Big idea: When you relinquish control you can receive mercy, peace, and contentment.
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Well, good morning church family, good morning visitors. It's such a joy to be with you this morning. Let's turn our attention to God's word. We're going to turn to Genesis 43 you can turn there. I got a little feedback that you don't mind sitting for these long readings. So some people appreciate that. So we will go ahead and do that. I'll have you stand for prayer Genesis 43 I'm titling the turn the turn, because this is got the turn of Jacob's sons. Jacob, Jacob's sons, in in their process moving toward reconciliation with Joseph, you're going to see a turn in their hearts and lives, and as we see this, one of the major themes going through this is a fear of loss. Fear of loss is a test for those who trust the God of the Bible, because true faith in a world that is hostile to God means sometimes the loss of loved ones, reputation, sometimes it means the loss of a personal dream, even life itself. So as you read chapter 43 think about what each of our spiritual fathers had to be willing to lose to do what was right, and this is the place where we finally see Judah making a turn. Now, they just think of this man in Egypt as a man named zephaniath panaea, but really it's their brother Joseph, and he's going to be the one who's going to hold the key to their survival. So today, let's look at test two. Test one last week acknowledging their guilt for selling their brother as a slave. They found out that test two. We're going to see what comes up with that today, chapter 43 verse one. Now, the famine was severe in the land, and when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt. Their father 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 our brother with us, we will go down and buy food, but if you will not send him, we will not go down for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? 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 was an answer to these questions, could we in any way know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel, his father, send the boy with me, and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and you, and 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 have would have 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 of the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man, a little balm, 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, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may He send back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them and Benjamin, they rose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of the house, bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready for the men to die or to dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him, and brought the men to Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, it is because of the money, which is was replaced in our sacks the first time that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys. So they went up to the steward of Joseph. House and spoke with him at the door of his house and said, Oh my Lord, we came down the first time to buy food, and when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack. Our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks. And he replied, Peace be to you. Do not be afraid your God, and the God of your father, has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. Then he brought Simeon out to them, and when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when they had given their donkey's fodder, they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had had with them, and bowed down to him to the ground, and he acquired inquired about their welfare and said, Is your father Well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive? And they said, Your servant, our father is well. He is still alive. And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother, Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me, God, be gracious to you, my son. Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out and controlling himself. He said, serve the food. They served him by himself and them by themselves. And the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. Portions were taken to them for Joseph's from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with them. This is the word of the Lord our God. You are the sovereign orchestrator, sovereign ruler of nations. This is the big picture, a story of moving the nation of Israel into the nation of Egypt to multiply them. This is a story of your sovereign workings over the weather. But you are the sovereign who is working in the hearts of men too, and you, we see you working in Jacob's heart, in Judah's heart, the men's heart, to bring about repentance, faith. They were not a they were not a God honoring lot. There is much sin and difficulty, but here we see the turn in their hearts, and I pray that as we see that we recognize certain realities of our own lives, fear of loss and attempt to control circumstances often leaves us anxious, angry, worried. There is truth here for us in little things as well as there is for big things. We trust that you are the sovereign over world affairs, as Daniel said in Daniel two that you raise up kings and you take down kings, and in the Middle East, that is happening now. We do pray for brothers and sisters in the Middle East, some who are still stuck in various places not able to get out. Fellow Americans are still trying to leave. Also, the fellow believers that are under great distress, pray that you would comfort them, help them. Remember that you are merciful in providing we think the same in Ukraine, where war still rages, we look to you, the Merciful, all sufficient God for the things that we need. And now Lord, I pray that you would be at work in the churches in our area. Thank you for what you're doing at Peaceful Valley church. And one of our young aspiring men is up there preaching this morning. Help them. Help him, encourage the church. Help it continue to be a beacon of light to the Newport area, the elk area. Thank you for that. Help Luke re out at his place in Post Falls. Bless the preaching of your word, the growth of their church. May it be a testimony to your grace. We want to be a testimony of Your grace here as well. Give us attentiveness to read and hear what you have to say in Christ's name. Amen. Well, chapter 43 is pivotal. It's what I call the turn, and it's the turn in the Joseph narrative. It's the turn in a number of people's hearts. It's continues the Joe. Saga. If you're brand new today visiting with us today, you probably are somewhat familiar with the Joseph story. It's in cartoon movies. It's a common story. Here we're back in Canaan, where Jacob and his sons start running out of food.
