LIVING IN THE SPIRIT OF FAITHFULNESS

“Lord, Increase Our Faith!

Luke 17: 5-10

Dr. Charles J. Tomlin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

October 3, 2010    Proper 22C

A modern “parable” tells about a man who never seemed willing to wake up for church.  His wife tried and tried every week, but he refused to get up.           

            She said, “Honey, come on. You’re going to be late for church.”
            “I don’t care — I don’t want to go,” he mumbled.
            “We go through this every Sunday .... Why don’t you want to go?”
            “Because I don’t like those people, and I don’t like the pastor.”
            She replied, “Honey, get out of bed and get dressed.   You are the pastor!”

We all have bad days, even the pastor has them.  Life cannot be “up” all the time.  Someone has said that 90% of life is about “showing up”.   We could say the same thing about faith.  Some days we know that we are moving to “higher ground” in our Christian faith, but other days we just need to “hang on” and “hang in there”.  

One of the most powerful stories from the horrific days after 9/11 and the Fall of the World Trade Towers, was about a man who told his friends at church that he was unable to go to church after the tragedy.   When they asked him why, he told them that because he had seen and experienced so much devastation, he could not, without becoming hypocritical come to church and pray that line in the Lord’s Prayer, which says “Forgives us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”.   He was at a moment in his life that he just could not forgive and could not pray.   When he confessed his weakness to his church friends, they responded.     

            “That’s understandable.  Come on to church anyway and when we get to the prayer, we’ll pray that part for you!”

In our text for today, the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith.  The disciples appear to be struggling where any and all of us might struggle, not just to have faith, but also to grow, develop and to increase our faith in God and in life, and to continue to be a people who live “faithfully”.  It is this request for “faith” that provides us a most fitting biblical basis to consider the seventh fruit of the Spirit called “faith” (KJV) and “faithfulness” (NRSV).  

DON’T LET FAITH RUN ON EMPTY

If we have the gift of faith, and the Bible does say it is a “gift”, we’ve all been where the disciples were.  They were struggling to understand and fulfill the many demands of a growing in their faith.   While we too all have kinds of reasons to struggle with our faith from time to time, it is important for us to reflect upon the reason they were struggling.

Considering the “context” of their request, we can see that it comes on the heels of a discussion about “stumblings” (NRSV), “sin” (NIV) or “offences”  (KJV) that “are bound to come” in the lives of those who follow  Jesus.   Then Jesus adds these very sobering words: “Woe to anyone to whom they come?” (Luke 17:1).   This is a wake up call.   With this, Jesus then goes on to describe the very worse “stumblings,” or “offences” of life as those that cause “little ones” to lose stumble and to lose faith.   Jesus gives us an unforgettable graphic of how terrible this is.  He says: “It would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of the little ones to stumble.” (17:2). The “little ones” Jesus refers to are those who are “young”, “immature” or “little” in faith.  They may or may not be young in age, but the primary point is that they are “little” or small in faith.   People who are “little” in faith can be more easily “offended” and caused to “stumble”, so Jesus encourages his followers to take special care not to “offend these little ones”.    

The example Jesus gives for encouraging rather than discouraging faith is “forgiveness”.  While those “little ones” in faith are more prone to sin, fail, and make mistakes, and while they do  need to be “rebuked” or “reminded” of what is sin and why it is sin, what these “little ones” in faith need most is “forgiveness.”   Jesus’ most basic concern for helping us all keep the faith, appears in verses 3-4, as Jesus says in no uncertain terms:  ³ Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.  ⁴ AND IF THE SAME PERSON SINS AGAINST YOU SEVEN TIMES A DAY, AND TURNS BACK TO YOU SEVEN TIMES AND SAYS, 'I REPENT,' YOU MUST FORGIVE."  (NRS)

It is not “rebuking” that is the hardest part, but it is “forgiving”.    Still there are lots of places people get stuck and either lose faith within themselves or cause others to lose faith.   We might be have differences about what is, and what isn’t sin.   We might fail to tell each other what we find offensive or why we are struggling about something.   As the saying goes we just keep “letting it go” until we turn loose of enough “rope” that we hang ourselves or our relationships.   We might not be able to handle criticism and have feelings hurt.  We might be unwilling to say those simple words: “I’m sorry!” and we might stubbornly refuse to think we might be wrong or that we need to turn from or repent of anything.  We might be holding a grudge against someone.   These kinds of “unconfronted” “unconfessed” and “unforgiven” wrongs are the major obstacles to having, keeping and growing in faith, and more than anything else, it is the lack of “unforgiveness”  that will destabilize our relationships, kill our trust in each other, and can finally,  cause us, and especially our “little ones” to lose faith and trust in God.

