Raleigh
Bible Study Materials
FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS
Matthew 17: 14 - 27
18 Jun 2023
Message
FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS
(Matthew 17:14-27)
“He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” (v. 20)
In the previous passage, we learned that Jesus took with him three disciples and led them up a high mountain. There the disciples witnessed Jesus’ glorious transfiguration. They tasted the kingdom of God in advance. Today’s passage, however, is set at the foot of the mountain. It was occupied by malicious demons and unbelieving and perverse people, so there were many problems and terrible suffering. Jesus came down the mountain and entered that dark valley again. He revealed his compassion and power by healing a boy possessed by an impure spirit. Through this event, he teaches his disciples how to conquer evil spirits and serve the troubled world. It is to have faith as small as a mustard seed. May God bless us to understand what it looks like to have faith as small as a mustard seed! May God bless us to have faith to move mountains!
When Jesus and the three disciples came down to the foot of the mountain where the other nine disciples were waiting, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. (14). Why did he come to Jesus with such a humble attitude? Look at verses 15, 16. ‘“Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.’” According to Luke 9:38, the boy was the only son of his father. As an only son, he should have grown to be a cheerful, lively and innocent boy. But he was not. In his blossoming age, he suffered from seizures, and became extremely self-destructive and suicidal. He often fell into the fire or into the water. What was the cause of all these problems?
Mark tells us that this was the work of a deaf and mute spirit. (Mark 9:25) An evil spirit entered into the boy until he lost all the joy of life and the image of a lively youngster. We do not know the details about the boy’s past history. Yet one thing is clear; the boy grew up in an environment in which he was unprotected from demon-possession. We cannot imagine how much the boy and the father had suffered from such a situation. In his great agony and desperation, the father first came to Jesus’ disciples, but they could not heal the boy.
How did Jesus respond? Look at verse 17. “‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you?’ How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’” Jesus pointed out that the boy’s condition was the outcome of the unbelieving and perverse generation. He grieved over the unbelieving and perverse condition of the people of Israel who were utterly powerless to care for the pathetic boy.
Here “unbelieving” means “having no sense of God,” or “without trust in God.” “Perverse” means “distorted” or “corrupt.” Perversion is a natural outcome of unbelief. Why? For when people don’t worship God, they experience great emptiness in their hearts. Soon demons creep in and lead them to perverse lifestyles. Their value system becomes distorted, and their hearts become corrupted. People in Jesus’ time didn’t sense God’s presence even though the Son of God dwelt with them, revealing God’s glory through all his work and teaching. They were blindly concerned about their security, so there was no room in their hearts to accept the word of God. As a result, they were harassed and helpless under the power of demons.
When there was no God in their hearts, the Jewish religious leaders were only concerned about their position and authority. They deliberately opposed Jesus because they saw him as a political threat to their established power. These religious leaders came to observe every moment of Jesus and his disciples to find any accusations. According to Mark’s Gospel, when the nine disciples failed to heal the boy, they immediately accused and argued with them.
Once Jesus' disciples drove out many demons and healed many sick people. (Mark 6:7-12) Based on their experience, the nine disciples probably thought that the one demon-possessed boy would be no problem for them to deal with. They tried to drive out and heal the boy by depending on their past experience without prayer. But they failed, so they became the objects of ridicule. Jesus had chosen them to make them shepherds of his flock of sheep. Yet they were still a part of the unbelieving generation at that moment due to their self-reliance and lack of faith.
History proves that there were believing generations, and there were unbelieving generations. For example, the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership believed in God. As God commanded, Joshua wholeheartedly trusted in God and his words. Following his example, his generation obeyed God’s word by faith. They surmounted indestructible fortresses like Jericho, defeated strong enemies, and eventually conquered the Promised Land. They were a believing generation. Soon after, however, the following generation abandoned God, their king, in the midst of material affluence. Judges 21:25 depicts their lifestyle like this: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Consequently, they experienced cruel exploitation by their surrounding enemies.
