Title: What About Your Faith
Bible Book: Matthew 17 : 20
Author: Robert E. Reccord
Subject: Faith
Objective:
Introduction
Some of us have heard or read about General Sherman. General Sherman is 272 feet tall, weighs about four million pounds, and is 3,500 years old. General Sherman is the famous Red Wood or Sequoia tree in the Sequoia National Park of California.
Before the time of King David a small acorn found a place in the ground. From that acorn which was about the size of the end of one’s little finger, a big tree has grown.
Jesus said some words about faith being as small as an "acorn," or a mustard seed. We all have faith. We believe that when we put a letter in the post office that it finally will be delivered. We get in our automobiles and turn on the ignition, believing that the car will start. We believe that the sun will rise tomorrow. We have faith in the average or ordinary events of life.
Jesus wants us to have faith in God. If we trust the Lord, if we have confidence in Him and believe in Him, then life is going to be blessed. Faith is our "connecting link" with God. He is the One who acts, who responds, who works on our behalf. The text is a reminder that if we have faith in God, that mountains can be moved. Thus, everyone needs to believe in God, to have faith and trust in Him.
Two truths from this text may be discovered. One is that faith can grow. The second is that faith is important. Let’s look at these two spiritual truths.
I. Your Faith Can Grow
It ought to grow. Even if your faith is feeble and weak and little, it can become vibrant and healthy.
Once the disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee. During that passage over the small body of water, a storm came down upon them. Jesus had gone to sleep in the boat. The disciples awakened Jesus. He awoke and said, "O ye of little faith."
We’re like those disciples many times with a frail faith. But our faith can change, it can grow. Here’s the simple recipe for the growth of faith. If we follow this formula for the growth of faith, our faith will grow.
A. The Scriptures Help Our Faith To Grow
We need to make much use of the Scriptures. We need to read the Bible if we want our faith to grow. Romans 10:17 states, "Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Do you get the picture? The Bible, when read and heard and responded to will cause faith to grow.
The word that is used for hearing is a common word in the Greek language. It is "akouw." The present active infinitive is "akouein." This word for hear means to listen to, accept, and obey. That’s the meaning of "hearing the Word of God."
Moses wrote in Deuteronomy chapter six that God’s people needed to tell their children about God’s activities. The Lord called Abraham to go into the Holy Land. He saved His people from Egyptian slavery. He opened the Red Sea and sustained them in the deserts for forty years. He opened the Jordan River as the priests’ feet came to the water’s edge. The Jordan River stopped flowing for a distance of probably 20 miles just as the Red Sea did so those millions of Hebrews could cross.
Beyond the Old Testament stories, we need to tell our children about Jesus. Tell about the cross and the empty grave. Yes, Jesus is alive. We read these stories, and we tell them. The result is faith becomes real in life. Yes, "tell the stories to the children" Moses said!
Farmers know the worth of fertilizer. We fertilized our corn when I grew up on a farm. We dropped a tablespoon full of nitrate of soda down by each young corn stalk. We ran the fertilizer distributor in front of the cotton planter. That’s been an "old method" of fertilizing the crops, not a modern method. Soon after the roots of the plants reached the fertilizer, the plants began to grow, turn green, and show vitality.
God’s Word is like fertilizer to the soul. We read and hear it and respond to it and our faith will grow. Do we have 10 minutes a day to read God’s Word? Most don’t read the Bible 10 minutes a week! But if we truly want strong faith, we will make the Bible a part of our daily lives.
B. Prayer Helps Our Faith To Grow
A second ingredient for a faith that grows is prayer. The disciples once asked Jesus, which is something like prayer, "Lord, teach us to pray, even as John (the Baptist) taught his disciples to pray."
If we want our faith to increase, we’ll need to get our heart in tune with God. We’ll need to develop the prayer habit. Maybe five minutes a day, or maybe one-minute a day to start off. But get into the "secret prayer" habit. Let the hinges on your "closet prayers" be put into operation. This kind of spiritual calisthenics will see faith grow.
In Matthew chapter 17 where we find the text for this message, we read about Jesus as he came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. Nine disciples at the foot of the mountain could not do a miracle of healing a young boy. Jesus spoke and the illness of the child was over. When the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out that "demon," Jesus told them that the kind of work he did came about only "by prayer and fasting." Prayer as well as fasting does make a difference in our faith life.
