GENESIS 45:1-15 REPRESENT GOD TO YOUR OFFENDERS2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Genesis 45:1-15 Represent God To Your Offenders

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, as we look at this occasion in the life of Joseph, I've titled the message, Represent God to Your Offenders.

Now, that title in itself might be offensive to you. And so now you get to represent God to me because I just told you to represent God to your offenders, right? This occasion in Joseph's life is one that he really demonstrates the character and nature of God in his life.

more than any other occasion in his life. He is representing God to a great degree here as he relates to his brothers. Now, if Joseph did not do so well here,

if he had behaved differently, I would suggest to you that God would still have done the work, that he was still working out a plan in the midst of this. And if Joseph hadn't have represented God so well, God would have still worked out his plan, preserved the family there in Egypt, and then, you know, brought them out as a nation many years later. God would have still done that work, but it was to Joseph's benefit to represent God. It was

Oh, that's the camera that's on. That's right. There you go. Number two. I apologize. Wind changed everything, and then I got a little confused. Okay, but so whether or not Joseph represented God well, God would have still worked out his plan. But Joseph did represent God, and so it was to his benefit. He was blessed, and he sets a model and an example for us.

As you look at this account, you could think and understand, you know, it's not really fair that Joseph should have to bear the hurt of his brothers and turn around and forgive them in this way. And you and I will think that of our own lives as well. As we look at this and are challenged by it to follow this model, we can easily think of ourselves, it's not fair that I should have to bear the hurt of others and forgive them. It's not fair. It's not right. And

And we can think that, we can say that, and we would be right. It's not fair, but also it's not fair that God should have to bear the hurts that I have provided to him, that I have done against him, and that he should bear with the offenses that I have given to him. It's not fair that he should forgive me, but his mercy and grace is extended towards me and forgives me. And now he calls us to, like Joseph,

Pass on that forgiveness to those who have offended us. In forgiveness, you have the opportunity to be more like God than any other time. If you want to represent God, if you want to be like God and represent and demonstrate His character and nature,

In forgiveness, you have the greatest opportunity to do that. And so represent God to your offenders. Four things we'll look at as we consider this. First of all, in verses one through three, here's point number one this morning. Do what is good for your offenders. To represent God in regards to those who have hurt us and harmed us,

What we need to do is to do what is good for them. Looking again at verse 1 and 2, it says, I'd call your attention first of all there in verse 1 to this.

That first part of the verse, Joseph could not restrain himself. Joseph could not restrain himself or he could not restrain himself any longer. Up to this point in all of his interactions with his brothers, he's been restraining himself. Now, after all of the hurt and harm that they had inflicted upon him.

in all of the mockery and abuse that they had brought upon him and then throwing him in a pit intending to kill him and then selling him into slavery and all of the things that have happened to him after that. You could imagine that Joseph was restraining himself in the sense of he had a baseball bat and he wanted to go after them. But that's not what it's actually picturing here. Joseph was wanting to reveal himself to his brothers and

He was wanting to be reunited with his brothers. He wanted to make things right and have a relationship with his brothers once again. But up to this point, he's been restraining himself. Now in the chapters prior to this, you get to see the account where Joseph is relating to his brothers and he's not revealing himself, but instead he's really challenging them. He accuses them of being spies when they first show up in Egypt looking for food.

He holds Simeon prisoner and sends the rest back and says, look, you're not going to see your brother again unless you bring back Benjamin, the youngest, with you next time. And so they have to bring back Benjamin this next time. And it causes a lot of conflict within the family because of what had previously happened to Joseph. And so he's relating to them, but he's not revealing himself to them. And it's very common. Many people look at those previous chapters and

and consider Joseph as paying his brothers back for how they treated him. It's the idea that, well, you know, I'm going to give them a hard time and throw Simeon in prison because, you know, he threw me in a pit. And so I'm going to get him back and pay him back for what he has done. But I would suggest to you that if that's your take, if that's your perspective, you need to go back and revisit the chapters a little bit more closely.