When the western world maintained its Christian faith, God blessed its people to enlighten the world with godly ways and values. But ever since the western world abandoned God and consequently adopted secular humanism, it has become a source of ungodly thoughts and a destructive way of life. Now the spiritual power and influence of Europe is dying. “In God We Trust” was once in American people’s hearts, believing that the political and economic prosperity of the nation is in God’s hands. With this faith, our forefathers cultivated this vast land and built up the United States of America. People sought to build a godly nation—a city on a hill, a holy nation. People built a church at the center of their community and built their homes around it. They called their church a meeting house. Almost every day they came to the church to meet God through Bible study, prayer and Christian fellowship. The father of each family was responsible for instructing his family members in the Bible and leading family worship. They built schools to raise many spiritual men and women. Through their love for God and his word, God raised up one million missionaries who went out to the whole world to preach the Gospel. When American people had faith in God, they became a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to peoples of the world.
Nowadays, however, we cannot say that this generation is a believing generation. The unbelieving atmosphere has been producing so many perverse lifestyles. One of the noticeable marks of the perverse generation is idol worship such as sex, money, pleasure, power and so on. What is the outcome of this perverse lifestyle? Many young people are under the power of drugs, sexual immorality, and alcohol. Many families are broken. More people are under depression. People are more violent and destructive by killing themselves or others.
Jesus laments over the unbelieving and perverse generation. What did he do? Jesus commanded “Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. (18) The generation was powerless to do anything before the power of demons. But Jesus was different. Jesus had the power to drive out the demon and make the boy well. Living in this unbelieving generation, it is easy for us to be unbelieving and perverse. When we hear many tragic news of violence, suicides, or prevalence of immorality, we may think that they are not related to ourselves. But we should remember Jesus’ grief over the generation including his faithless and powerless disciples. Jesus chose us to be his disciples and instruments to help this generation and serve them. If we feel powerless to serve them, we should grieve over our unbelief and cry out, “Lord, help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) We can bring many young people of this generation to Jesus by inviting them to Bible studies and through our intercessory prayers. When we bring people of this generation to Jesus by faith, he can make them whole. May God bless us to grow as powerful and influential shepherds to serve this unbelieving generation! May God bless America to be recovered as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation!
The disciples were greatly relieved when Jesus drove the demon out of the boy and healed him. Yet, a question lingered in their hearts. Then they came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” What was Jesus’ answer? Look at verse 20. “‘He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus plainly told them that they were powerless to cast out the demon because of their lack of faith. Jesus emphasizes that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing is impossible. What then is “faith as small as a mustard seed?”
First, it is “living faith.” A mustard seed is about 1-2 mm in diameter. It is botanically not the smallest seed, but in Jesus’ time, the mustard seed was the smallest among the plants familiar to farmers and gardeners. However, it grows up to 8-12 feet. It becomes the tallest among the other shrubs in a Jewish garden, and the birds of the air perch in its branches. The key point here is that a mustard seed is small, but it is alive and grows. Jesus teaches that our faith should be alive and active. It is living faith. Living faith is practical belief and trust in God and his word in our current situation and in any situation. Hebrews 11 is often called the “Hall of faith.” In this chapter, the author introduces a list of remarkable men and women whose faith greatly encourages and challenges our own faith. Before this, the author tells us who the object of their faith was. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Hebrews 11:2) When each of them believed in God, who created this universe through his words, they challenged and conquered seemingly impossible tasks. In their weaknesses, they became powerful when they held on to God’s promise in their hearts.
Our God is the Almighty Creator God. Nothing is impossible with him. (Luke 1:37). His Word is absolute, living and active as he is. When we actively believe in God Almighty and his Word, we can experience his unlimited power, and our faith becomes bigger and bigger just as a mustard seed grows. The more we see that out God is trustworthy, the stronger our faith in him becomes. Sometimes we may feel weak, small, or insignificant like a mustard seed; but when we trust in the almighty God, the Creator, God strengthens us and makes us alive because God is the source and sustainer of our life and faith.
Second, it is “intact faith.” A mustard seed may be small, but it grows flawlessly because of its intactness. What makes our faith defective? It is pride and doubt. Pride leads man into self-reliance. One of the greatest enemies of faith is pride when all goes well. People are tempted to think that it was by their own strength or intelligence that they achieved as much as they have. They lose their sense of child-like dependence on God. They rely on what they have such as money, health, and people rather than on God. But we should know that only God is dependable.
