True Mustard Seed Faith

Now here is my point; all the things I just mentioned needed to be done for me because, as a baby, I could not do them for myself. However, as I began to grow and mature, more was expected of me. When I was able to feed myself, I was expected to do that. The older I got I was expected to handle my own business. This is why it can be a struggle for some as they get older to give up some of their independence – it is not easy to be dependent on others as we were when we were a child. But imagine if you will, if I could take care of myself but I wanted the life I had as a baby. Imagine me refusing to eat or clean myself because I just loved being taken care of. Imagine me lying on the couch at 30 years old crying because I was hungry and needed to be changed. Again, I am not talking about someone who is disabled and is unable do these things for themselves. I am talking about someone who is capable, but who refuses to do them. Can you see how frustrating that would be for my parents? So take that to the spiritual. God has given us a measure of faith and we take it and do absolutely nothing with it. And that is why we need to understand the mustard seed story. Many people are proud that they have “mustard seed” size faith and doing nothing with it.

Matthew chapter seventeen records the story about Jesus’ disciples unsuccessfully attempting to cast out a demon out of a man’s son. When the man brought his son to Jesus, Jesus cast the demon out. Later, His disciples asked Him why they could not do it. When Jesus answered their question, this is what He told them according to Matthew 17:20-21. “(20) So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (21) However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Jesus told them that they did not have enough faith and He used the comparison to a mustard seed. Before I go further, please understand that the disciples had some faith as they already had experience casting out devils and healing the sick. However, this devil was more difficult, and they did not have “enough” faith to cast it out. The faith they were walking in was not developed enough for them to handle this problem and they failed.

If you consider a mustard seed, it is a very small seed. It is so small that one could be placed in a person’s hand, and it would almost be invisible and yet when it is planted it grows into a very large shrub. The rabbis used a “grain of mustard” to characterize something as very minute. The mustard plant, however, can be described as a tree putting out great branches. Even though it was the smallest of seeds, it germinated and grew quickly. So Jesus told His disciples if they had faith “as a mustard seed” nothing would be impossible to them. Notice that Jesus did not say they needed just a “small or minute” amount of faith because they had that already. But He said they needed faith similar to that of the essence of a mustard seed. In order words, their faith should be like the mustard seed when it is planted, not when it is dormant as a seed. Many well-meaning preachers of the gospel have taught that Jesus was comparing faith to the size of the mustard seed, meaning just a little. What Jesus was telling them was their faith needed to be like the nature of a mustard seed when it is planted, germinates and then begins to grow quickly into what it is meant to be. I am basing this on what Jesus told His disciples earlier about the mustard seed. Now if He explained it to the disciples earlier, then His mentioning it again in chapter seventeen would not have confused them and they would have understood what Jesus meant. Our confusion happens because we read the second time Jesus mentions the mustard seed and rarely are we pointed back to how He explained it the first time. Let us see what Jesus said about the mustard seed the first time in chapter thirteen.