Watching Faith Grow

John chapter four please. I don't know that there's anything that shatters us more quickly or more completely than affliction coming upon our children. Three years ago USA Today newspaper did a feature article on Jim Cantori who is known as the storm tracker of the weather channel for 25 years at that time he had been tracking storms all across the country and had been the featured reporter about severe storms for the weather channel for many many years and the article said he has tracked chase run into and then reported on some of the most extreme weather on the planet talks about the fact that whether he is leaning into the ferocious winds of a hurricane or avoiding a blast of polar air that's dropped down from the Arctic. Cantori is often on the scene to help viewers appreciate how weather tests us. When they did that article on him three years ago he had just finished reporting on the tornado outbreak that outbreak that affected Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri where there was an incredible loss of life and tremendous destruction to property and they were talking with him about that scene he said it was it was like unbelievably said houses were piled up into corners it looked like a movie set from a nuclear holocaust type of scene but he said there are some storms that are even more difficult than that and he began to talk about his two children Jim Cantori has two children both of whom were born with fragile X syndrome a genetic disorder that leads to autism kind of symptoms and he talked about the struggle in the battle that his children face every day and he said for them it is the storm above all storms and a storm that never stops just never stops I'm not sure if there's anything that affects us more deeply shatters us more quickly and deeply than affliction on our children most of us parents in this room can tell of occasions where our hearts were struck with fear and sometimes devastated because of the events that happened with our children whether physically emotionally spiritually morally whatever it may be most parents have been through very very terrible circumstances in regard to the fear over their children but we see a parent like that in our story today in John chapter 4 a man whose son was sick and was about ready to die the terror that that caused in that man's life is very apparent in the way that he approaches the Lord Jesus in John chapter 4 our last look at Christ we saw him in Samaria he's traveling the first part of the chapter tells us from the the southern part of Israel Judea to the northern part of Israel Galilee and the province that lies in between is Samaria he goes through Samaria where he meets the woman at the well and gradually but convincingly introduces her to himself she becomes a believer and she goes into the town and recruits others to come out and meet him and when that happens Jesus stays there two more days now that's where we left him in John's account of his life we pick up today in verse 43 after the two days he left for Galilee now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country interesting little sideline here Jesus is going back to Galilee to enter into the most extensive part of his ministry in one area 18 months of intensive ministry in Galilee it's called the great Galilee and ministry full of teaching and preaching and miracles and healings all kinds of things happen the gospels Matthew Mark and Luke report extensively on those months John only has this one story the only story he records from the great Galilee ministry of 18 months John is more focused upon events in Jerusalem and the growing opposition to Jesus some of the miracles he were performed there and some of his teachings there but the other gospels tell us that when Jesus first got into Galilee he went to his hometown Nazareth and spoke in the synagogue Luke 4 records the story and he read from Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 a prophecy of the Messiah and he put aside the scroll and said today this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing and when they realized what he was saying that he was claiming to be the Messiah they start looking at each other he grew up here in this town we saw him when he was a kid what does he mean he's the Messiah and they let him out of the synagogue threw him out of the synagogue and were ready to throw him over the cliff Jesus miraculously walked through them unharmed probably that's what John is referring back to that Jesus has no honor in his own country but he may also be referring to the fact that he will receive opposition both in Judea and Galilee in contrast to the great reception he just had in Samaria where many believed on him but initially the Galileeans were positive verse 45 when he arrived in Galilee the Galileeans welcomed him they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem the Passover festival where they had also been there and then were introduced to this man this father he is called a royal official probably a Jew who is a government high-ranking government official in King Herod's court now this is not Herod the great that was ruling when Jesus was born this is his son Herod Antiphas who rules over Galilee and several Gentile provinces in the that part of the Roman world and so this is a high government official which indicates as we all know that neither rank nor wealth exists one from the sorrows and tragedies of life because here is a high-ranking government official who is frantically appealing to Jesus on behalf of his son what happens in this story is a tremendous illustration of the growth of faith this royal officer this royal official demonstrates several stages in the growth of faith and it happens so quickly you can almost see it growing in front of you right right before your eyes you can see his faith growing and developing as he trusts Jesus more and more for what Jesus wants to do in his life I'm told that Bamboo grows sometimes several inches in a day and if you're hang around long enough you can almost see it growing and that's what I feel about this story if you hang around this guy for a two or three hours you can just see his faith blossoming and developing and growing you see it you're we're watching faith grow and it is a tremendous example of what God wants to do in all of our lives with the growth of our faith because this man begins where most of us live quite honestly with a weak faith a weak faith look at verse 46 once more he visited Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine and