Disciple Faith

Matthew 17:20–21 ESV

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

In ,

The disciples reveal the problem to Jesus. They in a funny way have answered their own coming question and do not know it.

Here we see how perceptive JEsus is and how thick headed sometimes we all as disciples can be.

The Disciples question to JEsus is this

“Why could we not cast it out?”

There are two things happening here. JEsus responds that it is their little faith, and then contrasts their little faith with the faith of a mustard seed, which is also very little. So why is one little faith not effective and another little faith such as mustard faith very effective. Their both faith, their both small right, so what’s the deal JEsus?

What JEsus is pointing out is that although the disciples had faith, their faith was not directed at the right object. This comes up a lot in the teachings JEsus gives his Followers, which all of us in this congregation are.

Lets put it this way.

The key word in the disciples question is “we” , why is this important.

Jesus is saying you did not have the right kind of faith. not that they had no faith at all.

You disciples had a “we” kind of faith.

The kind of faith that says “I am sufficient to do this”, “I have the power to do this”

This is a certain kind of faith - its the kind of faith that is “more of you (the disciple) and less of me (Jesus) kind of Faith”

Here is the problem with your approach to having the power of Jesus in your life.

The kind of faith I am trying to teach is

Its more of me (Jesus) and less of you (the Disciple) .

When you place too much faith in yourself. I cannot work for you because your are not asking me to move the mountain for you. Instead you are asking yourself, your own worth, your own power, your own strength to move the mountain.

Frankly, I don’t know if youve looked in the mirror lately ,but it is impossible for you (disciple) to move any mountains. There are no obstacles that will get out of your way without me.

However, if your faith is transfixed on me as your Lord and sovereign God, then there is nothing that can’t be overcome. Nothing that can stand in your way and nothing that is impossible.

Why? you ask. Because you need to stop making the mistake that all the good things that come and all the good things you ask for you come from you.

That is the mistake.

All good things come from Jesus our Lord.

Healing this boy was never in your power.

Only I have the power to heal this boy.

There is no “we can or cannot take out this devil”

you were never able to. That is not your place.

The only way to take this devil out is with making sure that you know I am taking out this devil. You are asking me to use my power on your behalf to take this devil out.

Your focus needs to stay on me.

Further more, when you see failure in taking out the demon. It is not my failure and it is not your lack of faith. It is the direction that your faith is focused on. If you focus on the demon or on your ability to take the demon out, your failure is focus. However, if your focus is on me, there is not such thing as failure. Because it is failure that becomes impossible when you ask me to move the mountain for you.

The question is can you correctly identify the what the mountain was in this scenario? If you know the mountain you can ask it to move and it will move.

IN case you don’t know what the mountain is beloved congregation of Jesus Christ,

it wasn’t the demon and it wasn’t seizures.

The mountain was the pride of the disciples.

The desire to take credit for what only JEsus can do.

The desire to say “we healed the boy”

Instead of saying

Praise the Lord, Thank you Jesus for healing the boy”

The disciples were dealing with a mountain of pride.

What does that mountain do to us in our view of God almighty?

We begin to see our selves as all powerful in stead of Him.

LEts get more real.

The more the focus is on us the more we diminish Jesus as Lord, the more we see God as small. The more we limit God.

My view of a sovereign God is that he can do anything, right people?

so what can he do about this Corona Virus?

Pastor you can’t talk like that. Your suppose to teach us about the bible, you know spiritual stuff.

You can’t talk to us about the real world.

so let me get this straight, to see if I understand you.

you think that Praying in the name of JEsus has power.

Disciple of JEsus Christ you say - YEs! of course.

but it doesn’t have power when it comes to real stuff like the corona virus, or my finances, or my parenting, or my love life, or my marriage, or my high school life etc....

So basically the name of JEsus has power, except in all areas of our lives?

Yes, youve summed it up pretty well.

Is this really how you view JEsus?

Do you see you how this minimizes JEsus as impotent.

This is the little faith, Jesus is challengeing His disciples with.

If JEsus says nothing is impossible with your faith focused on Him. Then He means it.

Again, lets get really real.