Because the reality is that God had spoken to Joseph in his dreams. They were not just random dreams. They were not just passing dreams. They were not just insignificant dreams. They were important and they were God's message to Joseph. In the first dream, it spoke about all of the brothers bowing down before Joseph. And then in the second dream, the whole family bowed down before him.

That's not just two random dreams. It's not just two kind of closely related dreams, but it's actually a sequence of events that God wanted to occur. In Genesis chapter 42, it tells us in verse 8 and 9 that Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And then it says, Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them. The way that Joseph behaves after that is directly in response to what God had spoken to him in those dreams.

It wasn't the way that Joseph wanted to relate to his brothers. It wasn't for his sake or to pay them back or to make him feel good for what they had done to him that he had related to them in that way. But it was because of the dreams that God gave him. God had given Joseph instruction. And so he was charged with executing God's plan regardless of how he felt about it.

And Joseph would have preferred to reveal himself immediately. But Joseph represented God by restraining himself until the right time, until God's timing was fulfilled, until these dreams would take shape and the events would take shape in the way that God had intended. You can see Joseph restraining himself throughout the account. In Genesis chapter 42, verse 24 says,

It says that he turned himself away from them and wept. He went and wept. He hid. In front of them, he was presenting himself as this Egyptian ruler, but it was really hard for him. But God had called him to it. God had charged him with this plan. And so he did what he could there in front of them. Privately behind the scenes, he wept because he had to restrain himself and he wanted to reveal himself to his brothers.

In Genesis 43 verse 30, it tells us that his heart yearned for his brothers. So Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. Three occasions, Joseph weeps in these chapters interacting with his brothers. But so far, he does it privately.

This third time now in verse 2, it says, He wept aloud and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard it. This is the first time that publicly Joseph is weeping. Joseph is bound up with emotion. He's full of emotion in this relationship with his brothers. They have harmed him greatly, done him great wrong. It's been 20 years since he's seen his brothers. Throughout that time, he's been enslaved. He's been imprisoned.

But Joseph is longing to be reunited, but God's given him instruction. And can you see the conflict there within Joseph? He's not intending to try to get back to them or get back at them. But instead, he gets to be part of God's work in their lives. And he gets to be part of them coming back to repentance for their sins and right relationship with God. And so now it's finally time.

He's restrained himself. He's held the course. He's executed the plan that God had charged him with. And now restraint time is over and it's open emotion. Pastor David Guzik tells us his great emotion showed that Joseph did not cruelly manipulate his brothers. He was directed by God to make these arrangements and it hurt him to do it. It hurt him to do it. It was hard for him to relate to his brothers this way.

He wasn't just being cruel and messing with them because of what they had done to him. In verse 3, he reveals himself and he says, I am Joseph. But his brothers, it says, could not answer him for they were dismayed in his presence. His brothers are absolutely freaked out now. And they anticipate, really for the rest of their lives, they're kind of like holding their breath, waiting for Joseph to repay them for what they did to him. But that was not Joseph's heart.

His task was to represent God. And that meant that he was going to do what was good for them. And it wasn't good for them to know that it was Joseph until this time, because there was a work that still needed to happen in their hearts. Even though they felt bad and they felt guilty. And you see that in the chapters preceding, right? They felt bad about what they did to Joseph for the past 20 years. They held onto this guilt and it burdened them and they carried it with them.

And God needed to address their hearts. God needed to work in their hearts. And he chose to use Joseph, the one that they hurt and harmed. God chose to use that one to bring them to a place of reconciliation with Joseph, but also with God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, when Joseph heard them confess their sins, he knew it was safe to reveal his identity to them.

Had he done it earlier, they would not have been ready for the blessings that he had for them. Had he waited longer, the men might have been in total despair. It was the perfect balance of time. They weren't ready yet for the blessings of reunion with Joseph, the blessings that they would have and experience in Egypt. They weren't ready yet. Their hearts were still in a place that God needed to work. But through Joseph, God is doing that work.

