Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you, if you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. Let's open up our Bibles to Luke chapter 17.
So, my family and I, I told you a couple sermons ago how much we love animals, right? We love animals, we have all kinds of pets, crazy things. And I forgot to mention that we also have a dog. I mentioned all the weird pets we have, but it's like we also have a very normal pet, which is a dog, and she's a great dog. Her name is Biscuit.
My son named her after we were talking about what to name this dog. She's like this little terrier rescue dog that we got. We don't know exactly what she is, but she's sweet. And we were trying to figure out what to name her, and we were telling my son different names and ideas. And my dad said, Oh, your uncle Christopher, when he was about your age, had a little dog that looked kind of like your dog, and her name was Biscuit.
And Christopher, my son, loved that name, just jumped at it. It's like, Biscuit, Biscuit, let's name her Biscuit.
So the dog's name is Biscuit. And she's a sweet little dog, but I don't know what it is about me or my family. Every dog we have. runs away like crazy. Anytime we leave the door cracked or the gate open, that dog is gone.
And Biscuit is the all-time winner of hide and go, seek and tag. You cannot catch her. She can run like 20 miles an hour. She's not a big dog. She's actually like a small dog, you know.
But she can run so fast, like 20 miles an hour, that you cannot catch this dog if you try. The moment you get close to her, she's kind of like looking at you like this, like, yeah, yep, get close. Oh, gotcha. And she just bolts. And it's so frustrating.
She won't come for her name. Our other dog did this as well. And man, it's so frustrating. And now when I go running down the street, I'm yelling, biscuit, biscuit. And people are like, what is wrong with this person?
Is he hungry? Like, they start throwing food at me, right? They start throwing pieces of bread at me. No, just kidding. But this was happening so often, and it finally came to a head actually about a month ago.
The dog got out, and we live in a neighborhood, but just one street over is a really busy intersection where there's actually three lanes of traffic going each way, six lanes total.
So it's a busy intersection, busy road. And Biscuit ran directly in that direction. And she made her way over into the street, and my son chased her out of the house. I didn't come back. You know, I didn't realize until a little bit later.
But she was running around in the street, and cars were slamming their brakes on, honking. Thankfully, my son didn't run out into the street after her. He was yelling after, you know, yelling her name, trying to call her, coax her back. And she was just, you know, her world must have been spinning, but she wouldn't come. And I was so mad at that dog, right?
Putting herself in danger, putting my son in danger. And finally, one of our neighbors just ran out with a treat. A little dog tree, and he coaxed her over and he grabbed her and finally was able to save her. Everything was okay, thank God. And so I was determined, I'm gonna do something about this, right?
I'm taking this dog training thing seriously. I've tried, I've made attempts, but we're gonna take this seriously.
So I loaded up on treats, I got the e-caller, right? Got the e-caller, and I started talking with a friend of mine who was actually like, He's like a dog Yoda. Like he's a dog wizard. This guy has trained all kinds of dogs, but especially dogs for the military, done some pretty cool stuff with dogs. And so he is like a dog psychologist.
He understands how a dog thinks, and he started breaking stuff down for me. And I started doing what he said. And within two days, I had the dog healing, sitting, staying. I had her walking off-leash with me, completely responding to me. And it blew my mind how good this dog became.
In just a short amount of time, just a short amount of training, this obedience actually was making a huge impact, and it transformed her.
Now, Biscuit. In her mind, she probably wasn't very stoked at first when I put that collar on her, right? And it's not an electrocution, it's not like an electric chair or anything. It's like a very, very, very low thing. It feels like sticking a nine-volt battery to your tongue.
That's how low it is, right? Just like, oh, I feel it, it's uncomfortable, I'm not a fan. And so that's what they Do you put that on them when they're supposed to do something, and it just applies a little bit of pressure when maybe you don't have access to them right in front of you? And then, of course, if they're doing something really crazy, then you can hit them with that zap. But that's only in case of emergencies.
Only in case of emergencies. But even that is actually really low.
So, anyways, all this to say. When I first started doing this with biscuit, you know, I don't think she was very stoked. You know, I'm making her heal, I'm making her do stuff, and I'm making her sit, and she just wants to walk, right? When we go on a walk, she's pulling on the leash everywhere, and she's leading me all over the place. It was, you know, she was in charge very much.
