Now that's page 823 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn there with me.
Luke chapter 17, verses 1 through 10.
Let me read this passage for us.
And he, that is 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.
Let's pray together.
Our Father, we ask that you would be present with us now as you've promised.
That by your spirit, you would bring the reality of your son, our living Lord,
here into our midst.
God, and that you would speak to us in a lively and active and effective way through your word.
Lord, help me as I expound this passage to do so faithfully.
Lord Jesus, we want to hear your words, not the word of any person.
Spirit, give us soft hearts and open ears and imaginations to know and to accept and to believe what it is you're telling us here.
We ask all this in Christ's name, Father.
Amen.
Well, for the past few months, we've been walking through the central chapters of the Gospel of Luke,
considering what it means to be a disciple, to be a follower of Jesus.
And it's clear here in Luke and across the New Testament that the life of discipleship isn't something that we're meant to do alone.
We're meant to do this life together.
Believing is belonging, as the saying goes.
But if you've been involved in Christian community for any length of time,
you know that it is not a perfect place.
We disappoint each other.
We frustrate each other.
We even sin against each other.
So what do we do with that?
How do we deal with sin in the community of discipleship in the church?
One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to get out and go hiking more often,
to actually go outside.
So rather than actually do that, I've just been reading a lot on the Internet.
So I've been reading up on...
No, I'm kidding.
We got out a little bit.
So I've been reading up on trails in Connecticut and gear and how-to articles and all this.
And again and again, I've run across the advice to pack a day pack with things like a flashlight
and a compass and a whistle and a multi-tool and a first date kit and matches.
And at first you think, geez, I'm only going for a day hike.
Do I really need all that?
And yet, if you're not prepared, you can get into some serious trouble, can't you?
The weather takes an unexpected turn.
The trail isn't marked as clearly as it should be.
You take a fall and get hurt.
Bad things can and do happen, and it's best to be ready for it.
Doing life together in the church is a bit like that.
If we're not prepared for the bad stuff to happen, if we don't know how to respond,
then we're going to be in trouble.
We need to know how to deal with sin in the church.
And that's exactly what Jesus is teaching us about here in Luke 17, 1 through 10.
The audience in verse 1 is the disciples, his followers.
And the topic, repeated again and again in the first four verses, is sin.
Temptations to sin in verses 1 and 2.
Interpersonal offenses, sins in verses 3 and 4.
How do we handle that?
How do we deal with it?
And in short, Jesus here is teaching us three things.
He's saying that we should expect it, and we should rebuke it, and lastly, we should forgive it.
How do we handle sin in the church?
This is Jesus' counsel.
Expect it, rebuke it, and forgive it.
So first, Jesus tells us to expect sin in the church.
Look again at verse 1.
He says, temptations to sin are sure to come.
Literally, the verse says, it is impossible for temptations to sin not to come.
That's pretty strong language.
If you're looking at another version of Luke 17, or if you look down at the footnote of the ESV,
you'll notice that the phrase temptations to sin is from the Greek word for stumbling block.
In classical Greek, that word actually referred to the stick of a mousetrap that would trigger it.
And then eventually, it sort of came to mean a snare, something that causes someone ruin,
and hence, a stumbling block.
And here, Jesus means it spiritually, causing someone to stumble into sin.
And what Jesus says here is that we should expect it.
It's going to happen.
It is impossible for stumbling blocks, for temptations to sin not to come.
There's going to be sin in the community.
I wonder how many of us have a very naive view of the church, of Christian community.
We have a picture in our mind that everything is supposed to be hunky-dory.
No problems, no offenses, no conflict.
But Jesus wants to cure us of our naivete.
You see, we can often be under the illusion that the true church is a perfect church.
And when we don't find a perfect church, we jump from fellowship to fellowship,
only to be increasingly disillusioned.
How many have stopped attending church altogether because the church has always fallen short of unrealistic expectations?
Jesus is telling us here that every Christian community will inevitably be a flawed community.
But that doesn't necessarily make it a false community.
What is the church after all?
Not a collection of perfect people who have it all together,
who just decide to spend an hour and a half together on Sunday mornings,
so we can all parade how perfect we are.
The church is a gathering of sinners, friends,
justified only by the grace of God in Christ.
We have to expect that there will be imperfection and sin and personal offense
that regularly surfaces as we do life together.
The question is, how do we deal with it?
One thing is for sure, Jesus says we shouldn't just excuse it or think that it's no big deal.
In verses 1 and 2 of our passage, Jesus is talking about causing other people to sin, to stumble.
And these are warnings that are repeated again and again in the New Testament.
