LITTLE FAITH

MAY I direct your attention to a passage in Matthew's Gospel. It is St.Matthew 13:53-58. This short extract brings to our notice a people, who, because of their attitude to Jesus, shut themselves off from blessing.

They saw the miracles Jesus did, and heard the teaching he gave, and marvelled at his power and spiritual wisdom. But then they remembered his family and the fact he had grown up amongst them, and then felt too proud to take any notice of him.

Jesus replies to this rejection with sadness and says, "Only in his own home town and in his own house is a prophet without honour".

The last verse of this short passage speaks of the sad result of their attitude - "And Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith".

The people refused to believe there was anything very special in Jesus, and turned away from him. It was not that Jesus did not want to teach or was unwilling to do mighty acts. It was their rejection of him, and their despising of him, which caused them to disregard his teaching and to refuse to ask him to heal.

The lack of faith is a description of them which caused them to shut off from Jesus. It was not that Jesus could not do mighty works because their faith prevented him, but it was their attitude that rejected Jesus and anything that he would do for them. The way the Authorised Version of the Bible puts it does tend to lead us to understand that Jesus was made impotent by their unbelief. This is not so. Their unbelief did not make Jesus weak and powerless, but caused them to reject anything Jesus would do for them.

If a Christian has a desire for the power of Jesus to be seen in his life and in his church, his faith may be faltering, but this will not turn the blessing off, because the desire for the blessing is there. It is only when we despise Jesus or the means of grace he provides for our blessing, that we shut ourselves off from his power.

This condition illustrated in these people in Jesus' home town can be repeated in a greater of lesser degree with us today.

There are many "means of grace" i.e. ways in which Jesus comes to bless us, which are given to us by the goodness of God for our spiritual blessing, growth and nourishment. These are Church Services - including early morning Holy Communion and the Evening Service on Sundays. There are also the week day times of fellowship, study and prayer, books, special meetings and notes to help us understand the Bible.

We can have a similar attitude to these 'means of grace' or the ministry in them as these people had to Jesus' ministry. These 'means of grace' are indeed ministries of Jesus. Jesus gives them to us for our blessing, just as Jesus was prepared to bless these people in his home town.

Whether the power and blessing of Jesus is known through them will depend on our attitude to them. We can despise them, and so receive little or no blessing. Or we can say Jesus is there to bless, and with hungry believing hearts seek Jesus, and his power and blessing will result.

Take for example a Sunday service which is ordinary rather than special. Perhaps we despise it. We expect it to be dull, so it is dull to us, because we have already disbelieved that there is any blessing there. We are in reality despising Jesus who gives us this means of grace, so Jesus can do no mighty spiritual work through it for us, because we have shut ourselves off from the blessing. Jesus has offered us blessing, but we have turned away from it.

It is not that the mighty blessing is not available, in fact it is. What is wrong is our attitude to the means which Jesus offers to us to dispense his blessing.

The same is true when we come to ministry. If we have made up our minds it is dull, or that the one ministering has nothing of importance to say, and that he or she has not got the insight yet, unbelief and rejection has set in. Anything preached is already rejected. The wisdom Jesus has for us is, in our opinion, already either wrong or second rate. So we get no blessing.

The problem is not so much in the ministry or the service but in ourselves and our attitude to them. Of course there are ministers who do not preach the Word.I do not have these in mind, but those faithful pastors who lack the same charisma as more gifted ministers, and so seem ordinary and dull. Jesus has a blessing in it for us, but we have turned against the means of grace he offers, and so unbelief shuts us off from any blessing.

This problem may manifest itself in dislike and anger at the minister. We are offended in him and so we reject all he has to say, regardless.

Often the problem gets so bad that we get to the place where we neglect the means of grace altogether, and never or rarely attend it.

The problem is not first in the means of grace but in ourselves, just as it was with these people in Jesus home town. It is true that ministry can be poor and fall short of what it ought to be, but this is a different matter. What I am speaking of is ministry which does not quite fit our perception of what ministry should be, or what we think is best, or what we feel we would like. This is opinion and does not invalidate the ministry, it just causes us to reject it, and thus despise Jesus who has provided it.