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Again, the prime minister of Egypt would not give them any more food until Benjamin showed up. And what happens to Jacob is what happens when you fear losing something. Fear of loss paralyzed Jacob. They had to completely run out of food again before he was really willing to rethink the next step. Fear of loss is part of Jacob's problem. Fear of judgment is part of the brother's problem. Fear of losing status has been there before. Maybe a helpful illustration, just draw yourself a little slice of cake standing upright with three layers, frosting in the middle of the layers. Why am I doing that? Because there are a lot of things going on in this story. It's multi layered. It's multi layered. What is consistent through the story is God's mercy. Jacob calls on it, but Jacob needs to deal with his fear of losing Benjamin, his brothers need to deal with the fear of judgment, and the brothers, just as well, need to deal with envy that was in their hearts way back 21 years ago. Is anything different, and at the same time, we're going to find at least three previews. That's the frosting in the middle of the layers, three preparations for the ministry of Christ. You see redemptive themes multiple in this section. So coming up with a unifying theme, I might place something like this. When you relinquish control to God, you can receive His mercy, peace and contentment. Or if I were to say one word, surrender, if you can surrender control to the all sufficient Almighty God, you can receive His mercy, peace and contentment. Every day this world makes us take steps of faith, make faith decisions, and sometimes faith and faithfulness cause us to have to give up something that's really precious to us. Sometimes faith decisions are the most loving decisions and the most and the best outcomes in the world. That's going to be true for Jacob today. But it's not always true. Sometimes a faith decision is opposed by the world, and you have to be ready to fear losing something. As you sit here this morning, you have something in your life, you fear losing you do. Everybody does, from 10 to 30, most kids, I would say, from age 10 to age 30, most people, friends mean everything, and the thought of losing friends or something that threatens friendships can be dominating. For others, if you're 30, on getting a spouse or keeping a spouse, can mean everything. Fear of losing a spouse can be dominating. You could just add to that, fear of losing children, fear of losing career, fear of losing reputation, these are all things we fear. And I could ask the question, so, how are you a control freak? Everybody's a control freak at some level, some fear the shame of being found out for their dirty secrets, some fear being relegated to lower status. That's in this story, how we seek control, or how we surrender control, is a measure of where we're placing. Our faith, the fear of loss, desire for control can become dominating to the people who are in our lives, enslaving to us. Would you like the burden lifted? Would you like to be freed from the burden of keeping it all together, making sure you can put a good face on everything, having the right reputation in front of everybody. Would you like that burden lifted? Would you like to know the one who does and can keep it all together? Would you like to know the one who keeps it all together? No. You're going to find him today. Would you like the freedom that comes from surrendering control to the only one who is in control? That's today's invitation. We're going to walk through our cake, our various layers, and we're going to unpack some of these things for us. Let's start with this, the relinquishing of control and the turn to Mercy. This is the turn Jacob is fearful of losing Benjamin, and he has tried to maintain control, maybe for a full year while the grain runs out. What we find Jacob doing is something we haven't seen him do for a long time. Turn to God, pray, trust and commission his family. Look at verse 143, one. Now the famine was severe in the land, and that famine is tied to the famine that was spoken of with the dreams of Pharaoh. Pharaoh had a dream that there would be seven. Two dreams, seven plentiful years, seven thin years that we need. The plentiful years, Joseph interpreted that there's going to be seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. This is year two of the famine. The famine was severe in the land. How do I get that? Because the next chapter, he's going to say there's five more years of famine. So we're in year two of the famine. When they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, go again, buy us a little food. Remember, this is all God's sovereign working, getting Israel into Egypt as the incubator. All the grain was gone. Undoubtedly, everyone was withering away. He's watching his children, his grandchildren, wither and hunger. So for the first time in several chapters, we hear from him, but then Judah steps in. Remember the last time we saw Judah? It wasn't pretty either. Judah here is stepping up to take leadership. The last time we saw Judah back in 38 Judah was self seeking, pleasure seeking. He feared losing his sons. He lost one because one was wicked. He lost a second because he was wicked. Wouldn't take his proper place for Tamar at the end of chapter, 38 the turn starts for Judah, and he says, I'm a guilty man. Here he steps up. He says to his father, the man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face until your brother is with you. I mean, he won't even see us without Benjamin, Dad, we're not going