Forgiveness Is A Choice

FORGIVENESS IS A CHOICE

Gen. 45:1-8

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: sometimes it’s better not to know so much

1. In France, in the 1790’s, a priest, a lawyer and an engineer were arrested & about to be guillotined. The priest put his head on the block, they pulled the rope and nothing happened. He declared that he'd been saved by divine intervention-- so he was let go.

2. The lawyer was put on the block, and again the rope didn't release the blade, and he claimed he couldn't be executed twice for the same crime, so he too was set free.

3. Lastly they grabbed the engineer and shoved his head into the guillotine. He looked up at the release mechanism and said, "Wait a minute, I see your problem...." Sometimes it’s best not to know so much!

B. TEXT

45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him....4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

C. THESIS

1. Today we’re looking at the life of Joseph, observing his journey to forgiveness, to see how we might follow the same path to healing. The title of this message is, “Forgiveness is a Choice.”

2. You will remember that in the previous chapter of Genesis, Benjamin had been accused of stealing Joseph’s silver cup and Judah had pleaded for mercy. Judah and his brothers were anxiously awaiting a verdict from Joseph whether one or more of them would be imprisoned or made slaves.

I. THE DIFFICULTY OF FORGIVENESS

A. JOSEPH’S ANGER TOWARD HIS BROTHERS

1. Undoubtedly Joseph had obsessed about the injury he’d suffered from his brothers. Ps. 105:18 says, "They

bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons.”

2. For many long years Joseph must’ve relived their hatred, their casting him into the pit, their selling him to the Ishmaelites, the long, painful journey of weeping to Egypt, and his being sold at the slave market there.

3. How many nights had he cried himself to sleep -- homesick, missing his father and his deceased mother; remembering his brothers were at home feasting and celebrating cherished holidays, eating good food, and living free -- while he was eating slave’s food, working for a master, or else rotting for many years in prison.

4. Many times he must've thought how unfair it all was, & that the tables of justice needed to be turned on them!

B. JOSEPH SEEMED ‘OK’

1. On the surface Joseph seemed like he was doing OK, that the unresolved crisis with his brothers wasn’t affecting him.

2. But when he named his sons, we see that both his son’s names mention his trouble and suffering [Manasseh, "God has made me forget my trouble;" Ephraim, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering"].

3. He couldn't shake the sadness, despite his wonderful life – he was Prime Minister of the most powerful nation on Earth; he had a beautiful wife, two healthy, happy sons, and all the best life has to offer.

4. At some point, it must’ve occurred to Joseph that he must forgive them, and he pondered that decision. Is there someone you need to forgive?

C. FORGIVENESS IS NOT OPTIONAL. WHY?

1. WE HURT OURSELVES. 1st because when we don’t forgive, we hurt ourselves - not the people we're furious with. Allowing hatred toward someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

a. Dale Carnegie observed: “When we hate our enemies, we give them power over us - power over our sleep, our appetites, our happiness.”

b. In one study where the subjects took “forgiveness training,” mental distress dropped by about 40%, and they saw a 35% dip in headaches, back pain and insomnia. (Lisa Collier Cool - Reader’s Digest, May 2004)

2. IT HURTS US SPIRITUALLY. Eph. 5:26-27 says, “‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” When we allow ourselves to remain bitter and unforgiving, Satan gets a foothold in our lives. It’s the tool he needs to enslave us.