March 2, 2025 • 26 mins
As life often overwhelms us with responsibilities, we must ask ourselves: what are we clinging to? This episode explores our tendency to overcommit and carry too many burdens and challenges us to reflect on what truly matters, especially as we enter the season of Lent. Our pastor shares a personal story that resonates with many, highlighting the struggle between fulfilling our obligations and making room for God.
Through biblical teachings, we examine how our lives can become overloaded, including the dangers of temptation and the critical need for forgiveness. Jesus calls us to forgive not only once but continuously, thereby emphasizing the profound nature of grace in our lives. Listeners will be invited to assess whether their actions draw others closer to God or push them away, a vital aspect of our faith that extends beyond personal belief to influence community dynamics.
By embracing the attitudes of service and reflection, we are encouraged to shift our mindset from entitlement to gratitude for God’s grace. Discover how even the smallest faith can have extraordinary effects, challenging us to root out deep-seated bitterness and discomfort. You won't want to miss this transformative dialogue that asks not only what we need to release but also how we can truly embrace a life of faith. Tune in, reflect, and engage with us as we navigate the journey of letting go to grow more deeply in our spiritual walk. Don't forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Madison Church Online.
I'm Stephen Feith, lead pastor,glad that you're joining us and
want to invite you to join usin person sometime soon.
Madison Church exists toconnect people with God and each
other.
We're way more than just thecontent you're viewing and
listening online.
To begin this morning, there's ascenario that happened to me a
few weeks ago that I bet a lotof you can relate to.
I was trying to carry too manythings at once.
(00:22):
I had grocery bags in bothhands, I had my phone on my
shoulder.
In my ear I was talking tosomeone.
I even had my frozen coffeefrom Costco in my hand.
And then my son, who wasempty-handed, running up the
stairs to go to the house,turned back and yelled hey, I
left my tablet on my car seat,can you go grab it?
(00:43):
He should know better.
I'm not that kind of parent,but even if I had wanted to help
him and I didn't but even if Idid want to help him, I simply
could not carry anything else.
My hands were already too full.
I think that's an illustrationmost of us can relate to, not
just because we've had thegrocery bags and the coffee and
(01:04):
the phone, but most of our livesfeel like that.
We're carrying responsibilities, we're carrying expectations,
we have relationships in ourhands and, by the way, don't
forget about those regrets.
We have all of these thingsgoing on and then it seems like
someone else in our lives, maybesomeone we love a lot, asked
for help, asked for a little bitmore, and even if we wanted to
(01:24):
help them, we're just not in aposition.
But I think, worse yet, whathappens is that sometimes that
voice is God's, and God's notasking for you to go back to the
car to grab the tablet, becausehe's empty-handed and just
feeling lazy.
But what about those times whenGod says, hey, this is better
for you, this is the direction Iwant you to walk in?
(01:44):
And we said, well, I just can'tright now.
And I'm not saying that whatyou're carrying is bad, let me
just stop you there.
If that's where your mind isgoing, you're like, oh, I must
be carrying a bunch of bad stuff.
I don't think that's true atall.
I think that we can carry abunch of good things, but too
many.
We say we want to follow Jesus.
(02:04):
We really do want to grow inour faith, but our lives are
just already too full.
You just can't.
And that's why Lent matters.
We're actually heading into theLent season on Wednesday that
begins but Lent is a seasonabout making space for what
Jesus offers.
It's not just about givingsomething up.
(02:26):
And so maybe you grew up in andaround Lent and you're familiar
with this, or maybe you didn'tgrow up in and around the church
but you've heard of Lent, ormaybe you have no idea what Lent
is.
But beginning on Wednesday andleading up to Easter, it's an
opportunity for us to give upsomething so that we might get
closer to God and to step in towhat he has.
(02:47):
Maybe it means putting thecoffee down, the phone down, the
grocery bags down, so we can door chase what God wants us to
chase after.
And you'll notice that thegraphics are different now,
because the first part of thisseries we were talking about
what do we need to add to ourlives so we might better follow
Jesus?
But now I want to ask you thequestion what do we need to add
to our lives so we might betterfollow Jesus?
But now I want to ask you thequestion what do you need to
(03:08):
give up to better follow Jesus?
Throughout this series, jesus isgetting closer to Jerusalem and
closer to the cross.
Every conversation Jesus hasmatters.
Every lesson is urgent.
He still has large crowdsfollowing him.
The Pharisees are watching himmeticulously, the disciples are
(03:29):
walking beside him, but nobody'struly ready for what will
happen next.
None of them are prepared torelease their need to be right.
They're not going to let go oftheir resistance to grace.
Would any of them be willing tosurrender their obsession with
control?
(03:51):
In this passage, we're going toLuke 17 today.
Jesus isn't speaking to thecrowd.
There's a crowd.
In this passage, there'sseveral hundreds of people
listening.
He's not debating the Pharisees.
They're still there watching,but instead you can imagine the
scene.
There's the crowds, there's thePharisees, and in front of them
are the disciples.
And it's at this point he turnsdirectly to his disciples to
(04:13):
address them.
And I believe it's a lesson forthose of us who are followers
of Jesus today that he's turningto us.
And so, as we step into Luke 17,I want you to wrestle with this
.
What are you clinging to?
Believing it will give you life, but it is actually holding you
back.
So we began in verse one.
(04:36):
One day, jesus said to hisdisciples there will always be
temptations to sin, but whatsorrow awaits the person who
does the tempting.
It would be better to be throwninto a sea with a millstone
hung around your neck than tocause one of these little ones
to fall into sin.
Jesus turns to his disciples andhe gives them a pretty strict,
(04:59):
sobering warning.
Temptation is inevitable, butcausing other people to stumble
is a serious offense.
He acknowledges and this mightbe a good thing for some of you
to hear that temptation willalways exist in the world.
