Increase our Faith
“Forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid” is in our opening Collect this morning.
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; …
Increase our faith.
Increase our faith, is the title of my sermon today, for that is what is blurted out by the apostles this morning in our Gospel text. The Lord replied to this outburst, “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.
Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church Richmond once said that of all the things Jesus ever said that he wished he hadn’t, this statement about faith the size of a mustard seed is right near the top. He said that because this statement by Jesus about faith makes people think of faith in terms of quantity, something you could have more or less of. Most people think they don’t have enough.
The apostles didn’t think they had enough. But Jesus sort of corrects this notion. It is not that you need to have more; it is that you only need to have the tiniest, least little speck like a mustard seed.
It is not about having more faith, it is about putting your faith in the right place, or specifically, in the right person.
It is not about how much faith you have, it is who your faith is in. How much faith you have makes it about you. Faith is coming to believe and trust in the one who has done all things for us already.
Faith is about a relationship — and who your faith is in is what matters.
This difference in translation moves us away from a one-time miraculous feat of faith to a lifetime of faithfulness.
A lifetime of faithfulness is the undercurrent of the rest of the parable. We serve God.
We each do what is required of us. The mustard seed is to grow into a mustard bush or tree.
Jesus asks by way of illustration, who would ask the slave to come in and sit at the table? Jesus explains you would not get the slave to do something they are not meant to do, to come sit at the table, rather, you would tell him to keep doing what they are “supposed” to be doing as a slave/servant - serving you. Don’t get stuck on the example here of slavery - focus on the purpose of the story. That the slave was meant to serve, not to be served. We are meant to serve God, not God serve us.
The exclamation, “We are worthless slaves”, is worth explaining.
Try not to tune me out right now.
The word “worthless” (achreios in the Greek) is often translated as “being of no use or profit, worthless.” But, as Kenneth Bailey points out, its root word is chreios. Having the prefix a– added to makes it a negative.
Chreios, the root word, is less about profitability or worth, and more about need: “that which should happen or be supplied because it is needed.” So, when this word is made a negative—as in our passage—it can be translated as “without need.” In other words, Jesus could be telling his disciples that they are commenting, gratefully, “We are slaves without need, we have only done what we ought to have done.”
The change in thought from being worthless to “without need” is a huge one.
Living a life of faith, moving forward out of obedience even when we hurt, even when we lack understanding, even when we struggle to forgive someone, even when we are angry, even when…., even when…..
Faith may be increased much more by living obediently day by day, instead of waiting for the miracle, “Lord, “Increase our faith,” [do it now]!
We do that which is required of us, that which we know to do day by day and faith increases. Our health increases the same way; we don’t suddenly become healthy physically over night. We make good choices every day, about what we eat, how much we sleep, how we exercise, that make little changes in our bodies daily that affect our health long term. Little every day decisions when practiced regularly leads to long term change and health. It is the same with faith.
Trusting that we serve a Master, a God, who loves and cares for us, who has promised to bless us and give us life abundant, we move forward each day in obedience even though we may not understand. This is how our faith increases.
This image of a slave that who does their duty, day in and day out, without thought of reward, but just out of obedience, teaches us that there is something about consistent faithfulness that increases the seeds of faith within us. Knowing that we serve a Good Master, we are only doing what we ought.
Embody who you are meant to be and do what you know the Lord has asked you to do, and you will find faith naturally and wonderfully coming to fruition in your life.
A while ago I read a book “Praying Shapes Believing”. In this book, the premise is, is that we as Episcopalians pray a certain way, through form and ritual and it shapes us. It shapes what we believe and who we are. Simple acts of obedience each day lead to an increased faith.
In a book called The Heart of Christianity, New Testament scholar Marcus Borg devotes an entire chapter to faith. He claims that in Western Christianity (that is, in our kind of Christianity) faith has come to mean holding a certain set of “beliefs,” or “believing” a set of statements to be true. For most people, being a Christian means believing that there is a God, believing that the Bible is the revelation of God, and believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he died for our sins. Borg (who grew up Lutheran in North Dakota) acknowledges that “for some Christians the list would be longer: believing that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God; believing in Genesis creation account literally rather than some form of evolution; believing that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he walked on water, that he raised the dead, etc.
Sometimes the beliefs become very specific, Borg writes: believing in infant baptism instead of adult baptism (or vice versa); believing in “the Rapture”; believing (or not believing) in purgatory. The list goes on and on. In the minds of some if you don’t believe all these things, then your faith is lacking.
Which brings me back to our Collect, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid… may we not be a people whose faith is so limited by our own consciences’ that we are afraid to embrace this big beautiful, untidy, abundant life that has been given us.
I fear we have limited ourselves by having put our “faith” in a tightly wound package, leaving little room for mystery and wonder and little space for the work of God.
Faith is about obedience and not about having all of the right answers.
When we are obedient to the things we know to be true, our faith will increase. Our faith will grow and blossom. And my bush may not look like your bush.
That little mustard seed will take root. And it will grow. Seeds can either shrivel up and die, or if they are planted, and watered, fertilized they can lead to large trees and big plants. I think what is being said here, is that you have but a seed, and you live the life of obedient faith, there is little stopping growth.
A grain of mustard seed will grow into a mustard bush/tree, over time, with the right treatment.