But when I got her finally dialed, and she's healing and returning and great, it's like she listens to everyone in the family. This is all awesome. But what struck me is that it required discipline to get to that place. It required patience. It required correction and rewarding and instruction and repetition.
And through those things, She has had more freedom than she's ever had. Look at this little video clip. I took of this, of her at the beach. Because she understands the parameters now. She is free to do whatever she wants within those parameters, and she actually has a hundred times more freedom than she ever did before, right?
Normally, she would have been gone way down that beach, not coming back, and I would have been so embarrassed. I would have been that guy running after the dog into the street, asking strangers to grab my dog. But now it's like she's locked in. And it got me thinking, you know, as I was going through this, how much am I like this dog? How much am I like this dog, right?
How much is humanity like this dog? We think we know what's best. We think we know what freedom is, and it's running out into the street, almost getting ourselves killed. It's putting ourselves in danger. But what true freedom is, is actually there must be safety first.
There needs to be guidelines, there needs to be boundaries, there needs to be things that we have in our lives. You know, a lot of times when God is disciplining us or trying to teach us something new, we buck against it. If we're being refined by him, we're like, no, no, I like the way things are, God. I like the way that I am. I don't need to learn this new thing.
I don't need to learn how to pray more. I don't need to read my Bible more. I don't need to share my faith or forgive more. I don't need to know how to do these things. I'm never even going to need that skill, you know?
We make all these excuses why we don't need to pray or forgive or share our faith or tithe or submit to God, but we don't realize. Is that God is actually giving us these principles in Scripture not to restrict us, but to free us. To liberate us from our three enemies, which are the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is what Scripture outlines. These are the three spiritual enemies that every Christian must face: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
These enemies want you to believe that God's commands are a leash. They're a choke chain. They're a set of chores, a straitjacket. It's a prison that you must be confined to. But the truth is.
God's commands are not walls keeping you as a prisoner. They are walls keeping enemies out. They are not keeping you in, they are keeping danger away. And that's exactly what's happening with my dog, right? I'm giving her commands to protect her so that she can actually have a fun life, so we can actually do fun things, and actually, she can be a dog, right?
Some might say that Christianity is stale and boring, and a list of rules that you have to follow, but the truth is, nobody enjoys life more than the believer, right? Nobody enjoys life more than the believer because we have freedom. We have peace. And we don't have a pressure. Of always just making ourselves happy.
We've realized, if you've been walking with the Lord for any amount of time, that denying yourself. Denying your passions of the flesh, the world, the flesh, and the devil, is actually the way to have peace and fulfillment and ultimately success in this world. And that's going to be the greatest blessing to people around you. The freedom that the world offers is quite literally the exact opposite. It's slavery, isn't it?
When you sin, When you start engaging in a certain behavior that's contrary to what God's word says, It's slavery. It puts a shackle on you. It's been said that sin takes you farther than you're willing to go. It keeps you longer than you're willing to stay, and it costs you more than you're willing to pay. Do you hear that?
It costs you more than you're willing to pay. It takes you farther than you're willing to go, and it keeps you longer than you're willing to stay. Man, I know I found that to be true. I started off with a little bit, oh, dabbling in this and that. Man, things went zero to 60 so quick.
So quick, and I found myself in a place where, man, I'm out of control, and now I've like all I want to do is this bad stuff. All I want to do is live this way, and I couldn't break free. It's the worst deal. you could ever make. And so in our text, in Luke chapter 17, Jesus is again speaking to his disciples, and he describes a completely different kind of person.
A completely different kind of person that Biscuit was, right? Running into the street, putting herself in danger, selfish living, only doing the things that she wanted to do. And he describes a completely different kind of person, a transformed one, a liberated one, someone who walks in real freedom. Off leash. And what I'm thankful for is that what Jesus shares with us here isn't just a list of rules to follow or a checklist or behavior modification.
It's actually rooted in identity. You know, the Bible tells us that we are new creations. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. I'm so thankful for that.
And so Jesus shares with us what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, to have that true new identity in Luke 17. Let's read together now, starting in verse 1. Again, I've titled this message, Off Leash. Off-leash. I don't know why, but it sounded right in the moment.
