Luke 17:5-6 - Increase Our Faith
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Introduction
Introduction
[ILLUS] One year during Christmas with our extended family, someone thought we each should share a found Christmas memory from our childhood.
I don’t remember who said what, but I’m sure the women talked about dolls or dresses they received, and the men probably talked about the trucks or action figures (not dolls) that they received…
…but every story told involved a gift received.
We were all perhaps a little ashamed about the shallowness of our thinking about Christmas, but the biblical story of Christmas likewise centers on a gift…
…and it’s not just the gift of Jesus in a manger or on a cross or even risen from the dead.
It’s the gift of faith in Jesus as God in the flesh in a manger, on a cross, raised from the dead, ascended to the Father, and returning in triumph.
It’s the gift of faith in Jesus that makes Christmas worth remembering.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1), and without faith is is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).
Remember the words of the angels from Luke 2:14 just after Jesus was born...
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
If it takes faith to please God (Heb. 11:6) and the birth of Jesus only means peace for those with whom God is pleased, then faith is required for us to celebrate Christmas in a way that is pleasing to God—faith is required for us to have the peace with God that arrived in the birth of Jesus.
But how do we get this faith?
Ephesians 2:8 tells us that it is the gift of God…
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Romans 10:17 says...
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Therefore, as we hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, God sovereignly gives us the gift of faith so that we will exercise that faith in Jesus for salvation.
My point is, faith in Jesus is the greatest gift we’ve ever received because without it we have no peace with God, we cannot please God, and we are not saved from the wrath of God.
But with the gift of faith that God gives everything changes!
With faith in Jesus Christmas means more than just gifts under a tree!
It means God looks on us with a smile!
It means we are pleasing in His sight!
It means that we are no longer His enemies, but now we are at peace with Him!
It means that we are saved, and we are being saved!
It means that we are sanctified, and we are being sanctified!
It means that in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we are no longer dead but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Faith applies the true significance of Christmas to our hearts!
What better prayer could we pray then this Christmas than this prayer we find here in Luke 17:5, “Lord, increase our faith!”?
But as we’ll see, the object of our faith is much more important than the amount of our faith.
Let’s read Luke 17:5-6 again...
[READING - Luke 17:5-6]
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.
[PRAYER]
[TS] Let’s notice THE REQUEST in v. 5 and then THE RESPONSE in v. 6...
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Request (Luke 17:5)
#1: The Request (Luke 17:5)
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
We might marvel that the apostles said something like this to Jesus. These were those who heard Him teach with divine authority, who saw Him cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. How could they ask Him for more faith when He had already given them so many reasons to believe?
Well, whenever we are faced with a great trial in life or a command from the Lord which requires great obedience, we need to ask for more faith—more faith to resist temptation, more faith to make it through the trial, more faith to obey the Lord. Lord, increase our faith!
Think about Luke 17:4 for a moment. In that verse, Jesus talked about ridiculous forgiveness. “…if (someone) sins against you seven time a day, and returns to you seven time, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive.” To forgive like that surely requires more faith.
Or think about Luke 17:7-10. I know we haven’t read them yet, but the point is summed up in v. 10...
10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”
To humble ourselves like this surely requires more faith.
There are many things about this following of Jesus that seem to require more faith.
[ILLUS] In Mark 9 a father brought his son to Jesus…
17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”
Jesus said, “Bring him to Me!” (Mark 9:19)
The boy was brought to Jesus, and Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening to him?” (Mark 9:21)
The man responded…
22 “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
Jesus was perturbed by the man’s “if you can,” saying to him…
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
But then listen to the man’s response in Mark 9:24…
24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
[APP] As followers of Jesus we often find ourselves with faith but in need of more faith; we find ourselves saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
We may have followed Jesus a long time. We may have seen Him work miracles. We may be consistently comforted by His Word and by talking with Him in prayer. But we could always stand to have a little more faith.
Perhaps you are worn out by all the uncertainty this year. Maybe you’re facing financial hardships. Maybe your loved one is battling a health crisis. Or maybe you are just down and you don’t know why.
