Amen. It's a good prayer as we come to God's Word that the Holy Spirit would speak through it and speak to our hearts and minds.
Turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17. We are looking at chapter 17, verses 1 to 19 tonight.
So, I'm going to read those for us, and then we're going to sort of walk through this section together.
Luke 17, if you're looking at the Bible, it's page 876, so let me read this.
And Jesus 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.
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 apostle said to the Lord,
Increase our faith.
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.
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.
On the way to Jerusalem,
he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee,
and as he entered a village,
he was met by ten lepers,
who stood at a distance,
and lifted up their voices,
saying,
Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us.
When he saw them,
he said to them,
Go and show yourselves to the priests.
And as they went,
they were cleansed.
Then one of them,
when he saw that he was healed,
turned back,
praising God with a loud voice,
and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet,
giving him thanks.
Now he was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus answered,
Were not ten cleansed?
Where are the nine?
Was no one found to return
and give praise to God
except this foreigner?
And he said to him,
Rise and go your way.
Your faith has made you well.
So this summer,
we've been doing a series
in the Gospel of Luke,
the middle section,
and we're coming toward the end.
We have about a month to go.
We'll go to the end of August,
to chapter 19,
but we're most of the way through.
And so as I was preparing
for tonight's sermon,
I looked over the last six or seven chapters
that we've been reading
just to sort of see,
you know,
are there some themes,
major themes that stick out
and, you know,
might they happen to appear
in our passage tonight?
Now, if you were here
for the first sermon in this series,
Pastor Nick mentioned two themes,
that Jesus is trying to teach his disciples
as they're going along the road
up to Jerusalem.
And the first theme is priority.
That Jesus must be number one priority
for his disciples and for us.
That's the first thing Jesus taught them.
When he called them,
follow me,
he says,
nothing else can come ahead of
your loyalty to me.
He has to be number one priority.
The second theme
that Pastor Nick mentioned
was mercy.
That Jesus is rich in mercy
and he's teaching his disciples
to also be merciful
as God has shown mercy to them.
And lo and behold,
I think these are the two major themes
of tonight's passage as well.
If you look at verse one to 10,
as we go through those,
we'll see the theme of priority.
Jesus is saying to his disciples,
if you're following me,
I have to be number one.
You belong to me.
I don't owe you.
You owe me everything.
But then what we see in the second half
is that Jesus is a merciful Savior
who gives us all that we need
and even more.
So that's what we're going to see tonight.
These two themes,
once again,
and we've seen these themes
in several,
if you look,
if you think of some of the stories
we've looked at,
right,
when Jesus is talking to Mary and Martha,
sort of emphasizes the priority theme,
you need to listen to me.
When he talks about money,
he says you either love money
or you love God.
You can't love both.
One has to be the priority.
In chapter 13,
he says repent.
Now is the time to repent
and turn to God.
Don't delay.
Today.
Don't wait.
But we've also seen Jesus
is rich in mercy, right?
The story of the Good Samaritan.
Jesus calling his disciples
to go and do likewise,
to show that kind of mercy
to people in need.
We've seen chapter 15,
right,
the story of the lost sheep
and the lost coin
and the lost son
about God seeking out the lost
and bringing them home.
And that's what Jesus came to do,
to seek us out when we were lost
and bring us home
by his mercy and grace.
And back in chapter 12,
he said to us,
don't be anxious
because you have a heavenly father.
Who loves you
and knows you
and will provide for you.
So again,
these themes have come up a lot.
So I think it's one of the major things
Jesus wants us to go away with
and that Jesus wanted to teach his disciples
during this long journey
they were taking to Jerusalem.
So let's look at these themes in turn.
First,
the theme of priority.
Verses 1 to 10.
Now if you read verses 1 to 4,
so you got verses 1 to 2
talk about temptations to sin
or he's causing others to sin.
Verses 3 and 4 talk about
what if someone sins against you?
So sort of sin going both ways, right?
