Grosey's Messages

Luke 17

1 And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2  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. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 And the Lord said, "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.

7 "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'? 8 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'? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 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.'"

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers,  who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." 14 When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

And this week the news in the USA is even more terrible. Did you hear that in Wisconsin, the tension between Police and Black Lives Matters movement has seen many more killed?

Furious protests over the shooting of black man by police continued last night with buildings and cars torched. Protesters ravaged  Wisconsin  after  Jacob  "Jake" Blake, 29, was shot multiple times in front of his horrified children. Kenosha police were attempting to arrest Blake when Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the department, fired his weapon seven times into the Black man's back after he was arrested while he was pacifying a domestic dispute between two neighbours. Authorities on Wednesday said a 17-year-old had been charged with homicide after two people were killed and another seriously wounded by gunfire amid a chaotic night of demonstrations and destruction in Kenosha unleashed by the weekend police shooting of Jacob Blake. The shooting came as self-declared militia members and armed counterprotesters met protesters.

One of the most memorable sights of late twentieth century news was the videotape of the beating of Rodney King by California police. It was a memorable TV moment when King looked into the camera lens and asked, "Why can't we all just get along?"

Getting along is one of the most basic and yet one of the most difficult challenges of our lives. Israelis and Arabs, Albanians and Serbs, blacks and whites, men and women, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, parents and children, Catholics and Protestants, management and labor—why can't we all just get along? This "getting along" business isn't so simple, but Jesus offers some practical advice on how to do it. It may not always work. We may do what Jesus says and the other person may do the opposite. But, it's a good idea to listen and follow Jesus' advice—be-cause that's the right thing to do. Jesus' list of some of the things Christians should do to get along with others is written in Luke 17.

Number 1 on Jesus' list in Luke 17 is something not to do:

"Don't cause another to sin."

In Luke 17:1-3 Jesus said to his disciples:"Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves."

Jesus acknowledges that we live in a fallen world where there are always temptations to sin. But he explains that it is a terrible thing to be the person who causes somebody else to sin. The potential list of examples is very long.

The human condition makes stumbling blocks inevitable. The destructiveness of sin is seen throughout general culture. Intellectuals often directly assault Christian belief. Criminal offenders regularly lead others headlong into sin. The icons of pop culture lure multitudes away from truth and life. Even some within the religious culture of faith, pastors and teachers who engage in spiritual compromise, lay huge stumbling blocks before "little ones," people who are weak and vulnerable as they are being drawn to Christ. Kent Hughes

" . . . woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch your-selves."

Repeated surveys indicate that a high percent-age of prostitutes were sexually molested when they were young. Those who abuse the young are terrible people who cause others to sin.

And what about those who produce films and videos that incite others to violence? I would put them in the same category. Add to this list those who teach children to swear, introduce teens to drugs, seduce the innocent, create a wedge in a marriage that ultimately destroys it or otherwise cause people to sin in ways they would not other-wise have sinned.

Sadly, the list is long. Jesus admits that sin is an inevitable part of our fallen world when he says, "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come."

I think He is saying there are things that you are justified at getting mad at, and  of you are not mad at it, there is something wrong with you. If you aren't mad about child sexual abuse then there is something wrong with you.

Never be surprised by the creativity or the extent of wickedness. But never be the one who causes others to sin!

Jesus warned us not to cause others to sin and then added, "So watch yourselves."He seemed to think that corrupting other people is easy to do. You don't have to set out to do it; you can do it unwittingly, accidentally. But the way to avoid corrupting others is to always watch what you say and do because you are a constant influence on others.

It would be better to die (even a horrible death) than to cause a little one to stumble and ultimately incur the woe of which Jesus warns. Better for the disciple or leader or pastor to die than to teach errant doctrine. Better to die than to have a lifestyle that trips others. Better to die than to have attitudes that drive others away from Christ. Kent Hughes

Watch yourselves! Second on Jesus' list for getting along is controversial.

It is to "repeatedly forgive."

According to Luke 17:3-5, " 'If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, "I repent," for-give him.' "

Here Jesus deals with a problem almost everyone everywhere faces. Someone sins against us. It may happen in any one of 10,000 ways. The other person lies, cheats, steals, assaults or other-wise behaves offensively. We may be the victim or we may simply be the observer of someone else's sin, but it offends us. What should we do?"First, go to the other person and confront that person about what they have done. This is not usually easy! Most of us would rather tell someone else or carry a grudge, but that's not what Jesus tells us to do. Go to the other person and deal with the problem. Accept the responsibility yourself. Don't dump the responsibility for confrontation and rebuke on someone else. It's your job. If you are not willing to do this then you will have to let it go.

