Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: LUKE #30 - 17:1-10)
E. 17:1-10 THREE DUTIES OF DISCIPLES WHO ARE SERVANTS
1. 17:1-4 DEAL WITH THOSE CAUSING STUMBLING
a. 17:1 JESUS' WORD ON OFFENCES
EIpen de pros tous ma-theTAS auTOU, A-NENdekTON [418]es-tin tou ta SKANda-la [4625]me elTHEIN;
And he said unto his :disciples, It is impossible but that :stumblings should come;
plen ouAI [3759], di' hou ERche-tai!
but woe to him, through whom they come!
b. 17:2 THE MILLSTONE ANALOGY
lu-si-teLEI [3081] auTO ei LIthos mu-liKOS [3684]peRIkei-tai [4029]peRI ton TRAche-lon [5137]auTOU,
Well for him if a millstone were hanged about his :neck,
kai ERrip-tai [4496] eis ten THAlas-san, eHIna skan-daLIse[4624]ton miKRON [3398]TOUton HEna.
and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should stumble one of these :little ones.
c. 17:3 SIN - REBUKE - REPENTANCE - FORGIVENESS
proSEche-te [4337] he-auTOIS: eAN haMARte ho a-delPHOS sou, e-piTIme-son [2068]auTO;
Take heed to yourselves: if your :brother sin, rebuke him;
kai eAN me-ta-noEse[3340], Aphes [863]auTO.
and if he repent, forgive him.
d. 17:4 REPETITION OF THIS ORDER!
kai eAN hepTAkis tes heMEras ha-marTEseeis se,
And if he sin against you seven times in the day,
kai hepTAkis e-piSTREpse[1994]pros se, LEgon, Me-ta-noO [3340]; aPHEseis [863]auTO.
and seven times turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him.
2. 17:5-6 GREAT FAITH NOT NEEDED - ACT ON WHAT YOU HAVE
a. 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.
Kai EIpan hoi aPOsto-loi toKuRIo, PROSthes [4369]huMIN PIstin.
b. 17:6 THE NATURE OF FAITH
EIpen de ho KUri-os, Ei Eche-te PIstin hos KOKkon [2848] siNApe-os [4615],
And the Lord said, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
eLEge-te an te su-kaMIno [4807] TAUte, E-kriZOthe-ti [1610],
you would say to this :sycamore tree, Be rooted up,
kai phuTEUthe-ti [5542] en te thaLASse; kai huPEkou-sen [5219] an huMIN.
and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you.
3. 17:7-10 PRINCIPLE: WE ONLY DO OUR DUTY WHEN WE SERVE
a. 17:7-8 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LORD AND SERVANTS
Tis de ex huMON, DOUlon [1401] Echon a-ro-triONta [722] e poiMAInon-ta [4165],
But who of you, having a bondman plowing or keeping sheep,
hos ei-selTHONti ek tou aGROU, eREI auTO, EuTHEos pa-relTHON aNApe-se [377];
who will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and sit down to meat;
all' ouCHI eREI auTO, HeTOIma-son [2090] ti deipNEso [1172],
8but will not rather say to him, Make ready so that I may sup,
kai pe-ri-zoSAme-nos, di-aKOnei moi, HEos PHAgo kai PIo; kai meTA TAUta PHAge-sai kai PIe-sai su?
and gird yourself, andserve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink?
b. 17:9 Does he thank the bondman because he did the thingscommanded?
meEchei CHArin toDOUloHOti ePOIe-sen ta di-a-tachTHENta [1299]?
c. 17:10 THE OBEDIENT SERVANT
HOUtos kai huMEIS, HOtan poiEse-te panTA ta di-a-tachTHENta huMIN,
So you also, when you shall have done all the thingscommanded you,
LEge-te [HOti], DOUloi aCHREI-OI [888] es-men; ho oPHEIlo-men [3784] poiEsai pe-poiEka-men [4160].
say [that], We are unprofitable bondmen; we have done what was our duty to do.
NOTE: (2010-12-15) - 17:1-4 - SKANda-la - stumblings- are very serious incidents to bring upon fellow believers, especially children. Sexual sin and abuse is serious enough, but there are other ways that hurt a brother. And - what we do to a fellow believer - we do to Christ! - for Heis one with every member of His spiritual body.
Yet, if a brother sin against us, weare to rebuke (e-piTIme-sin) him. We areour brother's keeper. We can notbe like Cain who murdered his brother Abel. And no matter how many times a rebuked brother repents and asks for our forgiveness - we mustgrant it. Godis all-forgiving this way. We see it in Jesus, Who is God manifest!
17:5-6 - The apostles immediately recognized that they needed increasedfaith to forgive a repenting brother after sinning and being rebuked - especially if he repeats this a number of times. Peter in another Gospel asked Jesus if he could fixhis brother after 7 such times of forgiving him. No, Jesus said, not even 70 + 7! - which it would be impossible to see that many sins in a day. And Jesus said faith as small as a grain of mustard seed - will meet the need of that above.
17:7-10 - It is important for us to see ourselves as servants! Jesus was thisto His Father in His earthly life. Four times in the book of Isaiah Jesus is prophetically foretold in the four “ServantSongs.” If Jesusis our example in all of this, then we can certainly obtain grace to alsolive like Him down here. And - when we've done allthat is our duty to do - it yetis but our duty, and does not merit praise. Yes - we do need grace for this. But just think - Jesus as the Eternal Son of God manifested this earthly type of servant spirit for 33 years down here. On the Mount of Transfiguration we see Him as He was with the Father before His Incarnation. He volunteered for this position. He came to earth not to be ministered to - but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many! Oh - what grace! Oh - what love! And when He is allowed by us to live His life in and through us supremely by His Spirit - then we tooon earth can be like Him in those 33 years! J.A.W.