Faith Like a Mustard Seed

In this week’s message from Matthew 17, the disciples cannot cast out an unclean spirit, and Jesus tells them it is because of the littleness of their faith. Comparing the little faith of the disciples with the great faith of the centurion and the Canaanite woman, we see that what matters is not the size of our faith but its object, and we are called to a persistent, praying faith that clings to God’s promises.

Well, two weeks ago, when I gave the message two weeks ago, we explored Jesus’ sermon in Matthew chapter 6. And in some ways, we’re going to be returning to some of the same themes. We talked about seeking first God’s kingdom, what that means to seek God’s kingdom and to seek it first.

But the broader context of what we were talking about was being anxious.

“Be anxious for nothing,” which another passage of Scripture says. But what Jesus is saying is a lot of times we’re anxious about all of these things, all of these different things, where our food is going to come from, where our clothing is going to come from. And what he says in Matthew chapter 6, he says to the disciples who he’s preaching to, he says, “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?”

And he admonishes the disciples there for being anxious. He says, “You of little faith.”

So what I wanted to talk about this morning was faith. We want to talk about what faith is. Do we have faith that God is going to provide for us? That’s what we talked about last time. But today, I want to go to Matthew chapter 17. We’re going to continue talking about faith, but in a slightly different way.

In Matthew chapter 17, we have this account of Jesus being transfigured on the mountain. They come down, and what do they find? They find a crowd gathered around.

A man has brought his son to the disciples to be healed. His son had been possessed by this unclean spirit, this demon. And the disciples were trying to cast this unclean spirit out. And they weren’t able to do it.

And Jesus admonishes the disciples there when they ask him, “Why couldn’t we do this?” He says, “Because of the littleness of your faith.” And then he says, you must have the faith of a mustard seed. And so we’re going to talk about the mustard seed, what that means. What does it mean to have a mustard seed faith in this passage?

Let me pray for us as we read Matthew chapter 17, this portion of it. Let me pray first that God would bless the reading of this word in our time together this morning.

Father, we do praise you again for this ability that we have to come and worship before you freely, without having to hide, without having to be wary of others who might come and persecute, like many of your disciples have to do around the world this morning. We thank you for the freedom to worship, and we ask for your special blessing this morning as we think about this passage of Scripture, as we think about Matthew 17 and what this means in terms of our faith. Help us to understand your word, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you would turn to Matthew chapter 17. We’re going to read from verse 14 to, I guess that’s verse 20. Verse 14 through verse 20.

The TextMatthew 17:14–20

And when they came to the multitude, a man came up to him, 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. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “O 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 cast it out?” And he said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”

It says,

The littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have the faith as a mustard seed…

Some translations say,

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed.

And of course, the context of this passage is Jesus and some of the disciples, he took with him up onto the mountain. He was transfigured before them, and while he was up there on the mountain, this was taking place. This man had brought his son. He describes as a lunatic. Really, he was possessed by this unclean spirit.

You can read in a parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark, he has some additional details. There’s one we might look at in a few moments. But he brings the son to the disciples to be cured, to be healed, for the disciples to cast out the spirit, but the disciples were unable to do so. And so afterwards, after Jesus heals him, they ask him, “Why could we not do this?”

So it’s helpful to imagine the scene. So put yourself in that crowd. What is the crowd of people? Who makes up this crowd of people?

And so there are some people who are avid disciples, followers of Jesus, who hang on to his every word, who maybe some of them are sick themselves or have loved ones who are sick themselves, and so they’re waiting their turn. They’re waiting their turn to bring their sick loved ones to the disciples for them to heal them as well.

There are probably people in the crowd who hate Jesus. In fact, in the Gospel of Mark, it says that the scribes were there. There was a discussion going on. And when Jesus arrives, the first thing he does is, “What are you discussing? What are you talking about?” So there’s this discussion, there’s this back and forth between the scribes, the Pharisees, and the disciples.

These people who hate Jesus, they must be relishing this opportunity to, it’s like a gotcha moment almost. They’re seeing that the disciples cannot do this thing. These are the disciples of Jesus, and they cannot cast out this demon.

And so they hate God, really. They hate Jesus. And so this might be a situation which they’re relishing. The enemies of Jesus are, they could be licking their lips. They might be relishing this opportunity to come after Jesus.

