Title But Forgive Me / Luke 17:1-4
Description A brother and sister quarreling over trivial matters and confronting them with intense emotions.
reached up to My mother saw this and ran away.
“My brother started the fight first,” said the younger sister with a spirit of spirit.
“No. He started first.” My brother said loudly.
After hearing both children's words, the mother held her hand and comforted her like this.
“I don’t want to know who started first. What I want to know is who is the first to quit, and who is the first to be at peace.”
The labor strike caused by the revision of the Labor Law has come to a calming phase to some extent. Until a few days ago, the labor circles and the government showed extreme confrontation, saying they couldn't stand each other any longer, causing great inconvenience to the people's lives and inflicting huge losses on the national border. This is a prime example of the consequences of being tolerant and unforgiving. This article deals with this very topic.
First, Christians must be wary of sinning.
We live in an age where sin is not taken lightly. They are often seen as disrespectful to their parents, disloyal to their friends, disobedient to their superiors, and defying authority. There are all kinds of laws, but the laws are not well followed.
In verse 3, Jesus tells us that if a brother commits a sin, he must be vigilant. Some believers, let alone unbelievers, are offended by the church talking about sin too much. In fact, it is never pleasant to talk about sin. But you still have to. A world without sin is a world of peace. In order for us to live a peaceful life, we must continue to point out our sins and encourage them to abstain from them.
Sin brings pain, not pleasure. You may find pleasure in sinning at first, but in the end it will end in pain. Sin does harm, not good. What seems to be a benefit at first seems to be detrimental in the end.
Example) A knight who ruined his life by gambling on horse racing, stealing
Sin is not something you can play for fun. Sin destroys a person's character. Sin is transmitted to others. Sin hurts others. Sin breaks people from living in peace. Sin damages our relationship with God and calls for His wrath.
While it is important for us to guard against sinning in others, it is even more important to guard against sinning ourselves before that. In particular, verses 1 and 2 refer to causing others to stumble, which is also a sin. Here, "to stumble" means "to stumble," "to cause one to sin." A person may sin on his own, but he also causes others to sin through his actions or words. What does the Lord say about this?
“It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea, than to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (verse 2).
What a dreadful saying! The same is said in Mark 9:42-45.
“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better than having your feet and going into the unquenchable fires of hell... If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter eternal life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell” (Mark 9:42-45).
The implied implied punishment of this great punishment does not make this offending sin a felony from a worldly point of view. These words were addressed to the disciples who feared God. He was probably not referring to the Christian's cunning words to entice his friends to join him in the crime. He was probably not referring to the Christian becoming a prostitute and bewitching passers-by. I don't think he meant it with the Christian bringing in a pornographic magazine and making the person next to him lustful. There is one example of what this sin is like in 1 Corinthians 8:9-12.
"Therefore, be careful that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to those who are weak. If anyone sees you with knowledge eating in the house of an idol, how can the conscience of the weak be strengthened, and not eat anything sacrificed to idols? and the weak perish, for he is the brother for whom Christ died. In the same way, when you sin against your brother and offend his weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:9-12).
Although the party had no intention at all, the free eating of the sacrifice to idols had the result of hurting the conscience of the other brother present. This is the sin that causes us to stumble. Don't you understand? Let's take an example. Let's say you go out with your family and eat the prepared meat wrapped in lettuce and very tasty. As a friendly boy passed by, he lamented his miserable situation and became pessimistic about his life. In this case, you didn't mean to, but you caused the boy to stumble. So, who can be forgiven of these sins? There is no one. It is the same as Jesus said to his disciples in verse 1, “It is impossible without a cause for stumbling.”
This does not mean, however, that these verses offer forgiveness for sins. The Lord went on to say, "Woe to those who let it be," pointing to an act that would not be considered a sin from a worldly point of view. He was not teaching that a Christian could lose salvation, but he was emphasizing that even the smallest sin should not be taken lightly and should be avoided. Even the smallest sin in the world is enough to send a person to hell. No matter how trivial a sin, Christ had to die to wash it away. In these words the Lord instructs us to be overly strict with ourselves.
Second, Christians must forgive the sins of others.
Jesus tells a brother to forgive when he repents. And by the way, He tells us to forgive even if the sin and repentance are done seven times a day. Although the meaning is the same, it is mentioned slightly differently in Matthew 18:21,22.
"Then Peter came and said, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I tell you, not only seven times, but seventy seven times."
The Jewish rabbis of Jesus' day taught that a criminal must be forgiven three times, but not a fourth time. Therefore, Peter's mention of seven times was to show his love for others with a big heart. Nevertheless, Jesus is saying that that is not enough. It teaches us to forgive even our repeated sins. The word to love your enemies has the same meaning as the word to forgive. Because you cannot love without forgiveness.
Why should we forgive those who have sinned against us? The first is that we sin and cause others to stumble, whether we know it or not. Second, an unforgiving heart becomes the root of bitterness, devastating our lives and hindering our spiritual growth. Third, because God has forgiven all our countless sins. Fourth, the ultimate judgment for sin is God's.
The problem is that we are not in the mood to forgive those who have hurt and harmed us. But life is full of things we have to do even when we don't really want to. Who wants to get out of bed on a cold winter morning like today? Who wants to pay their taxes every day? If you wait until you want to forgive, it will take a long time and that may never happen.
I don't think the Lord, who knows our constitution, expects us to feel warm feelings for the person who caused us to stumble right away. He is simply challenging us to do what is right, even if it goes against our feelings. There are times in life when you have to do the right thing, even if you don't like it.
To summarize the teaching of the text, we must be overly strict with our own sins, but overly generous with the sins of others. We will only be able to do so by the power of God's grace.
“Look and fear that there are none who fall short of the grace of God, and fear that a root of bitterness will grow and cause trouble, and many will be defiled by it” (Hebrews 12:15).