And through the way that he handles the situation, God is working in the hearts of the brothers and bringing them to a place of cleansing, to a place of confession and repentance. They've been stuck feeling guilty for the last 20 years. And listen, that's not a place God wants anybody to be stuck in. God wants us to receive the release from that guilt.

You think about Saul of Tarsus, right? If anybody deserved to feel guilty for the rest of his life. But God showed him grace and mercy. He wanted him to be released from those offenses that he had committed. And so here Joseph sets a good example for us. He does what is good to those who had harmed him. It's an example and a pattern for you and I. Do what is good for your offenders.

Do what is good for those who have hurt you, for those who have harmed you. What if you get to be the agent of change? What if you get to be God's agent in their lives to bring their hearts to a place of repentance and reconciliation with God? Think about the powerful witness of Joseph. And Satan would have loved to use that for evil,

But God really does work it out for good. And he can do the same thing in our lives as well. Now, just a quick word of caution. I'm not suggesting that you put yourself in a position of danger or anything like that. There does need to be a leading of the Lord. Remember, God had spoken to Joseph how to handle this situation. And he was following through with the plan that God had given to him. And so be wise and be led by the Lord, right?

But at the same time, be open to the reality that God may choose you to bring about a repentance and a healing and a cleansing and a reuniting with the people that have directly hurt you and harmed you and meant evil towards you. You need to make sure that you're connected to God and know his heart. And also keep in mind, years have passed by, right? So this is not that Joseph, you know,

two months after the event is ministering to his brothers this way. This is 20 years later and that was probably appropriate. As Joseph was a slave in Potiphar's house, he probably wasn't ready at that point to have this role and to be God's minister to them in this situation.

when Joseph was in prison, if he had encountered his brothers in that circumstance, he probably wasn't quite ready yet. It's only after, you know, God has done the work in Joseph's heart in preparing him for this occasion that now he's ready to be God's minister and to bring them to repentance and cleansing from their sin.

For you and I similarly, we need to be wise. And there are times where it's not right for us, right? Like we're not the ones to minister to the people who have harmed us. Until we come to that place where we can be, well, those who represent God. Where we can be those who reflect the nature and character of God and to do what is best for them.

Now, in this case, what was best for them was for these steps to unfold and then for the family to be reunited. But just to throw out a couple other examples, listen, sometimes the best thing for someone is for you to press charges in a legal matter.

Sometimes that's going to be the best thing for them. And you do it not because you're trying to give back, but not because you're trying to inflict harm or pain, but you do it because ultimately that's what's going to be best for them. Sometimes the best thing for someone is for you to separate and stay away and put some distance there and you're not directly interacting and you're not directly communicating because sometimes

Not because, you know, you're trying to pay them back and you're just giving them the silent treatment, right? But because that's what's best for them. You see, when we represent God to others, it is doing what is best on their behalf. Not looking out for ourselves, but looking out for them. Sometimes the best thing for you, for the situation is,

is for you to overlook the issue completely. As much as we'd want them to recognize what they've done and, you know, apologize for it and, you know, make amends for it, sometimes what's best for them might be for us to overlook the issue and never bring it up again. It requires some wisdom and discernment in our relationship with the Lord, but to represent God

To those who have offended us, we need to be looking out for their good. That's what God always does towards us. But this is incredibly hard. As I said, this might be the best way that we ever have to represent God and to reflect the nature and character of God. But it also, for that reason, is incredibly hard and difficult. Joseph had to undergo this multi-year process after they appeared to him.

where he had to restrain himself for a long period of time to bring about the plan that God had instructed him to do. But he did what was good for them, not for his sake, not because it's what he wanted, but because it's what God wanted. Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 5 to love our enemies. And who are your enemies other than those who have hurt you and harmed you and done evil and wrong to you?

