Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 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. So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:1-10 NIV)
One of the biggest criticisms people have of Christians is this: “It’s just a show for Sunday mornings.” Have you heard people say that? “You get yourselves all dressed up and look nice for a morning, but you sure don’t seem any different than everybody else during the week. It’s just a show for Sunday mornings.” People watch how Christians live their lives. People notice when Christians’ actions don’t line up with what Christians say. Is our faith just for Sunday mornings?
If it were—if our faith were just a show for Sunday mornings—do you know who would be the first to criticize us? Jesus! Jesus taught his followers to live a life of faith. Our faith is to impact everything we do. “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Jesus doesn’t ask us for an hour a week. He asks for an entire life of faith. Today Jesus teaches us three things about what a life of faith looks like.
Here’s Teaching #1: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 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. So watch yourselves.” A life of faith takes sin seriously. The world says sin is okay. There are temptations all around us. But faith takes sin seriously. Martin Luther once said: “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” Understand what he meant? Temptations will come. That’s evitable. But faith takes sin seriously and avoids temptation.
And not just for me. Did you hear whom Jesus tells us to be concerned about? Other people. Faith is always concerned about other people. Jesus tells us to watch ourselves so that we don’t cause other people to stumble. Instead of competing with each other, Christians support each other. Instead of trying to trip each other, Christians seek to save each other. A Christian doesn’t want to be the one who leads others to disrespect the government. A Christian doesn’t want to be the one who tempts someone to commit adultery. A Christian doesn’t want to be the one who teaches others to curse or be greedy. Faith is careful not to be the reason why someone else sins.
Especially “little ones.” Jesus has a special concern for “little ones.” For little children, but also for people who are new to faith or weak in faith. Jesus loves his little ones! He says, “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.” Wow! Those are harsh words. Drowning would not be fun. Agree? Jesus says it’s far better to drown than to go to hell for causing his little ones to sin. That is powerful language! A life of faith is careful not to lead others into sin. “Watch yourselves!”
Here’s Teaching #2: “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” Isn’t this ironic? A life of faith takes sin seriously, but a life of faith is also the first to forgive. Isn’t that interesting? Notice what goes along with forgiving: Rebuking. Jesus commands us to rebuke a brother or sister who sins. People today say, “It’s not loving to point out sins.” Jesus says, “If you love someone, you will point out their sins.” Why? So they can repent and be forgiven! A life of faith rebukes and forgives others.
Even when they sin against you. That’s the hardest, isn’t it? Faith forgives, even when other people sin against us. Actually, “even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” That’s hard! Can you imagine the very same person sinning against you seven times in one day? That would hurt! I know what I would say after sin #2: “If it happens one more time, you’re going to get it! This is the last straw!” We don’t want people to walk all over us. We want revenge. We want payback. Now!
And Jesus says, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” Each time. Every time. How? Jesus! We’re talking about a life of faith in Jesus, right? This is what Jesus has done for us. He forgives us. Seven times? No. Seventy-seven times? No. Each time. Every time. All the time. Notice this paradox: Christians are more concerned about sin than anyone else in the world, and Christians are more forgiving than anyone else in the world. Christians are the first to speak against sin and the first to forgive sin. Can you see that? This doesn’t come naturally. It’s only possible through Jesus. A life of faith forgives.
Here’s Teaching #3: “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” A life of faith serves God and others humbly. Even more: A life of faith serves without expecting a reward. Without trying to get attention for itself. A life of faith serves and says, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
When we serve, it’s easy to look over our shoulder and think, “I hope somebody saw that!” When we do something good, we expect to be rewarded. “There better to something good for me at the end of all this! What’s in it for me?” How often don’t we complain, “Nobody notices everything I’m doing around here!” I mean, what’s the point of serving if you don’t get the credit for it? What’s the point of doing good things if people don’t praise you for them? Huh?
