Mustard Seed Faith

"O ye of little faith..."  Is that a compliment? 

Matthew 17:20 "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." 

Luke 17:6 "And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." 

Is mustard seed faith equivalent to little or small faith?

In the above verses, Jesus does not say, "faith as small as a mustard seed."  He says, "faith as a grain of mustard seed" which can be read as "like a grain of mustard seed." Just to backtrack a little, The above verses follow passages that suggest the disciples are struggling with their faith; therefore, they cannot accomplish the work that they are asked to do.  It is important to note that Jesus never uses the phrase "o ye of little faith" in a complementary tone, so does it make sense for Him to say, "if you had faith as small as a mustard seed."  Second if faith is a gift of God, then claiming little or small faith seems to be making little of that gift which leads to salvation. Third, unlike wisdom, which the bible says you can ask for if you are lacking, you need faith to even ask for faith. Why? Because one aspect of faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the act of asking God for faith is an indication that one has faith.
So what about faith as a mustard seed? The Bible teaches that the mustard seed is the least of all seeds in the field, but it also grows to be the greatest among herbs.  

Matt 13:31-32 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."  Therein lies the faith of a mustard seed.
The faith/hope of a mustard seed is that it will grow to be the greatest of herbs in the fields and provide shelter for some of God's creation. It's assurance comes from the fact that that is what God created mustard seeds to do.  What have you been created to do?

Eph 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Mustard seed faith is trusting God to keep the promises that He has revealed in His word, even if that means moving mountains. And it does not have to be right now. The mustard seed is not the greatest among herbs as a seed. What does God's word say about moving mountains...

Revelation 6:14b And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Revelation 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 

The mustard seed, from the least to the greatest, that topic has come up before and it is the story of Jesus. Born in a stable, risen from the dead, and now sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Heb 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Faith is ... the assurance of things hoped for...

Faith...

What is faith?  How would you describe it?
Here are a few things that I have gleaned from Scripture...

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" and I Corinthians 21:9 "To another faith by the same Spirit..."
Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen."

Faith is a gift, without it we cannot please God, and it provides substance to our hope and conviction regarding things that are not seen.
One might ask, "if faith is a gift from God, how then can God judge those who have little or no faith? Isn't the amount of faith someone has God's fault?"  Well, that is a good question.  And since I am not God, maybe this should be the end of this blog, but I also do not give up that easy...
May I suggest the following.  God gives everyone the gift of faith.  It is our responsibility to exercise the gift that God has given us.  For example, God revealed Himself to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ.  Did everyone accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour?  No.... the conclusions that people came to varied from a  servant of Satan to the Son of God.  In a similar way, we can guess how people may deal with the gift of faith.  Some will toss it aside (no faith), others may marvel at the packaging but never delve in to see the contents (little faith), and others will use the gift to varying degrees. 
How might an individual know where he stands with regard to his faith?  Or, how would you like to put your faith to the test, or grow in it?  Where would you start?  A good place to start would be in the beginning.  "Really?"  But of course...
In Hebrews 11 what is the first example of faith given?
Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
What do you believe about the origin of life?  What the Bible says or something else?  I could not write, "or what science says," because there is a body of science that supports what the Bible plainly says.  I write "plainly says, " because there are those who would add to what is in the text to match what they think they see.  The Bible plainly states that the heaven, and earth, and the seas and everything in them were  created in six days with the seventh day being the day that God rested from the work that He had done.  The six days of work and one day of rest was cited later as an example to the nation of Israel for observing the Sabbath.  Exodus 20:11
"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."  There is plenty of evidence, both in scripture and in science, for a young earth.  If you are interested in further study see.
www.icr.org
www.answersingenesis.org
Romans 1:20 indicates why it is important to understand and acknowledge God's hand in creation...
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"
Can you think of any examples that would support Romans 1:20? Something about the nature of God that can be understood by the things that are made?  How about the Trinity?  Or God being three in one?  You may have heard the Trinity compared to an egg.  The shell, the yolk, and the white.  Or maybe even water.  Ice, liquid, and steam.  Does the Bible ever say, "God is an egg?" or "God is water?"  How about this..."God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all" 1 John 1:5.  What did God say on day 1?  "Let there be light"
What do we know about light? 
Well if you are sitting in front of a computer at the moment, you are seeing light.  That is if the computer is on and the monitor is not in a sleep mode.  If there is a white patch and you have a very good magnifying glass you will see that the white is not white, but a combination of red, blue, and green.  In fact, if you have a paint program, those three colors can be combined in different quantities to produce all the colors that can be seen.  All three are required for white light, the absence of all three is darkness.  Each one of the three is light.  The sky is blue, the grass is green, and sunsets that cause us to gaze in awe are different shades of red.  Our Father is in heaven (blue), the Spirit enables us to grow (green), and we are saved by the precious blood of Christ (red).

