Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October
16, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
Luke was a doctor and a traveling
companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was
in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus,
Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel of Mark, as well as
extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way, and the people have been amazed not just
at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
17:1-6 Offended
:1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should
come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
impossible – anendektos
– that cannot be admitted, inadmissible, unallowable, improper
from the opposite of – endechetai
(to take into the hand) – to
receive, admit, approve, allow; it can be allowed, is possible, may be
:1 It is impossible that no offenses should come
offenses – skandalon – the
movable stick or trigger of a trap; a rock which is a cause of stumbling; any
person or thing by which one is drawn into error or sin
Some translations use the phrase “stumbling block” (NASB).
Our word “scandal” comes from this – the idea that someone has “stumbled”.
There will always be people and things who will try to get you to trip in
your walk with God.
Warning To Believers:
Don’t think you’ve every moved past
the place where you can be tempted.
We must always be on our guard
against temptations because they will always be around.
:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and
he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little
ones.
It would be better – lusitelei
(“to loose” + “tax”) – to pay the
taxes; to return expenses; to be useful, advantageous, it profits
millstone – the Greek is composed of two separate
words:
mulos – a large mill
consisted of two stones, an upper and an under one, the “lower” stone was
stationary, but the upper one was turned by an ass
onikos – of or for an donkey
So, this was the upper millstone,
the one that was turned by a donkey.
were hung – perikeimai
– to lie around; to be compassed with, have round one
neck – trachelos
– neck, throat
thrown – rhipto
– to cast, throw
sea – thalassa
– the sea
he should offend – skandalizo
– to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may
trip and fall, metaph. to offend; to entice to sin
little ones – mikros
– small, little
:2 a millstone were hung around his neck
A normal grain mill consisted of two stones.
The lower stone was the bigger one, and just sat stationary.
The upper stone was attached to a donkey, and turned to grind the grain.
This is the stone Jesus is talking about.
It’s a hefty piece of stone, one that will take you straight to the bottom
of the sea.
Jesus said that would be better for you to drown like this than what will
come if you cause someone else to stumble.
:2 that he should offend one of these little ones
Literally, “don’t stumble one of these little ones”
When Jesus talks about offending “these little ones”, I think He’s
referring to His disciples.
You don’t want to mess with His
disciples.
You don’t want to cause them to
sin.
Who are the “little ones” Jesus is
warning His listeners not to stumble?
Is Jesus talking about
children? Is He talking about His
disciples? The answer is … Yes. It can apply to both.
Often Jesus, when uses this word to
describe people, He is talking about His disciples (Mat. 10:42; Mark 9:42)
(Matthew 10:42 NKJV) And
whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the
name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his
reward.”
(Mark 9:42 NKJV) —42 “But
whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would
be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown
into the sea.
One time He even called His
disciples “babes” (Luke 10:21)
(Luke 10:21 NKJV) —21 In that
hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in
Your sight.
There is one passage that puts
children and disciples in the same context:
(Matthew 18:1–7 NKJV) —1 At that
time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a
little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever
receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to
sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and
he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the
world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom
the offense comes!
Jesus is warning about not causing
others to stumble.
Jesus warns that you better not be a person who causes others to stumble,
or you’re going to wish you were sinking into the depths of the sea rather than
facing what you will face from God.
Lesson
Stumbling Blocks
While this certainly applies to the drug dealer out on the street actively
trying to get kids addicted to whatever drug they’re selling, there is a
subtler application of this as well.
In Romans 14, Paul is dealing with what we might call “gray areas”, where
there’s no clear right or wrong.
One of the gray areas had to do with eating meat that had been sacrificed
to an idol.
In ancient days, if you brought a cow to sacrifice to the goddess
Aphrodite, your beef would be sold later that day in the Costco located behind
the Temple. Smart shoppers would find
better prices for meat in these stores than in other places in the city.
There were some people in the church at Rome that thought it was a horrible
thing to eat meat that had one time been offered up to a god like
Aphrodite. They felt it was just wrong. They felt they were sinning against God if
they ate Aphrodite’s meat.
Other people in the church at Rome were a little smarter and knew that
there really was no such person as “Aphrodite”, that there was only One True
God, and if the meat was cheaper at Costco, then the smart thing was to buy
your steaks there.
These “smarter” people had no problem bringing their cheap
steaks to the church barbeques for everyone to eat.
So Paul wrote,
(Romans
14:13–15 NKJV) —13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve
this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. 14 I know and
am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself;
but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if your
brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in
love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
If you cause a person to do something against their own
conscience (like eating Costco steaks), you are causing them to stumble.
And that’s not walking in love.
We might apply it in the area of drinking alcoholic beverages.
To be honest, the Bible doesn’t prohibit drinking alcoholic beverages.
The Bible only condemns being drunk.
You might be fine having a beer or glass of wine at dinner, but if you
invite your friend over to the house who is an alcoholic, you better think
twice before you drink in front of them, let alone offer them a drink.