The disciples couldn’t cast out the demon. And it’s interesting that they couldn’t do that, because just a few chapters before in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus specifically gives them the ability to do this very thing. If you turn back really quick to Matthew chapter 10, verse 1, it says,

Having summoned his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

And so isn’t it interesting that he gives them this authority to cast out these unclean spirits, and then here, when they try and cast out this unclean spirit, they’re unable to do so? And so it had to have been surprising to them. They probably were casting out unclean spirits. In fact, they absolutely were. In fact, another passage, when they were doing that very thing, they tell Jesus,

Look, even the unclean spirits, they listen to what we tell them to do.

So it’s really interesting. They weren’t able to do that. Why could the disciples not drive out this unclean spirit, this demon? Jesus specifically tells them why. He says, “You could not do it because of the littleness of your faith, because of the littleness of your faith.”

So Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration. He enters the crowd, and the question is, does he find faith there among those people? It’s a question to ask ourselves. If Jesus visited this room, if he walked through the double doors back there, would he find faith in this room? What would he say about our faith?

He calls the disciples’ faith little. What would he say about our faith? Would he find faith here in this room? Would he find faith on this road that our church is on?

This is not the only time that Jesus describes the disciples’ faith as small or little.

Matthew 6

The first time he does so was actually the last time when we looked at Matthew chapter 6. I quoted that passage just a minute ago:

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not do much more for you, you of little faith?

He’s talking to the disciples, the people listening to him, and he calls their faith little or small, because he’s teaching his disciples to trust in God, that God is going to supply all of their provision. And when they’re anxious, when they’re looking to themselves to supply provision, they’re not looking to God; that’s a faithless act. They’re not believing God in that moment. And so he says, “You of little faith,” because they’re not trusting in God to supply their provision.

Matthew 8

The next time he says this, when he describes the disciples’ faith as little, is in Matthew chapter 8. If you remember the disciples in the boat, Jesus falls asleep. The disciples are battling the storm and the waves and everything, and they wake up Jesus and they say,

Save us, Lord; we are perishing!

And Jesus says to them,

Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?

He gets up and rebukes the wind and the sea, and it becomes perfectly calm.

And so in that situation, the disciples are hard at work, battling the storm, trying to keep the boat afloat, and Jesus calls their faith little. Why? Well, it’s because the Lord Jesus was there in the boat with them.

If you think about it, were the disciples thinking about Jesus as the Lord, as the Messiah? Think about all of the prophecies about the Messiah and all of the things that he’s going to do and accomplish, and he’s right there with them in the boat, and they’re worried about this boat sinking and them all drowning. Well, how can that be possible if he’s there in the boat with them? If he’s the Son of God, is he even able to drown in a boat and die? You know, those kind of things.

So that’s why Jesus calls their faith little in that moment, because they’re not thinking about Jesus as the Messiah at all in that moment. They’re thinking about the waves. They’re paralyzed with fear. They’re not thinking about Jesus at all, or God at all.

Matthew 14

The next one is in Matthew 14, when Peter steps out of the boat. Jesus meets them another stormy sea. Jesus is walking on the water, which he absolutely can do. And they see him there, and Peter calls out to him and says,

If it’s really you, Lord, command me to come out to you.

And so he does that, and Peter steps out of the boat to meet Jesus. He is walking on the water himself because of the power of Jesus, the power of God. But what happens? What happens there?

Peter starts looking at the waves. He starts seeing the wind. He starts to be afraid, and he starts to sink. And what does Jesus say? He says,

You of little faith, why did you doubt?

Why did you doubt? You of little faith.

Matthew 16

The next time he calls their faith little is in Matthew 16, a couple chapters later. The disciples are not understanding Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharisees. Jesus is saying to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and the disciples are thinking about physical bread. They hear the word leaven, and then they immediately start thinking about physical bread. And Jesus tells them,

You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

They didn’t have any bread with them, and so they start thinking about bread. I mean, it’s like they didn’t remember the first time Jesus told them they had little faith, when they were anxious about food, and he tells them, do not be anxious about food, for God’s going to provide that.

In fact, Jesus had just fed 5,000 people, 5,000 men, maybe even more people, with two loaves. And Jesus says the various things, like, “You just saw me feed all of these people out of nothing, and you’re here discussing, ‘We don’t have any bread’?” He said, “You of little faith.” Because they’re not thinking about Jesus as their Lord, or as the powerful Messiah who is able to do all things for them.

Matthew 17

And then the last time is in this passage this morning, Matthew 17, verse 20. The disciples cannot cast out this demon, this unclean spirit, and so Jesus says the reason is because of the littleness of your faith.

