Does God Care about Me?
Genesis 45:1-15
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - May 23, 2010
BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION:
*Does God care about me? -- Everybody needs to know the answer to this question. And today we can find the answer from one of the greatest men in the Old Testament. His name was Joseph and his amazing story takes up one fourth of the whole book of Genesis. Today we will focus on Gen 44&45.
*When you look at Joseph’s life, you might think that God didn’t care about him, because he had to overcome incredible hardship. It started with the death of Joseph’s mother when he was very young. Then Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers.
*Talk about a dysfunctional family! John Hamby explained that Joseph’s family was so unbelievable that it could not even be made into a soap opera for television. He had 1 brother, 3 stepmothers, 10 half-brothers and a half-sister all living in the home at the same time. Joseph’s father, Jacob, was polygamist and a passive parent, who openly showed favoritism among his children. Jacob’s 3 wives were jealous and insecure. So Joseph’s home had 4 unhappy women, and 10 jealous half-brothers. (1)
*When Joseph was only 17, his half-brothers committed a horrendous act of treachery. They almost murdered Joseph, but instead they sold him into slavery.
*Even as a slave, God blessed Joseph to be promoted over all of his owner’s business. But then he was thrown into prison after being falsely accused of raping his master’s wife. What a horrible thing.
*Joseph spent 13 years as a slave and prisoner in Pharaoh’s dungeon, with no visible hope of freedom -- until Pharaoh had a dream that needed to be interpreted. God had given Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. And the Lord showed Joseph that Pharaoh’s dream meant 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of terrible famine. He was the only man in the kingdom who could interpret that dream. So Pharaoh set him free and promoted him to be ruler over all Egypt.
*By today’s Scripture Joseph has ruled Egypt for 9 years. In the time of famine, his brothers have come for food. Joseph tested his brothers. And Benjamin, the youngest was caught with a silver cup that had been hidden at Joseph’s command. The penalty was slavery.
*Starting in Gen 44:18, brother Judah made a heart-touching plea to take Benjamin’s place. He is about to finish in vs. 33:
33. “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
34. “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?’’
*All of this is background for the big question: “Does God care about me?” Today we find the answer in Joseph’s response in Gen 45. Let’s begin by reading vs. 1-5:
1. Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Make everyone go out from me!" So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
3. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph; does my father still live?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.
4. And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
*Does God care about me? -- The wonderful truth is that God cares for you the same way He cared for Joseph.
1. This means first that God wants to restore your broken relationships.
*God wants to break down barriers between people. Listen again to Joseph’s response in vs. 4&5:
4. And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me.’’ And they came near. And he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5. But now, do not therefore be grieved nor angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
*Think about what Joseph could have said. “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt:
-And now you are up the creek! -- Now you are going to get yours.”
-Revenge is sweet! -- What goes around comes around.”
-And now I will sell you into slavery.”
-Or: “Off with their heads!”
*That’s what Joseph could have said. -- What would you have said?
*Why did Joseph choose to forgive his brothers? -- Not because he had to.
-Their lives were in his hands. He had absolute power over them. He could have done anything he wanted to them.
*Why did Joseph forgive them? -- Not because they deserved it.
-In vs. 3, they were too terrified to apologize. And how do you apologize for selling your brother into slavery? -- “Oops! -- sorry.”
*How could you ever make up for doing something so wrong?
-Joseph didn’t choose to forgive because his brothers deserved it.
-He chose to forgive, because of his relationship with God.
*Joseph knew the Lord in a personal way.
-And he was close enough to see God’s Hand at work.
-Close enough to see that God had a plan for his life.
-Close enough to live like the Lord.
*You see, God cares so much about us that He wants to heal our broken relationships. -- But in order for that to happen, somebody has to think, speak and act with the mercy and forgiveness of God.
*Author Josh McDowell wrote of the love and forgiveness he found for his own dad. Listen to part of his testimony: (My dad) “epitomized everything I hated. He was the town drunk. My high school friends would make jokes about him making a fool of himself around town. Sometimes when we had company, I would tie Dad up in the barn and tell them he had to go on an important call.”
