Pastor Tab Cosgrove September 16, 2018

Text: Eph. 3:7-21 & Mark 9:14-29 Title: Doubt Consolidation

  1. Video (1:23) Wow that was so bad! But I have to say I love the concept of Doubt Consolidation. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a 10-week course we could attend that offered a way to rid ourselves of doubt or at least manage our doubts to a simple few? Because doubt can be a menace. It gets in the way of so many things in life and I’m not just talking about faith related things but life in general. A questioning, negative attitude about ourselves or the situations at hand will most often keep us from venturing into new territory or can result in missed opportunities because we doubt our abilities. What is true about doubt is that it is hot-wired into our DNA. It is a part of who we are. There is always going to be some level of doubt in whatever we do or think which is why some form of doubt consolidation is appealing. Soren Kierkegaard once said, Every mental act is composed of doubt and belief, but it is belief that is the positive, it is belief that sustains thought and holds the world together.For us Christians to have less doubt and more faith is a good goal. What we must understand is that doubt is not the opposite of faith but is an element of faith. It is always going to be there. It is always going to be that part of the mental process with which we must contended or manage. There is not going to ever be a decision we make where there isn’t some level or component of doubt. It just doesn’t happen. It’s the level of doubt incorporated, however, that becomes the issue. And we see this in our Gospel lesson for today.
  1. When this man brings his ailing son to where Jesus is supposed to be, he is incorporating a level of faith that this Jesus, whom I’m sure he had heard of through various conversations, could help his son. We can only imagine how hard dealing with his son’s condition must have been and the challenge it must have been on the entire family. Imagine the heartache of the father and family who has seen these things happen over and over again ever since the son’s childhood. I’m sure it was exhausting for them all with little hope of it ever changing. And when this father heard of the things this Jesus was doing, his level of belief,at least momentarily, surpassed the doubt we can rightly assume had been prevalent in his mind. But that all changed when Jesus wasn’t there, and His disciples failed to heal his son. You can practically see the wave of doubt rolling back over this man’s heart creating this shift on his doubt/belief pendulum. I don’t know about you, but I have been there on many occasions in my life where the level of belief that things will change are surpassed by doubts that they will or even can. And this is why the concept of Doubt Consolidation is so appealing to me. Because the doubts will come and how we manage them can make all the difference in the world as to the perspective we have as situations arise.
  1. When Jesus arrives onto the scene we know that the man’s hope of his son’s healing had greatly diminished by the simple words he uses when speaking to Jesus. “If you can do anything…”That’s not a statement of confidence and faith. In fact, it’s a statement used when doubt exceeds belief. But what is so precious about this account is that Jesus knows this is what is happening in the man’s heart and He responds to the man’s doubt by helping him see past his questioning heart. If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.Playing off of Kierkegaard’s statement, belief is positive and it is belief that will hold our worlds together. This is the blessing of knowing Christ in our lives! Jesus was making known to the man that because of who He was as Lord of all, there was always hope and it centered on faith in Him exceeding the doubt. To which the man prayerfully responds and can to be our continual prayer as well,I believe, help my unbelief! In other words, help me Lord, to manage this doubt I have.Because that my friends is the only way we can.The man believed, he wouldn’t have been there had he not, but his level of doubt surpassed his belief and it was in that moment standing in front of God that the man understood his doubt was beyond his control and so he asked for help from the only source who could help. There is no question that doubt has power to persuade our decisions, determine our directions and even effect our overall mindset about our lives in general. But by turning to our Lord in those times with a similar cry as that father, He will help us see past our doubts. He won’t always respond as He did with the man’s son, but to know He could and that no matter what, He has our best interest in mind, can bring our level of belief and level of doubt back into proper perspective.
  1. When the people of Ephesus were losing heart over Paul’s demise as a prisoner, and probably wondering what the point of all of this was, Paul uses the moment to redirect their hearts and minds. Listen to this prayer he prays. I don’t want you to read it with me—just listen to it(Read 14-19). Paul was praying for a shift in their thinking and it would come from God working on their inner being.Because, you see, that is where doubt comes from—from our core. And we can’t change our core—it’s who we are—as we said earlier doubt is a part of our DNA.We are going to doubt. We are going to question. I mean, Paul more than anyone understood the inward battle of doubt and he wanted the reader to know with certainty that this God whom they served was capable of reshifting their core.Did you catch what Paul said? Verse 16 (read). You see when our inward being is touched by the fullness of God it doesn’t take long for doubt to take a back seat in our lives.The faith our God gives us moves our minds and hearts to say, I know this looks bad, I know these are not the cards I anticipated on being dealt, but because I know He is there, I am ready to deal with whatever outcome occurs because of His strength, knowing He can do all things. You see in a scenario like that, doubt is consolidated, and faith is left to guide the mind. And this was Paul’s point to his prayer. It is God through Christ who consolidates our doubts. It is God through Christ who strengthens our faith. Jesus showed the man what the power of faith in Him can do. A confident assurance the He is capable of doing, as Paul declares, more abundantly than all that we ask or think consolidates our doubt.
  1. I want to read this prayer one more time but this time I want us to read it together because I have changed the pronouns. Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of Your glory, grant me to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in my inward being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith—that being rooted and grounded in love I may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all Your fullness—Amen. That is how we consolidate the doubt in our hearts and minds. By turning to a God who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.