Transcript
Speaker: Today we're going to be looking in Luke 17 verses 1 through 10. Luke 17 verses 1 through 10. I appreciate Pastor Josh bringing the two great messages the last couple of Sundays. Thank you so much, Josh, for your diligence and for how God's got his hand upon you and blessing you.
Speaker: um Also, I'd like to encourage you to pray for one of our young men, Kelly Barnett. Kelly's on a mission trip right now. He's first going to be in Seattle. i think that's where he's been this weekend. i don't know exactly when he leaves, but he's been in Seattle. He's going to Thailand and then he'll be going to Nepal.
Speaker: And so do pray for Kelly and for his mission team, that God would bless them as they introduce people to this well of salvation. But I hope you found our passage in Luke 17 verses 1 through 10.
Speaker: You know, when studying scripture, it helps the serious student to answer two starting questions regarding any passage. doesn't matter where.
Speaker: The first question is, what was the historical setting? The second question would be, who who could be described as the original audience? Ever since chapter 9, we're in chapter 17. Ever since chapter 9, verse 51, Jesus is walking with his disciples from Capernaum to Jerusalem.
Speaker: And along the way, he's equipping them. He is trying to be an example to them. He is trying to evangelize with them, to encourage them, to exhort them.
Speaker: Much like parents, how you also have opportunities now while your children are still in your house to disciple them, to mentor them, to challenge them, to lead them, to pray over them and so forth.
Speaker: You know, the original audience that was listening to Jesus, we've noticed it changes from time to time. It sort of shifts from three different groups. Have you noticed that?
Speaker: One group would just be like the multitude. Those who don't know the Lord, but they're listening. They're gathered. Perhaps today you're here. And I want you to know if you're not a Christian, we're so glad you're here. And I hope you'll always feel welcome to come and to hear what the Lord has to say to you through his word.
Speaker: But also there were the Pharisees and the Pharisees from time to time Jesus addressed what he wanted to say specifically to the Pharisees, these religious leaders.
Speaker: They were religious doing a lot of things, but there was nothing on the inside in terms of their commitment to God. But then sometimes he would turn to his 12 disciples and he would speak to them.
Speaker: And so, for example, if you were to go back in chapter 16, verses 1 through 13, that was the last time that I gave a message. Jesus was talking to the disciples. But then if you were to review that section Josh covered from chapter 16, verse 14, down through the end of the chapter, he begins by saying the Pharisees.
Speaker: So he's talking to the Pharisees. But now when we go into chapter 17, you're going to notice that he gives us two clear pointers. Who is he talking to? Who is the primary audience? these These verses that we're about to read, they were spoken to the disciples.
Speaker: They were spoken to the apostles. We know that based on verse one. And he said to his disciples. So this morning, if you're a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what the Lord would say to you. It's what he says to me.
Speaker: But it also calls them in verse 5, that same group of 12, he calls them the ah servants or the apostles. Later in verse 10, he'll call them the servants. Apostle means ones that are sent out.
Speaker: So just like Kelly Barnett, we're praying for him because he has been sent out with the word, with the gospel, with Jesus to share with those children and those teenagers that he'll be talking to who don't know the Lord.
Speaker: But you're going to hear Jesus later refer to the same group of 12 men in verse 10, not as disciples, not as apostles, but he's going to call them servants.
Speaker: You know, I see what's happening behind the scenes in this church. And I want you to know there are a lot of disciples who are serving the Lord. They're rolling up their sleeves and they're saying, I want to help.
Speaker: I wanna make a difference in God's kingdom. I don't wanna just sit there and listen. I would like to actually be a part of something that is happening. So if you want to do that, please know that we want you to do that as well. We invite you to do that.
Speaker: Jesus, once they arrive in Jerusalem, this is on down the road, but once they arrive in Jerusalem, you know what he's gonna do? He's gonna roll up his sleeves and he's gonna wash the feet of the disciples.
Speaker: So he not only modeled for them leadership, He also modeled for them servanthood. So no matter what capacity you're called into leadership, I hope that you will also follow Jesus' example and be also a servant.
Speaker: You know, in Mark 10, verse 45, here's what Jesus said, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve. and to give his life as a ransom for many." Wow, what an incredible mission statement that Jesus gave.