You know you have belief, but you need the Lord to help your unbelief if you’re going to make it through.
What better prayer to pray than, “Lord, increase my faith!”?
[TS] Let’s look at THE RESPONSE…
#2: The Response (Luke 17:6)
#2: The Response (Luke 17:6)
6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.
The mustard seed is a really small seed. In fact, it likely would have been the smallest seed that Jesus’ audience had any experience with. The mulberry tree is also known as the black mulberry tree or the sycamine tree as in the KJV. It’s a small but sturdy tree with blood-red fruit, and Jewish rabbis taught that the roots of this tree would remain in the earth for 600 years. It was very firmly rooted.
Upon hearing the request of the Apostles for increased faith, Jesus turned to a mulberry tree that was close by and informed them that if they had faith like a mustard seed they could command the uprooting and replanting of the mulberry tree into the sea and it would be done.
No, Jesus is not saying that faith is the key to better landscaping. Nor is He saying that faith is the key to innovative agricultural practices.
He is, however, using a dramatic example to show that nothing is impossible with a little faith.
[ILLUS] In Hebrews 11 we see what saints of old did with a little faith…
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain (Heb. 11:4). By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death (Heb. 11:5). By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household (Heb. 11:7). And the list goes on.
[APP] It’s not that we will really uproot trees with a little faith, but we can do all that God commands us to do with just a mustard seed of faith.
We can forgive as Jesus commands with just a little faith.
We can humble ourselves as Jesus commands with just a little faith.
We can receive the peace that is offered to us this Christmas with just a little faith in Jesus.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the hand of the throne of God—let us fix our eyes on Him this Christmas season! (Heb. 12:2)
The way to increased faith is to fix our eyes on Jesus!
[ILLUS] You remember the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water.
When the disciples first saw Jesus walking on the water, they were afraid and said, “It’s a ghost!” (Matt. 14:26).
But Jesus said, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid,” (Matt. 14:27).
Then Peter said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come You on the water,” (Matt. 14:28).
And Jesus simply said, “Come!” (Matt. 14:29).
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk toward Jesus, but then Matthew 14:30...
30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus, of course, immediately saved Peter, but then Jesus asked him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31).
A mustard seed of faith, just a little faith will do when that faith is fixed upon Jesus.
But a little faith that is distracted by wind and fear is faith that will leave us sinking.
This Christmas season what we need is more faith fixed upon Jesus.
How do we get that?
Well, increase your faith this Christmas by fixing your eyes on Jesus in Scripture.
Maybe you’ll commit to reading and rereading the passages in Matthew 1, Luke 2, and Revelation 12 that talk about the birth of Jesus.
Increase your faith this Christmas by fixing your eyes on Jesus in prayer.
Maybe you’ll use Matthew Henry’s, A Way to Pray, the Puritan prayer book, The Valley of Vision, or Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1 to help you.
Increase your faith this Christmas by fixing your eyes on Jesus in song.
There’s a difference between holiday music and Christmas music. Holiday music is stuff like Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Jingle Bells, but true Christmas music is stuff like we’ve song this morning: Come, O Come, Emmanuel and All Is Well.
Pay attention to the songs we sing in church this Christmas season and fill your mind and heart with those songs.
And finally, increase your faith this Christmas by fixing your eyes on Jesus in quiet.
This world is full of constant noise. Noise about the virus. Noise about politics. Noise about drama between this one and that one. Noise. Noise. Unending, incessant noise. But we are giving ourselves to it!
So maybe this Christmas season you’ll unplug.
COVID will still be COVID even if you don’t keep us with hospitalizations and deaths reported.
The political landscape will still be a chaotic mess even if you don’t read the headlines everyday.
The drama on Facebook will still be the drama on Facebook even if you aren’t aware of it.
So, unplug, and enjoy the quiet of this Christmas season by fixing your eyes on Jesus.
A mustard seed of genuine faith in Him can do great things.
But through Scripture, prayer, song, and quiet, maybe the Lord will indeed increase our faith.