O YE OF LITTLE FAITH

J. Renton

Matthew 6: 28–33; 8: 23–27; 14: 25–31; 16: 5–12

The gospel of Matthew speaks often of faith, a very essential feature to mark believers. Faith believes and trusts. In Genesis 3 the serpent came in between Eve and God, so that she did not believe God and did not trust God—that brought in the distance. God had said something, and the serpent suggested that they should not believe and should not trust God, that God was not as good as He said He was. Faith recovers what is for God, because faith believes God and trusts God. God lost the confidence of mankind, but confidence is regained in persons who have faith. Hence the importance of this Christian quality of faith.

Four times in this gospel, the Lord says to the disciples that they have little faith. I suppose we would all have to confess that we are persons of little faith. Two persons in this gospel the Lord speaks of as having great faith—the Roman Officer, the centurion, the Lord said of him, “Not even in Israel have I found so great faith” (Matthew 8: 10), and the Canaanitish woman in chapter 15, “O woman, thy faith is great” (Matthew 15: 28). They were Gentiles, but they had great faith, but the disciples, alas, had little faith. That may be a word for us. In chapter 9 we have two blind men who cry for mercy to have their sight. The scripture says, “Do ye believe that I am able to do this? They say to him, Yea, Lord. Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you “(Matthew 9: 28, 29). That is a principle, things happen to us according to our faith, showing the importance of this Christian feature of faith, “According to your faith, be it unto you”. The Lord said to the Canaanitish woman in chapter 15, “O woman, thy faith is great. Be it to thee as thou desirest”. The measure of our faith could be the measure in which we get help

from God. What is the measure of our faith?

In this first scripture the Lord speaks about being careful, actually being too careful, being obsessed with tomorrow and what we are to eat, what we are to drink, what we are to put on.

All these things have their place, but the Lord says, “But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will he not much rather you, O ye of little faith?” It shows little faith when we are over concerned about these material things. It is testing and challenging, if you lose your job, if you are unemployed; if some calamity happens like that it is very easy to be obsessed with it, and to be over careful. The Lord says, “O ye of little faith”. I suppose that would mark all of us in some sense, being over careful.

Paul writes in Philippians, “The Lord is near, Be careful about nothing” (Philippians 4: 5, 6); that does not mean that we are careless; it means that we are not to be over caring or worrying. Certainly we are to meet righteousness, but Paul says, “Be careful about nothing”, do not let care obsess us, but “in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. That phrase “to God” means the person who requests is in the presence of God, he is near to God, let your requests be known in the presence of God “and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus”. That is faith, committing our circumstances whatever they may be to God.

Little faith in this first scripture was because they were over careful about things. The Lord says, “your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things”. Our heavenly Father provides for us; let us have faith and dependence upon our heavenly Father. Think of the resources He has; infinite resources belong to our heavenly Father, and He knows and cares that we have need of these things. But the Lord says, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”. They were disciples, followers of the Lord Jesus, and He has to say, “O ye of little faith ... your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things”. Have faith in our heavenly Father. I know circumstances can be difficult and very trying, but let them bring us nearer to our heavenly Father; by faith be in His presence, make our requests known to Him. Faith would do that and would be strengthened.

Difficulties confront us, dangers, sorrows and all these things, our heavenly Father knows all about these things, “your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things”. I know how we can be worried, over worried, but that is little faith. Let our faith be strengthened and know our heavenly Father. We see persons had faith in the Old Testament, although the word faith is only mentioned once in Habakkuk. Abraham, for instance, was called, and he went out not knowing where he was going; that was faith. He did not know where he was going, but he knew the God who called him. Let us know our heavenly Father who is able to provide for us. It does not mean to say we are careless, but not to be obsessed with care, because it would hinder our committal to the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

In Matthew 8 we have the incident on the lake; it is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It says, “And he went on board ship and his disciples followed him; and behold, the water became very agitated on the sea, so that the ship was covered by the waves”. It says in Luke that there was a sudden squall (see Luke.8: 23); in Mark a violent gust of wind (see Mark 4: 37). These things happen sometimes, in the testimony; sudden squalls come in.

In the other incident in Matthew 14 it says that the wind was contrary; the wind is often contrary, but when believers row together they make progress. John tells us that they made progress of about twenty-five or thirty stadia (see John 6: 19), which is about three miles.

When believers row together there is progress, but what tests us is a sudden squall, a sudden gust of wind. It was alarming, because it says, “that the ship was covered by the waves”.

Then it says, “but he slept”. The Lord had said previously, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head”.

He laid His head in this ship, He slept; He was restful in the midst of these conditions. It must have been very trying for the ship was covered by the waves, but He slept. The sea was agitated, and the disciples were even more agitated, and that is how we become when a sudden squall comes. It says, “he slept”; He did not interfere. It is like the Lord’s absence, and He leaves things to us, and sudden squalls happen. They say here, “Lord save—we perish”. I suppose the “we” would include the Lord Himself; I suppose they thought the Lord would perish with them in the ship. They wake Him up because they thought everything was going to come to disaster. The Lord says, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” I know how difficult it is when circumstances arise in the testimony or otherwise; a sudden squall happens and we become agitated and all concerned, all worried. He says to them, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Fear is the obstacle here. The Lord was restful, He said, Why are ye fearful? Fear comes into our minds very often, it shows the element of little faith. He says, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Then, having arisen, He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The Lord slept, was inactive and restful.

