Explore five profound insights into humility derived from Luke 17:1-10. Discover how these teachings of Jesus can transform lives and foster spiritual growth, guiding believers toward a deeper understanding of humility and its impact on personal and communal well-being.

Five Marks of Humility That Change Lives

Like most parables, the context is crucial to understanding and applying its meaning. So, to properly expand on this parable, we need to cover the context in which Jesus shared it.

While teaching, Jesus rotated between making the Pharisees the focus of His attention and teaching the disciples something (even while the Pharisees were present). In the previous chapter, Luke 16, He taught about the Pharisees and warned them about the love of money. When we get to this passage, Jesus turns His attention to the disciples and warns them about the vulnerability of falling into sin. He uses the example of a few Pharisees’ lifestyles to reinforce that. It should be reiterated that the Pharisees personify false teachers, false religionists, and false representatives of God. They claim to move in the name of God, but their actions oppose His commands.

The Pharisees’ root problem is pride, which the Bible defines as an insensitivity or unresponsiveness to God’s leading and His Word. On the contrary, the biblical definition of humility is sensitivity and responsiveness to God with deference for others and esteeming them as better than ourselves.

Using the ten verses of our passage, let’s examine five marks of humility that change lives. This includes the transformation of our own hearts and of others’ lives.

1) Guarding Myself From Causing Others to Sin

JESUS: “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone was hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” Luke 17:1-2

Who are the little ones? This term is used multiple times in Matthew’s Gospel, including Matthew 18:10 and a few verses later in Matthew 18:14.

As believers, Christians are compelled to seek and grow their relationship with God. And what Jesus shared in these verses is that we shouldn’t do things that will cause other believers to stumble, especially young believers. This doesn’t necessarily refer to chronologically but refers to people who are new to the faith and birthed into the Kingdom.

The Pharisees were highly critical of Jesus, which we can reason would cause people moving toward God to stumble. This can also cause people to sin.

Humble people, those sensitive to God, restrain themselves so they don’t cause others to stumble. Prideful people offer no restraint, and the Pharisees were the poster child for this behavior. They were characterized by their pride.

Proverbs 16:18 warns, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” There’s no hyperbole in that. Jesus even comments that this sin is so severe that a person would be better off cast alive into the sea, never to be seen again, than to cause others to stumble and sin deliberately.

We must be mindful of those who are new in their relationship with Christ and how our words can be stumbling blocks to the spiritually naive. The word offenses means “occasions to stumble.” The Greek word gives us our English word “scandalize,” and it originally referred to the stick that tripped a snare or a trap. This parallels the Pharisees because they had false understandings of God, Christ, Scripture, and God’s Kingdom.

This warning isn’t only for the Pharisees but is something we should all note. The Lord’s stern warning is woe to anyone who becomes a stumbling block. Look at Jesus’ words again:

“It would be better for him if a millstone was hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”

Think about the soberness of Jesus’ words here. To transliterate, he’s saying, “Better for him to die now than continue judgment to sow these things into people and face God’s ultimate judgment.” Think about that severity: It’s better to be dead than to hinder one new believer in their spiritual progress.

The Pharisees were spreading lies about Jesus at every opportunity they could. They even said Jesus was doing the work of Satan (Matthew 12:24). The Pharisees were heaping stumbling blocks for everyone who moved toward Christ.

Humble believers do not cause others to sin. Neither do humble believers take offense at the sins of others.

That statement might stick deep with you. For a new Christian, this next point may feel like you’re showing up for the fifth week of Navy Seals Training, but I hope this will build a bridge and not a wall. While it might stretch you, there’s a difference between knowing Jesus as Lord and knowing about Jesus as Lord.

2) Giving a Private, Loving Rebuke When Appropriate

JESUS: “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4 (emphasis added)

As followers of Jesus, we’re called to love differently. The contrast is that the Pharisees never thought about this. They didn’t care about people in their spiritual development and were indifferent to sinners who were apart from God. Remember, the Pharisees were quick to grumble when Jesus spent time with sinners (Luke 5:29-32). Simply put, they didn’t care if someone’s soul was in danger.

The difference is, as a believer, you care about people. Jesus instructed us that if our brother or sister sins, we rebuke them. Before we go any further, let’s establish what a rebuke is and how to rebuke someone in a loving, God-honoring way.

Rebuke: To allege as in incrimination; to censure as to reprimand, a strong warning.

Based on Matthew 18:15-20, there are three levels of a loving rebuke:

• Private (“Go to your brother.”)

• Take two or three with you (Take someone with you.)

• Bring it before the church

The motive in all of these actions isn’t punitive. Instead, it is always (that word can’t be emphasized enough) love and restoration to God. It’s always motivated by God’s love and care for people. It’s not indifference to the condition of someone’s soul but love for God and their soul.

In 1 Corinthians 5, there was a circumstance where the Apostle Paul learned that a man in the church was sleeping with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Everything was known, and it had become a very public issue. The church decided to be in control instead of trusting God. Rather than practicing Matthew 18, they tried to manage the circumstances, and in calling the man and woman out, they brought damage to their lives, families, and the reputation of Jesus’ church.

The Apostle Paul’s response was:

“…you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 5:5

The care for this man’s soul at such a deep level will result in him turning back to Christ and being restored in the now and into eternity. But let’s not stop there.

The Bible also tells us that not every sin should be confronted because “love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).” It’s the ongoing patterns of sin that harm individuals and the Body of Christ. Those patterns of sins are what should be lovingly rebuked. Minister and author John MacArthur said, “There are some sins love cannot cover, some sins love must uncover.”

