"Prayer" “Cause and Effect?” 5-12-24

Overview

Prayer Is Not Cause and Effect

We learn the law of cause and effect early in life: every effect has a preceding cause, and we can often work backward from outcome to source. It is tempting to apply this same logic to prayer—as though the right amount of faith automatically produces the desired result, and a disappointing answer must mean we failed to believe hard enough. But Scripture will not let us reduce prayer to a formula.

In Mark 11:20-24, the disciples marvel at the withered fig tree Jesus had cursed the day before. The cursing itself was an enacted prophecy of judgment on faithless Israel—echoing the barren fig tree imagery of Jeremiah 8 and Micah 7—a judgment realized when the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. But Jesus also turns the moment into a teaching on prayer: "Have faith in God… whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." A surface reading suggests cause (sufficient faith) producing effect (answered prayer). Read this way, God becomes what one writer calls "the giver of blame"—dangling blessings like a carrot on a string, with the required quantity of faith never quite specified. Job's counselors offered the same flawed logic in Job 11: straighten yourself out, and the blessings will follow.

Jesus dismantles this thinking in Matthew 17:20 when He speaks of faith the size of a mustard seed. Quantity is taken off the table entirely. What matters is not the size of our faith but the object of our faith—and Jesus names that object plainly: "Have faith in God." Faith always has an object, and ours is the living God Himself, who is also the source of the faith we bring. As Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us, faith "is the gift of God." Even the word translated "doubt" in Mark 11:23 is not the honest struggle of the father in Mark 9:24 ("I believe; help my unbelief!"), but diakrinō—a double-mindedness that holds an opinion contrary to the truth. We trust the Giver of faith to keep us from that.

Scripture interprets Scripture, and 1 John 5:14 supplies the missing piece: "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." Prayer is not cause and effect; it is request and trust in the Father's will. The Almighty who could move any mountain chose not to move the mountain of Calvary out of His path—He climbed it, bearing every sin, including the sin of imagining that God is somehow beholden to our performance. So bring your petitions—joys and sorrows, laughter and tears—and lay them before His throne. Trust the object of your faith, not the quantity of it. The answer to prayer is not finally about us; it is about Him.

Transcript

Would you open your Bibles, please, with me to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, 3s

for our study today, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find 9s

that New Testament page 41. 13s

Mark at the 11th chapter. 17s

The Law of Cause and Effect. 22s

We are quite familiar with that. 27s

Aren't we? 29s

We learn it quite young. 30s

That a cause has an effect that an effect has a preceding cause. 34s

One professor put it down in a fishbone diagram. 43s

Organizations use it all the time in which you say, why did we wind up here? 49s

And so you look at all of the causes and it's actually in the shape of a fishbone. 57s

You look at all of the causes there and then you see, ah, that's why we had this certain effect. 64s

That's why we went from these causes or this cause to this. 71s

You fact or you can reverse it. 76s

You can say, what effect do I want? 82s

And so then, one backs away from the effect and you determine the causes to get the effect. 86s

Law of cause and effect. 94s

You have the day when I opened up a new cereal box. 96s

The effect was that there was cereal in the box. 101s

The cause, the nice people at General Mills, cause and effect. 105s

We live with it all the time and don't we. 111s

Here's my question. 115s

When it comes to some people getting prayers answered, what is it? 119s

That some people get their prayer answered, how they want it. 127s

And other people don't. 135s

Why is it that some people get their prayers answered? 140s

They pray, Lord, this is what I want and they get their prayer answered. 144s

But other people don't. 150s

Is it the law of cause and the fan? 152s

Causing a fan? 158s

Look on me, please. 161s

At chapter 11, beginning with verse 20. 163s

In the morning, is they passed by. 167s

They saw the fig tree withered away at two its roots. 169s

Then Peter remembered and said to him, 173s

Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. 176s

Well, what's the backdrop of that? 182s

We have to go a little bit farther back. 183s

Same chapter, verse 12. 185s

On the following day when they came from Bethany, he, that's being Jesus, he was hungry. 190s

Seeing in the distance of fig tree and leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. 196s