I have often wondered what these disciples ought to have done. Could they possibly have been as restful as the Lord was in these circumstances? The ship was covered by the waves; is it possible they could have been as restful as the Lord was? That is how the Lord would have us. If a sudden squall happens and difficulties come in, can we be restful, peaceful, quiet? In any case it says, “the disciples came and awoke him, saying, Lord save—we perish”. The Lord did intervene,

and the Lord will intervene when a sudden squall comes, although He may not intervene immediately. But He will intervene. He will show what His mind is. It says, “Then, having arisen, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm”. Maybe that has not happened yet, but that will happen, the Lord will show, but meantime we are tested, our faith is tested as to whether we can be restful although the ship was filled with water. It was a very alarming situation, and we sometimes find ourselves in alarming situations. The Lord is restful. Can we be restful? “O ye of little faith”, the Lord says. I know how difficult it is but the Lord was restful. May He strengthen our faith!

In chapter 14 we have doubt. There is anxious care in chapter 6, and there is fear in chapter 8, and there is doubt in Matthew 14. The Lord said to Peter, “O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?” He did walk on the waters to go to Jesus, that was affection and faith too. Peter says, “Lord, if it be thou, command me to come to thee upon the waters”. The Lord said,

“Come”. Peter, having descended from the ship, walked upon the waters to go to Jesus. But it says, “seeing the wind strong he was afraid”. He got his eye off the Lord, as we all tend to do.

He became occupied with the wind, seeing the wind strong; he became occupied with the opposition instead of being occupied with the Lord; that is an evidence of little faith. I am saying all this that the Lord may strengthen our faith. Faith is always in something outside of ourselves; there is nothing in ourselves to have faith in; faith is in God, in the Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the blood of Jesus; it is always in something outside of ourselves. Like the ship’s anchor which is put outside of the ship, to lay hold of rock, or something solid. There is doubt in Peter, but the Lord did stretch out. His hand and caught hold of Peter. That was the Lord’s priestly activity. With Peter there was doubt, there was weakness; he meant to walk on the waters to go to Jesus, but he became occupied with the wind instead of having his eye on the Lord, and he sank, but the Lord in His priestly support stretched out His hand.

We can always count on the Lord’s priestly support and help in our weakness. The Lord does not exactly condemn him here, but He says, “O thou of little faith”, and because of the little faith the Lord strengthened him. He put forth His hand and got hold of him, so that he walked on the water supported by the Lord Jesus as Priest. Then He said, “O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?” The Lord would remove every doubt from our hearts and from our minds.

Faith believes and trusts. The enemy got in at the beginning through sowing distrust in God, and that is what he will do at every opportunity; he will bring in concern about our circumstances, he will bring in fear to disturb us, he will bring in doubt to cause disturbance.

Faith overcomes all these features, faith in the Person, in the Lord Jesus. He was in the ship in chapter 8 with the disciples, and if He was there they need not have had fear, but they feared, as we often do. Here there was doubt.

Now in chapter 16 the disciples had gone to the other side and they had forgotten to take bread. That did not matter very much. If they had been so committed to the Lord’s things that they had forgotten to take bread that would have been all right. It says, “they had forgotten to take bread. And Jesus said to them, See and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, Because we have taken no bread.

And Jesus knowing it, said, Why reason ye among yourselves, O ye of little faith, because ye have taken no bread?” Then He goes over what they had experienced. He says, “Do ye not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many hand-baskets ye took up?” You forgot to take bread, but do you not remember what happened when the five thousand were fed with five loaves and two small fishes? What we experience in our history whether individually or

collectively is meant to strengthen our faith. Have we not had examples of how the Lord has come in for us individually? Have I not had examples of how the Lord has come in in my life? Have not you, dear brother or sister? Have we not experienced how the Lord has come in for us locally in various difficulties and in various matters? All these things are meant to strengthen our faith and to strengthen our confidence in the Lord’s ability to help us. He says, “Do ye not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the, five thousand, and how many hand-baskets ye took up? nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How do ye not understand that it was not concerning bread I said to you, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and “Sadducees?” We often misunderstand, and do not gain sufficiently by how the Lord has come in for us on previous occasions. That is meant to strengthen our faith. They had little faith because they did not understand, did not remember, did not have their confidence increased in how the Lord had come in for them. Let us consider how the Lord has come in for us. In our individual lives, in our families, in our localities and universally, we see how the Lord has come in for His people; all that is meant to strengthen our confidence in the Lord Jesus and His ability to see us through.

So He says, “How do ye not understand that it was not concerning bread I said to you ...?”

Then they comprehended that He did not speak of being beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. I think we could all say we have little faith, but the Lord would strengthen our faith. He has so acted that He ought to have gained our confidence far more than He has. Disturbances, difficulties come in and our faith is little, but may the Lord help us to appreciate Him. The fall came about because God lost the confidence of man. He has regained that confidence by the work of reconciliation, and He has regained the confidence of persons who have faith. May that

confidence be strengthened, increasingly so; confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ, in our heavenly Father and in the work of the Spirit. This would lead to a certain confidence in one another, not implicitly, but a certain confidence in one another; the basis of fellowship is confidence in one another. May the Lord encourage us for His name’s sake.

Address at Dundee
28 March 1992