[PASTOR JEREMY MATTEK] Do
you know that you can
negatively affect the
faith of those around you?
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MARK JESKE]
I wonder if you
have ever heard of the
phrase of "cement
overshoes," cement shoes?
[Audience: Laughter] Yes?
Does that ring a bell?
Anybody know what that is?
Okay, some of you like me
must be fans of gangster
movies and gangster
novels.
It refers to a practice -
how common it was, nobody
knows for sure - but it
refers to a practice used
to intimidate witnesses at
the age of the bootleggers
and beginnings of
organized crime in the
1920s.
And it was a particularly
effective way, at least
according to legend, and
the threats that were made
to get people to clam up
because it was a way to
kill somebody that would
scare other people.
You would have a guy, you
know, you'd have a gun on
a guy and then you'd tie
them up and then you would
prepare a bucket of
concrete and you'd slide
it over to the chair he
was sitting in and you'd
put his feet in it and
you'd make him watch the
concrete hardening around
his legs.
And, you know, it would
take several hours for
that concrete to set up.
And then about midnight,
you would drag him
downstairs, throw him in
the back of a truck, and
you would drive out over
the bridge, over the East
River, and you'd throw him
over and the thing is,
that would take the body
down; completely unable to
be discovered again.
Anybody wonder why I'm
telling you this?
[Pastor and Audience:
Laughter] No, this is not
comedy standup practice.
No, this is not amateur
night.
I really have a point and
you might be wondering,
"Well, what on earth does
this have to do with the
Bible?"
Does it surprise you to
know that our Lord Jesus
himself had a story very
much like cement shoes
only it was more like a
stone necktie.
Seriously, you think I'm
making this up, don't you?
Alright, I'll call your
bluff or you call mine.
Take your Bible and open
it up to Luke 17 and I
want you to read about
Jesus' version of cement
shoes and he used it as a
very striking picture;
something that hopefully
you will never forget
because he's talking about
something that's really,
really urgent.
Well today, I'd like to
talk to you about my final
anxiety and that's about
my own weakness of faith.
And I also have great
concern about your
weakness of faith, too.
And this is not just some
little discussion about
our different preferences
because your faith is not
just your personal set of
a collection of opinions
about religion, which are
just as good as anybody
else's.
Just like your opinions of
what the restaurants that
you happen to like eating
at in town may be fine for
you, but somebody else
thinks, "Oh, I hated my
meal there.
I'm never going back
there," and you love it.
Who cares?
Your personal faith in
Christ is the only thing
that's going to keep you
out of hell.
Only Christ can guarantee
there will be a happy
verdict for you when you
stand before the Judge
when you die - which might
be this afternoon; pay
attention to this now.
You don't know how many
tomorrows you have.
Only Christ can bring you
a not guilty verdict in
the court of heaven and
only Christ can fling open
the doors of heaven, which
is a happy place where the
believers live forever.
And your faith is how you
connect with invisible
things; things that you
cannot see.
Your faith, once given to
you by God, can be abused,
neglected, starved, and
die.
And what's worse, you can
affect the faith of
somebody else and by your
carelessness, by your
neglect, by your abuse, by
your spiritual
carelessness, you can
cause the destruction of
someone else's faith.
Oh, yeah; that's a heavy
thing.
And Jesus - as we're going
to pick up the story -
apparently saw something
or heard something either
among the people he and
his disciples were passing
through, or maybe he heard
some talk or saw some
behaviors of the disciples
that really got him riled
up.
And he's got some very
tart things to say.
I'd like to invite you to
take your Bible out and
look at St. Luke 17.
Our reading today begins
at verse one.
The early - what would you
call it?
- happy crowds that he had
been gathering, that's
kind of burned off and
people were getting a
little frustrated with
Jesus because he wasn't
like the kind of Savior
and Messiah that they
wanted or thought they had
coming.
He refused to do miracle
tricks when upon demand.
He was not bringing about
a revolution to throw off
the yoke of the Roman
armies of occupation.
There was no - he was not
organizing a revolution
and people just couldn't
make sense of it; they
weren't really listening
to him.
And his talk and his
parables and his imagery
are getting a little more
sharply worded, I think,
and including with his
disciples, I think he also
after three years was a
little disappointed at the
slow pace of his seminary
students; his twelve
disciples.
