Luke 17:1-10 "The Marks of the Disciple vs The Marks of a Pharisee" (Carlton 9:00am)

G', day, everyone. It's good to see you all. We're not looking at Psalm 40 today, but as it was read, I was just reminded how it is one of my favorite psalms. And I especially love verse 8 where it says, I delight to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me. And in many ways I love that verse because it captures what I'm trying to do when I preach.

You can decide if I succeed or not. But what I'm trying to do is, amongst many things, is to share with you my love of God's Word and His instruction and to encourage you to love God's Word and to delight in God's Word and delight in his instruction. And I hope you've been doing that in this part of Luke's gospel that we've been looking at over the last few weeks, because in many ways these chapters of Luke and please turn to the reading from Luke now, which we'll be looking at rather than Psalm 40. But these chapters of Luke's Gospel contain some of the great teaching of Jesus. They are some of in particular the great parables.

And possibly the greatest of the parables we looked at a few weeks ago, the parable gets called the parable of the Lost Son. I said that wasn't a great name for it. But in that parable where Jesus makes the gospel so clear, he makes it so clear that we are lost without him. And in fact, we have no hope apart from Christ. But God desires us to be found.

God longs that we would repent and turn back to Him. In fact, when we repent and turn back and trust in him, it tells us that God rejoices, that there is rejoicing in heaven. God longs to forgive and welcome us back into his kingdom. And as I say, some of the great moments of Jesus teaching, it also contains some of the hardest words of Jesus teaching. Like last week with the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus.

I think one of the hardest words Jesus says, really, where Jesus talked about the reality of heaven and hell and he gave us that great challenge. Will we be like the Pharisees and ignore God's Word? Will we ignore God's Word? And his point was everything hangs on our response to God's word. Heaven and hell hang on this.

And this life is your opportunity to respond. It's an incredibly powerful but hard message. But again, one of Jesus most memorable stories. This next little part, these 10 verses we're just looking at this morning, isn't one of those famous parables. It's not a part where you remember the story.

In fact, a lot of people think this little section is just Luke pulling together four little snippets of Jesus teaching about being a disciple that he couldn't find somewhere else to put it. That's how they describe it. I think that misses what's going on in these 10 verses, and I want to share that with you this morning. See, who has Jesus spent the last couple of chapters talking to? Who is it that he's been focused on and challenging for the last couple of chapters?

The Pharisees, his great enemies. Not that Jesus treated them as enemies, but you know what I mean, his opponents. Now Jesus turns to talk to his disciples. But these are not just four random thoughts for discipleship. What they are is a response to everything he's been saying to the Pharisees.

He's finished with the Pharisees. It's like you guys decide whether you're going to repent, whether you're going to listen to me or not. But now, as he turns to his disciples and gives them these four words, they're not random little tips for living to follow Jesus. What he's saying is what it looks like to be a disciple is so different to what the Pharisees did. It's so different to how the Pharisees lived, because the disciples thought the Pharisees were the example of what it is to follow God.

But now, as he just gives these four little thoughts on discipleship, it's like he's saying, whatever you do, in any situation, choose to do the opposite of the Pharisees. And I hope you'll see that as we look through it together, don't look to the Pharisees. Instead, listen to these words. That's what's going on here. So let's look at them.

There's four points, though I sort of cheated because some of them have a couple of sub points. But anyway, point one is a warning. And this is the warning. Do not be led astray. Do not be led astray.

And especially, whatever you do, do not lead other people astray. So let's look from verse one, says he said to his disciples, offences will certainly come. Jesus can never be accused of sugarcoating the truth. That's why we've heard him say so many times, if you want to be my disciple, he says, it's going to be the hard decision. It's going to be the narrow door, it's going to be the hard path, the harder road.

And so here he says, I can guarantee you that if you want to be my disciple, you are going to face offences. Now, by offenses, he means stumbling blocks to your faith. So you will be tempted to sin. That's just reality. You will have people who try to discourage you, you will have people who try to lead you away from following me.