So let's read together in verse 1: Jesus speaking, then he said to the disciples, It is impossible that no offenses should come. But woe to him through whom they do 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 should offend one of these little ones. Let's pause there.
That brings us to our first point. Your influence is never neutral. That's our first point. Your influence is never neutral. Leading little ones astray.
And this is a heavy couple of verses we just read. You know, all of us here. We have influence. Yeah, that's right. We're all influencers.
Yeah, sorry. I know you might be cringing a little bit, but we are all influencers in the sense that. We all have a sphere of influence. We have people that we influence, whether it's literally on social media, maybe you are a social media influencer. But we have influence with our coworkers, with our friends, with our families, with the people who care about us, our neighbors, our kids, whoever it might be.
We have influence. And Jesus tells us what we do with that influence matters. What we do without influence matters. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 30, He who is not with me is against me. And he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.
So that means that we are doing one of two things in all of our relationships. We are either gathering for Jesus or we are scattering away from Jesus. You are either leading people to him or away from him. You know, let's be honest, nine times out of ten, we use our influence, the effect we have on people, nine times out of ten, we use it for our own best interest. to benefit ourselves, right?
If it's with our boss, it's to get paid more. If it's with our coworkers, it's for them to respect us more, or to get them to like us more, whatever it might be. You know what that is, that's my dog running in the street. That's dog running in the street behavior, chasing what feels good. Chasing your own glory.
But what we don't realize is, what we don't realize is there's a car coming down the street. It's probably going to hit us if we keep living this way. If we keep pursuing our own interests, it's going to get us in trouble. Or worse, There may be somebody following our example that is going to be led into the street and they're going to get hit by a car, right? I literally had to tell my kids: if the dog ever runs into the street, You stay on the sidewalk, you do not pursue that dog, right?
That is her decision, and I want you to be safe. That's the most important thing. I had to tell them: don't go into the street because you might get hit. Your influence is never neutral. What we lead people towards matters to God.
Now listen to this. You cannot impress people and bless people at the same time. You cannot impress people and bless people at the same time. The two things pull people in opposite directions. Because when you're trying to impress, you're drawing attention to yourself.
But when you're trying to bless, You're bringing attention to God, right? You're pouring into someone else, and you can't do both at the same time. But the irony is So, and this is so like God. The irony is that when you actually give up trying to impress people and make them like you and manufacture this persona that you're working so hard to uphold, the ironic thing is when you just focus on blessing them and leading them to God, that's actually when they become the most impressed, isn't it? Haven't you found that true?
When you are actually just seeking to glorify God and bless the Lord and you're not making it about yourself, that's when people are most impressed with you. That's when people want to hang out with you the most, is when you're pointing them to God. And it's not so much that they're impressed with you, but in the God that you serve. And that's the best thing we can do as followers of Jesus. Look at Jesus' example.
He loved people. He loved people. He served people. He told them the truth. But he always pointed them to the Father.
And 2,000 years later, what are we doing? We are still following his example. We are still looking at him as the ultimate leader. Use your influence to bless, not impress. And so Jesus mentions little ones here.
The Greek word for little ones, the original language the Gospel of Luke was written in, is mikros. Emikros, simply translated, means unimportant, insignificant, a person who lacks importance, influence, or power.
Now is Jesus talking about literal children here? Yes, but he actually broadens it. He says that it's basically anyone who's vulnerable. Anyone who's still finding their footing, that new believer, that person who's easily influenced, anyone who looks up to you and you carry weight with them could be a little one. It would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck.
We'll get into that in a moment. It's heavy stuff. And so, for parents, what does that mean? How can we use our influence for good as parents with our little ones at home? Parents.
Your greatest mission field is inside your own home. Before your kid ever hears a sermon, before they ever attend Sunday school, or go off to camp, or go to VBS, or memorize a Bible verse, they are going to see you. And they're going to understand who Jesus is based on what you tell them. That is an important thing that we need to do. And guess what?
They are going to model their faith after yours. That is why as parents, it's so important that we take care of ourselves first. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but when you're on an airplane and they tell you the whole pre-flight thing and they're telling you, oh, in case of emergency, put your oxygen mask on and then assist others. You know, that's really true for the believer. We can't take anybody any further than we have gone ourselves.
