S.O.T.M. Increasing Faith [Matthew 6:31-33]

We return to the chapter 6 of the sermon on the mount, were last time we looked at verses 25-30 and we discovered that God is the giver and sustainer of life and therefore I don’t need to worry about what I will eat or what I shall wear or about my life as God is the one who gives and sustains all of life. i.e. as we sang a moment ago God will take care of you. We ended last time with verse 30 and the last words were those piercing ones, “O you of little faith.” Those last words we’ll use as the spring board into the next three verses and how to have increasing faith…not little faith.

Stand for the reading of the word of God [Matthew 6:31-33]

I think we’d all agree that increasing faith is what we need and want not little faith right? And the beauty of it is our Lord here shows us the positive way to increase our faith instead of living in little faith. We will consider three main points or principles that if we grasp, will inevitably lead to greater faith. The first one is our Lord‘s essential argument we as....

Christians are different from Gentiles [non-Christians]

You notice that He puts this statement in brackets as it were: ‘For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.’ (Bracketed between verse 31&33). But what a powerful statement it is, and how important! Though negative in form, it leads to a very positive result. If you want to increase your faith, the first thing you have to realize is that to be worried and anxious about food, and drink, and clothing, and your life in this world is, in a sense, to be just like the Gentiles/non-believers.

What does He mean by this? The word ‘Gentile’, of course, really means ‘heathen’. The Jews were God’s chosen people. It was they who had the oracles of God and the special knowledge of God; the others were described as heathen. So we must analyse this word and realize exactly what He means, it’s a strong statement. The statement is that if I am guilty of being worried and anxious about these matters of food and drink and clothing, and about my life in this world, and certain things which I lack—if these dominate me and my life, then I am really living and behaving as a heathen. But let us try to discover the real significance of that.

The heathen were people who had no revelation from God, and who therefore had no real knowledge of God. That is the great point made in the Old Testament, that is the thing that differentiated the children of Israel from all others. Paul says in his argument concerning this matter in Romans 3:2 that ‘unto them were committed the oracles of God’. God made a special revelation of Himself to the Jews not only in the call of Abraham and other individual instances, but supremely in the giving of the law and the great teaching of the prophets. The heathen knew nothing about that; they had not had this special revelation, nor did they have a knowledge of God. They did not have the Old Testament Scriptures and they were, therefore, without the means of knowing Him. That is the essential point about the heathen, they know nothing about God in a real sense, they are ‘without God in the world’.

We can, of course, go further in this connection and say that the heathen know nothing about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and know nothing about God’s way of salvation. They are entirely ignorant of the view of life which is taught in the Bible. They do not know that ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ They know nothing about the ‘exceeding great and precious promises’, or about the various pledges that God has given to His own people in this world. The heathen know nothing about that, and have not received it. They are in real darkness about life in this world and how it is to be lived and about their eternal destiny. Their view of life is entirely limited by their own thoughts, and they lack this light that is given from above.

Contingency and fatalism are the two most common expressions of the non-Christian view of life. What does that mean? Contingency basically means believing that everything in life is accidental. Things happen without rhyme or reason and you never know what’s going to happen next. They would say there is no purpose in life, no design, no order or arrangement, the whole thing is fortuitous/chance.

The flip side of that view is called ‘fatalism’ it’s the extreme opposite. It teaches that what is to be will be. It does not matter what you may do or say, it is going to happen. ‘What is to be will be.’ Therefore it is utter folly to strive or make any effort. You just go on and trust that things will not go too badly with you, and that somehow or another you will have a fairly easy passage through this world. Fatalism teaches that you can do nothing about life, that there are powers and factors controlling you, and holding you in the grip of a rigid determinism. So there is no purpose in thought, still less in worry. But fatalism leads to worry all the same, because such people are always worrying as to what is going to happen next.

The reason I bring those two views up is because Christian people often hold to one or the other of these views unconsciously. But the Christian view of life is the doctrine of certainty. Life is not controlled by blind necessity, but certain things are certain because we are in the hands of the living God. So, if you are a Christian, you put that doctrine of certainty over against the theories of contingency and fatalism. There is a great difference between these views—the Christian view and the non-Christian view; and what our Lord is saying is that, if you are living a life full of anxiety and worry, you are taking the non-Christian view of life.

