Luke 17:1-19, What Do You Owe?

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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If you open your Bible with me, please, to Luke, chapter 17. We'll be reading the first 19 verses, Luke, chapter 17.

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Hear the word of the Lord. And he said to his disciples, Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.

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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.

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Pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him.

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And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him.

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The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you should say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea.

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And it would obey you. Will any 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?

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Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink?

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And afterward, you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

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So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, we are unworthy servants.

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We have only done what was our duty. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

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And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying,

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Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest.

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And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising

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God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Jesus's feet, giving him thanks.

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Now, he was a Samaritan when then Jesus answered, we're not 10 cleansed.

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Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?

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And he said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well.

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May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. What do you owe?

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What are you duty bound to give? Or who are you a creditor to? Maybe you owe the bank a mortgage or maybe you owe your landlord rent.

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You have to pay it, you know, month by month. In business, they like to have a very clear understanding of what exactly you owe.

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You know, I don't think Alan's going to build a building and say, yeah, you owe us something, you know, whatever, we'll get along to it. No, you have a very clear understanding.

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And so they'll put it on paper and have you sign it first so that they know, you know what is owed.

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And if need be, they can prove to a court that this is what you owed. But that's in business.

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But in much of the rest of life, there are things that you owe the people around you. Now, do you know what they are?

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The closer the relationship is to you, the more that is owed. What do you owe your parents? Now, that depends on your stage of life, doesn't it?

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What you owe them at 14 is different than what you owe them at 40. Outside of family, out of spouse, business contracts, outside of that, do you owe people much of anything?

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Maybe you owe them simple courtesy, you know, you owe not to hurt them. Don't run them over if they're going across the road.

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But do you, as many Americans believe, not really owe people around you anything, any duty of care?

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You don't owe them anything. You're not attached. You're free. Isn't that the definition of free, to be detached?

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As Chris Christopherson wrote, freedom is just a word for nothing left to lose. You're free of owning, owing,

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I should say, owing anyone anything. Now, leave me alone.

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What's owed you? Who is a creditor to you? Who's duty bound to give you things?

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One of the tricks of any relationship is knowing the difference between what is owed you and what is given to you as a gift or as a favor, you know, just something you should be grateful for.

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If you think something is owed you, you're not going to be really grateful for it when you get it.

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If your 14 -year -old owes you to mow the lawn, you don't need to thank him or lavish praise on him.

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Wow, isn't he amazing what he did? He mowed the lawn. Why, he owed that to you. If you show up to work every morning, right on time, you stay until the workday is over, and you work when you're supposed to, don't expect any gratitude for that.

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Don't expect the boss to give you a thank you note at the end of the day. But if you visit the funeral for the boss's mother, if you provide a dish when he or she is sick, or you give him or her a ride when their car is broken down, you know, that is an ode.

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So it may inspire gratitude if he or she knows the difference between what is owed and what is graciously given.

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When I lived north of Chicago, I had a summer job as a watchman in a large tent set up outside the shoe store, you know, in a strip mall, typical strip mall, there's a shoe store.

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And then in the summertime, they put up a big tent outside of it in the parking lot where they sold shoes there. Of course, it's just a tent, so anyone can come in and out.

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And in order to keep the shoes from walking off by themselves during the night, they had to have watchmen like me.

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My shift was started at midnight. I had to relieve the man who was before me. Now, one night

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I showed up about five minutes early, kind of proud of myself for giving my co -worker then, you know, the opportunity to leave five minutes early.

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But he wasn't happy at all. He immediately and sharply complained to me about how he wanted to leave even earlier and how rude

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I was for not coming even earlier than five minutes, as though I owed him even more time.

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I returned the complaint, making clear to him that I only owed him being on time.

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And then from then on, when I relieved that man, I would make sure that I arrived at exactly midnight, not a second earlier or later.

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If by chance I was, you know, traffic moved smoothly and I got there even a minute early,

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I would park off away in sight of the tent in my car, engine idling on the other side of the parking lot, waiting for the signal on the radio of the exact time.

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And I would pull up at precisely 12 midnight. If he wasn't going to be grateful for what

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I gave him, I was only going to give him what I owed him. It's important to know what's owed and what you've been given.

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And we see that here in this passage in three major parts. What do you owe? What is your duty?

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First, you owe care. Second, you owe faith. And third, you owe praise.

