God Calls Us to Reconcile

This morning, we're going to tackle another difficult subject. Last week, we talked about suffering. This week, we're going to look at the reconciliation of God. We're going to look at our call to be reconcilers. Reconciliation is a difficult concept. It's a difficult task. It's hard work. Can you recall the relationship that was broken Because of your offense towards someone that you refuse to repent and confess your sin. And that relationship is still not fixed. You haven't been reconciled. Can you recall the relationship that's broken because of your unwillingness to forgive somebody? Still holding on to bitterness rather than grace. Reconciliation means that someone is confessing and someone is forgiving. It's hard. Because in order to reconcile with someone, you have to deny yourself. In order to reconcile with someone, you have to give up your own right. Your right to be bitter. Your right to be right. Reconciliation means we have to deny ourselves. So, if you look at God, He is the great reconciler. God Himself. The holy and right and good God. He looked at us. enemies of his right rule. And he pursued us to reconcile us to himself. Now, as Sean read from 2nd Corinthians, he has called us to be reconcilers. That's the message this morning. God has called us to be reconcilers. We are to participate in his ministry of reconciliation. Now, we're in chapters Genesis Chapter 42 and 43 of Genesis. You can go ahead and turn there. Last week we looked at suffering, and that was primarily from how Joseph has just been taken by God through numerous trials. Joseph was established as the prince of Egypt, making him the most powerful man other than Pharaoh himself in all the world. But he was given all the power of Egypt to care for the entire world. After 13 years of trials, God establishes him. God finally puts him on the throne. And that is to begin fulfilling that dream that Joseph originally had that got him in so much trouble. Remember, Joseph dreamed that all of his brothers and his father and his mother, they would all bow down before him. That dream got him in trouble. And now we see God putting him in the place of authority, partially fulfilling that dream. This week, we're going to see him fulfill it more accurately. He's going to bring the brothers to him to bow down before him. So last week, we looked at how God establishes Joseph. This week, we're going to look and see how God is directing these brothers to be reconciled to Joseph. God is intentionally directing these brothers to be reconciled to Joseph. As we hear the story this morning, I want you to listen for a few things. We've got four scenes, and these scenes are broken up because of the journeys. This section is broken up by the different journeys that these sons of Israel are going to take. They're going to leave their father Jacob, and they're going to travel into Egypt, and they're going to see Joseph. They're going to travel back home, and then they're going to go back to Egypt. And if we remember, Egypt is the final destination for Israel in this stage of their life, because that is where God will protect them and prosper them. Another thing to listen for. Listen for how Benjamin is set apart from the other brothers. Jacob hasn't learned not to show favoritism yet. There's the other brothers. There's a brother that's dead, Joseph. And then there's Benjamin, his new favorite son from his favorite wife. Also, listen for how the brothers carry a guilty conscience throughout the story. Finally, listen for how the father is fairly still suspicious of the brothers. I don't think he was as duped as they think he was. Our first scene this morning, I'm going to break up the story into different scenes and I'll read it in different times. But those are the things I want you to be listening for. Our first scene is verses 1 to 25. Joseph recognizes his brothers and the fulfillment of the dream. When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, Why do you look at one another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die. 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. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 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 dream 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 said to him, No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. He said to them, No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see. They said, We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more. But Joseph said to them, It is as I said to you. You are spies. By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies." And he put them all together in custody for three days. 