If you feel tempted, it doesn'tmean you're doing something
wrong.
It doesn't mean you're in thewrong place of life.
(05:19):
The sinless son of God himself,jesus, the sinless son of God
himself, jesus, was tempted.
We will all be tempted the restof our lives.
It's not a sign of failure.
Temptation is just part ofbeing a human being.
But the real danger is not justtemptation.
Jesus says to his discipleswith everybody listening yeah,
(05:41):
yeah, yeah, you're going to havetemptation, but don't you be
the reason somebody elsestumbles.
He's saying that what you sayas my followers, how you act,
the way you represent this faith, it all matters because it
influences the faith of otherpeople, it shapes how they go
(06:04):
about this and Jesus is soserious about you.
Know you're going to facetemptations.
Don't cause anyone else tostumble.
He is so serious about this.
He uses this wild, terrifyingimage.
He uses a millstone, and formany of you you don't know what
that is, but it's not the stoneon the ground but the one above
it.
That is the millstone, and theyused it for grinding down grain
(06:27):
.
I mean, this thing weighs a ton, hundreds of pounds actually,
literally.
And in ancient times drowningwas feared as a way of execution
.
You see, if you drown, theythought you couldn't be buried,
you couldn't be put back to rest.
So if you drown, it was likeyour soul was forever lost.
And so Jesus paints this imagegrab one of these heavy things,
(06:47):
chain yourself to it and throwit off in the middle of the
ocean.
Jesus is saying essentially itwould be better for you to just
disappear, soul and all, than tocause someone else to stumble.
Why the strong warning?
Well, as we've talked aboutmany times here at Madison
Church, sin is not just personal.
(07:08):
My sin affects you, your sinaffects me, our sin affects
those around us.
And when we misrepresent Jesus,when we live hypocritically or
when we live judgmentally, whenwe cause doubt in others instead
of building up the faith, weare not just failing ourselves,
but we are bringing other peopledown with us.
(07:30):
So Jesus says hey, watchyourself.
I know you're going to screw up, but don't be the reason
someone else does.
We ask ourselves this morningwhen I look at my own personal
walk am I leading others closerto Jesus or do I make it harder
for people to follow Jesus?
Are my words and actions, dothey strengthen someone else's
(07:54):
faith or do they cause them todoubt?
Do I build people up or dothose who are around me, those
who follow me as I follow Jesus,are they stumbling?
Are they stumbling?
This isn't just a warning forhis disciples 2,000 years ago.
I think it's just as relevanttoday as it was 2,000 years ago.
(08:17):
But Jesus doesn't just warnagainst sin, he doesn't just say
hey, you know what it's goingto happen, you're going to be
tempted, but don't be the reason.
Somebody else falls.
He teaches us how to respond.
I mean, if it's inevitable,it's going to happen.
So what then, jesus, do we do?
Well, he says in verse 3, ifanother believer sins, rebuke
that person.
Then, if there's repentance,forgive.
(08:39):
And even if that person wrongsyou seven times a day and each
time turns again and asks forforgiveness.
You must forgive.
I just know that some of youyou hate this.
I know it, I get it.
I totally do, because you'relike well, if you screw up and
you say you're sorry, like I'llforgive you.
But what about the person who,like six times in one day, does
(09:01):
the same thing to you?
You're like Jesus, I can'tforgive that person.
He's clearly not sorry.
Well, no, jesus is saying let'shold on, let's look at this.
Having warned other people aboutsin, jesus now shifts how we
respond when someone sinsagainst us.
If you are like me and imaginethat some of you are when you
are wronged, your naturalresponse is resentment.
(09:25):
I hold on to the hurts, I wantto seek revenge.
I want them to feel the painthat they have inflicted on me.
Other times it's avoidance.
I just want to cut them out ofmy life and ignore them
altogether.
Have you ever felt those things?
Resentment, revenge, avoidance.
(09:46):
But Jesus calls us to somethingdifferent, as he usually does,
something more difficult,something that doesn't quite
make sense to us.
He calls us to rebuke and torestore and then to release.
Jesus doesn't say well, justignore the sin.
He doesn't say just toleratethe sin.
He says to rebuke it, howeverhe's watching or listening
(10:08):
online.
Rebuking is often misunderstood.
Many in our society, in Westernsociety you grew up in or in
the church we take rebuking as alicense to be rude.
We take rebuking to be alicense to be harsh and we
justify our ownself-righteousness under this
(10:28):
umbrella.
Well, jesus says I am to rebuke, but that is not at all what
Jesus is saying.
The Greek word for rebuke meansto warn or correct, with the
goal of restoration.
With the goal of restoration,we're not beating someone down,
we are lifting them up.
(10:51):
So let me be clear whatrebuking is not.
Rebuking is not shaming someone,privately or publicly.
It's not about embarrassingthem and it certainly shouldn't
make you feel superior.
Rebuking is not unleashing youranger or frustration.
You're not venting about howwhat this person did to you
really hurt you.
It's about offering correctionin a loving way and it certainly
(11:15):
is not judging someone's worth.
We're called to correctbehavior, not condemn a person.
So if that's what rebuking isnot, can we talk about what
rebuking is?
Rebuking is confronting sin thatinvites someone into a
conversation, invites them to arelationship with you.
It doesn't push them away.
(11:36):
It's about restoration.
It's not about punishment andit's about being humble enough,
knowing that we also need grace.
Before I could ever rebuke you,before I could ever come to you
and offer to help you, I got tolook inward at myself first.
Am I even in a position tooffer help?
Am I in a position to point outthat you do that wrong when I'm
(11:58):
also struggling with it orstruggling with something worse?
We must examine our own heartsfirst, and so when Jesus tells
us to rebuke, he's not giving uspermission to be self-righteous
or judgment or hypocritical.
