Good Morning Friends,
Well, the power came back on yesterday evening and a few hours later the cable so we are going to test getting back to our normal routines after hurricane Ian. The damage is devastating to many and with a housing crisis already in place and the loss of homes and workplaces in Lee county to our North in particular, it is going to be a real challenge. So, get ready for the work is not done but only just begun and self-pity is pointless. You see, there is no reasonable respite from our obligation to God nor the ever-watchful eye of God. No person ever makes God his debtor. Certainly, this latest storm should be a cure for our pride and imagined sense of merit. We are to have humility in service at times like this. Sometimes more faith is not the problem. We need to do more not to get into heaven but because we are thankful for being alive. For this is our duty. So, Are You Doing What You Ought To Have Done?
Scripture: For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14 (NRSV)
but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
Hebrews 1:2-3; 2:2-4 (NRSV)
And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'”
Luke 17:4-10 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s gospel passage seems a little disjointed at first glance and could be taken as a generic injunction to have more faith, but let’s think about it for a moment. Luke/ Acts written about two decades after the resurrection of Jesus, has a whole series of stories to guide us that do the right thing and they do not so much hinge on faith as actually doing the things we think we need faith to do. Consider the idea of fasting or being less focused on material goods and on helping one’s neighbor or loving people. Luke has stories of doing about all these things. But in verses 5-6 in today’s passage from Luke could be understood as the disciples’ asking for increased faith in response to the challenging “forgive seven times” teaching (v. 4) and Jesus affirming their cry with an encouraging statement that even a little faith can do miracles. It is a peculiar request when you think about it for it is the quality more than the quantity of faith that really matters. It is as if they are taking pot shots at Jesus and Jesus rebukes them. But he shows no anger, but he does begin to set them straight. What he tells them and us is that more faith is not the issue. What matters is the obedience of the tree and the slave in this passage, more so, than faith. Now we may ask why exactly would anyone want to watch a mulberry tree come out of the ground, go flying across the sky, and then splash down in the sea? How often is that an actual need someone has in their life? It never happens anywhere in the Bible that I know of, and I certainly have not seen it happen in my life. Though I have been through several hurricanes including Ian this last week. What is needed though is enough excitement to rally others in the belief that something can be done and in this case a faith in God revealed through Christ that could usher in the Messianic age of God. And the disciples had Jesus right there with them. They were not going to get any better leader to prompt their faith. But Jesus is instructing them and us to do in order to learn how to have faith. Friends, with God’s rain and sunshine the small mustard seed will sprout and come to harvest to the greater glory of God for it was so tiny to begin with. Our faith grows when we learn and do the things we are supposed to do as Christians committed to transformation. Here humility and service go hand in hand. Trust and obedience go hand in hand. So what Jesus was preaching was not to have more faith but how to use the faith we have with the gifts we have been given. Jesus was using hyperbole to make a point like he did when he instructed the disciples to take the plank out of their own eyes before they took the spec out of someone else’s. The problem is not more faith but obedience to the obligation of being a servant of Christ and commitment to the transformation of being a Christian in not just words but deeds.
And So, today’s message is about our obedience. It is facing up to the fact we do not like to think of ourselves as slaves or even humble servants. But it is also a message of discovering that serving others is a blessing in and of itself and so is humility. Together they combine to give us a warm sense that not only have we pleased others but also pleased God. And this is not a pride thing but when you know that you did the right thing, it is a good feeling. So, we are to go forth and love and serve God by loving and serving each other. And that does not take a lot of faith, but it does take more commitment. We must be all in realizing we are to be as slaves for God because God is the one who created us and saves us.
Pray we not neglect the gift of our salvation. Pray we are thankful. Pray we not have a faith that is blown like leaves in the wind. Pray we confess that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone in our distractions. Pray we confess that we have not loved God with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Pray we are truly sorry and humbly repent. Pray we delight in God’s will, and walk in the ways of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of Jesus Christ. Pray we face up to the fact that we use our lack of faith as an excuse when the real issue is a lack of obedience. Pray we have a faith rooted in Kingdom purposes that prompts us to act.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 