One thing I want you to notice is when Jesus sees them there, when he comes up to this crowd and he sees the commotion, the discussion, everything going on, what he doesn’t see is the disciples attempting to cast out this demon. They had already given up at that point. They had already stopped. And that is an important point to notice.

They’re discussing with the scribes. They’re talking to the son’s father. But what they’re not doing is trying to cast out this demon or praying for God’s deliverance.

So these are the examples of a little faith, the times where Jesus admonishes the disciples for their lack of faith or for their little faith.

And so what I wanted to do is compare two things: little faith and the opposite, great faith. And so these are the examples of little faith, the times where the disciples exhibited a small faith. But what about the examples of great faith?

There are lots of places where Jesus commends people for their faith. You can remember all of the times where someone comes to Jesus for healing, and he says, “Your faith has made you well.” He commends their faith. But there are only two places in the New Testament where Jesus calls someone’s faith a great faith.

The Centurion

The first one is in Matthew chapter 8, verse 10, and this is the centurion who comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his servant. The centurion says,

Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

And in verse 10, Jesus hears this, and he marvels and says to those who are following,

Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

That’s the first time Jesus ever, well, that’s recorded, that Jesus ever calls someone’s faith great, in comparison to all the times where he’s called his own disciples’ faith small.

The Canaanite Woman

The other time, the second time it happens, is in Matthew chapter 15, and this is the Canaanite woman who comes and asks Jesus to heal her daughter, who is possessed by some spirit, some unclean spirit.

And what happens there is she’s asking over and over and over and over again, and the disciples want to send her away. In fact, it’s described that she’s even shouting to the disciples, and they ask Jesus to send her away. Jesus speaks to her, and what happens? It’s like she reasons with him, and he marvels at her faith.

Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

It’s really interesting, a really interesting passage. So there’s only those two times where Jesus ever calls someone’s faith great.

Why Jesus Calls Their Faith Great

And so what we want to do is make some observations on why Jesus calls their faith great and compare that to the times where Jesus calls his disciples’ faith small.

One interesting fact is these two people, this centurion and this Canaanite woman, were both Gentiles. It’s really interesting. They weren’t Jews, they weren’t Jewish people. They were Gentiles. Jesus is extolling their faith, not just that they had faith, but that they had great faith.

And so two things I want us to recognize, looking at those two people and their faith, is that

• the centurion recognized Jesus as who he truly is. He recognized his authority and his power, and he submitted to him as Lord. He calls him Lord.
• and the Canaanite woman persisted in continually coming again and again and again to Jesus.

And when she reasons with him, she’s claiming truth that she knows about his character. She knows that he is a good teacher, a good prophet, but I don’t know if she knows the extent of who he is. But what she’s doing is she knows something that’s true about him, and she’s persisting and coming continually over and over and over and over again, and she doesn’t give up. She doesn’t give up when the answer is obviously no.

The disciples, all of the disciples, are wanting to send her away. She not only doesn’t give up, but she’s, in fact, almost to the point of violence. She’s shouting to the disciples in order to be heard. And she’s doing that because she’s trusting in something that’s more sure. The centurion is trusting in something that is more sure.

So in the examples of a small faith or a weak faith, what we see is trust in human power and human effort, and giving up after that human effort fails. And what we see in these examples of a great faith, you see these two people trusting in divine power, not human power, and persisting in coming to Jesus in their requests.

So a strong faith or a great faith is truly believing that what God says is true, holding fast to his promises. Faith is not blindly believing in something without evidence. It’s trusting in something that is more sure, more real, more evident. It’s a recognition of who Jesus truly is, recognizing the reality that he is Lord of the universe and submitting to him as your Lord and Savior.

It’s coming to him over and over and over again, not letting him go, claiming his promises and the truth of his character and nature, never letting go, like Jacob, never letting go until he gives his blessing. So that’s the difference between a little faith and a great faith.

But what Jesus does here is really interesting, because he calls their faith small, but then he compares faith to a mustard seed. And so what does that mean? He says, if your faith is as a mustard seed, or as small as a mustard seed,

you shall say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.

We’re not going to talk about the mountain part this morning. Maybe we can do that at some point. There’s just too many things to talk about, and we have ten minutes left. But I want to talk about this mustard seed idea.

The Smallest Unit of Measure

In the first century, it was common language to use mustard seed as a metaphor or an analogy. The rabbis would use the mustard seed all the time in their extra-biblical laws, all of these extra laws that they created for themselves in order to make themselves more holy. They would use this picture of a mustard seed. It was like their smallest unit of measurement.

