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! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17: 1-4 ESV
Luke 17: 1-4 Temptation
…7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival. 9The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,…
…10and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11 For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, 12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.… 2 Thessalonians 2: 7-12
Temptations to sin are sure to come - In some translations temptations reads as stumbling blocks, things that cause others to trip and fall. He is preparing His disciples for a landscape without His physical presence. His words will become more and more valuable as they enter the church age, for sin will still be present. Temptation itself will grow during this time as technology makes it ever more available. The more leisure time people have the more temptation, access to internet, and living in a world that has replaced God with it's own moral bar, "the social agreement".
…6“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4: 6-7
…12So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it. 14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.… 1 Corinthians 10: 12-14
But woe to the one through whom they come - He had just been dealing with the Pharisees who were tempting others by teaching a righteousness that can be found through traditions, and making light of God's moral law, like, "thou shalt not commit adultery." They played down God's laws regarding spouses and the laws about their parents that raised them. The Pharisees also taught the equivalent of a prosperity gospel, and were respecters of persons in this. When God, Who is eternal, and therefore thus in His attributes, says that He is Holy, Holy, Holy, then what He calls sin will remain sin regardless of what work arounds the Pharisees or any other person may think they have. No one has the right to change what God pronounces, and He is infinitely opposed to those things which He has decreed the recipients of His just wrath. There are billions of people that do just what the Pharisees did, and that is to draw men away from God's simple truths and point them to the wide gate.
12In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets. 13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.… Matthew 7: 12-14
…13I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.…
…16Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. 18To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.…
…19I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first. 20But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.… Revelation 2: 13-21
…20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble. 22Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.… Romans 14: 20-22
In the early church there were factions concerning food sacrificed to idols because idol worship was still not only a common thing but the norm. As many came to Christ they realized that the other gods were no gods at all, but the imaginings of men's minds, brought forth in carved images, sculptures and even living things. There were emperors who demanded worship, and their were temples to these gods where sacrifices occurred. In fact, the early Christians were called atheists, of all things, because they did not worship these other gods, refused to. There were unions back then called guilds who each had their particular deity that the members had to worship in order to work. Where the meat comes into play was at markets where the meat sacrificed to idols was sold at discount. It was a good deal, and for a mature believer they knew that an idol was nothing, they didn't worship the idol, and so they had no issue buying the meat, because the gods of the heathens were not gods at all. It was just cheap meat that probably wasn't cut as pretty, but it was still only meat. The problem arose in the minds of those who were less mature, in that they had broken away from the worship of such, but were still tempted by superstition. They would see a stronger believer eat the meat, and so they would do the same and fall into sin because in their heart they did it against their conscience. The older believer saw it as just meat, but the younger put more on it. It is the same with wine; it is not evil in itself, it's just fermented juice, but the sin came with the drunkeness, and some did this publicly, even at communion.
…3But the one who loves God is known by God. 4So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords),…
…6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. 7But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.… 1 Corinthians 8: 3-8
It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea - A very vivid image, a horrifying way to die, yet better than causing someone else to stumble. The proud Pharisees have much in common with the arrogant so called church of our day. You may use the name Jesus, you may even open up a Bible, but if you misrepresent God in this, if you claim to speak on His behalf what He has not said, then it would have been much better for you not to have been born. Do not lead His little baby believers astray, don't be a false prophet or teacher.
1Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. 3In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.… 2 Peter 2: 1-3
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body. James 3: 1-2
Pay attention to yourselves - Consider your own sins and motives first. Humility always starts here rather than looking for someone else to blame or someone else whose sin I think makes mine look better.
…5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you actually fail the test? 6And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test. 7Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed.… 2 Corinthians 13: 5-7
…4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye? 5You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7: 4-5
If your brother sins, rebuke him - Now that the beam is gone from your own eye you are not to stand by idle and watch your brother fall deeper into sin, no, you must confront him with the truth. This is the contract we have with one another as being members of the same body. No surprise that everyone loves a compliment, people preach on positive thinking, but rarely will they touch on these things. The silence is damning, but they don't know, they are oblivious. We have been taught of late that the truth is mean, it makes people feel bad about themselves, it confronts the comforts of their delusions, braking down the idols of self. It is difficult today to find a friend who will tell me the truth about myself, and even more importantly, the truth about how my words and actions hold up before a righteous God. If you are afraid to be honest with me then you are not my friend, and if your fear is that I won't be your friend if you tell me the truth, then I was never really your friend to begin with.
15If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.… Matthew 18: 15-17
17As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. 18Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored.… Proverbs 27: 17-18
If he repents, forgive him - I sin against God more times than I can count or even know, but when I go to Him, as He has told me to, as a child to their Father, He is eagerly waiting to forgive. He wants to restore us. We should want no less for those who offend us, and be anxious to forgive them, quick to pray for them, always seeking to be reconciled.
19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.… James 5: 19-20
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