Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are beginning a brand new
teaching series called What Remains. 1 Corinthians
13 .13 says, These three things remain, faith,
hope, and love. And today we are excited to welcome
our guest speaker, Justin Stratus, to talk to
us more about faith. What is faith? How can I
have faith? And do faith and doubt go together?
Or do I need to have a perfect kind of faith?
Those are just some of the questions that Justin
is going to unpack for us in today's sermon.
Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter
9, verses 14 to 29. 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 the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed
with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you
arguing about? He asked. A man in the crowd answered,
Teacher, I brought my son who is possessed by
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. You unbelieving generation.
Jesus replied. How long shall I stay with you?
How long will I put up with you? Bring the boy
to me. So they brought him. When the spirit saw
Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.
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 a fire
or water to kill him. But if you can do anything,
take pity on us. and help us. If I can, said
Jesus, everything is possible for the one who
believes. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. When
Jesus saw that the crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the impure spirit. You deaf and mute
spirit, he said, I command you to come out of
him and never enter him again. The spirit shrieked,
convulsed him violently and came out. The boy
looked so much like a corpse that many said he's
dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted
him to his feet and he stood up. After Jesus
had gone indoors, his disciples asked him, why
couldn't we drive it out? He replied, this kind
comes out only by prayer. The word of the Lord.
Morning, everybody. It's a real pleasure to be
here. Rob already introduced me as a professor
of theology at Wycliffe College. And I just wanted
to say. You get to hear me speak about God and
theology this morning for free. But how much
more fun would it be if you could pay money to
hear me talk about God? And if that excites you,
then you should enroll at Wycliffe College. But
it's a real pleasure to preach the scriptures
to my church family this morning, as it always
is. But before I begin, would you pray with me?
Lord, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. Amen.
So for the past 15 years or so, I've started
nearly every one of my sermons with that prayer.
So it was a real cool surprise when Rob asked
me to preach today from Mark chapter 9, where
this prayer comes from. And I guess to me...
I believe, help my unbelief is something of a
perfect summary of what it means to follow Jesus.
Because it sort of weaves together all of the
elements of this mysterious leap that characterizes
so much of the Christian faith. And Christianity
is a leap in my view. Being a disciple of Jesus
is not the result of a calculated strategic risk
-reward analysis. It's a decision that all of
us have to make in response to that moment when
Jesus Christ bursts into the scene of our lives
and commands that we follow him. Now, a Christian
is just a person that says yes to that command.
It's a person who, like Simon, Andrew, James,
John, Levi, and all the other disciples, hears
that call, and as Mark so often puts it, immediately
leaves their old life to follow Jesus. But it's
more than that. Because following Christ is a
leap, or rather, following Christ is a leap.
Only if Jesus is there to catch us on the other
side. In other words, following Jesus is not
an achievement on our part that we get sort of
rewarded for. It's a constant daily entrusting
ourselves to him. It's not a thing that we possess.
It's a life that we receive day by day in Jesus's
presence. And that's why this prayer, Lord, we
believe, help our unbelief, is something that
we pray not once, but we pray every moment for
the rest of our lives as disciples. There's another
reason why I love this prayer, and that's because
in my experience, and maybe in yours, it's like
really hard to believe in Jesus. I mean, in some
ways, it's easy to say the words, it's easy to
sing the songs, it's easy to tick the box that
says you're a Christian on the Statistics Canada
form. But no matter how we might look like on
the outside, no matter how loudly we tell people
we believe, we all know that little voice deep
down on the inside that no one hears but us.
