Increase Our Faith!

Luke 17:1-10 Jesus said that when our brother sins against us, we are the ones who have to go to them and make things right.  Jesus said that we are blessed when we are cursed and reviled.  Jesus says that we must love our enemies and do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us and pray for those who abuse us.  Jesus said that we must take up our cross and follow him.

There is nothing easy about being a Christian and the life that Jesus calls us to live cannot be lived in the strength of our own flesh or in our own personal, intellectual, emotional, mental or spiritual resources.  We simply cannot do it.  That is what led the apostle Paul to say:

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  

            The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.  By faith in the Son of God.  So it is for every person who follows Jesus in the way that leads to eternal life, that we must walk by faith--and that is why we join our voice with that of the disciples when they pray:  Lord, increase our faith!  Jesus says:

“Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

            We live in a world that is broken by sin and like the frog in the pot of boiling water we are so accustomed to it that we barely notice it anymore—and that is a very dangerous thing indeed because temptations to sin are all around us!

            Our culture has been coarsened to the point that, what barely got past the censors in “Gone with the Wind”, now passes for wholesome family entertainment.  Sexual sins that were once hidden under the cover of darkness are now celebrated and honored at the White House. Clothing that was once suitable only for the world’s oldest profession is now worn to graduations and dinners and even on Sunday morning to church. 

I could go on and on but you know exactly what I am talking about.

It is not only the world out there, of course, that is to blame for people being led to into the fires of hell.  Our spiritual enemies include our own flesh which is all too willing to take its cue from the world rather than the Word of God-- and the devil who still roams about looking for those whom he can destroy.

That is the world we live in—a world broken by sin and death—a world held in thrall to the devil and his angels.  That is why Jesus says, “Temptations to sin are sure to come.” 

Until the Lord calls us from this vale of tears to the safety of our eternal home you and I are going to have to fight against temptation every moment of every day of our lives and we are especially going to have to make sure to pay attention to ourselves so that we are not the ones who are tempting to others to sin.

The Lord calls each one of us to holiness of life and he places us in Christian marriages and families and congregations so that we can help others also lead holy lives rather than tempt them to sin.  But often times that is exactly what happens. 

A Christian husband tempts his wife to break the Third Commandment when he says, “Let’s just stay home from church today.”  A Christian lady tempts her sister in Christ to break the eighth commandment by talking about another lady at church.  Coarse language and crude jokes are shared among Christian men and the sixth commandment is broken.  Congregation members are at odds with one another and choose sides and let anger fester and the fifth commandment is broken.

It is a spiritual tragedy when the very places and relationships and people that God intends would strengthen our faith in Christ and help us to live lives of holiness-- become places and times and people who tempt us to sin.  Jesus says that in those cases: 

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”

That is just exactly how seriously Jesus takes our responsibility to make sure that we are not leading others to sin:  that it would be better for us to die a horrible death rather than to lead someone else to sin, especially if they are what he calls “a little one”.

Parents, God has entrusted into your hands his child.  His child—not yours.  You are responsible to the living God of the universe for that child—for its life and health and well-being here on earth—but most especially for that child’s eternal life.  You are charged by God to lead his child to heaven and teach them the way of salvation.

As parents, we must ask ourselves:  is my example in the home—my priorities and decisions and values—my speech- leading this child ever closer to heaven and life with God-- or am I undermining their eternal life because I am showing them that life with God is not what is most important in my own life and what I value by what I say and do and decide? 

These little ones are not just children—they are those who are new to the faith—they are those who are struggling in their faith—they are those who are wounded and broken.  Every one of us are called by God to be concerned for the spiritual welfare of our fellow Christians and help them to walk the narrow road that leads to heaven.  Jesus says:  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

            Spiritual care and concern for our brethren in the faith begins with telling the truth about sin and that is not always easy to do.  It happens occasionally that Christians will overlook or make excuses for or justify the sins of fellow Christians who re their friends or family members. 

They do this because they have ignored the words of Jesus that we must love him above others.  They do it because they think they are being compassionate and helping the one the love.

But to overlook, excuse and justify the sins of our fellow Christians is to destroy their faith; break their relationship with God; and murder their souls!   Unrecognized, unconfessed, unrepentant sins always, without fail leads to spiritual death.  Always! 

The family may be at peace.  The fellowship may retain good feelings.  But the one they love is robbed of eternal life because of their silence in the face of sin.

Instead, we are to speak the truth in love and call sin—sin.  We do this not to stand in judgment of our brother or humiliate him and make ourselves feel superior but we do it so that he can say:  “I am sorry” and then be assured by our words of forgiveness that he is forgiven, just like us, by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross. 

This is true of every sin but it is especially true of those sins committed against us.  The Lord does not want us to go through life bitter, angry and resentful and so we are to confess our sins to one another and forgive one another again and again and again.  Jesus says:

if [your brother] sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

            Please understand, Jesus is not limiting us to seven times—he is not saying we have to forgive one more than six and one less eight.  Jesus forgives us without measure and that is why we are to forgive—and keep on forgiving-- as often as he repents which is why the disciples say:  Lord, “Increase our faith!”

            We understand why they say that, don’t we?  “Lord, you mean that to be your disciple I must live such a life of holiness that I never lead anyone to sin?!  That I must be the one who always strives to make peace with my brother?! That I must leave my comfort zone and talk honestly with a fellow Christian who has sinned?! And then when he repents of that sin I must forgive him not matter how often he asks?!”  Called to this life: 

Our prayer too becomes, “Lord, increase our faith!”

We understand immediately that this kind of life will not be accomplished in our own strength—by our own resources.  We recognize that we are utterly incapable of this kind of life except by faith in Jesus and yet we consider our faith lacking.  But Jesus says:

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

            I will spare you the fancy grammatical niceties in the original Greek except to tell you that what Jesus says is this:  If you had faith like the grain of a mustard seed (AND YOU DO!) you could say to this mulberry tree (BUT YOU DON”T) be uprooted and planted in the sea (AND IT WOULD!). 

Using a word picture not easily forgotten, Jesus says that believing in him we have plenty of faith to do just exactly what he has asked us to do--which is not Palestinian landscaping-- but living holy lives and forgiving others as our Master has asked us to do.  Jesus says:

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?  Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?  Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?  So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

            Often times when we pray for more faith what we are really doing is making an excuse for not doing what our Master has commanded-- and laying the fault for our failure at the feet of Jesus.  But if we have enough faith to say that Jesus is our Savior (faith the size of a mustard seed) then we also have more than enough faith to serve him as our Lord and Master. 

            To every Christian who has prayed for more faith, here is Jesus’ answer:  do what I command you to do, do what is your duty to do—and see your faith grow as it used in service to me, your Lord and Master. 

Strive to live a holy life that is an example to others and see your faith grow.  Speak up when you see a fellow believer on the wrong track and see your faith grow.  Forgive those around you and keep on forgiving and see your faith grow. 

            Yes, it is true that you are unworthy to be my servants but by my grace -and the sacrifice of my Son -and the power of the Holy Spirit that is exactly what you are and having called you to come and work in my kingdom, I have also equipped you sufficiently for that very thing.  Amen.