Speaker: So as we make our way through this text, when we go from verse one down through verse 10, what is it, what's the main idea? What is it that Jesus will be talking about?
Speaker: I think what he's talking about is, as we're following Jesus on this way called discipleship, we're going to be faced with some challenges. Those challenges could be described as temptations or they could be described as stumbling blocks.
Speaker: So he urges them often in Luke to watch out for temptation. Are you aware that not everything in this life is good for your spiritual life, for your growth in the Lord?
Speaker: You know, ah Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer, lead us not into temptation. Jesus himself was tempted, remember in Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13.
Speaker: He was faced with three temptations, and yet he did not yield to the temptations. So just because you're tempted doesn't mean that you've done something wrong. It's how we respond to that temptation.
Speaker: And so I remember, for example, when I was in football as a junior high student, I didn't know what was going on my first year. I get out there and we start doing these drills. And one of the drills was called bull in the ring.
Speaker: And so it's like, okay, what is bull in the ring? So they put one guy in the middle and he's surrounded by all the other players, at least where we were practicing in Tennessee. This is the way we they did it. Maybe they've even outlawed this drill. I don't know. But anyway, at that time,
Speaker: The coach could call any one of those guys their number and they were going to come at you So you never knew you had to keep spinning. And so it was like real time because in real football game, you don't know who's going to come out of where to to try to tackle you.
Speaker: Then another one was called the six man box. There'd be three men on this side, three men on that side. They would be down in a crouching position. I'm given the ball and I was told run between those six guys.
Speaker: Behind me, the coach would call the number of which guy of those six that he wanted to tackle me. So I had to keep running. But sometimes you think, man, this is I know I'm going to get hit. So you kind of flinch and so forth. And you're thinking because they might you know act like they were going to do it.
Speaker: Sometimes the coach did this and it meant nobody hit him. And so if you slowed down when you were going through the six man box, man, you'd be running laps around that field. But it was just incredible because you never know where the hit was going to come.
Speaker: And I wish I could tell you where your hit is going to come, where are the temptation is going to be, where are the stumbling block is going to come from. I wish I could tell you, but we simply don't know.
Speaker: But one of the things you'll see as we go through this passage, it's unthinkable. It's unthinkable that someone with the same jersey, someone on the same team would actually tackle somebody on their team when they're given the ball.
Speaker: and they're running, trying to go forward. When they try to tackle you, trip you, hold you back, or impede you, that's what he's going to be talking about right off the start. and so I wanted you to understand when he says in verse one that we're about to read, and he said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come.
Speaker: Temptations to sin. That word in some of your translations, if you've got, for example, the New American Standard, it says stumbling blocks. But that's the idea. If you read through verse one and read into verse two, you'll see that's the idea.
Speaker: He's talking to the disciples and he's saying, look out for temptations, look out for stumbling blocks. And maybe you're wondering, what is a temptation? What is a stumbling block?
Speaker: The Greek word here is the word skandalon. It's originally a bait stick. And so it's something that you're trying to bait someone else.
Speaker: Eventually it became known as a trap or a snare or a stumbling block. But in verse 1, you could read it this way. There are traps to sin.
Speaker: Traps to sin are sure to come. Don't step in those. Be aware that they're out there. That's the purpose of this passage is the Lord's trying to make us aware so that we're expecting it.
Speaker: As a matter of fact, in verse 2, it uses the same Greek word toward the end of the verse, only in the verb form, that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Speaker: So there in the verb form, it means to ensnare another person, to trap another person, to trip up another person.
Speaker: reminds me of Sir Hiram Stephen Maxim who invented a small, simple device made up of a flat wooden platform, a wire acting as a hammer, a spring, a metal bar that holds the hammer back, and a sensitive little catch.
Speaker: And all you need on that little catch is just a little piece of cheese, little bit of peanut butter, and it will trap whatever mouse comes along. But here, it's not a mouse trap.
Speaker: It's a trap for mankind because you are going to face and I'm going to face traps that are out there. They could be relational traps. They could be emotional traps, spiritual traps, sexual traps, financial traps, cultural traps, virtual traps, verbal traps.
