live in light of eternity, and we kind of think, well, how does that look in real life?
And that's what Jesus shows us here really in the first 10 verses of Luke 17.
So you found your place, you can follow along in your copy of God's Word or follow along on the screen.
The Bible says this,
Then said he unto his disciples,
It is impossible, but the defenses will come.
But woe unto him through whom they come.
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and he was cast into the sea, that he should offend one of these little ones.
Take heed to yourselves.
If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him.
And if he repent, forgive him.
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day,
and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.
Verse 5,
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
And the Lord said,
If ye had the faith as a grain of a mustard seed,
you might say unto the sycamine tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you.
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle,
will say unto him by and by,
when he has come from the field,
Go and sit down to meet?
And will not rather say unto him,
Make ready wherewith I may sup,
and gird thyself, and serve me,
till I have eaten and drunken,
and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
Doth he think that servant,
because he did the things that were commanded him?
I trow not.
Verse 10,
So likewise ye,
when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you,
say,
We are unprofitable servants.
We have done that which was our duty to do.
So what Jesus is going to do here is,
he's going to talk about what everyday discipleship looks like.
I think sometimes we hear that word discipleship,
we may think of Bible studies,
and classes,
and learning doctrine,
and those things are important.
But here in Luke 17,
what Jesus shows us is,
the discipleship is just as much about how we treat people on Monday,
as it is what we believe and sing about on a Sunday.
Because the Christian life is not lived inside these four walls.
The idea is we hear the word of God,
and we take it out,
and we live it in real time.
And real time,
I don't know if you found this out in your life,
it's hard.
Life is hard, isn't it?
And we're going to come into problems,
we're going to face difficulties.
It's impossible that offenses will not come.
So how do we deal with that when they do?
That's what Jesus is going to show us here this morning.
So let's go to the hymn and ask him to help us here today.
Father, thank you for this opportunity to once again open your word.
Lord, help us never to tire of it.
Lord, help us to come to your word with excitement,
not just to hear it, Lord,
but to receive it and apply it to our life, Lord.
I pray that if there is somebody here today
that does not know you as their Savior,
Lord, that you would make that very clear to them.
Lord, you would just convict their heart.
Lord, you would draw them to yourself.
But Lord, for those that do know you here as their Savior,
Lord, I pray that we would take an honest inventory of our life
and to make sure that we're living life
in a way that points and honors you.
Lord, I pray that you would be with me now.
You would empty me of self.
You'd cleanse me of sin.
Fill me with your spirit
that I might be a help to these people here this morning.
And we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen.
Thank you so much for standing.
You may be seated.
You ever started a new job?
Maybe it's your first job.
And you're kind of excited about it
because now you're going to have your own real life money
and you can do some things.
So you're excited and you go,
get that little bit of nerves
and you show up on time.
That's a good thing.
You know, show up on time is a key thing.
Teenagers, if you get a job,
that's going to put you ahead of about 99% of people in the world
just showing up on time.
And you do that and you think,
okay, I'm ready to go.
And then somebody comes and hands you
about a 10-inch employee handbook
and says, here, read this.
Everything you need to know is in there.
And thankfully, at some point,
somebody's going to come alongside and say,
hey, why don't you come here?
I'm going to kind of show you how we do things around here.
I don't know about you,
but I can read about something.
I can hear somebody explain it
and try to pretend like I'm understanding.
Oh, yeah.
But really for me,
what clicks is when I see it play out in real time.
Like, oh, that's how it does
because sometimes it just is not getting in there.
And it's true when learning a new job.
Maybe it's true in learning a skill
or it's true in sports and in parenting.
And it's certainly true in the Christian life.
The Bible tells us in Philippians 3, verse 17,
Paul said, listen, mark them in your life
that you can follow as an example in the Christian life.
And the idea that Paul is saying
is that we should all have somebody that we look up to.
We should all have somebody that's an example.
No matter what stage you are in your life,
what stage you are in your Christian walk,
there should be somebody
that's a little bit further along in the race.
And you say, hey, I want to kind of model my life after them
because they're modeling their life after Christ.
And so we see that and we can see it kind of play out
in real time.
And we need examples.
But not only that, the Bible is going to tell us here
this morning that we, as believers in Christ,
we need to be an example for others to follow.
And so Jesus is kind of digging into that truth.
And we see throughout scriptures that by the grace of God,
through faith in Christ Jesus,
when we call on him for salvation,
we're forgiven of our sins.
The Bible says that old things are passed away
and behold, all things have become new,
that we're brand new creatures.
I mean, when that happens, it's exciting.
And I just want to remind you,
you don't have to get over it, by the way.
You can still be excited, you know,
five, 10, 20, 50 years down the road
because you're alive in Christ now.
But I think the reality is, is sooner or later,
every believer begins to ask the question,
well, now what?
Now what do I do?
What does following Jesus actually look like?
Jesus calls us constantly to follow him,
constantly to be his disciples.