Faith is ... the evidence of things not seen.

The Everlasting Gospel

Rev 14:7 "...Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
In previous postings, I have worked through this verse and tried to explain each of the concepts using the Bible as a guide.  To me this verse sums up the Bible and, as I have stated before, clearly defines who God is and what He requires from us.  A question might be, "but what about Jesus?"  If this is the gospel message as defined in the Bible, where is He mentioned?  Shouldn't Jesus be at the center of any gospel message?  I can answer, "...all things were created by him, and for him:..." Colossians 1:19, and Jesus is God, but that might be missing the point.  In fact, as I was searching for different "gospel" presentations, and as some came to my mind that I have been exposed to in the past, I began myself to wonder if I hadn't missed the point.  What is that point?
I am to be a witness, or you are to be a witness.  And I just don't mean a witness that just relays a story, but a witness that has actually lived through the story being told.
Isn't it more convincing to actually hear and see someone who has lived through some event, than to just hear about it second hand. There is a big difference to me saying something like, "I've heard that ride is a lot of fun, apparently there is a point where the chair flips over and you end up looking at the ground" compared to, "...it's amazing when the chair flips over and all you can see is the ground rushing toward you..."  First hand experience!  There is nothing like it.  So maybe the question becomes, how do you know if you are living according to the gospel? or how do you know if what you are doing is right or wrong?
It may be as simple as asking questions according to Rev 14:7
1.  Does it cause you or others to hate evil and love God? (Fear God)
2  Does it cause you or others to acknowledge God's works? (Give glory to Him)
3. Does it make it clear how good God's judgments are? (for the hour of His judgment is come)
4. Does it lead to being consumed with thoughts about God? (and worship Him)
5. Does it cause you to remember that God is the creator and also the giver and sustainer of life, and life eternal? (that made heaven, and earth, and the seas, and the fountains of water)
Revelation 14:7 summarizes how we are to live in light of the truth of who God is.  Living according to that truth will provide us with a powerful testimony and witness for God.  Then what others see in our lives will make them want to hear our message.  But in order to know God and live according to what we know, we need faith.  And Jesus is "...the author and finisher of our faith..." according to Hebrews 12:2.  Simply put, it is all about Jesus.

The Gospel: Creator

God "...made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
Gen 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."  Check.  But it was not until the second day that God called heaven "Heaven."  And it was not until the third day that God called the dry land "Earth" and the waters "Seas."  And what about the fountains of waters?
Fountains of waters usually refers to fresh water, as opposed to sea water that is salty. God has turned "...the flint into a fountain of waters."  Psalm 144:8. Jeremiah 17:13 refers to the LORD as "...the fountain of living waters." And in the new heaven God "...will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Rev 21:6. 
What that says to me is that God is not only the creator of what we can see, but also of life and He is the sustainer of life for eternity.  In other words, He is worthy of our worship.

