Category: Luke 17

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Luke Luke 17

A sudden but certain judgment

Luke

After addressing the Pharisees on God’s kingdom, Jesus turns to his disciples with a word of warning.

He told them that there would be times of trouble when they would long for his coming, and because of that, it would be easy to go after any rumor that may arise.

But Jesus makes several things clear about his second coming.

First, there will be no mistaking it. When he comes, everyone will know. Jesus said,

For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. (Luke 17:24)

Second, it will come with a suddenness that no one expects.

That day will start like any ordinary day. People will be eating, drinking, getting married, buying, selling, planting, and building.

Then Jesus will appear and judgment will come.

Third, the righteous will be spared that judgment that ends in death. Jesus said,

But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:29-30)

Note that it says after Lot left Sodom, judgment fell. Jesus said the same would be true on the day of his return.

The righteous will be taken out from among the unrighteous, and then judgment will fall.

Next, it doesn’t matter who you are associated with, judgment will fall on you if you are not right with God when Jesus comes. Jesus warned,

I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. (Luke 17:34-35)

Finally, judgment is certain. Jesus closed by saying,

Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather. (Luke 17:37)

Just as the vultures will fall upon dead corpses, so judgment will fall upon those who are spiritually dead.

So ultimately, the question is, are you ready?

Where is your heart? Are you in love with the things of this world, or with God? For the day of judgment will show what’s truly in your heart.

When Jesus comes, those who truly love him will gladly go out to meet him in the air. But those who are instead in love with the things of earth, will instead be dreading the loss of what they have.

So Jesus warned his disciples,

Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:32-33)

Lot’s wife, when judgment fell on the city, looked back with sadness on the life she was forced to leave, and as a result, judgment fell on her.

The same will happen to you if your heart belongs to this world when Jesus comes.

What’s in your heart today?

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Luke Luke 17

Seeing God’s kingdom

Luke

This is probably one of the more difficult passages to interpret.

The Pharisees came to Jesus asking when God’s kingdom would come. I’m not sure what they meant by that, but perhaps they were saying, “Are you the Messiah or not? If you are, prove it!”

But Jesus, as usual, refused to give any signs to prove himself to his critics. Instead, he replied,

The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21)

That last part is perhaps better translated, “The kingdom of God is among you.”

It’s hard to believe that he was saying the kingdom of God was actually in the hearts of these men who had rejected Jesus.

What was he saying? I think he was saying, “You guys are so intent on looking for signs of God’s kingdom coming, that you can’t see God’s kingdom when it’s staring you in the face.”

In other words, “The King is here. He’s doing the work of the kingdom right in your very midst. And yet you ask for signs for the coming of the kingdom?”

The Pharisees were blind to what God was doing. The question is, are you?

God is working in the hearts of the people around you. He wants to change their lives. More than that, he wants to use you to effect that change. But are you so wrapped up with your own life that you can’t see it?

Or are you so wrapped up searching through prophecy to determine when Jesus is coming back that you can’t see what he is doing right here and now?

Prophecy is important. But if we focus on it to the point that it blinds us to what God is doing around us, then we’ve lost perspective, and we become ineffective for his kingdom.

How about you? Are you seeing what God’s doing in the lives of those around you?

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Luke Luke 17

Grateful

Luke

In this passage, we see ten lepers hanging out together when they see Jesus. And if there was one thing that this terrible disease did, it broke down barriers that would have otherwise existed.

Jews and Samaritans, as we’ve noted before, detested each other. But with these men cut off from their own peoples because of their disease, they found there truly were no differences between them.

The same is true with us. In Romans 3:22-23, it says,

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

No matter your religious or cultural background, all of us are the same. We all suffer from the disease of sin, and apart from the touch of Christ, we are cut off from God and will be separated from him forever when we die.

There is absolutely nothing we can do to save ourselves, much as there was no way, in those days, for a person to save himself from leprosy once they caught it.

All we can do is what those lepers did. Throw ourselves on God’s mercy. These men cried out to Jesus,

Jesus, Master, have pity on us! (Luke 17:13)

And Jesus in his mercy cleansed them. But it required faith.

Jesus didn’t heal them right away. He told them to go show themselves to the priests, and it was as they were on their way to do so, that they suddenly found themselves cleansed.

In the same way, we can only be cleansed of our sins by putting our faith in Jesus.

But then we come to the key point. When the 10 men realized that they were cleansed, all were overjoyed, but it says that when the Samaritan realized he had been healed, he alone returned to Jesus to thank him.

