More Faith? {Luke 17}

12:11 PM




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Aren’t Christians supposed to have faith?  Shouldn’t we be showing great faith?  Last week I shared about being Dressed and Ready.  Jesus wants to find us doing what He has put us in charge of.  So, are we supposed to have more faith or more obedience?  Let’s take a look at Luke 17 to find out.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to write on both Luke 12 and 17.  I have struggled with understanding mustard seed faith because so many people have different views, but this time, I was able to study it’s meaning.  I have several friends who have described me as strong and faithful, yet I feel very weak and I have questioned my faith often.  Perhaps, you’ve had someone tell you that they wish they could have as much faith as you do.  What’s your reaction when someone tells you that?  Do you respond with, ‘aw thanks, it’s nothing?’  My question is, who gets the glory?  You do!  You’re the one with such great faith; the focus is on you!

Which is why Jesus follows up with the next passage with the servant (Luke 17:7-10).  Are you only following Christ because you want to hear that often quoted line, “well done…”?
There is in a sense no such thing as great faith; there’s only faith or no faith.  Yes, Jesus commended people for their great faith.  And, He often rebuked the disciples because of their little faith.  But in each case, He was commending a person who simply took God at His word and He was disciplining men who did not believe God concerning the matter at hand.  So, the matter is not so much great faith in God, but rather faith in a great God.  The smallest amount of faith links us to Christ, who is mighty.

There is no one more trustworthy than God!  He has a track record of never failing anyone who trusted in Him throughout human history.  Either we take Him at His word, or we don’t.  If we do trust Him, it is no credit to us.  All it takes is a little grain of faith in Him, because the issue is not our great faith, but our great God. 

I believe that Jesus’ point is that it is not a matter of how much faith you have, but rather, do you have faith in the living God?  If so, it can accomplish great things, not because of the size of your faith, but because of the power and ability of your God.  He will do mighty things through the person who trusts in Him, even if their faith is seemingly small and weak.  Then the glory goes to God.

How does this apply to trusting God when we’re faced with the difficult commands of Scripture as in verse 4?  Suppose someone has wronged you and has asked for your forgiveness, but you are deeply hurt and you’re struggling with obeying God by granting forgiveness.  Maybe the root of bitterness is as entrenched as the roots of this mulberry tree.

How much faith do you need to forgive the other person?  I believe the answer is, ‘as much faith as it takes to believe that God has forgiven you’.  You could begin by praying to God and letting Him know that you are having a difficult time obeying Him by forgiving this person.  And acknowledging that you know He has forgiven you, and that He forgave you not because of your great faith, but that God is faithful and keeps His promises.  Ask that He be glorified by enabling you to forgive this person.  Uproot this bitterness from your heart and plant it in the sea.  Mustard seed faith is recognizing that we must get our eyes off ourselves and onto God and His great mercy and faithfulness, He is glorified.  And in this case of forgiveness, God can use your mustard seed faith to uproot your bitterness and bury it forever, and He then gets the glory!

Jesus uses this graphic illustration of casting the mulberry tree into the sea to say that even small faith can do what is humanly impossible because it is none other than Almighty God who works through our faith.  Everyone who has truly believed in Christ for salvation has enough faith to obey the most difficult commands of scripture, because the issue isn’t our great faith.  The issue is our great God.  Look to Him and He will be glorified as He works His mighty power through your weakness and small faith.

So really, when we encounter the difficult commands of scripture, our focus should be more on obedience and humility.  We should view ourselves as God’s slaves who owe Him obedience in all things.  Jesus has a sense of humor here to make a point.  In that culture, something we don’t quite grasp, slaves had a very simple job description:  Do everything your master commands.  Period!  Slaves did not give orders, they took orders.  They did not negotiate with the owner what their privileges would be.  Slaves had to obey.

So, when they came in after a hard day in the fields, they did not expect their owners to have dinner ready for them.  They couldn’t tell the owner, “I’ve had a rough day.  Get your own dinner!”  They were expected to come in and serve their master.  And they didn’t expect him to thank them for all their hard work.  It was their duty to serve him.  Only after that, could they eat their own dinner. 

Duty is not the only picture.  Remember last week in Luke 12:37, Jesus showed us how He as the Master would graciously reverse roles and wait upon His faithful servants.  The focus there was on His grace!  But here in chapter 17 He is emphasizing our responsibility to do what He commands us to do.  Our focus cannot be on our feelings, but rather we must focus on our duty. 

We live in a day that encourages us to focus on our feelings.  We’re even encouraged to rage against God when we feel angry because of how He has treated us!  Yes, the psalmist sometimes poured out his complaint before the Lord, and I’m not suggesting that we deny or suppress our feelings.  But there is a right and wrong way to let the God of the universe know how we feel!  We always need to remember our lowly position before Him.  We are but dust and ashes in His presence and we should be willing to crawl on our hands and knees.  He owes us nothing; we owe Him everything.  He does not owe us; He owns us as His slaves.  As such, we owe Him obedience, even when His commands seem difficult.

There is no praise or glory in doing your duty.  Duty is that which is expected of a person.  I bet that if you show up to work on time, your boss does not say, “thank you so much for being here on time!  It’s just wonderful that you do that day after day!”  You are expected to be at work on time – it’s your duty.  You don’t squawk about paying your bills, do you?  You owe that money; you are expected to pay.  The point I’m trying to make is, we don’t earn brownie points with God for doing what He has commanded us to do.  It’s expected for slaves to do what the master commands. 

We should view ourselves as God’s slaves who are unworthy of any of His blessings.  Just read 17:10, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’.”  Charles Spurgeon says that the Lord here is pouring cold water down our backs, but it is therapeutic.  We need that dousing to remember our place before Him.  Sometimes we get so puffed up about our years of sacrificial service or our forgiving spirit or how much we have loved others, that we almost think that God owes us something.  But we have no claim on God.  All that we have, we have received by grace.  We were lost and on the fast lane to hell when God’s mercy rescued us.  He graciously gave us the privilege of serving Him.  Should we really be congratulating ourselves when we obey His commands?

Nowhere in the bible are we told to grow in self-esteem, but many times it exhorts us to grow in humility.


  
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