He's asking us to have arelationship with someone and to
be willing to walk with someone.
And so my ask for you, ifyou're part of this Madison
Church community and you're amember and you're like, I really
(12:20):
feel like there's this sin andI've got to rebuke it.
What I ask is you don't do itunless you are willing to walk
with that person until it'sresolved.
Don't point out that whatthey're doing is wrong.
Anyone can do that, and theyalready are.
The internet is full of peoplewho will do that.
But if you're going to pointsomething out to someone, are
you offering this takes one yearor 10 years or the rest of your
(12:42):
life, I will be there?
Then by all means go ahead andgive it a whirl.
Now let's go back to this part.
There's rebuking, but he talksabout radical forgiveness.
He says forgiving others is notoptional.
It's not based on whether ornot you feel like forgiving them
, and it doesn't even matter howmany times that person messed
(13:02):
up.
You don't forgive someonebecause they deserve it.
But forgiveness also doesn'tmean excusing wrong behavior.
But forgiveness also doesn'tmean excusing wrong behavior.
Forgiveness doesn't meanexcusing it.
Sin still has consequences.
Forgiveness doesn't meanpretending something didn't
happen.
Forgiveness does.
(13:23):
It acknowledges the hurt, butit chooses to not be consumed by
the hurt.
Forgiveness also doesn't meanautomatically restoring trust.
I know that for a lot of usthat's kind of maybe what we
grew up thinking Well, I'm goingto forgive and forget.
That's not the ask.
The ask is forgiveness, not toforget.
Forgiveness is freely given,but trust must be rebuilt.
(13:43):
Forgiveness means releasing theburden of resentment, because
bitterness only poisons your ownheart, choosing to not seek
revenge and instead we trust Godto get justice.
We live in freedom.
Forgiveness doesn't set theother person free.
It sets you free.
(14:04):
Jesus intensifies the challenge.
Even if the person wrongs youseven times a day and each time
asks you for forgiveness, youmust forgive.
The context between that numberseven is that in Jewish thought
, seven symbolized completeness.
It was a full completeness.
So Jesus is saying always andforever.
You're like well, what aboutthe eighth time?
Nope, it's a reset.
We're going to keep going backand forth.
(14:26):
The disciples, maybe you're heretoday and you're thinking about
something in your life that'shappened to you, something very
traumatic, something verydifficult, something very
challenging.
For some of you.
This week has been verychallenging, I know that, and so
you're realizing how hard it is.
Maybe in your mind you're likeyes, this makes sense.
I can read the black and whitewords of Jesus, but I can't
convince myself to think or feelthat way or even to respond
(14:48):
that way.
The disciples are just like you.
In this next section they saidknowing how hard what Jesus just
said it's going to be, show ushow to increase our faith.
That's just honesty.
Well, if I'm going to do whatJesus says, I'm going to need
more faith.
But the Lord answered if youhad faith, even as small as a
mustard seed, you could say tothe mulberry tree, may you be
(15:11):
uprooted and thrown into the seaand it would obey you.
So yes, jesus' command toforgive people without limits,
it does seem impossible.
And so the disciples are likewell, I'm going to need more
faith.
But Jesus doesn't say this ishow you get more faith.
He doesn't say you know what,instead of praying for 15
minutes in the morning, pray for20.
And instead of reading onechapter a day of the Bible, read
(15:34):
two chapters a day.
And oh, have you thought aboutfasting ever?
And oh my gosh, if you've neverdone Christian meditation, holy
smokes, this is really going toincrease your faith.
He doesn't do any of that.
He doesn't tell them to studymore, memorize more.
He doesn't say go to seminaryand have deeper theological
knowledge.
He says the faith you possessis already enough.
(15:54):
What you have is already enough.
It's common in Christian circlesto believe that going deeper
means accumulating moreknowledge, and so some will
chase after deeper teaching,convinced that faith grows with
endless studies or masteringtheology.
And some people and you mayknow them they flex their
(16:15):
spirituality by reading stacksof books, quoting theologians
and making sure that they know.
Everyone else in the room knowshow much that they know.
But that's not deep faith,according to Jesus.
We look at this passage, lookat the other passages.
We've been in Luke for over ayear now.
Faith isn't measured by howmuch you know, but by how much
(16:35):
you trust in God.
Faith is not about accumulatingknowledge, but rather putting
it into action.
Faith is not about showing offGod's wisdom or your wisdom, but
demonstrating God's love.
It's not about your wisdom,it's about demonstrating God's
love.
Jesus says even the smallestfaith faith the size of a
(16:56):
mustard seed something you canbarely see If you're in the room
and you're, like I'm,struggling to hold on to my
faith, it's hurting Jesus saysthat is enough to produce
extraordinary results in yourlife when placed in the right
hands.
In Jewish agricultural life,mustard seed was the smallest
known seed.
Its size was insignificant andyet it could grow into something
(17:18):
far greater than expected.
How great.
Well, jesus uses a mulberrytree as an example.
Now, that's weird.
It should be like why amulberry tree and why not
something else?
Well, the mulberry tree had thedeepest, strongest root systems
known in the region.
Uprooting a mulberry tree wasimpossible.
It took a great amount of work.
(17:40):
A lot of people had to cometogether and do different parts,
and what Jesus is saying iswith just a little bit of faith,
you can do something that seemsquite impossible.
It was a perfect symbol of thedeep wounds, the bitterness and
the unforgiveness that oftentake deep roots in our own
hearts, our own lives.
(18:00):
And yet Jesus says even amustard seed of faith can uproot
what seems impossible.
Is bitterness deeply rooted inyour life, faith can remove it.
Does the unforgiveness feelpermanent?
Faith can break it.
Does hurt seem immovable?
Even our faith in Jesus canheal it.
(18:21):
Faith is not about size, iswhat Jesus is saying.
