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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