So these words have a
little bit of zing to them
and don't blow this off;
he's telling you some
things you need to know
about yourself.
Are you ready?
Let's have a look at
what's in here.
So, "Jesus said to his
disciples: 'Things that
cause people to sin are
bound to come.'" Now this
is an untranslatable word.
There's a word in Greek,
skandalon, which means a
death trap.
And it's not just
something that might cause
you to sin like a little
whoopsie, like you know,
when people utter a cuss
word and then they say,
"Oh, pardon my French."
They slip out - like a bad
word slips out or some
vulgarity.
That is, you know, that
would be a sin, too, if
you misuse the name of God
but it's not just a word.
This is talking about
something that causes
people to sin in such a
way that they lose their
faith; it's a spiritual
threat to that lifeline
that holds them to their
Savior.
Yes, that can happen.
Through your words, your
example, your neglect, you
might erode away someone
else's faith.
It's a terrifying thought.
The converse is true also.
You are able to help build
people's faith by what you
say and talk and do; what
kind of advertisement you
are for Jesus Christ, for
instance.
You might make other
people want to be like you
and believe what you
believe or you could make
being a Christian seem
like a dumb, stupid thing
that you're embarrassed
about and don't want
anybody to know about and
that you hide and conceal
from other people and make
look like an embarrassment
of something you're glad
to get rid of.
But here's what Jesus
thinks about people who
cause spiritual harm to
other people: He basically
said, "I'd like to put
them in cement overshoes."
"Things that cause people
to sin are bound to come
but woe to that person
through whom they come.
It would be better for him
to be thrown into the sea
with a millstone tied
around his neck than for
him to cause one of these
little ones to sin."
Jesus' care is especially
for people smaller and
weaker than you.
Now this most obviously
applies to children; every
parent has a solemn
responsibility to pass on
your faith to your
children.
And the way in which you
manage things in your
household will show how
seriously the children
should take this Jesus
talk.
Whether it's just a joke,
whether it's just
something you pick up and
put down, whether it's a
tradition on Easter and
Christmas, you might show
up to church but basically
you don't need to be
bothered with it for six
month stretches.
If the way in which you
talk you make Christ look
precious and valuable, you
know, my hope is our
church will seem like a
family; that we care about
each other and take care
of each other.
But the reverse is true,
too.
I hope your houses are
like a little church where
the word of God is
actually present; where
you pray together, for
each other, and with each
other.
Where you will sing songs
together that you know.
Where people will crack
into their Bibles together
and when you actually
manage to be in the same
room at the same time,
actually listen to the
word together.
And where Christian music
occasionally is heard
where people can learn
some ways to learn some
doctrine in a musical way.
But Jesus said: "If you
abuse people and you cause
those weaker than you," -
could be an adult.
Some grownups are plenty
big in body but their soul
and spirit are small yet
because they're babies in
the faith.
If by your words and
actions, by making Jesus
look disposable and
unnecessary, if you cause
someone else's faith to be
lost, God's punishment
coming on you will be so
severe, you would wish
that you had a stone
necktie.
And this mill that Jesus
is talking about, there
are many sizes of mills.
You know, there are tiny
mills, too.
Like if you come to my
house, for instance, and
my dear wife cooks one of
her fabulous dinners for
you, I am usually the
busboy and waiter at these
events; I let Carol do all
the cooking and I run
around and bring the food
to people.
And so when I bring your
salad, you know what I
might just do?
I might bring a little
wood tube up to you and
I'd say, "Would you like
some freshly ground pepper
on your salad, ma'am?"
And you'd probably say,
"Yes" because you like
pepper on your salad and
I'll go, "crank, crank"
until you say stop.
That's a mill; that's a
tiny mill.
What Jesus is talking
about is a commercial
grain mill where you take
wheat, the most common
grain, but you could also
grind up oats or barley.
And they're gigantic
stones.
The one underneath is
fixed in place; it's as
enormous as a wagon wheel.
It's big and it's heavy
and it stays put.
And there's one the same
size above it that's
moveable and it turns on
an axis and there's a hole
in the middle where you
dump the grain in and then
those two stones, the
friction of them, will
crush the grain and out
pours flour so you can
bake bread.
The mill Jesus was talking
about was a mulos,
mulikos, a millstone.