How do I live like that?
How does my life look like that?
How do I make Sunday's sermon real on Monday morning?
Because that's the goal.
That's the aim.
It's not just, the Christian life's not showing up at church,
singing some hymns, opening your Bible,
and going to lunch.
I like all those things.
But that's not what our Christian life should consist of.
But as we've seen throughout the Gospel of Luke,
Jesus never leaves us guessing.
He has a plan.
He has a goal.
He has an aim.
He gives us practical things that we can place into our life.
If you were here last week,
we saw there at the end of Luke chapter number 16,
and really from verses 19 to 31,
we looked at a pretty famous story in the Gospel of Luke of the rich man and Lazarus.
And Jesus showed us the tragedy of a man who lived entirely for himself.
His life, his daily life was all about himself.
He fared sumptuously.
Every day was a feast.
Every day was a holiday.
He dressed in the best clothes.
He had everything the world had to offer.
While ignoring both God and the people right in front of him.
He had an opportunity to be a blessing.
He had an opportunity to help others.
He had an opportunity to point others to God.
But instead of using his resources for others,
he used it for himself.
And the message there was unmistakable,
that eternity should change the way that we live.
Because we saw later in the story that the poor man, Lazarus,
when he died, he went to heaven.
And the rich man was not in hell because he was rich.
And Lazarus wasn't in heaven because he was poor.
No, it's because the rich man trusted in himself,
and Lazarus trusted in God.
And eternity revealed that.
So Jesus was painting this picture that how we live on this side,
and what we live for,
is going to determine where our eternity is spent.
And now he turns to his disciples as we come into our text in Luke 17,
and he answers the question.
If we are living in light of eternity,
what should that actually look like?
Because we know eternity is coming.
He's kind of made that very, very clear
over the last few chapters in Luke's gospel.
And as we came and we read this text this morning,
these first ten verses,
it kind of seems like Jesus is just shotgunning things off.
Like none of these things are really related.
I mean, he's talking about offenses and forgiving,
and then he's talking about mustard seed and trees,
and he's talking about servants.
I mean, it kind of seems like,
Jesus, what is going on?
But I think that we're going to see here this morning
is they really paint a beautiful picture
that shows us what everyday discipleship looks like.
Because here's the big idea of this text,
that following Jesus is revealed not merely in what we believe,
but how we live,
and how we love one another,
and how we forgive one another,
and how we trust God,
and how we serve every single day.
See, these first ten verses,
what Jesus is showing us
is he's going to show us some characteristics
that mark a faithful follower of Jesus.
Because his disciples are there,
and they say,
okay, eternity's coming,
Lord, we want to live for you.
What does it look like?
And so as Jesus answers that question,
he begins to show them.
He says,
listen, you need to have these marks in your life.
And the first characteristic we see
of a faithful follower of Jesus
is this,
is that he guards others from stumbling.
That he guards others from stumbling.
We see that in verse number one.
The Bible says this,
it is impossible that offenses will come.
I mean, Jesus begins right off the bat
with a very sober warning.
Now notice,
the last few chapters,
Jesus has been talking to the Pharisees.
Every time he's speaking,
he's saying,
listen, you need to get this right.
You're way in the wrong.
But that's not who Jesus is talking to here in this text.
That he's talking to his disciples.
This is for people that already belong to him.
That are true followers of Christ.
And here's what he's essentially saying.
If you're going to follow me,
here's something you need to understand.
Here's something you need to make sure
that you are very well aware of
that it's a part of life.
Problems.
Anybody love problems?
Anybody got problems?
We should.
I mean, we do.
The Bible says this,
it's impossible that offenses or problems
or really the idea here is stumbling blocks.
It's impossible.
It's inevitable that they do not come.
And really in the original text,
in the original language,
the picture here is a trigger on a trap
to catch an animal.
The bait, it looked harmless.
It looked like not a big deal.
Oh man, there's a piece of cheese.
I'm going to go after it.
It's very attractive.
It's very appealing.
But the moment an animal reached in that trap,
boom, it shut.
And it stumbled them up.
And Jesus is kind of teaching
that's exactly how temptation works.
That we live in a fallen world
and sin surrounds us
and our flesh is weak.
And here's what Satan does.
He delights in laying traps for God's people.
That's what Jesus is saying.
You can't live this life.
You can't live in a broken, sinful world
and not come into the contact with offenses,
with stumbling blocks.
It's inevitable.
But then Jesus says something at the end of the verse
that really should stop us in our tracks
and hopefully would have stopped the disciples in their tracks.
Because we understand the first part
and we've been on the other end of somebody offending us,
somebody being a stumbling block.
But here's what Jesus says,
but woe unto him through whom they come.
See, the shocking part is not that stumbling blocks exist.
I think the shocking part here is
that one of his followers could become a stumbling block.
That's what he wanted the disciples to understand.
He's saying, listen, you're going to run into this in life,
but let me remind you, don't be a stumbling block.
