Discipleship
Luke 17:1-10
November 22, 2015
As I begin this week, I am cognizant that there was another terrorist attack – this time in
Mali – on Friday. We grieve with those who lost loved ones and with those who were
injured. As important as those events were, I am not going to focus on them for a couple of
reasons:
1. We spent last week’s sermon on some reflections regarding the Paris attacks; the
same thing applies here today;
2. The hope of terrorists and evil is to gain attention and focus, pulling our attention
away from what is of ultimate and primary importance – namely, our worship and
service to the living God;
3. I am mindful of Paul’s command and exhortation in Philippians 4:8, “Finally,
beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if
there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”; and,
4. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, a time in which we focus and give thanks to
God in worship for all that is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable,
excellent, and worthy of praise.
For those reasons, I am not going to dwell on terrorism today.
Introduction
Today is the last sermon prior to a brief intermission in our Luke series. We begin Advent
next week, where we be looking into Isaiah. That being the case, this is a good time to
review where we’ve been.
We are wrapping up this dinner party Jesus hosted while he was on the road to Jerusalem.
Luke pointed out that tax collectors and sinners were drawn to him; he welcomed them
and invited them to share his table. The scribes and Pharisees were judging Jesus. They
were aghast and offended that Jesus would be so open to the dregs of society. When Jesus
heard their murmurings and snippy comments, he began teaching.
As Luke presents it here in the gospel, the form of Jesus teaching was fairly standard; that
is, he stated a theme, a second theme, a pivot point, then repeated the second theme, and
concluded with a reprise of the first theme.

The first theme was God’s relationship with us. He started with the parable of
three stories: the good shepherd (leaving the ninety-nine to find the one), the good
woman (searching for the lost coin), and the good father (looking for the prodigal
son – and older brother). The point in each of these stories was to demonstrate the
heart of God, searching diligently for his lost children.

The second theme was our relationship with one another. He then went on to
teach about how we should treat each other with the story of the wicked steward.
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The idea here was how the master admired the cleverness of the shrewd servant
who provided for his own future by selfishly doing what God had commanded
anyway, which was to act lovingly towards his neighbors.

The pivot point involved judgment. Then Jesus got to the place of telling the
scribes and Pharisees how they would regret their actions in God’s bigger picture.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus – where after death the rich man
unsuccessfully begged for relief from torment and pleaded to have Lazarus sent
back to the living as a warning – highlighted the consequences for ignoring God’s
call to repentance and refusing to love neighbor as self.
That is what brings us to this week’s text. Jesus completed his lesson by returning to the
second theme and concluding with a revised first theme: how disciples were to treat
others, and then back to how disciples relate to God.
Read Luke 17:1-10
As we read these words, they can sound very harsh in our modern ears. Jesus took the
opportunity and occasion of the dismissively self-righteous attitude of the scribes and
Pharisees to launch into this discourse about the heart of God and God’s expectations for
us. In teaching the disciples, Jesus was pointedly critical of how the scribes and Pharisees
were completely wrong. In the larger picture, Jesus was setting up the confrontation that
would take place in Jerusalem.
There are four steps in these verses: there is the warning against false teaching; the
requirement of forgiveness for those who repent; the power of even a little faith; and, the
proper understanding of our relationship with God.
1. We begin with the warning against false teaching. Jesus had previously noted how
the Pharisees would not enter the kingdom of heaven and were preventing others from
doing so (Luke 11:52). Here they were, the most learned experts of Scripture who were
entirely blind to what Scripture meant. These leaders in Israel – God’s chosen and covenant
people – had established themselves as teachers of God’s word. However, by their steadfast
rejection of Jesus, they set themselves up as enemies of God. By teaching those with less
expertise that Jesus was to be avoided, ignored, or dismissed, they were erroneously
pushing them away from grace, hope, and life. “It would be better for you if a millstone
were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of
these little ones to stumble.”
The warning here is for people like me. The warning is for all disciples, but it is specific for
people who are raised up into positions of leadership and responsible for teaching others
about God. There are three primary ways to cause little ones to stumble: by convincing
them that they could never be loved by God because they are not good enough; by
convincing them they must earn God’s love through impeccable obedience to the law; or,
the opposite, by convincing them that it does not matter what they do because God will
love them just the same. The Pharisees were really good at the first two: ostracizing people
so they believed God could never love them and modeling extraordinary self-righteousness.
