Luke 17:1-10
Strive for a Faith that Lets Go!
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
How easy is it for you to “let go” of something? For example, think back to your very first car. You worked so hard to be able to buy that car. Every time you got behind the wheel your heart smiled. But as the numbers on the odometer got higher and higher or when an accident caused too much damage you reluctantly came to the conclusion that you had to let that car go. On that day your heart was no longer smiling, was it.
You entered college with the goal of learning as much as you could in a particular field so that you could get your dream job. But eventually you came to the conclusion that the courses were far more difficult than you ever imagined or after you landed your dream job you discovered that reality fell far short of your dream. Letting go of the dream and dealing with reality was not easy, was it.
You spend decades preparing for your retirement. You have goals and dreams about all the things you want to do and all the places you want to go once you have all that extra time. But then your health and/or your finances change dramatically. Letting go of many if not most of your goals and dreams will not be easy.
At first glance our sermon text for today seems to cover a number of unrelated topics. In fact, in my Greek Bible Luke chapter seventeen has the heading, “Some Sayings of Jesus.” Our goal today is to see that there is a common denominator that ties these ten verses together. That common denominator serves as our theme for today: Strive for a Faith that Lets Go! As we study this text we will see that Jesus emphasizes three things in connection with a faith that “lets go.”
The first thing Jesus emphasizes is found in these words, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves.”
With these words Jesus reminds us to take temptation seriously. The reality of sin and the power of sin guarantees that each and every one of us is tempted to sin each and every day. Our personal goal is to do everything we can to make sure that we are not the one who tempts someone else to sin— especially the “little ones.” These “little ones” includes not only the children, but it also includes both those who are “young” in their faith as well as those who are “weak” in their faith. To emphasize how serious it is to “cause one of these little ones to sin” Jesus uses the picture of tying a large stone around someone’s neck and tossing them into the sea. As horrible as that punishment would be, it pales in comparison to the eternal punishment such a person will endure at the hands of the Almighty.
When we recognize the seriousness of tempting someone to sin, when we recognize the punishment a person will endure for tempting a brother or sister in the faith to sin against God, this will lead us to strive for a faith that “lets go.” What will we “let go” of? We will “let go” of the idea that our needs and our wants take priority— no matter how our words and our actions might impact the faith of the people around us. A faith that “lets go” understands that since other people— especially the “little ones”— are watching what we do and listening to what we say it is our responsibility to “let go” of the idea that our Christian freedom means that we do not need to be concerned about the example that we are setting for others. Imagine how confusing it would be for a child to get reprimanded for using language that they hear at home all the time. Imagine how confusing it would be for a new Christian to come to the realization that Jesus does not want us to criticize people behind their back only to hear their fellow church members doing this on a regular basis. That’s why Jesus emphasizes our personal responsibility by saying to us, “Watch yourselves.”
The reality of our personal responsibility toward others leads us into the second point that Jesus emphasizes as He speaks to us about striving for a faith that “lets go.” Our Lord says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.
These words of our Savior remind us that just as we are to take temptation seriously, so also we need to take sin seriously. Even if a brother or sister in the faith does not sin against us directly, if we know that they have sinned against someone else or if we know that they have allowed a particular sin to take root in their heart or in their life, we need to be so concerned about their spiritual health that we “rebuke” them. We point out their sin with the goal of leading them to repentance. And when they do repent we gladly and freely forgive them. Even if they sin against us “seven times in a day,” we are to freely and fully forgive them from the heart— just as our God has freely and fully forgiven us of all the sins we have committed against Him! (Pointing to the cross)
The responsibility to “rebuke” coupled together with the responsibility to “forgive” requires that we strive to have a faith that “lets go.” We strive to have a faith that “lets go” of any and all self-righteousness (“I am so glad I would never do something like that!”). We strive to have a faith that “lets go” of any and all desire for revenge. We strive to have a faith that “lets go” of any and all possibility that we will look down on the person who has sinned and/or use that sin as ammunition against them either now or in the future.
If that sounds rather shocking to you, look at how Jesus’ disciples responded to what the Lord was telling them. Luke writes, “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it will obey you.’”
If we look inside of ourselves for the kind of faith that Jesus is describing here— a faith that freely and fully forgives others— we won’t find it. If we look inside of ourselves for the kind of faith that our Lord wants us to have we will be disappointed. If we look inside of ourselves for this kind of faith then when the Lord sets a command or a promise or a teaching in front of us that seems “impossible” to us we will try to excuse ourselves from doing what our God wants us to do by saying, “I just can’t. My faith is too weak.”
Like the disciples here in our text, instead of looking inside of ourselves we need to turn to the Lord and ask Him to strengthen our faith. Like the disciples here in our text we need to turn to our Lord and ask Him to empower us to do what He asks us to do— and He will! Like the disciples here in our text our Lord will encourage us to take whatever faith we have and use it! Like the disciples here in our text we will hear our Lord remind us and reassure us that even a faith as “small as a mustard seed” is able to accomplish astounding things!
So we strive for a faith that “lets go,” my friends. We strive for a faith that “lets go” of relying on ourselves and we rely on our God. We strive for a faith that “lets go” of any and all excuses for not doing what our Lord asks us to do and leads us to put our faith into action. We strive for a faith that “lets go” of anything in us and instead trusts in the truth that the apostle Paul proclaims in Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!”
The final truth that Jesus emphasizes when it comes to having a faith that “lets go” is brought out in the closing words of our text. Jesus says, “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
We are God’s “servants.” He made us. He redeemed us. Using the power of His holy Word and His holy Sacraments He brought us to faith in Jesus and strengthens our faith in Jesus as our only Savior from sin. Since we belong to Him He has the right, the power, the authority to command what He wants us to do and what He does not want us to do. Even if we were to do everything the God of heaven commands we would never be able to say to Him, “Now you owe me something.” Even if we try to go above and beyond what God specifically commands us here in His holy Word, the only thing we would ever have the right to say is, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
A faith that strives to “let go,” my friends, is a faith that stives to “let go” of that all too human inclination to take credit for our good works. A faith that strives to “let go” is a faith that banishes the thought that our attempt at spiritual self-discipline and any success that we might have against some sin somehow merits God’s praise. A faith that strives to “let go” is faith that “lets go” of any delusion that we deserve to be saved and trusts in God’s promise that we are saved purely by grace through faith in what He has done for us. (Pointing to the cross) A faith that strives to “let go” is faith that strives to “let go” of our personal pride and ego and depends solely on the mercy and the forgiveness of our God.
How easy is it for you to “let go” of something? When we look back over the course of our lives we see that “letting go” is not always an easy thing to do, is it. Whether it’s a physical object such as a car or an intangible object such as a goal or a dream it can be very difficult for us to “let go.”
My prayer this morning is that these words of our Savior will serve as a powerful reminder to us of how important it is for us to strive for a faith that “lets go”! Strive for a faith that takes temptation seriously and “lets go” of the idea that we can do and say whatever we want no matter how it impacts the faith of others— especially the “little ones.” Strive for a faith that takes sin seriously and “lets go” of the idea that we are not responsible for the spiritual health of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Strive for a faith that rejoices in the fact that we are His servants (Pointing to the cross) and “lets go” of any desire for praise as we humbly and faithfully carry out the “duties” that He has given to us.
To God be the glory!
Amen
