23 Jan

10/14/18    “I CAN SLEEP WHEN THE WIND BLOWS!”       LUKE 17:5-10 & MATT. 17:19-23

I think that we probably all go through life knowing that some of the small things in life are just what we were told they were and that was that.  For instance it was some sort of magic that a caterpillar turned into a butterfly.  Usually these things weren’t that important.  Only a little later in life we find out the truth and we are a little shocked.  I was a little upset when I found out that the cattle we raised were actually the beef on our plates.  It’s not that important but it was an awakening.  I have always been fascinated by this morning’s Scripture.  The reference to mustard seeds brings me back to my youth on the farm.  Our mustard plants were weeds and we had to spray for them or they would take over a field.  It never dawned on me that these types of plants were actually the basis for the mustard we put on hot dogs.  The mustard plant has many varieties, however.  These plants grow into bushes in Israel.  And in all cases the seeds are very small.  They are probably all part of the same family of plants.  Anyway, today we will try to look at what our faith and duty should look like and maybe how we can modify them to the wishes of our Lord.

Let’s take a look at faith a little as I tell a story from Douglas Vincent.  In April 1998 a series of tornadoes had ripped through the southern part of the United States.  The day after the storm, National Public Radio did a story on a church that had been totally destroyed.  The children of the church had been gathered for choir practice when the storm hit.  The pastor saw it coming and gathered them together in the main hallway.  They huddled as the storm began to tear away at the building.  In an effort to calm their nerves, the pastor began to sing, “Jesus loves the little children.”  Although some of the children were injured, miraculously no one was killed.

The most poignant part of the broadcast was when a little girl said, “I saw angels holding up the hallway.  But the winds were so strong that they shouted, “We need help!”  And some more angels came to help.”  That little girl will never forget what she saw.  These children had faith.  Jesus loves the little children and us.  I’m a firm believer that little children can see angels and if you don’t believe me then ask a child.

There are many stories of faith in the Bible.  Abraham was going to sacrifice his son because God told him to do it.  Moses didn’t want to lead his people but he did because God told him.  Paul had both position and power but gave it up for Jesus.  And Jeremiah didn’t have a single convert but he kept preaching due to God’s command.

Before we look at faith in today’s lesson, we need to look at what had happened right before this.  Jesus was once again talking to his disciples.  He told them the consequences of someone causing one of his children to sin.  Then He told them that they had to forgive a person even if he sins against them seven times in one day.  That would be like if someone came up to me and stole from me seven times in a day.  Or maybe they just insulted me seven times in a day.  It would be hard for me or maybe even you to keep forgiving someone like this.  And I think that it was hard for the disciples also.

Because in verse 5, we see that the disciples say, “Increase our faith.” in an attempt to be able to be more forgiving.  The answer they got was not what they expected.  Jesus tells them that if they have the faith the size of a mustard seed, they could uproot a mulberry tree and replant it in the sea.  We know that the seed is very small and a mulberry tree of that area grew to between 25-30 feet tall and had a deep root system which is not surprising due to the arid climate of the region.  So with just a little bit of faith, we can work wonders.

What Jesus is telling them and us is that we do not need more faith.  What we need is to utilize the faith that we have.  I don’t know if any of us will ever be able to command a tree to move and be replanted.  But I do know that all of us have been given the potential.  We all have been given enough faith.  We just don’t use it.

There are many ways to better use our faith.  Even in your own communities you have Bible Studies and fellowship opportunities.  There is always room for another adult Sunday school or Bible study with your friends in your area.  Or find someone and join them for coffee and a light discussion of some of the current events of the day.  It will be fun and non-threatening.  I would also like to hear about some of the things you are doing.  Just last week I got two requests from people I had never met to keep doing what I’m doing.  Thank you for the feedback.  I appreciate this more than you will know.

But the most important way to help your faith is through prayer.  I look into the world and I see the evidence of false or no prayer life everywhere.  There are so many people that just go through the motions of prayer without ever considering that this is a private conversation with God.  We go through rote prayer with our only thoughts on the words and not to who we are talking.

Sometime take a look at the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew and Luke.  They are not the same prayers.  They are different.  Jesus gave us these prayers as a model to talk to God.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is good to have memorized prayers like this because they are so comforting.  They comfort like the 23^rd Psalm.  But don’t let the message take precedence over God.  Remember who you are talking to during these times, the very maker of the universe!

Now Jesus goes on and tells of a servant and his master.  It is not right for the servant to work all day in the fields and then come in and expect to sit down with the master.  It is the job of a servant to make the dinner for the master before he can sit down himself.  I know this goes against the thoughts of our permissive society but some work has to be done regardless of what gifts you have.  I used to tell our churches that no one is gifted to shovel the sidewalks in the winter but someone has to do it.

We have a lot of problems with passages like these.  We do not like to be servants.  I would almost guess that there are very few listening today that like to bow down to others.  Much of this is due to our culture.  Our ancestors settled this country with a fiercely independent spirit.  This country was founded on people trying to get away from oppressive servanthood in Europe.  And out here in the Midwest where I’m from, they came looking for freedom.  But many of our ancestors, even though they were very independent, were also very dependent on God.  They knew where everything came from so churches sprang up with every settlement.  This is a farming area around Fargo and most of us can see that God is working in everything around us.  Nature is full of the works of God.