there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Copernum let me just pause to say the geographical distance here is important in the story so we have to note this Jesus is in Cana which is in the central part of Galilee Copernum is on the northern side of the sea of Galilee some 18 miles away okay keep that little bit of information tucked away in your mind it will surface again later verse 47 when this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son who was close to death you say John you call that weak faith man believes Jesus can heal his son that sounds like pretty strong faith to me and certainly the man does have faith and it is unusual for a man in his position to come appealing to a prophet a teacher to do something for him evidently he has exhausted all of his options in Copernum and now he hears of Jesus who has performed miracles in Jerusalem he is now in Galilee and so he makes the 18 mile trip to find Jesus and to make his appeal to him and yes that is faith but I would suggest to you that it is weak faith because of this he believes that Jesus must be right there in his son's presence in order to heal him notice the way he frames his request he begged him to come and heal his son and he's saying kind of like the superstition of the day you've got to be there person has to hear you you have to touch them there has to be some physical connection in order for this to work so yeah I have faith but it's on my terms it's only when I can see it happening that I will trust you and believe you come heal my son and later on in verse 49 he indicates the fact that he does not believe that Jesus can raise the dead and probably most people would have struggled with that obviously but his faith is weak in the sense that it must be accompanied by sight he must see it happen there must be a physical presence something he can see he say well that's still pretty strong faith and I would agree unless I had read Luke 7 where Jesus has another instance happened to him where a centurion a Gentile official government or military official has a servant who is sick and he sends for Jesus but the messengers that are sent to this man by this man to Jesus are instructed to tell him you don't need to come to my house I'm a man under authority I know how to give commands I know how to take commands and I know that commands are obeyed all you have to do say the word I know my servant will be healed and Jesus turned to his listening audience and said I have not found so great a faith in all of Israel so that tells me that that the centurion who was willing to believe without Jesus physical presence and touch and spoken word where it could be heard by the person needing the miracle that that faith is stronger than the faith this man is exhibiting at this point so although he has a faith it is a weak faith the faith that must be accompanied by sight the faith that is strong as long as we're seeing what God is doing as long as things are going pretty well notice how Jesus responds to him in verse 48 unless you people see signs and wonders Jesus told him you will never believe and it is correct that the anivie translates that you people the word you is in the plural in the original language and so he's talking about more than just this man unless you see signs in miracles not just talking to this man you talk about the Jews as a whole unless you people see signs and miracles you will never believe and at first glance that's a startling response to the pathetic cry of a father whose son is near death it sounds detached it sounds cold it sounds unsympathetic here's a father at his end who who is appealing no doubt with a cry in his heart for Jesus to help and Jesus seems to throw cold water right back in his face and I say it appears that way at first glance because in the bigger picture we know what Jesus was doing Jesus is surgically merciful here he will harm in order to heal he will cut open in order to get out the cancer so he is surgically merciful he is divinely gracious in his approach to this man because what he's going to do is point out to this man that although he believes his faith is still on a very weak level it must be accompanied by sight and he's going to graciously and mercifully lead him to a much deeper a much higher kind of faith I'm reminded of the words that C.S. Lewis wrote in his autobiography surprised by joy he tells the story of how he came to no Christ and in his own words he says I was brought kicking and struggling into the kingdom of God God was dealing very forcefully and strongly with me and he didn't believe a lot of what he was being asked to believe he said he says this he said our eyes were darting every which way for a way of escape but then when he came to Christ this was his comment and I quote the hardness of God is kinder than the softness of man and his compulsion is our liberation and that's exactly what Jesus is doing with this man it appears that Jesus is being harsh with him but he's not he really isn't he really is tenderly graciously mercifully showing him how weak his faith is so that he can lead him on to greater levels of faith Jesus is really full of grace in his answer to this man but before we show how his faith moves along I want to pause here for just a moment because I think this is where most of us live I think most of us live at this initial kind of entrance level faith and don't really ever get any higher or deeper and it works out this way as long as things are going pretty well and we can see that God is doing good things as we interpret good in our lives then we'll trust him you know as long as life is going around pretty well we're pretty happy with the way God is doing things as long as we can see the evidence of it as long as the job holds out we do pretty well with our faith trusting God as long as everybody in the family is relatively healthy as long as the money is fairly good as long as there is no major problems we will trust him because we can see we can see good things that is a very weak faith faith yes but a very low level of faith because it fails to take into account the big picture of what God's doing and that God works all things together for good in his providence both good and bad things that come into our lives when we will only trust him when we can see what's right in front of us when we can see what he's doing and it feels good and it looks good and it's all good by our definition of good then we're willing to trust him and that's such a short-sighted view of faith it misses so much of what God wants to do it really is myopic it really