Luke 17 : 5 - 10
I think that I have shared with you before that one of my hobbies, if you can call it a hobby, is that I collect pens. All kinds of pens, old and new used and never used but of different kinds.
This hobby began for me, I remember well, when I was very young. Not so long ago now - at least 10 years - I was about 9 and Mr. Chong, at his corner store at the bus terminal in Wetton, had just received a consignment of these very smart multicoloured pens that not only was colourful on the outside, but actually wrote in all three colours, Blue red and green. It was a Chinese import I think! Even in those days! And
the moment I saw it I just knew… I just knew…. I had to have one. It cost 12p or one shilling and tuppence. I did not really get pocket money and I thought my parents would consider it a bit of an undulgence, so I never asked but I began saving the cents that I would get from an old man up the road every time I went to the shop for him for his cigarettes. It took a while however because he only really asked me about once a week. Every time I went I would see the stock of these pens running lower and I would ask him to keep me one and he would say he couldn’t because he had to sell them to get his money back. And then eventually I had it. I really had it….. 12 p. One shilling and tuppence and I ran down to the circle and into the shop and guess what? It was all sold out! I have been collecting pens ever since mainly I think to try and make up for that disappointment.
With Jesus having spoken so much about faith, and especially as one of the critical ingredients of life in relationship with God, it was only a matter of time, say most commentators, before they, thinking in terms that they were used to, would ask him to increase their faith. Like us I suppose they were often frustrated by their own inability to be and do what was right, and they ascribed this to a shortage in terms of amount, of this particular commodity called faith. If they could only get more then they would be able to be and do all that they believed God wanted them to be. They were like us, I think, products of their generation. A society in which if you wanted something you had to pay for it and if you didn’t have enough of whatever it took to pay whatever it cost then you had save a little longer or find some more. (Extend you bond!)
Jesus goes on to use two powerful images to try and show them that this line of thinking that reduces faith to a commodity to be possessed or accumulated, and reduces God to a celestial shop owner who only dispenses His love and power and life and blessing and healing when we have enough faith to pay for it, is fundamentally flawed. He was trying to straighten out their thinking a bit! The challenge for us this week is to see where our own thinking needs to be straightened out a bit as well. So how did he answer their question?
1. Faith is not a matter of quantity of anything to be possessed but a quality of
I think that I have shared with you before that one of my hobbies, if you can call it a hobby, is that I collect pens. All kinds of pens, old and new used and never used but of different kinds.
This hobby began for me, I remember well, when I was very young. Not so long ago now - at least 10 years - I was about 9 and Mr. Chong, at his corner store at the bus terminal in Wetton, had just received a consignment of these very smart multicoloured pens that not only was colourful on the outside, but actually wrote in all three colours, Blue red and green. It was a Chinese import I think! Even in those days! And
the moment I saw it I just knew… I just knew…. I had to have one. It cost 12p or one shilling and tuppence. I did not really get pocket money and I thought my parents would consider it a bit of an undulgence, so I never asked but I began saving the cents that I would get from an old man up the road every time I went to the shop for him for his cigarettes. It took a while however because he only really asked me about once a week. Every time I went I would see the stock of these pens running lower and I would ask him to keep me one and he would say he couldn’t because he had to sell them to get his money back. And then eventually I had it. I really had it….. 12 p. One shilling and tuppence and I ran down to the circle and into the shop and guess what? It was all sold out! I have been collecting pens ever since mainly I think to try and make up for that disappointment.With Jesus having spoken so much about faith, and especially as one of the critical ingredients of life in relationship with God, it was only a matter of time, say most commentators, before they, thinking in terms that they were used to, would ask him to increase their faith. Like us I suppose they were often frustrated by their own inability to be and do what was right, and they ascribed this to a shortage in terms of amount, of this particular commodity called faith. If they could only get more then they would be able to be and do all that they believed God wanted them to be. They were like us, I think, products of their generation. A society in which if you wanted something you had to pay for it and if you didn’t have enough of whatever it took to pay whatever it cost then you had save a little longer or find some more. (Extend you bond!)
Jesus goes on to use two powerful images to try and show them that this line of thinking that reduces faith to a commodity to be possessed or accumulated, and reduces God to a celestial shop owner who only dispenses His love and power and life and blessing and healing when we have enough faith to pay for it, is fundamentally flawed. He was trying to straighten out their thinking a bit! The challenge for us this week is to see where our own thinking needs to be straightened out a bit as well. So how did he answer their question?
1. Faith is not a matter of quantity of anything to be possessed but a quality of
life to be lived in every situation.
Their initial question had to do as I have said with this notion that God was the shopkeeper and if you wanted to be blessed, or do the stuff that we are called to do as Christians in our ministry to the world successfully, then you had to have a certain amount of whatever – struggle to define it – positive belief – self persuasion – that would allow God to do what you want or need. The only problem is “How much is enough?” Well we don’t know really, but some would say that if you try and fail, then you don’t have enough. I guess that’s how the disciples/Apostles were feeling. Do we have enough to afford the transaction? Jesus goes on to say that if they have as much as (The smallest thing he could think of!) a mustard seed it would be possible to achieve the greatest feat that they could think of! (Moving a mountain)
You see it’s not a matter of how much, but simply the presence of something very precious that really matters. A quality of life that brings life to any relationship – Simple Trust - in God. And its living that quality of life consistently, that really matters. Applying that quality of life to every part of our lives that’s what really matters. Not trying to accumulate enough in our account so that we can get God to do what we want Him to.
