Sermon in Phoenix 04.11.2012

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin our morning services by joining together in prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, we have been granted the grace to awaken to a beautiful new day, this day when we have awakened with this joy in our hearts that we were protected through the night as your children, and that you have granted us this day that we might live according to thy holy and righteous will.

Father, you, dear Father, have given us, as your children, an abundance of blessings pertaining to this temporal journey and life. You have provided food and clothing, homes and loved ones that we can share our lives with as we journey towards heaven.

Dear Father, you have given to us so many blessings that we, this morning, are humbled to thank but also pray. This morning, dear Father, as we gather together around your holy and precious Word, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for your Kingdom. We thank you for believing escorts, brothers and sisters in living faith. We also thank you, most of all, for your Son, whom you sent into this sin-corrupt world to fulfill your holy and righteous will, to suffer the death on the cross, so that we today have our sins forgiven through His shed blood and His name.

So this morning, as we gather around your holy Word, you who know the hearts of each of your children, you who know the hearts of each one gathered in the hearing of your Word, that you would give words to your servant to speak according to thy will, that those words would be given to uplift, to comfort, to strengthen, but also those words of loving rebuke, those that we need, and you know we need, dear Father. You know how sinful and weak and poor we are. You know how short we have come. But yet, through your love and grace, you have called us into your Kingdom to be your children. You have called us to be your own.

And we, this morning, pray that you would always keep us and protect us as one of your own, simply believing by faith that we are journeying towards Heaven. So we humbly and simply ask, dear Father, this morning, for your service blessing. Break those crumbs of grace small enough that even the weak and poor would be nourished and fed. And we ask it all in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we yet say, as He has taught, Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

This morning, I will read one of the Old Testament texts that is assigned for this Sunday. As we near the end of the church calendar year, the theme of today's text speaks about forgiving one another. And this portion of God's Word is found in the 50th chapter of Genesis, beginning with the 15th verse. And the words are as follows in Jesus' name.

And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite of us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent the messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespasses of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive their trespasses for the servants of God, for the servants of the God of thy father.

And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went, fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Now therefore, fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. Amen.

First of all, this morning, brothers and sisters, loving greetings from the Minnesota area. A few weeks ago, we were there for a home and family workshop at Stoney Lake. Last weekend, we had the LLC board meeting in Minneapolis, as well as attending a few weddings there. A few of the Colorado kids got married. Many brothers and sisters there remember you and asked that their loving greetings would be sent here home.

We live in a time where it feels so important, so necessary, that we gather together in the fellowship of God's children, where we gather together around God's Word, where we discuss those matters of faith that we believe in. For the enemy of souls is as a roaring lion, going about as whom he may devour. Yet we also feel and have experienced how much love and protection God has afforded to us as His children. He has kept us in the unity and love of the Spirit.

One of the most central matters and teachings of God's Kingdom is the matter of forgiveness. In fact, when the brethren in Africa, when they discussed as a group there what they would name their church, they pondered that would it be some Lestadian Lutheran church of Africa? Would they be given specific names that might be tied also to that which we've named our churches here in North America? They settled on a name which is called the church.

In fact, if you go to the church there in Lome, the inscription on the church, at the entrance of the church is the church of the forgiveness of sins. It speaks of the most central matter of believing and that is the forgiveness of sins.

Not only has God through His Word entrusted that forgiveness to God's children, to preach to those on the outside of God's kingdom, for those who might be seeking a loving and forgiving Father, He has entrusted that to us to use freely in the preaching and our services, but also this matter of forgiveness is that which keeps us as God's children united in the bond of peace and love.

If it was not for the forgiveness of sins, it would be impossible to maintain the unity and love between brethren. When you have been wronged and wronged very personally, maybe by a close friend, by a loved one, or even by someone who is less acquainted, and that personal attack has come very close, how easy has it been to forgive that person who has spoken evil against you?

I would say, without absolution and without forgiveness of sins, it is impossible for the mind of man to forget that wrong that took place. You can bury that thought, you can bury that hurt, you can bury that offense somewhere in your mind, but it always remains there as a niggling speech, a niggling word, something that reminds you always of something that that person did.