is near-sighted it really does focus only what we can see right in front of us I'm reminded of some people in history who were likewise very short-sighted and could not see far into the future could not see the big picture like the president of a Michigan bank who advised Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in that new motor company that Henry Ford was starting and here was very words the horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a fad whoa that guy missed it didn't he he didn't see very far into the future or the Gary Cooper's statement about Clark Gable accepting the role of rep butler in a new movie that was coming out called Gone with the Wind here's what Gary Cooper said Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his face and not Gary Cooper well most of us don't remember Gary Cooper but most people do remember Clark Gable or I'm reminded of the Boston sports writer Dan who summed up his views of this young up and coming hitter called Ted Williams by saying this I don't believe this kid will ever hit half a singer midgets weight in a bathing suit I'm not even sure what that means but I don't think it was a compliment I don't think it was a good thing well Ted Williams not only hit half a midgets weight in a bathing suit he he was he was the only player the last player to hit over 400 in a season that hit that happened back in the 40s and he still owns the highest career batting average of any major league player I mean he wasn't a hall of fame were from the get go this guy couldn't see very far did not really spot talent and that reminds me of the way I live so much only looking down at what's right in front of me trusting God when things are going according to my liking but not looking into the future to see the big picture of what God may want to do and living only by a weak faith a very entrance level low level of faith that's where this man was but God wants to move him beyond that and he wants to move us beyond that and so what happens next in this man's life is a critical step in getting him to where God wants him and that is the next thing we see about him is a persistent faith this is beautiful after Jesus has just very soundly rebuked his low level of faith along with the other Jews verse 49 the royal official said sir come down before my child dies notice his request has not changed he has not really grown any yet in his perception of Jesus and his power to heal from a distance it's still the same request Lord come down before my child dies I still need you to be there I need to see what's happening he needs to see in here and we need to feel your touch needs to be in our presence but what impresses me about this man's statement in verse 49 is first of all he accepts the rebuke of Christ he does not respond angrily he has a good spirit about it he does not respond with impatience or a quick comeback he is respectful he's patient he simply asks again there may be a little more urgency in his voice sir politeness courtesy sir come down before my child dies same request hasn't changed he still feels that Jesus needs to be there where he can see what's happening before anything of significance can really take place but he is persistent he's persistent and there is something about that kind of persistent faith that delights the heart of God even when we still don't understand much even when our faith is still weak and uninformed there's something about persistence in coming back to the Lord that delights the heart of God Jesus told a couple of stories about that in Luke chapter 11 he told the story of a friend who gets up in the middle of the night because someone's come to visit him and he goes through his neighbor and asks for bread to help feed his unexpected guests and the neighbors already gone the bad doesn't really want to help but the upshot of the story is because of the insistence and persistence of this neighbor he will get out of bed and help his neighbor and the point Jesus was making is the contrast between that neighbor and God God is not unwilling to help but he delights in our persistence Jesus told another story in Luke 18 of a widow who kept coming to a judge an unjust judge who really didn't care about giving people justice but she feels she has a just cause and she keeps coming back to him this is a poor widow woman who has no standing in society no right to expect this judge will listen to her but she's camped on his doorstep every morning and she meets him as he comes out of his office door every evening she is always there always asking and finally Jesus says because of her persistence the judge says okay you've got your request now leave me alone and again he's not saying God is like that he's saying there's a contrast between a loving father who wants to bless and help you and that unjust judge whose resistance can be overcome by persistence it's like Jacob in the Old Testament wrestling with the angel and saying I will not let you go unless you bless me God delights in that kind of persistence and that's why I believe Jesus answers as he does in verse 50 go Jesus replied your son will live it's interesting because the request really hasn't changed the man really hasn't shown significant growth in his perception of who Jesus is what he can do there's no real growth in his faith still kind of ignorant and weak but Jesus responds graciously to him and says go your son will live I believe Jesus saw he knew obviously the sincerity of his heart the deep pain of this man's heart and he's pleased that his persistence that he does not give up and walk away he keeps coming back to Jesus and so Jesus drops the rebuke gives him the assurance that his son will be healed and shows him grace and none of us can put God in a box so please don't misunderstand me I'm not here saying this morning that if you are persistent up to seven times then that that'll do it that's the trick or eight times or ten times then God will always do what you ask if you just say it enough times now I'm not putting God in a box this morning what I am saying is this that many times God in his grace will respond even when faith is weak because he delights in a persistent trusting heart one who keeps coming back to him one who may not know much yet but keeps coming back now please understand that sometimes God says no God delights in persistence when he waits and when he does not answer our prayer but sometimes God says no and the trusting heart must learn to accept even those answers as God's answers and we don't see the long range picture yet but sometimes I'm saying