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Okay, care and faith and praise. Now, first, Jesus tells us that temptations are sure to come.

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We are saved from the penalty of sin. We're saved from the power of sin.

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But we are not yet saved from the presence of sin. It's everywhere in this world.

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It's like bacteria. And, you know, of course, even from bacteria, you can create few sterile places, like operating rooms, maybe sealed containers that keep out all the microbes.

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But there's no keeping out sin no matter where we go, because we smuggle it in with us.

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It's in our hearts. Bible calls desperately sick and beyond cure. It's in our very inclinations.

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The Bible says are only evil all the time. So the taint, then the infection of sin, permeates this world.

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And so the draw of it to us is unavoidable. Temptations are sure to come.

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Temptations are not themselves sin, right? Seeing the forbidden fruit is a temptation.

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Wanting it is sin. Now, here in this passage, the word temptations actually is, the

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Greek word is pronounced scandalon, where we get the word scandal from. Scandals are sure to happen.

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But it means offenses. Or originally, it was the bait on a trap or a stumbling block put in someone, something they stumbled over.

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A Lego that you step on and hurt your toe. Some kid left and you're trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

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Something you stumble over. Jesus says, woe to the one who places stumbling blocks before others.

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You know, things in their way that bait them into falling into a trap. Now, you can't say, well,

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I didn't make him stumble. He stumbled himself. If he was a good hurdler, he could have got over that stumbling block easily.

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I got over it. He could have. He did that himself. He stumbled himself. It wasn't my fault. No, he's,

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Jesus says, woe to the one who puts the stumbling block there. Do not put a stumbling block in someone's way. I mean, how many ways you could do that?

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Don't make light of sin as though stumbling is no big deal. It's the way people are today. Stumble over is a big deal.

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You know, you can do that by the jokes you laugh at, the movies that you cause other people to watch, the things you drink, which might be fine for you, but which might cause someone else to sin.

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For them, it's a temptation. Just last weekend, Mary and I watched the movie Blade Runner 2049.

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It's all right. It's a sci -fi movie. R -rated, not X -rated, excuse me. R -rated, at home through on demand, we ordered it through the satellite.

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Now, at one point, because of some nudity, I said out loud to Mary, we're not having Micah watch this movie.

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All right, because to him, it might be a temptation. Notice that this, what is assumed about our relationships with others here.

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Some people have kind of a live and let die attitude. If I can handle a bit of R -rated nudity in a movie,

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I don't care if you can't. I don't care if it provokes you to lust. I don't care if it makes you dive into pornography.

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I can handle it. It's none of my business if you stumble over it. If I can handle a little wine in the cup of the

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Lord's Supper, you know, but someone else can't, it's not my business.

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I didn't do it. It might be a temptation that sets them off on a binge. We say, yeah, this is their problem.

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They shouldn't stumble over it. Why should we have to pay taxes? Some people say, why should we have to pay taxes?

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To support a, quote, war on drugs. You know, some people, they want to destroy their lives on drugs.

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That's their problem. None of my business. There are many Americans that think that way.

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So it's a common American way of thinking, a way in our culture, including many

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Christians. And personally, they may be very disciplined in their own lives.

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They may be moral, but they think, I don't owe these other people anything. I wish they'd know better.

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It's too bad for them, but I don't care enough to stop them. It's not my responsibility.

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So they'll be an instrument in other people's temptation. And the Lord Jesus here says, whoa, to such people.

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Otherwise, you know, whoa, is something you say at a funeral. Begin the morning now, start the funeral already because the weeping, the wailing, do it.

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Might as well crank it up right now because the doom is coming on you, certainly on them. It's going to be severe.

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In verse two, 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 stumble.

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In other words, what's in store for him, the punishment for him, for what he's done, the tempter, the one through whom temptations come, the one who didn't care, put a stumbling block in front of someone else, caused them to fall into sin.

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Maybe it wasn't sin for him, but he caused someone else to do it. What's in store for him is worse than having one of these heavy millstones put around his, draped over his neck.

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Now a millstone is so heavy, they use donkeys or oxen to move it, to grind grain with it, hundreds of pounds.

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If it's put on someone's neck and then he's thrown into the sea, he drowns.

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Okay, there's no doubt about that. You can put it on Michael Phelps' neck and he's going to drown. And drowning has to be one of the most agonizing ways to die.