Here’s the point: “For Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). A life of faith is motivated by Christ’s love. God the Father created us. Jesus redeemed us by dying for us on the cross. The Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Christ. Therefore, we belong to God. We owe our lives to God. We owe every thought and word and action of every minute of every day of our entire lives to God. Yet, even if we were to serve God with our entire life, we could never say to him, “You owe me something.” Instead, we say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” A life of faith takes sin seriously. A life of faith always forgives. A life of faith serves humbly.
Got it? A nice little checklist. Ready to go and do it? Not so fast. Did you hear the disciples’ reaction? As they listened to Jesus talk, they suddenly blurted out: “Increase our faith!” Why did they say that? Because this seems impossible! Don’t cause others to sin. Forgive every time. Serve humbly. Do you do that? Check. Check. Check. I don’t. There’s no way. Checklists don’t save us. They show us how far we fall short. Jesus’ commands show us all the things we haven’t done. The disciples couldn’t. They needed saving. And they knew it. “Increase our faith!”
So you’d expect Jesus to say, “Okay, here’s more faith.” But he didn’t. Instead, he told another little parable: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” The disciples misunderstood faith. It’s not the size of the faith that saves. That would make it all depend on us. It’s the size of the Savior. Faith is trust in someone else. Faith is placing your life in someone else’s hands. So if you have faith in Jesus, how much strength do you have? All strength! How much power do you have? All power! Don’t think about the size of your faith. Think about the size of your Savior.
Do you know what Jesus did for us? Everything. Faith is trusting that Jesus did everything for us. He kept every command of God perfectly. Jesus never caused anyone to sin. Isn’t that amazing? Not even his younger brothers. Can you imagine that? Not his friends. He guarded their hearts and minds. And Jesus always forgave. Even the people who crucified him. He forgave them. Remember that? Jesus served so faithfully and humbly, and he didn’t do it to get a reward. He served out of love for God and for us. Jesus lived a perfect life of faith every day as our Savior.
And then he died for us. The one perfect Person, who lived a perfect life of faith, took all our sins to the cross and forgave us once and for all. He rose from the dead to win new life for all who believe in him. This is what faith in Jesus does. It connects you to Jesus’ perfect life for you, to Jesus’ death for you, to Jesus’ resurrection for you. When you’re baptized, you’re born again. You’re given a new life. The Holy Spirit comes and lives in your heart. You’re no longer a slave to sin. You’re a servant of God. You don’t belong to the devil. You belong to Jesus!
That’s what empowers us to live a life of faith. God does! There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Through faith, even the smallest faith in Jesus, we can do things that seem impossible. Because it doesn’t depend on our strength. It depends on God’s strength. How are we able to avoid sin? By the power of Christ working through us. How can we forgive—over and over again? By the grace of Christ working through us. How can we serve humbly? By the love of Christ compelling us. Through faith, Christ can accomplish anything in us. It’s called a life of faith.
This past week, I was walking around our block in the dark, when a big dog without a leash ran up and started growling at me. I hate that! I cannot stand big dogs without leashes snarling at me in the dark. I thought, “I hope something bad happens to those people.” And then I remembered something, “Forgive them.” And I let it go. I spent time this week doing something that nobody will ever notice, and I thought, “Why am I doing this? Nobody even cares!” But then I thought, “That’s not true. Jesus knows, and he’s the only one who really matters.” At our house, there was a moment in which I wanted to complain about something, and then this thought popped in my head: “Woe to anyone who causes people to sin.” So I didn’t say it. That’s what God’s Word does for us. Over and over again. Day after day. It leads us to live a life of faith in Jesus.
But maybe you’re thinking, “Hold on. I thought we were supposed to do great things?” Yes. Exactly! Those are the great things. Can you see that? Those are the big things that God miraculously accomplishes in us. Saying “no” to sin. What a miracle of God! Forgiving people who hurt you. What a miracle of God! Serving selflessly. What a miracle of God! We say, “Jesus, increase our faith!” And Jesus says, “I have given you all you need.” Through faith in Jesus, you have the power to move trees. Not just on Sundays. All the time. So live a life of faith.
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