WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.080 begin by asking, has anyone asked a rather embarrassing question in maybe a public setting 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:13.380 that you wish you hadn't? When I was in uni, Rachel and I, we actually studied abroad in the UK 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:18.059 for part of a semester, it was in the UK for part of it was on the continent. We were studying 00:00:18.059 --> 00:00:24.500 politics and economics of the European Union. And so we came with our own school, we had our 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:29.160 own group of students, we had our own professors, so we weren't in a classroom. Most of our days 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:35.560 were spent traveling around, meeting with different government leaders, officials, government 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:41.700 entities, organizations. And I remember one time we were in Brussels and I don't remember 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:45.519 where we were, who we were meeting or what we were talking about. But something that stands 00:00:45.519 --> 00:00:50.400 out was we had this government official who was speaking to us and after he was done we 00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:55.299 had the opportunity to ask questions. And there was someone in our group who raised his hand 00:00:55.299 --> 00:01:02.699 to ask a question, what he thought was an intelligent, insightful question. And it was met by silence 00:01:02.699 --> 00:01:07.700 from this official. And to kind of break the awkwardness, my classmate just said, I'm sorry 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:12.120 if that's a dumb question. And the official responded, he said, there's no such thing as 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:17.700 a dumb question, only dumb people. And we all just kind of like gasped, we kind of looked 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:22.879 at each other like, who is this guy saying this to us? But we see in our passage today 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:29.280 the disciples making a request that they think is an intelligent, a heartfelt request of the 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:34.439 Lord that they probably did with the best of intentions. Yet what it does, it exposes the 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:39.939 fact that they had a flawed understanding. We see in this passage this collection of Jesus' 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:44.939 teachings. And though they're collected together, this doesn't mean that they happened at the 00:01:44.939 --> 00:01:50.819 same time. Luke collects them in such a way that they are organized, that show Jesus giving a warning 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:57.219 and an instruction and a parable. And it's held together by this exhortation in verse 5 and 6, 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:03.420 which is prompted by the disciples making this request of Jesus. A request that sounds like a 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:09.240 good request to us, right? Lord, increase our faith. Now Jesus doesn't respond like that official and say, 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:15.780 that's a dumb question. But he does point out the fact that this is a bad question, or rather the 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:22.360 disciples are thinking in an incorrect manner about the nature of faith itself. And so that's what I 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:29.620 really want us to focus on today, is really hone in on verses 5 and 6 to consider this understanding 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:35.660 of the Christian faith. And so specifically three aspects of faith that I want us to look at today is, 00:02:35.659 --> 00:02:43.620 one, the function of our faith, to the object of our faith, and thirdly, the effect of our faith. 00:02:43.939 --> 00:02:49.019 The function, the object, and the effect of our faith. And so let's begin by thinking about the 00:02:49.019 --> 00:02:53.620 function of our faith. And I want to do this in a very foundational manner, because I don't want to 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:59.539 take for granted the fact that there may be some here that aren't believers. I think in recent months, 00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:05.039 we've had a number of new people in our midst who might not have a Christian background, who are 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:11.819 exploring the claims of Jesus, who are genuinely interested in the gospel. And I want Beclu to be 00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:16.539 a place where you can explore. I want Beclu to be a place where you hear the gospel preached with 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:24.139 clarity and accuracy. So I think this is foundational for us to understand what faith truly is. And I 00:03:24.139 --> 00:03:29.259 think there's some of us here who've been Christians for a really long time, but yet maybe we still 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:36.599 struggle with our faith. Maybe we're embarrassed by the fact that our faith is weak. And so I hope this 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:43.819 can be an encouragement to us as well. And so when we think about faith, from a cultural or a societal 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:49.180 standpoint, there's many different