You want your children to be successful spiritually, you want them to have a healthy marriage, you want them to have a good devotional life, you need to do it first. And you need to model that for them. You need to put that oxygen mask on yourself first.
So, if it's your prayer life, your integrity, how you handle failure. How do you handle trials? What are you going to do when something bad happens? Are you going to curse God or are you going to depend on Him? Your kids are going to see that and they're going to model that.
I certainly learned that when I saw my parents, how they responded in the aftermath of my brother going to be with the Lord. I saw they chose to worship God, to bless God, and to trust God. And as a result of that, that led me closer to Him. I wanted a faith like that. That was attractive, right?
How about forgiveness? The way we model forgiveness, our kids are going to model that as well. The way we receive forgiveness, right? These are important things. We are called to lead our children.
We don't want to keep them in a bubble. We don't want to keep them in a bubble and just, you know, completely insulate them from what the world is going on, everything else. We want to protect their, you know. Their innocence for sure. We want to protect them, especially at young ages.
But as time goes on, man, we need to talk about them, what is happening in the world. We are actually, as Christians, called to infiltrate, not isolate. Infiltrate, not isolate, to influence culture, not to hide from culture. We live in the world. We don't want to just keep our kids locked up in a room because what's going to happen the moment they get out of that room and go off to college?
We hear about it all the time. These kids go crazy, right? Oh my gosh, this feels fun. Drugs, sex, rock and roll, all the things is like, oh my gosh, what is happening? You never talked to them.
You never prepared them for that stuff. You made all their decisions on their behalf. You need to allow your kids to make their own decisions. Yes, sometimes it means they fail, but in those moments, that's when you need to instruct them and lead them and guide them back to the one who loves them and has the best plan for their lives. God said in Deuteronomy 6, he gave us the best lesson plan for how to lead our children to him.
He says in Deuteronomy 6, And these words which I command to you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. The best way to lead our little ones to God is not in some formal classroom setting with a bunch of boxes being checked and theological terms being explained.
Sometimes we need to do that. But the best way to lead them to the heart of God is for the love of God to permeate out of you. For it to permeate out of you. When you're sitting around the house, you talk about the Lord. When you're driving in the car, you talk about the Lord.
When you're laying down in bed, when you wake up in the morning, you're talking about Jesus. You're talking about what He's done for you. Tell them the stories of the Bible. Use your influence for God. Because whether your kids grow up to be rich or poor, a professional athlete or not, An artist, a mechanic, a pastor, a construction worker, a day trader, whatever.
The most important thing is that they know the God who created them. Amen? All right.
Okay, so that's leading little ones. To the Lord, making sure we don't lead them astray. But that word miros that Jesus used isn't just physical little ones, it's also spiritual little ones. It's not just for parents here. Mikros isn't just physical little ones.
Again, it's anyone little in a spiritual sense. All of us are surrounded by spiritual little ones, you know, the least of these. Maybe you, let me give a specific example. You have the liberty to drink alcohol. Listen, I would tell you to exercise caution.
that you don't influence someone who maybe was delivered from alcoholism. Abuse for them to begin drinking again because they see you have that liberty. Oh, God, freed me from that. I've been delivered from that. And then you're around and it's like, oh, well, God, I don't have a problem with it, and I'm able to drink.
Listen, be careful that you don't lead them astray. That's the worst thing you could do. Or maybe. Maybe you're at work and you're complaining about something happening at church. Oh, there's this drama at church.
Oh, this guy in my small group is such a jerk. Oh, this girl, she asked to borrow money from me and she took the money and she didn't pay me back, and she's a Christian. And oh, yeah, you know, the church is jacked up. And you're saying this to a non-believer, and they're like, I was thinking about going to church, or I was thinking about going to the Harvest Crusade with you. Why would I ever want to go to something like that if it's just a bunch of jacked-up people?
Be careful. Be careful that you don't lead one of these little ones astray. Jesus says in verse 2, it's heavy stuff. Listen, it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. You know what a millstone is?
It's not a light rock, I'll tell you that right now. It's a millstone, meaning they would roll it around and they would break down olives and squeeze the olive oil out of them and it would drain down. Or they would put grain in it so it's crushing grain.
