GROWING IN YOUR FAITH
Faith Builders Series Luke 17:1-6,
7/15/2018
It
was 1985, for the very first time in my life I left my small hometown where I
and went to a big city called Madras, in India to do a Discipleship Training
School with YWAM. Away from my Mom and Dad, everything was new and strange. In
the first week of my training, on a Saturday some one told me that I got mail. I
picked my mail and opened the envelop and to my surprise I found a 100 rupees
bill equivalent of two US dollars and a note which read, “Francis we love you,
trust God for your all your needs and finances.”
It
was simple yet powerful. For the first time someone told me that I could
actually trust God for money. Up until that time I always looked to my Mom and Dad
for all my financial needs just like any son who grows up in the east would do.
But from now on my heavenly father is calling me to trust him for all my needs
including finances. That was the beginning of my journey of faith. Along the
way I have learned a lot of lessons of faith and I am still learning.
Last
week we have learned in the story of the healing of a paralytic man that Jesus
was impressed by the simple faith that was in the eyes of the paralytic and his
four friends. Seeing their faith Jesus said, Son your sins are forgiven pick up
your matt and go home.
It
was faith in Jesus that brought about the greatest miracle of all, which is the
salvation of that man’s soul along with it also physical healing to his
paralyzed body. Today, we will look at some questions pertaining to FAITH. What
is faith? Where does faith come from? What does the Bible say about faith? How
can we grow in faith? Luke 17: 1-6.
A
man slipped and fell of a cliff while hiking on a mountaintop. Luckily, he was
able to grab a branch on his way down. Holding on for dear life, he looked down
only to see a rock valley some fifteen hundred foot below.
When
he looked up it was twenty feet to the cliff where he had fallen from.
Panicked, he yelled, “Help! Help! Is anybody up there? A booming voice spoke
up. “I am her, and I will save if you believe in me.” The young man said, who
are you? The voice said, “I am God.” The young man yelled, I believe; I
believe! Then the voice said, “if you believe me, let go of the branch and then
I will save you.” The young man hearing what the voice said, looked down again.
Seeing the rock valley below, he quickly looked up and shouted, “Is there
anybody else up there!” Really! Who else will be up there other than God; If God
can’t save us who will?
When
it comes to understanding faith, no one can better explain it other than our
Lord Jesus Christ. It was said of him in Hebrews 12:2-3 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Consider him who
endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow
weary or fainthearted.”
Someone
said, “Life is a never-ending struggle. But to give up, to give into
helplessness or resignation or paralysis, is to die when we are still alive.
And who wants to do that?”[1] If we don’t want to grow
weary in our struggles we are to look to the founder and perfecter of our
faith. Rightly, so in the passage we read the disciples came to Jesus and said,
“Increase our Faith.” The came to the right person with a right question but
with a wrong perception.
Somehow,
they thought that Jesus can increase their faith. Jesus was not at all impressed
with their request of him to increase their faith. He was indignant that, in
spite of seeing all the miracles he performed they failed to recognize Him as God
and believe in Him that he was indeed the messiah of the world. So, Jesus,
taught them this basic principle of Faith.
I
WHAT IS FAITH?
According
to a dictionary definition, faith is “complete trust or confidence in someone
or something. It is belief, confidence, conviction; and optimism. A strong belief in God or in the
doctrines of a religion, church, sect, denomination, ideology etc. What is
biblical faith then? First, let’s
look at what biblical faith is not. It is not some wishful thinking. By
definition wishful thinking is, “when the desire for something to be true is
used in place of/or as evidence for the truthfulness of the claim” For example,
if say, “I know in my heart of hearts that our home basketball team Celtics
will win the NBA championship this year.” The truth of the matter is, No! I
don’t know, what is my heart of hearts anyway? This is classic wishful
thinking. I just wanted my home team to win so I make it sound like it is true
and it is going to happen for sure.
Biblical
faith is not presumption. Presumption means jumping to conclusions. It is
taking something for granted, an idea, an answer, an event without having any
real knowledge about it, and that is usually not a good thing. For instance, we
can presume on God’s protection. We know that scripture says in Psalm 91:11, “For
he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they
will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against
a stone.” Based on this scripture thinking that nothing will happen to me even
if I jump from the top of a ten-story building, probably that is not a good
idea, the law of gravity will prevail
Biblical
faith is not a man made “name it and claim it gospel.” Another name for
this gospel is, “health and wealth” or prosperity gospel. Unfortunately, these
days many gospel preachers are twisting the truth of the gospel for their own
financial gain and deceiving many Bible believing Christians. They are
preaching a gospel of wealth, health and prosperity, in contrary to what Christ
has taught us pertaining to such matters. Therefore, it is imperative for
Christians to know what the Bible says faith is, and how it works in our day to
day life.