Don't,
if there's a warning,
don't cause others to stumble.
Don't lead other people astray.
And Jesus gives a very strong warning.
He says it would be better
to be drowned in the sea
than to lead somebody else into sin.
Because sin is that dangerous.
It's that spiritually perilous.
It will lead to death.
And Jesus is saying,
be careful.
No.
God's called you together
to follow him together.
So be careful
that you don't lead others astray
but instead
lead others closer to Jesus.
And we see, for example,
the Apostle Paul
applying this principle.
If you read in Romans 14,
we're not going to go there,
but that's one place
where the Apostle Paul
applies this principle
in reminding
the Christians in Rome
and he says,
let's do everything
that makes for peace
and for building up the church.
Right?
Be careful to build one another up
and not tear each other down.
And he uses the same thing.
Don't cause your brother to stumble
because Christ died for your brother.
But in verse 3 to 4,
we see how Jesus tells us to respond
if somebody sins against us.
Right?
Now, again,
Jesus is realistic here.
He doesn't say,
well, if you're going to be my followers,
you've got to be perfect.
He acknowledges,
you know what?
Somebody's going to sin against you
and temptations to sin
are sure to come.
He's like,
he's being very realistic.
If you're looking for the perfect church,
you'll never find it.
And if you ever found it,
you'd spoil it.
So, right?
So, Jesus is very realistic.
He says, you know,
we're going to have to deal with things.
Right?
You might have a brother
or sister in Christ
who sins against you,
who wrongs you.
Right?
Maybe they lie to you.
Maybe they gossip behind your back.
Maybe they just are mean to you.
Right?
There's maybe,
whatever,
they get angry and blow up at you.
There's going to be issues.
Right?
And Jesus tells us
how to deal with them.
And he says two things.
He says,
first,
if your brother or sister sins,
rebuke them.
Now, that means
don't just
sweep it under the rug.
Right?
And don't
be angry on the inside
and say nothing to the person.
Jesus says,
no,
there's a way to deal with things.
Actually,
he's following
what God had already said
to the Israelites
in the Old Testament
in Leviticus 19.17
where it says,
don't hate your brother
in your heart,
but frankly,
rebuke him
or her.
Okay?
So,
don't sort of
nurse a grudge
against somebody
who's done you wrong.
Go to them.
And Jesus says
the same thing
in Matthew 18.
He says,
go to them
and rebuke them.
And do that in love.
Right?
Because,
of course,
you can go and rebuke somebody
in a very angry
and hateful spirit.
And Jesus is
not encouraging that.
So,
he says,
we should,
we should
go to,
you know,
if somebody has offended you
or wronged you,
go to that person
and say,
you know,
this is,
this really hurt me
when you did this
or when you said this.
And,
and,
and then
they have an opportunity.
It gives them an opportunity
to say,
I'm sorry.
I really didn't mean that.
I was,
I was wrong.
And Jesus says,
if they do that,
forgive them.
Now,
sometimes we get confused
about what forgiveness is.
The word forgiveness
is a word that means
to release.
It means to
set someone free.
It's the same word
for untying a knot
or
taking a chain
off of someone,
letting them,
setting them,
releasing them.
right?
So forgiveness
means releasing
someone
into God's hands
and not trying
to punish them
or hurt them
or pay them back
yourself.
That's what forgiveness
means.
Forgiveness doesn't
necessarily mean
that you completely
forget what happened.
Although sometimes,
in God's mercy,
sometimes that can be
a good thing,
eventually.
Although sometimes,
it's,
sometimes we need to
remember what happened.
forgiveness isn't denying
that something wrong
happened.
It's not making excuses.
Right?
Again,
Jesus says,
go and
if someone,
if someone really
wrongs you,
go and rebuke them.
Right?
Now,
of course,
there,
there is a time
to overlook.
Right?
Sometimes people
say something minor
and you know
they weren't thinking
and sometimes,
sometimes it's best
you just overlook it
and you forgive
and you go on
and it's not a big deal.
