it's uh wonderful to see the lehman family up here and to see them testify to god's grace
in their lives um we're going to talk a lot about families today uh i don't know about you
but uh i grew up uh in a family that didn't really have family reunions closest thing was my
grandfather's 90th birthday uh but um so we didn't have that sort of culture and i don't know if you've
had that culture or not but i want you to imagine with me for a minute the worst family reunion ever
imagine a gathering of a family where two brothers won't speak to each other because one slept with
the other's wife imagine a bitter grandma masking the sadness of the loss of relationship with her
daughters in bitterness endlessly attacking with criticism and out being outspoken about their
failures as daughters imagine uncle joe nursing his second six-pack in the corner wondering why his
family has never engaged him about his depression attempted suicide let alone his drinking habits
and to top it off at the end of the time a father and son have a fist fight in the front yard about
who's going to pay for the damage for the car that got wrecked last weekend that would be a pretty
unpleasant family reunion wouldn't it it would speak to a fractured and broken family wouldn't it walking
on eggshells hiding dark secrets full of grief and regret but you know this may be not far off for some
of you from what your family may actually be like and we wouldn't be surprised would we by that for as we
look at the bible and as we look at the first family as we look at adam and eve and their sin their rebellion
against god as that rippled out into their family what do we see strife envy murder bloodshed
brokenness fragmentation over and over again there's a concept in the bible in the old testament it's a
word you've heard a lot of shalom shalom means peace and flourishing and well-being and togetherness
in the garden of eden shalom was shattered
and today we're going to start to look at god's work of shalom in genesis chapter 43 you can turn
there in your bible and uh page 36 as we go ahead and the reason why we're looking at this is because
jacob's family if you remember your history of the old testament uh the promise to abraham abraham and his
son isaac the son of the promise was jacob and we're looking at jacob's family and jacob's family
is as bad if not worse than that worst family reunion that i told you about before he rose he he uh was
raised in a family full of jealousy deception and favoritism he managed to repeat that quite effectively
uh he had two wives he loved one and hated the other uh he had 12 sons he loved two and hated the
others uh his marriages were full of strife and sadness uh his children kept coming from the wrong
women that he was sleeping with and he was increasingly frustrated by that and by the end you see that not
only that but his three oldest sons have gone off and create committed egregious sins against him and
against the family to such an extent that they have lost their place as a firstborn reuben simeon levi
have all been dispossessed from their favored role as firstborn and as we started this series if you've been
here for a while you remember in chapter 37 greg described it one big hot mess of a family
a family torn apart by envy by lies by cruelty as joseph's brothers joseph the favored one was sold
into slavery and sent away by his brothers because of their envy and jealousy because of their father's
favoritism for this beloved son and they go back and they lie to their brother to their father and say
jacob is dead here's his bloody robe and jacob is filled with grief and we think what can god do
what can god do in this mess what is god going to do in the face of such fragmentation
where shalom is completely gone from this family
maybe you feel like that in your life too maybe it is your family relationships that make you think
what can god do to repair what is so shattered maybe you feel like it in your life what can god do to fix
the brokenness the brokenness in my heart and in my life we ask god what are you up to where are you what are you doing
god is at work and that's what we're going to look at this morning god is at work restoring
shalom restoring broken shattered lives
in his people forever how does god do this we're going to look at genesis 43 and 44 this morning let
me pray and then we're going to dive in and we'll look at it together god we ask for your help this
morning as we look at this passage we pray for your spirit to awaken our minds and stir our hearts
so that we would understand your truth god we pray you would help us today to understand your word
and as we understand your word will we see the greatness of your grace to us
lord your power to restore and to fix to repair that which is broken for your glory and for our good