Don't be that person that's going to cause other people
to stumble.
Jesus gives a very strong warning in verse number two.
He says, if you do that, here's what you need to be.
No, it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck and cast into the sea
that he should offend one of these little ones.
See, a millstone was not a little pebble
that somebody may have found in their pocket.
You know when your kids go to the playground
when they're little and you come in,
you're about to do the laundry
and you just pull out a bunch of rocks in their pocket?
They're like, what in the world?
They're special rocks to me.
Like, no, they're not.
Leave them in the playground.
We don't want them in our house.
We don't want them in our washer.
You hear all that noise in there.
No, a millstone was an enormous stone
and it was really used for grinding grain.
Many of the millstones in this day
would have been so large,
they would have had to been turned by a donkey.
They would have connected it to it
and the donkey would have ground the grain up there.
And so Jesus paints this very shocking picture.
I mean, I just want to see the disciples' face
when Jesus starts teaching.
Sometimes he says something,
I'm like, you can't say that.
I mean, Jesus, you think you should put a millstone
around our neck and cast us into the sea?
I mean, is Jesus saying that drowning
should be the punishment when we offend somebody?
No, that's not what he's saying.
That's not the idea.
But what he is saying is that such a terrible death
would actually be preferable
as opposed to the judgment coming
for someone that knowingly and willingly
leads one of his followers into temptation,
into sin, into problems.
You say, why is he so serious about that?
Because that's how seriously Jesus takes our influence.
Because I'm sure you've met somebody
and you've invited him to church
and they'll say something like this,
well, I used to go to church,
but so-and-so offended me.
Well, the preacher said this,
and if that's how Christians are gonna be,
I'm never going to church again.
You know why?
Because our influence makes a difference
sometimes in people's eternity.
Then we need to be very, very careful
and we need to make sure our life
is not a stumbling block
because when we hear the word stumbling block,
we think, oh, well,
Jesus must be talking about false teaching.
False teaching is certainly a stumbling block.
I just wanna remind you,
be very careful what you listen to.
Be very careful what you put your faith in.
It should be in this and this alone.
Because there's some people,
they get on TV
and they call themselves preachers.
I don't think I'd call them that.
If it doesn't say in the word of God,
and that's why I always encourage you,
bring your own Bible here.
Don't just take my word for it
because I'm standing up here.
No, we are basing our life
on the word of God.
And yes, a false doctrine
and false teaching,
it is a stumbling block
and it's prevalent in our world today.
But Jesus' warning,
it reaches much further than that.
You know how we can be a stumbling block?
We can do it by hypocrisy.
And I'm sure you heard that too.
Well, I'd go to church,
but it's just full of hypocrites.
Anybody ever heard that?
You know, I tell them,
you're right
because there's people there.
And that's how life is sometimes.
But the idea is
we're not trying to be that.
You know, we can become a stumbling block
through bitterness.
Everybody knows we go to church,
but they're thinking like,
that is the most bitter person
I've ever met.
They're mad about everything.
I mean, something good could happen to them
and they'd be mad about it.
We can become a stumbling block
through compromise
or gossip or pride
or just careless words.
We can become a stumbling block
through an unforgiving spirit.
See, what Jesus is kind of showing us
here in this text
is that anything in our life
that makes it harder
for somebody else to follow Jesus
is a stumbling block.
And that his children,
that his followers,
that his disciples
should not be a stumbling block.
That we have to be aware of that.
That we need to live a life
that is above reproach.
I mean, I think parents
would understand this idea
of being a stumbling block
more than anybody.
You ever been there
and your kids say something?
I mean, it stops you in your tracks.
And you say to this to them,
where did you hear that?
Anybody ever say that to your parents?
And then it just comes to you,
their mother.
That's where it always comes from.
I'm not even going to look over there.
I'm just going to turn my back this way.
But in all seriousness,
children are incredible imitators.
They don't just hear our words.
They watch our actions.
They notice our attitudes.
They observe how we treat other people.
They see how we respond
when things don't go our way.
See, in other words,
we see that they learn
far more from watching us
than they do from listening to us.
And we need to be reminded of that.
And what Jesus is showing us here
in these first couple verses
is that if we're followers for Christ
and we're living in light of eternity,
if we're trying to do
what he's called us to do,
somebody's watching you.
Somebody's taking account.
And it might be your children.
It might be your grandchildren.
It might be a young believer
that has just come to faith
and really trying to figure out
what the Christian life looks like.
Listen, it might be,
if you're an older married couple in here,
it might be a younger married couple.
Listen, that's what God has placed us
in a church family
that they can look around and say,
hey, is that what a marriage
is supposed to look like?
Is that how it happens?
It might be a coworker
that's very curious about Christianity
and they know you are a Christian.
They know you go to church.
It might be that neighbor
that's trying to figure out
why you go to church so much.
You know, because my kids say,
dad, why do we go to church all the time?
