Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Summer Series - Week Two
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
What if we start seeing our doubt not as a problem that keeps God away, but as a story in which God sticks with us through it all?
Speaker 2:Welcome to the CommonsCast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Speaker 1:Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to church. If we haven't met yet, my name is Elena, and I serve this community as one of the pastors on the team. And around this time of year, I usually be finalizing our stampede breakfast expenses, sorting through over 100 volunteer t shirts and sending notes to say thank you to everyone who was helping with that signature community event. But not this year. This year, we're all trying to reimagine how we can do both, keep building community and keep each other safe.
Speaker 1:As a culture, we've undergone a massive shift in how we go about doing life together. And that shift has been infusing our common vocabulary with new meaning. Our words shift and adjust to the situation we are in. If I were to say to you, let's get together this week, an image that would pop into your mind today would be quite different from what it would have been even five months ago. You'll probably think of Zoom or FaceTime or a socially distanced meeting outside with no shared food or drink.
Speaker 1:Forget those cozy nooks where we could sit right next to each other and share a plate of nachos. Oh, wow. But this holds true for our language of faith. Today, we may use the same words as we did ten years ago, but what we mean by them will be different. We might even hunger for new words to talk about God.
Speaker 1:Words that name and describe our story better. And this is what we're doing in the series called Speaking Sunday. We are taking a fresh look at what fills our words of faith and explore what substance they hold in our lives today. Last week, Bobbi talked about salvation. Today is all about doubt.
Speaker 1:And we are going to look at a miracle story in the Gospel of Mark and talk about the problem of doubt. Doubt is your story and doubt as prayer. So let's pray and dive in. Our loving God, we trust that you are with us at all times, and especially when we adapt, struggle, grow. And we confess that sometimes we long for change, but when it pushes us out of our comfort zone, we resist.
Speaker 1:And what often carries us through those moments are the memories of your faithfulness and our hope that you will be faithful again. And so, as we take some time today to look at doubt, unbelief, lack of trust, we admit that they keep us company. And we ask you to help us remember that doubt is not always destructive and that our language can both imprison and set us free. So may your spaciousness, your creativity, and your freedom be ours today. In Jesus' name we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. And our story begins with a problem. And here's a bit of context to orient this. We are in the second half of the Gospel of Mark, and Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, where He will eventually be crucified. As part of the journey, He takes Peter, John, and James, three of His disciples, to go to the top of a mountain with Him, where He gets transfigured right before their eyes.
Speaker 1:And then they see Jesus in conversation with Moses and Elijah, two major prophets in Jewish religious imagination. And as if that wasn't enough, they hear a voice from heaven saying that Jesus is God's beloved son. Peter is so enraptured by that experience that he is ready to make some tents for them all and stay there. This is like heaven for him. But after that peak spiritual experience, filled with dazzling light and the prophets of old and the voice of God, they come down that mountain and step into a big commotion.
Speaker 1:Mark chapter nine. When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you arguing with them about? He said.
Speaker 1:A man in the crowd answered, Teacher, I brought you my son who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. So, Mark takes us from that mind blowing, mountaintop experience of God's presence to the world where evil runs free.
Speaker 1:Where kids get attacked, where those who could help turn out to be powerless, and where the rule setters use it as an opportunity to publicly discredit Jesus and his teaching. And it's not surprising that Jesus responds quite strongly. You unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.
Speaker 1:And this choice of language is quite interesting. Do we have an angry Jesus here who will lash out at us anytime we express a hint of doubt? Well, it can be that Jesus is frustrated. His time is running out, but it feels like He needs to start His work from scratch over and over again. But what I find fascinating is how this language echoes the Exodus and wilderness traditions of the Old Testament.
Speaker 1:In Numbers 14, when the Israelites finally get a chance to enter the Promised Land, their spies bring a report that the land is good, but to take it will be close to impossible because the people who live there are almost supernaturally strong. And the people start weeping and grumbling that it would be better for them to go back to Egypt, the very place from which God brought them out to set them free. And hearing that, God complains to Moses. How long will these people despise me? How long will they refuse to believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
Speaker 1:And then God describes the consequences of this displayed lack of trust. This doubting people will not be destroyed, but the consequences will still be grim. I will bring your children in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. You will know what it's like to have me against you.
Speaker 1:On hearing that, people quickly change their mind. Oh, no, no, no, sorry. We trust the Lord. We'll go and take the land. But it does not work.
Speaker 1:Their unbelief will cost them forty years in the wilderness. And this is the problem we have with doubt. We are afraid that it would cost us. A lot of my experience of Christianity, especially early on, was marked by the subtle tension between faith being a gift and faith being something I needed to produce and amplify in myself to stay on good terms with God. And God was kind of like a demanding parent who was always grumpy and hard to please.
Speaker 1:I remember being 17 and asking God, Can you give me love for you? And if you're like me, you've probably also internalized some of those messages that it is strong faith that unleashes God's love and favor. And what makes it problematic is that so many of these messages come directly from our scriptures, more often than not taken out of context, but still. It is impossible to please God without faith. I can do everything in Christ who gives me strength.