we pray in jesus name amen i'm not going to read genesis 43 and 44 we'd be here till 11 30 just reading
the passage so i'm going to read parts of it and we're going to summarize and i'm going to bring you
along in the story um but if you remember uh uh well as we look at over these two chapters there are
three movements of how god is at work doing this restoring work in his family's life three things that
he does he removes idols he overcomes fear and thirdly he repudiates envy in the hearts of the family
so this is what we're going to look at verses 1 through 15 he removes idols let's look at it this
is actually probably worth reading so we're going to read verses 1 through 15 to set the context
uh so you can look with me as we read this now the famine was severe in the land and when they had
eaten the grain that they had brought from egypt the brother said to them go again buy us a little
food but judah said to him the man solemnly warned us saying you shall not see my face unless your
brother is with you if you send if you will send your brother with our brother with us we will go
down and buy you food but if you will not send him we will not go down for the man said to us we you
shall not see my face unless your brother is with you israel said why do you treat me so badly
as to tell the men that you had another brother and they replied the man questioned us carefully
about ourselves and our kindred saying is your father still alive do you have another brother
what we told him is was an answer to those questions could we have in any way known that
he would say bring your brother down and judah said to israel his father send the boy with me and
we will rise and go that we may live and not die both we and you and are also our little ones
i will be a pledge of his safety from my hand you shall require him if i do not bring him back to you
and set him before you then let me bear the blame forever if we had not delayed we would now have
returned twice then their father israel said to them if it must be so then do this take some of
the choice fruits and the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man a little bomb a little
honey gum myrrh pistachio nuts and almonds take double the money with you carry back with you the
money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks perhaps it was an oversight take also your brother
and arise and go to the man may god almighty grant you mercy before this man and may he send back
your other brother and benjamin and as for me if i'm bereaved of my children i am bereaved
so this is the opening section this is the opening moon if you remember what it is is jacob's family up in
up in israel up in palestine canaan at this point are suffering a famine and the only place in the
world to get grain is egypt so they've already gone down to egypt once and encountered their brother
joseph but they didn't notice him joseph treated them severely initially and then mercifully blessed
them not only with all the food that they could want but repaying their money back by putting it back
in the sacks but he kept simeon uh one of the brothers as a uh as a down payment as a deposit as
a bond so to speak and said you must come back with your brother benjamin and so uh this is where we
start the famine has continued we see it in this scene that there are two pressures going on and
they're in conflict because one of the pressures is the famine they're out of food they have nothing more
to eat what are they going to do there's only one place to go but then there are these conditions
to go back requires them to bring back benjamin and it's the very thing that jacob will not do
because jacob loved rachel not leah and he had 12 sons but only two came from rachel and one was joseph
and he's gone benjamin is the only one left and over and over and over again jacob's favoritism
is shown in this idolatry of loving his one son of his one wife that he would probably call his true
wife and everyone else is just along for the ride he has loved his one wife and therefore his two
their those sons more than anything
and in this scene god is prying jacob's hands off of that idol he brings along judah judah now steps
into the forefront in chapter 42 he was not even mentioned but now he steps into the forefront god
has moved in judah if you remember there's a whole work he did in chapter 38 god is now moving in judah
to be the spokesman to lead the family of jacob in a new direction and he pleads with jacob please
let him go please if you don't let him go we will die we have no food you and we and our little ones
will all die but if we go if we take benjamin with us if you let go of your desperate desire
to try to keep this favored son if you will release your hand from this idol
then we will go and i promise you i'll bring him back i promise you that i will do it
