Build on the Basics

Simple(?) Math

Show of hands, how many of us made it this far into adulthood w/out ever having to use Algebra or Geometry? Imagine. Why did we have to invest so much in elementary and middle school math?

How many cooks do we have? Fractions? Double the recipe? Halve the recipe?

I watch, listen to Sara calculate flour, water and other ingredients as she makes her sourdough. Chemistry. Adjustments for altitude. But, what I’m most amazed by is that she can keep measurements accurately.

For instance,

How many tablespoons in an ounce? 2

How many ounces in a cup? Depends. Fluid or dry?

There are 8 fluid ounces in 1 liquid cups. Water

But there are 4.5 oz in 1 dry cups. Flour. Baking soda.

So,, in adjusting your recipe for the desired outcome, you’ve got to know your math.

How many of us have remodeled rooms in our house? New flooring. Carpet. Laminate. Wood. Whatever.

We’ve got to know how much flooring to order and pay for. So, calculate the area.

Simple rectangle, height x width. But then there are all those nooks and crannies. Doorways, stairways, the fireplace hearth. Few rooms are simple rectangles. And flooring is not cheap. So, we’ve got to get it right.

So, let’s look at some simple, elementary math that would help calculate the area of the floor in your living room.

Want to made to feel dumb?

Simple, 3s.

3 + 3 x 3 + 3 =

3 + 3 x 3 - 3 + 3 =

3 + 3 x 3 / 3 + 3 =

Do you know PEMDAS rule? Parentheses, exponents, Multiply, divide, add, subtract.

You’ve got to get all these little areas added up to be able to accurately order your flooring.

Just a few 3s lined up in an equation that can make an adult feel pretty stupid. This is elementary math. And to think that we think we’ve never used algebra or geometry as adults.

But the truth is, we’ve got to get the basics. We’ve got to understand elementary principles before we can every apply the advanced principles for basic adulting like cooking and remodeling.

Spiritually, it’s the same. We’ve got to understand and apply the basics so as the trials get harder, we can understand and apply the advanced lessons. That’s what Jesus is preparing the discs for now, in the passage we studying today.

Get the basics, understand the problem and apply the solution. Advanced lessons build on the basics, and we will be able to solve the bigger problems when they come along because we were able to solve the basic problems.

Get the basics wrong, and it makes solving the advanced problems even harder.

It’s just a bunch of 3s. Or, is it?

It’s just a stumble, and understanding we have a basic job to do. Simple.

We Will Stumble

Luke 17:1–3 NIV

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.

Sin is a reality. It will never be eradicated from our lives this side of heaven. But, there are a couple of things we can do.

One, put the effort in to sin less.

Two, do not be the cause of someone else to stumble.

Don’t rationalize it, write it off as nothing, ‘everybody is doing it’. Face it. Admit it. Deal with it.

It’s going to happen. There are are negative consequences to stumbling.

Jesus is looking squarely at the Pharisees as He said this. He came down hard on the Pharisees the 3 years he was here. They should have known better. Jesus was the hardest, least gracious on those who knew better.

They had an inaccurate understanding of God and the doctrine that God commands we live by. What they taught caused people to question things that God never intended for them to have to question.

If someone was close to accepting X, or surrendering to God, the Pharisees would lay a burden on them to try harder to do better. But that’s not what God lays on us.

As a result, new believers, or seekers of God, were tempted to leave the faith or give up on God all together. No one figures it all out right away. So to demand ppl try harder to figure it out and do better before they are ready is a burden they cannot carry. It’s an advanced test they are not ready for.

Our job as Xians, as a church, is to lead ppl to Jesus. Then, let him handle what needs to change in their life at an appropriate time. If Jesus were to lay everything on everyone the minute they came to faith, then their faith would struggle to keep up. He knows what needs t/b handled and at what pace.

The Pharisees were causing ppl to stumble, specifically, to give up on Jesus and trying at all. Why try what you know you cannot be successful at?

The parallel passages talk about causing a little one to stumble. The assumption is Jesus was talking about children. But, He was talking about adults whose faith is still young like a child. They are are easily tempted to give up on Christ when the burden gets too heavy. They are vulnerable to the bad teaching of those who should know better. They are not ready for the advanced tests, yet.

So, Jesus said, it will not go well for someone who causes a young believer to stumble. In fact, it would be better to tied a huge millstone around their neck and dump them in the sea.

A millstone is a donut shaped, round stone, that would be rolled over grain to ‘mill it’, crush it, make flour. Or, it would be used to crush olives to make olive oil. Huge, heavy.