There may be some exceptions. An obvious exception would be a child who is somehow sinned against by an adult. It may be better to go to another adult to handle the situation. And, recognize that not every offense can be confronted. Some people are offended many times a day and feel they must confront every offense. The reality is that we have to let some things go. No one of us can resolve every difficulty. Sometimes the other person will apologize and make things right. You are blessed. Now forgive—forgive and let it go. If he does it again, forgive him again. If you are sinned against seven times a day then forgive seven times a day.

When Jesus' followers heard this advice they said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"In other words, "You are really going to have to help us on this one because it's really tough to keep forgiving someone who repeatedly sins against you."Well, Jesus will help us. He will increase our faith. He will help us rebuke and he will help us to for-give. That is the Christian way. Think about it! What is the alternative? The alternative is to resent the person who hurts us, try to get even and hold it against that person for the rest of our life. Any non-Christian is quite capable of such unforgiving attitudes and behaviour. Jesus asks Christians to be different, to handle the extremely difficult and offensive relationships of life with godliness and forgiveness. In January 1999 a close friend of a friend,  a missionary doctor and his two sons fell asleep in their Jeep in a small village in India. During the night an anti-Christian mob attacked their vehicle, stuffing straw in the windows and under the truck and setting it on fire. They watched as Dr. Graham Staines, his 10-year-old son Phillip and his 6-year-old son Timothy burned to death. His wife Gladys was left a widow with their third son as her only family. Lorelle and I met her a couple of years ago. She had to decide what to do. She decided to stay in the village, forgive those who killed her husband and boys and continue the work of caring for leprosy patients. She grieved the loss of those she loved. She said that she was filled with sadness.  "Whoever did this, we will forgive them."

Most of us will never have so much to forgive in our lifetime. If Jesus can help her to forgive so much, surely we can trust him to help us forgive far less.

Let us not be filled with resentment. Let us not hold grudges. Let us not carry hurt and anger against neighbours, family, friends and coworkers. Let us do as Jesus calls us to do—forgive.

Live By Faith

Number three on Jesus' "getting along" list is to live by faith. Jesus said, "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."

This statement of Jesus is often misapplied. Some think if their faith is big enough and strong enough they can perform spectacular miracles. If that is what Jesus meant he would have suggested that big faith could enable a person to change lead to gold or make short people tall or sick people well. But, listen to the example Jesus uses and the context from which he speaks. Jesus says that a little bit of faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to pick up a mulberry tree and plant it in the ocean. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? What good would it do to plant a tree in the sea? Jesus' example is far-fetched to help us avoid misapplication. He's not talking about performing miracles; he's taking about getting along with people.

They asked for faith so they could adequately rebuke and forgive others. How were they able to make the connection between faith and the ability to forgive? They may have learned it on other occasions when Jesus said essentially the same thing, though in a different order. For example: Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 11:22–25) Hughes

The point is that those who live by faith in God can live Christianly in their relationships. They can live so as not to cause others to sin. They can forgive those who repeatedly sin against them. They can behave toward others in a good and godly way that would be impossible without faith in God. Those who trust God to empower and control their lives can do something supernatural—bigger and better than jumping a tree from land to sea—they can treat others right even when others treat them wrong! Faith is confidence and trust in God. It is the conviction that God can do through you what you know you could never do by yourself. It is belief with all of your heart that God is in charge of your life. It is doing what is right even if there is no way of seeing how it can ever turn out for good. In order for us to all get along God's way—don't cause others to sin, repeatedly forgive, live by faith and

Faithfully serve God.

Jesus finishes his list in Luke 17:7-10 with a very unusual parable:"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say,'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

duty never finishes.

In the parable Jesus asks: "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he had come in from the field, "Come at once and sit down at table"?

Jesus' listeners knew that there was no master that did that. Masters were more likely to say, "Hey you, prepare supper for me and afterwards if there's time you can eat and drink." The Greek word that is used here is the word doulos and although in many of our English Bibles it is translated as "servant", it may rightly be translated as "slave" over whom the master had complete control of every detail of life. We think of slavery as peculiar to the USA before the Civil War sometimes forgetting that slavery has been around throughout history all over the world, including currently in Australia.  The Immigration Department believes there are about 5,000 people in slavery, many in the Bankstown area; Filipinos who have come out as employees to nanny or clean houses, but are held as captives with their passports taken by the "employers" and told that they would be arrested if they tried to leave or demanded their agreed upon pay. There are many places in the world today where people are still in slavery.

Slaves don't work eight-hour days. They don't finish in the field or the fold and then come home and relax. When a slave finishes one task there is another and when that is finished there is yet another task. The master seeks to get all of the economic benefit that he can out of his slaves. They go immediately from chore to chore and it never, never, never ends. No days off. No vacations. Their duty is never finished. The life of a slave seems so difficult and distant, but is it all that different to our lives today? We may not be slaves, but our duties are never finished. Take parenting for example. Parents begin their day by getting up early in the morning to prepare themselves and their children for the day. Then the parent goes off to work and has a difficult and demanding day, comes home weary, exhausted, ready to collapse, only to find hungry children who have wounds that need to be bandaged, homework that needs to be helped with, lives that need to be loved. Finally at some late hour you are ready to collapse in bed with too many hours gone by and too few hours before the alarm goes off and the process begins all over again. Parenting is a duty that never finishes.

