Sunday, October 2, 2016

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (C—Proper 22)

October 2, 2016
Text: Luke 17:1-10

            “(B)ut the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4; ESV).  Thus says the LORD through the Prophet Habakkuk.  And this is the key to our Holy Gospel this morning.  Indeed, it is the key to Christianity.  The life of the Christian comes from the righteousness bestowed freely by God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself, doled out in His Word and in Baptism and in the Holy Supper, received by faith.  It is that faith… also, by the way, a gift of God given in the Word… It is that faith that is our life in Christ.  Faith is simply trust in Christ for life and salvation.  It is believing that His life, death, and resurrection are for you, that He is your Savior.  Now, you either have faith, or you don’t.  You either have life, or you don’t.  Which is to say, you either have Christ, or you don’t.  If you have faith, you have Christ and His life, and when you have Christ, you have Him and His life whole and complete.  He doesn’t come to you in pieces.  Faith in Christ, no matter how large or how small, saves you, because it doesn’t depend on you, but on Christ.  But it is also true that there are degrees of strength in the faith, and God gives this strength to whom He will, as he will, tailored specifically to each person according to the cross He gives that person to bear.  So some are stronger in the faith, and others are weaker.  You, yourself, are sometimes stronger, and sometimes weaker.  Sometimes you think you’re strong, when really you’re very weak.  On the other hand, sometimes you think you are weak, or even that your faith is nonexistent, when, in fact, you are very strong.  For strong faith recognizes the weakness of the fallen flesh and your utter helplessness in the face of sin, death, and Satan.  Thank God, our faith doesn’t depend on how strong we feel.  It depends on the objective gift of God.  And so, faced with a tall order from Jesus, utterly impossible for fallen man to fulfill, the Apostles pray to the Lord: “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5). 
            What does Jesus say that leads the Apostles to pray this almost desperate petition?  Our Lord tells us that our life in Christ is fraught with peril.  Temptations to sin will come.  He doesn’t simply mean temptations to do bad things, or not do good things, though that is certainly a symptom of what He is talking about.  He means the temptation of apostasy, the temptation to deny the Lord and forsake the faith.  He means that it’s hard to be a believer in this world.  You know this, especially living in a college town.  You really believe in the six day creation described in some ancient book of myths?  Ridiculous!  You’re really against a woman’s right to choose?  You really believe marriage is between one man and one woman for life?  You intolerant bigot!  You really believe a virgin could conceive and give birth?  You really believe a man could be raised from the dead?  Or what it really comes down to: You really believe Jesus is the only way to be saved?  It’s tempting to give in on any one or all of those issues, isn’t it?  For the sake of peace?  For the sake of love?  Because it personally appeals to your fallen flesh?  It’s easier?  It’s nicer?  It’s more reasonable?  It’s politically correct?  Beloved in the Lord, repent.  Lord, increase our faith! 
            Temptations to sin in such a way that we deny the Word of the Lord and the Lord who gave that Word are sure to come.  And it is easier… for now.  It does lead to peace… for now.  People will like you better if you don’t insist on believing in Jesus and His Word.  But what do you have in the end if you don’t have Jesus?  Your friends can’t help you in hell, as we learned last week with the rich man and Lazarus.  So you need the Lord to sustain you in the faith, and make you strong to withstand the attacks of the evil one and the unbelieving world and your own fallen flesh.  Lord, increase our faith!  And woe to the one by whom such temptation comes.  Lord, don’t let us be the ones who lead one of these little ones to sin, one of these believers to forsake the faith, for then it would be better for us to have a millstone hung around our neck and be cast into the sea.  Grant us instead to be a voice of salvation, confessing You, confessing Your Word, saying the hard things to our neighbor because we love our neighbor, and love says hard things.  Love rebukes sin, as You command us in this morning’s Gospel.  Love forgives sin, as You also command us in this morning’s Gospel.  Love forgives even when the sin is against me, even when the sin is repeated, even when it is repeated seven times in a day.  Love takes it on the nose.  Love dies to self for the sake of the beloved.  Love is crucified that the unlovely might lovely be.  Lord, increase our faith.  Give us faith that we may do what You would have us do: Confess, rebuke, forgive, and die. 
            And give us faith that we see this is ultimately a description of who You are and what You do for us and for our salvation.  You speak the truth, even when it is a truth we do not want to hear.  You rebuke.  You proclaim Your holy Law, convicting us of our sins.  And You forgive us.  Even though we sin against You seventy-times-seven in a day, You forgive us.  You take it on the nose.  You take it all over Your sacred Body, Your thorn-encircled brow, Your pierced hands and feet, Your riven side.  You die on the cross.  That is Your love for us.  Love is crucified for the unlovely, that we might lovely be.  You die, so that we live.  Lord, increase our faith.
            And He does.  He must do it.  We cannot.  Faith is God’s gift to us.  It’s not something we decide.  It’s not something we earn.  It’s not our one good work we get to do to get to heaven.  Faith is the hands that receive God’s gifts.  What did you do to earn your hands?  Did you decide to have hands?  No, those were gifts from God.  He created them.  He gave them to you without any merit or worthiness in you.  So it is with faith.  Faith is given by God to receive God’s gifts.  When you ask the Lord to increase your faith, you’re asking Him to give you bigger hands to receive more of His gifts.  Why?  Because you need those gifts to bear the crosses God has given you.  It is a cross to confess Christ faithfully in this world.  It is a cross to deny your fleshly desires and rebuke those of others.  It is a cross to forgive your neighbor and love him and serve him.  And that’s simply your duty in Christ.  What do you expect God to do when you’ve finally forgiven that neighbor who said that mean thing to you or did that bad thing to you?  What do you expect Him to do when you feed a hungry person, clothe a naked person, and give money to charity?  Do you expect God to thank you and make a big deal over what a great hero of virtue you are?  No, that’s your job!  You’ve only done your duty as a Christian.  Faith recognizes that you’re an unworthy servant.  But faith clings to the worthiness you’ve been given in Christ, the worthiness of Christ Himself, His righteousness, His perfection.  And faith receives the life Christ poured out on the cross and took up again in the resurrection, the life that gives birth to works of love and forgiveness for your neighbor.  The righteous, the Christian, shall live by his faith. 

            So, Lord, increase our faith.  Make us strong.  Give us big hands to receive Your big gifts.  Our Lord does it, and the way He does it is really amazing.  Jesus asks some rhetorical questions in our text this morning.  “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?” (v. 7).  You’re supposed to say, “No!  Of course not!”  That’s the answer expected by the question.  Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?” (v. 8).  You’re supposed to say, “Yes!  That’s right.  That’s the order of things in this world.  That is what is proper.”  Here is the amazing thing.  When you’ve done your duty and come in from the field, what does your Master, Jesus, say?  “Come at once and recline and table!”  And He dresses properly and He serves you while you eat and drink, His Body, His Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  That’s how He increases your faith.  His Word.  His Spirit.  His Supper.  Right here, right now, in the Divine Service, in His Church, at His altar.  So you pray with the Apostles, “Increase our faith.”  And He does.  He gives you big hands to receive His big gifts and go and do your Christian duty with joy.  He gives you faith.  And by this faith you live.  Not just here and now, forgiving and loving and serving.  But forever then, in heaven, and in the resurrection of the dead.  Thus says the LORD: The righteous shall live by his faith.  Come and eat, believe, and live.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                      

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