A couple of weeks ago I preached a sermon in which I borrowed an analogy from Shrek.  Remember what it was?  An onion.  The point I made in that sermon was some sermons stink and make you cry.  No, that wasn’t it.  Rather, parables often have several layers of meaning.  I didn’t know at the time how prophetic Shrek’s onion was.  As we continued to work we discovered that much of the material in Luke is onionesque.  There are surface meanings and deeper meanings and lessons under lessons and the more you peal away the layers the more you see.  Lord I want to see, is the theme so by digging down through the layers we are able to see more of what Jesus would have us see.  Within these layers of Luke’s gospel are messages which seem to be directed straight at us.  It is as if Luke knew the 2007 version of the Los Alamos Church of Christ and put some onion layers there for us.

Last week we explored one of those layers as we talked about faith and fear.  We saw in most of the things which we would not want to have happen our faith is going to be disclosed.  The true nature of our faith is revealed in family relationships, in accidents, in spiritual failures, in illness and even in death.  Faith is disclosed in the tragedies of life.  But Luke went a layer deeper in this onion when he proposed that where faith is unveiled more faith will be given.  That was the good news of last week’s sermon.  In the bad things that happen to us where there is faith, even more faith will be given.  But the bad news was where faith was insufficient, faith was lost.  That was the admonition from Luke 8:16-18.

Luke 8:16-18  "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.  17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.  18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."

The light of who Jesus is reveals our faith in the tragedies of life.  Where there is faith, more will be given.  Where it doesn’t exist all is lost.  So, last week I ended with the encouragement from Jesus to “consider carefully how you listen.”  What I didn’t tell you last week was how this works.  How do we listen carefully?  How does listening carefully increase our faith?  We prayed last week in the closing elder’s prayer for more faith. “Yes, Lord I believe but help my unbelief. Lord, I want to have more faith.”   How does that happen? How does God give the increase in our faith which is revealed in the tragedies? 

Let me stop here and enlist you in this sermon. I don’t want you to simply listen to this sermon, I want you signed up for this sermon.  There is a difference.  You can listen to this sermon and go away and say, “You know that was a good sermon.”  But not be enlisted in it.  It may be the difference in praying for “our men and women in harms way,” and enlisting in the army to go be in harms way. One is a good thing the other involves much more commitment.  So, do you want more faith?  Do you want to be a person of faith?  Do you want this faith in the bulwark never failing? Once your faith is revealed by Jesus do you want to go on to being given more?   If you are, if you are enlisted, then Luke chapter 9 has the answers; straight up.  Luke continues onioning by telling four stories about how faith is increased.  Last week it was Faith exposed; today it is Faith increased.  The Twelve apostles begin to learn what it means to have their faith increased.
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Luke 9:1-6  When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  He told them: "Take nothing for the journey-- no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic.  Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.  If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them."  So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

The Twelve who have mostly up to this point in Luke been listening and following Jesus around are given a commission.  The Twelve have learned enough about Jesus and the kingdom to go share it.  And it seems that this entire exercise is given to the apostles so that their faith, at whatever level it was, would grow.  Isn’t it odd that on this trip they are to take basically nothing; no staff or bag, bread or money or extra clothes?  It is as if the whole point is to learn to trust God in the sharing of their faith.

And that reveals the first way Luke tells us that our faith is increased; Faith grows when shared.  Isn’t that an odd thing; a paradox?  Tanya bought a candy bar the other day, which is kind of unusual, and shared it with me, which is not unusual.  But after sharing her Hershey bar she had less.  If I share my time with you, I have less.  If I share my money, I have less.  But if I share my faith, I have more.  Faith revealed by tragedies and shared with others grows.  As we allow people to see our faith in our lives it magically grows. Faith grows when shared.
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The second way faith is increased is found in a story that is recorded in all four gospels.  I think because it had such a faith impact on the Twelve.  It was a significant event in their lives, notice why. 

Luke 9:10-17  When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."  He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish-- unless we go and buy food for all this crowd."  (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each."  The disciples did so, and everybody sat down.  16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Who does this miracle of feeding the 5,000?  Does Jesus?  No, he tells them to feed the 5,000.  It is in their doing the work of Jesus that their faith is grown. “Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people.  Then each one of the Twelve had a basket left over.  The Apostles were doing the work of Jesus and fed the 5,000!

