Sermon: Avoiding the Ruts of Puny Faith

#1793A
Bill Onisick
Given 30-Nov-24; 38 minutes 2024-11-30

Have you ever ridden a motorcycle, maybe a bicycle or a car on a dirt road with deep ruts that have been entrenched into that clay soil? That soil, then, is baked by the sun and those ruts are now very hard. It is almost impossible to keep your tires from getting into one of those ruts and going in a different direction than you really want to go. It takes a constant pressure to keep your vehicle going down the path that you want to go and not getting stuck in that rut and going elsewhere. And that is exactly what it is like living in this world trying to control our mind and keeping it out of the ruts.

In reality, our mind is the only thing we can control—and yet rarely do we give enough thought to our thoughts. We are going to continue our study today into keeping our mind out of the ruts. You can start turning to Jeremiah 17. We will get there in a minute.

Right this very second, no doubt, I have already lost someone. At least one. Maybe others have let their mind drift on to something else. Why does our mind drift so quickly, so easily on to something else? Why does it go down a path, fall into a rut that we do not want it to go? Again, usually it is because we have not put enough thought into controlling the one thing that we can control—our mind. We just kind of let it go and it takes constant discipline to learn how to control our thoughts. Instead of holding on to that metaphorical steering wheel in our mind, it is easy to just let it go because it does not take any work. We can just let it drift around and go to whatever it wants to think about. It takes constant work to keep our mind focused on God throughout the day, all day, regardless of what the circumstance may be.

And make no mistake, brethren, make no mistake, this one thing that we can control is the most important thing that we must control because Satan loves, and I do mean loves, an uncontrolled mind. An uncontrolled mind is Satan's playground. That is how he throws his fiery darts. That is how he spawns thoughts of sin because we let him, we do not control our thoughts.

I will tell you, I have spent most of my life not properly controlling my thoughts. You know, it is something I just did not give enough thought to. And I cannot even remember, like in school, being taught to control my thoughts enough. Controlling our thoughts is indeed a learned lesson. It is an internal muscle that requires constant work to have it developed to a point where we can stay tuned on God in all of our thoughts. It is a process of becoming more self-aware of who we are and how our parents and all of our life experiences have made us think the way we think.

Now we did this last time I spoke, but we are going to do it again here. Some of you were not there. Imagine behind me, right here, is a giant news ticker scrolling right to left, right to left, are all of these words on there. We have seen them before, maybe on TV, on a computer screen, they are scrolling with the latest news. It could be stock prices, it could be the latest scores in a football game, but it is constantly scrolling right to left.

But on this ticker for all to see are each of our thoughts. It is a kind of a scary thought, is it not? Now already we probably are controlling our thoughts because we do not want anyone to see what could have been up there. I am sure that Sam, Zach, and Liz are wondering again, is dad going to mention me in this message? It could happen. Bill is thinking, did Kyle bring any of that leftover brisket to snack on after services? And maybe Joe Baity is thinking, is he going to appear in the next edition of Cops with "Bad Boys" playing in the background?

But as we study into controlling our mind, we must remember that the word heart used in the Bible is actually describing the center part, the central core of our mind. It is not describing our heart, our organ here pumping blood. It is describing the center core of our mind that drives all of our thoughts, our emotions, our attitudes, and our behavior. Throughout both Old and New Testament scriptures, the word heart and mind are overlapping concepts, not separate, overlapping concepts used to represent the entirety of our mind, both intellect and emotions.

So when we read all of those scriptures, the many scriptures that command us to love God with all our heart and love Him with all our mind, God is really saying, love Me with all your mind and all your mind. It is a doubling down, so to speak, to reemphasize how important it is for us to control our mind and ensure that God is in all our thoughts.

We are going to read Jeremiah 17, verse 10. Actually, let us get a running start in verse 9. We should read this as one we should always remember.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

So our great God is constantly searching and testing our mind. He tells us He knows all of our thoughts, even the intent of our mind. And we see here an early connection, a very important connection to our thoughts and the fruit that we produce. Out of our mind comes the seeds of thought that ultimately produce either good or bad fruit. If we have a bad thought in our mind, it will eventually come out in words or actions. But God sees it way, way before it ever happens.

