Penitence

So far we have covered the Promise, the Perfection, and the Procession. We have learned a lot about the Christian walk from the way God has been dealing with Joseph and the way that Joseph responds.

Today we are going to talk about the next “P” which is Penitence. Penitence is interchangeable with repentance.

Penitence has two elements: Sorrow over your own sin, and a change of direction.

We will look at the idea of Penitence as it is illustrated in the relationship dynamic between Joseph and his brothers as he is reunited with them for the first time since they betrayed him & sold him into slavery and suffering.

We will learn the role of wrongdoing and penitence in our relationships with each other and with God.

We will learn

What are the two kinds of Penitence?

Why is Penitence necessary? (Relationship/Personal healing)

Why do we resist Penitence? (change)

How does God lead us to Penitence?

How can we embrace Penitence for healthy relationships with God and others?

So let’s get to the story.

1. Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt.

Genesis 42 -- The famine affects Jacob and the family, so he sends his sons to buy grain from Egypt. He sends all except Benjamin, the youngest, who is Jacob's new favorite. When they arrive in Egypt, they encounter Joseph, who is overseeing the buying and selling of grain. He recognizes his brothers, but they don’t recognize him. Joseph immediately begins to put the screws to them, and calls them spies. They protest the accusation and blurt out their story, revealing that they have a brother at home. Joseph detains them for three days, saying that they must send one brother to go and retrieve their other brother to corroborate their story.

On the third day, Joseph tells them that instead, they can leave one brother behind while the rest go to retrieve Benjamin. As they leave Simeon behind, they say this to each other.

Genesis 42:21–22 NLT

21 Speaking among themselves, they said, “Clearly we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in this trouble.” 22 “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?” Reuben asked. “But you wouldn’t listen. And now we have to answer for his blood!”

They have been carrying this guilt around for over a decade, and they quickly and accurately figure out that this is God’s reckoning for the horrible thing they did.

Joseph had their bags filled with grain, and secretly returns their money inside the bags. On the way home, one of the brothers discovers the money in his bag and says,

Genesis 42:28 NLT

28 “Look!” he exclaimed to his brothers. “My money has been returned; it’s here in my sack!” Then their hearts sank. Trembling, they said to each other, “What has God done to us?”

In their guilt and fear, all they see is God’s wrath everywhere.

They get home and tell Jacob what happened. Jacob refuses to allow them to take Benjamin even though Reuben swears on his own sons lives that he will bring Benjamin back alive. Jacob has most likely reached his limit… losing Benjamin on top of Joseph would kill him.

Let’s look at the two types of sorrow in the Bible.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

Write this down…

The two types of sorrow are Godly Sorrow and Worldly sorrow.

Godly sorrow includes empathy, responsibility and change.

Godly sorrow leads to a change of the heart.

Worldly sorrow leads to death.

Worldly sorrow is sorrow over the negative consequences of what you did. It’s self indulgent and selfish in nature.

Godly sorrow is what I mean when I say, Penitence.

Now these brothers, obviously feel sorrow (worldly sorrow) for what they have done, but it’s mainly over the negative consequences they are experiencing rather than sorrow for what they actually did. Their sorrow is because of the punishment they are getting from God. That’s why they said, “what has God done to us?”

Joseph’s brothers had over 10 years to take responsibility and confess the truth of what they had done to their father. But, instead, they kept their secret, unwilling to accept the consequences. Now, they are obviously racked with guilt, but it doesn’t seem to be guilt that is moving them towards penitence, but it’s guilt over what’s happening to them.

Worldly guilt is an unproductive guilt that fills one with fear of retribution.

Worldly guilt festers and does nothing to correct behavior. We, like these brothers have to go through a heart change.

They like we, must move from sorrow to responsibility.

So, why does Joseph begin calling his brothers spies instead of revealing himself to them? Instead, Jospeh shows himself as their enemy, because he knows that you cannot heal a wound until you have opened it and cleaned out all of the infection.

