Faithfulness

The faithfulness of God to God’s own purposes and people is on every page of the Bible.

-The Exodus

Exodus 14:13–14 ESV

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Our faithfulness to God is NOT found on every page… of the Bible or of the story book of our lives.

Love is what helps us become like God.

The Great Commandment — LOVE — does not save someone. Faith does.

Faith is what allows us to know God.

Hebrews 11:1–2 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

heb 1:

Hebrews 1:6 ESV

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Jesus’ command to us is that we have only a mustard seed’s worth of faith…

We think because huge things come from faith that means the faith that brings them to pass must also be huge.

Almost all faith invitations God gives us are quite small… and very precise… and can have the appearance of being silly.

Passover

Genesis 15:6 ESV

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

2. Passover

Get a one year old male lamb or goat

Hold it until the 14th day of the month

You sacrifice your lamb at twilight that night — and you do it with everyone else, as everyone else

Put some of the blood on your doorpost (vertacle) and the lintel (horizontal over the door)

Eat it — roasted, not boiled — with unleavened bread… bitter herbs. Eat all of it.

If any of it remains until the morning… burn what remains. No leftovers.

Oh ya… when you eat it: fasten your belt, have your shoes on, have your staff in hand… And eat as fast as you can.

You see the precision? You see the silly?

2. The biggie that continually shows to make us think we need an ocean’s worth of faith rather than a mustard seed’s relates to the size of sin.

Luke 17

Luke 17:1–4 ESV

1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

3 times was more than what anyone deserved… Jesus is saying seven times.

Our approach is when we are wronged to draw back… we think forgiveness should be harder and harder — to give and receive.

That as demand goes up, supply comes down — Like we are the master, and they are our servants.

Like they are the ones who need to be humble… and the wronged remain high and holy.

Jesus turns all that on its head...

That each time we are wronged, we don’t draw back… we move toward the one who has wronged us to offer forgiveness.

We serve the one who wrongs us.

We are humble before and toward them… we are not to be high and holy… we are to lower ourselves so God can lift us up.

Sounds too big right?

That’s what the disciples thought. And that is what they said:

Luke 17:5 ESV

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

How can such a precise request be so small it seems almost silly?

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

God is faithful to us when we are unfaithful to him… and when we sin time and again, he moves toward us. God is for us. With us. In us.

When we gain a sense of how massive our sin was and is against God… and God served us… was humble toward us… lowered God’s self before us...

When we see the size of our sin… and the immensity of God faithfulness to us in the midst of our sin...

His command that we forgive others for the ways they have wronged us is immediately seen as precise… small… and, maybe even… silly.

Luke 17:5–6 ESV

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 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.

Luke 17:

Our lives of faith in the Lord are sustained and fueled by the immensity of God’s faithfulness to God’s self and to us.