Luke 17:1-10 "The Marks of the Disciple vs The Marks of a Pharisee" (Carlton 10:30am)

Hello, everyone.

We're not going to look at it today, but that first reading from Psalm chapter 40. Whether I could say Psalm 40 is my favorite psalm, I probably can't because I'd have a different favorite psalm every week of the year. But it's one of my favorites. And I particularly love that verse there. I think it's verse eight where it says, I delight to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me.

And I love that verse many ways it captures one of the things I'm trying to do when I preach God's words each Sunday is I want us to be people who delight in God's Word. I want us to be people who are amazed by God's Word, who are struck by it, who see just how incredible it is. And I hope that's been the case for you as we've been looking at Luke's gospel. And please turn to Luke's Gospel now. So Luke chapter 17 that we're looking at.

I hope that's been the case because this segment we've been working through in Luke's Gospel, I think has some of the most amazing teaching of Jesus. Certainly, I think, you know, some of the great parables. And so a few weeks ago we looked at the parable of the lost Son. I said that's not a very good name for it, but that's what they call it. But that parable captures the gospel so clearly, how we are lost without Jesus, but God wants us to be found.

And God delights. He rejoices when we repent and turn back to him, as I say, some of the great moments of Jesus teaching. But we've also had in this little segment some of, I think the hardest moments of Jesus teaching. Like last week, if you remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus, probably one of the hardest words Jesus said where he talked about the reality of heaven and hell and he gave us that great challenge. He said, will you listen to God's word?

That's how he challenged the Pharisees. Will you listen to God's word or are you just going to have hard hearts and hard ears? Will you listen? Will you repent? And his big point was this life is your opportunity.

It's now or never. Heaven and hell rests on your response to Jesus in this life so much harder word. But again, one of Jesus most memorable stories. But turn now to Luke 17:1 10 that we just read. This is not one of Jesus most famous parables.

And in fact, a lot of people sort of think, what's this Here it's just like Luke is pulling to get to together. Four unconnected thoughts Jesus had about being a disciple. I think that really misses what's going on here. And I want to help you see this. This morning, see who has Jesus spent the last couple of chapters talking to and focusing on?

It's like a revision test. Someone, please. The Pharisees. He's been talking to the Pharisees, his enemies. Not that Jesus treats them as his enemies, but they treat Jesus as their enemy.

And so he's been talking to the Pharisees, he's been challenging them. Now he turns to talking to his disciples. He's finished with the Pharisees, he's left them with that question really hanging in their ears. What are you going to do with my word? Are you going to listen or not?

But now, as he turns to his disciples and he gives them these four different words about being a disciple of Jesus, I think what he's trying to say to them is every one of these things is here because it's a reaction against the Pharisees. It's like he's saying to his disciples, if you want to be a disciple, then you could do a pretty good job by just doing the opposite of what you've seen the Pharisees do. Which would have been groundbreaking for the disciples because they looked up to the Pharisees, they were the leaders, they were meant to be the godly people. But Jesus is saying, if you want to think about how to be a disciple, do the opposite of what they do and you'll do pretty well. So that's what I think he's getting at.

That's what I think these little bits of teaching have in common. So four points, four little snippets of teaching for disciples of Jesus. So come with me now to point one, and it is a warning. And this is the warning. It's do not get led astray.

And especially, whatever you do, do not lead other people astray. So let's look from verse one, he said to his disciples, offences will certainly come. Jesus can never be accused of sugarcoating the truth. I think you see that as we read through Luke's Gospel. That's why we've heard him say so many times, if you want to be my disciple, it is the hard choice.

Over and over again, Jesus says, it's the narrow door, it's the difficult road, it's the hard path. And so here he says, I can guarantee you, if you want to be my disciple, you are going to face offences now by Offences, he means stumbling blocks to your faith. So he's warning his disciples, it's going to be difficult following me. You are going to be tempted to sin over and over and over again. That is gonna be the story of your life.

You will have people who try to discourage you. You will have people who try to lead you astray. You will be tempted to give up your faith, either to walk away from Jesus or to say, actually, I just want the things of this world more than I want Jesus. You are going to have costs on this narrow road of following Jesus. Don't think you'll be the one person who's immune.

That is just the reality. And so, as he says down at verse three, go to verse three. Be on your guard. Now, here he just gives the little snippets. In other parts of God's Word, we get told how to be on our guard.

