January 4, 2003
A. Favorite children stories from the Bible:
1) David and Goliath
2) Jonah and the big fish
3) Moses and the floating basket
4) Samson and Delilah
5) Noah and the Ark
6) Joseph and his brothers
a) Best part of the story
1. His father gave him a multi-colored coat
2. His prophetic dreams
b) Bad part of the story
1. His brothers were jealous of his coat
2. They became indignant when they heard Joseph’s dream
3. Plotted to kill him
4. Placed him in the pit
5. Sold him for thirty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites
6. Falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife
7. Wrongly imprisoned for many years
8. Seven years of famine
c) Second best part of the story
1. His ability to interpret dreams
2. He became governor of Egypt
3. Seven years of prosperity
4. His brothers came bowing to him as fulfillment of Joseph’s dream
5. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers
6. He forgave his brothers
B. As human beings, we often want to skip to the best part of the story
1) We don’t want to see Cinderella scrubbing the floor in front of her bossy step-sisters. We want to see her dancing with her shining-armored-knight.
2) We want to hear the words: “And they lived happily ever after.”
3) We don’t want to see Snow White lying in that silver coffin. We want to see the prince to come and kiss her so that she will live again.
4) When confronted with difficult issues, we would rather sweep them under the rugs.
5) We sometimes behave like the shy ostrich who would rather bury her head in the sand than face her difficulties.
6) We don’t want to hear about scandal, deceit, and betrayal
7) Especially when the scandal, deceit, and betrayal are happening within our families.
C. This is exactly what was happening in Joseph’s family
1) The twelve brothers were constantly outwitting each other to gain the favor of their father Jacob.
2) The wives of Jacob were constantly bickering and arguing
3) Joseph boasting about his dream
4) Jealousy erupts
5) Premeditated crime is creeping in the minds of the brothers
6) Right circumstances presented itself—Joseph was asked by his father to visit his brothers
7) Betrayal and selling Joseph became their option
8) Deceit and deception became their tools to cover their crime.
D. Story of forgiveness and reconciliation
1) Simon Wiesenthal: A Life in Search of Justice
a) “Simon Wiesenthal lost 89 relatives in Hitler’s death camps. He has devoted his life to finding Nazi criminals and bringing them to justice.
b) He is often asked when he will give up. After all, he is hunting down men in their 70’s and 80’s for crimes committed half a century ago.
c) Wiesenthal answered by writing a book.
d) The book begins with a true experience he had while he himself was a concentration camp prisoner. One day he was yanked out of a work detail and taken up a back stairway to a dark hospital room. A nurse led him into the room, then left him alone with a figure wrapped in white, lying on a bed. The figure was a badly wounded German soldier, whose entire face was covered with bandages. His name was Karl.
e) With a trembling voice, the German made a kind of confession to Wiesenthal. He told how he had been brought up in a Nazi family, the fighting he had experienced on the Russian front, and the brutal measures his German unit had taken against Jews.
f) And then he told of a terrible atrocity. All the Jews in a town were herded into a wooden building that was then set on fire. Karl had taken an active part in the crime.
g) Several times Wiesenthal tried to leave the room, but each time the ghost-like figure would reach out and beg him to stay.
h) Finally, after 2 hours, Karl told Wiesenthal why he had been summoned. The soldier had asked a nurse if any Jews still existed. If so, he wanted one brought to his room so he could clear his conscience. He then said to Wiesenthal -"I am left here with my guilt. "I do not know who you are, I know only that you are a Jew and that is enough. "I know that what I am asking is almost too much for you. "But without your answer I cannot die in peace."
i) Karl asked for forgiveness for all the Jews he had killed. He asked for forgiveness, from a man who might soon die. Wiesenthal sat in silence for some time. He stared at the man’s bandaged face. At last, without saying a word, he stood up and left the room. He left the soldier in torment, unforgiven.
j) Had Simon Wiesenthal done the best he could? He himself seemed dissatisfied with his action. He went over it with his companions. He visited the dead soldier’s mother.
k) In his book, he asks 32 rabbis, Christian theologians, and secular philosophers to comment on it. "What would YOU have done?" is the question he posed.
l) Out of 32 people he asked the majority said he had done right in leaving the soldier unforgiven. Only 6 said he had done wrong. Yet Bible says we have the privilege of granting forgiveness to those who have wronged us.”
m) Forgiveness is hard but hate is even harder.