When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. 202s

For it was not the season for figs. 206s

He said to it, 209s

May no one ever eat fruit from you again and his disciples heard it. 212s

Jesus, what's long he sees the fig tree? 222s

You see a fig tree, the fruit comes first and then the leaves. 226s

And so if you see leaves on a tree, 232s

you expect to find fruit. 237s

But that's not what Jesus finds. 241s

And so he curses the tree. 247s

So the tree will never bear figs. 250s

And he uses that. 255s

He uses that tree as a point of illustration. 257s

This is what's called an enacted prophecy. 262s

It's an enacted prophecy. 265s

In Jeremiah 8, in Micah 7, it gives us the image of faithless Israel in association with a barren fig tree. 267s

Jesus leverages this. 279s

So the image here, this enacted prophecy is, 282s

judgment will come upon faithless Israel. 287s

That judgment came by the way in 87 when the temple was destroyed. 293s

Israel, faithless and the temple is destroyed. 299s

Well, the disciples are quite impressed with this. 304s

Verse 20 again, in the morning as they pass by, 310s

they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 313s

Then Peter remembered and said to them, 316s

that the Bible says, 317s

that the fig tree that you cursed has withered and Jesus then teaches. 318s

He teaches. 324s

It's an enacted prophecy of that which will come. 326s

It's a teaching moment for the now. 330s

And here's what he teaches. 334s

Verse 22, Jesus answered them, 337s

have faith in God. 340s

Truly, I tell you. 342s

If you say to this mountain, 345s

be taken up and thrown into the sea, 346s

and if you do not doubt in your heart. 349s

But believe that what you say will come to pass, 352s

it will be done for you. 357s

So I tell you, 360s

whatever you ask for in prayer, 363s

believe that you have received it, 366s

and it will be yours. 369s

Notice, in those verses, 374s

the threefold emphasis on having faith or believing. 376s

So, for those that seem to get answers 383s

to what they're praying for, 390s

is it a matter of cause and effect? 396s

Cause, having a faith of that, 402s

against prayer answer. 409s

Cause, 412s

believe that you've already received it, 415s

effect, 420s

you received it. 424s

Is it causing effect? 428s

And then if that doesn't happen for you, 432s

we'll let's just use the fish bone. 434s

That fish bone diagram. 437s

And if the effect then wasn't what you prayed for, 440s

then back it up, 443s

and what was the cause? 446s

Was it then lack of faith, 450s

or you just didn't? 452s

Believe that you've already received it? 453s

Is it cause and effect? 457s

Beloved, 466s

that belief is in 466s

who readably prevalent, 469s

incredibly prevalent. 473s

Matthew Richards writes in his book, 476s

he writes about a false Christ, 479s

and he terms understanding of Christ in a false way. 481s

He terms it as the giver of blame. 487s

that's a really, really good term. 491s

The giver of blame, 494s

and he says, 495s

it's to believe that God gives wealth and success and health. 497s

He's the giver of blame to us. 503s

But that giving of the wealth and success 507s

and health is predicated on the person having enough faith. 512s

So it's like the carrot in front of the horse. 520s

The carrot dangles out in front of the horse, 525s

but it's so interesting in this understanding 528s

of God is the giver of blame. 530s

Is that the amount of faith to get the blame 533s

is never specified? 536s

And like the carrot in front of the horse, 538s

the carrot just keeps moving. 541s

To which then the answer comes, 545s

will if you didn't get the health and the wealth and the success? 547s

Well then you didn't have enough faith. 551s

Will how much faith do I need then? 553s

To get that, 556s

well obviously more. 557s

You see how the carrot? 559s

Oops. 563s

She has an example of one congregation 566s

that one of their little girls came down with an illness. 570s

The congregation prayed for healing obviously for this girl. 575s

The girl wind up dying. 582s

God healed on the other side of Easter. 586s

He didn't heal on this side of Easter. 588s

The people were gathered and they were grieving. 592s

There was a group of them. 595s

They were grieving the death of the girl. 597s

And one person said, 602s

well well you know why she died. 603s

Don't you? 605s

They said well of course. 606s

They said the illness. 608s

Woman said no no no. 611s

Reason why she died is because we, 615s

didn't have. 622s

And I'll pay. 626s

That's why she died. 630s

Causing the fact? 637s