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, and that we saw the distress of his soul. When he begged us, 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 their journey. This was done for them." Now this scene really opens with what I think is a pretty funny remark. There's a famine in the land. Jacob turns to his brothers, why do you look at one another? Why are you standing there looking at one another? Go do something. And it opens with somewhat of a humorous scene of these brothers who, well, aren't the most faithful sons and aren't the most faithful brothers and already getting a little bit of a word of rebuke. What are they doing? Well, they're standing there looking at one another when there's a great famine in the land. One of the most interesting things here is that verses one through five, they set up the scenes. They set up kind of the basic narrating background. There's a famine. Jacob sends his brothers. He's going to hold Benjamin back. We already see there's a fear that harm may fall to him. Now, we're not sure if he thinks the brothers yet are going to harm him, but he has a fear that harm may fall upon Benjamin. He could not lose Benjamin, his other favorite. Notice, as they come, they don't recognize Joseph. Now, these brothers, they're Canaanites. They have beards. They only saw Joseph with a beard. Now, in Egypt, where they don't believe in having beards, everyone is clean-shaven, Joseph looks different. He's also 15, 20 years older than when they first saw him last. So, he was a 13, 15-year-old boy when they last saw him. Now, he's a young man. He's in his 30s. He looks different. He no longer has a beard. That's why they don't recognize Him. But He recognizes them. He knows who this family is. And they come and they bow down before Him. And as they're bowing, He remembers that dream. The dream of the sheaves bowing down before His sheep. The dream of the stars and the sun and moon bowing down before His star. He remembers what God promised, and he sees that God is going to make it come about. Now, he's going to test them. He's going to send them through a series of tests. He first starts calling them spies. He says, you've come to look at the nakedness of the land. That's referring to the weak parts. You're coming to look at where we're not defended so that you can come in and steal. You're spies. planning a raid on our surplus. Well, the brothers, they're scared. They say, no, we're not spies. And they go through their whole lineage. And it's interesting. Imagine if you're Joseph. The story has turned an amazing focus now upon Joseph. He's now really the main character who has most of the speech. But imagine you're Joseph and you hear these brothers. No, we're twelve brothers. One's still at home with her father. One is no more. There's lots of emotion in this text. Against the brothers, he declares, I fear God, so let me test you. That's an interesting confession in the midst of this. Again, we see these brothers. They're going to be tested. They're going to be thrown in jail. for a series of days. I believe it was three days. And then after that, he's going to come and he's going to say, well, you know, I'm going to change my plan. I'm going to send all of you home. I'm going to fill your bags. One of you is going to stay here with me. It's interesting he chooses Simeon. Simeon's not the oldest. He may have chosen Simeon because Simeon is the most violent. If you remember Shechem, Simeon was the leader of that raid and with the rape of Shechem. So Joseph sends him away. with grain and their money in their backs. This is going to cause another level of tension for the brother's sake. Let's look at scene two. The brothers return home with a guilty conscience. Verses 26 through 38. 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 the 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? When they came to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, We are honest men, we have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. Then the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you. And you shall trade in the land.' As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more. And now you would take Benjamin? All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you. But he said, my son shall not go down with you. For his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." His family is fairly dysfunctional here. This is great tension in the story. Joseph tests them again. He puts all their money in their sacks. When they open it, they're scared to death. They've been accused of being spies. Now, the word is going to get back to Joseph that they never paid for the grain. They took off with it. They stole it. They're afraid of the accusation that would be false, but they're afraid of the accusation that's going to be brought against them. They come. They retell the story. They say what happened. And it's very important. Whenever things are repeated in the story is to emphasize the words they spoke to Joseph, whom they killed, whom they sold into slavery. And they're saying he is no more. Bring your youngest brother to me. They're trying to entreat the father. We have to take Benjamin. There's no way you're taking Benjamin. You have bereaved me of my children." First, Joseph is no more. It's a fairly indirect accusation, I think. Now, Simeon is no more. I don't know what really happened to him. And now you would take Benjamin. All of this has come against me. You, my sons, have been nothing but a curse to me, your father, Jacob. It's interesting here that he's very accusing. He's very accusing of his own sons. He does not trust them, I think, because he knows what really happened. Another interesting thing here is we've really got to see the personalities of the sons here. Reuben, who slept with his father's concubine chapters past, he offers up his own sons. This is questionably honorable. Is this really him trying to step up and