Forgiveness Never Ends

So we are deep into the Joseph story and we have arrived at what I think represents the power climax in Joseph’s life. Last week’s message was entitled “The Greatest Promotion of All Time.” And I really think this might be true. What man in history could have been promoted faster, further, and higher than Joseph? For 13 years of his life, he had either been a slave or a prisoner. And when you are in either of these positions your job is to simply listen and do. You do not exercise your will. You do the will of others. You do what you are told.“Joseph, go get the pot of water. Sit there till I get back. Why are you doing it that way? We do it this way. Joseph, hurry up we don’t have all day. When you get finished with that, come talk to me, because I have a lot on my plate today and I need your help.”I mean Joseph had no decision-making power. He has no control. He is being controlled. And then in a single day, we are told in Genesis 41, Joseph is catapulted from a prisoner who is serving a life sentence accused of rape to being second in command in the most powerful nation in the Ancient Near East.Now, keep in mind how significant this promotion is. We are told that Pharaoh takes off his signet ring and gives it to Joseph. Pharaoh doesn’t give Joseph his own unique signet, he pulls the signet off his finger and hands his royal signet to Joseph which means that all the power that resides in Pharaoh to effect change has been transferred to Joseph. And remember, Egypt is not a democracy. This is a monarchy, a totalitarian regime of absolutism. Pharaoh, to the people, is a god. Egypt is a kingdom where all power centralizes in the signet of a single person. Beneath one man Joseph now has absolute power. Joseph could pass any law he wanted, set any tax he desired, spend 1 trillion dollars, imprison or free anyone he wished without a reason, assemble armies and he could do it all without consulting a committee or without getting approved by any superior. He had as many aids and consultants as he wanted, he had access to any resource his heart desired.And the amazing thing about Joseph we learned from last week was that he used that power to serve God and the nation, not himself. There’s the phrase, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Turns out we need to caveat that. That’s generally true. Power given to men without character will destroy them. But power given to men of character will result in blessing to many.Today we are going to talk about a power we share with Joseph and like Joseph, if we wield it properly, it could bless many. Of the various types of power Joseph had, this was perhaps the most powerful. The power to forgive! Now in order to wield this power, you don’t have to be Pharaoh or ruler of a great land. You don’t have to be given a position of authority. You don’t have to have a fancy title or education. The only prerequisite needed is that you’ve been hurt by someone. This means it’s a power that we all possess since every one of us in this room has been hurt.All who have been hurt have the power to forgive which is a power strong enough to change the world. Forgiveness is going to be a big topic sprinkled through the upcoming messages and each time it comes up we will have opportunity to inspect a different aspect of forgiveness.Today we just want to talk about facing forgiveness. It’s that moment when you are face to face with the offender, with the one who has hurt you and you are reliving the hurt, reeling from pains you thought were over but now the scab is ripped off and you are bleeding afresh. This is where we find Joseph in the text today.Now let’s pick up the story of Joseph in chapter 42. You will remember from last week that the seven years of plenty had come to the end and the seven years of famine had begun. And this famine was very severe. This week as part of our week of prayer and fasting, I chose to fast from food for a few days, and man, it really helped me to empathize with this famine. Hunger is really a terrible feeling.In just a few quick strokes, so much is communicated. You can almost see the gaunt looks on the faces of the brothers as they have almost completely given up. They are starving. All starving people are waging a two-front war. They are fighting a psychological battle and they are fighting a physiological battle.Psychologically, hunger is chipping at them relentlessly. Hunger gnaws at the mind as much as it does the stomach. It chews away at the resolve and determination. The teeth clack and smack against parched, tasteless gums and all you can think about is food. Hunger is a constant companion that won’t leave you alone. It won’t stop pestering. Psychologically, it’s terrible.But physiologically, it’s just as significant. Since the body always needs fuel, but no fuel is coming in, it begins feeding on itself. Metabolism slows and the body cannot regulate its temperature. Kidney function is impaired, the immune system weakens, and vital organs, muscles, tissues, the heart, and lungs shrink. People feel weak, body temperature drops, chills set in, people can become irritable, and it becomes difficult to concentrate.So all that was happening in