“Increase Our Faith!”
Text: Luke 17:1-10
10-5-2025
In the name of Him who creates and sustains our faith, dear friends in Christ. Have you ever noticed how sometimes in the Gospels when Jesus is asked a question, He occasionally gives a response that seems totally unrelated? But when we dig deeper, we find that Christ wasn’t being evasive. Rather, He was directing everyone’s attention to the real problem at hand. Well, in our Gospel reading today the shoe is on the other foot. Jesus gives His disciples a stern warning about not misleading weak and vulnerable believers. And He adds an admonition to forgive often and freely. The language is straightforward and easy to understand. It’s His disciples, however, who respond with something that doesn’t seem to fit with what Jesus has just said. They exclaim, “Increase our faith!” I mean, how does that have anything to do with topic at hand? Actually, the answer is A LOT!
You know, we often criticize the disciples for being thick-headed. It seems like Jesus has to talk to them like children before they get the gist of what He’s telling them. But not this time. They got the message loud and clear. Christ warned them that they’d be better off suffering a horrible death by drowning than to harm the faith of someone who is a “little one” spiritually. That could be a child or anyone else who is a new, inexperienced believer. Jesus acknowledged that sin abounds in this world. But they dare not be the instrument of temptation whereby people fall into and are trapped by sin. Then He adds that they are to forgive a repentant sinner, even if they come back 7 times in one day to ask for forgiveness. Now, don’t get hung up on the number 7 there. Jesus doesn’t mean that the 8th time you turn him away and refuse to forgive. No, in the Bible the number 7 signifies completeness. So, He’s saying that complete forgiveness is to be announced freely and repeatedly, without keeping score.
Like I said, the disciples really did understand what Jesus was saying. That’s why they said, “Increase our faith!” It wasn’t a non sequitur statement. In essence they were saying, “Lord, that’s serious business. It’s a tall order. We don’t want to harm those who are weak in their faith and we certainly do want to help restore the faith of those who repent of their sins by offering them forgiveness. But we’re sinners who fail often and we’re bound to screw this up! So please, increase our faith!” In this regard, the disciples were totally accurate. They realized the magnitude of what Jesus said and as feeble sinners they knew they were unable to get it right.
Which leads us then to what Christ said to them in verse 6 and following. Now don’t be fooled. Jesus was not encouraging them to actually attempt uprooting trees by the power of faith, and levitate them into the sea. That would be treating their faith like a magical force within them. Rather, what He was trying to teach them was that they already possessed a powerful faith that could do the seemingly impossible tasks of discipleship that He had just laid out for them. The problem was, they weren’t using it! In our Epistle lesson, St. Paul tells Timothy something similar. He basically says, “Look, you already have the gift of faith which was taught to you by your mother and grandmother. Fan it into a bright flame. Don’t be timid or shy about it. Use it to boldly fulfill your duties as a young Pastor.”
Okay, so what if the disciples did exercise their faith properly and are able to accomplish what Jesus just said? Well, knowing their sinful tendencies, Jesus warns them against becoming prideful about their calling. When all is said and done, their faith will lead them to realize that this was not their own doing. Their faith was created, strengthened, and increased by God alone. That kind of faith humbly bows before their Lord and Master saying, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”
There are so many lessons for us to glean here from these words of Jesus, but let’s focus on the main ones. You see, that warning and admonition of Christ was for us modern day Christians too. First of all, Jesus warns us to be careful in what we say and do so that we don’t lead young or vulnerable believers astray. How might we be guilty of that? Well, just consider the children around you who you might have influence over. What kind of language do they hear coming out of your mouth? Is it God-pleasing? Likewise with the content of your speech. Does it tear down other people’s reputation instead of “putting the best construction of everything?” And what about our attitude towards God’s Word in our daily lives and worship habits? What kind of an example are we setting for the children when we ignore and skip out on the opportunity to grow in our faith by participating in the Adult Bible classes that are offered? Are we modeling for them a vibrant and yet humble faith? Those very same things can be applied to those who are new to the faith or perhaps feeling weak and not just children. I dare say that every one of us is guilty of misleading the “little ones” around us by our sinful failures in these areas.
Pastors especially have to be careful in this regard. Sadly, there are some who deliberately teach false doctrine which can harm believers. However, as a Pastor-friend of mine once said, “In far more cases it’s done by pastors who are poorly trained or misguided, or by those who are very sincere about what they teach but are very sincerely mistaken.” That’s why you need to be digging into God’s Word. Study it regularly so that you can help ensure that vulnerable believers are not led astray.
Jesus wasn’t using hyperbole when He talked about a millstone around the neck of such offenders. It’s a shocking warning that’s supposed to make us think twice before making such a foolish mistake. Back when I was in the Police Academy, I saw a film about the dangers of ignoring the warnings at a railroad crossing. It showed the gruesome results of what happens to people who thought they could beat a train. The message was, “Don’t do it, or this could happen to you!” I don’t know what kind of an effect it had on the others, but it made me physically ill and I was thoroughly convinced. Christ’s warning is meant to have an even bigger impact on us when it comes to protecting the precious faith of those who are the most vulnerable.
What about that admonition to forgive others freely and repeatedly? Ah, we struggle with that one too, don’t we? It gets difficult for us when we have to forgive someone who has personally offended us. It’s easy to assume the worst about someone’s words or actions. And we all know what happens when we assume. The problem is that we often don’t even attempt to go talk to that person to see if we understood them correctly and whether we can work things out. Oh no. It’s much easier to pout about it or grind our teeth as we hold onto a grudge or verbally snipe at them from a distance. And if, perchance, that person realizes they’ve done something wrong and asks us for forgiveness, we suddenly get stingy about it. We place conditions and limitations on it. Like: “I’ll forgive you this time, as long as it never happens again!” or“I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget” (that is to say, “I’ll hang onto the memory of this hurt in case I need to use it against you sometime down the road.”) or “I’ll forgive you, but only after I’ve had a chance to make you suffer for a while.” That’s totally opposite to how Jesus told us to handle forgiveness. Just ask yourself, “How does God forgive me?” We are repeat offenders, and yet He freely and continually forgives us. And we are to do likewise with one another. Which is why Jesus tells us to forgive a person even if they come to you 7 times in one day. You are to forgive them without hesitation, not keeping score, because that’s how God has forgiven you.
Like the disciples we have to confess that due to our sinful nature it’s impossible to do what Jesus commands, so we cry out, “Increase our faith!” And He responds, “You already have the faith to handle this, you’re just not using it.” Your faith is powerful, just as Jesus said. And that’s because when you act by faith, God works through you to accomplish things that seem impossible. By faith, He gives us the power to be His instruments for spreading His pure doctrine, rather than harmful tools of temptation to sin. By faith, He works in and through us to deliver the good news of forgiveness; both God’s forgiveness and our forgiveness when we’ve been sinned against. Through His Word and Sacrament, God answers our fervent plea to “Increase our faith.” For in and through these means of grace, He does exactly that. And in the end, when we see the miraculous power of our faith, we can only bow before our heavenly master and humbly confess that we are unworthy servants. Any and all things that we have been able to accomplish are because it is a direct gift from God. And for that, we thank and praise Him. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!