MUSTARD SEED FAITH

AND THE COST OF REVIVAL

 

TEXT: Luke 17:1-10 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. 7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" 

INTRODUCTION: 

For three and a half years, Jesus prepared His disciples to receive the Kingdom of God. He was preparing the new wineskin to receive the explosive power of the Holy Spirit—a power that would not fit into the wineskins of religion. Said another way, He was making them ready to steward the first revival in the Church—which would begin on the Day of Pentecost. God wasn’t going to turn over the keys of the Kingdom to those who would not know what to do with them. 

And so it has been the way of the Lord in every successive generation. When it is in His divine timing to send another heaven-sent revival, the Lord begins the process of preparing a new wineskin that will be ready to receive and to steward His Presence and power. I believe that we are in the season of that

preparation that precedes the next outpouring of God’s Spirit. Why do I believe that? I believe it because I see the Holy Spirit separating a remnant Church that He will pour His Spirit into. He is preparing a Church that He can trust with His power—a Church that will steward His Spirit with His love, wisdom, and purpose. What is that purpose? It is to bring in, I believe, the greatest harvest of souls that has ever been seen! 

The searching question today is this: how many in the Church will be willing to become that vessel of honor and glory that God will work through to accomplish what is in His heart for this generation, our generation? Are you one? Only you can answer that question. Many are called, but few are chosen. Let’s pray. 

I. If we are to become the new wineskin of the coming outpouring of the Spirit, then how we live is not an option. 

Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Jesus begins by telling His disciples the things that cause people to sin were inevitable. That was the world that they were living in. People carelessly did things without any regard of how it would negatively affect others. If what they did caused someone to sin, then so be it! “Am I my brother’s keeper,” once said Cain to God, after he had killed his brother Abel! 

Without question today, many people who go to Church and call themselves Christians, are totally unconcerned about how what they do may cause another believer to sin. “This is my life, and I’m going to live like I want to live it, and if someone stumbles over what I do it is not my problem.” Is it not? What did Jesus have to say about that? Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” Who are the “little ones” here? They are those who have put their faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Jesus said that it would be better to have a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea! (Even a small millstone weighed up to a 100 pounds!) than to be crushed by the weight of knowing that what you did caused someone to stumble who had put their faith in Jesus: Perhaps your little boy or girl who believes in Jesus and looks up to you; maybe that person at work who had given their life to Christ because of your witness; or the person at Church who you have influenced to get closer to Christ. 

Here is the point: Can the Lord trust a believer to properly steward His Presence and power if they are unconcerned about offending other believers by how they live their lives? The obvious answer is no, He can’t trust them, and He won’t. If we are to be part of the remnant Church that God will pour His Presence and power into, then we must take a step of faith and surrender this area of our life to the Lord. We must learn to love our neighbor as ourselves. As a true disciple of Christ, there are things that we just don’t do! Well that’s not easy pastor. No it’s not. And that is why not everyone will be part of the new wineskin that the Holy Spirit is preparing for the coming revival. Not every believer will crucify their flesh for the sake of not offending another Christiaan. How about you friend? Are you willing to pay the cost of being His disciple? 

II. If we are to become the new wineskin for the coming outpouring of God’s power, then forgiveness is not an option.

3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him. 

We spoke about forgiveness last week in our message on Job. We discovered that when Job forgave his three friends and prayed for them, God then trusted him with twice as much as he had before. The point I made was that the coming move of the Spirit will not come to those who refuse to walk in forgiveness. God will not trust His power to those who are willing to forgive others—those who are willing to be in right relationship with others—those who are unwilling to love their neighbor as themselves. 

Jesus is telling us here that if we see our brother sin, then we should rebuke him. That doesn’t mean judge him. Rather it means to love him enough to do all that you can to help him see that he has hurt you or has wronged you by what he has done. Treat Him the way that you would want to treat you. Work to heal your relationship with him and not tear it apart. Don’t treat your relationship with another believer as it doesn’t matter or is not important. Our relationship with God and with other believers should be the most important things in our lives. 

That is why Jesus went on to say, 4 “If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him.”

Those believers who fail to value their relationshipwith God and with other believers will not be entrusted to steward the coming move of God’s Spirit. This is an area that we must surrender to God. This is an area that we must mature in as disciples of Jesus if we are to see and experience the coming revival. And this leads to point three: 

III. If we are to become the new wineskin for the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then we must be willing to grow in our faith in Christ.

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. They were saying Lord, “what you are asking us to do is hard. And we can’t do what you are asking us to do if you don’t increase our faith.” 

The response of Jesus to their request is so important to being prepared for the coming revival! Let me show you how. 

Jesus said to them, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.”

Jesus is saying to them all you need is faith the size of a tiny mustard seed. All you need is to have enough faith so as not do things that would cause other believers to sin because you value their soul above being able to do what you want to do, and if you would have just enough faith to so love your neighbor as yourself that you are willing to put right relationship with them above your need to hold onto any unforgiveness, then you will be in the place where I can trust you to move mountains for the glory of God! You will be in the place to where you can say to the tree, be picked up and cast into the sea and it will obey you! Hear me friend, God will not entrust that kind of power to anyone who hasn’t learned to walk in love toward his brother; who hasn’t learned to love his neighbor as himself! 

I want to make one final point here to make sure we understand what Jesus is saying here. 

IV. If we are to become the new wineskin for the coming move of the Holy Spirit, then we must be free from self.

Jesus said, "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" 

Doing what God asks us to do does not mean that we have arrived or that we no longer have anything else to do as His disciples. 

If we are to be fully prepared to steward the coming move of God, then we must know that it isn’t about us or what we have done or may do. The coming move of God is not because we are good but rather because He is good. When the revival comes, we must give Him all the glory because we have only done what we should do as the sons and daughters of God. 

Further, the coming move of God’s Spirit will only be maintained as we continue to grow and mature in faith, as we continue as His servants to obey Him and do only what He leads us to do! 

CONCLUSION

As we conclude today, I know that this word will not be received by many because most in the Church are not willing to follow Jesus in full surrender. Too many have made the Christian life about themselves and not about putting the Kingdom of God first. But there will also be those who will receive this word from the Lord and walk in it. They will be a part of the remnant Church that God will trust to steward His Presence and power when He pours out His Spirit in the greatestrevival of our lifetime. 

ALTAR

How will you respond to the word of the Lord to you today? Will you walk away or will you say with His disciples, “Lord, increase our faith.”

It’s your choice friend. No one can make that choice for you.