{"id":1773,"date":"2022-10-23T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2022-11-10T20:06:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T04:06:29","slug":"twentieth-sunday-after-pentecost-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/23\/twentieth-sunday-after-pentecost-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Pentecost-20-10-23-22.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Luke 17:1-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strive for a Faith that Lets Go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus said to his disciples:<em>&nbsp; \u201cThings that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.&nbsp; It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.&nbsp; So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him.&nbsp;&nbsp; If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, \u2018I repent,\u2019 forgive him.\u201d&nbsp; <\/em>The apostles said to the Lord, \u201cIncrease our faith!\u201d&nbsp; He replied, <em>\u201cIf you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, \u2018Be uprooted and planted in the sea,\u2019 and it will obey you.&nbsp; Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.&nbsp; Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, \u2018Come along now and sit down to eat\u2019?&nbsp; Would he not rather say, \u2018Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink\u2019?&nbsp; Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?&nbsp; So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, \u2018We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.\u2019\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; (NIV1984)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How easy is it for you to \u201clet go\u201d of something?&nbsp; For example, think back to your very first car.&nbsp; You worked so hard to be able to buy that car.&nbsp; Every time you got behind the wheel your heart smiled.&nbsp; But as the numbers on the odometer got higher and higher or when an accident caused too much damage you reluctantly came to the conclusion that you had to let that car go.&nbsp; On that day your heart was no longer smiling, was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You entered college with the goal of learning as much as you could in a particular field so that you could get your dream job.&nbsp; But eventually you came to the conclusion that the courses were far more difficult than you ever imagined or after you landed your dream job you discovered that reality fell far short of your dream.&nbsp; Letting go of the dream and dealing with reality was not easy, was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You spend decades preparing for your retirement.&nbsp; You have goals and dreams about all the things you want to do and all the places you want to go once you have all that extra time.&nbsp; But then your health and\/or your finances change dramatically.&nbsp; Letting go of many if not most of your goals and dreams will not be easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first glance our sermon text for today seems to cover a number of unrelated topics.&nbsp; In fact, in my Greek Bible Luke chapter seventeen has the heading, \u201cSome Sayings of Jesus.\u201d&nbsp; Our goal today is to see that there is a common denominator that ties these ten verses together.&nbsp; That common denominator serves as our theme for today: &nbsp;<strong><em>Strive for a Faith that Lets Go!&nbsp; <\/em><\/strong>As we study this text we will see that Jesus emphasizes three things in connection with a faith that \u201clets go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing Jesus emphasizes is found in these words, <em>\u201cThings that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.&nbsp; It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.&nbsp; So watch yourselves.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With these words Jesus reminds us to take temptation seriously.&nbsp; The reality of sin and the power of sin guarantees that each and every one of us is tempted to sin each and every day.&nbsp; Our personal goal is to do everything we can to make sure that we are not the one who tempts someone else to sin\u2014 especially the <em>\u201clittle ones.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; These <em>\u201clittle ones\u201d<\/em> includes not only the children, but it also includes both those who are \u201cyoung\u201d in their faith as well as those who are \u201cweak\u201d in their faith.&nbsp; To emphasize how serious it is to <em>\u201ccause one of these little ones to sin\u201d<\/em> Jesus uses the picture of tying a large stone around someone\u2019s neck and tossing them into the sea.&nbsp; As horrible as that punishment would be, it pales in comparison to the eternal punishment such a person will endure at the hands of the Almighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we recognize the seriousness of tempting someone to sin, when we recognize the punishment a person will endure for tempting a brother or sister in the faith to sin against God, this will lead us to strive for a faith that \u201clets go.\u201d&nbsp; What will we \u201clet go\u201d of?&nbsp; We will \u201clet go\u201d of the idea that our needs and our wants take priority\u2014 no matter how our words and our actions might impact the faith of the people around us.&nbsp; A faith that \u201clets go\u201d understands that since other people\u2014 especially the <em>\u201clittle ones\u201d<\/em>\u2014 are watching what we do and listening to what we say it is our responsibility to \u201clet go\u201d of the idea that our Christian freedom means that we do not need to be concerned about the example that we are setting for others.&nbsp; Imagine how confusing it would be for a child to get reprimanded for using language that they hear at home all the time.&nbsp; Imagine how confusing it would be for a new Christian to come to the realization that Jesus does not want us to criticize people behind their back only to hear their fellow church members doing this on a regular basis.&nbsp; That\u2019s why Jesus emphasizes our personal responsibility by saying to us, <em>\u201cWatch yourselves.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reality of our personal responsibility toward others leads us into the second point that Jesus emphasizes as He speaks to us about striving for a faith that \u201clets go.\u201d&nbsp; Our Lord says, <em>\u201cIf your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.&nbsp; If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, \u2018I repent,\u2019 forgive him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These words of our Savior remind us that just as we are to take temptation seriously, so also we need to take sin seriously.&nbsp; Even if a brother or sister in the faith does not sin against us directly, if we know that they have sinned against someone else or if we know that they have allowed a particular sin to take root in their heart or in their life, we need to be so concerned about their spiritual health that we <em>\u201crebuke\u201d<\/em> them.&nbsp; We point out their sin with the goal of leading them to repentance.&nbsp; And when they do repent we gladly and freely forgive them.&nbsp; Even if they sin against us <em>\u201cseven times in a day,\u201d<\/em> we are to freely and fully forgive them from the heart\u2014 just as our God has freely and fully forgiven us of all the sins we have committed against Him!