Luke chapter 17, at the beginning of the chapter, "...said he unto his disciples, It is impossible, but that offences will come. But warn to him through whom they come." As we study through the Gospel of Luke, we see that the narrative that Luke provides of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it helps us to understand the revelation which is given, that we have here real history, that our Lord engaged with real people. This is what happened. And it all serves to reveal that He is the promised Savior, the one who's come to save sinners. This is God in the flesh. He alone is Lord. And we can follow the sequence of the narrative, but when we come to these few verses, It's hard to see how they all join together, as it were. That's not because they don't all join together, but that's because it's hard for us to see how they all join together. There's four points I want to bring out this morning from these verses. And they don't immediately flow in one sequence, but they're brought here for us to understand. And it's important to recognize the context in which they're given. The beginning of the chapter, it says, then said he unto the disciples. If you look back through the gospel, you see that there are times when he's speaking to the scribes and to the Pharisees. There's times that he speaks to the multitude. And there's times that he speaks specifically to his disciples. And that's important to note. That gives us a context of what we have. These words here are instructions primarily for those who are already followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. doesn't mean it's irrelevant to everyone else. But we all must understand they're addressed in the first place to the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that by keeping these words we become Christians, but those who by faith in Jesus Christ are Christians are to live in this way, to show that they're Christians, to show that they indeed love Him who has first loved them. First of all, verses one and two, we can consider these two verses under this heading. Don't discourage. Don't discourage. It is impossible but that offenses will come. But warn to him through whom they come. It was better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and to be cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Our Lord is telling us here that troubles are certain. Troubles will come. upon the church. There will be those within the church of Christ who fall and those who depart. But that you must never be the source or the cause of that trouble. You're not to shrug fatalistically and say, well, can't be helped. These things happen. It was always going to happen. The emphasis here is upon your responsibility not to discourage. This word offenses is a word that speaks about a snare. It suggests A bent stick. Can you imagine setting a snare and there might be a bent stick so that when something steps into the snare, the stick triggers and it pulls tight? It's about a trap. And the warning is that you and I are not to ensnare another so that they are hindered and destroyed. And how might that happen? If you undermine the faith of another, if you coerce or encourage another into sin, if you live carelessly and suggest that it doesn't matter that the people of God don't follow after Him or pursue holiness, if you distress, if you discourage the people of God, It is a fearful thing to distress or to discourage the people of God. Because the people of God are the people of God. They are the Lord's people. When it speaks about these little ones, it doesn't suggest children, but rather is a tender term for all, even the least. The Savior is saying, if you hurt My people, if you discourage My people, then you're offending Me. You're setting yourself against Me. It shows you how precious His people are to Him. As is expressed in the words of the prophet Zechariah, the Lord says, He that touches you touches the apple of My eye. The Lord's people are precious. They are loved. And to assault them is to assault God himself. Remember what was said to the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus? The Lord said, why do you oppress me? It was the church that Paul was assaulting. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea." That's a horrible image. It's a horrible image of a horrible death. And what we're told is this horrible death is not as bad as the horror of having God stand against you. It were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck. Don't discourage. You know, one of the things that this teaches us is that it's not all about you. There's a temptation, isn't there, in all of life, and even in the Christian life, To be so taken up with our own situation, and our own needs, and our own feelings, and our own concerns, that we disregard everyone else and the if possible effect of our choices, of our behavior, of our words upon others. And the Savior here is warning. He's saying, don't discourage. You must live carefully. Because the choices you make, The actions you perform, the words you speak, they have consequences. It's like ripples which spread out from you. And if you bring harm to the least of one of mine, if you disrupt, if you