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And Jesus is saying here, that form of execution, according to some, the

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Romans would actually sometimes do that, just cruelly execute people, throw them, put a millstone on the neck, throw them in the ocean.

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But Jesus is saying that is less serious than what he's going to get if he tempts others, causes others to sin.

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And you think about it, this comes immediately after, let's not forget what came just before this, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, when

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Jesus described in some detail, the agony of hell that is so bad that you'd beg for just a brush of moisture if you could get it.

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Woe to the tempters, because that's what's in store for you. So you, individualistic

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Americans who think your only duty is to yourself, to pursue your own happiness, you don't owe others anything.

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Jesus here is saying, you owe them. You have a duty of care for them, not to introduce them to what will destroy them.

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And so what is assumed here is that we are responsible for each other, that we owe each other care, that I might have to sacrifice my freedom for your safety.

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Notice though, who in particular, the others are. He doesn't just make a general statement about not tempting anyone, although certainly we don't want to be the instrument of temptation for anyone, but he does have a particular group of people in mind.

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Jesus has a particular group that he's considering, a special group that he is so intent, intent on protecting from the temptations that could destroy them.

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He's so intent on that, this group that he pronounces woe on anyone who would dare tempt one of them.

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Woe to anyone who tempts, you notice it? One of these little ones.

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Now, I don't think he just means children, although includes children, but I think he means those who believe in him.

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Believers, whether they're children or not, because earlier in the gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus calls his followers little children.

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I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things, the secrets of the kingdom of God from the wise and understanding, like the

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Pharisees, the scholars of their day, and revealed them to little children, meaning his disciples.

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In Luke chapter 10, verse 21, here he is speaking to his disciples. You notice it began that way, speaking to his disciples and said that anyone who causes you, you believers, you members of the church, anyone who causes you to be tempted, to fall into sin, makes you stumble.

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Woe. You know, people out there could be moral sin, could also be doctrinal sin.

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People going door to door, their Watchtower magazines, and trying to cause you to fall into their cult.

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Woe. The responsibility we see here is especially strong for other Christians.

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This is why we have, and every church should have, intentional church membership. Here, Jesus is saying that you especially owe these little ones who believe in me to not tempt them, to care for them.

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You have a duty to them, a responsibility for them. Well, then who are they? You need to know who they are.

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If Jesus is especially intent on protecting them, shouldn't you be especially intent on knowing who they are?

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Well, they're these members. You need to know who are the people you are especially responsible for. And when we accept people as members, we're saying we have a special care for you.

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We're going to owe you our care, our attention. Now, we might wish all people, and we do, wish all people well, but these little ones who believe in Jesus besides us, who have covenanted together with us, we are especially committed to care for them, to see that we don't do anything to harm them.

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We owe each other that. So in verse three, Jesus says, pay attention to yourselves.

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Be careful that you're not causing others of these little ones to sin in the way you live and what you do.

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If you draw away one of the father's children from him, you know, he takes it personally.

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Those are his children. It's like you care for your children. He cares for his, and he don't want anybody harming them.

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So pay attention, take heed, watch yourself. Indeed, rather than causing a brother or sister to sin, not only just make sure you don't do that, if you see your brother or sister in sin, maybe you didn't cause him, he had nothing to do with it, but you see him, he or she is in sin, you have a duty, he says, to rebuke him or her.

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You can't just passively sit back and think, well, what he or she does is none of my business. That doesn't look good to me, but I'm, you know,

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I'm, it's none, it doesn't bother me. It's not, that's not me. You're not, as though you're not attached to them.

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No, he's saying here, you are attached to them. You owe them a rebuke. Like if you were riding with someone in the car and they didn't see that they were just about to pull in front of a car coming right from their direction, you exclaim, you know, look out, you see it.

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And you owe the driver a warning. Of course, in that case, we do that because we know we're in the same car.

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It could hit us. We're in with that person. We're going to be involved in this accident if he doesn't stop.

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But do you see, that's the point. We're in one body. If it hurts one member, it hurts you.

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The sin crashes into him, crashes into you. Again, who do you owe that?

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You know what I mean? You go out of here after this, just go out rebuking everybody for their sins. You know, you'd be doing nothing else.

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Jesus particularly says your brother. You see your brother in sin. Not everyone is your brother.

