If you're a football fan, last weekend, this
weekend, next week, right? NFL today, college
championship tomorrow. It's just, it's some of
the best time to watch some really great football
on TV. And when you coach football, and I used
to do that for a lot of years, there's something
about coaching football that's a lot of fun,
but my most fun I had coaching football when
I was able to coach the youngest players and
the ones that were playing for the first time.
All right, so the question as a coach with all
these players, how do you tell a good football
player? And so you have them run the 40 -yard
dash, see how fast they are. Have them run around
the track for a mile and see who can stay standing,
not puking by halfway through, see if they did
any kind of running over the summer. Make them
lift weights, make them bench press, squat, see
how strong they are. See who can throw, spiral,
see who can actually catch. Try to find a kicker.
That's one of the hardest things in football.
Maybe someone can kick the ball more than a few
yards through the air. So you find all those
skilled people, but then if you coach football,
you know the key thing that has to be there.
Can they take a hit? And you don't know that
until it happens. Whether it's in practice or
a game, and you're watching, and this player's
all excited about playing, and all of a sudden
they don't see it coming, and man, they just
get creamed, and you're just like, that's going
to hurt. You go up to them and check if they're
injured, and they're not injured, but they're
hurt, right, because there's a lot of pain, and
there might be a little bit of tear if they're
the youngest players, they're not used to it.
And then you watch. Are they able to get back
in and... Stay in there? Or in practice, when
they see the hit coming, do they clench up? Because
if you play football, you know this. If you tighten
up, you're probably going to get hurt. Your body's
just going to kind of let it loose. Or do they
avoid the contact, right? You never know. But
the best players have to be able to take the
hits because that's the game. And what's true
in that game is true in, I guess, the game of
life. You've got to take the hits. They're always
going to be there. And you know it, right? You
know that there are going to be people that are
mean. That they're in school. There are kids
who are going to be bullies. That mean words
are going to be said. That gossip is going to
be there. There are going to be hurtful words
and hurtful actions. As you get a little bit
older, you start to realize something too is
those same words and actions and gossip, it starts
to dig a little bit deeper, right? Words really
hurt. And sometimes hurtful words and hurtful
actions ruin relationships. Really important
ones. Mess up lives in major ways. Cause real
pain and real hurt. And then I have to realize
something, that the people that said that or
did that are often the people that are closest
to me. A sibling, a parent, a spouse, a friend.
And then I want to have this, right? I want,
although I know I shouldn't, I want payback.
I want revenge. Just a little bit. TV. As Christians,
we know that that's not what God wants us to
do. And so how do you forgive? And I really think
for a lot of people in life, this is a major
issue, that there is something that's in front
of you, there is something out there, that there
is a person or people in your life that are constantly
kind of being negative in your life, that it's
hard for you to get past it. And so this morning
we're going to look at that, and we're going
to look at that through the life of a man named
Joseph. And we're going to take just a little
bit towards the end of his life. But before we
get to the end of his life and see what he does,
we have to know the arc of his life. Remember
Joseph in the Old Testament? He is one of the
12 sons of Jacob. There are two sons of Jacob,
and their most favorite, it's Benjamin and Joseph.
And Jacob showed a lot of favoritism to Joseph
and how the Bible portrays Joseph as not someone
who was really humbled for that favor by dad,
but just the opposite. He was just an arrogant
kid. And his brothers hated him. God gave Joseph
a gift of dream interpretation. You might know
Joseph for the story of the coat of many colors,
the scene in the musical. But the other part
of that story is that that dream interpretation,
the way Joseph got one of these dreams and essentially
told his brothers, yeah, you're going to bow
down to me someday, you and dad, and not in a
way that made the brothers like him anymore.
Remember the story of Joseph? One day he was
going out to the field to meet his brothers and
they saw him coming and they said, let's kill
him. One brother knew that wasn't right, so I
will put him in a well, I'll come back and release
him, but... In the meantime, another brother,
Judah, said, hey, look at this. It's a caravan
of slave traders. Let's sell Joseph to them.
And so they did. They told dad Joseph was killed
by a wild animal. Joseph sold to a man named
Potiphar. High up in the land of Egypt, underneath
Pharaoh. And so now Joseph being sold into slavery,
working in this man's house, and things are going
well. The Bible portrays it. And then, no fault
of Joseph, Potiphar's wife makes advances. Joseph
stops her and says, hey, I'm not going to do
such a wicked thing and sin against God. And
off to prison he goes. In prison, things go a
little bit better. He helps some of the prisoners
out, interprets dreams, and they forget about
him. One's released. Joseph still lingers. Then
Pharaoh has a dream. The guy remembers there's
a guy in prison who, oh yeah, I know a guy, Pharaoh.
Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream that there's
going to be a famine coming. And all of a sudden,
Joseph, prison, now elevated to second in command
of Egypt, starts to plan for this famine. The
famine comes and life comes right full circle.
