Title Increase your faith (Luke 17:5-10)
Contents
These days, the world is outraged by the swine flu. Fortunately, there have been no new cases since three confirmed cases in Korea. It is still spreading in the United States and Europe, including Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. There is an antiviral drug called Tamiflu, so it can be treated so far, and a vaccine is expected to be developed in the future.
I usually get a flu shot every year in the fall, but if I have antibodies, I can overcome the virus. Likewise, God's protection and grace act like a vaccination for believers. Because no matter what difficulties you may face, you can overcome them with faith. Faith in God's protection and gracious guidance is ultimately the vaccine. So, what can we do to strengthen this belief?
In the text, the apostles asked Jesus to “give us more faith.” That time was not after he had practiced the same power, but after teaching infinite forgiveness for his brothers (verses 3-4). At that time, the disciples were living under the law, so they were accustomed to living with a revengeful feeling of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. Therefore, Jesus’ command to ‘forgive your brother, even seven times a day’ was considered unjust. That said, I thought it was impossible to do.
In such a situation, the disciples knew that faith was what they needed to obey Jesus' command, which they could not carry out on their own. So, he asked, “Give me more faith.”
Hearing that Jesus asked to increase his faith, Jesus said, ‘If you had had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would have said to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would have obeyed you” (verse 6). It means that faith like a mustard seed is given to all who believe. It is our responsibility to plant and grow this little seed of faith.
faith and obedience
As Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion came and begged him to heal his paralyzed servant. Jesus answered, “I will go and heal you” (Matthew 8:7). Then the centurion said to him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my house, but speak the word, and my servant will be healed” (verse 8). Jesus said these words with the belief that if he gave orders without having to go to his house, the servant would be healed. As the basis for that, he said, “I am also a man under someone else’s control, and there are soldiers under me. If you say to one go, you go, and to another, you say, ‘Come,’ and they come, and if you say to my servant, ‘Do this, you do it’’ (verse 9).
The Roman centurion at that time was the commander of 100 men. Of course, he had a commander above him as well. He himself was too accustomed to the system in which he obeyed the orders of his superiors, and those below him also obeyed his orders. Emphasizing that subordinates obey their orders just as they obey their superiors, they believed that Jesus could obey not only people, but even diseases, if he spoke with authority.
Seeing the centurion's attitude of faith, Jesus was astonished and said, "Truly, I say to you, I have not found such faith in any of Israel" (verse 10). Among the people Jesus met during His 33 years on earth, the person with the greatest faith was neither John the Baptist nor Mary his mother, but a Roman soldier who was occupying Israel. It was because he understood and acted in obedience to authority.
That's what Jesus was trying to say through the parable of how to grow in faith. It is a fact that the deeper the obedience, the greater the faith. Let's connect this with verse 6. ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would have said to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would have obeyed you’’ (6) This phenomenon is a miracle. So how do such miracles happen? It happens to those who have done everything that is commanded, that is, to those who obey. Therefore, we must experience miracles through faith, but we must keep in mind that the factor that makes us have such faith is unconditional obedience.
obedience doing the best
I told you that our faith grows when we do everything we are commanded to do. It is said, “In the same way, after you have done all that was commanded you” (verse 10), it is the servant’s responsibility to do everything to the end, not to select only a part of the master’s will.
Usually, we start a job and lose interest in the middle, or we can't finish it because it's too hard. However, a true and faithful servant does his best to finish his work no matter how difficult or difficult it may be. I even plow the fields early in the morning. They work hard for their master and bring the fruits of their hard work to prepare food. This is true obedience.
Abraham, the father of faith, had no children. When he was 75 years old, God appeared and said that he would give him a son, and promised that he would make him the father of the nations through him. After waiting for a long time, when he turned 100, he received the promised son. God commanded him to go to Mount Moriah and sacrifice his precious son. The Bible expressed his immediate obedience by saying, “Abraham rose early in the morning” (Genesis 22:3).
If you are a true believer, you must immediately obey God's commands the moment you hear them. The road to Mount Moriah was three days long. That period was enough to reconsider obedience. It means that there was enough time to give up obedience in the middle and go back. But Abraham did not return. Isaac's death was like his own, but he obeyed. As a result, “I now know that you fear God” (Genesis 22:12) was recognized. He also received the great promise: ‘Your seed will be made great, and you will become like the stars in the sky and the sand of the sea, you will gain the gates of your enemies, and all the peoples of the world will be blessed’ (Genesis 22:16-18). All of this was because “they did not spare their readers and followed the word of God.”
Abraham's faith and obedience are our example. That is why the writer of Hebrews demands, “Let each one of you show the same diligence, becoming imitators of those who, with faith and longsuffering to the end, inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-15).
To the disciples who begged for “increase their faith,” Jesus emphasized the fact that they must obey to the end. We must not forget that true faith does not end with hearing and accepting, but rather is an action based on our confession. The Bible says that if you listen to the Word and do not obey, you are deceiving yourself. Such beliefs are not real, they are fake.
Humility after obedience
“In the same way, when you also have done all that was commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have only done what we were supposed to do” (verse 10). “Humble before the Lord, and the Lord will exalt you” (James 4:10). If you become arrogant because of the fact that you obeyed, you are obedient and you are standing in a place where you fall. Pride destroys all obedience. That is why Paul emphasized that one of the qualifications that church workers must have is humility, saying, “Let not even newcomers to the church become proud and fall into the same condemnation that condemns the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6).
Paul did many things in obedience to God's call. The more years of obedience, the more humble I became. “I am the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle” (1 Corinthians 15:9), which means that he does not even deserve to be called an apostle. Paul, who wrote the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, cannot lie. He then emphasized that “I labored more than all the apostles, not I, but by the grace of God with me” (verse 10). There is not.
Furthermore, Paul described himself in a letter to Timothy near the end of his life, saying, 'I am chief among sinners' (1 Timothy 1:15). Thinking about the past when he persecuted Christ and the church in the past, he did not say that he was a ‘monster’, but instead confessed that he was a ‘monster’ by referring to himself, who lived his life obediently by faith. It is no different from the humble attitude of the servant in the text, ‘I am a useless servant, I have only done what I was commanded to do’.
Jesus lived a life that gave all glory to God alone. Even after healing the sick, He told them to ‘give glory to God, not to tell others about this. Another rich ruler called him 'Good Teacher,' and he replied, 'There is only one good person, God.' He rejected all praise for himself and wanted only the glory of Heavenly Father. The only thing that Jesus boasted about was humility. We must not forget that he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest” (Matthew 11:29).
Without a heart to love God, we cannot obey. A truly obedient person is not proud. The proud seek their own self-interest, but the humble seek only the glory of God. Conversely, a disobedient person is a proud person. Because it is against the thoughts of God. We do not recognize the Word of God as the final authority. Therefore, we must put aside all false claims and thoughts, take every thought captive, and live a life of humility and obedience to Christ. I hope that you will have greater faith through obedience.