This is why we need to know God's Word so well. This is why we need to be people who immerse ourselves in God's Word so we're not led astray. In other places, we're told, watch out for false teachers, watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing who will try to lead you astray. They'll tell you that sin is good and good is sin. They'll tell you actually what God's Word says, it doesn't really say that, it says this.

And if you only knew it better, you'd understand that. And actually, this is many parts of the church at the moment, and it's been many parts of the church for 2000 years, where false teachers come and they want to compromise on God's Word. In our world at the moment, it's often in the issue area of gender and human sexuality. In other times, it's been, did Jesus really rise from the dead? Or the authority of God's Word?

The topic changes, the issue of the day changes. But the point is, be on your guard. Test what you hear. Use the gifts God has given you. He's given you His Word, you can understand it.

He's given you prayer. He's given you in particular, the gift of fellowship. Brothers and sisters in Christ, be on your guard, because these offences will certainly come. But just because they are certain, just because they are inevitable, doesn't mean God excuses a person who brings them. God has an awful judgment in store for anyone who puts a stumbling block in front of one of his children, that is, anyone who seeks to lead one of his disciples astray.

So look at verse one again. It says, offences will Certainly come. But woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So a millstone was a massive stone that they used to crush the grain to get the heads of wheat out and so forth.

It would have weighed something like 300 kilos. And so Jesus is saying here what God will do to people who lead his little ones astray, who lead his disciples away from Him. You would be better off having one of those. Having the equivalent might be, you know, one of those two door fridges tied around your neck and being thrown into the sea. You would be better off having that fate than what God will do if you lead one of his children astray.

Understand the seriousness of what he's saying here. Human beings do awful things to one another. But the worst thing we can do to someone is to lead someone away from Jesus. Ultimately, to lead someone away from salvation and as he said in the parable last week, into hell. That is what the Pharisees were doing to the people of his day.

And so Jesus is saying to his disciples, and now to us as children of his, as disciples of His God, do not let that happen to you. First of all, don't be led astray. But he's also saying, don't be that person yourself. Hear the gravity of this warning. Don't be someone who encourages other people into sin.

Don't be someone who encourages other people, who puts stumbling blocks in front of other people. Especially don't be someone who encourages other people away from faith in Jesus. Which leads us to point two. Come to point two, which is treat sin seriously in yourself and in others. Rather than leading our brothers and sisters astray.

Jesus says, do the opposite. Love them enough to challenge them if they are heading into sin and walking away from Jesus. So look at verse three. He says, be on your guard. And if your brother sins, rebuke him.

Godliness matters. Jesus died for your sin. He died to pay the price for your sin. Now he wants you to put off that sin and live for Him. Sin matters.

Dealing with sin matters. And so, as he's just said, offenses are going to come. There's going to be temptation all over the place. So be on your guard yourself. Watch yourself.

But then his challenge is also, love your brothers and sisters enough to be on guard for them and to challenge them when they are drifting into sin, when they are falling into sin. Most Christians balk at this that is the reality. I'm not going to ask for it now because it'd be too disappointing to me. But if I asked for a show of hands, I think most people here would say, I think that's your job, Phil. That's why we pay you the big dollars.

You know, that sort of thing. To be the elder, to be the pastor that most Christians balk at this. Why do we balk at it? Why does this fill us with dread, the idea of challenging another person about sin in their life? First reason is fear.

Fear. What if they don't like me? What if they respond badly? We're fearful. Well, to that, Jesus would say, don't you love them enough that you care more about their eternal destiny than what they think of you now?

So fear. But I think the other reason is we think, isn't this what the Pharisees were like? And I don't want to be a Pharisee. Can I say, I think most modern Christians are in no danger of being Pharisees in this way. We are in other ways.

I'll talk about later, but not in this way. We are far more in danger of not treating sin seriously enough. The Pharisees were not rebuking their brothers and sisters out of concern and love. They weren't actually rebuking their brothers and sisters at all. They.

They were standing in judgment over them. They weren't interested in them finding forgiveness. They were just loved. Talking amongst themselves. Look at how bad that guy is.

Look at what he does. Look at what she does. That was the Pharisees. They were standing apart, judging and condemning. And this is not talking about getting a microscope to look for sin in other people's lives and being busy bodies.