And when Jesus saw this, he asked,

Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? (Luke 17:17-18)

How often does Jesus ask the same concerning us? He gave his life on the cross to cleanse us from our sins. By his grace, we have been saved from eternal death.

Yet how often, do we take our salvation for granted.

I’m not only talking about failing to express thanks in our words, but in our actions.

How often do our actions show how grateful we are to Christ for what he has done for us? Does the grace and love he has poured into our lives, stop there?

Or does it cause us to pour that grace and love into those around us, and in so doing bring glory to God?

Is your life a reflection of your gratitude toward Jesus for all he has done for you?

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Luke Luke 17

Our attitude in service

Luke

We all like a pat on the back. A “Well done” after we do something. But is that why we serve? For the praise of others? For the praise of God even?

Do we feel underappreciated when it doesn’t come? Or even upset?

Jesus gives a very interesting illustration here. He says,

Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?

Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?

Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ (Luke 17:7-10)

What is Jesus saying here? That God does not appreciate our efforts? That he won’t reward the work we’ve done?

No. From other passages we do see that he appreciates and rewards the work we do.

But I think there are a couple things to remember here.

First, as long as we are on this earth, there is always work to be done. There is no room to be resting on our laurels.

There’s even less room to be looking for those laurels.

Rather, we are to continue doing the things that God has called us to do.

Second, no matter what work we’re doing, no matter our position in the kingdom, we serve solely because of the grace of God.

We are unworthy to receive anything from God. Certainly, we’ve done nothing to earn our salvation.

But that God would use us despite our faults, our weaknesses, and our failures, can also only be seen as God’s grace.

More, God gave us the gifts and talents that allow us to serve. He gave us the strength and the wisdom. And if we’ve received all these things, do we really have any room for pride?

As Paul wrote,

For who makes you different from anyone else?

What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

So as long as we live, let us continue to do the things that God has called us to do. Humbly. Faithfully. And remembering that we do so solely because of his grace towards us.

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Luke Luke 17

Forgiveness

Luke

As I was reading this passage, something new struck me as I was reading the ESV.

Jesus is, of course, talking about forgiveness here. He said,

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. (Luke 17:3 — NIV)

This is a key point about forgiveness. There is no room for seething or holding in your anger for long stretches of time when someone hurts you. Jesus tells us to confront them about it.

Now you may want to hold off a bit before you talk to them if you need to calm down, but to just let your anger build is definitely not a good thing. And Jesus says that if they apologize, forgive them.

Jesus then takes it further. The ESV puts it this way,

And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him. (Luke 17:4)

In the King James Version, it says,

Thou shalt forgive him.

In short, this is not just a simple suggestion to forgive. It’s a command. Jesus isn’t saying, “If he apologizes, you might want to consider forgiving him.”

He’s saying, “Forgive!”

The disciples’ response?

Increase our faith! (Luke 17:5)

I think a lot of us feel this way. “Lord, my hurt is so deeply rooted, I don’t know if I can forgive. Increase my faith so that I can forgive.”

Jesus answered,

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. (Luke 17:6)

Jesus is saying here, it doesn’t matter how deeply rooted your hurt may be, it can get rooted out.

And you don’t require a whole lot of faith either. What matters is not how much faith you have, but who you have your faith in.

Jesus is the great healer, and no matter what hurt you may have, he can bring healing.

The question then is not a matter of the amount of willpower you have to change yourself.

None of the commandments God gives us is able to give us that power. None of us have the power to change ourselves and make ourselves perfect.

But Jesus can. So don’t turn to yourself and try to will yourself to forgive. Turn to Jesus and ask for his healing and his help.

And by putting your faith in him, you will see miracles happen.

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Luke Luke 17

Causing others to fall

Luke

Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.

It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2)

Those are pretty heavy words. But Jesus then lends even heavier weight to them, saying,

So watch yourselves. (Luke 17:3)

I don’t know about you, but those words give me pause.

I have a 5-year old daughter who certainly qualifies as a “little one.” What kind of father am I to her?

I do my best, but I’m far from a perfect father. Yet she is watching me. Am I being a good example to her? Or am I doing things that would cause her to fall?

As I think of that, I can only say, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”

But what of the other people in my life? My wife? My coworkers. The people at church, especially the younger Christians, but all that I come into contact with.

Do I cause any to fall because of my actions? Because of my attitudes?

How about you? What kind of person are you to those around you? Do you help them to come closer to Christ? Or do you cause them to stumble into sin?