Faith Like A Mustard Seed (March 10, 2024)
Sermon Outline for Sunday, March 10, 2024
Pastor Andy Lambert
PASSAGES: Matthew 17:20; Zechariah 4:7; Mark 4:30–32; Matthew 13:31–32; Acts 1:15
Matthew 17:20 ~ “He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Removing mountains was a Jewish phrase that meant “removing difficulties”.
Zechariah 4:7 ~ “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”
The greatest difficulties in human life: fear, disappointment, depression, despair, sickness (physical and spiritual), temptation, guilt, weariness, loneliness, persecution, heartache, etc.
How are these difficulties in human life removed? PRAYER AND FASTING.
Mark 4:30–32 ~ “And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
- In order for the seed to be sown, the farmer must have:
- commitment of heart for motivation
- commitment of mind for planning
- commitment of body for planting
- The fact that the mustard seed is the smallest of seeds is also significant. Just because a seed is small does not discourage or keep the farmer from sowing. He knows the enormous potential of the seed for growth and fruitfulness, so he plants. Note the power for reproduction and bearing fruit is in the seed, not in the farmer. All the farmer has to do is sow the seed. But again, someone has to sow the seed if there is to be fruit.
- What a lesson for believers and churches! The seed of the gospel, though ever so small, is enormously powerful.
- no matter how insignificant or small we may feel in reaching others, we need to sow the gospel
- no matter how insignificant or small we may feel our church witness is, we need to sow the gospel
Matthew 13:31–32 ~ “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Christ is describing the growth and greatness of His kingdom and of Christianity in this parable. He shows how it begins as the smallest of seeds and grows into the greatest of movements.
The message of the parable is a powerful message to individual believers and congregations as well as to Christianity as a whole. The seed of faith begins ever so small, but it grows into the greatest of bushes as it nourishes itself day by day. Mature (grown, Matthew 13:32) believers and congregations alike provide lodging for the people of a turbulent world.
A mustard seed is sown. The mustard seed was used in proverbial sayings to describe smallness in the day of Jesus. The mustard seed grew to be a great bush, a bush as large as a tree. Its characteristics were loftiness, expansion, and prominence.
The Man is Jesus Christ. The field is the world (cp. Matthew 13:24, 37-38). Jesus Christ plants the seed in His field which is the world. Note the world is His (cp. Matthew 13:24, 37-38).
Took (labon) means to deliberately take; to take with purpose and thought. The planting of the seed was not by chance. It did not just happen. Christ deliberately planted the seed and nourished the growth of the bush. The bush existed because of great purpose and thought.
The field means the world. As said, Christ plants the seed in His field. The world is His.
The Man is active, very active, not lazy or lethargic. He plans and He sows. This is a great lesson as we plant the mustard seed of our lives. What an enormous difference there would be in the world if we would plant our lives where many could come and find the care they so desperately need!
(Matthew 13:32) Christianity: the mustard seed grows and becomes the greatest of bushes.
- The beginning of the bush (Christianity). It began as the smallest of seeds. There are several facts that show just how small the beginning of the kingdom or Christianity really was.
- Christianity began in the soul of a single person. Christ launched the movement all by Himself. The idea and dream were in His soul and no one else’s. He moved out alone—in God’s strength.
- Christianity was born in the soul of a carpenter from the obscure villages of Nazareth and Capernaum (Galilee) and from an obscure and despised nation, Israel.
- Christianity was carried forth by men without position and without prestige. They were not mighty or noble or famous. They were only common folk, some from ordinary professions such as fishermen (Matthew 4:18-21), and some from despised professions such as tax collecting (Matthew 9:9).
- Christianity grew from just a few persons who had very “little faith” (cp. Matthew 14:31; Luke 12:32).
- Christianity numbered only about one hundred and twenty persons when Christ departed this earth.
Acts 1:15 ~ “In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,”
- The bush (Christianity) great into the greatest of bushes. Christ said explicitly that when the kingdom or Christianity is fully grown, it is the greatest movements.
- Christianity is the greatest movement socially. It has changed the face of the earth. Liberty and freedom, laws and institutions of mercy, justice and honor have evolved from Christianity.
- Christianity is the greatest movement individually and personally.
Pastor Andy Lambert ~ pastorandy@cvcog.church
Call/Text: 205.642.8744 ext 101