Jacob’s tent. They are irritable. They are not in the head-space to make good decisions. And so Jacob, undoubtedly himself irritated, barks at his sons. “I’m old. Do you expect me to go solve the problem? What are you doing just staring at each other? Do something! There is grain in Egypt. Go to Egypt and buy grain to feed our family so we don’t die!”Now, this is no small undertaking. When you are very, very hungry and your beasts of burden are equally parched and starving do you feel like walking 150 miles one way?Es no bueno, amigo.Now we also get an insight into the family dynamics here. Jacob only sends the ten brothers but he keeps Benjamin back. Why Benjamin? Benjamin was Joseph’s full brother, and as far as Jacob knew, the only living son of his favorite wife Rachel. And the text says he didn’t send him because he was scared that something might happen to him. You could read that as just an overly protective father not wanting something bad happening to his last precious son. But I think Jacob was suspicious. He knew the character of his sons. I wonder if Jacob didn’t suspect foul play with Joseph. So he keeps back Benjamin out of fear of either the unfortunate circumstances of the journey, or the unforeseeable savagery of his sons, or both.Now I want you to imagine this moment. You are Joseph. You are administering grain to famished weary travelers. And you’ve been doing this for weeks and months. Day after day, it’s all a very similar routine.And between customers, servants are coming with important documents and you are pressing your signet ring into wax, sending orders here and there. And then all of a sudden you see ten brothers who look very familiar. And I can’t help but wonder if Joseph had been looking for them. I mean, this job of handing out grain to weary travelers of foreign countries hardly seems like a job for the sovereign of the land. Couldn’t some lesser dignitary do this job? Perhaps Joseph chose to personally do this job under some pretense hoping to see his family. At any rate, one day it happens. He sees his ten brothers. It’s been something like 25 years since they have seen each other and they are thin, significantly grayed, and starving.Can you imagine the feelings that would rush upon you? Initially, there would be an almost visceral terror. Even though Joseph is now tens of thousands of times more powerful than his brothers, in a moment he’s transported back to a skinny 17-year-old who’s pleading and begging for mercy at the bottom of a pit. His abusers are before him. Even though he’s the viceregent and wears the signet of the Pharaoh himself, even though he has the power to imprison them for life, Joseph is the one in prison. He is in the pit. Why? Because Joseph was reliving the terror of torment and was now facing his tormentors. He was facing the prospect of forgiveness. He was now being forced to make a choice to forgive or not forgive. To trust or not trust. To reconcile or remain estranged. Four points come out of the text and here’s the first:When you are separated from the one who has hurt, injured, or abused you, it is possible to kind of bury that hurt so long as there is separation. You can find a chamber in your mind and sort-of-kind-of bury it. After all, there’s nothing you can do about it since the person isn’t there. But when all of a sudden you face your offender, when all of a sudden your abuser is standing in front of you, those buried hurts are resurrected. They come tearing out of the buried corners of your heart with redoubled energy and begin screaming and bleeding all over again.Let’s see how Joseph responds when he comes face to face with his abusers.Now the fact that Joseph recognized them but they did not recognize him is entirely understandable. Joseph was 17-years-old when he was captured. He was 30 when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams. There have been 7 years of plenty and now they are some years into the 7 years of famine. So Joseph is in his early 40’s. Compare photos of your 17-year-old self and your 30-year-old self. Now add to that the fact that Joseph would have likely been wearing the royal headdress. There is a bit of debate as to who the Pharaoh was during the reign of Joseph, but here’s what one of the likely candidates looked like.I mean, that’s a lot of costume atop a face that had changed quite a bit. Additionally, if Joseph’s brothers were to be on the lookout for their brother, it would be in the market selling fish or pushing some giant stone up a ramp as a slave. I mean, you’d just never suspect it.From Joseph’s point of view, it was obvious. These dudes were obviously Semitic with the beards and robes. They were obviously related. And people don’t change as much from age 25-45, the likely age range of his brothers.So Joseph recognizes them, but they do not recognize him. And this puts him in the unique opportunity to be hurt afresh without them knowing. He is re-wounded, re-injured, and re-afflicted to the complete ignorance of the brothers. Joseph becomes a metaphor for how all emotional pain happens. When we are hurt by someone and we suffer, that suffering is experienced alone. Emotional pain happens in the cavity and vacuum