That's not what it's talking about. This is talking about within the people of God. If there is someone who sins against us, first of all, well, then, instead of doing, frankly, what our world does and what we often do, sadly as Christians, which is just giving them the cold shoulder, or just removing ourselves from them, or just even more gossiping and saying to other people, can you believe what that person did to me? Can you believe? Can you believe what?

That. No. Jesus says, no, I want you to gently and graciously raise it with them with the hope of repentance and forgiveness. Or perhaps it's not sin against us, but we see a brother or sister making decisions that are ungodly. This is not talking about when a person stumbles and sins and recognises themselves and is sorry about it and so forth.

This is talking about where a person is continuing in sin and doesn't care. He's not seeking to change. Do we love them enough to gently warn them and challenge them? That's what Jesus is asking. As I've thought about this during the week, I almost don't want to give examples in case people think I'm talking about them, but I think we need examples.

You know, if someone is just consistently gossiping is just a consistent gossip, that is what they do. Do you love them enough to say, I don't think that's helpful and I think you should think about how you speak or if someone's consistently speaking in a way that is ungodly, you know, swearing or slandering. Perhaps you're seeing the way a person drinks to excess and this is becoming a pattern. Perhaps they're entering an ungodly relationship. A relationship that is not honouring to Jesus or the relationship they are in is being conducted in a way that doesn't honour Jesus.

Perhaps they're failing to meet together with God's people like God's word commands. Whatever it is, if you love them, you will gently and graciously challenge them. Because here is the thing, unrepentant sin matters. It leads people away from salvation in Jesus. It leads people away from eternity with Christ.

If we are happy to just let a brother or sister keep sinning with a high hand, to just keep I know it's sin and I don't care, I'm going to keep doing it, then perhaps we do not love them. That's Jesus point. Treat sin seriously in yourself and in others. But in the second part of this point, and so ensuring we're not like the Pharisees. So come to my part B of this.

Be a forgiver, not a judger. The Pharisees love to point out sin in other people's lives. But they did it to judge, they did it to belittle. They did it to show that they were better. We do it because we want there to be a restored relationship.

We do it because especially we want to offer forgiveness. So look again at verse three. He says, if your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. This is so important. If a person repents, then we forgive.

We put it behind us and we let it go. That is what it is to be a Christian. It really is as simple as that. We love to make it complicated. We love to come up with all sorts of real but what about this, but what about that?

Jesus is making a very simple point. Are you willing to forgive. Now, as I say, the Pharisee in us loves to come up with all sorts of caveats for this. And if you're listening and you, like me, have anything of the heart of the Pharisee in you, which I think is probably 100% of the congregation not standing in judgment. But if you immediately think, but what abouts.

But what abouts. But what about those extreme situations? You don't understand, Phil, but this person did this. And some situations are very hard and very complicated. Though I want to say, truth be told, not as many as people like to think.

People love to think they're in the extreme situation when they're not. So. So Jesus deals with one sort of Pharisee straight away. The person who says, yeah, but what about if they keep doing it? What about if they keep sinning against me?

Well, look at verse four. He says, and if he sins against you seven times in a day and comes back to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Please hear how massive this is and understand Jesus thought of your objection before you did. Cause again, the Pharisee in Moses says, but that's outlandish, because surely that means their repentance is not real. That can't be right.

You know, I shouldn't have to forgive a person who just keeps asking for forgiveness. Jesus seems to say, it's not your job to worry about that. You just get on with forgiving. Now, yes, it is complicated, especially when we're dealing with very serious situations like abuse and the like. And if you do want to think it through some more, I did some talks for our big day out a few years ago, which I hope some people might remember, and they're still on the website.

And if you really want to think through what does this look like? Well, I've got 80 minutes of material for you to think about, a theology of forgiveness there and reconciliation and all those questions. So put that on your feedback slip and I'll send you the link to those to help you find those talks. But here Jesus is making the fundamental point. So please do not be a Pharisee.

Don't try to minimise what Jesus is calling us to do and hear the weight of what he is saying. He is saying to you, are you a forgiver or are you a judger? Are you a forgiver or are you a judge? Are you quick to forgive or do you actually like to hold on to hurt? That's what he's asking.

