A Sin-Fighting Faith

Intro

Good evening everyone, welcome back and if you’re new with us…welcome! My name is Cody and I serve as the college pastor here at Coram Deo and if while you’re here tonight, you have any questions or need help with something, just find any of us that have a name tag on. We’d be happy to help you with whatever we can.

As we start our time in the word tonight, go ahead and get your bibles out and turn to Luke 17. We are going to be in the first six verses tonight. As you’re turning there, let me just recap where we’ve been. We picked this series back up in Luke 13, and have been going through the gospel…seeing what Jesus taught…learning along the way who the one we follow is…and…what he desired for us as those who follow him.

The last few weeks, we’ve been talking about a lot of parables, the prodigal son…the dishonest manager…the Lord’s table…the dinner party…we’ve spent a lot of time in parables…so tonight, I thought we’d change it up and just dive into some good ol’ fashioned…straight forward teaching from Jesus.

There are two topics we are studying tonight and they are found in the first six verses…the first one is sin. We are going to be discussing sin a little more in depth tonight. And the second topic is faith. Not the definition of faith like we covered in Hebrews last semester…but rather that presence of faith in our lives.

And these two topics are not separate from one another. I didn’t just decide I needed more content tonight and so I’m preaching through more verses....No. These two topics are together tonight because in our passage…there is a correlation between them.

Tonight, we are going to see that our faith is...

A Sin-Fighting Faith

So, let’s look at the passage.

Luke 17:1–10 ESV

1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 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. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 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. 7 “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’? 8 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’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 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.’ ”

So, you’ve got a bit of an understanding of the outline of the passage…we’ve read the passage…now let’s see what Jesus is teaching in this passage. Here’s the first thing.

Sin is serious (v.1-4)

This first point is taken from the overall feel of the passage in those first four verses. Jesus is talking about sin…and as he’s talking about it…he’s saying that it would be better to drown yourself than to sin.

That sin is bad, isn’t unfamiliar to anyone who’s grown up in church.

There’s plenty of other teachings of Jesus talking about the seriousness of sin…like elsewhere in the gospels when he says that if your eye causes you to sin, go ahead and poke it out…if it’s your hand…cut it off. Because essentially, it’s better to enter the kingdom of heaven maimed than it is to be controlled by sin.

We’ve talked about these things before…but as I was preparing for this message…I realized that it’s been a long time since we took a moment and defined sin. So as we are beginning this conversation, I want to do that. If we are talking about the seriousness of sin…best to understand what we are saying is so serious, right?

So go ahead…I don’t want you to answer out loud…but go ahead and think about what you would write as the definition of sin. What is it?

.......

Okay, the reason I wanted to give you time was to see if it would reveal to you if you don’t have a good grasp on sin. On we should have a good grasp on sin, because sin…is what we say Jesus saved us from. And if we can’t define what he saved us FROM, then how can we every fully comprehend WHY we needed saving.

Definition of Sin:

Sin: Action or thought that is contrary to the law, will, or character of God.

So, as an overall point of application…we learn that sin is serious. But that point is not all that we learn. In fact, in this passage we see Jesus give a very specific teaching on sin…it’s not just that it’s serious…but it’s that we shouldn’t be the ones causing it.

That’s our first little sub-point of application tonight. Here’s what you’re response to the first two verses should be.

Don’t cause it. (v.1-2)

Look back at verses 1 and 2 with me.

Luke 17:1–2 (ESV)

1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come,

so temptations to do things contrary to God’s law, will, or character are sure to come. They will happen in life…take that seriously…but..

but woe to the one through whom they come!

Woe to someone means, “curse them”, may they be cursed. So the son of God is pronouncing a curse on all those that would willingly bring about sin in someone’s life, and then Jesus goes on to say...

2 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.

So Jesus is warning, not only is sin serious…but it’s so serious that he pronounces woe on anyone who would cause it. That’s why our point of application here is DONT. CAUSE. IT.

Now, I want to encourage you in this…don’t let your guard down. Don’t see this point and think that it doesn’t apply to you because you’re not handing someone a murder weapon, or you’re not planting porn to someone’s phone or computer. When Jesus says woe to the one through whom sin comes…he doesn’t just mean woe to those of us that force someone to sin, or hand them objects to cause sin.

Instead, this woe applies to those of us who would equip someone to sin as well…and equip someone weaker than us to sin. Notice that Jesus uses the term “little ones”. His reference here could be a few things. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that Jesus loved children, and he could have been referencing children around him…we see him do that other times...