It’s apparent that our fundamental view of life in this world is going to determine our way of living, and to control our whole behavior. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.’ You can always tell what a man’s philosophy of life is by the way in which he lives and by the way he reacts to the things that are happening round about him. That is why a time of crisis always sifts people. We always betray exactly where we stand by what we say. You remember our Lord said on one occasion that we shall be judged by every idle word we utter (see Matthew 12:36). We proclaim a great deal about ourselves as Christians by our ordinary remarks and by our ordinary comments about life. Our view of life comes out in our every expression.

So, What is first in our lives? What monopolizes our lives and our thinking? Is it the things of God and His kingdom or is it the things of this world? Friends, be honest with yourself. If the things of this world consume more of our time and mind than the things of God then we have worldly minds not heavenly minds. There are so many people who can be described as spiritual worldlings. If you talk to them about salvation they have the correct view; but if you talk to them about life in general they are worldlings.

When it is a matter of the salvation of the soul they have the correct answer; but if you listen to their ordinary conversation about life in this world you will discover a non-Christian philosophy. They are worried about food and drink; they are always talking about wealth and position and their various possessions. These things really control them. They are made happy or unhappy by them; they are put out by them or pleased by them; and they are always thinking and talking about them. That is to be like the non-Christian, says Christ; for the Christian should not be controlled by these things. Whatever may be his position with respect to them, he is not finally to be controlled by them. He should really not be made unhappy or happy by these things, because that is the typical condition of the heathen, who is dominated by them in his whole outlook upon life and in his living in this world.

What we must ask ourselves is… Does my Christian faith affect my view of life and control it in all matters?

I claim to be Christian, and hold the Christian faith; Does that Christian faith of mine affect my whole detailed view of life?

Is my Christian faith always determining my reaction and my response to the particular things that happen? Or, we can put it like this. Is it clear and obvious to myself and to everybody else that my whole approach to life, my essential view of life in general and in particular, is altogether different from that of the non-Christian? It should be.

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. They describe people who are altogether different from all others, as different as light from darkness, as different as salt from putrefaction. If, then, we are different essentially, we must be different in our view of, and in our reaction to, everything. I know of no better question that a man can ask himself in every circumstance in life than that. When something happens to upset you, do you ask, ‘Is my reaction essentially different from what it would be if I were not a Christian?’

Let us remind ourselves of the teaching we have already considered at the end of the fifth chapter of this Gospel. You remember that our Lord put it like this: ‘If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?’ That is it. The Christian is a man who does ‘more than others’. He is a man who is absolutely different. And if in every detail of his life this Christianity of his does not come in, he is a very poor Christian, he is a man ‘of little faith’.

Ask yourself another question… Do I always place everything in my life, and everything that happens to me in the context of my Christian faith? In James’ epistle he describes faith as being active, not just saying the right thing. But we should have an active faith in God. Here in the sermon on the mount our Lord is essentially asking…where is your active faith? Why are you worrying? why are you controlled by the things of this world? Why are you not applying faith to your everyday life?

If something happens to us that tends to upset us, the non-Christian loses his temper or becomes hurt and sensitive to the situation. The Christian, according to our Lord, stops and says, ‘wait a minute. I am going to take this thing and put it in the context of everything I know and believe about God and my relationship to God in Christ Jesus.’ Then looks again at the situation. The Christian knows that he is able to endure what is happening because of the context of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we ask that general question again. Is it evident to me and to everybody else that I am a Christian?

Is my conduct and my behavior in life such that it shows I am a Christian?

Do I show plainly and clearly that I belong to a higher realm? ‘After all these things do the Gentiles seek,’ says our Lord. But you are not Gentiles.

Realize what you are and remember who you are in Christ Jesus and live accordingly. Rise to the level of your faith; be worthy of your high calling in Christ Jesus. Christian people, watch your lips, watch your tongues. We betray ourselves in our conversation, in the things we say, in the things that come out in our unguarded moments. Such behavior is typical of the non-Christian; the Christian exercises discipline and control because he sees everything in the context of God and of eternity.

The second principle of increasing faith is really a repetition of what our Lord has already pressed several times..

Have implicit faith in and reliance upon God as your heavenly Father

We’ve already considered it so we’ll just summarize it. It means something like this. Nothing can happen to us apart from God. He knows all about us. If it is true to say that the very hairs of our head are all numbered, then we must remember that we are never in any position or situation outside God’s knowledge or care. He knows it much better than we do ourselves. This is the argument of our blessed Lord Himself: ‘Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.’ There is no more blessed statement in the whole of Scripture than that.