What will you do with your seed?
Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; …
Increase our faith.
Increase our faith, is the title of my sermon today, for that is what is blurted out by the apostles this morning in our Gospel text. The Lord replied to this outburst, “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.
Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church Richmond once said that of all the things Jesus ever said that he wished he hadn’t, this statement about faith the size of a mustard seed is right near the top. He said that because this statement by Jesus about faith makes people think of faith in terms of quantity, something you could have more or less of. Most people think they don’t have enough.
The apostles didn’t think they had enough. But Jesus sort of corrects this notion. It is not that you need to have more; it is that you only need to have the tiniest, least little speck like a mustard seed.
It is not about having more faith, it is about putting your faith in the right place, or specifically, in the right person.
It is not about how much faith you have, it is who your faith is in. How much faith you have makes it about you. Faith is coming to believe and trust in the one who has done all things for us already.
Faith is about a relationship — and who your faith is in is what matters.
This difference in translation moves us away from a one-time miraculous feat of faith to a lifetime of faithfulness.
A lifetime of faithfulness is the undercurrent of the rest of the parable. We serve God.
We each do what is required of us. The mustard seed is to grow into a mustard bush or tree.
Jesus asks by way of illustration, who would ask the slave to come in and sit at the table? Jesus explains you would not get the slave to do something they are not meant to do, to come sit at the table, rather, you would tell him to keep doing what they are “supposed” to be doing as a slave/servant - serving you. Don’t get stuck on the example here of slavery - focus on the purpose of the story. That the slave was meant to serve, not to be served. We are meant to serve God, not God serve us.
The exclamation, “We are worthless slaves”, is worth explaining.
Try not to tune me out right now.
The word “worthless” (achreios in the Greek) is often translated as “being of no use or profit, worthless.” But, as Kenneth Bailey points out, its root word is chreios. Having the prefix a– added to makes it a negative.
Chreios, the root word, is less about profitability or worth, and more about need: “that which should happen or be supplied because it is needed.” So, when this word is made a negative—as in our passage—it can be translated as “without need.” In other words, Jesus could be telling his disciples that they are commenting, gratefully, “We are slaves without need, we have only done what we ought to have done.”
The change in thought from being worthless to “without need” is a huge one.
Living a life of faith, moving forward out of obedience even when we hurt, even when we lack understanding, even when we struggle to forgive someone, even when we are angry, even when…., even when…..
Faith may be increased much more by living obediently day by day, instead of waiting for the miracle, “Lord, “Increase our faith,” [do it now]!
We do that which is required of us, that which we know to do day by day and faith increases. Our health increases the same way; we don’t suddenly become healthy physically over night. We make good choices every day, about what we eat, how much we sleep, how we exercise, that make little changes in our bodies daily that affect our health long term. Little every day decisions when practiced regularly leads to long term change and health. It is the same with faith.
Trusting that we serve a Master, a God, who loves and cares for us, who has promised to bless us and give us life abundant, we move forward each day in obedience even though we may not understand. This is how our faith increases.
This image of a slave that who does their duty, day in and day out, without thought of reward, but just out of obedience, teaches us that there is something about consistent faithfulness that increases the seeds of faith within us. Knowing that we serve a Good Master, we are only doing what we ought.
Embody who you are meant to be and do what you know the Lord has asked you to do, and you will find faith naturally and wonderfully coming to fruition in your life.
A while ago I read a book “Praying Shapes Believing”. In this book, the premise is, is that we as Episcopalians pray a certain way, through form and ritual and it shapes us. It shapes what we believe and who we are. Simple acts of obedience each day lead to an increased faith.
In a book called The Heart of Christianity, New Testament scholar Marcus Borg devotes an entire chapter to faith. He claims that in Western Christianity (that is, in our kind of Christianity) faith has come to mean holding a certain set of “beliefs,” or “believing” a set of statements to be true. For most people, being a Christian means believing that there is a God, believing that the Bible is the revelation of God, and believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he died for our sins. Borg (who grew up Lutheran in North Dakota) acknowledges that “for some Christians the list would be longer: believing that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God; believing in Genesis creation account literally rather than some form of evolution; believing that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he walked on water, that he raised the dead, etc.
Sometimes the beliefs become very specific, Borg writes: believing in infant baptism instead of adult baptism (or vice versa); believing in “the Rapture”; believing (or not believing) in purgatory. The list goes on and on. In the minds of some if you don’t believe all these things, then your faith is lacking.
Which brings me back to our Collect, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid… may we not be a people whose faith is so limited by our own consciences’ that we are afraid to embrace this big beautiful, untidy, abundant life that has been given us.
I fear we have limited ourselves by having put our “faith” in a tightly wound package, leaving little room for mystery and wonder and little space for the work of God.
Faith is about obedience and not about having all of the right answers.
When we are obedient to the things we know to be true, our faith will increase. Our faith will grow and blossom. And my bush may not look like your bush.
That little mustard seed will take root. And it will grow. Seeds can either shrivel up and die, or if they are planted, and watered, fertilized they can lead to large trees and big plants. I think what is being said here, is that you have but a seed, and you live the life of obedient faith, there is little stopping growth.
A grain of mustard seed will grow into a mustard bush/tree, over time, with the right treatment.
What will you do with your seed?
Amen.