And when they were little, especially.
We gotta explain it.
But listen, your neighbors know
you're going to church.
So how do we live outside of that?
See, the thought here is
is we can never forget
that our lives are teaching
something every single day.
We're either teaching
that we really believe Christ,
that we really love him
by how we interact with others
and how we live our lives.
And what Jesus is saying
in these first couple of verses
is be careful that your life
doesn't become a stumbling block
that keeps someone from following me.
He said it would be better
if a millstone was cast around your neck
than you would offend
one of these little ones.
And sometimes we look at that
and we think he's talking about little kids.
And he could be talking about children,
but really the idea is young believers.
Those that are babes in Christ.
Those that are young in the faith
that are just trying to get going.
Because sometimes, you know,
if you can just get past a certain thing,
then you're good to go, so to speak.
So many times people are just getting started
in their Christian life
and suddenly happens and say,
well, if that's what it is,
I don't want anything to do with it.
And they just kind of fall by the wayside.
They become shipwrecked.
Their faith becomes shipwrecked.
See, our lives should remove obstacles to Christ,
not create them.
That's what Jesus is teaching here.
That's what he wants us to understand.
And that's why Paul told the Corinthians there
in 1 Corinthians 11,
be ye followers of me,
even as I am a follower of Christ.
Now that's a pretty bold statement.
I mean, it's kind of pretty audacious
to say something like that.
If I got up this morning and said,
hey, everybody, be like me,
I'd be like, this guy is full of himself.
But Paul, what he is saying there in that verse is,
listen, if you're watching my life,
here's what I want you to see, Jesus.
I don't want you to see anybody else except Christ.
I don't want you to see anybody else
except what he has done.
And really, that should be the goal for every one of us.
Because if we are truly living in light of eternity,
if we know Christ is our Savior,
if we know heaven is our home,
then we should care deeply about bringing others with us.
That's the whole goal of the Christian life,
that we are to go ye therefore into all the world
and preach the gospel.
We're not trying to build our kingdom.
We're not trying to have people look at it and say,
man, look at that Christian.
No, no, we want people to look at it and say,
look at Jesus.
I need that in my life.
I need that in my marriage.
I need that in my parenting.
I need to be that kind of coworker.
I need to be that kind of friend.
But all of us have lived long enough to know that
we're going to disappoint other people.
We're going to be misunderstood
and we're going to misunderstand others.
We're going to hurt people
and we're going to be hurt by them.
So how does a true disciple respond when that happens?
That's what Jesus shows us in verse 3 and 4.
Here's what he tells us.
A faithful follower of Christ
is one that learns to forgive again
and again and again and again.
See, the first couple of verses,
he warns us about becoming the reason
somebody else stumbles.
But now he says when that happens,
if somebody offends you,
you need to forgive them.
Notice he doesn't say in verse number 3,
if your brother is perfect,
if your sister is perfect,
if your wife is perfect,
if your husband is perfect.
He doesn't say if no one ever hurts you.
No, he says this.
Take heed to yourselves
if thy brother trespass against thee.
See, the idea is Jesus assumes
that when we live in this world
and we live in this life,
we live within a family,
we live within a church,
that it's going to include conflict.
Anybody have just a perfect home?
No problems?
You just smile the whole way to church?
I mean, you smile when you get in the door.
We all know how that goes.
He's like, if you do one more thing,
I'm going to just stop this car.
We're not done.
You know.
We say things like that all the time.
Listen, it happens.
Why?
Especially when it comes to the local church.
You know why God reminds us
and Jesus gives us this truth?
Because the church isn't made of perfect people.
Because if it is,
don't join it
because you're going to mess it up.
I mean, I think we have
a pretty awesome church.
I love this church.
But we're not perfect.
Your family's not perfect.
You know,
because we're just sinners saved by grace.
We're growing.
Because a church and a family,
if we know Christ our Savior,
it's just forgiven people
who are still growing in Christ.
That's what Jesus reminds us of.
So if we're still growing,
then we're going to come across problems.
So how do we handle it?
Jesus gives us two commands.
Here's what we say.
Hey,
if your brother trespass against you,
if he offends you,
if he sins against you,
here's what we do.
Number one,
rebuke him.
You're like,
yeah,
that's my spiritual gift.
Like,
I knew it was in there somewhere.
That's not a spiritual gift.
You know,
God did not bless you with that.
Now,
that may be what you think it is,
but it's not helping other people.
I mean,
but in all reality,
this word rebuke,
it kind of makes us
a little bit uncomfortable.
We don't like it.
Maybe you're like me,
you hear the word rebuke,
and maybe you picture,
you're an angry confrontation.
You,
you,
you've been in a situation
where maybe a,
a boss rebuked you
in front of everybody,
and it was kind of,
you were embarrassed,
you were publicly shamed.
That's not what Jesus
is saying here.
That's not the idea
behind rebuke.
