Increase our Faith

Sermon October 6, 2013 Lord, Increase Our Faith

Old Testament – Lamentations 1:1-6

Lamentations was penned in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.  Many people were killed in the eighteen-month siege of the city, and the lives of survivors were broken and shattered.

Lamentations gives voice to those who survived this devastating experience; it is survivor’s literature.  In more modern terms, post-traumatic stress syndrome was a common reality for those who lived through this horrendous time.

The book traditionally thought to be written by Jeremiah, is authored by a survivor remaining in the land, seeking to address such issues.

Lamentations will pursue these questions of God, hoping for a response, finally ending on this note:

“Why have you forgotten us completely?  Why have you forsaken us these many days” (5:20); God remains silent throughout out, but a basic conviction about God lies at the center of things (3:22-33):  God’s steadfast love endures forever, and “it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (3:26).

Psalm137

In this Psalm the Lamentation continues about the destruction of Zion (Jerusalem). “ We Wept”, How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

Think for a moment if an invading force came and rounded up everyone in Highwood or Belt and carried you off to a foreign land.

Many mixed feelings would surface….hurt, anger, pain, frustration, maybe a sense of hopelessness.

We are comforted with the words of Jesus – I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Epistle  2 Timothy 1:1-14

When we face setbacks, pausing to give thanks can make all the difference in the world.  Gratitude puts things in perspective.

The author inspires Timothy to give thanks for the gift, but, second as he wrote in verse 6, “to rekindle the gift.” 

The greatest gift we have been given is, as indicated in verse 9, the grace that comes ‘not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace.”

To “rekindle the gift” means to stir up the grace and faith and love that we have received, and we stir them up by putting them into practice.

In the face of opposition, it is so easy to lose sight of God’s gifts.  The most important thing to do is to stir up the gifts of Grace and Mercy and Love.

Our call is not to win all the arguments but to forgive as we have been forgiven, and to love as we have been loved.  We must stir up this gift.

We must also stir up the gift of faith by praying and listening to the word of God.  In verse 3, the mentor writes of praying “night and day” for Timothy, and indeed for all of his churches.

No doubt he was praying too for his enemies and those who opposed the faith.

All of this leads surely to Paul’s third word about the gift:  Get in touch with the Giver.

The gifts God has given call us into relationship with God.  As the dear old assurance goes, “ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able” (KJV v. 12).

Gospel Luke 17: 5-10

Increase our Faith!

The bible tells us that we have been given The Measure of Faith. (Romans 12:1-3)

 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

³ For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The bible also tells us that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Ro.10:17)

The foundation of Faith is found in Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We are free to use God’s faith.

Romans 3:3-Gods faith cannot be stopped by unbelief.

Mark 11:23-24 -“Whosoever” is welcome to use God’s faith.

Ephesians 2:8 – God’s faith is His gift to us.

Luke 17:5-10 Jesus called this faith an ever-increasing servant.

Galations 3:22 –The faith of Jesus to live victoriously over the flesh.

Philippians 3:9 The faith of Jesus to be the righteousness of God.

Hebrews 12:2 –Jesus is the Author of our faith.

Jude 20 – It is holy faith.

2 Peter 1:- Same faith Peter had.

Luke 17:5-10 consists of two sections; Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request for more faith (vv.5-6) and the parable of the Worthless slaves (vv.7-10). The first section has a parallel in Matthew 17:20; the second is peculiar to Luke. 

In addition to addressing elements in each section, exegesis must consider how and why Luke brought them together and placed them in this portion of his Gospel, especially since the context for the first section differs from its setting in Matthew.

In the Matthew text Jesus uses a version of the mustard –seed saying to answer the disciples’ question about their inability to cast out a demon.  They could not cast it out, he says, “because of [their] little faith” (Matt 17:20).

If they had had faith the size of a mustard seed, Jesus continues, they could move mountains (and thus, by extension, cast out demons).

By contrast, Luke has Jesus use the mustard-seed saying to address the disciples’ request for more faith.  Here in Luke, there is no story about the disciples’ inability to heal, since he had used it earlier (LU 9:37-43).

Instead, Luke prefaces the mustard seed saying with two sayings about forgiveness (Luke 17:3-4), which are also in Matt. 18:15 and 21-22.)

If we listen with new ears, we hear Jesus answer the disciples with kindness, and maybe even a bit of a smile….Why you do not need more faith,” he says,  “Even this much faith (his thumb and forefinger pinching together again ) is enough!

If we hear Jesus speak with the voice of love, we hear him telling the apostles that, in fact, they already have enough faith to do whatever is required of them.

Given the verses that precede this periscope (vv. 1-4) we can understand why the disciples might ask for more faith.  Jesus had just told them that discipleship is more demanding than they imagined. They are to be accountable to one another.

If they are wronged, he insists , they are to draw from a bottomless well of forgiveness.

No wonder the disciples cry out “Increase our Faith”.

They are not sure they are up to this, but Jesus changes the question from “how much faith is enough?” to  “What is faith for?”  He tells them , through image and story, “you already have the faith you need.  Now fulfill its purpose:  Live it.