David writes in Psalm 139, "You have searched me and known me. . . You understand my thoughts afar off. . . and are acquainted with all my ways." And we read multiple scriptures about Jesus Christ when He was here on earth says that, "but Jesus, knowing their thoughts, . . but Jesus knew their thoughts. . . Jesus perceived their thoughts, . . . but He knew their thoughts. . . But He, knowing their thoughts, . . ." I could go on and on and on. Jesus Christ knew the thoughts of those that were around him just like God knows all our thoughts. How often is He in them?

Learning to maintain control of that metaphorical steering wheel in our mind is the most important thing in life. The most important thing. Why? Well first, God commands us to love Him with all our mind and all our mind. There is reason enough. It is a command. If we do not do it, we are failing, we are sinning. Second, God calls us, He gifts us with the knowledge of His truth and He commands us to study, to know, and to use His Word. And lastly, this is very important, all sin starts here first, starts in our mind before it becomes action.

Proverbs 4:23 makes this so clear. Solomon says, "Keep your heart [or mind] with all diligence [vigilance], for from it flows the springs of life." And we could tie that to Psalm 10, verse 4. We did this last time.

Psalm 10:4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.

When God is not in our thoughts, our prideful mind will produce selfish works of the flesh.

Let us go back to I Chronicles 28, verse 9. We were there last time, but we are going to double click on this one this time. We could tie this right into Clyde's message by the way, a few weeks back, on not judging or criticizing others. If God is in all our thoughts, our comparison then is solely between us and God. It is not between us and anyone else. That is indeed how we avoid the sin of being critical and judging other people.

I Chronicles 28:9 "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you."

David is telling Solomon to know God and serve Him with both a loyal heart—loyal mind—and a willing mind. So let us look at that real quick.

Loyal, Strong's #8003 is shalem, meaning complete, full, just, made ready, peaceable, perfect, quiet, whole. So we are to serve Him with a loyal, a complete, peaceable mind. And we are to serve Him with a willing mind, Strong's #2655, chaphets, meaning pleased with, delighted in, desired, favored, having pleasure, willing.

So remember the heart and mind are overlapping words by definition. We are instructed here to serve God with a loyal mind, a mind that is complete, full, just, peaceful, perfect, wholly focused on serving God in whatever circumstance we have. And second, a willing mind, that is, a mind that is pleased with, actually desires, favors, has pleasure in, and delights in serving God and doing His will not ours. That one is a little harder.

Right now, right this very second, are we loving God with all of our mind and all of our mind? Probably not, probably not. It is hard to do. Are we serving God with both a loyal mind and a willing mind? What is on our mind's ticker for God to see right now or all day long on this Sabbath day? Are we listening or are we allowing our minds just to drift off like a selfish goldfish? Do we pick and choose which speakers or subjects we want to hear and just tune out everything else because we know what is best for us or do we have faith to trust God inspires everything? God is in control of everything in His church.

Remember, when we let go of that steering wheel in our mind, it is always just going to drift off into a selfish rut. It is going to go where we want to go, not where God wants us to go.

Today, we are going to explore one of those ruts that is pretty common. It is pretty common for us to fall into. It is a rut that I struggle with from time to time and just like every message I have ever given, I speak to myself first and foremost. So stay with me on this self-awareness journey. We are going to start with the definition from Jesus Christ Himself about this rut I call "puny faith." And then we will conclude with some proactive and reactive actions, things that we can do to avoid the puny ruts in our lives.

Now, we know we are commanded to love God, again, with all our mind and all our minds, to serve Him with both a loyal and willing mind. But when we pray for God's will to be done, do we really mean it? Think about that. Are we really ready to not just accept but really want God's will to be done in all aspects of our lives? Or do we often pray for Him to see things our way, a different way, so that we can get the result that we think is best.

Now it was shortly before the Feast when my latest example of puny faith reared its ugly head.

