Faith and Duty

Series: “Upside-Down Kingdom” (Week 4) Scripture: Luke 17:5-10

Big Idea / Sticky Statement: God’s power is unleashed not through the size of our faith, but through the posture of our surrender.

1. ENGAGE: The Setup * The Illustration: The Humble Hero * Have you ever heard the story of a Medal of Honor recipient? These are soldiers who perform acts of almost unbelievable courage. * But in interviews, when asked, “How did you become such a hero?” they almost always say something like, “I’m no hero. I was just doing my duty.” * There’s a profound disconnect between their extraordinary actions and their humble mindset.

* Transition to TENSION * We admire that humility, but our first instinct when facing our own big challenges is often the exact opposite. * We don’t think about duty; we think we need to become some kind of superhero to get the job done.

2. TENSION: The Problem * The Desire for a Superpower * We all want a “superpower”—a magic bullet, a secret formula that will guarantee success and remove all our fear. * We want a ‘superhero’ level of confidence before we’re willing to act.

* The Paralysis of Inadequacy * This desire keeps us stuck. We get paralyzed by our own sense of inadequacy. * We think, “I can’t lead that project until I feel more confident,” or “I can’t have that hard conversation until I’m sure I won’t fail.”

* The Hunger for Credit * If we’re honest, the reason we want this superpower is because we want the power, and we secretly want the credit that comes with it. * We want to be the hero of our own story.

* (Lean in): A person who is always focused on the size of their own ability will always be paralyzed by the reality of their own inadequacy.

* Transition to TRUTH * This desire for a bigger dose of ‘confidence’ or ‘ability’ is an ancient human problem. And in a surprising conversation, one of history’s most influential teachers completely shatters that entire way of thinking.

3. TRUTH: The Biblical Solution

* Alright, church, grab your Bibles. Turn to Luke chapter 17

Luke 17:1–2 ESV

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

Luke 17:3–4 ESV

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

* The Context: An Impossible Command * Jesus gives a radical command: forgive someone who sins against you seven times in one day. * The disciples feel completely overwhelmed and inadequate. Their reaction is a desperate plea in verse 5:

Luke 17:5 ESV

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

* They are asking for a bigger spiritual muscle. They’ve correctly identified their inadequacy but have misdiagnosed the solution.

* A. The Power of Small Faith (v. 6)

Luke 17:6 ESV

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

* A Shocking Answer: Jesus’s response is shocking. They ask for more faith, and He points to something tiny—a mustard seed. * The Radical Point: The issue is not the size of your faith; it’s the object of your faith. A tiny seed of faith in an all-powerful God is enough to do the impossible (uproot a strong mulberry tree). * He is shifting their focus from their own limited ability to God’s unlimited power.

* B. The Posture of a Faithful Servant (vv. 7-10) * Read Luke 17:7-10 * The Jarring Shift: Right after this promise of incredible power, Jesus tells a story designed to crush any pride that might come from wielding it.

Luke 17:7–10 ESV

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

* The Expected Reality: A servant works all day, comes in, and is expected to keep serving his master before he can rest. He doesn’t get a special reward for doing the very job he was hired to do.

* The Punchline: Jesus brings it home in verse 10: "So you also… say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

* The Liberating Truth: This isn’t about being worthless; it’s about being free from the pressure of performance. Obedience is simply the baseline, the joyful and expected response of a servant to a good Master.

* Transition to APPLICATION * So Jesus gives us two radical truths: the power is in the object of our faith, not the size of it, and the posture of our faith is one of humble duty. So what does that look like for us?

4. APPLICATION: The Choice

* 1. Stop Trying to Grow Your Faith; Start Exercising the Faith You Have. * The focus isn’t on introspection and trying to “feel” more faith. It’s on taking small, mustard-seed-sized steps of obedience and trusting our great God with the results.

* 2. Shift Your Prayer from “Increase My Faith” to “God, Help Me Be Faithful.” * This is a subtle but profound shift. It moves the focus from our internal state to our external obedience.

* 3. Embrace the Identity of a Servant. * Our job is to do our duty. The results are up to God. This frees us from the pressure to produce spectacular outcomes and allows us to find deep joy in quiet, consistent service.

* Transition to INSPIRATION * When a church is filled with people who understand this, it stops being a collection of anxious spiritual performers and starts being a quiet, powerful army of faithful servants.

5. INSPIRATION: The Vision * Imagine a life free from the anxiety of trying to be a spiritual superhero.

* Imagine a faith that finds deep joy not in great personal achievements, but in the quiet, consistent, daily rhythm of humble service to a great King.

* Imagine a church where people are not paralyzed by the size of the task, but are empowered by the size of their God, taking small, faithful steps that He uses to move mountains.

* That’s not just a different way to live; that’s living in the freedom of the Upside-Down Kingdom.

* Transition to ACTION * That’s the vision. But it starts with a personal decision to embrace your role.

6. ACTION: Your Assignment for This Week * This week, I want you to embrace the power of small faith and humble duty.

* 1. Identify: What is one area where you’ve been paralyzed because you feel your ability isn’t “big enough”?

* 2. Pray: Ask God to help you take one small, mustard-seed-sized step of obedience in that area this week.

* 3. Serve: Find one “duty”—one act of service—you can do this week without any expectation of praise or reward, simply as an act of faithful service to the Master.