You will be tempted to give up your faith. He says, that's the reality of this hard road I'm asking you to walk on. This is the reality of following me. Don't think you will be immune. These things are inevitable.

They. They will happen to you. And so he says down in verse three, go to verse three. Be on your guard. Now, in other parts of God's word, we're told how to be on our guard.

This is why we need to know God's word. This is why we need to soak ourselves in the word of God to read it, to immerse ourselves in it, so we're not led astray. In other places, we're taught to watch out for false teachers, for wolves in sheep's clothing who will try to lead you astray. They will tell you that that sin is good and good things are sin, which is exactly what is happening and it's happened for 2,000 years and it's happening in our world at the moment. They'll say, God's word doesn't say what it means to say.

It actually says the opposite of what it seems to say to you. Frankly, that is many parts of the church at the moment. And at the moment it's often the big issue is gender and human sexuality where people say, oh, don't listen to God's word. It's, it's wrong, it's, don't understand. Other times it's been about whether Jesus really rose from the dead.

But whatever the issues of the day, Jesus point is, be on your guard. Test what you hear. Use the gifts God has given you of his word of prayer and especially of the fellowship of brothers and sisters. Do not give up meeting together. Be on your guard, because these offenses will certainly come.

But just because they are inevitable, just because they are certain, 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, who leads one of his children, one of his disciples, astray. So read 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.

A millstone was a massive stone they used for milling the grain, for crushing the grain, to get the heads of wheat out and so forth. It would have weighed something like 300 kilos. And so Jesus says, what God will do to people who lead his little ones, who lead his disciples away from him. You would be better off having one of those having like a two door fridge hung around your neck and being thrown into the sea. And you can imagine the consequences.

You'd wish that were your fate if you lead one of my little ones astray. Human beings do awful things to one another. You only have to watch the news to see that. But the worst thing we could do to someone is to lead someone away from Jesus. To lead someone away from the only hope of salvation, to lead someone to use Jesus words from last week into hell.

That is what the Pharisees were doing. And so Jesus is saying to his disciples, and now to us, first of all, don't let it happen to you. You take responsibility for yourself. Don't let someone lead you astray. But also do not be that person who does it to others.

Please hear the gravity of this warning. Do not be a person who encourages other people into sin. Do not be a person 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 2, which is treat sin seriously in yourself and in others rather than leading our brothers and sisters astray.

Jesus says do the opposite. And part of the opposite is loving one another enough to challenge someone who is heading into sin or heading away from Jesus. So look to verse three. He says, be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him.

Or if your sister sins, rebuke her. His point is godliness matters. And we're not in this alone. We need to care about one another and about one another's godliness. Jesus died for your sin, now he wants you to put off that sin and live for him.

And as he just said, offences are going to come. We're going to be tempted all the time. So be on your guard yourself, watch yourself. But also love these brothers and sisters enough to challenge them when they are falling into sin. Most Christians balk at this.

I think if I did a straw poll of, you know, the hundred and something people here today, many would say, yeah, it's something people should do, but other people should do. You should probably do it, Phil. That's why we pay you the big bucks to be Senior Minister, you know, sorry, why do we balk at it? Various reasons. One is fear.

What if they don't like me? What if they respond badly? What's the answer to that? How will you feel when you're in glory and they're not? How will you feel when you're like Lazarus and they're like the rich man?

But also, secondly, isn't this what the Pharisees were like? We think. We sort of think, 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. I don't think this is our issue.

We are far more in danger of not treating sin seriously enough in our own lives and other people's lives. The Pharisees were not rebuking their brothers and sisters out of love. The Pharisees were not rebuking their brothers and sisters out of concern. They were standing apart and judging other people. They weren't even rebuking them at all.