It's a little thing.
But Jesus is saying
if it's a bigger thing,
you know,
if there's a real sin,
a real wrong,
then deal with it
but be willing to forgive.
And Jesus even says
if they sin against you
seven times in a day,
I mean,
have you ever had somebody
sin against you
seven times in the same day?
If you have kids,
maybe,
right?
Like,
I mean,
kids can do that.
Right?
But the other thing
about kids is
they can,
they can say they're sorry
and actually mean it.
Even if they,
you know,
kids go back and forth
real quick.
Anyway,
but Jesus says
you must forgive.
Jesus is saying
as my followers,
you don't have
an option
to decide,
well,
maybe I'll forgive them
or maybe I won't.
Jesus says
you must forgive.
Forgiveness is hard,
right?
It's not easy
but Jesus is saying
you must forgive.
And then verse 5,
the apostles respond.
You see what the apostles say
when they hear this?
They say,
increase our faith.
Help us.
Boy,
that takes a lot of faith
to,
a lot of trust in God
to be able to do that.
And Jesus says,
even if you have
just a little bit
of faith,
just a little bit
of trust in God,
God can make
powerful things happen.
You don't have to have
a whole
big handful of faith.
You can even have
a tiny mustard seed.
And if you have
just a little faith
in Jesus
and if you act
on that faith,
God says,
Jesus says,
amazing things can happen.
We'll actually see
later in our passage
some amazing things
happening
through when someone
has faith.
but we'll get there
later.
So,
so then,
so 7 through 10,
right,
so Jesus has
these high standards,
right?
Don't cause someone
else to sin.
Rebuke,
forgive,
whenever someone
repents,
even if it's
seven times
on the same day.
And the apostles
say,
please help us
increase our faith.
And Jesus says,
even if you've got
a little faith,
you can do it.
Or God can do
great things through you.
7 through 10,
Jesus sort of
gives a parable
or a little image,
a story that would
have made a lot of
sense to people
back then
because Jesus was
talking about
a master
and a servant.
And
let me just explain
a little bit of
what that might
have looked like.
So,
in Jesus' time,
there were a lot
of different kinds
of servants
who did a lot
of different kinds
of jobs.
Cooking,
gardening,
cleaning,
teaching,
working in the field,
managing finances,
all kinds of things.
But the word
that's translated
servant in this passage
isn't just any
kind of hired worker.
It's a word
that means
a bond servant.
That means
someone who belonged
to someone else.
And
someone who
is completely
dependent on
their master
to provide
for all
of their needs.
And so,
for a bond
servant,
it wasn't like
they just were
sort of hired
to do a couple
jobs here and there.
But they were
at the service
of their boss
24-7.
Right?
And so,
Jesus says,
if you have
a bond servant,
you know,
working in the field,
plowing,
keeping sheep,
and he comes in
after a hard day's work,
his first priority
is
get the dinner
for the master
on the table.
Right?
not feed
himself.
And
so,
the bond servant's
priority was to
please the master
and not himself.
And
the servant's own
needs came
afterwards.
So,
and the point
that Jesus is making
in verse 10
is he says,
the master
is never in debt
to the bond servant
because the master,
because the servant
belongs to the master.
All right.
Now,
let me just stop
for a minute
and address a question
that might have come up
when we're talking
about masters
and bond servants.
Right?
Because
we all know
that slavery
caused a whole lot
of trouble
in the ancient world
and in the modern world
and it still does today.
There's,
there's still slavery
in many parts of the world
and,
and there's,
there's trafficking
in,
in all kinds of,
all kinds of slaves today.
That is very oppressive
and damaging.
And so,
let me just say
the Bible,
Jesus is,
Jesus is using an image
that would have made sense
to people in that culture.
He's not saying
that's how things should be
because it's,
it's,
it's interesting
if you look at the Bible,
Jesus says to his disciples,
you're all bond servants
of God.
