Ramblings on mustard seed faith

"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.'" (Luke 17:5-6)

One of the themes of New Word Alive was 'faith'. We were wonderfully taught that it is the object of your faith that matters most and not the strength of your faith.

• Mike Reeves taught us that true faith is in God, not faith in your faith.
• Steve Casey taught us that faith is confidence in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for now and eternity, but false faith is confidence in this world for now and eternity.
• Rico Tice, in preaching on the suffering Christians of Heb 11:36ff, taught us that faith is in God, not your agenda for God.

It is who our faith is in, and not the quantity of our faith that saves us. A mustard seed is enough to move a tree or a mountain.

But the size of our faith does matter because, while it may not affect our salvation, it does determine how much of that salvation we know here and now. A person of little faith is just as secure and just as loved by God as the person of great faith, but they may live indistinctive lives. A person of great faith will live out of the salvation they know they have received and make a great difference to the world as they serve their neighbours and spread the Gospel, despite great personal cost.

• The size of your faith does not make a difference how much you receive from God (the vertical dimension).
• However, the size of your faith does make a difference how much you give to others (the horizontal dimension).

How does Jesus increase the faith of the disciples in Luke 17? He increases their faith by telling them they have already received all they need from him with their week faith. He takes their eyes of their faith and encourages them to live out of what they have already received.