When Things Aren't Fixed

What has happened in the life of Joseph?

A pathetically dysfunctional family

Genesis 37:4 ESV

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Genesis 37:5 ESV

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.

Genesis 37:5–8 ESV

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

The dream that Joseph had…from God, but it didn’t smell right or feel good to his brohters.

The second dream- sun, moon, stars bowing down.

One day the brothers were pasturing sheep, and Jacob sends Joseph down to check on them.

Genesis 37:18–20 ESV

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”

The brothers who dispatch him cruelly to slavery.

The Father who has been utterly betrayed by his children, but doesn’t know it. Heart broken, he is devastated.

Joseph’s rise and fall in potiphars house, then his rise in Egypt.

Read the story… it’s important.

Why did Jacob love Joseph best? Rachel. Joseph was Rachel’s son.

He didn’t have the coat of many colors… he had long sleeves. He had house clothes… His brothers had short sleeves- work clothes. They worked, Jacob enjoyed position, comfort, and power over them.

Benjamin was Rachel’s other child, and note that when the brothers went to Egypt for food, Benjamin stays at home because Jacob feared he would be injured or killed.

Famine in the land.

Genesis 42:3–4 ESV

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him.

The brothers have to go to Egypt, the breadbasket of the world… and find food. And who are they asking for food from? Joseph.

Genesis 42:6–9 ESV

Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

They don’t recognize him, but he certainly recognizes them.

He puts them in jail for three days.

Genesis 42:18–28 ESV

On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

put the money back in their sacks......

Bring the youngest brother back to me.

Time passes, the famine gets worse to the point that Jacob sends Benjamin down with them.

Genesis 43:30 ESV

Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there.

English Standard Version Chapter 43

And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there.

Joseph sends them back home… with grain… and he slips the silver cup of Joseph into the sack of Benjamin.

Genesis 44:14–34 ESV

When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.” Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’ “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’ “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Look at the story… he dismisses everybody from the room… his pent up emotions, his tears… and he reveals his secret: He is their brother.

English Standard Version Chapter 45

2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

English Standard Version Chapter 45

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

English Standard Version Chapter 45

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

English Standard Version Chapter 45

3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

The emotion… reunion? Probably not. Illustrate- doctors when I run into them at the hospital. Driving into Tuscarawas County, ohio.

Remorse? probably not.

Reflection?

Revival?

Rehearsal. yes. their sin rehearsed before their eyes. Joseph.

Dismayed- HOrrified. Listen again to Joseph’s question...

Is my Father Alive?

What are his brothers thinking? shock, horror, guilt, trepidation, remorse?

Where would you be in this situation?

How did Joseph deal with these brothers who had treated him so cruelly?

Genesis 45:5 ESV

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 50:20 ESV

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

READ THE GENESIS 45.1-15 STORY ALOUD.

Notice… the brothers weren’t given a second chance… another crack at getting this right. they never got it right. they never made up for hwat they had done.

God didn’t need an attitude change from these brothers- but He would have loved to seen it happen.

God likely wanted a heart change from these brothers- but we don’t know that it ever happened.

You and I want “happily ever after.” But it doesn’t always happen. As much as if we don’t praise him, the rocks and stones will cry out. If we don’t make things right, if we don’t reconcile, God’s will shall be done instead of with us in spite of us.

God simply used the evil they perpetrated and transformed it into good.

God didn’t cause them to do evil. God didn’t force this situation. But God gathered up the pieces of their life and used it for his glory and his purposes.

Joseph’s leadership was defined because he saw it, understood it, and articulated it.... his message brought healing to a fractured family and food to a hungry world.

God used Joseph imperceivably, to accomplish His will.

God may use evil, but he doesn’t cause it. And we shouldn’t say God uses every evil for good. Some evil is just that- evil.

Sin Hurts, Ignoring it Doesn’t Make It Go Away

And we shoudn’t trivialize the suffering that comes from evil by painting a picture that really doesn’t exist.

Ignoring it in spiritual terms- All things work together for the good, etc.,

Ignoring sin by sweeping it under the carpet.

God didn’t need the brothers to meet up with Joseph to use the evil for His purposes. He could have done that without them. God’s plan, however, appears to bring the evil that the brothers committed to good in such a way that there can be forgiveness. And there is. But note, the brothers never actually asked for it.

Reconciliation Means Everybody Finds Healing

Reconciliation takes time… sometimes a long time.

It isn’t forgive and forget. Reconciliation means healing for everybody involved. Joseph needed healing and apparently got it. Jacob needed healing and apparently got some of it. The brothers needed healing as well… but did they really get it?

I think we sometimes simply move forward without changing the oil in our forgiveness tank. we don’t do what we should do… we don’t ask or give what needs to be given. And healing doesn’t come for everyone.

Reconciliation Is God’s Work- Let Him Do It

“Joseph Could Control Himself No Longer.” We are control freaks, but healing comes when we yield control and let the emotions roll.

Legacy- definition

something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

THE LEGACY OF JOSEPH

FORGIVENESS

THE LEGACY OF THE BROTHERS

HATE

English Standard Version Chapter 37

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.

Matthew 5:21–24 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 18:15–20 ESV

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”