The wound has festered because they have avoided confronting their sin. Write this down.

You cannot resolve sin without acknowledging and confronting the truth.

Time doesn’t fix it… time cannot remove the stain. Joseph knows the horrific thing they did to him. He knows their sin must be revealed and confronted before they can be healed… no matter how painful it might be.

Joseph wants two things.

He wants his brothers to be healed.

He wants their relationship to the healed.

So he is leading them towards Penitence (Empathy, Responsibility & Change).

It’s the goodness of Joseph that is leading them to repentance, just like it’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

When we sin against others, WE are damaged. Look at Joseph’s brothers. They are fearful, insecure, petty and sad. When we sin, and are damaged by sin, we can’t be fully healed until we enter the path of empathy, responsibility and change. Penitence is necessary for personal healing.

When a relationship is damaged by sin, it cannot be restored without empathy, responsibility and change.

We can have surface relationships where we never mention the issues and never confront them. But this will never lead to true intimacy, friendship or fellowship. Jospeh wants real reconciliation with his brothers, and he knows this can only happen if they are forced to confront the reality of what they have done, and given a chance to take responsibility and seek change.

Let me ask,

Do you have any relationships that are in need of empathy, responsibility, and change? Is there some kind of deception or wrong doing? Your relationship will remain infected until these things come out into the open.

2. Josephs brothers return to Egypt.

Genesis 43 -- Ultimately, the famine forces Jacob to reconsider. Judah promises to take personal responsibility to bring Benjamin back safely, and they go to Egypt with gifts and double the money to pay for more grain. Remember, Judah was the one who had the idea to sell Joseph into slavery instead of killing him. Now he is the sworn protector of Benjamin, and will be tested to see if he will put Benjamin’s welfare before his own, which is what he failed to do with Joseph.

Joseph receives them, releases Simeon to them, and invites them to come to his house to dine with him. The brothers are fearful, thinking he's setting them up for some sort of ambush. Instead, Joseph's servants receive them into the home and wash their feet and take care of them.

When Joseph comes, the brothers bow, and Joseph asks questions about the welfare of Jacob. When Joseph sees Benjamin, he gets emotional and has to leave the room to weep.

Can you imagine how strange it must have been for the brothers to see all of Joseph's unexplainable behavior! Sometimes he's emotional, sometimes accusatory, sometimes kind.

But through all his joy and pain, Joseph sticks to his plan to reveal their hearts and invite them into a posture of Penitence.

Ultimately they all sit down to eat, Joseph with the Egyptians, and the brothers set apart, since it was an abomination for Egyptians to eat with Hebrews.

Joseph makes sure that Benjamin's meal portion is five times the size of his brothers.

God is the architect of this process.

Do you see how he used the famine to force the issue? As much as the family would like to avoid Egypt, their own survival depended on them making another trip to Egypt… but with Benjamin this time. God will always cause what is done in the dark to be exposed in the light.

What’s done in darkness will be brought into the light

Jospeh’s desire is to be restored to his family, but it's not as simple as letting bygones be bygones, as much as he might want it to be that way. There are still trials and tests of the heart yet to be had, in order for true reconciliation to become possible.

Remember, it’s the goodness of God that draws people to repentance. Too often, we want to sweep things under the rug and avoid the discomfort of confronting our wrongdoing or the wrongdoing of others. But God will orchestrate circumstances to force us to confront these things.

For these brothers, it was a global famine.

God wanted these brothers to be healed from their sins, not just forgiven. And that requires Penitence, empathy, responsibility, and change.

God also wants the relationship with Joseph to be healed, which also requires penitence. Even Joseph, the victim, must be willing to sit inside this painful situation… a situation that he would probably prefer to avoid. Perpetrator or victim… neither can heal unless they confront it.

3. Joseph is testing his brothers.

Genesis 44 -- Now comes the climax to this section of scripture. Joseph forces the true colors of his brothers to be revealed; whether or not they are truly willing to take responsibility and make a change. He forces them into a situation where they will have a chance to abandon Benjamin, the way they abandoned Joseph, or sacrificially protect him.

