Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we will be reading from .

but before we begin I want to remind us of what has been happening in the story of genesis so far.

God promised Abraham that he would be his God and that his descendants would become a great nation that would bless all of the families in the whole world, and that they would inherit the land of Canaan.

This promise was passed down from father to son until we get to Jacob and his twelve sons.

Jacob’s favorite son was Joseph and he let everyone know it.

Not only was Joseph his father’s favorite son, but he appeared to be God’s favorite as well.

He had several prophetic dreams where all eleven of his brothers and even his parents bowed down before him.

His brothers were jealous of him, and rejected God’s plan to make him ruler over them.

They sold him into slavery in Egypt saying “let’s see what comes from his dreams now.”

They told their father that their brother was dead, and he refused to be comforted in his grief.

But though the sons of Israel rejected the one God chose to lead them, God’s plan was not so easily thwarted.

Joseph served faithfully in Egypt knowing that the Lord had not abandoned him.

Eventually God lifted him out of slavery by revealing to Joseph his plan to bring about a worldwide famine.

In response, Pharoah made him the governor of all Egypt so that through him God could save many lives and make Egypt a superpower of the ancient world.

Joseph became rich and powerful and even married the daughter of an Egyptian priest.

Joseph lived in Egypt for more than 20 years and had no word from his family.

Would he ever be reunited with them?

Does the promise that God made to Abraham still apply to him?

Or did his brothers’ evil actions cut his off from God’s promises?

What about the dreams that Joseph had? this is a very long passage this morning, so we are going to do something different than normal.

rather than reading it all at once at the beginning, we will read it in parts and discuss it as we go.

As we read it I want you to ask yourself this question:

What does faith look like when the future is uncertain?

Let’s start to answer this question by reading ,18-24

read passage

What does faith look like when the future is uncertain?

Let’s answer this question by looking at Joseph’s faith.

The famine that we talked about last Sunday affected Jacob’s family as well.

he was forced to send ten of his sons to Egypt to buy food, keeping back only Benjamin because he didn’t trust his sons to keep him safe.

was not limited to Egypt but covered all of the inhabited world.

People from all over Mesopotamia were starving and desperate for food.

Jacob heard the rumor that food could be bought in Egypt and so he sent his ten of his sons to buy some.

But Jacob made his most beloved son Benjamin stay with him in order to keep him safe from all harm.

He still remembered when he sent his son Joseph to check on his brothers and he was apparently torn to pieces by wild animals.

he would not risk the death of Benjamin, it would be too much for him to handle.

The ten brothers came into the presence of the governor of the land, who took a special interest in them.

For all they knew, their brother Joseph was dead, they would not have ever dreamed that in reality the Egyptian who was questioning them was really the one they tried to destroy.

Joseph recognized them, however, and had to choose what he would do.

His first option was to kill them and he would have been completely justified to do so.

the penalty for man stealing is death and almost all present were guilty of this terrible crime.

No one would have blamed him if he did.

With his family gone, he could be completely integrated in Egyptian society.

He would be part of the ruling elite of the most powerful nation on earth!

And yet, Joseph does not do this, but instead contrives to reunite with his family.

Why is that?

It’s because, even though he looks, acts, and speaks like an Egyptian, Joseph is not an Egyptian.

Joseph is a Hebrew and an heir of the promises of Abraham!

God promised Abraham that he would be his God forever, and that he would protect him and make him into a great nation.

These promises were fulfilled in Christ, and so they worked a little differently back then than they do today.

It was focused on Abraham’s family and if Joseph left that family, he would not be an heir of the promise made to Abraham.

Joseph would never throw away those promises for something so cheap as earthly wealth and power.

God promised him something so much better than that, and he trusted that God will keep his promises.

How does Joseph regain access to these promises?

God was giving him a way to do so in this passage, but the cost was high. it could only be done by being reconciled with his brothers who hated him, beat him, destroyed his life, and sold him into slavery away from the father he loved.

Joseph can only be brought back into God’s special family by forgiving the ones who effectively killed him.

Faith looks like forgivenessEven today, our salvation is tied to our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters.

We don’t have time this morning to talk about how we should work together as a church to discipline serious sin.

but i want to talk about what’s going on in our hearts when our brothers and sisters hurt us.

When we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters who wrong us, we are not casting them out of the family of God, that judgement belongs to God and to God alone.

But Jesus says in we are casting ourselves out of God’s family and therefore cutting ourselves off from God’s promises.

Is nurturing your resentment worth being cut off from the promise of eternal life?

It was not worth it for Joseph, and if you want to be a part of God’s family it should not be worth it for you.

When our brothers and sisters wound us, we must realize that we need forgiveness just as much as they do and humbly let go of bitterness by letting God be their judge.

God has empowered you to do this today by giving us the Spirit of reconciliation.

let him work in your hearts.

So what does faith look like when the future is uncertain?

Even today, our salvation is tied to our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters.

We don’t have time this morning to talk about how we should work together as a church to discipline serious sin.

but i want to talk about what’s going on in our hearts when our brothers and sisters hurt us.

When we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters who wrong us, we are not casting them out of the family of God, that judgement belongs to God and to God alone.

But Jesus says in we are casting ourselves out of God’s family and therefore cutting ourselves off from God’s promises.

Is nurturing your resentment worth being cut off from the promise of eternal life?

It was not worth it for Joseph, and if you want to be a part of God’s family it should not be worth it for you.

When our brothers and sisters wound us, we must realize that we need forgiveness just as much as they do and humbly let go of bitterness by letting God be their judge.

God has empowered you to do this today by giving us the Spirit of reconciliation.

let him work in your hearts.

Faith Looks like forgiveness

Even today, our salvation is tied to our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters.

We don’t have time this morning to talk about how we should work together as a church to discipline serious sin.

but i want to talk about what’s going on in our hearts when our brothers and sisters hurt us.

When we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters who wrong us, we are not casting them out of the family of God, that judgement belongs to God and to God alone.

But Jesus says in we are casting ourselves out of God’s family and therefore cutting ourselves off from God’s promises.

Is nurturing your resentment worth being cut off from the promise of eternal life?

It was not worth it for Joseph, and if you want to be a part of God’s family it should not be worth it for you.

When our brothers and sisters wound us, we must realize that we need forgiveness just as much as they do and humbly let go of bitterness by letting God be their judge.

God has empowered you to do this today by giving us the Spirit of reconciliation.

let him work in your hearts.

Forgiveness is not easy.

forgiveness feels like death sometimes.

Often it is not so easy a matter as to just say the words “I forgive you.”

there’s a lot of hard work that has to be done in order for it to be real in your heart.

We don’t get to see how Joseph worked through the pain of the betrayal of his brothers, but we do see the end result of it.

Ten of Joseph’s brothers bowed before him in humble submission begging for help.

Joseph remembered the dreams he had more than 20 years before.

but something was missing! in his dreams all 11 brothers bowed before him, and his parents as well.

Was his father still alive?

What about his brother Benjamin?

Had they destroyed him too?

Joseph in his heart had begun to reconcile himself to his family but steps had to be taken to complete the work.

He was in a place of power over them, he could not trust an honest answer if he were to reveal himself right away.