Developing Your Faith

Scripture Passage: Mark 8

How does one develop a deep, abiding faith in the LORD? Maturity is a process that takes time, for sure. But it is not hard to look around and find many people who have been Christians for a long time but do not seem to be growing in their faith. At the same time, it is not hard to look around and see people who are relatively new Christians who exhibit much wisdom and tenacity in following Christ.

Maybe if the LORD would just write a note in the sky for the whole world to see, you could have great faith? Perhaps you, like many, are looking for some kind of sign...

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. ¹² He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." (Mark 8:11-13, NIV)

Faith is neither originated from a miraculous sign nor does it develop through miraculous signs. Even being in the literal presence of Jesus does not necessarily produce faith. Let us see some examples of this and then turn to how we can develop our faith in the LORD, no matter where we are on our spiritual journey.

Main Point:

Faith is not dependent on a sign from Heaven but on word from the LORD that is heard and obeyed.

Outline:

Asking Without Faith Is Asking For Trouble
Even In The Presence of Jesus, Faith Must Be Chosen
Developing Faith Through Really Listening to God

1. Asking Without Faith Is Asking For Trouble

Demanding a sign is the same as putting the LORD to the test. Testing the LORD is not a wise thing at all. Hundreds of years earlier, the Israelites who were miraculously freed from Egyptian slavery repeatedly put the LORD to the test (Psalm 78:40-59):

Not obeying the commands He had given them
Not trusting in His faithfulness to do everything He had promised them
Not waiting for the LORD to act in His perfectly planned time
Arrogantly demanding from LORD what they desired

Interestingly the LORD had already demonstrated His power while they were still in Egypt. With 10 incredible signs He finally convinced Pharaoh to let His people go. Yet as they moved toward the Promised Land, the Israelites tested the LORD 10 ten times. It is no coincidence that the LORD exacted a harsh but just punishment on them after they testing Him as many times as He had given the miraculous signs during their slavery.

We all have times where WE want what WE want when WE want it - regardless of what the LORD says is right. When this becomes a pattern in our lives, the LORD has no choice but to intervene.

The LORD wants what is absolutely best for you. And He wants you to trust Him. As we can see from the example of the Israelites, signs are not the road to maturity. Miraculous signs can point to God at work, but there must be an accompanying response on your part to for this to develop into faith.

2. Even In The Presence of Jesus Faith Must Be Chosen

The disciples of the LORD Jesus had trouble developing their faith. In spite of repeated miracles of healing, driving out demons, walking on water, and feeding thousands with just a few loaves of bread, they still were not exhibiting the wisdom and tenacity of spirit that accompanies a deep and abiding faith in the LORD.

In fact, after feeding roughly 20,000 people with a few loaves of bread, Jesus questioned them again about feeding a smaller crowd of around of around 16,000:

¹ Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ² "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance." (Mark 8:1-3, NIV)

The reaction of the disciples is tragically the same as the first time this happened - "where can we find enough bread to feed them?" (Mark 8:4, NIV, paraphrased) Though they were present at an earlier event when Jesus fed thousands from a few loaves of bread, they either forgot about it or dismissed it as a fluke. In spite of their spiritual dullness, Jesus performed the same miracle, proving again that the LORD will provide for the needs of those that follow Him.

After dismissing the crowd, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat to travel to the next town. He warned them to "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod" (Mark 8:15, NIV). The disciples actually thought Jesus was talking about them having no bread (they had only one small loaf and over a dozen hungry individuals).

How could the disciples miss the first lesson of the LORD's provision the first time Jesus fed 5,000 with a few loaves of bread?

And how could they miss it a 2nd time?

¹⁷Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"

"Twelve," they replied.

²⁰"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"

They answered, "Seven."

²¹He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" (Mark 8:17-21, NIV)

The disciples remembered the technical details of the miracle but missed the whole point that Jesus was making with the miracle! They were approaching life with Jesus but without faith. Without really seeking to understand and know the LORD, they were failing to develop faith.

Do you often read Scripture and hear the technical details of the passage but fail to process the meaning and application to your life?
Do you ever read a passage of Scripture with a particular command without obeying what the LORD has just told you to do?
Do you ever read Scripture so casually that you walk away from it and forget what you just read?

It is vital to the development of your faith that you spend time reading Scripture. But it requires more than just reading. You must be open to really hearing what God is saying and giving your full and urgent obedience to it. Since Jesus is LORD (Romans 10:9) and it is the Spirit of Christ that enabled the Scriptures to be written (Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:11), then it is pointless to draw near to Jesus without a heart that is willing to obey Him.

3. Developing Faith Through Really Listening to God

When my children were teenagers, I would often tell them to do something that somehow never got done. When I asked them about it, they said, "You never told me that..." Of course the second time I told them it came with explicit urgency to get it done, "NOW!"

I am sure that Jesus felt like He was raising a group of teenagers, given their frequent failure to hear what He was saying.

But it is not just young people that have a hearing problem. A husband can turn on the TV to follow a football game and read a newspaper at the same time. But when his wife asks him how his day went, he hears the words but does not respond.

We have the ability to hear without really listening. And we do the same thing to the LORD. This is most unfortunate because really listening to the LORD through Scripture is the path to faith.

Here is how faith develops in the life of every believer:

Step 1 - Receptiveness

¹³Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mark 4:13-20, NIV)

Turn off the distractions and set your heart on seeking to understand the LORD and His will for you. You must be open to what the LORD has commanded.

Step 2 - Hearing

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17, NIV)

Faith comes from really listening to what God has to say. In this sense, hearing is the opposite of ignoring.

Step 3 - Understanding

But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10, NIV)

If you are really listening, the Holy Spirit will help you understand the word of God. He teaches you (John 14:26), points you to Jesus (John 15:26), and guides you all along the way (John 16:12-15).

Step 4 - Obedience

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25, NIV)

This verse is so simple and direct: do not be only a hearer of the God's word but a doer of His word. It is here that faith thrives and here that you find freedom and blessing from the LORD.

Conclusion

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who lived a life of luxury but had no faith in the LORD. Realizing the futility of a life without God, the man begged for a chance to redeem his family:

²⁷ "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' ²⁹ "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' ³⁰"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' ³¹ "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" (Luke 16:27-31, NIV)

So we see clearly that faith is not dependent on a sign from Heaven but on word from the LORD Himself. Anyone who is unwilling to hear and obey the word of the LORD will not develop faith at all, much less develop to maturity.