In Acts chapter 20, Paul warns the Ephesian elders that wolves would come in among the flock of the church
and draw people away from Christ.
In the New Testament letters and the rest of the New Testament,
false teachers are constantly warned against leading others astray in what they teach,
but also in how they live.
The sort of things that they imply are okay and permissible by their own example.
And here in Luke 17, Jesus pronounces a devastating woe on those through whom such temptations to sin would come.
This is probably one of the most graphic descriptions of punishment anywhere in the Gospels.
A millstone in the ancient world would be shaped around a central hole that would sort of spin it.
And Jesus is saying it's better to have that giant rock as a collar dragging you down to the bottom of the ocean to drown
than to suffer the punishment that's in store for those who would cause one of these little ones to sin.
Notice Jesus refers to the church with the loving and tender expression, little ones.
He's not just referring to children here, he's talking about all believers.
God cares for the church with all the ferocious love of a mother bear protecting her cubs.
Sin is not something to take lightly.
Now verses 1 and 2 are particularly relevant for leaders and teachers in the church.
Do the things that you teach, does the example that you set,
in any way put a stumbling block in the way of one of God's beloved little ones in the church?
I think this applies to any of us who are in a position of spiritual influence.
Whether it's an elder or a deacon, whether it's a small group leader, a youth or children's ministry volunteer,
if you're a parent, even if you're just an older Christian friend,
in all of these ways and more we're in positions of spiritual influence in other people's lives.
Are you, as Jesus says in verse 3, paying attention to yourself?
Are you watching your life and your doctrine closely?
As Paul will later say to Timothy.
So how do we handle sin in the church?
Jesus says, don't be naive.
Expect it.
But don't excuse it.
So if we're not meant to just excuse it, how then should we respond?
That brings us to verse 3.
Jesus tells us not just to expect sin, but second, to rebuke it.
Pay attention to yourselves, Jesus says.
If your brother sins, rebuke him.
The word rebuke means to speak seriously to someone.
To confront and to correct them clearly and directly.
Of course, there are all sorts of reasons why we don't do this, right?
On the one hand, we often function with this strange idea that being a Christian means constantly
and incessantly being nice all the time.
As if niceness were the tenth fruit of the Spirit, right?
But if we pause and reflect, underneath our incessant niceness
is often just a desire to want to be liked, isn't it?
If I actually correct someone, I risk them not liking me.
Or underneath the niceness is a desire to just want to stay comfortable.
If I actually step out and rebuke someone, it's going to get messy
and that's going to be inconvenient and I don't want to get mixed up in that.
Or underneath the niceness might be the false humility of thinking,
who am I to point out someone else's fault?
I've got so many of my own.
But what Jesus is commanding us to do here is love each other enough
to do something uncomfortable.
To actually engage in what one writer called
the awkwardness of redemptive correction.
I love that phrase.
It's from a book by Scott Sauls.
The awkwardness of redemptive correction.
And he goes on to say that, you know, if we saw sin
for what it really is, this cancerous lump in the human soul
holding us back from our real purpose and joy
that we're meant to have in Christ,
would we be so willing to just look the other way and stay silent?
You know, if a doctor found a lump in the armpit of one of her patients
and she said nothing,
she'd be sued for malpractice.
But how guilty, church, are we at times of spiritual malpractice
by not speaking up when we see the destructive cancer of sin
in a brother or sister?
Like when we hear a fellow Christian engaging in gossip.
Or when we witness a fellow Christian speaking harshly to his children.
Or when we notice a fellow Christian deliberately bending the truth
to make themselves look just a little better.
But you know, often a loving rebuke isn't just hard because we want to be nice.
It's often hard because the offense is personal.
When someone sins against us personally,
it's hard to correct them.
Isn't it?
But what exactly are the alternatives here?
You see, friends, Jesus knows our hearts.
When someone actually wrongs you,
it's impossible to do nothing.
Jesus knows that we'll either harbor a grudge against that person
or we'll criticize them behind our backs.
How much better to just follow the way of Jesus here,
to lovingly rebuke and seek the restoration of the relationship
rather than just ignore it and grow bitter against them.
I wonder, is there someone here in your church family that you need to talk to?
Have you observed a clear area of sin in their life?
Have they perhaps wronged you personally?
Jesus says, if your brother or sister sins, rebuke them.
If you're unsure how to go about that,
come talk to one of the elders.
Let us help coach you in how you can best go about this
awkward work of corrective redemption.
The Bible points us to a number of helpful practices
as we go about this work.
Let me just briefly mention some of the main things to keep in mind
before we move on to the next point.
