Jesus, The Problem Solver!

Part of affirming Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God is to make it clear He’s the problem solver.

The point of Mark’s gospel is stated in Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (NIV)

Part of affirming that reality of His identity is to make it clear He’s the Problem Solver.

Jesus had been on the Mount of Transfiguration, probably 9,000foot Mt. Hermon with Peter, James and John. It’s probable they had been gone for several days.

We pick up the historical account in Mark 9:14-32. Jesus and the three disciples join the other disciples and a large crowd. The other disciples and the teachers of the law were arguing. When they saw Jesus, the text says they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him.

Jesus asked what they were all arguing about. It must have been obvious they were fussing, feuding and fighting.

At this point a man in the crowd comes forward and talks to Jesus. He explains he brought his son to the disciples because he was possessed by a spirit that tosses him to the ground, makes him foam at the mouth, become rigid and grind his teeth.

The guy makes it clear he had asked Jesus’ disciples to drive the spirit out of his boy, but they couldn’t get the job done.

Jesus responds in verse 19, “O unbelieving generation. How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” (NIV)

As they brought the boy to Jesus the spirit tossed him to the ground, and he convulsed and rolled about foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father how long he had been like this. He explained the boy had been like this since childhood. The spirit would toss him into the water and fire and was obviously trying to kill him and he pleaded with Jesus to help him.

Jesus explains to the father if he can handle the truth, anything is possible to the person who believes.

The father responds to Jesus with a totally honest affirmation and request by saying, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (NIV Mark 9:24B)

What does Jesus do? He commands the deaf and dumb spirit to come out of the boy and never enter him again!

What happened? The spirit shrieked and convulsed the kid violently and came out of him. This was so tough on the young man that he looked dead, but Jesus took him by the hand, and he stood up.

Jesus goes into a house with His disciples, and they ask why they couldn’t get the job done. Jesus explained this kind of spirit can come out only by prayer.

Next Jesus left that place and went into Galilee trying to get away from the crowds so He could teach the disciples. He went back to His theme The Son of Man would be betrayed into the hands of men who would kill Him and after three days He would be raised from the dead.

Jesus was trying to get the disciples focused on Him and what was about to happen to Him to fulfill He was the Christ the Son of God.

I want to make 3 simple observations about Jesus, The Problem Solver.

First, in the absence of Jesus nothing gets solved and people argue.

Jesus had been away with Peter, James and John on Mt. Hermon for a few days. It was a 9,000-foot mountain and going up high would have taken some time and that left the other disciples, along with the teachers of the law without Jesus and His influence.

Without Jesus and His influence, what did they do? They came up on a problem. This boy had an evil spirit, and they couldn’t figure out a solution to the problem.

So, what did they do? They argued about it!

I’ve seen families in grief over the loss of a loved one argue about what to do for services. One family member might say, “he would want a nice funeral service with a formal viewing and burial with a 21-gun salute for the veteran recognition.”

Someone else will counter, “No he would not want us spending that kind of money on a burial plan, he would want a cremation plan and he would want us to keep it simple and save money.”

The arguing can get intense and people who are part of the same family can be divided for the rest of their lives.

What’s missing? Jesus is absent and people argue, and nothing gets solved.

I see exactly this kind of thing in American right now. Gasoline where I live is more than $5 per gallon. Inflation is now at 7.9 percent, the highest inflation in 40 years!

Groceries cost more and people’s budgets are being wrecked. What is our government doing to solve it? Not much. Everyone in Washington D.C is just arguing and making TV spots taking shots at each other.

We have a war in Ukraine. This is the largest geopolitical problem since World War II! What are we doing? Arguing about it. Should we send jets to Ukraine or not? Soundbites galore, but not solutions. Fussing, Feuding and fighting in the absence of Jesus!

The second observation is faith, prayer and focus on Jesus brings Jesus in.

Jesus responds to the disciples and the teachers of the law fussing about their inability to help the kid with an evil spirit is to affirm they’re an unbelieving generation.

Jesus is saying they’re operating in the absence of faith and trust in God! No wonder they can’t get anything done!

Before long Jesus affirms everything is possible for him who believes. If you believe God can take care of the problem, it drags the power of God into the problem zone for a solution!

Remember in verse 29 Jesus affirms this kind of spirit only comes out by prayer. Prayer is an affirmation of dependence on God to move and expresses confidence in Him.

When the heart gets tangled up with problems, stop, drop and pray!

Remember the next thing Jesus does with His disciples is to take them away to teach them about the fact

He will suffer, die for the sins of the world and be raised from the dead.

Focus on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is the ultimate solution for any problem!

If that family trying to figure out dad’s final service would turn to Jesus in faith, expressing trust in Christ and being focused on Him they could have avoided their problems. They should stop, drop and pray!

Outrageous gas prices, war in Europe, dramatic inflation! America needs to stop, drop and pray getting focused on Jesus for solutions. We need to turn to God and stop turning on each other based on political agendas.

The third observation is Jesus shows up and solves the thing!

When Jesus wraps His mind and heart around the boys Evil Spirit problem, He powers the evil spirit out of the boy and gets Him all fixed up.

When that heart broken family turns to Jesus in faith, stops, drops and prays getting focused on Jesus He shows up and brings them together in their pain! He becomes their solution!

How do we get American to trust Jesus, pray, get Him involved and show up to solve things? Good question!

At the moment, everyone seems to just be focused on their political narrative and not focused on anything that looks like a solution to the problem.

It could be God has had enough of our nonsense and will let things get so bad He can get us to turn to Him!

One observation would be the typical TV and internet preachers have done what they do when times get tough and turn to Prophesy. We need to turn to Jesus in faith, prayer and focus on the basics of Jesus, which are His life, death and resurrection. We need to pray for His intervention to solve the problem.

We need to believe Jesus is the solution!

One of the major issues today is the political class is all about gaining, holding on to and expanding power!

I have a shredder in my office. It has to be plugged into the outlet in my office and that power cord has to be plugged into the shredder. The other day, I put some paper that needed shredded into the shredder, and nothing happened. The power cord had dropped out of the shredder! I plugged it back in and it shredded the needed document.

As long as we humans think we have to hold onto the power to solve our problems we’re unplugged from the power that will show up and solve our problems.

When government, families or any human thinks they have to have the power to get things done, the things that need done won’t get done!

Turn to Jesus in faith with prayer and get focused on Him and He will show up and solve things in your life, your family and with this country and our world!

Turn to Jesus, the problem solver!