Making Peace With Your Past

Making Peace ü 42:12-17 The brothers tell Joseph about their family, he demands they bring back their youngest brother, and throws them into prison. ü 42:18-25 The brothers’ consciences start to awake, guilt is felt, confession among one another is made. Joseph shows generous grace! ü 42:26-28 The journey home – outrageous generosity – godly fear. ü 42:29-38 Chaos at home because of a father controlled by his fears of what might happen. With Your Past Genesis 42 February 4, 2018 The Big Idea: God will not let the consciences of His children rest until we deal with unresolved sin. And, if He must use severe trials to break through our sin- hardened hearts, He will. His desire is always centered on healing and restoring what sin destroyed. The Most Awkward Family Reunion Ever! Genesis 42 LESSON: Psalm 42 teaches us that there is always more to the story than this moment. I need to always be assuming that there is a bigger narrative than the momentary crisis that produced for me what I want to call a “bad day.” ü 42:1-5 ü 42:6-11 The famine spreads into Canaan, where Jacob and his other 11 sons live. The patriarch orders his oldest sons to go to Egypt to buy food. Moving Toward Peace With Our Past: 1. Time alone does not erase our sin. God will remind us, long after the events, of the sins we’ve committed against others and the sins committed against us. Psalm 32:3-4 2. God will use “kindness and severity” (Romans 11:22) to awaken our consciences and call us to personal responsibility. God knows just how much each of us needs to be broken before Him, and He lovingly takes whatever means are necessary to do it. Until we are broken, He seems very harsh. But if we only knew, like Joseph’s heart toward his brothers, God’s heart toward us is always filled with compassion. He disciplines us as a loving father disciplines his children, that we might share His holiness. The brothers come before Joseph (who they do not recognize), but he recognizes them and treats them with a “severe mercy.” 3 Options for Joseph and any of us with broken relationships: o Avoidance – give them food and send them on their way without revealing himself or saying anything about what had happened. The “bury it and get over it” approach. o Happy-Face – “Hey guys! I’ve missed you. How’ve you been doing?” This is the “we don’t talk about bad, difficult, or hurtful stuff” approach. o Restoration – a patient, painful, deliberate process of facing the sins and seeking the hearts of the offenders. 3. The first tangible sign of an awakened conscience is assuming responsibility for sin and confession of that sin. (Gen. 42:21) 4. Godly fear (of what God might do) will lead us to godly sorrow (more than sorrow we were caught), and godly sorrow brings us to repentance. (2 Corinthians 7:10) 5. Forgiveness of past sins and reconciliation of a broken relationship www.crossrdschurch.com will always involve the offended person’s outrageous generosity to the offender. (Romans 2:4)