Formulaic Religiosity

Mark 9:25-27

      Abracadabra! Presto change! Reset! Ctrl/Alt/Del! Have you ever noticed that when people tell you they have a quick way to solve your problem, it often isn’t that quick or that easy! The reality is that most things in life are not quick and easy. Let me give you an example.

      Declaring bankruptcy is sometimes trumpeted as the solution to severe financial hardship. Just sign the papers and you are off to your new financial life. But what they fail to mention in the upfront information is the years of hardship that follow. For at least seven years every application of any consequence means you have to explain yourself. Want a loan? Good luck! Unless you want to pay 25% interest payments. And if any of your creditors are personal, faces that you will bump into, talk about a walk of shame!

      There are no quick and easy formulas in our spiritual lives as well. Even the sinners prayer, the Roman Road, or the Our Father are meaningless unless the supplicant means them and is being drawn by the Holy Spirit. No book, DVD set, sermon series, teaching kit or any other modern or ancient tool for spiritual growth can by itself create spiritual growth. That is not the way it works.

      Notice that Jesus doesn’t use a formula when he casts the demon out of this boy. With other demons Jesus simply told them to be quiet and leave, and they did. He didn’t ask their name, or negotiate their landing place, like with a herd of pigs. Jesus instead names it by the symptoms it is inflicting, deaf and mute spirit. This was the main tool in its toolkit of darkness. The convulsions and other things were side issues. Otherwise Jesus would have called it the convulsing spirit, or the throw down on the ground spirit.

      Jesus also commands the spirit to do what He says. Other times Jesus has just said the words without commanding them first. This demon must have thought there were some options. I don’t know. I do know Jesus had to be verbally firmer with it than with some of the other demons with whom He interacted.

      He tells the demon to exit, a common element of Jesus’ demon-casting routine, but also tells it to never enter again. I wonder if Jesus was reading the demon’s mind at this moment. I wonder if it was thinking, that it would just return after Jesus had left the area.

      Here is something important to note. Jesus knows the difference between demon possession and medical conditions. This is not the first deaf and mute person Jesus has healed. The other one He did some spitting and some sign language. Jesus knew the causes. Jesus applied the correct cures.

      Anytime we try to put our faith into a formula we are falling short of God’s design. He wants relationship not robotic formula followers. He wants to guide and direct through the personal interaction with the Holy Spirit whose job it is to highlight Jesus’ work and person.

Patterned Growth

Mark 4:27-28

      There is an order to things in the universe. Down to the smallest details, there is an order. Even when people speak of chaos theory, they are really trying to explain the order that they see. There are also some things that come before other things, even if there is a cycle to things.

      Our text tells us of the unseen power that makes the plant work. The farmer really has no concern about what the plant is doing, he just knows that you put the seed in the ground and several months later there is grain to harvest. He really has very little to do between the scattering of the seeds and the harvesting of the grain. All that intervening work is not his concern.

      There is a power in the seed and in the mechanisms of growth that are unknown. There is a power at work in our spiritual lives that we don’t always see. There are moments of interaction, but then often times long intervals with little visible action. Both the plant and our spiritual lives move toward a goal, a purpose for existence. Often all that is seen is the progress itself, not the force producing the progress. Grain is the outcome of seed being planted. When the seed produces grain, it has fulfilled its purpose. It has followed the predictable pattern for seed bearing plants.

      The pattern for plants is seed, germinate, sprout, stalk, head, full kernel, ripen, and then the harvest. If it stops along the way, for whatever reason, it does not fulfill its purpose. The same is true for our spiritual growth. There is a pattern that leads toward maturity.

      The Holy Spirit draws. We hear the Word. We respond to the Word. Excitement begins. There is a hunger for Scripture. Challenges to belief come. Prayer is initiated in earnest. Hunger for Scripture increases. Fellowship is sought. And the pattern repeats until we reach heaven. OR we get off the bus and think we have arrived at our spiritual destination, only to be found at some unfulfilling subway station in Hell.

      The pattern is predictable. If we stop the process, try to shortcut the pattern, we will not fulfill the purpose of spiritual growth. We will be unfruitful followers of Jesus. No fruit means failure. If we don’t fulfill the pattern, we are weak and ineffective.

      I want to fulfill all that the LORD has in store for me.