What will dictate your life's path?
There are really only so many approaches to life. One approach is to let your fears dictate your path.
What kind of fears? There could be a fear of men, of danger, of personal loss, of relational fallout, of rejection, of financial calamity, anxiety about the future, or a fear of death. For much of his life Abraham let his fears dictate his path. Read his story in
Genesis and what do you see? Crisis begets crisis and calamity begets calamity. He found himself on the other side of the world, far from the place God had called him to be. Fear doesn't have a good track record. More often than not, it is leaving us more broken than when we'd first begun.
Another approach is to let faith dictate our paths. Abraham most trusted God toward the end of his life, and became known as a faithful person.
A man who let faith dictate his path.
This morning we consider the story of another man who let faith dictate his path. And no matter how dark his path became, and no matter how hard people attempted to sabotage his success, he kept walking by faith-- believing, trusting, and waiting on God.
We pick up his story in
Genesis 37 where at seventeen years of age he began having terrifying revelations from God. In one dream, he was in a field of wheat binding sheaves with his brothers, when suddenly his sheath of grain rose and stood upright while all the sheaves of his brothers gathered around and bowed to his. In another dream, he saw the sun and moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. The problem was that he didn't know whether to keep these dreams to himself, or try to make sense of them.
His dreams did little more than stoke the insecurities and jealousies of his eleven brothers. How dare he think that all his brothers and his own father would bow down to him? Even his own father rebuked him.
His father favored him, making his brothers jealous.
His other problem was that his father favored him, much more than all his other brothers. While his brothers wore rags and were required to work in sultry fields, he paraded around in a richly ornamented robe. In addition, his father would often send him to report about their comings and goings. His brothers envied and hated and resented him so much that they began conspiring about how they might kill him.
One day the eleven brothers saw him coming in the distance. But instead of loving their brother as their father did-- and running to greet, kiss, and welcome him-- these elder brothers began quarreling about how they might kill him. One brother suggested that they slay him, and leave his flesh to be eaten by wild dogs. Another brother, hoping to later rescue him, proposed that he be thrown into a cistern. Still another brother proposed that they spare him, selling him as a slave to Midianite merchants who were traveling from the East toward Egypt. So this is what they did.
To cover their deceit, they took his robe--with all its ornamentation, and unique color-- dipped it into goat's blood, and spun a tale to their father about how their brother had been carried off by wild animals. They weren't exactly the Brady bunch.
Later in Genesis we learn how he pleaded for his elder brothers to spare his life, but they wouldn't. Little did he know that these Midianite merchants, who were traveling on camels and who happened to be carrying silver and myrrh among other things, would become his deliverance. Had they not arrived at just the precise moment, he would have died. But God's favor was upon him.
He became a slave in Egypt.
In Egypt, he became a slave to one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. But it became apparent to the official that God's hand was upon this younger son. Everything he touched prospered.
Oh by the way, did I mention his chiseled jaw, six-pack abs, and fabulous physique? Well I only mention it because the scriptures do! And one of the first people to notice him was a married woman-- the official's wife. This was a woman whose husband could give her everything her heart desired. But the one thing she wanted more than anything else was for this young man to be her lover.
Day after day she insisted that they go to her bedroom, but this young man refused her advances. He knew better! Her husband was the captain of the guard to Pharaoh! So each day, he tended to his duties. He refused to violate his master's marriage bed, his master's trust, or compromise his integrity before the Lord. But her efforts become more brazen, until one day she grabbed his cloak and forced herself upon him. By the grace of God, he was able to escape her grasp and he fled the household even as she screamed for help. She needed a good cover story, so she falsely accused this poor Hebrew man of having tried to make sport of her. And as a result, he was immediately thrown in jail.
In prison, he could have despaired for his life-- but the Lord was with him and continued to give him success in everything he did. Just as he had done with the captain of the guard, he quickly gained the favor of the prison's warden. And just like others, the warden sensed that God's kindness and favor was upon him.
He was imprisoned and was sitting between two criminals.
In a bizarre twist of fate, one day he found himself sitting between two criminals. Each one was sentenced to death, and each had had dreams. The first criminal had been a cupbearer to the King. In his dream a vine with three branches budded, blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. And in the dream, the cupbearer saw himself squeezing the grapes, and the juices from the grapes were flowing into Pharaoh's cup.
