We can’t even see Him, let alone believe His promises that fly in the face of what we know in the physical world – two different spheres of operation – the spirit and the physical. An example: Don’t be anxious about where our food, our housing, our money comes from. Now, that’s fine, until we lose our jobs. But we’re supposed to trust God without anxiety, even when bad things happen. Now, that’s hard. And yet, it’s a bombshell when we know that we have to have faith to please God. Paul then goes on to explain why faith pleases God. He gives many examples of faith at work in the lives of His followers down through the ages. You can remember, in Hebrews 11, how he talked about people who had done many great things for God – that’s part of it – but then also people who suffered terribly for their faith in God, for love of God, for belief in God. He said they had to live in caves sometimes, and were destitute, and were hated and cast off by others, and sometimes lost their lives for their belief in God. We’re going to talk more about what that means to God. 

But this all brings us to an enlightening interchange between Jesus and His disciples. Let’s read about it. It says in Luke 17:5:

Luke 17:5 – The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 

Now, why did they ask this? What had happened that caused them to make the request? Well, Jesus had this habit of saying things they should do that they found impossible to do. There’s a really interesting example in Matthew 19, starting in verse 3. Let’s consider that. It says:

Matthew 19:3-12 – And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” So, let’s read Jesus words to know what He said. He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” So, they – that is, the Pharisees – said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” And He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” In the New Testament, there are some things that Moses said that we don’t apply anymore, because keeping the law is elevated. And this is one of them. So, while Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, the disciples were listening in to this. They weren’t off somewhere else. They were right there. And when He said, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery,” the response from the disciples was this – it says in verse 10: The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” Rendered into modern thought, that would be: “Why even get married? It so hard to be soft-hearted and forgiving, why get married at all? What’s the use? We’ll just end up committing adultery.” “It’s not possible to do what Jesus was telling them,” they thought. They couldn’t imagine being under such an edict, because it was impossible to keep. Here’s what He said in response to their comment: But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. So, if you were hearing that, how would that make you feel? That’s how He wanted them to feel. He said: For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” So, it’s almost like saying, “You guys obviously can’t receive it,” but in a less direct manner. He was polite. 

All right. So, that brings back to the request to increase our faith. What made them ask this? Well, the situation they were in when they asked it was kind of like that thing with the divorce that we just read. They heard Jesus say something too hard for them. What was it? Well, let’s read Luke 17, verse 1:

Luke 17:1-4 – And he said to his disciples this time: “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves!” “Watch what you’re doing,” He’s saying. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” So, how is it possible to forgive someone so many times? They wanted to be able to do it, but they saw it as impossible for them. Realizing Jesus was asking them to do something no one had yet accomplished, they asked Him to increase their faith. They just said, “Increase our faith. We can’t do it.” 

We just saw that faith is vital – can’t please God without it – so, here comes Jesus to answer the request. Okay? He’s going to talk to them about what they need to do to have their faith increased. So, He’s about to give us the biblical explanation of how to increase our faith – not your idea of how to do it, not my idea, but His idea. You know that that’s the way it works. So, His answer is a two-part answer. Let’s look at part one – Luke 17:6:

Luke 17:6 – And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Has anybody in history ever done that? No! This is hard stuff – not just for the disciples, but for us. So, He’s saying, “All you need is a little faith.” Faith opens the door to God to do powerful things through us. What is it a matter of, then? Well, He’s going to explain that next. Here comes the second part – verse 7:

V-7-10 – “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’?” So, what does this have to do with increasing faith? Well, we’re going to find out. But this isn’t what masters said to servants back in those days. He comes in from keeping the sheep, and he says, “Well, come on here. I know you’re tired. Come sit down and recline at table.” No, that’s not what happened. And then, Jesus in verse 8, says: “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’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? No! Verse 10: So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” 

So, this is Jesus’ answer about how to have faith. What does that mean? What’s His point? Well, going back to the issue of divorce we just read…. I told a doctor recently that I’ve been married for 56 years. He was inquiring. He said, “Congratulations,” as though that was something to be proud of. It is something to enjoy, and to be thankful for, and to have respect to our mate for, and the blessings, but not to be proud of. Everyone who gets married is supposed to stay that way. It’s what God expects of all of us at a minimum! It’s not going above and beyond to be married for a long time. It’s what you’re supposed to do – like the servant. 

So, remember the man who thanked God because he tithed and was better than others – better, even, than this publican. And remember the man who cried out to God in anguish over his sin? Jesus said that the one in anguish – the one who was humbled and troubled by his past behavior – would be forgiven, while the self-righteous one would not.

So, back to me now. Divorced or not, I’m not supposed to be proud about being married for 56 years. And, if you have not been in that situation – if you’re divorced or not – if you’re striving to obey and love God with all of your heart, you live under a blanket of grace. And you do that while you’re learning to be full of faith – or faithful to God – and soft-hearted toward your mate now. You can’t undo the past, but we can go forward. And that’s what God expects us to do – not to shrivel up in self-pity or in guilt, but to go forward. 

So, why did Jesus bring this up? Why talk about being like a servant, who only does what he’s supposed to do? How does that increase faith? It’s about trusting God, isn’t it? But it’s also about being a faithful servant. Faithful – full of faith. Being faithful means to be full of faith. So, faith is not so that we can move a tree from one place to another, or boast that we’ve been married a long time, or be proud that we get to make coffee at church every Sabbath, or even be the minister. It’s so that we can do God’s work. We’re all servants of God. The good works of faith that we do are not so that we can show it off to others, or have enough to eat, or clothes to wear, or a mate for all our lives. Faith is what drives us to serve and obey God. That’s why, when we have faith, it pleases Him. It’s not so much about faith as it is about who are faith is in! 