Speaker: They could be political traps. But as the ultimate life coach, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves you and me so much, he said, I'm going to tell you that they're coming.
Speaker: He said, I'm warning you, there are four stumbling blocks that will make you fall if you're not spiritually alert. So let's look into God's word. Let me read this passage. Then we'll ask God to give us understanding. And we'll look at the four stumbling blocks. Would you stand in honor of God's word with me, please?
Speaker: Luke 17, verse 1 through 10. And he said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.
Speaker: It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, then that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Speaker: pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him.
Speaker: The apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed,
Speaker: You could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline at table?
Speaker: Will he not rather say to him, "'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink?' Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: Let's go to the Lord and ask him to help us understand. Lord, I thank you so much for passages like this because you want us to grow. You want us to enjoy the fullness of the Christian life.
Speaker: You want us to have the joy of the Lord. But we know that sin takes all of that away. Sin steals our joy. Sin separates us.
Speaker: Sin destroys us. And so, Lord, help us to be aware that this life on this planet, it's a fallen planet and we're broken. And so, Lord, in some ways, life on this planet is a lot like walking through a minefield.
Speaker: And so, Lord, you will tell us where all of those hidden snares are planted. So help us to listen as you speak to us through these verses. Amen. In Jesus name we pray.
Speaker: Amen. Thank you. may be seated. so what we're going to do is we're going to let the Lord take the biblical flashlight and he's going to show us where the camouflage traps are because they've been disguised. So you won't recognize them, but the Lord's going to light them up.
Speaker: And so you're going to say, oh my goodness, I didn't really realize that. So here's the first one that can trip you up. Whenever something happens in your mind, something happens in your life, you've been hanging out with the world, you've been feeding the flesh rather than feeding the spirit, whatever has happened.
Speaker: But here's what goes on. You begin to say, I'm going to bait other people into sin. It's almost like you become like a human fishing lure.
Speaker: And so you're going to lure them with something that's not real. You've got the real answer in Jesus, but somehow you get your eyes off of the Lord. How can that even happen?
Speaker: Well, I think James has something to say about that to us in James chapter 1, verses 14 through 16. Here's what he says, but each person is tempted.
Speaker: when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
Speaker: Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. You see, there's love there, but there's also truth there. And that's the same thing the Lord is trying to say to us in this passage.
Speaker: Because they can be enticing and deceptive and escalating and ensnaring, elusive and universal. But the first thing you need to know is stumbling blocks.
Speaker: Stumbling blocks are out there. But woe to the one who says, I'm going to be a stumbling block. I'm going to bait somebody else to where they do something that is not pleasing to God.
Speaker: There's three principles in the first two verses that I didn't want you to overlook. The first one is obvious, right? Certainty of baits that can lure people into sin.
Speaker: It's certain. The devil, the world, the flesh. It can come from any of those three sources. The devil, the world, the flesh. But here's what he says. Temptations to sin for any Christian, every Christian.
Speaker: Temptations to sin are sure to come. Certainty abates that can lure people into sin. But here's where it gets really uncomfortable for some if you're living outside of God's will and there are other little eyes, there are other people at work, there are other people at school and they're watching you and you caused others to be lured into sin.
Speaker: You know, it's one thing for us to be broken and for us to say, look, I'm trying my best to follow the Lord. But it's another thing for someone who intentionally says, I'm going to try to lure this person into sin.
Speaker: What are the consequences for baiting others into sin? Well, Jesus doesn't beat around the bush, does he? 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.
Speaker: Maybe we need to remind ourselves what was a millstone. A millstone was a large, exceedingly heavy stone used to grind grain into flour or pressing olives to produce olive oil.
Speaker: And so what they had was this big stone be like a thousand pounds from a thousand pounds to maybe 3,300 pounds. And it had an axle and they would harness two donkeys to that axle.
Speaker: And those donkeys would walk in a circle while that big old stone grinds the grain, while it grinds and presses those olives. But the punchline is where he says it would be better So that's if that was to be tied were to be tied around your neck and you were to be thrown into the ocean, which would be over, right? I mean, we can't survive that.