They were just gossiping amongst themselves about, Lord, what those awful sinners over there do. And this is not talking about looking for sin in other people's lives with a microscope and being busy bodies like the Pharisees were. This is talking about when a person sins against us, first of all. So when a person hurts us, when a person sins against us. And then instead of doing what we do and what our world does and what we do far too often, and then just giving them the cold shoulder, instead of just sort of gossiping to other people and saying, can you believe what they did to me?

Instead Jesus says, no, I want you to gently and graciously raise it with them and deal with it with the hope of repentance and forgiveness. Or perhaps it's not even sin against us, but we see a brother or sister making decisions that are ungodly. You see, this is not talking about when a person has a one off failing which they repent of themselves. No, no, no. This is where a person is continuing in sin and not looking to change.

Do we love them enough to gently challenge them, to gently warn them? As I've thought about this all week, I haven't wanted to give examples in case people think, oh, he's talking about me, because that's my, or something like that. But I think we need examples. Perhaps someone is consistently gossiping. I find it funny that what we often then do is gossip about their gossip to other people, but actually the godly thing to do is to say, that's not helpful.

Please don't do that. Perhaps someone is consistently speaking in a way that is ungodly. You know, swearing or slandering. Perhaps you're seeing the way that person drinks to excess. Perhaps they're entering an ungodly relationship, or they are in an ungodly relationship and are conducting it in an ungodly way.

Perhaps whatever it is, if you love them, you will gently and graciously challenge them. Because unrepentant sin matters. It leads people away from Jesus. It leads people ultimately away from salvation. If we are happy to just let our brother or sister keep on sinning with a high hand, then perhaps we do not love them.

Treat sin seriously in yourself first, but in others as well. But in the second part of this point and ensuring we're not like the Pharisees. Jesus says, 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 compare themselves and make themselves seem 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, 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's what it is to be a Christian. It really is as simple as that. We don't have to make it complicated.

But Jesus does it in like three words. It's as simple as that. Now, the Pharisee in us loves to come up with all the caveats for this. And if you have been sitting. I'm not asking for a show of hands at this point.

If you've been seeing anything. Yeah, but what about then? You, like me, have the heart of a Pharisee, you see? What about if they did that? You don't understand, Phil.

You don't understand. This person did this. What about those extreme situations? And some situations are very hard and very complicated. Though, truth be told, not as many as people like to think.

So Jesus deals with one type of Pharisee straight away. The person who says, yeah, but what if they just keep doing it? Well, look at verse four. 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.

If you don't understand how massive that is, you live apart from other people and don't interact with people because again, the Pharisee in Moses says, but that is outlandish. If they do that, I don't think their repentance is real and so I don't have to forgive them. That's what we say. Jesus seems to say, that's not your job to worry about. They've repented.

You forgive now. Yes, it is complicated, especially when we're dealing with serious situations like abuse and the like. And if you do want to think it through some more and think through the complications, I did some talks a few years ago and our big day out on a theology of forgiveness and repentance and reconciliation, and I think they're still on the website. So if you want to get a hold of those, if you really want to think this through, put it on your feedback slip and I'll send you a link to those talks. But here Jesus is making the fundamental point.

He is saying, please don't be a Pharisee. Don't try to minimise my call and, and hear the weight of what I am saying. Are you a forgiver or a judger? Ask yourself that question honestly. Are you a person who is quick to forgive or slow to forgive?

Do you like to rationalise why what Jesus is saying doesn't quite apply to you? Jesus doesn't expand on this here, but he does in other places. What he makes very clear is if we are not forgivers, that is a very, very dangerous place to be. If we are not people willing to forgive others, that is a very dangerous place to be. Because if we are unwilling to forgive others, it suggests we have not understood or grasped the depths of our own sin and the forgiveness of God.

It suggests that maybe we are Pharisees ourselves, who have not actually received the grace of God. It's like when you pray that very dangerous part of the Lord's Prayer, you know, when you pray the Lord's Prayer, I find it so sad that in many denominations, including sometimes our own, the Lord's Prayer just becomes something you say off by rote, rather than think about the words Jesus is saying. But you know, when you pray, father, forgive us our sins, and then what do you pray as we. In the same way that we forgive others? Just think about that for a moment.