care for the family? He's not offering himself. He's offering his two sons. Kill my two sons if I don't bring them back. It seems like an unwise, rash decision. We'll see that compared with Judah next week. Or in the next few chapters as well. He offers that weak settlement. Jacob is too afraid of losing the only son he has left. Benjamin's his true son, his choice son, his favorite son. He does not want to lose his last son, as we see in contrasting Benjamin with the other boys. Let's look at scene 3. Jacob sends Benjamin with his brothers. Verses 1 through 15 of chapter 43. Now the famine was severe in the land, and when they had eaten their grain, they had brought from Egypt their father, From Egypt, their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food. But Judah said to him, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? They replied, the man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred saying, is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? What we told him was an answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel, his father. Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice." Then their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, then do this. Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise. Go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man. And may he send back your other brother, and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph." So here Jacob, Israel, he sends Benjamin. The famine is so severe, they're all going to die if he doesn't go anyway. Now, it's interesting. You can go to Genesis 38 if you weren't here for the Judah Tamar. Judah has never looked good until the very end of that story. He sleeps with a concubine. He's about to put his daughter-in-law to death. And then, well, he's revealed that he is the chief sinner in that episode. Here we see Judah stepping up. He is becoming the leader of the family, apart from Joseph. Judah is the brother who is taking responsibility upon himself. We see some maturity. We see that godliness. We see, I think, the fruit of a conversion. He's not like Reuben, who puts his children at risk. He says, I will be to blame. I will carry it. So, we see Judah stepping up. We see here, may God grant you mercy. In verse 14. May God grant you mercy. We'll see here in verse 14, and may he send back your brother and Benjamin. There's a way of saying this here. May God send back my son, Simeon, and my son, Benjamin. Or there's a way of saying it like he does here. May God send back your brother, unnamed, and Benjamin. There's a clear distinction here with the way he views the other sons and his choice son. But the famine is severe, he sends them back, double the money, trying to make sure that this man who treated them roughly, he's appeased. They have a nice trail mix to carry back with them as well. Scene four. Joseph blesses Benjamin. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready for the men are to dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house. And they said, it is because of the money which was replaced in our sacks the first time that we are brought in so that we may assault, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and see their donkeys. So they went up to the sewer of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house and said, Oh, my Lord, we came down the first time to buy food. And when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and there was each man's money in the mouth of a sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We did not we do not know who put our money in our sacks. He replied, Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. Then he brought semen out to them. And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, they had their feet washed. And when he had given their donkeys fodder, they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon. For they had heard that they should eat bread with air. When Joseph came home, they brought him to the house, to him the present that they had with them, and bowed down to him to the ground. And he inquired about their welfare, and said, Is your father well? The old man of whom you spoke, is he still alive? They said, Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive. And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 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. 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. Then he washed his feet and came out, and controlling himself, he said, Serve the food. They served him by himself. And them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him. Now, I mentioned, I believe it was last sermon, about how God is using this to take Israel into Egypt for their protection. The Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews. They were sheep herders, which meant they were unclean. This is why God wants Israel in Egypt, because if they're in Egypt, the Egyptians aren't going to come anywhere near them and have any influence over them. It's interesting that this feast takes place. The brothers come down. They confess the money that are sacked. We don't know how they want to get ahead of the accusations. They want to get ahead of this rough leader, this rough man. And he says, no, God has been gracious to you. Peace to you. Do not be afraid. How