meanings, there's many different opinions of faith that we see in the 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:56.680 world around us. There's some that think of faith as really an outdated concept, that faith is simply 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:03.180 for the weak or the simple-minded. There's the late atheist writer Christopher Hitchens. He wrote 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:11.400 that faith is a surrender of the mind. It's the surrender of reason. And so for people like him, 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.860 faith really has no value at all. It's foolish. It's old-fashioned. It has no place in our current 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:21.800 society. But then there's other people in our culture that say, they look at faith and say, 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:28.980 hey, this is a virtue. Faith is something that encourages us. It motivates us. So our kids, 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:33.819 their primary school, they have this motto. The motto of the school is to believe, achieve. 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:40.400 But the fact is, the school says nothing about what to believe in. It doesn't say, are you supposed 00:04:40.400 --> 00:04:44.620 to believe in yourself? Are you supposed to believe in your teachers? Are you supposed to believe in your 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:50.540 classmates? For many, it doesn't really matter what you believe in so long as you just have faith. 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:56.200 And for these people in our society, when they look at faith, they've really just turned it more into 00:04:56.200 --> 00:05:03.620 superstition. Because it's just about believing hard enough in something, maintaining a positive 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:09.740 outlook, and then positive things will happen. But what we see, whether this viewpoint is rejecting 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:17.080 faith as being anti-reason or holding on to faith as a virtue in and of itself, we see that the Bible 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:23.879 says something very differently about what faith truly is. If we look in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, 00:05:23.919 --> 00:05:29.479 it says, faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see. 00:05:30.919 --> 00:05:37.740 So the reformer John Calvin from 500 years ago, he expounds more on this definition of what faith is. 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:46.660 He says, faith as is the firm and certain knowledge of God's goodwill to us, which being founded on the 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:53.500 free promise given in Jesus Christ, is revealed in our minds and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 00:05:54.699 --> 00:06:00.600 And so we see in this definition, we see the work of the Trinity at play here, right? Calvin mentions the 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:05.920 work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's the Father who extends his goodwill to you. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:12.379 And this is given to us in Jesus. It is sealed in our hearts with the Holy Spirit. 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:17.319 And so that brings us back to our question, well, what is the function of faith? 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.580 What does this firm and certain knowledge of God's goodness do for us? 00:06:22.900 --> 00:06:27.639 And so to answer the question, it may be helpful to kind of be thinking about the Reformation a little longer, 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:32.300 to kind of recognize that 500 years ago, this was a very hot topic of debate. 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:39.780 How are you saved? How are we justified before God? How do we receive God's grace? How do we obtain 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:48.000 Jesus's righteousness? Medieval theology taught that our justification before God, our acceptance before 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:57.759 God was an ongoing process. And so with some time and effort, God may eventually view us as righteous. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:06.240 And so when we work, we work to please God. And when we do so, we will gradually earn this infusion 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:14.439 of God's grace. If you think about a teacup, right? And you have hot water in the teacup and you put your 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:23.139 teabag in the teacup. You look at slowly that tea infuses the water. That's kind of the concept that was at 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:29.199 play back in the day that if we work hard enough, God will gradually give us his grace and we will be made 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:38.000 righteous. It's kind of the old adage, if you do your best, God will do the rest. The problem is, is that's not the 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:46.099 gospel. The Bible clearly says that we are dead in our sins and that our good deeds are like filthy rags. 00:07:46.100 --> 00:07:55.200 And so we don't come to God just seeking healing. We don't come like a sick person in the hospital who 00:07:55.200 --> 00:08:00.980 needs a blood transfusion as though we just need an infusion of grace. We are dead. We are without 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:07.860 life. We need new life. We need resurrection. And the fact of the matter is, is a dead man can't make 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:15.900 himself alive. It is God who must initiate this action within us. And so truth, faith, it comes through 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:23.719 recognizing that we can't save ourselves. Faith doesn't just look inwards at ourselves and our own emotion. 