notice that even judah or notice that even as jacob agrees to this even as jacob says all right let's do
it his plans change the first time when he sent them down he said go get grain this time he says
okay if you're going to get grain and you're taking benjamin well here's how we're going to do it here's
the strategy you got to take all this stuff to make sure that you're going to bless them and and make
sure that you have favor with this guy and and oh by the way make sure you take tons of money repay the
money that that was in your bag that that joseph had put back into their sacks take that plus enough
money to buy the new grain so that there's no question about your your intentions you're not
wanting to steal your status do everything you can to position this so that this is going to succeed
so that you may bring back your other brother whatever his name is i don't remember him and
benjamin my beloved one and that's that's what god is doing here god is prying jacob's hands off of this
beloved son i don't even think at the end the blessing is a faith-filled joyful one but even
there you see jacob turn back to god may god almighty meaning may the god of the covenants
the god who made the covenant to abraham and isaac may that god have mercy on you
he is at least resigned to god's plan even though he says yeah maybe if i'm bereaved i'm bereaved you
can just see him old jewish man sitting there being sad uh well but think about it by letting him go
he is letting go all of his family he now has when these guys go out to egypt he has no sons he is alone
in canaan and so let us not be too hard on him but let us recognize how hard it must have been for
him to release all of his sons to do this
not only did he have to let go of all of his sons but he had to let go of all of his control
he had to let go of all of his schemes to save his family
he was driven by the providence of god and by the working of joseph which is also a hand of the
providence of god he's driven by these things to have to take this step of faith this step of
letting go of the idols and it's essential because it's the only way that god can do the work of
actually restoring the shalom of the family he needs to get god is working to get all of the
family together in one place so that shalom can be restored and benjamin's favoritism and his
separation from his other brothers is the barrier to god accomplishing that purpose and so he has to go
friends i wonder if there are things that you cling to in your life
things that like suitcases of gold that you would clutch to even as the ship is sinking around you
the opinion of others the love of a particular person your comfort your plans
maybe it's sin patterns that you return to for comfort over and over and over again
idols that have captured our hearts such that we grasp them so tightly
that only great moves of god's providence and even compulsion can pry our hands off of them
friends what's the one thing that if god said i want you to let go of this
would you want to run and hide instead of willingly saying lord i give to you
do you see that those things that capture our hearts like that
end up becoming then these magnetic centers that warp our relationships with one another
because we're unable to love fully and how these things harden our hearts towards god a loving god
who knows our needs before we ask them
friends just like jacob god is at work in our lives he wants to pry our fingers off of those idols
so that he might do restoring work in our life
so that's the first movement that's what he does in chapter in verses 1 through 14 and then verse 15
is really fun it's kind of like if you've ever been to a theater show it's like when the curtain comes
down and two characters walk across the stage in front there's a scene change going on behind
that's what that's what verse 15 is it's just a reminder that and then they all went the men took
they went all went down and suddenly at the end the curtain comes back and for the first time in
five chapters all of jacob's brothers are in the same place in egypt and in the second one what you
see is that god overcomes the fear that joseph's brothers have as they enter into this they come down
jacob or joseph is looking from afar he sees benjamin with them he tells his servant go out
welcome these men invite them to our house for dinner now remember when joseph's brothers left
he put the money that they had paid for the grain back in their sacks and they got back and jacob
looked at and said what you come back with all this money but not simeon did you do it again it looks
shady it looks really shady and now they have to go back to the same person and ask for more grain
and it looks like they've stolen the grain the first time around and so they are afraid they are
sore afraid look with me verses 18 through 25 just so we can capture this story and the men were afraid