But in this passage, there are no children referenced, so in the context is better to think of the translation of little ones to imply those that are younger or weaker in their faith in a fight against a specific sin.

And in fact, even if you think that Jesus is referencing actual children…the teaching is the same.

Woe to you, if you cause someone who is weaker or younger than you to sin in something. If you tempt them with something that will cause them to sin against God.

Gossip is a really great example of this. What is Gossip? It’s you knowing something about someone…something they’ve done or said, maybe something that is private…and you tell that to a third party that isn’t involved in the situation at all. What have you done? Not only have you committed the sin yourself, of gossiping…but you handed to that third party that you’re speaking to..fuel to sin themselves. You’ve equipped someone else with sin.

You have brought sin to their doorstep…and if they struggle with the sin of gossiping…if they are weaker or younger in the faith…you might as well have handed a drunk a bottle…or an addict a syringe.

The same can be said for hatred or bitterness. A brother or sister in Christ sins against you…angers you…hurts you even. There may be real reasons to confront them, and in fact you may be encouraged to do just that…but you know what you shouldn’t do?

You shouldn’t be telling your friends, shouldn’t be telling others that are willing to listen, simply because you’re giving into bitterness and unforgiveness. Because what are you doing? You are equipping them to also give into bitterness and unforgiveness, and slander…and the list goes on.

By not handling something in the biblical fashion, you are instead equipping others to sin alongside you, or even worse than you in some cases…and to that Jesus says WOE to you. Cursed are those who love to do that.

If you’re the type of person that would rather get others involved in your situation simply to make yourself feel better and to get them acting on your behalf and sinning alongside you through gossip or bitterness or whatever…than Jesus is talking to you and he’s telling you…your actions and willingness to do that is so serious, that it’d be better if you just went and drowned yourself.

Not a light topic. And one that should certainly convict us. One that certainly convicted the disciples as we will see in a few moments…but first, that’s not all Jesus had to say. Not only, when talking about the seriousness of sin did he say “don’t cause it”…but he also said.

Don’t keep it. (v.3-4)

Sin is serious. Don’t cause it. And don’t keep it. Look back at verses 3 and 4.

Luke 17:3–4 (ESV)

3 Pay attention to yourselves!

So he’s telling them…as a collective whole…pay attention…be on guard…keep watch.

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

So instead of equipping and causing others to sin, you should instead be the person who confronts sin. You should be the person who doesn’t allow it to stay in the body of Christ. You should be a person who’s not going to keep it. You’re going to be a person won’t put up with it.

But…you’re not going to do this angrily…you’re not going to do this out of bitterness…instead, you’re going to do this out of a forgiving heart. Out of love you’re going to disapprove of their actions…that’s what “rebuke” means…to critically disapprove of a sin...

And I say it’s out of love that you’re going to do it…out of love you will disapprove of their sin…because 1) being critical in the wrong way is actually sin. That’s what the word “revile” means. Did you know that? That all the times in the bible when it says not to revile, it means not to be bitterly critical.

This should hit home for all of us…because when someone hurts us, when someone sins against us…it is a fine line between being someone who rebukes, and someone who reviles.

Let me say that again...

When we are put in a situation in which we feel wronged by someone, or someone’s sin has hurt us…it is a fine line between someone who is willing to be godly and rebuke them…and someone who is being sinful and reviling them.

One is to be critical for their sake and their godliness…the other is to be critical for your own sake and your own sinfulness.

And the reason I want to drive this home tonight…is because this is something that we oftentimes treat as an acceptable sin. And I don’t believe it would take you long to think of an instance like this in your own life...

Where someone has hurt you, or said something, or done something that…or even just appeared to have done something…and instead of being critical directly towards them by rebuking their sin…what do you do?

You aren’t critical towards them, but instead you’re critical about them…to your friends. And all the sudden, without you ever following this biblical mandate to rebuke that person…and then forgive them as we are about to see…all of the sudden before any of that happens…all of your friends know, and they too now feel the same way. And in one fell swoop, what have you done?

You’ve chosen not to rebuke, you’ve chosen not to forgive and instead you’ve chosen to revile and equip others to do the same…and all the sudden we are back to a spot where Jesus says “woe to you”… “curse you that would do that”....it’s actually better for you to hang a heavy stone around your neck and jump in the Mississippi than to do that.