00:08:23.719 --> 00:08:31.199 It looks outward and focuses on Jesus. It focuses on the gospel. Because this is the good news that Jesus 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:39.799 sent his son to earth, who lived a perfect life, who perfectly fulfilled the law in its entirety, who paid 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:47.379 the penalty for our sins on the cross, who took our sin and gave us his righteousness, that receiving this 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:53.000 free gift through faith, we may have eternal life. And so this righteousness that we're talking about here, 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:58.139 it's not a righteousness that's earned. It's not a righteousness that we gradually develop. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:06.959 It's a righteousness of Jesus that's credited to us by God and received by faith. And this happens 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:14.780 before we ever take a single step toward righteousness on our own. And so we see that faith is 00:09:14.780 --> 00:09:21.660 solely the work of Jesus. Faith is our good works play no part in our salvation. And I heard it described 00:09:21.660 --> 00:09:29.120 this way before that, even if we thought that our salvation was based 0.0001% on our good works, 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:37.940 those good works would still be 100% of our confidence. Because we would always be asking 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:44.700 the question, have I done enough? So if we think of another reformer, Martin Luther, 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:52.179 when he was 21, he thought the Lord was calling him to become a monk. And so he wrote in his journals, 00:09:52.179 --> 00:09:58.939 he said, I was a good monk. And I kept my rules so strictly that I could say that if ever a monk 00:09:58.939 --> 00:10:06.359 could get into heaven through monastic discipline, I was that monk. But yet as he strove to be accepted 00:10:06.359 --> 00:10:14.579 by God, the really the further he felt like he was from that goal. His piety didn't bring really any 00:10:14.579 --> 00:10:20.059 sort of satisfaction or security to him. So it really wasn't until he was going through the book of 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:26.059 Romans that he had at this light bulb moment. He comes to Romans chapter 1 verse 17 that says this. 00:10:26.839 --> 00:10:34.279 It says, for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith 00:10:34.279 --> 00:10:42.139 from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith. And so it was at this 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:49.279 moment that Luther realized that faith is the only way to please God. That faith is our only way that 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:55.959 we may ever be declared righteous. And so this is just what we talked about in, or what we read 00:10:55.959 --> 00:11:03.120 earlier in Genesis 15 from the Old Testament. When God comes to this man named Abram, and he makes this 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:08.139 covenant promise with him, and he promises to bless him that he will have a son, that his family will 00:11:08.139 --> 00:11:14.959 number the stars. And he doesn't offer this blessing to him because Abraham was deserving of it. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:20.920 And we recognize how Abram received this promise. It said, Abraham believed the promise of God, 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:27.580 and it was credited to him as righteousness. So it wasn't Abraham that was, he wasn't righteous 00:11:27.580 --> 00:11:33.519 because of what he did. He was righteous because he believed. And some may argue then, well, when you 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.920 think about faith, it is some element of action, right? It is some responsibility on our part, right? We are 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:46.279 acting in some way when we believe. I think the best way to think of it is how the reformers thought of it. 00:11:47.079 --> 00:11:52.959 To recognize that faith is an open hand. Faith is an instrument by which we grab and take hold 00:11:52.959 --> 00:11:59.779 of the righteousness of God. And so it's the image of a beggar that's sitting on a street corner, 00:12:00.439 --> 00:12:05.919 and a rich man passes by, and he extends his hand to this rich man, and the rich man gives him money. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:10.959 It's not his hand that was deserving of anything, but is the instrument by which he receives 00:12:10.959 --> 00:12:15.199 this money from the rich man. This is the function of our faith. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.059 It's only by faith that we receive God's gift of grace, that our sins are pardoned, 00:12:24.459 --> 00:12:30.559 that Christ's righteousness becomes our own. And so that's the foundation with which we much 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:35.799 understand what the Christian faith is. So what we can turn to now is that second point, 00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:41.559 the object of our faith. If we turn back to our passage, the disciples ask this question, 00:12:42.099 --> 00:12:47.939 or they make this request, increase our faith. And like we said, this sounds like a good request, 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:52.359 right? It's something that we, probably many of us have prayed or asked for or thought before, 00:12:52.439 --> 00:12:58.500 increase our faith. Especially when they understand that faith is a necessary thing, that it's 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:01.500 a good thing. Well, if some is good, more is better, right? 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:08.840 But it's interesting Jesus' response, maybe even surprising to us, because he doesn't grant 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:15.960 the disciples' request. He says in verse 6, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, 00:13:17.019 --> 00:13:20.919 you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea and it will obey you. 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:29.719 So we see here that Jesus is saying that faith isn't a matter of quantity, but of presence. 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.959 It's not a matter of how much faith you have, but who your faith is in. 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:42.279 And he gives us this picture of this mustard seed, what is known as one of these, the smallest of the 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:48.539 seeds. As you describe this, this tiny amount of faith that his disciples or others may have. 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:54.819 He's saying that even if you have this little amount of faith, you can accomplish great things. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:01.179 This mulberry tree can be uprooted and planted into the sea. And certainly here we recognize that 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:05.099 Jesus is using metaphor. This might have been language that would have been common within 00:14:05.099 --> 00:14:10.879 Jewish literature at the time. But we see this mulberry tree likely would have been a tree with 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:17.379 this massive root system, a tree that could have lived over 500 years old. And so this imagery of 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:23.840 just plucking up this tree and replanting it in the sea, it strikes us as impossible, right? Jesus is 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:30.860 using this as hyperbole. He uses similar language elsewhere in the Gospels. If we looked at Matthew 17, 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:36.639 Jesus is having a very similar discussion with his disciples. And he says to them, 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:41.460 truly I tell you, if your faith, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:47.460 you can say this mountain move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:54.900 And so we see that faith can do amazing things because of who the object of our faith is. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:04.019 This all-powerful God whom we serve. This is a God that we sing about in the Psalms as being our refuge, 00:15:04.400 --> 00:15:07.540 as being having control over the mountains and the seas. 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:14.199 This is who Job speaks about in Job 9, saying God is so powerful, he can move and overturn mountains. 00:15:14.339 --> 00:15:23.740 He shakes the earth and makes the pillars tremble. And so our faith is powerful because our God is 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:30.120 powerful. Charles Spurgeon, who is a minister, English minister in the 1800s, he said, it's not the 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:37.259 strength of our faith that saves you, but the strength of him on whom you rely. And so when we think 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:43.179 about faith, it should never be something that we turn into needing a quantitative value. 00:15:44.539 --> 00:15:50.259 The second that we begin focusing on how much faith we have, the object of our faith or the 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:57.279 focus of our faith turns from God back to ourselves. Because when we're concerned about our amount of 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:03.740 faith, it becomes nothing more than just self-reflection, a practice of self-confidence. 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:08.960 Think about what the culture says about faith again, right? There's part of the culture that 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:16.060 thinks faith is a virtue. You've just got to believe. But what does culture say to believe in? 00:16:17.180 --> 00:16:25.039 Most people say to believe in self. Believe in faith, just have more faith. But instead of that 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:29.960 faith being something that frees us, that faith ultimately turns into a burden. The question is, 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:35.320 do I have enough faith? Do I believe in myself enough? Is my faith strong enough? 