because they were brought to joseph's house and they said it is because of the money which was
replaced in our sacks the first time that we brought that we are brought in so that he may assault us and
fall upon us make us servants and seize our donkeys
you see their fear and they have every good reason to be afraid don't they they have every good reason
to let go of it or to come in and think we could be done he could just kill us all he could put us all
in prison what in the world is going to happen and remember they've already protested in chapter 42
we're honest men so they're trying to protest their honesty they go to the steward they know joseph man
i don't know what he's going to say we're going to try to get in with the steward first so they go to
the steward and they try to explain what's happened and that's what they do in verses 19 through 24
and do you see what happened they come in and say when we came in we we found our money in the sacks and
we don't know where we don't know where it came from but we didn't put it there we didn't steal it we
really didn't pay for it friends look at what god does in the mouth of a pagan egyptian in the mouth
of someone who didn't know god at all look what he says in verse 23
he said peace to you oh by the way that's shalom that's where it shows up the first time in the
passage peace be to you do not be afraid your god and the god of your fathers has put treasure in your
sacks for you i received my money he's saying there's no outstanding debt there's no bill we're not
wondering where the money is that paid for your grain i got that god has provided for you god has
lavished undeserved grace upon you you got all the grain you needed to live and the money to come back
and do it again and all i know is that if i could read into what the servant is thinking all i know is
that i've seen this dude joseph enough to know that god is up to something through him he has blessed
our country he has saved our country and now he god has worked to save you god has lavished undeserved
favor upon you and this is what god does and so then the servant takes them treats them like honored
guests he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their
donkeys he invites them to a feast and brings them into this feast where joseph interacts with them
about his family and you see the question is your father well is he in shalom is the idea
and when he hears that it's all well he feasts them like honored guests
he lavishes upon them
riches wealth imagine they've been in a famine and suddenly they're at a feast
friends
this is god's restoring work and this is how he does it
sometimes he pries our hands off of our idols but sometimes he just lavishes undeserved grace upon us
it touches the brothers they make glad and marry and have a big party and celebrate
it washes over joseph joseph joseph sees the first dream that he had back in chapter 37 fulfilled
his 11 brothers are now bowing down before him
simeon has been restored to the brothers he's no longer a bond
and he's overcome with
passion
love
for his brothers and he weeps he has to hide it
because his long con isn't done yet
friends i wonder for you how you respond when god
lavishes grace upon you
i wonder if your instinct to be afraid as you approach god is greater
than he
than his grace to you sometimes
i wonder if you ever wonder whether his grace
just seems too good to be true
and it becomes instead for you a burden
if god has been so good to me then i have to do everything i can
to try to repay him
for it
our guilty conscience thinks
i don't deserve this it can't be real
our fallen hearts i think make us grace resistant
and god lavishes
his grace upon us
his goodness his favor
in everything from common grace of everyday blessings
to miraculous healings and provisions
to ultimately
his son in salvation
he lavishes grace on us over
and over and over and over
and over and over again
to free our hearts from our fear
he has made us to receive this gladly
but we often
we often struggle with it
don't we
sometimes we struggle with false guilt
where we think there's no way god could ever love me
sometimes we struggle with true guilt
i've done things that are so bad
is it possible that god could love me
god wants to break us
break us of our self-reliance
and of our self-saving strategies
by showing us grace upon grace upon grace
and when we get to the end of chapter 43
we think maybe this is the time
joseph is going to step forward
and take off his egyptian clothing
and say brothers now we're together
isn't this great we're having this great feast
but god isn't done with his brothers
and the shalom is not perfect yet
god has more to do
and that's what chapter 44 is all about
chapter 44 is the one more step
that god wants to do in their hearts
to restore shalom to the family
and you see it set up at the very end
