The Gospel of Luke 17:1-10 - Stumbling Blocks
Luke 17:1-10 · Vern Peterman · Apr 3, 2016
Gospel of Luke, No. 65
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926531467079

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be moving into this passage, Luke 17, 1-10. After taking a month of various other things, useful diversions and purposeful holidays and whatnot, we're getting back in track with the Gospel of Luke and investigating Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. There are four themes in Luke 17, 1-10. And so those themes are going to include Luke 17, 1 and 2, stumbling blocks and little ones. Luke 17, 3 and 4 will be about repentance and forgiveness. Luke 17, 5 and 6, faith the size of a mustard seed. And Luke 17, 7 through 10, entitlement and gratefulness.

This passage contains a warning initially. and then guidance principles applying to our relationships with others and with God. And with this, a lot of it actually is looking forward into the church age. And I'll have to ask you to excuse me. I have a very good dose of spring allergies. So anyway, so one of the things we'll want to do as well is to look ahead.

We're getting actually pretty close to the beginning of crucifixion week. And so this is the traditional chronology where crucifixion is on the Friday following a Passover and before the Sabbath. There are those who will argue for a Thursday or even a Wednesday crucifixion. I think the traditional chronology is correct after looking at the various options and whatnot.

So on the fourth Sunday in May, we'll be at Luke 19, 1 through 10. That will be the time of Zacchaeus. And that will take place in Jericho. And so that kind of starts the clock. That's a week away from the day of Christ's crucifixion. The next will be on Saturday.

Lazarus was resurrected and we'll see when we get there and by the way at both Zacchaeus and and Lazarus are kind of unique accounts one of the things about Lazarus Resurrection is that Jesus actually delayed his arrival until after Lazarus death We'll see on Then a week before Christ's resurrection was the triumphal entry. On Monday that he drove out the money changers and the animals that they were selling. Tuesday was the day of what's called the Olivet Discourse, contained most substantially in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. On Wednesday, Jesus went into the temple courtyards And on Thursday was the day of what we call the Last Supper.

It was the eve before Passover. And then they go out to the Garden of Gethsemane from there. And then on Friday is the trial, crucifixion, and Christ's burial before the end of the day. And then on Saturday, in the grave with Roman guards guarding the tomb. and with the seal of Rome over there to make sure no one breaks in and steals the body, right? And then Sunday following that being the resurrection.

So we're about to get into that time. Where this is taking place here, and we know this not from the Gospel of Luke, but by a parallel passage in Matthew, where this is taking place is in or around Capernaum, where Jesus is speaking in today's passage in Luke. It's at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, is a place where Peter and Andrew had moved from Bethsaida to Capernaum. Jesus had moved from Nazareth to Capernaum initially. So we start with Luke 17, verses 1 and 2, and it looks like this.

He said to his disciples, it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come. Verse 2, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. That's a rather intense word picture, isn't it? That he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

That's Jesus and Poppy, by the way. So anyway, so whoa here, this Matthew 18, 1 through 6 is a parallel passage to Luke 17, 1 and 2. Obviously the Matthew passage has about three times as much content. It has a bit more detail, and it gives us the picture of the disciples that asked Jesus about the kingdom. That's what precipitated Jesus' comments here. The kingdom of heaven, as it's recorded in Matthew. And Jesus called a child near in order to make an illustration.

So this child pictures, and we get this from Matthew 18.6, a spiritually immature young believer. Obviously, the context was still in Israel with the Jews, but it could represent even a young believer in our time.

So there's some value in looking at this. Stumbling blocks will come, Jesus says. It's going to happen. But Jesus says there's accountability for those by whom they come to these spiritually immature believers. God values young believers. And he wants them, and we'll see what God's intent is here. I think it's something for us to ponder. If someone becomes a new believer, we kind of have a sort of, hey, good to have you on board, and the towels are here in the closet, and help yourself kind of thing. And in fact, a young believer needs more care and tending to, and a deliberate plan of action rather than simply, you know, hey, welcome in to our household and introduction to everything. So Jesus' woes also should be taken seriously. When Jesus says woe, that isn't something that he just kind of says woe to everybody about. To give you an example, when we visited in the Galilee area, Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida were three cities that Jesus said woe to each of those. Today, none of those is a town that people live in. They are all archaeological sites and nobody lives there. Nobody has lived there for many centuries.

