Increase Our Faith
Luke 17:5-10
Increase Our Faith.” This has been the request of countless Christians over the ages. How we all would like more faith. We are like the man with the possessed son when confronted by Jesus to believe answered, “I believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) This brings up the questions “What is faith” and “What does increased faith look like? To answer these questions let us turn to Luke 17:5-10.
The first thing we need to examine is whether there is any link between the passage and the one which precedes it in Luke 17:1-4. There is no marked connection. It does not say something like “When the disciples heard this, they asked ‘Increase our faith.’” Neither is there a marked disconnection such as “One day the disciples asked Him.” So we have to make some sort of decision here. If the request for increased faith has a connection to forgiving one who trespasses against him seven times or if it has something to do with believing that the Lord has forgiven them for their trespasses, then this indicates just how much faith it really takes to both accept forgiveness or to forgive others. Forgiving and forgiveness are connected. It is really hard to forgive others their trespasses. since the Lord says here “seven times” which is a perfect number indicating that we are to forgive as many times as the trespasser repents.
so even if these two passages are separated in time, there is still a logical connection. Belief is hard when it comes to spiritual matters. The whole idea of forgiveness is so contrary to worldly expectations. This is demonstrated by the elaborate rituals and blood sacrifices the guilty resort to, in addition to self-flagellation and other personally destructive habits. It seems wrong that forgiveness is as easy as turning to the Lord and repenting. Even more so is to forgive those who continuously trample our boundaries. It is hard to forgive such trespass even once, but how hard it is to forgive when they make a habit of it. We know that we habitually trespass against God. We know Jesus uses this as the basis for forgiving others. the saying is so easy to understand but so hard to put into practice. Increase Our faith!
Jesus tells us if we just had the faith the size of a mustard seed that we can tell a sycamine (or mulberry) tree to uproot and be planted in the sea that it would have to obey. Such little faith. but, alas, we don’t even have this much. “Lord, increase our faith.”
There are many people today who traffic in faith. We have “faith-healers.” some of these make large sums of money trafficking faith. If the people aren’t healed, it is their own fault. the trafficker in faith is not to blame. Many have spent themselves into the poorhouse only to be broken even worse spiritually than whatever malady they suffered from. This is not to say the Lord cannot or will not heal someone. But we must see this as something that comes from God. Not everyone is healed in this life. But if we are not healed in this life, we shall be in the life to come. “Lord, increase our faith.” Lord, increase our faith that when it is not your will to heal in this life that we are still yours and will someday be healed.” Lord, if we have brought these ills upon us because we have not properly cared for ourselves or have trespassed, then forgive us and increase our faith that we know we have been forgiven.”
When we come to Luke 17:7, we are presented with another question of context. In verses 6 and seven, Jesus responds to the request to increase the faith of the disciples. But here, Jesus begins to talk about being a servant of Jesus. does the request to increase faith have a connection to this? To make the link here, we should think about faithfulness as compared to faith itself. the idea is that increased faith is demonstrated by faithful service. We who are of the Protestant Reformed tradition emphasize that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing. We emphatically deny that we are in any way saved by our works. It is, indeed, true that we are saved entirely by grace apart from the works of the Law. But James also reminds us that faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:14-17). It is right that our salvation is initiated by grace through faith alone. But the Bible also talks about growing in faith also. (For example: 2 Peter 1:5) In other words, we are called to increase our faith.
There are several ways to add to one’s faith. Theologians describe these as “means of grace.” Such means include a regular life or prayer, study of the Scripture, attending worship, and partaking in the Lord’s Supper. But here, Jesus shows us how this increased faith is demonstrated.
