The Rock and the Hard Place Part 3
Are You Satisfied With Your Faith Part 2?
Scriptures: Matthew 17:14-21; 13:31-32
Introduction
This is the continuation of my message from two weeks ago. If you recall from that message I asked you if you were satisfied with your faith. In my youth Sunday message last week I asked you what happened to our childlike faith because our faith shifts as we get older and gain more experiences. This morning I want to return to the question I asked you two week ago “Are you satisfied with your faith?” I want you to couple this question with the one from last week so that you can consider the timeline, from where you started as a child believing what you were told to where you are today and possibly needing proof.
Two weeks ago I shared with you several examples of people receiving what they were seeking from Jesus because of their faith. Over and over again Jesus acknowledged that they were receiving what they were seeking from Him because of their faith, not His faith. If they did not have faith, they would not have received what they were seeking. I want to reiterate to you that it requires faith to get our prayers answered and our circumstances changed. This morning we’re going to take a look at what Jesus said about mustard seed and the analogy He used to demonstrate faith that grows versus remaining dormant. When you leave here this morning I hope that you will understand fully what Jesus meant when He made the statement about faith as a grain of mustard seed. If you have heard someone say that you only need the faith of a mustard seed in order to do great things for God and change your circumstances you have only heard a very small part of the mustard seed story. I do not know how many times I have heard people say, or said it myself, that you only need faith the size of a mustard seed to do great things, but this is a grave error in translation and teaching because its gives the impression that we only need a little faith to do great things when it reality our little faith must be tended to so it can grow into great faith.
So what is it about the mustard seed faith that we are getting wrong? Let’s begin with a quick review of the mustard seed. The mustard seed plant referred to in scripture is generally considered to be black mustard, a large annual plant that grows up to nine feet tall. This nine feet tall plant comes from a proverbially small seed (this smallness is referred to faith in Matthew 17:20 which we will cover later.) Jews did not grow the plant in gardens which is consistent with Matthew's description of it growing in a field. There are many interpretations of what Jesus meant about it growing into a large tree where nesting birds can find refuge, but one point is very clear, the seed grows into a very large plant/tree. One element of this mustard plant is that it is fast-growing and has some takeover properties. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (published around AD 78) writes that "mustard… is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once." Keep the following facts in mind as we go through the rest of the message: 1) the mustard seed starts out very small; 2) when planted, it grows into a large plant or tree; 3) it has take-over properties; 4) once it is established, it is hard to get rid of it. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter seventeen.
I. Mustard Seed Faith – REALLY?
Matthew 17:14-21 reads: “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ‘I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.’ And Jesus answered and said, ‘You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not drive it out?’ And He said to them, ‘Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
In Matthew 17:14-21, after Jesus casts out the demonic spirit, the disciples ask Him why they couldn’t cast it out. Why would they ask such a question? They had cast out devils before. Remember Matthew 10 when Jesus sent them out and gave them power over unclean spirits? So what made this situation different? Jesus tells the disciples in verse 21 that this kind goes out only by prayer and fasting. Now most people understand that the “kind” that Jesus was referring to here is the demon, but consider the fact that demon was not the “real issue.” The real issue was the disciples’ faith. This spirit was obviously a difficult one and the disciples were not in a place with their faith to handle it. They had not spent enough time in prayer and fasting to release their faith to handle this spirit. (Don’t you find it interesting that we spend very little time focusing on fasting and prayer? That’s a discussion for later.) We are not told what the disciples went through to try and cast the demon out, but it is obvious that they tried and when the demon did not come out they started to doubt. When they started to doubt it was all over – the demonic spirit had won that battle. We are an instant society in that we do not want to wait for anything. If something does not happen instantaneously, then we doubt and are not willing to put the time in to develop what is needed to see something come to fruition.
I shared with you two weeks ago that fear and doubt counteracts our faith. Doubt can only exist where there are options. When you have a choice between something happening or not happening, that is when doubt can freely exist. If you are confident in something and you know what you know then and only then do you remove the habitat from which doubt can exist and grow. Doubt flourishes in an environment where confidence is weak. Doubt flourishes in an environment when we “need” to know the “how” instead of just walking blindly with God in the knowledge that He has us covered. As I told you previously, doubt can only exist where there are options and you know what you want but not sure if you will receive it. The disciples had tried to cast the demon out which means initially they thought they could base on what they had done it the past. The doubt came in when the demon refused to go and the disciples had to reexamine themselves. Our faith is never tested when the answers are quick and positive, it is only tested when we meet opposition and we have to believe through it. Let me continue with the story.
In verse 20 Jesus responds to their question by saying “Because of your unbelief.” The disciples didn’t have enough faith to cast out the demon. Jesus brings this point home in the very next thing He says: “for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed … nothing shall be impossible to you.” Now we’ve been taught all our “church lives” that all we need to get prayers answered is faith like a grain of mustard seed. But is that what Jesus is truly saying? Let’s go back to chapter 13 where He first talks about the grain of mustard seed.
