Focal Passage: Luke 17:1-10
Evidence of a mature faith: I have often had people tell me that they do not understand a large portion of Scriptures that they have read. My response is always the same. Pray and ask God to illuminate your mind and look to wise and trusted teachers to help you in your understanding of a given passage.
When you consider Luke 17:1-4, Jesus’ instructions are pretty simple and yet profound. It is important to recognize that He is speaking to His followers in this passage. He makes it clear that struggles and failures will come for every believer. Jesus says that there will be severe consequences for those that cause others to stumble or to sin. In verse 3 the Lord says, “Be on your guard. Rebuke a sinner and forgive sinners.” These words are not difficult to understand, but difficult to live out in our daily lives. Jesus added to that by saying that we are to forgive them without limitations.
When we act out of faith and forgiveness our understanding of God’s forgiveness toward us is put on display. That creates a heart of mature and obedient faith before the Lord.
Matthew 6:14-15 says, “If you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.” Again, the instructions given from Scripture are often very clear. The questions brought before us are not so easy. Do we have the mature faith to live our lives in obedient faith?
Johnson
Increase our faith: To really understand verses 5 and 6, we need to remember the difficulty of being obedient to what Jesus had just instructed the apostles to do. The apostles were asking the Lord to deepen their faith. The apostles did not need more faith. They needed a stronger faith.
Jesus points to a mustard seed as an example. It is not about the size, but about the potential outcome our faith in God can produce. Jesus then uses the extreme example of a deeply rooted tree pulling itself out of the ground and planting itself in the sea. The hyperbole that Jesus uses here is to simply say, “With God, anything is possible.” This is the increase of our faith.
Our reasonable service: It is important for us to understand that a mature faith is an obedient faith. What is Jesus trying to get His followers to understand in verses 7-10?
When we see ourselves as the recipients of God’s incredible grace and forgiveness, there is no place for boasting or ungratefulness. Jesus is telling the apostles that a grateful servant would never expect praise for serving his master.
The Lord is telling His followers that the servant serves his master in obedient faith out of gratitude to the Master. Jesus reminds them that after they have done everything the master has asked them to do, that their response would be, “We are unworthy servants.”
I think Paul said it well in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Being a living sacrifice is our reasonable service to a good and gracious God. B&R
