A Lesson In Lords, Servants, and Overcoming Faith
David W Palmer
Today’s assignment from Jesus is less of a mission and more of a probing directive; he assigned his apprentices a very challenging relational task: repeated forgiveness of a repeat offender. Their response revealed an abysmal gap in their understanding of how Jesus’s kingdom works, and how their relationship with him should be structured.
(Luke 17:3–4 NKJV) “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. {4} And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Jesus instructs his apprentice leaders to forgive repeatedly—even the same person—solely upon their verbal repentance. In other words, no matter how many times the perpetrator sins against you—up to seven times in a day—and each time simply says, “I repent”; you shall forgive him. The Master didn’t even say, “If he shows the fruit of repentance,” or, “If he has the evidence of true heartfelt repentance”; no, he simply said forgive him on the basis of nothing more than his words: “I repent.”
The disciples must have felt that this was a very difficult expectation. They seemed to know that complying with it would require great faith; but by what they said next, they exposed a huge flaw in their understanding of how faith and grace work:
(Luke 17:5 NKJV) And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
Oops! The apostles’ response doesn’t sound like a humble plea for help, let alone a statement reflecting great faith, or even some respect for who Jesus is. No, it sounds like a command directed back to Jesus. (I have checked out the Greek language from which this English statement was translated, and it is in the imperative mode, making it a command.)
Ironically, the apprentices’ command to Jesus is preceded by his title, “Lord”—indicating his role as boss or controller—highlighting a stark contrast between what “Lord” means and how they spoke to him. The right response to a Lord giving instructions is to say, “Yes Lord”; it is not to respond by giving an order back to him. This is like saying to police when stopped for an un-roadworthy vehicle, “All right, I will fix the car if you pay for it.”
Jesus’s disciples—although knowing he is Lord—tried to put the responsibility back onto him when he told them to do something they considered too hard. The Lord had clearly given them the responsibility to forgive on verbal repentance; he certainly didn’t offer to do this for them.
They were at least on the right path when they mentioned “faith.” However, the way they brought it up showed that again, they lacked a working understanding of how Jesus’s type of faith works. So, because he had undertaken his learning contract with them as their trainer, he needed to correct them; and then he had to train them in the correct way to operate. In his correction, the Lord had two topics to deal with: first, a reminder of how faith works—it grows to fruitfulness like a seed; second, a simple lesson on the relationship between a Lord and his servant:
(Luke 17:6 NKJV) So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
“Faith as a mustard seed” may begin small, but it has the dynamic proliferation potential of a living organism: DNA—an inner, coded image of what its limitless destiny can become. (After all, we may be able to count the number of individual seeds in one tree, but we can never count the potential number of forests that can come from one seed.)
Faith in an honest and good heart is like a seed that is planted in good soil; when it is watered, receives lots of light, and is not thwarted by rocks or overcome by weeds; it grows slowly to maturity. When it does, it offers a copious harvest along with unlimited potential to reproduce itself by great multiplication. If you operate your faith like this seed, then—instead of commanding Jesus to do your responsibility for you—you will be able to command a tree, mountain, storm, demon, etc. “and it would obey you.”
Next, Jesus deals with who commands whom, and who serves whom in the Lord/servant relationship:
(Luke 17:7–10 NKJV) “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? {8} But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? {9} Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. {10} So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
The legitimate servant serves his Lord in the field and in the home. He does as he is commanded. At no stage is the Lord obligated to serve him, or to do what the servant commands him to do. That would be unthinkable. According to Jesus, the Lord doesn’t even “thank that servant” when he does as he is commanded to do. So don’t let your feelings be hurt if this happens to you—you serve as commanded without receiving thanks.
Jesus is using this obvious scenario to illustrate to his trainees the absurdity of their attempt to pass their responsibility back to him by commanding him to increase their faith. This would be a bit like a 16-year-old boy saying to his mother, “Increase my muscles!” She would have every right to say, “When I gave birth to you, I gave you every muscle you’ll ever need. I’ve been feeding you three times a day ever since. I’ve already done my part. If you want the muscles I’ve already given you and nourished for you to increase, exercise them!”
In truth, our Lord is saying that there are things we can, and should, command by faith: demons, mountains, recalcitrant trees, despair, depression, and blockages, etc. But we should not command him; that would be delegating up the lines of authority—like a private commanding a general. On the contrary, we should put our faith to work: grow it to greatness; and then use our commands of faith to achieve significant results in the “field,” in the home, or wherever we need to be served. In other words, faith will go to work for us like a servant working for a Lord. If we grow it to maximize its potential, we can imitate Jesus and achieve all that we need to get done by faith—through verbal commands.
So, in conclusion, three issues have come up today:
First, if someone sins against us and then simply turns to us saying, “I repent,” our Lord commands us to forgive them … repeatedly if necessary. This is a directive from our Lord, and he expects our obedience. Yes, this can only be done by faith (See: Rom 4:16). So find appropriate “seeds” in his word from the Bible, feed on them, meditate on them, and take them into your heart. Then begin to speak the forgiveness out of your mouth; command all unforgiveness to go in Jesus’s name. Keep at this until his grace for forgiveness floods you and outshines all unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment.
Second, you may need to use great discipline for this, but don’t “command” the Lord—ever! If you find yourself on the verge of doing this, catch yourself; and then realize that whatever need you have is already covered in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; and that grace is available—by faith through his great and precious promises (See: 2 Pet. 1:3–4).
Third, if, when faced with a challenge, you feel your faith is too small, weak, or non-existent; don’t sidestep your responsibility by trying to make Jesus or anyone else responsible for it. Whether it’s a financial need, an emotional need, or attempts to allay fear, anxiety, or worry; take hold of God’s promise that meets that need, and allow it to take root in your heart until his faith surges through you. Then, in Jesus’s name, make your command of faith. Like a servant working in the field, your faith will obey your command and the mountain will move.
It is always our responsibility to live by faith in the finished work of the cross. To do this, we need to keep exercising, feeding, watering, and growing our faith until all troubling “mountains” move. There is simply no shortcut to this; but God offers a great reward to those who grow their faith to maturity and see it overcome in Jesus’s name (See: Rev. 2, 3).
Today, remember: Jesus commands you; and then by faith in him, you command demons and things in his name.
