Mustard Seed Faith

MUSTARD SEED FAITH

Lk. 13:18-19

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: ENGLISH LESSON

1. ABSTRACT NOUN

"An abstract noun," the teacher said," is something you can think of, but you can't touch it. Can you give me an example of one?"

"Sure," a teenage boy replied. "My father's new car."

2. DIRECT OBJECT

a. Sammy's class was having an English lesson, and the teacher called on Sammy to recite a sentence with a direct object.

b. Sammy stood, thought, and then said, "Teacher, everybody thinks you’re beautiful."

c. "Why thank you, Sammy," the teacher said, blushing. "But what is the direct object?"

d. "A good report card next month," he replied.

B. TEXT

“18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19.

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Mt. 17:20.

C. THESIS

1. We all know that faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9), that every believer is given the measure of faith (Rom. 12:6) to walk by faith and carry out the will of God.

2. “All things happen by faith and nothing without it.” That’s why Jesus often said, "According to your faith be it unto you.” Our use of our faith produces a proportional response of God’s blessing to us.

3. Tonight we’re looking at the Mustard Seed in Scripture. We’re looking at what the Mustard Seed is, contrasting the Mountains and the Seed, and learning how to Reap from the Seed.

4. The title of tonight’s message is “Mustard Seed Faith.”

I. WHAT IS THE MUSTARD SEED?

A. THE SEED = THE WORD OF GOD

1. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said, “The seed is the Word of God” Lk. 8:11. This applies to the mustard seed in Lk. 13:18-19.

2. The Word of God, when planted in our souls/minds, inspires faith in us: “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ” Rom. 10:17.

B. ONLY THE WORD OF GOD CAN IMPART LIFE

1. The Seed/Word seems a very simple thing. But a seed, though very small, is a living thing. Life slumbers in that Seed.

2. That’s the same way life slumbers in the Word! How that Life exists we can’t tell. It’s a mystery. The Word has something in it not readily discoverable by the worldly thinker.

3. A religious idea may have a measured influence on a person in some direction, but rarely have you ever heard of someone’s whole character being transformed by an observation from Confucius or Socrates.

4. Human teachings are barren. But within the Word of God there’s a divine life and that life makes all the difference.

5. Human words may seem to be wiser and more attractive, but there’s no heavenly life in them. Within God’s Word there dwells an omnipotence like that of God from whose lips it came.

C. WHAT’S IN THE SEED?

1. What’s in the mustard seed? The answer: all that will ever come out of it. Every branch, leaf, flower and every seed -- is all within the seed. It only needs to be developed.

2. God’s life lies concentrated in the Seed! Within the Word lies regeneration, repentance, faith, holiness, zeal, consecration, perfection. Heaven hides itself away within the spoken Word. We may not at first see all its results, yet it’s all there.

3. Just as when Jesus was a Baby in Bethlehem and simultaneously the Eternal God, so within the simple Words of the Bible are all the promises that the People of God will ever need. The Word is all comprehensive!

4. We must stick to the Word, because people can come up with all kinds of crazy ideas.

D. HUMOR: PREACHER’S DECLARATION

1. One day, when little Johnny was 3 years old, he was sitting in his mother's lap at Church.

2. A guest speaker was in the middle of a very loud sermon when he bent over the podium and with great emphasis exclaimed, "God is eternal!"

3. Little Johnny got very serious, thinking about what the speaker had just said. Without realizing he was still in Church, he suddenly exclaimed, "Momma, I didn't know God was a turtle."

4. Needless to say, he had 3 rows of pews cracking up with laughter in the middle of the guest speaker's sermon.

II. CONTRASTING MOUNTAINS AND THE SEED

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Mt. 17:20.