This may be a metaphor for our faith.  It is in taking 5 loaves and 2 fish amounts of faith and during it into a basket of faith.  Do you want a basket full of faith?  Then feed the 5,000.  It’s another paradox.  When I go have lunch in a moment I will feed myself and I will get full.  Tanya’s roasts are world famous at our house.  If I feed myself with roast I will get full.  But faith increases when we feed others.  It’s a miracle.  When I am doing the Lord’s work by feeding others my faith grows. 
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Are you enlisting?  Are you seeing where this is going?  Do you still want your faith to grow?  Keep listening. 

Luke 9:18-27  Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."  "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."  Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.  And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."  Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

Peter had the right answer, “You are the Christ of God.”  He had begun to discover who Jesus was. Faith grows by learning who Jesus is.  At this point when Peter makes this good confession I’m not sure he knows very much about what it means for Jesus to be the Christ.  But, immediately Jesus begins to explain what Christ means.  Messiah means suffering.  Messiah means rejection. Messiah means cross.  Messiah means resurrection.  And it also means that those who would follow the Christ must experience the Christ.  Those whose faith would increase because they learn of Jesus must follow Jesus to the cross; unashamed!

Learning who Jesus is increases our faith.  Learning the way of the Messiah is the cross increases our faith.  Learning to embrace our cross and not be ashamed is the way our faith grows.  Faith is learning who Jesus is!
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But there is no more powerful way faith reveal becomes stronger. 

Luke 9:28-36  About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.  As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.  Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.  Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.  As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)  While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.   A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him."  When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

The Transfiguration of Jesus was a faith changing experience.  Peter got it wrong.  He wanted to worship all three.  But the cloud said, “No, you worship only Jesus.”  It was an epiphany. Or was it a theophany?  Either way Peter, James and John had an encounter with the divinity of Jesus.  They were in the presence of God and caught a glimpse of who Jesus really is.  They saw his glory. 

Seeing Jesus in his glory is what we should seek to increase our faith.  I am not advocating that we have to go to the top of a mountain and wait for Jesus to do the “glow” thing.  Faith grows in worship. But what I am saying is in worship – in heart connecting worship – we can catch the tiniest glimpses of Jesus and that will build our faith.  Worship is much more important than we typically give it credit. 
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Let be bring this message home.  As I said there is an onion layer here which speaks to the 2007 version of the Los Alamos Church of Christ.  How do we increase our faith?  Four ways:

Shared Faith: To grow we engage others in our faith.  We are intentional about this.  Our faith is on our lips in a moment.  As we go through our days as we encounter the challenges of life, as we just live, we are ready to speak for Jesus. 
®Instead of good luck we say God bless
®Instead of talking sports we talk faith
®Instead of remarking on how odd the weather is we thank God
®We talk about being blessed not fortunate

 

Involved Faith: We are involved in ministry to others.  We feed the 5,000.  We work miracles for Jesus.  We give of our time and money to help others.  We invest in the benevolence of God.
®We give to good works
®We have people into our homes
®We look for opportunities to minister
®We can point to a ministry that we are involved in. 

Learned Faith: Education builds our faith.
®We study the Scriptures on our own
®We read challenging books about our faith
®We plug into Bible Class
®We invest in our Wednesday Summer program (Advertisement)

Worshiped Faith: Seeing him in glory: Worship builds faith. 
®We are not only here for worship – we connect in worship
®Solo worship – find how we connect
®We pray
®We listen to the voice of God – we may get an epiphany.

Not only do I want to be this person of faith, I want to be a member of a church of faith.  This is who we are to be as a church.  We are to be a church which is anxious to share our faith; who helps and feeds and ministers to the 5,000, a church who takes its education seriously and who worships in the glory of God.  These are no either or kind of things.  “Going to church of Sunday is enough.”  We individually and congregationally must invest in all four of these areas for our faith to increase. 

I hope you have enlisted in this sermon.  My prayer is that you take a look at your life and see where your faith can grow.  My expectation is you will heed Jesus encouragement…

Luke 8:18  " Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."