Transcript
All right, you guys look look at all the people around you. You made all of you made the right decision for coming to church today. Our lives are full of decisions. And we've been talking about how our lives are full of decisions.
Anybody got decision fatigue. This week is a decision fatigue week. And all of those decisions that we carry every yes and every no big and small decisions has the ability to almost change the direction of our life right you ever make like a really small decision and it's like wow if I wouldn't have went to that social gathering I never would have met my spouse or if I never went to this thing or that thing I never would have met or got connected with or got a job. Every big decision, every small decision has the ability to change the direction of our life. And so if this is true, the greatest, one of the greatest spiritual skills that I think that we can learn is how to make good decisions, but not just good decisions, but God centered decisions.
And so we have been looking at the life of Joseph. And as we've been studying Joseph, we've seen at every turn in his life, he has made a different decision. So, are you guys ready to make some decisions today. If you said no, that would have been kind of weird, but all right. It's a good decision to move on.
So, we're going to move on. I want to kind of recap because we're about halfway through this Joseph story and you can find this in the book of Genesis, but this is kind of a map for us to all kind of catch up and be on the same page. Week one, we talked about Joseph being sold into slavery as a 17-year-old.
His brothers were really the people that we were looking at in that story because they made a really emotionalbased decision. By selling their brother into slavery. And we learned that emotions are real, but they make real bad decision makers. Week two, we looked at Joseph as a successful slave and prisoner.
And those two terms are kind of kind of weird. Successful, but yet he's a slave and a prisoner. But what we learned is at every single moment that Joseph could have been almost wallowing in self-pity, he instead chooses integrity. And integrity chooses to make the God-honoring decision in every tension and every trial that life throws at us. And then last week, we watched Joseph interpret dreams, what he's kind of known for.
He interprets three dreams from a baker a cup bearer of the king and then to Pharaoh himself. And we learned about trust and control and the difference between the two and how trust begins when control ends. Now, if you missed any of those, go back, check them out.
They're on our sermon page on our website. But today, the big idea is this is about justice. And justice is one of those things where I'm going to say it like this. Justice seeks restoration and not retaliation.
Now, when you hear the word justice, a lot of different things may come into your mind, into your thoughts from just experiences and different things that you've heard. And justice can kind of be hard for us to necessarily explain, but injustice is is not as difficult because you and I almost have a way of like having injustice ingrained into our heads. Let me prove it. In sixth and seventh grade, I can I can go all the way back there and tell you about an injustice.
I had this kid named Matt. Sorry for anybody here named Matt. Okay, it's nothing against you. But I had this this kid named Matt. And now for context, I was still, you know, finding my place as every middle schooler is.
And I I managed to find some hobbies that I really liked, some new friends, and got to know some people and was making really good connections. But there was this kid named Matt who always had way way way way way more than me. He had more friends. He had more his family had more money.
They were always doing these tricks trips and stuff like that. And Matt loved loved loved to prank me and to do everything for some reason to target me to make my life miserable. Now, let me tell you, in seventh grade, it got really rough because he started a rumor that I was dating my cousin. Okay, true story. It's not a true story that I dated my cousin.
Okay, it is a true story that he made this rumor up. Okay, and so for the next couple of years, and you're not allowed to call me this, okay. I was known as the cousin kisser, okay. In middle school. And it was terrible.
And it completely destroyed me from being able to hang out with with these new friends that I was making. And I remember that feeling of just feeling so injust about the whole situation that this untrue thing got out to everyone. And all I wanted was this.
I wanted everybody to know the truth. I wanted everybody to hear me out. I wanted the last word. I wanted all of everybody to just understand what I was going through.
And I remember that injustice. And I bet that that's true of you, too. That you remember the times and places and spaces that you were treated unfairly.
Maybe it was like me when you were growing up. You were treated unfairly. Maybe it was from a boss or a co-orker that promised you that raise or promotion and then you never got it.
Maybe you were betrayed or cheated on somebody that was supposed to be a loved or a trusted person. Or maybe it was even in your own family where you felt this feeling of injustice. And that is exactly where we find Joseph today. And that is exactly where Joseph and for ourselves we find ourselves with this big question in those instances. Am I seeking revenge or restoration.
