Then ten of Joseph s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

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1 SER September Joseph and Reunion FORGIVENESS TEXT: Genesis 42:3-8, 13-15, 21-24, 43:19-26 SUBJECT: Being able to forgive THEME: Forgiveness means trusting in God to do whatever He will. PURPOSE: To open up people s hearts to forgiveness and restoration. Have you ever had one of those experiences where you thought you were over something, and then it all comes flooding back on you when you least expect it? Joseph has it made. He is now the second in command of the entire nation of Egypt. He has power; he has wealth; he has a wife and children; he has the respect of everyone who works for him. What more could he need? But then, the story changes: ***************** Then ten of Joseph s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. During all of this time, did Joseph think about his family? For all he knew, his father could be dead. His brothers don t like him, and the scriptures never indicate that Joseph had the slightest interest in going back to the land of Canaan. If he had wanted to, he certainly could have he had a chariot and was high up in government. He had the resources to do anything he chose. But he never did. He buckled down and worked hard he made a life for himself down in Egypt. Things were going great. ***************** And then, his brothers show up. The scriptures say that they did not recognize him when they saw him, but he knew them at once.

2 That makes sense. Ten brothers coming down from Canaan, all speaking Aramaic. They were adults at the time they betrayed him, and he was just a kid. He would remember them. They had no reason to recognize him. The Jewish midrash, a collection of stories and legends of Judaism, says that the brothers did look for Joseph when they came to Egypt, but they went to the houses of ill repute expecting to find him there. There s no evidence of that it s just myth and stories but it does show how the LAST place they would ever expect to find him, if he was still alive, would be in the palace in charge of all food! Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. Where do you come from? he asked. From the land of Canaan, they replied, to buy food. 8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. But they replied, Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more. ******** Now what kind of emotions are going through Joseph right now? One is no more? They won t say, He s dead, they won t say, We sold him as a slave ; he is just one is no more. If you ve had a bad breakup, or an abusive relationship, once you re out of it you start to move on with your life. You may never truly forget everything that happened to you, but as time goes on it starts to

3 hurt less and less, until you no longer think about it every day and you start to return to some kind of normalcy. But what happens when you suddenly hear that person s voice behind you, or you think that you catch a glimpse of them across a room? Your stomach turns to ice; you start to tremble; those old feelings come rushing over you and suddenly you re right back in those old places and feeling the same terror you once felt. Joseph is now the SECOND MOST IMPORTANT MAN IN ALL OF EGYPT, and suddenly he feels fear! What his brothers did to him, that old abuse that he thought he had long buried and forgotten, comes rising out of the grave and freezes him on the spot! Those ghosts of the past will continue to haunt us until we find a way to exorcise them out of our lives. ************** What does Joseph do? He doesn t want to give himself away. Our normal human reaction at this point would be vengeance take them out and throw them into prison and throw away the key! But Joseph has changed. We ve seen it in the past few weeks. Joseph is not the child that he was. He has made a commitment to his God to live a life of fruitfulness and integrity. Break for a minute how many times does Joseph have to be tested?!? On the road from Canaan he decided to change his life. d_potiphar's_wife.jpg/220px-joseph_and_potiphar's_wife.jpg

4 While serving in Potiphar s house he put his new plan into action, and it worked well for a while. But then he got waylaid by Potiphar s wife and lied about and thrown into prison. That was the first test of his resolve. So he recommitted himself. He worked for the good of the jail warden and the other prisoners. It started paying off. The jailer and the other prisoners trusted him, and he was able to help some of them. He helped the chief cupbearer who was able to get out and go back to his life. But he forgot about Joseph. The second test of Joseph s resolve another two years in prison.

