Getting over the (of)Fence

Please turn to Luke chapter 17.

Today’s message is entitled: “Getting over the fence (offence)”.  It is a play on words that will make more sense as we go on!

Have you ever felt “fenced in”?  Like you want to move on and you can’t?  Like you want to get over something, but “it just won’t go away”?

As we mature and as we move on in life, there are figurative “fences” that we have to get past. Some are quite easy to get over – they are like picket fences: we learn a lesson… we make a decision… we make a change… we step over the fence and we move on.

Other fences seem impenetrable! They seem way too high to step over, way too wide to get around, and we see no holes to climb through!  When we face these fences, the temptation is to give up – and we get stuck behind a proverbial “fence”.  But we don’t have to get stuck there!  God always makes a way!  We need to ask God to show us the gate – the way through it.

This message will teach you how to get over fences – big and small.

Let’s go to Luke 17

1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 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. 3 So watch yourselves.

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, `I repent,' forgive him."

5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

I’m a great fan of the NIV, but recently heard this text read from an older translation – and it really caused me to sit up and take notice!

In verse 1, the NIV uses the somewhat technical expression: “things that cause people to sin”.  The King James version uses the word “offences”! 

This grabbed my attention, because one prophetic word over the fast was that there were offences that were holding some of our people back.

So I checked out the Greek.  The Greek word is “skan'-dal-on”.  The closest English word is “scandal”.  It literally means a trap stick, referring to a bent-back sapling that was used to make a snare.  Figuratively, it speaks of a cause of sin, a thing that offends, a stumbling block..

Jesus is warning us about “skandalons”: baited traps or offences that will cause us to sin if we take the bait.  It is a serious danger, so we need to take note!

Then he says this about them:  they “are bound to come”.

The KJV renders this “It is impossible but that offenses will come”.  In other words, they WILL come; it is impossible to avoid them.

Jesus is warning us – offences WILL come.  Regardless of how nice we are, things will happen that offend us, that scandalize us, that lure us into sin.  The nicest, strongest, holiest people (like you J) will face these things.

Friends, this means we HAVE TO pay attention to this – it is going to happen to us!  Baited traps WILL be set for us!  Things will happen that will scandalize us and draw us towards sin! 

So take heed to Jesus’ warning in verse 3: “So watch yourselves”!!

What is your reflex when you are scandalized – offended – by a person… When someone “gets in your face” and “baits you”, how do you respond?

Often for me, my blood pressure rises and I want to fight!  How DARE they say that!! How DARE they do that!!  I remember seeing an advert for the “SEXPO” and getting really mad!  I was so offended!  How DARE they!!!!  I wanted to “take them down”!! 

Listen carefully to what Jesus said next – verses 1 & 2:

“…woe to that person through whom they come. 2 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.”

“woe to that person through whom they come” – they are going to face wrath from God!  God will deal with them – so severely that they will wish that we had thrown them in the bay with a weight around their neck before they had brought the offense!

PLEASE HEAR ME CLEARLY – IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO TAKE DOWN THOSE WHO OFFEND US! (I’ll show you clearly from Scripture just now.)

OUR JOB IS TO STAY CLEAR OF THE TRAP – TO NOT TAKE THE BAIT AND SIN! 

Our reflex is to deal with the offender – which is to take the bait, to walk into the trap.  We have the proverbial rush of blood to the head.  We start a fight.  We burn a bridge.  We bear grudges and become bitter.  We make things worse rather than better!  We forget that our battle is not against flesh and blood and attack the wrong enemy.  Remember what we learned over the armour of God series – our battle is NOT against flesh and blood!

As hard as it is at times, we need to let God deal with the one who brings the offense.  Instead we need to focus on our task at hand – to resist the temptation, to refuse to take the bait!

“But how?” you may ask… Reading on (verses 3&4), Jesus tells us what our part is:

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, `I repent,' forgive him."

Here Jesus tells us how to escape the snare, the offense, the skandallon.  There are three things we need to learn to do:

1: “If your brother sins, rebuke him…”

We all have the capacity to offend one another – so we have to help one another to learn the better way.  It starts by recognizing and identifying the offense, and confronting it.  If I made a remark that I thought was funny and you found hurtful, you need to come to me and rebuke me – “I know you thought you were being funny, but that remark really hurt me.”

When you confront the offense, it can be dealt with. When you don’t, it can’t.  And the unfortunate reality is, we don’t always do it – and a fence goes up between us! 

It is a tragedy that people leave churches where they have grown up in Christ, where they have both received and given great ministry – because they were not prepared to deal with offenses.  The offense was not dealt with, and it grew into a massive fence, eventually walling them out of fellowship!

Offenses will come – let’s deal with them immediately!

2: “…and if he repents, forgive him.”

This is our next challenge!  We pluck up the courage and rebuke the person, they are surprised and apologetic… and now we have to forgive them!  We have to let it go, we have to step over the fence and move on! 

And – please hear me clearly – Jesus does not suggest that we forgive, he commands us to forgive!  It is not an option!  Matthew 6:14-15 records these words of Jesus: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  

Beware of trying to wield unforgiveness as a weapon –withholding forgiveness to punish the other party and to give yourself some kind of satisfaction.  This is SIN!  And this is self-defeating! 

Unforgiveness is a lethal poison!  Don’t drink it!  Forgiveness is life-giving – drink that!!

3: “If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, `I repent,' forgive him.”

What Jesus is telling us to do here is not to count to three, but to make forgiveness our way of life.  He is calling us to stop “keeping score”, and “calling back the past” of a person’s sins, but to instead repeatedly offer forgiveness to those who offend us – just as God repeatedly offers us forgiveness for our offenses!

So let’s stop keeping score, and let’s stop keeping records of past sins; let’s instead, learn the divine way of forgiveness!

Proverbs 19v11 tells us:

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

God’s job is to deal out discipline, punishment, even vengeance.  Ours is to avoid the snare, the ‘skandallon’… to forgive, to overlook the offence:

–       to look over the offence and see the real enemy behind it – the devil

and

–       to rebuke and forgive the person who the devil conned into carrying the offense to you!

Skandallon will come our way – every one of us will have to deal with it.  Let’s take Jesus’ words to heart and learn to live in such a way that we won’t take the bait, we won’t take offence – but rather that we will get over the fences!! 

So confront and rebuke!  Forgive!  And keep on forgiving!

In conclusion, listen to Romans 12v17-21.  For me, Paul describes this way of life that Jesus wants us to live magnificently!

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," [Deut 32:35] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." [Prov 25:21-22]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let’s be wise to the devil’s schemes!  He WILL send offences/scandals/traps our way and he will use PEOPLE to do this.  As nice and spiritual as we are, we WILL face these traps!

Let’s NOT take the bait!  Let’s not build fences or attack the person! 

Let’s instead deal with the offense and extend forgiveness to the person. 

Let’s overcome evil with good!