Luke 17:3

Verse of the Day Devotion Luke 17:3

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” –  Luke 17:3 

This verse deals with people, specifically in these verses (1-4), who sin against us.  Starting in verse 1 we read, “And He said to His disciples, It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come!” Luke 17:1. As we see at the beginning of this verse, He is not speaking to the Pharisees but to His disciples.  And what He is saying here is that temptation, here referred to as ‘stumbling blocks’ are inevitable.  From the Greek word ‘skandalon’ which refers to the trap-spring,  the item on a trap that causes it to spring shut. The idea is that whatever tempts us to sin is a trap, and if we fall into sin due to the temptation, then we sprung the trap and are caught in it. But notice the end of this verse.  Yes, we sin and that is wrong.  Jesus knew that due to the world, the flesh, and the devil such temptations would continue. But Jesus says woe to those who cause the temptation.

Then in the next verse, Jesus shows how He feels about this. “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.” Luke 17:2. Drowning a person with a stone tied about the neck was an ancient mode of punishment. What this is saying is that it would be better for them to endure the temporary drowning death by men then to cause a young brother or sister in Christ to sin, which is a serious offense to God.

Now we come to our focus verse. “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Luke 17:3. So, based on what we see in the first two verses, He is not speaking of sins in general, but particularly of sins one brother commits against another. This rebuke should be a mild brotherly admonition, helping them understand what occurred. If such correction brings him to humbly acknowledge his fault, forgiveness must not then be withheld, even if the trespass had already been six times repeated. We see this last part in verse 4. “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him.” Luke 17:4. Now, this seven times is not to be taken literally for it has a much deeper meaning. It does not mean you may forgive him, but it is an imperative denoting ‘you will forgive him’. There is no option here.  And to understand the numbers, we must go the Matthew for clarification. “Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22. The seven times mentioned in Luke, and the seventy times seven in Matthew are not upper limits to the number of times we are to forgive.  It means ‘always.  If a brother or sister sins against us, and they repent, then we are to ‘always’ forgive them.  And our model in this is God Himself. He forgives all our sins if we truly repent and ask forgiveness. Remember, Jesus forgave all the sins committed by one on the cross in which he repented.  “And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom! And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:42-43.

Jesus calls us to forgive those who sin against us and repent of that sin. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32. When we repented, He forgave us.  Therefore, those who repent of their sins against us, we must forgive. And in so doing, we will show them the reality of our faith, and thus open the door to help them grow in their faith and in the knowledge of God. And this is what we are called to do. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14.  And this light is to help disciple others in the faith. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. That is, after all, our calling.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Luke 15:10

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Luke 15:10

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” – Luke 15:10

This verse is a beautiful picture of how God reacts when anyone repents and becomes saved.  He starts this with a short story of a woman who loses a coin.  “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!” Luke 15:8-9.  Now, this is not much money, even at the time of this writing.  The conversion of these ten silver coins were around thirty-seven cents in today’s dollars.  This was not much but it was all she had.  So it was that she lost one-tenth of the money she had, and so she spent time lighting a lamp and searching for it.  When she found it she rejoiced greatly because this was a great portion of what money she had.  This was such a joyous time she invited her friends to celebrate with her. 

This story is very familiar to what is found in a similar set of passages just above this story.  “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” Luke 15:4-6. 

Now in both stories, we find the same basic statement telling us what this means in our focus verse.  “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:10.  When we truly gave our lives to Christ, there was a great celebration in heaven.  Just as the man who found the lost sheep, and the woman who found the lost coin, there is a great celebration in heaven over a lost soul that has been found. 

It is a principle of human nature that the “recovery” of an object in danger of being lost, affords much more intense joy than the quiet “possession” of many that are safe. This our Savior illustrated by the case of the lost sheep and of the piece of silver. It might also be illustrated by many other things. Thus we rejoice most in our health when we recover from a dangerous disease; we rejoice over a child rescued from danger or disease more than over those who are in health or safety. We rejoice that property is saved from destruction by fire or the tempest more than over much more that has not been in danger. This feeling our Lord represents as existing in heaven. “Likewise,” in like manner, or on the same principle, there is joy.

And this is a result of the great love God has for all of us. He wants us to come to Him, and will go after us to make it happen, but ultimately it is our choice. When we turn from our wicked ways and life by giving it to God because the penalty of our sins is paid for by the death of Christ on the cross, this is a time of great celebration in heaven.  We do not celebrate when something that we find is not loved; often we are glad to lose it.  So it is in heaven, when our soul was saved by our accepting this new life, the celebration is because a life that God loves came to salvation and now will live forever with Him.  This is how much we mean to God.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Luke 15:7

Verse of the Day Devotion: Luke 15:7 

“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” – Luke 15:7

At the beginning of chapter 15, we see many people coming to Jesus to listen to Him.  “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.” Luke 15:1.  There were many Jews around Him who took offense, for this was contrary to the ideas of the scribes and Pharisees who would not give any of these the time of day.  So they murmured loudly, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Luke 5:2b.  You can sense the disgust in their wording.  So Jesus, having heard their words, tells them a parable. 

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4.  The tax collectors and the ones designated ‘sinners’ were of Jewish descent.  The Jewish nation was frequently represented as a flock of sheep.  “You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Psalm 77:20.  Therefore, Jesus is saying that these tax collectors and sinners are part of the flock of Israel, just as the scribes and pharisees are, and He was going out to bring them home.  This is what any shepherd would do when a sheep is lost.  Each sheep is as important as any of the others.  And Jesus says He rejoices when He brings him home.  “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!”  Luke 15:5-6.  When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he carries him home rejoicing as he does, them he calls his friends and neighbors to celebrate with him.

This shows how important a single sheep is to the shepherd.  And this is also a great picture of how important we are to our shepherd as well.  Jesus here, in our focus verse, says the following.  “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:7.  Finding a valuable lost object is always a time of celebration.  And the more valuable that object is, the greater the celebration.  This shows the value God places on a lost person, for there is greater joy over a repentant sinner than over those who do not need repentance for they are already in the flock.  He does rejoice over all, but for those who come home, the rejoicing is greater for a lost sheep has come home.

When we became saved by accepting the work Jesus did on the cross, there was much rejoicing in Heaven, celebrating another sheep has come home. For gentiles, we are grafted in and are part of the flock as well.  We are all that important to God and to all who are there.  God wants everyone to be saved.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.  And this is why we are sent out to spread the good news of Christ to all.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. 

By leading others to Christ, and showing them how to live that life, we cause a great celebration in Heaven that has no rival here on earth.  Let’s all go out and give Heaven many, many reasons to celebrate.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.