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! 2 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. 3 Watch yourselves.
“If
your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4 Even
if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and
says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to
the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 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. 7 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’? 8 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’? 9 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! 2 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. 3 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. 4 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’? 8 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’? 9 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.