No,
here's,
here's what Jesus is,
is showing us,
that biblical rebuke
is a loving confrontation.
The idea is,
it's caring enough
about somebody
to tell them the truth
because you love them too much
just to leave them there.
Just to leave that relationship there.
See,
the goal is never humiliation.
It's always restoration.
It's always moving forward.
It's always about being better together
and moving forward
for the cause of Christ.
I mean,
some people love confrontation.
Some people,
they'll fight at a drop of a hat,
and they bring their own hat.
You work with somebody like that?
I mean,
there's people like that.
I mean,
it's just like,
they're just ready to go
and they drop it,
let's go.
But I would imagine
the majority of this room
probably doesn't like confrontation.
It's not something you wake up like,
man,
I hope I can confront somebody today.
No,
if you know it's coming,
I mean,
you may even call in sick.
You're like,
I don't want to go to work today.
I don't want to go to school today.
I don't want to face the music.
And we avoid confrontation.
And sometimes we convince ourself
that silence is love.
You know,
I know they offended me,
but you know what?
I just don't want to make things awkward.
You ever been there?
But you know what?
It is real awkward
because they know it
and you know it.
You're like,
oh.
It's awkward.
You may think to yourself,
well,
I don't want to hurt their feelings.
I'll just ignore it.
I'm sure you found this out like I have.
But ignoring sin,
ignoring hard times,
ignoring offenses
doesn't generally heal relationships.
It usually causes them
to drift further apart.
It usually causes more difficulty
as you move forward.
And Jesus is teaching us something here.
When a brother offends us
and we rebuke them,
he wants us to see
that truth and grace belong together.
Like peanut butter and jelly.
They just go together.
I love peanut butter and jelly.
Anybody else love it?
I eat an Incrustable
almost every day.
I'm pretty sure
that's what the manna was
when it fell down
in the wilderness.
It was Uncrustables.
Amazing.
Write that down.
But listen,
truth without grace
becomes harsh.
And grace without truth
isn't biblical.
We have to meet there
in the middle.
Remember what John told us
about Jesus
in John 1, verse 14?
That Jesus came
and he was full of grace
and truth.
Jesus didn't show up
on the scene
and say,
everybody's doing a great job.
I love all of you.
Everybody's on their way
to heaven.
No, he loved them,
but he told them the truth,
that they had sinned
and they needed a Savior.
That's what the Bible teaches us
because real biblical love
is willing to speak the truth
and is just as willing
to extend grace.
I think sometimes
we can find ourselves
on one side or the other
depending on our disposition
in our personality
like, man,
I just speak the truth.
You need to season it
with grace.
But on the other side,
we can't just be so loving
that we just ignore the truth
that there's sin
and there's problems.
We have to deal with it.
But before we get excited
about rebuking somebody,
notice what Jesus says
extremely quickly.
And if he repent,
forgive him.
I love how quickly
Jesus moves
from confrontation
to forgiveness.
He doesn't let that linger.
He's telling us,
he's saying,
listen,
the goal is not
winning the argument.
Listen,
if you're trying to win
the argument,
if you're trying to be right,
you've already lost.
You're not helping
the relationship.
And the goal
is always to win a brother
or to win a sister back.
It's to restore fellowship.
That's exactly
what Jesus did for us.
You know what Jesus did
when he came?
He confronted
our greatest problem,
sin.
He confronted it
with the truth
that there's none righteous,
there's no not one.
That we've all sinned
and come short
of the glory of God.
But he didn't come
and condemn us.
No, he came
and he saved us.
He laid down his life.
He showed grace
and mercy to us.
And Jesus is reminding us
here in this text
that forgiven people
should be forgiving people.
That should be a mark.
That should be a characteristic
of somebody
that knows Christ
as their Savior.
Listen to what Paul told
the Ephesians
in Ephesians 4.32
and be ye kind
one to another,
tenderhearted,
forgiving one another.
Say, okay,
you know,
maybe I can do that.
But here's the kicker.
Even as God
for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you.
See,
we see the motivation there.
You say, well,
you know what?
They don't deserve it.
You're right.
They don't deserve it.
None of us deserve it.
We don't forgive people
because they deserve it.
We don't forgive people
because we think
that they should be forgiven.
No,
if that were the standard,
none of us
would ever be forgiven.
Not with God
and not with each other.
Because sometimes
what happens
was wrong.
It was sin.
But here's what
Jesus is teaching
and we see it
throughout the New Testament.
We forgive
because we've already
experienced
the undeserved grace
of God ourselves.
That's how we can forgive
again and again.
Then Jesus really
kind of doubles down
on it in verse number four.
He says,
and if he trespass
against thee
seven times in a day
and seven times in a day
turn again to thee
saying,
I repent,
thou shalt forgive him.
I'd imagine
maybe the disciples
there in verse number three
they're like,
okay,
I'm going to work on that.
I think I can,
I think,
you know,
by God's grace
I think I can do that.