comforting that has to sound when our guilty consciences are weighed and we hear someone say, no, peace to you. Do not be afraid. God. has watched over you. I received your money. He gives them a clean bill of health. He clears their guilt. He then brings them in. He seats them in order. They're looking at each other in amazement. How does he know our birth order? How does he know to do this? And then another test. He gives them food off of his table very symbolically. He's going to be the one that cares for them. But he gives Benjamin five times as much. I think he's looking to see how are they going to respond? How are they going to respond to him receiving favoritism? Are they going to snarl? Are they going to gripe? Are they going to give him eyes? They want to see what these brothers are like. They want to see how they're treating the next in line of favorite sons. And they drank and they were married with him. Well, we see Joseph in power. We see the fulfillment of the dream. All 11 brothers have bowed down to him now. What God had promised, what God had established would happen, they have all come and they have bowed down. Our application from this, we have two application points. First, God calls us to participate in his promises. God calls us to participate in his promises. God gave Joseph that dream. And God has brought that dream to fulfillment. Remember Genesis 37, verse 20, the brothers throw him in the pitch. Well, as Joseph is coming with his fancy coat, the brothers say to one another, let's kill him. And we'll see what comes of his dream. The brothers intended evil against him, but God used it for good. God used them throwing him in the pit and then deciding, let's make a profit off of him. Let's sell him into slavery. God used that and then a false accusation, an imprisonment, a forgetting by the cupbearer. He used all that to bring Joseph into this place of authority where the entire world is bowing down before him. Now God is going to begin directing and orchestrating the brothers to bow down. He's directing reconciliation. God is bringing about reconciliation between the brothers who wanted to murder Joseph and Joseph, who had the authority to kill them now. Last week, we talked about how God is sovereign over everything, even evil. He is not the author of evil, but He is sovereign over even evil. He is an almighty, all-powerful, sovereign God. Well, this week, let's look at the other side of that coin, and that God calls us to be responsible. God calls us to a certain responsibility in His plan. Joseph trusts God. God was always with Joseph. God always blessed Joseph. But here, Joseph sees that God has fulfilled His plan, or at least partially. Those 10 brothers, they first come, and Joseph knows that the 11th brother must come. And so he begins working it out. He wants that 11th brother to come. He's working within the plan of God. He is working so that the dream is fulfilled. He knows God can fulfill it, but he's going to work alongside of God's plan. He's going to work to make sure it happens. He assures that Benjamin comes. And then God's dream, God's vision, God's promise has been fulfilled. Now, let's talk about our responsibility. I presented a big God last week. A God who is sovereign over all things. A completely sovereign God. And one of the main problems we can run into as Christians who have a large God who is sovereign over all things is we can get into a mentality that's lazy. We can get into a mentality that says, I don't need to do anything. We can get into a philosophy that says, let's let go and let God. That is a false response to God's sovereign hand. God calls us to participate in his promises. God calls us to be responsible for what he has called us to. We trust God is sovereign and we praise him because he allows us to participate in his plan that will come about. You see, friends, Our wills are not naturally aligned with God. By nature, we resist God. By nature, we're selfish. We're not aligned with what we want and what God wants. Our wants are not naturally in line with His. This is why we must submit to the Spirit's leading. We need to make sure that our hearts, our desires, our thoughts, our actions, our behaviors are aligned with what God is doing. We have a responsibility to depend upon the Spirit, to teach us, to change us through prayer and fasting, through reading our Bibles, from hearing the word preached, from gathering together in fellowship, from singing songs together, to being obedient to His commands. If you just sit there and are waiting for God to change you, you're not being obedient. God regenerates your heart. God convicts you, but He expects you to respond to that by committing yourself to prayer and fasting, committing yourself to His Word, committing yourself to obedience, committing yourself to the body and experiencing Christ one another. If we want to experience Christ more, we have to work at having God change us. The other part of that is 2 Corinthians. God has called us to be ambassadors. I had the opportunity at Liberty to meet the football coach. His name was Sam Ritigliano. You all may remember him. He was the Cleveland Browns coach who, well, it was the last drive of John Elway beat him because of Ernest Biner's fumble. Sorry, that's a lot of football. So it was a great coach. He's a