The same is the case with ministry. When you become involved in serving God through serving others, it is a never-ending duty. 

As Christian we are to do whatever God calls us to do, regardless of the hours or difficulty. There is no place for whining or complaining. It is our job to serve others whether we get praise or gratitude or not.

In the area of northeast Canada called Labrador there was a Christian physician named Dr.Grenfell. He was called to a home with a sick mother and father who both died shortly after he arrived. As there was no one else to make arrangements he set up the funeral and conducted the service himself. When the burial was complete five orphans were left sitting on top of the grave mound with nowhere to go and no one to take care of them. In his own words, he thought that he had done all a doctor should have to do, but "it looked as if God expected more." It became his Christian duty to care for those five children. Jesus taught that as Christians we are servants/slaves of Jesus Christ. We are to do whatever he wants us to do, go wherever he wants us to go, without complaint or expectation of special gratitude or reward. Our assumption should always be that God has given us his only Son, forgiven our sins, is with us through all the circumstances of life and guarantees us forever in heaven. There is nothing we could ever do to deserve such generosity from God. We will always be in debt to him. It is our privilege to serve him and even to suffer for him. Frankly, this teaching of Jesus sounds very strange to our ears. We tend to assume that we are in charge and God owes us. We are upset with God if he asks us to do any-thing we don't want to do. We are disappointed when God gives us less than we request. We feel cheated when our lives have pain or problems. There are many people who spend their lives whining and complaining and even being angry with God. We must not forget that we are Christians who follow Jesus Christ who is described in Philippians 2:6-8:

" Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on the cross!"

In other words, Jesus never asks us to experience anything he has not experienced for us. There is nothing that he ever asks us to do for him that he has not already done for us.

duty seeks no thanks.

There is yet another temptation to sin in the doing of duty. It is the temptation to think that because we do our duty we are worthy of God. It is a tragically common phenomenon.

There are those who say, "God owes me. I have given him money, time and prayers. I have been faithful in diligently serving others in involvement in church and charity and now I have come to a crisis in my own life and I need his intervention. I demand it!" When they don't get what they want, God is considered to be a bad debtor who doesn't pay his bills.

There are those who say, "I deserve it. I have been involved for years in doing what God has called me to do. I have been a faithful servant for years and now I deserve special treatment." They may even expect preferential treatment in heaven.

Then there are those who, although they probably wouldn't say it, actually think, "I'm better. Look at all I have done through the years and look at what she hasn't done. Look at what he started to do and never finished. I'm better than them all."

How tragically mixed up such conclusions are, for when we think such things and when we say such words we have neglected the truth that we are all sinners.

If we got what we really deserved we would be eternally lost. God has rescued us from sin and hell through Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us by his generosity and given us the stunning privilege of being his servants and living for him. Our lives should be expressions of gratitude for that which he did for us that we never deserved. What we do is our duty as those who have been redeemed – not a cause for pride and elevation in our sight or God's. Our service is simply the thank you that we offer to a God who has done everything for us.

Maybe it's best expressed in a parable of our own.

duty doesn't make worthiness.

There is yet another temptation to sin in the doing of duty. It is the temptation to think that because we do our duty we are worthy of God. It is a tragically common phenomenon.

There are those who say, "God owes me. I have given him money, time and prayers. I have been faithful in diligently serving others in involvement in church and charity and now I have come to a crisis in my own life and I need his intervention. I demand it!" When they don't get what they want, God is considered to be a bad debtor who doesn't pay his bills.

There are those who say, "I deserve it. I have been involved for years in doing what God has called me to do. I have been a faithful servant for years and now I deserve special treatment." They may even expect preferential treatment in heaven.

Then there are those who, although they probably wouldn't say it, actually think, "I'm better. Look at all I have done through the years and look at what she hasn't done. Look at what he started to do and never finished. I'm better than them all."

How tragically mixed up such conclusions are, for when we think such things and when we say such words we have neglected the truth that we are all sinners.

If we got what we really deserved we would be eternally lost. God has rescued us from sin and hell through Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us by his generosity and given us the stunning privilege of being his servants and living for him. Our lives should be expressions of gratitude for that which he did for us that we never deserved. What we do is our duty as those who have been redeemed – not a cause for pride and elevation in our sight or God's. Our service is simply the thank you that we offer to a God who has done everything for us.

The way to get along is to not to cause others to sin, repeatedly forgive, live by faith and become the servant of others in the name of Jesus Christ.