Not just a millstone,
millstone; meaning one so
big that the top stone has
a bar coming out and you
would tether a draft
animal to this stone, like
a donkey.
You'd put a harness on the
donkey, you would tie the
donkey's neck harness to
this great big beam and
the donkey would walk in
circles for hours grinding
grain because that's your
job; you're a miller.
Jesus said, "Putting a
necktie like that on
somebody to throw them off
a cliff, you wouldn't last
very long.
You would drown quickly."
That type of death, as
shameful as that would be,
would be better than
what's going to come down
on your head.
So Jesus said, "Respect
the fragility of faith."
God's grace is enormous.
This is not of any failing
on God's part; God never
stops loving.
His forgiveness bought for
the world through the
blood of Jesus on the
cross is for the whole
world.
It's for you, as well;
washing you clean, making
you feel good about
yourself every day, like a
daily shower.
But it is accessed through
your faith and here is
where you have a choice.
As an unbeliever, you
don't know any better but
you are believers in Jesus
and Jesus hears his
believers.
That means that you're
willpower has been reborn
and that you now have the
power, the awesome power,
to turn up or dial down
the strength of your
faith.
And God won't do it for
you; you must choose.
And Jesus said, "Be
careful also, not just
being reckless and stupid
and careless with your
spiritual life, but man,
be careful of the impact
you may have on people
around you, especially
little ones, who look up
at you and take their cues
from you." If you destroy
the salvation of a little
person - whether little in
age, little in stature, or
little in intellectual
ability - God will bring
down trouble on your head
so severe you wish you had
a strong necktie.
Then Jesus gives the
disciples another
challenge: "If your
brother sins, rebuke him
and if he repents, forgive
him.
If he sins against you
seven times in a day and
seven times come back to
you and says, 'I repent,'
forgive him.'" And the
apostles said," - or the
Lord said, "What?
Say what?
Seven times?
You get one.
After that, you get
nothing but bringing you
some attitude." Jesus
said, "No, seven." He said
this so aggressively and
got in their face because
he could see the grudges
that all of them were
holding; the petty
resentments that they
carried around.
And he said this is one of
the characteristics of the
Christian life.
First of all, you have all
been fattening up on the
unconditional love God is
giving to you.
If God is merciful to you,
how dare you not show
mercy to each other?
Do you want God to forgive
you once a day and that's
it?
Seriously?
Is that how you expect God
to treat you?
No, of course not.
If we only got one word of
pardon and then the rest
of the day, all of our
sins were on our head, we
would have toe tags for
hell; we'd all be on our
way to damnation.
We count on the fact that
God's mercy is continuous;
that's our hope.
That's our hope for
resurrection, it's our
hope for forgiveness of
our many sins, it's our
hope for not guilty in
God's court, it's our hope
for being taken up off
this ground as its being
judged and carried off and
carried through the gates
of heaven where we will
live with him forever.
That's our hope and we
expect God's mercy to be
continuous.
His challenge is now take
what I have given to you
and don't let it stop to
you; let it pass through.
That means if someone
says, "I'm sorry," and you
forgive him and he does it
again and he says, "I'm
sorry," forgive him again.
Not like what often goes
on in our house.
Do you know what - do you
know what the dialogue
would sound like at our
house, sad to say?
"Alright, I'm sorry." "You
are not!"
[Audience: Laughter] Ever
heard that before?
"You are not." As though
people could read other
people's hearts.
You aren't called to be
other people's judges.
If they hurt you, tell
them that they have hurt
you by their behaviors but
then let it go.
Let God take care of the
judging; you take care of
getting rid of your angers
because if you don't,
they'll just accumulate.
Some idiot a long time ago
said, "Time heals all
wounds." Is that true?
No.
All time does is
accumulate the
inflammation and your
anger as it piles up and
makes you even more
determined to hold on.
Let it go.
Now having said that, I'm
saying this so crisply to
you not because it's easy,
I'm saying it because it's
true.
And I know it's hard and
Jesus' disciples thought
the same thing.
"The apostles," - this is
like a little promotion;
usually they're called
disciples.
This is in anticipation of
when they're commissioned
and sent off as Jesus'
representatives.
"They said to the Lord,
'Increase our faith!"
Oh man, increase our
faith!
You've indicted us twice;
we know that our faith is
weak.
