Faith of a Mustard Seed

Rev Gideon Lee

This is what the Lord wants to remind us this morning about faith. Whenever we talk about mountains in our life it seems insurmountable but with God all things are possible. And God can take us on a mountain top experience and your problems feels so small and far away.

Mark 11:22-24

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Matthew 17:20

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Some months ago a man was staying in a chalet on the Swiss alps. He heard what sounded like an earthquake so he asked the man at the lodge if there was something wrong. It sounded like the mountains was crashing down. The guy said "We are on the West side of the mountain so when the sun warms the snow on the East side, it sounded like a crash. And the man said even though it sounded like the end of the world it is actually just the beginning of our day".

We often see the magnitude of our problems like that mountain. But what we don't know is that our mountains can actually be an opportunity for God to do a miracle in our life. And it can be a new day for us.

Here is the outline of my sermon.

1. What kind of faith does it take to move mountains.
2. Where do we get this kind of faith?
3. How do we activate this kind of faith.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God,

the Maker of all things.

Often we do not know how God will move our mountains but God is still in the business of moving mountains. God will work according to his time, not ours. And we need to have faith in that God will do what he will do. Sometimes he may not move the mountain for us but he gives us the ability to surmount and overcome our mountains.

After Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, he was hungry. And it was fig tree season and Jesus expected it to bear fruit but when he found no fruit, Jesus cursed it. Peter saw that same fig tree and remembered what Jesus said. And he asked Jesus if it was the same fig tree. And Jesus said yes, and told him to have faith in God.

What kind of faith does it take to move mountains?

If you have the faith of a mustard seed. We may think it takes a giant faith to move mountains but Jesus said all it takes is a small seed. It's just a little bit of faith. A mustard seed is very small, like a speck.

You know those small flies? They are very small but a nuisance.

Small faith is effective and potent when we place it in God's hand. That faith becomes mountain moving faith. Remember how Jesus fed the 5000? The boy said this is all I have. 5 loaves and 2 fishes but for Jesus it was more than enough. To activate this faith is through obedience. Our faith must be activated through obedience.

Jesus is still in the business of multiplying. When they finished they collected 12 baskets of left overs. More than enough.

We just need a mustard seed of faith but we need to put it into God's hands and trust him. If we cannot trust everything he said why would we trust him for anything else?

There was once a very rich man. He has a habit where every time he sees a coin he will stop and pick it up. His friend saw his habit and asked why he picked coins when he is so rich. He said I do it not because I need it but because imprinted on the coin is that word "In God we trust" and so every time I pick it up it reminds me of what God can do.

 All we need is a mustard sized seed and put it in God's hand.

How do we get this kind of faith?

The Bible gives us a hint.

Romans 12:3

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

It means all of us here have a measure of faith. All of us minimally have faith of a mustard seed. It has been given to every child of God. A measure of faith has been placed in you.

Once something has been brought to our attention and we are prepared to see it, we will see it every where we go.

Like how some people see money everywhere they go. Like for me, when I went to the recce to make decisions for the family day, Bro Rodney was telling me that there was this shop that sold kolo mee in a packet. He said he bought it back and it tasted so nice. He kept talking about that kolo mee, it got imprinted in my mind. So the whole trip I was thinking about this kolo mee. Finally when we got there he showed me the kolo mee, he said there's also this sambal ikan masin that is nice with the kolo mee.

So guess what happened when we got there? Kolo mee. Bro Rodney is the best salesman. He bought the packet for me and ask me to try. First thing I did when I got home was kolo mee. So the next time you guys go on that trip, it'll be kolo mee.

When we see God's goodness, we won't see the mountains but God's goodness. We will see the hands of God. We learn how to programme ourselves so to speak in the goodness of God, it will not be difficult. Our problem is that we tend to be negative. We programme ourselves through prayer. Then we know God is near us and with us. We already have a measure of faith.

How do we activate this kind of faith?

Jesus said when you pray and not doubt. Sometimes it feels impossible because we see our situation and we are overwhelmed.

Here's how we do it.

Mark 7:27-30

27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

You will notice that this woman is not a Jew. It was not that Jesus did not want to help her but that Jesus' ministry was first to the Jews. But this woman in her faith said even dogs gets the crumbs from the children's table. Her faith was enough and Jesus said her daughter was healed. The Bible did not name this woman.

Matthew 8:1-3

8:2-4pp — Mk 1:40-44; Lk 5:12-14

1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

Leprosy was considered a curse from God and is unclean so you cannot join any function in public. The Leprosy left the man and he was healed. The Bible did not name this man.

Mark 2:1-5

2:3-12pp — Mt 9:2-8; Lk 5:18-26

1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Also this man was not named. God is not a respecter of persons. All the three men faced mountains they could not possibly overcome but what made the impossible possible was that they put their faith into action.

How many of us would push through and get to Jesus? Like these people.

This morning, no big secret. How do you receive? Just do it! Nike copied from the Bible. Put our faith into action.

I close with this story.

One day there was a wise old man living in a cave.

There was three boys who wanted to trick this wise man. The first boy hid a stone in his hand and he went up and asked this man what's in my hand? The wise man said a stone and he was surprised how he knew. And the wise man just said I know. All three tried and each time the wise man was correct. So for last try, the boy put a bird in his hand and ask the wise man what's in my hand? The wise man said it's a baby bird. And the boy asked if the bird was alive or dead? And the wise man said if I said it's alive you would crush it and if I said it's dead you'll show me it's alive. The wise man answered, the fate of this bird is in your hands.

What we do with our faith is in our hands. God has given each one of us a measure of faith. We have to put our trust in him and put our faith into action. God is still the God of the impossible. Let's just do it. Amen?