The Gospel: Worship Him

Worship is another one of those words that seems to be thrown around without much thought.  In fact, I would venture to guess that because there is not much thought put into worship that it has been turned into something more about man than about God.  Whether it be the music, the message, or the ministry, could it be that we are more interested in how it makes us feel, than what it says about God?
By the way, worship is pronounced "wership" not "war ship"...  Like the worst worm in the world may worry that he is not worthy to hear the word.
The Bible actually does have a lot to say about worship.  A study can be done to look at true worship, false worship, positions of worship, and actions of worship.  There is even a passage that may help us understand what worship is.  Luke 14:7-11
"And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.  But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Did you see it?  "...then shalt thou have worship..." Put yourself in the position of someone seated in the room watching all the events taking place.  Not knowing what is about to unfold, but seeing it as it takes place.  What would you think of that person that sat in the lowest place and was asked to go up higher?  Would you be envious?  Would you wonder what that person did?  Would you like to know that person better?  Whatever the case, your thoughts would probably be consumed with that person that was moved higher.
That is worship.  Being consumed with thinking about God. 
Think about Christ for just a minute.  Didn't He take a place in the lowest room, being born in a stable, but now is seated at the right hand of God.  He is worthy of our undivided worship.
True worship will cause us to bring an offering, to sing, to acknowledge God's work, to confess, to bow down before the Lord our God.  That is different that trying to generate worship or a feeling by activity.
Psalm 95:6-7 says, "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.  For His is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."

The Gospel: Judgment

Rev14:7 "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come..."
The gospel is also known as the good news, or good tidings.  (Compare Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).  But what is so good about judgment?
It seems like whenever judgment is spoken of, it is in a negative context.  Christians are reminded frequently, "the Bible says 'don't judge'."  Even in an earlier post it was noted that God judged his creation by sending a flood.  I guess a conclusion that can be made is that in order to share the good news, you have to share the bad news.  But it also might be that there exists a misunderstanding of God's judgment.
First, just as the Bible does say, "judge not," (albiet often used out of context) there is a verse that tells us how to judge.
John 7:24  "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment"
Who judges righteously.  God does.  Jesus says this in John 5:30
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."
So what about God's judgment?  It is interesting to consider that those who do not know God cannot know His judgments.
Ps 147:19 "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.  He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them.  Praise ye the LORD."
Ps 10:5b "...thy (God's) judgments are far above out of his (the wicked's) sight:"
But for those who are known by God...
Deut 4:8  "And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
And what about God, the judge?
Deut 32:4  "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."
Here is another way to look at God's judgment...
Ps 19:9-11 "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward."
1.  God's judgments are true and righteous
2.  God's judgments are more desirable than much fine gold.
3.  God's judgments are sweeter than honey
4.  God's judgments can lead to great reward
How is that for good news!

There's water on mars and the moon, oh my!

Should it bother Christians that scientists have found water on Mars and on the moon? Or perhaps, maybe scientists are once again unwittingly proving the Bible to be true. 
Genesis says that God separated the waters above from the waters below. 
Genesis 1:6-7  "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so."
That would mean that there is water out there.
How did Moses know that comets would be ice balls, that there was water on Mars, the Moon, and some of Saturn's moons. 
Lucky guess, I think not! 

Thank God for His word and for showing us that it is true.
By the way, I heard this Sunday that there are 300 prophecies in the Old Testament dealing with Jesus' first coming, and they were all fulfilled by Him.  Guess what?  Apparently there are over 2100 prophecies in the Old and New Testaments concerning His second coming.
Fear God and give glory to Him....

The Gospel: Give Glory to Him

How does one give glory to God. Or do we eat and drink to the glory of God as 1 Corinthians 10:31 says?

Perhaps a key verse...
Psalm 50:23a “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: ...”

Verses dealing with glorifying God...
Luke 23:47 “Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying Certainly this was a righteous man.”
Matt 27:54 “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
John 15:8 "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit..."
Acts 11:18 “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

Verses dealing with God's glory...
1 Chronicles 16:29 “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; Bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
Isaiah 43:8  “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”

Something to think about.  Who gets the praise for a nice cold glass of water on a hot day?  Your self for a job well done, the person who brought you the water for being so thoughtful, or perhaps the One who gave us the sense to appreciate a cold glass of water in the first place.  The glory belongs to God.