So, we're going to do what we do every week. We're going to pull out the word of God, and you're going to pull it open to Genesis 42. It's on page 38. By the way, if you don't have a Bible, please take this one home with you. We've given away about 200 Bibles since we've started about a year ago.
, and we are just so excited to be opening the word of God every single week, and we pray that you're able to do it in your home as well. , I'll also say, keep your Bibles open today. Keep your notebooks open today because I believe that God is going to speak to each and every one of you.
Now, just again to go back to the context of what's going on, Joseph sold into slavery and now he is going from prison to palace. He was he interpreted this dream and the pharaoh put him in charge of everything. So, he's basically at this point a governor and that's where we're going to pick up the story. Verse one, it says this. When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, now Jacob is Joseph's dad.
Okay, so now we're going back to Joseph's dad and his brothers. And we're seeing their side of the story. When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at each other.
" He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go there and buy some for us so that we may live and not die. This is like the father saying, "Get off your butt. Like that's what he's saying right now. Then the 10, keep that number in mind.
Then the 10 of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brothers, with the others because he was afraid of what harm might come to him. More on that in a second. So, Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was a famine in the land of Canaan. Also, now, Joseph was the governor.
So, now we're picking up in Joseph's story. Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all of its people. So, when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces on the ground. As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them.
But he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from. "From the land of Canaan.
" Canaan, they replied, "To buy food. " Now look at this. Lock in on this.
Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You're spies. You have come to see that our land is unprotected. Now, I'm going to pick up with this dialogue here in a second, but I don't want you to miss this because here is like this huge decision that Joseph has that we can't miss.
Now, remember, if we were to go back to Joseph being 17 years old, what originally got him mad or what what originally got his brothers upset with him. Do you guys remember that he had a dream that they were going to bow down to him. What's happening right here, right now.
They are bowing down. The dream is actually coming true. It's like a Disney movie right now. And he has this choice to make.
He has this choice to make where Joseph can say, "Ha, I told you I got you. See, see what I told you when I was 17 years old. " But he doesn't do that. Because justice doesn't need the last word.
Justice doesn't need the last word. You see, they bow down to him. And I I don't know about you guys, but if I were to see this Matt guy face to face, I think some of those feelings that I felt when I was in seventh grade would like rush back to me. You ever feel that.
Like when you run into somebody that hurt you in public and you're like, "Oh man. " Like that's the feeling that Joseph was probably like working through. And he had this moment where he could have just been like, "Ha, I told you so.
" But he doesn't go after the last word. So, let me just bring this to us and give you a hypothetical. Let's pretend I this is going to be a stretch, okay. Let's pretend that you and your spouse or you and your family member are having an argument. Okay, that never happens to anybody in here.
So, I know you're all perfect and it would never happen, but let's just imagine for a second, okay. And let's just imagine that you're disagreeing over something really small, okay. And a week later, guess what happens.
You find out and they discover that you were right. Now, be honest. How many of you in your head are thinking this. This is my moment, right. You can say, "Hey, remember last Tuesday.
Didn't I tell you. Didn't I say this. You should have listened to me. Don't elbow your spouse. That's not what this is about.
This is about the fact that we as humans will do this. And I I think that's because our need for for validation here, that we want to give an impression that we are wise and that we are always to be trusted and that we're always right. And you see what happens there is that the need for the last word, the need to say, "Ha, I told you so.
" is actually our prideful need to validate ourselves and disguise it as wisdom. That's a hard truth for this morning. Destination.
But it's true. A lot of us want that last word. We want people to feel as bad as we felt or as bad as they maybe made us feel. But in the end, we never actually have the final word. And so, what benefit would it be to us to say, "I told you so.
" Here's what the benefit would be. It would temporarily feel really good. Temporarily, it would feel really good. But it would ultimately damage you, damage that relationship, and damage any kind of reconciliation that can happen.
And so just because you are the right one once doesn't mean you're always going to be right. Don't elbow your spouse. And just because you had a dream once, just because Joseph had this dream once doesn't mean like all of his dreams are going to come true. Which, by the way, can I just can you guys allow me just a minute to sidebar.
This has nothing to do with the actual message, but I've been asked this as we've been going through Joseph way more times than I thought I was going to be. And this question of does God always speak to us in dreams like he does with Joseph. Have you ever wondered that.