Speaker 1:If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, or if you do not doubt in your heart, you will move mountains, and whatever you ask in prayer will be given to you. And presented this way, as the opposite of faith, doubt becomes a problem that stands between me and whatever good that God has in store for me. But what if faith and doubt are not as taller as they seem? What if, given who we are and how we got here and what we've been through, doubting faith is the only thing we have. And if we know anything of the story of God and God's people, we know that no matter how frustrated with them God can be, God's grace never runs out on them.
Speaker 1:God is with them, even in that wilderness. The consequences of their choices are real, but the doubters are never abandoned, and neither are we. Jesus alludes to this language of divine frustration when he laments this ongoing transgenerational lack of faith. But he also reframes that language. There is no pronouncement of consequences for the doubters here.
Speaker 1:Jesus is not out to get them. He is there to show what it's like to have God on their side. So, what if we start seeing our doubt not as a problem that keeps God away, but as a story in which God sticks with us through it all. And so they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.
Speaker 1:He fell to the ground and rolled around foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, How long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered, It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for one who believes.
Speaker 1:Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. A quick side note. The description of the boy's condition corresponds with the symptoms of epilepsy. And for ancient medicine, epilepsy was such a mysterious disease that it was associated with possession by evil spirits.
Speaker 1:Some ancient medical treatises suggest exorcism as a cure. But to go back to Jesus' question about the duration of the boy's condition, it actually seems to be a bit unnecessary. We know that Jesus will heal the boy no matter how long he's been like that. So why the delay? And what's curious is that this is the second time Mark has the Father tell the story in detail.
Speaker 1:Out of all Gospel writers, Mark is the most concise. He'd rather leave things out to get straight to the point than supply the extras, or tell the story twice. And maybe here the point is to emphasize how dire the situation is. But when I read it, I can't help but see it as an opportunity that Jesus creates for this father to check-in with himself and find some clarity by telling his story again. What if, How long has your son been like this?
Speaker 1:Is more like, How long has this pain been shaping your reality? What has it done to you? What is it that still keeps you grasping for hope? And your doubt has a story too. And to be clear, we're not talking about faith as a list of propositions about God that as a Christian you are happy to sign off on.
Speaker 1:We are talking about faith as a story of your relationship with God. How every day you are learning to live as a follower of Christ, letting Christ shape you and change you and heal you. And that requires a lot of trust. So what has been shaping your reality that has made faith oh so hard for you? And if doubting faith is all we've got, may I suggest that we start befriending our doubt and learn its story in safe spaces through brave conversations with simple prayer.
Speaker 1:As simple as the two prayers of the boy's father. He first goes for the language of the Old Testament liturgy here, Have pity on us and help us. This is the language of the Psalms. And those liturgical prayers of intercession often made two points: God can do the impossible, and God can do it because of love. Psalm 44: Rise up and help us.
Speaker 1:Rescue us because of your unfailing love. Psalm 60: Give us aid against the enemy, for human health is worthless. So the Father uses the vocabulary of faith that is familiar to him, but he also prefaces his prayer with If you can, and Jesus tosses it right back to him with a question mark. If you can, I can do the impossible? But do you believe what you say?
Speaker 1:What is going on in you at this very moment when you pray these things? And immediately, the Father wraps his story of faith and doubt into a quick and honest prayer. I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. In 1938, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian, preached the sermon on this little prayer at the confirmation service for a group of youth.
Speaker 1:He was their teacher, and he knew that in 1938, the world where they will follow Christ will not be a mountaintop experience of faith. It will be more like the crucible of doubt, demanding honesty with yourself at every turn. And so he gives those young people these words: Pray in your hearts, I believe, dear Lord. Help my unbelief. You do not have your faith once and for all.
Speaker 1:The faith that you will confess today with all your hearts needs to be regained tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, indeed every day anew. We receive from God only as much faith as we need for the present day. And I think we all could use these words today. Faith is a gift. It is a gift of your story with God, and it has it all.
Speaker 1:Love, conflict, frustration, fear, pain, joy, and yes, even doubt. And maybe your doubt is your hunger to see the world restored, and you are getting tired of waiting. Maybe your doubt fuels your curiosity about God or gives you strength to seek healing. Maybe your doubt is what has pulled you into a place of honesty with yourself. Or perhaps you are befriending your doubt and taking faith one day at a time.
Speaker 1:So, may you be brave in your prayers this week. May you attend to the stories in your life where doubt speaks of faith. And may the Christ of your words and thoughts and actions help someone else to trust Him a bit more and not be afraid. Let's pray. God of love, who knows us better than we know ourselves.
Speaker 1:Faith and faithfulness are not easy for us. Sometimes we're not well physically, emotionally, spiritually. And that makes trusting your goodness and grace even harder. We are doubting people, but we love you and ask you to help us love you more. Spirit of the living God, be with us this week.
Speaker 1:In the moments of joy, fill us with gratitude. In the moments of sadness, comfort us. In the moments of hopelessness, give us strength to ask for help. May we find places where our questions are welcome and where it's okay to fall apart. And may we offer this grace to others.
Speaker 1:May we be healed together. Amen. Thank you so much for being here with us today. If you'd like prayer, please send a request to our prayer team at commons. Life.
Speaker 1:And we also have a prayer volunteer in the Zoom Lounge who would love to hear your story. Our Zoom Lounge is actually a great place to connect after the livestream. So jump in and say hello. We'd love to see you. And finally, we'll end as we always do.
Speaker 1:Love God, love people, tell the story. Have a good week. Thanks for being here.