So when Jesus says woe, this is something to be taken seriously. He doesn't just go casting woes about. The other thing he talks about is a millstone. Here is a millstone at Nazareth Village to give you an idea. They use it for olive crushing and they also use it for grinding up the grain and generating the flour from that. So this is a large object that would very definitely sink you if it were tied around your neck.

So we've got to ask the question, what does God have in mind for these young ones? So the disciples' question in the immediate context here for Jesus' response had to do with the kingdom, but there is application for us in the body of Christ. Those who are young in the Lord are to be carefully fed and nurtured, spiritually speaking, so that they are on the path of growth toward maturity.

And they need food fitting for their young age initially, don't they? You don't take a baby when they first come home and plop down a steak and potatoes dinner in front of them, do you? Right? I mean, that might be fine for somebody else, but no, they need milk initially, and then they need to be carefully introduced to solid food. So, looking, how do I grow these believers?

That's got to be key. So the strong warning is to those who would lead these young ones in the Lord, lead them astray. One of the things that comes out of this passage, since this is such a strong warning of woe, is temporal actions have eternal consequences. Anyone who leads those who are spiritually and morally young and therefore vulnerable into sin, error, and apostasy here on earth will have eternal consequences for their misleading. I've shared previously that Jim Jones was my sister's seventh grade teacher, and that I sat across the table from him at PTA meetings. And so anyway, he took some of my friends with him down to Guyana, and it didn't turn out real good for them. And so I look at this, and I said, he has a lot to answer for. So really key here.

Jesus is referring to an unbeliever such as most of the Pharisees were. Exceptions to the list of Pharisees who were or became believers would be Nicodemus. Nicodemus helped in the burial of Jesus and says he's looking forward to the kingdom and he came and talked to Jesus about that. And another would be Joseph of Arimathea, another believing Pharisee. And another would be Paul the Apostle. He used to be called Saul. And so there were some exceptions to that. That's why I say most of the Pharisees were unbelievers. A great many of them did not believe. There were some, as we say, noted exceptions.

They will be judged by Christ at the white throne judgment. Here these Pharisees came, and they judged Jesus and they judged other people, right? But they will stand before Christ to be judged at that white throne judgment revelation 20 11 through 15 Unbelievers can receive some consequences for their actions now a lot of times we can get pretty cranked because justice doesn't get always served here and People don't always receive what appears to be the consequences for their actions. They appear to get away with it, but in the eternal perspective, nobody's getting away with anything, not even the slightest thing. Believers can also receive the consequences of their actions as disciplined from the Lord or experience trials designed for our growth. Christ will judge us for eternal rewards. So there is a judgment for both believers and unbelievers.

For the unbeliever, their judgment is simply, you know, how bad is your eternity going to be, right? And then for those who are believers, the Lord is motivated to reward us to the max. And therefore, the question is, how much can I reward you for? That's what the Lord is motivated to do.

So in Luke 17, 3 and 4, it says, be on your guard, and actually the King James, take heed to yourselves, is actually more literally what that verse starts off as. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him. Now, this reminds me of something. There's another account where it says, forgive 70 times 7, right?

You may have heard that or remember that. So you multiply that out. Okay, so that's 490 times. And one time, I started keeping track with my sister and counting. Okay, that's one. All right, that's two. And I started counting, you know. And 490, I found, was a big enough number that by the time she was getting close, I'd somehow lost track, right? But at any rate, yeah.

So if your brother sins, and he probably will, rebuke him. That's the way the Greek text reads. There's a possibility or a probability that he will. He says, rebuke him. Here at Holly Hills Bible Church last summer, We adopted a policies and procedures manual. There is a section in that on church discipline, and essentially what it is is about five pages of what does the Bible teach about correcting believers in the body of Christ. And so it gives some good biblical guidance on that. So while the Pharisees were eager to find a reason to condemn someone, and they'd lived that out well, we in the body of Christ carry out correction, if needed, to restore a believer to fellowship, if possible.