of our own experience. Nobody else can enter completely into our head or feel the pain the way we experience it. It happens in isolation. The one who caused the injury goes about their life in total ignorance of how they have bruised and crushed the heart of another. They perhaps are even happy, laughing, and enjoying recreation while you suffer.When Joseph saw his brothers, the flood of emotions begins to choke him, and he suffers alone. Even if someone there knew a fractional portion of his story, no one would be able to relate. When we face our offender, the hurt is reactivated and relived alone. Not only did the hurt come flooding back. Something else came flooding back. The dream.Can you imagine that out of body experience where you look at all ten of your brothers, bowing in front of you? There they are on their faces in the dust and all you can see is the bald spots on the backs of their heads. How ironic. These hardened desert dwellers, these brothers of mine who had single-handedly, in a fit of revenge, murdered the Shechemites. These brothers of mine who stood over me, kicked me, spit in my face, stripped me naked, pulled out my beard, and threw me into a pit. Here they are bowing before me.You can imagine the shivering realization that this was promised you more than twenty years ago. And now you are staring in solitude at prophecy fulfilled. It would just send shivers down your spine.Now you honestly have to feel sorry for Joseph at this moment. He has swirling emotions of hurt, prophesies being fulfilled, he’s wounded, angry, lonely. How is he going to respond?Now a lot of commentary goes into Joseph’s reaction here. What was Joseph doing? He’s speaking harshly. He’s holding his cards close not revealing his identity. He’s making harsh accusations that he knows are not true. He’s asking them to do something that he knows would be insanely difficult, almost impossible for them to do, to ask dad to bring down the youngest brother. So what is going on here?Was he enjoying the power he had over them, kind of toying with them like cat and mouse? Was he being vindictive? Or was he wanting to trust them and reveal himself but thought it best to first test them? Or maybe, he wanted to forgive but wasn’t in the right headspace. Did he need to buy some time to get his thoughts together?I mean, it doesn’t take a seminary degree to put yourself in Joseph’s position. I’m sure it was all this. The emotions that collide in forgiveness are extremely complex.Confusion is the result of losing your bearings. When you know that north is here, south is here, you are confident. But when all a sudden you discover that what you thought was north is certainly not north and now you have no idea where north is, it creates feelings that are very disturbing and unsettling. Confusion sets in.Relationally, we get our bearings through trust. I can really trust that person. That person will always look out for my best interest. I can lean on this person and they will support me. And when we know we can trust people, that becomes our compass for how to navigate the world.But when that trust is broken, suddenly we find ourselves incredibly disoriented and confused. Who can I trust? I thought they were absolutely trustworthy but clearly they are not, so who can I trust?When we face our offenders, that confusion of trust swirls around and fogs our thinking. Are they still the same person? Or have they changed? Are they still so unaware of how they hurt me? Do they still lack empathy, sympathy, compassion? Do they have any regret at all? Will they continue to go on in these foolish ways? Will they continue to put themselves in the center of the world?Trust and forgiveness are related but not synonymous. You can forgive someone and not trust them. But it’s difficult to have a relationship with someone you don’t trust. Since all relationships are built on trust, no trust equals no relationship. What is Joseph doing in the narrative? He’s trying to forgive but he’s also trying to find a way to determine if he can trust his brothers again.Obviously, as the narrative unfolds, Joseph’s aim here is not to inflict revenge. But he’s also not ready to trust. Clearly, he’s disoriented. He’s acting in a way that all confused, sincere, disoriented, but godly people do. He’s trying to determine where north is.Will I be hurt again? Do they still wish me harm? Even if they don’t wish me harm, do I even want to get involved with them? Maybe the best thing to do is just let them go home and nobody would be the wiser? How do I move forward? Thoughts like these must have been going through his head.Facing the offender reactivates the hurt and creates confusion. There’s a third thing that happens. As the person who is hurt and confused begins to ponder, meditate, and ask the question, “Why am I so hurt?”, the answer surfaces. There is a debt.The feeling of hurt and the feeling of confusion are products of an objective debt. What you see here is quite dramatic. Joseph’s brothers are literally vocalizing and putting words to the debt that was created in the offense. You see, every act of unkindness, injury, insult, abuse, and harm creates a debt.Imagine if you had a precious