God in his grace because of our persistence in prayer even will say go go I'm going to meet that need out of his gracious response to our persistence I remember it was 45 years ago this summer that as a young man between my junior and senior years of high school I was at camp summer camp and I was already making plans for college as most kids at age would do I have springs of life camp where some of you remember being or maybe your parents were I was there for one week as a camper with the young people and then stayed on a week as a counselor with the junior camp and it was during that second week that God was really dealing with my heart about the call to ministry what I look back now on his call to preach God's word and I was fighting it to be quite honest and finally I did something drastic I threw out a fleece now if you're familiar with the story of Gideon you understand the terminology when God was calling Gideon Gideon basically said God I don't believe you're really serious about this with me so I'm going to put a sheep's fleece out on the ground make the do rest on that tonight everything dry around it then I'll know you're really doing this and when God did that that still wasn't enough and so the next night he puts it out and says Lord let it be dry on the the sheep's fleece and do all around it and then I'll know you're asking well I threw out a fleece now I know now that that's not really the best way to determine God's will but I didn't know that then I was young I just needed some confirmation from the Lord and I said Lord if you are really calling me to preach I really need to know this is you if this is you then give me an opportunity to speak this week at camp and I thought there you go God try that one on okay we'll show you because those of you remember going to camp in those days the preachers of the churches organized camps preacher Jimmy was there Sammy Shove was there Cecil Wright was there all the all the group of guys that went to camp together all those pastors back in the 60s and they ran the camp did all the speaking and so I thought if God's really doing this he's going to have to do kind of a miracle you know to and that very day that I laid that out before the Lord Sammy Shove walked up to me he was leading to camp that week he walked up to me and said I want you to do the devotion at flag raising tomorrow morning and it was like God put the do on the fleece now I know now that's not the best way to determine God's will but I believe as I look back on it I believe God was looking at a 17 year old boy who was weak and and young in his faith and didn't know a lot was still still trying to figure it out and said okay I'll graciously condos in to answer your prayer meet your request I didn't realize till I got home from camp that my parents had been praying the full two weeks for God to call me in the ministry why was more parents did that today I think God just reached out and said John your young your inexperience you don't understand but I think I see some persistence there in your heart I think I see something that is somewhat genuine and I'm gonna graciously give you your fleece it doesn't always do that and we can't put him in a box but this man's persistent faith calls Jesus to say go your son will live and that leads to strong faith quickly notice it in verse 50 go Jesus replied your son will live the man took Jesus at his word and departed now that my friend is a description of strong faith Jesus speaks go your son will live he doesn't give any magic formula he doesn't give the man any magic formula say hocus-pocus wait a while and over it take this prayer cloth take this little jar of whatever you know do this little incantation he doesn't do any of that there's no formula there's no action required on the part of the man he doesn't pop him in the forehead he didn't do anything like that he just speaks the word and the word is enough that's all that is needed is the word of Christ and when we are willing to receive and accept the word of Christ and stop there and quit asking for signs and confirmations then we are ready to grow in our faith this man simply receives the word of Christ he needs no signs now he needs no feelings for assurance he simply trusts the word of Christ and that is what brought about a change in this man's whole life and brought about the change in his heart he believes the word of Christ that's enough my friend that's enough for salvation to simply believe the word of God that the Bible says I'm a sinner Jesus died for my sins on the cross and when I trust him believe what his word says I will be saved I don't need ooey gooey feelings I don't need some kind of speaking in tongues confirmation I don't need some kind of fallen slain in the spirit confirmation God's word is enough faith in his word and his word alone leads us to strong faith you know we have an expression that says seeing is believing that is exactly the opposite of biblical faith in biblical faith believing is seeing it's the exact opposite I have a verse for that by the way he brews eleven one you see it on the screen now faith is confidence in what we hope for he got this last part and assurance about what we do not see that's the closest thing in the Bible to a definition of faith is the assurance of what we do not see that because God has spoken because he has said because his word says this I will take him at his word that is strong faith that moves away from the kind of faith that says I've got to see it before I believe it I've got to have you here in my house speaking to him where I can see what's happening no this is just speak the word and I know it will happen if we were to go to Hebrews 11 we don't have time to do that today but it's an amazing amazing series of characters of faith who acted on that definition of faith in verse one they did believe not because they saw but because God spoke Noah is one of them by faith Noah when warned about things not yet seen do you grasp the significance of that when Noah was warned that there was going to be a worldwide flood and he needed to build an ark he had not even seen a rain shower there had never been such a thing yet in human history before the flood the earth was covered with a canopy of water and dew would water the earth there was no such thing as rain yet he had not even seen a raindrop he was acting on the basis of God's word about things he had not yet seen and he did it goes on Abraham is the same way by faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going he couldn't see it there was no triple a triptych