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By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz

By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz - PDF document

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By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz - PPT Presentation

Luke 17 1 10 VIC 20 th Sunday after Pentecost Rebuking the Neighbor And He said to his disciples Temptations to sin are sure to come but woe to the one through whom they come It would be better ID: 150348

Luke 17: 1 - 10 VIC 20 th Sunday after Pentecost Rebuking

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By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz Luke 17: 1 - 10 VIC 20 th Sunday after Pentecost Rebuking the Neighbor And He said to his disciples, Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 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. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying I repent, you must forgive him. These words won’t win you any popularity contest. “I f your brother sins, rebuke him.” That means pointing out the sins of another — not a popular thing to do, even in the Church, never m ind the world. “If your brother sins, rebuke him.” Think about that. That requires going to your br other or sister in Christ caught up in a sin and saying something to the effect of “wake up, look at what you’re doing. Look at God’s Word and what He comma nds and now look at your life! The two are not lining up! Repent and believe in the gospel . Repent and believe in Jesus because He is the only One who can save you. O sinner, repent. ” That’s an example of who one may be rebuked in the Name of God, but we have heard it said ag ainst Christians : “don’t judge me; who are you to judge my life ? Only God knows the heart.” We’ve heard that and it is true — only God knows the sin that lies in the crevices of a person’s heart. Only God can see past the facades and hypocrisy we put up to defend ourselves and hide ours sins. That stuff may fool others, but not our Lord. God knows the heart and knows all those wicked, sinful desires that corrupt every fiber of flesh. This is true. So when people say “you don’t know a person’s heart” they’re right. Is that what Jesus is saying here? The answer is no, He is not. A Christian rebuke is not a call for Christians t o read someone’s hea r t . Jesus doesn’t tell us to look into their hearts — that’s His department , as Scripture te aches . What He says , however is “if your brother sins, rebuke him.” A godly rebuke doesn’t occur because we claim for ourselves some special ability to probe the depths of a neighbor’s heart — that’s not what a Christian rebuke is. A Christian rebuke happen s because of sin, which can be overt, public and exposed. It’s not pleasant to think about, but the fact is s in is not always hidden between G od and the perpetrator; so many times the sins of another are visible. We see them easily and clearly because on t he one hand we have God’s infallible Word tell us what is good and what is evil, what is true and what is false, what is pleasing and what is an abomination. And so t he light of God’s Word reveals to us both our sinful actions and the sins of a neighbor . B ut on the other hand we become aware of sin when we experience the aftereffects of a transgression . We see and feel the pain sin causes when we mistreat our neighbors or when they mistreat us and that is a point Jesus is specifically hitting on today. He is talking about those sins towards a neighbor — the kind we see so clearly because they do such damage to the Church . The destruction is evident. The body of Christ suffers because of sins committed against one another. The sins of one person can cause another to stumble , maybe even outside the kingdom altogether. I want yo u to listen again to Jesus ’ word because it’s so important. “Woe to the one through whom they, temptations, come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his n eck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. ” Little ones — children. Jesus is dead serious over how we treat our children — how we teach them, how we raise them — these things matter. They matter a lot because c hildren are a gift . They are a gift from the Creator given to us to nurture and teach with the hope they remain in the faith their entire life. So b aptizing a child, bringing them before a congregation of Christians who pray for the child as he or she is bathed in “waters of regeneration” Paul says — that is a gift children need from their Lord Jesus who says “let the little children come to me — theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Christ is for them as He is for all sinners. C atechizing children, teaching the m right from wrong, the true God from the false gods — these things matter. Salvation matters and you do not want to teach a child something God never said or something He forbids. Likely you know t here are a variety of ways p eople cause little ones to sin a nd m aybe you’ve done some of them. You set a bad example. You yell profanities in front of your children that roll off your tongue when your spouse gets on your bad side. You give bad advice to your son or daughter — or no advice at all because you’re too bu sy . Or by your words and your actions you have impressed upon your children the notion that feeding on the word of God every week and consuming His body and blood in bread and wine isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe you’ve given the impression that t he forgi veness of sins can wait — as long as you believe in something, right? Just have faith in something, some deity, some higher power and that’s good enough — God doesn’ t care about the specifics. Teaching children these things is a surefire way to cause them to stumble — to sin as they grow believing things about God that He has never revealed to mankind. The truth is, He never says believe in who you want, don’t worry about everything I say, forget coming to church — these are the teachings of Sa tan and when childre n as well as adults buy into this teaching they will suffer temptation. They will stumble. They will sin and it is better for a millstone to be tied around your neck and you be thrown into the sea than for you to cause a little one to sin. Parents, pay at tention to yourselves because you matter to your children . People of God, pay attention to yourselves. Sins against th e neighbor cause great damage to the body of Christ. The y cut, they divide, they cause anger and hostility — none of which are fruits of th e gospel — fruits flowing from people dwelling in love and harmony as we are called to do. Pay attention to yourselves — this is Jesus’ warning and it applies not only to parents but to all people commanded to love their neighbor. Sins damage the body of Chri st hence the reason Jesus calls Christians to rebuke broth ers and sisters of the faith. I want to be clear: this is not to be done out of self - righteousness or pride as if we’re better than the other person — not at all. The purpose of a rebuke is to keep si ns from hurting others and they are to keep people fro m persisting in their sin and at the risk of losing e ven their salvation. It does a person no favors when we leave them to wallow in their sin like a pig in mud. That’s not helping them. A pastor worth his salt is not going to let his congregation remain in sin without addressing it — that does you no favors. For any Christian it is of no help to them if you turn a blind eye to their sin and let it persist — that’s not acting out of love and c oncern. And we can see where Jesus is going with all of this when He says “if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven time s in the day and turns to you seven times saying I repent you must forgive him.” Seven times in a single day. Once, we can understand, mistakes happen. Twice, we can overlook. Three times, we’re getting a little angry. Come on man, get with it. By number four, we’re ready to write the person off. I’m done. You’ve reached your limit with me. Jesus says if someone sins against you seven times and repents seven times, you must forgive them. If this sounds hard to do, you’re not alone. It’s worth noting that when the disciples hear this their response is verse five: “increase our faith!” To this our Lord says “if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you.’” I’ve heard many faithful, pious Christians say they wish they had more faith and I have felt the same way, as if we just don’t have enough to make it through the day. The biblical truth is faith can be as small as a mustard see and still get you great things because faith is that belief and trust that God gives when His Word is heard. Its source is God and therefore since it is His miracle and His doing, your faith can be perceived as being very small or very great, but considering it comes from God it still gets you the same thing — a Savior who bled and died to forgive you and bring you into His eternal dwellings. The next time you grit your teeth over an offense committed against you, and you dig your heels in bec ause you think you’ve given your neighbor enough of your mercy, I want you to remember God doesn’t set a limit for us. You don’t have a quota of grace that gets u sed up by your sin . The blood of Jesus painting that cross red doesn’t have a limit in the number of sins it atones. Praise be to God. And true repentance and faith on part of the sinner never exhausts the love, the mercy and compassion our living Lord and Savior has for you. The importance of sins forgiven is evident, that the one chastised may be brought to repentant faith and therefore forgiven by our gracious God. We too, when we are crushed - feeling the burden and demands of God’s law; when it seems a s if we are being rebuked for our sins and it’s painful, it’s important to realize none of this is because we serve an angry, demented God who wants you to have a bad day. Nothing could be further from the truth. The purpose of His Word that rebukes, chas tises and disciplines is your salvation. Remember that. Its goal is to drive you to recognize your shortcomings, your failures and your sin. I nstead of resting in your pride and self - reliance the purpose of God’s law is to cut you to the heart and remind you — you are an unworthy servant. Your worth before God has not been earned because of any righteousness you find dwelling within yourself. The very nature of repentance and faith means you turn to and cling t o worth , righteousness and holiness that is out side yourself and His Name is Jesus. Faith even when afflicted by doubt and temptation grabs hold of He who laid down His life for you. Christ spills His blood willingly to pay for sin and make you worthy before God. That’s what Jesus means when He calls u s unworthy servants. He’s pointing us not to ourselves but to Him. He calls us to repentance and faith that grabs hold of His undying mercy and the love He has for you — a love so great He was willing to die to make you His own. That is His promise — that you have His forgiveness and you are worth dying for to redeem you unto eternity. Amen.