So it's like a big heavy stone, a big heavy boulder. It would be better to have that tied around your neck and to jump into the sea. What is this, the mafia? Like, are we talking about cement shoes here? This is crazy.
This is dark. There's no nuance here. There's no softening. Jesus is telling you exactly how seriously he takes your influence over vulnerable people. Paul offers this insight in 1 Corinthians 10.
He says, So whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, Do it all for the glory of God. He continues, Don't give offense to Jew or Gentile or the church of God. I too try to please everyone in everything I do. And then listen to this: I don't just do what is best for me. I do what is best for others, so that many may be saved.
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. Paul recognized that he Doing things only to benefit himself was going to do just that, only benefit himself. We are called to do something much greater. We're called to use our influence for God to lead people to Jesus. Look what he's done for us.
Shouldn't we go after the people? Shouldn't we go after the ones that God loves? Those that are lost, those that are in bondage? We should go after them so that we could lead them to the Lord. Look to Jesus.
Look how He led them, how He blessed people, how He ministered to people. And yes, at times, Jesus challenged and even rebuked their thinking, all while still having that same motive: lead them to God. That's the goal. And so listen. If you're listening to this and you're like, Okay, well I have fallen short in that category for sure.
Hey, you're in good company. All of us have. We've all fallen short in this category. And so, what should we do? We should repent.
We should repent. Yeah, you know, repent, it's a word that we find in the Bible, and it's just a fancy word which means to make a spiritual U-turn. That's all it means. It's a spiritual U-turn. It's recognizing that I've been going one way, I've been pursuing what I think is right, but I'm going to stop.
Turn, make a 180-degree turn, and follow what God has to say. That's all it means. So we should repent. We should turn from that shortcoming and follow God's will. And turn away from our will.
We should ask God to forgive us and strengthen us to not fail. Jesus came so we could be forgiven. But now he goes on and tells us: now that we have been forgiven, we too are to forgive like he does. Look at verse 3 now as we continue. Verse 3, Luke 17.
Jesus says, take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day and returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. That brings us to number two.
Forgive as you have been forgiven. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Let's look at that first verse in verse 3 there. You know, something we do a lot of is. gossip.
Talk about other people's problems.
Something we don't do a lot of is talk about those problems to the people we have the problem with, right? It's easier to talk about the problem than talk to the source of the problem. A lot of times we don't do what Jesus is saying here, which is to rebuke the brother who sins against us. We don't do that. We gossip, we talk about the person's sin, we talk about how they wronged us, but we don't confront it.
And I think that it's really important. Is to confront the problem, is to confront the sin. Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, Rebuke him. In Proverbs 27, it says, open rebuke is better. than love carefully concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Man, isn't that good? A good friend will tell you the truth even if it hurts, right?
Someone that is not your friend will flatter you, will tell you how great you are, how good you are at that thing, how great you look in that outfit, but actually, you look terrible, right? You look fat. But they're like, no, you should totally wear that. It's amazing. I don't know how, but recently I got on some crazy algorithm on Instagram where it feeds me people that are singing really confidently, but really badly.
And they're just putting themselves out there and they think they're doing so good. And you actually, you know, they're getting a bunch of likes, and you're seeing people in the comments being like, you're amazing, keep going, you should totally post more videos like this. And then there's other people in the comments that are like, yeah, don't quit your day job. And. And they don't like that.
They don't like that. The people that are posting the videos, it hurts their ego. But the fact is, a friend would tell you that. Don't quit your day job, dude. Hey, you should probably stop posting videos of yourself singing on the internet.
Like, you kind of suck, you know? That's what a friend would do. That's what a true friend would do. Jesus is offering us some really great relationship advice here. He's saying, tell the truth.
Tell the truth. When someone sins against you, call it out. And so there's a couple of different things that we should do here. A lot of times. When somebody does something that offends us, that hurts us.
You know, they slander us. or they steal from us, or they throw us under the bus, you know, whatever. A lot of times we like to ignore it. I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. I'm just gonna pretend that I didn't see that.
Whatever. I'm just gonna ignore it. Just gonna, you know, grin and bear it, right? Or just, you know. Let it act like it it it didn't affect me one bit.