And so I think that's a key thing. The Pharisees were looking to condemn anywhere they could. Here, subject to the guidance of God's Word, we're looking to restore anywhere we can. To restore is the aim. The goal of love is restoration. That's where, if at all possible, we would aim, because that's what Scripture gives as the guidance.

In Galatians 6.1, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. Looking to yourselves so that you don't join in in stumbling. You who are spiritual means those who are walking by the Spirit, responsive to the Holy Spirit's guidance. So we have a contrast here under law and under grace.

Under the law of Moses, the Jewish believers were to forgive in order to be forgiven. And Jesus spelled that out in the Sermon on the Mount. Otherwise, the Father would not forgive them. And so that's Matthew 16, right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.

So you forgive in order to be forgiven under law, right? A different principle under those who are under grace. Under grace, we're also to forgive. So the ethical principle is the same. Forgive in each case, isn't it? But the contrast there, so comparison is yes, forgive. The contrast there is we forgive Because we've already been forgiven not in order to be forgiven see the distinction there. There's a difference of motivation Under grace versus law.

Okay, so we we give because we've been forgiven. Okay And by the way, have you been forgiven? as God and Christ has forgiven you, okay? It's a done deal. As far as God's concerned, it's a done deal. That's what motivates us, not the threat, you better forgive or God won't forgive you. That's a principle of law.

So Ephesians 4.32 would spell that out. Be kind to one another, Paul writes, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God and Christ also has forgiven you. And just a little piece of wisdom, holding a grudge is letting someone live rent-free in your head. Okay. The other thing that comes out of this is we're not to set limits on forgiveness. Not to set limits. God didn't set a limit on how much you would be forgiven.

Christ died for your sins up to about 5,000. After that, He kept it. Right? No. Christ died for the sins of the whole world, from Adam to the last one to be born on this planet. Christ died for the sins of Judas. Christ died for the sins of Adolf Hitler. Christ died for my sins. Amazing thing to ponder, isn't it? Christ died for the sins of the whole world from Adam to the last one born on the planet. All who believe are forgiven. In other words, they take advantage of that payment, no matter the number, kind, or magnitude of the sins. It doesn't matter how many. It doesn't matter what the category is. It doesn't matter what the magnitude is.

Here's the Apostle Paul, who several times said, Boy, before I became a believer, any chance I had, I voted for death, for the Christians. Some years back, Nancy and I had a chance to hear Bernard Nathanson, who was visiting our area, which was Carson City at the time, to hear him over the local radio, Christian radio station. Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a man who at one point was among those who were pressing to get abortion clinics legalized. He said between his direct carrying out of abortions and those he had responsibility for, he says, I'm responsible for 60,000 deaths. And he says, the only way to carry that load, the only way to carry that load, he says, is the death of Jesus Christ. He says, otherwise that would be, knowing what I know now, he said, that would be an unbearable burden.

But Christ died for all of my sins, all of them. even as bad as they were. We are to forgive as God in Christ has forgiven us. Your forgiveness is not at issue. It's not in question. but it is to motivate us to forgive others already having been forgiven. That's grace motivation as opposed to law motivation which says you'd better forgive or you won't be forgiven.

It's real different. So this forgiveness here that he's calling for is regarding a fellow believer, at least that's the context here. It doesn't mean you don't forgive people outside the church, but specifically that's what he's talking about. And I think there's something else to point out too, that trust is another matter. Forgiveness and trust are two things.

And they're very different things. So that's important for us to get straight, because we can think, oh, I'm supposed to forgive and therefore trust everyone. But there may be differences between those two. And that's an important thing. I know Nancy and I will run into it in counseling, that it doesn't mean, OK, I'll automatically just go back to trusting. Well, maybe not. They'd have to consider it carefully. So anyway, I make that point, that distinction.

Something that happened is really, I think, a very public demonstration of Christ forgave us, so we forgive you. This church in Charleston, South Carolina, just less than a year ago, had This fellow came in. They had a Bible study. He waited about an hour. And he said, boy, these people sure were nice to me. But he shot nine of them. And so it was a family that was sitting right there. And so they said, we forgive you. We forgive you. And it's because of Christ that they can forgive. Because of Christ.