We know that we have not
always managed our
families well; we've not
always given our Savior a
very good reputation and
we might have caused
others to sin and we
certainly know we are
grudge-holders and have a
lot of stupid angers
inside we're holding onto
and our faith needs to
increase.
And Jesus said something
powerful about faith: "If
you have faith as small as
a mustard seed," which is
really tiny; it's very
small, one of the smallest
of all the seeds.
"You can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be
uprooted and planted in
the sea,' and it will obey
you." I know it's - you
know, in my younger years
when I read that verse
about the mulberry tree -
I just, I could never
figure it out.
It made no sense so it's
one of those passages I
would just skip over and
keep moving and never
think too much about
because it's so absurd.
I had been around my
Christians my whole life.
Do you know what?
I have never seen anybody
do the mind over mulberry
trick.
Have you?
Have you ever seen
somebody look at a
mulberry tree and go,
"Bzzz," and all of a
sudden, rip!
And it goes flying into
Lake Michigan?
Save your breath; you're
never going to see that.
It's crazy.
And God isn't looking for
us to do destruction of
landscaping and that's not
- that's not Jesus' point.
His point is that your
faith connects you with a
power far greater than
you.
So when through your faith
you hear God say, "A
sinner like you is washed
as clean as Christ.
You are precious and
valuable.
Your past failures have
not disqualified you from
heaven.
You are loved and on your
way to an eternity in a
happy place with no crime,
no war, and no sin." And
you think, "Holy smokes!
How could that be?"
It's because your faith is
a conduit for God's power.
When you pray in the name
Jesus, you are tapping
into the power of the
universe, which controls
every atom and every
molecule, every animal,
every person, all things;
even the forces of nature.
You're tapping into the
power so great that Jesus
could still a storm, make
a hurricane stop, just by
talking to it and by
giving it a rebuke and a
storm would have to stop.
That's his point.
It's not to attack every
mulberry tree and rip them
all out by mental powers;
that was just to get your
attention.
His main point is that
through your faith you are
able to tap into the power
of God himself.
One last little saying on
the importance of the
attitude that you should
bring in life.
He said, I'll tell you one
more story.
"Suppose one of you had a
servant plowing or looking
after the sheep.
Would he say to the
servant when he comes in
from the field, 'Come
along now and sit down to
eat.' Would he not rather
say, 'Hey you, prepare my
supper, get yourself ready
and wait on me while I eat
and drink and after that,
you may eat and drink.'
Would he thank the servant
because he did what he was
told to do?
So you also, when you have
done everything you were
told to do, should just
say, 'We're unworthy
servants; we have only
done our duty.'" Jesus
here is talking about a
pampered, spoiled,
attitude of entitlement
that somehow God owes you
or you have stuff coming
to you.
And this is your reminder,
this is yet one more kind
of stern preaching of the
law of God - hey, don't
overinflate your
self-importance.
If you do something that
is right, just do it
because you're supposed to
because that's what you
were built for.
After all, when you're
working and your workday,
every time you carry out a
task, you don't expect
your boss to come running
over and say, "Oh, thank
you!
Thank you!"
Do you expect that?
I feel sorry for you if
you do because it ain't
going to happen.
[Audience: Laughter]
They're not going to thank
you.
They're saying you're
doing your job; your
thanks will be in your
paycheck, that you get
paid and you get to come
back next week.
Just do your job and quit
whining, okay?
Just do your job.
Jesus says don't have such
a sense of entitlement.
God doesn't owe you
anything.
Cultivate an attitude like
me.
Jesus, though he was rich,
made himself poor so that
you beggars might be rich.
Now he says, act and be
like me.
Cultivate the attitude of
a servant.
Just do your job.
Find joy in making other
people's lives better.
That makes no sense - in
our world right now,
people strut, they make
noise, they puff
themselves up, they brag,
they boast, they make
themselves as glamorous as
they can, they have press
releases and they hire
personal agents and they
try to make themselves and
puff themselves up to be
big.
Jesus said, "If that's
what you want, go for it.
But if you want God's
approval, he likes the
humble ones.
In fact, the attitude of a
child makes him happiest
of all." Be a servant.
Help other people and
don't wait around for
claps and cheers.
Just do your job as a
Christian and don't have
this kind of entitlement
sense that God owes you
something.
All the rewarding is going
to happen.
