Mustard Seed Size Faith
A week and a half ago, the representative from the company that manages our parking lot was sitting in my office with our Administrative Assistant and me, and he says, That took me a lot longer to get than it should have. He kind of laughed and said, My pastor back home would be ashamed of me for not getting that sooner!
I had no idea what he was talking about at first, but he was looking at this little container of mustard seeds for cooking that sits on the bookshelf in my office. Apparently, all during our meeting, it was really throwing him until he figured out that it was there as a reminder of what Jesus talks about in these words in front of us this morning faith the size of a mustard seed.
It was funny for the three of us. But when you look at what Jesus said to his disciples after they asked for greater faith, his mustard seed talk might be, not funny, but frustrating to hear. “IF you had faith like a mustard seed…” If you are aware that those words are meant for you and me every bit as much as they were for the men who followed our Savior, and you aren’t a little wounded by those words at first blush, I’m a little surprised.
Maybe you think it sounds a little cold to hear that in the face of pleading for greater faith! Is he talking bad about their faith even while they’re begging for him to help them be stronger?! Let’s see if that’s what he was doing. But first we have to back up and see what brought all this on.
Jesus’ disciples were gathered around him, and he said, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Watch yourselves.
Have you ever been on either the giving or receiving end of, “Watch yourself!”? I’m thinking a teenager getting a little too smart with a parent. Or an employee forgetting who they’re talking to when meeting with the boss. “Watch yourself!” certainly stops you in your tracks. You better think about what you’re doing and saying.
You think if Jesus said it to you, it would startle you and make you think about what you’re doing? I hope so. Jesus hoped so, that’s why he said it to those listening. What were they to watch in themselves? This: don’t give offense by the things you say. If you aren’t watching what you’re doing, other people might be led to sin right along with you. Temptations to sin will continually come in this world, but if you are in any way responsible for someone else being led into sin and maybe unbelief well…. you know what a millstone is?
All you really need to know is that they were like 100 to 1,000 pounds and they were used for grinding grain into flour. Google it later and look at the pictures. You get what Jesus is saying though. Have that tied to your neck and get thrown off a cliff into the sea not great! Jesus says, That’s nothing compared to what God will do with you if you are leading people to sin by the way you live and the things you say. Yeah…watch yourself.
Whether Jesus meant those who are “little ones” in faith or actual little ones— children it doesn’t matter. Our words and actions impact how people around us view God. It is a serious problem between us and God if we cause people to sin because of our behavior and, in the worst case, reject God altogether.
If you know yourself well, you will have to admit that you don’t always do the right thing, say the right thing, and people notice. If your behavior is bad on a night out, imagine the bad influence you could be. If you have a problem with your mouth, others may be emboldened to talk like that. You ever hear children blurting out really inappropriate words? I wonder where they got that from? They do what you do too. And it’s not just children you influence. How hard it can be to always be “on point” as a Christian, living the way God expects his people to live! It requires great faith, doesn’t it?!
You think that’s hard… “If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
Jesus teaches forgiveness so matter-of-factly, but that is loaded with things that are problems for us! Call someone out when they are doing something wrong? You find that easy? Or are you afraid of the “Who are you to tell me what to do?!” coming back at you? Or maybe you just know that you’re no better so you don’t feel qualified to really say anything. So, first of all, we might have a problem with rebuking someone.
We might have problems with forgiving people. Maybe we don’t think they should actually be forgiven. You ever get so angry with someone that you don’t really care if they are sorry? You’re so hurt you don’t want to hear them ask to be forgiven— because you don’t want to forgive them. What you really want to do is get them back.
Then there’s this: Forgive them even if they keep doing the same sinful thing over and over. Forgiving is not the same thing as accepting their sin. You’re not putting your stamp of approval on the sinful actions of someone by forgiving them often for the same thing. The more you are around someone, the more this can happen. If you’re married to someone with an addiction, you maybe know what this is like. Relapses are like this. When there is repentance, forgiveness is needed time and time again. That’s cherry-picking the easy stuff though.
What if your friend is often unloving in the way they treat people? What if your spouse routinely doesn’t talk very nicely to you? What if your child is in the habit of using offensive language or using God’s name in ways that are not worship? There are sins in each of us that are repetitive. They are hard to escape. Pet sins, if you want to call them that, because they’re right there by your side all the time.
If a person is truly repentant sorry and wants to stop then we are to forgive. By the way, Jesus isn’t saying that 7 is your limit for forgiving someone for the same sins; he’s saying don’t stop forgiving. Here’s some motivation for you: You know that God keeps forgiving you for the same sinful stuff all the time, right? You’re not going to be that person who takes, takes, takes all that love and forgiveness for yourself and deny forgiveness to others, are you? God has several things to say about that but those are things for another sermon. You get the point.
Super-old movie, but Jaws had one of the most memorable movie lines that still gets quoted today. When they get the first look at the size of the terrorizing shark they’re after: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” The apostles get a good look at what Jesus expects from them, and what do they say? We’re gonna need bigger faith! Their reaction to this holy living for the sake of others and having a heart full of non-stop forgiveness was, “Increase our faith!”
And then he says it, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Jesus tells you that your faith isn’t even as big as the smallest seed they planted in Israel. Even that size faith can command trees to go swimming with sharks. I don’t know about you, but I cannot get a tree to do that. Actually, I do know about you you can’t do it either! Neither could the disciples.
That tiny, tiny mustard seed would grow into a tree up to 10 feet tall. If you have even a tiny faith, you have potential to do great things. At first it might sound like Jesus is coming down on them for having less than a little faith. What he is really doing is encouraging them. He’s saying, If you even have the smallest faith, you CAN do those things I’m telling you to do!
So, we’re really not supposed to worry about the size of our faith. He wants us to use the faith we have to not lead others astray and to keep forgiving others. Why would we want to do that? Because there is One who took all our offenses to the cross with him and gives forgiveness to us over and over because of that and out of love for him, we want to live the way he says pleases him. We want to live the way he lived always loving the people around us and always helping them to remain God’s forgiven people.
And just in case any of us feel like if we do these things we are earning something from God, Jesus gives the example of the servant. The servant serves the master. It is an expectation. No special thanks is necessary for doing what is expected. Jesus uses that to illustrate how it is between us and God, our Master: So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’”
God made us. He sent Jesus to save us. He brought us to faith. We belong to him. He has the right to tell us what we are to do to please him and help others. And so, he does tell us the things we are to do. When we do these things in faith, we are simply doing what we are supposed to do. Faith moves us to happily do them in response to the love and forgiveness God gave to us first.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am a sinner. Christ has saved me. Because I have this faith that knows what Jesus did for me, when he calls on me to watch so that I don’t cause offense to others and lead them astray and to always be ready to forgive, I’m happy to do it. This is how a Mustard Size Faith works. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.