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Your brother or sister or your fellow little ones, the father's other children. You owe them a rebuke if they're in sin.

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This is why we have church membership. These are the people that we recognize as our brothers and sisters who we hope will rebuke us if we start to stray into sin and who we owe the care to help them watch out for sin.

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It's like the lifeguard at the pool. You know, lifeguard owes the swimmers his attention so that if anyone starts to drown, he or she will take responsibility and dive in to save the swimmer.

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Here in this passage, we're told that we owe each other to dive into each other's lives and save a fellow member if they're starting to drown in sin.

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And membership then tells us who we are responsible for. And who will be responsible for us?

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Who we will pay attention to. So many

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Americans, particularly Americans, hate this very idea.

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This is just an un -American way of thinking. They don't want to hear this.

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Hate the very idea that someone else should be paying attention to me. You know, they might let, for church's concern, they might like the singing.

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They might like the preaching. Maybe even, you know, maybe even reform doctrine is their thing.

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But they don't want anyone paying attention to them, rebuking them if they fall into sin.

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They want to live in splendid isolation, disconnected.

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They might be friendly, but not responsible, unencumbered by membership and covenants and relationships that might constrain them.

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And that is a common, probably the common, modern American view of spirituality. Many of them stay home, getting what they think is, quote, church.

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Church means assembly. How can you get assembly on TV? But they think they get church on TV or the internet. Or maybe they do go to church.

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They go to church. But in the same way, people might go to the movies.

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And they're just as connected to the other people attending a church service as they are to the other people attending a movie.

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It just means they're not connected at all. But notice clearly here that there's no way, that's the common view,

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I think, today among modern American Christians. But notice clearly here in this passage, there is no way to square that detached individualism with what

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Jesus says here. There's just no way to match the two. You can't, like here in this passage, rebuke your brother or be rebuked by him or be so responsible for him or her that it would be better if a millstone were tied around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

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You can't be that responsible if that kind of American individualism is true, can you?

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It's one or the other. But some people look at this passage, what this is talking about, and think, this is exactly why

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I want to stay detached from the church. Rebuke someone else?

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You know what they're going to say back if you rebuke someone else. They're probably not, often they're not going to take it well. Be responsible?

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Be rebuked by people? I don't want to, I don't know about that. Owe them a duty of care?

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Oh, next thing I know, they'll be rebuking me for watching movies or drinking what they don't think

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I should drink or dressing differently than they do or having a tattoo or whatever or listening to music with a beat to it.

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Oh, spare me. That's the last thing I want, a bunch of hypercritical Pharisees scrutinizing every detail of my life.

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No way. Yeah, me too. I agree. But that's not what he's talking about here.

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Yes, if your brother sins, rebuke him. But you better know what sin is, okay?

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Sin is an offense against God. It's not an offense against you as though you are God. It's not like the guy who came in here several years ago with his family, came in once very quickly and immediately left.

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But only after leaving a letter, give it to me, rebuking us for having drums and playing songs that had a beat to them.

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Oh, what a horrible sin that is. According to who? According to him. I don't want to be rebuked by someone like that.

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No way. Be quiet. I'm not interested in your opinion. They had better be sins.

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You're going to rebuke me. They better be sins according to God's word, not your delicate taste. And he goes on in verse three.

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If he repents, say they really are sins according to God's word. If he repents, forgive him.

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You don't keep harping on it and hold it over him. Indeed, you're supposed to be so forgiving, so gracious, so eager for reconciliation.

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You know, so -and -so sins seven times in one day. And you know, you don't burst out. That's enough.

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I can't take any more of you. Now, if he turns to you, notice that he's turning to you.

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He or she is seeking to keep our attachment to recover the unity, the spirit and the bond of peace.

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As in Ephesians chapter four, verse three, he turns to you seven times saying, and that's there's the miracle.

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They're already happening by God's spirit. People seeking reconciliation. That's so rare. I've seen offenses.

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People go and very rarely seem someone seeking reconciliation.

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But to say that happens, God's working in their life. They say, I repent.

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You must forgive him. Jesus says, forgive him. It's a command. Notice that at the end of verse four, you must.

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It's your duty. You owe forgiveness to him if he repents.

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Now, some might say, whoa, that's a recipe for abuse right there. That's going to be used for abuse.