It's about surrender.
And even the smallest,seemingly insignificant faith in
God's power, not our ownability, is enough to move what
we never could.
But faith alone Jesus is goingto unpack.
Faith alone is not enough.
(18:43):
Jesus now teaches, in the heartof discipleship, obedience.
He says when a servant comes infrom plowing or taking care of
sheep, does his master say comein and eat with me?
No, he says prepare my meal,put on your apron and serve me
while I eat, then you can comeeat later.
And does the master thank theservant for doing what he was
told to do?
Of course not.
(19:03):
In the same way, when you obeyme, you should say we are
unworthy servants who havesimply done our duty.
This is the important part forus to recognize that he is
talking to his disciples,knowing the Pharisees are
listening, knowing the religiousleaders are listening.
It challenges the mindset ofentitlement with discipleship.
(19:27):
Jesus describes a servant who,after working all day, does not
expect special treatment.
The servant was simply doinghis duty.
Now contrast this with thePharisees who believed that
obedience to the law earned themspecial status before God.
In Jesus' radical statement hesays you don't serve God to earn
(19:48):
some sort of special favor orrecognition.
You serve God because ofcalling.
There's this quote by the authorand late pastor theologian Tim
Keller.
He says religious people obeyGod to get things, but gospel
people obey God to get God.
When we're following afterJesus, when we approach God in
(20:12):
prayer, reading the Bible,meditation, whatever spiritual
practices and disciplines in ourown life, when we approach
those, are we doing it to getsomething out of God?
Are we doing it to get God?
In our culture, we expectappreciation for what we do.
I think that's okay.
All our volunteers at MadisonChurch know how much I
appreciate them.
I like feeling appreciated.
(20:33):
But discipleship is not aboutwhat we get.
It's about who we follow.
And obedience is notmerit-based.
Forgiving, having faith andserving are not acts of earning,
simply a natural response ofbeing a disciple, and so I want
to ask you again today what webegan with?
What will you let go of?
(20:54):
Each section of today's passagespeaks to a fundamental part of
our relationship with God andwith one another.
For Jesus's original audience,these teachings were deeply
disruptive.
Religious leaders, those whowere in positions of power and
authority within their churches,focused on rule keeping Do this
(21:14):
, live this way, don't do this,don't live that way.
And faith was a system ofearning merit before God.
Forgiveness was conditional,spiritual authority was about
the status, and service was away to gain favor.
We did not do it out of an actof love.
But Jesus flips all of thatupside down, and I know we don't
live under the same religiousstructures today, but I believe
(21:36):
that we still struggle with thesame issues.
We hold on to cultural mindsets,traditional mindsets, religious
habits.
We hold on to things that feelfamiliar but, I think, actually
keep us away from trulyfollowing Jesus.
And so, since Lent is a seasonof letting go, not for the sake
of self-denial, but to makespace for something better, I
(21:58):
want to ask you what do you needto release?
Are there cultural expectationsthat distort faith, traditional
mindsets that no longer pointyou to Christ, religious habits
that focus on performance ratherthan transformation.
You see, sometimes the biggestobstacles to discipleship and
you walking with Jesus are notabout faith at all.
(22:20):
It's about culture.
We approach church oftentimeslike customers asking what do I
get it instead of how can Iserve?
We equate a full schedule witha full life, but we don't really
leave room in our schedule forGod.
Faith becomes a private matterrather than something lived out
in community.
Jesus calls us to acounter-cultural way of life
(22:42):
where service replacesself-interest, stillness
overcomes hurry and communitymatters more than independence.
So there's culture, buttradition.
And for those of you again, Irecognize that within Madison
Church there are a bunch ofpeople who come from more
liturgical streams of faith.
So tradition can be seen veryholy, very sacred.
(23:03):
But when our tradition, whenour liturgy, when our practices
replace Jesus as the center ofour faith, it becomes a barrier
to our faith, equating churchwith a place we attend rather
than a people we belong to,holding on to ideas of acting
right or dressing right insteadof just welcoming people as they
(23:26):
are, expecting faith to becomfortable, when everything
we've read in Luke is thatdiscipleship requires sacrifice.
Now, not all traditions are bad, that's not what I'm saying,
but when they distract us fromJesus rather than draw us closer
to Jesus, we need to let thosetraditions go.
They served a purpose a longtime ago that they no longer
serve anymore.
(23:48):
So there's culture, there'stradition, and Jesus constantly
confronted faith that was aboutappearance rather than
transformation.
Those were the ideas ofreligious beliefs, religious
theologies that people held, andmaybe today we need to
sacrifice some false ideas wehave.
For example, you don't have toearn God's love.
(24:09):
I think some of us believe thatwe have to earn God's love.
You get the rest in his grace.
You don't have to earn it, youget the rest.
Some of us struggle with thisidea of valuing the right
beliefs over loving people.
We turn faith into a debateinstead of an act of compassion,
(24:32):
or we expect the church tocater to us rather than seeing
it as a place to serve, to grow,to surrender.
And Jesus made it clear Faithisn't about checking boxes, it's
about becoming like him.
And so, as we enter this seasonof Lent, on Wednesday again
leading up to Easter, I want youto ask what am I clinging to?
Is it tradition?
(24:52):
Comfort, control up to Easter?
I want you to ask what am Iclinging to?
Is it tradition, comfort,control that Jesus is asking me
to surrender?
Or who in my life have Irefused to forgive?
And what would it look like tofinally let go?
If faith the size of a mustardseed can uproot even the deepest
obstacles, what's stopping mefrom trusting God with what
feels impossible?
(25:14):
What will you let go of so thatyou can follow Jesus more fully
?
Jesus challenges the disciplesto let go, to release the weight
of pride, bitterness,entitlement, and to step into a
life of trust, of grace andhumble service.
