Righteous Servants Promote Righteousness In Others (Luke 17:1-10)

Righteous Servants Promote Righteousness In Others (Luke 17:1-10)

NOTE: The beginning of the sermon was not recorded. Below is a rough transcript of the missing few minutes of the sermon.

“”So, as has been the case for the last year, this story begins where the last one left off.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their empty self-righteousness, teaching them that, One, true righteousness must come from outside ourselves. And Two, those having been justified by the righteousness of Christ, will constantly, consistently, bear witness to that righteousness in their actions.

James 1:27, 2:14-17  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world…17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Meaning, you can talk about righteousness all you want. You can talk about justification. You can talk about theology and doctrine. But unless those things actually become active in your life, you are a spiritually dead liar.

In our passage this morning, Jesus now turns his focus to his disciples and gives them further concrete application for what indwelling righteousness lives like.

Luke 17:1-3 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.  3 Pay attention to yourselves!

Righteousness is serious business. The eternal poverty of Pharisaical righteousness has already been exposed. The wealthy man who neglected Lazarus day after day was revealed to have no righteousness of value that could be carried through into eternity.

Here, now, the warning is to believers. Woe to the believers who cause the little ones (probably new believers), to sin. Literally, stumble. To have a moral downfall. For such offending believers, physical death would be better for them. This isn’t a salvific statement. It is a statement that shows the seriousness of the consequences of sin. Better for the offending person to be dead, than for their actions to contribute to the ongoing sin of others; sin which will have severe consequences.

So, righteousness exhibits itself in personal holiness, love unto others, and a desire to guard the righteousness of others.

Therefore, pay attention to yourselves! Some tag this phrase to the beginning of the next few verses, but it would seem as though it’s meant to highlight the absolute importance of watching how you conduct yourself before others. If it’s better to be dead that cause others to sin, then pay attention to your conduct in righteousness. Though it’s not only about conduct, it’s what we communicate with our words as well.

1 Timothy 4:16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.””

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