Do you like to rationalise why what Jesus is saying doesn't Quite apply to your situation, but does to other people. That's a very dangerous place to be. Jesus doesn't expand on this here, but what he makes very clear in other places is if you are not a forgiver, that is a very, very dangerous place to be. Because if we are unwilling to forgive others, that suggests we have not grasped the depths of our own sin and we have not actually received the forgiveness of God. That's his point.

It suggests that maybe we are the Pharisee ourselves who hasn't actually received God's forgiveness ourselves. You know, when we pray the Lord's Prayer and we pray that very dangerous line, it always saddens me when in some denominations, including our own, the Lord's Prayer becomes something you say off road. But you know that line we say in the Lord's Prayer, father, forgive us our sin, as in the same way as we forgive those who sin against us. Whenever you say that pause before you do because it's one of the most dangerous things that's ever been said. They are scary words.

It's saying, if I am a judger, not a forgiver, then maybe I have not received God's forgiveness and understood God's forgiveness myself. That's a hard word, don't you think? And I think that was what led to the next point. Point three, faith is what you need. Come to verses five and six.

I think the disciples thought at this point, how on earth can anyone do this? How on earth can anyone forgive like that? So it's natural. They then ask the question they do in verse five. So they say, the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith.

They're saying, jesus, I don't think we're up for this. I don't think we can manage this. We don't know if we've got enough faith in you to live the way you want us to. To live. Give us more faith.

So what does Jesus say? Look with me. He says, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you. The mustard seed was the tiniest thing you could think of in their way of thinking, so it'd be like a grain of dust. And I think he looked around for whatever the biggest thing was at this point when he was teaching his disciples and he saw the mulberry tree with its big sturdy roots, and he picked that to make the point in other places, and you probably know those places better.

He sees a mountain and he says, this mountain could be thrown into the sea he's using as an example. What is the point Jesus is making? His point is that even the tiniest bit of faith is powerful to do great things. And that is because it's not the amount of faith that is the question, it's what or who your faith is in that matters. The question is not how much faith do I have, it's do you have faith?

Is my faith in someone trustworthy and powerful to do it? See, the question is, do you believe in Jesus or not? Do you trust Jesus or not? It's not a how much. It's a simple yes or no question.

And if you do have faith in Jesus, God will do incredible things. Firstly, by faith, God forgives you and makes you his child. And that is actually the greatest that makes putting a mountain in the sea or a mulberry tree in the sea look like nothing dealing with the sin of humankind. God moves you from death to life. Is there any greater work than that?

And he does that by faith in in Jesus. Have faith in him and he will keep you. And he will help you face all those inevitable obstacles and stumbling blocks. And by faith, he will change you and make you a person who is a forgiver, not a judger. And let me tell you, for many of us here, certainly for this person here, that is a far bigger work of God than moving any mulberry tree.

Turning us from judges, which is our natural inclination to be Pharisees, into forgivers, is bigger than moving a mountain into the sea. Even a mustard seed of faith in Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world. So whatever you do, have faith, trust in Jesus. That now brings us to this final point. Come with me.

And for this last point, Jesus tells us, I think, a really surprising story if you know Jesus. So I'll read it again. Look for verse seven. He says, which one of you, having a servant tending sheep or ploughing, will say to him, when he comes in from the field, come at once, sit down to eat instead, will he not? Tell him, prepare something for me to eat, get ready and serve me while I eat and drink.

Later you can eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded? Now, I call this a surprising story. If you've got your thinking cap on and you know the Gospels at all, why is it surprising? It's because it really doesn't sound like Jesus, does it?

Because in just about every other story Jesus tells, he says, I've come to serve, not be served. I've come, let Me wash your feet rather than you wash mine. We expect Jesus to take this story in a very different direction. Cause that's what he does. Every other time he tells a story like this, we expect him to say, but this master will do something really unusual.

He will welcome you back in from the field and say, hey, you, put your feet up, let me cook you the meal. That seems to ring true with what Jesus says in other places. And then the master might even say, hey, take your shoes off and let me wash your feet. And all of that. That would seem to fit better with what Jesus usually says in stories like this.

But that's not what he says here. There are many other places where Jesus teaches us to be servants, where Jesus actually makes the point, the first will be last and the last will be first in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, the story he told just last week about the rich man and Lazarus sort of made that point, didn't it? Because who is the man who ends up in heaven, the man who had nothing in this life? Who is the man who ends up in hell?