All right,
let's,
okay,
next thing Jesus,
what else you got for us?
And then he says this.
You think,
excuse me,
Jesus,
did you say
seven times in a day?
So you're telling me
if somebody offends me,
somebody sins against me,
somebody says something
mean to me,
the exact same thing,
seven different times a day
I have to keep forgiving them?
Absolutely not.
I mean,
if you're,
if I'm there,
I'm thinking,
by the third offense,
I'm thinking,
are you kidding me?
You ever,
your kids ever do something
over and over and over again?
Like,
didn't we just talk about this
five minutes ago?
Didn't we,
did you understand
what was coming out of my mouth?
I mean,
surely there's a limit to this.
Maybe Peter said,
hey,
Jesus,
after the fourth time,
can I punch him in the face
and just move on from there?
I mean,
think about that.
If that's where you are,
if somebody just constantly
is just doing the same thing
over and over and over again to you,
and Jesus,
he says,
nope,
seven,
if he does it seven times,
you gotta forgive him seven times.
Listen,
Jesus isn't teaching
a math lesson here.
So,
you know,
some people may take this literal,
well,
I'm gonna keep it in a notebook
and be like,
yep,
that's seven times,
you're cut off.
No,
here's what Jesus is teaching
in this verse.
He's teaching an attitude.
How we should look at it.
See,
his point isn't,
keep forgiving until you reach seven.
No,
his point is this,
don't keep score at all.
That's not your job.
That's not what God's called you to do.
Let me ask you a question.
How many times has the Lord forgiven you
for something?
Can you count it?
I didn't think so.
Neither can I.
But you know what?
He does it over
and over
and over.
See,
his mercy,
the Bible tells us,
it's new every morning.
That's why you're here this morning.
His mercy's new.
Great is thy faithfulness.
His grace is sufficient
every single day.
And what he's reminding us here,
and the thought is this,
is shouldn't those
who have experienced
and received
such mercy
and such grace
be the people
who freely extend it?
No marriage
is going to survive
without forgiveness.
No family
is going to survive
without forgiveness.
No friendship
is going to survive
without forgiveness.
And certainly no church family
is going to survive
without forgiveness.
Every healthy relationship
is built on two people
continually extending grace
one to another.
Because we're all sinners.
We're going to mess up.
We're going to offend.
Because you know what
usually destroys relationships?
It's not one huge explosion.
It's usually a thousand
little offenses
that were never dealt
with biblically.
And when that happens,
bitterness takes root.
Resentment begins to grow.
Distance develops.
And eventually people
that got along
and loved each other,
and no matter what it was,
if it's a marriage
or it's a church
or it's a friendship,
they eventually come to a place
where they're not even
talking to each other anymore.
That's what Jesus
is dealing with.
He's saying,
listen,
that's not how
my disciples live.
Because the world
is watching.
And the world
is seeing how we live.
And he's saying,
here's what you do.
Here's how you get past that.
You lovingly confront it.
You don't put it
under the rug.
And you humbly repent
When it's brought to you.
And when that happens,
you've got to forgive.
See, that's how
the family of God
remains healthy.
And Jesus isn't
pretending
that forgiveness is easy.
I'm not up here saying,
oh, just forgive.
No, it's difficult.
The disciples knew it.
You know it.
So you think to yourself,
preacher,
how can I forgive again?
And again,
I mean,
once is enough.
I mean,
two is kind of pushing it.
But this many times?
Well, he gives us the answer
in verse 5 and 6.
Here's how we do it.
We trust God completely.
I mean,
imagine sitting there
as the disciples.
This has to be
one of the most
demanding commands
Jesus gives.
We can do other things.
We're like,
okay, I'm on board with that.
But just continually
forgiving somebody?
You know,
I'm not sure
I can do that, Jesus.
Notice the disciples
didn't say,
hey, okay,
we're going to try harder,
Jesus.
We're going to do our best.
No, here's their response
when Jesus said that,
Lord, help us.
You know what they realized
very quickly?
We can't do this.
They cry out in verse 5,
Lord,
increase our faith
because they're sitting there
and it's hearing,
it's hitting their ears
and they're thinking,
yep, I can't,
there's no way
I can do that.
Really what they're saying,
Lord,
if we're going to live this way,
you're going to have to do it
because that's not in me.
That's not how I'm built.
That's not what I want to do.
And really,
that's a healthy place to be.
Maybe you're here,
sitting here this morning
thinking,
I don't know,
you preacher,
you don't know what they did.
You don't know how it happened.
You don't know what they said.
You don't understand
the pain that it caused.
And I may not
and I probably don't,
but I know this,
that if we're going to be able
to do what Jesus asked us to do,
we have to come to the end of ourself.
We have to realize
that the Christian life
was never designed
to be lived in our own strength.
Because just these first four verses
are impossible for us to do.
See,
everything he's commanded
in this chapter,
guarding others from stumbling,
forgiving those that hurt us,
loving difficult people,
it is impossible
apart from his grace.
