Luke 17:1-4 - Be on Your Guard!

Introduction

[CONTEXT] In this part of Luke’s gospel, Jesus has been highlighting how His disciples must be different from the Pharisees—the Jewish religious group that common Jewish people looked to as the standard of devotion to God and holiness in life.

But the devotion and holiness of the Pharisees was often hypocritical. A fact that was hidden to the public but not to Jesus who could see their hearts.

But their hypocrisy was just a sin they committed, it was also a temptation to others. Rather than truly leading people to God, they led people astray. And when they made a disciple, they taught him how to lead people astray as well. As Jesus said in Matthew 23:15...

Matthew 23:15 NASB95

15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

The disciples of Jesus were to be different.

The disciples of Jesus are to be different.

Follow along as I read Luke 17:1-4.

[READING - Luke 17:1-4]

Luke 17:1–4 NASB95

1 He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

[PRAYER]

To sin is to do the opposite of God’s revealed will. When He says, “Do,” you don’t. When He says, “Don’t, you do, and in so doing (or don’ting) you rebel against your Creator.

The first sin committed by a human was, of course, that sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Told to eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of God and evil, Eve and then Adam fell prey to the serpent’s temptation and rebelled against God. As a result, they would be cursed, separated from God, and eventually die.

But the curse of sin born in Eden spread to the rest of creation. The curse of sin marks the land, marks our physical bodies, and has made us spiritually dead to God unless we’ve been born again, made a new creation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus was no friend of sin, but He was a friend of sinners—sinners like you and me. Very God of very God, He was born in the likeness of men to die the death our sins deserved so that we might be made alive to God through His resurrection from the dead. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “On the cross, Jesus who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteous of God.

If we have trusted Jesus, the penalty of sin has been paid, and the power of sin broken, and at His return even the presence of sin will begin to fade into distant memory.

Until then we disciples of Jesus are told to keep watch. Jesus’ words to Peter in Mark 14:38 are applicable to us all...

Mark 14:38 NASB95

38 “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

But in our passage this morning, Jesus warns us to keep watch, to be on guard against a specific sin—the sin of tempting others to sin.

I hope we often think about fighting sin, which involves identifying the ways in which temptation to sin comes to us.

But this morning I hope we begin to think more about the ways in which we might be bring temptation to sin to others.

This is what the disciple of Jesus must not do.

He must not be a tempter.

Rather, he must be a rebuker and a forgiver.

[TS] We’ll see this by looking at Luke 17:1-2 and then vv. 3-4—a warning first, then a command…

Major Ideas

Warning: Don’t be a tempter or else… (Luke 17:1-2)

Luke 17:1–2 NASB95

1 He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Hindrances in the Christian life, especially temptations, are bound to come. They are inevitable; as certain as the rising sun. Living in a sin-cursed world as we do, it’s simply impossible that temptations to sin will not come our way.

The question is, what will we do with temptations when they come?

Another question just as important, will be the conduit through which temptations come to another?

Jesus said, woe to or judgment upon him through whom temptations come.

Luke 17:2 NASB95

2 “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

A millstone was a large, heavy stone used for grinding grain. If you’re tossed into the sea with one of these tied around your neck, you end up at the bottom.

Jesus said that death was preferable to the wrath waiting for the person who tempts others to sin—especially Jesus’ little ones.

Jesus so cares for His disciples, His little ones, that if someone tempts them to sin—tempts them to rebel against Him, a fate worse than can be imagined waits for them.

A millstone around your neck in the ocean is a bad day. But worse is an eternity under the wrath of holy God. But that is the eternity we face if we do not repent of sin, which includes the sin of tempting others to sin.

How do we tempt others to sin?

We tempt others to gossip with our gossip.

We tempt others to lust by what we wear, the jokes we tell, the shows and movies and music we recommend.

We tempt others to worry and fear by constantly proclaiming that the sky is falling rather than constantly proclaiming the hope, security, stability, courage, and calm only to be found in Christ.

[TS]

Command: Be on your guard (Luke 17:3-4)

Luke 17:3–4 NASB95

3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

We must be on our guard against sin. We must be on our guard against committing sin. We must be on our guard against tempting others to sin. We must be on our guard against the sin we see our brothers and sisters in Christ committing. If they sin, we are to rebuke them.

A rebuke is a correction. Usually we think of it as a sharp correction, and at times a sharp correction may be necessary.

Other times, however, the rebuke may be of a milder sort. In most circumstances, it seems wise to me to correct a brother or sister with gentleness before correcting them with sharpness.

But sin being what it is—rebellion against Almighty God—it is sometimes necessary to jump straight to the sharp criticism.

[ILLUS] John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was brought to Christ because of a sharp rebuke.

If I remember correctly, he was talking with a friend using some rather strong language when he passed a woman on the street.

She was not a particularly holy woman herself, but her sharp rebuke of his course language made him consider his sinfulness and his need for Jesus.

We must not fear offering the rebuke.

We must not be angry when someone offers it to us.

Rather than the tempter of your brother to sin, be the protector of your brother from sin.

Rebuke him. He knows better. Remind him of the better he knows.

Remind him without a plank in your own eye.

Remind him with the sword of the Spirit.

Remind him with a heart filled with love.

Before you rebuke, pray for your brother until your heart is filled with love.

And if he repents, forgive him.

The goal of rebuking is repentance.

If he repents—there is no guarantee that he will—but if he does, forgive him.

Why would you rebuke a brother or sister in hopes of seeing them repent and then refuse to forgive them?

You would only do that if your motivation in rebuking them wasn’t to see them repent but to see them belittled.

To see them belittled or embarrassed should not be our aim.

To see them repentant; that should be our aim.

And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, “I repent,” forgive him.

Forgive him is a command. You shall forgive.

But here Jesus uses hyperbole—intentional overstatement for the purpose of making a point.

We are to be ridiculous forgivers.

It’s ridiculous to think that someone sinning against you seven times in a day would be genuinely repentant each time.

“I repent” are not magic words, but must be genuinely expressed from the heart.

But should this ridiculous thing happen, we are commanded by Jesus to forgive.

We need to be ridiculous forgivers in our families.

We need to be ridiculous forgivers in our churches.

We need to be ridiculous forgivers in our marriages.

We need to be ridiculous forgivers with our children.

We need to be ridiculous forgivers in our community.

But we must also be ready repenters.

We tend to think of ourselves as the ones who will be doing the forgiving (that’s the angle Jesus comes from in this passage), but more often than not, we’re the ones who must do the repenting.

[ILLUS] I think about the sins I commit against my wife and children and Jesus’s example here doesn’t suddenly seem so ridiculous.

Do I sin against them seven times in a day? When I’m in a bad mood, I can do that in a few short minutes.

Anger.

Sin with tongue.

Exasperating the children.

Impatience.

Pride.

That’s five that can happen in an instant.

I won’t even have to try hard to get another two in the rest of the day.

I must be a genuine, ready repenter.

[TS]

Conclusion