to go Jacob's well being was so identified in Benjamin that he viewed any threat to it as a personal affront. Why did you treat me so badly like why? Why did you not think of me when telling those stories? I mean, Judah essentially says he asked us lots of pointed questions. How would we How could we possibly know that he's going to ask to bring Benjamin back? But here's where Judah steps up. Judah said to his father, send the boy with me, and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety from my hand. You shall require him. If you do not bring him back to you, if I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. Later, he's going to use that same idea as curse. I'll bear the curse. You can hold me personally responsible. This is a pivotal turning point in the greater storyline of the Bible. Judah is transforming. Remember the last time we saw Judah? He was self seeking, unwilling to sacrifice, unwilling to do what's right. Now he's laying his life on the line. Judah, the ancestor of Jesus, as we think about the first of these previews of redemptive themes, here's the first instance of a person willing to be the sacrifice for God's people. Jacob is flawed. Judah is flawed, but he's taking on the mission to bring his family back by his own life,
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2000 years later, the righteous, merciful and all sufficient father would send his son on a mission to bring back. Back a family from exile and save them. Jesus was the perfect Son, not a deeply flawed son. He was not only willing to take the blame, he took the curse, the eternal wrath of God in our place. I mean, here we have the first instance where we see this. Remember the hymn line that we love to sing. He took the blame, he bore the wrath. We stand forgiven at the cross. This
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is a great help thinking about God's work for us. Let's pause for a moment, Mom or Dad, Mom or Dad, do you fear losing? Does your fear of losing one of your children or a relationship with your children? Does your fear of losing something, your job, your appearance? Is it strangling the others around you? Sometimes the fear of losing appearance, losing a family member is so dominating you end up strangling the others you can't see them. This was true for Jacob, and it took Judah to shake him out of it. Here's the turn for Jacob. How do we? How do we do that? How does our fear of losing something, our fear of the appearance of control? How does, how do we surrender that and find the freedom of that? Well, Jacob, in a sense, finally wakes up. Verse 11, their father, Israel, said to them, Well, if it must be so, then do this. Like all of a sudden, Jacob's out of his stupor. He comes up with a good plan. He's thinking positively again. Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags. Carry a present down to the man, a little balm, a little honey, a little gum, a little myrrh, pistachio, it's almonds, all his favorite Gorp, his snacks. Bring some snacks, apparently, is what does it take? Double the money with you, carry back with you the money that was returned to the mouth. Perhaps it was an oversight. Perhaps it was an oversight. And here's his awakening. Remember he had had bursts of faithfulness. He wakes up out of a stupor, take your brother, Rise and go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you merciful. Grant you mercy before the man and he may He send back your brother, other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Look at this God Almighty. God Almighty, all powerful, all sufficient. When you ever see that El Shaddai, you could just say Almighty, All sufficient. It's out of his sufficiency, out of his power, that he can grant mercy and grace to be a protection and a provider. God Almighty is the name that God used with Abraham when Abraham was about to have Isaac and tell him he was going to be fruitful and multiply in his old age. It's the name Isaac used when sending Jacob to Laban in Haran, when he needed to flee from Esau, and 20 years later, it's the name that God used when he renamed Jacob Israel God, almighty, God the all sufficient one God who will make you Fruitful and Multiply utter sufficiency and power. See, it's God's power, God's grace, that's going to be enough for you. And stop there when you fear losing everybody fears losing things. Do you want to know how to overcome the fear of loss? Look on the other side of loss to God Almighty, God all sufficient. On the other side of loss will be God Almighty, and God all sufficient. Perhaps he will be merciful. May He grant mercy? What is Mercy? Mercy is is deeply moved compassion, seeing the suffering of another and being moved to action. May he see our suffering and have pity on us or mercy on us? He is not deserving of compassion. In fact, the idea of mercy and the idea of pity is something that is undeserved. Maybe they'll see, maybe he'll see just how miserable we are, and just that alone will move them mercy like Grace. Are not deserved. He is not deserving of keeping Benjamin. God does not have to grant it, but maybe God will have pity on us, have mercy on us. It's this prayer. And finally, he lets go of control. He surrenders, may the mercy of God, restore Simeon. May the mercy of God, restore Benjamin. He lets go of control of things he doesn't control. He puts control in the only person who has control, and he entrusts it to God's mercy. And he says, If I am bereaved, I am bereaved. I don't think that's pessimism. I think that's surrender. I can entrust the future to God, almighty, God, all sufficient.