It's the rich man. Jesus makes that point over and over again. He teaches us the heart of following him, of being a disciple, and is to serve rather than be served. Here Jesus is making a different point and I want you to hear it, because I think this is such an important point and perhaps the point we need to hear more than any other point he is addressing. That attitude every Christian falls into at different points.

Where we act like God should be thankful to us for being godly. Where we act like somehow we're doing God a favor when we do the things we should just do anyway. Where we act like God owes us something for just loving him and worshiping him and meeting with our brothers and sisters in Christ and loving our neighbour and listening to his word and obeying like God should be thankful to me for what I give up for serving him. That was the way the Pharisees thought. It's not the way disciples of Jesus should think.

But sadly, it's the way many of us do think. Look at me. God should have a special place. Look at what I do compared to that person over there. God should be thankful for what I do for him.

Here is the thing. Even if you lived a life of perfect righteousness, no one does. But even if you did, and even if you obeyed every commandment God ever gave, which we haven't, but if we did, if you forgave people not just seven times today, but 70 times seven, to quote someone, even if you poured out your whole life in his service. You taught kids church, you taught scripture, you visited nursing homes, you serve on the morning tea roster and make really nice things for everyone. And then you went as a missionary overseas.

God doesn't owe you anything for that. You are doing less than God deserves. Because we would just be doing what we're meant to do with joy anyway, which is serving Him. That's the attitude of a disciple of Jesus. It's funny how as Christians, we know that we are saved by grace.

You know that, don't you? Someone please affirm that you do know. You know that we are saved by grace. You know that we are saved as a free gift, not by works that no one can boast. You know that you receive that gift.

How? Through faith alone, in Christ alone. These are the great truths of the Reformation, where they rediscovered the Bible. It's funny how as Christians, we know that I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But then, as saved people, as we start to live the Christian life and seek to do the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do, we can forget that and we can start to become Pharisees, not disciples.

And we can start to think that somehow God owes me something for the good works I do as a Christian. The truth is there in verse 10. Look at verse 10. In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say we are unworthy servants. We've only done our duty.

Now here is the wonder of it all. The wonder is God is not like the master in this story. And when we come in from the field of this life, God welcomes us into the heavenly banquet. If we trust in Jesus, God calls us his children, not his servants. Our Saviour came, as I've said repeatedly, to serve rather than be served, to give his life a ransom for many.

And God then loves the good works we do in his service, and good works done through faith. Because of our faith, when we stand before him, he will say, well done, good and faithful servant, come and join me in the heavenly banquet. But if he didn't do that, we would have no right to complain because he doesn't owe us that. He doesn't owe us anything. See, Jesus wants us to know the grace of God.

He wants us to know how amazing the grace of God is. But he doesn't want us to be people who presume on God's grace, who think somehow we deserve God's grace. Which means it isn't grace given. Grace is a Free gift. He doesn't want us to be like the Pharisees had become and start to think that God owes us something.

So, yes, marvel at the wonderful grace of God and marvel at the wonderful love of God that he loves a sinner like you and me. But never forget he doesn't owe us anything. The Pharisees forgot that. And so what did that then look like? They started to be proud of their service.

They started to compare themselves to other people and think they were better. As if God owed them something. That is not the disciple of Jesus. We love to serve our Master, but when we get to the end, whatever we do, big or small, we say it's less than our Master deserved. So let's not be Pharisees.

That's the message from this passage. Let's not be Pharisees, let's be disciples. Offences will come, so be on your guard. Don't be led astray. And whatever you do, do not lead others astray.

Treat sin seriously in yourself and in other people, but be forgivers, not judges. Have faith, because God is able to do amazing things through faith in Jesus. And serve God with everything. But remember that whatever you do, God doesn't owe us anything. We're only giving him less than he deserves.

Those are the marks of someone who's not a Pharisee but is a true disciple of Jesus. Let me pray. Our Heavenly Father, help us not to be like the Pharisees. Instead, help us to be true disciples of Jesus. We know that offences will come, so help us to be on our guard for ourselves and others.

Help us to treat sin seriously in our own lives first, but also to love our brothers and sisters enough to be willing to have hard words at point, to challenge one another. But help us always to have an attitude of forgiveness, not judgment. Help us to be people of faith in Jesus, and help us to be people who long to serve you and serve our Lord Jesus, but recognising that whatever we do, it is less than he deserves. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.