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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2007

THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Luke 17:5-10 (Lord! Increase our faith!)

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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

There is, in the final analysis, only one way to increase our faith. And that is by sharing it with others -- especially with those less fortunate than we are. And it matters not how “small” we think our faith is, because it ALWAYS GROWS when it is shared. This may be the most important lesson we will ever learn, for it makes all of us either (1) missionaries or (2) people who need a missionary. We increase our faith by sharing it.

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1. Years ago, when I worked for the morning newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, I had the privilege of interviewing an old blues guitarist who was on his deathbed. This old man was one of the most interesting people I have ever met, one of the best guitarists I have ever seen, and he taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned. (He also inspired in me a love of old Mississippi Delta blues music -- from the 1920’s and 1930’s. But that‘s ANOTHER story for another time.) This old man was a blues musician of the first order. He had lived a hard life. He had drunk his fill of hard liquor. And he had played hard music straight from his heart -- hard music from a hard life of hard living. During the interview, he talked about the hard times of his life, and how his music flowed directly from the way he lived. I asked him, at the end of our time together, what SECRETS he had learned over 60 years of singing and playing. And he said he had learned only ONE secret in his life. I will never forget the way he paused and struggled to keep from crying. He said he learned this SECRET late in his life; and if he had only learned it sooner, he might still be playing and performing. If only he had learned this SECRET sooner, his life might have been much different, much better, much more meaningful. He took several deep breaths and wiped away a few tears. I knew in my heart that he was about to share with me a powerful lesson . . . But I had no idea HOW powerful it would be, or how much it would impact my life right down to this very moment in time. He said the only SECRET he learned was the SECRET of “getting rid of the blues.” “There’s only one cure for the blues,” he said. “Only ONE cure for the blues. And that’s by getting up out of your chair and going across the tracks to help someone else.” The only way to keep SANE in a blues-filled life is to HELP OTHERS.

2. Interestingly, this is the same principle which underlies the 12-step program -- a program that has been a life-saver for many of us. A program that has worked miracles in the lives of millions of hopeless people since the mid-1930’s. STEP 12 IN THE BIG BOOK OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS says this: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we have tried to carry this message to other alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” In my life, and in my ministry, I have learned that people in recovery get better -- and stronger -- when they give away what they have learned. Their “knowledge” may be imperfect, their people skills imperfect, their ability to communicate with others imperfect, their command of facts about the 12-step program may be imperfect, their command about their own lives may be imperfect. But if they GIVE AWAY the HOPE they have received, no matter how small that hope is, their recovery gets better and stronger. Their faith, as it were, is increased when they share it with others.

3. Last Sunday night, I saw FAITH strengthened right before my eyes. I saw faith strengthened in the lives of half-a-dozen teenagers from this Cathedral. The youth people in our Sunday morning Confirmation class -- taught by the Rev. Ann Anderson -- went downtown to the Salvation Army last Sunday evening to prepare and serve dinner. About 120 people came to eat, and our young people set up, served up, and cleaned up for a couple of hours. They interacted with a group of people who can only be called “the least of God’s children” -- the poor, the sick, the friendless, and the needy. As happens so often (as I have seen in my ministry), these young people were at first scared and timid. But as they MINISTERED TO OTHERS, they became more and more excited. At the end of the evening, they DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE! Their faith was STRENGTHENED when they gave it away. Their HOPE was STRENGTHENED when they shared it. The miracle that occurred was that their faith, no matter how large or small, was increased when they shared it with others. The Lord Jesus Himself said this about His ministry (Mark 10:45): “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to SERVE . . . And to give His life as a ransom for many.”

4. The main point I want to emphasize this morning, as we look at our Gospel lesson from Luke Chapter 17, is this:

5. OUR Gospel lesson this morning puts this message in crystal-clear language. It is SO crystal clear, in fact, that it is in reality very difficult to hear. So let us look at it again, and listen to the words with child-like ears. It begins when the apostles came to the Jesus with a simple request:

(1) The apostles asked Jesus to do something for them that ALL OF US have asked of Him, at some point in our lives. “LORD!” the said to Him. “INCREASE OUR FAITH.” Now, if you have never reached this point in your spiritual life, then you are probably not spending enough time thinking ABOUT your spiritual life. Most of us reach this point during times of difficulty, crisis, or spiritual testing.)

(2) Jesus responds in a shocking way. He tells them that with TRUE faith, with even a tiny seed of faith as small as a mustard seed, they should be able to MOVE MOUNTAINS.

(3) He proceeds immediately to teach them about slaves -- slaves who do only what is commanded of them. When slaves perform their duties, Jesus says, they do not expect massive rewards. They only hope to do what they were required to do.

(4) In other words, WE SERVE THE LORD by doing WHAT HE REQUIRES US TO DO. We serve Him by doing the things He asks us to do.

(5) So . . . How do we know what the Lord calls us to do? We can find the best answer to that in Matthew 25 -- where Jesus calls us to reach out to the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned. The poor. The sick. The friendless. The needy. When we reach out to THEM (the least of the Lord’s children), we are in fact reaching out to the Lord Himself. Can it get any clearer than that?

(6) The biggest paycheck in the faith that we will EVER receive is when we reach out in the Name of Jesus to someone else -- someone who needs a special touch from the Lord. When we give away our faith, when we share our faith with others, we find that our own faith is miraculously increased.

6. Please notice what is NOT required when we make the decision to reach out in FAITH to someone less fortunate than we are:

(1) We are not required to have a super-abundance of faith.

(2) We are not required to know the Bible from cover-to-cover.

(3) We are not required to be experts on the history and theology of the church.

(4) We are not required to have a college degree . . . Or a high school diploma.

(5) We are not required to have years of experience in prayers.

(6) We are not required to understand the problems that other people have.

(7) We are not required to understand our OWN problems, or to have the answers to ALL of our own problems.

(8) We are not required to have our spiritual lives “all figured out.”

(9) We are not required to be ordained as ministers

(10) We are not required to be “experts” in helping others.

No. No. No. No. All that is required is that we be willing to share ourselves, in the name of the Lord, with someone else. There is, in the final analysis, only one way to increase our faith. And that is by sharing it with others -- especially with those less fortunate than we are. And it matters not how “small” we think our faith is, because it ALWAYS GROWS when it is shared.

Do you need more faith? THEN SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE!