To suggest to any American that he or she is in any sense unworthy or unprofitable is taboo. This country, as no other nation, seeks to protect the individual's rights. While America is far from perfect in respecting the individual's rights, it attempts to respect individual rights. In America YOU DO NOT treat any citizen as unimportant. You never suggest a person is without worth. In America, a person has value just because he or she exists.
Americans address complex issues because we believe in the rights of the individual. How do you protect the rights of the unborn? How do you protect the rights of the criminal? How do you protect the rights of the victim? How do you protect the rights of a minority? How do you protect the rights of the elderly? How do you protect the rights of different religions? How do you protect the rights of the atheist and agnostic? At the heart of every significant American social issue is this question: what are the rights of that individual or that group of individuals?
Some of Jesus' teachings run counter to our society's popular concepts. The personal realities of a first century servant do not exist in the American society. The concept of a "good" servant is foreign to American thinking. The principle of humbly serving the best interest of others directly opposes the American concept of success.
In America, Jesus' teachings on the concept of self worth is a barrier to conversion. All our lives we have lived in a culture that urges every person to "protect your rights." We sue because of a cup of spilled coffee. We demand that the federal government protect each of us from every form of danger. Commonly, responsibility and blame are assigned to a group, an organization, or a corporation, but rarely to an individual. We are one of the few societies that declares its citizens have the right to act unlawfully.
'I" am everything. "I" am all important. "I" by right must be secure, cared for, and happy. "I" have the right to pleasure. "I" have the right to protection--even from me, my choices, and my behavior! "I" am not responsible or accountable. "You" have no right to demand too much of me. "I" do not exist to seek the best interests of others. "I" live and act for my best interest. Unselfishness, compassion, and seeking the highest good of others interferes with my rights.
Even a casual reading of the gospels reveals these perspectives oppose the life, actions, and teachings of Jesus. God's ideal servant never regarded himself to be too important to do anything God wanted. He never exalted himself. He lived and died for the benefit of others.
Luke 17:1-10
Woe to the person who is the source of temptation that causes a struggling disciple to stumble. The word translated "stumbling block" or "temptation" combines the ideas of a snare and a trip wire. Matthew used the same word in Matthew 16:23 when he said to Peter, "Get behind me Satan." Satan used Peter as the bait stick in a trap. The temptation that Peter created for Jesus when he rebuked Jesus is an excellent example of how a person devoted to Jesus can become the source of temptation.
If a disciple had to make that choice, he should choose to have the millstone tied to his neck and thrown into the lake.
A millstone was a hard rock that was used to crush and grind grain. It was one of the common means for grinding grain into the flour that was used to bake bread.
The falling stone would pull you into the water and drown you. The point: the consequences of a physical disaster that killed you are more desirable than the consequences for causing a person to stumble over a temptation that you created.
Jesus gave his disciples the moral responsibility not to be the source of temptation. Each disciple must monitor his or her own life to see that he or she does not create temptations for those who are weak or struggling.
The words, "take heed to yourself," or, "Be on your guard," gives each disciple that moral responsibility.
You are to rebuke him. You are to go to him in a desire to resolve the offense. See Matthew 18:15-17 for the principle. The first course of action is to go to the offender, not to the preacher, or the elders, or an arbitrator, or someone who will sympathize with you. Many, many problems continue to exist needlessly because those offended never privately seek to resolve the matter. If you are offended, it is your responsibility to go to the offender.
If he or she says that he or she repents [see verse 4], you are to forgive him.
Each time he or she says he or she repents, you are to forgive. Consider the difficulty and awkwardness of a person repeatedly coming to you and asking your forgiveness. Just as that would challenge your capacity to forgive, it would challenge his or her capacity to return and ask. We often question the sincerity of the person who repeatedly asks for forgiveness. It is no less fair to question the sincerity of the person who repeatedly states that he forgives. Each must be sincere.
A disciple extends frequent forgiveness because he or she is aware of the frequency of God's forgiveness.
This is a reflection question that only the person can answer for himself or herself. When you consider the number of sins and mistakes we make in ignorance or in misguided commitment, every disciple must be forgiven by God much more frequently than he or she will ever need to forgive another human.
Again, this is a reflection question that only the person can answer for himself or herself. Challenge the student to consider two matters. (1) Consider the sin that you do not understand to be evil, and you in ignorance frequently enjoy it. (2) Consider the sin that is your greatest fault or weakness, the sin that you repeatedly stumble over. How often does God have to forgive just those two problems?
They responded by asking Jesus to increase their faith. They realized that they were not yet capable of extending that kind of forgiveness. They did not reject their responsibility to forgive by saying Jesus expected too much. They asked Jesus to help their faith grow to the point that they could properly accept that moral responsibility.
They could tell a mulberry tree to be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would happen. This would indicate that the apostles' faith was very small. To realize how small their faith was is disturbing when you consider that their faith enabled them to leave their occupations to follow Jesus . We tend to think that great faith does unusual things. A small faith could replant a mulberry tree. A great faith could repeatedly extend genuine forgiveness.
The master would not say, "Come in quickly and eat your supper."
The master would say, "First prepare my supper, then clean up and dress yourself appropriately, and serve me my supper."
The servant [slave] would eat after his master had finished his meal.
No, the master would not thank him for what he had done. The servant [slave] did only what a servant [slave] was supposed to do. Jesus was not encouraging people to abuse people. He was not opposing gratitude. He took a common, well understood situation that existed in their time and used it to illustrate the attitude a disciple should have toward God.
The apostle should say that he was an unprofitable or unworthy servant. God will never receive a profit on the investment He made in us. He ransomed us with the blood of His son. Our salvation cost God far more than God will ever benefit from anything we are or do. The apostle should make this response because he was deeply aware of the profound things that God did for him. At the same time, he was deeply aware of this fact: there was nothing he could do in service to God that exceeded his personal responsibility. No matter what he did in serving God, it should have been done. We need to realize the same truth. When a Christian realizes what God did for him or her, and what God continues to do for him or her each day, he or she also realizes that he or she will never do more than should be done.
It is impossible for a Christian to do more for God than he should do. It is impossible for a Christian to do as much for God as God has done for him. It is impossible for a Christian to do too much for God. The objective of the Christian is to serve God's will and purposes. Never is the Christian's objective to manipulate God into serving his or her will and purposes.
This is the wonderful thing about serving the will and purposes of God: it will always make us a better person. The more completely we serve God's will and purposes, the better servant we become. The result: we become better spouses, parents, neighbors, friends, and people.
Suggestion: close with the thought that nothing we do will place God in debt to us, AND nothing we do will repay the debt that we owe to God.
Link to Student Guide Quarter 2, Lesson 6