“It all begins with a realization that despite all the bad stuff in the world or my life, nothing can separate me from God’s love for me, that god knows my every need and desire, that I can accept that I am accepted and that God wills me nothing but good, and that as long as I keep trusting, he will work out all things according to His best purpose for me and in my life. (Rom 8:28-29)”
2. Faith is trust in the assurance that God is for us in all things!
The first simple basic area of trust it seems is to accept that we do not have to earn either God’s love or His care or concern, or His power at work undertaking for us in every area of our lives.
If we continually view God’s love for us and His activity in our lives as being conditional on how much we are able to believe, then our lives become a distorted tangle of doubt and fear and uncertainty of whether we are doing/believing enough and “How much is enough - anyway?” This tends to produce a sense of continual failure, just like the beginning of my hobby, because we can’t ever do enough because we are not perfect. And just as soon as we think we’ve done enough something else gets in the way and we have to start all over again.
“Lord I believe, help my unbelief”
Much better we just accept the truth that it doesn’t depend on what we do but that the life of faith and even faith itself, the ability to trust, is God’s gift to us! We don’t earn anything in the life of faith or deserve it. It’s God’s gift to us. That’s grace! He blesses us just because He loves us!
ILLUSTRATION Dennis the Menace and Mrs Wilson
That is the place that the writer Habakkuk gets to in his journey with God in trying to understand what God is saying to his People in the midst of the mess of exile and devastation that surrounded them. He complained that God was silent and aloof. Then he hears that the just shall live by faith, and he asks what is this faith? We have his answer in the famous passage from Chap- 3:17-18
Though the fig tree does not blossom
And there are no grapes on the vine
Though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food
Though there are no sheep n the pen
And no cattle in the stalls
Yet will I rejoice in the Lord
I will be joyful to God my Saviour.
Then what is our part ?
3. All we can do is to trust and serve/obey him in loving service.
I suppose that like me whenever that parable is read you feel tired and confused. It seems to suggest a life of slave-like servitude in terms of Christian duty, and then at the end after we have done everything we can it’s still not good enough for God who demands even more. What kind of God is this, we ask, who sets us up for a fall and then withholds His blessing when we do? That’s the kind of scenario that the language used in our translation conjures up - and especially the word “duty.” It seems to contradict everything we’ve said so far this year in terms of the life of faith being based on relationship and not duty or religious activity.
And of course that’s true. The purpose of the parable becomes distorted if we approach it in this way. Its true purpose is to set us free from the false belief that faith is a commodity that we need to have “enough of” to warrant or earn God’s blessing, (And by implication God has to bless when we have done enough That He is in our debt). It almost forces us to face up to the fact that we can’t, so that it can introduce us to the far more wonderful truth that we don’t have to! All we can bring to the party is the realization that we are unworthy recipients of God’s grace, called to share it with the world around us with the same abundant freedom with which it was and is given to us. We are servants of this love and power.
And in answer to the question when would we have done enough of this kind of loving and serving to deserve to sit back and say “that’s it, now I can wait for heaven. I have done enough?” The answer is never. And I am so glad that it is because I want to be a servant of this love and power making a difference for God in this world and in people’s lives till I die! It’s the most exciting part of the whole deal, the most exciting thing I have ever experienced, and best of all it doesn’t depend on me.
I don’t have to do the hard part. God does! Remember all I do is trust that He is at work, and play my part as a servant to allow what he is doing to become a reality n the lives of the people that I serve. It’s great!
Cliff Richard was on one of his first SA tours in the mid 70’s when Uri Geller was sharing his mind power techniques with people and teaspoons were being bent after his shows by people employing his techniques at home and at parties. When asked by one interviewer what he thought of this whole phenomenon Cliff seemed rather unimpressed and answered, “Sure its quite a thing I suppose but I don’t understand how people can get so excited about bending teaspoons, when Christ makes the power to turn a person from being an utter rogue (British) to a saint available to His Church. Now that’s worth getting excited about.
What Jesus was trying to show them and us is that a life of faith is essentially a life of trust that God who is at work in all things, is at work in al those things of our daily lives, not because we have deserved it or earned it by anything that we do, but just because He loves us and cares about us. We can trust Him to work out everything according to His purpose. In this freedom, we are called to reach out and share this good news with those around us and help them to make this awesome discovery for themselves as well.
Lord increase our faith so that we can discover the unsurmountable joy of being faithful servants!