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 44 and 45, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. He goes on to say that you may be sons of your father in heaven, for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Jesus says, look, God does good to people who are

both doing good and to people who are doing evil. And so be like your father and do good, both to people who do good to you and also to people who are evil towards you. Do good to those who have offended you. And again, we say it's not fair. Why should I have to bear that hurt and overcome? Why shouldn't they? You know, they should be the ones who recognize it and come back and make things right. That's the way it should take place and absolutely so.

But that's not what God has called us to, to make sure everything is right and fair. God has called us instead to be like him, to be gracious and merciful and to do good to those who have offended us, just as he is good, even though we have offended him. Well, verses four and five give us point number two as we go forward now, and that is to release repentant offenders from guilt. Release repentant offenders from

In verse 4 and 5, it says this, Joseph invites his brothers near here in verse 4. And he reveals himself. I am Joseph.

And he recounts for them their sin. He recounts for them the thing that they had done that was so wrong to them. Their sin is plainly declared. But here Joseph is not bringing it up to kind of like make them feel bad, kind of poke them a little bit and say, here, suffer a little bit as you think about what you've done to me. He's doing it for identification. He's doing it for identification.

Look, you guys, you brothers and me, we're the only ones in the world who know what really happened. Dad thinks I was killed by wild animals. That was the story that you told everybody. It's only us that know you sold me into slavery. And so he brings it up to identify himself so that they can recognize this really is Joseph because he knows the truth about what happened. But as he brings it up, he wants to make sure he's quick-witted.

To say to them, verse 5, don't be grieved or angry with yourselves because you've sold me here. This is what you did. Sin clearly declared. Not watering down the sin, not watering down, you know, what they had done to him. But at the same time saying, don't be grieved or angry with yourselves about the sin that you have committed, about the wrong that you've done for me. Again, they felt guilty.

Over the last 20 years, you can see it in the chapters ahead. You know, as they experience hardship, they say, oh, this is because, you know, of what we did to Joseph. And every time there was hardship in their life, you can imagine them, you know, going back and, oh, it's because what we did to Joseph. They're still stuck in that place. But it's not a place that God wants anybody to stuck in, to be stuck in. And so they need to be released.

Over the past couple chapters, they've been brought to a place of real and genuine repentance. And so now they need to be released. Guilt is useful to help us recognize that there is a wrong that has been done and we need to get right and we need to come to repentance. But once there has been repentance, then guilt is not necessary any longer.

That internal affliction or that affliction, you know, applied by others, it's not useful any longer when there is repentance. Now it's just hurtful and harmful. And so Joseph here represents God well in releasing them. Again, he doesn't pretend like they didn't do anything wrong, but instead he declares it and says, now don't be grieved. This is forgiveness. He releases them from any guilt, from any guilt,

anger or hurt and heartache that they experienced from their own actions against Joseph. Joseph represents God here. Pastor Charles Spurgeon puts it this way, "'Jesus says to his loved ones who have grieved him by their evil deeds, "'Be not grieved, for I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions, "'and as a cloud your sins. "'Be not angry with yourselves, "'for I will receive you graciously and love you freely.'"

This is the way that God relates to us, right? Don't be grieved by your sin. Once you come to repentance, God says, all right, don't be grieved. Don't carry around that guilt. Be washed, be cleansed. That we're justified, right? To have right relationship with God as if you had never sinned. That's the relationship that God wants you to enjoy. He doesn't want you to, you know, continue on under that burden of guilt.

But to come to repentance and to be released from that, that is the way that God relates to us. Even though we have harmed him and wronged him, he releases repentant offenders from guilt. And then says, all right, I've done that to you. I've released you from guilt. Now you turn around and do that to others who have hurt you and offended you.

Jesus tells a pretty powerful parable about that in Matthew chapter 18, about a servant who owed his master a great deal of money. And he begged and pleaded and his master had compassion and forgave him the debt. But then he turned around going out from there and he saw another servant that owed him a very small, a little tiny debt. And he shook him and, you know, threw him into prison to pay back the debt.