There’s one other unspoken point Jesus makes now. Doing what’s required is not enough. What is? In Jesus’ day, what was it that made His servants special, or prized, or valued? Well, it was going about and beyond the expected – fixing specials meals, or taking care of things without being asked – thinking ahead about what the Master would want and do it – going above and beyond over time, and loving to do that – thinking of needful things that the Master never thought of and provided them unasked – being a faithful financial steward of the Master’s goods. So, it was about focusing on the Master and His household, rather than the sole focus on self – going all out for God, not for self. 

The biggest take-away from understanding God’s plan is to understand that it is a total commitment on God’s part. It’s going way above and beyond even what God considers adequate. All we have to do is look at the creation and see the thought that went into it, to see that God is fully invested in us. He didn’t have to do all that in such minute detail. 

I learned a few years ago something interesting. Evolutionists tell us that life developed from a single cell – a simple cell. Once that happened in the warm ocean slime, then it got more complex from there. Well, there is no such thing as a single cell. There never has been. The more powerful microscopes we have, the more detail we find is just endlessly deep. So, can we say, as God sacrificed His Son for us, and His Son sacrificed Himself for us, that they were not going above and beyond? We think, shouldn’t there have been an easier way for them to do it? Well, there may have been, but they wanted to do something nobody could argue with. And they certainly did that by going to the point of death. 

So, what can we do to go above and beyond? We’re servants in His Master’s house too. That was His point. What can we do to go above and beyond the command of the expected? How can we demonstrate faithfulness, or being full of faith? How can our faith increase? And what happens to us when we do it? You could write a list of things servants should do. And it’s really more than that. It’s a list of things driven by an attitude. Underneath that, there’s an attitude. The things only demonstrate our inner attitude. And that inner attitude is love. Love causes us to go above and beyond. The servant that just does what he’s required by his contract to do, he’s just a hireling. But, if we really love someone, we take care of them. We do things for them. We’re interested in them. Spend time with them. We go above and beyond. And reverse it now. If we take care of someone and spend time with them, interest ourselves with someone, we grow to love them. And it’s the same way with God. God is giving us here, in Jesus’ statement, a way to grow to love God more. 

Elaine and I were moving to a new congregation some years ago – I say, moved to a new congregation – it wasn’t our choice, it was what was required – and there was an elder there who was employed by the church, as we were. That made me his boss. He was funny and affable. And he was also hard-working. The brethren loved him – not just because he was a humorous guy, but because he took care of the members. All those things he should have done, as all ministers should do. After we got to know each other, we were invited by a man one day to go backpacking with him. Neither of us had ever been backpacking before, so it was quite an experience. So, we went to a lake up in the Sierra Nevada that was at about 8,000 feet. We were coming from sea level. We lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco. So, we were pretty high by that time. Even though I’ve lived at 5,000 feet for 29 years now, 8,000 feet doesn’t seem a big deal. But when you come from sea level, it is. But we decided to hike higher after we’d been there a day to acclimate. And it was fine until we started down. Then I started to have a terrible headache – not something I have often. It was maybe the worst one I’d ever had. Our guide suggested that I might have altitude sickness. So, by the time we got back to camp, I went in the tent and I was, literally, rolling around in the tent with pain. I recall that the elder disappeared for a few minutes. He’d been sitting with me. When he came back, he had a white towel he’d dipped in the creek, which was running fast with glacial runoff. He put this icy cold wet towel on the back of my neck, and immediately – immediately – the pain began to let up. And, within ten minutes, I was fine. Now, he didn’t have to do that. It wasn’t his job. It wasn’t a requirement. But he did it out of compassion for me. This excellent elder did many things to help me during the years we were together, but that was the unforgettable that caused me to love and respect him more – something he didn’t have to do, but he did out of love. And he knew what to do at the time. Somebody needed to know that and he was that person. 

We talked a little bit about Paul’s list of things that people of old suffered for their belief. You know what else that list was, beside a list that Paul wrote down? That was God’s list of unforgettable works His people had done to serve Him. For those things, God loved them the more. And regarding the elder I worked with – because I could see his desire to go above and beyond – I gave him responsibilities that pressed him the more – pushed him to the edge of service. I think this is the point Jesus is making with His disciples. 

When we go above and beyond for God, He knows we’re willing to serve more, and gives us more responsibility. And, as we watch Him work in our lives – while we are out on the edge of what He’s pushed us to do – that causes us to become more faithful, or full of faith. We learn that God is behind us and that He’s not going to let us fail. And we love God for it. 

So, being faithful and full of faith are the same thing. I think that was Jesus’ point when He told them that serving was more than just doing what was required. Having more faith, we need to be more faithful servants – more involved – going above and beyond. That connects us more to God – close relationship. 

Okay, that’s the end of this presentation. And it was probably the long way around to say that, if we, like the disciples, want God to increase our faith, we need to jump in there – extend ourselves to the edges of our resources and operate there – willingly let God push us to the limits of what we can know, what we can do, and what we can endure. 

Jesus gave a parable about the master who gave his servants gifts to use and invest and enrich him. The ones who went active with their gifts and produced large profits were loved. And the one who buried his talent, because he was afraid he wouldn’t do well, and then produced no fruit, was not respected. So, when we’re at the edges of what we can do, that’s when we learn the most and grow the most. That includes increasing our faith.