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Someone could be abusive, maybe in the home, maybe in the church. And are we just supposed to take it? Continue to forgive and let him get away with it?

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Just because he says, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You were offended. You know, if an abusive husband beats his wife one day and the very next says, honey, forgive me.

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I won't do it again. Are we just supposed to accept it and go on to get beat again another day?

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No, to allow the abuser to continue in his abuse is to tempt him.

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To tempt him to abuse again. You're tempting him with the idea that he can abuse with no consequences.

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Just a superficial apology. Instead, rebuke him if he repents. Well, let him work out his repentance with a counselor or a pastor or the courts.

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If he's not willing to bear the consequences of his sin, to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, then he's probably not really repentant at all.

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He's just manipulating with the language of repentance so he can sin again another day. It's to the truly repentant brothers and sisters that we owe forgiveness.

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When there's repentance, we must forgive. He commands that in verse four, forgive each other.

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Why must we forgive? Well, the one who's sinned against us over and over again, you know, now he wants to mend the relationship.

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Why should we subject ourselves to the possibility that they're going to sin against us again?

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You know, why? I thought the Christian life is just me and God. Why do I need these other people, especially if they're going to sin against me seven times in one day?

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Why? Because you thought wrong. It's not just you and God.

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God doesn't just save isolated individuals. He saves his little ones, his children, his family.

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The church. And he expects his family to get along. You are attached to other believers and you are to do your part to maintain that attachment.

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Not to be so critical and intolerant and rigid that anyone slightly offending you is going to destroy the relationship.

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You know, if you don't get your way, it's all over. People have to walk on eggshells around you because, you know, they know you're sensitive.

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Everyone knows you're sensitive. So they know they can't criticize in any way because you're sensitive. Sensitive is now a nice way of saying it's just someone is so full of themselves.

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So thin skinned. There's always looking for an excuse to pout and to protest and just to leave this relationship because they're sensitive.

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Oh, who needs the drama? They say, I'm going to stay at home and watch my favorite preacher on YouTube and be done with all these sensitive people.

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So say many sensitive people. But you can't do that if you're going to do this.

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No, you must forgive the ones who offended him, who defended you, which means you must be in a relationship, an attachment, a covenant with him.

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You must be part of the church if you're going to follow Jesus. That sounds almost impossible, right?

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I just said just laid out that that sounds like otherworldly impossible.

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See, you're staying home and claiming that you're having church through TV or the Internet. You know, there's no one in your living room to annoy you.

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Or if there is, you can go to the bedroom. But to have to be part of a body actually responsible for each other, a duty of care for each other, watching over one another with an affectionate care, as our church covenant puts it, covenant together so that they can they can rebuke me if I sin and I'm supposed to forgive them if they sin against me and repent.

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Sounds nice, but that's impossible. It's impossible like like saying to a mulberry tree that is huge, extensive root systems, which is impossible to uproot.

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It's impossible like saying to a mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea and it happening. That takes too much faith.

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And that's the second thing you owe faith. The apostles heard this description of the church

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Jesus just gave our responsibility to each other, the daunting challenge to be a community that rebukes and forgives.

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It's committed to holiness, but isn't censorious, isn't hypercritical, judgmental, that's gracious, that's attached without being oppressive.

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And thought rightly, we need more faith. We're going to do that. We need more faith.

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So they asked the Lord Jesus, increase our faith. We have a duty to believe.

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There's no way to keep these instructions for the church in the first four verses without faith in a

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Lord who has both rebuked us for our sins. Talk about someone who's been sinned against a lot more than seven times in one day, the

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Lord himself. And he's rebuked us for our sins and repeatedly forgiven us for them.

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Once we believe in a holy God who must rightly judge sin, but has graciously forgiven our sins.

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He's allowed us to repent. He's kept us in a relationship with him, even though we've offended him many times.

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Then that same faith, we have faith in him. That same faith allows us to deal with others in the same way, with holiness and graciousness.

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Increase our faith, Lord. We need faith in that kind of God. And when we take the

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Lord's Supper, we take in our hands a reminder that God is both holy and gracious.

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He was so holy that he could not just excuse sin. You just shrug it off.

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OK, I'll let it slide this time. Excusing is what often gets passed off as forgiveness these days.

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We're told that we should just be easygoing and let bygones be bygones. Just let it slide.