But actually, we shouldn't ignore it because what happens? It's like an infection that goes untreated. It's going to spread. It's going to get worse. If this issue is with your spouse, you know, it's in your marriage, or maybe it's with a family member or with your kids, a lot of times we'll just ignore it.
We'll ignore it and we'll put up with it. Listen, this is dysfunctional. and it's actually going to do a disservice to the person that is sinning. And what happens by ignoring it is it causes that sin, that issue, to fester. And it will actually then reach into other relationships and other parts of your life.
Jesus says: if your brother sins against you, rebuke him. But that also, now the other side of it, people tend to ignore it. But then there's the other side, which is we are not to pick at it. We're not to nitpick, to bring it up over and over and over and over. Hey, you remember the time that you said this to me?
Yeah, that was really terrible. You're like, that was five years ago. You're still bringing that up, right? Remember when he did this? You still act like you want to do that.
Come on. Listen, that's nitpicking, it's criticism, and it's not going to help that wound heal. It's like picking at a scab that's gone over and just removing it over and over and over. It's never going to heal. You need to address it, you need to rebuke it, and you need to forgive that person and move on.
But then Jesus goes on. And he doubles down on this commandment. And he says, if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, And seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him.
Okay, now I think we're all on board with the rebuking part, like calling that person out for doing the wrong thing. Like, hey, you're dumb, like, don't do that.
Okay, great, that felt good. But forgiving them seven consecutive times in a day for the same thing, seriously, that is a tall order, right? I like calling people out, but seven times in a day, seven consecutive times? Yes, that's what Jesus says. And remember what Jesus Tells us in Luke chapter 6, he says, Judge not, and you will not be judged.
Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive. and you will be forgiven. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Listen, Jesus is perfect.
And he forgives us. Does he need to forgive us? Absolutely not. He's the one person on earth that definitely didn't need to forgive anybody because he is perfect. And yet he forgives us.
How much more should we, who are imperfect, forgive other imperfect people? Listen, this is not a suggestion, it is a command to forgive.
Now listen, to forgive... It means to release someone from that debt. It does not mean you have to make yourself vulnerable over and over and over. Let's say uh You know, I borrowed $1,000 from you. Hey, I need $1,000, right?
$1,000. I got my ninth carpool violation.
Okay, I need $1,000 to get my car from the impound lot. And you say, oh man, okay, Pastor Jonathan, I don't think this is very appropriate. Don't worry about it. No, don't worry, this isn't based on fact or anything. And so.
I borrow that thousand dollars from you. And then a couple weeks go by, and you say, Hey, could I get that thousand bucks back? And I go, Oh. Yeah, let me get around to it. And then, like, a year goes by, and you finally just realize: you know what?
I'm never gonna get that money back. Listen. You are to forgive me. You are to forgive me. Now, what that means is: yes, you forgive me of that debt.
You release me of that debt. If you want to go and pursue it in small claims court, you can do that, but you are to release me, meaning don't hold that grudge against me.
Now, what it doesn't mean. Is after we settle in small claims court, and I come back to you and I say, hey, can I borrow 500 bucks or something? You don't have to go and give me that money again. That would be stupid, right? No, you are not to make yourself vulnerable over and over.
No, it means you release that person of that debt. You release that person of that debt. You forgive that person in Jesus' name, but you put safeguards in place so that it won't happen again, right? That's forgiveness. And I love the way that the disciples respond to this.
And we see it in verse 5. And the disciples said to the Lord, Increase our faith. Increase our faith. And so the Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. That brings us to point number three, the right faith.
the right faith.
So I love that forgiveness is the thing that they're like, that's the hardest thing I've ever heard of having to do in my life. The disciples are like, Increase our faith. Jesus says, Forgive the person seven times in a day. You know, rebuke it, but then if they come to you and say, I repent, you are to forgive them seven times in a day. And they're like, Increase our faith.
Dear God, help us. You know, that's the hardest thing they would ever have to do. Like, oh, Jesus tells them, hey, go and heal the sick, right? Go and heal the sick and go and preach to everybody. And they're like, oh, that's easy.
Heal people? Easy, no problem. Oh, you know, raise people from the dead? Easier than you would think, actually. Not that big of a deal.
