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Habakkuk 1:1–4
Habakkuk 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1–9
2 Timothy 1:1–14
Luke 17:5–10
Increase our faith! Who wouldn’t want that? I know I have asked for more faith on more than one occasion. I wonder how many of you are saying to yourself, yea me too! It would not surprise me that someone might have even asked for an increase for faith when hearing the readings today.
Just what is faith and where does it come from? In the world of non-believer, or atheists there is faith as well. Their faith is not the same as that of a Christian, yet both can and do have faith. When I was a non-believer or atheist if you will, I had faith in much. I had faith that if I did not do well in school, my parents would be very upset. I had faith that there would be school the next day when I was little, even if I did not want it to be so. You could even say I had faith that the sun would rise, there would be another day and so on.
As an adult, my faith was formed by what I learned as a child, which is what I could see, feel, and quantify in some way. I suspect many people could say that they have had or still today have some faith grounded in this way. Some faith is handed down via the family, just by the virtue of growing up and learning what your family put faith in. I am confidant that we all have a faith that has been formed in some way like what I described. This faith, formed out of tangibles or semi-tangible things and knowledge is far different than what we hear in our scripture readings for today.
God calls us in a faith, a faith that is imparted to us by the Spirit. In Galatians 5 it says, 22 …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, [1] The same word in Hebrew for Spirit is also translated as breath. This force, breath, Spirit is nothing we can place our hands upon, nothing we can see, touch, nothing tangible or really even semi-tangible. Christian faith and the Spirit I believe can be described much the same. In the book “The Shack” the Holy Spirit is given the name of ‘Sarayu”. Sarayu (aka wind) is depicted for the purpose of the book as a small Asian lady who has a shimmering appearance. It is easier to see Sarayu when you do not directly look at her. On page 110 of the book, it goes on to say that Sarayu is; Creativity, Action, Breathing of Life, She is much more. God says that She, when referring to Sarayu is my Spirit. [2]
Sarayu
The faith we as Christians have is nothing that one can be persuaded into but must encounter. Sometimes slowly and others, like Paul, all at once, in his encounter with Jesus while on his way to another city to persecute more followers of Jesus.
It would be easier to have a faith grounded in scientific knowledge, absolute proof, tangible and one where persuasion of the faith is easily done. That however just is not what real Christian faith is about. I know of people that claim to have encountered God in their dreams and even to have heard God speak to them, like I am speaking to you today. If you were to ask them today, their faith is not something that is tangible in the same sense as I described for a non-believer. If is not tangible, it might be more how Sarayu is described, then can it even be measured? 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. [3]
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.[4]
Why is it that the apostles asked for more faith? What caused them to believe they needed more? In the preceding story we heard today in Luke, Jesus had been telling them how often they are to forgive someone. In verse 4 it says, “4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” [5] Just prior to hearing this daunting task of having to forgive, Jesus said in verse 1 and 2, “…“Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. “[6]
It is no wonder they wanted more faith. They could not phantom how to do what Jesus was telling them, without enough faith. If we only had more faith, imagine all that we could do, all we could withstand, all that would be possible. Yet Jesus tells us, we only need the faith of a mustard seed. A mustard seed is about the size of a dot on a piece of paper made from a pencil. Again, what is faith that it can even be measured and does it need to be measured to follow Jesus, to do God’s work? We are given the amount of faith we need at the time we have it. God gives us everything, all of our talents and gifts in the perfect amounts God has deemed needed. Does that mean we then need not try to grow? If we do not try to grow in faith, are we then really doing what God calls us to do in Jesus or are we turning away from our calling from God?
In the letter to Timothy today, there is a message of not turning away from the faith that has been handed down through family. This faith, handed down through family must also be tied to the Spirit, in the Word by those speaking of God in the family to Timothy or through the actions of his family in the Word. Timothy is asked to have strength in the faith, not to be ashamed of the faith. Then and now Christians are challenged by worldly views to do other than what we are called to do as Christians. The strength is in the faith to reject the worldly ways. The strength comes even in the size of a mustard seed. We must also on the other hand be aware. Be aware that we cannot be lax in our faith. If we are lax, if we do not act, do not tell others, reject the faith given to us in the Holy Spirit, then the faith is only a generation away from extinction. [7] How will the next generation know of the Gospel if we do not act upon our faith? [8]
We can take solace in the fact that Jesus tells us, we only need faith, however we may perceive it or measure that; we only need faith the size of a mustard seed to do some extraordinary things. We can therefore look to Jesus, have faith in, have faith in “…Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,[9] as it says in Hebrews 12:2.
[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ga 5:22.
[2] The Shack (Newbury Park: Windblown Media, 2007).
[3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), 2 Cor 5:7.
[4] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 17:5–6.
[5] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 17:4.
[6] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 17:1–2.
[7] Olive Elaine Hinnant, “Pastoral Perspective,” ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 136.
[8] Olive Elaine Hinnant, “Pastoral Perspective,” ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 136.
[9] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Heb 12:2.
Our belief is what we believe (I believe in God the Father, etc.). Our faith is our relationship with God. Faith is personal. At times, our faith is stronger than at other times. It cannot be measured. Faith is putting our trust fully in what we cannot understand, but know to be true. We believe in God the Father almighty, but it is our faith that allows us to know this is true.
I agree in part with our faith being a relationship with God. God is always the one doing the work, and I believe it is God who initiates faith in our hearing the word. The only part we play in this is being a listener and a responder in our gratitude of what we hope for in the promise of faith in Christ. You are very correct in that our faith is stronger at times compared to other times. I will say, when we attempt to measure faith then faith becomes a work and those that have the greater faith are working at faith for the sake of it becoming a work vs. allowing God to work on us in the growth of the faith in our response and hearing the Word. Yes, Christian faith has a truth we know because of God not something that can be scientifically proven. Therefore since faith comes from God, faith its self is what allows us to know the promise is true. Glad to see you looked at this. Keep it up with the comments. I enjoy the conversations.