Speaker: He said, it'd be better. if that did not happen, because that right there is the best thing. What I'm gonna do is gonna be worse than that. And so I'm thinking, oh my goodness, Lord, how seriously you take Christians, disciples, being a stumbling block to someone else.
Speaker: But that's not the only trap that's out there. First, the stumbling block connected to our actions, where we can do something that actually influences someone else to sin.
Speaker: The second stumbling block, though, is connected to our internal attitudes. Let's say someone has hurt us. Someone has injured us. So what is our response?
Speaker: Well, if you were to go to Hebrews chapter 12, you would see one very natural response in the flesh. And that would be bitterness. Here's what it says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15. See it.
Speaker: see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
Speaker: So what's the second stumbling block? Bitterness. Bitterness toward others. It's an internal thing. It's a leftover thing. It's something from the past. But here you are, here I am, here we are 20, 30 years later, and we're still dealing with it.
Speaker: We're still bitter about it. And the Lord is saying, that's not healthy for you spiritually. So what you need to do is you need to give it up. You need to give it to the Lord. Because if you don't, then that lingering resentment is gonna do three things.
Speaker: One thing it'll do is it will spring up on the surface. Sooner or later, it will surface. And people will say, oo where did that come from? What was that really about?
Speaker: The other thing is it causes trouble. The third thing is it will spread to many and it will defile them. So that's why he's saying, don't do it. Don't fall into that trap.
Speaker: The enemy wants to sideline you from your Christian walk and the way he will try to do it will be resentment, bitterness over something that happened in the past. So I wanted to point out once again, three things that stood out to me about verses three and four. So if I may, let me explain it just a little bit more.
Speaker: I think when he says, pay attention to yourselves. See, this is not about somebody else. This is about us. Pay attention to yourselves, he says.
Speaker: So I think the first thing that we could say is, I'm responsible to regulate my heart. You're responsible to regulate your heart. No matter what happens on the outside, can you regulate your heart?
Speaker: The way we do this, it's at a present imperative, and it means ongoing alertness. Be on guard. It's interesting, the Greek word there, be on guard, is pros echo.
Speaker: Pros means before, and echo means to hold. So what is he trying to say? What he's trying to say is something in front of you. He said, hold your heart, hold your life right before your mind, right before your eyes.
Speaker: Don't just go through life, put put your mind in neutral. Who cares? I'm so numb from the pain. I don't even care anymore. That's not the way to go forward. And so he's saying, regulate your heart.
Speaker: A long time ago in ancient times, it was the word for tie up a ship, tie up a ship. So don't just let resentment and bitterness cause your life, your whole life, your whole attitude, not just your attitude toward the one that offended you, your attitude toward everybody.
Speaker: Some people become so critical in life because they just sort of let their ship just go with the flow. Don't do that. No, he says, be on guard.
Speaker: Pay attention to yourselves. Pay attention to your heart. So tie it up. Pay attention to it. But let's go to the second thing he says. If your brother sins, rebuke him.
Speaker: And if he repents, forgive him. So let's just break it down a little bit. So rebuke from your heart. I think the way we rebuke from the heart is when we're speaking facts, when we're speaking truth, we don't forget to also include love.
Speaker: gentleness, that we're not just going to try to hammer somebody when we rebuke them. We go to them because we care about them. A long time ago when I was in Japan, I read a book by an attorney, a Christian attorney named Ken Sandy.
Speaker: And he wrote a book called The Peacemaker. So even to this day, when I you know counsel a couple for a wedding, we go through some of the biblical principles. Because what he did was, he said, I'm so sick and tired of of helping couples go through divorce, helping couples go through this and that.
Speaker: So he said, what I do is I'm trying to get there before they go over the cliff. And so he said, biblical principles will prevent it. And so Ken Sandy's book, The Peacemaker, he wrote this one article on when to rebuke.
Speaker: When is it right to rebuke? So here's the things he put in his book. When that person is doing sin that dishonors God, and you're gonna say, look, I care about you.
Speaker: I want your life to honor God. That's why I wanna talk to you. And I wanna say, don't do that. But also whenever their sin is damaging the relationship between the two of you.
Speaker: But then the third thing would be when sin is hurting someone else. You see them hurting someone else. And so you go and you say, hey, I see what you're doing here and it's not right. And I care about you.
