10/08/95	Just a Little Faith!	Lamentations 1:1-6

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:1-10

Most of us have taken a trip through the mountains or through a beautiful valley or forest and been amazed by the wonderful scenery and vistas laid out before us as we have driven along the highway. But, every so often as you travel through such places you will come upon a billboard that is so effective that it is able to take your attention away from the beautiful scenery for just long enough that you remember the message on the sign. And sometimes the message has been so powerful that long after you have forgotten the beautiful scenery the message on the sign is still in your brain.

Our gospel lesson is a little like this. In our lesson for this morning Jesus has been talking with his disciples about the importance of being able to avoid temptations to sin. He has even told them that it would be better for a person to have a millstone hung around his neck and be cast into the sea, than that he or she should cause someone else to sin. Jesus has told his disciples that they should rebuke those who sin, forgive those who repent, and continue to do so, even if it should happen again and again.

It is then that the disciples, realizing that they may not have enough faith for such vigilance, are told "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this tree, 'Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

The interesting thing about this scripture is what has been remembered by most of us: the image of a mustard seed. It is this image that sticks with us. Most of us probably have forgotten everything else about where Jesus was or what he was talking about when he mentioned the mustard seed. But, the mustard seed we can remember. Why? Because the image of a mustard seed has captured our attention. Why? Because even though a mustard seed is so small, it can still grow a plant that can grow up to be quite large. And, if even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed, it can still grow up in our hearts to be a powerful force, indeed.

It is as though this wonderful image had been painted upon a billboard as we journeyed through the scriptures. Yet it is an image that is given even more meaning if we will go back to the scripture and pay a little more attention to scenery. For if you remember, Jesus is with his disciples, talking to them about the importance of resisting temptation, rebuking those who sin, and forgiving those who repent, when he is asked, "How in the world can we do these things when our faith is so small?"

Clearly, by talking about this, Jesus is showing us that faith is closely tied to our obedience to God. He is also showing that faith means working to help others to be obedient to God. And finally, Jesus is saying that faith means working to keep one another safe and secure within the community of faith.

When we think about faith, we sometimes think about Peter walking on the water. When we think about faith, we may think about wondrous signs and miracles. And unless we see a wondrous sign and miracle, we may think that we really don't have faith. It should be a lesson to us that in the midst of such thinking Jesus talks about faith as being obedience to God. For example, it wasn't a miracle that Peter walked upon the water. That part was easy. The real miracle is that Peter was obedient when Jesus told him to get out of the boat. Or, when someone is healed miraculously, we shouldn't think of the healing as miraculous. Rather, the miracle is that someone was obedient to God as God called them to be a healer. The healing is easy. The obedience is what is hard.

When Jesus told his followers to love one another, what a miracle he was asking of them! What a test of faith that would be! What obedience he was asking of his followers! For the way of the world is not the way of love. The way of the world is survival of the fittest. But the way of God is "blessed are the meek." The way of the world is to do unto others before they do unto you. But the way of God is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The way of the world is to go with what is expedient and practical. But the way of God is to look into the eyes of Jesus and take a risk. The way of the world puts power in the hands of those who are bigger and stronger and richer. But the way of God asks us to follow the One who was born in a stable and crucified upon a cross. So, indeed, being obedient to God is an act of faith. Simply saying "yes" to God is an act of faith. Because as God's voice calls you to say "yes" there are hundreds of other voices out there telling you to say "no." As God's voice calls you to follow there are hundreds of other voices telling you to stay put. As God's voice tells you to be everything that God created you to be, there thousands of other voices telling you that you're worthless. As God gives you visions of things to accomplish, there are millions of other voices telling you to mind your own business. So, indeed, hearing God's voice and being obedient, having faith, is indeed a miracle. Wouldn't you agree?

But, Jesus also links faith with working hard to encourage others to be obedient. Certainly, it is a miracle for us to consider that God has called each and every one of us sitting here to ministry. And how important it is for us to take seriously God's call in another person's life. Sometimes God's call upon someone else may affect our own life and attitudes in ways that may seem troubling.

Think about Moses, for instance. Fairly early in Moses' life, having left Egypt, he had been living a simple life out in the dessert. He had gotten married to a wonderful Cushite woman by the name of Zipporah. He had settled down with his wife and everything was beautiful when God called him to go back into Egypt in order to lead the people out of bondage. You can imagine what must have gone through the mind of Moses' wife, Zipporah, when he told her about God's call. But, Zipporah was faithful to Moses. And in spite of all the voices of her family, and in spite of all the voices of the world that she knew, she went with him, and supported her husband's answer to God's call. What a miracle that was!

Sometimes that can happen in our own life. A spouse hears God's call to go into the ministry. What a miracle it is when a husband or a wife supports their spouse's call! A brother or a sister hears God's call to give in a special way to the work of the church, in spite of hardship or the possibility of family conflict – What a miracle of faith it is when that person's family support that call and give encouragement! Or, when a friend hears God's call to give up drinking, or go on a diet, or to make a healthy change in lifestyle, what a miracle of faith it is when that person's friends give encouragement to that person as he or she struggles to answer God's call!

Being sensitive and supportive to the call of God in the lives of others is a miracle of faith every bit as important as miracles of healing, and miracles of walking on water, and miracles of nets full of fish being pulled from the sea. When someone encourages another to be faithful to that call, to be obedient to God, is in itself a miracle of faith.

And finally, As Jesus talked about mustard seed faith he was saying that faith means working to keep each other within the fellowship of the community of faith. In fact, the importance of being in community was so great to Jesus that he said, "If someone sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Here Jesus is telling us that if someone trips us and we fall flat on our face and then honestly and sincerely tells us that he or she is sorry, we have to forgive that person. Now, forgiving such a person once wouldn't be much of a problem for most of us. But, what if, an hour later, that same person were to step down on our ingrown toenail and then ask for forgiveness? Well, maybe some of us could do it twice in one day. But, then, what if, forty five minutes later, that same person accidentally knocks our favorite coffee cup to the floor, shattering it to a zillion pieces and asks for forgiveness? Are there any bleeding hearts in the room? Would we forgive such an oaf? No! Three time's a charm! Common sense would tell us to stay clear of such a person, to fire such an employee, to quit working for someone who does those things, to divorce or disown anyone who would hurt us like that. But, Jesus says, "Even if it happens seven times a day you still forgive. " And the disciples asked him, and we're standing there asking, too: "How can we do that?" And Jesus tells us about the miracle of the mustard seed – He tells us to have faith. For with faith we can work those kinds of miracles, as mundane and simple as they may seem to be.

Working these miracles are, indeed, mundane and simple. But they're miracles, nevertheless. They're miracles God expects us to perform every day simply as part of being servants of the Lord. And they're miracles made possible with mustard seed faith.

Amen.