Moses was a man of prayer. He spent 40 days in God’s presence. A day later, he spent 40 more days in God’s presence. Elijah prayed on Mt. Carmel. He was "a man of like passions as we are, but he prayed." Jesus prayed. He prayed in many places and often. The faith of people in centuries gone by grew through their praying. Ours, too!
C. Attendance Can Help Our Faith To Grow
Faith will grow if we have a regular habit of meeting in fellowship with God’s people. Hebrews 10:25 says, "Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is…." To drop out of regular church attendance and worship is fatal to a healthy faith. If we put something before worship of God today, tomorrow we will be spiritually sick. Parents need to teach their children to be in Church on every possible occasion. To fail at this point is to sin against God and to sin against one’s self.
We find "good people" pushing every ox on the ranch in a ditch on the Lord’s Day so they can miss church and worship times. If we want faith to grow, we will worship privately as well as publicly. And private worship is as vital as any other worship.
D. Service Can Help Our Faith To Grow
Faith will grow if we go to work for the Lord. We thank the Lord for "bench warmers." But we need those who also do something in a positive way for God. We can serve by encouraging the sad, by visiting the sick, by calling those who need to hear our voices. We can be on a "mission" for God every day in some way.
Once Jesus sent 70 disciples to go across the country as his witnesses. They came back saying that even the demons were subject unto them through His name. When we go to work for God, our faith grows. We can find something to do in God’s kingdom enterprise today. Let’s do it and faith will grow.
II. Faith Is Important
A. Faith Accomplishes Great Things
We’ve considered the truth that faith can grow. It matters not how feeble or weak that faith may be, your faith can change. Now think about the truth that your faith is important.
Faith accomplishes more than we can imagine. That’s why it’s important. Jesus said in the text that faith can "move mountains." Do you have some mountains of problems that need to be taken out of your way? A strong faith can do this work.
Hudson Taylor is remembered as a pioneer missionary to China. As he traveled on a sailing vessel in the Pacific Ocean, the pilot rushed nervously to him one bright sunshiny day. He said, "Missionary, the wind is not blowing and our ship is drifting toward the island nearby. And cannibals inhabit that island. Please go and pray!"
Hudson Taylor said, "Then lift your sails on this vessel and I’ll pray." The captain said he didn’t want to do that because it would look foolish. The missionary refused to go to his cabin to pray. Finally in desperation the captain lifted the sails and Hudson Taylor went to his cabin and began to pray.
Within five minutes the captain knocked on the missionary’s door and said, "Stop your praying, missionary! We now have more wind blowing on the sails than we need." Yes, prayer does bring a response from God.
B. Faith Reveals The Sovereignty Of God
Faith lets us see the sovereignty of God. When the world falls apart all around us, we may know that God is still on "His throne." He has not abdicated. When terrorists strike at the heart of our country, God is still Lord over all. We learn this truth by faith.
One poet wrote,
"Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne?
Yet, that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
God stands within the shadows,
Keeping watch above His own."
In the Old Testament. we read about Joseph being sold into Egypt. Years later when his brothers came into Egypt and stood fearfully before him, Joseph said, "Do not be afraid, God has brought me here." God is the Sovereign in all the events of history. Our faith teaches us to believe in God even when the world seems to fall apart.
C. Faith Provides A Witness To Others
Faith gives us a good report. We read in Hebrews chapter eleven that "by faith, the elders obtained a good report." If we want a good report on earth and a good report before the Lord in heaven, our faith makes that good report possible. Any person may get an "A+" on his or her report card. Faith accomplishes and brings this about.
Faith makes the investments we make in God’s cause worthwhile. Faith does accomplish a lot. We can see that what we contribute financially and what we do is worthwhile. Maxey Jarman gave money to build at least 20 Baptist church buildings in Latin America. By faith he made those contributions. We can make contributions and by faith know that it’s worth all we give.
D. Faith Is Our Passport To Heaven
Faith gives us the passport to heaven. John 3:16 states this truth. We get into that life that never ends by faith. Now what about your faith today? It can grow. It will accomplish great results. Will you let your faith in God prove itself by the life that you live and the deeds that you do? Really? Then put faith to the test today!
