Offenses, Forgiveness, Faith, and Duty

Study of Luke 17:1-10

He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! 

If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you. 

“Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”

— Luke 17:1-10

Addressing His disciples, Jesus warned about offenses that causes others to stumble, which means to sin or to apostatize or to put any hindrance on one's way from following Jesus. It is humanly impossible to eradicate stumbling blocks in this sinner-saturated world but woe to the source of the stumbling because Jesus cares for believers tenderly like little children.

Any parent would be protective of their young children and would be angry at someone who trip them and cause them to fall. Likewise to stress the seriousness of causing harm to people's souls by sinning, Jesus said it would be better to be executed by drowning and remain unburied so He warned them to be on guard.

J.C. Ryle insightfully asks

"When do men make others stumble? When do they cause "offences" to come? 

They do it, beyond doubt, whenever they persecute believers, or endeavor to deter them from serving Christ. But this, unhappily, is not all. Professing Christians do it whenever they bring discredit on their religion by inconsistencies of temper, of word, or of deed. We do it whenever we make our Christianity unlovely in the eyes of the world, by conduct not in keeping with our profession. The world may not understand the doctrines and principles of believers. But the world is very keen-sighted about their practice. 

The sin against which our Lord warns us was the sin of David. When he had broken the seventh commandment, and taken the wife of Uriah to be his wife, the prophet Nathan said to him, "You have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." (2 Sam. 12:14.) It was the sin which Paul charges on the Jews, when he says, "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you."(Rom. 2:24.) It is the sin of which he frequently entreats Christians to beware--"Give no offence, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God." (1 Cor. 10:32.) 

The subject is a deeply searching one. The sin which our Lord brings before us is unhappily very common. The inconsistencies of professing Christians too often supply the men of the world with an excuse for neglecting religion altogether. An inconsistent believer, whether he knows it or not, is daily doing harm to souls. His life is a positive injury to the Gospel of Christ.

The cross of Christ will always give offence. Let us not increase that offence by carelessness in our daily life. The natural man cannot be expected to love the Gospel. But let us not disgust him by inconsistency."

Aside from giving offense to unbelievers here are some Biblical examples of causing fellow believers to stumble:

Peter's bad example that caused "the rest of the Jews to join him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy."

(Galatians 2:11-13)

Sexual immorality. (1 Corinthians 5:1-10)

When spouses deprive one another that give Satan the opportunity to tempt the other. (1 Corinthians 7:5) 

Quarrels in the church. (1 Corinthians 1:11; Philippians 4:2)

Gossipers who "go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention."

— 1 Timothy 5:13

False teachers "who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit." (Jude 19) leading others "astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3) "who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain." (Titus 1:11)

Abuse of Christian liberty, judgmentalism, and indifference to another's conscience.

But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

— 1 Corinthians 8:9

And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

— 1 Corinthians 8:12

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

— Romans 14:1

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this⁠—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

— Romans 14:13

After instructing to keep watch over themselves not to cause others to sin, Jesus now tells them what to do when others sin against them.

"If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 

Aside from the danger of causing others to sin, we are also in danger of holding grudges and hatred on those who sin against us. Naturally, we are quick to anger and slow to forgive. Our rebukes are often vindictive humiliation rather than loving restoration. Past sins are also often brought up to add fuel to the fire of new sins and justify our seemingly righteous anger. But Jesus says if the sinning party repents we must genuinely forgive without limit as we too are forgiven without limit no matter how many times we sin in our life. 

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

— 1 John 1:9

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

— Galatians 6:1

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

— Ephesians 4:31-32

The apostles realized the supreme high standard of Jesus' ethical teaching and the difficulty of attaining it so they pleaded to Him to increase their faith. Jesus replied using a proverbially small mustard seed-sized faith is enough to uproot a big Mulberry tree that has a vast root system and can live for several hundreds of years and be planted on the sea. Jesus is making a point that the mustard seed faith has godly powers not because of the amount or size of the faith but because of where the faith is placed, in God. Big and strong faith on self or something else is useless because it's not the amount but the quality that counts--is that faith real or fake? 

And lest we think that when we are able to successfully avoid causing stumbling blocks and forgive everyone who sins against us, God now owes us, Jesus said it is merely our duty. Like a master who orders around a multitasking slave owes no thanks to the slave, God also owes us no thanks. We are simply doing our duty and not anything extra. In fact, it can be argued that most of us aren't doing our duty well enough as we always fail to perfectly live up to God's commandments. So our attitude should be of an unworthy slave who is just doing his duty and not as an entitled employee demanding for wages and benefits.

We know our God is the most gracious of all masters and far surpasses any compensation earthly masters can give. But all rewards and commendations God gives are given out of His free choice and not obligatory. We cannot demand anything from God as if He is beholden to us. But Christians should make it our ambition to be pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9) walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10) that at the end of our lives we may hear from His lips these sweet words "Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master." (Matthew 25:23)