So we have millimeters today. What’s smaller than that? A micrometer. We have those measurements today. Their smallest unit of measurement was the mustard seed. So they used it more metaphorically, but it’s to mean something infinitely small, like the smallest thing that you can think of.

So they would use the mustard seed as an analogy or as a metaphor for that. It’s the smallest unit of measure. And the rabbis and the Pharisees, striving to be holy, they would use this idea of the mustard seed to show, if you had just a mustard seed level of impurity, then you got to do all of these things in order to make yourself pure.

And here, it’s interesting, because Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed. He says, “Your faith is little. You could not cast out this demon because of the littleness of your faith.” And then he says, “But if you have faith as a mustard seed.” Isn’t that really kind of strange?

He’s admonishing them because they have little faith. They have a little faith, a very small faith. And then he says, but if you have the faith of the size of a mustard seed, which to them would mean something infinitely small, the smallest thing in your mind.

Not the Quantity but the Kind

So what is he saying? What is that? Well, the first answer to that question is the problem that the disciples had was not in the quantity of the faith, but in the kind of faith. They need a mustard seed kind of faith rather than the kind of faith that they had.

Because if you think about the faith that they had, the little faith that Jesus describes, he describes their faith as a little faith. The problem was, it wasn’t that they weren’t believing hard enough, or they weren’t working up enough to cast out this demon. It was because they believed that they had the power to cast out this demon. I think that was what was going on.

Jesus had given them the authority to do these things, and along the way, they started thinking, “We have the power to do these things.” And they stopped realizing that they don’t have the power to do these things. God is the one who has the power to do all of these things.

So they started doing these things in their own effort, in their own human effort. And so when they’re trying to cast out this demon, they’re trying to do it in their own power. And that’s evident because they give up. So when their human effort and their human power runs out, they give up.

And so we’re talking about two different kinds of faith. So you have a weak, powerless faith, because that faith is something less than God. They’re having faith in their own actions and in their own decisions and in their own strength and planning and wisdom. And so contrasted with that, you have a powerful faith whose object is God and all the wisdom and power that God has.

So do you see the difference between those two things? It’s not the quantity of the faith; it’s the kind of faith. So you can have a large quantity of faith in yourself, but there’s no power there, because God is not behind it. You can have a little quantity of faith in God, and the power is not the quantity; it’s the object.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

This isn’t the only time Jesus uses this metaphor of the mustard seed. And it’s interesting, because what Jesus does is he takes this common metaphor, this proverbial phrase that everybody uses, especially the scribes and the Pharisees, he uses this phrase and he does something with it that only Jesus does. He takes this metaphor that was common and he completely turns it around.

Because in another passage, in Matthew chapter 13, he presents a parable of the kingdom of heaven. And what does he do? He compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. Now, I’m going to read this passage and see if it’s really interesting to you. Matthew chapter 13, verse 31 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 fully 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.”

It’s really interesting, because you have something that’s infinitely small, but once it’s planted, it becomes larger than any of the other plants in the garden, large enough for birds to be able to come and make nests in it. And that is true. Certain mustard plants will grow to that kind of size. Lots of times they’re harvested before that point, but if you allow them to grow, they can grow really big.

It’s not a tree. It’s like a bush, kind of like how crepe myrtles, you know, we have lots of crepe myrtles around here. My wife calls them trees, but they’re not trees. They’re bushes, even though sometimes they look like trees. But a bird can go and make a nest in one. And so we have crepe myrtles in our backyard that are larger than some of the trees in our backyard.

So when you think about this in relation to the kingdom of heaven, think of how Christianity began. Think of the small beginning of Christianity.

• Jesus’ humble birth, born in the manger,
• the humility of his ministry,
• dying a death between two thieves.

His disciples were not powerful politicians or warriors, but blue-collar fishermen.

It starts really small. In fact, if you described that as a political party, nobody would have donated to it. There’s nothing to that. It’s less than a grassroots organization. There was nothing to it.

But what happened? You can mark the spread of Christianity from Pentecost, as it spread through all of these countries, as it took over Europe, and as the Puritans came to America, and everything that happened, and then the spread of Christianity going out through the world today.

And if you think about the number of Christians, the number of people being saved throughout the world… Okay, so you remember when we landed on the moon in 1969? I don’t, because I wasn’t born then, but some people do.

How many people were alive in the world? It was like 3.9 billion people. How many people are alive in the world today? How many of those people are Christians?