We say,
how do we do it?
That's what Jesus tells us
in verse number six.
He gives a illustration.
He says,
if ye had the faith
as a grain of a mustard seed,
you might say unto
the sycamine tree,
be thou plucked up
by the root
and be thou planted
in the sea
and it should obey you.
So they cry out,
Lord,
increase our faith.
We need more faith
or we're not going
to be able to do this.
But instead,
Jesus turns around
and he teaches them
about the nature of faith.
See,
the mustard seed
was one of the smallest seeds
that would have been
known to him in this time,
especially there in Israel.
And really what Jesus
is doing in verse number six
is he is not emphasizing
the amount of faith.
See,
they thought,
okay,
the only way is
if we have more faith.
No,
here's what he's emphasizing,
the object of their faith.
That's what he wanted
them to get a hold of
because here's the truth,
even small faith
placed in a great Savior
is powerful.
That's the idea.
I don't know about you,
but that's encouraging to me
because if we're honest,
most of us have experienced
moments where our faith
seems very,
very small.
We've prayed
while we're trembling.
We've obeyed
while we're still
maybe asking questions.
We've trusted
while we battled
through fear
and we're thinking,
Lord,
I just need more faith.
No,
Jesus is saying this,
you need to make sure
your faith is placed
in the right thing.
Sometimes we think
faith is the answer.
No,
Jesus is the answer.
It's the object
of our faith
and that's why
he explains this idea
of this sycamine tree.
He said,
if you have the faith
of a mustard seed,
you can say to the sycamine tree,
sycamine tree,
move.
See,
the sycamine tree
are really a mulberry tree.
They are known
for having
an extensive root system.
Once they are established,
it was incredibly difficult
to remove.
This is a root system
that expanded
far,
far below the surface.
And just as Jesus
wasn't giving us
a math tutorial earlier,
he's not giving us
a landscaping class either.
No,
what he's teaching
and what he's illustrating
to his disciples here
is when something
appears impossible,
God can still do it.
Because remember the context.
He's talking about forgiveness.
And maybe when some
of the disciples heard that,
immediately in their mind,
they had something
they were dealing with
and they said,
I can't do it.
Jesus,
you don't know
how deeply rooted
this hurt is.
That bitterness
may be in our life,
that resentment
is growing
as we talked about
and those old wounds,
here's what happens
many times,
they become firmly
planted in our heart.
And maybe you've said this,
maybe you've thought this,
maybe your life
is there right now,
you're thinking,
I can't get over it.
I'll never,
I just can't forgive them.
It's never gonna change.
I've forgiven them
but it's not changing
at all.
But you know what
Jesus is teaching us here?
That faith in God
can uproot
what seems impossible
to us.
That's how we can
forgive again and again.
Because God can do it,
Jesus can do it.
And let me just ask you
before we move on,
what feels impossible
in your life right now?
Maybe it is
forgiving somebody.
Maybe it is
a sinful habit.
Maybe it's trusting God
with kind of some
uncertainties that you're
facing right now
in your family
and in your job
and in your health
or whatever it may be.
Maybe it's loving somebody
who's difficult to love
and maybe even asking
the question,
do I have enough faith
to even do this?
No, the right question is,
is my faith resting
on the one
who is able to do it?
That's what Jesus
shows us here.
That's a mark
of a true disciple.
It's not about
the amount of faith
we have,
it's where we've
placed our faith.
Because we found this out
in our own lives,
I'm sure,
Jesus has never failed me.
When I trust myself,
when I trust my own faith,
it crumbles.
But Jesus doesn't.
Jesus helps us move forward.
So Jesus shows us
that true disciples,
they guard others
from stumbling,
they forgive again and again,
and they trust God completely.
But if we're not careful,
we can begin to do
these things in our life
and we think,
man, I'm pretty good.
I'm a pretty good Christian.
I mean, I'm nailing
this Christian life thing.
And isn't that
just like our hearts?
The very moment
God begins producing fruit
and God begins working
in our life,
we want to take credit for it.
We're like,
man, anybody like to
pat yourself on the back?
You don't have to
raise your hand.
We do.
I mean, when I do things
around the house
that's been on my list
to do for a long, long time,
I still let my wife know,
hey, I did the dishes.
Just wanted you to know.
And she's like,
yeah, that's what
you're supposed to do.
And that's kind of
what's going on
in this text right here.
That's why Jesus closes
with this final lesson
in verses 7 through 10.
He reminds us
that everything
that we discuss,
if these characteristics
are part of our life,
they shouldn't produce pride.
Here's what they should produce.
Humble servants.
Because faithful followers
of Christ,
they serve with humility.
Jesus pictures
this scene for us.
A servant has spent
all day in the field
working.
He's plowing.
He's feeding the cattle.
He's tired.
He's dirty.
He's hungry.
