way

of serving Jesus.

This promise

doesn't let us decide

how or when

the obstacle

will be removed.

Because the very next verse

tells us that

the Son of Man

will achieve

his mission

not by strength

but by loss.

It's his powerlessness

that he overcomes

the greatest mountains.

So let's not

reduce God's idea

of success,

God's power

to our idea

of success.

We might have

expectations

of what moving

mountains

looks like

but

let's not limit God.

It could feel

like absolute

failure

for a long time

but we could be

if it's done

in trust

we can trust

that Jesus

is with us

in confronting

those obstacles.

I think this promise

is exactly

what we need

to begin

facing the obstacles

for serving Jesus.

Like even

as I start

even parenting

it's confusing

it's overwhelming

and that's just

the day-to-day

stuff

let alone

the crisis.

How do I

enter that

with confidence?

I enter it

because

not of what

I can bring

to the table

but because

Jesus is promising

here

look at me

and I'm with you.

Step into it

it's confronting

but

I'm with you.

He's not giving

us a formula

to follow

do this

say this

and it will

work.

I don't think

he's even

giving a guarantee

of quick success

because Jesus

lost everything

before

the success

came.

But he is

promising

that even

the smallest

focus on me

that I am

enough

is what

you need

because I am

with you.

You are

personally

presently

connected

to me

the one

whose face

shines like

the sun

I am

with you.

So he's

all sufficient

to serve

him because

he can face

the obstacles

not us.

