Insights from Matthew 17 and 19

“Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here!” – Matt. 17:4

Peter, James and John received an opportunity that we can only dream about. They witnessed the glory of Jesus. He was literally transfigured before them. The glory of the Godhead covered only by His flesh was seeping through. What a spectacular scene that must have been.

No wonder they exclaimed, “Lord, it’s sooooooo wonderful for us to be here!” It was Jesus and a partial revelation of His glory that evoked such a response.

This is what I would like all who come to church to be able to say, “Rich, it’s so wonderful for me to be here!” Then when I ask, “Why?” I hope to hear the words, “Because Jesus is so beautiful in this church. . .in the service. . .in the worship. . .in the message. . .in the fellowship. . .in the lives of the people!”

This ought to be the goal of every pastor is to help as many of the people as possible to think, “It’s so good and wonderful to be here!” In order for something like this to occur, everything on Sunday that we do in church must point to Jesus. If anyone goes from service and says, “Whoa, what awesome lights! What an awesome drama team! Did you see the halau and the way they performed and the garments they had on? Oh boy, the air-con was soooo cool and the padded seats were awesome!” If people leave church thinking of only these things, somewhere along the line we have failed.

One day while walking with Jesus, the disciples pointed out the Temple buildings to Him. They said, “Lord, what an awesome building this is! Whew! This is what we’re talking about! – Matt. 24:1-2.

Jesus put things in perspective with His famous reply: “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

In other words, something greater than this temple is here and HE IS RIGHT ALONG SIDE OF YOU! Get excited about Him!

14 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”

Let’s be honest, some work for the Lord is more difficult to do than others, right? Organizing a church pot-blessing cannot be compared to casting out a stubborn demon that refuses to leave a person. Christians will often gravitate toward doing that which is easy and often familiar. But just to keep us sharp and trusting God, the Lord will thrust us into a situation where the familiar becomes unfamiliar.

17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.

Whoa! Was Jesus just a little to harsh on these people? He refers to them as “faithless” and “corrupt.” No, He wasn’t. Remember, Jesus belonged where? With the Father. He came to earth only for a short season. He loves people and that’s why He became a man.

But the ironic thing is that often people have to learn the same lessons over and over again and this can be frustrating. Remember Moses when he finally with God’s help led his people out of Egypt into the Wilderness? Remember how often the people whined and rebelled especially shortly after they had experienced a mighty miracle from God? Finally, Moses got so frustrated he said to God, “What shall I do with these people?” (Exod. 17:4)

This is what Jesus was feeling. This is what we all have felt working in the church and pouring our lives into others. And this is what God still feels today with each of us. We still, after so many years, just don’t seem to get it! It is like Jesus is saying, “Thirty-three years is about all I can take of you people. I must go back to My Father and send the Holy Spirit and let Him work with you!”

19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?”

Why couldn’t the disciples cast out the demon? Well, please keep in mind that the disciples who are referred to here are not the total twelve but the nine. Remember, three of them (Peter, James and John) were where? With Jesus on the mountain. They had just come down when Jesus was approached by this father with his personal plea.

Now in Matthew 10, Jesus clearly gives to all His disciples the power and authority to case out demons (vv. 5-8). So they had the power to do so, but they did not use it. You see, here we have a classic case of not appropriating the resources God has given.

20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them

Their problem? Little faith! The father of the boy’s problem? Little faith! The problem of the crowd which followed? Little faith. Therefore, when Jesus says, “You faithless and corrupt people,” He was referring to the disciples, the boy’s father and also the multitude.

Now what is the problem of little faith? Here it is – please don’t lose this! Little faith is believing God when I have something of His in my hand. Great faith is to believe in God when I don’t have anything of His in my hand.

You see, I can proclaim, “Yes, I believe God provides for my needs and the needs of others,” something which would be easy for me to say, especially if I had several thousands of dollars in the bank to go to. But would I sing the exact same tune if I was jobless, homeless and had no money in the bank?

You see the point? As long as the nine disciples believed that they held something in their hand (the privilege of being Jesus’ chosen disciples), they exercised little faith. Jesus left them alone and took three of His big guns with Him up the mountain. Now the nine disciples had to rely not on what they had – because they had nothing, Jesus was on the top of the mountain and three influential disciples were gone as well. Now they had to reply just on their faith in God with an empty hand. What a valuable lesson for them to have learned.

By the way, one more thing. When the disciples could not cast the demon out of the boy, the father of the boy went straight to Jesus. This is how it is today regarding those outside the church. Some become so disillusioned with church people that their all-consuming thoughts are, “I don’t want anything to do with Christians, I just want to deal directly with Jesus!” And people of the world will think that way if the people of the church exercise one too many times their “little faith” when helping others.

Matt. 19: 11 “Not everyone can accept this statement,” Jesus said. “Only those whom God helps."

This statement by Jesus was made within the context of marriage. Basically Jesus said that if you marry, you are not allowed to get a divorce for any reason whatsoever unless adultery was involved. Otherwise, you should stay married! Or don’t get married.

Hearing this statement and recognizing the level of commitment involved in marriage, the disciples said, “Oh man, who can live up to this?” Answer: “Only those whom the Lord helps!”

For those of us who are married, remember to always include Jesus in your marriage or your marriage will be doomed. And for those of you who are not married, remember to find someone who will not marry you for the sake of convenience, but who will commit to you until death, because they are not afraid of the meaning of “commitment.”

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

Is Jesus singling out rich people here? Let me ask this: Why would it be hard for a rich person to enter heaven? The answer is easy: Rich people depend on something other than Jesus for the condition of their lives and that something happens to be money.

But what about someone who does not have a lot of money, but also depends on something other than Jesus? But what about a drug addict who refuses to let go of his or her pleasure? What about those who refuse to put their careers last? What about those who refuse to put themselves at the bottom?

You see, Jesus was not just singling out those who are rich. He was singling out anyone who places something or someone before Him as a means of deliverance and salvation.

25 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.

Notice that the disciples got it. If they thought Jesus was only referring to rich people, then they knew who in the world could be saved – anyone not rich so as to put their trust in their riches. But they said, “who in the world,” because they knew that everyone tends to put themselves first before God – even the disciples!

Jesus’ answer was classic: “With men it is impossible, but not with God” (v. 26).

The idea is this: God is involved in a person’s salvation from the very beginning to the very end. The Lord does not spring into action when a person believes, rather He is the one who enables people to believe that leads to salvation. God gives people the faith to put God first and let go of whatever is destroying their lives. If any aspect of salvation was up to man – even the smallest parts, it would be impossible for man to be saved. But all of salvation is of the Lord. This is why total trust in God which comes from God unleashes the very power to save and deliver. And once we understand that our salvation was “possible” with God’s help, then everything that God commands us to do after salvation is also “possible” with God’s help.

So many of us find life problems impossible because we felt we had a hand in our own salvation. Do away with such a thought! If you are truly saved, you had no hand in it whatsoever!”

Remember, “with men it is impossible.” Therefore, once I understand that it was ALL GOD that saved me, then I will also have the faith and support to believe that there is nothing in life which follows salvation that I cannot overcome with God’s help. All things are open and possible for me with the Lord’s direct and divine intervention.