Speaker: So that's why i'm going to say turn from it. Because the Lord's not pleased with that kind of behavior. Sin is also destroying themselves sometimes. And so you can see them just sort of cratering and they're just falling apart from within.
Speaker: And that's another time when you go to them and say, I care. That's why I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to come to you with biblical truth. I'm trying to come with you to you with unconditional love.
Speaker: I'm trying to come to you with forgiveness. And so sin also, when he says it needs to be rebuked, is when it is a repeated pattern, a repeated pattern. It's just not stopping.
Speaker: That's another time. But what do we do? He says, release it. Release the hurt from your heart. Forgive actually means to release.
Speaker: So if that person repents, he says, forgive. The meaning of of forgiveness is to release it, let it go. So maybe you would say, yeah, but what about, you know, if they're not, if they keep on repeating it?
Speaker: Well, the thing is, in your heart, you can forgive them, but you have to say, i can forgive them, but I cannot yet trust them.
Speaker: There's a difference between forgiving and trusting. And so trust takes actions, actions that are headed in the right direction over a specific period of time. Like it has to be a longer time. Forgiveness can be instantaneous.
Speaker: And the reason we forgive is because the Lord has forgiven us. You know, Colossians three talks about that, that we're going to forgive because he first forgave me.
Speaker: And so we have to say, okay, But I thought it was interesting, something that Chuck Swindoll wrote about this, where it says, forgive seven times a day.
Speaker: And some some other verses in Matthew and so forth say, you should forgive them 70 times seven. Because Peter's like, if I forgive them seven times, then am I done? He says, no, 70 times seven.
Speaker: And so here's what Chuck Swindoll wrote. He said, realistically, Someone repenting and apologizing nearly 50 times every week would begin to suggest a lack of sincerity.
Speaker: And in a practical sense, we might want to await our ah to limit our exposure to continual offenses. Fortunately, he didn't mean that we should continually volunteer for repeated hurt.
Speaker: He used hyperbole, exaggeration for the sake of effect, to emphasize our willingness to forgive. Yes, I'm willing to forgive, but I cannot continue to to receive this kind of hurt over and over and over again.
Speaker: So when the disciples hear this, what the Lord is saying, look at what they said to him in verse five. The apostle said to the Lord, man, will increase our faith.
Speaker: Maybe they're realizing I can't do anything like that. And maybe there's other things they would put in there as well. And so unbelief before the challenges of life. See, sooner or later, every disciple will face a challenge in life that he or she is no longer capable in their own human ability to resolve.
Speaker: It's like, Lord, I can't fix this. I'm at a loss. So discipleship is when we learn to walk by faith and not by sight, like it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7.
Speaker: So notice what their request is. Their request is, it's very innocent. It's very sincere. And their request is, Lord, increase our faith.
Speaker: That word increase means add to it, make it bigger, because I just have a little bit of faith. So that's the request. The request is for a boost in faith. And maybe that's what you're thinking.
Speaker: Maybe you're thinking, man, I just got to have more faith about this. But here's the second thing. in In his reply, what does Jesus say to them whenever they say, I need a bigger faith. I need you to increase my faith. I need you to add to my faith.
Speaker: He says, you know what you need is a readjustment regarding bulk, bulk in faith, because they're thinking if it's bigger than I know I can do it.
Speaker: And so the Lord says, you know what? If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, so just a little bit. Do you know how big a mustard seed is?
Speaker: I mean, it's like a poppy seed or a pinhead. It's like one to two millimeters in diameter. So it's just strange how, if you plant a mustard seed in the ground,
Speaker: Those things can grow about 15 feet high, but it's just amazing that the Lord is saying, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, you don't need more faith. We got to adjust that.
Speaker: He said, what we need to do is redirect, redirect your faith toward the right being, redirect toward the right being for faith.
Speaker: You see, it's not the audacity. It's not the size of our faith. It's the ability of our God. And so he says to him, to those guys, he said, um a grain of mustard, 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.
Speaker: See, it's not about your faith. It's not about my faith. It's about his power. What has God got power to do? He chooses a phenomenal illustration of a mulberry tree.
