“You are more powerful, capable, and resilient than you realize!” Supposedly motivational statements like this one are common in a humanistic culture that’s obsessed with self-esteem and that preaches purpose, joy, contentment, and success are all available with the right mindset, a positive attitude, and unwavering self-belief.

However, the Bible is clear that none of that is true and, in fact, thinking in those terms and believing those lies actually robs people of the power that is actually available—a power that’s inexhaustible, unfathomable, and supernatural. Matthew’s account of the liberation of the demonized boy showcases the amazing power available to God’s otherwise powerless people, its purpose, its accessibility, and reasons it is often ignored and unused.

SERMON MANUSCRIPT

“You are more powerful than you realize.” Have you ever heard that before? “You are more capable than you know.” “You’re stronger than you can comprehend.” 

I’m sure you have. Supposedly motivational statements like those are common in a humanistic culture that’s obsessed with self-esteem and that preaches purpose, joy, contentment, and success are all available with the right mindset, a positive attitude, and unwavering self-belief. As one popular motivator states, “Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.” While the world wants to keep you down, while people want to stifle and control you, you are more powerful than you realize.

Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is all that is untrue and thinking that way actually robs us of power. The good news is that power is available, beyond our wildest imaginations.

Today we’re going to be reminded of the power available to you and I as followers of Jesus Christ, its purpose, and its accessibility. We’re also going to see why we can often fail to use it, settling instead for lies of personal strength and competence.

The Power To Serve

The harsh reality is you and I are not more powerful than we realize. But we know someone who is, don’t we? The first thing I want to highlight from this text is the most obvious: it’s the power on display. And it’s a particular power. It’s the power to serve. The power to meet even the most desperate of needs.

Matthew has moved from the glorious transfiguration on top of the mountain to the pathetic neediness waiting at the bottom; from the group of four to the waiting crowd. It’s like returning home from an idyllic holiday and jumping back into the grind of every day life. It’s a jarring and deflating reality check! Maybe that’s how these four felt as they saw the crowds—back to reality.

One man comes running from the crowd. He’s desperate to find Jesus and, when he does, (v. 14) falling on his knees before him, begs (v. 15).

We’re later told this is demonic. Elsewhere, Scripture says that Satan and his followers come to do three things: “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). So, it’s no surprise that that’s exactly what this demon is doing to this boy—he’s throwing him into fire and water, burning and suffocating one of God’s image bearers. 

So, of course the father’s desperate! He needs a miracle and so he comes looking for a miracle-worker. He tracks Jesus down only to find he’s on some mountaintop getaway. So, he unsuccessfully asks the disciples for help. Finally, Jesus returns and the father pleads with him.

And help he receives (v. 18). Who knows how long this boy had been tormented, how many other religious men and exorcists the father had already tried, and how much time and money he had spent seeking aid for his boy. And, in a moment with Jesus, with a word from Jesus, the demon is gone. The boy was cured at once. What authority! Desperately needy meets divine power and problem solved.

There is power available to meet even the most desperate of needs. But that power isn’t found in the human will, resilient optimism, self-belief, breathing techniques, or friendly encouragement. The power to truly meet even the most desperate of needs comes only from God. His is the power of serve.

How often do we see needs around us and feel helpless, ill-equipped, or incapable of stepping up to help in any meaningful way? People in our lives that we love, people in our circles that we know, people around the country and world that are hurting. Do you ever feel powerless in the face of desperation? I do! 

Or, let’s bring it closer to home. Parents, you’re called to meet the many needs of your children, evangelizing them, protecting them, discipling them. Spouses, you’re called to meet the needs of your partner, sacrificing yourself so as to lift them up toward Christlikeness. Christian, you’re called to meet the needs of your church family, encouraging, serving, loving, building, healing, teaching. Again, are there not times we feel ill-equipped and overwhelmed by all the needs we are called to meet? I sure do.

We need to remember that, when confronted with needs of varying degrees of severity, there is power available to us, but it’s not ours. Power was available, I just didn’t know where to look and, instead, wasted a whole lot of time and energy trying to ‘make do.’

Brothers and sisters, we have the power to serve one another. But where’s the hook up? That’s the next question, isn’t it? If it is available to us, how do we access this unlimited reservoir of divine power so we can best serve those around us?

The Faith That Unlocks It

Let’s go back to our passage now and let me highlight the faith that unlocks it. Jesus effortlessly casts out the demon, meeting the need of that desperate family and, embarrassed by their inability to help in his absence, the disciples ask privately (v. 19b). Why couldn’t they access the power necessary (v. 20)? Faith unlocks the power. 

