Losses of Broken Fellowship: Part 3
Losses of Broken Fellowship • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
We’ve been studying the life of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis...
We are looking specifically at the just how big of a deal it was when fellowship was lost...
We are looking at what was lost because of this broken fellowship...
Part 1 - 22 years and 20% of Joseph’s life was lost that they will never get back...
Part 2 - Peace (peace was replaced with envy, guilt and fear - God designed His peace to rule our hearts and mind, but we lose that peace when we have undealt with sin)
Now tonight:
Part 3 - Familiarity
Broken fellowship lead to a loss of familiarity in:
1. Language
1. Language
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
When they saw Joseph after 22 years of being separated, they lost familiarity in his language...
Now as they spoke to Joseph, they did not recognize the language he was using...
To the point an interpreter had to be used...
Broken fellowship due to undealt with sin causes a loss of communication...
And because of it, Joseph’s brothers spoke freely and dangerously around Joseph...
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
If only they knew that Joseph understood what they were saying the entire time...
Broken fellowship lost privileges of proper communication...
7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
The familiar voice of baby brother Joseph was lost...
**Transition
When we break fellowship with God, we lose communication...
We don’t discern His voice...
We don’t understand His Word...
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
When we have broken fellowship due to undealt with sin, we:
Lose the ability to receive answered prayer
We lose the faith to pray for them
K9 Illustration:
They told me one of the best ways for your police dog to get to know your voice is by speaking to him… sitting in his kennel and reading to him… He gets to recognize the way I say words, my inflections, whether I’m happy, sad or mad...
If I don’t spend time with my dog, he loses familiarity with my voice...
Language
2. Broken Fellowship Leads to a Loss of Familiarity in Looks
2. Broken Fellowship Leads to a Loss of Familiarity in Looks
How they left Joseph:
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
And now 22 years later:
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
His language was unfamiliar and now his looks are unfamiliar...
7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Unresolved sin created a loss of familiarity in Joseph’s looks...
Broken fellowship with Christ creates a loss of familiarity...
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of a dry ground:
He hath no form nor comeliness;
And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
Broken fellowship leads to a loss of language (communication)
Broken fellowship leads to a loss of looks
3. Broken Fellowship leads to a loss of Lineage
3. Broken Fellowship leads to a loss of Lineage
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. 51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. 52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
The meaning of Joseph’s children’s names:
51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. 52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Manasseh’s name literally means “God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house”
A result of undealt with sin lead to a loss of familiarity between Joseph’s children and their uncles and grandfather Jacob...
Broken fellowship lead to a loss of:
22 years and 20%
Peace
Familiarity (in language, in looks, in lineage)
Closing illustration:
A true story was told by a hospital chaplain about a man who had lived decades in bitterness and broken fellowship with his father.
As a teenager, he had a major falling out with his dad. Harsh words were spoken. Pride hardened hearts. No apologies were made. And that young man walked away.
Years passed.
He built a life. He got married. He had children. He moved states. And for over 25 years, there was no communication — no letters, no calls, no visits.
Then one day, the hospital called.
“Your father is here… he is dying… and you are listed as his next of kin.”
Reluctantly, the man went.
He walked into the room and saw an elderly man lying in a hospital bed — thin, frail, tubes everywhere, barely conscious.
He stood there quietly.
And then he whispered…
“Dad?”
No response.
The nurse said,
“He hasn’t spoken in days.”
So he moved closer and spoke louder…
“Dad… it’s me.”
Slowly, the old man stirred…
His eyes opened slightly…
He looked directly at the man standing over him…
And said:
“I’m sorry son… I don’t know who you are.”
💔
Twenty-five years of broken fellowship had erased familiarity.
He didn’t recognize his voice.
He didn’t recognize his face.
He didn’t recognize his own son.
The man later said:
“In that moment, I realized something terrifying — I didn’t lose my father that day… I lost him 25 years earlier.”
Don’t let satan steal your time by fracturing relationships in your life...