5 But then came Pharaoh s dreams and Joseph was given another opportunity to do good. He was explicit in his words to Pharaoh- I cannot tell you the answer, but God can. And Pharaoh is impressed, and makes Joseph his chief-of-staff. k/ahvvqye2l64/s1600/pharaoh+promotes+joseph.jpg This is another test of Joseph s resolve now not being tested by frustration, but by success. What will Joseph do? He behaves faithfully. For seven years he works hard and is able to do good throughout the land, and even for the lands beyond theirs. Then the hard times come, but Joseph has planned well and there is plenty of food. *********** And now comes this test one that Joseph never expected. What is he going to do with his brothers? He tests them- he has changed over the past 25 years have they? 14 Joseph said to them, It is just as I told you: You are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 21 They said to one another, Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us

6 for his life, but we would not listen; that s why this distress has come on us. 22 Reuben replied, Didn t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood. 23 They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. Joseph now sees his brothers hearts. I don t think that he knew even up until this time that there had ever been dissension among his brothers! He probably thought that they all hated him, and that it was a universal decision to try to destroy his life! But now he hears them, their remorse and sorrow for how their sins. Reuben even reminds them that he warned them against the plan to start with! Joseph is so touched that 24 He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. ******** I ll let you read the rest of the story yourself there are some more interesting things that happen there. But for now I feel that we need to stop and evaluate our own commitment to the God that we serve. Sometimes when we make a decision, we forget why we made it. At one point, my life was all based on me. It was on how I could get things for ME and make ME feel better. But one day I reset my moral compass. I decided that I wasn t a good enough judge of the universe to trust myself with the direction for my own life. So I decided to commit my life to serving Jesus and following Him wherever He wanted to lead me.

7 Rick Warren talks about it like a GPS on a boat. If you ve seen one of those, they re tied in to the navigation system so that you can set the coordinates and the boat will take off in the direction you want and you don t have to do anything but keep an eye out for other ships! But let s say you want to change directions you could physically take hold of the wheel and turn it to the new direction but what s going to happen if you haven t turned the GPS off? The boat is going to fight you. You can probably hold onto it for a while, but eventually you are going to get tired and let go and the boat will go right back to its old course. What you need to do is Reset your GPS. Reset your moral compass. And the way to do that is to say, Jesus, I m done with trying to control my life. It hasn t taken me where I thought I d be. Today I surrender my life to You. Please take over my life. That s the sinner s pray, short and simple. I said that prayer (or a prayer like it) 36 years ago when I gave my life to Christ. I haven t always been successful. My resolve was constantly tested. At first, it was easy I was excited and I had a whole bunch of friends in my youth group who had made the decision with me. But time went on I went back to school, and the attitudes and the situations of the rest of the kids in my school hadn t changed. They still expected me to be the same old Billy that I was when they had seen me last. The same old smart remarks; the same old cut-downs; the same offcolor jokes; and I felt myself being drawn back into my old life. It was very lonely but God provided some other Christian friends who helped me out. They reminded me of my decision to follow Christ, and to change my life to honor Him. At the same time, I was helping

8 them we made a small group (although we didn t know that s what it was at the time!). We committed ourselves to loving each other and holding each other accountable to growing in Christ. When temptations arise, you need faithful people in your life to help you to see how God can be honored by your actions. Whether you are tempted by failure or success, you were not meant to face it alone. You can t face it alone. You need other people to help you walk. Joseph remembers his promise to God to always be faithful. Surely his brothers don t deserve forgiveness, but Joseph s devotion to God is more important to him that gratifying his own feelings. He gives up revenge, and tests them to see what kind of people they have become. Are you willing to give those who have hurt you a fair trial? Are you willing to surrender your right to hurt them, in order that God might heal them? I want to tell you right now that this is one of the deepest parts of our faith the decision to forgive. And many times we don t even know that we need to forgive until it smacks us right in the face. This poem was found on the wall in Mother Teresa s room in the Calcutta Sisters of Mercy - People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

9 What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. Whom is God going to put into your path this week that you need to forgive? I hope you are surprised this week. I hope and pray that you are caught completely off-guard and have to make an immediate gutcheck with your emotions. And I hope and pray that you will remember the message that God has given us this week, that Forgiveness means trusting in God to do whatever He will. Not what I want; not to get vengeance; but to say, Lord, I give them to You. Whatever You decide, I will do my best to love them as You do.