After the meal, Joseph sends them home with all the grain they can carry, and all their money back. But he also has a servant plant Joseph’s special silver cup inside of Benjamin’s sack. Will the brothers betray Benjamin, like they betrayed Joseph all those years ago? In order for there to ever be trust between Joseph and his brothers, Joseph has to see a measure of change, responsibility, and virtue from them.

Joseph’s men ride after the brothers, and ask them why they have repaid evil for good and stolen from him. The brothers, unaware of the cup in Benjamin’s sack, insist that they have not stolen anything, and even go so far as to say that if the cup is found with any of them, then that person will die and the rest will be servants.

Joseph’s men search the sacks and find the cup inside of Benjamin’s sack. Tearing their clothes with grief, they all head back to Joseph’s house together.

This is where something miraculous happens.

Genesis 44:16 NLT

16 Judah answered, “Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we explain this? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves—all of us, not just our brother who had your cup in his sack.”

Rather than trying to clear himself or justify what happened, Judah takes responsibility for something that he didn’t do. He said, God is punishing us for our sins… That is a responsibility statement. He is saying, “God has uncovered the kind of people we are… whether we did this or not, we are criminals for what we have already done. At this moment, Juda stops running away from the sins of his past, and takes responsibility, refusing to let any of his brothers to be separated from it.

Joseph keeps applying the pressure, saying that he will not allow all of the brothers to suffer for what one brother did. Joseph said he will keep only Benjamin, and the rest can go home.

It’s getting good. Judah, the same person who traded Joseph, his brother, for money, is now willing to trade his own life for his little brother’s life.

The process has done it’s work and created an opportunity for a changed heart.

If you remember, Jospeh’s brothers made him a sacrifice for their own selfishness, envy and vindictiveness. The sold Joseph into slavery. They they hid this horrible sin for more than 15 years.

Despite that, there is nothing revengeful in Joseph’s dealings with them. This is not punishment or retribution. This is the path to authentic relationship which requires Penitence. Joseph is God’s tool to drag his brothers into repentance.

Now, it does look a little like some retribution or punishment, but it’s not, it’s love.

All of these events have been God’s invitation, thorough Joseph, for the brothers to enter into Penitence (empathy, responsibility, and change) so that they can be restored, and their relationships be restored.

The highlight of this part of the story is when Judah, the one who sold Joseph, offers himself in Benjamin’s place. That’s huge. This tremendously scary and uncomfortable process has finally produced godly sorrow that is working to take responsibility and produce change in Judah. Judah is being healed from the heavy burden of guilt and shame he has been carrying.

He says, God has found out the guilt of your servants. In so doing, he claims responsibility for past sins, properly giving credit to God for revealing it the very thing that they had been hiding for years.

Sorrow has become responsibility, and responsibility has led to the fruit of a changed response. When tested, Judah no longer acts out of envy and hatred. He acts out of protection and sacrifice. Instead of saying, “Let's sell Joseph into slavery" or "Let's leave Benjamin behind,” he says, “Take me instead."

This is the very heart of Penitence that God is both requiring and empowering. Praise God, who is able to pull us out of our shame and avoidance and into a more abundant life of forgiveness and responsibility.

But understand this, what has been in the dark must come into the light. The past must be confronted, wrongdoing must be confessed. The truth sets us free, even if it feels like a train wreck.

Through this story, God is revealing his intense desire for repentance and reconciliation.

Sometimes God's dealings with us don't look like or feel like love, especially the ways he allows us to experience the consequences of our own sin in order to bring us to repentance. It may feel like God is dragging us through the mud.

But it is love. It is love. Love desires its object to be whole and healthy. Love desires the relationship to be whole and healthy. Neither of these things can be whole and healthy if we hide our sin and become slaves to fear.

