February 18, 2001 Genesis 45:3-8,15
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 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. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
History has known some great battles. Gettysburg. Normandy Beach. The Battle of Little Big Horn. But there is one battle that was waged that most people have never heard of. It took place in Watertown, Wisconsin about 20 years ago. It was the battle of smelly green shoes. It occurred between my mother and father. You see, this world has two kinds of people - those who save stuff, and those who throw stuff out. My dad is a saver. My mom is a tosser. Dad had owned an old pair of ugly, low top, green shoes for years and years. He had worn them to play basketball in, mow the lawn in, and do everything in. The heel was worn out. There was a hole in the side. They were basically ruined. But they had what we would call “sentimental value.” One day, we noticed that the green shoes had been indiscretely thrown in the garbage! How could mom commit such a grave offense! She had seemingly won the battle. But the war wasn’t over! The shoes were within my grasp. When mom wasn’t looking, I took the green shoes out of the garbage. We wrapped them up, and gave them to dad for his birthday. Someday we hope to get those shoes bronzed and placed in a prominent place in their home. Maybe you have had similar battles in your homes. Maybe not. But in almost every home there is a battle between those who like to save things and those who don’t.
What about God? What is he? 1 Timothy 2 says that God wants all men to be saved. He is very hesitant to toss someone or something out. Those who like to save things do so for different things. A part of our saving those smelly green shoes was just to get under mom’s skin. It was fun listening to her complain about them. Another part of it was nostalgia’s sake. We save things because they have sentimental value to us. Or sometimes we save something because we think it will be worth big bucks some day. God’s purpose is similar to the person who saves aluminum cans. You can recycle them! As we look at God’s Word for today we will see that principle in practice as we consider the theme -
God Loves to Recycle
I. As seen in the story of Joseph
The story of Joseph is a good illustration of this. If you remember the story - Joseph was not the favorite of the brothers. As a matter of fact, they hated the fact that their father showed favoritism toward Joseph. They were especially irritated when Joseph said to them, “God gave me a vision that you will all bow down to me.” To them, their brother was a spoiled and arrogant little brat. But one day, they had their chance to vent their anger. Tending their flocks far away in Dotham, they saw Joseph approaching. Most of them said, “let’s kill him!” But Reuben - the oldest brother - convinced them to throw him in a cistern instead. However, while Reuben was gone, they decided to sell him to Midianite merchants, who in turn took him to Egypt as a slave. As a result of this one action, Joseph would spend years not only as a slave, but also in an Egyptian prison. What a mess!
But what did Joseph say about the situation? God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. While Joseph was in prison, the king had a dream that greatly tormented him. Seven thin cows had swallowed seven fat cows. Nobody could interpret this dream, until God gave Joseph the interpretation - that there would be seven prosperous years followed by seven lean years. As a result, Joseph was made ruler over all of Egypt. He was able to stockpile all of the extra food that the Egyptians had grown and prepare for the seven lean years. As a result - God was able to save thousands of lives - including the lives of Joseph’s brothers. Isn’t it neat then, what God does with a messy situation. Instead of giving up and destroying Joseph’s brothers - he used their hatred and their jealousy to fulfill His plan of saving the world from drought! You might compare it to using cow manure to help plants to grow. Who would think that such a smelly and disgusting substance could make plants grow and thrive! But that’s what God did with their hatred and jealousy.
There are many illustrations of God doing this through history. When Elijah was worn out in his ministry, instead of throwing Elijah away, he recycled him and enabled him to continue in ministry. He used the evil army of the Babylonians to discipline and humble the Israelites. He used the persecutions of Paul to keep him eternally humble after God brought him to faith. But the ultimate example is in the death of Christ. Here God used the greed of Judas, the hatred of the Jews, and the weakness of Pilate to send Christ to the cross. Through anger and hatred Jesus was able to pay for the sins of the world! It never ceases to amaze me with what God can do with a seemingly hopeless situation. He is able to somehow recycle it and work it out for good.
This all proves that God loves to recycle. The sad thing today is that there are many Christians who don’t love to recycle. They would rather throw their possessions away at the slightest sign of ware. They are falling away from the faith because the devil has convinced them that their marriages, their children, or their spiritual lives are beyond repair. Instead of working at a situation, many give up before they even give the Holy Spirit a chance! Even though God is screaming - “HEY I CAN USE THAT YET!” They say, “too bad, I’m throwing it out!” How this angers God!
And how often is it that we fall into that same mind set - where we want everything in our lives to be brand new! We want our marriages to be like a honeymoon all the time! We want our possessions to always work well. We want to be healthy til the day we die. We want our children to always behave. But then, when we find our husbands snore, when our possessions break down, or when our children have problems - we just act like it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to us. We pray to God, “oh Lord, WHY did you let me get sick! WHY do you allow evil to continue in the world! WHY can’t I be happy in my marriage!” We accuse God of being uncaring and indifferent to evil just because he allows it to continue on! All the while we fail to recognize the fact that God can USE these things for our good! If God could use hatred and jealousy to save thousands of lives, then why do we complain when our milk turns sour? It’s because our faith is so weak! Faith is being certain of what we do not see! There was no way that Joseph could have seen himself being a king while he was rotting in jail. And yet by faith, he knew that God would work it out for good. And He did. But how often do we cut God’s arms short and give up on a situation before He even has a chance!