And Jesus, in telling this parable in Matthew 18, verse 32 and 33, it says, I had pity on you.

with this huge debt, and now there's this little tiny debt, shouldn't you have shown that same character, that same pity and compassion upon your fellow servant? And what Jesus is saying here is, look, when we're holding things against people and not releasing them from their guilt, even though they've repented, we've really forgotten how much we have offended the Lord. We've kind of lost sight of, and we think, you know, their offense towards us is so big that

And we've forgotten and we kind of have it backwards, right? We think our offenses towards God are small and those offenses against me are huge. But it's backwards. And we need to come back to the grasp and the reality that our offense towards God is greater than anything anyone could do against us. And so we have been forgiven this great debt. And the things that people do towards us, those offenses that we experience, not to diminish how much they hurt and not to diminish how hard it is to go through those things, but

But at the same time, in the perspective, our sin against God is greater than their sin against me. Corrie ten Boom, you may have heard of her. She's one of those who survived the encampments and attacks against the Jewish people back in World War II. And she has an account of an occasion where

She is going about and preaching in different places and a guard that used to be in her containment camp showed up and said, hey, I've become a Christian since then. And I know that God forgives me for those horrendous things that we did, but I would like for you to forgive me as well.

And she shares about that internal conflict of how could she forgive? You know, her sister died in that camp. And, you know, this guard was one of those who had abused them and treated them so roughly. And she walks through that. And it reminds us, it sets for us a tone that we, yes, are hurt greatly. We're harmed much by people around us. But we still are called to represent God.

Even to those who have offended us. And when a person comes to a place of repentance, and we're to let it go, like God does with us, and release others from that guilt. It's not fair that I should have to bear that hurt and forgive. You're right, it's not fair. But it's not fair that God should have to bear that hurt and forgive me either. And so I am called to pass on that grace and that mercy that God extends to me.

Well, moving on to verses 5 through 8, here's point number 3 this morning, and that is share how God overcame the offense. We represent God by doing what is good for those who have offended us, by releasing those who have repented from the guilt of their wrongdoing, and now by sharing what God's purposes are and how he overcame in the midst of the situation. In verse 5,

He says, but now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years, the famine has been in the land and there are still five years in which there will neither be plowing nor harvesting. Here, Joseph says, you sold me, but God sent me.

You sold me. You did evil. You did wrong. You committed this act against me. But God was overruling the situation. And God was allowing this as an occasion to send me for the purpose of preserving life. To overcome. It's to succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty. Some kind of issue. And listen, every wrong that is done towards us, well, we get to overcome.

Because God has promised that he will work all things together for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8, 28. And so there is this great promise that we will overcome every wrong, every harm, every hurt done to us by faith in Christ and by walking with him. We will overcome.

There will be success in dealing with that issue and it will be turned out for good. It doesn't mean the wrong was good or that God accomplished, you know, the wrong, but God allowed it and then used the situation to bring about something that is good. They were wrong. They were guilty. They had done this deed, but God sent Joseph through it.

Three times here in verse 5, 7, and 8, he says, God sent me before you. In verse 7, he says, God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth to save your lives by a great deliverance. In verse 8, he says, so it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph saw the sovereignty of God at work in the midst of this situation. And so he's able to declare to them very clearly, this is what God has done. Even though you did this wrong to me, God has used this to accomplish something good. And he sent me before you to preserve life.

He sent me before you to preserve you and your families. It wasn't you who sent me here, he even says. It was God who sent me here. Now, as I said before, Joseph would probably not have been ready to make these declarations earlier than this. While he was still a slave in Potiphar's house, he wouldn't have been ready to be able to explain, this is what God has done in the midst of this harm that was inflicted upon me.

It took some time. Again, it's been about 20 years since his brothers have sold him into slavery. And through the time in Potiphar's house, through the time in prison, through the working of God in Joseph's life, it's prepared Joseph now to be able to represent God to his brothers and say, listen, you meant harm, but God is so much bigger than you are. And I want to release you from that guilt because even though you did wrong,

You've come to repentance and you could, you know, for the rest of your life mourn what could have been had you not have done that. But listen, God has done a great work in the midst of it, even though you've done that. Pastor Thomas Constable says it this way. Joseph's perception of God's ways made him gracious, forgiving, and accepting rather than bitter and vindictive.