Today, we are more prone to the third: allowing people to believe that it makes no
difference what they do, God will accept them just the way they are.
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All three are deadly mistakes.
The first two make God an unreasonable taskmaster. Many are caused to stumble because
they have been led to believe God could not love them – either because of what they have
done or because of what they are unable to do. The disdaining scribes and Pharisees were
treating the common people precisely this way. Jesus’ words of judgment – “it would be
better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the
sea”—was because they painted God as unapproachable, uncaring, and punitive. In our day
this kind of legalism makes God the white-bearded guy on the cloud with lightning bolts in
his hand waiting for you to make a mistake so he can smite you. Your mistake is inevitable,
so it is simply a matter of his waiting for the right moment to strike. The sacrifice system of
the Old Testament seemed to confirm this impression: you are such a burden to God, such a
failure, such a disappointment, that animals have to be sacrificed to even make your
ongoing existence tolerable for God.
Teaching such an unapproachable God causes people to stumble because there is no hope
and only despair.
Now, let me be clear: sin is odious to the Lord. Rebellion against God’s command will not
survive in the presence of his holiness. However, we know that the LORD is gracious and
merciful; his steadfast love endures forever. We know that God searches diligently for his
lost children because he wants to be with us. We do not earn God’s favor or love, but we are
the blessed with the grace of God’s favor and love.
The flip side and the other deadly mistake causing little ones to stumble is teaching God
loves us just the way we are and that we do not need to change. This is more our style: we
try to make the gospel palatable to people who do not yet profess Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord. The more we try to soften, correct, or explain away what Scripture teaches, the more
we are doing damage to those who are most vulnerable. I have been reading through
Jeremiah in my devotional time, and there are some very clear, very troubling, and very
relevant words for us to hear:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there
this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to
worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and
let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”
For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not
oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go
after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to
your ancestors forever and ever.
Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear
falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and
stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing
all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your
sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord. …
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As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry or prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede
with me, for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to
make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to
anger. Is it I whom they provoke? says the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own hurt? Therefore thus
says the Lord God: My anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on human beings and
animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.
…This command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and
walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.” Yet they did not obey or incline
their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked
backward rather than forward. From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this
day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; yet they did not listen to
me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did.
So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they
will not answer you. You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their
God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
Cut off your hair and throw it away;
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation that provoked his wrath.
For the people of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations in the
house that is called by my name, defiling it. (Jeremiah 7)
In Jesus Christ, God’s judgment came with grace, not legalism or anarchy. Friends, we need
to be diligent, intentional, and responsible in making sure that what we teach is consistent
with what God has revealed in Scripture.
2. The second piece of Jesus’ teaching today is the requirement of forgiveness. The
next thing Jesus addressed was how to deal with one another in light of error and sin. If
someone sins against you, you rebuke that person. If they repent, you forgive them.
You know why this combination of commands does not go over real well? It is because we
do not accept that others really care about our spiritual health; nor do we want the
responsibility of caring for other’s spiritual health. When people rebuke us, we perceive
they are trying to judge us. And when we think about rebuking someone else, we hear in
our head, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” We are afraid of the accusation of being a hypocrite
– because it is true. Yet Jesus said, “if another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender.”
Jesus also followed up with teaching we know from other gospels: “and if there is
repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day,
and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” Gah.
Really? You can just imagine the Pharisees rolling their eyes at this nonsense. Seriously – it
is like he was saying there is no consequence for sin. If you are required to forgive, people
are not held accountable for their behavior. If you have to forgive them because they
repent, who pays the price for what was wrong?
I am going to let you sit with that for a moment. Who does pay the price for sin?
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Remember the context for Jesus’ remarks. Jesus was not talking to battered women, saying
that they need to continually submit to a cycle of abuse – even multiple times in the same
day. No, Jesus was talking much more broadly about the scribes and Pharisees who felt
fully licensed to sit in judgment of other peoples’ bad behavior, faults, and failings. There is
a huge difference. The scribes and Pharisees were happy to rebuke; they were not at all
inclined to forgive. Jesus was showing the hardness of their hearts. The contrast is with the
gracious generosity of the loving God who searches diligently for his lost children. That is
the context. God wants us back: repentance and forgiveness are to lead to redemption and
reconciliation.