If someone were to jump into the sea w/ one of these around their neck it would mean certain death. Drowning. And there are few more panicky ways to die than suffocate under water. It would be a horrible death. But, better to die this way than cause a young believer to give up on their belief.

Jesus, not wanting the discs to make the same mistake, was speaking to them as He was looking at the Pharisees.

He wanted the discs to recognize their bad theology, their inaccurate doctrine, but also recognize they could be considered vulnerable, one of the little ones. If a Pharisee were to realize his mistake, repent, begin to come around, the last thing Jesus wanted the discs to do was lay a huge burden on them to get everything right, right away.

Sure, things need to change. But Jesus can handle the change if the discs can handle getting the former Pharisee to Him.

If the discs maintained this bad theology, bad attitude, it could cause further damage to the spiritual life of the young believer. Adult Pharisees making a major shift in their faith and belief system would be vulnerable and should be shown grace to encourage them to complete the process.

Remember, when Paul came to faith on the Road to Damascus, Jesus introduced himself to Him. Then, over the next 14 years Jesus took the time to help Paul develop an accurate understanding of God. And when the discs were skeptical of Paul, Barnabas showed him grace, took him under his wing, and helped him apply his new belief system.

Ironically, later Paul ran out of patience with a young Mark who could not handle the persecution of the ministry and deserted them. Paul quickly gave up on Mark. Barnabas stepped in again, and gently, graciously, mentored Mark back into spiritual maturity. That led him to write one of the four gospels in our bible.

The basics. Stumbling is a reality. We will stumble and fall into sin all of our lives. The goal is to do it less often and less severely. As we grow, the more advanced goal is to never be the cause of someone else stumbling by teaching them a bad understanding of God and laying too heavy of a burden on them to change too quickly.

Anyone leaving their old bad view of God, no matter how long it takes, no matter how deviant or decadent their old lifestyle, they must be shown grace, welcomed into the church, given the time, while they process their new belief system and its impact on their behavior. Otherwise we may put them off and be guilty of the same bad theology.

So, as we grow from the basics to advanced upper level tests, we must pursue a better understanding of what to expect of God and what He expects of us as it’s taught in the bible.

2 Timothy 2:15 NIV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

James 1:22–25 NIV

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

When we pass these tests, we are better able to assist and mentor the younger believers around us pass theirs.

The education does not end here. It continues to advance. If we know what God expects of us, then we are expected to act on it.

Accountability

Luke 17:3–4 NIV

So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

It’s going to happen. We are going to stumble. Those around us will stumble, too. But, what’s the stumble and are you sure they actually stumbled?

That’s why we study. To know what is, and isn’t a stumble. And, to know how to handle it when we see it.

We are not all hammers thinking everybody is a nail in need of pounding. We don’t carry shotguns and spray the entire life of someone struggling.

If someone is spreading bad doctrine, theology, teaching; then we must call them on it. If we see them doing something they should not be doing, their behavior is bad, then we must get involved to help them by pointing our specifically why what they are doing is wrong.

We must know, w/out throwing stones, correcting them in private, gracious convos.

These are 2 relational commitment. First, confront lovingly. Second, forgive infinitely.

We confront, not to meddle in their bsns nor control their lives, but to help them eradicate their bad understanding of God and grow.

No one pursues X in isolation. There are no lone rangers in church. No mavericks. We are all in this together.

And, we’ve got to do it w/out attacking ea other.

How? How do we avoid an attacking attitude?

First, Deal only w/ the known. Be certain. No assumptions. No hearsay. No secondhand info. No gossip.

Witness is. Jesus implies when it was done, it hurt you. Not a third party.

Second, be quick to forgive. Ready, immediately, infinitely. Do not hold the grudge.

The point is growth. The ability to overcome ones mistakes and their consequences. To not be mired in victimhood, unable to dig out from underneath the pile of the burden that was dumped on you when the stumble was occurred. We are not here to pile on, but help unpile and dig out.

The ‘7 times/day’ term is not to be taken literally, but it means be quick to forgive an unlimited number of times. If they ask, if they admit their stumble, apologize for it, adapt by changing what they are doing, then we are to be quick to forgive as many times as they ask.

Now, if someone is stumbling every couple of hours every day, then it might be appropriate to question the genuineness of their repentance. Obviously, private convos must be taking place helping the stumbling brother overcome their stumbles.

Maybe we need to introduce them to others who can help. A counselor, our AA program. Jesus’ point is to us, the more mature one, our attitude should be to forgive as many times as asked w/out limit. If we are focused on the limit, then we are in the wrong.