Amen
Their initial question had to do as I have said with this notion that God was the shopkeeper and if you wanted to be blessed, or do the stuff that we are called to do as Christians in our ministry to the world successfully, then you had to have a certain amount of whatever – struggle to define it – positive belief – self persuasion – that would allow God to do what you want or need. The only problem is “How much is enough?” Well we don’t know really, but some would say that if you try and fail, then you don’t have enough. I guess that’s how the disciples/Apostles were feeling. Do we have enough to afford the transaction? Jesus goes on to say that if they have as much as (The smallest thing he could think of!) a mustard seed it would be possible to achieve the greatest feat that they could think of! (Moving a mountain)
You see it’s not a matter of how much, but simply the presence of something very precious that really matters. A quality of life that brings life to any relationship – Simple Trust - in God. And its living that quality of life consistently, that really matters. Applying that quality of life to every part of our lives that’s what really matters. Not trying to accumulate enough in our account so that we can get God to do what we want Him to.
“It all begins with a realization that despite all the bad stuff in the world or my life, nothing can separate me from God’s love for me, that god knows my every need and desire, that I can accept that I am accepted and that God wills me nothing but good, and that as long as I keep trusting, he will work out all things according to His best purpose for me and in my life. (Rom 8:28-29)”
2. Faith is trust in the assurance that God is for us in all things!
The first simple basic area of trust it seems is to accept that we do not have to earn either God’s love or His care or concern, or His power at work undertaking for us in every area of our lives.
If we continually view God’s love for us and His activity in our lives as being conditional on how much we are able to believe, then our lives become a distorted tangle of doubt and fear and uncertainty of whether we are doing/believing enough and “How much is enough - anyway?” This tends to produce a sense of continual failure, just like the beginning of my hobby, because we can’t ever do enough because we are not perfect. And just as soon as we think we’ve done enough something else gets in the way and we have to start all over again.
“Lord I believe, help my unbelief”
Much better we just accept the truth that it doesn’t depend on what we do but that the life of faith and even faith itself, the ability to trust, is God’s gift to us! We don’t earn anything in the life of faith or deserve it. It’s God’s gift to us. That’s grace! He blesses us just because He loves us!
ILLUSTRATION Dennis the Menace and Mrs Wilson
That is the place that the writer Habakkuk gets to in his journey with God in trying to understand what God is saying to his People in the midst of the mess of exile and devastation that surrounded them. He complained that God was silent and aloof. Then he hears that the just shall live by faith, and he asks what is this faith? We have his answer in the famous passage from Chap- 3:17-18
Though the fig tree does not blossom
And there are no grapes on the vine
Though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food
Though there are no sheep n the pen
And no cattle in the stalls
Yet will I rejoice in the Lord
I will be joyful to God my Saviour.
Then what is our part ?
3. All we can do is to trust and serve/obey him in loving service.
I suppose that like me whenever that parable is read you feel tired and confused. It seems to suggest a life of slave-like servitude in terms of Christian duty, and then at the end after we have done everything we can it’s still not good enough for God who demands even more. What kind of God is this, we ask, who sets us up for a fall and then withholds His blessing when we do? That’s the kind of scenario that the language used in our translation conjures up - and especially the word “duty.” It seems to contradict everything we’ve said so far this year in terms of the life of faith being based on relationship and not duty or religious activity.
And of course that’s true. The purpose of the parable becomes distorted if we approach it in this way. Its true purpose is to set us free from the false belief that faith is a commodity that we need to have “enough of” to warrant or earn God’s blessing, (And by implication God has to bless when we have done enough That He is in our debt). It almost forces us to face up to the fact that we can’t, so that it can introduce us to the far more wonderful truth that we don’t have to! All we can bring to the party is the realization that we are unworthy recipients of God’s grace, called to share it with the world around us with the same abundant freedom with which it was and is given to us. We are servants of this love and power.
And in answer to the question when would we have done enough of this kind of loving and serving to deserve to sit back and say “that’s it, now I can wait for heaven. I have done enough?” The answer is never. And I am so glad that it is because I want to be a servant of this love and power making a difference for God in this world and in people’s lives till I die! It’s the most exciting part of the whole deal, the most exciting thing I have ever experienced, and best of all it doesn’t depend on me.
I don’t have to do the hard part. God does! Remember all I do is trust that He is at work, and play my part as a servant to allow what he is doing to become a reality n the lives of the people that I serve. It’s great!
Cliff Richard was on one of his first SA tours in the mid 70’s when Uri Geller was sharing his mind power techniques with people and teaspoons were being bent after his shows by people employing his techniques at home and at parties. When asked by one interviewer what he thought of this whole phenomenon Cliff seemed rather unimpressed and answered, “Sure its quite a thing I suppose but I don’t understand how people can get so excited about bending teaspoons, when Christ makes the power to turn a person from being an utter rogue (British) to a saint available to His Church. Now that’s worth getting excited about.
What Jesus was trying to show them and us is that a life of faith is essentially a life of trust that God who is at work in all things, is at work in al those things of our daily lives, not because we have deserved it or earned it by anything that we do, but just because He loves us and cares about us. We can trust Him to work out everything according to His purpose. In this freedom, we are called to reach out and share this good news with those around us and help them to make this awesome discovery for themselves as well.
Lord increase our faith so that we can discover the unsurmountable joy of being faithful servants!
Amen
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