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:42.740 You see, faith in and of itself really isn't a virtue at all. It only becomes virtuous when it's 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:51.040 placed in something worthy of belief. And so then it's worth considering how Jesus addresses this topic 00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:57.259 of faith elsewhere in the Gospels. We see over and over again Jesus in his teaching, in his performing 00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:04.460 miracles. He tells people to have faith. He tells people to believe. Those who have no faith, he 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:10.019 instructs them to have faith. If we think of Mark 5, we have this ruler of the synagogue who comes to 00:17:10.019 --> 00:17:16.359 Jesus and he has this sick daughter and he asks Jesus to come and heal his daughter. But as Jesus is 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:21.599 walking with this ruler to his home, others show up and say, hey look, forget about it, she's already dead. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:31.359 How did Jesus respond? He looks to the ruler and says, do not fear, only believe. And he goes to this 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:39.439 ruler's house and he raises this little girl from the dead. See, Jesus wants us to have faith. But it's 00:17:39.439 --> 00:17:46.139 worth noting for as many times as Jesus says believe or have faith, he never commands have more faith. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:52.560 Think of the story where Jesus calms the sea in Matthew 8. He and his disciples get on the boat. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:59.060 They're going across the sea. Jesus falls asleep in the boat. When this big storm whips up, waves are 00:17:59.060 --> 00:18:03.960 coming over the edge of the boat. The disciples think they're going to die. And they call out to 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:11.620 Jesus, Lord, save us. We're going to drown. What's Jesus's response? Why are you afraid, oh you, of little 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:18.979 faith? Then he rebukes the winds and the seas and there's a great calm. So it's not that Jesus doesn't 00:18:18.979 --> 00:18:26.699 recognize the weakness of his disciples' faith. But his disciples' faith isn't, Jesus' action isn't 00:18:26.699 --> 00:18:31.699 conditioned on the amount of their faith. He doesn't demand them and say, hey look, only when you start 00:18:31.699 --> 00:18:39.399 believing in me more am I going to start acting and I'll calm these waves. No, he acts. He asserts his 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:48.200 power and authority. And by doing so, the faith of the disciples increases. And so we see this pattern 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:53.940 over and over again in the gospel. People who see Jesus perform miracles, who hear Jesus' teaching, 00:18:54.040 --> 00:19:00.620 and it says they believe in his name. It's maybe a silly analogy, but think about you came in here 00:19:00.620 --> 00:19:06.400 this morning and you just, you couldn't sit down in your chair. You didn't have faith in your chair. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:11.540 You didn't trust your chair that it was going to hold your weight. What would be the best way for 00:19:11.540 --> 00:19:17.460 me to convince you to sit in that chair? I don't think it would be if I just came up to you and 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:22.960 say, hey look, just have more faith. Just trust the chair and sit down. Because if I were to do that, 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:27.540 I would be focusing on your own emotion, right? I would be focusing on your own idea of your own 00:19:27.540 --> 00:19:32.600 faith. It would be much better, a much better way for you to increase your faith is if I turn your 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:38.519 focus to the chair itself, right? I say, look, I'll sit down in the chair for you. Look, this chair 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.719 holds my weight. Or if I tell you of all the people that have sat in the chair before you, 00:19:42.879 --> 00:19:46.879 if I hold up the warranty of the chair and say, look, this chair is not even a year old. 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:51.599 If I point out the metal that's used and the welding that holds it together to give it its 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:57.759 structure, that's how you'd increase your faith to finally sit down. And I think the same is true 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:05.700 for us here. We're all commanded to have faith, but the command is not simply to have more faith 00:20:05.700 --> 00:20:14.059 because the quality of our faith is not a condition of our salvation. And so should we want to have more 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:20.500 or stronger faith? Yes. Yes, we should. But our faith is not strengthened by focusing on the faith. 00:20:20.500 --> 00:20:27.539 Our faith is strengthened by focusing on the object of our faith. The object of our faith being Jesus. 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:35.079 Remembering who he is. Remembering what he has done. Being focused on his resume. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:46.500 In John 2, Jesus talks to the religious leaders and he's talking about destroying the temple. He says, 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:51.379 I will destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it again. And the religious leaders think he's 00:20:51.379 --> 00:20:54.599 crazy, right? What is he talking about that he's going to destroy the temple and build it back? 00:20:54.599 --> 00:21:00.059 And it's interesting that one of the only times that John, the author of this gospel, 00:21:00.419 --> 00:21:05.439 kind of inserts his own little commentary or insight, he makes a point and says that Jesus is 00:21:05.439 --> 00:21:10.579 actually talking about the temple of his body. And he says that when Jesus was raised from the dead, 00:21:10.659 --> 00:21:16.500 his disciples remembered what he said and they believed the scriptures and the word that Jesus had 00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:24.599 spoken. And so we see that their faith increased because they listened and understood the truth of 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:32.059 his words and they witnessed the power of his action. And so for some of us today, maybe you're not a 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:38.099 believer and maybe this is all new to you and you're wondering, could I ever possibly have the faith needed 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:46.659 to be a Christian? The message is not try harder. The message is not feel more deeply. The message is not 00:21:46.659 --> 00:21:55.099 conjure up enough faith within you. The message is look to Jesus and receive this free gift of grace. 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:02.599 Maybe there's some here who have been around the church for a while, but maybe you're discouraged or 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:08.279 maybe even embarrassed by the weakness of your faith. You think you should be further along in your faith 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:17.719 journey by now. The message for you this morning is to look to Jesus. The promises of life are for you. 00:22:19.659 --> 00:22:24.959 Maybe there's some here who've been Christians for a very long time and maybe you've been struggling 00:22:24.959 --> 00:22:32.099 with your faith and you're questioning whether I can keep up at this task. Do I have enough faith to 00:22:32.099 --> 00:22:41.079 continue? The message for you this morning is to look to Jesus for it is the presence and support of 00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:49.119 his spirit that keeps us from sinking into utter despair. As it says in Hebrews 12, it is Jesus who 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:56.639 is the founder and the perfecter of our faith. And so we don't need to worry about the quantity or the 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.860 quality of our faith, but to focus on the object of our faith because when we do, when we focus on 00:23:02.860 --> 00:23:10.759 Christ, our faith will be increased. Remember, as the reformers said, we are saved by grace alone 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:18.580 through faith alone in Christ alone. And so this brings us to our third point then, the effect of 00:23:18.580 --> 00:23:23.360 faith. So if we think about the Reformation one more time, the Catholic Church had real problems with 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:29.359 this idea of being justified through faith alone. Because the fear was that if man is justified only 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:35.199 by receiving God's gift through faith, then we'd really have no motivation to do good works, right? 00:23:36.099 --> 00:23:39.839 I mean, we'd be saved and we can just be as lawless and corrupt as we'd want to be. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:47.219 So having assurance in their mind was really the epitome of pride. How can you possibly have 00:23:47.220 --> 00:23:53.299 assurance in your faith? You must keep up your effort in order to ensure that God will give you 00:23:53.299 --> 00:23:59.640 this infusion of grace that you may be viewed as righteous. The reformers taught and what we believe 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:05.900 today is much different. The fact that we can have assurance of faith because it's solely based on the 00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:12.740 works of Jesus. And so while our good works, they play no role in our justification or our salvation, 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:18.099 they play a significant role when we think about our sanctification. Meaning this, that we're not 00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:25.779 saved by works, but we are saved to do good works. Paul poses this question in Romans 6. 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:32.579 He says, shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:38.019 How can we live to it any longer? We have been buried with Christ in baptism. We're raised to walk in 00:24:38.019 --> 00:24:44.539 newness of life. And so faith, it does not, shouldn't diminish our desire to do good works. 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:49.099 In fact, it should motivate us to good works. Because if we've been given the righteousness 00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:55.319 of Christ, it should be our desire to follow after Christ, to live as Christ lived. 