I received a blood test result from an annual health checkup test which revealed a disturbing pattern over many years where my white blood cell counts and platelet counts were up and down, but gradually trending pretty low. The most recent test revealed they were dangerously low and the doctor was so concerned she immediately—and I do mean immediately—I had not even left the doctor's office yet and I was scheduled for a visit to a local oncologist. I do not even think I made it home before they had called to schedule that appointment. And with the Feast coming up, I had to postpone to the day after the Feast to have multiple blood drawings done. And when I first heard that word oncologist, my puny faith kind of set in. For the next few weeks I was in a battle over control of my mind.

A simple Google search on what results in chronically low white blood count cells or what white blood cells is not something you really want to see, by the way. I reached out to an attorney friend, and asked to go ahead and schedule an appointment to get my will set up and be able to have my wife able to make medical decisions (Don't look so concerned, Sam. You're going to make me cry.) in the event I was no longer able to.

Now, I knew the Scriptures. I knew very well God was in control and God's will is always best. We know it, right? We know it. And yet I found myself in the rut of puny faith questioning how could this be, me of all people. I have worked so hard to be healthy after my father died when I was young. I eat well. I work out just about every day, try to exercise, and get enough sleep. I had fallen into the rut of puny faith.

Let us lunge forward to Luke. Now, I knew God's will would be done regardless of what I thought. But I was still stuck worrying in that puny faith rut. Was I going to start deteriorating quickly? Was this my last Feast? Was I saying goodbye to spiritual family for the last time? Was this perhaps my last run on the beach?

Luke 12:22 Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on."

Luke 12:25 "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?"

The Greek verb translated worry, worrying, anxious, is Strong's #3309, merimnao, meaning to be anxious about, take care about. It comes from two underlying words that carry the idea of distraction, seeking to promote one's interests in a spirit of disuniting and dividing. When we worry, we actually have a divided mind. We are more distracted about what we want than what God wants. Our mind is neither loyal nor completely willing to serve God. A mind that is divided wants what it wants, the selfish heart.

Luke 12:27-28 "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?"

"O you of little faith." Only Jesus Christ Himself uses this unique Greek word five times in the New Testament to scold His end time disciples. He uses the Greek word. It is a tough one. Oligos-pistis, a compound word from two underlying words. Strong's #3641, oligos, meaning puny and the word we know for faith, Strong's #4102, pistis; assurance, faith, conviction. Jesus is scolding His disciples saying, "O you of puny faith." He says, puny faith.

Brethren, how often do we allow our minds to drift into the rut of puny faith? Remember, God knows all our thoughts, even the intent of our mind. What is on our mind ticker for God to see right now? And throughout each day, how often do we find ourselves in the rut of puny faith?

Now, we see the same word used in a parallel account found in Matthew 6. We are not going to go there, but that is the second of the five uses. But let us hold our finger here, we are going to come back, and let us go examine Jesus' other three uses of the scolding "puny faith."

Moving to Matthew 8:25. We are going to pick up at a time when Jesus calms the storm. Jesus and his disciples are in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. Luke's account clarifies that as they sail, Jesus actually fell asleep, and a great windstorm came up and the boat was filled with water as the waves overtook them. This is no little storm, as Luke confirms their very lives were really at risk here. They were concerned and Jesus is sleeping right through this test of faith. And if you have ever been in a small boat or even a medium sized boat that is rocking so much with water crashing over the bow, can you even imagine how difficult it would be to be sleeping in a storm like that. Up on my ticker now, Kristen's probably thinking about the notorious boat ride across the North Sea to Ireland.

Matthew 8:25-26 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

When God tests our mind, how do we respond? Does He find us to be both loyal and willing to submit to His will in all circumstances? Or is our mind divided? Distracted by something we value more here on earth. How often do we panic and worry due to our puny faith?

Let us march forward now to Matthew 14, verse 25. This is shortly after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. And once again, the disciples are in a boat rowing to the other, side but this time Jesus is not with them. It is in the middle of the night and they are in the middle of the sea when another storm arises and they are being tossed about by the waves with a head-on wind blowing strongly against them.

Matthew 14:25 Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

Matthew 14:27-31 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and He caught him, and He said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

"Why did you doubt, O you of little faith?" Peter stepped out in faith to walk on that water. But fear took over as that wind picked up and he cries out, "Save me!" Can we think of times in our lives where maybe our response at first was faithful? We were faithfully following God and His will. But then at some point in time, we lose that faith and the puny faith sets in. We start to worry. We start thinking about what we want, not what God wants. And this is when we too are deserving of Jesus' scolding, "O you of puny faith. Why do you not trust the great God?"