Famine isn't just in Egypt. Famine's all over
the world. And guess who is starving? Jacob and
his brothers. And guess who comes to Joseph's?
The brothers. And the Bible for a couple chapters
has this kind of tense exchange with Joseph and
his brothers. But the brothers don't know it's
Joseph, right? Because Joseph is an Egyptian.
He is speaking through an interpreter that they
don't see through his face and his robes and
his language. They start to realize something
as Joseph in this tense exchange. Uh -oh. Not
that they feel bad for what they did, but it's
like karma. We're getting paid back for what
we did. And then Joseph finally had enough. The
gig is up and here's where we begin. Notice what
Joseph does. He's going to tell them who he really
is. 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. And
he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him
and Pharaoh's household heard about it. 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. 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, 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. For two years now there has been
famine in the land, and for the next five years
there will be no plowing and reaping. 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 an
entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now
hurry back to my father and say to him, this
is what your son Joseph says. God has made me
lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't delay.
You shall live in the region of Goshen and be
near me. You, your children and grandchildren,
your flocks and herds and all you have. When
Joseph came there and the brothers there, and
what did he say? Aha, finally. How the tables
have turned, brothers. I'm going to let you just
experience just a little bit of my life the last
20 or so years. No, not at all. That back and
forth, those words from Joseph, right? His weeping.
His just, hey, how's dad? Everyone's starving.
You're coming here. I'm going to bring you to
the land of Goshen. That's a really beautiful
area. Everybody's going to come here. It's going
to be great. And then you hear those words and
then remember Jesus' words. How does Joseph say,
I love you in that way? Because sometime, Joseph
had to have forgiven them from his heart. Maybe
it was when they walked through the door the
first time. Maybe it was when he was languishing
in prison. Maybe it was when he's sitting in
the well before he was sold. He's like, oh yeah,
I am fine. I know I shouldn't have said that
stuff. I don't know where it was in Joseph's
life. It's finally dawned on him. But he made
peace with his brothers. Before they did what?
Before they actually said, I'm sorry. He forgave
his brothers before they did what? Before they
said, Joseph, we were really mean to you. What
we did was, we shouldn't even. Actually, when
you kind of read how his brothers talk, I don't
know if they've ever actually spoke those words.
But Joseph forgave from the heart. He didn't
collect on the debt he was owed. See, that's
forgiveness, right? Forgiveness really is you're
saying to someone, I am not going to collect
on the debt you owe me. Here's what I mean by
that. When you're wronged, right? When someone
does something wrong to you, says something bad
to you, is mean to you, right, in light terms.
Or, right, even as it gets worse and worse and
what they did or what they said is so terrible,
it ruins a family and ruins relationships. the
person that is the one offended against and sinned
against says, man, you think you owe me. And
the debt I am going to collect is you're going
to feel similar pain, similar grief, similar
heartache, similar struggles. At the very least,
I want you just to understand just a little bit
of what you caused me to do. And what you caused
are light. And I want you to just experience
just the mess that you've caused. See, to forgive
someone is to say, I am not going to get that
debt repaid. I am not going to get revenge on
that person. But here's what's hard about that.
The debt has to be paid. And the debt's paid
by you then. you don't get to have revenge then.
In a similar way, think of it this way. If you
walk into a house and you knock over a lamp and
you break it, don't worry about it, accident,
no big deal. The lamp's broken. Just because
I said no big deal, I forgave you, doesn't mean
that there's not a debt. I have to go out and
buy a new lamp. Not my fault, your fault. I don't
care, right? I'll take care of it. That's the
same thing with forgiveness. You can't collect
the debt. You have to take it. You have to pay
for it. And here's what's hard about that. That
goes against every part of our being, right?
You know, that person truly did hurt you. Your
life is truly detoured now. Everything you hoped
and dreamed for might have blown up in smoke,
and it's not your fault. And Jesus now says,
forgive that person from your heart. Here's the
alternative, isn't it? The alternative is, be
angry with them. Every time you see them, walk
the other way. And you know how that feels when
that person is there. In your heart, we start
to realize why Jesus says you've got to forgive
from the heart because if you don't forgive from
the heart, what stays in there is those feelings
of anger and revenge and that just stays. And
you know that kind of heart, that is going to
come out in other ways. And then suddenly, right,
that person no longer hurting you because they've
moved on. But the hurt is still there and you
kind of re -hurt yourself over and over again.
And in school, one of the phrases that we start
to teach the kids is, in Christ, I'm not a victim,
but I'm a victor. What it means is, in Christ,
I am forgiving him. So how do you do that? Look
what Joseph did. In his words, you kind of see
how Joseph's able to forgive, right? Notice throughout
his... words to the brothers, there's this phrase
over and over again, God sent me. It was not
you who sent me here, but God was a part of this.