II.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT FAITH?
A
clear definition of biblical faith is found in Hebrews eleventh chapter. Which
can be called, “the Hall of fame of faith.” It lists the names of the heroes
and heroines of faith. The bible defines faith as, the substance, or the base
of all of life. Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance (substance) of
things hoped (expected) for, the conviction (evidence) of things not seen. For
by it the men of old gained approval (obtained a good testimony).”
Life
is full of hopes. What is hope? It is a feeling of expectation and desire for a
certain thing to happen. For example, high school seniors hope to get to finish
their school and get into a first-class college. Once they graduated they hope
that they will land into a job that pays six figured salary. In the mean time
they hope to meet and marry their perfect dream girl or a boy. Once they are married they hope to have
ten children, buy nice home, and peruse the all-American dream. But what is the
substance for their hopes? What is the evidence of the things they haven’t yet
seen but they hope and wish that they would happen? It is having faith in God.
Biblical
Faith is the vehicle that will carry our hopes and dreams into the presence of
the almighty God who loves us and wants the best for our lives, which may vary
from person to person. Biblical Faith is not about what we can make it happen,
but it is about resting and relying the assurance of God’s promises. It is not
putting our trust in things but in the person of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul
encourages Corinthian believers to put their faith in Jesus Christ alone.
II
Cor 1:18-20, “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes
and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you,
Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For
all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him
that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”
III.
WHERE DOES BIBLICAL FAITH COME FROM?
Faith always begins with, sustained
by and ends in God. God is the one who gives us faith. It is a free gift to all
those who belong to him. If you are a born-again Christian, you have already
been given a measure of faith. In other words, you don’t have to look elsewhere,
or ask God for faith, it has already been given to you and it is in you.
Consider these scriptures:
Romans
12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment,
each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” This scripture
says that no one has more faith than the others in the body of Christ. It is
the spiritual gift the Holy Spirit gives each believer. We all have been given the
same measure of faith, how much faith is it?
Jesus quantified faith that each of us were given by answering the
request of the disciples, “Increase our faith.”
IV.
GROWING IN YOUR FAITH:
Vs
5-6, “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said,
“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry
tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” In another
parable Jesus compared the kingdom of God to “a mustard seed, Matthew 13:31-32 “The
kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in
his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger
than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air
come and make nests in its branches.” In both these incidents Jesus used the
analogy of a muster seed to explain how faith grows and the kingdom of God
operates. Have you ever seen a mustard seed?
Those
coming from the east would know what I am talking about. It is very common in
Indian cooking to use mustard seed as garnishing in curries. It is a tiny seed.
In the region of Israel there are three species of the mustard plants were common.
One
of them is the black mustard, Sinapsis nigra, is specifically singled out and
cultivated as a condiment. Each of these species produces an extremely small
seed, and all of them in favorable soil conditions and climate grow to an
impressive size. While four feet tall is an average maximum height, noted
examples of the Sinapis nigra have been in the range of ten to fifteen feet in
height.”[2] What is the meaning of the
mustard seed analogy?
God
has given each of us faith the size of a mustard seed to begin with. When we
take that seed of faith into our hearts and let it grow through continual
exercise and application in time our faith will become like a tree of blessing
to many. Where does such faith come from?
In
Romans10:17 we read, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word
of Christ.” In another farm parable Jesus compared God’s word to the seed.
(Luke 8:11) The key to growing in faith is taking God’s word, believing it with
all our heart and appropriating for our difficult situations and circumstances.
Let me share a few faith builders. Are struggling
with finances, don’t know where the money will come from to pay your bills and
debts.?
Philippians
4:19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in
glory in Christ Jesus.” In my life I have seen God come through over and over
and provided for my needs. Are you anxious and fearful about your present and
the unknown future? I Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he
cares for you.” Are you searching for a Job?
Psalm
37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Are you
lonely and discouraged? Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you?”
I can go on and on with scriptures, but it won’t do any good unless you believe
in them and take those small steps of obedience then you will see your faith
grow. Like with everything else in life, Faith starts small and grows big in
time. May the Lord help us all to take those small steps of Faith today. Amen!
