On Unity And Purity
by Rev. Kirby Williams
Analyzing Jesus' simple formula for unity and purity within His church.
Text: Luke 17:1-4
Date: 08/18/2024, the Combined service.
Series: "Luke: Thy Kingdom Come" Part 161
Description:
In this beautifully simple and concise passage, Jesus turns to His disciples to warn them of the reality of temptation in their own lives, and therefore the reality of temptation within the church. He logically concludes that because temptation is inevitable, there will be those within the church who will fall into error, moral sin and apostasy. Knowing this will be a problem that will plague the church from its inception, He provides a simple formula of church discipline designed to lead to repentance, forgiveness and restoration. Although Christ was insistent that the church remain unified-- He never taught it should be at the expense of the doctrinal and moral purity essential for the church to remain the body of Christ. We will explore what must happen when temptation, sin and error enter the church. And after that how the church should react when the sinner(s) are repentant and when they are not. Ultimately we will realize that as important as unity is, it was never designed to be maintained at the expense of purity.
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I. Introduction, Gen. 1:28; Zeph. 3:11; Deut. 29:18; Num. 15:30-31; Acts 5:5; Gal. 1:8; 1Cor. 5:2; Rev. 21:27, 22:15.
II. Exposition of the text, Luke 17:1-4.
A. Context
1. The extended context, Luke 12:1.
2. Revisiting the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
B. Dealing with temptations, sin and apostasy.
1. Calling out the "tempters", vs. 1.
a. New audience, new thought.
b. Temptations to sin.
i. Identifying the temptation, Luke 7:23.
ii. The nature of the sin, Luke 12:10.
1) Corrupting the Word of God.
2) Enticement to apostasy.
c. The inevitability of temptations to sin, Rev. 12:17.
d. The danger to the tempters.
2. The doom of the tempters, vs. 2.
a. An unspoken woe, Mark 14:21.
b. Drowning by millstone.
i. Defining "millstone".
ii. A picture of execution.
c. An image of terror.
d. The substance of the woe.
i. Continuing the imagery of the trap.
ii. Identifying "these little ones".
1) The meaning of "little ones", Luke 9:48, 7:28, 19:3, 12:32.
2) The meaning of "these".
a) Considering Lazarus.
b) Comparing the disciples and Pharisees.
c) Identifying the "tempters", Rom. 18:21, Rom. 1:32.
3. The church's recourse to the "tempters", vs. 3a.
a. The need for introspection and discipline.
i. A warning to the church as a whole, Lam. 3:39-40; Heb. 10:23-25; Rev. 2:20-23, 14-16.
ii. The enemies of the church, Rev. 12,13,17.
b. The need for discipline.
i. Defining "rebuke".
1) Used as a chastisement, Luke 9:53-55, 4:41.
2) As a corrective, Luke 4:39, 8:24, 9:42.
ii. A crucial distinction.
1) Restoring the repentant, Matt. 18:15.
2) Removing the unrepentant, Matt. 18:16-17.
iii. Maintaining purity through separation, Matt. 5:29-30.
4. The goal of discipline-- restoration, vs. 3b-4.
a. Two important definitions.
i. The meaning of "repent".
ii. The meaning of "forgive".
b. The forbearance of forgiveness.
i. Emphasis on forgiveness and restoration.
ii. When unity means division, 1Cor. 1:10, 11:18-19.
III. Application, Rev. 1:12-16.
IV. Conclusion