*When Josh became a Christian, God’s grace transformed his hatred for his father into love. Shortly after getting saved, Josh was injured in a car accident. His dad came to visit him in his hospital room.
*At one point as they were talking together, Dad broke down and said, “Josh, I’ve been the worst kind of father to you. How can you love a man like me?”
-Josh answered “Dad -- six months ago I couldn’t. But now, through Jesus Christ, I can love you.”
*Josh explained what God’s grace had done in his life. And he told his dad about the cross of Jesus Christ. Before leaving that hospital room, Josh McDowell’s dad had committed his life to Jesus Christ. He was a changed man!
*Scores of people who saw the change in his life also came to know Jesus Christ. A year later this changed man died at peace with God and at peace with his son. (2)
*That’s a testimony to God’s care in our lives.
-But also understand this: You may try your absolute best, but still not have success in restoring a relationship.
*No matter what you do, it may not be enough, and it hurts. But God knows the same hurt. Just days before the cross, Jesus cried out in anguish: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt 23:37)
*You may not be successful, but follow the Lord and try your very best to restore relationships. God cares about us, so He wants to restore your broken relationships.
2. And He wants to save you from your sins.
*God wants to save sinners. I love the way Paul put it in 1 Timothy 1:15: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
*God wants to save sinners! -- As Jesus said in Luke 19:10: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” This is why Jesus died on the cross.
*And Joseph is a picture of Christ in this story. Yes Joseph suffered, but it turns out that he suffered for the salvation of his brothers.
-God’s plan was to use Joseph’s suffering to save His people.
-This is the good news message that Joseph gave to his brothers in vs. 5-7:
5. “But now, do not therefore be grieved nor angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
*God cares for us enough to save us from our sin! In these verses, we see an overflow of God’s saving care. Joseph expressed it 4 ways:
-First in vs. 5, he said, “God sent me to preserve life.” The Lord cares about your eternal life.
-But that’s not all. In vs. 7 Joseph said, “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth.” This tells us that God doesn’t just care about our salvation. He cares about our children, our grandchildren, and on down through the generations.
-Next in vs. 7, Joseph said, “God sent me ‘to save your lives.’” It’s another way of saying “promise life, give life, nourish life, preserve life, recover, repair, restore life.”
-Then Joseph said, “God sent me to save your lives by a great deliverance.” This is God’s great escape from death.
*God talks about salvation over and over again, because He wants you to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that He cares about your salvation.
-The greatest way He ever showed it was on the cross of Jesus Christ!
-Jesus died for your sins! -- That’s how much He loves you!
*Talking about Vacation Bible School in his church, Pastor James McCullen said, “We have had children in Vacation Bible School who have said ‘No one loves me.’” (3)
*Can you imagine that? -- Children so neglected or mistreated in life that they feel totally unloved. I am quite sure that there are children like that in our town. God wants us to love them. And God wants us to let them know that He loves them, because He does love them. God loves them enough to save them from their sins.
*God loves us enough to save us from our sins! And He will, if we will trust in His love. Have you done that? Have you trusted in the cross of Jesus Christ? Have you opened your heart to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord?
*God cares about us, so He wants to save you from your sin.
3. And He wants to bring blessings out of your burdens.
*God works for good!
-He wants to bring blessings out of your burdens.
-He wants to bring good things out of your grief.
-He wants to bring hope out of your hardship.
*Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that bad things are good. If I have a wreck tomorrow, that will be bad, and that’s that. But God brings good out of bad things every day.
*The best place to see this is on the cross of Jesus Christ. It was the cruelest death, and the darkest day in history. But Jesus rose again! And God turned the cross into something wonderful for all who will believe in Jesus.