God has made me Lord over all Egypt, right? Joseph
understood that his life arc and all the different
things that happened to him, he saw God's hand
working through that. And then I'm guessing you're
hearing that and you're like, yeah, I guess,
Pastor, if... I was put second in command of
the United States and I won the lottery. I feel
good. Oh God, I see your plan now. My life is
in tatters, but suddenly now everything is mine.
So yeah, I'm good with whatever's done to me.
No. You have to understand and believe some of
the truths in Scripture that says God truly does
have a plan for you. God's promises are true
for you too. And I'm not trying to minimize or
say it doesn't matter. Because you know that
in the situation in life where you have been
wronged and things have been terrible, that it
truly is bad and rough and difficult. But there
are promises that God has for you that says,
I plan to be there and to surround you and to
be your constant presence. And we've got to trust
in that. I think one of the problems we have
with this thought of forgiving from the heart,
even though the person around me might not be
repentant towards me, right? Because I think
in the Christian mind, we say, I forgive. When
they apologize, I forgive them. When they feel
sorry, I forgive them. No. I want a person to
apologize. I want a person to repent, right?
Because that's what God wants. But my heart of
forgiveness, is not contingent upon acts of repentance.
It is not contingent upon an apology. But it
doesn't mean that the relationship is all going
to be perfect and okay now, right? You understand
this. In a marriage, sometimes, right, we might
say or do things towards our spouse and, oh yeah,
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. And your
spouse says, I forgive you, Tim. And then months
later, maybe you say the same thing, and then
your spouse says back to you, you're doing the
same thing you did a couple months ago, and your
response is, I thought you forgave me for that.
Yeah, but we're not talking about forgiveness
of the past. What we're talking about is trust,
right? Trust has to be rebuilt. And so there
is forgiveness. But then there are consequences
in life. And sometimes forgiveness doesn't mean
instant reconciliation. Sometimes forgiveness
doesn't mean that everything is back the way
it's normal and we're all good. Not all the time.
We have to set boundaries in our lives of people
that might be hurting us and not really doing
what they need to do. But it doesn't mean that
I can't forgive them or my forgiveness towards
them is contingent upon them making better choices.
In our growth groups this week, there's a question
at the end and it's going to ask, what person
in your life do you need to forgive? And what
steps can you take to do that? Some people may
not have anybody in their life to forgive. And
if you're not really sure if you do, I guess
think of the person that maybe you struggle with
and that might be the person, oh, no, this might
be the one. I guess here's a question for you.
Can you tonight go home, pray for them? When
they walk, if they'd walk into church and sit
nearby you, are you happy they came? Or are you
angry that they're here and this is my one spot
and I can't have you? And you are remembering,
are you seeing them in what they did to you?
Do you have just this constant feeling that you
wish that, man, every time I see them or even
worse, right, you see a positive thing in their
life on social media and it just grinds your
gears. You screwed our life up and now look at
you. You should not be having this. I think if
those feelings are there, there is a wound that
you have that has not yet been healed. And the
wounds that haven't been healed can only be healed
through forgiveness. See, the life of Joseph
gives us an example of forgiveness. But when
you hear it, if you see it, and if you have this
issue, you're like, I don't know how much that
helps. I'm not Joseph, Pastor. Here's the thing
with Scripture, especially Old Testament people,
always are meant also to point us to Jesus. And
you think, centuries after Joseph left, Joseph
points me to Jesus because there you have Jesus
who was betrayed by his brothers, sold for silver,
thrown into prison. unjustly accused, paying
for sins that he did not commit, dying on the
cross for no fault of his own, all fault of his
brothers. And then what happened to Jesus? Rode
from the dead, elevated next to God's right hand,
and what was the first thing that Jesus did up
there? Interceding for us. For the very people.
that at times reject him, betray him, don't put
him first in their lives. Jesus' first thought
is not, hey, people, you consistently neglect
me. I am going to consistently neglect you until
you figure it out. That's not Christ. Jesus is
what he says in Matthew. How many times are sins
forgiven because of Christ? Seven times? No,
77 times, right? Over and over and over again.
If you struggle with forgiveness, it does cause
a lot of problems in your life. It's hard. It's
hard to live that way. It's hard to live with
bitterness and no one wants to. I 100 % believe
that. No one wants to do that. So here you have
this morning. In Joseph, you have the example
of what it looks like. And in Jesus, the one
who has forgiven all your sins over and over
and over again, you have the grace. and the power
to replace vengeance with forgiveness, even to
that one person in your life, man, that you struggle
with. Jesus, right, just like the hymn, Jesus
paid it all. And now I can't forgive too. Amen.
Thanks for listening to Emmanuel's Sermon Podcast.
If you'd like to learn more about Emmanuel, you
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.org. That's I -M -M -L -U -T -H dot O -R -G.
Have a great day.