When you stand before God
someday, he's going to
say, "Well done, good and
faithful servant." In the
meantime, just know that
when you humble yourself,
when you actually think
and act like a servant of
others, you're acting just
like Jesus.
Man, I don't want to hear
that; you and I like to be
pampered.
I'm totally into my own
comfort as much as you
are, maybe worse.
But I'll tell you what -
the more I carry out
Jesus' instructions, oddly
enough, the happier I
really am.
But to do this, I need my
faith to be increased.
In fact, for all these
things I need my faith to
be increased and here's
how I'm going to kind of
bring this all together
now.
For all these four things
- for being careful of how
I act and treat people who
are smaller than me, God's
little ones, that I build
other people's faith, not
tear it down.
That I learn to forgive
instead of holding my
petty little grudges and
my own little angers.
That I have confidence
that through faith I can
access the power of the
universe and that to
cultivate an attitude of a
servant rather than
everybody's boss, I need
my faith to be increased.
Well, where does faith
come from?
How do you get more of
this?
Realize that God has given
you the choice of the
strength of your faith.
You can nourish it like
you nourish your body, or
you can starve it and risk
having it die on you.
The choice is yours.
God will not do this for
you.
If you don't get up and go
to church, God will not
yank you out of bed like
all of a sudden - whoa.
All of a sudden your
clothes fly on you and all
of a sudden there's a hot
breakfast in front of you
and God says, "No excuses.
Now get out in your car.
Get out of here.
Get on that bus." You're
not going to hear it.
If you choose to sleep in,
God's going to let your
lazy 'blank' lie there
[Audience: Laughter].
Your choice.
He gives you the dignity
of choice.
Don't abuse that dignity.
Where does faith come
from?
Faith comes from hearing
the message and the
message is heard through
the word of Christ.
You choose.
So you alone control what
goes into your eyes of
what you read.
You alone control where
your body is when it's
time for weekly worship.
You control whether your
ears are open when there's
a message in church.
You control your prayers,
how often you choose to
pray or whether you choose
to pray at all.
You get to choose.
He gives you that dignity
but now grow up, act like
a grownup, and make good
choices because this is
what's at stake; nothing
less than your eternity
and the eternity of the
people around you.
Just say with me: "Lord,
increase my faith." Ready?
[Pastor and Audience:
Lord, increase my faith].
Amen.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR JEREMY MATTEK]
Thank you, Pastor
Jeske, for that reminder
that our faith is so
precious to God and so
precious as we put it into
practice for the sake of
those around us.
I'll be back to pray with
you in just a little bit.
[PROMOTION] Hi, my name is
Jason Nelson.
I've had the privilege of
writing many Grace
Moment's devotions and
several books for Time of
Grace.
My recent book is
entitled, "Keeping the
Last Promise." And in it,
I share some very personal
lessons I've learned about
addiction and recovery.
So I wrote this book for
two reasons.
One, is to provide some
camaraderie.
If you know somebody who
is battling to be
unpossessed by drugs or
alcohol, you are not alone
and you don't need to feel
ashamed.
I also wrote this book to
sketch out a little
framework for hope.
We found hope that enabled
our loved one to begin to
put his life back
together.
And recovering people need
the power of God's grace
in their lives and when
they have that, they have
the ability to keep their
last promise to remain
sober for one more day.
Thanks so much for your
gift to help connect more
people to God's amazing
grace.
[PASTOR JEREMY MATTEK]
Time of Grace is a
wonderful community of
believers that loves to
support one another in any
number of ways and one of
those ways is with a
prayer.
If there is a way that we
can pray for you, would
you please let us know?
Let's pray together right
now.
Lord Jesus, Our faith is
so fragile.
That fragility shows up in
so many ways over the
course of our lives -
sometimes multiple times a
day; seemingly multiple
times each moment - but
your love for us is so
strong and your arms, as
you wrap them around us,
are so powerful and yet so
gentle.
Thank you for your
strength, the strength of
your encouragement and
love, which keeps our
faith strong and growing.
And help us to be diligent
in continuing to feed our
faith so that it continues
to grow not just for our
own benefit but for the
benefit of those around
us.
In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen.
I'm Pastor Jeremy Mattek
with Time of Grace and it
all starts now.
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER] The
preceding program was
sponsored by the friends
and partners of Time of
Grace.
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