They are scary words. People who are judges, not forgivers, need to be very, very worried. What a hard word, don't you think? And I think it was realizing how hard it was to be a forgiver, not a judger. That leads to the next point.

So come with me to point three, which is faith is what you need. How on earth can anyone forgive like that? That is what the disciples must have been thinking. So it's natural they would then ask the question they do in verse five. Look, there's the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith.

They're saying, jesus, I don't think I'm up for this. I don't think anyone can do this. We don't know if we've got enough faith to live the way you're calling your disciples to live, especially to forgive like that. Give us more faith. What does Jesus say?

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 they could think of, like a grain of dust. I think he then looked around for the nearest immovable thing and saw a big mulberry tree that had massive roots and other places. In the Gospels, he saw a mountain when he was making this point and talked about a mountain rather than a tree. But he's making the same point.

And what is that point? His point is, even the tiniest bit of faith is powerful to do great things. And that's because it is not the amount of faith that matters. That's not the question. It's who your faith is in that matters.

And are they able to do what you ask them to do. The question is not how much faith, it's is your faith in someone trustworthy and powerful to do it? The question is, do you believe in Jesus or not? Do you trust Jesus or not? It's not a how much question.

It's a simple yes or no question. And if you do have faith in Jesus, his point is God is able to do incredible things, but he's not really concerned about moving trees or even moving mountains for that point. What is God powerful to do? Well, firstly, he is powerful to forgive you. He is powerful to make you one of his children.

God moves you from death to life. And I don't think there is actually anything more wonderful or more powerful than that. But that happens by faith, by trusting in Jesus more than that. Have faith in him and he will keep you and he will help you face those inevitable offences that will come. And by faith, he will change you and make you a person who is quick to forgive rather than to judge, who is quick to forgive and slow to condemn.

And let me tell you, for many of us, that is a bigger work of God than moving a mountain to make human beings forgivers. Rather than judges. Even a mustard seed of faith in Jesus is the most powerful thing there is. So whatever you do, have faith. Whatever you do, trust in Jesus.

Whatever you do, keep trusting Jesus. That brings us to Jesus final point. And to make this last point, Jesus tells, I think, a really surprising story if you listen closely. So come with me and I'll read it out again. Look, from verse seven he says, which one of you, having a servant tending sheep or plowing, will say to him when he comes in from the field, come at once and 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, lady, you can eat and drink.

Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded? I call this a surprising story because if you're listening carefully, it really doesn't sound like Jesus. It actually sounds the opposite of what Jesus says in most other places. If you think about it, didn't Jesus wash his disciples feet rather than ask them to wash his? Didn't Jesus say that he came to serve rather than be served and to give his life a ransom for many?

We expect Jesus, I think to take this story in a very different direction. To say that the master will welcome his servant in after a long day in the field and then he'll turn things on his head and say to his servant, actually you've worked really hard, sit down and I'll cook the meal tonight. Sit down and let me make you comfortable. Let me at least get you a drink before you cook my meal. And perhaps that the master might even wash his servant's feet or something outlandish like that.

That would seem to fit better with what Jesus normally says, wouldn't it? But that's not what he says here. There are many other places where Jesus teaches us to be servants. There are many other places where Jesus makes the point that if you expect to be great in this world, you will be last in the kingdom of heaven. And in fact it's the least in this world who will be first in the kingdom of heaven.

Just think back to the parable from last week. Who is it that ends up in heaven? It's the poor man covered in sores. Who is it who end up in hell? It's the wealthy man who was first in this life here.