Isn’t it a great thing then, when God - instead of throwing us away, recycles our faith. How often has God patiently put up with our complaining - had an evil situation work out for good - and then fanned our faith into flame! Instead of punishing us for our lack of faith, He throws our sins on Christ and uses Jesus’ righteousness to be our holiness. Again and again God uses the blood of Christ to cover our sins. The Recycler has many times taken our faith out of the incinerator and recycled it! Thank God for his patience! Thank God He loves to recycle!
II. The result of knowing this
When Joseph recognized that God loves to recycle, it completely changed his attitude toward his brothers. Here he was, king of the nation. If you or I had spent our time rotting in that prison, we would have been pretty tempted to get some vengeance on those scum bags. And at first, it appeared that Joseph was no different. When his brothers first came, they didn’t recognize him. So Joseph appeared to them like a real foreign ruler. He was rude to them, and acted like a real hard guy. He even threw them in prison and called them spies!
But the more Joseph dealt with them, the more he realized that they were sorry for what they had done. He could hear them talking among themselves - saying that God was punishing them for their evil deed. Finally, after he heard Simeon give a wonderful confession, Joseph could hold back no longer! Right before Joseph revealed himself, he broke into tears and 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. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. When Joseph recognized that God had a good purpose in his being sold into slavery - he was able to forgive his brothers for their evil deed. He almost went to the point of thanking them for being so evil! Instead of blaming them and using their sin as an excuse for his misery, he knew that God had a good purpose for their evil - and so he was thankful for what they had done!
What an important concept for us to realize! It’s good to want the right results and to want to make the wrong decisions. It’s even good to feel sad over bad decisions and things we’ve done. But how often do we complicate our lives by worrying about the decisions that we have made and the sins we have committed in the past! We kick ourselves over a sin we did twenty years ago. We second guess the advice we gave to our children. We act as if the future depended on the actions and decisions that we make! We give ourselves way more credit and responsibility than we should. But what we need to ultimately realize is that God can even use our mistakes for a good purpose. He has more control than we would like to give Him credit for. When we remember that God can work the evil WE have done out for good - it makes it much easier for us to live with ourselves.
Also, when we realize this - how much easier is it for us then to be forgiving! How many people do you know who are holding grudges over sins committed long ago? We hold onto the times we’ve been wronged and lock them in the vaults of our anger - as if they were as precious as gold. But what God wants us to do is to throw it in the garden of experience and let it grow. I can use an experience in my life. I had a good friend of mine in high school who I really admired - so I decided to be as open and friendly with this person as possible. What happend? This friend took my openness and friendship and completely exploited and used it to completely humiliate me. I still think about that moment. For a long time I was angry about it. I never even received an apology. To this day, I don’t know exactly why it happened. But after reading the principle that God RECYCLES - I can be assured that God allowed that to happen to somehow build my faith. Somehow he used it for my good. It strengthened me. It made me be more careful in my choice of friends. When I approach it from that aspect - it makes it much easier to forgive the sin that was committed against me. Now, when I remember that sin that was committed against me, I can be thankful for it instead of bitter about it - because I know that God turned that pile of manure situation into a garden of growth for me.
Think about the results of this revelation for Joseph! Finally, after many tears and convincing words, the text says that - Afterward his brothers talked with him. Instead of exterminating his family and remaining at odds over their sin - Joseph thanked God for it and used the occasion to bring his whole family back together. If Joseph had not done this - Jacob and his family could have very well died in Israel under the famine, and the line of the Savior would have died with his anger. But instead, Joseph’s forgiveness led to a huge family reunion, where 70 relatives were able to be reunited under Joseph’s care in the land of Goshen. God was able to recycle this family and bring it together! When Joseph recognized this, he didn’t throw his family away. He grew closer to them than he had ever been before.
Now think about this in your own life. What good will it do for you to hold onto the sins committed against you in the past? What good does it do for your souls if you refuse to forgive those who sinned against you long ago? When we hold grudges it only builds bitterness and hatred in our hearts. But when we realize that God has a good purpose in our lives - that God loves to recycle - even the evil people that plotted against us - it makes life so much more bearable. We don’t get stuck in our past and continue to dwell on it. Instead, we say, “what good can work from this? How did God use this for my growth?” Instead of being angry with God, we will thank God for allowing the evil to happen to us - because God promises that nothing will happen to us that won’t work ultimately for our good.
Several months ago I was having problems with my dryer. I had checked the exhaust. I had the electrical components checked out. Everything seemed to be ok - but it didn’t work correctly. So we decided to buy a new set. But then, when I started using the new dryer, I realized that it wasn’t working correctly either. Come to find out - when I was pushing the dryer against the wall, it was pinching the exhaust pipe, and so it wasn’t working correctly. Now we have a perfectly find dryer sitting in our garage. We shouldn’t have given up on it so easily. We should have tried to look into the problem some more.
You may not have an old dryer you’re dealing with in your life. Maybe it’s an old husband. Maybe it’s a stubborn child. Maybe it’s your old sinful nature. Before you give up on something in your life or decide to throw it out - whether it’s your spouse, your ability - your children - your past - or even your car - look twice at that old thing you consider a piece of junk. It might seem worthless to you, but remember - God loves to recycle. He can turn a pile of manure into a garden of flowers. If he was able to bring Joseph’s family back together, he can put your life back together. Just give him a chance to recycle you - and He’ll work a miracle! Amen.