there was no GPS with the little car there in the little arrows saying this is the place you're supposed to go there was nothing like that he didn't even know where God was going to stop him he had not seen it but he went out by faith and that's what faith is all about strong faith to be able to go without seeing without being able to figure it all out but trusting God at his word that's strong faith but that's not even the end this man has moved along the path from strong faith to acting faith look at it in verse 50 the man took Jesus at his word and departed while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was living when he inquired as to the time when his son got better they said to him yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him your son will live now please understand what's going on in this story is an amazing story of faith that causes one to change his lifestyle it's acting faith it's faith that that dictates the way you live the way you respond to situations I think the NIV is correct in translating the the time element here yesterday at one in the afternoon there's debate among those who study the gospel's as to whether or not John uses Roman reckoning in time or Jewish reckoning in time some would say that it was seven o'clock in the evening when he got the report that his son was healed at that hour probably better to see it is one o'clock in the afternoon so it's one o'clock in the afternoon when Jesus tells him your son will live it is the next day while he's still on his way home that he gets the report that his son has been miraculously recovered remember he's 18 miles away government officials don't walk they ride horses maybe the only people primarily in Israel who did that but he could have made it home within two hours most would would guess on horseback if it's one o'clock in the afternoon why didn't he go ahead and go home to see if his son was okay maybe he had other pressing government business in Canaan maybe had other details to wrap up we don't know but it appears at least if we take this timing into effect it appears that he waited until the next day to even start home why because if you really believe the word of God it changes the way you live if you really believe God it means that you don't fret about things and feel about things and worry about things and all the time afraid of what's going to happen in the future I struggle with those very things myself but every time I find myself worrying and fretting about something I well not every time but most times I wake up and say John what are you thinking can't you trust God because trust will obliterate fear and fretting and worrying about the future if we really do believe that God is sovereign on his throne working all things together for good to them that love him what do we have to fear what do we have to worry about you see this man has moved to acting faith but he's not done yet his faith results in an influencing faith the end of verse 53 so he and his whole household believed his demonstration of faith first of all to even go seek the help of Jesus if he had not taken that first feeble step of faith none of his family would have been saved but now his whole family is in the household of faith because of this man's growth in faith he is now exercising an influencing faith on others because they've seen his faith now really believes what Jesus has said to the fact that it will change the way he lives and we need to have the same influencing faith on our households particularly fathers need to have that same influencing faith Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4 says fathers do not exasperate your children instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord men we have a tremendous responsibility and that is to show the way of faith and live out the way of faith before our families and that our faith would be an influencing faith don't keep your faith to yourself in fact in the in the realm of a household you really can't but we then we fathers in particular need to be more proactive and aggressive in not only modeling our faith but in teaching the faith showing the way to live and trust God you want your children to read their Bible read your Bible you want your children to pray pray you want your children to be generous givers be a generous giver you want your children to be faithful to the Lord you be faithful to the Lord you are responsible for influencing your family and leading your family in the ways of faith and you do that by your example but also by your verbal instruction and training in the Lord this man had an influencing faith that affected everybody around him he didn't keep it to himself what an incredible story of the growth of faith in this man's heart and life you know there is a progression to growth any kind of growth natural physical growth there's a progression to growth you see the little baby crawling find the becomes a baby that's toppling knock it everything over and bumping his head on everything in sight and then finally that becomes a little child that's walking and running and skipping and playing and finally a older child an adult who walks with purposeful step there's a natural progression in all of growth and that includes the growth of faith there's a natural progression but many of us are stuck in that entry level of weak faith I will trust only when I see I will trust only when things good are happening that I can see then I'll trust God that's a reactionary kind of faith that must wait until God actually does something to believe in God wants to lead us through a persistent heart of faith into a strong faith that takes him at his word and then actually lives it out that changes our behavior and view of things and response and reaction to things based upon what we believe and that kind of faith my friend can't help but influence others around you it will be caught by others may God help us to live with that kind of faith would you join me in prayer father thank you for the faith that this man exhibited as he grew or thank you for the encouragement that he starts where most of us start very weak but Lord help us not to stay there help us to make progress help us to keep coming back to you even in the weakness and ignorance of our faith and then growing stronger by your word to trust you so that our lives are changing we start living out what we believe makes a difference in the way we think and respond and act choices we make help us to influence our families with that kind of faith so may we too grow in faith we pray in Jesus name amen