Jesus was teaching the disciples that they are a family of faith; a family mutually
responsible to and for one another. This is tough for us to remember, but it is true: we are
not a family of faith because we have chosen to be together, we are a family of faith because
Jesus has called us to be together. We are commanded – commanded – commanded to
rebuke and forgive one another.
3. The third piece is the power of faith. Forgiveness and mutual accountability for
spiritual health is hard work. The disciples were taken aback by what Jesus was teaching.
They were astounded by the level of grace demanded of them; “give us more faith!” they
cried out. It seemed to them that the level of faith Jesus required of disciples was
extraordinary – how else could they forgive someone who repented seven times on the
same day?
Jesus’ reply indicated he was concerned not about faith’s volume, but about its
presence. God can work with even a little faith. So Jesus says, “If you have faith as
small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted
in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” The mustard seed was among the smallest seeds in
Palestine (Michel 1965a:810–11; Mt 13:31–33), while the sycamine tree (Greek),
probably a black mulberry tree, lived up to six hundred years. It required a vast
root network to draw up the ground’s nutrients. Jesus is arguing that a little faith
can do surprising things, especially if merely through a spoken word it can pull up
a tree with a huge root system and hurl it into the sea. Of course, the remark is a
rhetorical picture of faith’s power. It is like Jesus’ remark about a camel’s ability to
go through the eye of a needle. It makes the point hyperbolically: do not fret about
how great your faith is; only apply what you have and watch it work. The disciple’s
main responsibility is to trust God. (IVP New Testament Commentary)
Although this sounds like a slam, it actually was a word of encouragement for the disciples.
They do not need more faith, they simply need to recognize the power in the faith they
already have. That stands in contrast to the lack of faith in the scribes and Pharisees.
4. The final piece returns us to the starting point: a right understanding of our
relationship with God. Specifically, obedience to God’s commands does not earn any
leverage against God. Obedience is the expected and appropriate service to God; doing
what is expected and appropriate is not a bargaining chip. Jesus put the scribes and
Pharisees in their place directly.
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“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or
tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’?
Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and
serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the
slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that
you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we
ought to have done!’”
The demands of verses 1-6 may be heavy, but their fulfillment creates no claim upon God.
Obedience is nothing more than the duty owed to God. This last teaching was the wake-up
call for the scribes and Pharisees. It was the illustration of the older brother, who presumed
his father’s grace while wrongly yelling at his father for the grace shown toward the
prodigal son. The older brother felt entitled because of his joyless service. Jesus said about
the scribes and Pharisees that, “when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say,
‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
Jesus was not saying that disciples were worthless slaves. He was saying that our works are
just that: our work. Paul would write the Ephesians this way, “For by grace you have been s
saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of
works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2) The
good works of obedience are a blessing to us, not a negotiating chip against God.
Although we understand the concept here, the experience of our service in the Lower Story
often feels different. For example, during hard times, I have heard my own prayers, “God,
why? Why are you allowing me to suffer? What did I do to deserve this? Haven’t I been
mostly good? I thought you were going to be my refuge and shelter to prevent me from
these kinds of things.” I feel like I have earned better treatment from God.
Jesus said, no. You have missed the point.
And that brings us back to the very beginning, where the scribes and Pharisees were
grumbling about Jesus welcoming tax collectors and sinners. The scribes and Pharisees
missed the heart of God. They were oblivious to the command to love others. In contrast,
the tax collectors and sinners were grateful for the blessing of sharing Jesus’ table – there
was (dare I say it?) a Thanksgiving meal in which God was glorified. There was great
rejoicing and joy in heaven when one sinner, each sinner, repents.
Let me conclude today with that as a charge: as you prepare and sit down for your meal
this week – wherever and however you do that – remember the profound love of God who
welcomes you and me, sinners, to his table to experience his bounty. Let us repent of the
ways we have rebelled against God – the ways we have strayed, the things we have let slide,
the opportunities we have avoided or ignored, the people we have hurt. Let us seek his
mercy and forgiveness. Let us seek their forgiveness, too. Let us rejoice in the grace of God
who draws us, redeems us, and reconciles us to himself. To God be the glory. Amen.
8:30 prayer and offering
10:00 invitation to offering
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