Oh, walk on water? No big deal. You know, that was just a Saturday. Forgive somebody seven times in a day, God, increase our faith. This is the hardest thing anybody's ever told us to do.
Jesus' response to them was not a recipe for more faith. It was a redirect for them to have the right kind of faith. a faith of a mustard seed.
Now a mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. That you can actually find. It's like less than a millimeter wide, small round little seed. And so what Jesus was saying is you actually don't need more faith. You don't need more faith.
You need a deeper understanding of what faith in God can accomplish. You need to have more confidence in your faith. It's not faith in faith. It's not faith in faith. It's what faith in God can accomplish.
In Hebrews chapter 11, it's called the Hall of Faith. It's kind of a biblical hall of fame. And it talks about all of the different Bible characters in the Old Testament from Moses and Enoch and Noah, Rahab, Abraham, these heroes of the Bible. And it says they're able to accomplish all of these things by faith. In God, not of their own strength, but by faith in the one who can make it happen.
So, listen, you don't need more faith in yourself. or in the universe, or in manifesting, right? The object of your faith is what matters. What is your faith in? Is it in yourself?
Is it in your own strength to be able to forgive people? Man, that's not going to take you very far. You need the right object of faith. If the object of your faith is in the Supreme God who hung the heavens and the earth, who created every living creature, and designed the air we breathe to have perfect pH balance and the beauty of everything we see and hear and taste and touch, and He created it, yeah, that's a good object of your faith. He's gonna give you the strength.
He's gonna give you the things that you need. Most of all, he gave you his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you. And he gives you his Holy Spirit to direct you and convince you and guide you and strengthen you to do the right thing. Have faith in that God. Have faith in him.
So listen, we don't need more faith. We need the right faith. And that brings us to the last section here in verse 7. Jesus continues. And which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, To that servant, this is the master speaking to the servant.
If you had a servant, which of you would come when he comes in from the field and says to that servant, Come and sit at once and sit down to eat. No. He would rather say to the servant, hey, prepare something for my dinner. And gird yourself and serve me till I've eaten and drunk, and afterwards you can eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?
I think not.
So likewise I say to you, When you have done all of these things which you were commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. That brings us to point number four. It's not always about you. Man, this is the opposite of selfie Christianity right here, right?
This is the very opposite of it. It is also full circle. This is full circle, talking about using your influence, right? Don't lead one of these little ones astray. What's the best way to lead one of these little ones astray, or rather to not lead one of these little ones astray?
To be completely submitted, completely obedient to God, and not make it about yourself. Notice what Jesus tells us this mindset we should have. We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. It's our duty to do these things.
It's our duty to obey the Lord. A lot of times we don't talk about that. We like to talk about how we're the main subject in the Bible. Our lives, we're the center of the universe, right? You are not, though.
You're not the star of the show, and we are not all just supporting characters in your story. Jesus is the central figure of all history. Jesus is the central figure of all creation. And a lot of times, we're only interested in embracing principles found in scripture if it benefits us. And praise God, it always does.
But sometimes there's things that aren't always about you. It's not always about how you feel. I think back a lot to this one passage of Scripture. We're the Apostle Paul. He had just completed his final missionary journey.
And he knew that there was going to be some stuff that happens, and so he called for some friends from the leaders of the church in Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. And he basically calls them in and he tells them the Holy Spirit. is calling me to go back to Jerusalem. And here's what he says. He says in Acts 20, verse 22, the Apostle Paul tells these guys, All right, guys, I am now bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.
I don't know what awaits me there. Except that the Holy Spirit tells me that in city after city, that jail and suffering lie ahead.
Now I don't know about you. But if the Holy Spirit was telling me that, I would chalk it up to some indigestion. I would say that was a bad street taco. Paul, bad street, falafel, I don't know. He knew what was coming.
He knew that there was going to be jail and suffering ahead. And you know what? Paul was exactly right. The moment he got to Jerusalem, he was accused of a crime that he was not guilty of. And he was ultimately jailed, he was beaten.
And then from then on, for the next few years, He was going from leader to leader, from Festus, you know, to ultimately he appealed to Caesar and they took him all the way to Rome where we believe that he was killed for this. But he was exactly right. The Holy Spirit was leading him back to Jerusalem, and he was exactly right. It was jail and it was suffering. But Paul was a man surrendered to God.