discourage, if you destroy one of mine, you set yourself against me. You remember the previous chapter, we were thinking about the rich man and Lazarus, and that rich man, we're told he was taken into hell, and it's painted so horrifically there. A man who had everything, apparently had nothing, and the horror as it pressed itself in upon him. He said, and what about my brothers? He was haunted by the prospect that his brothers who he maybe once looked after in life would now follow him into a lost eternity. The consequences of a wasted life. That's what our Lord is challenging here. Society's standard is me. Whatever is best for me. Whatever is best for my family. It doesn't matter about anyone else. Look after yourself. That is not to be the standard in the church of Christ. It's not me, it's we, it's us, it's the people of God as we stand together before Him. Remember Cain's defiant words to the Lord, am I my brother's keeper? It's not that you're responsible for someone else's choices. You're not responsible for their choices unless you've been a factor in encouraging them toward bad choices. Paul speaks about this in Corinthians. He says these idols, they're nothing. They're sticks and stones. There's no gods. And so the animals are sacrificed to these gods. They're just dead animals, because they're dead gods. He says, sure, you can eat that food. He says, but be careful, because some are overly sensitive, and they think that by eating that food, you somehow come under the authority of that false god. He says, don't destroy your brother for a plate of meat. He says, through your knowledge, your brother might perish for whom Christ died. You're not to be paralyzed with all the possible offenses that may be caused. You're not to be held hostage by the conscience of the weakest brother. But Christian love is to inform all that you do. It's not all about you. You're to help, not hinder. Well then, we see in verses 1 and 2, the instruction is don't discourage. But then in verses 3 and 4, what is our Lord saying there? He's saying don't despise. Don't despise your brother. Don't discourage your brother. And don't despise your brother. It's really these verses to keep to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And our minds are drawn immediately to the obligation to forgive seven times. It's not simply seven, of course. It means multiple, just to continue forgiving. So our attention is drawn to this obligation to continue to forgive, and that's not easy. But actually, there's something harder here. There's something harder than just keeping on forgiving. Do you know what it is? Let's read that again carefully. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. You see, there is the offense, and there is to be your rebuke, and then repentance, forgiveness, and recovery. You're not to sit passively and wait to see if maybe you might be reconciled to the person that has done you wrong, but you are actively to go to the person that has done you wrong. And you're to rebuke, not to put down, not to put them in their place, not to show that you were right, but rather in order to recover them. One of the commentators helpfully draws a parallel to Leviticus 19 and 17. I remember that reference because of the dates of the war, but Leviticus 19, 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him. If you do not rebuke your brother, If you leave your brother in sin, we're told there that you are hating in your heart. And that's why the heading here is, don't despise your brother. If someone has sinned against you, don't cut them off, don't push them away, don't leave them to make their way back to you, but go to them. That's why I say it's harder than forgiveness, or mere forgiveness. When someone comes and says they're sorry, then forgiveness is not so difficult. But to first go to the person who has done you wrong. You're not to harden your heart against them. It's your responsibility. That's what it says in verse 3. Take heed to yourselves. It's not what they've done. It's what you are to do. It's not easy to rebuke someone, is it? To rebuke someone requires two things. It requires courage. You can maybe say it requires three things. Maybe it even requires more than that. Let's say there's courage and there's compassion, but also you require either hypocrisy or humility. Courage, compassion, and either hypocrisy or humility. What do I mean? Well, what I mean is this. If you're going to rebuke someone, and you yourself are a sinner, and you yourself have done many people wrong, if you're going to go and rebuke someone, you have to put your own sin away from your mind. You have to harden your heart to that reality, and you have to act as though you're better. That's hypocrisy. And it's a recipe for disaster. But the only way to rebuke someone is either to close your mind to the reality of your own sinful foolishness, or to come with a spirit of humility, which means that you recognize your own sinful foolishness, your own inadequacy, your own wrongs. And with courage and compassion and humility, you come and you say, brother, you've hurt me. So what of a difference between these two different approaches, of course, isn't there? And one will alienate, and