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:04.639 Think about the teachings in this passage here. I think this gives some explanation as to 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:09.440 why Luke might have put these verses together, these sayings of Jesus together, 00:25:10.020 --> 00:25:14.720 and why he centers it on this idea of faith. Because we look back in verse 1, 00:25:15.800 --> 00:25:19.920 is what it says, things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.240 through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:28.200 around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:36.440 This is some serious language. Jesus is expressing this extreme seriousness of responsibility as 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:42.279 Christians, not only to guard ourselves from sin, but also to make sure that we guard others from sin 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:49.019 too, that we don't tear others down. In verse 4, he continues, if your brother or sister sins against 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:55.799 you, rebuke them. And if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day, 00:25:55.799 --> 00:26:02.720 and seven times come back to you saying, I repent, you must forgive them. Again, Jesus is highlighting 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:08.980 here the difficulty of Christian community, that we're called to correct and rebuke one another, 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:14.339 that we're called to forgive one another, even when people continually sin against us. 00:26:15.399 --> 00:26:22.759 We need to have this wholehearted willingness to forgive. If we jump to verse 7, there's this 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:26.720 parable that really emphasizes what we've been talking about, that good works don't earn us 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:32.000 anything, that we serve the Lord out of a sense of duty, that when we follow his will, we don't do 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:39.279 so with a sense of entitlement at all, but with a sense of humility. Because of what Christ has done 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:45.299 for us, we owe him our total loyalty. And so if you combine all these thoughts and instructions and 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:50.259 parables together about thinking that we have to be, look out for sin, help others stay away from sin, 00:26:50.259 --> 00:26:59.559 to forgive, to rebuke, to be servants. The disciples hear these teachings, and it's not unreasonable to 00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:06.759 think, if I'm expected to do all these things, I'm going to need some more faith. It's kind of like if 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:11.140 you volunteer for something, and it ends up being a lot more time and effort than you ever thought it 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:15.660 to be. For those who helped with the demolition of this room before it was renovated, you thought you 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:22.440 may show up for a couple hours, and three days later we're still working at it. Again, Jesus is 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:27.940 pointing out that what's needed here is not an increase in our faith, but an active exercise of 00:27:27.940 --> 00:27:36.279 our faith. Through faith we recognize the power of Christ and his kingdom. And so as citizens of his 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:41.759 kingdom, we participate in his rule and reign. This is what Peter speaks of in 1 Peter chapter 4. 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:49.220 He says, when we speak, we speak the words of God. When we serve, we serve through God's power. When we 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:56.779 suffer, we suffer with Christ. And so there's nothing that we do as Christians that we do apart from 00:27:56.779 --> 00:28:03.019 the power of God. We aren't saved by grace through faith in order that we have to go out on our own 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:08.279 effort and live for God and try to hold fast to the sanctification on our own. 00:28:08.279 --> 00:28:15.539 And our faith, it not only justifies us, but it also empowers us. That's what Jesus is, the point 00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:22.019 Jesus is making here. Because just like we're given Jesus' righteousness, we're also given Jesus' Spirit. 00:28:23.099 --> 00:28:29.019 And it's the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith in the first place. And it's the Holy Spirit who remains 00:28:29.019 --> 00:28:36.859 within God's people to bring about this inward renewal, enabling us to serve him with a heart of 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:43.159 gratitude for all Christ has done for us. And so this is the ultimate effect of our faith. 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:50.799 That it may transform our lives to pursue righteousness. That it gives us a heart that's 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:56.019 eager to love and to serve not only our little Christian community here, but the world around us. 00:28:57.299 --> 00:29:01.039 A faith that affects us in such a way that it gives us the passion 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.159 to see the establishment of Christ's eternal kingdom. 00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:10.680 And so that, may that be our prayer today, that we may have the faith of a mustard seed. 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:17.039 Not resting on our own ability. Not resting on our own efforts. Not focused simply on the amount 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:21.519 of faith we have, but focused on the object of our faith. Who is Christ? 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:31.240 Christ. For it is Christ who declares us righteous. And it is Christ who enables us to pursue righteousness. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:39.359 And so this is the faith that's available to us all. May we receive it with outstretched hands. 00:29:40.059 --> 00:29:43.700 For it is yours in Christ. Let's pray. 00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:45.700 Amen.