vase in your bedroom and I walked up with a baseball bat and I just smash that vase into million pieces. I can say sorry all I want, but the vase is still broken. The broken vase represents the debt. That’s real damage. There’s real money that has to be shelled out to repurchase it. And some vases are not replaceable. I mean, certain vases are one of a kind heirlooms that don’t have a price tag. They are priceless. What if you smash one of those? And we have all sorts of vases in our hearts that represent things precious to us, one-of-a-kind items. Some of those can be replaced and some of them could never be replaced.In Joseph’s case what was the debt? What has been destroyed that has been irreparably damaged? His brothers have incurred a pretty significant debt. They robbed him of the prime years of his life. Instead of getting a career started or playing sports, he’s rotting in a dungeon. He can’t get that back, no matter how sorry they are. They robbed him of 30 years of a relationship that he could have had with his father and his full brother Benjamin and many years with his mother. He’s not getting that back. They robbed him of his dignity, his sense of belonging, and his ethnic identity. They robbed him of all his friends, every relationship he enjoyed, every possession he had, and every comfort he relished.But more than all that, it was the steely cold eyes of hatred that ignored his cries. It was their enjoyment of watching the pleas be ignored and their lust to see the bewilderment in Joseph’s eyes. That must have been what hurt the most and it was the thing that caused the most guilt in the brothers. “In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother. We saw his distress. He begged us. We did not listen.” They caused distress in his soul and that distress was unresolved. The debt was very large.So here Joseph his. He has come face to face with his debtors. And as he faces off the hurt has been reactivated. The pain is resurrected and those buried demons come tearing out of the corners of his soul with redoubled ability to hurt. Confusion has been created. Can I trust them? They have hurt me so deeply. Should I forgive them? How can I forgive them? The pain and confusion are all factors of the debt. Joseph has the power to make them pay. He can make them pay for life. But look at what Joseph does.That’s where we end today. Now here’s the fourth thing that happens when we face forgiveness.Will I forgive? That’s a choice and in that choice represents nearly infinite power to change the world. Yes, there’s an objective debt. Yes, that objective debt created hurt. Yes, that objective debt created confusion. But I have a choice. Will I forgive? Joseph’s decision to forgive his brothers will save the world. It could be argued that this power is the greatest power Joseph possess.To illustrate this, let me ask you a question: why do you think Joseph turned away and wept at this point? Why would the sovereign of Egypt weep? We don’t have an immediate explanation. In some way, the consequence of his brother’s sin against him came crashing down upon him. And the feelings represented in those tears are undoubtedly multi-faceted and complex.Sin had created this moment. The sin of the brothers against him had created this moment of deep fracture and relational death. He felt that. And I’m sure he felt compassion on his brothers as they suffered beneath the weight of guilt, the thought of them having to live a lie to their father for 25 years. Carrying in their memories the cries of their younger brother. He felt that and had compassion. And I’m sure he wept because of the cost of redemption. The only path to redeem this was suffering. He has already born in his own body the incredible injustice of that sin. And he would have to absorb in his soul much more if they were to be forgiven. He felt that. As Joseph contemplated forgiveness all of these emotions were present and he just wept. He wept.You see, Joseph is for us a beautiful Christ figure. Jesus Christ is the one who wept, Jesus wept as he absorbs debt for the sake of others. Both Jesus and Joseph save humanity through forgiveness. Consider the parallels. Jesus Christ is the ultimate sovereign. He stands second in command, viceregent to the father. He wears on his finger the signet of the father from which flows all authority, all dominion, and all power. We are the ones who tried to destroy him. We have sinned against him. We are the ones who through our rebellion have kicked him, spit on him, plucked his beard, stripped him of his robe, sold him for a handful of silver, and threw him into a pit.Like Joseph’s brothers, the way our sin has hurt and injured Christ is largely unknown to us. We go about our life totally unaware of the fracture that we have created. We laugh, we absorb the benefits of God’s blessing, we live comfortable lives not realizing the atrocious effects of our sin upon our brother. We cast him into the pit and leave him for dead.But like Joseph, that pit could not hold him because there was a dream. It was prophesied of him that he would rise from that pit and rule. And that every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And Jesus