*God wants to bring blessings out of your burdens. It’s true for the cross. And it can be true for the troubles in your life. But it won’t necessarily happen. God’s Word gives us the key in Rom 8:28, where Paul said: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
*God doesn’t say that all things are good. But He does say that all things work together for good for those who love and trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. This can most difficult for us to see, but God is at work 24/7 in every situation you face. “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
*Wayne Kraiss tells a story that helps a lot. It happened when Wayne was a young pastor in Wheaton, Illinois. He went to visit an elderly lady named Amelia, who had immigrated to this country from Europe years before.
*When Pastor Wayne saw Amelia, she was bedridden and very sick. So, of course, he prayed. But after the prayer, Wayne was very disappointed, because there was no apparent change in her condition. Miss Amelia saw the troubled look on her pastor’s face and said, “Well pastor, this must be one of the all things.”
*Wayne asked Amelia what she meant and she said, “When I was a little girl in Germany, one day I asked my mother what it meant that all things work together for good. My mother was baking a cake and without directly answering my question, she handed me a spoonful of baking soda. It tasted awful.
*Finally, I asked her what she was doing and she said she was answering my question. Then she said, ‘Amelia, I don’t want you to ever forget that things taken by themselves are not always pleasant. But when they are mixed together and fired in the oven, you love the results.’” (4)
*Some of the things in your life may taste terrible right now. But if you know Jesus, everything will work together for good in the end.
*This is the kind of faith-filled attitude that Joseph had. We can see it in vs. 8, where Joseph told his brothers: “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
*“God sent me here.” Joseph stressed this truth 3 times in these verses:
-In vs. 5 -- “God sent me before you to preserve life.”
-In vs. 7 -- “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth.”
-And in vs. 8 -- “Brothers, you didn’t send me here. -- God sent me here!”
*Through all of his hardships, Joseph never gave up on God. He trusted in the Lord. He trusted in the Lord enough to see that God would bring blessings out of his burden. And so should we, because God cares about us.
*God cares for you so much that He wants to bring blessings out of your burdens.
4. And He wants to make you part of His mission.
*God can work alone at any time, but He likes to get His followers in on the mission. -- Joseph shows us this in vs. 9-15, where he said:
9. “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 tarry.
10. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.
11. There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.”’
12. And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
13. So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
14. Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15. Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.
*Joseph was ready, willing and eager to be used by God. He understood that God had blessed him so that he could be a blessing to others.
*We should live like that too! God has surely cared for us! Now He wants us to pass His care on to other people. God blesses us to be a blessing to other people. He wants to make you an instrument of His goodness and care. There are many ways to get involved, and Vacation Bible School is one of the best.
*When Terry Bradds was 25 years old, he lived in middle America, and he was an average, everyday guy, but was as lost as he could be. Then Terry’s 5-year-old son, Craig, was invited to go to VBS with the lady who lived next door. And little Craig went.
*At the end of VBS, Craig invited his daddy to come to the closing program and Terry went. As he watched the program, God’s Spirit began to work on him. It took a while, but gradually there was a change in his life and Terry became a Christian. Not long after, Terry Bradds enrolled in a seminary and today he is a preacher.
*His son, Craig also grew up to become a minister, a Terry’s youngest son became a preacher too, -- all because one lady took the time to invite a 5-year-old boy to VBS! (5)
*Be like the lady next door! Get involved in sharing God’s care, because God surely cares for us!
-He wants to restore our broken relationships.
-Save us from our sin.
-Bring blessings out of our burdens.
-And make us part of His mission.
*Open your heart to trust in the Lord.
-Then start sharing His care every way you can.
1. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Remodeling - Dealing with an Imperfect Family” by John Hamby - Genesis 37:1-11
2. Josh McDowell, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” (Arrowhead Springs, California: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972), p. 374. - (Found in ChristianGlobe.com sermon “The House of Hope” by Curtis Lewis - Hosea 2:14-20)
3. Cross & Crown Sermon “No Excuse” by James McCullen - Rom 1:20
4. Original Source: Dynamic Preaching
5. SermonCentral sermon “Our Purpose: Seeking the Lost” by Melvin Newland - Luke 15 1 32
