Faith and Fruitfulness
Notes
Transcript
Faith and Fruitfulness
Last couple weeks we have looked at Jesus teaching on faith.
4 Soils – 4 Soils. Some grow. Some don’t.
Faith and Fear – Trusting in the storms.
Fruit and faithfulness – how faith starts, grows, and comes to fruitfulness.
1. Object of Faith
2. Occasion for Faith
3. Cultivation of Faith
4. Fruitfulness of Faith
Object of Faith – Knowledge of Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Jairus and the woman have heard of Jesus and to some degree believe in him. Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
· Jairus – Mark 5:21-23 Jairus comes to Jesus because he, like everybody else has heard reports of Jesus.
· The Woman – Mark 5:27 She had heard reports about him.
Occasion for Faith – (Pain) Need for Jesus. This is where Jairus and the woman separate themselves from the crowd. Everyone has heard of Jesus and are aware of all he has done and taught but not everyone comes to him expecting or desiring him to meet their deepest needs. John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
· Jairus – his daughter is dying – acute sickness which will lead to death. He comes because he is desperate. There is a potential cost for a synagogue ruler to publicly seek out Jesus. He could lose his position. That concern is not relevant when life and death are on the line.
· The woman – she has suffered from a chronic condition which is not life threatening but it has non the less ruined her life. Mark says she has spent all her money on doctors and she is worse now than before. To add insult to injury her condition marks her as ceremoniously unclean and therefore a social outcast. She is desperate.
· This is the entry point of saving faith. Everyone in this room has the same information as Jairus and the woman. Some of you have grown up with this information. It’s a part of your culture. But it’s just background noise. If some asked you about Jesus, you could tell them. You hang around people who talk about Jesus. You might even attend this or another church on a regular basis. You might even say Jesus is a model for how you want to live your life but you have never been in a place where you are desperate. Jesus just is. He is there. You acknowledge him, but you don’t need him perse. You have a nice family. A nice job. A nice life. Things are good. Maybe Jesus rounds out your life but you haven’t reached a place where you think, “If Jesus does not come through for me, I am utterly lost.”
· Then there are those of you who know Jairus and the woman’s story because you live it. The bottom has dropped out from under you: you see you are morally bankrupt, you have faced death, you are chronically in pain, or in a thousand other scenarios you have found yourself in a place of pain and desperation where Jesus has moved from being just another historical data point to being the one you seek and cry out – Deliver me!!!!
Cultivation of Faith – What God desires for our faith is simultaneously harder than we barging for and in the end more fruitful than we could hope. We want a healing but God wants more than that. He wants our faith to bear a fruitfulness that would not be possible without stretching.
· The Woman – Mark 5:24-34. Discomfort.
o What does she want. She wants a very anonymous healing. V. 28-29.
o What does she get? A public healing and a lesson on faith V. 30-34
§ Lesson on faith – coming into this she has a very superstitions view of faith. If I touch his cloak. Almost like his cloak is magic. Jesus wants her to know what healed her. Daughter your faith has made you well. Not my cloak, your faith. And not your faith I faith but me, the object of your faith. You trusted me. I am trustworthy.
§ Public healing – she has been a public outcast for 12 years and now she is publicly affirmed and recognized by Jesus as a daughter of the faith who is no longer unclean and diseased.
· Jairus – What he wants? What and parent would want. He wants his daughter to get well and live. What Jesus allows.
o Delay – What is the emotional state of this man? He comes to Jesus and he says my daughter is near death. Time is of the essence. Jesus agrees to come and the disciples are pushing through the crowd. Come on, make way, there is a little girl near death. How many of you stress out when someone sits at a green light? That stress is multiplied a million times when its life or death. Then Jesus stops. Wait. Who touched me? The disciples are incredulous? Are you serious? Who touched you? Everybody is touching you. Jesus delays attending to a 12-year-old suffering from an acute illness that will end in death if not treated soon to attend to a woman with a chronic none life threatening illness. We have a considerable number of medical professionals in this room. That is not what you learn in med school. A doctor who makes this choice is likely looking at a law suit.
§ The disciples and Jairus watch with frantic disbelief that Jesus has stalled the caravan.