Causing the fact? 639s

Oh that goes back a long, long way. 643s

I think of the book of Job, 647s

the suffering remember. 648s

Job has three counselors that come to him and remember the best thing 650s

that those three counselors ever did was when they didn't open their mouth. 654s

Because when they started to open up their mouth, 659s

they said some really, really bad theology. 661s

I think of so far. 666s

So far the counselor comes and so far turns to Job and says, 668s

if you direct your heart rightly, 673s

you will stretch out your hands toward him. 677s

If an equities in your hand put it far away 681s

and do not let wickedness reside in your tense, 685s

surely then you will lift up your face without blemish. 691s

You will be secure and will not fear. 696s

You will forget your misery. 699s

You will remember it as waters that have passed away 701s

and your life will be brighter than the noon date. 704s

It's cause and effect, right? 712s

Your problem, Job. 716s

He's you haven't done these things. 720s

Because if you want this, then you gotta do this. 723s

Causing the fact? 730s

Jesus says, 734s

verse 23, 736s

truly I tell you, 739s

if you say to this mountain, 740s

be taken up and thrown into the sea, 742s

and if you do not doubt in your heart, 744s

but believe that what you say will come to pass, 747s

it will be done for you. 751s

So I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, 753s

believe that you've received it, 757s

and it will be yours. 759s

So is the reason that some people get what they pray for, 762s

cause and effect? 770s

And when they don't get what they pray for, 771s

it's their fault. 777s

Jesus says in Matthew the 17th chapter, 784s

he says this, 787s

for truly I tell you, 790s

if you have faith, 793s

the size of a mustard seed, 795s

you will say to this mountain, 798s

move from here to there, 800s

and it will move, 802s

and nothing will be impossible to you. 803s

The mustard seed, 808s

the mustard seed is not the smallest of seeds on the planet, 810s

but it was the smallest of seeds 816s

that the disciples knew. 818s

So Jesus uses that to teach. 823s

What's the point? 827s

It's not the quantity of our faith. 831s

It's the object of our faith. 839s

Jesus takes the whole issue of quantity right off the table, 846s

doesn't he? 850s

Just right off the table, 851s

what he says, 853s

if you have faith, the size of a mustard seed, 853s

it's not about quantity. 859s

It's about object. 863s

Faith always has an object, always. 869s

It will either be something or someone, 873s

but faith always has the object. 879s

And look what Jesus says in verse 22, 884s

Jesus answered them, 889s

have faith in God object. 891s

He doesn't turn to them and say, 900s

have faith in your faith. 903s

That's quantity. 906s

If I get to the whatever quantity here, 909s

we'll finally move the hand of God, 913s

if I can finally reach out and wrap that carrot, 915s

you see, 918s

it's not quantity. 919s

Jesus says, 921s

you have faith, the size of a mustard seed. 921s

The whole issue of quantity is just taken off of the table, 925s

and what does he focus on? 928s

It's the object of the faith, 931s

because faith always has an object. 932s

Verse 22 again, 936s

Jesus answered them, 938s

have faith in God. 939s

Okay then, 945s

let's let Scripture interpret Scripture. 946s

Because if you're going to understand here, 950s

this subject, 954s

then we have to let the Scripture talk. 955s

We have to let the Scripture talk to other Scripture 958s

to get an understanding. 959s

We can't, 961s

we can't cherry pick in other words, 961s

a certain verse here, 964s

and form a theology when other verses impinge on this. 966s

So if we are to have faith in God, 972s

that God is the object here, 976s

quantity is off the table now, 980s

if God is the object, 982s

then who is the author of our faith? 984s

It's the object, right? 992s

Paul writes in Ephesians the second chapter. 996s

He says, 998s

for by grace you have been saved through faith, 999s

and this is not your own doing. 1003s

It is the gift of God. 1006s

Faith is not something that we drum up. 1013s

Faith is something that's self-generated, 1016s

all of our faith, 1020s

all of our faith, 1023s

100% of our faith is God given. 1025s

It is His, 1031s

here. 1033s

God is the one that gets the glory for all faith. 1035s

He's the object, 1040s

and He's the source. 1042s

Verse 22 again, 1046s

that's the banner verse. 1047s

Everything flows from it. 1049s

Jesus answered them, 1051s

have faith in God, 1052s

and who is the author of faith, 1054s