the other encourages that reconciliation. You can't make that reconciliation happen. But you can go toward and you can encourage. Don't discourage your brother. Don't despise your brother. You're not to rebuke indiscriminately. It says in Proverbs 9, verse 8, Reprove not a scorn, or lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. And then Paul speaking to Timothy in the first epistle in chapter 5 says, Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father. And the younger men as brethren, and the elder women as mothers, and the younger as sisters with all purity. Don't conduct yourself with arrogance as though everyone was your pet project to make right. Don't weary people with a spirit of criticism. But when your relationship with your brother is fractured, and your withdrawal from that person is very probable, you're not to withdraw, but you're to go toward them with a desire to be reunited with them. Not by ignoring the offense. but by addressing it, not with a hypocritical spirit, but with the humility of grace. Friends, what should we do when we have neither the courage, nor the compassion, nor the humility to rebuke or to forgive? And I ask that question, making the assumption that that has been your experience. You can think back to times when you had not the courage, nor the compassion, nor the humility to rebuke and to forgive. What should you do? Surely you should come and call upon the Lord. and ask that you might be forgiven and so filled with his love, so filled with his love, that you might have a love for your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you'd be willing to take that risk to go to them. It's interesting too, isn't it? Because what's implied here is the imperfection of the church. The reality that troubles come in, people fall out. But you know, this grace in action will so sweeten the imperfect church that it will testify to the reality of Christ in our midst. Isn't that wonderful? We don't need a great evangelical, evangelistic campaign, rather. That's not what's most important. There's a place for that. But what we need primarily is that men and women would know that Christ is here in our midst, and that that would be shown in the way that we deal with one another. Don't discourage your brethren. And don't despise your brethren. But then thirdly in verses 5 and 6, don't doubt. Don't doubt. Because the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith. They're overwhelmed by what's been required of them here. This is too hard. You may be thinking that yourself. You're sitting there saying, I can't do that. I don't have that kind of nature. I don't have that kind of courage. Well, some folk are confident, but I don't feel so confident. I don't feel sufficiently secure. And that's what the disciples are saying, saying, Lord, increase our faith. Oh, that we felt secure enough. Oh, that we felt comfortable enough. And the Lord said, if you had faith, it's a grain of mustard seed. If you had faith, it's a grain of mustard seed. You might say to this great tree, be removed and cast into the sea. Our Lord is saying it's not the greatness of your faith in God, but it's your faith in a great God. You see the difference? It's not the greatness of your faith in God, But it's that you recognize that your faith is in a great God. And in Him and through Him you can do all things. Don't doubt. Don't doubt the Lord Himself, the One who commands you in this way. It's the One who will enable you in this way. It's grace. It's efficient. You're fearful to trade in grace. That's what it requires. Not to discourage and not to despise. It means to operate in grace. You're fearful to trade in grace? Don't doubt God. Your inability. It's not the ultimate decisive factor. It's not your self-confidence that matters. In fact, the self-confident person's a liability ordinarily. Faith is a grain of mustard seed. It's just the smallest thing, really. It's like a drop in the ocean. Not the precise size of that grain that matters. Not the precise size of that drop. It's so small, it's apparently insignificant. But God is so great that if He is our God, then we will find His grace is sufficient. And that's why our Lord is saying to His disciples here, don't doubt. He is able. This is a call to you and to me to recognize God and to again, to afresh, put our trust in Him. And then we come to verses 7 to 10. Our Lord follows with this example. And he asked the question, which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will come, will say unto him, by and by, when he has come from the field, go and sit down to meet? The master doesn't say to the servant, when the servant has done his work out in the field, come in now, and I'll look after you. No, the master says to the servant, when he comes in from his work in the field, come in and work now in the house. It's not the master looking after the servant. It's the servant's responsibility to look after the master. What is our Lord saying here? Surely He's saying this, don't deceive yourself. This is the time to press on, to labor, to work and to serve, not to take your ease, not to rest, not to sit back and to give up on labor. There's a temptation sometimes to