What is God's glory? 
It is something visible...
Deut 5:24...Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness..."
It filled the tabernacle, the temple, and it will fill the whole earth...
Isaiah 6:3 "...the whole earth is full of his glory."
It is declared by creation...
Ps 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God, ..."
It will endure forever...
Ps 104:32 "The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever..."
But it has not been fully revealed...
2 Cor 3:18 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord..."
It will light the new heaven and earth...
Rev 21:23 "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

It seems that God's glory is the visible manifestation of God Himself, and we glorify God by praising Him.  Giving glory to God is outwardly giving to Him that which He is due.

The Gospel: Fear God

What does it mean to fear God?  Or, to fear the Lord?  Or, the fear of the Lord?
Does it mean to be afraid of God, like "fear and trembling?"  Does it mean respect, like, "yes sir!?"  Does it mean to be in awe, like, "wow!?"


In Psalms and Proverbs there are many verses that tell us what the fear of the Lord is...
Ps 19:9 it is clean
Ps 111:10 it is the beginning of wisdom
Prov 1:7 it is the beginning of knowledge
Prov 14:26 it is strong confidence
Prov 14:27 it is a fountain of life
All helpful, but do they help to define what to do to "fear God?"


Perhaps another question to ask is "what do people do with things they are afraid of?"  Maybe this is too simplified, but it seems that they either try to run from it, or they try to conquer it.  It is like children who are afraid of the dark.  They want to run from it, but their parents try to convince them that there is nothing to be afraid of.  What is it about a dark room that is so frightening?  Not knowing what is there.  The unknown.  The same may be true for how people handle God if they do not know him.  They run from him, or they try to conquer him.  Ps 14:1 and 53:1 say, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." or Ps 10:11 "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it."  The interesting thing here is that God can be known...
Romans 1:20 says, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"  And yet we are to fear God...
Rev 14:7 "Fear God and give glory to him,...."
1 Peter 2:17 "Honour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king."
Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

So what does it mean to fear God?
Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil..."

The difference between this verse and the ones listed earlier is the word "to" after "is." 
To "fear God," is to "hate evil." But to avoid filling our hearts with hate, look at it this way.  The opposite of evil is righteousness.  Then to "fear God," is to love righteousness.  Or as Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, "...keep his commandments..."


"Fear God ...(hate evil and keep his commandments)... for the hour of his judgment is come"

The Gospel and the Bible

Revelation 14:7 "...Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

In the previous post I mentioned that this definition for the gospel covered the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I will agree that the term "gospel" is only used in the new testament, but look at how this one verse seems to summarize both the old and new testaments.

God as creator.  Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" and later in Genesis 1 the seas.  And at the end of chapter one, God says about his creation, 

"...it was very good."

God as judge.  In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve decide not to fear God and give glory to him, but instead listen to the serpent and disobey God.  As a result, God has to remove them from the  garden and the blessing of being in close fellowship with him.

It does not take too much more reading to find the next judgment.  That would start in Genesis 6.  Genesis 6:5 says, "And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth...."  God also found a man named Noah who "found grace in the eyes of the LORD."  God judged his creation by sending the flood.  But also note in Genesis 7, in the account of the flood, the "fountains" are mentioned.

Next is the tower of Babel, another judgment and another creation.  The judgment, confusing the languages, the creation the languages.  Then throughout the rest of the old testament cycles of blessings and cursings.  When people  wholeheartedly call upon God, he blesses.  When they don't, God allows them to suffer the consequences, but he remains faithful.

His faithfulness is clearly demonstrated the sending of his Son.  The first time the word gospel is used is in Matthew 4.  Matthew 4:23 says, "Jesus....preaching the gospel..."  If Jesus preached the gospel, what did he preach?  Look back a few verses to Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  To me that sounds like "Fear God and give glory to him" (repent) "for the hour of his judgment is come..." (for the kingdom of heaven is at hand).  Of course, Jesus taught more than that, but in general it seems that what he taught reflects what Revelation 14:7 says. 

The ultimate judgment is Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins, "and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" I Corinthians 15:4.

For those that believe we become new creatures.  

Ultimately God will "...create new heavens and a new earth..." Isa 65:17.  Or Revelation 21:1 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth..."  Not quite close enough to the end of the Bible for you?  How about this...

Revelation 22:20 "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."