Early in the 17th chapter of Luke, we find the apostles saying to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (vs. 5). Through the years, I have heard many people expound upon Jesus’ response to the apostles’ request while attempting to teach on the subject of faith. And, though I’ve heard many persuasive words on the matter, I came to realize that there was error in what I was hearing because it was full of selfish motives and works. In those teachings, faith was presented as an instrument to serve us instead of one that is used to serve God. For a long time, I have been asking God to give me true understanding of the things Jesus said as He answered the apostles, and recently the understanding has come. I trust the Holy Spirit will enlighten you as I share what He has shown me.

In giving me this new and correct understanding, the Holy Spirit first led me to consider what persuaded the apostles to say,“Increase our faith”. As with all scripture, the words of Jesus must be viewed and considered in conjunction with the complete context. The disciples had been listening to a lengthy discourse in which Jesus had spoken on humbling ourselves to be exalted, ministering to the poor, loving Him more than our family or even our own life, and the parables of the unjust steward and the rich man and Lazarus. This is all recorded in the 14th through 16th chapters of Luke, but the Lord’s teaching does not end there. It carries over into the 17th chapter where Jesus also tells His disciples about the horrible consequences of causing another individual to stumble and that we must forgive others even if they sin against us seven times a day and come back every time saying they repent. It was at this point that the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”. This request was made because they were overwhelmed by the enormity of all that had been commanded and the severe consequences of disobedience. The Holy Spirit showed me a few things about this. First, the apostles calculated that their faith was insufficient to meet God’s standards, and that if He would zap them with more faith, it would secure their ability to obey. Additionally, I was shown that a request for more faith indicates a conscious or unconscious effort to justify one’s self for disobedience. This places the blame on God for not supplying us with the necessary means to comply with Him. Read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 to see how the servant with one talent attempted to justify himself by blaming God. How often do we hear God’s commandment or perceive that He is sending us in a particular direction and respond to Him by saying, “Increase our faith”? Like the apostles, we try to justify ourselves and make excuses for disobedience while under the delusion that we could and would obey if God would just give us more faith.

With this in mind, let us now see what Jesus says when His people make such a request — “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things which were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:6-10). The Lord responded to the apostles with loving honesty and wisdom. He begins His answer by pointing out that a small measure of faith is sufficient to accomplish mighty things. A grain of mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds(Matthew 13:31-32), yet Jesus says that with this small measure we could tell the sycamine tree to be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey us. From this statement, we see that our ability to obey is not dependent upon acquiring a larger portion of faith. He is telling us that we do not need more faith to obey — we have to be submitted to Him with the faith God has already given us. In Romans 12:3 we read, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”.This verse says that God has given every man THE measure of faith. It does not say “a measure”. No, God has given everybody the same measure of faith. This measure, whatever size it may be, is enough to believe God’s word and obey Him. God is no respecter of persons so He doesn’t give some individuals small faith and bless others with large (Acts 10:34, 1 Peter 1:17)

The Lord proceeds with His answer by saying that a servant does not sit down to eat until he has finished his duties and prepared a meal for his master. He then makes the statement that a master does not thank his servant for doing what has been commanded of him. Jesus is using this illustration to correct the apostles and show the proper perspective we are to have as God’s children. Jesus is the Lord, we are His servants. It is our duty to obey Him without question and without stipulation. We need to exercise the faith God has already given us. Man’s worldly, carnal mind tends to think of increase only in the sense of quantity. However, the measure of faith we already have would be more productive if it were stronger. It presently costs about three dollars per gallon for gasoline, and we typically reason that we could buy more fuel and go farther if we had more money. But, if the dollar was stronger, it would have more buying power, and we could purchase more fuel with the same amount of money that is currently in our possession. Every human is born with the same amount of muscle tissue in their body, but we see some people who appear to have more muscle and some who appear to have less. Some are physically stronger and some are weaker. Is this because humans have different measures of muscle tissue? No, it is because the muscle tissue of some is exercised and developed while the muscle tissue of others is not. The same applies to the measure of faith God has given to everyone. As God’s children, we need to obey the things Jesus has commanded us to do. As we walk in the light we have received, being obedient to our Lord’s instruction, our faith will be exercised and grow stronger. The measure of faith does increase, but not in size or quantity — it increases in strength and thereby has power to accomplish more for God’s glory.

Jesus concluded His answer by saying that once everything commanded has been done, we are to realize that we have only done what was our duty to do, and we are unprofitable in the sense that we’ve done nothing above and beyond what God has required. This shows us that God requires absolute obedience. The sycamine tree was thought to be an unproductive, useless tree in the Hebrew culture, and trees are often used to represent people in the Bible. Some references to this are Psalm 1:1-3, Matthew 3:10 & 7:15-20. The sea often represents wicked humanity, baptism, and a place of death. A few references for this are Genesis 6:17, Isaiah 57:20, Romans 6:1-6, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 1 Peter 3:20-22, and Revelation 17:1 & 15. In telling the apostles that with faith as a grain of mustard seed they could tell the sycamine tree to be plucked up by the root and planted in the sea, Jesus is showing us that with the measure of faith that has been given to us, the root of our sinful, carnal life would be removed by the old man being put to death and truly buried in the waters of baptism. Our inability to obey does not lie in our lack of faith — it lies in our self-serving nature. We are called and commanded to lose our life in service to Jesus — “And He said to all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it”(Luke 9:23-24). Jesus is Lord and we are His servants. It is not our place to ask God for more faith. He has given us the measure that is necessary to believe and obey Him. The ability to obey is secured when we believe the gospel for the old man to be crucified with Christ and to be regenerated with the divine nature (Romans 6:6, 2 Peter 1:4). Our faith will increase in that it grows stronger as we do what is our duty to do. This is the sum of our calling — “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).