Genesis 46:31-34

31 And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s entire family, “I will go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s entire family have come to me from the land of Canaan. 32 These men are shepherds, and they raise livestock. They have brought with them their flocks and herds and everything they own.’”33 Then he said, “When Pharaoh calls for you and asks you about your occupation, 34 you must tell him, ‘We, your servants, have raised livestock all our lives, as our ancestors have always done.’ When you tell him this, he will let you live here in the region of Goshen, for the Egyptians despise shepherds.”

Genesis 47:5-6; 11-12

5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 6 and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock. ”So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.

Family is what many of us consider to be the closest bond on earth, where we are supposed to experience love, protection and acceptance. Yet for Joseph his experience was one of heartache, being sold into slavery by his family.  For over 10 years he has been alone and now as God brings them back into his life we get to see how he will respond. Instead of a payback, we see him interceding for them with Pharaoh because they have a problem; they are foreigners and shepherds, an abomination to the Egyptians. On their own, his family has no hope because of who they are, shepherds. But because Joseph intercedes for them, these despised strangers end up with:

• A Place in the best part of the land (vs.11)
• Provision of all the food they need (vs.12)
• Power- their brother is a ruler in Egypt
• Purpose- Pharaoh has put them in charge of his own livestock (vs.6).

We, like Joseph’s family, have a problem. We are sinners, despised strangers, and on our own without someone to intercede for us, we have no hope. Our Joseph is Jesus Christ, who suffered even more than Joseph so we could be saved. Just as God sent Joseph ahead through all the pain to intercede for his family, God sent Jesus to intercede for us. When we accept the free gift of forgiveness we can become a part of God’s family. We are no longer the despised strangers but the ones that God gives a place, provision, power and purpose.

PLACE/PROPERTY

This world is not our home but God has prepared a place for us and like Joseph’s family who were given property in the best part of the land God has prepared the best for us, He does not give us junk.

Hebrews 10:34 “You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.”

PROVISION

Joseph’s family came out of a famine and into a feast. They needed food to sustain them, to help them grow and Joseph provided exactly what they needed because he knew them, he knew how many of them there were. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Jesus knows what we need to grow and he provides it, the question is what are we filling ourselves with? Are we consuming what He has provided or are we trying to feed ourselves stumbling around in the famine of what this world has to offer only to go hungry? God gives us the provision of everything we need. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Who is meeting your needs, who are you looking to for your provision?

POWER

Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When we become a part of God’s family we receive His power, like Joseph’s brothers whose power did not come through their own effort or work but because they were connected to Joseph, they were part of the family.

In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul says, “I pray…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great POWER for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion…” (Ephesians 1:18-21).

Even though Joseph had incredible power, it is nothing compared to God’s resurrection power that is available to us. Yet do we understand what that power can do, are we willing to really plug into that power? Change only comes when we submit to His power at work within us. Ephesians 3:20 says, “He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Whose power are you doing life in?

PURPOSE

For many, finding purpose in life seems daunting. We are often overworked, stressed out, financially limited, emotionally drained and generally in a state of unrest. There are countless books, DVDs, and CDs to help people try every known way of looking for a purpose in life, and yet it continues to elude many. One of a Christian’s main purposes in life is to Go. Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” We are called to serve, to interceded for others, we can’t save them but we can lead them to the Savior. Joseph’s brothers were no longer just homeless wonders in charge of their own livestock but now they have been put in charge of the king’s livestock. What are you living for? What herds are you shepherding, your own or the kings?

Genesis 45: 1-5

Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. 2 Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace. 3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 4 4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

Now we come to what I believe to be the hardest area to serve others through and that is forgiveness. This is why Jesus came, to serve, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45. As sinners we need forgiveness and in giving His life for us Jesus served us through forgiveness. Forgiveness is at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian; forgiveness is where we see both the practical and theological collide into one. But true forgiveness comes at a cost and does not just happen, it has to be pursued intentionally. God had a plan, Jesus was intentionally born into this world, he intentionally pursues us and was willing to pay the price. Jesus knew what was on the other end of pursuing forgiveness, the cross, it was ugly and painful but He intentionally chose the cross when He chose to forgive us. The question comes, are we willing to pay the price will we intentionally pursue forgiveness? Jesus, when speaking of forgiveness, uses the image of debts to describe the nature of sins Matt. 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” which is interesting because when someone wrongs us there is an overwhelming sense that the wrongdoer owes us, because the wrong has created a debt. When we are wronged we feel a need to make the other person pay for that debt. Often our way of making people pay is destructive, we try to hurt them externally, physically we lash out, verbally yelling at them, emotionally by make them feel bad, or internally we hope that something bad happens to them. Once they have suffered in some measurable way we feel that the debt has been paid and they are free. This sense of debt and need to pay seems impossible to escape, yet here is where the gift of forgiveness enters. Forgiveness means giving up the right to seek repayment from the one who harmed you. This goes against the nature of debt, and here is why I believe many of us refuse to forgive, because it must be recognized that the debt doesn’t just go away, it still has to be paid. If we talk about monetary debts, regardless of whether the debt is national or personal, it has to be paid. Our national debt is a little overwhelming, even if it is a great picture of our sin, so we will leave that analogy for another blog and for now we will think about a personal debt.  Let’s say, in a carless moment, you throw a rock and break my window which costs $200; your careless act creates a debt of $200. If you hand over the money to replace the window, I get a new window and you’re out $200 because you paid the debt. What happens if I bring in the gift of forgiveness, does the debt disappear?  No, what happens is that I absorb the cost because I pay the $200 to fix it or I deal with the bugs or rain that come into my house, one way or another I pay the price. Why don’t we like forgiveness? Because to forgive means we cancel a debt by paying it and absorbing it ourselves. The debt always has to be paid by someone; the hard truth is that forgiveness is a voluntary form of suffering. When others are sinned against, they lose something, happiness, reputation, mental stability, a relationship, a job or opportunity.

