Great is Your Faith

Matthew 21:12-22 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "' Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" 17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. 18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" 21 And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

1 Can your faith do that? Can it command fig trees to produce no fruit and wither? Can it command mountains to pick themselves up and go for a swim? Can it withstand the taunts and accusations of the devil? Can it withstand the attack from the secular world? Can it remain steadfast in the midst of heartbreak and loss? That’s a pretty tall order. Last time you talked to a mountain, it probably didn’t go heading toward the sea. And if there were fig trees in Jerseyville to rebuke, you don’t really expect them to listen to you, do you? How much less then do you expect your faith to withstand trial and temptation?

2 So what can you do to get better faith? How can you work to strengthen your faith so that it measures up to Jesus’ description? How can you get this kind of faith? You can’t. It’s impossible. You believe that you cannot by your own reason or strength come to Jesus Christ, your Lord, or come to Him. You can’t create faith, you can’t get it. You can only be given it. So repent of coveting faith. Repent of thinking that you had to muster faith up within yourself. Repent of making of faith a work. Faith is no work, St. Paul says. “[Faith] is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so no one may boast.” Repent of thinking otherwise.

3 You cannot get faith. You cannot increase faith. Instead, you receive faith as a gift. The Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified and kept you in the true faith. You have been given faith. And what your Lord gives you is more than enough. This is the faith given to you, the same faith given to the apostles, the faith confessed in the Apostles Creed. What do you believe? You believe that God has made you and all creatures; that He has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members, your reason and all your senses, and still takes care of them. You believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father before all eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is your Lord, who has redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

4 You, like the children crying out in the temple, by faith cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” How can this be that out of the mouths of nursing babies God received praise? Because they are just as capable as you of having faith. Left to your own devices, you could never acquire faith. You are as helpless as a nursing baby. But the gift of faith comes from your Lord, and He can give it to whomever He pleases. He gives you that faith apart from your ability to comprehend it. And then He gives to you the continued opportunity to increase in your knowledge of the contents of your faith. But your knowledge of your Lord is different from your faith in Him.

5 Through the waters of Holy Baptism, your Lord has claimed you, that you may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. You may have confidence in what the Lord has given. “Great is your faith,” beloved, because it comes not from yourself but from your Lord. With this faith, you receive the Lord’s continual gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

6 The Lord who rebuked the tree is the one who was crucified upon the tree of the cross. There, so that you might receive faith, so that He might pay for your sins and give you forgiveness on His behalf, your Lord died for you. He has given you faith to believe in His sacrifice for you in your place. This is great faith, indeed. So with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death, He has delivered you from the power of sinful thinking that you must obtain your own faith. For all this, it is your duty to thanks and praise Him, serve and obey Him.

Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Jeff Hemmer
Hope, Jerseyville
Second Wednesday in Lent, AD 2008