And these are from David Mathis' book,
The Habits of Grace,
in a chapter entitled,
Embrace the Blessing of Rebuke.
First, he says,
check your own heart.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount
to take the log out of our own eye
and then we'll see clearly to take the speck
out of our brother or sister's eye.
And when we do this,
we'll approach the other person
as a fellow combatant of sin
and we won't approach them
from a place of just judgmental pride.
Second, seek to sympathize with the person.
Remember Jesus is teaching,
whatever you wish others would do to you,
do also to them.
Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
Consider the manner in which you would want to be approached
about the remaining sin in your life.
And that will help you go about correction
with loving humility
and not a spirit of condemnation.
Third, pray for restoration.
The goal of a godly rebuke
is to restore the other person.
So pray for that end.
Pray for courage.
Pray for the right words.
Pray for a receptive spirit in the other person.
And even if they resist in the moment,
pray that God would soften their heart
to receive whatever in your observation is true,
even if you get some of it wrong.
Fourth, be quick.
The book of Hebrews says,
exhort one another every day
as long as it is called today
that none of you may be hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin.
The idea is don't wait forever
to address the issue with the other person.
Be timely.
Don't let that tiny bud of sin
grow into a full-fledged weed.
Fifth, be kind.
Paul says in Galatians 6,
brothers,
if anyone is caught in any transgression,
you who are spiritual
should restore him
in a spirit of gentleness.
In 2 Timothy, Paul will say,
the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome,
but kind to everyone,
able to teach,
patiently enduring evil,
while correcting his opponents
again with gentleness.
Remember that you're approaching
a brother or sister
for whom Christ has shed his own blood.
If we're to approach our opponents
with gentleness,
according to 2 Timothy,
how much more should we approach
a brother or sister in Christ
with gentleness?
Six, be clear and specific.
Our kindness needs to be matched
with clarity.
How about the sin
that we've observed?
You know, before approaching someone
with a corrective word,
get it clear in your own mind
what it is you've observed
and how it may be harmful
to them and to others.
You might even want to
write out a few words
or sentences on paper
just to kind of help you
be able to communicate it
clearly and objectively.
A corrective word
is not going to be helpful
unless it's specific
and clear.
Seventh and last,
follow up.
If they receive the word
of correction well,
then follow up with a call
or a conversation
not too long afterward
and commend the evidence
of Christ in their life.
Remind them that you love them
and you're excited to see
what God's doing in their life.
If they don't respond well,
follow up by letting them know
that you love them
and you desire their good,
that you're happy to be wrong
if the correction
was pretty subjective
and that you're praying for them
as they consider your observation.
So there are some
just general pointers
to how to go about
this work of rebuke.
You know,
I spent more time
kind of going through that
because we don't do this culturally.
We'd much rather snipe
about someone on Twitter
than actually talk to them
face to face
in love
to actually restore them, right?
If we had more time,
we could talk about
the other side of things.
How to receive
a rebuke
or a word of correction well.
Well,
briefly there,
if someone corrects you,
even if it feels like
90% of the rebuke
is off the mark,
look for the 10%
that's on the mark
and take it to heart
as God's gracious work
of redemption
in your life
because you know what?
Chances are a lot more
than 10% is probably true.
We all have sin
that needs to be corrected.
We need this daily,
continual work
of rebuke
and correction
in our lives.
Be grateful
that someone was willing
to actually love you
enough to do it.
But rebuking sin
is only one half
of the response
that Jesus commands here.
Dealing with sin
in the church
isn't just about
expecting it
or rebuking it.
Lastly,
Jesus says
we must forgive it.
Look back at verse 3.
Pay attention to yourselves,
Jesus says.
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.
Now what does it mean
to forgive?
Earlier in Luke's gospel
in chapter 7,
Jesus uses the illustration
of canceling a debt
to describe forgiveness.
forgiveness.
In other words,
forgiveness is
giving up the right
to seek repayment
from the one
who harmed you
to pay them back.
What does that look like?
Well,
it means that
in our actions
we refuse to hurt
that other person directly,
doing to them
what they did to us
or doing something
maybe equivalent.
But it also means
that in our words
we refuse to
cut the person down
in front of others,
repaying them back
by damaging their reputation
a little bit.
But not just our actions
and our words,
it also means
that in our hearts
we refuse to indulge
in ill will
against them,
imagining all those
horrible things
we'd like to happen
to them
because they wronged us.
And it means
even in our prayers,
instead of ignoring them
or hoping for their pain,
that we pray positively
for their growth.
And all this means
that forgiveness
also entails
an openness
to a restored relationship.
