Thoughts on Luke 17:1-10
While reading Scriptures the other day, I was struck with the reality that Jesus spoke of Temptation and Forgiveness as a joint aspect of Christian walk. Not to say that we are to welcome temptation but that we will be faced with it and many times we will fall victim to it. And because this is an inevitable fact, we should also be disciples of Forgiveness. And we should not look upon the ministry of works as something that sets us apart from others or seek praise for being “good Christians.”

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Luke 17:1 ESV) The NLT reads “How terrible it will be for who does the tempting.” This warning is twofold. Woe to Satan and woe to each of us who leads others into sin. While we like to blame Satan for all our troubles, it is as likely as not that fellow Christians are the cause of our sinning. When Christians lead others into sin by justifying or by condoning wrong actions or thought, Jesus says it is better for them to be thrown into the deep dark sea rather than face His judgement. When we, by our actions, display a sinful attitude and tell others that we are doing “God’s will”, we cause grief to the Holy Spirit and mock Christ. How disingenuous it must be for Christ to see us tempt others into wrong behavior while professing righteousness. This was the chief complaint against the Jewish leaders.

Yet as quickly as He condemns these people, He pursues a forgiving heart toward them. Even as He was dying on the cross, He pleads with the Father in Heaven to forgive them. His command to us is to do likewise; forgive them if they repent and seek to be reconciled with you. Jesus says to rebuke them in their wrongness and if they hear the charges against them and change from the evil of their ways, forgive them. If they recant wrong teachings and seek out the truth of the Word, if the repent of sins and the mistakes of the past or they simply say, “I was wrong in how I was living,” then we are to forgive. And if they slip back into the bad habits, we are to forgive again. It is the motto of Alcohol Anonymous to take it one day at a time. If you fall today, then today starts a new beginning.

Jesus says in these verses to forgive seven times if they sin seven times, in other words, never fail to forgive. In another place he tells Peter to forgive seven times seventy. Just as there is no end in God’s forgiveness, there should be no end in ours. God put only one condition on forgiveness and it is a three fold condition; you are to acknowledge that you’re a sinner, repent of your sinful ways and resolve to never repeat the sins. And even the strongest of us will still weaken. Paul told of his struggle to live a holy and blameless live. He tells us that as hard as he might, every time he strives for goodness, evil is revealed in him. If Paul, who was close to God, still struggled with sin, how much more do we struggle? If we recognize that we still fail to be obedient to God, how much more we should be willing to forgive others.

And as God revealed His Love by Grace, it is by His Grace that sin is revealed in us. It is by the Grace of Jesus and the workings of the Holy Spirit that we can see, that because we are weak and fail daily, we are to die daily to Christ. With this knowledge, we should be able to recognize that as Christ forgives us, we are to forgive others. When we acknowledge our wrongs, we can see the reasoning in forgiving the wrongs of others.

Because of the sins that hide or harm , we often use Luke 17:2 to relate to harming children but to Jesus we are all His Little Ones. So whatever rules, decrees or even our inaction causes harm to any member of the body of Christ Believers, they offend God greatly. I am not talking about differences of opinion or interpretations of Scripture, we will always have those, but instead I am relating to using Scriptures to promote sin as some have done. Paul tells us that God will have a harsher punishment for those who use faith to deceive. Jesus says that they will be treated as weeds among the wheat or goats in the flocks of sheep. Yet even these can be changed. As Christ granted us mercy by His sacrifice, let us grant grace to others; Grace in correction and Grace in forgiveness.

Jesus says “increase your Faith!” and then he continues with a statement of being a servant. These verses (Luke 17:7-10) expand on the forgiveness and the hazards of temptation. Because we have the tendency to puff ourselves up as “Good Christians” when we do things in our church or our community. Because we are all sinners down deep, we face temptation and tend to be judgemental, we elevate ourselves and cast disparity on others. Jesus asks us to think of ourselves as slaves or employees of God. If our bosses ask us to do a job, and it is within our means, we do it. We don’t deserve extra praise. When we go to work and do what is expected of us, we shouldn’t expect extra praise or bonuses. So it is with the works of Christ given to us.

Even if we do accomplish great things, it is because it is expected of us by Christ. We are doing nothing more than is asked of us by God. Think on this: God asks of us nothing more than we are able to do. God owes us nothing because without God, we are nothing. We owe Him everything, in of ourselves, we are unworthy of any blessing. We are told in the Word of God, that much is required of those to whom much is given. In the same way, we who are called to be servants of Christ, are required to live wiser, act fully in the Word and to accomplish all tasks God sets before us. He will never ask us to do more than we are able to do. In the same way, as servants, we are to not seek praise for doing what God has asked us to do. At the end of the day, when we are called before Christ in judgment, we should be able to say to the LORD, “We have simply done our duty.” (Luke 17:10)

We are to regard all the works of our hands and our hearts as doing what was required of us, as a privilege to serve Our Master. We are to look at the efforts we have taken as unworthy of praise because we are simply doing what is asked of us and nothing more. The obedience of God’s Will is nothing to seek praise for but a humble acknowledgement of being a servant of the Most High. No honor on earth is meaningful when God is the cause of our service.

The message of Jesus is to admonish us not to dwell into spiritual pride nor to exalt ourselves nor working with expectations of recognition, self esteem and gloating but to humble ourselves with love and say, “As you wish,” to Christ. Remember that Jesus humbled Himself to become a mere man so as to die for our recompense, to reconcile us to the Father. He humbled Himself to die so that we may live eternally with the Father. When we can grasp that in total acceptance, we are forced to accept that we are nothing but what God designs us to be. It becomes a duty of Love to serve Him, that in itself is the only reward we should desire. Our worth is in the fact that we can do our duty for Him not in the works themselves, but in the grace that we are able to do them.

The failing is when we say, “Look at what I did for God.” It usually means, “Look what I did for me.” It is hard not to do that, yet we are to share what God does in our lives and what we are doing to share His Goodness and Love. We are called to talk about the greatness of God’s works in our lives and how we are changed by Him. But we are not to become proud and haughty. The effort is, in our minds and our souls, to give God the Glory for what he has enabled us to do. We are to speak with Christ’s voice, not our own. We are called to be His hands on earth, serving others in His place. We are doing the duty of the Household of God as He willed it. Not so others may boast of us or because we seek stature in the House of the Lord, but because it is our duty to God and to Mankind to do right before the Lord. And we are to do all things so that they bring pleasure to God for we were created for His pleasure.

So live modestly, speak humbly and with the softness of the Harmony of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And always carry in your heart that which is of the Grace of God. Remember that we are in ourselves unworthy of anything yet by the grace that God has showered us with, we are able to work for Him and with His Purpose. Do what God requires of you because you are unworthy of His Blessings. Do what God expects of you and do not think that you can surprise God by doing more. If you are doing more, it is because God demands it of you. Live in peace with your fellow workers, for they also are servants of God. Do not think that because you can do more, you are more blessed or favored in His eyes. Our wages are the same, we will be blessed in Heaven. Each according to the gifts given. We are rewarded not by how many gifts given but by how they are used. Each has a task given by God, some greater tasks, some lesser tasks. Each will be called into account according to how the have preformed the tasks asked of them. If one who is given many tasks performs few, his service will be revoked, but he who has a few tasks and performs them well, he will be blessed. To each of us is given a vocation of service to Christ, let us adhere to our duty and perform them to the best of our abilities, never settling for less than all we can give. So that in the end we can say truthfully, “We have simply done our duty.”