|
The Tiny Giant
Sunday Worship Sermon
JULY 27, 2008 - "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field."
Matthew 13:31
Over the last two weeks, we have seen how Jesus explains heavenly things by comparing them with the
everyday occurrences of people's lives. Today Jesus continues to speak in parables when he says, "The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field; it is the smallest of
all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs..." (Matthew 13:31-32a).
Jesus is comparing our faith in God with the growth of a tiny seed into a large plant — that with just the
tiniest bit of faith on our part, God is able to do amazing things in our lives. The words "my cup
runneth over..." in Psalm 23, express one person's testimony of how this worked in their life.
Our Old Testament lesson for today describes such faith. The reading is commonly held up as the story
of how God works in Jacob's life to bring about the next chapter of salvation history. But that's not why I
refer to it this morning. I use the story because embedded within it, is the story of Leah. We're engaged
in storytelling, you and me, getting to know one another. Through the story of Jacob, we come to know
Leah's story, a story of the power of simple faith.
Jacob, next in line to lead God's people, was in love with the outwardly beautiful Rachael. Laban was
Rachael's father and he agreed to give Rachael in marriage to Jacob if Jacob agreed to work for him for
seven years. Jacob agreed, but then Laban deceived Jacob. He sent Leah, Rachael's older sister, to
Jacob's tent on the night of the arranged marriage. Jacob was infuriated. He demanded an explanation.
Laban simply said that it was his people's custom to marry the older daughter first, that if Jacob still
wanted Rachael, he could have her by working a second seven years for Jacob; Jacob agreed.
Daily life in Jacob's household was very difficult for Leah. Jacob was deeply in love with Rachael but not
Leah, and she knew it. Leah had to live with being unloved day in and day out while witnessing Jacob and
Rachael's love for one another right in front of her all the time. Worse, Rachael taunted her older sister
Leah about Jacob's love every chance she could.
But one thing Leah had was her simple faith in God. Now, bearing children was the highest honor for a
woman in ancient times. God saw Leah's situation and knew of the faith in her heart and he blessed her
with children, six sons and a daughter. Through her children, more honor came to Leah. Her sons
became the leaders of the tribes of Israel, God's chosen people. Then, the greatest of all honors
imaginable was bestowed on her. Generations later, through the line ofJudah, one of her sons, was
borne Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior of the universe.
Leah didn't live an easy life. But God saw her situation, and I have to think that through the eyes of
faith, Leah was able to see the ways God provided for her.
My own faith has grown over the years. I got away from church after college. I admire all of you young
adults who are staying active in church; you're smart and you're setting a great example for the youth of
Salem. I attended church sporadically for awhile, but then when Donna and I were married and had
children, we once again began to attend church regularly. I became active in serving the church in
different ways. Through this service, God showed me some things about myself that I hadn't seen
before. He showed me the gifts for service that he gave me when he created me. Eventually, I was able
to see that God was calling me to serve his church as a pastor.
When you're married, it is true that you become one, but, at the same time, you do not lose your
individuality — you are still the individual person that God created. Going into the ministry was not just
my decision. Donna and God had been walking together on her own faith journey. The day she called
me at work to tell me she supported my going into the ministry was an amazing day. All this time, God
was working with our tiny faith to help show us that things would work out okay.
We weren't so sure: continuing to send two children to college, adding a seminary education for me
while cutting our income in half — it didn't seem logical, responsible, or possible.
The days leading up to my last day at Marriott, where I worked, seemed like I was steadily floating down
the Niagara River toward the brink of Niagara Falls. I thought walking out of the doors for the last time
would be like going over the falls. "Will the fall be terrifying when I go over?" I thought. "When I plunge
into the water or a rock, will I survive?"
When I passed through the doors at Marriot for the last time, when I got to the brink of Niagara Falls, to
my amazement, I never went over the falls. We worried about the loss of my salary but then, within the
first year, increases in Donna's salary largely made up for it — it shouldn't have happened but it did.
We worried about losing our support group at our home congregation until they offered me a part-time
job so I could do my seminary field work there — it shouldn't have happened but it did.
We worried about giving up our home in Poolesville and leaving behind close friends, until the
congregation of Salem here in Wolfsville welcomed us into their midst and through long hours of hard
work made a beautiful home for us.
Each time we thought we would go over the brink of Niagara Falls, God saw our fear and scooped us up
into his loving hands.
Our faith is not a great faith. It's just like yours, tiny and simple. But over the years it has grown
because we can look back and see how God is at work in our lives. We see through the eyes of faith.
Generally, eyesight diminishes as we grow older. But our faith eyesight actually becomes better as we
grow more mature in faith. When we see how God has been at work getting us through one challenge in our lives, we grow in trust that God will take care of us during the next challenge, and is in fact taking care of us every day of our lives.
Perhaps you have experienced something similar. We take a step of faith, we see how God takes care of
us, and this enables us to take the next step and our faith grows.
And it is hard to see this just ourselves, isn't it? We need the help of others to see what is happening. It
is as though our eyes of faith are all interconnected — and I believe they are. Ever have someone point
out to you something they've noticed that you are really good at, and how their feedback helped you
more and more share that gift with others? It would not have happened without their feedback.
Ever been inspired to take an action in your own life after hearing someone give a testimony of how God
is at work in their life? It would not have happened without their testimony.
When someone says, "1 don't need to go to church to be a person of faith," we can respond gently, "yes
you do" because we know in our own journey that we very literally need each other's eyes of faith to
see all the ways God is at work in the world. To try to do it alone would be to end up with a very narrow
faith.
We don't fully understand how the tiniest mustard seed grows into the largest plant. We know it has a
lot to do with the sun, and the rain, and the process of photosynthesis. We may think we have it all
figured out, but no matter how great our scientific knowledge, the mystery of God's creative power will
always remain a mystery. But we can see, and touch, and feel, and smell a plant that has grown from a
seed.
I don't know how we made it financially, how we kept our support group at Memorial longer during
seminary, how it came to be that joy already fills our hearts living in God's parsonage here at Salem -I
do know that, just like the fully-grown plant, God made it happen. With each passing day in our journey
of faith, I've come to understand better and better the Bible verse, "Through God all things are possible."
And later today, during the ice cream social and balloon launch, when we send our balloons aloft, we'll
make that Bible verse known to everyone who finds one of our balloons. Maybe it will help someone
have the faith to get through a circumstance in their life.
What is the next step God is calling us to take? Give something up in order to find a new way to Iive or
serve? Face death? Have the patience to get through a long recovery? Face a court proceeding? Serve
time in jail? Volunteer to serve, asking for nothing in return? Step aside so another can serve? Change
careers? Refuse a promotion? Tell someone that we think they are on the wrong path? Reflect on the
feedback another has given us about our actions? Admit to someone that we were wrong? Forgive
someone? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, they are all situational. But in each
situation, we should try to discern what God wants us to do. God only asks for our faith in him to be as
tiny as a mustard seed. With that faith, however tiny, God through his infinite power to love will
perform miracles. I know, I've seen them and you have too. Amen.
|