Does God speak to me through my dreams. And because we're seeing that come true for Joseph. And here's the short answer. The short answer is God can speak to his children however he wants to.
Now, does that mean that the dream that my wife had about us standing in line for an autograph from a body doubled Joe Jonas is actually going to happen. No, it's not going to happen. We're not going to do it.
It's not going to happen. But does that mean that God will never speak to us through a dream. Okay, cuz it'd be kind of weird if some of your weird dreams actually were God speaking to you, right.
Okay, here's the point. Joseph here had this dream and this dream is coming true. But Joseph didn't see all of those years in between.
He knew the dream. He knew the outcome, but he didn't know how that outcome would happen. He didn't know he would be a prisoner, a slave, and all of these other things.
And so here he is with his brothers bowing down to him. Let's look at this conversation. Now, I'm going to back it up.
Verse eight, follow along with me. Says, "Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. " Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies. You have come to see where our land is unprotected.
" No, my lord, they answered. Your servants have come to buy food. We are the sons of one man.
Your servants are honest men and not spies. No, he said to them, you have came here to see that our land is unprotected. By the way, you got siblings.
This sounds like a sibling argument in the back of a car, right. No, you're spies. You're a spy.
I told you you're spy. That's what he's doing right here, right. But they replied, "Your servants were 12 brothers, the sons of one man who live in Canaa.
The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more. " Who are they talking about. They're talking about him. Joseph said to them, "It's like I told you, your spies. And this is how you will be tested.
As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place until your younger brother comes here. Send one of the number to get your brothers or to get your brother and the rest of you will be kept in prison so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you're spies. And he put them all in custody for three days.
I want to just read a couple more verses. Look at this. On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live. " Now, look at this.
He's kind of switching up the plan a little bit. Do this and you will live. For I fear God. And if you're honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison while the rest of you go back and take grain for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.
This they proceeded to do. So, Joseph goes from I told you so or the temptation I should say of I told you so to now what is he doing. He's almost giving these benchmarks for his brothers.
And this is a very very important thing about justice and when we have been unfairly treated or are being unfairly treated is that justice makes clear boundaries. And how does Joseph make boundaries in this instance. He hides his identity, his true thoughts and feelings while he's testing his brother's integrity.
Now, if you think back to week two, the moral like integrity decision, right. Joseph is testing his brothers here to see if under attention of their own, they choose to make a god-honoring decision, right. They're try he's trying to feel them out to see if they're going to make the God-honoring decision. And can I tell you why Joseph does this. It's for two reasons.
We got to go back just for a second. Can you Bible nerd out with me for a second. Everybody shake your heads.
If we go back all the way to the story of Jacob, who is Joseph's father. Jacob had the had fallen in love with a girl named Rachel. But he was tricked into marrying Rachel's older sister, Leah. And him and Leah had 10 sons together.
Okay, those are the first 10. And then finally, after seven years of waiting, he is able to take Rachel as his bride. And he has two sons, Joseph. Anybody want to guess what the last one is. Joseph and Benjamin.
So, this is a a a blended family is what we would call it in 2026, but it's a little bit of a favored blended family where like the youngest two have had a little bit of special treatment, okay, if we're being honest. But what Joseph wants to make sure of is he wants to make sure that Benjamin did not become the new Joseph. That Benjamin didn't get a coat. That Benjamin didn't get thrown into a pit and sold sold into slavery. Remember, he's not seeing Benjamin here.
And so, he wants to make sure that his little brother is safe. Reason number two is because he wants to know that his brothers have actually changed. He says, "If you're honest, men, if you're really telling the truth, that your words may be verified.
" These are all benchmarks and checkpoints to see where his brothers were truly at, what their true intentions, what their true heart was. And it teaches us so something so important that boundaries are biblical. Boundaries are biblical. Proverbs says it like this.
Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Boundaries are a way to guard your heart. And I think I think this is where sometimes for us as Christ followers, we kind of get into these two different mindsets.
So, let's just talk about boundaries for a second. Let's really learn a little bit more about boundaries because I I think that there's two schools of thought when we as Christians think about boundaries. There's one that is the peacekeeping side. Okay, the peacekeeping side is what we know in Minnesota as being very passive, right. It's forgive and forget, right.