And he also says
you're all sons and daughters
of God
through,
through Christ.
And so,
what he says
to basically all of us
is that
in one sense,
we're all slaves
who belong to God
and don't have,
and,
and nothing belongs to us.
And in another sense,
he says,
we're completely free.
We're completely free
through Jesus.
And so,
what did I,
if,
if you understand
those two things,
it actually levels out
the playing field
because you realize
when you look at somebody else,
I'm called
to serve you.
Even more,
just like a bond servant
would,
we're supposed to serve
their master,
I'm supposed to serve you
as my brother
or sister in Christ.
And,
if you look at somebody else,
even the lowest person
on the totem pole
in society,
you think,
they are,
this person is,
a son or daughter
of God
who is free
and who is
loved by God.
And if,
and so,
it actually,
in the long term,
it sort of levels things out,
right?
And it makes us realize,
well,
there actually maybe
shouldn't be this sort of
master bond servant thing
because,
Jesus is saying,
it's actually more,
more about our relationship
with God.
So,
let me just say that
because that's a,
that's a,
that's a question,
a concern that comes up
when we,
when we hear about
servants and masters
and,
and what Jesus is saying there.
But what,
the point that Jesus is making
is that we belong
to Jesus
if we're his disciples.
And that,
that,
what he's saying is
God doesn't owe you
something.
And I think a lot of us
sometimes think
that God owes us
something.
And Jesus says,
no,
I mean,
God created you
out of nothing.
He doesn't owe you.
You owe him
everything you have.
And Jesus says,
don't think
that you can
sort of
do some,
do some good things
and get extra credit
with God
that sort of balances out
some of the bad things
you've done.
Jesus says,
no, no, no,
you belong to God
24-7.
You owe everything to God.
God doesn't owe
anything to you.
And if you're
one of Jesus' disciples,
you have to know that.
That God must be
number one priority
above everything else.
That God doesn't,
God is not in your debt.
Right?
Sometimes,
sometimes we,
sometimes we can fall
into these traps.
We can think that,
well,
if I obey God,
then God's going to
give me what I want.
And Jesus says,
maybe,
and maybe not.
And either way,
you belong to God.
And you're in his hands.
And he made you.
And you're his.
And that means
he doesn't owe you.
Right?
But we can't make God
owe us anything.
So that's the,
that's the first half
of the passage
what Jesus is emphasizing.
And if you think about it,
it's a pretty hard teaching,
all these things.
Right?
About don't cause others
to sin
and forgiveness
and God doesn't
owe you anything.
And you might think,
whoa,
that's,
that's hard.
That's a hard teaching.
But in the second half
of this passage,
what we see
is that Jesus
is merciful.
He's a merciful Lord.
He's a merciful King.
And he
comes to help us
not because we deserve it,
not because he owes us,
but simply because he loves us
and because we need him.
So if you look at the second
half of this passage,
verse 11 to 19,
Jesus is walking along the road
and ten lepers call out to him
from a distance.
Now back then,
if you had leprosy
or some other type
of skin disease,
you had to stay separate
from the rest of the society.
Partly for fear
that you,
you might be contagious.
Some of these skin diseases
were contagious
and so they didn't want them
to spread.
And so you had to go around
crying unclean,
unclean.
You had to stay,
keep your distance.
Don't touch anyone,
anyone else.
Live by yourself
with other lepers.
And so,
it was a very isolating
experience.
You know,
think about,
think about it
if you've,
if you've ever had
that kind of experience
where you've been isolated
from everyone else
and you feel like
nobody wants to touch you,
to hug you,
or shake your hand,
or deal with you
and in a loving way.
So that's what these lepers,
that's what their life experience was,
but they approached Jesus
with humility and dependence.
They approached Jesus
not trying to say,
Jesus,
you owe me something,
or Jesus,
I did this for you,
I want you to do this for me.
They just,
how do they say it?
They say,
Jesus,
Master,
have mercy on us.
have mercy.
Help me.
I need help.
