Faith That Works

In Luke, the Apostles ask Jesus to “increase their faith.” This question is only asked because they have seen first-hand the power of faith in action.

By this time in Jesus ministry they had seen all the miracles that faith can bring. They had also seen Jesus turn His back on His own home-town because of the lack of faith.

And also by this time in their walk as Jesus’ disciples, they had heard on many occasions “your faith has healed you.” So the favor they were asking was a very legitimate one. They could see the benefits of increased faith.

They rightly concluded from all they had observed that more faith would yield more results. More faith seemed like a very logical course of action.

But you can also kind of see a hitch in their request. It was self-serving. It looks as though they are asking for more faith for what they can get out of it rather than for the glory of God.

Jesus, fully aware of mankind’s bent toward ‘what’s in it for me’, gives a very keen reply to their request for what seems to be a very honorable favor.

 

He first responds with the famous ‘faith of a mustard seed’ and secondly with a parable about obedience. Let’s look at these two responses and apply them to us so we too can ‘increase our faith’.

First, the mustard seed.

 

As most of you know, if you have spent any amount of time in church or Sunday school, someone has informed you of just how small the mustard seed is.

 

It is about the size of a grain of sand. This is actually quite significant because it says much more about the one you have the faith in than it does about the amount of faith in the believer.

 

Jesus is making a very salient point here. Increasing our faith is not as important as whom the faith is in.

 

The amount of faith needed is small because the power of the one believed in is great. A mustard seed sized faith can uproot a tree with an extensive root system and toss itself into the sea.

Notice it isn’t you doing the digging and the uprooting and the throwing, it is your faith in the One who can do the digging, the uprooting and the throwing.

 

So therein lays the key to God honored faith; less belief in you and more belief in Him. Pride is such a stumbling block to faith. Pride in self takes away reliance on God.  

 

The extreme size of the universe points us to the realization of the limitlessness of God. And yet, we give him so little. I’m afraid we often don’t even have the size of faith of a mustard seed. And that’s pretty small indeed.

So part two of the response to ‘increase our faith’ was a parable.

 

This parable was about obedience.

So here’s the gist of the parable.

 

When a servant comes in from working in the fields does his master say “Come eat with me?”

No, the master makes the servant serve him and when the master is finished eating the servant can then sit down and eat as well.

 

And does the master thank the servant for doing what he is told?

No, the servant simply did what was expected of him.

 

Jesus concludes the parable with this, “In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

So what is Jesus telling us? Faith requires obedience. When we realize that God can do the impossible, obedience to what He wants is how we act out our belief in Him. Since we are in desperate need of what He has to offer, it only makes sense to be completely obedient to what he is asking. No exceptions.

 
Let’s go to Abraham.

The Bible tells us that Abraham’s faith in God was unwavering. He believed God’s promise of a son through his wife Sarah.

He got off track a bit with the whole Hagar and Ishmael thing, but Abraham believed God was going to bless the world through a son that had not yet been born.

And this belief was not deterred even though he was almost 100 years of age and his wife was 90.
So what does this kind of faith mean exactly?

It means that Abraham continued to act on his faith.

In other words, he did not believe Sarah was going to have a miraculous conception. It means he continued to do the things that bring about conception even though it seemed like God was taking His dear sweet time.

Faith always requires obedience.

If Abraham had not followed up his faith with the action of intimacy with his wife, the story would have turned out much differently.

But it didn’t because Abraham followed up his faith with action.

That’s a pretty good deal for ‘ol Abe. “You know Sarah, God said we were going to have a son, and tonight could be the night.”
 

So now Abraham has another great test to his faith. The test was measured not by his belief but by his action as a result of his faith.

In Genesis 22, Abraham is asked by God to take his son, his one and only son to Moriah where He is to offer his beloved son as a burnt offering on a mountain that God would show him. Abraham’s faith required action.

 

An action so significant that few people who have ever lived would do what he was about to do.

So Abraham took his son, his one and only son, whom he loved and waited on for so long and was prepared to offer him as a sacrifice.

 

So intent was Abraham in doing exacting what was asked of him God stepped in and not a moment too soon.

 

When God intervened, He told Abraham “Now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your one and only son.”

Friends how do you know God loved you? Because He has not even withheld His Son, His one and only Son. God in His love for us has withheld nothing.

 

If He did not withhold His Son from you (us) is there anything He would withhold?

 

But there remains yet a larger question. What are you withholding from Him? What are you not trusting Him with?

 

Faith is letting go and letting God...

 

RP......;HeH