March forward two chapters in Matthew to Jesus' last puny faith scolding. This is going to be in chapter 16. We should note chapter 16 starts out with a warning against seeking physical signs. And there is a key here to understanding this scolding. Jesus, God in the flesh, had been with them but they still asked Him repeatedly to show them a sign from heaven. They missed the plot. They were so focused on the physical, so focused on the physical restoration of the Kingdom. Mark's account adds that Jesus actually sighed deeply in His spirit (KJV) when they asked for a sign.

Matthew 16:4 "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.

Once again now they are getting into a boat to head to the other side. But this time, they had forgotten to take bread. Mark's account clarifies, they did not have more than one loaf between them in the boat for all of them.

Matthew 16:5-12 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

They had witnessed all these awesome miracles, but the miracles themselves did not magically increase their faith. And we can take a lesson here. We would all like to think that if we had more physical miracles in our lives, that that is all it would take. If there were more physical miracles of healing and marvelous works that we would have more faith. But that is not the way it works. Faith is a gift from God and it requires our working to build up the ability to maintain control of our mind and see things that we cannot physically see, to see and trust God the Father is in control at all times, to have both a loyal and undivided mind where God is in all of our thoughts, in a willing mind where we readily trust, accept, and even delight in God's will, not ours.

But how do we overcome this puny faith? Let us actually take a look here at how we can overcome the rut of puny faith. Let us lunge back to Luke in the first instance of puny faith we examined in Luke 12, verse 28. We will pick back up there and we will keep reading where we left off.

Luke 12:28-29 "If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind."

Interesting. Here, this word anxious there tells us it has a reference to the tossing about of ships going to and fro in the sea, distracted by the wind blowing back and forth or tossing back and forth. They are out of control, basically. That is what an anxious mind is. It is a mind that is divided, it is divided from God. It is a mind that we have let get out of control. We are not holding on to that steering wheel in the mind and it is now drifting away, back and forth. That is what Jesus Christ is saying. Do not have an anxious mind.

Reading on,

Luke 12:30-31 "For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

We know that seeking requires work. We can tie this to Proverbs 2:1-5 where Solomon advises it takes constant work to receive and treasure God's words. That we must incline our ears to the wisdom and our heart to understanding. That we must cry out for discernment to God, for understanding of His words. And we must seek and search for the hidden treasure within God's work. All of that takes constant effort. And we could tie this, as mentioned earlier, to Proverbs 4:23. We must keep, guard, and protect our mind and thoughts with vigilance, for it guides and directs everything else.

Luke 12:32-34 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

We see this repeated in Matthew 6, where our treasure is, there our mind is also.

Now we likely think of treasure as just physical money, right? Wealth and money. That is not wrong, per se, if that is where our mind goes. But remembering that underlying word for worry means to distract and divide our attention, the meaning of treasure here is much broader. It is much broader than wealth and money. If we are loving God with all of our mind and all of our mind, everything else physical is much lower in priority. We read in Isaiah 33:6, "The fear of the Lord is His treasure." And we see throughout the Scriptures, Matthew 6:20; 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33, Luke 18:22, Jesus tells us our treasure must not be anything on this physical earth. He says sell it, give it up, stop focusing on it. Follow Him, change our mindset to store up treasures in heaven. Jesus reminds us how important it is to control our thoughts, to keep them focused on His treasure, the treasure in the Kingdom.

So when we love God with all of our mind and all of our mind, we avoid the rut of puny faith because everything else is second. Everything else—our possessions, our jobs, our lives, the lives of those we love—are a distant second. When God is in all our thoughts, we serve Him with a loyal and undivided, undistracted mind, a willing mind that actually delights and wants His will. We do not just accept His will, we actually delight in His will knowing He knows what is best. But this is not natural, and learning to assess and control our thoughts is not easy. What is up there right now on our mind ticker for God to see?

Luke 12:35 "Let your waist be girded about and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master."

