“What faith do you use?”
Luke 17:5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’
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.
‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” ’
High Anxiety
We live in a time of high anxiety completely different from the Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn movie. In response to reading news feeds, listening to talk radio, or watching the news, our blood vessels restrict, our heart beats fast and we put ourselves in the perfect position for the Monday morning 9:00 am stroke or heart attack. I think to myself, like one of Jesus’ dirty dozen, if I just had more faith, I could handle this or better fix this.
Jesus’ dirty dozen have just listened to Jesus teaching with increasing intensity. We have separated his teaching in the past month and looked at the swath he has cut through the crowds with his rhetoric. This single discourse has lasted through all of what we arbitrarily call chapters 15 and 16 and the beginning of 17. The sheep, the coin, the son, the squandering of money, Lazarus and the rich man. The intensity has built up like one of those moments when we find our selves late, stopped in construction traffic, trapped in the car, when we just want to bang our heads on the steering wheel, and cry out, “Help me, Lord.” The dirty dozen are filled to the capacity of their ability to absorb one more lesson, cry, “Increase our faith!” Help me cope! Jesus in response gives two metaphors and story! Argh!
These metaphors and parable have an organic unity. To summarize, it doesn’t take much faith just do the little things you are called to do in love.
Five Fingers
Every one of you who have taken membership vows in this church have committed to five things: Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, Witness. Each of these is a mustard seed that can take over your life in small incremental ways. Hold your hand up and say them with me: Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, Witness. Fold them together and you get (no, not a fist for fighting) you come together for worship as a community of faithful living.
Mustard Seed of Prayer
Consider the mustard seed of prayer. You say you do not know much about prayer or can’t practice prayer time because you are too busy. Look at your hand again. When you wake up in the morning, simply say, “Thanks God. I’m awake.” With whatever you eat or drink for you rendition of breakfast say, “Thanks God. I eat.” At lunch, let’s be really daring, “Thanks God for my food.” At supper time, you don’t want to use too many words but you may say, “Thanks God for the workers who grew the food.” When you go to sleep, pray, “Thanks God for the day.”
So, if you do this for one day, you have said five prayers. If you do this for a week, you have said, 35 prayers. If you do this for the shortest month of the year, you have said 145 prayers. If you do this for a year, you have prayed 1,820 prayers! 1,820 prayers have impact. You pray 1,820 times and you will be different then you were from the previous year. It’s a mustard seed. It’s a small thing done with love.
Mustard Seed of Presence
Shake off your hand, let’s start again with presence. I once heard it said that 90% of life is to suit up and show up. I don’t know about that. I do know your presence matters. You wake up in the morning. Due to your natural or unnatural alarm clock your eyes are open. Put your feet on the floor. Feel the floor with your toes. Breath deep, say, “I am here, God.” When you look in the mirror before your morning routine, breath deep, say, “I am enough, God.” When you arrive wherever your chore for the day may be, work or play, breath deep, say, “This will be fun, God.” When you sit with a loved one quietly, breath deep, say, “I am learning from you, God.” When you finish your day, and lay in bed, breath deep, say, “I rest in God.”
Learning to be present in the moments of your day just takes a little mindfulness of who I am, where I am, why I am there. Practiced five times daily, changes your mindset for life. It’s a mustard seed. It’s a small thing done in love.
Mustard Seed of Gifts
Shake off your hand, think with me about gifts. I know that most of you think that this is where the preacher is going to tell you to thrust your hand into your wallet and give the church a big gift. No, that’s not what I am suggesting. Gifts are more than money. The greatest of gifts is your time. A great gift is a compliment, words of affirmation. A great gift is an appropriate touch of the hand or arm. A great gift meets a someone’s expressed need. A great gift answers someone’s prayer.
Giving simple gifts creates in you a generous heart. As I said last week, when the greedy becomes generous, the holy spirit is at work. It’s a mustard seed. It’s a small thing done in love.
Mustard Seed of Service
Acts of service become a visible love language. I once read that standing at your bathroom sink after brushing your teeth, take thirty seconds and wipe the sink with a little toilet paper. It takes no time. It helps tremendously to keep the sink clean. If it doesn’t take you more than a few minute for an act of service, do it. I have timed how long it takes to empty the dishwasher. It takes less than a football timeout with commercials. It takes less time to drive a box of food to someone’s house than it does to drown out the guilt for not going.
Sometimes acts of service take more time, and that’s ok, too. Cooking a meal, mowing a lawn, driving someone to the doctor, cleaning a house. Do one act of service a day and see the impact of the year. It’s a mustard seed. It’s a small thing done in love.
Mustard Seed of Witness
Of the five mustard seeds represented by your fingers, witness gets the most groans. As a teenager, I was thoroughly annoyed when someone approached me with the question, “Do you know where you are going to spend eternity?” I can’t tell you how many times I was taught how to present Bill Bright’s five spiritual laws. I can tell you how many times I actually used that training. One. Being a witness in a court case taught me how to witness to my faith. When you take the witness stand, the bailiff presented a Bible and asks, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” The part that the bailiff doesn’t say that is inferred is, “Tell the truth as you have experienced it.” So, I say to you that witnessing is telling the truth you have experienced, tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
The last modification is that you tell the truth when someone is ready to hear, to the degree they are ready to hear. In the late ‘70’s at Ball State University was a soap box preacher named Jeb. Some may remember him. He told a lot of truth. None if any were ready or willing to hear. In the early ‘80’s, I was at the Water Tower Square in Chicago on a Friday evening. A group of young people had set up a stage and were doing improv theater. One I recognized because He was a student of mine in Selma, Indiana. I watched the improv’s unfold. Between each improv, the group made themselves available to on-lookers to answer faith related questions. They had an active and listening crowd.
I have used this last example many times. Her name is Pauline Luthi. Whenever she experiences something beautiful, which she does all the time, whenever her heart feels blessed, which is each moment, she spontaneously says, “Thank you, Jesus.” I have been with Pauline and traveled with her to central America. It always amazes me how many people will quietly sit next to her and whisper questions of faith.
How do you witness? Be approachable. Be authentic. Wear your gratitude of Jesus on your sleeve. It’s a mustard seed. It’s a small thing done in love.
Moving Mountains
Again to summarize, it doesn’t take much faith just do the little things you are called to do in love. Let God worry and do the big things. You focus on the daily little things and mountains shall move.
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