“Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
~ Matthew 17:20b
In Matthew 17:1-13, Jesus had just taken Peter, James, and John away for the mountaintop experience – that is, the Transfiguration. In the meantime, the other disciples were left at the foot of the mountain to mind the crowds. In other words, they were busy with ministry responsibilities. Scribes had come from Jerusalem to argue with the disciples about Jesus and His gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mk. 9:14). A large crowd had gathered around them (Lk. 9:37). Most distressing of all, a man had presented to the disciples his uncontrollably tormented son for healing, and they failed to administer an effectual cure for his malady (Matt. 17:14-16).
This desperate father had sought to find relief for the boy, but the disciples’ failure of faith did nothing but provide grist for the mill of the scribes’ hatred of Jesus and His followers. Over the din of the thronging crowd, the disciples could hear the scribes’ mocking declarations of triumph. But then, Jesus came down from the mountain.
When Jesus and His three companions arrived on the scene, He confronted the problem head-on for what it was: a pitched spiritual battle. The boy’s physical torments originated in a deeper spiritual conflict throwing him into the dangers of burning fire and drowning water. As Jesus returned to the remaining disciples, it was as if He had stepped into a battlefield hospital full of casualties. The boy and his father were desperate for help to reverse the damage which demonic powers had inflicted on the lad. At the same time, the disciples bore their less obvious injuries of wounded egos, shaken faith, and parasitic doubts.
Before Jesus rebuked the demon and cured the boy, He diagnosed the spiritual problem: unbelief and its concomitant, perversion. Perhaps referring directly to Deuteronomy 32:20, Jesus condemned the unbelief around him (i.e., in the crowds, in the scribes of the Pharisees, and in His own disciples) as being the principal trait of a “perverted generation” (Matt. 17:17). He had gone away for just a few days, and already there was a contingent of naysayers demanding miraculous proof of the legitimacy of His gospel, though there was plenty of evidence from recent demonstrations of power in His earthly ministry. To add insult to injury, His own disciples had lost faith in His words recorded in Matthew 10:8 when He authoritatively commanded them, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” But He did not withhold His compassion from the boy and his father. “Bring him here to Me,” our Savior said (Matt. 17:17).
In the aftermath to this public episode, Jesus received His disciples in private for a masterclass on the necessity and nature of faith for gospel ministry. He frequently did this with His followers. Private lessons from the Master often follow close on the heels of public incidents. The disciples asked Him in Matthew 17:19, “Why could we not drive it out?” Interestingly, Jesus does not rail against them for their apparent unbelief and doubt. He more gently explains to them that the cause was “the littleness of [their] faith,” or what we might translate somewhat more clinically as their “incredulity” (Matt. 17:20). They had not stopped believing in Jesus. But they had stopped believing that He had graced them with the ability to fulfill their commission recorded in Matthew 10:8. Specifically, they doubted His word that they possessed the requisite spiritual gifts to cast out the demonic power tormenting the boy brought before them.
To teach them that it was their failure of nerve and faith which was the problem, Jesus makes the hyperbolic statement recorded in Matthew 17:20, “truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
Is Jesus telling the men to move mountains? No. Is He announcing to gospel ministers that our problem is a problem of “believing God” for whatever it is we want to accomplish in our ministries? Not exactly. He certainly is not telling the disciples – or us – that we simply must “name it and claim it” to get for ourselves whatever “it” is in our lives. Rather, He is making the point in verse 20 that none of God’s ministry commands or gospel directives or kingdom commissions will be impossible to the minister who remembers and rests by faith upon God and His Word.
In Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord is bringing along the disciples on a long – and often pain-staking – journey of leadership development. Throughout the gospel, He defines the nature of leadership in the kingdom of heaven, develops His disciples as ministry leaders (i.e., future apostles), and even deploys them in short-term missions in advance of the Great Commission He will present to them in the closing verses of Matthew’s account.[1] As part of His discipleship plan with these men, Jesus impresses upon them the importance of faith for ministry.
Today, we need the reminder that we are called as Christians to take Christ at His Word, by faith. Those who believe in Christ do so by believing Christ in whatever He says to us in our particular situations. For the apostles, prophets, and evangelists of the early church, that involved believing that Christ who walked among them and worked wonders in their presence was – as the ascended and reigning King of Glory – still empowering and upholding them to work miracles according to their charismatic gifts in confirmation of His gospel. For us today, with the far greater gift of God’s all-sufficient and inscripturated Word, this involves believing the promises of God for our present ministry.
When faced with temptation, we are to believe that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). When we encounter puzzling perplexities in pastoral counseling or sermon preparation, we are to believe that “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (Jas. 1:5). When confronted with material needs and scarcity, we are to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,” believing that “all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33) as we in fact need them. When dealing with difficult people in the church, we are to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful,” considering in dependence on the Holy Spirit “how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Heb. 10:23-25). If called upon to correct an erring brother or to pursue formal church discipline to address sin in the church, do so “in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1) as you “bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2), knowing “that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (Jas. 5:20) even as the risen Savior delights “to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
We are to believe with our whole hearts that the promises of God are as sure and trustworthy as the unchangeable God of promise behind them. This is true for all Christians, and it is especially true for those actively involved in often-difficult, heart-breaking, and soul-exhausting ministry as pastors, ruling elders, and deacons. God’s authoritative Word is inspired, infallible, inerrant, clear, sufficient for faith and life (and ministry), true, reliable, trustworthy, good, and life-giving when applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
If you serve as an ordained officer – as an elder or as a deacon – in the church today, do not miss the fact that Jesus addressed this teaching in Matthew 17:19-21 to His disciples in private, away from the crowds, for the good of their present and future ministry. Taking Christ at His Word by believing His particular promises to equip you by Word and Spirit is of utmost importance for your ministry.
Faith is the alone instrument of our justification as we “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” and are saved (Acts 16:31). And it is by faith in Christ and His Word that we can effectually serve God and “please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). There is no other way to minister to the people of God to the glory of God apart from believing the Word of God in all its parts.
[1] Note that the three terms define, develop, and deploy in connection to Christ’s manner of leadership development come from the late Harry L. Reeder III’s excellent book, 3D Leadership: Defining, Developing and Deploying Christian Leaders Who Can Change the World (Christian Focus: 2021). Available here from Ligonier.
