Significance of Small

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick

During the Christmas season, we took notice that Jesus was born, not in the great, worldclass city of Jerusalem, but in the small, relatively insignificant village of ethlehem. !e also noticed how often it is that "od uses ob#ects and $laces, which in the world%s eyes seem small and insignificant. Among other things, we talked about "ideon%s trum$ets and torches, but we also should have $ointed out that "ideon considered himself to be the least in his family &Judges '()*+, and that his army was small. !e also talked about David who used small stones to defeat the giant, "oliath, but we also should have noted that David himself was small. ,is son, Solomon is credited for reminding us, it is -the little fo.es that ruin the vineyards.&Song of Solomon /()*+ Jesus ,imself cham$ioned smallness when ,e said, -,e that is least among you all, the same shall be great.- &0uke 1(23+ 4aul, whom many consider to be the greatest a$ostle, once said of himself, -5 am the least of the a$ostles and do not even deserve to be called an a$ostle- &5 Corinthians )*(1+ Another A$ostle, James, refers to the significance of smallness when he gives his teaching about the $ower of the tongue( -6he tongue is a small $art of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small s$ark. 6he tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the $arts of the body. 5t corru$ts the whole $erson, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.- &James 7(*, '+ 6here is also a notable verse in our ible that suggests that des$ising small things is not good( -!ho des$ises the day of small things8 9en will re#oice when they see the $lumb line in the hand of :erubbabel.- &:echariah 2();+ 6he $roblem with how this $articular scri$ture is used is that it is often $ara$hrased this way, <Don=t des$ise the day of small beginnings.- 5n this inter$retation, small is not inherently good, it is only good when it is #ust a short $hase leading to bigness. >es, Jesus did use the mustard seed as an e.am$le of something that starts out small and grows into something very big. ,e said that the kingdom of "od -. . . is like a mustard seed, which a man took and $lanted in his garden. 5t grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air $erched in its branches.- &0uke )7()1+ ,owever, Jesus also used this same small seed as a symbol of faith. 6he saying is in two versions - 9atthew has it this way, -5f you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ?9ove from here to there% and it will move. Nothing will be im$ossible for you.- &9atthew )@(/;+ 0uke has a similar saying, -5f you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ? e u$rooted and $lanted in the sea,% and it will obey you.- &0uke )@('+ Notice Jesus didn%t say that small faith is only good if it doesn%t stay small. !hat we want to em$hasiAe is that contrary to $o$ular culture, there are small things which have great value #ust because they are small. Bne s$okes$erson for this idea is a man by the name of ruce arton who wrote, <Sometimes when 5 consider what tremendous conseCuences come from little things, 5 am tem$ted to think there are no little things.D !hen 5 was growing u$, 5 would occasionally get to visit my $aternal grandmother%s house and $lay with my two cousins, sons of my father%s sister. oth of these boys were taller than 5, and my grandmother often tried to bolster my self-esteem with the familiar $hrase,