Luke 17:1-10_Sermon_The Roots

{ILS} Mulberry Tree

• Jesus uses this image because the tree is

• Substantial

• Beautiful

• Bountiful

• Consider what is beneath 

• Foundation

• Balance

• Life force 

{SCR} Luke 17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause people to trip and fall into sin must happen, but how terrible it is for the person through whom they happen. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into a lake with a large stone hung around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to trip and fall into sin. 3 Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins, warn them to stop. If they change their hearts and lives, forgive them. 4 Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.”

{MPT} Ultimate Punishment or Ultimate Forgiveness

• Punishment is reserved for leaders

• better to sink to the bottom of the lake than set a bad example

• Forgiveness is reserved for followers or potential followers

• if you are contrite and want to do better, we can forgive it

• Envision being a disciple hearing this…

• How am I to take the severe gap in outcomes if I am a leader?

• In previous stories, disciples witnessed Jesus eviscerating leaders

• Funny or Frightening or Empowering

• Now they recognize they will be filling the gap Jesus describes

{MPT} Ultimate Responsibility

• Setting the example

• Determining the forgiveness and discipline of the people

• Famous scenes in movies - step forward if you want to be a leader

{SCR} Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

{MPT} Ultimate Test

• We need more if you want us to be capable of this task

• Time

• Instruction

• Faith

• Especially if we are traveling into Jerusalem

• Jesus replies, “the tiniest faith met with opportunity will change this”

{SCR} Luke 17:7 “Would any of you say to your servant, who had just come in from the field after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Come! Sit down for dinner’? 8 Wouldn’t you say instead, ‘Fix my dinner. Put on the clothes of a table servant and wait on me while I eat and drink. After that, you can eat and drink’? 9 You won’t thank the servant because the servant did what you asked, will you? 10 In the same way, when you have done everything required of you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special praise. We have only done our duty.’”

{MPT} Ultimate Sacrifice

• Service to the ones you have struggled with