But I think
I should point out here
that what that openness
to restoration looks like
will look differently
depending on the nature
of the offense.
Keep in mind,
saying I forgive you
doesn't necessarily
mean I trust you.
Trust is something
that has to be restored
over time.
And the speed
at which that occurs
depends on the behavior
and the situation, right?
Imagine you discovered
that a close friend
was taking personal things
that you had shared with them
and was gossiping
about you to other people.
Now, if you lovingly
confronted this person
and they repented,
forgiveness would mean
not paying that person back
in all the ways
we just described
in your actions,
in your words,
in your thought life,
even in your prayer life.
You would relinquish
your rights
to pay them back.
You would release them
from that debt
and be open
to a restored relationship.
But forgiving
that person
doesn't mean
you have to immediately
trust that person.
Until a person
shows evidence
of true change,
oftentimes you shouldn't
necessarily trust them.
In fact,
to immediately
retrust a person
with sinful habits
could actually be
enabling them to sin.
So trust is going
to take time.
Reconciliation
is going to take time.
But in most cases,
as trust is rebuilt,
the relationship
will slowly be restored.
And what all this means
is that walking
the road of forgiveness
is one area
where we especially
need each other.
if you've experienced
a real wrong
from another believer
and you're wrestling
with what forgiveness means,
talk to a pastor
or an elder
or talk to an older,
mature Christian.
Don't try to just
figure that out
by yourself.
Let others help you
out on this journey.
After all,
forgiveness isn't necessarily
a once-and-done event.
It is very much
a process.
And we need to walk
with one another
down that road.
But as we come back
to Luke 17,
make no mistake about it,
Jesus says that forgiveness,
giving up our right
to pay the other person back,
is non-negotiable.
Of course,
there are lots of reasons
we could give
for why forgiveness
is a really good thing,
right?
It prevents bitterness
from growing in our hearts.
It stops a cycle
of retaliation
and paybacks
and escalation
of hurts and wrongs.
It repairs
and it heals relationships
that have been broken.
All these things
are good things.
All that is wonderfully true.
But friends,
at the end of the day,
followers of Christ
must forgive
for the simple reason
that Jesus commands us
to forgive.
There's no way around it.
Jesus is telling
his disciples
that they must not only
be vigilant
to rebuke sin
in a fellow believer,
but even more than that,
they must be just as vigilant
to forgive sin
in a fellow believer
when they repent.
In fact,
the only thing worse
than a church
that doesn't rebuke sin
is a church
that doesn't forgive sin.
And this forgiveness
is to have no limit,
no end point,
even seven times
in the same day.
radical,
repeated forgiveness.
This isn't an option.
It's a command.
You must forgive,
Jesus says.
And to that,
the apostles respond
in verse five,
Lord,
increase our faith.
It's sort of funny.
You know,
I've read a lot of commentators
on this passage
and they're all sort of like,
it just seems sort of like
a string of pearls.
How does it all fit together?
And yet I'm thinking,
if at the end of verse four
you're not saying,
Lord,
increase our faith,
something is wrong.
Seven times
in the same day?
Surely we don't have
the spiritual muscle
to lift that sort of weight.
We're going to need
a lot more faith
to do that,
Jesus.
We don't have
what it takes.
You've felt that way,
haven't you?
Jesus says,
you must forgive
and your heart says,
I can't do it.
I don't have the faith
to do it.
But look at what
Jesus says in response.
It is not the quantity
of faith
that matters here.
It's merely
the presence of faith.
If you have even
the tiniest seed
of faith,
you can do
what you once
thought was impossible.
because it had
such a vast
and tenacious
root system,
the mulberry tree
was proverbial
in Jesus' day
for being particularly
difficult to uproot.
There were actually
some regulations
in the Jewish Mishnah,
which was sort of
a collection of rules
and regulations,
that you weren't
supposed to plant
a mulberry tree
within 75 feet
of a cistern
because they knew
it would mess it all up.
But Jesus says,
take a look
at that gnarly,
immovable thing
with its roots
stuck deep down
in the earth,
sort of like that wound,
sort of like that hurt,
sort of like that wrong
that you've been bearing.
You can't imagine
how you would ever
be able to dig that up
and get rid of it.
You don't think
you have enough faith
to actually forgive,
but Jesus says,
I'm not asking
for heroic-sized faith.
I'm just asking
that you trust me.
One writer put it this way.
He said,
faith is like a window
through which
you can see something.
What matters is not
whether the window
is six inches high
or six feet high.
What matters is the God
that your faith
is looking out on.