You will never be anywhere that He doesn’t see you; there will never be anything in the depths of your heart, in the innermost recesses of your being that He doesn’t know about. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews puts this same truth in a different connection: ‘All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him’ (4:13). He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. He says that in order to warn those Hebrew Christians. We must remember that we are not only to live in the fear of the Lord, but we are to live in the comfort and the knowledge of God.

He sees what is happening to you when you are taken ill, He knows when you are suffering grief and sorrow, He knows every heartache. He knows everything; there is nothing outside His omniscience. He knows all about us in every respect and He therefore knows our every need. From that our Lord draws this deduction. You need never be anxious, you must never be worried. God is with you, you are not alone, and He is your Father in Christ Jesus. Even an earthly father does this in a measure. He is with his child, protecting, doing everything he can for him. Multiply that by infinity, and that is what God is doing with respect to you, whatever your circumstance. If we grasp this, surely anxiety and worry will cease.

The final principle of increasing faith is...

Concentrate upon perfecting your relationship with God

Christians are to rely implicitly upon our knowledge of Him as our heavenly Father, and we are to concentrate upon perfecting this knowledge and our relationship to Him through the help of the Holy Spirit. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ I wonder whether I dare suggest that there is an element of humor introduced at this point. It seems to me, in effect, that our Lord is saying this: He has said twice over, and then has repeated in various forms: Do not worry about food and drink and clothing; do not worry about your life in this world; do not worry as to whether God is trying you or not. And then, in verse 33, He says in essence: If you want to worry, I will tell you what to worry about. Worry about your relationship to the Father! That is the thing to concentrate on. The Gentiles are seeking these other things, and so are many of you, but ‘Seek ye rather’ the kingdom of God. That is the thing to seek.

What does our Lord mean by saying: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God’? Obviously He is not telling His hearers how to make themselves Christian; but He is telling them how to behave because they are Christian. They are in the kingdom of God, and because they are in it they are to seek it more and more. They are, as Peter puts it, to ‘make their calling and election sure’. In practice it means that, as children of our heavenly Father, we should be seeking to know Him better. Now the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews puts that perfectly when he says in 11:6, ‘He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ Put your emphasis on the ‘diligently’. Many Christian people miss so many blessings in this life because they do not seek God diligently. They do not spend much time in seeking His face. In His house they come to pray, but that is not of necessity seeking the Lord. The Christian is meant to be seeking the face of the Lord daily, constantly. He takes and makes time to do so.

It means we must think about the kingdom of God and our relationship to God and our eternal future more. It is because of this Paul wrote in 2 Corinth. 4:17, 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” He puts it another way in Colossians where he says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” That’s the meaning of seeking the kingdom of God.

The Christian is to be constantly seeking Christ and His righteousness, seeking to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the way you increase faith…seek God. Sound to simple? It is, but how many of us don’t. The simple truth is... The nearer we live to God the less aware of the things of this world we become and the more aware and greater sense of His presence we become. This isn’t done in a mechanical way though.

Have you ever experienced something happen in your life and you turn to God in prayer, only to come to the realization of just how slack you’ve been of recent in your prayer life or in your devotional life with God. How many days, weeks, months have gone by and you haven’t really sought God as you should. You realize that you’ve really been seeking the things of this world and not God and His kingdom first.

We can paraphrase our Lord’s words like this: If you want to seek anything, if you want to be anxious about anything, be anxious about your spiritual condition, seek nearness to God and focus on your relationship to Him. If you put that first, worry will go; that is the result. This great concern about your relationship to God will drive out every lesser concern about food and clothing and our lives in this world. The man who knows himself to be a child of God and an heir of eternity in Christ Jesus has a very different view of things in this life and world. This is true, the greater that faith and knowledge, the smaller will these other things become.

Put God, His glory and the coming of His kingdom, and your relationship to Him, and your nearness to Him in the central position, and you have the pledged word of God Himself through the lips of His Son, that all these other things, as they are necessary for your well-being in this life and world, shall be added unto you. That is the way to increase your faith. Be unlike the unbeliever; remember that God knows all about you as your Father, and is watching over you. Therefore seek to be more like Him and to live your life nearer to Him.