It is so important then, when we consider this matter of forgiveness, Jesus spoke much of forgiveness, it was central to his teaching, forgiveness. The 18th chapter of Matthew speaks much about forgiveness. This question was there that how often do I forgive my brethren is seven times enough? Jesus said not seven times, but seventy times seven.

In that 18th chapter of Matthew, central to the work is this, that Jesus came to heal man from sin. In the 11th verse it says, for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. This is the very essence and being of Jesus.

Also in that 18th chapter, it speaks that teaching about the church law of Christ, where one has been offended, how he would go and speak to one who has offended them. There is also that teaching of that unforgiving servant, who was forgiven that great debt of 10,000 talents, and then in turn required of his fellow servant that kind of demand that he would pay a much smaller debt that was owed him.

So it speaks so much, and Jesus spoke so much of forgiveness that I think we need to be reminded over and over and time and time again about this matter that is so central to the teaching of God's kingdom, this matter of forgiveness.

And in our text, we hear of one of those kinds of teachings. It spoke of Joseph and Joseph's brethren. What do we remember about Joseph's life? He was a young lad. He grew up in his father's home. His father was Jacob. And his father, Jacob, loved his son, Joseph. He loved him dearly. Joseph was a special son.

We also remember how his brothers, Joseph's brothers, were jealous of this love that Jacob had for his son. I'm sure that Jacob also loved his other sons. But this matter of jealousy rose very strong in the hearts of Joseph's brethren.

And you remember, even you little boys and girls remember how Joseph, because he was hated by his brothers because of that love that his father had for him, and Joseph even had been given a coat of many colors, a beautiful coat to wear. And the brothers hated him because of that.

And then they developed or devised a plan that they would sell him. Some of the brothers wanted to kill him. Other brothers said, no, let's not do that, but let's sell him. And so he did. He was sold. He was sold to those merchants traveling towards Egypt.

And there Joseph went, and he lived for many years in the land of Egypt.

When Joseph was sold, we can only imagine what it must have been on that trip when he left his father's homeland into that faraway land of Egypt. As a young boy, what would you boys think if you had been separated from your family? And now taken by some merchants into a faraway land, what kind of feelings or thoughts might come into your heart and mind? Would there be a feeling of anger? Would there be a feeling of revenge? I think both of those would be very close human emotions.

That he did nothing himself to deserve that which his brothers did. Well, perhaps he did. It doesn't say. But we know in our own families how easy it is for the boys and girls to battle and fight. And also how important it is for us as children to feel the love of mom and dad.

And in fact, we as children, I think all of us like to be recognized and loved by our mom and dads. And even loved more. Is it fair to say that we would like to be loved more than our brothers and sisters? I felt this kind of experience as a young boy that I always wanted to be loved and recognized and known. And I wanted to be even thought of more highly than my brothers and sisters.

And I think back to those days and how corrupt even as a young boy, a little boy I was, and thinking that I should be loved more than my brethren. But isn't this so close to our own corrupt flesh? That we want to be recognized and known and loved more and even praised more and we would want to be those ones that are more popular and well liked?

It perhaps was similar to Joseph. It doesn't say, but perhaps Joseph also poked in his weakness at his brothers and said, ha ha, look it, I got this beautiful new coat. What did you guys get? Is it far from us? To even poke and jab at our own brethren, our own brothers and sisters? It is so part of our corrupt nature. To be this kind of person.

On the other hand, Joseph was a believing boy. Joseph was that kind of boy that was happy. And when he was there in prison, what would have he thought of? He would have had many days and hours to ponder of those things that took place. And I would say by all accounts, if anyone had been given a reason to be angry, to be bitter, to hate, it would have been Joseph.

But it does not say, it says in Scripture that Joseph did none of these things, but rather he loved his brethren. May God give to us even today that kind of heart to be able to love those who have done us wrong. Those who have caused offense. Those who have done evil to us. That God would give us that kind of ability to even love our enemies.

What does God's Word say about loving our enemies? It says that if we love our enemies and we speak well of them, it is like heaping coals of fire upon their head.

Have you ever experienced how, as the book of Proverbs writes, that a soft answer chases away wrath? Have you experienced that when you have been able to answer meekly and quietly, when someone is angry, how it stops, how it quells, how it softens the angry heart that was waged against you?