think, well, the Lord has done it. And the Lord has done it all. And the Lord alone is sufficient. And then not to take our part. But there's a work for you to do. Paul writing in Romans says, we are to be knowing the time that now it is high time to awake or to sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. There's not much time. There's so much to do. You're to be urgent and diligent and faithful. Don't deceive yourself. The Christian who is not active in his Lord's business is out of place. Just like a servant who would come in and put his feet up and expect his master to serve his dinner. It's just out of place. Yes, Elsewhere, Luke speaks about or uses the imagery of the servants being cared for by the Master. And that speaks of the abundant grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in chapter 22, I am among you as he that serveth. But here the focus is upon the Christian's responsibility to be diligent and active in the master's work. There is a day of rest. There is a glorious reward. But that time is not yet. Today we must labor, labor while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. If you look how this short parable concludes in verse 10. So likewise ye, when ye have done all those things which are commanded, ye say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. It says when you've done everything that you can do, don't be proud. But say, Lord, that was our responsibility. But really, the question, because this is really asking a question, and the question is this. Have you done all, or is there more to do? Have you done all, or is there more to do? It's not so much a demand as a challenge. It's a question for you to answer in the silence of your own heart, but before the Lord of glory. It's a challenge. It's a call to usefulness. Because your little matters to the Lord. The little that you might do, it matters to the Lord. There is a work that you're called to do, to serve Him in time. in your own circumstances, in your own situation, that no one else can do. And if it's not done, it's not done. No one else can do it. Your little matters to the Lord. There's no redundancy in the Christian life. There's many who may act as though they've been made redundant. But there's no redundancy in the Christian life. There is a work for you to do. What it is that you do may not register with anyone else. They may not recognize it. They may not notice it. It may not matter to them. But we're told the Lord takes note of every cup of cold water that is given in His name. Every little thing done for His glory. Ultimately, our Lord rejoices over There's four challenges here. The Lord is speaking to his disciples. And it's about how they are to conduct themselves. They are not to discourage their brothers or sisters in the Lord. They're not to despise one another and cast off those who have failed them or disappointed them, but to recover. They're not to doubt the sufficiency of the grace of God to work that in and through them. And they're not to deceive themselves as though it were time to sit down and sit back and take their ease. You are rather to devote yourself to Christ and to his church. That's your calling, brethren, to devote yourself to Christ and to his church. It's not about the great work that you may do at some moment in the future at a time of crisis, so much as it's about the daily detail of your faithfulness before God, within your home and within your family, within your workplace. to be embracing and encouraging others in the way, to be that positive example. You know, sometimes we're maybe so fearful of getting it wrong that we never take the risk of doing it right. Is that how you are today? You're so fearful that you might get it wrong that you never risk getting it right. So you sit back, you try to think through the scenarios, and you tie yourself in knots, and you say, well, maybe tomorrow. I'm not saying you're to be cavalier and careless, but the Lord is surely calling you here to an active faithfulness. You can't think through the scenarios. You don't know all that will follow, but you're calling. is to devote yourself to Christ and to His church. And if that is your desire, and if that is your prayer, and if that is your intention, and that informs all that you do, you may make some mistakes along the way. You may have someone coming to you and express what you've done wrong and seek to be reconciled to you. Friends, If this is your desire, and if this is your prayer, and this is your intention, people will see the reality of Christian grace, and he shall be praised. And isn't that wonderful? And isn't that what it's all about? They might say, yes, he's clumsy sometimes. Yes, he's forgetful. Yes, he doesn't do it all well, but he means well because he loves the Lord and he loves the Lord because the Lord loves him. What a wonderful legacy to be remembered in this way. He loved the Lord and he sought to serve him. And if today you reflect upon your own life and all you see is woeful deficiency, it's not time to come to call upon him and to seek his grace and to seek his mercy. Don't discourage your brethren. Don't despise your brethren. Don't doubt God. And don't deceive yourself. Amen. Let's pray.