joseph when he sets them up for the feast
which is great
he sets he seats them in order of birth
how could he know that
they must have been a little freaked out by that
like how did that happen
and then
benjamin
gets five times what the other guys get
in this feast
and if you're one of his brothers
overwhelmed with the goodness
rejoicing this
and then suddenly like
wait a minute
again
are you kidding me
we've lived with this
our whole lives
he's the favored one
we get it
but here
this guy doesn't even know who he is
how could this be
you don't see that in the story
but you might have wanted
they might have
they must have noticed
the storyteller is very clear
to make it
exact
and then
having had a long party
they fall asleep
for a long time
probably
they might have even
hung up
woke up with a hangover
the next day
and
in the meantime
joseph now
activates his last
movement
the last scene
in the act of the long con
that god is working
in these chapters
to try to bring restoration
to this family
he tells his servant
restore
their money
fill their sacks
as full as they could be
and put a cup
in the sack
of the youngest one
so he does this
the brothers wake up
the next morning
they load up their donkeys
they ride off
back to their brother
back to their father
they have everything
they want
they're thinking
hey this was a success
we have Simeon
we have Benjamin
we have food
this is great
and then the servant
comes out after him
and says
how can you treat
this host
with such disdain
how can you be
such a bad guest
you stole
his cup
and they
they think
no no no
you don't understand
verse 8
this cannot be
we would not do this
we came back
we were ready
to pay back money
we are not
going to be
we are not
dishonest men
don't think about
as a matter of fact
we are so sure
of our innocence
that if you find
the guy who stole
the cup
kill him
and that begins
this fascinating
back and forth
about the consequences
of the cup
being found
you see it
in 9 and 10
you see it again
in 16 or 17
the servant says
oh no no no
we don't need to
kill anyone
we just want
the one who stole it
we'll take him back
and make him our servant
because he's broken
the rule
right
and so this then
and so then
again in birth order
from the oldest
to the youngest
they take down
their sacks
they open them
and as they go along
the brothers must be saying
see
we haven't done anything
and then they get
to the end
and Benjamin
and there's the cup
oh no
and for the first time
it seems
the brothers
stand in solidarity
they mourn
they tear their clothes
they pack up their stuff
and with Benjamin
they go back to Egypt
for the first time
they've acted
in solidarity
and then they get
back to Joseph
and they recount
the whole thing again
and again we have
this back and forth
Judas says
hey you know
like we can all
like if
we are guilty
they admit it
in verse 16
God has found out
our guilt
and we have no defense
and it's probably
not talking about
the cup
because they must
still be confused
about how the cup
got in there
it's probably
about their guilt
going all the way
back to chapter 37
God has now
revealed
their guilt
so profoundly
and to the very one
whom they have hurt
by their sin
that they have
confessed it
and Joseph
presses home
how much
have you actually
repented
of that sin
that's what verse
17
is about
just leave
the youngest
one with me
the favored
one
the one
who has caused
you so much
grief
the one
your father
loves
the one
who as Judah
will say later
is the one
who's treated
like the only
real son
and everyone
else is
illegitimate
just leave him
the rest of you
go on back
you can have
all the money
all the grain
just go
just give him
to me
Joseph has
recreated
the very
scene
of chapter 37
to give them
an opportunity
to repent
to repudiate
their envy
their jealousy
their sin
and rather
than working
to destroy
and fragment
their family
to give them
an opportunity
to begin
to act
righteously
in response
to restore
their family
it might have
been tempting
for a moment
for the brothers
to think
we could do
this
but Judah
says no
Judah rises up
again as the
spokesperson
as the representative
of all the
brothers
and he says
no
and he recounts
in painstakingly
Hebrew narrative
detail
over and over
again
what
what the
situation was
and how
for the love
of his father
who will be
heartbroken
if Benjamin
does not return
and for the love
of his brother
who they will
not abandon
like they
abandoned
Joseph
so long
ago
he says
no
we will
not
do
this
and it
comes to
its climax
in verse
30 through
34
let's read
those together
now
therefore
as soon
as I
come
to your
servant
my father
and the
boy
is not
with me
with us
then
his life
is bound
up
in the
boy's
life
that is
Jacob's
life
is bound
up
in the
boy's
life
as soon
as he
sees
that the
boy
is not
with us
he will
die
and your
servants
will bring
down
the gray
hairs