We must not miss the truth of this story,that it was while Jesus spoke about “forgiving each other”, this is exactly when the disciples started to feel like their own faith was running on empty.    We too, will feel the lack of faith most, not when we struggle with our relationship with God, but when we find ourselves struggling in our relationships with others.  Remember what John’s wrote in his first pastoral letter?   This letter about Christian fellowship opens by talking about our need to “confess our sins to each other” and our need for “forgiveness”  also  makes a dramatic statement  describing just how much our relationships which each other effect our relationship with God.  John writes:  …”For those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. (1Jo 4:20 NRS). 

This powerful revelation about keeping faith, through our human relations, as much as through our personal devotions with God, follow a very detailed discussion about what it means to have “loving” relationships with each other in ways that build up faith.  In these days of “disposable” marriages,  “disposable churches” and even “disposable faith”, we would do well to consider that when we  don’t hear what John is saying about keeping, maintaining faith, love and faithfulness in our relationships with each other, we too will start feeling like we are living life on “empty”, no matter how much we say we trust or have faith in God.

One passage from John that is quite impacting comes in chapter 3, where John writes: “

¹⁴ WE KNOW that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.

 ¹⁵ All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.

 ¹⁶ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-- and WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR ONE ANOTHER.

 ¹⁷ How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

 ¹⁸ Little children, LET US LOVE, NOT IN WORD OR SPEECH, BUT IN TRUTH AND ACTION. ¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are from the truth and WILL REASSURE OUR HEARTS BEFORE HIM (1Jo 3:14-19 NRS).

We must not quickly pass over these wise words which have much to do with the fullness of faith.  Do you realize when John says “WE WILL REASSURE OUR HEARTS” he means that our faith and the assurance of our faith is made stronger, when we are in loving and faithful relationships with each other?  How we are doing in our human relationships with each other is the only true faith “barometer” of how full our faith is in God.    

 FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU ALREADY HAVE

Now, we can look directly at how Jesus answers their request for “more” faith.   These disciples tell Jesus that they need “more faith” to be able to live in these “forgiving”, “non-offensive” relationships with others who they might sin against or who might sin against them.  Give us more faith!   Give us the ability to live in such risky, demanding, and costly faith-relationships!  Based upon the context, this what they are asking and why they need more faith.

But Jesus does not give them what they ask for.   Do you see this?  While they are saying they need “more faith” as followers, to live in such a forgiving and faith-demanding, Jesus is telling them in his that they don’t need more faith, but they just need to use the faith they already have.  

I am always astounded at Jesus’ answer to these “self-doubting” disciples.   He tells them that the faith they need is not a matter of quantity (more), but it is all a matter of quality (real).   The quality of faith is all that matters because, as Jesus says, real faith, even a small amount of real faith, even if it only the size of a mustard seed (which is very, very small), can lead to accomplishing even the biggest and hardest things.   Take moving a Mulberry Tree, for example, says Jesus.  If you have even “little” enough faith to believe you can move this complex tree with all is complicated root system (which keeps sprouting after you’ve moved the tree); when you believe that even this difficult to move tree, can be moved, it will be moved, if you will begin to act on faith even in the smallest way.  

The most important question of faith is not, how much faith do I have, but the real question is do I have faith at all?  Your “faith” does not have to be big, it just has to be real.   Everything starts small.  Even a big tree starts with a small acorn, and faith that does “big” things also starts from some very small seeds.   So, Jesus says, the question is not, how much faith or how many seeds, but are you willing to plant even one small one in faith?  

Will you act on the faith you already have, no matter how small it is?   This is the question Jesus poses and puts back into the disciple’s camp.  You don’t wait on having, getting or building more faith, but Jesus puts the question back to them and to us, especially in our days of struggle, fears, doubts and worries: Are you willing to act on the faith you already have?   For you see, you build faith, and you even get more faith, not by asking for it, but by acting upon the faith you’ve been given.    Faith is a gift.  You either have it or you don’t.   Because “faith” is a gift from God, it’s not always your fault when you don’t have faith.   But if you have been given faith and you are not acting upon it, and then you lose it, now, that’s a real problem.  

What Jesus knows, is what we all should know already.  You’ve got to act on faith to keep faith.   This is especially true in our human relationships, just as its true in our relationship with God.   If you have something and never use it, we like to say, because it’s so true: “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”   It’s the same way with faith.  Even small faith, when it is acted upon will grow, produce, and will strengthens us.   But when we fail to act upon our faith, we lose it.   If I tell my wife I love her, but I don’t show her, you can say she loses faith in my love.   If I tell you, I love and care about you, but I don’t show it to you when we are together, you will eventually lose faith in me.   And when we don’t use the faith, we say we have in God, to attempt both easy and hard things for God, then we will eventually lose faith in God.

FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU MUST DO

This is why this final word Jesus gives us about “faith” and “faithfulness” is so critical for our Christian life.   Faith is not about what we have or don’t have, as much as it is about what we “do” and “don’t   do.”    Faith fails to be real when it is only something we hold on to.   Faith must become something that hold on to us.    And the kind of faith that keeps us, even when we can’t keep ourselves, is not the faith we have as much it is the faith we do, which has us.

Notice how Jesus describes “faith” to these disciples in this image of a “slave” or put in more politically correct terms, this “employee.”   Jesus says you don’t tell your “slave” or “employee” come here and sit with me and eat with me at my table, but you say to your “slave” or “employee” do this for me because this is what they are supposed to do.   Don’t get confused or hooked by the “slavery” image.  Jesus is not condoning slavery.  Jesus is using what was so common as a daily reality as picture of what real faith does.   The faith that takes care of us is the kind of faith that works and does what it’s supposed to do.  Only faith that is something you do because you are God’s servants will be the kind of faith that you can say you really have.

Again, the point Jesus is making is what a follower of Jesus must do with the faith they have in Jesus to have and keep it.   Real faith, the faith that enables them to forgive, to maintain their relationships with each other and with God, must be a faith that works, even working without expecting any immediate reward.   Our faith must be a faith that does what it says it believes.   Because when a person of faith, fails to do what they say they believe, they cease to have real faith.   True, growing, relational faith, which gives you and me the power to accomplish all we need to accomplish in life, can never be reduced to be something we say we simply “have”.  Faith is something we must do.

So, with this message from Jesus in our ears and hearts, how do we do the faith we say we have?   I’d like to give 5 stellar suggestions of actions that can help “prove” the fruit of the Spirit we call faithfulness.   I’m making these, not simply as suggestions, but as 5 clarifying duties we must do and keep doing, based on the promises we made when we were baptized.   You could call this, what it takes to be a 5 Star Christian and it wouldn’t be bad to put up a roll of names on our church walls to declare that we ‘do the faith’ we say we have. Would your name be on this list?  Here are some of the most basic “doings” that prove we do our faith.

1.   Do you attend worship weekly?   Even if you are elsewhere, do keep your faith?

2.  Do you participate in a regular small group Bible Study or growth group?  If you are not growing in your faith, you are declining.

3.  Do you give generously of your time, your talents, of your treasures to God.  There is no true faith until you put you “money” where your “mouth” is.   Generosity is goodness which builds faith.

4.  Do you have a passion for a particular “ministry” as a way to serve Jesus?   Jesus says that we only serve him, by in some way, shape or form, serving “the least of these”.  Do you have a passion for ministry in the name of Jesus?

5.  Are you on mission with your life?  A 5-Star, “faithful” follower of Jesus needs to be on mission.  What is your life purpose?  You life only has meaning when it is aligned with God’s greatest purpose, which is to take the gospel and good news of Jesus to the whole world.  How is your life connected to the only “purpose” that really matters: For God so loved the world, that he gave….?   How have you given yourself for God’s great purpose of love for the world?

However you answer, you can’t help but hear in them what Jesus was telling his disciples when they asked for more faith.  More faith is not something you can get until you do what you are supposed to do with the faith you already say you have.   Casey Stengel brilliantly described the difference that “doing” makes in both faith and in life when he said:  “Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some ask what happened.  Which kind of expression describes the kind of “faith” do we have?

Because I began my message with a story about a ‘pastor’ who lost faith and could not get up to go to church, let me end with another story about a pastor who lost faith, but there's more. 

Duane Anderson tells how a certain congregation was excited about its new, young pastor. He was energetic, preached inspiring sermons and worked with the youth.
Then one night he was late for the church council meeting.
Another time, he failed to show up for a committee meeting.
He even started coming late to worship.
Then one Sunday, he failed to show up at all for worship.
The council voted to dismiss the pastor.
Then the council had the following message posted at the church entrance: 

“We have fired our pastor for acting like the rest of us.”   

(From Duane A. Anderson, at www.homileticsonline.com, 10—3-2010).

If you don’t use the faith you have, you will lose it, and the problem is, someone else might lose it too.  What none of us can afford to lose in this world is our faith—in God and in each other.  So, remember this one word of advice: If you want more faith, Jesus suggests that we do more and ask less!  Amen.


© 2010 All rights reserved Dr. Charles J. "Joey" Tomlin, B.A., M.Div. D.Min.