So let's talk about repent. So it's critical for us to clarify that repent means to change one's mind so as to end in belief and agreement with God. You got that? Repenting is changing one's mind so as to end in belief and agreement with God. That's what repent means in the biblical sense.

So it doesn't mean other things. Repenting is not feeling really, really bad for our sins. It's not singing the Christian blues. Or feeling sorry that we got caught. Repenting isn't just a determination not to do the same thing or a promise, and we'll try harder next time. So I have this kind of joke here. I promise I won't ever do it again. And if I do, I promise I won't ever do it again.

So anyway, that gets clear what repenting is, because Christians can sometimes get some different ideas, even kind of passed along in the Christian culture, so to speak, as to what repenting is. It's change of mind. Now, there may be emotions that go along with it, there may be other things, but those are not necessary things. The necessary thing is to change one's mind to end in belief and agreement with God.

So here's Luke 17, 5 and 6. So the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith, and the Lord said, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. So, if you have actually, the New American Standard and the King James both have, if you had, and it's actually if you have, present tense, And the if here is assumed to be true for the sake of logic. So if you have, and it's assumed that you do, one of the things we want to point out there is a mustard seed was among the smallest seeds of the usual garden plants of that day. It was proverbial. In other words, if somebody was going to say something was small, a mustard seed would be the example that people would give out and mention.

So in Luke 13.19, several chapters back, Jesus used the small mustard seed to illustrate the character of the kingdom. He's got a different point using the same illustration, and that's this small size of this mustard seed. He's using it to make another point regarding faith. And I think it's a very important point, and we've got to listen to him very carefully.

Here's a mustard seed and obviously a larger scale and then it can grow into something fairly large compared to how it starts off. And it's that small seed size that he is making an illustration out of here. On the other end you have a mulberry tree. A mulberry tree can grow up to about 35 feet in height. And it has a really tough set of roots. And that's one reason that Jesus chose that particular tree is it was one known not to just do a lot of falling over because the tree roots in there just really, you know, sunk in and dug in and spread out and difficult to pluck up. And so that's why he chose that as the example of the tree just being plucked up.

Jesus didn't say to the disciples, okay, your faith has now been increased as you requested, just like a credit card maximum balance or something like that. He didn't say, okay, I've just done it. He also didn't say, if you'll do this or that, you can increase your own faith. He didn't give them a how-to lesson. So he didn't say, I'm doing it. He didn't say, you're doing it.

What he did do was tell them that even the smallest faith can accomplish amazing things. Now, I kind of tend to think that one of the reasons that they would all of a sudden just ask, oh, increase our faith, is because he told them, you'd better forgive. And the forgiving was like phenomenal. Oh boy, I'm going to need more faith if I'm going to forgive that much, right? And so I think that's what motivated them to say this here.

But really the issue is not more or less faith or growing it or anything else, but where or rather in whom our faith is placed. That's the issue. We don't need more faith. One of the points we made going through chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews was that everybody has faith. It's all in where you put it. Everyone has faith. It's all in where you put it.

I think there's something else here as well, and that's that these disciples would, in fact, do miracles. And they didn't do, as I've done, and as we often do, and ask the Lord and give the Lord the opportunity to do this or that. They would just simply walk up and perform a miracle, and there wouldn't be some expectation, well, it may or may not happen. They would just simply perform the miracle, and that's kind of the context that he has here. So here's Luke 17, 7 and 8.

Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come immediately and sit down to eat? But will he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterwards you may eat and drink?

So Jesus has this illustration of a slave and master relationship in the New Testament to give us an illustration of what ought to be the attitudes of the believer toward God. It actually is helpful, and it's not simply, oh, this is good in a Jewish context or something of that sort. Jesus' first point is made with a question. It's not jeopardy. But his first point is made with a question, and his intent is that the disciples recognize that a slave does not simply come to his master and sit down to eat.