great man. And I remember him repeatedly saying to the team, I don't need any of you, but I want all of you. I don't need any of you. I want all of you. That's good for this team to hear. You know, you have some egos out there. It's helpful for them to know that He doesn't need any of them. But it's also welcome to say, I want all of you. It really wasn't entirely true. He needed a lot of those guys. They weren't that good to begin with. But when God says that, it's true. God doesn't need any of us. It's humbling to think about. He doesn't need any of us. He can be more effective in gospel evangelism. He can be more effective in proclaiming the gospel to the world without us. We cause problems. We're sinners. God doesn't need any of us. But by His grace, He wants us. He doesn't need us because He could write the gospel in the stars. He doesn't need us because he could take the clouds and do a drama that reveals Jesus Christ dying on the cross, being buried and rising again for all the world to see. He doesn't need us because he could shout down from the heavens what the gospel truth is. He doesn't need us. What is so humbling and gracious is that he wants it. What's humbling and gracious is that He wants us to have the joy of participating in His gospel proclamation. What's amazing is that God recruits us because He wants us. God regenerates us because He wants us. God gives us new life because He wants us. God convicts us because He wants us. Friends, if you want to be an instrument of God, you have to be responsible. You have to take your responsibility and again, be committed to loving God through prayer and fasting, reading the Bible, reading his word and hearing his gospel. So God's plan is great. God's plan will be accomplished. To be accomplished with us or without us. But God welcomes us to participate. What a gracious and loving God. Secondly, our last application. God calls us to seek out reconciliation. God calls us to seek out reconciliation. We see the beginning stages of reconciliation take place with these brothers. You can flip over the next couple of chapters. Reconciliation takes place. The brothers are reunited in love. God has directed the brothers back to Joseph. God has established Joseph as the ruler. Here we see him being sovereign over all evil to bring about reconciliation. We see Joseph being responsible for his role. What we see Joseph doing here is interesting. He's testing his brothers. He puts his brothers through a series of tests. These are the brothers that wanted to murder him. And they decided, you know, it's better if we sold him into slavery for a profit. And so before he entrusts himself to love them again, to entrust himself into their care, he puts them through a few tests. He calls them spies, he asks them about their family, wants to know if they're going to lie or not, puts them in prison, sends them back home, asks for their brother to come back, and then he gives Benjamin more food. Now, we may ask, is this really godly of Joseph to do? Is this really Christ-like of Joseph to do? Well, we may differ if it's Christ-like. I believe he's being wise. I believe he's actually following Christ's wisdom. How many Proverbs teach, do not be in the way of scoffers, do not be in the path of liars, do not have company with the bloodthirsty and the perverse. Or 1 Corinthians 15, 58 of Paul, bad company corrupts good character. He doesn't want to commit himself to these brothers if they're still murderous. Or maybe even the words of Jesus himself. Do not throw your pearls to swine. Why would he give his friendship over to these brothers if they are still, well, the way they used to be, as unregenerate haters? Well, he may not do exactly what we think he should do in being Christlike, but we do see him being wise. I do believe he is working out a plan to bring about reconciliation. The thing we need to say about Joseph is really that he's an amazing agent of grace. His role is to forgive his brothers. He's working towards that forgiveness. Think about if you're in his shoes. Your brothers, the people who are closest to you. They've sought to murder you and they've sold you to slavery. Would you be this generous and this gracious even in this story? How would you respond to them if you have the power to destroy them and kill them and nobody knows that you ever did it? Would you show them the grace of testing them? Would you show them the grace to forgive them? You see, those relationships that are closest to us, those are the ones that are hardest to reconcile with, once betrayed. Yeah, if you have a fight over who the best football team is with your best friend, that's easy to reconcile. But whenever you're truly betrayed by a dear, close friend, those are the hardest relationships to reconcile with. This is what Joseph is called to do. I believe he's a model of forgiveness. I preach, be quick to forgive because it's completely not natural to us. It's completely unnatural to who we are. We want to hold on to our right to be angry. We want to hold on to our right to hold a grudge against somebody. But God calls us out to forgive. Our nature as sinners and our calling as Christians, they're different. And I believe Joseph is obedient to his calling. He puts his brothers through some tests, but he ultimately proves to be a man full of