It's a voice that asks us quietly but persistently,
Yeah, but like, do you really believe all of
this stuff? Do you actually believe this? One
of the comforts of this passage, I think, is
that this doubt, that niggling voice in our minds
is not a surprise to God. In fact, doubt is exactly
the thing that we need to admit in order to receive
the faith that God is offering. And it's kind
of a paradox, right? I mean, admitting you don't
have faith is obviously the condition for getting
faith. But asking God for a faith that you don't
have kind of proves that you have something of
it already. Otherwise, why would you ask for
it in the first place? Reminds me of this song
lyric from the early 2000s by this Irish band
called The Script that goes, I'm alive. but I'm
barely breathing. I just prayed to a God that
I don't believe in. You see how the prayer kind
of cancels out the unbelief, but the unbelief
is still there just the same. I believe. Help
my unbelief. I love that. I want that on my tombstone.
Justin believed, and God helped his unbelief.
So that brings us to our passage, Mark chapter
9, verses 14 through 29. And if you're a Baptist,
you might want to open your Bible and look at
the passage. If you're Anglican, you can just
listen. Mark chapter 9, verses 14 through 29.
Bit of context. Now at this point in the Gospel
of Mark, Jesus is kind of puttering around in
the upper end of Israel, north of the Sea of
Galilee. in these villages that are surrounding
this larger city called Caesarea Philippi. And
this is where Jesus began his itinerant ministry,
according to Mark. And that's the place he's
eventually going to leave and go down to Jerusalem
to be crucified. Now for the disciples, who was
Jesus? He was their teacher. He was their rabbi.
But to everybody else, what Mark calls the crowd,
Jesus was known mostly for two things. Miracles
and ticking off religious leaders. By the time
we meet him in chapter 9, Jesus had driven out
tons of demons. He's healed people of leprosy,
blindness, paralysis, hemorrhage, deafness. He
brought a little girl back from the dead. Not
to mention he fed thousands of people with a
couple scraps of food twice. But he's also at
this time clashing with religious teachers over
Sabbath observance, over his relationship with
so -called sinners, over ritual purity, and pretty
much everything else he ever said or did. Of
course, Jesus did a lot of teaching at this time,
too, in public. But you get the sense when you
read Mark's gospel that most people were just
confused by the stuff that he taught, including
his own disciples. But the disciples always had
this kind of special relationship with Jesus,
which is why in Mark 6, he lets them get their
own taste of the miracle working lifestyle when
he sends them out two by two and gave them authority
to drive out impure spirits, according to Mark
chapter 6. So it must have been this really exciting
time to be a disciple of Jesus. Healings were
up, demon possessions were down, and love him
or hate him, Jesus was kind of like the most
famous guy around. And the cool thing was, if
you were his disciple, you were right there with
him for all of the action, the Galilean equivalent
of being in the room where it happened. Which
is why... it was probably kind of a deflating,
let down experience when Jesus starts talking
to his disciples about all the costs that are
involved in following him. And especially when
he starts telling them where exactly they were
following him to. In Mark chapter eight, verse
31, for example, the text says, he then began
to teach them that the son of man must suffer
many things and be rejected by the elders, the
chief priests. and the teachers of the law, and
that he must be killed. And then three days after,
rise again. And then here was the cherry on top.
According to Jesus, following him now meant that
you, too, have to be willing to die, just like
Jesus. He says, for whoever wants to save their
life will lose it. But whoever loses their life,
For me and for the gospel, we'll save it. Mark
8, 35. I think this is a point that we all reach
in our Christian lives. When you first come to
Christ, for a lot of us, it's just awesome, right?
Jesus is Lord. The light breaks in. This great
adventure starts. You want to tell everyone about
it. there are literally no downsides to following
Jesus that you can think of. As the old hymn
puts it, the peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing. All things are mine
since I am his. How can I keep from singing?
Being a disciple of Christ is unambiguously amazing.
But soon, you figure out, That enthusiasm by
itself is not enough to fuel your Christian life
in the long run. That despite your best intentions,
you don't really have what it takes to sustain
your walk with Christ. Along with your early
victories, you start to rack up a few defeats.
And you realize that you need something more.
