A LITTLE BIT GOES A LONG WAY

When I was about 10 years old I decided to help out my mom by doing my own laundry. So, I gathered up my clothes and headed for the laundry room in the basement. I loaded up the washer and then went looking for the ever familiar box of Tide. I couldn't find it anywhere! All I found was this unfamiliar bottle of something called AMWAY Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergent. I didn't bother to read the directions.   I figured if it took a half a cup of the powdered stuff, it must take a half a cup of the liquid. So I measured it out, dumped it in, flipped on the washer, and went back upstairs!

A few minutes later I returned to the laundry room, and to my shock the washing machine was encased in an amebic mass of gooey lather, gobs of foamy bubbles coming out of every crevice.  That was the day I discovered that "A little bit of concentrated liquid laundry detergent goes a long way."

Something like that is going on in this gospel for this morning. The disciples had been following Jesus for quite some time and they had heard and seen him teach incredible truths, tell astounding stories and perform amazing miracles. They had witnessed him giving sight to the blind, empowering the crippled to walk, calming the stormy seas, casting out demons and even raising the dead! They had heard him utter words of forgiveness for grievous sinners and proclaim love for his worst enemies. He had even told them it was necessary he go to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

I am sure they were overwhelmed! There was so incredibly much to this amazing man - more than they could take in!  His teachings were inspiring and confusing - life-giving and frightening – powerful yet puzzling. They wanted to believe in him with all their strength; to follow him with all their resolve.  But they were filled with much doubt, many questions and were so afraid!

Jesus had just finished teaching what must have been one the hardest things they ever heard him say. He had just told them that if the same person were to sin against them even seven times a day, and then repent seven times a day -- they must forgive each and every time. He implied that forgiveness for his followers should be as automatic as a slave obeying the master.  Feeling crushed  under the weight of such a teaching, they cried out:  "Lord, increase our faith!  What you ask is impossible!”

Jesus then provides this provocative answer, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

Was he admonishing them for having little faith?  Perhaps to a certain degree he was.  But this was far more than merely admonishment. He was also proclaiming a phenomenal Gospel truth!  His response implies both good news and bad news!

The BAD NEWS is that given the kind of world it is with all the powers of evil, chaos, and sin that batter away at our lives from without and within, it is likely we will never have faith much larger than a speck of mustard seed!  Your faith and mine, relatively speaking, might never become any bigger than the smallest of seeds and tiniest of specks.

But the Good News is it is enough!   In the Kingdom of God "a little bit (of faith) goes a long way!"

Faith is inconceivably powerful, but not because of anything inherent in itself. We don't have faith in faith. We don't have faith for the sake of faith. Faith is inconceivably powerful because of that to which it is connected; because of that which channels through it.

A good friend of mine while living in Alaska had worked on the construction of the Alaskan Oil Pipeline that stretches 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. We were discussing faith one day, and we decided that faith is a little like that Alaskan Oil Pipeline. The pipeline in and of itself is useless without the oil.  Without the God-given reserves of oil to which it is connected the pipeline means nothing! The power of the pipeline is in that which it carries. “The power is in the crude” my friend would say!

It's the same with faith!  Faith in and of itself means nothing; but faith, even the tiniest amount connected to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ means everything and creates endless possibilities. The power of faith is in the power of the love of God that flows through it.

The theme story of our stewardship emphasis this year is the feeding of the 5000. (John 6)  We have entitled it, “What God can do with a lunch.”  In the face of the need of thousands of hungry stomachs, a little boy offers his lunch to Jesus.  What is the lunch box of child in the face of such pervasive hunger? Insignificant that’s what it is!  However, handed over to Jesus (that’s the act of faith) the boy’s lunch fed thousands. (that’s the power of God’s grace at work).

What stewardship is about is, what are we going to place in the hands of Jesus?  The little boy gave everything he had, but even so it appeared to be meager in the face of such overwhelming need.  However, through his gift of faith flowed the gift of God’s grace to many.      

As you consider your gifts to SOTH for this next year this week, ask yourself the question, “Do I trust God enough to place back in his hands what God has already given me in order that God’s kingdom can be advanced through this ministry?”  Do you trust that God’s grace can flow through the gifts you make in faith?

Just a little bit of faith; just a smidgen can begin to make all the difference and create endless possibilities.

Just a little bit of faith; just a pinch in the forgiveness of God that flowed down from the cross in the blood of Jesus can totally transform the way you think about yourself. You can begin to see yourself as a being loved with an eternal love; a forgiven sinner; a cherished child of God. In our impersonal and dehumanized age what better news could there possibly be?

Just a little bit of faith; just a particle in the risen Lord Jesus Christ can be enough to empower you to rise out of the ashes of your life; whether it be the ashes of the consequences of your own sin or whether it be the ashes caused by unfortunate circumstance.

Just a little bit of faith, just a trace in the risen Lord Jesus Christ can be enough to put within you a burning eternal hope even in the face of the prospect of your own mortality.

Just a little bit of faith, just an iota in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus can be enough for you to begin to see others as he saw them; not as enemies or adversaries or sinners, but as children of God who need to know of God's love for them.

Just a little bit of faith, just a dot in the Lord who fed thousands with a boy’s lunch can be enough for us to place in Jesus’ hands our generous gifts that they might be empowered and multiplied to build the kingdom of God through this ministry. 

A speck; a dab, a dot, a trace, a pinch, a dash, a particle, a smidgen, a pittance, a fraction, an iota; it is enough - for even more incredible than faith is that which it channels: the power of the amazing love of God in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.