And I think you can help me.
Please,
help me.
That's what they're saying to Jesus.
And Jesus says,
go show yourselves to the priests.
Now back then,
the priests were not,
the priests
were not the hospital.
Okay,
the priests did not administer
medical treatments,
but they were
sort of like the doctors
in that they would
examine you.
And they would either say,
you've got leprosy
and you're unclean,
or they'd say,
your disease has been cured
and you're clean.
And they were the ones
who had the right to say
one way or the other,
and what they said
went.
So Jesus says,
go show yourselves
to the priests.
Which is interesting,
that's sort of a hopeful word.
It's sort of like saying,
go to the doctor,
and it's sort of like
the doctor has said,
you have this disease.
And Jesus says,
no,
go back to the doctor
and have him check you out again.
I mean,
the only reason you go back
is if
you might actually be better.
So it's a hopeful word
Jesus gives them.
And so they leave
and it says,
as they went,
they were cleansed.
And nine of them,
seems like,
just go on their way.
But one leper
turns around
and he doesn't go
to the priest
in the temple,
but he comes back
to Jesus
and he makes a big scene.
Now,
why does he come back
to Jesus?
Now,
when I was a kid,
my parents read me
this story
and they basically
used it as a way
to say,
here's why you always
need to say thank you
to somebody
who does something
nice for you.
Right?
Nine of them
got something good
and they went on their way
and they were ungrateful
and one of them
was grateful.
And you need
to be grateful.
Now,
that's true,
but that's actually
not most of,
that's missing
a big part
of what's going on here.
Because back then
the rule was
you have to go
to the priest
and the priest
is the one
who says you're clean
and the priest
lives in the temple
and the temple
is where God's presence is.
And so you couldn't
just decide
not to do that.
So why does the guy
come back to Jesus?
He comes back to Jesus
because he sees
that Jesus
isn't just another man.
He isn't just
another person
who did something
nice for them.
They come back,
this man comes back
to Jesus
and he falls
at his feet.
He worships Jesus.
It says he gives
praise to God
and he kneels
at the feet of Jesus.
It's almost like
he's saying,
he's worshiping
God
as Jesus.
It's pretty surprising.
You see,
what he realized
is that Jesus
is
the one
who can make us
clean
and declare
us clean.
The priest.
And Jesus is
the temple
of God.
The place
where you can come
and worship God.
And he realizes
the priest
in the temple
in Jerusalem,
I found a better
priest
and a better temple.
And it's all
right here
in Jesus.
And so he comes
and he worships
Jesus and he
bows down before him
and he thanks
him.
He says,
thank you
so much.
You're the one
who made me
clean.
And you can make me
clean before God
and before men
forever.
One person wrote,
he wasn't just
thankful for the
gift of being
healed.
He recognized
the giver
in the gift.
he recognized
that Jesus
was the healer
and Jesus
was the priest
and Jesus
was the temple.
You see,
the first half
of this passage
is about how
Jesus is our
Lord and our
master and we
belong to him.
And he doesn't
owe us anything,
but the second half
of this passage
is about how
Jesus did what
he didn't have
to do
to heal us,
to cleanse us,
to forgive us.
You see,
at the end,
what Jesus says
to this man,
he says,
rise and go
your way.
Your faith
has made you
well.
And that word
can also be
translated,
your faith
has saved
you.
This man
doesn't just
get healed,
he gets saved.
That means
he gets
forgiven of
his sins
and put right
with God
through Jesus.
You see,
Jesus
showed mercy
mercy to
the nine
lepers
who got
healed
and didn't
even come
back to
say thank
you.
Jesus
shows mercy
even to
the ungrateful
and wicked.
But Jesus
showed an
even greater
mercy to
this leper
who came
and found
not just
healing for
his leprosy,
but found
him and
found salvation
and found
cleansing.
And Jesus
points out
this man to
his disciples
and he says,
do you see
this man?
And he
points out
he was a
leper,
right?