Christ was resurrected from the pit. And when anyone stands in front of a resurrected sovereign, it’s obvious that we stand in the presence of greatness. The contrast to self is obvious.Our debt is felt against the blinding light of the sovereign. We carry around in us our guilt and our sense of inadequacy. We don’t want the sovereign to discover it. We whisper amongst ourselves thinking he is out of earshot. But he speaks our language. He is right there overhearing the rehearsal of our guilt and the many ways we have hurt him. And terrified of our guilt we bow in the presence of greatness. Jesus looks at our bald spots as we bow to our sovereign. Jesus looks at us and says, “Here my abusers are bowing before me, the ones who closed their heart to mercy and now they are at my mercy.”We continue to bow having no idea who we bow before. Sure we can tell by his signet and scepter that he’s mighty. We can tell he’s in charge - he has authority to judge. But we are woefully ignorant that we are on trial for our lives for the crime of murder of the one we bow before. We are totally blinded by the degree to which we are at fault. We are blind to the offense, the transgression, the breach, and the relational criminality. We have no idea that our careless self-centered thinking sent him to the pit, threw him into the dungeon where he was nailed to the cross, was stabbed in the side, and left to die.The reality is we have incurred a debt. A debt we could never afford. But here’s the good news. Our sins they are many his mercy is more. Yes, our sins they are many, his mercy is more.Our sin was far, far, far worse than we could have ever imagined but God’s mercy was far more expansive than we ever could have dreamed. Our sins they are many but his mercy is more! God is much more forgiving than we thought possible. He’s more merciful, gracious, and slow to anger than we could have imagined. He’s more compassionate, tenderhearted, moved to sympathy than we dreamed. God abounds in loving-kindness, he’s near, and he loves us.Folks, we are here today to celebrate and worship a sovereign who has chosen to forgive. As we come to the end of our week and fasting, we are here to acknowledge that even if the world blows apart to millions of pieces through internal turmoil, suffering and fighting, though our sins are many, his mercy is more! God has fixed the problem of sin through his mercy, his mercy.I’m going to invite up the musicians and we are going to sing this song together. And I want to express what I know your heart is saying to you right now. I want to give you permission to clap and sing and rejoice while we sing this song. It is appropriate right now to celebrate the mercy of God. And I want to practice."What love could remember no wrongs we have done Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore Our sins they are many, His mercy is morePraise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morn Our sins they are many, His mercy is more"Isaiah 43:25, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”"What patience would wait as we constantly roam What Father, so tender, is calling us home He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor Our sins they are many, His mercy is morePraise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morn Our sins they are many, His mercy is more"Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”Romans 4:7-8, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”"What riches of kindness He lavished on us His blood was the payment, His life was the cost We stood ’neath a debt we could never afford Our sins they are many, His mercy is more So much more!Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morn Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morn Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morn Our sins they are many, His mercy is more"Why is forgiveness the greatest power that Joseph had? Joseph’s forgiveness made ripples through history that are literally incalculable. As Joseph stared at those bald spots, he was staring at the future tribes of Israel. What if he had executed them? He would be justified in doing so. And he and his brothers would have died and with them the promise of God.You see it would be through these twelve tribes that Messiah would come. The entire future of the history of Israel hung in the balance of that decision to forgive. Messiah came through the line of Judah. Joseph’s forgiveness made a way for ultimate forgiveness to be realized. Joseph’s forgiveness pointed to the ultimate forgiveness of the ultimate forgiver.What our nation needs right now is for people to forgive one another. What if every person in our country completely forgave their five worst enemies? What if that anger, hurt, animosity was replaced with warm benevolent love? Can you imagine the impact that would have on our nation? What if you forgave, truly forgave, those who have hurt you most?BenedictionHe who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.If you would like to come up and accept God’s mercy do that. If you would like to come and thank God for his mercy, come up and do that. The prayer team will be up here after the service to pray with you.