Family Reunited & Restored

We begin today’s worship and time together with communion. A coming together as the family of God to remember and look forward. When we think about the heart of Christ I can’t help but recall that He prayed for unity for His church… this family here today.

Very little can tear at a heart like division felt in family.

Nor is there joy that can be compared with a family relationship restored

In the life of Joseph we see a great deal of FRICTION… today we will see RESTORATION

Regardless of where you are today though… whether you are experiencing friction or restoration… I want to ask you “Are you able to see God working and place your undeterred faith in Him?”

More verses of scripture are given to us to look into the events of Joseph’s life… even more so than Abraham, Issac or Jacob! WHY??? I believe it is because we see a man many of us can relate to:

Family troubles

Dreams left unrealized

Betrayal

Lies spread that impact us

Uncertainty in what tomorrow holds

Forgiveness

Trusting God… and waiting, and waiting, and waiting

Looking at situations and letting God work… TRUST and letting go…

Joseph has endured a broken heart over a broken family… two times we have seen him weep, expressing his deep emotion and love for his brothers. He has tested them, seen their own growth, there confession of sin, NOW...

We will see Joseph extend GRACE TO THE GUILTY… he can bear it no longer and we find him again in Genesis 45:1-15

Genesis 45:1–15 NASB95

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Then 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. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.” ’ “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

Grace to the Guilty

“I am Joseph” … imagine the situation, the feelings, the range of emotions!!! This is a climatic event!

He speaks in their tongue

He shows himself

He gets them close to see

“Come Close” … Joseph longs to draw them in, restore the vast chasm of distance that separates them

“Dismayed in his presence”… guilt, sin, hardened hearts

What hinders you from engaging joyfully in family’s presence

Your own thoughts, struggles, regrets

Wept… deep joy and gladness!!!

Joseph has deep emotions for his brothers, love compassion

“Don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves”

These are powerful words coming pout of Joseph's mouth

These are words spoken from a man who has FORGIVEN!!! WHAT POWER THEY HOLD!

Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness 9: “I Am Joseph!”

“But God!” Those two words change everything.

Joseph could never have spoken such words of reassurance if he had not fully forgiven his brothers. You cannot genuinely embrace a person you’ve not fully forgiven. Joseph did not see his brothers as enemies, because his perspective had been changed. “You didn’t send me here,” he said. “God sent me here. And He sent me here for a reason—to preserve life.”

Have you seen God working???… Joseph had!

God’s Unseen Hand

“God sent me...” mentions it three times!!!

This is a VERTICAL perspective!!! Grace given through God

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 45:1–8

His words form a classic statement on providential control. God sent me ahead of you (45:5). It was not you who sent me here, but God (v. 8; cf. v. 9). The certainty that God’s will, not man’s, is the controlling reality in every event shined through as the basis for reconciliation. No doubt Joseph had consoled himself many times with this principle of faith. He who is spiritual can perceive the hand of God in every event, and therefore is able to forgive those who wrong him.

Pharaoh's Provision… God uses Pharaoh Genesis 45:16-23

Genesis 45:16–23 NASB95

Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’ “Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. ‘Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ” Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey.

What they may have lacked now was given to them

They return to their father looking like kings!

We will look to the land next time

CAUTION: Genesis 45:24 with blessing, resolution, things being resolved… Joseph understanding his brothers gives a word of caution...

Genesis 45:24 NASB95

So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the journey.”

Fault and blame pointing

Regrets

Maybe over who got what and who (Benjamin) got more

How do we tell dad

Few things in life bring grief like that of a father who is watching his family crumble, seeing the decision among your children, or loosing a child. Jacob had seen it all, he lost Joseph, his son is in prison, and now facing starvation for all his children and grandchildren, he faces the possibility of loosing all his sons. But then we read Genesis 45:25-28 & Genesis 46:28-30

Genesis 45:25–28 NASB95

Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But he was stunned, for he did not believe them. When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Then Israel said, “It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Genesis 46:28–30 NASB95

Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

A Father’s Joy!

The “spirit of Jacob revived”… oh the feeling of restoration

Last time we looked at God working in the hearts of the many individuals in this narrative…

God was working in Jacob’s heart. God often uses our children and grandchildren to teach us lessons...

Enoch walked with God after he became father of Methuselah

All his sons where gone… Jacob could only turn to God

I find it interesting… in his joy, excitement, and haste to see Joseph… we see Jacob pause to seek out God.

In our troubles we cry out to God naturally most times. However, in our joy and blessings do we do this as well? Jacob pauses to consult God before he goes. God had called Jacob to the land he had promised should he now leave even to see his son? Genesis 46:1-7 records this conversation with God.

Genesis 46:1–7 NASB95

So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. “I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.” Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They took their livestock and their property, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him: his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

God’s Assurance

“I will go with you...”

He is not a God bound by location

He is a God who reassures those He loves

Look at the “I AM, I WILL, & I WILL” statement of God!!!

Not many details just His Word

And Jacob listened and obeyed

Thomas Jefferson was correct when he said: “When the heart is right, the feet are swift.” Part of the reason we are so sluggish in carrying out the application of God’s truth is that our heart isn’t right. When that’s fixed, we are fleet-footed servants of God.

Family Now

We gathered just a bit ago, as the family of God, coming as a family of families to honor and remember Him through communion.

Jesus before he would have His body broken and His blood poured out for you and me would pray to His Father in Heaven for the unity of His church, the family of God

God will never cease to work… but imagine the way He could work through us if we were a close family, forgiving each others sin and faults

Christ Himself would declare in John 13:35

John 13:35 NASB95

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Peter would remind the church in 1 Peter 4:8

1 Peter 4:8 NASB95

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

And I would like to close with and repeat the words Paul spoke to the 1 Thessalonians 3:12

1 Thessalonians 3:12 NASB95

and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;

This is such a wonderful church family… I am so grateful to be a part of the Family of God!!!