'Lord, increase our faith!'  

 Luke 17: 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

I can imagine after spending time with Jesus the apostles were moved to ask this question; they had been astonished time and time again by the miracles they witnessed that flowed with ease from the faith of Jesus. They had also experienced the rebukes of Jesus for not having faith during crises times (severe storm - Luke 8: 25, failing to set a demonised boy free - Luke 9: 41. Jesus demonstrated faith, a stark contrast to the religiosity of their era, a religion of rules without power and yet in Jesus they witnessed a totally different way. And they wanted in - ‘Lord, increase our faith’ was their cry.

One cannot be a neutral reader of the Bible, it will either challenge your expectations of what is possible or cause you to shun the conviction. Sadly many books have been written seek to explain away the supernatural occurrences inferred by the narratives and promises of scripture. I once read the commentary of a well known Biblical scholar who explained the crossing of the Israelites through the Red Sea as through water only inches deep, however he didn’t explain how the whole Egyptian army was drowned!

Biblical discipleship is embracing everything Jesus taught, which means we must be willing to embrace the supernatural as a facet of God’s will for our lives.

Mustard Seed Faith

 6 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.

In response to the disciples request Jesus reminded them in simple yet profound terms how powerful faith can actually be. This is  no figurative language, Jesus pragmatically stated what faith will do, the disciples were very familiar with seeing mulberry trees
and I’m sure they visualised Jesus’ statement in their minds eye.

Faith through Faithfulness

7-10 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’? 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’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 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.’ ”

After highlighting the dynamics of faith Jesus seemed to go off topic to give a lesson on servanthood or did He? It was not a matter of increasing faith as the disciples supposed but a matter of using the faith effectively.  His teaching on duty and in particularly attitude towards duty gives us insight how faith gets unleashed.  What has this got to do with increasing in faith? According to Jesus, a great deal! We see from Abraham his faith progressed as he faithfully journeyed with God. 
There was a time many considered themselves disciples of Jesus but who simply weren’t ready for the kind of dedication He challenged for (see John 6: 66). Today is no different, many regard following Christ like a business contract but God is looking for faithfulness.

Paul referred to himself as a ‘bondslave’ which means a person who has willingly accepted slave status out of love for the master.

I once read an account of a beautiful young African girl who was being auctioned as a slave in American before slavery was abolished. Because of her beauty many lustful men were keen to bid for her and the bidding rose, finally a nobleman won and paid a very high price for her. As he collected her she spat in his face in anticipation of mistreatment, however she was surprised to receive  papers stating her legal freedom, she responded by saying, “Sir, I would like to be your slave”.

Self interest always gets in the way of faithfulness to God, quite often we want it on our terms - Lord, I’ll be faithful if you do this thing for me... Jesus taught a mentality radical to this world - we are unprofitable servants. Jesus teaching gets at the heart behind the exercise of effective faith. 

While Claire and I pioneered a church in Coventry I worked in the, ‘Toys R Us’ main distribution warehouse; it was where imported goods were received, sorted and distributed to all the stores in the U.K. It became quite obvious most of the guys I worked with had the minimum mentality, during the quieter times the Forman would ask us to clean the working area, so everyone grabbed brooms
etc, only to hide away and look busy whenever the Forman was in sight. Obviously none of those guys got promoted but the few conscientious ones did. We are privileged  to be about the Father’s business, the honour is in the serving and this attitude is the ground faith will grow.

Writing to the Philippians Church in recommending Timothy he wrote: For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. (Philippians 2: 21-22)

On two occasions Jesus commended people for having great faith:

The centurion recognised kingdom authority and how it worked.

Luke 7: 6-8 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

The Roman knew his authority was not his own, he was in a chain of command and represented the powerful Roman Empire and he recognised Jesus functioned similarly which caused Jesus to marvel.
Faith operates as a steward of God’s interests; self interest whether that’s financial, ego, mans acceptance etc will quench the Spirit of faith flowing in our hearts.

Attitude = Altitude

Romans 12: 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Everyone born-again has received this measure of faith (saving faith) and our attitude determines the exercise of this faith.

In Luke 19: 11-27 Jesus taught a parable of a nobleman giving 10 minas to 10 servants and they were all told to do business till he returned. This parable is for the Holy Spirit to bring application, for me it seems to apply to new covenant believers, each of us has received the measure of faith and our response determines how well our faith works.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5: 6)

In the Law of Moses (Exodus 21: 1-6) there was a statute for the slave that wanted to dedicate himself to his master even though he was granted freedom after six years service. If because of love the servant wanted to remain a slave he was taken to the judges and an awl (see picture above) pierced his ear to show he belonged to his master for life. Everyone knew he was a servant by choice because of love.

Are you willing to be unprofitable?