Another enemy of faith is doubt. James 1:6-8 warns a man of doubt. “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” A man of doubt is double-minded and unstable. He or she cannot experience the power of God and his word. On the contrary, Jesus emphasizes the importance of faith without doubt in Mark 11:23, “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Faith must be free of doubt and unwavering. It should not be affected by what we see or what conditions may exist, or where we are. It is possible when we fix our eyes on God Almighty. When we fix our eyes on God, who is bigger than our problems and who is in control, our doubts become smaller and smaller and eventually disappear.
Third, it is “actual faith.” A mustard seed is small, but it is real, not imaginary. How can we know whether we have actual faith or not? When we encounter small or big mountain-sized obstacles in our lives, our faith will be revealed as either actual or nominal based on how we respond to them. Look at verse 20 again. “‘He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Here, a mountain refers to a seemingly impossible task, obstacle, or difficulty. So, “moving a mountain” means to make impossible things possible, or getting over mountain-sized obstacles. Mountains in our lives can be a sickness, a family crisis, financial problems, school studies, or an unsecure future. To our Bible teachers, mountains can be a person’s change, raising disciples, or dealing with the unbelieving and perverse generation.
But when we have faith like a mustard seed, we can challenge these mountains and experience God’s power. Practically, how can we prove that our faith is actual? First of all, Jesus teaches us to pray. In the same event recorded in Mark 9, when the disciples asked, “why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” Prayer is the actual expression of our faith. When we pray, we should believe that we have received what we asked of God. Jesus ever emphasizes the power of prayer. In Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Next, we have to practically obey according to God’s will and his words. Jesus says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Through our actual obedience, we demonstrate the reality of our faith. Each of us has mountains to move. Whatever they are, God wants us to see them moved through our faith as small as a mustard seed. God wants us to pray by faith until the mountains are moved.
In this unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus called each of us with his great hope and vision. Compared to this generation’s unbelieving atmosphere and perverse lifestyles, we may think that we are very small and insignificant like a mustard seed and we may wonder if we can do anything. We may feel more easy and secure following the lifestyles of unbelievers. But Jesus laments over such faithless and powerless Christians. Jesus wants us to have living, intact and actual faith that moves mountains. Jesus wants us to be responsible and powerful shepherds to serve this generation. May God grant us faith as small as a mustard seed to serve the world and glorify God!
In verse 22, Jesus predicted his suffering, death and resurrection the second time. The disciples did not comprehend the meaning and fell into sorrow and fear. Jesus wanted to prepare his disciples for upcoming trials and helped them to remember that he was following God’s divine plan to fulfill God’s redemptive work.
Look at verse 24. “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, ‘Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?’” According to the law, those who are twenty years old or more, they have to offer temple tax annually. In Jesus’ time, it seems that one adult had to pay two drachmas, equivalent to two days of wages for average workers. It was not a small amount. Then Peter replied to the tax-collectors, “Yes, he does,” implying that Jesus had formerly been accustomed to pay. When Peter came into the house, Jesus asked him, “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” Peter answered, “From others.” “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said. This meant that Jesus is the King, the Lord of the temple and not only he is tax free, but also his disciples, the children of the kingdom, should be free from such temple taxes. (26)
But Jesus decided to pay the tax along with Peter’s. Why? So that he may not offend anyone. Jesus was careful to obey the Law of God because he was born under the law and came to fulfill the law. But Jesus’ way of paying the tax teaches an even deeper lesson. Look at verse 27. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Jesus was not compelled by poverty to give this order to Peter, but that he did so in order to prove by a miracle that he had a more extensive dominion than all earthly kings. Jesus revealed the power of the Creator God. Jesus is the sovereign Ruler of nature.
Jesus called me out of the unbelieving and perverse generation into his wonderful light. He wants me to serve this generation with Jesus’ shepherd’s heart and by faith in God Almighty. He called me to live a life to move mountains, serve many people under the power of darkness and glorify God. However, I learned that Jesus laments over my unbelief and I’m not much influential to this generation. Rather I am easily influenced by this perverse generation. I repent of my unbelief. May God renew my calling and strengthen me to have faith as small as a mustard seed that moves mountains to serve suffering and dying souls and glorify God’s name!
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