Do you want more Faith?
How many times have you wished you had more faith? What does it take to acquire more of this precious commodity? As we examine this idea of increasing our faith, we must also examine our motives and intentions. Faith is at the root of who we are as Christians. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God… Heb 11:6. So faith is a valuable and necessary thing, which we should cultivate. The disciples also understood this and we will open this study by listening as the disciples ask Christ an interesting question and His response. Let’s look:
Lk 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
“Faith as small as a mustard seed”. That seems to indicate that a small amount of faith goes a long ways. I don’t know about you but I have never tried to uproot a tree and plant it in the sea. That seems to be a feat that is well beyond my abilities to perform. Yet the implication was that this was not only a simple thing but required only a small amount of faith. What do you suppose then that Christ was trying to say if this is in fact beyond our abilities? Let’s further look at what Christ said concerning this unusual statement.
Lk 17:7 Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'?
This is really an odd response to the above question and statement. We see ourselves now looking at a servant in a large house. As the day begins the servant arises and does his chores and plows the field, after he finishes for the day, he comes back to the house. What do you think are his expectations? My master will sit me down and prepare my supper. No! There is still the servant master relationship. The last part of your required service is to prepare supper and then wait on the master while he eats and drinks. After his needs are taken care of then the servant will then partake of his refreshment. This is true in any service that you are required to work for another. You don’t expect abnormal attention for doing the job you are employed to do, do you? If you are just doing what is expected of you, have you done anything worth recognition above and beyond your fellow servants? Are you not rather simply fulfilling to the letter of the contract that which is expected? Christ now makes a statement, which seems rather unkind concerning this servant. Let’s look.
9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
Unworthy, why? After all he has done everything he was instructed to do. So why does he pick on this poor servant? Furthermore what has this got to do with faith?
These questions are setting the ground for exploring the concept of faith. Let’s apply some definitions to faith and then we will further explore the reasons. Definition: Faith - Pistis in the Gk: belief in general, it implies knowledge of, assent to, and confidence in certain divine truths; especially those that deal with the gospel and produce good works. So faith is in something, agrees with that something, and has a high degree of confidence in that something. It is not simply mental assent, or mere knowledge. It also has a confidence in that knowledge, and agrees to its premises. Now I have said this in a number of ways hoping that in so doing you will see that faith involves all three ideas: assent, knowledge, and confidence. Let’s now look at another definition.
We have examined faith, let’s look at belief that stems from faith. Definition: Believe – Pistueo, this word means to place confidence in, to rely on not merely agree to. It is a verb and implies that the believer acts upon his belief by absolutely trusting and relying upon that which his belief rests upon. Pistos - Faithful or believer implies action. I believe therefore I do. The concept of faith taken as a whole, would thus be best stated this way.
I am confident and therefore persuaded that He is, therefore I agree with Him, and will rely upon Him, and will not merely rely but will in obedience to Him do those things that will prove that I believe Him.
This takes in almost the whole meaning to the concept of faith. Let me paraphrase it one more way in active sense.
I am persuaded that He is, and I am confident that He will perform all those things that He has promised. I love Him, for what He has done and therefore in obedience to the direction that He has for me, I will perform all that is expected of me in order to please Him in whom I have placed my confidence. I will rely totally upon Him for the future hope that He has promised, and for my present condition. He has commanded therefore I will follow. He has given me an example, therefore I will copy his example. He has shown me O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of me, therefore I will in humble submission do what is good and perform that which is required, knowing that He that has revealed, will cause that which I do to be rewarded. I will not be afraid.
That, my friends, is faith. The problem with the servant who does only what is expected, is that he never goes beyond mere obedience. He doesn’t care for the master. He is not confident that the master will reward him for service above and beyond. He doesn’t seek to please, only to perform the contracted service. He wants to please himself more than he wants to please the master. He is a mere hireling. But faith implies obedience that goes above and beyond and service that never ceases.
Heb 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Heb 11: 1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Hebrews 11 is the great faith chapter where we see example after example of men and women of great faith. Vs 2 said these ancients were commended for their faith, but let’s look at the last verses of Hebrews 11.
Heb 11: 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
God having planned something better for us so that together we would be made perfect. What was this something better. Let’s look at chapter 12.
Heb 12: 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
What was this better thing promised us? Christ the author of faith, and He it is, that perfects our faith. We are told that we should never grow weary or lose heart all we need to do is consider what Christ endured. What opposition, what mocking, what ignominy, and what suffering, and finally what a horrible death, and yet He remained faithful.
Heb 10: 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
Now back to the tree planted in the sea.
James 1: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Faith comes from it’s author, God. A man should never act upon mere desire, but rather from the wisdom, which God gives. If God wants you to plant a tree in the ocean than you had better believe that you can do it. But the faith and the source of that power that can do it, comes from God. If you as a servant go about trying to uproot trees and throw them into the ocean without God’s direction then you might just as well give up. Our source of strength comes from God not from some mystical power. When our will is combined with His purpose it activates His faith, and His power and then nothing is impossible.
Heb 11: 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
God framed and created the universe with a simple command, nothing is impossible for Him.
Eph 1: 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Power belongs to God, but we have access to it through the combination of our faith in Him, and the wisdom that He gives us in Christ Jesus.
2 Cor 4:13 It is written: “I believed: therefore I have spoken”. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
Can we cast the mulberry tree into the ocean. Yes, if your Father in heaven tells you to! Christ said, I do nothing of my own, but only as my Father in heaven commands. Should we do anything different? I think you all know that the answer is, no. We are to be God-pleasing first and foremost. Can we do it on our own? Of course not.
Faith is a precious gift which comes from God. Peter, one of my favorites expresses these ideas this way.
1 Pet 1: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Do you want your faith increased! Than increase your dependence on the one from whom faith comes. Christ said, “Believe on me”. Should we do anything less?