Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 17, 2022: SOAP #4428:  Genesis 42-43; Psalm 5; Luke 17
(Reworked SOAP from January 17, 2010)

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 17:3 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.”  

OBSERVATION: Does Jesus say that the person who does the offence should repent?  Yes, but that is not the message in this passage.  Jesus is not speaking to the one offending, but to the one offended.  Notice, Jesus did not say “watch them,” but “…watch yourselves.”  This is what to do when your brother sins against you. 

The emphasis is not on what the offender should do, but on what the offended should do.   The offended is not to evaluate the sincerity of the apology.  (How could someone be sincere if they repent seven times!)  If the offender can return seven times, obviously the offended party did not cut off any contact.  In this verse, The Great Forgiver is telling the offended to forgive!  

APPLICATION:  Without forgiveness, things can never be settled.  As mercy triumphs over justice, so forgiveness triumphs over offence.  Nothing can change what has happened.  There is no way to go back and do it differently.  Acknowledgment and repentance may settle the issue in the heart of the offender, but only forgiveness can settle it in the heart of the offended.

Forgiveness does not have to be requested, or even acknowledged, to be given.  This is not forgiveness requiring a promise of future perfection.  This is not forgiveness that holds a grudge.  (How would I like for God to hold a grudge against me?) Forgiveness flows from a forgiven heart. 

PRAYER:  Lord, if there is anyone in the universe who knows about forgiveness, it is You!  You told us to request forgiveness from you in the same way we forgive others.   Let my forgiveness of others show how much I need, appreciate, and value your forgiveness.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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