A Little Faith Goes A Long Ways (Luke 17:1-10)

It is easy to think that Moses and the prophets are old, outdated, and their wisdom has expired.  However, the context of Christ’s teaching regarding our service affirms that Moses and the prophets are valid.  They lay out the truth, and it is not the resurrection that is the ultimate persuasion.

We might think that being in Christ keeps us from all attacks and temptations.  Christ is making clear that even though his kingdom is established, even though he establishes the prophet’s word, and even though we have his spirit, we will still face temptation in this life.  He calls us to be aware of this reality.  Christians all around will face the snares of sin.  The picture is that of a trap or a snare.  There is something that looks delightful to the eye, appears to be an easy meal, but the danger is concealed from sight.  We are called to be wise to such trickery.

We can be tempted to solve this in our own strength.  Luke has already mentioned that we need to worry about our eye logs.  Our tendency is to be busybodies, worrying about the little specs we see around us.  We need to be careful in how we judge and what we say.  We do not want to be the source of temptation.  The Pharisees are those who evangelize only to make the disciple a greater child of hell (Matthew 23:15).  Luke emphasizes the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, where it seems like people are growing, but they are growing for the wrong reason: merely putting off sin to put of sin.

So, is there an honorable request that still misses the mark? Well, the apostles request more faith.  This seems like a solution that the more faith they have the better they will live.  However, this is our problem as humans.  It is not the degree of faith, it is not the sacraments, and it is not the gospel that saves us.  It is Christ!  Our faith reaches into Christ, the gospel holds out Christ, the sacraments nourish us in Christ, and so we are tempted to look to the means and miss the substance.  We are looking at what we do rather than the life we possess in Christ.

Christ gives the assurance that the mulberry tree that is firmly rooted in the ground can be overturned by just a little bit of faith.  We are not going to grow in our faith by mere grit.  This is what the Pharisees hold out.  We need the Spirit’s transforming work.  This is why Paul tells us that Godliness is a mystery (1 Timothy 3:16).  It is only as we are rooted in Christ that we prevail.  It is only as we are rooted in Christ that the deep stubborn roots of the mulberry tree will be destroyed.

We need to have the mindset that we are the Lord’s servants.  The apostle Paul assures us that we are slaves of righteousness as we walk in the Spirit (Romans 6:18).  This means that our conscious mindset is to avoid growing for the sake of growth.  We do not just put of sin because it is bad (Pharisee).   We put off sin because we want to be more faithful servants of our God.  We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit as we walk in Christ.  We are not justified by our faithfulness, and thank God for that.  We know that we have our advocate and high priest who is working on us, interceding for us in heaven, and as we conform to him, we see the beauty of heaven itself.  So, we evaluate ourselves in light of our Christian identity in christ.

We are called to live in God’s service as a joy, knowing His favor is unearned. We live in this age as the Lord redeemed.  What a privilege and joy it is to live in the service of the Most High God.  We love because he first loved us.  Let us live that out as his servants, knowing the joy of our redeemer.