And at first that kind ofsurrender sounds like loss.
But the kingdom of God, in thekingdom of God, surrender is
(25:37):
where true life begins.
When you let go of bitterness,what you will find is that you
gain peace.
When you let go of control, youfind deeper trust in God.
And when you let go of acomfort-driven faith, you step
into greater purpose, one thattransforms you from the inside
out.
So this morning, take a breath,imagine releasing whatever
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burden you've been carrying.
Hand it to Jesus, because whenwe let go we are set free, not
just for ourselves, but also forthe sake of the world around us
.
Welcome to Madison Church Online.
I'm Stephen Feith, lead pastor,glad that you're joining us and
want to invite you to join usin person sometime soon.
Madison Church exists toconnect people with God and each
other.
We're way more than just thecontent you're viewing and
listening online.
To begin this morning, there's ascenario that happened to me a
few weeks ago that I bet a lotof you can relate to.
I was trying to carry too manythings at once.
(00:22):
I had grocery bags in bothhands, I had my phone on my
shoulder.
In my ear I was talking tosomeone.
I even had my frozen coffeefrom Costco in my hand.
And then my son, who wasempty-handed, running up the
stairs to go to the house,turned back and yelled hey, I
left my tablet on my car seat,can you go grab it?
(00:43):
He should know better.
I'm not that kind of parent,but even if I had wanted to help
him and I didn't but even if Idid want to help him, I simply
could not carry anything else.
My hands were already too full.
I think that's an illustrationmost of us can relate to, not
just because we've had thegrocery bags and the coffee and
(01:04):
the phone, but most of our livesfeel like that.
We're carrying responsibilities, we're carrying expectations,
we have relationships in ourhands and, by the way, don't
forget about those regrets.
We have all of these thingsgoing on and then it seems like
someone else in our lives, maybesomeone we love a lot, asked
for help, asked for a little bitmore, and even if we wanted to
(01:24):
help them, we're just not in aposition.
But I think, worse yet, whathappens is that sometimes that
voice is God's, and God's notasking for you to go back to the
car to grab the tablet, becausehe's empty-handed and just
feeling lazy.
But what about those times whenGod says, hey, this is better
for you, this is the direction Iwant you to walk in?
(01:44):
And we said, well, I just can'tright now.
And I'm not saying that whatyou're carrying is bad, let me
just stop you there.
If that's where your mind isgoing, you're like, oh, I must
be carrying a bunch of bad stuff.
I don't think that's true atall.
I think that we can carry abunch of good things, but too
many.
We say we want to follow Jesus.
(02:04):
We really do want to grow inour faith, but our lives are
just already too full.
You just can't.
And that's why Lent matters.
We're actually heading into theLent season on Wednesday that
begins but Lent is a seasonabout making space for what
Jesus offers.
It's not just about givingsomething up.
(02:26):
And so maybe you grew up in andaround Lent and you're familiar
with this, or maybe you didn'tgrow up in and around the church
but you've heard of Lent, ormaybe you have no idea what Lent
is.
But beginning on Wednesday andleading up to Easter, it's an
opportunity for us to give upsomething so that we might get
closer to God and to step in towhat he has.
(02:47):
Maybe it means putting thecoffee down, the phone down, the
grocery bags down, so we can door chase what God wants us to
chase after.
And you'll notice that thegraphics are different now,
because the first part of thisseries we were talking about
what do we need to add to ourlives so we might better follow
Jesus?
But now I want to ask you thequestion what do we need to add
to our lives so we might betterfollow Jesus?
But now I want to ask you thequestion what do you need to
(03:08):
give up to better follow Jesus?
Throughout this series, jesus isgetting closer to Jerusalem and
closer to the cross.
Every conversation Jesus hasmatters.
Every lesson is urgent.
He still has large crowdsfollowing him.
The Pharisees are watching himmeticulously, the disciples are
(03:29):
walking beside him, but nobody'struly ready for what will
happen next.
None of them are prepared torelease their need to be right.
They're not going to let go oftheir resistance to grace.
Would any of them be willing tosurrender their obsession with
control?
(03:51):
In this passage, we're going toLuke 17 today.
Jesus isn't speaking to thecrowd.
There's a crowd.
In this passage, there'sseveral hundreds of people
listening.
He's not debating the Pharisees.
They're still there watching,but instead you can imagine the
scene.
There's the crowds, there's thePharisees, and in front of them
are the disciples.
And it's at this point he turnsdirectly to his disciples to
(04:13):
address them.
And I believe it's a lesson forthose of us who are followers
of Jesus today that he's turningto us.
And so, as we step into Luke 17,I want you to wrestle with this
.
What are you clinging to?
Believing it will give you life, but it is actually holding you
back.
So we began in verse one.
(04:36):
One day, jesus said to hisdisciples there will always be
temptations to sin, but whatsorrow awaits the person who
does the tempting.
It would be better to be throwninto a sea with a millstone
hung around your neck than tocause one of these little ones
to fall into sin.
Jesus turns to his disciples andhe gives them a pretty strict,
(04:59):
sobering warning.
Temptation is inevitable, butcausing other people to stumble
is a serious offense.
He acknowledges and this mightbe a good thing for some of you
to hear that temptation willalways exist in the world.
If you feel tempted, it doesn'tmean you're doing something
wrong.
It doesn't mean you're in thewrong place of life.
(05:19):
The sinless son of God himself,jesus, the sinless son of God
himself, jesus, was tempted.
We will all be tempted the restof our lives.
It's not a sign of failure.
Temptation is just part ofbeing a human being.
But the real danger is not justtemptation.
Jesus says to his discipleswith everybody listening yeah,
(05:41):
yeah, yeah, you're going to havetemptation, but don't you be
the reason somebody elsestumbles.
He's saying that what you sayas my followers, how you act,
the way you represent this faith, it all matters because it
influences the faith of otherpeople, it shapes how they go
(06:04):
about this and Jesus is soserious about you.
Know you're going to facetemptations.
Don't cause anyone else tostumble.
He is so serious about this.
He uses this wild, terrifyingimage.
He uses a millstone, and formany of you you don't know what
that is, but it's not the stoneon the ground but the one above
it.
That is the millstone, and theyused it for grinding down grain
(06:27):
.
I mean, this thing weighs a ton, hundreds of pounds actually,
literally.
And in ancient times drowningwas feared as a way of execution
.
You see, if you drown, theythought you couldn't be buried,
you couldn't be put back to rest.
So if you drown, it was likeyour soul was forever lost.
And so Jesus paints this imagegrab one of these heavy things,
(06:47):
chain yourself to it and throwit off in the middle of the
ocean.
Jesus is saying essentially itwould be better for you to just
disappear, soul and all, than tocause someone else to stumble.
Why the strong warning?
Well, as we've talked aboutmany times here at Madison
Church, sin is not just personal.
(07:08):
My sin affects you, your sinaffects me, our sin affects
those around us.
And when we misrepresent Jesus,when we live hypocritically or
when we live judgmentally, whenwe cause doubt in others instead
of building up the faith, weare not just failing ourselves,
but we are bringing other peopledown with us.
(07:30):
So Jesus says hey, watchyourself.
I know you're going to screw up, but don't be the reason
someone else does.
We ask ourselves this morningwhen I look at my own personal
walk am I leading others closerto Jesus or do I make it harder
for people to follow Jesus?
Are my words and actions, dothey strengthen someone else's
(07:54):
faith or do they cause them todoubt?
Do I build people up or dothose who are around me, those
who follow me as I follow Jesus,are they stumbling?
Are they stumbling?
This isn't just a warning forhis disciples 2,000 years ago.
I think it's just as relevanttoday as it was 2,000 years ago.
(08:17):
But Jesus doesn't just warnagainst sin, he doesn't just say
hey, you know what it's goingto happen, you're going to be
tempted, but don't be the reason.
Somebody else falls.
He teaches us how to respond.
I mean, if it's inevitable,it's going to happen.
So what then, jesus, do we do?
Well, he says in verse 3, ifanother believer sins, rebuke
that person.
Then, if there's repentance,forgive.
(08:39):
And even if that person wrongsyou seven times a day and each
time turns again and asks forforgiveness.
You must forgive.
I just know that some of youyou hate this.
I know it, I get it.
I totally do, because you'relike well, if you screw up and
you say you're sorry, like I'llforgive you.
But what about the person who,like six times in one day, does
(09:01):
the same thing to you?
You're like Jesus, I can'tforgive that person.
He's clearly not sorry.
Well, no, jesus is saying let'shold on, let's look at this.
Having warned other people aboutsin, jesus now shifts how we
respond when someone sinsagainst us.
If you are like me and imaginethat some of you are when you
are wronged, your naturalresponse is resentment.
(09:25):
I hold on to the hurts, I wantto seek revenge.
I want them to feel the painthat they have inflicted on me.
Other times it's avoidance.
I just want to cut them out ofmy life and ignore them
altogether.
Have you ever felt those things?
Resentment, revenge, avoidance.
(09:46):
But Jesus calls us to somethingdifferent, as he usually does,
something more difficult,something that doesn't quite
make sense to us.
He calls us to rebuke and torestore and then to release.
Jesus doesn't say well, justignore the sin.
He doesn't say just toleratethe sin.
He says to rebuke it, howeverhe's watching or listening
(10:08):
online.
Rebuking is often misunderstood.
Many in our society, in Westernsociety you grew up in or in
the church we take rebuking as alicense to be rude.
We take rebuking to be alicense to be harsh and we
justify our ownself-righteousness under this
(10:28):
umbrella.
Well, jesus says I am to rebuke, but that is not at all what
Jesus is saying.
The Greek word for rebuke meansto warn or correct, with the
goal of restoration.
With the goal of restoration,we're not beating someone down,
we are lifting them up.
(10:51):
So let me be clear whatrebuking is not.
Rebuking is not shaming someone,privately or publicly.
It's not about embarrassingthem and it certainly shouldn't
make you feel superior.
Rebuking is not unleashing youranger or frustration.
You're not venting about howwhat this person did to you
really hurt you.
It's about offering correctionin a loving way and it certainly
(11:15):
is not judging someone's worth.
We're called to correctbehavior, not condemn a person.
So if that's what rebuking isnot, can we talk about what
rebuking is?
Rebuking is confronting sin thatinvites someone into a
conversation, invites them to arelationship with you.
It doesn't push them away.
(11:36):
It's about restoration.
It's not about punishment andit's about being humble enough,
knowing that we also need grace.
Before I could ever rebuke you,before I could ever come to you
and offer to help you, I got tolook inward at myself first.
Am I even in a position tooffer help?
Am I in a position to point outthat you do that wrong when I'm
(11:58):
also struggling with it orstruggling with something worse?
We must examine our own heartsfirst, and so when Jesus tells
us to rebuke, he's not giving uspermission to be self-righteous
or judgment or hypocritical.
He's asking us to have arelationship with someone and to
be willing to walk with someone.
And so my ask for you, ifyou're part of this Madison
Church community and you're amember and you're like, I really
(12:20):
feel like there's this sin andI've got to rebuke it.
What I ask is you don't do itunless you are willing to walk
with that person until it'sresolved.
Don't point out that whatthey're doing is wrong.
Anyone can do that, and theyalready are.
The internet is full of peoplewho will do that.
But if you're going to pointsomething out to someone, are
you offering this takes one yearor 10 years or the rest of your
(12:42):
life, I will be there?
