Faith As A Seed And As Your Servant

FranklinB Jul 19, 2010

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When Jesus talked about faith he said "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed." He said that because he was comparing faith to a seed. When you plant a seed that seed works to produce the very thing it was planted to produce. That seed does not produce in the earth until it breaks through the ground. Then that seed continues to produce in the earth taking on the form and substance of the thing planted for.

When faith is planted in your heart you will know it because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. That's interesting because Jesus compares your heart to soil. And when that faith comes out of your mouth it will work to produce according to the faith that was planted. And that faith will continue to work until the faith you release takes on the substance of the faith that was planted in your heart. That's why it says faith is the substance of things.

In Luke chapter 17 Jesus compares faith to a servant. Faith is your servant it should be working for you. Jesus said "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say", that's how faith is released. And when faith is in your heart and you release it out of your mouth you have just given your servant an assignment. And your servant faith will work for you until the job is finished if you don't speak against it.

That's how God created the worlds with his faith and words. The faith that was in him He released by his words. Somebody might say well that was God, but Jesus said if you believe what you speak will come to pass you will have what you say. Jesus explained how the faith of God operates, it performs what is released to perform. And the word of God is the faith of God. So when the word of God is in your heart and you speak it out of your mouth it will perform the very thing you speak, isn't that what Jesus said.

Reference Scriptures:
Hebrews 11:1
Matthew 17:20
Luke 6:45
Mark 4:26-28
Luke 17:5-10
Hebrews 11:3
Mark 11:23
Romans 3:3,4
Romans 10:8

sermonindex Jul 20, 2010

by FranklinB on 2010/7/19 13:43:57

In Luke chapter 17 Jesus compares faith to a servant. Faith is your servant it should be working for you. Jesus said "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say", that's how faith is released. And when faith is in your heart and you release it out of your mouth you have just given your servant an assignment. And your servant faith will work for you until the job is finished if you don't speak against it.

____________________________________________________________

Brother Franklin,

Reading "Rest in the Dividing Hand of God" confirms me in HIS FAITH(FULNESS) as this whole family (of which i am priveledged to house-band) has literally seen God work in miraclulous ways continuously as needs occur. The truths in Psalm 91 have manifested time and again in ways that step outside the boundaries of natural laws. It stuns the unbelievers, be they 'christian' or not.

Last fall for 2 examples in one day:

I fell off the top of a two story building head first and landed these feet as though i had never fallen. All one guy who had been watching me work from across the street could say was,"Somebody up there must really like you. You walk on that roof as though you were on the ground. You fall and aren't even shocked." It was a perfect example and chance to testify about what our Saiour Jesus CHrist has done in bringing us in Him, into Covenant with our Father, El Elyon.

(you are hard-pressed to get me to travel distance any other way except bicycles and airplanes, when feasable.)

Well, being only 2.5 miles from home where i was working, naturally i did not fly a plane. Riding bike home, a doberman ran out in front of me. I was traveling over 30 mph, and we collided. The bicycle stopped bouncing down the street after about 20+ feet of erratic wobbling, flipping, scraping, and skidding. I don't really understand what exactly happened to me because i was disoriented. A crowd gathered as i prayed for the motionless dog.

All because God keeps His promises: My bicycle was completely undamaged; I didn't even have a scratch; and the dog just got up and walked away like nothing happened.

Praise God! He is Mighty to Save over and over and over again! I could go on and on about those whom i know, (and myself) who fix our confidence in Jesus Christ Crucified and He does way way far more than any of us have even thought He might. HE is the Only Fortress to lay down our trust.
------------------------------------------------------------

now, about this issue of faith addressed...

Look at Luke 17 closely:

1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

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.

7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Verses 5 and 6 a result of what Jesus is saying in vv. 1-4, even as verses 7-10 conclude the matter discussed.

Reading this as a whole unit, is Jesus really talking about faith as some kind of force?

The KJV translators obviously mistranslated that Greek word for "faith," because the passage as a complete unit is talking about "faithfulness."

Contrary to popular opionion, faith is not some kind of force we have inside ourselves. If it were, we could do as Elohim and say, "Light be and light... -would be- ...was."

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Eph 2:4-10
...Doesn't sound like i have much of anything to do with this but to rely on Him to be faith(ful) to me, then walk in what He says is good (Rom. 7:12).

8...it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Heb. 11:1 tells us that faith is the foundation on which our hope rests. Heb. 11:6 says that the only thing that pleases God is confidence that He is who He says He is and He gives His good graces (aka:gifts) to those who crave to learn His will and ways. Hebrews 10:30-39 leading up to chapter 11 explain exactly what this faith(fulness) is: confidence in God that He will do as He promises.

Whose faith is it anyway?

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I NOW LIVE... BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Gal. 2:20-21

...YA KNOW WHAT? If i go and try to make my situations right(eous) or even myself right(eous) by whatever Law I DECIDE, it is not what God has chosen for me. i would be frustrating the grace (gifts) from God. Then Christ would have died in vain for me.

Think about this: No person can serve two masters. I can decide what i want and possibly get it and lose the Salvation He has freely provided through that process; or, i can rest my confidence in Jesus Christ and what He has already accomplished for me, and through walking in ever increasing faith(fulness) towards Him, grow into recieving fuller salvation--->(complete: deliverance, wholeness, and preservation)through His Faith(fulness) and recieve more than i could ever disire in the process.

i can either work at fulfilling various Laws or trust Him.

What will you do?