If it's the creator God,
if it's the God
incarnate
and the person of Jesus,
if it's the God
living and active
in the Holy Spirit,
then the teeniest
little peephole
of a window
will give you access
to power
like you've never dreamed.
You see,
our deepest problem
with forgiveness
isn't that our faith
is too small.
Jesus can work with
even the tiniest
amount of faith,
and that is good news.
The problem isn't
that our faith
is too small.
The problem is
that our pride
is too big.
Jesus tells a parable
in verses seven
through nine
about a master
and a servant.
And the point
is that the servant
could never possibly,
think about it,
a servant
could never possibly
put in his debt
the master
just because he's done
his duty, right?
And in the same way
Jesus is saying
we can never put God
into our debt.
We are unworthy servants
who don't deserve
God's favor
and blessing.
You see,
Jesus isn't asking you
to be a superhero faith.
He's calling you
to be a servant
in humility.
Because the reality
is, friends,
forgiveness is nearly
impossible
if we think
that God owes us
something.
If God owes us
something because
of our good works,
because of our
long labors,
because of our
good life,
because of our
integrity,
because of our
fidelity,
if we think that
somehow all that
earns some kind
of purchase,
some kind of
bargaining chip,
some kind of
favor with God
and puts God
into our debt,
there's always
going to be a limit
to what we think
God can ask of us.
If all our plowing
and keeping sheep
and proverbial
preparing of supper
somehow means
that God owes us
something in return,
there's always
going to be able,
we're always going
to be able to
draw the line
and say this far
but no further.
And I guarantee you
that forgiving
those who have
wronged us
will more often
than not
always be the
line that we
draw.
But if you know
that you've been
saved sheerly
and wholly
by grace
without any
contribution
or any merit
of your own,
then everything
changes.
if God
has actually
canceled our debt,
staggering
and boundless
as it was,
then how could
we not turn
and cancel
the debt
of others
in return?
But you say,
it's too costly,
God,
I can't do it.
And yet,
consider another
servant,
friend.
And
there was once
a servant
who owed us
absolutely nothing,
who was under
absolutely no
obligation
and yet who
freely came
and did what
was actually
not his duty.
He came and
actually performed
the duty of
another
in their place.
He was completely
and utterly
worthy
and he performed
the duty of
the unworthy,
you see.
Jesus on his
road to
Jerusalem here
will eventually
end up in the
capital city
and while there
he'll be
arrested
and betrayed
and he'll be
stripped of his
clothes and he'll
be mocked and
he'll be scorned
and he'll be put
to death.
The Lord
of all
will become
a servant.
You see,
friends,
if you
experience
his grace,
how can you
not forgive?
forgive?
Wouldn't the
church be a
strange place
if we actually
did this?
Think about it.
What if we
actually put into
practice what
Jesus teaches us
here?
What if people
found the
church to be a
community of
people who
actually love
one another
enough to
have hard and
awkward
conversations?
To correct
each other in
gentleness?
To pursue
righteousness and
real repentance?
Wouldn't that be
so countercultural?
And at the same
time, it would be a
community of people
who love each other
enough to forgive
again and
again.
And then, when
people look on
and say, how
in the world
do they do
that?
I mean, I
get it.
I get on the
one hand being
hyper-vigilant
about righteousness
and holiness,
and I get on the
other hand being
forgiving, but to
do them together?
How in the world
do they do
that?
And we
would reply
with genuine
humility and
gratitude and
perhaps with a
slight twinkle in
our eye and say,
you know, we're
only unworthy
servants.
We've only done
what's our duty.
And then they
would say, oh, we
could never do
that.
We don't have the
strength to pull
that off.
And then we
could say, if you
had faith, even
the size of a
mustard seed in the
God that we know
in Jesus, you
could uproot a
forest and plant
it in the sea.
Let's pray.
Oh, Lord Jesus,
what a healing
and hard
teaching you've
given to us
this morning.
Lord, we need
your help.
We need your
help to
not be
disillusioned by
sin in the
church, and we
need your help to
be able to
lovingly correct
each other and
have the courage
to do that.
And Lord Jesus,
above all, we
need your help to
be able to
forgive one
another.
God, I'm sure
that there are
many of my
brothers and
sisters here this
morning who are
holding on to
things, grudges
and hurts and
bitternesses.
Lord, some here
have been sinned
against very
seriously.
And this call to
forgiveness feels
like a call to a
little death.
Oh, Lord Jesus,
help us to see
that because you
have died, the
extension from us
of forgiveness to
others can only
mean life.
Give us the
courage and the
power by your
spirit to obey
you, Lord Jesus.
Christ
Phil, we
pray this in your
strong and holy
name.
Amen.
Yes.