I mean,
he's waiting for the clock
to reach 5 o'clock
so he can go inside the house
and he can eat some food
and he's got to think,
man, that's what's got
to be coming.
But he gets in the house
there in verse number 8
and the master of the house
says, hey,
what did you get
my dinner ready?
I'm hungry.
And so the servant,
he just does what servants do.
They keep serving.
And Jesus asked this question
in verse 9.
Doth he thank that servant
because he did the things
that were commanded?
I trow not.
He said, no.
The servant did exactly
what he was expected to do.
Now, people read these verses,
they get all weirded out.
Jesus isn't promoting
harsh treatment
of other people.
No, what he's doing
is he's using a picture
that his audience
would have understood
especially that servants
didn't expect applause
simply for fulfilling
their responsibility.
That's what they were hired for.
Many of these would have been
hired help
in different situations
and Jesus is saying,
they're just doing
what they're supposed to.
But then he brings
that same truth
and he applies it
to our life
in verse number 10.
So likewise ye,
when ye have done
all those things,
when you're living this life
the way that it's designed,
which you are commanded,
you say,
we are unprofitable servants
which have done
that which is our duty.
Verse 10 might seem
a little confusing
when we first read it.
Jesus is not saying
that his followers
are worthless.
It's not the idea.
He's not saying
that our service
has no value.
What he's teaching here
is humility.
See, the word unprofitable,
it means that we have
not placed God
under obligation.
He's reminding us
of this truth
that God owes us nothing.
He really doesn't.
Now on the other side
of the coin,
God gives us so many things.
But sometimes we think,
well I'm doing
all these things
so I deserve that.
I deserve that raise.
I deserve these things.
God, you owe me
because I'm doing
all these things.
I'm being kind
and I'm forgiving
and I'm doing
all these things.
I'm trusting in you
so you better give me
what I want.
We can subtly begin
to think in our life
that hey,
I've served faithfully,
I taught a class,
I've given,
I've sacrificed,
I've worked in the nursery.
I mean,
you'll have a crown in heaven,
don't worry about that.
I've done my part.
We say all of these things
as though God owes us
something in return.
But what verse 10
is reminding us
is that everything we have
comes from Him.
Every opportunity
we have to serve,
it comes from Him.
Every gift that you have
in your own life,
it came from Him.
Every ounce of strength
that you have
came from Him.
Every victory
came from Him.
We serve
because He's done
so much for us.
Because He's changed
our life.
So I just,
I want to ask you
that question.
Why do you do
what you do?
Why do you serve the Lord?
Is it because
you genuinely love Christ
or is it because
maybe you hope
somebody notices?
See,
would you still teach
that class?
Would you still visit
those people
that aren't able
maybe to make it
to church?
Would you still clean
and work in the nursery
and help somebody in need
if nobody ever thanked you?
See,
Jesus reminds us
that the audience
that we've always been serving
is not all of us,
it's Him.
That we're not doing
what we do
so everyone's like,
wow,
man,
look at that,
that's a real Christian.
No,
I mean,
I understand
that's difficult for us.
But here's what Jesus is saying,
I never overlook faithfulness.
God knows.
He'll settle the score one day.
I mean,
we think back
over the last few weeks,
we see that Jesus
is teaching us
to live for what lasts.
He reminds us
to live in light of eternity
and here He's showing us
this is what it looks like.
Sometimes we look at that
and we think,
man,
that's super difficult.
That's some serious stuff
right there.
I'm not sure I'm there.
Listen,
Jesus isn't describing
some spectacular Christianity.
You know what He's describing?
Faithful Christianity.
That's what it looks like.
That everyday Christians,
we should do these things.
That everyday we have
the opportunity
to help others
instead of cause them
to stumble.
That everyday we have
the opportunity
to forgive.
Everyday we have
the opportunity
to trust God
and place our faith
in Him.
Everyday we have
the opportunity
to serve.
And every one
of those choices,
here's what it does,
it makes us become
a little more like Christ
every single day.
I'll leave you
with this thought.
That everyday discipleship
isn't about doing
extraordinary things
for Jesus.
No, it's about
faithfully following Him
in just the ordinary
moments of life.
Because all four
of these things,
you know what you're
going to have
the opportunity to do?
Probably do it tomorrow
and the next day
and on Wednesday
and Thursday
and Friday.
That's how Sunday
touches Monday.
This week,
guard somebody
from stumbling.
Instead of just
living your life
with no thought,
think to yourself,
how's that co-worker
that's been asking me
about church
that I've been about,
how would they view this
if I said this
or did that?
How would my kids
respond when they
see me do that?
Maybe there's somebody
you need to forgive
this week.
Call them up
on the phone.
Maybe there's a situation
right now
that you're thinking,
Lord, I need more faith.
No, you just need
to trust God about it.
Keep serving
without looking
for recognition.
That's what everyday
discipleship looks like.
Would you stand
with your heads bowed
and with your eyes closed?
Thank you.