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Rom. 8:28-32

Agape,
phaney
Acts 20:32

p.s. You might want to go back and look at the context of the scriptures you cite as it seems you might be drawing conclusions about things that just are not there. Faith(fulness) towards something that does not exist gets no fruitful results. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

Edited: grammear

RainMan Jul 20, 2010

Hebrews 11: 39 "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect"

One of the most dangerous practices i have seen in the church when i was a Word OF Faith believer (referring to the brand made popular by the preachers like copeland, dollar, monroe, eddy long and jakes etc) was a practice of sermonizing predominately old testament narratives out of context. If you read hebrews 11 carefully you see that paul does a concluding exegesis or conclusion of truth at the end. He simply concludes that our biblical heroes of faith died without obtaining the promise. This is the the kinda faith that pleases God. If they didnt obtain the promise was this because there faith was weak?

[A complete trust and conviction in him, that he is who he says he is, and does was she says he will do in his word regardless of the events of our lives good or bad is what i would call the faith.]

The promise Paul is talking about in Hebrews 11 is salvation. Salvation is the blessing of Abraham. Abraham believed God and thats why father ABE was saved. Abrahams faith didn't produce gold and silver contray to WOF belief. But rather Gods faithfulness in showing his providence as a shepherd to his people ensured Abraham and his seed(s) was taken care of. The exegisis of the afore mentioned WOF preachers does not match pauls exegeses at the end of hebrews about faith. If pauls conclusion is holy Spirit inspired then the only logically conclusion we can come to is that WOF preachers exegisis is not inspired of the Spirit of God or God has superseded the apostles revelations of faith and chosen to do so outside of his word. Like ourselves these people often read what they want to believe into the scriptures.

Faith is a very important issue for believers to understand. One thing i do know is that God is not a Chinese takeaway service were you ring up with your faith order and God becomes obliged to do as you say. "Little God" theology says we are just like God we are sons of the kingdom and we are supposed to reign. Ironically elements of these notions are true but the question is our understanding of eschatology issues. Often the apostles looked forward to the hope of being resurrected in Glory with Christ. Not reigning as kings on this present earth. They endured hardships and suffering because they had FAITH and assurance of the hope to come. We read of Paul waking the dead, yet not being able to rid himself of the thorn in his flesh (whatever this thorn may have been). WE read of poverty in some of the early churches yet unlike WOF teachers of today the bible doesnt condemn these churches as lacking faith in fact if you read about the church of Smyrna in revelations Jesus says he knows all about there suffering and encourages them to continue to be faithful even to imminent death.

I would advise as brother phaney has suggested that the scriptures quoted be looked at carefully in the proper context in order that we come to the conclusions the author intended us to come to.

I guess the motivations behind your post would be to encourage believers to have faith. But faith has many contexts as used within scriptures. But brother what i would say there is a faith that does move mountains Jesus spoke of this and so did Paul and i would be dishonest to focus on the other context of faith and trying to make this context disappear with hermeneutic witchcraft. But personally i believe that if the basics of faith (trusting in God being faithful to his word) are not present trying to move mountains is pointless.

1 Corinthians 13:2 (New International Version)

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

In closing i myself have seen countless times God move on behalf faithfully. I lost my father a few months back my wife and i had been trying for a baby for about two years (had family members suggest something was wrong with my wife, my own mother tried to cause division by prophetically trying to discourage me with prophetic words that could only have been demonically inspired). My fathers death (hadnt seen him in 15 years) was really the tipping point for me. In prayer i told God how awesome he was and words to the effect of me having nowhere else to go to. I told him tearfully he was my God and nothing was going to change that regardless of what hardship i faced i was still going to serve him. Two weeks later my wife gets pregnant and i feel such a joy in the middle of darkness i couldnt explain to anyone else. I find out a few weeks later after her scan she had a growth in her womb that made conception almost impossible. They were surprised she was able to conceived. For me what happened confirmed Gods faithfulness towards me not the force of faith in me. I am nothing without him even any faith i posses has come from him.

pis'-tis (Faith/Faithfulness)
persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

I pray the Holy Spirit of God expound the truths of faith to us all.

FranklinB Jul 20, 2010

I believe the translator translated it correctly because in another instance when the disciples were trying to cast out a demon and they didn't they asked Jesus why they couldn't and Jesus said because of unbelief not because of your lack of faithfulness and then He went on to say Matthew 17:20. So to me faithfulness just doesn't fit there. Also when Jesus cursed the fig tree he told the disciple if they had faith that what they said would come to pass they would do the same. Again to me faithfulness just doesn't fit. Thanks for your comment and for reading.

sermonindex Jul 21, 2010

Belief and unbelief are not the same thing as faith(fulness) and unfatithfulness... though they can be related.

Faith is a noun and belief is a verb.

Here's the definition of the root word used (faith) in the passage in Luke 17 vv.5-6 from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

πίστις [pistis /pis·tis/] noun 244 occurrences; AV translates as “faith” 239 times, “assurance” once, “believe + 1537” once, “belief” once, “them that believe” once, and “fidelity” once. 1 conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it. 1a relating to God. 1a1 the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. 1b relating to Christ. 1b1 a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. 1c the religious beliefs of Christians. 1d belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same. 2 fidelity, faithfulness. 2a the character of one who can be relied on.

Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G4102). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

Belief is an action, and faith is a (fixed) relationship that leads to action by one or both parties involved.

The word faith implies loyalty and reliance, however, belief does not.

A person can believe -(affirm and do) without faith, but a person cannot have faith without belief.

The reason it was stated that this passage is about faithfulness is because it is in a discourse
which runs from Luke 15:1 to 18:14 ...and in various ways this topic is presented throughout.

That's all,
g
Acts 20:32