What does it mean to forgive? It means, if you’ve been hurt by someone else’s stumble, then you are no longer attempting, plotting, scheming, the ‘get-even.’ Let it go.

We are wired for fairness. Somehow, it comes naturally for us to scheme how to make things right. But we rarely know the whole story. Jesus does. So our mindset is to consciously, volitionally, let Jesus take over and handle the get even. He will make things right, at the right time, in the right amount, that works right for everyone. Let Him handle it.

If it comes back to you, and you find yourself talking to yourself, scheming more in your mind; then stop it and hand it over toJesus one more time. Keep doing it until you never take it back again.

They say holding a grudge, planning to get even, is like taking poison expecting the other person to get sick. Who are you hurting, really? Let it go.

The tests get harder. If the basics are mastered, then the advanced tests get easier. That said, forgiveness might be the hardest test you will ever face in your life. Forgiving someone for hurting you, or hurting someone you care about, might be just about impossible. But, it’s not. It simply requires faith.

Which is why the apostles took Jesus here, next.

Genuine Faith

Luke 17:5–6 NIV

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

What is faith? The bible defines it several ways. But one very practical way, to give someone a job to do, get out of their way, don’t try to tell them how to do it, let them do it and trust that it will get done.

They have to be able to do it. Know what to do. How to do it. But, if all those boxes are checked, then live as if it’s going to get done.

If forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do in our life, then having the faith to do it is important to understand. We get the basics. Ppl will stumble. They will hurt us. We must lovingly call them on it. Then we must be able to let it go.

That’s more advanced than just accepting stumbling will happen.

The discs ask for more faith think the problem is in the amount. But Jesus’ reply points out the problem is not the amount of faith, the problem is in Whom you’ve placed it.

Don’t expect me to make things right between you and whomever hurt you. Don’t call Guido in the mafia to make it right.

It is required faith in Jesus to handle things and get them done the right way. Forgiveness is hard. Letting go is hard. The assumption is we need an increase in faith to get it done, do it better. Otherwise, we are afraid deep-seated resentment can set in.

Jesus uses the illustration of the mulberry tree. They are known to have huge, vast root systems. They are not easily uprooted. It’s a big dig. That’s just like deep-seated, deep rooted resentment toward someone who hurt you. It will not come out easily.

Do you need more faith? Maybe your faith is in the wrong one. Like you have faith in yourself to be able to muster up the ability from w/in to let it go but it’s not working. Then, your faith is not genuine nor place in the right one.

It’s not the amount of faith you have that allows you overcome the resentment and forgive. Rather, the one in whom you have faith is the key. And the use of it.

You have faith, are you using it? It’s like prying w/ a screwdriver when you’ve got a lever right next to you. Digging w/ a spoon when you’ve got spade leaning against the tree. Why are you not using the tool you have that was meant for the job?

How? How do you use your faith. Consciously, decisively, give your situ to Jesus and don’t take it back. He is capable. He knows what to do and how. Let him. Then, expect the resentment to go away in time. If it comes back to you, give it up again, fully expecting Jesus to handle it completely and successfully.

You will experience and feel the change in your attitude toward the person who hurt you.

Faith is not a moment, it’s a journey. It’s a growth process. It’s like a muscle that needs to develop. We have the muscle. We’re not going to get another one. It just needs to grow. It grows thru the testing and success.

Remember the story when Jesus and the 3 disc came down from the transfig and encountered the other 9 trying, but unable to cast the demon out of the son. Jesus, frustrated w/ them, commanded the demon to leave and it did immediately.

Later, they asked why they couldn’t do it. Jesus said, “This kind only come out by prayer.” IOW, prayer is asking Jesus to do it, having faith that He will do it, not trying on our own. They didn’t pray. They didn’t ask Jesus to do it. They had faith in themselves and it wasn’t working.

They grew that day to learn that Jesus does not need t/b physically present to ask him to help handle a situ. Faith is not a matter of quantity. They had enough. They were simply trusting in the wrong one.

A little bit of genuine faith, placed in the right one, will accomplish great things.

Faith does not lead Jesus. Faith follows Jesus.

Faith does not tell Jesus what to do. Faith presents the problem then obeys Him.

Faith does not expect our own imagination to figure out the fix. Faith operates outside the boundaries of our imagination and intellect. He’s God.

Jesus doesn’t expect us to go around commanding mulberry trees to jump into the sea, or mountains. He does expect us to have faith thatHe will remove the major obstacles allowing us to overcome what holds us down so we can thrive and live the abundant life He came to offer us.