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Don't worry about it. It, sin, don't worry about it as though sin is not deadly, as though God is not so holy that some people would be better off having a millstone draped around their neck and thrown in the sea, executed by drowning.

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That God is not so holy than that, that having a woe that he will bring on them because they tempted someone to sin.

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They think God just excuses sin. Obviously, here he doesn't. He brings woes on some.

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But excusing is not, excusing is not forgiving. God doesn't excuse our sin. In the Lord's Supper, we take up the symbols of the body and the blood of Christ because that body was beaten and broken and pierced and his blood was streaming out as God's wrath was poured out on him for our sins.

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Our sins were not excused. They were paid for. We take the

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Lord's Supper to remind ourselves of the cost of paying for them. We should think, take up that bread.

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This is a shred of flesh ripped off his body. The cup, this is his blood gushing out of wounds.

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This is horrible. Do you realize when we take this, put this on a table in front of us nice and adored, this is horrible.

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This is atrocious. This should be, make us cringe what we're taking up in our hands.

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This is what my sins cost. And that's the holiness of God.

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But then we think, could be me suffering a fate worse than drowning a sea with a millstone around my neck.

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I did nothing to deserve a substitute taking what my sins earned.

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Talk about a duty. I'm the one that earned that wrath. That was due me.

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But he bore it. That's the graciousness of God.

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Believing that you have faith in that no matter how small that faith is, but you have faith in that transforms us to be people who are also both holy.

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That we don't want to cause anyone. We don't want to send ourselves. We don't want to cause others to send both holy and gracious.

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Like the grace has been given to us. So we have a duty to have faith, increase our faith.

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But the Lord Jesus tells us here in verse six, if we have even a little faith, tiny as a mustard seed, he says the tiniest seed in the garden, it's like a little speck.

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That's enough to do miracles, especially the miracle here of becoming the kinds of people who care enough about each other, not to lead each other into temptation, who both rebuke and forgive.

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That's a miracle to be people like that. And here's a promise here in this passage.

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This is not a promise to be able to magically do landscaping. I mean, you'll have to, you won't have to get no more.

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Do you have to get a shovel and dig deep? You want to land uproot a tree? That's not what it's about. It's not about magically doing landscaping or how you can acquire health and wealth all you want.

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Here's a promise that your faith, even if small, if it's in the right one, it's who it's in.

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If it's in the holy, gracious God, that faith will be enough to do the miracle of becoming like him.

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That's quite a promise. Well, that sounds, doesn't it? All that about what we should be like we're going, especially if you compare what often goes on these days for the church, man, it sounds like we can do that.

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We're going above and beyond the call of duty. Man, we are going to be the top ranked saints.

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We're going to be the first class church. God's going to be so proud of us for going so far beyond what's required.

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We're going to be like the Medal of Honor winners who, you know, go out into enemy fire to bring back his wounded friend to safety.

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Man, we're going to get, God's going to be proud of us for doing so much. But Jesus says this forgiveness, this faith, you know, that's what's owed.

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It's kind of it's your basic duty. It's your basic job description. You're a servant.

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We're all servants of God. And like a servant, we have a minimum duty to do what's expected. Staying attached, paying attention, rebuking, forgiving, believing.

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That's just the minimum duty. It's part of the job description.

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Don't expect a bonus for doing it. I expect a thank you note. A servant, starting in verse 7, maybe he plows, maybe he looks after the sheep.

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You know, he doesn't expect to be treated as a guest when he comes in at sunset. His duties aren't done.

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He still has to prepare the supper, dress properly, clean the house, clean the dishes. And then he can take care of himself.

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That's his job. That's the minimum. He shouldn't expect thanks for doing what's expected of him.

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He owes those duties. They're not a gift to the master, the employer.

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They're the minimum due. And so in verse 10, when we've done what is commanded, when we looked after each other, we corrected each other when we need be, we've forgiven each other, we stayed attached to each other.

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When we've done all these things, which might seem so far and beyond the ordinary today, so much over and above, you know, the kind of typical stay at home

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TV or internet watching Christian or even the one who does go to church, but isn't really attached.

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Kind of, you know, it's like the guy goes to the movies. Does it, does it, does it know anyone well enough to rebuke them?

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And is it known well enough to be rebuked? Just anonymous or, you know, gets lost in the crowds of a church or just superficial relationships when we've done all this commanded here.