But what

if

what if

you do

fail to

trust

him

even

as

small

as

a

mustard

seed

which

I'm

just

going

to

assume

that

we all

fail

if you're

like me

we fail

to

regularly

well we

get assurance

here as

well that

he's

sufficient

to deal

with our

unbelief

as well

we get

another

prediction

of his

mission

the

son of

man

is about

to be

delivered

into the

hands of

men

and they

will kill

him

and he

will be

raised

on the

third

day

the new

detail in

this prediction

is that he's

going to be

delivered

into the

hands of

men

now it's

not quite

clear who's

doing the

delivering

but this is

a passive

verb

he's being

delivered

like this

is the guy

up on the

mountain

whose face

is shining

like the

sun

is going

to be

delivered

like who

can do

that

what's

going

it's not

clear who's

doing this

it's not

even clear

how strong

that word

is

is it

handing

over

or is it

being

betrayed

it could

mean that

so is it

the father

handing the

son over

to men

is it

this

faithless

generation

of Israel

handing

Jesus over

to the

Romans

to be

killed

is it

Judas

his close

friend

betraying

him

I'm not

sure

I don't

think we

can be

sure

perhaps

all of

them

were in

Jesus

mind

what we

can be

sure of

is that

he's

choosing

to be

delivered

he's

telling

his

disciples

ahead

of

time

so that

they

understand

so that

we

understand

what

his

mission

is

about

no one

could

given his

glory as

the son of

God

he must

be choosing

to be

delivered

over

because

it's in

being

delivered

that he

is removing

the greatest

mountains

you and I

could never

face

our unbelief

the lies

of Satan

and the

judgment

of God

that that

deserves

I can't

bear my

failure

to trust

him

I can't

bear that

I can't

bear the

consequences

of that

I can't

bear the

shame

of that

but he

can

and he

chose

to

he

can

bear

our

failure

to

trust

him

I

was

talking

to

someone

about

the

ashes

going on

at the

moment

the

cricket

I

shouldn't

have to

explain

which

sport

it

is

should

I

you

should

know

what

the

ashes

is

now

this

was an

Australian

okay

but they

were

just

praising

the

English

mindset

recently

because

under

this

new

coach

they're

not

worried

about

whether

they'll

lose

their

batter

when

they're

batting

whether

they'll

get

out

they're

just

encouraged

to

go

for

it

and

he

was

just

like

his

face

was

lighting

up

but

they

weren't

it

doesn't

matter

you

won't

get

in

trouble

you

won't

get

kicked

off

the

team

if

you

lose

your

wicket

go

for

it

I

think

I

think

that's

the

freedom

we

get

when

we

believe

that

Jesus

can

bear

our

failure

yes

our

sin

is

serious

and

acknowledging

it

actually

makes

us

worship

him

that

he

bore

it

but

we

can

just

go

for

it

we

are

not

going

to

be

kicked

off

the

team

we

don't

have

to

worry

about

how

much

faith

we're

producing

or

when

we

don't

have

faith

because

he

bears

it

we

can

just

okay

I

failed

again

let's

go

let's

go

again

he

he's

all

we

need

to

face

every

situation

as

we

seek

to

live

him

and

he's

all

we

need

for

our

failure

to

trust

him

he

absorbs

the

offence

himself

and

I

think

the

final

section

helps

us

see

that

he

is

all

we

need

for

our

obedience

too

he

is

our

acceptance

to

the

father

we

can't

add

to

it

so

this

tax

verses

24

to

the

end

this

tax

don't

confuse

it

with

the

tax

to

the

Romans

this

wasn't

tax

collectors

betraying

their own

people

to the

Romans

this

isn't

a

tax

made

up

by

the

traditions

of

men

this

is

God's

law

this

is

in

Exodus

this

tax

is

for

the

support

of

the

temple

and

its

services

so

when

the

collectors

ask

Peter

does

your

teacher

pay

the

tax

they're

saying

does

he

support

all

that

the

temple

stands

for

acceptance

with

God

access

to

God

through

the

priesthood

the

sacrifice

for

sin

the

place

for

which

he

rules

by

his

law

and

so

on

and

so

on

is

he

for

it

and

Peter

says

yes

but

and

you can

understand why

Peter says

yes

of course

Jesus

obeys

the law

of God

but

Jesus

uses this

as a

teaching

moment

this passage

is not

saying

anything

about

whether

to pay

taxes

to

civil

authorities

if you

want an

answer

to that

give to

Caesar

what is

Caesar's

read

Romans 13

the

issue

here

is

about

the

temple

where

the

question

about

kings

and

their

taxes

is

treat

it

as

a

parable

from

who

do

kings

of

the

earth

take

toll

and

tax

from

their

sons

or

from

others

and

of

course

the

obvious

answer

is

it's

from

others

and

Jesus

conclusion

is

then

the

sons

are

free

he's

making

a

he's

making

a

statement

about

himself

when

the

father

collects

his

taxes

for

his

temple

I

am

a

son

Jesus

is

free

from

the

tax

and

he

might

be

playing

on

that

word

freedom

Jesus

is

free

from

the

obligation

of

the

law

of

God

to

be

in

right

covenant

relationship

because

