The Preacher's Diary

FORGIVENESS – Series 7

February 23, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

The Trespass of Brethren (Chapter 6: pp 63-77)

An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. – Proverbs 18:19, New Living Translation

Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside. – Arabic proverb

Exploited Kisses

Some trespasses are harder to forgive or forget, because they come from “brethren,” from people who sit with us, eat with us, live with us under the same roof; members of the same sworn team, or children of the same Father. That was what Joseph faced: “the trespass of thy brethren.” Those were not just “brethren,” they were “THY brethren,” his own blood brothers. That is what sometimes makes it worse: “thy brethren” – in their plural number against your singular self; in their malicious majority against your defenceless minority; in their conspiratorial unity against your voiceless innocence: “thy brethren.” Jesus was betrayed by one whom He called a “friend” (Matthew 26:50), one who exploited the lovely language of a kiss to betray his Master (Luke 22:48).

Forgiveness – Series 6

February 15, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Chapter 5 (pp. 51-62)

Horizontal and Vertical Breaches

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. – Luke 10:27

Trespasses and Sins

A trespass might not always be a sin. Sometimes, however, sin could result from a trespass. By “trespass” here is meant sin against a person, and by “sin” is meant trespass against God. (You must be wondering what strange ‘dictionary’ this is.) Trespasses are committed against fellow humans, and sin against God. When the brothers of Joseph had the chance to meet him and address their regretted past, they confessed to both “trespass” (against Joseph) and “sin” (against God), but the trespass before the sin.

Forgiveness – Series 5

February 6, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Chapter 4 (pp. 47-50)

Trespass or Offence?

So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. – Genesis 50:17

According to the passage above, there are two actors and one factor in the matter of forgiveness. The two actors are the trespasser and the trespassed; the one factor is the trespass that connects the actors. One ‘actor’ is essentially passive, being merely a recipient, but an actor all the same, as a character in the narrative – a character in the actions and responses defining the offence.

SHINE YOUR SHINE…

January 30, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

I once heard a preacher say a pidgin parable that hadn’t made much sense to me until now: “Shine your shine, let me shine my shine.” The underlying message was, there is enough space in the universe for each star to ‘shine their shine’ without competing with or feeling threatened by the other. When God put the lights in space, this is what was said:

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also (Genesis 1:16).

According to the Maker, the sun and moon are both “great lights”; all the same, one light is “greater,” and the other is called “the lesser light.” In other words, all great lights don’t shine the same; all greatness is not the same greatness, yet no greatness should threaten or be threatened by the greatness of the other. Each light stays in its lane, shining its own light without an effort to outshine the other.

FORGIVENESS – Series 4

January 30, 2025January 30, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Chapter 3 (pp. 37-46)

Costly Offences

Get what start the sinner may, Retribution, for all her lame leg, never quits his track. – Horace
Punishment is justice for the unjust. – Saint Augustine

Contraband Cargo

Offences might be inevitable, which does not excuse the agent through whom they come. Offences might be inevitable, yet they do not bless the one who grants them a passage. Jesus prophesied that the love of many would wax cold in the last days because iniquity would abound (Matthew 24:12), yet it does not exonerate the one who commits iniquity in apparent ‘fulfilment’ of that prediction. It had been prophesied that Jesus would die for the sins of the world, but it was never said that he would be blessed who became Satan’s tool for that condition to the Son of God.

WHEN YOUR ENEMY IS A SERVANT OF GOD

January 25, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

The Ordination and Introduction

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 8:31. But the other side of the coin is, if God be against us, who can defend us? That was the ponderous proposal with which Eli confronted his sinning stubborn priestly sons (1 Samuel 2:25). They had no answer.

In Jeremiah 27:6, God introduced King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as “my servant.” That is an honourable title generally reserved for priests, pastors, and preachers. We call them servants of God, sometimes the “Man of God” (MOG) or the “Woman of God” (WOG) (Psalm 134:1; Titus 1:1; Revelation 10:7; James 1:1). Wasn’t God making a mistake by ascribing that hallowed title to a heartless heathen king? If that were even a Cyrus, who supported the restoration of the Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of the temple, we would understand, but a vicious Nebuchadnezzar! Hmmm…

FORGIVENESS – (Series 3)

January 24, 2025 by The Preacher's Diary

Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one, makes you even with him; forgiving it sets you above him. – Nylic Review

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing and be nothing. – Elbert Hubbard

Sure Offences

Trespasses and offences are inevitable on this side of living. It takes dying to feel no more pain. According to Jesus the great Jewish teacher, “There will always be temptations” (Luke 17:1, Living Bible). The King James Version (KJV) says, “It is impossible” for offences to not “come.” In other words, even if you raised your holy fence so high against offences, and did not go looking for them, they could still “come” over to you in your peaceful house, in your cosy office, in the holy sanctuary; they could “come” to you far up in the sky, out in the lonely desert, at sea, or on land; they could “come” to you anywhere, in multiple shapes and sizes, and times without notice.