We’ve more than doubled the amount of population in the world since we landed on the moon. It’s like 135% increase in people. And a lot of those people are Christians.

And so think about the mustard seed sized faith that was planted in a sermon that one of the disciples gave 2,000 years ago, and the millions of people that have turned to the Lord because of that in that amount of time. It’s amazing. It’s outstanding. And the same thing for you and me, if we plant a little seed, and we have no idea what that is going to do in someone’s life, or in the lives of other people throughout the years.

A Faith That Grows

The point is that what Jesus is doing is he’s taking this metaphor that people use to talk about something that’s really small, and he’s turning it completely upside down. Because what he’s saying is, you need to have the kind of faith, you don’t need a little faith. You need the faith like a mustard seed, which is infinitely small. But a mustard seed faith is a faith that grows. And it will grow into something large, something larger than any of the other plants in the garden.

So faith like a mustard seed starts small, but it can grow to a great faith. A weak faith doesn’t grow. It just gets weaker. But the faith that Jesus is describing here is a powerful faith, and it can move mountains, like it says here, like Jesus says, because this faith is not a small faith. It’s a faith that grows. It can grow large.

And there are a lot of different ways that we can go from there. If you planted a seed before, you plant the seed, you cover it up with dirt, and then how much exertion do you take? Once that seed’s planted in the dirt, how much brain power or exertion or will do you take in order to make that seed grow? You can sit there and think really hard and try and work up all of this. That’s not how you make a seed grow. God makes the seeds grow.

In fact, in Mark chapter 4, Jesus says,

The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil. He goes to bed at night, gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows. How, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself.

And the point in applying it to faith is, the growth there is something that God does. This is not something that we, in our own exertion and effort and power, try and do. The point is, it’s all of God. We are to be completely dependent in our reliance on God.

Do You Have Any Faith at All?

And so the first way to apply this is, you first ask, do you have any faith at all? The kind of faith that we’re talking about is that the disciples, they followed Jesus, they knew who Jesus was, they believed in God, but he still calls their faith small. The starting point is believing in God, believing in Jesus. Do you have any faith at all?

See, it’s possible to make the same mistake that disciples made in relying on their own strength, or thinking that they were the ones where this power originated from, because it’s easy to say, “My salvation originated from me.”

It’s easy to say that, and this is true with a lot of religion, whether it’s Catholicism or Mormonism or whatever it is. It’s easy to say, “I need to do all of these things. I need to do this. I need to work up faith. I need to make all of these decisions. I need to do all of this in order to be saved, in order for God to accept me.” But when we’re doing that, we’re relying on our own strength.

It’s interesting, because the father of the boy who comes to Jesus, he immediately didn’t show remarkable faith either. When Jesus appears to the father of the boy, the father says to Jesus, “If you are able to heal him, heal him if you are able.” And Jesus says, “If I’m able?” He says,

All things are possible to him who believes.

And the man says,

I believe; help my unbelief.

And see, that right there is the first step of faith. First question is, do you have faith at all? And the first step is to come to Jesus and say, “I believe; help my unbelief.” So instead of relying on our own strength, we need to come to him in full dependence. We have nothing to offer, just as the hymn says,

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to the cross I cling.

Nothing but Prayer

Really quickly, in the book of Mark, the parallel, it’s in Mark chapter 9, when the disciples asked Jesus, “Why couldn’t we do this?” In Mark chapter 9, Jesus says that this kind, talking about the demon,

cannot come out by anything but prayer.

And that’s really interesting. It’s not a contradiction when he says, you know, it was because of the littleness of your faith. And Mark says this, you couldn’t cast it out because this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer. It’s an additional amount of information. It’s not a contradiction. And it correlates with one another, because the point of prayer is dependence on God.

A prayerful heart is a heart that is fully dependent on God. And so when you are genuinely praying for something, what you’re saying is, “I cannot do this in my own strength. I am clinging to you, Lord. I’m fully dependent on you.” And so when you are praying to God, that’s what you’re saying. You’re saying, “I cannot do this on my own. I’m fully dependent on you.”

And so when he says this kind cannot go out by anything but prayer, what he’s alluding to is they were trying to do this in their own power. They weren’t going to God and fully giving themselves in dependence to God.

A Prayer That Is Persistent

So a prayer of faith is a prayer that believes in God’s promises, trusts in his character, and it’s a prayer that’s persistent. Remember the Canaanite woman who continually went to Jesus over and over and over again?