§ You wonder the same. You and I are not different. Job. Psalms. Your prayers. They cry out with honest desperation. How long? Why? Will you hide your face forever? God, I cannot see the good in this delay. This does not make sense. Don’t you are that we are perishing?
o Death – V. 35 She is dead. Worst case scenario. She is dead. This is the moment your entire world folds in on itself. The one who calms the storms and heal whomever he wills has chosen to let your loved one die. You prayed. You pleaded. Jesus made a move to come. Your hopes were lifted. God is going to come through. The marriage is going to be saved, the cancer is in remission, my teenager agreed to go to church. Then the boat sinks. The opposite of your prayer is handed to you. You read Jesus words about pray. He said ask and you will receive. Will a father give his child a snake if she asks for bread? Yet you feel as if you are left holding the snake. Delay, death, Disappointment.
· Jesus – Mark 5:36 Don’t fear, only believe. Don’t be afraid. Trust me…. But she is dead. Jairus has to choose to trust or abandon Jesus at this point. This is the moment some walk away. Jairus chooses instead to continue with Jesus in his pain and disillusionment.
Fruitfulness of Faith – Mark 5:37-42
· The woman – received healing, restoration, and a lesson about faith
· Jairus – wanted a healing but received a resurrection.
· Disciples and the crowdwanted a private healing and Jairus wanted a healing he got a resurrection. Authority over death.
· Little girl get up. “Talitha koum” is Aramaic; talitha is a feminine form of the word for “lamb” or “youth,” and koum an imperative meaning “arise!” The Greek translation indicates that Mark’s first readers in Rome were not native Hebrew or Aramaic speakers, who otherwise would not need a translation. The Greek translation, “little girl,” is endearing. The word korasion, a diminutive of korē (a stately young woman or maiden), indicates prime childhood, perhaps “little lady.”[1]
[1]Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (pp. 167–168). Eerdmans; Apollos.
Sermon Outline
Sermon Outline
Faith and Fruitfulness - how faith starts, grows, and comes to fruitfulness.
Faith and Fruitfulness - how faith starts, grows, and comes to fruitfulness.
1. Object of Faith
2. Occasion for Faith
3. Cultivation of Faith
4. Fruitfulness of Faith
Object of Faith – Knowledge of Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Object of Faith – Knowledge of Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
· Jairus – Mark 5:21-23 Jairus comes to Jesus because he has heard reports of Jesus.
· The Woman – Mark 5:27 She had heard reports about him.
Occasion for Faith – Entry point of faith. Some form of pain, realization of your need of Jesus.
Occasion for Faith – Entry point of faith. Some form of pain, realization of your need of Jesus.
· Jairus – V. 22-23 Acute Pain. his daughter is dying.
· The woman – V. 25-26 Chronic Pain. Hemorrhaging, unclean, isolated, broke, outcast.
· How about you – Do you relate more to the Woman and Jairus or the crowd.
o The crowd – have the right information but don’t sense need of Jesus.
o The desperate – you see Jesus as your only hope.
Cultivation of Faith – God stretches our faith. Pruning hurts but brings more fruit.
Cultivation of Faith – God stretches our faith. Pruning hurts but brings more fruit.
· The Woman – Mark 5:24-34. Discomfort.
o What does she want. She wants a very anonymous healing. V. 28-29.
o What does she get? A very public healing. V. 30-34
· Jairus – What he wants? He wants his daughter to get well and live. What Jesus allows.
o Delay – What is his emotional state as he watches the caravan come to a halt?
§ How do you respond to God’s delays? Psalm 13.
o Death – V. 35 She is dead.
§ Worst case scenario. His hopes are dashed and prayers are unanswered.
§ How do you respond when nothing goes the way you prayed?
o Jesus – Mark 5:36 Don’t fear, only believe. Trust me….
§ Where have you been disappointed, delayed, devastated?
Fruitfulness of Faith – Mark 5:37-42
Fruitfulness of Faith – Mark 5:37-42
· The woman received healing, restoration, and a lesson about faith.
o Disciples learned Jesus does not value people for their position, status, or power.
· Jairus – wanted a healing but received a resurrection.
o Jairus, his wife, and three disciples witness what every Christian will experience.
§ Little girl, get up…. Wake up little lady.
Prayer