And he knew that it was not about himself. And you know, we could learn something from that. This is a passage, this last section. that calls us to have grit. It calls us to have grit, to sacrifice.
to see Jesus for who he really is. Listen, Jesus is not our peer. Jesus is not our homie, you know, that we call up when we're bored and we want to hang out with. No, Jesus is our master. That word servant that Jesus uses would actually be better translated as slave.
Yes, slave. Listen, if you went and you paid someone's debt on their behalf, And then you tell them to come and hey, Yeah, you know, I paid for you to do this. Why don't you come and help me with this task at my house? And so they're out in your yard and they're gardening or they're preparing a meal for you. And then they've got their selfie stick out, right?
And they're like taking a video of themselves. They're like, oh, yeah, look at me. I'm just over here, you know, serving this guy. I'm just blessing him with my time and helping him out. I'm working for free because I'm so good.
Hashtag servant, hashtag, you know, look at me. You'd be like, What the heck is wrong with you? Like, I just paid for you. I just, you know, got you out of jail. I just took care of that debt.
And here you are trying to make it about yourself. Listen, stop with the selfie, stop with making it all about yourself. Jesus said, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Hmm. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Paul said in verse 24 of that section we just read, My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God. Paul knew exactly what he needed to do. He was using his influence for God. He knew that he needed to lead others to Jesus, and the only way to do that was to take himself out of the picture. And so, listen, as we read these things.
Using your influence for God, not leading these little ones astray, forgiving. And forgiving up to seven times in a day. Lowering your view of yourself, being, you know, following your duty, what you're called to do. These things are completely counterintuitive and countercultural. To the person on the outside, it may seem like the most boring, restrictive, and small life imaginable.
and now coming back full circle, that's probably what my dog thought too. She didn't want to have to follow all these commands. She didn't want to have all these rules. But the fact is, that was the way that she was going to be the most free. I titled this sermon Off Leash, because that's exactly what happens when we obey God.
It's liberating, it's freedom, it's revolutionary, and that is the Christian life. Not a checklist or behavior modification or a performance. It is an identity. A person who is so secure in who they are. That they have nothing to prove, nothing to earn, and nothing to fear.
We are new creations, made new from the inside out. Listen, the world offers a freedom. But the fact is it delivers chains. But Jesus promises a yoke and actually delivers rest. I don't know.
Maybe you're like my dog and you've been running around chasing other dogs, chasing girls, chasing after cars, doing crazy stuff. And you've been running from God. Because you know that, oh man, you know, I've got to settle down and I've got to, you know, live this certain way. Listen, if you viewed Christianity as a bunch of rules and things that you have to follow, you've missed the point. It's the most liberating thing that you could do.
It's the most free that you could ever be because you are free from what the world tells you to do. You are free from the things that your own desires lead you to. 99% of the time, 100 times out of 100, you are going to lead yourself in the wrong direction without God. It's going to leave you in a place where you make mistakes, you're unhappy, and you're not going to be able to free yourself from it or get free from it. That is why you need God.
That's why you need Jesus. You're probably tired. The thing you were chasing didn't deliver. The quick spiritual vacation that you thought you were going to take has lasted a lot longer than you were wanting to. Listen, you don't have to live that way anymore.
Jesus came to set the captives free, to liberate those in slavery to sin, and ultimately death. And He can free you today. He can make you a new creation. Not a religion, not a set of rules or performance, a new identity, a new nature that has real freedom. And if that's you, I want to give you that opportunity right here.
Right now. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for every person here. I thank you that you know their story, Lord. I thank you that you're aware of the things that they're drawn to.
And God, I thank you that you have a plan for their life. Lord, for those here that do not know you, Father, I pray that you would speak to their heart. You would help them to see that the best thing in this life is not living for themselves, but it's living for you. Lord, help us to see that as well. And when our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying together, if that's you.
If you would like to Be free from your sin. If you would like to be free from the lifestyle that you've been pursuing. Pray this prayer out loud after me. You're saying yes to God. Pray this now.
Dear God. I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that Jesus is the Savior. who died on the cross for my sin. And today I turn from that sin.
And I turned to you. Would you forgive me, Lord? Would you help me to know your voice? In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Yeah.