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You know, one of the things would be helpful for each of us is to find that the people who know us really well, who know what we fear losing and how we tend to be control freaks about it. Ask them, What do you see that I'm afraid of losing that's keeping me from trusting God and loving the people that are near me? How do I? How do I give up that kind of fear, looking at the mercy of God, Lamentations, 322, and 23 very familiar verses. We have a hymn written from it, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. God's mercies are great quantitatively as he is high, deep, wide, and they are continual, new every day. I can come to God's mercies every day. Relinquish control, turn to the mercy of God, and that will help you. Surrender number two, second layer of the cake, relinquish fear. Turn to peace. We have a different set of circumstances. In this next scene, the brothers go off. They take the present, they go off. We don't know anything about the journey. We just jump into the scene. And the brothers have a fear of what well, practically, Joseph might kill them. He said, If you don't bring the brother back, you're going to die. So they don't have warm feelings and safe feelings about meeting Joseph. They read every circumstance as part of God's plan to judge them, and they weren't wrong for knowing that they should have this dread of judgment. They knew what they did to their brother. They were bearing the guilt. The brothers took Benjamin in the present. They stood before Joseph and a number of his officials. He has a steward, likely a translator. Joseph orders a feast. He sees Benjamin. He orders a feast, tells them, tells the steward, Hey, bring them into the house, we're going to have a feast at noon. And the men responded this way. The men were afraid. Bring them in, give them a feast. And the men said, we're going to die because they were brought into Joseph's house. They said it's because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time that we were brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys. We're going to take our turn as slaves. I know it's coming, and you don't really blame them for thinking of this this way, Joseph had spoken roughly to them. He'd held their brother in custody. They believed this was the just judgment of God. So they do pretty typical things. They seek to position themselves in the best light possible. They go to the steward and says, There must have been some kind of mistake. I mean, we just found our money back in the sacks. We brought a present. We brought that money, the first money, and the next money. And you could there must have been some anxiety and worry, visible, audible in them, because the steward calm down. You. He replies, peace to you. Do not be afraid. I mean, you've got to think that the brothers could have heard hardly a more calming word. We're about to die in the Prime Minister's house. We're about to be arrested or thrown in prison. And he says, Peace to you. Peace could be a common greeting the ancient Near East, but these are no common circumstances. Shalom, which is this? This word here, used throughout the Old Testament, is a sense of well being, blessing, favor, abundance, what the steward is giving is a greeting of invitation and safe fellowship in the house. They're worried that Joseph's servants are going to pounce. He says, Peace, do not be afraid.
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Steward wants to assure them that there's no hostility, no actually, there's hospitality. Look at what he says your God, and the God of your father, has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. Here is the Egyptian steward of the Egyptian Prime Minister, acknowledging the one true God and his father, tying this back, this simple statement, back to the Abrahamic covenant, your God, the God of your father. These are the, these are the covenantal terms, good on Joseph for training his steward to worship the one true God, an Egyptian who acknowledged the true God. And what a shock that the brothers would have had, that the Egyptian steward, an Egyptian Prince, would be crediting Jacob's God for all of this. He has had grace. Jacob's prayer is being fulfilled. May God have mercy? God is having mercy.