Jesus though is making a different point. And this is such an important point. And I think perhaps the point we need to hear even more than the other points, even though we need to hear those as well. He is addressing that attitude we all fall into at different points, where we act like God should be thankful to us for being godly, where we act like actually God owes us something for being godly. When we act like God owes me something for just doing what I should do, loving him, worshiping him, loving my neighbour, listening to his word and obeying it.

Like God should be thankful for the way I serve him, unlike those other people out there. That was the way the Pharisees thought, look at me, look at how I'm better than those other people. God should be thankful for what I do for him. And here is the thing. Even if you or I lived a life of perfect righteousness, even if you or I lived a life of perfect obedience, even if we obeyed every commandment God ever gave, which we haven't, but if we did, if we forgave people not just seven times in a day, but 70 times seven in a day, to quote Jesus at another point, even if you poured out your whole life in his service, you might lead kids church every week, you might teach scripture, you might visit nursing homes, you might be on the morning tea roster and make those really nice chicken sandwiches.

You might go as a missionary overseas. I don't know what you think is the height of Christian service. God does not owe us anything for doing that. We are just doing less than he deserves. Do you understand that?

Do you believe it? Because we would just be doing what we're meant to be doing and what we're meant to be doing with joy anyway, what we're made to do. It's funny how as Christians, we know we are saved by grace. Do you know that? First of all, say yes, please.

You know we know. Well, actually, truly converted Christians know we are saved by grace, not by works. We have nothing to boast about. We know that we receive that salvation through faith alone in Christ alone, not by works so that no one can boast. I hope you know that that's what the Reformation was about, rediscovering the Bible.

It's funny how Christians know that. But then as saved people, as we start serving the Lord Jesus and doing the good works he saved us to do, we then forget that and we start to become Pharisees, not disciples. We start to think that somehow God owes me something for the good works I do as a Christian. But the truth is there in verse 10. Even if I did all those things, look at what he says.

In the same way, when you have done all that you are commanded, you should say, we are unworthy servants. We've only done our Duty. Now, of course, the wonder of it is, God is not like the Master in this story. The wonder of it is, even though God does not owe me anything, God welcomes us into his family. If we trust in Jesus.

If we trust in Jesus, God calls us his children, not his servants. Our Savior came to serve us and give his life for us. And God then loves the good works we do in his service. God loves the things that we do through faith, because of our faith in Jesus. And he will say, well done, good and faithful servant.

And he will say, how wonderful for the way, because of your faith you sought to serve me. Come and join in my heavenly banquet. But if he didn't, we would have no right to complain because he doesn't owe us anything. See, Jesus wants us to know the wonderful grace of God, but He doesn't want us to presume on the wonderful grace of God. You see?

Never forget, God does not owe you anything. The Pharisees forgot that. And so they started to be proud of serving God. And they started to be proud of the good things they did. And they started to use that as a comparison with other people.

To say, look at me and look at how I'm better than other people. That is not what a disciple of Jesus does. We love to serve our Master. We long to put off sin. We want to be the servant of Jesus.

He wants us to be. And whatever we do, though big and small, we do it knowing it's far less than God ever deserves from us. So in response to these four little points of Jesus, let's not be Pharisees, let's be disciples. That's the message. Let's not be Pharisees, let's be disciples.

Offences will come, so be on your guard, don't get led astray. And whatever you do, do not lead other people astray. Treat sin seriously in yourself and other people, but be forgivers, not judges. Have faith, because God works miracles through faith. And serve God with everything.

But remember, whatever it is you do, God doesn't owe us anything. We're only giving him what he deserves, less than he deserves. Those are the marks of someone who is not a Pharisee, but is a real disciple of Jesus. Let me pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank youk for your Word that at different times encourages us so wonderfully and at other times challenges us so hardly.

And so, Father, we pray that we might hear this call to be disciples, not Pharisees. In particular, we pray that we would be people who treat sin seriously, who are forgivers, not judges. And people who do not serve, expecting your acclaim and your praise, but instead serve because we know that it is less than you deserve. And we pray this in Jesus name, amen.