May God give to us that kind of heart that we would always speak softly against those enemies of ours. Our flesh would be that kind that would want to battle back, to wage war against war. But Jesus in His teaching, He spoke differently than this. He said, those that hate you, those that want to do evil against you, and they would smite you on one cheek, turn the other cheek, so that He might also smite that cheek.

This is so contrary to our flesh. Who of us has been able to have that kind of forgiving heart? When accusations come, when accusations come against us personally, how much do we want to battle back and prove that that accusation is not right?

But also, it can be extended even further than this. When there comes accusation against God's kingdom, we would also want to battle back with those kinds of tools or that kind of flesh that would prove that we are right and you're wrong.

God's word, but yet in God's word, it teaches us and it instructs us that even those, what did Jesus, not Jesus, but Stephen, when those that were casting stones at him. He had preached about God's kingdom. He had spoke very openly and clearly about God's kingdom. And he was suffering the death of a martyr. And there were those who were throwing stones and rocks at him with the intent of killing him.

What did Stephen say? Forgive them father, for they know not what they do. It was similar to that which Jesus also spoke. That kind of forgiving heart to forgive those who were offending.

May it be that we would also in our day be able to preach and speak about the message that is of God's kingdom, that is a message of grace and truth. That we would be able to teach and preach of the joys and the blessings that come through believing.

You know, the Apostle Paul, when he was discussing with those philosophers of his day, and they called him a babbler, it would have been very easy, I'm sure, for the Apostle to take in his own hands as Peter also did when those Roman soldiers came to take Jesus, he cut off the ear of that high priest's servant. He wanted to defend Jesus with the sword.

Perhaps Paul would have also been tempted to defend God's kingdom with the sword. But Paul defended God's kingdom with that preaching of grace and truth. His flesh would have been surely that kind who would have been questioned, his own manhood would have been questioned, his own ability, his own skill would have been tempted.

But yet, Paul, he recognized the importance of being a child in the work. So also does Joseph.

When those brothers came to Joseph after their father had died, and they knew of that which they had done was not right. They knew that selling their brother into slavery was sin. And they knew that Joseph had every reason to hate them.

And so in this text it said, they came and told them that their father had reminded them before he died that to remind Joseph that their father said, forgive I pray thee now the trespasses of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto thee evil.

And then they asked this question, and now we pray thee, forgive the trespasses of thy servants of God the Father.

And so they came to Joseph with this kind of heart, begging for forgiveness. I'm sure that Joseph in his heart had forgiven them long ago. But the response of Joseph also tells of that which was in his heart. It says, Joseph wept when they spake unto them.

We now see that heart of forgiveness. Here Joseph was questioned whether he would be able to forgive or not. But Joseph wept. We often see this when brothers go to brothers. Sisters go to sisters. A father goes to a child and one feels their sorrow over sin, but so also does the one who is offended feel their own corruption.

Joseph wept and his brothers also fell down before his face and they said that behold, we would simply be thy servants.

But then Joseph said and asked this question. And I think it's also so important for us. Joseph said unto them, fear not for am I in the place of God?

When someone comes to us and asks for forgiveness, is it possible for us as believers not to forgive them? It is so important. Jesus says if you do not forgive your brethren neither will the Father in heaven forgive you your sins.

So this then brings to the very core and the very essence of this teaching. When that servant was forgiven, that debt of 10,000 talents, every talent and every debt of sin was forgiven. Nothing was left but all was forgiven.

It is the same for us today, brothers and sisters, that every one of our sins is also forgiven. Every last sin is forgiven and you know with me how corrupt, well I shouldn't say you, but I know how corrupt I have been and how much forgiveness has been required in my life and how graciously my brethren, brothers and sisters, have forgiven me my sins.

So then also it is required of me that I would forgive them all of their sins as well. God forgave all sins. Nothing was left. Nothing is left. So we also would forgive from our heart our brethren also in entirety their trespasses. May God give to us that kind of heart that is able to forgive.

Joseph said, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive.

He knew that there was a reason why he was sold into slavery. He knew that God had a greater plan. He was able to see what we say in our day, the big picture. He was able to see that God's reasons for grace and forgiveness were full.

So also today, brothers and sisters, do we also have that great debt of sin has been forgiven us. May we also forgive one another, even our enemies, from our heart.

Remain believing this morning all of your sins forgiven in the name and precious blood of Jesus. And can I also this morning hear that same Gospel. I want to believe with each of you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.