Dealing with Sin
In this passage, Jesus taught about sin. Specifically, he taught about how to deal with it.
What is sin? It is a transgression of God’s law. 1 John 3:4 says “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
The first thing that Jesus said about sin in this passage is “temptations to sin are sure to come”. (1) He knew this first hand. He was severely tested in the wilderness. (Matthew 4) We also know he was tempted in every respect as we are. (Hebrews 4:15)
The words translated “temptations to sin” in the English Standard Version, that I normally use, literally mean “stumbling blocks”. It is the picture of one walking down the road, stumbling over an object, and falling. Temptations may cause us to stumble and fall on the road to our sanctification.
Where does temptation come from?
First, temptation comes from within us. James 1:14 says we are tempted when we are lured and enticed by our own desire. Desire gives birth to sin. This is a fishing metaphor. A fish is lured out of safety when when it sees bait or lure that it wants.
Being tempted does mean there is a demon at your door, such as a demon of envy or lust. It is easier to blame our vulnerability to temptation on a demon than to take responsibility for the weakness of our own flesh, but that does not make it true.
Similarly, we can be tempted to covet by seeing something nice someone else has that we think we deserve and they do not. We might be tempted to lust by seeing a beautiful person of the opposite sex.
We can also be tempted by someone who wants to lead us astray. I am sure we have all experienced this. Sinners enjoy bringing others into their sin. Satan also loves to lead us to sin. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” This does not give us an excuse to sin. Proverbs 1:10 says “My son, if sinners entire you, do not consent”.
We also know that God always provides a way out. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13-14)
But the second thing Jesus said about sin was “woe to the one through whom they (the temptations) come”. (1) “Woe” is a pronouncement of judgment. It is a serious sin to lead another to sin. So serious that Jesus said it would be better for that person to have a mill stone tied around his or her neck and be cast into the sea. (2)
A millstone is a large heavy stone used to grind grain. In those days, a donkey would be tied to a pole that turned the stone as he walked around in a circle. If one were hung around your neck, you would sink to the bottom of the sea with no hope of getting to the surface. You would drown and die.
As horrible as that sounds, Jesus said it would be better to experience that than to lead someone to sin. Therefore, we should never encourage another to sin either by word or action. We should not solicit them to participate in our sins or tell them their sins are ok.
We can lead our brothers and sisters to sin by complaining and making them discontented. We can lead them to sin by speaking falsely about a person so that they will despise them or see them as an enemy. There are many ways and I am sure you can think of them.
A more subtle way to lead another into sin is to cast doubt on the Bible and God’s standards that are set out in it. There are several popular writers and theologians today that interpret Scripture through the lens of Post Modernism. They teach that the Scripture is not necessarily completely true and that we can interpret it differently as society moves on. In other words, they make Scripture accommodate the sins of the culture by redefining God’s standards. Since God says he does not change, that approach is a fallacy.
The third thing Jesus said about sin was that it must be confronted. He said “if your brother sins, rebuke him”. (3) Believers have a responsibility to confront sin, especially a sin that leads others astray. We do this for the glory of God, for the good of the sinner, for the protection of other believers and for the integrity of the church.
An example is in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2. The Corinthian church tolerated a man in their fellowship who had a sexual relationship with his father’s wife. Paul told them they should be mourning, not tolerating. They should remove the man from the fellowship.
This is not a popular thing to do these days, but the church cannot thrive if sin is allowed to thrive. Jesus rebuked the church in Pergamum because they allowed false teaching in their church. (Revelation 2:14-15) He threatened to war against them if they did not repent.
How we confront the sinner is important also. We must do it with courage and truthfulness, saying what needs to be said. But, we do it gently, not harshly. Galatians 6:1 says “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” Remember that the goal is repentance and restoration, not condemnation.
The fourth thing Jesus said about sin was that we must forgive the sinner when he or she repents. As many times as he sins and repents, we must forgive him. (3-4) That is hard to do, isn’t it? It is hard to forgive a person who sins once, especially if that sin is severe or hurts us personally. But Jesus commanded it. And Jesus lived it. He forgave his enemies even before they asked for forgiveness. As he hung on the cross, he prayed “Father, forgive them, for they known what they do”. (Luke 23:34)
Jesus used an extreme example to illustrate his point. He said, even if the person sins against you seven times in the day, and repents seven times, you must forgive him. (4) You might think that his or her repentance was not sincere if it happened seven times, but that is God’s concern, not ours. Our concern is forgiveness.
The Corinthian church provides us another example here. After they confronted and removed the man who sinned, he repented. But the church did not restore him to fellowship. Paul told them in 2 Corinthians 2:5 to forgive and comfort the man, lest he be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
The disciples heard this and seemed to see it as difficult, if not impossible, to do. So they cried out “increase our faith”. (5) This was a good thing to do, because they realized they did not know how they could do this on their own. So, they asked Jesus to help. They needed faith to forgive.
It takes faith to forgive, because it means we let go of our anger and our desire for revenge. It means we are vulnerable to the person who wronged us or who is sinning. It takes faith any time the task the Lord gives us seems impossible.
We often will not find the strength to forgive someone in ourselves. We need God’s supernatural work of grace in our lives. He can give us a forgiving heart as a matter of is grace, which we receive by faith.
One way we learn to forgive is by looking at Jesus and the cross. He had been terribly wronged. He was innocent of all charges against him, yet condemned to die a painful and humiliating death. And yet he forgave those who put him there. He forgave us whose sins he bore. He forgave the Romans who nailed him to the cross and the Jews who urged the Romans to do it.
Some time later, Peter preached a sermon to a crowd of Jews. Some of them must have been present at the crucifixion. Peter said “…this Jesus…you crucified and killed”. (Acts 2:23) He told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and they did. Some 3,000 people received Christ and were baptized, receiving full forgiveness for what they had done.
How did Jesus answer their request for more faith? He said ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you”. (6)
This verse is often quoted and taught out of context. Jesus was not telling us to use our faith to do something useless or trivial. He was using the illustration to say we need to trust God to do what only he can do. Faith means we believe God can do what we cannot do. If he calls us to do something that seems impossible, like forgiving someone seven times, we must trust him to give us the power to do it.
A mustard seed is small. If the have even small faith in a great God, we can do what seems impossible to do. We can forgive someone who has sinned grievously, who has hurt us or who has hurt someone we love.
Faith also allows us to trust God to take care of the “fall out”: our loss of revenge, our loss of power, our superiority and our fear of vulnerability.
This is a very pointed and personal teaching. It is not an abstract principle. So, having studied this passage of Scripture, you should ask who you need to forgive. You may also need to repent of your failure to forgive in the past.
While you are thinking of these things, the Holy Spirit may also lead you to remember sinning against someone in the past. He may show you your need to repent and ask forgiveness of someone.
Do not resist the Spirit. Submit to him. It will be worth it.
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