Jesus is not saying to His disciples,

Hey, its nice that you want to have faith. but there are specific circumstances where its okay for you not to place your faith in me,

especially with medical concerns, don’t worry about those times just place more faith in science.

What about natural disasters, yeah same thing, don’t put your faith in me during those times thats another area I’m not specialized.

Remember may name is Jesus. I am the version of JEsus that only is here for you when it is convenient.

I am only here for you with simple stuff, like inspiring you to love yourself more today.

I am your buddy Jesus, that never challenges you. I am only here to make sure you feel good all the time. And when you don’t feel good well thats not me.

People of God, IS this the version of JEsus you want to follow?

A version of JEsus that is impotent to do anything for you?

He has no power.

The only thing he can do is say pretty words and that you feel good for a few brief hours on a Sunday?

Is this really the kind of God you picture? Because if this is really what God is like, Then not only us He no God at all. He is not worth listening to or following.

I want to follow the real Jesus.

I want to follow the Jesus that walks on water.

What is the greatest obstacle to our maturity in JEsus Christ?

What is the greatest barrier to follow JEsus?

What is our greatest mountain getting the way of our discipleship?

Placing our FAith in Jesus! Focusing and trusting Jesus to do the work.

Anything less of believe that JEsus is more powerful than whatever

problem or fear I have is not an effective faith. It is a superficial faith.

Some you think that you never do this or that people are not like this.

That I am being impractical. I think Faith is really practical and down to earth

because Jesus knows us so well.

Jesus Contrasting "little faith" with "mustard seed faith", the same way He contrasted real faith with fake faith in . In that passage Jesus says that God takes care of the birds of the field and the flowers, how much will God then take care of you. Jesus says

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

This is summarized this way:

True faith is focused on God rather than on our present circumstance.

today people are concerned more about the corona virus than they are about a Holy God.

They are concerned more about having enough their survival rather than whether God can provide through this time,

I was in line at walmart listening to a couple who said to each other “if we can actually make it through

this, we will have to take that vacation we always wanted. I will learn to be more generous too.”

this is waht they mean,

If I don’t die from this maybe I will consider being some how better as a person and do some things.

But let me tell you this never works. People go back to their old habits, unless they have a real faith in Jesus Christ.

Without Jesus you have no hope.

Jesus is your only hope.

Why?

JEsus shows us that God is sovereign, but these people at Walmart are more concerned over toilet paper and purell hand sanitizer than they are of the salvation a Holy God offers through JEsus Christ. IT boggles my mind how someone can be more concerned over whether they will have enough toilet paper for the next two weeks, but I am more concerned if they realize that they don’t serve breakfast in hell and

the toilet paper in hell is always sold out.

It is no joke.

people take their fear of the corona virus and toilet paper than faith in JEsus.

LEt me put it this way.

Is there any problem too big for Jesus? No

Is there any work to heavy for JEsus to do?

Is there any disease that JEsus doesn’t know about and doesn’t

have the cure for?

Is there demon that can defeat the name of JEsus?

Is there any enemy that is against you, that cannot be made to bow before JEsus?

Is there anything in Creation that does not obey the voice of JEsus?

Any storm, any tornado, any wind, any sea, any earthquake Jesus does not command?

Is there anything that is outside of the power and complete control of JEsus?

No!

then why fear,

what possible reason could we have not to place our faith in JEsus more!

Acting out of fear and anxiety seems the riskiest course of action you can possibly take.

People there are 2 kinds of Doubt. It has a similar use to the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments have to power only to point you to the savior, but they cannot save you.

Doubt can have 2 effects. Doubt that leads you to JEsus is the right kind of doubt.

The disciples don’t have the right kind of doubt in this passage.

They doubt themselves because they were placing their faith in themslves.

Thats the problem most of us have. We place too much faith in ourselves and then we are disappointed and depressed when we find out we fail. That is not God’s fault.

The wrong kind of doubt leads you to self-destructive thoughts and behavior.

If you face doubt. Ask yourself is it a healthy doubt or an unhealthy doubt.

JEsus teaches His disciples in

that they are trust Him, even with the provision of their food (bodily need for energy), for their water (bodily need to function), their clothes (items of need), their body (health or lack thereof)