Instead, as Jesus explains, the slave will come in, get cleaned up to prepare food for the master, and then serve the master and only feed himself after the master has finished eating. So all these things are things that the disciples would already have known. So why did Jesus bring this up? He mentions this because, yes, they would understand the slave and master relationship. Jesus' point was not to teach them about the proper attitude of slaves toward their masters. They knew all this, right?

He actually has a little bit more to say about slaves and masters, so let's take a look at that in verse 9. He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? And the answer is no, he does not. So the master doesn't owe the slave anything. Jesus' question indicates, and the master does not owe the slave words of gratitude for what the slave has done in coming in from the field, cleaning up and serving the master.

Instead, the slave ought to obey the master's command, recognizing that the master has authority and realizing also the proper relationship and the attitude between the master and slave in that Jewish culture of the day. And the disciples understood this.

So Luke 17.10, So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded to you, say, We are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. So you might say, Well, that's fine.

We don't live in Israel. We don't have masters and slaves. What does this mean to us? Here in the body of Christ, 2016, April 3rd, so here in that time, God does not owe us, and we do not deserve anything. We don't have a believer's bill of rights, nor are we going to take God to court over anything, ever. We're not entitled to anything from God. Nor should we presume upon God to do this or that for us. We cannot make any deals with God so that He owes us.

God, if you'll do this, I'll do... No. God doesn't work that way, does He? Everything is by grace. No exceptions. God has done way, way over-the-top astounding things for us. We're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. This is Ephesians 1.3. And actually, the rest of that chapter, with a few exceptions, starts detailing our blessings in Christ. And on into the next chapter, too. Blessings in Christ, blessings in Christ, blessings in Christ. And so we get what this means, but we're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenly places. We have, as Ephesians 1 puts it, the redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We have it, as God in Christ has forgiven you. I don't have to do something to be forgiven. I don't even have to ask to be forgiven. Isn't that something? I'm already forgiven. Christ has forgiven us.

All who believe have been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. And if I were to get tats, I would get death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding on one hand, and I would get the sin nature tatted right here.

But I'm not into that. So each one of us has a heavenly citizenship. It's all by grace. I don't deserve any of it. I can't earn any of it at all. It's entirely by God's grace. God doesn't owe it to me. And I don't owe anything to Him because I could never pay Him back anyway. Right? So that's the next part. No invoices. God's not giving you a gift. Here's the gift of salvation. Now, here's the invoice. He's not giving you the gift with the invoice. God doesn't send me an invoice, and I don't send Him one. Our relationship is not that way.

There's only one way for me to appropriately respond to all He has done, and that's I can be thankful. I can be thankful. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less to God be the glory. He owes me nothing, I owe Him nothing. This isn't a matter of owing. And yet, He has blessed me and shown me a wealth of mercy and multiple magnitudes of wealth of grace. Not because He owed it to me, not because I deserved it or earned it.

Galatians 2, 19 and 20 adds another, do I say wrinkle? Another twist to what this passage talks about. And that's that the Master wants to live life through this slave. Ding! That's different, isn't it? The Master wants to live life through this slave.

Not only do I not have expectation and presumption, and I'm not entitled to anything, but God said, just so that it's sure that you'll get out of the picture, He says, I crucified you. And now, I want to do everything through you. That's another New Testament truth that adds on to what illustration Jesus just gave us. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I'm going to tweak the translation just a little bit. It is no longer I who do the living, but Christ does the living in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, faith in Him, not His faith in me, Not my faith in myself.

He loved me and gave Himself up for me. He didn't go to the cross a victim. He didn't go to the cross saying, no, no, you guys are doing something terrible wrong. You're making a horrible mistake. He loved me and He voluntarily gave up His life for me. Did I deserve it? Most certainly not. Can I pay Him back? Not a chance.

It's all entirely by grace forever. Completely. Multiple magnitudes of wealth of grace. For you and me. We never deserved, we never earned, and He doesn't owe it to us. Grace all the way. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage. Boy, it is amazing just to recognize how amazing your grace is. And we look to you to continue to teach us, not just here in this life, but on into the rolling ages of eternity about your amazing grace. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.