The second criminal had been a baker in the King's court. In his dream, he saw himself carrying three baskets of bread on his head, when suddenly a bunch of birds came and began tearing the bread into tiny pieces, eating it.
The man interpreted the dreams of the two criminals. The first criminal, the cupbearer, would live. Instead of dying, he would one day take up his master's cup, and drink of it anew in the King's presence. But the second criminal, the baker, would die. His body would be hung on a wooden tree, a pole, and the birds would come to tear his body apart, and eat his flesh. What a horrifying dream, the thought of dying in such a manner, and to have your body broken! What a pleasant dream, to take the cup, and drink it anew in the King's presence!
What an amazing dream, to see the sheaves of your brothers, of your earthly father, and to see the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to you! What a mysterious fortune that foreigners from the east, traveling on camels, bearing silver and mrryh, arrive in the desert just in time to spare you from death. What a terrifying ordeal to be betrayed by your elder brothers, beaten, stripped of your garment, carried off into the night, only to be to be falsely accused, arrested by the captain and his guard, and thrown in jail.
To the cupbearer this young Hebrew begged, "Remember me in the King's presence. Plead my case to Pharaoh."
The man interpreted the dream of the Pharoah.
It wasn't until years later that any such thing would happen. One night Pharaoh had a deeply disturbing dream that no one in all of Egypt could interpret. Then suddenly the cupbearer recalled how a young Hebrew prisoner had interpreted his dream, and how everything the man said happened just as he predicted.
To make a long story short, the Hebrew was summoned from the dungeon, shaved, and given fresh clothes. He interpreted Pharoah's dream, and warned that seven years of prosperity would come to Egypt, followed by seven years of severe famine. And what's more, he said that Pharaoh should appoint an official to store up one fifth of all the grain produced over the next seven years in order to provide for the seven years of famine.
Sensing that the Spirit of God was upon this man, Pharoah placed him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. The king placed his signet ring on his finger, dressed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. What must it have been like, after all that hardship, to experience the King's favor, to feel the kind of love he once felt so long ago in his father's household?
The man's name was Zaphenath-Paneah.
I'm sorry, did I forget to mention this Hebrew's name? I'm not even sure I can pronounce it. Maybe you've heard his name and can help me. It's Zaphenath-Paneah. See
Genesis 41:45. That is his Egyptian name. Zaphenath-Paneah. Let's just call him Z-P. Pharaoh gave Z-P a wife, and they had two children.
Now get this, and pay close attention. The first child he named Manasseh, which means, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." The second child he named Ephraim, which means, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." See
Genesis 41:51-52.
When you came in here this morning, you received a strip of paper. Like Z-P, maybe you've been wounded by others. On your piece of paper I want you to write the name of a person who has done more to hurt you anyone else in all this world. You can write his initials if you like. You can just write the first letter of his name. Both you and God know who this person is.
Maybe you've come to hate this person. Maybe she once betrayed you, stripped you of your dignity, sold you out, tempted you, violated you, falsely accused you, caused you to be thrown into darkness, sabotaged your success, or made you suffer. Who knows, maybe its someone you're jealous of. She's attractive, people favor her, and you always find yourself in her shadow. Write the name or initials of the person who has hurt you.
He named his child Manasseh. Z-P marveled how God caused him to forget and to let go of all the trouble. What would it be like if you could do the same this morning?
Now flip your piece of paper over. Write down the worst thing you have had to suffer in life because of someone else's sin. Maybe you feel too ashamed to even acknowledge the thing, let along write it down. If it's too hard to write, on your slip of paper just write, "all my sorrows" or "all my pain". If you are able, write the first letter of that thing. Nobody will see it but you and God. Nobody is minimizing that thing. Nobody is excusing that thing. Nobody is denying that it happened. God saw it happen. You were there, you felt, you endured it, and you have the scars to prove it. Whatever you have suffered, write it down. Whoever caused it, write his/her name or initials on other side.
He named his second child Ephraim. Z-P marveled how despite that person, and despite the horror of that thing, in the very place where he was suffering, God made him fruitful.
If God did that for Z-P, do you think God wants anything different for you? You want to hold on, but God wants you to forget. You want to fume and be consumed with fury, but God wants you to be fruitful. We're not talking about something that's easy, nor even possible in our own power and strength. We're talking about something only God can bring about through faith. God can make us forget the pain, move forward, and be fruitful in spite of the past.