You need a deeper well to draw from. Here's what
I think the Bible is telling us today. The thing
that you need, the only thing that you need,
the only thing that can sustain a lifetime of
following Christ, a lifetime of cross -bearing
and ministry is not excitement. It's not victory.
It's not zeal, not pie in the sky and the sweet
by and by. The thing you need both to become
and to stay a Christian is faith. And some people
might say faith alone. So let me explain. Here's
the scene. It just happens right before the passage
in Mark chapter 9. The disciples, Peter, James,
and John, are up on this mountain that's right
up by Caesarea Philippi called Mount Hermon.
And on that mountain, Jesus is transfigured into
this kind of dazzling white figure before their
eyes. And he's standing there with Moses and
Elijah, these two fellows that are long gone
at this point. And a voice from heaven announces
to the disciples that Jesus is the Son of God
and that he has to be obeyed. Now, this whole
scene on Mount Hermon is supposed to make us
think of Exodus chapter 32. That's the scene
where Moses ascends this mountain, right? And
is told by God that Israel is now going to have
to follow this thing called the law. You know,
the two tablets with the Ten Commandments. And
just like Moses, Jesus comes down from this mountain.
And what does he find? But chaos unfolding. Only
this time, it's not a golden calf. It's just
a whole big argument. And here's the presenting
issue. The disciples, the ones who didn't go
up the mountain, the remaining ones, are trying
and failing to do Jesus stuff without Jesus.
The crowd's upset because they've come to expect,
I guess, a certain level of service from the
Jesus movement. And the religious leaders are
upset that the crowd is continuing to expect
things from this obviously fraudulent rabbi and
his followers. Meanwhile, the disciples are at
a loss because the authority to drive out demons
that Jesus gave them back in chapter 6 doesn't
seem to be working anymore. And so this is when
Jesus arrives and stuns the crowd with his kind
of what's -all -this -then messianic energy.
And so this distraught father emerges from the
crowd and explains the situation to Jesus. He
came with the crowd looking for Jesus himself
to heal his demon -oppressed son. But in the
teacher's absence, he asks the disciples for
a Jesus -style exorcism. It was their failure
to deliver on this exorcism that kicks off the
dispute. Now, initially, Jesus' response to this
poor father seems like really cold. He says,
you unbelieving generation, how long should I
stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?
But remember, in the story, Jesus is supposed
to be like Moses, right? He comes to the people
with a message from God, and what he encounters
is chaos and rebellion. More to the point, the
stuff that Jesus says, he's using phrases that
in the Old Testament are usually only put in
the mouth of God. How long will these people
treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse
to believe in me in spite of all the signs I
performed among them? That's what God says to
Moses in Numbers chapter 14. In other words,
the apostle Mark. the author of this gospel,
is doing everything he can to make sure that
we're thinking of Jesus in the highest possible
terms. His appearance before the crowd is not
just the appearance of this itinerant miracle
worker that they've all been waiting for. It's
the arrival on the scene of Israel's God. And
so Jesus, speaking with the authority of the
Almighty, says, bring the boy to me. At this
point, the boy goes into another fit. And as
he's kind of writhing around on the ground, Jesus
continues to press the father for information.
Well, how long has he been like this? He asks.
Well, he's always been like this, the guy says.
And one of these days, this is going to kill
him. So if you can do anything, please help us.
More indignation from Jesus. If, if I can do
anything. And then the kicker, everything is
possible for the one who believes. So I've got
a question. Who do you think Jesus is talking
about here? When he says everything is possible
for the one who believes. Is he talking about
the man's faith, or is he referring to himself?
In other words, is he saying, if the man believes
in Jesus hard enough, this boy can be healed?
Or is he saying, of course he can heal the boy,
because he, that is Jesus himself, has perfect
faith? Right? Which one is it? It's tricky. So
if you read the gospel, on the one hand, it does
seem like there's a relationship between faith
and healing. So remember in Mark chapter 6, Jesus
goes back to his hometown of Nazareth, right,
announcing that he's the Messiah. And everyone's
like, I remember this kid. He's like the carpenter's
kid, right? No one believes him. And the text
says that he couldn't do any miracles in Nazareth
because of, quote, the people's lack of faith.