The kind of
person nobody
else wanted
to deal
with and
he was a
Samaritan.
And the
Samaritans
were foreigners
who followed
some different
religious traditions
and the
people of
Israel didn't
really like
the Samaritans
and there was
all kinds of
enmity between
them.
And Jesus
says, look
at this man
who most
of you would
just avoid
or despise
or want to
run away
from.
And Jesus
says, he
had faith.
You just
asked me
increase our
faith.
You just
said, give
us more
faith and
I'm showing
you what
faith looks
like.
Faith looks
like coming
to Jesus
and saying,
Jesus,
master, have
mercy.
I need you.
Help me.
You can.
And faith
looks like
not just
getting healed.
Right?
You know,
all kinds of
people can
get healed
who don't
actually come
back and
thank Jesus.
People can
get healed
by Jesus
and not
be in a
right relationship
with God.
So it's not
all about
getting physically
healed, even
though Jesus
can do that.
It's about
recognizing Jesus
for who he
is and
saying, Jesus,
you're the
one who
can make
me clean.
You're the
one who
has the
presence of
God dwelling
in you and
I can worship
God at your
feet.
That's why we
can come
before him
tonight.
You know,
maybe you're
like the
Samaritan
leper, right?
He was an
outcast.
He was
rejected by
other people.
Maybe he
had failed
in his
life.
And Jesus
comes to
him and
Jesus heals
him.
When he
calls out for
mercy, he
listens and
Jesus answers.
And so if
you can
identify with
the Samaritan,
the leper
man, Jesus
says, come
to me.
If you
call to me,
I'll answer.
Cry out for
mercy and
I'll draw
near to you.
That's what it
means to have
faith.
It's to
know that
Jesus can
make us
clean by
his blood
that he
shed on
the cross.
So cry
out to
Jesus for
mercy.
Trust and
obey what
he says.
And God
can even
use you as
an example
to others.
Right?
That's also
what Jesus
wants to
teach his
disciples,
is don't
ignore people
like the
Samaritan
leper.
don't
ignore people
who you
might avoid
or fear
or despise,
people who
have ugly
kinds of
illnesses.
Leprosy was
an ugly
illness.
People who
are foreigners,
right, from
all kinds of
different walks
of life.
Jesus says,
don't ignore
those people.
If you
follow me,
I love
all kinds
of people.
And I want
you to
learn to
show mercy
and learn
to see
and learn
to have
faith
from
people like
this Samaritan
leper.
So Jesus
says,
don't ignore
them.
So that's
what we see
tonight,
right?
Priority
and mercy,
right?
Jesus must
be our
number one
priority.
He's our
Lord.
And we
owe him
everything.
And Jesus
is our
merciful
Savior.
And we
can count
on him
and we
can call
out to
him for
mercy
and he'll
hear us.
So let's
pray that
those truths
would come
home to
our hearts
tonight.
Lord Jesus,
we thank
you for
who you
are.
Lord,
tonight we
just want
to acknowledge
you as
the Lord
over
everything,
as the
holy God,
as our
rightful
master.
Lord,
you created
us,
you made
us.
We wouldn't
exist without
you.
You sustain
us every
day.
You give
us
everything
we have.
Lord,
we owe
everything
to you.
You don't
owe anything
to us,
but we
thank you
that you
are a
merciful
Savior.
And Lord,
we pray
that we
would draw
near to
you because
you are
a merciful
Savior.
Lord,
you are
not just
someone who
demands our
everything,
but you
are someone
who has
given
everything
for us.
So Lord,
give us
boldness and
confidence to
come before
your throne
because you
are our
great high
priest.
God,
we
come to
you.
We
worship at
your feet
and give
praise to
God Almighty.
Lord,
we pray that
you would
teach us
these things
so that we
can be your
disciples,
so that we
can live
with you as
our number
one priority
and so that
we can
rest
confidently
in your
mercy
and extend
that mercy
to others.
In your name
we pray.
Amen.