The famine devastated all of Egypt.
Just as he had interpreted, the famine devastated all of Egypt and all the surrounding countries, including the land of Canaan which was Z-P's homeland-- the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and his father Jacob. Soon, Z-P's family can no longer survive. So ten of his eleven brothers caravan all the way to Egypt to buy grain. And in a bizarre reversal of fortunes decreed by God Almighty, Z-P, formerly and more widely known today as Joseph, finds ten of his eleven brothers bowing in his presence, begging to buy grain from his stores, so that they might live and not die.
Joseph had this golden opportunity to exact his revenge, to pay back his elder brothers, and to do to them what they'd done to him. Now he could quench his blood-lust!
But that isn't who Joseph was, nor who God is, nor who we should be. God had been gracious to Joseph, and now it was Joseph's turn to be gracious to his brothers. By his grace, the Lord had shown Joseph how to forget all the pain and move forward. Manasseh. By his grace, the Lord had shown Joseph how to be fruitful in the very place where he had spent most of his life suffering. Ephraim. But now the Lord was preparing Joseph to take the final leg of the journey of faith. He was preparing Joseph to forgive.
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.
We learn in
Genesis 45 that Joseph waited until the last possible moment to reveal himself to his brothers. And when he does, he released such pain that all the house of Pharaoh and all of Egypt heard him weeping. That's the kind of pain we're talking about. That's the kind of release we're talking about. Not just letting out a little built up tension, but releasing all of that pent up hostility, and sorrow, and anger, and bitterness, and resentment, and craving for vengeance to God.
In
Genesis 45:3 (NIV) Joseph says,
"I am Joseph!" In
Genesis 45:4 (NIV) he says,
"Come close to me." In
Genesis 45:5 (NIV) he says,
"...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." In
Genesis 45:7-8 (NIV) he says,
"But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 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."
In
Genesis 50 Joseph's father Jacob dies, and his brothers are fearful that Joseph will exact his revenge. In
Genesis 50:15 (NIV) they say,
"What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?"
But Joseph says to them in Genesis 50:19-21 (NIV), " 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them."
What is forgiveness?
What exactly is forgiveness? It's that nobody,
nobody, no matter how evil, gets to write how your story ends. It's that
nobody, despite all they've done, gets free rent in your head, and gets to hold power over you any longer. Forgiveness is that God gives you the grace to
forget, and the grace to be
fruitful-- to turn some evil thing into a triumph of good.
But forgiveness is also this-- it's an acknowledgement that you aren't God. Just as nobody gets to write how your story ends, so you don't get to write how someone else's story ends. God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and that is his story. And there isn't anything you can do to undo God's unfolding story of redemption and grace. In fact, there is really only one thing we can do about God's story of grace. We can enter it. We can begin the journey of forgetting, becoming fruitful, and forgiving.
God's story is most clearly embodied on the cross. Like Joseph, Jesus found himself between two criminals, both condemned to die. The one criminal cast insults upon Jesus. The other criminal pleaded with Jesus in
Luke 23:42 (NIV),
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
But unlike Joseph, it was Jesus who accepted the fate of both the cupbearer and the baker to make forgiveness possible. The God of the universe allowed himself to be hung on a tree, to have his body broken, and his blood poured out for the sins of the world. But it was this same God who also decreed, for all eternity, that through faith we will not surely die, but will be able to take his cup and drink it anew in his eternal kingdom. By faith, one criminal lived on. By faith, one of the criminals entered paradise, while the other criminal died.
What will be your destiny?
What will be your destiny? Will you live by faith or will you die in your bitterness, darkness, and sin? What will the final chapter of your life be? Will you waste away, or will you be renewed by the grace of God? Will you forget or fume? Will you be a failure, or be fruitful?
God has prepared our hearts for communion. We have before us the elements that remind us how God allowed his body to be broken, and his lifeblood poured out, for the forgiveness of many. We ask that you go to a station, and that as you take the elements, you cast your slip of paper into the bowl of water and watch what happens. We ask that as you cast all your sorrows upon God, that you let God be God. We ask that you let God forgive your sins, but that you also let him work out his story on his terms, in the lives of those who've wronged you.