The image here is of constant preparation and this is what it takes for us to maintain constant control of our mind to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ. We are admonished to let our waist be girded, which illustrates that common long, loose outer robe that hang down past their knees and they had to pull it up so they could be ready to run quickly. And that is the image here. It is the image of us being ready. The image of every day we are in a battle. We are in a battle for control of our mind and we must make ready. It is a reminder of Jeremiah 1:17-18 when they were surrounded by the physical enemies and Jeremiah gives the battle cry to the people. He says, "Gird up your loins" (KJV). And we could tie this to Peter's admonition, we read this last time.

I Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So how do we do this? We know we are in this daily battle over control of our mind. Well, it takes two types of activities. The first type of activity is what I will call proactive, or preventative. And the second one is a bit more reactive. So knowing that we are in a daily battle over our mind, we must start each day with our thoughts collected. If we just wake up just before we have to go to work and we do not have any time for prayer, for study, for meditation, we are not making ready for the battle that is going to come our way. So we have to start by reaffirming our commitment each and every day to our great God that we are going to do what He commands. We are going to work harder to take control and maintain control of our thoughts throughout the day. And we pray to Him for help to retrain our mind, to replace our selfish carnal thoughts with godly thoughts, to love God with all our minds and all our minds, to love Him with both a loyal and a willing mind, to keep Him in all our thoughts throughout the entire day.

We should start with a set of scriptures that helps us to avoid the ruts of puny faith. And I find the Psalms are very encouraging for this. You can jot down a few: Psalm 23:4; 25:16; 8:16-18; 34:4; 116:1-2; and 121:32. So those are some of the things we could do proactively each and every day. At the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, retraining our minds to focus on what God wants.

Now, even when you do everything right, we have to expect that the tests are coming our way. Satan is going to throw fiery darts into our mind and he is going to try to get us to latch on to those darts, to those thoughts, the seeds that ultimately he plants that result in bad fruit. But as Jesus Christ told us many times over, a good tree produces no bad fruit. And so knowing our propensity towards selfish thoughts, we must be on the constant lookout for when our mind gets stuck in a rut of puny faith and worry.

We know that worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives us something to do, but it does not get us anywhere. Worrying is as useless as a screen door on a submarine, some would say. And yet we all find ourselves stuck in that rut of puny faith from time to time, do we not?

And when I walked into that waiting room of the oncologist, I walked in feeling pretty good. I was actually faithful. I was like, "Yeah, God, I know You've got this. I know You got this." And I looked around the room and I saw nothing but death. I mean, literally. People that were skin and bones going through chemotherapy, maybe weeks, days left. And I was like, my faith went back into that puny rut. And I was just like, "Ah God, help me." So I was praying and He did. He helped me get my mind out of that rut. I am like, "I know You got this, whatever happens, You got this."

You know, this study has really helped me. This study into controlling our mind is something I just have not given enough thought. I have not given enough thought into controlling my thoughts. To understanding why I think the things that I do and understanding and identifying when a thought is not aligned to God's Spirit and extinguishing it, putting it out, not letting it linger. That is Satan's weapon, right? He puts something in our mind. It could be a bad thought about somebody else. It could be a worry about something in our lives. And then we just focus on that and he creates a divided and a distracted mind. It takes us away from loving God with all our mind and all our mind.

So the tests came back and I am okay, I think, at least for now. I have got a little bit of vitamin B12 deficiency, but it sounds like I might live a little bit longer. So that is good news. But it was really a great test for me and we know that we all are going through a lot of tests, a lot of tests that are much harder than mine.

And so we always have to remember when we find ourselves in that rut of puny faith, our great God has us. He knows exactly what we need when we need it. He is not going to let anything happen to us or those that we love without it being aligned to His will. He is going to help us get through it no matter how bad it may be. He is going to help us get through it. And that is the faith, the faith of the unseen great God that we know is there, ready to help us if we just call to Him and ask for His help.

Let us finish in James 1, verses 3 through 8. These are probably memory scriptures by now. Ones that we have all read many, many times over, no doubt, but a good reminder nonetheless.

James 1:3-8 . . . knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; for he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

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