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Sunday School
Increased Faith (Luke 17:1-10)
negatively affecting others and is not walking by faith. Jesus has one word for such behavior: woe (“alas” or something like “pity with tears”). Jesus gave an illustra- tion of how serious he is about such things. He said, “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” If an ancient millstone is tied around your neck, you won’t be as fortunate as Jonah.
Forgive Others |
Luke 17:3b-5
A second key to an ever-in- creasing faith is forgiving oth- ers. If someone comes to grips with the reality that he has made others stumble in their faith, that person will proba- bly desire forgiveness. If that person repents, then those with increasing faith will for- give that person, even if it is hard. When believers are caught in sin, others must re- buke them. This rebuke could be harsh. (It is the same word that is used of Jesus rebuking demons.)
If the repentance is gen- uine, the only response in the Christian community is for- giveness (“the sending away or canceling of sin”). Jesus might be speaking in hyper- bole when suggesting that a person could repent seven times in a day, but perhaps not. Forgiveness offered seven times makes one doubt the sincerity of the repentance, but all of us have addictive personalities in some areas. Seven is God’s complete num- ber. This is a tall order (Matthew 6:14, 15; 18:21- 35). No wonder the disciples were overwhelmed and said, “Increase our faith!”
Be a Servant |
Luke 17:7-10
Is faith a gift from God or is it a person’s response to God? Both. God infuses us with the capacity to respond to him, but we also cast a vote in our response to him. So the third key to an ever-increasing faith is to assume the posture of a servant (literally and consis- tently in this passage, “a slave”). Servants are depend- ent on their masters, and they
also have to do the serving. Jesus gave two illustrations of faithful servants. The first is that faithful servants might have a small amount of faith as a mustard seed, but even a small amount of faith can make a huge difference. The exaggerated illustration speaks of a mulberry tree being uprooted and planted
in the sea.
The longer illustration is
that of a master and a slave. While Jesus did come among us as a servant (Luke 22:27; Mark 10:45; Philippians 2:5-11), the point of this anal- ogy is that servants serve the master—not the other way around. It is a transcultural issue—masters eat before ser- vants.
At the end of the day disci- ples who have an ever-in- creasing faith realize that they are unworthy servants. They have only done their duty. Their duty is to help others, not hinder them. Their duty is forgive others, not hold grudges against them. Their duty is to serve, not maintain an entitlement mentality.
Jesus’ teachings often over- whelmed the disciples. When he taught about not causing others to stumble and the need for forgiveness, his disci- ples said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).
How much faith do we need to do God’s work? Buck- ets—more than we think. Faith begins with the accept- ance of eyewitness testimony. But it never ends there. It pro- ceeds to trust and leaning one’s whole weight on God. In the travel narrative of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 9:51–19:28), Jesus taught much about faith. In our text Jesus gave three keys to an ever-increas- ing faith.
Watch Yourself |
Luke 17:1-3a
Ifwearetogrowinour faith then the first key is self- awareness. We keep our eyes on God, but we watch (“hold toward”) ourselves. This is a caution about how our con- duct might negatively influ- ence someone else. In the previous context (Luke 16:19-31) the rich man watched himself but neglected to perceive how stingy he was being to others.
Jesus seemed to admit that in a fallen world things do trip people up (literally “cause to be entrapped”). But to cause others to trip is failing to per- ceive how one’s behavior is
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