that

law

was

created

for

sinful

man

to

know

God

he

is

the

eternal

son

who

has

never

sinned

he

has

a

status

with

God

much

higher

much

closer

than

the

law

can

give

incredibly

he

uses

a

plural

sons

the

sons

are

free

and

when

he

does

provide

the

coin

it

pays

for

him

and

Peter

I

think

this

is

implicitly

teaching

Peter

that

his

what

his

death

and

resurrection

is

about

to

achieve

that

Peter

and all

who belong

to Jesus

by faith

will share

in the status

of son

that Jesus

has

and all

the privileges

to go

with it

you don't

need the

temple to

access the

father

Peter

you want

to worship

bow down

right here

you want

access to the

father

through me

I

I'm

I'm

your

sacrifice

I'm

your

dwelling

place

with

God

but

how

does

Jesus

use

his

high

status

now

picture

again

this

Jesus

up

on

the

mountain

face

shining

he

does

not

need

to

pay

this

tax

as

the

unique

son

of

God

but

what

does

he

do

he

chooses

to

lower

himself

and

pay

the

tax

why

why

does

he

do

that

to

not

give

offense

now

Jesus

is

not

afraid

of

confronting

he

confronts

sin

lovingly

the

gospel

is

offensive

to

people

who

want

to

love

their

sin

it

is

offensive

but

he

wants

to

remove

any

stumbling

block

to

people

coming

to

him

for

these

Jews

it

would

have

been

a

huge

stumbling

block

to

not

support

the

temple

if

that

gets

in

the

way

of

seeing

who

he

is

he

will

humble

himself

and

do

it

and

pay

the

tax

and

then

he

gives

a

private

miracle

to

Peter

to

demonstrate

just

how

free

Jesus

is

how

free

all

who

belong

to

him

is

now

I

think

this

miracle

is

just

as

glorious

as

calming

the

storm

just

think

of

the

detail

involved

in

this

and

I

think

it's

really

comforting

because

most

of

life

is

lived

in

minutia

in

the

detail

there

had

to

be

the

right

amount

the

value

of the

coin

dropped

in

the

sea

at

some

point

whether

way

long

ago

or

while

Jesus

is

speaking

I

don't

know

who

knows

it

had

to

not

get

lost

at

the

bottom

of

the

sea

but

a

fish

had

to

grab

it

and

then

not

swallow

it

but

just

hold

it

in

its

mouth

and

then

it

had

to

be

swimming

at

the

exact

place

where

Peter

would

be

and

put

his

line

in

and

take

the

hook

and

be

the

first

to

take

the

hook

that's

detail

isn't

it

that's

that's

how much

control

this

son

has

over

the

world

like

just

imagine

Peter

holding

that

coin

after

catching

that

fish

hopefully

it

sunk

in

he

is

the

temple

he's

where

I

meet

God

hopefully

it

sunk

in

he's

calling

me

a

son

as

well

not

because

of

my

obedience

but

his

and

yet

he

lowers

himself

to

remove

stumbling

blocks

for

people

to

come

to

know

him

and

then

he

provides

exactly

what

is

needed

I

wonder

if

do

you

know

your

freedom

in

Jesus

that

Jesus

is

all

sufficient

for

your

obedience

acceptance

with

God

you

are

free

from

obligation

you

are

free

from

following

a

recipe

from

following

rules

for

how

the

Christian

life

should

work

what

does

that

freedom

look

like

well

we

see

it

in

the

apostle

Paul

one

moment

he's

saying

if

you

get

circumcised

to

be

right

with

God

you

have

you

have

fallen

away

from

Christ

and

then

the

next

moment

he

gets

Timothy

circumcised

because

he

wants

to

bring

him

on

a

missionary

trip

among

Jews

where's

the

rule

where's

the

recipe

where's

the

law

Jesus

is

our

obedience

to

God

so

there's

a new

question

it's

not

what

must

I

do

it's

how

do

I

love

Christ

in

this

situation

how

do

I

help

others

see

that

Jesus

is

all

that

you

need

must

you

give

money

to

the

church

shall

we

go

there

your

sons

and

daughters

in

him

you're

free

there's

no

rule

what

but

there is

a

new

passion

a

new

question

what

will

help

others

see

the

all

sufficiency

of

Jesus

you

might

give

way

more

than

10%

or

not

I

don't

want

to

stray

into

rules

here

must

you

go

to

small

group

your

sons

and

daughters

you

don't

have

to

do

it

for

obedience

to

God

for

your

acceptance

but

a new

question

is

in

you

what's

going

to

help

others

see

the

all

sufficiency

of

Jesus

do you

drink

alcohol

or not

I could

raise lots

of questions

there's

just a

new

question

now

what will

help

others

see

the

all

sufficiency

of

Jesus

there's

no

recipe

there's

no

law

so

if

you

see

faith

in

Jesus

as

following

a

recipe

he

sets

out

to

make

life

and

ministry

work

that

kind

of

view

of

faith

makes

you

feel

proud

and

entitled

when

you

think

you're

following

the

recipe

or

it

just

paralyzes

you

and

just

brings

you

to

despair

when

you

think

you're

failing

the

steps

that's

not

that's

not

following

Jesus

faith

is being

vitally

personally

presently

connected

to the

one

whose

face

shines

like

the

sun

knowing

that

he

died

for

my

lack

of

faith