Then by all means go ahead andgive it a whirl.
Now let's go back to this part.
There's rebuking, but he talksabout radical forgiveness.
He says forgiving others is notoptional.
It's not based on whether ornot you feel like forgiving them
, and it doesn't even matter howmany times that person messed
(13:02):
up.
You don't forgive someonebecause they deserve it.
But forgiveness also doesn'tmean excusing wrong behavior.
But forgiveness also doesn'tmean excusing wrong behavior.
Forgiveness doesn't meanexcusing it.
Sin still has consequences.
Forgiveness doesn't meanpretending something didn't
happen.
Forgiveness does.
(13:23):
It acknowledges the hurt, butit chooses to not be consumed by
the hurt.
Forgiveness also doesn't meanautomatically restoring trust.
I know that for a lot of usthat's kind of maybe what we
grew up thinking Well, I'm goingto forgive and forget.
That's not the ask.
The ask is forgiveness, not toforget.
Forgiveness is freely given,but trust must be rebuilt.
(13:43):
Forgiveness means releasing theburden of resentment, because
bitterness only poisons your ownheart, choosing to not seek
revenge and instead we trust Godto get justice.
We live in freedom.
Forgiveness doesn't set theother person free.
It sets you free.
(14:04):
Jesus intensifies the challenge.
Even if the person wrongs youseven times a day and each time
asks you for forgiveness, youmust forgive.
The context between that numberseven is that in Jewish thought
, seven symbolized completeness.
It was a full completeness.
So Jesus is saying always andforever.
You're like well, what aboutthe eighth time?
Nope, it's a reset.
We're going to keep going backand forth.
(14:26):
The disciples, maybe you're heretoday and you're thinking about
something in your life that'shappened to you, something very
traumatic, something verydifficult, something very
challenging.
For some of you.
This week has been verychallenging, I know that, and so
you're realizing how hard it is.
Maybe in your mind you're likeyes, this makes sense.
I can read the black and whitewords of Jesus, but I can't
convince myself to think or feelthat way or even to respond
(14:48):
that way.
The disciples are just like you.
In this next section they saidknowing how hard what Jesus just
said it's going to be, show ushow to increase our faith.
That's just honesty.
Well, if I'm going to do whatJesus says, I'm going to need
more faith.
But the Lord answered if youhad faith, even as small as a
mustard seed, you could say tothe mulberry tree, may you be
(15:11):
uprooted and thrown into the seaand it would obey you.
So yes, jesus' command toforgive people without limits,
it does seem impossible.
And so the disciples are likewell, I'm going to need more
faith.
But Jesus doesn't say this ishow you get more faith.
He doesn't say you know what,instead of praying for 15
minutes in the morning, pray for20.
And instead of reading onechapter a day of the Bible, read
(15:34):
two chapters a day.
And oh, have you thought aboutfasting ever?
And oh my gosh, if you've neverdone Christian meditation, holy
smokes, this is really going toincrease your faith.
He doesn't do any of that.
He doesn't tell them to studymore, memorize more.
He doesn't say go to seminaryand have deeper theological
knowledge.
He says the faith you possessis already enough.
(15:54):
What you have is already enough.
It's common in Christian circlesto believe that going deeper
means accumulating moreknowledge, and so some will
chase after deeper teaching,convinced that faith grows with
endless studies or masteringtheology.
And some people and you mayknow them they flex their
(16:15):
spirituality by reading stacksof books, quoting theologians
and making sure that they know.
Everyone else in the room knowshow much that they know.
But that's not deep faith,according to Jesus.
We look at this passage, lookat the other passages.
We've been in Luke for over ayear now.
Faith isn't measured by howmuch you know, but by how much
(16:35):
you trust in God.
Faith is not about accumulatingknowledge, but rather putting
it into action.
Faith is not about showing offGod's wisdom or your wisdom, but
demonstrating God's love.
It's not about your wisdom,it's about demonstrating God's
love.
Jesus says even the smallestfaith faith the size of a
(16:56):
mustard seed something you canbarely see If you're in the room
and you're, like I'm,struggling to hold on to my
faith, it's hurting Jesus saysthat is enough to produce
extraordinary results in yourlife when placed in the right
hands.
In Jewish agricultural life,mustard seed was the smallest
known seed.
Its size was insignificant andyet it could grow into something
(17:18):
far greater than expected.
How great.
Well, jesus uses a mulberrytree as an example.
Now, that's weird.
It should be like why amulberry tree and why not
something else?
Well, the mulberry tree had thedeepest, strongest root systems
known in the region.
Uprooting a mulberry tree wasimpossible.
It took a great amount of work.
(17:40):
A lot of people had to cometogether and do different parts,
and what Jesus is saying iswith just a little bit of faith,
you can do something that seemsquite impossible.
It was a perfect symbol of thedeep wounds, the bitterness and
the unforgiveness that oftentake deep roots in our own
hearts, our own lives.
(18:00):
And yet Jesus says even amustard seed of faith can uproot
what seems impossible.
Is bitterness deeply rooted inyour life, faith can remove it.
Does the unforgiveness feelpermanent?
Faith can break it.
Does hurt seem immovable?
Even our faith in Jesus canheal it.
(18:21):
Faith is not about size, iswhat Jesus is saying.
It's about surrender.
And even the smallest,seemingly insignificant faith in
God's power, not our ownability, is enough to move what
we never could.
But faith alone Jesus is goingto unpack.
Faith alone is not enough.
(18:43):
Jesus now teaches, in the heartof discipleship, obedience.
He says when a servant comes infrom plowing or taking care of
sheep, does his master say comein and eat with me?
No, he says prepare my meal,put on your apron and serve me
while I eat, then you can comeeat later.
And does the master thank theservant for doing what he was
told to do?
Of course not.