The basics. We will stumble. We will fall. We cannot be the cause of someone else’s stumble. They will fall. They will hurt us. We’ve got to be able to talk to them about it in accurate terms and forgive them when the ask. And, it takes just a little faith in the right one to be able to do that.

Good. Now that we’ve got that down. We’ve passed basic math and moved on to the advanced, we’ve got a job to do. So, let’s get out there and do what God has assigned us to do w/out expecting some grand response and accolades.

Humbly serve, doing what God has assigned us to do.

A Job to Do

Luke 17:7–10 NIV

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

This illustrates the right attitude of the humble servant. He was hired, purchased to do a job.

He was out doing his daily chores, what he does every day. It might be working the field or tending the flock. He does what needs to be done.

He comes home at the end of the day. There are chores to be done then. Job responsibilities. Basic household adulting 101 tasks that are expected. Nothing extraordinary. Just the fundamentals of the job.

He comes in, he is expected to prepare his master’s meal, wait for him eat, then he gets to sit down and eat. This SOP in c.1

I’m sure he got to take a brief break before preparing the meal. But, this was not anything above and beyond. Likewise, the master would not be beyond basic human respect and dignity and not offer a kind word, or thank you.

But, these were the basic expectations and the job description of the day.

When the elders hired me here, they gave me the job description w/ the bullet points. This is the job. If I’m going to be the pastor of this church, then these are the responsibilities that have to get done.

Your job. You had your assigned tasks. No extra work. But also, no extra accolades.

We celebrate over the top when our 3-year old learns to tie their shoe. When’s the last time your wife stopped and gave you a standing ovation for tying your shoe? Are you just a little beyond that?

When I get the trash out this afternoon, and I come in to sit down and finish watching the football game, am I to expect Sara to stand and applaud? Basic chore. We have them. I don’t need to be asked to get the trash out. I can’t wait till Tuesday if just a little tired after exerting so much energy preaching.

Preach the sermon. Greet the ppl. Take out the trash. Move on. Get the job done w/out expecting any extra accolades. This is the attitude and approach of a humble servant.

We’ve been given chores, assignments by our Master, God. We don’t get to choose what to obey or when to obey. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.

This requires some maturity. Teenagers would complain and delay getting their responsibilities done. If you’re living under my roof, of age and ability, then you’ll get chores to do just like the rest of us. That’s what makes the house work.

Start w/ basics. Preschoolers can pick up their toys and put them away. Teenager can pick up the dog poop and throw it away. Youngsters can vacuum a carpet. In time, they can mow the grass. We teach them the basics and as they grow the tests get more advanced.

Simple math. 3s. Easy. Until you mix in a little multiplication with the addition and subtraction.

I always laughed at my pharmacist friends about how tough it is to do their job. They only have to be able to count to 35. One pill per day for a month is enough. That is, until you get to the chemistry.

Jesus is that way w/ us. He lays out the basics and prepares us for the advanced tests so we can succeed. He didn’t leave us hear to figure this out on our own.

Applications

Don’t be someone else’s problem

Study and know right and wrong. We will all stumble from time to time. But the goal is to do it less often and less severely. And, never be the cause of someone else’s stumble.

Wisdom. Maturity. Growth.

Forgive

Forgive everyone as many times as it takes. You’re only hurting yourself if you hand on to the hurt and scheme the revenge yourself.

Choose to let Jesus handle the get even and don’t try to tell him how to do it. Move on.

Humbly serve

You’ve got a job to do. God has given you the assignment. Don’t concern yourself with the job God gave anyone else.

Take care of business. Get it done. Don’t expect extra accolades for just doing your job.

Maintain your attitude. Be positive. And be appreciative that God gives you the opp to participate in what He’s doing to change ppl lives for the better all around you.

Git ‘er done.

Just a few 3s lined up in an equation that can make an adult feel pretty stupid. This is elementary math. And to think that we think we’ve never used algebra or geometry as adults.

But the truth is, we’ve got to get the basics. We’ve got to understand elementary principles before we can every apply the advanced principles for basic adulting like cooking and remodeling.

Spiritually, it’s the same. We’ve got to understand and apply the basics so as the trials get harder, we can understand and apply the advanced lessons. That’s what Jesus is preparing the discs for now, in the passage we studying today.

Get the basics, understand the problem and apply the solution. Advanced lessons build on the basics, and we will be able to solve the bigger problems when they come along because we were able to solve the basic problems.

Get the basics wrong, and it makes solving the advanced problems even harder.