As we have already noted, we are captivated by the idea of performing miracles such as healing. We see these things as the proof of faith. But this is to miss the point in Jesus’ eyes. Instead of emphasizing the spectacular, he brings out the ordinary roles of servants such a plowing a field, feeding cattle, and serving meals for the master. These routine services can seem quite dull, and tiresome. But these are necessary daily tasks. So, increased faith is demonstrated in our attitude toward the mundane works of the Kingdom. To someone like Martin Luther, the performance of daily labor was as much a calling or vocation as any of the more seemly calling to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments. These labors might seem quite humble, but this is the point. We are called to humility. So, even those seemingly more honorable and visible parts of the body are really no more important to the proper function of the body than the hidden parts. (1 Corinthians 12:23)
Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. He is Lord. It is He who directs the operation of His household according to His will. He is to be obeyed. His needs come before ours. This is backwards of the reality we see in the church today which tries to use people’s perceived needs as a means to evangelism. But Jesus here tells us to set a table and attend to Him first. Afterwards, they can attend to their needs. Jesus gives each of His servants their particular tasks to perform. The servants are to obey what He has commanded. As far as our needs are concerned, He will take care of these. But He comes first.
Lords provide resource and authority to their servants (slaves) to carry out the operation of the household. Often, the manager of the household called the “chief economist” to make sure all activities of the plantation were coordinated and efficient. In a like matter, God has gifted the church with resources for the carrying out of the mission of the church. This authority and gifts are meant for the profit of the Church as a whole and are not to be squandered upon the gifted individual.
One of the great temptations is to think that these gifts belong to us. It is so east to be filled with pride. Pride causes divisions within the Church. And strife and hypocrisy make for a terrible witness of the church in the world. When a television “evangelist” gets caught embezzling money, builds a multi-million-dollar estate, of gets involved in a sex scandal, which is an abuse of authority, it is the church as a whole which gets a black eye. Even though these gross abusers get the bulk of attention, these things occur to lesser degrees throughout the Church. Many a church leader has started out well, only to be ensnared.
So how does Jesus deal with this? Jesus tells us to say to ourselves after we have done our duty to say: “We are unprofitable servants. We have only done what is our duty to do.” Christ expects obedience to His will within the Church. so there isn’t a particular reward for doing one's bounden duty. There is no glory in pointing out someone else who has in some way shirked his duty and saying that at least I am not that person.
This does not mean that the Lord will not commend His faithful servants. We do read of such commendation when we hear Jesus tell his faithful servants: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” “Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” But we should also note the humble reaction of His faithful servants. “What have we done? when have we ever seen you sick and did not minister to you. when were you ever hungry and we did not feed you? When were you naked and did not clothe you? (etc.) The servants had just done their duty. They visited those who were sick and in prison. These were indeed acts of an increased faith. there was risk in visiting the sick in that it opened them to becoming sick themselves. If one was in prison for being a Christian, a visitor would be at risk of being imprisoned himself. (Matthew 25:23 and Matthew 25:31-41) the ones who had boaster of their great works for Jesus ironically are excluded from the heavenly reward and are instead cursed (Matthew 25:42-46)
When we read such passages of what Jesus taught, we are struck with a sense of terror and personal unworthiness. Who could possibly be faithful enough? How can we have the perfect humility in doing our duty which God expects. When Jesus commands us to be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect, it is easy for Jesus to say. But what about us? (Matthew 5:48). All we can do is to cry out: “Lord, increase our faith!” “Increase our faithfulness, the word “faithfulness” meaning “being full of faith.” These are difficult questions.
But there is hope. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive them. (1 John 1:9) Here God is the one who acts in full faith. It is the faithfulness of the Son who became the propitiation of our sons. If we believe in Jesus, we are in fellowship with the Godhead and with each other. It is because we are in Jesus that we can stand in the presence of God. We must constantly keep thi faithfulness of God in our hearts. God is faithful even when we are not. He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13). So when the faithful God forgives our sin in Jesus Christ, we must remember that we also forgive those who trespass against us. When we find ourselves short of faithfulness, let us be honest to confess this to God and cry out: Lord, increase our faith!