grace. Let's look at some key aspects of reconciliation here. The most basic parts of a reconciliation are this. There needs to be a repenter and there needs to be a forgiver. Now, the model of reconciliation is God Himself. God has never done anything wrong, so God is not going to be repenting. God is always the forgiver in reconciliation. God is good and He is holy. And what's amazing about His reconciliation is He directs the whole thing. He draws us to Himself as His enemies so that we can become friends. God is full of grace in the sense that He sent His own Son to die for us so that we have hope. So that we have life. So that we confess our sins. We repent of them. We acknowledge and receive forgiveness from Christ. When we have a broken relationship, We're not just the passive receivers as God makes us. We have to proactively and intentionally seek out reconciliation. We are called to repent if we are the offender, and we are called to forgive if we are the offender, regardless of the offender's repentance. Forgive if we are the offended, rather. We will repent if we are the offender, forgive if we are the offended. Now, as we think about those two roles, which one would you rather be in? Which one is more uncomfortable for you? To be the person who has been sinned against? Is it harder to forgive someone who sins against you, or is it harder for you to acknowledge your sin? It's interesting, as we look at Scripture in Matthew, When Jesus gives the instructions for reconciliation, it's the offended person who's supposed to initiate that relationship. I think the reason for that is because we are often offended without the offender knowing it. We are often sinned against and offended by someone without that person ever knowing it. That's why when we need to forgive someone, we need to begin that process. We need to confront them with that sin. And we don't confront them with the purpose of shaming them and hurting them. We confront them with the purpose of being quick to forgive. The story reveals two other ways to think about reconciliation. There is a need to recognize the guilt on a horizontal plane and the need to recognize the guilt on a vertical plane. We saw that confession It's God against us, once they open up their sacks and saw the money there. They realize that there's a vertical plane. They realize that their sin is against God. And then they see, whenever Joseph is throwing them in prison, our brother's blood is finally against us. They realize the horizontal plane. The brothers, they first see their sins against Joseph, and then they see them against God. Both of these aspects are important for us to think about. Think about the Ten Commandments from God. God has given us rules to live by. He's given us instructions. The first three are particularly about how to relate to God. It's about not having images. It's about not taking his name. It's about not having any other God. It's all about the one God who saves us and worshiping him correctly. Then you have the Sabbath, which I think is kind of a, well, it's both. It's how to worship God and cooperate as his people. But then the last ones are all on how we relate to one another. Those are commands from God to us regarding how we live, not having adulterous affairs, not coveting, not lying, honoring your parents. When we sin against each other, we're sinning against God's good instruction. When we sin against one another, it's against God. This should weigh on us. There are no simple sins. Every sin is guilty before God. Every sin we commit to one against one another makes us culpable before God. How much are we sinning? How much are we using our mouths to curse? How much are we using our mouths to to to not love and show grace, but rather to to pour curses on one another? Friends, we should be seeking reconciliation. When someone offends us, we need to go seeking to show grace to that person. Because this is what's going to happen if you don't. See the guilty consciences of these brothers? For years, they've been carrying around the selling of their brother. And as soon as something bad happens, it comes back into their minds. That's what a guilty conscience does. It makes you paranoid. It makes you afraid. It makes you emotionally and mentally unstable. And the worst possible scenario is this, that you have a guilty conscience that you do not repent of or ask forgiveness from for so long that your conscience becomes so seared that you no longer fear guilt. You no longer feel guilt. That's a scary place to be. If you continue to quench the spirit, That is bringing guilt. That is bringing conviction. You can get into a dangerous place where you no longer feel it and experience it. Let me bring in a particular focus. There's a saying that blood runs thicker than water. The point there is that family is thicker than your friends, your relationship with your family. I think that the spirit runs thicker than the blood. Your relationship with other believers is a thicker relationship with your own family. You're united by the Holy Spirit with other Christians. You're united by God himself in Jesus Christ and his death and burial and resurrection and by the Spirit he has sent with other believers. This is why when we are hurt by other Christians, it cuts so deep. I look around and I'm assuming most everyone