(19:03):
In the same way, when you obeyme, you should say we are
unworthy servants who havesimply done our duty.
This is the important part forus to recognize that he is
talking to his disciples,knowing the Pharisees are
listening, knowing the religiousleaders are listening.
It challenges the mindset ofentitlement with discipleship.
(19:27):
Jesus describes a servant who,after working all day, does not
expect special treatment.
The servant was simply doinghis duty.
Now contrast this with thePharisees who believed that
obedience to the law earned themspecial status before God.
In Jesus' radical statement hesays you don't serve God to earn
(19:48):
some sort of special favor orrecognition.
You serve God because ofcalling.
There's this quote by the authorand late pastor theologian Tim
Keller.
He says religious people obeyGod to get things, but gospel
people obey God to get God.
When we're following afterJesus, when we approach God in
(20:12):
prayer, reading the Bible,meditation, whatever spiritual
practices and disciplines in ourown life, when we approach
those, are we doing it to getsomething out of God?
Are we doing it to get God?
In our culture, we expectappreciation for what we do.
I think that's okay.
All our volunteers at MadisonChurch know how much I
appreciate them.
I like feeling appreciated.
(20:33):
But discipleship is not aboutwhat we get.
It's about who we follow.
And obedience is notmerit-based.
Forgiving, having faith andserving are not acts of earning,
simply a natural response ofbeing a disciple, and so I want
to ask you again today what webegan with?
What will you let go of?
(20:54):
Each section of today's passagespeaks to a fundamental part of
our relationship with God andwith one another.
For Jesus's original audience,these teachings were deeply
disruptive.
Religious leaders, those whowere in positions of power and
authority within their churches,focused on rule keeping Do this
(21:14):
, live this way, don't do this,don't live that way.
And faith was a system ofearning merit before God.
Forgiveness was conditional,spiritual authority was about
the status, and service was away to gain favor.
We did not do it out of an actof love.
But Jesus flips all of thatupside down, and I know we don't
live under the same religiousstructures today, but I believe
(21:36):
that we still struggle with thesame issues.
We hold on to cultural mindsets,traditional mindsets, religious
habits.
We hold on to things that feelfamiliar but, I think, actually
keep us away from trulyfollowing Jesus.
And so, since Lent is a seasonof letting go, not for the sake
of self-denial, but to makespace for something better, I
(21:58):
want to ask you what do you needto release?
Are there cultural expectationsthat distort faith, traditional
mindsets that no longer pointyou to Christ, religious habits
that focus on performance ratherthan transformation.
You see, sometimes the biggestobstacles to discipleship and
you walking with Jesus are notabout faith at all.
(22:20):
It's about culture.
We approach church oftentimeslike customers asking what do I
get it instead of how can Iserve?
We equate a full schedule witha full life, but we don't really
leave room in our schedule forGod.
Faith becomes a private matterrather than something lived out
in community.
Jesus calls us to acounter-cultural way of life
(22:42):
where service replacesself-interest, stillness
overcomes hurry and communitymatters more than independence.
So there's culture, buttradition.
And for those of you again, Irecognize that within Madison
Church there are a bunch ofpeople who come from more
liturgical streams of faith.
So tradition can be seen veryholy, very sacred.
(23:03):
But when our tradition, whenour liturgy, when our practices
replace Jesus as the center ofour faith, it becomes a barrier
to our faith, equating churchwith a place we attend rather
than a people we belong to,holding on to ideas of acting
right or dressing right insteadof just welcoming people as they
(23:26):
are, expecting faith to becomfortable, when everything
we've read in Luke is thatdiscipleship requires sacrifice.
Now, not all traditions are bad, that's not what I'm saying,
but when they distract us fromJesus rather than draw us closer
to Jesus, we need to let thosetraditions go.
They served a purpose a longtime ago that they no longer
serve anymore.
(23:48):
So there's culture, there'stradition, and Jesus constantly
confronted faith that was aboutappearance rather than
transformation.
Those were the ideas ofreligious beliefs, religious
theologies that people held, andmaybe today we need to
sacrifice some false ideas wehave.
For example, you don't have toearn God's love.
(24:09):
I think some of us believe thatwe have to earn God's love.
You get the rest in his grace.
You don't have to earn it, youget the rest.
Some of us struggle with thisidea of valuing the right
beliefs over loving people.
We turn faith into a debateinstead of an act of compassion,
(24:32):
or we expect the church tocater to us rather than seeing
it as a place to serve, to grow,to surrender.
And Jesus made it clear Faithisn't about checking boxes, it's
about becoming like him.
And so, as we enter this seasonof Lent, on Wednesday again
leading up to Easter, I want youto ask what am I clinging to?
Is it tradition?
(24:52):
Comfort, control up to Easter?
I want you to ask what am Iclinging to?
Is it tradition, comfort,control that Jesus is asking me
to surrender?
Or who in my life have Irefused to forgive?
And what would it look like tofinally let go?
If faith the size of a mustardseed can uproot even the deepest
obstacles, what's stopping mefrom trusting God with what
feels impossible?
(25:14):
What will you let go of so thatyou can follow Jesus more fully
?
Jesus challenges the disciplesto let go, to release the weight
of pride, bitterness,entitlement, and to step into a
life of trust, of grace andhumble service.
And at first that kind ofsurrender sounds like loss.
But the kingdom of God, in thekingdom of God, surrender is
(25:37):
where true life begins.
When you let go of bitterness,what you will find is that you
gain peace.
When you let go of control, youfind deeper trust in God.
And when you let go of acomfort-driven faith, you step
into greater purpose, one thattransforms you from the inside
out.
So this morning, take a breath,imagine releasing whatever
(26:01):
burden you've been carrying.
Hand it to Jesus, because whenwe let go we are set free, not
just for ourselves, but also forthe sake of the world around us
.
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