Speaker: He knew that they were known for tenacity. They were known for longevity. The Jewish rabbis used to say that they had such an extensive root system, those mulberry trees, they would be around for 600 years.
Speaker: But what is your faith in Who is your faith in? Is it in the Lord? I ran across an amusing illustration. It's just an illustration.
Speaker: But I thought it's funny how sometimes the smallest thing can lead to some incredible things. Have you ever heard about the Canadian named Kyle MacDonald in July 2005?
Speaker: He got frustrated and he said, you know what? I need a place to live. I'm tired of living where I live. So he got a red paperclip and he said, I'm going to try to make internet exchanges until I can exchange for a house.
Speaker: And you're saying, who's going to exchange a house for a red paperclip? Well, it took him 14 trades, but you know what he wound up with? You can document, I mean, it's documented.
Speaker: He ended up with a two-story farmhouse in a place called Kipling, Saskatchewan. We used to live in Saskatchewan. I don't remember where Kipling was, but anyway, somewhere there they said, you'll know which one it is because out front of the house, they have a huge statue of a big red paperclip.
Speaker: It's like, this is the guy, you know, because eventually he kept going. He didn't even need the house anymore. And so he donated the house to Kipling, Saskatchewan. And they said, well, we're going to turn this into a museum. And then they hit the gold mine. They said, we're going to turn into a coffee shop.
Speaker: So everybody goes there and drinks coffee and thinks about the possibilities with just a small little thing. But I read a book by Thomas Eliff called Praying for Others. He talks about prayer.
Speaker: And here's what he said. It's almost like there's a series of things we need to get straight in our mind. First, God permits a need to enter your life. So if you are having a hard time, that's a need.
Speaker: There's something you can't fix. So God allows that. So why did God allow that? Well, God allowed that so you would turn to him in prayer to help you with that need.
Speaker: So then the third thing is God reveals his will. As you look in the scriptures, you're just daily reading through it. You're not hunting and pecking for a certain verse. You're just reading in your daily devotions. I tried to share with you from time to time. I try to share you where where I've read on a given Sunday.
Speaker: So this morning it was Isaiah 12. But I just want to encourage you. Get into God's word. God speaks through his word, but God reveals his will through his word. And we have to trust God to fulfill his word in his time and in his way.
Speaker: So that leads to the last one is we have to wait for God to answer. I encourage you to write down first John five verses 14 and 15. and to think about what it's promising us.
Speaker: But I have one more point that I wanted to get to before we close our time together. That fourth stumbling block would be entitlement. I'm so afraid that our society is drifting in the direction of entitlement, where everybody feels that they're owed everything.
Speaker: Entitlement after serving the Lord. How do you feel if you've served the Lord and yet your problems don't go away? Have you ever thought, but Lord, I'm trying as hard as I can.
Speaker: Does God owe us anything? Is he obligated to us? See, the point of the parable that's found in verses 7 through 10 is that God is not a debtor to the disciple.
Speaker: We are debtors to him. We're debtors to him. But see, these Pharisees and these scribes, they were addicted to attention. You can read about it in Luke 20, verses 45 to 47.
Speaker: So Jesus was not training his disciples to be addicted to attention. You know what he wanted them to be addicted to? It's faithfulness. He wanted them to be addicted to obedience to what he had told them to do.
Speaker: And so Jesus closes out by asking three rhetorical questions and making one final word of exhortation as their life coach. The first rhetorical question answered this, could you give me an illustration?
Speaker: of a faithful servant you read verse 7 and it says will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him who when he has come in from the field come in once and recline a table if you're paying somebody as an employee you want them to be doing the job and so the answer to that rhetorical question would be no But then the next rhetorical question, the answer would be yes.
Speaker: Because in the next verse, he says, 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.
Speaker: Answer to that is yes, that's it. That's it. When the servant says, no, I want to give the master the best and I will take what's left over. Is that your attitude toward God?
Speaker: I want to give him the best I have. Sometimes I think we get so busy in life, we're giving God leftovers. And we're we're taking all the main things. And we need to say, no, you know what? I admire.
Speaker: I admire the Lord Jesus Christ so much. So the admiration of a faithful servant is he says, you know what? It's really all about him. It's not about me. And so the third rhetorical question in verse 9 is the expectation of a faithful servant.