here has been hurt by another Christian. Most everyone here has been hurt within a church, either by a church member or even an under shepherd, another pastor. This is difficult. This is hard to get over. It's hard to overcome. It's hard to forgive because that union we have is so rich, so robust. Friends, it's hard to forgive other brothers and sisters who have hurt us. But that's what we are called to do. We are called to have a union. Just as united as a father is with a son, we are called to be unified with one another. Which means we need to be talking about our sin, we need to talk about how others have sinned against us, and we need to be armed with grace. Loving others is difficult. Want to know why? Because when you're loving one another, you're a sinner loving another sinner. You're putting your love, your trust in a very vulnerable position. And it's going to burn times. It's going to be hard at times. There's going to be pain at times. It's difficult and even deadly work. But it's what we're called to. God has called us to love one another in a way that you're going to lay down your life for one another. Now, when you think about that calling, remember that God himself has done this. God himself knows what risk it is to love other sinners. He himself put his hands in other sinners lives. Can you imagine Jesus for years having to depend upon those 12 disciples, one of which he knew was going to betray him? That's his closest friends. God called him to it, and so he was obedient. God called him to entrust himself to those who were going to murder him and hang him on a cross. God knows it's difficult and deadly business, but he calls us all the same. I pray that we will be a church that proactively seeks to bless one another. Realize our words, our actions, our behavior. They're powerful. They're powerful because you have the spirit and I have the spirit. We all have the Spirit if we're really Christians, and those words are powerful as they hurt. That's why we must be quick to apologize. We must be quick to love. Now, I talked about how members of a church can hurt one another. I pray that you will seek out somebody. I pray you will actually think about the last few years. How have your words affected other people? How have other words affected you? And if you need to ask forgiveness, or if you need to ask somebody else to forgive you, if you need to ask someone else that they would repent, I trust you'll be obedient to that. But I want to talk about myself, which I really don't like to do, but I'm your pastor. And I have... I'm young, I'm naive, and I'm a sinner. I'm going to cause trouble. I am going to try to lead you as much as possible to Christ. My hope is that I can preach the word and lift your soul to Christ, where you will find peace and forgiveness. My job is to draw you closer to God, and I hope that I fulfill that calling. But I'm going to fail you. And I'm going to need grace. As Paul says, I think because he was always trying to lead others, he's a chief of sinners. I'm the one that has the most opportunity to lead you and care for you. That means I have the most opportunity to fail you. Friends, we're going to be failing one another together. We're going to be pointing one another to the gospel as we fail one another together. But we have to do it together. Finally, if you're a Christian here with us, if you're not a Christian here and you're with us, please hear the good news of the gospel. He has a plan. It's a plan that He established as soon as we sinned against Him. He was going to send someone to die in our place. He has a plan and it will not fail. He has a plan to send Jesus Christ, a perfect man, to die on the cross for our sin, so that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. Then He died, taking upon Himself God's wrath. Then He rose again. to show He conquered death, He conquered sin, so that when you believe in Him, you have hope. You have real hope. That's the plan. It's perfect. It works. It's done. It's finished. But here's your responsibility. You have to believe. You have to respond to what God has done for you and trust Christ with your sin, with your guilt, with your life, and with your death. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our great God, who we stand back and we see how you've orchestrated all things. You are so beyond our comprehension what you've even done. But we thank You for that little bit of clarity that we can see, that You have orchestrated all things to bring about Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. How Your hand has moved so mysteriously throughout the world is amazing. And what we can see, what little bit we can see, Lord, let it do nothing but bring about in our hearts a desire to love You, to praise You and to thank You. Because You were reconciling enemies to You. Father, I pray that You would continue to build up this body. To not just be friends. I pray that as we think about our sin and the way we sin against one another, I pray that You would build us up to be brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters in Christ, united by Your Spirit. Spirit, move. Move mightily to convict. Move mightily to comfort. Move mightily to draw us to the Son where we can find forgiveness. We can find hope. We can find peace. In Your name we pray, Amen.