Monday, October 3, 2022

October 1-3, 2022 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 17:1-10 (EHV) INCREASE OUR FAITH!

 

PROPER 22

October 1-3, 2022

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 17:1-10 (EHV)

 

 INCREASE OUR FAITH!

1.     So we can watch ourselves.

2.     So we can forgive.

3.     So we can know our place.

 

Luke 17:1-10 (EHV) “Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Which one of you who has a servant plowing or taking care of sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’? Won’t the master tell him instead, ‘Prepare my supper, and after you are properly dressed, serve me while I eat and drink. After that you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he? 10 So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’”

 

          There is a movie I saw in high school. It’s not that good so don’t rush home to stream it. It’s called Fright Night. The reason I still remember it is because it had a moment of beautiful theology in it. In it some high school kids became convinced a family of vampires had moved in next door. When the vampires found out they were discovered they went after the kids. Much of the movie was this confrontation and its conclusion. During the chase one of the kids picked up a broken window frame that had formed a cross and whipped around and held it out in front of the vampire and if you are up on your vampire fighting techniques you know that vampires can’t handle the sight of a cross. So in the movie the pursuing vampire of course turns away in fear from the cross and that’s when it happened. The vampire turned around, pushed the cross away and said, “You gotta have faith for that to work!” Beautiful, stunning, accurate theology in a cheap B movie. A cross cannot be used superstitiously. “You gotta have faith for that to work.” These past weeks Jesus has pushed us in our sanctification life. He presented us with hard things to do as we follow him. Today there are more. And it’s true you gotta have faith for that to wokd so we pray along with Jesus’ disciples “Increase our faith!”

          Increase our faith so we are able to watch ourselves. We need to. “Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Watch yourselves.” Here’s a picture of a millstone. How would you like to go swimming in Lake Michigan with one of those around your neck? Yet that is exactly what Jesus says is better than being responsible for causing a child to stumble in their faith or to lead them to sin. Now if you think it’s bad having surveillance cameras around everywhere watching your every move and if they are audio enabled listening to your every word try having a child around. They watch. They listen. They repeat. What do the little eyes see? What do little ears hear? You know when children use bad language commonly called swears they may have picked them up because they are playing online video games that connect with other kids and mom and dad are not monitoring what’s being said…or maybe they heard it from mom and dad. They may not value worship and God’s word because they are immature or maybe they picked that up from someone else. They may value things over people because of their natural selfish sinful nature, or maybe they see someone else doing that. They may…you get the picture. We need to watch ourselves. Thoughts are difficult to control. Words and actions are controllable. But you gotta have faith for that to work. Lord, increase our faith.

          Increase our faith so we can forgive. “If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Here’s another hard thing to do. Fully forgive. It’s so hard if we think about it, we get scared when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Do you really want that prayer answered? The measure of our forgiveness of others is the forgiveness we ourselves receive from God. Do you want your forgiveness limited? No? Then why do you limit your forgiveness of others? There is a lot to understand about forgiveness, more than we can talk about now but Jesus plainly is teaching that we are to keep forgiving our children, our parents, our spouses, each other, when they repent. Here He’s describing what sounds like a repetitive sin of weakness. Keep forgiving them? “Yes!” says Jesus. “Increase our faith,” said the disciples! They understood. You gotta have faith for that to work.

          And you gotta have faith to know your place. “Which one of you who has a servant plowing or taking care of sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’? Won’t the master tell him instead, ‘Prepare my supper, and after you are properly dressed, serve me while I eat and drink. After that you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he? 10 So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’” You gotta know your place. Jesus’ mini parable teaches us two things. Don’t get all high and mighty when you get something right. Don’t think you are better than others if your outward living is better. You are only doing what you are supposed to do. And don’t quibble with the Master about what you should or should not do or what is a reasonable expectation. Jesus is the Master. We are the servants. He tells us what to do. We don’t tell Him. 100Know your place.

          And know your place in another way. It’s next to Jesus. He is our master. He is our king. He is our Savior. We are His servants. We are connected to Jesus. Deliberately following Jesus is not easy. You have to deny your way of doing things. You have to carry crosses. You have to keep forgiving and watch your words and actions. And you gotta have faith for that to work. And that is exactly what He has given to us. Instilled at our Baptism. Strengthened through Word and Sacrament. Know your place, a place of privilege and honor, a believer in Jesus that connects you to His power.

That was the point Jesus was making when the disciples got all wide eyed about what they were supposed to do. It’s almost like they were whining, “I can’t do that! It’s too hard. I don’t have enough faith. Jesus’ response? “The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Even a tiny amount of faith is powerful because it is connected to the all powerful Jesus. And you are connected to the all powerful Jesus. You do have faith. So you can watch yourself. You can continue to forgive. You can happily know your place. And where you fail? You have forgiveness. Thank you Jesus! Amen.

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