The principle is all about loving others enough to do what’s best for them
rather than what’s best for you.
(1 John 2:10 NKJV) He
who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling
in him.
Limits:
Some of us can be tempted to take this principle and use it to blame others
for our sin.
Somebody does something that makes you mad, and you tell yourself that you
owe it to yourself to do your bad behavior because the other person made you
mad – essentially blaming them as your excuse for sinning.
Your spouse makes you mad, and as a way of getting back at them, you act
out by getting drunk, doing drugs, or misbehaving sexually.
Don’t use your anger or resentment as an excuse to sin because you claim
they made you “stumble”.
:3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
Take heed – prosecho
– to bring to, bring near; to turn the mind to, attend to be attentive
sins – hamartano
– to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to wander from the law of
God, violate God’s law, sin
Aorist active subjunctive
repents – metanoeo
– to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent; to change one’s mind for better,
heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins
Aorist active subjunctive
forgive – aphiemi
– to send away; to let go, give up a debt, forgive, to remit
Aorist active imperative
This is a command. This we MUST do.
:3 If your brother sins against you, rebuke him
Lesson
The honorable rebuke
Frankly, I do not believe we need to “confront” people every time we feel
offended.
There are some people who feel it is their calling in life to point out
every little thing that people do wrong.
Illustration
Jill and John got married. John thought this would be a “totally
modern marriage” - equal roles for equal partners. So, the first morning back
from their honeymoon, he brought Jill breakfast in bed. Jill wasn’t impressed
with his culinary skills, however. She looked disdainfully at the tray, and
snorted, “Poached? I wanted scrambled!” Undaunted, the next morning, John
brought his true love a scrambled egg. Jill wasn’t having any of it. “Do you
think I don’t like variety? I wanted poached this morning!” Determined to please
Jill, the next morning he thought, “third time’s a charm” and brought her two
eggs—one poached, and the other scrambled. “Here, my love, enjoy!” Jill looks
at the plate and says, “You scrambled the wrong egg.”
Paul wrote,
(Colossians
3:12–13 NLT) —12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe
yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and
patience. 13 Make
allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.
Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
I think it’s a good thing to learn to be patient towards
the failings of others, even if they scramble the wrong egg.
Yet there are going to be times when you simply can’t let something go, and
you need to speak up.
The word Jesus uses is a bit odd, having two distinctly different meanings:
rebuke – epitimao – to
show honor to; rebuke
I do not understand how a word can have two such distinct
meanings.
When you look at how this word is used in the New Testament, you see the
majority of the times fall into two different categories.
When Jesus does it, it’s done right.
He rebukes demons and they come out of people (Mat.
17:18).
(Matthew 17:18 NKJV) —18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the
child was cured from that very hour.
He rebukes the wind and the waves and the storm stops
(Mat. 8:26).
(Matthew
8:26 NKJV) But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”
Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
When the rebuking is done by people, it’s usually done
wrong.
Peter rebuked Jesus for saying that He was going to die
(Mat. 16:22).
(Matthew 16:22 NKJV) Then
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You,
Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
The disciples rebuked the people who were bringing their
children to Jesus in order to pray for them (Mat. 19:13)
(Matthew
19:13 NKJV) Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His
hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.
I only found one example of someone rebuking another
person correctly:
(Luke
23:39–41 NKJV) —39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying,
“If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same
condemnation? 41
And
we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has
done nothing wrong.”
I’d like to suggest that perhaps the thing that makes a healthy “rebuke”
has to do with the attitude of the person giving the rebuke.
Remember the two definitions of the word.
Perhaps a correct rebuke has to do with the kind of “honor” you’re
willing to show the other person.
Are you looking down your nose at them, or do you see them as a person of
equal value as you?
The thief on the cross “rebuked” the other thief, but let’s get real – they
were both on crosses dying for their sins.
Watch your attitude when you decide you need to confront another person.
Paul wrote,
(2
Timothy 2:24–26 NKJV) —24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but
be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps
will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that
they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil,
having been taken captive by him to do his will.
Gentleness.
Patient. Humility. A goal of
instructing the other person (instead of condemning them).
:4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a
day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
seven times – heptakis
– seven times
sins – hamartano
– to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to wander from the law of
God, violate God’s law, sin
Aorist active subjunctive
returns – epistrepho
– to return, turn back, come back
Aorist active subjunctive
repents – metanoeo
– to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent; to change one’s mind for better,
heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins
Present active indicative
A sense of continuous action.
forgive – aphiemi
– to send away; to let go, give up a debt, forgive
Future active indicative
This isn’t a command, this is a
future tense, meaning that this is something that they “WILL” do, not just
“should” do.
:4 you shall forgive him
forgive – aphiemi – to
send away; to let go, give up a debt, forgive
This is one of the Bible’s concept of forgiveness – that you learn to let
it go.
Don’t hold on to your grudge, your bitterness, or your anger.
Let it go.
