Offender/Offended Luke 17:1-4

Jesus opens Luke 17 with a hard truth: temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. The offender is not always the obvious bad guy. The offender can be the person whose liberty, words, choices, or example becomes a stumbling block in somebody else’s walk with Christ. Peter once tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross, and Jesus called out the satanic force behind that temptation. The warning is plain: a believer can play the tempter in another person’s life.

Paul’s word to Corinth puts flesh on that warning. The meat sacrificed to idols was not sinful in itself, because the idols were nothing. Yet the liberty to eat could still wound a weaker conscience and destroy a brother for whom Christ died. The Christian life is bigger than personal rights, preferences, and the next grocery bill. The little ones are not merely children. The little ones include those who are younger, weaker, and less mature in the faith. A millstone warning shows how seriously Christ takes causing such people to stumble.

Jesus places one little line between the offender and the offended: “Pay attention to yourselves.” Haggai’s call to consider one’s ways, David’s prayer for God to search his heart, and Paul’s call for self-examination all press the same point. The question is not only, “What did they do to me?” The question is also, “Am I the bad guy here? Am I putting a stumbling block in somebody else’s path?”

Jesus then gives direction to the offended. The offended person is to go to the brother who sinned, rebuke him, and forgive him when repentance comes. The goal is to keep wounded people from becoming wounding people. Joseph had the position to crush his brothers, but he also had the humility to say, “Am I in the place of God?” Forgiveness remembers that the offended person is also a sinner who has been forgiven by God in Christ.

Unforgiveness feels justified, especially when the wound runs deep. Yet the life without forgiveness becomes a wreck. Anger and hatred poison every relationship until the victim becomes the victimizer. Forgiveness is not easy, cheap, or forgetful. God’s forgiveness cost the life of His only begotten Son. Still, forgiveness is better than the alternative. The offender must not stay the villain, and the offended must not become one.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Christian liberty carries real responsibility. Paul’s example of meat sacrificed to idols shows that personal freedom is never merely personal. The stronger believer must consider the conscience and spiritual stability of the weaker believer. Love asks not only, “Can I do this?” but also, “What might this do to somebody Christ died to save?” [52:04]
• 2. Pay attention to your own heart. Jesus puts self-examination right in the middle of being an offender and being offended. A person can spend so much time building a case against somebody else that hidden pride, bitterness, and carelessness go untouched. God calls His people to put themselves under the magnifying glass on the regular. [57:14]
• 3. Go to the brother who sinned. The offended person is not called to spread the wound around before going to the one who caused it. Direct rebuke gives repentance a place to happen and keeps hurt from turning into gossip. The goal is restoration, not gathering sympathy or building ammunition. [60:10]
• 4. Forgiveness remembers God’s prior mercy. Joseph refused to take God’s place as judge, even though he had the power to make his brothers pay. Forgiveness does not deny that evil was done, but it refuses to make personal injury the final authority. God’s forgiveness in Christ becomes the measure and source of forgiveness toward others. [64:40]
• 5. Unforgiveness turns victims into offenders. The Dirksen family saw that hatred could poison every part of life long after the original wound. Unforgiveness keeps the offense alive and lets it spread into relationships that had nothing to do with the original sin. Forgiveness is hard, but trying to live with unforgiveness is harder still.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [41:21] - Offender and Offended
• [43:17] - Jesus Warns Against Stumbling Blocks
• [45:14] - The Danger of Becoming the Tempter
• [48:51] - Christian Liberty and Weak Consciences
• [52:20] - A Missionary Choice in West Africa
• [55:30] - Who Are the Little Ones?
• [57:14] - Pay Attention to Yourselves
• [59:31] - Going to the Brother Who Sinned
• [61:13] - Joseph Refuses God’s Place
• [65:11] - Forgive as God Forgave
• [66:43] - The Cost of Unforgiveness
• [72:47] - Forgiveness Is Better Than the Alternative
• [74:30] - Do Not Stay the Villain

Bible Reading

Luke 17:1–4

“Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” [43:17]

“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.” [43:29]

“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” [43:44]

“And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” [43:55]

1 Corinthians 8:8–13

“Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” [49:01]

“But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” [49:12]

“For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?” [49:20]

“And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.” [49:31]

“Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” [49:38]

“Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” [49:47]

Ephesians 4:32

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” [01:05:03]

Romans 14:13

“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” [56:10]

Observation questions

1. In Luke 17:1–4, what instructions come immediately before and after the command, “Pay attention to yourselves”?
2. According to 1 Corinthians 8:8–13, what makes eating meat a problem for a believer, even though the food itself does not make someone better or worse before God? [51:44]
3. What words does Paul use to describe the person with a weak conscience, and how seriously does he describe the harm done to that person?
4. In Luke 17:3–4, what is the offended person told to do when a brother sins, repents, and then sins again?

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says temptations to sin will come, yet He warns the person through whom they come. What does this show about a believer’s responsibility for the influence of his or her words, choices, and example? [48:12]
2. Paul says that wounding a weaker brother’s conscience is sinning against Christ. Why is the spiritual well-being of another believer so important to Jesus?
3. Luke 17 tells the offended person to rebuke the brother directly and forgive when repentance comes. How can going first to the person who sinned protect a church from gossip, sides being taken, and deeper division? [01:00:25]
4. Ephesians 4:32 grounds forgiveness in God’s forgiveness of believers in Christ. How does remembering one’s own forgiveness change the way a person sees someone who has hurt them? [01:05:25]

Application questions

1. Is there a liberty, habit, conversation, social-media pattern, or personal preference that may be harmless to you but could become a stumbling block to a newer or weaker believer? What would love lead you to consider? [54:49]
2. Who are the “little ones” around you—perhaps children, new believers, young adults, or believers still growing in maturity? How might your daily example affect their walk with Christ? [55:30]
3. When you are hurt by someone, what is your first instinct: to go to that person, to tell others about it, or to hold it inside? What would it look like to take a truthful and gracious first step toward that person? [59:53]
4. Is there an offense you have kept ready to bring up again as ammunition? What makes it difficult to release that debt to God rather than continuing to hold it over the other person? [01:06:04]
5. Where might anger from one wound be spilling into relationships that were not part of the original offense—at home, at church, at work, or with friends? [01:12:22]
6. “Pay attention to yourselves” calls each believer to self-examination. In a current conflict, what might God be inviting you to examine in your own heart—pride, carelessness, bitterness, judgment, or a refusal to forgive? [58:26]