There are really only two things we can do about a sin done to us. Make them pay or forgive.

Sin always creates suffering, Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers, he was sold into slavery, he suffered and he had two choices, make his brothers suffer or forgive. Forgiveness is always hard because it is always costly, emotionally it can be very expensive, Joseph wept and not just a tear or two but so loudly that those who were not in the same room could hear him. When wrong is done there is a debt and forgiving others means that we will personally incur the debt in at least two ways:

• One, refuse to hurt the person directly, Joseph refused to be vengeful, he didn’t try to pay his brothers back by inflicting pain on them. Instead of bringing pain he brought peace. This is hard to do and we have to be consciously aware of the subtle ways that we try to exact payment while pretending that we aren’t. By making cutting remarks or dragging out past hurts, being harder on those who have wronged us, being more demanding or controlling, being cold by avoiding and ignoring. When we do these things we are only pretending to forgive because really we are still trying to make them pay. Joseph instead invited his brothers to come closer.

•  Second, refuse to hurt them indirectly; this takes two forms, external and internal.

A.)   Externally we use slander and gossip, or as we like to call it in our socially sophisticated society “spin”.  Often we turn here when we can’t directly hurt others or we are the passive aggressive type. We know we should not slander and gossip so we have created several sneaky vehicles that we try to use to get around this road block. We run over those who have hurt us using the bus of pretending to warning others about them.  Sometimes in our attempt to seeking sympathy and support we purposely run them over in sharing our hurt. What did Joseph do? He removed everyone else from the room and dealt directly with his brothers.

B.)    Internally we like to indulge in ill-will in our hearts, we have all the wrongs on instant replay and many times they are on a continual loop playing in our minds.  This only leads to a continued sense of loss where we keep the hurt fresh so we can stay actively hostile toward the person. The Internal always becomes external at some point. I don’t think that Joseph had spent the last 13years reliving his hurts playing the scenes over and over in his mind, instead he had been busy serving. Hurt in our life has the power to derail our lives and take us in destructive directions. Instead of staying in the lane that God has for us we become preoccupied with our hurt. We become the distracted driver, who instead of driving gets side tracked by playing the hurt over and over in our mind. Instead of keeping our eyes on God and the road ahead, we focus on our hurts and in our distraction we drift out of God’s lane only to swerve into oncoming traffic. Even in the inevitable head on collision and the resulting hurt we will blame that on the one who originally hurt us. The problem is that nursing our personal pain always leads to more pain. It’s easy to vilify or demonize the offende,r especially in our imagination, but what happens when I admit the common sinful humanity I share with them. Joseph didn’t vilify his brothers, instead, he forgave.

I think forgiveness is a commitment to refrain from trying to make others pay, Josephs focus was not on his personal pain and making others pay but God’s amazing grace “It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.”  Though it is extremely difficult and painful and you are bearing the cost of the sin, your focus has to remain on God and his work in and through your life. Joseph doesn’t just recognize God’s ability to work in his life but he recognizes what God wants to do through his life when he says God’s plan was to preserve his brothers. In living out God’s plan Joseph allows the grace and mercy of God to be displayed not only to his brothers but to a waiting and watching world. For me this is the hardest part of the story, God wants to preserve, to save the ones who caused Joseph the pain. If He used Joseph to do this doesn’t He want to use me? This doesn’t seem fair but by bearing the cost of the sin, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus Colossians 3:13 “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Look to the cross and you see God forgiving us but you also see His suffering, the nails, thorns, sweat and blood; forgiveness costs. Why do we shy away, even refuse to Serve through forgiveness, because it’s hard, because its serving that leads to suffering and we are only comfortable with one side of that coin, the side where Jesus suffers for us. What are you going to do with the other side of the coin, the side where you serve? Just as it did in Joseph’s life, forgiveness will deepen your character and free your walk, what will you choose?