Title: Give Us More Faith
Contents
Title: Give Us More Faith
Bible: Luke 17:1-10
Starting Point of the Word>>
This time, we would like to share the title of “Give us more faith”.
Example>>
There was a boy named Penny who lived in Hamilton, Missouri, USA. Because of his poverty, he got a job in a general store.
But Penny, who often saw the owner of the general store cheating, told the story to his family one evening at dinner.
His father heard the story and told him to get out of the store immediately.
Eventually, Penny moved to another job and worked hard with honesty and truth as her motto.
Later, he became a businessman and became a prominent figure in the business world with over 2,000 branches of his company across the United States.
However, in 1920, due to the Great Depression, he went bankrupt and lost all his fortune of 40 million dollars and was hospitalized due to a terrible disease.
He was sinking into despair in an agony that seemed to cut off his breath.
Then, in the hospital hallway, "Don't worry about it. The hymn was heard, “The Lord will keep you.”
After hearing the hymn, Penny went to the hospital chapel and started praying.
“Lord, I can't do anything with my power anymore. Lord help me.”
He surrendered everything to God and prayed.
And while I was praying, I experienced that the Lord took away all my worries and anxieties, and my body and mind became lighter.
He later confessed:
“Before that, I had not actually accepted the Lord, and I thought that I had the right to spend as I wanted because it was the money I earned with blood and sweat. But I ended up failing. But as a result of becoming a new person in Christ again, knowing everything I have as Lord, and doing business with a heart to serve the church and neighbors, I was able to become a great entrepreneur again.”
He has always been a model for exemplary entrepreneurs by running the company with the best quality and friendly service.
In this way, a true Christian exerts a tremendous influence to change the world.
Jesus wants us who follow Him to also become believers who change the world.
However, as Christians, in order to become saints who change the world, we must become the 'disciples' of the Lord, not just a multitude of 'groups'.
When Jesus sent His disciples out, He said, "I have given you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and to have control over all the power of the enemy, and no one will harm you by any means" (Luke 10:19).
In the name of the Lord, I ask that you become believers who experience the work of faith that the Lord increases through today's Word.
Go to Word>>
So when does Jesus give us faith?
First, when we hope to have faith as large as a mustard seed, Jesus adds to our faith.
In today's text, Jesus tells us about the attitude a true disciple should have.
First, Jesus asked his disciples not to offend their brothers, to be on guard against their sins, and to constantly forgive their repentant brothers.
If we look at verse 4 of the text,
He said, “If I sin against you even seven times a day and return to you seven times and say, I repent, forgive me.”
As an ordinary person, it may be almost impossible to follow these teachings of Jesus.
The disciples realized that their faith was too weak to do this, and they asked Jesus to increase their faith.
This is verse 5 of the text.
“The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith.”
With the faith we have now, we cannot fully stand as the disciple Jesus required.
But looking at the words of verse 6, Jesus gives an unexpected answer.
“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, said the Lord, you would have said to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would have obeyed you.”
Now, the disciples are regretting 'a little faith', but Jesus said that if there is even a little faith as small as a 'mustard seed', clear works will happen.
In other words, while the disciples focused on “the measure of faith,” Jesus clearly states that faith is a matter of quality, not quantity.
A mustard seed is a seed so small that it cannot be seen.
But if you plant it in the ground, it will grow mustard, an annual plant.
The key is the life contained in the seed.
No matter how large a stone is planted in the ground, it will not grow and bear fruit.
Even if they are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, the 'seed' must be planted.
Faith is such a vital force.
It is not a question of how much or how little it is, but whether it is a living seed or not.
If you have a living faith, even if it seems small or slow now, you must achieve great things.
Living faith is the faith to receive Jesus Christ and serve Him as King.
It is the faith that Jesus Christ lives and works in me.
But even among those who believe in Jesus, there are many cases where they are still the masters.
he is the king So you do it your way.
You do what you assert, you do according to your own blood, and you do it according to your personality.
It is a lifeless faith.
Just as nothing comes out of planting stones, dead faith does not cause any work.
Even if it is a small faith, those who have sincere faith can feel relieved and not panic, no matter what difficulties they face while doing God's work.
Therefore, we must believe in the power of sincere faith and rely only on God.