I don’t think we’re talking here primarily about the quantity and quality of faith as much as the object of our faith. I don’t think Jesus’s point is that the faith the disciples had wasn’t good enough or intense enough.

If that is the case, there are some concerning implications for you and I when we think about eternal life. We are saved by God’s grace through faith. But if there’s a quantity and quality requirement, then we have to ask ourselves, did my faith measure up? Did I have enough? Was my faith strong enough? And how do I even know? You can see the doubt that inevitably creeps in.

We need to understand that faith is binary like a light switch; it’s not on a dimmer. You either have faith or you don’t. You either believe I am 6’2”, 300-pounds or you don’t. It’s not a sliding scale. The issue is not the quantity or quality of faith but the object of faith. Faith must always have an object. To claim, “I have faith” means nothing without adding upon what or whom you are placing faith.

So, back in verse 20, it’s not that the disciples had 49% faith and failed the exorcism exam. It’s that their faith was misplaced; they weren’t believing in the power of God but in something else. Maybe they were believing in themselves, their own abilities (see 10:8).

Why couldn’t the disciples cast out that demon? Because of the littleness of their faith, which I don’t think means “small” but “non-existent.” I say that because of the illustration Jesus uses. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” this is the smallest seed known to this time and culture. It’s like us saying, “if you had an ounce of sense in your head…” or “if you had the slightest idea what you’re talking about ….” “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” if you had any faith at all, nothing will be impossible to you. You could move mountains (see 1 Cor 13:2).

“Jesus, why couldn’t we meet that need?” Answer: “Because you’re trying to serve with your own power, ability, wits, and competence and, at the same time, you have no faith in the source of true need-meeting power.” It’s faith in the all-powerful God that unlocks it. 

In a way, faith that gives us access to God’s power is actually an admission of powerlessness and a dependence on him that, if a need is going to be met, then it’s going to have to be in line with God’s will and with God’s power.

When we try to serve, meet needs, encourage the people of God, serve the church, raise godly children, offer forgiveness, confess sin, do we do so trusting God’s power and plan? Do we realize that this is the only way anything of eternal significance gets done and the only way that God ends up getting all the credit?

The Failure To Do So

So, we’ve been reminded of the power to serve that’s available and the faith used to unlock it, but I now want us to consider the failure to do so. If the power is there and faith is all that’s needed, the question becomes, why don’t we use it? Why didn’t the disciples?

The desperate man calls them out (v. 16). Not only had their failure been before the crowd, but now it’s announced before their Rabbi. 

And it gets worse (v. 17). Jesus identifies the cause of the failure: i. unbelief, which we’ve already talked about, and ii. perversion, which basically means crooked or misguided, like a path through a dense forest twisting the wrong way and making its travellers helplessly lost. 

And notice Jesus lumps the disciples in with that whole generation of hard-hearted Israel. The unbelief and twisted expectations of the nation had caused them to reject their King and now his disciples are showing similar traits, rendering them powerless in the face of desperate need.

And, I’ll admit, that’s a pattern I’m not unfamiliar with in my life. At times, I wonder if God will come through, can come through, or even wants to come through for me. I struggle to believe God is good and just, caring and present. And this perverse unbelief robs me of any divine power to serve him as he’s owed.

And unbelief and twisted thinking is hard to shake, isn’t it (vv. 22–23a)? Jesus, for the third time in a chapter-and-a-half speaks of his coming death and resurrection. No doubt, a massive display of power that will meet to most desperate of needs. And, even after being publicly exposed, rebuked, shamed, look at the disciples response (v. 23b).

Divine power is available to meet needs and accessed by faith. Jesus just demonstrated it for them. Then he announces his coming need-meeting display of divine power. Do the disciples respond in faith? No, they again show unbelief and perversion. They’re deeply grieved.

It’s easy to forget to apply the truth, “apart from me you can do nothing.” It’s not hard to doubt the power to which we have access and to, instead, believe the lies of self-sufficiency and self-capability. To look at the world, the needs, our helplessness through perverse, crooked eyes.

But, as A. W. Tozer once wrote and our passage illustrates, “God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.”

Serve Daringly and Dependently!

Brothers and sisters, we are invited to access God’s power to do God’s work in God’s church and in God’s world for God’s glory. We are invited to Serve daringly and dependently!

I’m going to challenge you this week to prayerfully ask yourself, what are the greatest needs facing the people that God has placed in my life? It could be people in your home, work place, classroom, friend circles, extended family, or church family. What are those needs? (If you’re unaware of needs, then ask God to open your eyes and give you compassion and sensitivity … even an urgency.)

Take steps, this week, toward meeting that need, as impossible as it may seem. Serve daringly and dependently!

 

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