of your
servant
our father
with sorrow
to Sheol
for your
servant
became
now he's
talking about
himself
for your
servant
became a
pledge of
safety
for the
boy
to my
father
saying
if I
do not
bring
him
back
to you
then I
shall
bear
the
blame
before
my
father
all
my
life
now
therefore
please
let your
servant
remain
instead
of the
boy
as a
servant
for my
lord
and let
the boy
go back
with his
brothers
for how
can I
go back
to my
father
if the
boy is
not with
me
I fear
to see
the evil
that would
find
my
father
instead
of abandoning
the brother
Judas
says take
me instead
if justice
must be done
even though it
doesn't feel
like justice
I will
bear
the unjust
imprisonment
for we
didn't steal
the cup
but I
will bear
that injustice
for the
sake
of this
brother
for the
sake
of love
for my
father
I will
give myself
to restore
my brother
so that
my family
will have
peace
I cannot
go back
without
Benjamin
my father
would die
envy
rivalry
jealousy
and hatred
are replaced
by self
sacrificial
love
that which
is broken
is restored
I wonder
friends
if you
ever
experience
times
when God
has brought
you back
to the
same
thing
again
to the
same
trial
or the
same
temptation
and you
wonder
why am
I doing
this
is God
punishing
me
am I
a failure
maybe I
can't
maybe
maybe I'll
be stuck
with this
forever
what I want
you to see
is that
just like
here
God
gives us
opportunities
sometimes
to repeat
the same
circumstances
again
so that
we can
show
our repentance
so that
we can
turn from
the sin
that captured
our hearts
before
and see
his gracious
work
in our
lives
bearing
fruit
by living
differently
in those
circumstances
the
restoration
has
begun
love
sacrificial
love
has
replaced
envy
fear
has
been
overcome
by
grace
idolatry
of the
heart
has been
removed
by
sovereign
acts
of God
now
all
the
brothers
eleven
brothers
are
united
in
love
and have
given
themselves
in
love
for one
another
jacob's
heart
has been
turned
back
towards
the lord
as his
hands
have been
pried
off
the
idol
he's
given
up
his
own
scheming
and his
protection
self
protection
and his
self
provision
and we
see the
arcs
the story
lines
of
this
last
section
of
Genesis
beginning
to come
together
chapter
37
we saw
that
Jacob
or
that
Jacob's
sons
Joseph
and
Judah
were the
two
key
people
in
this
and now
we see
Judah
restored
his brothers
restored
Jacob
turning a
corner
and the
only one
left to be
restored now
is Joseph
you have to
come back
next week
because that's
what Greg's
going to
preach about
is the
restoration
of
Joseph
as he
makes himself
known to
his family
but in the
meantime
we see that
the restoration
of the
brothers
and particularly
Judah
who
for the
love
of his
father
gave
himself
to
redeem
his
brother
and
restore
shalom
to his
family
what a
powerful
story
that is
who
points us
ahead
points us
through
chapter
49
where the
blessing
of Jacob
on Judah
will be
from your
line
will come
the future
king
the scepter
shall not
depart
from your
mouth
and further
on as we
get to the
genealogies
in the
beginning
of Matthew
we see
that through
the line
of Judah
comes
the ultimate
brother
who for
the love
of his
father
gave himself
to bear
the unjust
punishment
upon himself
because he
did no wrong
in order to
redeem his
brothers
and sisters
and to
restore
his family
forever
this is what
Paul points
us to in
Ephesians 2
that we read
earlier
that in
Jesus Christ
God has
broken down
the wall
of hostility
caused by
our sin
that in
Jesus the
forgiveness
that is there
because of his
substitutionary
death for us
restores us
to a relationship
with God
but not only
that it
brings us
into a new
family and a
new household
and God
is building
the household
on the
foundation of
God's grace
so that we
might be his
family
forever
that's a
family reunion
worth looking
forward to
God so
gracious as to
rescue a family
as broken as
Jacob's is at
work to rescue
us from our
broken fragmented
lives from our
broken fragmented
families to bring
us to him and
into his family
what a love we
have what a
savior we have
let's pray
oh Lord we
worship you this
morning as a
God who has
pursued us that
we might know
peace with you
peace to those
who are far
off and peace
to those who
are near
peace to us
who knew
nothing of your
grace and yet
you have revealed
yourself
proclaimed yourself
drawn us to
yourself
turned our
hearts to you
given us faith
to believe and
carried us into
your family
God we
praise you for
that today
in Jesus
name
amen
as the
worship team
comes forward
we're going to
sing a great
hymn
a great hymn
about the
amazing grace
and mercy
that God
has shown
us in
Christ
and can
it be that
I should
gain an
interest in
my savior's
blood
died he
for me
who caused
his pain
for me
to him
who him
to death
pursued
amazing love
how can it
be
that thou
my God
should die
for me
please stand
as we sing
together
as we sing
together
all
plats
I
like
more
than
I
love
to
where
to
Über