This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Stephen’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 5 October 2025. The Lectionary Bible Reading was Luke 17:1-10.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen
Introduction
There are a number of important and basic questions in life, we call them the ‘First Order Questions Of Life’, such as: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? What happens when I die? I believe when a person seriously addresses these questions in their lives they will be drawn to the message of Jesus, because only the Christian faith gives adequate answers to these questions.
It’s sometimes good to ask yourself questions from time to time: Why do I feel the way I do? What is it I really want? What do I really believe? Am I telling myself the truth? Do I really need this? Such questions help us to know where we are in the present and where we want to go in the future.
A Pilot usually has a checklist they go through before they fly. In other words, they ask themselves questions to make sure they have done what they need to do to in order to fly safely. Many do/did the same things in their jobs. You have a series of questions you ask to make sure you are prepared. Last week in Luke 16 Jesus raised sobering questions about heaven and hell. In Luke 17:1-10, Jesus raises four sobering questions we should regularly ask ourselves.
1. Am I Leading Someone Astray? Vs1-3a
Jesus said, vs1a: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come … It doesn’t matter how strong in the faith you are, there will be temptations that come into your life that invite and urge you to sin. Consequently, we need to keep some things in mind: We are never as strong as we think we are. When we say “I can handle this” we’ve already taken a step in the wrong direction.
1 Peter 5:8: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Our only hope in testing times is to hold fast to Jesus. This leads us to the first important question: Am I Leading Other People Astray? Notice the strong words Jesus uses, vs2 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. We can lead people astray in a number of ways.
We can lead people astray through false teaching. When we deny the ‘god-ness’ of Jesus. When we diminish the authority of the Bible, when we twist the truth to suit our preferences. When we reject that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, we are leading people astray.
We can live in a way that leads others astray. When people see another Christian who gossips, who gets drunk, who is unfaithful in their marriage, who is lazy in their job, who forwards dirty jokes – leads them to the conclusion that we don’t believe what the Bible teaches about morals, ethics and holiness. It reminds me of the verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, when Paul writes: Abstain from the appearance of all evil. In other words, if something appears to be wrong, then stop doing it!
We can lead people astray when we tell them that what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong! We can lead people astray by our silence. When we have the opportunity to point people in the right direction and do nothing. A builder who knows there is a structural problem with something they are building but does nothing to fix the problem is liable. Similarly, we are liable for our words and deeds and will have to give an account before God.
2. Am I Learning To Forgive? Vs3b-4
Vs3b If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Vs4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
The point here is that we need to take responsibility to guard each other’s souls. If we see someone doing something wrong, we should speak to them. If someone hurts us, we should let them know they’ve done so – not start telling everyone else what we think of them! This of course implies that we must be open to correction from others. That’s a lot more difficult, isn’t it? We don’t mind pointing the finger at others, but we aren’t too happy when others start pointing fingers at us! This leads to the second question: Am I Learning To Forgive?
Professor Washington A.J. Okumu was involved in the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ in South Africa and the fight against apartheid. He writes: Bitterness, however justified will just consume our souls and achieve nothing. We must, therefore, learn to forgive even if we don’t forget. Because if we forget the past, he goes on to say, we never learn from the mistakes of the past in order to build a better future. Indeed, as Desmond Tutu once commented: Without forgiveness, there is no future.
What, then, is forgiveness according to the Bible? In essence, forgiveness is deciding not to hold the offenders wrong against them, seek revenge, or let bitterness take root in your heart. As Christians, we forgive out of obedience to God – whether the person deserves it or not. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Forgiveness not only sets the offender free, it sets us free as well.
I looked much closer at the subject of Forgiveness when when teaching on the Spiritual Discipline of Confession on the 2025 Lent Course ‘A Deeper Walk’ which you may find helpful if you wish to explore this issue further.
3. Am I Living By Faith? Vs5-6
Vs5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Vs6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
The apostles recognized that Jesus was asking them to do something that is hard. They know this must be done by faith. So, they ask for more. Jesus says you don’t need a lot of faith to be used by God or to see God work in great ways. Think about how a skydiver puts his/her faith in a parachute. They jump out of a plane and trust that the chute will open and enable them to float to the ground. Every time we get into an airplane, we show faith in the engineers that designed the plane. God wants us to trust Him at least this much.
Jesus isn’t saying, “Hey if you have enough faith, you can command a tree to cast itself into the sea.” The idea is that if we trust God we would see mountains moved if that is what needed to happen. We see this again and again in the Bible. Paul tells us that God will do “exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or imagine.” We don’t see great works of God because we don’t really think God can do those things. This raises the third question: Am I Living By Faith?
Most of us tend to live “safe” lives. We want to control the outcome of circumstances. We don’t like having to put our full confidence in what God alone can do. And that is the problem. We will never know the power of God in our lives until we dare to let God work. If we have faith, we will have the confidence that God knows what He is doing, and we can trust Him even when things don’t seem to be going well. We don’t get discouraged by circumstances because we know that God controls the circumstances.
In the hymn Amazing Grace, John Newton writes what I think it is one of the most significant verses in the hymn: The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.
Are you facing some mountain in your life right now? It may be a physical need, a financial need, a family issue, a challenge you don’t feel you can meet. It takes faith to trust God’s character and wisdom in the trials. It takes faith to trust that God will provide for our needs. It takes faith to stand before the freshly dug grave of someone we love. It takes faith to be willing to serve God outside of your ‘comfort zone.’ We are to walk by faith not by sight and to have faith in God’s Word and His promises even when the mountain before us seems overwhelming.
4. Am I Serving The Lord Out Of Love? Vs7-10
Vs7 Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing 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’? Vs8 Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Vs9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? Vs10 So you also, when you have done everything, you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’
The final question is this: Am I Serving The Lord Out Of Love? “Lord, I was nice to so-and-so today (and you know how hard that is) so now I hope you will reward me for my good deed.” Or we might say, “Lord, I gave you my tithe as you require, now I ask you to bless me greatly and let me do such-and-such.” At times you might even say “Lord, you owe me!”
We must never serve God for the blessing we hope to receive or what we may get out of it! We serve God because He is worthy of our service. We serve God out of gratitude for His love and forgiveness. If God never gave us another thing, He would still never be in our debt.
The apostles rejoiced when they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. That’s not what most of us signed up for. We are looking for blessing, not trial. Jesus asks why we are serving Him. Are we serving Him because we love Him and trust Him or do we serve Him conditionally? Are we willing to give Him our best because He deserves our best or will we give our best only if God does what we want Him to do. One is an act of faith; the other is a negotiation. It is a serious mistake to try to keep score with God because we will always lose.
Conclusion
This morning we’ve been asked four questions: Am I leading anyone astray in any way by the way I live my life? Am I learning to Forgive? Am I living by Faith? Am I seeking to serve the Lord as His servant? Certainly some serious questions to ponder over the coming days.
One final thought. Having a checklist doesn’t help the pilot if he doesn’t actually address the issues raised in the questions. It’s the same for us. Merely knowing the questions isn’t going to help us. We need to ask the questions and make the necessary changes. If we do, we will be better able to stay on track in our efforts to serve and honour Jesus.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
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