But on the other hand, the Bible, and hear me
on this, the Bible definitely does not teach
that people whose relatives and friends are not
healed, whose friends and relatives are not healed,
are to blame for that. In fact, that is actually
precisely the kind of thinking that this passage
is trying to dissuade us of. It's trying to dissuade
us of the idea that the success or failure of
healing comes down to us. What if Jesus is saying
something different? What if Jesus is saying
something like this? The boy's healing does depend
on faith, but there's no way that you can muster
mountain -moving faith on your own. You just
can't. Just like the Israelites in the book of
Exodus, the only thing that you're capable of
producing on your own is a golden calf. A cheap
imitation of the glory of God's presence. Something
that looks like faith, but in the end is really
just you cosplaying as a disciple. What you need
is not more of you, Jesus says, but more of me.
Now, I think that the father's response to Jesus
in this story basically amounts to him agreeing
with this point. You're right, Jesus. I can't
do this. Not even your disciples can do this.
In fact, nobody has this kind of faith. We all
doubt. We all fall short. There's only one person
on earth with a relationship with God that is
strong enough that God will answer any prayer
that's prayed. And that's you, Jesus. I believe
in you. I have faith in you. Now, would you meet
me in my unbelief? Would you meet me in my doubt?
And would you do what I can't do? Would you heal
my son? And so that's exactly what Jesus does.
You know, in theology, the greatest thing that
one could study, in theology, Jesus is often
referred to as the mediator. The one who stands
in between us and God. The one who brings to
God what God requires of us, but what we could
never give to God on our own. The one who heals
our relationship with God. The one who, even
despite our sin and brokenness, reconciles us
with God, fixes the relationship. Jesus is the
reason that we can approach the throne of grace
not with fear but with confidence, as the writer
to the Hebrews puts it. I think that the disciples
failed to cast out this demon because they were
trying to call on the power of God without a
mediator. In other words, they were trying to
do it on their own. And that's why Jesus reminds
them later on in the passage that this kind of
demon can only be driven out by prayer. Not by
relying on one's own strength, but by calling
on someone who is stronger. Now, obviously, the
demon was cast out. So who's the one who prayed?
It wasn't the disciples. Actually wasn't Jesus
either, right? It's a very odd tale where Jesus
instructs them to do something that he himself
did not do. So who was the one that prayed? The
answer is, it was the boy's father. And what
was his prayer? His prayer was, I believe, help
my unbelief. It wasn't a... powerful prayer,
right? When you think of exorcisms, right? You
think of the movie from the 70s where you're
sort of screaming at the demon and declaring
under the authority of Jesus that this person
needs to be healed of this demon. I cast you
out. The power of Christ compels you, right?
It wasn't that kind of sort of declarative commanding
prayer. It was a humble prayer of need. In fact,
it was a prayer of desperation. And that is the
kind of prayer that moves mountains. That is
the kind of prayer that, as James puts it, availeth
much. I want to learn how to pray like that.
I want you to learn how to pray like that. And
you totally can. We can come to Jesus every morning
and pray Lord, I've been oppressed and sinful
my whole life. I bring all sorts of failures
and maladies. And I feel like the boy in this
story that one day these things in my life are
going to take me down once and for all. But you
say, Jesus, that if I have faith as small as
a mustard seed, I can be saved from all of these
things. The problem is, I don't even have that
small amount of faith. I don't even have mustard
seed sized faith. So here's what I'm going to
ask Jesus. I ask that you take your faith, that
you take your relationship with God, and you
go before God on my behalf. And if you do that,
then I can be saved. Lord, I believe that you
can do this. Now help my unbelief. Amen. Thanks
for tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity
Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on
August 23rd, 2026.