So…we know that this rebuking he’s talking about in verse 3 must be done out of love because otherwise it’s reviling…that’s the first way we know…but the second way that we know this is how it should be done is because of the response Jesus tells us to have…look back at the end of verse 3 and at verse 4.

and if he repents, forgive him, 4 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 heart behind rebuking someone of their sins…the heart behind disapproving of their actions and telling them directly about it…is that you would be able to forgive them…and not once…but time and time again. You need to hate sin so much, and love Godliness so much…that you can’t stand for someone to be in sin, and so you not only confront them about it…but you yourself are willing to not keep it. You yourself are willing to forgive them…because not only do you hate their sin…but you would hate to have sin in your own life of unforgiveness and bitterness.

So…this is a hard saying. And it seems impossible, right? And it seems even more impossible, because it says if they sin against you seven times a day…keep on forgiving. I mean, how many of us after the first and second time of someone sinning against us would begin to doubt their motivation…would begin to doubt their heart…would begin doubting the sincerity of their repentance towards us?

Probably all of us. And there are other scriptures that talk about when a brother or sister sins against us, and is unrepentant, what we should do. Matthew 18, that we should confront them and if they refuse to repent…that we would get others involved…but that’s not this instance.

Instead, Jesus is setting up an example of someone who would be repeatedly repentance, and whether because of a struggle with their own sin…an immature faith…or for some other reason…they just keep on hurting you, because of their own struggle with sin.

Jesus is setting a scenario that seems impossible to maintain, and uphold. And if you’re sitting here thinking…how can I ever do that…I don’t have the strength and faith to do that…then you’re not alone.

Because the disciples felt that way to. And that’s why, immediately after this teaching…they say this. Look at verse 5 with me.

Luke 17:5–6 (ESV)

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

What are they saying? What are they feeling? Exactly what we are feeling. That the task Jesus has given us seems impossible. And so they are being faithful disciples to say…Lord, please…increase our faith because clearly we don’t have enough. We don’t have enough faith to do what you’re asking… so clearly we need more. And what does Jesus say?

6 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.

Guys…mulberry trees have ridiculously deep roots. They are virtually impossible to uproot, especially in the age Jesus preached…And Jesus is saying…if you had faith the size of a mustard seed…so just to help you visualize…think of a popcorn kernel, cut it in half…and that’s about the size of a mustard seed.

So Jesus is saying…if you had faith just this small…you could do the impossible.

Now, it would be easy to misconstrue this and to say that Jesus is saying, if only you had a little more faith, you could do it. A little more faith would allow you to be more forgiving, more sin hating, more sin fighting...

But that’s not what Jesus is saying. Jesus isn’t saying that more faith will allow you to do these things…but rather, having faith will allow you to do these things.

Because what did the disciples just say? They said, increase our faith! Make it bigger! And Jesus says…it’s big enough. Even faith the size of a mustard seed…the tiniest thing Jesus could compare it to…if you had even just a little bit of authentic faith…you could do what I’m asking of you.

So the point of this…is not have more faith. But...

Have faith (v.4-6)

And now we are back to the idea of a sin-fighting faith. Jesus sets up the idea of how serious sin is, and what we should be doing about it…and the disciples say “we can’t do that, we need more faith”…and Jesus teaches that faith is enough.

Which means authentic faith is enough to do what he is asking.

And guys…this is great news for us.

Because it tells us that when things like this are hard…when it seems impossible to live out the life Jesus has called us to…all we need to do is turn our eyes to him. Why?

Because we are suppose to have faith.

And it says…if you remember in our series last semester…Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...

The answer to hating sin, not causing it, and not keeping it is not someone being given increased faith…but rather it’s being given the faith to look to Jesus who is the one who gave us that faith in the first place (that’s why it says he’s the founder)…and look to Jesus because he is the finisher of that faith…meaning, he’s the one perfecting it. The work is done through Christ.

We know from scripture, Jesus gives us the faith, and he perfects our faith. So we know, the answer isn’t that we must have a certain level of faith in order to accomplish the task, and we are just waiting on Jesus to make our faith bigger….but rather…we need faith to accomplish the task and Jesus has already given it to us.

So practically…what does this look like in a real-life situation.

It looks like this.

Someone sins against you, hurts your feelings, belittles you, says something about you…whatever it is.

Someone does that…and so, instead of turning immediately to your friends about it to just make you feel better and get all critical with you, further equipping them to sin and you to sin...

Instead of doing that…you first turn to Jesus to be strengthened in your faith, so that you may turn to that person and rebuke and forgive them so that they may be strengthened in theirs.

That’s what a sin-fighting faith looks like. A faith that is empowered by Jesus, to turn towards a brother or sister in Christ who has sinned against us, and instead of causing more sin, or keeping on to the sin, we seek to rebuke and forgive in the power Christ gives us.