In the name of the Lord, I ask that this time, in the name of the Lord, be a precious time for us to pray to increase our true faith.
Second, when you have faith that a disciple of Jesus is a servant of Jesus, He gives you more faith.
The 'discipleship' that Jesus taught was the form of a 'servant'.
While teaching about the true disciples, Jesus used the parable of the master-slave relationship in the agricultural society at that time.
At that time, 'slave' had a completely different meaning from that of employees of today's companies.
Now, no matter how much you are an employee of the company, it is a hierarchical relationship in terms of job, not a hierarchy in status.
So after work, you are free.
However, in the ancient society where slavery was strict, the master-slave relationship was an absolute hierarchical relationship.
Jesus compared this relationship between a master and a servant to that of a disciple.
A servant must prepare and serve the master's meal without a break when the master comes into the house even after plowing the master's field or taking care of the sheep all day long.
Always be prepared to listen to your master's orders.
A person's life is always in the background.
You don't get a reward from the owner for doing so, nor do you get praise for "good job".
If we look at verse 10,
“We are unprofitable servants; we have only done what we ought to have done.”
You should do your best to serve only your master.
Today, if you are asked to be a slave like this, the backlash will not be so great.
However, Jesus is saying that the 'disciple' should be like this.
The saying that we are the servants of Jesus has a soteriology meaning.
That is, as Jesus said, “In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Because we are God's servants,
Now we should rejoice and praise that we are no longer 'servants of sin' but belong to the Lord.
According to Romans 6:17-18,
“Thanks be to God, for you were originally slaves of sin, but you were set free from sin and became slaves to righteousness, by obedient to the pattern of teaching that was delivered to you from your heart.”
Says.
A man named “Wesley Hoover” confessed:
“I am a human being marked as a slave. But they are slaves to righteousness, not slaves to sin. And they are slaves of chastity, not slaves of immorality. I am a slave to freedom, not a slave to indulgence. A slave to the Lord's kingdom, not a slave to the crowd. A slave to faith, not a slave to fear. And especially the slaves of the Lord, not the slaves of wealth. Thus, since I am a slave in the chains of the Lord, I have no choice but to participate in the Lord’s work.”
To be a disciple of the Lord means to become a servant of the Lord and to do the Lord's will.
In the name of the Lord, I ask that we all become saints who please you as your faithful servants.
Third, when we admit that we are voluntary servants of the Lord, He adds to our faith.
We see that Paul often uses the expression “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” when introducing himself in many of his epistles.
Paul was originally a Pharisee from the tribe of Benjamin, a student under Gamaliel, and a Roman citizen.
In other words, he had a lot to be proud of about himself.
However, he does not introduce himself with something that the world would envy and acknowledge, but only introduces himself as a "servant of Jesus Christ."
Today, the word 'servant of the Lord' is an object of respect in the church, but 2,000 years ago, the term 'someone's servant' was limitingly demeaning to oneself.
Nevertheless, Paul did not claim that he was a privileged class with Roman citizenship, nor did he claim that he was educated under Gamaliel, nor did he promote a family of Pharisees from the tribe of Benjamin.
Paul proudly presented himself solely as a “servant of Jesus Christ.”
It tells us that he was honored to be a servant of Christ.
Paul was confessing every time he wrote that it was miserable to be forced to be someone's servant, but voluntarily becoming a servant of Jesus Christ is the most glorious and proud thing.
Paul followed Jesus' example of serving and lived as a servant throughout his life.
Why does the church exist on this earth?
Please realize that it is in your willingness to serve as a servant.
The church should be in a place of service.
We must build our church as a church that serves this nation and the world.
Jesus, who wants each of you to serve the Lord, to serve the church, and to serve your neighbors, is still on his knees washing our feet.
Just as Jesus became a servant to himself and washed the disciples' feet, so I ask in the name of the Lord that we also become servants of this earth and serve the world, myself and all the saints.
At the end of the speech>>
We are all saved according to the will of the Lord.
When we do service and devotion for the church, the body of the Lord, do not try to do it with our own strength or our will, but only through the grace of Jesus who adds faith to us.
At that time, God will increase our faith and prepare us for the path of blessing.
Today, through our lives, we can experience the amazing grace of the Lord,
I pray in the name of the Lord that you have a precious and blessed day.