Speaker: You know, the expectation of a faithful servant, he should say, you know what? It's an honor to serve him. It's an honor to serve the Lord. And I hope you feel that way.
Speaker: You know, I've always felt after the Lord forgave me of all my sins, I've always felt like... if If he doesn't give me anything else in my whole life, he's already promised me eternity.
Speaker: He's already given me his Holy Spirit. He's already washed away all my sins. He walks with me and talks with me and comforts me, encourages me. And I thought to myself, no, you know what?
Speaker: If he wants to bless me with anything, that's great. But my final ultimate expectation is, I just want to fall down when I get to heaven and I want to give him thanks. And I think that's what verse 10 is all about, right?
Speaker: Verse 10 says, so you also, he's talking to disciples, so you disciples also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, you know what? We are unworthy servants.
Speaker: We have only done what was our duty. See, he says, when you have done all of your duty, when you have done all that you were commanded.
Speaker: So I thought about faithful obedience. That's the exhortation he's trying to exhort them to. But not only that, but also grateful service. He said, we've only done what was our duty.
Speaker: And maybe you'd say, but I don't like that being called an unworthy servant. I just want to remind you that being called an unworthy servant is not being called an unvaluable servant.
Speaker: You see, when Jesus went to the cross, he showed you, he showed me, he showed all of us how much he loves us. He showed us what he was willing to do for us.
Speaker: But now we should say, Lord, I'm so unworthy. Some of you know that my mentor, Dr. Steve Gaines, passed away at 68 years of age.
Speaker: He had served 20 years as the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. Bellevue Baptist Church, if you've never been to Memphis, you might not realize that church, but he had about 25,000 to 30,000, somewhere in that range.
Speaker: But you know what his favorite verse was? He must increase. I must decrease. You know what he said when he was interviewed some of those last times? They said, how do you want to be remembered?
Speaker: And here's what Steve said. He said, I just want to be remembered as a knucklehead whose life was transformed by Jesus. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker: Aren't we all? I mean, that's it. That's what it is. That's our message that we want to give to everybody. Not calling you knucklehead. I'm just saying our message is he's done so much more for us than we've ever done for him.
Speaker: So just out of gratitude, if you want to read 1 Timothy 1, 12 to 16, it's a great passage because the apostle Paul says, what was it like before he became a Christian?
Speaker: And what what it what was it like after he became a Christian? And what happened in the middle that changed everything? And what happened in the middle was grace, was faith and love in Christ, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Speaker: So I just encourage you. As you're following the Savior, just be only alert because those those stumbling blocks, they are out there.
Speaker: They're going to trip you up if you're not watching for them. If you don't stay alert, he said, pay attention to yourself. So let me ask you four closing questions and then we'll have the invitation.
Speaker: Are you influencing anyone else to sin? The second thing is, are you consumed with bitterness?
Speaker: from the past. The third one, are you struggling with doubts rather than walking by faith? The fourth one, are you hijacked by entitlement for what you have done and disappointed with God that he hasn't mailed you a crown?
Speaker: Well, Would you stand with me? I want to give a time of invitation because there may be someone here who'd say, man, I just didn't know. ah didn't know. And the Lord's word has given light.
Speaker: So maybe you'd say, I need to follow Christ. I need to trust Christ. Somebody help me so we can set up an appointment to help you so we can do it without pressure. But let's go to the Lord in prayer. I'll be standing down here if there's some decision you need to make.
Speaker: Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. Help us to pay attention because following you, it's such a great life. It is so full of joy.
Speaker: It's so full of gratitude. There's so much power and so many wonderful things, so much peace. But along the way, there are these stumbling blocks. There are these baits.
Speaker: And if it's not Satan, then it's the world. If it's not the world, then it's our flesh. But if it's not our flesh, then it could be someone who's claiming to be a Christian and they're trying to bait me into following some sinful pattern.
Speaker: Help us, O Lord, go around. Help us to go around that stumbling block. Help us, O Lord, to stay focused on Jesus as we go through our life. If any here don't know Christ, this is the day.
Speaker: Let them say yes to Christ today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
