Luke 17:1
Get Back Up
Jesus was about to complete a sermon that may have started in
\\#Luke 14:25\\. He finished it as He often did by speaking to His
disciples. What encouraging word did Jesus have for those men who the
Scripture referred to as APOSTLES \\#5\\? He told them that they are
going to be offended in the ministry!
Luke 17:1 …It is impossible but that offences
will come….
An offence is defined as "an occasion to fall, a stumbling block."
a. It is believed to come from a Greek work means to snare or
to trap.
b. From that, we can gather than Jesus was speaking of any type of
situation from an unintentional word spoken up to and
including a deliberate and elaborate trap set just for you.
Obviously, this was not so much an encouragement as it was
forewarning. Jesus was telling His followers to prepare, offenses are coming.
1. Someone is going to hurt your feelings.
Someone is going to do you an injustice.
Someone is going to slight you.
Someone is going to betray you.
Someone is going to lie about you.
2. That someone may be someone you don’t know, but more than
likely, it will be a Christian, maybe even a good Christian
friend, perhaps even a leader in the church.
3. Truth be told, if you serve Christ long enough, most every
Christian friend you have will at some time or another offend
you!
a. It might happen in a moment of carnality.
b. Hopefully it will be unintentional.
c. But it will happen.
4. To be forewarned is a call to be prepared.
Jesus offered several advanced lessons to help them you back up.
I. \\#1-2\\ Don’t be the one who lays traps for others.
Luke 17:1 … but woe unto him, through whom they
come!
2 It were better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea,
than that he should offend one of these little
ones.
A. A "woe" is God’s code word for "judgment is going to fall."
1. Accidents and misunderstandings happen, but this statement
was directed to those who start and continue conflicts.
2. Let me speak a word both to offender and to the offended.
B. To the deliberate offender:
1. God will deal with you.
a. What He will do is not declared, but when God lists
something has harsh has having a millstone hung
around your neck and being cast into the sea as
something more pleasant than what He will do, you
should understand it will not be pleasant.
b. A millstone is one of the stones used to grind barley
and wheat into meal.
c. The top one would be a large doughnut-shaped boulder
hooked over some kind of shaft so that they could be
turned to grind out the meal.
d. It would dozens to hundreds of pounds.
2. Truthfully, the image is larger than life.
a. But if you only wanted to ensure someone’s drowning,
there would be other more practical methods.
b. The whole idea was to select something frightening to
say to the troublemakers, "You won’t like what God
does to you!"
C. To the offended:
1. To help you to NOT be the trouble makers, I will tell you
that two motives are usually the motivators for most
troublemakers.
a. Envy
(1) Some are envious of what or who others have.
(2) Their envy drives them to attempt to destroy
others.
(3) I believe they want to make others "like"
themselves: unhappy, alone.
b. Anger
(1) Sometimes people just get angry and wrathful at
others and feel they must attack them.
(2) They are too cowardly to attack them in a head-
on fight so they try to destroy them from
behind by causing them trouble.
2. Let me make some suggestions to you on how to deal with
being the offended.
a. Don’t fret over it.
(1) Most offenses are word offenses: lies, betrayals.
(2) Just words not "bricks and stones."
(3) If an untrue word drives someone away from you,
count it as a blessing that they are gone.
b. Use the offense.
(1) If it stinks, there is probably some truth in it.
(2) Let God change you for the better and grow you.
c. Deal with it God’s way. \\#Matt 18:15-17\\
(1) Go to that person and attempt to make things
right.
(2) If it is in the church and they will not listen
to you, take a well-thought of and unbiased
brother or sister with you to help fix the
situation.
(3) If it is not in the church, find a mutual friend
who is well-thought of and do the same.
(4) If the Christian brother still will not allow
things to be made right, bring the matter before
the church and let the church do what needs to
be done to resolve it.
(5) To deal with hurt, misunderstandings, or just
plain wrong in any other way is to short
circuit God’s justice and to reap more heartache
and hurt on to everyone than is necessary.
II. \\#3-4\\ Have an abundance of forgiveness.
Luke 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and
if he repent, forgive him.
4 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.
A. In dealing with offenses, we only have two directives from
God.
1. Go see them.
2. Forgive them.
forgive.
3. The problem is hurt makes forgiveness very difficult!
a. The danger for a Christian is not in being offended
(getting knocked down). You can always get back up
again.
b. The danger is in not forgiving. That will change your
demeanor, your walk with God, your whole life.
B. We must forgive!
1. Jesus described here the habitual offender.
2. These people are not just evil to keep hurting us, they
are also annoying.
3. How do I forgive them?
a. Here is where you have to learn to control your
mind.
2Cor 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;
b. Don’t allow yourself to dwell on:
(1) the offense,
(2) the hurt or anger you fell,
(3) the results or the possible results.
c. When you tempted to remember, remind yourself of the
many times you have hurt others, maybe even the very
person who has hurt you, and especially God.
4. Do not waste time saying you cannot control your mind.
a. God would not have told you to do so if He did not
also give you the power to do it.
b. You will not be the Christian God wants you to be
until you quit making excuses for your sins and start
doing what God tells you to do.
III. \\#5-6\\ Use don’t abandon your faith.
Luke 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord,
Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain
of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine
tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be
thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
A. I have seen people on the verge of sacrificing their
relationship with God great over a hurt.
1. Some openly get angry with God for allowing the hurt to
happen.
2. Others get so bound by their anger and hurt that they can
no longer sense and follow God.
B. Don’t lose your faith in times of crisis. Use it!
1. It does not take but the faith of a mustard seed to grow a
tree in the ocean
2. How much less would it take to get your mind off a hurt?
to teach you how to forgive? to heal a broken
relationship?
3. It is not the quantity of faith your faith but the quality
of the One you have faith in that counts.
IV. \\#7-10\\ Keep the right attitude
Luke 17:9 Doth he thank that servant because he
did the things that were commanded him? I trow
not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all
those things which are commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants: we have done that which
was our duty to do.
A. Jesus gave the parable of the servant who worked hard then
worked some more—not expecting to be thanked or rewarded but
realizing that was his duty.
1. That is an earthly story to show how we are to keep on
serving no matter what is asked of us or how hard it
gets.
2. Why? Because that is our duty.
3. We are here to serve the King!
B. If you call yourself a Christian and then quit serving, you
reveal you weren’t serving Him.
1. First, remember our King didn’t do anything wrong to you.
2. Second, remember our King has promised to bring good from
every bad things.
C. No, our pouting just reveals our pride.
1. I know and God knows that offenses sting.
2. We may need to grieve for a time - 5 to 10 minutes ought
to do it.
3. Then must go back to work!
Why? Because we are Christians and we get back up! That is who we
are and that is what we do. So get with it.
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