Even though we don’t like to be servants to each other, we can and should be to God.  As a matter of fact, we are called to be servants for Jesus Christ.  We realize that He alone is responsible for everything.  Then Jesus continues on to say that the servant is not to ever expect thanks from the master.  This is because the servant is only doing his job.  He is only doing what is expected of him.

This problem can be a little hard to see in the world as we are part of the world and we don’t notice.  I like to call it the ‘Look at Me Syndrome.”  Our so called stars of our society are full of this.  They will do just about anything to get a little attention.  And the sad thing is that they get it.  For example I could care less about Tom Cruise’s false religion or how some other star feels about our coming election.  I could live very easily with never hearing the names of many of our so-called stars again.  I feel sorry for these people and especially their children and I pray that they can find Jesus.

Another example is our government officials during a disaster.  For many the government is their god!  They are not but they like to think so.  Then the President, our congressmen and senators are all shouting out, “Look at me and what I have done for these people.”  In reality we find out later, it was Samaritan’s Purse, UMCOR and a couple of other religious groups that were there the day after the event really doing the work.  And they never said a word about what they were doing.  This is because as Christians we are to do the work that is expected of us and not expect praise in return.

The real unfortunate aspect of this is that we can sometimes see this in our local churches.  Large churches have trouble with this because of their praise bands.  If they put the performers out front, then the attention is on the singers and not on the Lord.  Many churches have put the praise band in the balcony so that they do not draw attention to themselves.

We also see this sometimes in our members.  Someone might feel that they do everything and others don’t do enough.  And this might be true as this is a problem in churches.  But there are some people who just do what has to be done.  We all know of the selfless givers around us.  Maybe, just maybe we are to help them out.

Older people also may begin to feel that they can retire as they have done enough.  I am here to tell you that you cannot retire from God.  Maybe we are getting too old to teach a bunch of 1^st graders or climb on the roof to fix the shingles.  But God will have another plan for you.  As long as you are still here, God has a plan for you.  I thought I would take it easy when I retired but God had other plans.  I now preach every week on our website and Facebook, plus I fill the pulpit about half the Sundays of the year and I also post a video every weekday.  God called me and told me to do these things and I said no.  It took me a while before I finally said yes to Jesus.  It has been good ever since.  He is so good!

So it is not a time to sit back and relax.  We are to keep on working for the Lord with an in exhaustive tenaciousness.  When we get thwarted from one direction, then turn to another and try again.  We will get the accolades when we get home in heaven.

It is not unlike fishermen when they have to travel several hundred miles out to sea to fish when they can’t catch anything locally.  Or when programmers find that what they made just doesn’t quite work right.  They just go back and start over or start another project.  They know that they have a job to do and now is the time to do it.

Basically, Jesus is telling us today that we have enough faith.  We have been given enough.  There is plenty of faith potential in that mustard seed where all our faith begins.  Then we are to use this faith in a way that is pleasing to Him.  We are to be servants as we surrender to Jesus.  Although surrender is the right word, it really isn’t meant in a way that we usually associate with the word.  When we surrender to Jesus we are actually opening our lives up to endless good possibilities.  This surrender makes us free.  For those people who don’t know Jesus today, you don’t know what real contentment and happiness are.  You have never experienced true joy or peace.  I urge you today to ask Jesus into your heart and start a new life in freedom, the freedom that only Jesus can give you.  It is a decision that you will never regret.

And then you can start to work on your mustard seed faith.  You can begin by having a prayer life.  Many people wonder about why prayer didn’t work when the last time they prayed was last Sunday or the Sunday before.  You are to pray every morning and every night.  As a matter of fact, the Scriptures tell us that you are to pray unceasingly.  This is something that can be learned.  When I became a Christian, I didn’t even know how to pray.  I asked Jesus for help and He has been helping me pray ever since.

This how John Wesley built Methodism.  He would get up and pray every morning and every evening.  During his adult life, he averaged something like three sermons a day.  And then in his spare time, he helped the prisoners, the orphans and the needy.  I think that Tim Zingale sums it up very nicely in this story.  There was a young man who applied for a job as a farmhand.  The farmer asked his qualifications and the young man said, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”  The farmer had no idea what this meant but he liked the young man and hired him anyway.

One night a few days later, the farmer and his wife woke up to a severe storm.  Quickly they began to make sure things were secure.  They found that all the shutters on the house were fastened and secure.  There was plenty of wood next to the fireplace.  They also found the young man sleeping soundly.  They went outside to inspect their property and found that all the tools were put away in the shed and the tractor had been put in the garage.  The barn was properly closed and all the animals were calm.  It was only then that the farmer understood the young man when he said, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”  Because the young man had worked loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke.  So when the wind blew, he was not afraid and he could sleep in peace.

And this is what Jesus wants for you.  He wants the very best.  And that happens when you take your faith and follow Him.  As long as you are not looking for rewards, then you will probably get quite a few.  After we finish this service, I ask that you take a few minutes in personal private prayer.  Then listen quietly for an answer.  And as you do this, keep in mind just how great Jesus is and how much He loves you.  Feel Him as He wraps His arms around you.  Feel Him and thank Him.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.