We’re called to do things God’s way, and Jesus taught that rebuking someone privately and lovingly when appropriate is the way to go about this.

3) Giving Forgiveness to Others

JESUS: “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4 (emphasis added)

True forgiveness always involves pain; somebody’s been hurt, and there’s a price to pay for healing the wound. Sometimes, it’s painful to forgive someone who’s sinned against us. Yet, for the believer, love motivates us to forgive because it reflects the mercy we’ve received for our sins. [READ MORE: How To Forgive Those Who’ve Hurt You]

Faith activates forgiveness so that God can use it to bless His people. If we lean on our emotions and wait to forgive someone until we’re ready, we’re unlikely to ever reach that point of forgiveness.

Although it’s unlikely that a believer would commit the same sin seven times in one day, we must be ready to forgive that often. The point Jesus emphasized was that we must be prepared to forgive at that frequency. Think about it this way: Does God forgive you for seven sins in a day? As a follower of Jesus, forgiveness should be a habit, not a battle. Mature Christians understand that forgiveness is not a cheap exchange of words, such as how squabbling children flippantly say “I’m sorry” to each other.

When you’re working through a situation, don’t try to work through problems or offenses involved by text or email. Communication is far more complex than words. We can infer our own emotions, tones, and perceptions when we read something from someone else and miss the true intentions shared.

While the Bible doesn’t directly address this specifically, it can be inferred. I can confidently write that because every time we see confrontation in Scripture, we see it as “Go to your brother.” Jesus never said, “Write him a letter.”

Also, if the other person isn’t a believer, don’t expect them to operate at the same standard as you; That’s a false expectation. As a follower, if you’ve crossed boundaries, here are three essential phrases:

• “I was wrong.” (Acknowledge that you made a mistake.)

• “I’m sorry.” (Acknowledge you caused sorrow and pain.)

• “Will you forgive me?” (Give them ownership to move toward reconciliation.)

The Anglican pastor and poet George Herbert wrote, “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”

4) Getting In Touch With My Weakness In Order to Build My Faith

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord 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.’” Luke 17:5-6

The disciples said, “Increase our faith,” which means they were stretched beyond their comfort zone and needed help crossing the finish line. These are wise words that we should be willing to apply to our own lives, too.

The disciples acknowledged their weakness and expressed concern that they may be unable to live unto that standard. They saw how hard it’d be to accept responsibility for:

• Not causing others to sin.

• Giving a private, loving rebuke when appropriate.

• Giving unlimited forgiveness to others.

Their response wasn’t to give up, instead they asked for more faith. Jesus responded, and I’m transliterating, “If you do these things, you will see remarkable results.”

As a reminder, the church is not a crowd. That’s not how the church is defined, but in Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church.” I share this because if we build people our way, we will get people-centered results. However, if we build people God’s way, we will get God-sized results. And I lovingly remind you that a church is only as strong as her disciples, so there’s strength in getting in touch with my weakness to build my faith.

5) Guarding My Heart Against Pride and Taking on the Nature of a Servant

In the original Greek, Jesus started the parable from our passage by saying, “Can any of you imagine…” I can hear the disciples saying amongst themselves, “No, this is very hard to imagine, Jesus!” He then shared the following parable:

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at my table?’ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink?’ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10

The point of this parable is simple: A servant does not get special praise from his master for doing his job. The statement means, “My master does not owe me anything extra.” The fact that Jesus will reward His servants is wholly a matter of God’s grace. We don’t deserve anything because we have obeyed and served Him. The servant shouldn’t expect praise for doing things they’re responsible for. Disciples have specific responsibilities that they’re to fulfill in humility as God’s unworthy servants.

The word translated as “unprofitable” means “without need,” that is, nobody owes him anything. Even the rewards we get from the Lord are pure grace! He doesn’t “owe” them to us because we have only done our duty.

This begs the question: What is the proper attitude for Christian service?

• “…Doing the will of God from the heart…” Ephesians 6:6

• “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15

• “His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3

Ultimately, serving God is a delight, not just a duty, and we obey Him because we love Him. As the Psalmist said, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart (Psalm 40:8).”

I’ve never stayed in a Ritz-Carlton, but I know that their hospitality is unparalleled. Long before Chick-fil-A began saying, “My pleasure,” after every order, the Ritz-Carlton was known for its attention to service and for serving its guests unlike any other hotel.

But dear reader, I want to remind you that you’re not on this planet to be served. You’re here to serve God and as someone redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that when you come to Christ, there’s a sense in which you’re not even your own any longer because you belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Out of a lens of sensitivity and responsiveness to God, we have the opportunity to steward the things of God in a way that Jesus builds His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ and what He’s done receives forgiveness of all sins and is reconciled to a holy and loving God so that you’re made new in this life right now and into eternity. This takes humility and is the start of not only the transformation of our own hearts but also of others’ lives.

TL;DR

1. In Luke 17:1-10, Jesus imparts profound lessons on humility, including:

   1. Urging believers to avoid causing others to sin

   2. Offering loving rebukes

   3. Practicing forgiveness,

   4. Acknowledging weakness to build faith

   5. Embracing a servant’s heart.

2. These principles not only transform individual lives but also foster spiritual growth and community well-being.

Related Reading

How to Forgive Those Who’ve Hurt You by Rev. Paul Lawler

How to Move Mountains with Prayer by Rev. Paul Lawler

How to Meet With Jesus by William Merriman