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Jesus says, which might be so different than the church today, but which is really just the minimum, just the duties we must keep.

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If we've done that, don't expect to be praised, you know, to be thanked for being so much better than everyone else.

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If we keep this, we've still only done what's commanded.

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We've given what is owed and that's it. You owe

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God and each other faith, even if just a tiny bit and care.

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Finally, you owe praise in verses 19 verses 11 to 19.

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I remember this whole section of Luke. Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. And all of this is after he determined to go to the cross to purchase the church.

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Now on the way outside a village were 10 lepers. Now, lepers by law had to stay outside of towns and cities, basically in the countryside separate.

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And so these lepers here, they stood at a distance like they were required to. They see

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Jesus and they cry out, Jesus, master, have mercy on us.

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They call him master and they plead for mercy. Jonathan Edwards said, they who come to God for mercy, come as beggars and not as creditors.

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They come for mere mercy, for sovereign grace and not for anything that is due.

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So Jesus says back to them, go show yourself to the priest. Now, the priest in Israel acted as kind of health inspectors to see if someone was really cured of leprosy.

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If they're lepers, they got to stay detached. But if they say they're cured, well, first, you got to have someone just kind of stamp their card.

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Yes, you're cured. You're welcome back now into normal society. So he tells them to go to act based on his command.

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Notice he tells them to go even before they are healed. So that interesting.

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Notice in verse 14, they're only healed. He didn't heal them and then tell them to go get checked out.

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They are only healed as they are going. In other words, they set out to go to the priest to show them that they were healed.

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Before they were actually healed, but they had such faith in Jesus. The master's word that they went at his command.

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And even though even though they weren't healed yet, again, faith is our duty.

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Now, one of these 10, when he saw that he was healed, my leprosy is all gone rather than go to the priest and then to his family, his wife, whatever.

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He turns around and comes back to Jesus. And as he's coming to Jesus, he praises God loudly. He's shouting, you know, probably hallelujah loud.

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They could hear him from a long way off. He falls down, prostrate on the ground, face down in the dirt before Jesus, giving thanks to him.

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And he knew that he was not due a healing, that it wasn't his right. It wasn't something that he had earned by doing the right ritual or saying the right confession.

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It wasn't a gift given. It was a gift given to him. And he was also a

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Samaritan, oddly enough. Now, normally, the Jews and the Samaritans didn't mix together, they didn't hang out.

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I guess the lepers were just such outcasts. They probably didn't care. People at the bottom of society all have in common that they're at the bottom of society.

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So being from the bottom, he is especially aware that he wasn't owed anything. His head has not been inflated with ego boosting talk about all that is owed him, that he deserves a blessing, that he deserves a healing, the money, the best life now.

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He didn't read the book. That that is all his by right, if only he'll name it and claim it and give a big donation to the

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Jesus ministry. No, he's been a he's been a Samaritan outcast, been a leper living outside and not even allowed to go into towns.

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Now he's healed and he knows that he's been given a gracious gift. And so he knows he owes praise.

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So this Samaritan ex leper is on the ground and shouting his hallelujahs to Jesus and Jesus notes, we're not 10 cleansed.

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Where are the nine? Why did they think they were owed a healing that they're not so grateful?

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Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner and the implication being that the rest, the other nine weren't foreigners.

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They were Jews and they should have known better. They should be praising God too. They owe

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God praise for their healing, but they're not giving it. So Jesus says to the one who is giving it, rise, go your way.

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Your faith has made you well, or it could be translated at the end.

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Your faith has saved you. He was saved from leprosy and from the wrath of God through faith.

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If you've been saved through faith, don't think like the nine, like so many, you don't really owe

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God anything now that, you know, I'm cleansed in his eyes.

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I don't even need to come to him overwhelmed by the indescribable gift of salvation.

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Don't think that. What do you owe? If you've been saved through faith, realize you didn't deserve that.

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We wasn't owed you. God wasn't, you know, under your due.

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God didn't have a duty to save you. He did it purely because he's gracious.

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He forgave you. The holy God who has such wrath towards sin that it makes our fears of the one of the worst possible deaths, his wrath makes those fears look tame.

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That holy God had mercy on you going far beyond the call of any duty.

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Once you see that your heart will know that you owe him an eternity of loud praise.