It's all water under the bridge. It's acting like nothing ever happened and that nothing ever hurt or like it never needs to be addressed again. It's just keeping the peace. What's the danger in being on that extreme of of a a nonboundary almost.
Well, it opens yourself up to getting hurt again, right. God doesn't want to see you hurt. I don't want to see you hurt. And it opens yourself up to getting hurt again.
It also opens yourself up to suppressing these feelings for the the sake of keeping peace, but you've never actually talked through or processed through some of those things that are happening. But on the other side of things, we can weaponize boundaries as almost punishment, right. And punishment kind of says, I'll give them what they deserve.
It's a boundary that becomes I'm just going to be cold. I'm going to be in silence. I'm going to be keeping score. I'm going to be secretly hoping that they fail. That is a weaponizing kind of boundary.
And what's the danger in that side of the spectrum. It's loneliness that no one will open up to you or see you as a trusted or safe person. And eventually everyone will leave. And if they are still there, they're emotionally checked out from a relationship with you.
And so this is a hard truth for us to be back and forth between the two. And so our aim is to be in this God-given center. And in this God-given center, what happens is that there is space for change, but also it's protecting you from harm.
And so we're forgiving in a way that leaves space for change, but we are rebuilding trust wisely in a way that's protecting our hearts from harm. We're leaving room for repentance. We're re leaving room for reconciliation and for rebuilding.
But we're also allowing consequences. And all of this is moving towards hope and pursuit towards restoration. And that is exactly what Joseph is doing in this instance. He doesn't go on this side of the sk scale and say, "Hey, what's up, bros. Water under the bridge like it's all okay.
Let's just all be friends again. But he's also not coming over here and saying, "No, all of you are going into a pit and you're all going to starve to death and die. " And by the way, he can do both of those, right.
But he chooses to test the intentions. He creates space for repentance and for transformation. And that is what healthy boundaries do.
Boundaries protect you and guard your heart heart while allowing space for transformation. And so how do the brothers respond to this. Let's look at verse 21. This is how they respond. They said to one another now they're talking amongst themselves.
Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded for his life. But we wouldn't listen. That's why this distress has come upon us. Reuben replied, "Did I not tell you to sin against the boy.
" This is a longer story of Reuben's story here, but didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy, but you wouldn't listen. Now, we must give an account for his blood. And they didn't not realize that Joseph could understand them since he was using an interpreter. He, that is Joseph, turned away and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them.
He had Simeon taken from them, that was one of the brothers, and bound before their eyes. Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and put each man's silver back in his sack because they had to pay for their food. So, he's basically giving them dinner to go here, right. Dinner for free and to give them provisions for their journey.
After this was done, they loaded the grain on their donkeys and left. At the place where they stopped for the night, they opened their sack to give their feed to the donkeys and saw the silver back in the bag. "And my silver has returned," one of the brothers said.
"Here it is right here in my sack. " And their hearts sank. They turned to each other trembling and said, "What is this that God has done to us.
" Now, why were they trembling. Because they had just got done with this really weird situation in Egypt where they went back to go get food. And then they were held in this prison for how long.
For three days, right. And as they were held in that prison, Joseph kind of switches up this plan on them. And he gives them a consequence. The consequence is that one of your brothers is gonna stay here in prison until you come back and you prove to me that Benjamin is alive.
But also, he's giving them like almost this benefit of a doubt and some grace by not only giving them all of the food for to feed their whole family, but also giving the money back that they would have paid for that food. And this seems like a weird kind of opposites thing for us, but this is where justice sits. That justice gives consequences and grace. And we need to talk about both of those for a second because we can easily look at these things and say, aren't those opposites. And in a way, yes.
But in a way, God is both of these things that God gives consequences and grace. And within justice, we need to see that both are are are things that need to be present. You see, justice has consequences, right.
And so if I speed down the road, I'm going to get a ticket. That's justice. Some would argue not okay. But if I lie, I'm probably going to lose some trust, right.
If I betrayed someone, that relationship is going to get damaged. There is consequences for my actions. Now, this is important because I think this is a little bit about what Joseph's brothers are struggling with.
It's consequences, not karma. A lot of us like to have this idea of karma and say it's biblical. Karma is not biblical. God is not a god of karma.
But we live in a place where we are disciplined and we have consequences for our actions. But what karma says is eventually the universe is going to pay you back. But that's not what the Bible teaches.