2) Example of Joseph
a) Forgiveness is possible
1. No matter the nature of the crime is, forgiveness is possible
2. Even those who committed the crime against us are the ones that we expect to protect us, forgiveness is possible.
b) Vengeance belong to God
1. Joseph had the right to take revenge
2. He had the power to inflict revenge
3. He had the opportunity to carry revenge
4. Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
c) Forgiveness extended before it was asked
1. Discussion whether to forgive Timothy McVeigh
a. Some said that they can never forgive McVeigh for what he did.
b. Some said that they were willing to forgive him
c. Others did not want to extend forgiveness to McVeigh because he did not ask for it.
2. Joseph’s example:
a. He revealed himself
b. His brothers were troubled
c. They were terrified
d. They were dumbfounded
e. Before they could say a word, Joseph offered to them his forgiveness
3. Luke 23:34, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
d) Forgiveness is not excusing the wrong doing
1. Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
2. Forgiveness is not simply saying, “Everything is alright.” “It was not a big deal.” “I survived.”
3. “Forgiveness finds its true meaning when all the pains and the hurts are brought to the surface.”
4. Forgiveness is like removing an old bandage from an old wound, bringing the wound to open, and covering it with a fresh bandage.
5. Luke 23:34, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
e) Forgiveness helps us to see the big picture
1. Genesis 45:5-8, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
2. His suffering was for the salvation of his family
3. His imprisonment was for the freedom of his family from a devastating famine
4. His betrayal was for the preservation of his posterity
5. God wilt for his good the evil intentions of his brothers
f) Forgiveness helps us to start a new beginning
1. “The miracle of forgiving is the creation of a new beginning. It does not always take away the hurt. It does not deny the past injury. It merely refuses to let them stand in the way of a new start.” (Lewis. B Smedes. Forgive and Forget. )
2. “Unforgiven wrongdoings are stumbling blocks that prevent us from moving forward, and upward.”
g) Forgiveness must be received and accepted
1. Even years later, after they had brought their father Jacob down to Egypt where he eventually died, they were still afraid that Joseph might get revenge against them. It is years later and they still have not fully accepted the forgiveness that has been extended to them.
2. They once again allowed guilt to do a number on them. There was no doubt in their minds that the death of their father could mean that sudden reversal of Joseph’s forgiveness towards them.
3. In Genesis 50:15-20 we are told, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” (16) So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, (17) ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.”
4. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. (18) Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” (19) Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? (20) But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”
5. They are still rehearsing past sin which had already been forgiven by Joseph, but which had not fully forgiven them-selves. Here they are years later and Joseph is still reassuring his brothers that they have been forgiven.
6. Often in life the last ones we forgive is ourselves and I think that is exactly what these brothers are still fighting with.
7. As Chuck Swindoll says in his book on Joseph, “Guilt clings to the side of the boat, clawing for a foothold, long after grace has come on board and begun to steer.” [Charles Swindoll. Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness. (Nashville: Word Pub., 1998) pp. 144-145.]
8. Joseph’s heart is broken to understand that the brothers have not appropriated in their lives the forgiveness he had given them years earlier. They are living under a burden of guilt for sins that have already been forgiven.
9. But how about you, are you still fighting with guilt for sins that you have already asked God to forgive you for? If you have asked for God’s forgiveness, he forgave you, then and there. The question is, “Have you allowed yourself to be forgiven? Are you living as if you have been forgiven?”
E. Jesus’ offer of forgiveness
1) Story of forgiveness in China
a) This story happened during the cultural revolution of Mao Tse Tung
b) Commander of the Red Army persecuted poor people
c) Woman with a husband a son
d) Her husband was imprisoned
e) Later, her only son was dragged and killed in the public square by the commander
f) The commander got married, had a son.
g) The son got sick
h) When the woman heard about this, she volunteered to take care of his son
i) His son was healed
j) She revealed her identity to him.
k) He was converted
l) Christianity started to spread in China
F. This is the kind of forgiveness that Jesus is offering to us.