He saw the love of his God behind the cruelty of his brothers. He had accepted all that had come to him as the will of God, and therefore he experienced the blessing of God. Every hurt and harm and wrong that is done to us is an occasion for God to work in our hearts.

And there can be, as we address the situation of our hearts and what we're going through emotionally, what we're going through internally with God, as God develops us and works in us, there is good that comes out. There are good things that happen as we respond to that and walk with God in light of what has been done to us. And so we get the occasion then, when it's time, at the appropriate time, to share, here's how God overcame.

offense. Here's how God did something far greater. The offense was great, but God is even bigger than the offense. He's bigger than the offenders, and he is able to bring about something good. What if you could be God's agent of change in the hearts of people who have hurt you?

To come back later and say, you know, you did such wrong and such harm and such hurt, but God did something so good through the midst of that. What if you could be the agent of change where God allows you to help them come to a place of repentance? It's not something to rush into when we're emotional and when we can't represent God. It's something to work out with God in our hearts today.

So that then we can be good representatives to God, even to those who have offended us. Well, finally, the fourth point, verses 9 through 15, invite repentant offenders back into your life. Invite repentant offenders back into your life. We're not going to cover all of these verses, but look at verse 9 and 10 briefly. It says, hurry and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph.

Joseph says, hey, go tell dad, come to Egypt quickly.

But brothers, you guys wronged me, so you can't come. No, that's not what he says. No, tell dad to come, bring his children. That's his brothers, right? And his children's children, that's his nieces and nephews. Bring all the family. He's inviting them all to come. And he says in verse 10, you shall be near to me. You shall be near to me. He invites them back. Come close. Come stay with me. Come be around me. Come be in my life again. He invites them back.

to take care of them, to provide for them, but to preserve that fellowship with them. Again, this is what Jesus calls us to do, to invite repentant offenders back into our lives. Not necessarily immediately, right? Not necessarily after five years, but in God's timing, when there is repentance, when we can represent God to them, there is to be this invitation, this reconciliation, right?

Remember what Jesus taught in Luke chapter 17. In verse 3 and 4, he says, Even if it's seven times in one day, Jesus says, you are to forgive. You are to let that go, to release them of the guilt and release your right to pay them back for wrongs.

There is to be reconciliation between those who have hurt and those who have been harmed when there is repentance. Jumping down to verse 15, it says, Moreover, he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. And after that, his brothers talked with him. He kissed all his brothers, all of them, even the ones that threw him in the pit.

Even the ones that, you know, had sold him into slavery. Even the ones who were in charge who should have known better. The ones who are old enough to know better. Even, you know, not just Benjamin, who probably wasn't part of that whole ordeal, right? Benjamin was back with dad. Dad wouldn't let him out of his sight. But the rest of the brothers who had treated him in this way, he kissed all of them. He opened up that relationship again. There was reconciliation and restoration between them.

Pastor David Guzik says, Joseph was affectionate and loving to all his brothers. He did not exclude those who had been especially cruel to him. His heart was open to his brothers, both as a group and as individuals. Again, he represents God to his brothers. This is the way that God was towards his brothers. Even though they had hurt and harmed, there was the opportunity and the invitation to come back and to have a restored fellowship with God.

And you can see that the reconciliation takes place. It is completed, as it tells us in verse 15, after that, his brothers talked with him. It wasn't just one-sided, not just Joseph talking at his brothers or lecturing his brothers or preaching at them, right? But now the relationship is restored so that they're able to talk to Joseph. They're able to communicate once again. They're able to have fellowship once again. Again, he sets...

the model for us. Invite repentant offenders back into your life. Now again, important to point out and to note, don't put yourself in a place of danger. Inviting repentant offenders back into your life is not the same as, you know, putting yourself in a place where you can be physically in danger or put in harm's place. That's not what we need to do. But when there is repentance, there does need to be that

reuniting and that reconciliation of the relationship. There does need to be the open door of communication and the ability to talk and to love and to share with one another. And thinking through this, it's easy for us to say it's not fair that I should have to bear the hurt and forgive, that I should have to invite them back. They should come and make things right with me, right? Yes, absolutely. That's the right thing. That's the fair thing.