:4 if he sins against you seven times in a day
Lesson
Forgive vs Trust
I think sometimes we make a mistake of thinking that “forgiveness” means I
should “trust” the other person.
If a person has stolen from you many times, and yet comes back and asks for
forgiveness, what do you do?
Forgiveness means that I’m “letting go” of my anger. I will not hold a grudge. I will not harbor bitterness.
Trust means that I’m willing to loan you the keys to my car.
When Paul was dealing with a problem in the Corinthian church, he went as
far as asking the church to remove a man from their church because of his open,
unrepentant sin.
Yet there came a time when Paul wrote them back and encouraged them to restore
the fellow because he had proven that his repentance was genuine.
Even the Corinthians themselves had shown true repentance in their actions
as a church.
(2 Corinthians 7:11
NKJV) For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner:
What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what
indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what
vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this
matter.
Trust is built by actions that prove a genuine repentant
heart.
This is a problem that Christian marriages get into when a pattern of abuse
develops and the one who is being abused keeps hearing that they need to
“forgive” the other person.
They need to forgive, but that doesn’t mean they should immediately “trust”
the other person yet.
Forgiveness can be instantaneous, but trust may take time.
:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
:5 Increase our faith
Increase – prostithemi
– to put to; to add
In the previous verse, when Jesus said,
(Luke 17:4 NKJV) And if he
sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you,
saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
The phrase “you shall forgive” is a future tense. He’s not commanding them to forgive the other
person, He’s simply making a statement that they will in the future
forgive.
I imagine that for the disciples listening to this, they’re thinking, “I’m
gonna do what???”
I think the apostles are facing the fact that …
It’s hard to forgive.
It takes faith.
How do I know this is going to be a healthy thing if I forgive them?
Wouldn’t it be better if I hold on to my bitterness and stay away from
them?
:6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to
this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and
it would obey you.
you have – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold; to have i.e. own, possess
Present active indicative
You are currently, continuously
“having”
seed – kokkos
– a grain
mustard – sinapi
– mustard
you can say – lego
– to say, to speak
Imperfect active indicative
mulberry tree – sukaminos
– sycamine tree, having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but fruit resembling
the fig
Be pulled up by the roots – ekrizoo
– to root out, pluck up by the roots
Aorist passive imperative
be planted – phuteuo
– to plant
Aorist passive imperative
sea – thalassa
– the sea
it would obey – hupakouo
– to listen, to harken; to obey, be obedient to, submit to
Aorist active indicative
:6 If you have faith as a mustard seed
Lesson
Trust God’s ways
My definition of faith is:
Trusting when you don’t understand
Mustard seeds are very, very small.
It doesn’t take much faith to do something as spectacular as commanding a
tree to uproot itself and jump in the ocean.
Though I’ve never heard of anyone actually doing this.
The point is this, it doesn’t take a lot of faith to do something powerful.
Right now, our nation needs to see real faith demonstrated. Wouldn’t you agree?
The 20-30’s generation Andy is talking about is the
disciples of Jesus in the 1st century.
Forgiveness is a powerful thing.
When God tells you to “forgive”, you would be better off trusting Him,
letting go of the anger, and forgiving the other person.
Illustration
A long time ago a troubled gal used to come to a home Bible Study. Over time, this gal opened up to my wife and
I and told us about how she had grown up in an incredibly abusive home. She was abused regularly by her own father
for eight years. Whenever we would sing
songs about the “Father”, she would cringe and sometimes leave the house because
the word “Father” was not a wholesome, loving term. She would ask me, “Do I have to forgive
him?” Frankly, there were times I didn’t
know how to answer. I thought it was
more appropriate that she shoot him rather than forgive him. But then we were faced with the Scriptures
that command us to forgive. The only
thing I could tell her was to encourage her to “move toward” forgiveness. All I could do was to encourage her to pray
and ask God to help her one day be able to forgive her father. She made that her prayer for several
years. Finally, the day came when she
was in a small group of gals at Calvary Costa Mesa where God was able to break
through to her heart and she was able to let go of her bitterness and forgive
her father.
I think that sometimes forgiveness needs to start with our taking the step
of asking God to “increase our faith”, to help us move towards forgiveness.
Take a step of faith towards forgiveness.
Do you remember what we read in Colossians 3?
(Colossians
3:13 NLT) Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who
offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Why must we forgive even seven times a day? Because that’s how God forgives us.
The world needs a taste of what God’s forgiveness is like.
Some of you may not know what it’s like to be forgiven by
God.
God wants to forgive you.
He wanted to take care of your sins so much that He sent His Son to die
for you. You need to take a step of
faith today and open your heart to Jesus.
Illustration
Corrie Ten Boom shares this true
story in her book, The Hiding Place:
It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had
stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He
was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And
suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing,
Betsie’s pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying,
beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,” he said.
“To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust
out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in
Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry,
vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had
died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive
me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand.
I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And
so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your
forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my
shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to
him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost
overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more
than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells
us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.