&nbsp; (Pointing to the cross)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The responsibility to <em>\u201crebuke\u201d<\/em> coupled together with the responsibility to <em>\u201cforgive\u201d<\/em> requires that we strive to have a faith that \u201clets go.\u201d&nbsp; We strive to have a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of any and all self-righteousness (\u201cI am so glad I would never do something like that!\u201d).&nbsp; We strive to have a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of any and all desire for revenge.&nbsp; We strive to have a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of any and all possibility that we will look down on the person who has sinned and\/or use that sin as ammunition against them either now or in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that sounds rather shocking to you, look at how Jesus\u2019 disciples responded to what the Lord was telling them.&nbsp; Luke writes, <em>\u201cThe apostles said to the Lord, \u2018Increase our faith!\u2019&nbsp; He replied, \u2018If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, \u201cBe uprooted and planted in the sea,\u201d and it will obey you.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look inside of ourselves for the kind of faith that Jesus is describing here\u2014 a faith that freely and fully forgives others\u2014 we won\u2019t find it.&nbsp; If we look inside of ourselves for the kind of faith that our Lord wants us to have we will be disappointed.&nbsp; If we look inside of ourselves for this&nbsp; kind of faith then when the Lord sets a command or a promise or a teaching in front of us that seems \u201cimpossible\u201d to us we will try to excuse ourselves from doing what our God wants us to do by saying, \u201cI just can\u2019t.&nbsp; My faith is too weak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like the disciples here in our text, instead of looking inside of ourselves we need to turn to the Lord and ask Him to strengthen our faith.&nbsp; Like the disciples here in our text we need to turn to our Lord and ask Him to empower us to do what He asks us to do\u2014 and He will!&nbsp; Like the disciples here in our text our Lord will encourage us to take whatever faith we have and <strong>use <\/strong>it!&nbsp; Like the disciples here in our text we will hear our Lord remind us and reassure us that even a faith as <em>\u201csmall as a mustard seed\u201d<\/em> is able to accomplish astounding things!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we strive for a faith that \u201clets go,\u201d my friends.&nbsp; We strive for a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of relying on ourselves and we rely on our God.&nbsp; We strive for a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of any and all excuses for <strong>not <\/strong>doing what our Lord asks us to do and leads us to put our faith into action.&nbsp; We strive for a faith that \u201clets go\u201d of anything in us and instead trusts in the truth that the apostle Paul proclaims in Ephesians 3:20-21, <em>\u201cNow to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final truth that Jesus emphasizes when it comes to having a faith that \u201clets go\u201d is brought out in the closing words of our text. &nbsp;Jesus says, <em>\u201cSuppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.&nbsp; Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, \u2018Come along now and sit down to eat\u2019?&nbsp; Would he not rather say, \u2018Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink\u2019? &nbsp;Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?&nbsp; So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, \u2018We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are God\u2019s <em>\u201cservants.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; He made us.&nbsp; He redeemed us.&nbsp; Using the power of His holy Word and His holy Sacraments He brought us to faith in Jesus and strengthens our faith in Jesus as our only Savior from sin.&nbsp; Since we belong to Him He has the right, the power, the authority to command what He wants us to do and what He does not want us to do.&nbsp; <strong>Even if <\/strong>we were to do everything the God of heaven commands we would <strong>never <\/strong>be able to say to Him, \u201cNow you owe me something.\u201d&nbsp; <strong>Even if <\/strong>we try to go above and beyond what God specifically commands us here in His holy Word, the <strong>only <\/strong>thing we would <strong>ever<\/strong> have the right to say is, <em>\u201cWe are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A faith that strives to \u201clet go,\u201d my friends, is a faith that stives to \u201clet go\u201d of that all too human inclination to take credit for our good works.&nbsp; A faith that strives to \u201clet go\u201d is a faith that banishes the thought that our attempt at spiritual self-discipline and any success that we might have against some sin somehow merits God\u2019s praise.&nbsp; A faith that strives to \u201clet go\u201d is faith that \u201clets go\u201d of any delusion that we <strong>deserve <\/strong>to be saved and trusts in God\u2019s promise that we are saved purely by grace through faith in what He has done <strong>for <\/strong>us.&nbsp; (Pointing to the cross)&nbsp; A faith that strives to \u201clet go\u201d is faith that strives to \u201clet go\u201d of our personal pride and ego and depends solely on the mercy and the forgiveness of our God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How easy is it for you to \u201clet go\u201d of something?&nbsp; When we look back over the course of our lives we see that \u201cletting go\u201d is not always an easy thing to do, is it.&nbsp; Whether it\u2019s a physical object such as a car or an intangible object such as a goal or a dream it can be very difficult for us to \u201clet go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My prayer this morning is that these words of our Savior will serve as a powerful reminder to us of how important it is for us to strive for a faith that \u201clets go\u201d!&nbsp; Strive for a faith that takes temptation seriously and \u201clets go\u201d of the idea that we can do and say whatever we want no matter how it impacts the faith of others\u2014 especially the <em>\u201clittle ones.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Strive for a faith that takes sin seriously and \u201clets go\u201d of the idea that we are not responsible for the spiritual health of our brothers and sisters in Christ.&nbsp; Strive for a faith that rejoices in the fact that we are His servants (Pointing to the cross) and \u201clets go\u201d of any desire for praise as we humbly and faithfully carry out the <em>\u201cduties\u201d<\/em> that He has given to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To God be the glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke 17:1-10 Strive for a Faith that Lets Go! Jesus said to his disciples:&nbsp; \u201cThings that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.&nbsp; It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-service-podcast"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1775,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/1775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}