But life is not fair. And the way that God deals with us is not in this way. God deals with us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so he works in our life to bring us to a place of repentance so that he can invite us in to his presence and we can have that fellowship. And as God works that way in our lives, now he says, now go do that with the people in your life who have offended you, who have harmed you, who have hurt you.

It's something amazing to think about. What if you get to be God's agent of change in the hearts of people who have hurt you? Talk about taking what the enemy means for evil and God turning it for good. Everybody who ever hurts you and offends you in your whole life, right? That's a lot of people. You have the opportunity then to be an agent of God, to be a representative of God to them.

they've opened the door of ministry that may have never been opened any other way. You may never have had the chance to share the love of Christ with them until they offended you. And now they've slammed the door open. Like they may have, you know, kept you away and pushed you back and not giving you the opportunity to share the love of Christ, but now they've hurt you. So now they've slammed the door open and given you the opportunity to represent God to them in a powerful way

to be God's agent of change in their hearts. And whether they choose to take that opportunity or not, you've fulfilled your role in representing God to them. In forgiveness, you have the opportunity to be more like God than at any other time in your life. And if Joseph had not represented God well here, listen, God would have still done the work of preservation for the nation of Israel. But it was to Joseph's benefit to represent God well. Think about Moses.

In the wilderness, he was angry with the people. He struck the rock. And God pulled him aside and said, Moses, you didn't represent me well. Therefore, you will not get to enter into the promised land. You're going to miss out on a lot of blessings because you failed to represent me. Listen, for you and I, even though we're the ones who've been hurt, even though we're the ones who've been harmed, we know the Lord.

And we have received such forgiveness and grace from the Lord. And so the Lord says, now you are accountable to represent me well to the people who have hurt you and harmed you. It's not fair, but it's not fair the way that I have shown you grace and mercy either. You're accountable. And listen, if you choose not to represent God well to those who have hurt you and offended you, that's your choice. You have free will, but it's to your own detriment. You'll miss out.

on blessings that God has for you if you choose to not represent him and model the forgiveness that he has shown you. Represent God to your offenders. That means you'll do what is good for them. Again, sometimes that means pressing charges. Sometimes that means just overlooking it and never bringing it up. Sometimes that means walking them through a process by which they come to a place of repentance. That requires great wisdom and discernment and to be led by the Lord

but you're looking out for the good of those who have hurt you. Release repentant offenders from guilt. Let them know it's okay. You can stop being angry with yourself because look how God has overcome the offense. Yes, you meant it for evil, but God has done something good in spite of that. So let it go. I've let it go. You let it go. Be released from your guilt.

and invite repentant offenders back into your life. Restore that relationship. Sometimes, perhaps, the relationship will never be what it once was, but there can be a restored relationship. There can be a renewed fellowship and the opportunity to communicate, to love, and to share with one another. It's the way that God relates to us. It's not fair that we should be expected to do this.

But it's not fair that God should be expected to do this towards us. So God says, here's the grace I've shown. Now you go and do the same. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider your word, it's challenging things that you've called us to. And yet, it's such great goodness that you've done towards us. Lord, we pray for that situation, whatever it is. Be with it, Lord. Work out your plans. Bring hope and healing and turn people's hearts towards you.

I pray, God, as we wrestle with these truths and these things that you've been teaching us this morning, that you would give us strength by your spirit, that you would help us to believe you at your word, to grasp hold of what you have declared, and to take bold steps of faith in relating to those who have done wrong to us. Help us, God, to trust you, to hear from you, and to learn how to represent you to those who have done us wrong. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.