목양연가(牧羊戀歌)

Mark 9:21-29  “A Powerful Saint”

Beloved saints, we live in a world with identity as children of God.  If we become children of God it means that God, Who is master of the universe, becomes our God.  God poured out the power of the gospel to His children.  However regrettably, we see so many people who say they believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord but have no power of the gospel and authority or blessing from the Lord.  We see them struggle in very poor spiritual condition.  Then why do they struggle in poor spiritual condition and what is their problem?  Therefore today we will receive grace through a sermon titled “A Powerful Saint.”  May God’s grace over flow in your hearts and minds.  Then how do we become saints with power?

First of all, we must meet Jesus Christ in our hearts.  In today’s text, the father of a child originally came to meet Jesus, didn’t he?  But he did not meet Jesus; instead he met with nine of Jesus’ disciples.  Under these conditions of not seeing Jesus but meeting with His disciples physically was comforting to him, so he had high hopes they might be able to heal his son’s sickness, however he became distressed because they could not heal him.  The father was disappointed and sat down without strength and then Jesus came down from the mountain.  Jesus heard of the poor condition of the sick child and told the father to bring his son to Him.  As soon as the child was brought to Jesus the evil spirit left him and the child was clean.  At this point we need to think what happened.  A person came to see Jesus and met His disciples, mere human beings before meeting Jesus.  Did his problem get solved or not?  No! It did not get solved.  Then, at the moment of meeting Jesus he received a blessing by receiving the solution to the problem.  I believe this is a spiritual teaching for us from today’s text.  It is the same in today’s life of the church.  People come to church to meet Jesus.  Unfortunately however, before they meet Jesus, they meet people who are the followers of Jesus.  They meet the pastor, ordained deacons, kwon-sa’s, and lay people.  Those who came to have a problem solved, however, develop more problems.  Then they get disappointed just like the sick child’s father was.  Some even give up and turn back to the world before meeting Jesus, don’t they?  Therefore if we want to live powerful lives, I believe, first of all, we must meet Jesus Christ who is the Lord of power.

Secondly, if we want to be powerful saints, we must have faith.  Verse 23 in today’s text says that.  Let’s read it together.  “Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."”  Yes, this is true!  If we want to be powerful saints we need to meet Jesus first.  After we meet Jesus then we need to believe in Him.  Look, at the time of Jesus, Pharisees and scribes also met Jesus.  However, they did not have faith to believe.  Rather the Bible says tax collectors and prostitutes had faith to believe in Jesus.  It is true that no matter how long a person goes to church and knows Jesus is a savior, if that individual has not affirmed faith to believe then he can not live a powerful life.  At this point let us think about the definition of what faith is.  As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  What does this mean?  It means that all the things that are not seen in my sight right now, I believe that they are possible in Jesus.  At this time, things that I look for and wish for become true in reality.  If we apply this in today’s text, it is the faith of the sick child’s father.  He meets nine people who are boasting as Jesus’ disciples, before he meets Jesus.  But his problem was not solved.  In spite of this, he did not give up and turn back.  Why is that?  It is because he had faith that Jesus must solve his problem.  I believe Jesus looked at his faith and listened to his wishes.  I believe that to be powerful saints we must have faith to believe.

Thirdly, if we become powerful saints we need to be people of prayer.  Let us read verse 29 together, “So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."”  What do the words “this kind” mean?  That is the difficult problem that the child and his father are facing.  All of the similar difficulties, we generally say by the words “this kind.”  As we live in today’s world, all kinds of problems we face can be summed up in “this kind.”  That is to say that all kinds of trouble and disappointment that we face as problems are solved by prayer, there is no other way.  Do you believe this?  Let’s look at a true example from the Bible.  Hannah was known as the mother of Samuel and is also known as a prayer warrior.  When she was in trouble, lonely, and childless, it was Peninnah, her husband’s second wife who made her miserable and severely provoked her.  It was at this time Hannah went up to the temple with this problem and kneeled down before God and prayed earnestly with tears.  Through this prayer she had a son, Samuel, who became a prominent spiritual leader in the history of Israel.  Actually Hannah escaped from “this kind” of suffering through prayer.  Another example we know well, George Muller who started an orphanage with empty hands, fed over 150,000 orphans until he reached the age of 93 and died.  It says in his autobiography he received answers to his prayers 50,000 times while he was alive, this means that he prayed 50,000 times with 50,000 problems.  “This kind” of problems were solved by the answers to his prayers (in contrast we struggle with few problems).  There is a weapon behind the powerful life; the weapon is prayer which no one can deny.  Queen Esther in the Old Testament prayed and fasted for 3 days about a problem and it was solved through the powerful life.  Elijah experienced the power when fire came down from heaven by prayer and rain came through prayer.  Beloved saints, I conclude with this.  We are the people of God bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and we are His children.  God wants us as His children to live powerful lives.  In spite of this, when we meet “this kind” of problems we sometimes become disappointed and frustrated.  Nevertheless, we learn the way to overcome the troubles and win by the powerful life. 

In summary, we must first meet Jesus.  We must not turn back in disappointment seeing people who are mere human beings before we meet Jesus.  We all have lives full of problems therefore we must meet Jesus.  Then we must become faithful saints after we meet Him.  Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  I bless you in the name of our Lord that we all become precious saints who are free from “this kind, and that kind” of problem by coming before God and kneeling down and praying.
By: Rev. Samuel Choi