And there’s another similar passage that Jesus gave, a parable of an unjust judge. There was a widow in the city who came to this unjust judge. The judge is wicked, he’s corrupt, but she keeps coming to him over and over and over again, saying, “Give me legal protection from my opponent.” And he’s corrupt, he’s unwilling, but because she was annoying about it, he relents.

And what Jesus says is, I’m not an unjust judge. An unjust judge was able to relent by persistence, but God is not unjust. How much more, if you keep coming to the Lord over and over again, that he’s going to listen and act. But listen to what he says there.

Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night, and will he delay long over them? I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

It’s really interesting. That’s like the first question that we posed today. If Jesus came into this room, would he find faith in this room? Would he find our faith great or small?

When we reflect on our own faith, do we find that our faith is great or small? And we need to be honest with ourselves. Would you say that you have a great faith, or would you say that you have a small faith?

God Loves Small Things

And if you answer that question and you discover that you have a small faith, then you can take great encouragement, because God loves small things. Zechariah 4:10 says,

For who has despised the day of small things?

Isaiah 42, verse 3 says,

A bruised reed he will not break, a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

God loves a small faith if that small faith is small like a mustard seed, because faith like a mustard seed is the kind of faith that grows. We are to have the kind of faith that grows, the kind of faith that relies not on our own efforts, but on the God who can do anything.

When We Are Discouraged

I know it’s easy to get discouraged at times. Like, our church is a very small church. It’s easy to get discouraged at times, like when a new family comes for a few weeks and then leaves, or you try and reach out to a neighbor for months and they never show up, or you invite people to events over the years and you do special things for people, and sometimes it seems like nothing that you do is working. And it’s really easy to get discouraged.

It’s easy to be discouraged when prayer seems to go unanswered for a long time. You pray sometimes for the same things over and over and over again for years and years.

But see, it’s in these moments that we’re to not be like the disciples when Jesus called their faith small. Because it’s in those moments that we need to have a faith, even if it’s small, to have a faith that grows. We need to persist in prayer like the Canaanite woman did, in coming again and again to the Lord until he blesses you. We need to not be discouraged, because we are to have a faith that is nourished by the Word of God.

Keep Your Eyes on the Savior

Remember Peter stepping out of the boat to go to Jesus. He has faith. He has faith at first, but then what happens? He looks down at the stormy sea. He takes his eyes off the Savior, and instead of looking at him, he looks at the waves and the wind, and he begins to sink. And what does he do? He cries out, saying,

Lord, save me!

And what happens?

Jesus immediately stretches out his hand, takes hold of him, and says to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

And so maybe you have faith in God, but you’ve taken your eyes off the Savior. Maybe the distractions of the storms around you have caused you to turn your eyes away from him and to all of these problems you’re facing. And so, if so, your response should be the same as Peter’s, and reach up to him and cry out, “Lord, save me,” and cling to him and to the promises in his word.

Cling to His Promises

And so that’s the other thing that we need to do: to read his word to learn what he promises. Read his word to learn what he promises, and then you can cling to those promises. You can claim them.

So when we’re thinking about reaching out to our community around here, it’s easy to be discouraged. But listen to what the Lord says. In Psalm 22, it says,

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before you. The kingdom is the Lord’s, and he rules over the nations.

Philippians says,

Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

And I think that includes everybody that lives on this street. And so you can take these promises and trust in what God says.

And so having trusted, having gone to him in prayer, having faith in God without doubting, then you can go out and do the work and expect God to bless it. Because the difference there is we’re not doing something in our own power. We’re not trying to attempt to do something in our own strength. We’re working with a faith that’s small, but a faith that grows.

Mustard seed faith is a small faith. It’s tiny, but it’s a faith that grows. And that’s the kind of faith that we’re supposed to have.

Let’s pray together.

Father, we do come to you asking, like the disciples asked, “Lord, increase our faith.” You’ve promised to be with us. You’ve promised to send your Holy Spirit to be our paraclete, to be our comforter, to be our helper. And we ask for his help now. We ask that you would fill our hearts with peace and joy and believing. We ask that you would create faith in our hearts, that you would create a mustard seed-like faith, a faith that grows and trusts in you. We ask that our faith would not be small, but you would look down from heaven and see that our faith is great.

Help us as we think about and work towards the ministries of the church. We ask that you would bless everything that we do here, the worship, the times that we reach out to the community and beyond. We ask that you would bless those things, that we would not try and attempt anything in our own power, in our own wisdom or effort, but we would be trusting, fully dependent on you and what you will accomplish through us. We thank you and we praise you. In Christ’s name, amen.