O thou of little faith

 

The Kingdom Principle of Faith - O thou of little Faith

This is an expression only used by the Lord Jesus and He used it five times. This is not a compliment, it is criticism. Let’s explore these five occurrences to learn what it is and what are the signs of little faith.

Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

This is from the Sermon on the Mount. This entire portion (19-34) is obviously very good, but for our purposes we’ll begin with v 25

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life [don’t be anxious or stressed], what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.

He goes on to say God provides for the birds and beautifies the lilies of the field.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

This hits most of us right where we live. We spend so much time thinking about, worried about, concerned about, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, What shall we wear? This is where we have little faith. He says, Don’t live for this stuff, seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Seeking first the kingdom is faith; seeking these things is little faith.

Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?

We read this in 8:23-27. He and his disciples got into a boat and a bad storm came up. The disciples, who knew these waters, felt their lives were in danger – We perish! We can’t make light of this, they knew they were in real danger. But Jesus chastises them! Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Their focus was on the waves, their faith in their ability. Fear is a sign of little faith because fear is faith in an inadequate source. They forgot Jesus was in the boat - He wasn’t worried, He was in fact sleeping. If their confidence had been in Him they would have had peace instead of fear. This is the peace of God – having the same attitude toward my problems God has.

When Mark tells us about this, he has a slight difference

4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Little faith is not weak faith, or young faith, but rather no faith. How is it that ye have no faith?

Matthew 14:31 O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

This is another time they were on the sea of Galilee, and another storm. This time they were in the boat by themselves, and Jesus came to them in the middle of the night, walking on the water (24-33).

It is probably sometime between 3 and 6 AM. They are now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary and here comes Jesus walking on the water! They were startled, but Jesus comforts them, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. There are hardly any sweeter words when we are in a great trial!

Peter jumps up, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And Jesus said, Come. Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Jesus is walking on the water, and so is Peter! This is how faith works, Peter didn’t decide to step out of the boat on his own, Jesus said Come. It was this word of the Lord that enabled Peter to believe.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Peter’s trouble began right here – his attention, his focus, what he was looking at, went from Jesus to the wind. He saw the wind. (1)

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

At this point Peter did the right thing, Lord, save me. And He does. But then He chastises Peter, O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? This is . . . Peter just walked on water! Yet when he sank, the Lord scolded him, O thou of little faith. He is trying to teach Peter, seeking to strengthen and increase his faith. I plan to look at doubt next week, but I will just say now, Doubt is deadly to faith, and it will cause you to sink.

Peter’s faith was in response to Jesus’ “Come.”
Peter’s failure was a sight problem, “he saw the wind boisterous” (2)
Also, did you notice “O thou of little faith”? This is the beauty of the KJV. Thou, thee, thine are second person singular; ye, yours are second person plural. In this case Jesus was addressing only Peter.

Matthew 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

This is found in Matthew 16:1-12. Jesus had just had a run in with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, then He and His disciple got in a boat (again, the sea of Galilee!) and crossed over to the other side. But the disciple had forgotten to bring bread. When Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, they assumed He was talking about bread. It was here that Jesus exclaimed, O ye of little faith. Their thoughts were only on carnal things, bread; they had already forgotten that the Lord had fed the multitudes, five thousand with five loaves and four thousand with the seven loaves. He wasn’t worried about bread. It is so easy to be absorbed with matters of this life, Do we have enough bread? that you can’t see the big picture. This is little faith. This results in us being dull in spiritual matters – we quickly forget what He has done for us and around us, and we don’t understand spiritual things.

Luke 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

We are ending on nearly the same note we started on. This is found in Luke 12:15-28. Jesus is teaching, and it is a powerful teaching!

15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

He tells the story of a foolish rich man and his application is

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them…
27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

This must be a real problem for us, a temptation we often give in to: worrying about the carnal and material things of life, food, clothes, house, car. The Lord tells us that being anxious about these things is to be of little faith.


What is little faith?

+ taking our eyes off Jesus, and instead seeing the circumstances; we invariably sink like a rock

+ having our thoughts occupied with material things, which causes anxiety and stress; Jesus says trust God and seek first the kingdom

+ being obsessed with material things, consequently we become dull in our understanding of spiritual things

+ forgetting Jesus is in the boat with us in the storms of life, as a result we become afraid

Remember:
Fear is faith in an inadequate source.
The peace of God is having the same attitude toward our situation that God has.

Next week: Great Faith


(1) Others saw the giants, Caleb saw the Lord;
They were sore disheartened, He believed God's word;
And that word he fully, fearlessly, obeyed--
Was it not sufficient that the Lord hath said?

I will never leave thee;
Go in this thy might;
One shall chase a thousand,
Two put ten to flight.
(Caleb Saw the Lord; Anna E. Richards / Mabel J. Camp)


(2) Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
(Helen Lemmel)