But this is kind of what they're almost thinking. They're thinking, "Oh, I'm just getting paid back. " But really, it is a consequence.
And the Bible teaches us that we live in a world where sin has consequences. But, oh, this is your good news. But God also meets us personally, the sinner, with grace in those consequences.
Because even while there's consequences, God is still a God of grace. So, let me explain it like this. I heard a story from a pastor a few weeks ago about speaking in a prison ministry.
He went and he spoke in front of all of the inmates and he first thing he says when he gets on stage is he says, "Raise your hand if you are a criminal. " and every single hand goes up. And then he says, "Raise your hand if you have committed a crime today. " Not many hands went up. And if one did, you know, they were taken away for some reason.
I don't know why, but and then he he kind of flipped the script. He said, "Raise your hand if you've done something kind today. Raise your hand if you have been honest today.
Raise your hand if you've done something helpful today. And so this guy was was building up all of these questions and then he boldly said, "You are no longer a criminal. " And his point was that grace had been given by God and allowed them to no longer be defined by what they did and where they are and by the worst day of the their life, but by who they are and who'sse they are.
And his point was that the consequence for your crime doesn't necessarily disappear. But that no longer has the power to define who you are to God. And this is true for all of us.
It's true of the people that hurt you and it's true of you that your past describes you but it doesn't get to define you. And that is the beauty of consequences and grace. And so often we define ourself by the consequences that we live, right. We've been hurt.
We've been mistreated. We've made some really bad m mistakes and decisions. And so we think that bad mistake, that bad decision is now who I am. But we're gonna learn through this series that that isn't the full story for Joseph's brothers. And let me just say, aren't you glad.
Aren't you so glad that God treats us this way. That we are not defined by our past, but we have grace for our future. That it's it's not like consequences don't matter, but they don't have to hold the weight of the final decision. Only Jesus does.
And that is why justice as I said in the beginning seeks restoration and not retaliation. And this whole story of Joseph is a whole look into God's character. The God who recklessly, fearlessly, unconditionally loves you.
Who looks at you and says, "I want I want to love and I want justice in your life. " because God is both love and God is both just. And so, Joseph's story is revealing God's character throughout this story of how he's restoring this relationship, how he's giving grace, but still still putting into place all of these restorative kind of justice things. So, just to recap for us, how do we seek restoration instead of retaliation. Don't seek the last word.
Establish wise boundaries and leave room for consequences and grace. And everybody in this room, I just want to say you should come back next week because this story just keeps continuing right where we left off. And then we get to the tricky part.
Well, okay, the justice part is over, but now we got to talk about forgiveness. And that's where Joseph is going to find himself next. But I want to end here with an invitation to you. And so I want to invite the worship team up. I want to invite you to just bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment of reflection and just time with God this morning.
And I don't know how God is speaking to you, but I do want to acknowledge this that when we are treated unfairly, when we are treated with injustice, like I was in middle school, like Joseph has been for 13 years of his life. We need to remember Joseph was hurt and this was a difficult decision for him to not say, "Hi, told you so. " to not hurt his brother's back. And listen, really reflect on these words. In a world that hurts, it's so often an easy decision for us to hurt back, to make our own justice.
But I want you to just sit in this for a second that Jesus sees your hurt. Jesus sees when you are unfairly treated. Jesus sees when you're not shown love and compassion and grace.
Jesus sees when you take the higher ground even though everything inside of you is just dying. He sees the wise boundaries that you're putting up. He sees the grace that you're extending to the people that hurt you.
And Jesus is extending that same grace to you. He's saying, "Listen, let me take that burden. I can take that justice. It's not your job to repay back.
Just let my job be to care for you, for your soul. " And I believe that that's what Jesus wants to do in your heart during this time. And so if you never made the decision to follow Jesus, maybe that's a decision that you need to make today to have Jesus meet you in this hurt.
But for the rest of us, those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus, you need to know that Jesus is here to meet you in this place of hurt and pain and injustice. He's here to meet with you today. Let me pray for you. God, I thank you so much that you are here, that you are present.
God, may your Holy Spirit just fall upon this place and bring healing to the places that we've been hurt, to the places that we've been treated unfairly and help remind us that you have awesome, amazing plans in store for restoration. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