What kind of God would reward us for being deceitful or phony? Our God does not. If we want real peace in our hearts, real vitality, real boldness, real intimacy in our relationships, there is no way around this: we must be willing to admit the truth. We must be willing to confront our own sin. We must be willing to walk in the light. We must embrace repentance.

It is the goodness of God, it is the righteousness of God, and it is the love of God that leads us to repentance.

example of someone who was a slave to fear and how they got free

Conclusion

It is the relentless goodness of God that wars against Joseph's brothers, and opposes the status quo that they had accepted in their lives. They might never have confronted their horrific sin against Joseph if God hadn't forced the issue through a global famine and the willingness of Joseph to do what needed to be done.

Even in the most uncomfortable and seemingly cruel stages of this process, it was always the goodness of God that was leading them to wholeness: Personal wholeness and relational restoration.

God shows that he is zealous for our healing. He will go to great lengths to call us out of the darkness of avoidance and secrecy into the light of truth and authenticity. Ultimately, we must decide if we will cooperate with God in this process, or if we will fight and reject change, and thus reject abundant life.

Judah and his brothers fought against this process, but they ultimately chose to submit to God and be changed. This process finally gave them closure on the secret that was eating them up from the inside.

There's more to this story. Tragically, they stopped short of complete restoration with Joseph, that was available to them. And we can see this in their insecure and fearful response to Joseph, years later when Jacob dies.

But for now, let's celebrate that this process led to a huge win -- a huge step forward in healing for the brothers, and the ability for reconciliation to happen in the next chapter.

Some of you in this room have a secret. Some of you have a broken relationship. Some of us have refused to take responsibility and confront our wrongdoings to another person. Some of us have been wronged by someone who refuses to take responsibility. All of us are experiencing, in some way, the results of sin and broken relationships.

This world is a shattered place, full of broken relationships and broken people because of sin. Sin has damaged each and every one of us in this room, both as perpetrators of sin and as victims of wrongdoing.

The only way to deal with the divine price of sin is through the perfect, healing blood of Jesus Christ.

This is the forgiveness that we enter into through faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God, who paid the ultimate penalty of death to restore us into relationship with God.

The only way to deal with the personal and relational consequences of sin is by bringing our sin into the light, and by entering the path of Penitence: empathy, responsibility, and change.

God is primarily concerned with His glory through us, the church. So much of the sanctification process to make this possible has to do with guiding us into circumstances that reveal the sin in our hearts and the same sin in the hearts of our relations. God is never cruel, and never wasted our suffering. He is calling us through our brokenness, and the brokenness of others, into a place of transformation and strength. He's fashioning out hearts into hearts that are actually filled with the very characteristics of Christ.

Look at your life. Look at those who have harmed you. Look at those you blame and resent. Now imagine that God is giving you the power to be free of your resentment, whether or not they ever change or repent. Joseph is evidence of God's power in this area.

Now, look at your sin. Look at those you have harmed through your words and actions. Now, imagine that you could stop making excuses, and stop running from your responsibility. Judah is an example of this.

In our lives, we are both Joseph and Judah -- victim and perpetrator. Sin has ravaged us, and we need to confront this sin, no matter which side of the sin we are on.

Consider that some of the circumstances in your life that make you flinch might actually be your opportunity to take heart, run into the fray, and fight for your healing and the healing of your relationships -- only by the miraculous power of God that is available to you TODAY!

Realize that you, and every human on earth, is always, at the same time, both the perpetrator and the victim.

Let the fact that you are a perpetrating sinner give you some grace and compassion towards those who have sinned against you. Let the fact that you are a victim give you permission to grieve the wrongs done to you without becoming callous or vengeful.

And in all things, perpetrator or victim, give your wounded heart to God so that he can heal you from your sinfulness and from your trauma caused by other sinners.

Cooperate with your Father, and do not be afraid of empathy, responsibility, and change. Or rather, be afraid, and enter these spaces anyway, because this is where GOD is. Ill pray for God's strength to help you to stop avoiding and running away from the very place where your growth and your blessing will come for you.