the object? 1056s

He gives all faith. 1058s

Okay, let's move down then. 1060s

Verse 23, 1061s

He says, 1062s

truly I tell you, 1063s

if you say to this mountain, 1064s

be taken up and thrown into the sea, 1067s

and if you do not doubt in your heart, 1069s

but believe that what you say will come to pass, 1072s

it will be done for you. 1076s

Several words in the New Testament 1081s

that are translated doubt, 1083s

the word here. 1086s

It's really important. 1087s

The word here is diacreno. 1089s

Now diacreno is not what you immediately think of 1094s

when you think of doubt. 1099s

There is an accristion. 1101s

It's not a Christian. 1102s

It doesn't have times of doubt. 1103s

There is not not anyone. 1107s

It doesn't have that struggle. 1109s

This is not the struggle of the Father, 1111s

who wants help and turns to Jesus recorded in Mark 9 1114s

and says, 1118s

I believe help my unbelief. 1119s

We can relate to that, right? 1122s

That is not that struggle. 1124s

The word here for doubt that is used is diacreno. 1127s

Diacreno is holding an opinion contrary to the truth. 1132s

It's being double-minded, in other words. 1139s

It's saying, 1143s

Lord, I ask you that this healing will occur. 1145s

And while you're asking that, 1151s

you're believing he never heals. 1153s

That's diacreno. 1158s

You see, that's not struggle. 1159s

Diacreno is holding two or holding an opinion 1164s

against the truth. 1169s

It's being double-minded. 1172s

Can't let us follow the order on this. 1176s

The banner verses have faith in God, 1181s

who is the source of faith in God. 1183s

All of our faith comes from God. 1184s

We can trust then the source of our faith to keep us 1188s

from diacreno doubt. 1196s

So we're not going to trust in our faith. 1201s

We're going to trust in the abmjeeh, our faith. 1206s

They give her a faith. 1210s

The source of our faith, 1213s

and we trust him to keep us from diacreno doubt. 1214s

Okay, let's add another verse, verse 24. 1222s

So I tell you, 1225s

whatever you ask for in prayer, 1227s

believe that you have received it, 1230s

and it will be yours. 1233s

Okay. 1237s

We got to let Scripture talk with Scripture here. 1239s

And first John tells us, 1243s

in the fifth chapter, 1248s

John writes this, 1251s

and this is the boldness we have in him, 1252s

that if we ask anything according to here it comes, 1257s

his will, 1263s

he hears us. 1267s

If we ask anything in accordance with his will, 1270s

he hears us. 1274s

We are called to trust God, 1281s

have faith in him, 1283s

that faith has its origin from God, 1285s

and his will will be. 1291s

If God wills it, 1297s

it will be. 1301s

And if he doesn't will it, 1303s

it won't be. 1307s

Here's the point. 1312s

It's not a matter of cause and effect. 1316s

It's not a matter of cause and effect. 1323s

It's a matter of request and trust in his will. 1328s

It's not a matter of cause and effect. 1341s

It's not a matter of God being the giver of blame 1345s

and holding out the carrot to it. 1348s

It is not a matter of having faith in our faith. 1352s

It has faith in our object, 1359s

because it's not a matter of cause and effect. 1361s

It's a matter of request and trusting in his will. 1364s

God Almighty, 1374s

who can move whatever mountain he wants, 1377s

went to the Mount of Calvary. 1382s

He didn't move that mountain. 1387s

Out of his path, that mountain was his path. 1391s

And he went to that mountain to bear upon the cross, 1396s

all of our sin, 1402s

including the sin of thinking 1404s

that God is somehow beholden to us. 1408s

And that if we do something 1419s

that God is just beholden to that, 1423s

he bore all of the sin, 1433s

including that for giving us. 1435s

On this day, 1444s

we all come with joys and we all come with sorrows. 1447s

We all come with laughter and we all come with tears. 1450s

It comes with life, right? 1454s

And so let us encourage 1459s

to lay down our petitions before him, 1461s

trusting, 1466s

trusting in our object, 1468s

not in ourselves in the object of our faith, 1471s

who is the source of all faith, 1474s

to lay down with whatever petitions we come here with today, 1477s

to lay it down before our gracious God, 1482s

before his almighty throne. 1486s

And know that he frees us to do that 1490s

and to come to him as a loving father. 1496s

He frees us to lay down those petitions. 1500s

Knowing that his will will be done. 1505s

Because the answer to prayer is not about us. 1514s

It's about him. 1522s

It's not causing effect. 1529s

It's request and trust in the Father's will. 1534s