Matthew 13:31-32 says “He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
I have a question for you? Can you get anything out of a seed if it only stays a seed? If you take a seed of corn and put it on your kitchen table, how soon would you see a stalk starting to grow? How soon would you see that first ear of corn? That seed will not produce until it is first put in the ground so it can be activated. The activation comes from being fed by the nutrients in the soil. A seed cannot be activated to grow into plant without it first being buried within the soil. The same applies to our faith. We were born with faith buried within us – but we have to “feed and water” the soil where it’s buried. We must tend to it (water, fertilize, etc.) to make sure it will grow. In other words, we all start with the seed, but we must do something with it if we’re going to get a crop. This passage says that when the grain of mustard seed becomes a plant and the plant becomes a tree and the tree grows limbs then it is strong enough for birds to lodge in them – for birds to build their homes in them. Now do you see what Jesus meant when He said you need faith like as a grain of mustard seed? You don’t need mustard seed faith. You need faith like a grain of mustard seed so that when it is planted and nourished, it will branch out and do great things. To be effective our faith has to grow and grow and grow so large that it overshadows any unbelief that that we may have in our life.
That’s what Jesus was saying to the disciples. Their faith was not big enough to handle this particular devil. We need to grow our faith by sowing or putting more of Jesus’ words into our life – remember faith comes by hearing the word of God spoken (Romans 10:17) – and then accelerating that growth with prayer and fasting. Jesus told the disciples “If you want your words to carry the same power, the same anointing and the same authority as my words then, in addition to saturating your minds with my words you need to add more prayer and fasting to your lives.” The same is true for us today. If we want our words to carry the same power, the same anointing and the same authority as Jesus’ words then we need to saturate our minds with His words and add more prayer and fasting to our lives. The disciples’ lack of faith was the reason they couldn’t cast out the devil. And Jesus’ response to them was straightforward and not sugarcoated. He laid the responsibility for the child not being delivered squarely on them. I hope you see this because I do. He said the devil was not cast out “Because of your unbelief, because of your lack of faith, because of the smallness of your faith.”
Conclusion
I asked you two weeks ago if you were satisfied with your faith. Some of you may have seriously answered the questions while others may have just thought about the fact that you have faith and what you have is enough. Some of you may still be thinking what will be will be and it is all in God’s hands. There are things that are in God’s hands, but have you considered the fact that our faith is what loose God’s hands or His ability to do anything within our lives? If we go to God and ask for anything and then do not believe that He can or will do it for us, then we lock His hands. God has a plan for our lives but it is up to us to choose to walk in that plan and that will require faith on our part.
If we’re not getting prayers answered it’s because of our faith is too small. We have faith for some things but not enough to pull through other things. God is not and has never been the issue, we are the issue! He’s not in heaven deciding whether or not to answer our prayers, He is doing His part, we must do ours. We have to give Him what He needs to answer our prayers and what He needs is our faith. Plain and simple, no if, and, or buts about it. He needs for us to have faith. I know this is hard for some of us to hear, that we have not received some things we prayed for because we did not have enough faith, but we need to know this. We need to know clearly if it is our faith that is the problem or if it’s God saying the answer is “no.” We need to know the difference. If God is saying “no” then He has answered the request. In this case you know without a doubt that He has heard you and has given you the answer. If you never hear Him tell you “no” definitively, then you’re left to wonder if He heard you or if your prayer was answered. If your prayer was not answered then you’re left thinking it was God’s will. Please understand that it is God’s will to answer our prayers but He needs our faith. We must stop accepting that everything that happens in our lives is because God ordained it and therefore I have no control over it. If it happens, then God must have wanted it to happen. If it does not happen, then the same, it must have been what God wanted. We must stop thinking along those line and work on developing our faith to the point that we can pray and know the will of God.
As I close I want to remind you of the four attributes of the mustard seed. First, it starts out very small. Our faith starts out small, but we do have it. It is up to us to develop our faith based on our interactions/experiences and understanding of who God is. We must know this for ourselves versus depending on what others are saying about him. Second, when the seed germinates, it grows into a large plant of tree. When that seed enters the ground it changes (dies to self) so that it can be changed and grow even bigger. Once it becomes a plant, it now generates more seeds that continue to grow into other plants. You see, as our faith grows we are able to sow “faith seeds” into the lives of others which will enrich their lives and they go out and do the same. So the seed that began with you will be shared with others and will continue to produce other seeds long after you are in heaven with your Father. This can only happen if your faith grows. If you faith does not grow and remains dormant, you become the last one to hold the seed and when you leave here the seed dies with you. Does this make sense? Third, the mustard seed has take-over properties. When that seed starts producing, it just spreads and spreads. It cannot be contained within a small areas, it is far reaching. As our faith grows it should start taking over things in our live. It takes over doubt. It takes over fear. It takes over worry. It takes over everything that is trying to separate you from the confidence you have walking with your heavenly Father. Our faith should be contagious and spreads to all of the lives of those we interact with. Finally, once the mustard seed is established it is nearly impossible to kill. You can’t get rid of it!! No outside force should be able to kill our faith. If a mustard plant becomes diseased, it can die from within, but as I said before, it is impossible to kill once it starts to grow. You can kill your faith from within by not feeding it and allowing it to remain dormant. However, when you are growing in your faith, outside forces will not be able to withstand you. You might fall down, but through faith you get back up.
So my question to you this morning church is “Are you satisfied with your faith?” Are you getting prayers answered or do you believe God is in control and that He determines the outcome? Think about that this week. But let me say this: Rodney Johnson is not satisfied with his faith. I am not satisfied with praying and not getting my prayers answered. I will never be satisfied with that. Never! I have work to do on me and only I can do it. I hope you’re willing to take a similar stand.
Next week I will continue with part four of this series “The Rock and the Hard Place” focusing on what God is or is not doing with our prayer request. I will attempt to answer the question if God is ignoring our prayer request and that is why they sometime go unanswered.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