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God has been superintending grace the whole time they weren't in trouble. Now here's the amazing reality of God's work through the ages, while the sinner deserves judgment, eventually, without repentance, they get judgment. But while that's happening, God is initiating grace, blessing peace. It's God who always offers the peace and the restoration first. That's true through all throughout the ages. The key characteristic of God's redeeming grace is that he initiates good to prove that he's like no man made idol that needs to be controlled, cajoled or appeased. God is not like that. And here we find this second preparation for Jesus, the second redemptive theme, because the steward, Joseph, through the steward initiates peace before there's repentance.
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Remember the New Testament. Jesus started healing, feeding, casting out demons to prove that when you repented, you repented and turned to a good, caring, gracious, loving God. Very often Jesus led his preaching with healings and feedings, because Jesus is compassionate to the suffering of humanity. Here is God's grace and mercy. Ephesians, two, four, after summarizing the hardness of all human hearts, dead in trespasses and sin, dominated by Satan, participating in all the wicked deeds of the world around them, says this, But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us made us alive together in Christ. I mean, think about the brothers here, and think about your dirty secrets. Dirty secrets. What if they get exposed, the big ones, the small ones. What if they catch up to you in terms of your relationship with God? At least if you come in humility fear, you come to a merciful God who says Peace to you. Yeah, you could be exposed, and when you're exposed, God offers peace through Jesus Christ, God put the money in the sack. Yeah, his representative, Joseph, came back after the steward and had money put in the sack. This is God's disposition to the heart unbelievers in the world, all of them us, in Acts 1415, the apostle Paul talks about God's disposition of grace. He says, we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God. This is the idols that they were worshiping. Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. He did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Look at all that he has done for you. Terms of God's provision, both of what we need to live and the forgiveness that's in Christ, he initiates this grace, and you don't have to fear you don't have to fear the exposure of your dirty Secrets, because there is a God of mercy and grace on the other side. They bring out Simeon. There is a practical demonstration. There is no hostility. The man, the steward, brought the brought the men into Joseph's house. They gave him water. They Let them wash up. They gave their donkeys fodder. They prepared the present for Joseph's coming. They heard that they should eat bread. This offer of peace was real. They're going to be invited into Joseph's home. First, we could see a relinquishing of control, a surrender of control and a turn to Mercy. Here we see a surrender of fear, fear of judgment, and a turn to grace, peace. Next we need to see this turn or surrender of envy to contentment. Part of why we have the layered cake is because now there's one other issue Joseph needs to get to. How are the brothers going to respond to another brother having preeminence if they're going to be restored Joseph is the one they're going to need to bow to. How is that going to go? Well, let's find out. Through Benjamin, they had to relinquish their envy. You know, every day you see something that someone has, that you would like to have. Shepherd's conference is filled with that. They have all these little tokens for things. You know, the Olympics were filled with that, all these little pins. People collected pins like you see that pin I'd like to have, that pin. Look wanting things is fine to enjoy them, but if wanting it means you'll be unhappy until you get it, that's what we call greed. If I want it and I'm unhappy until I get it, that's greed. It's a lack of trust in God's provision, thankfulness. When that greed turns to an animosity to somebody else who has it, they have it. You want it. You're having a hard time getting it. We call that jealousy. They have it. I want it. I don't like them because they have it. That's jealousy. Ramp it up. One more. Hate them. Want to take it away from them so they don't have it and you can have it. That's envy. It's an elevated jealousy. And what happened 21 years before, 22 years before, Joseph's elevated as firstborn by Jacob, they couldn't speak a kind word to him. God, through the visions, tells the brothers that he is going to be the preeminent one. And here is the enactment of dream one. The bushels of wheat are bowing down to the tall bushel in the middle. I mean, this is being fulfilled right in front of them. If they find out it's Joseph who is the one who's supplying for them, will the Envy return? Is there a heart change? Joseph needs to see if his brothers. Others have changed. They have definitely grieved their guilt. They're not repentant yet, but they're on the way now. Do they grieve their envy? Is there a change? Joseph comes home. Everything is prepared. Verse. 26 Joseph came home. They brought into the house to him the present that they had with them, and bowed down to the ground. Here we are fulfillment of dream one back in chapter. 37 he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother, Benjamin, his mother's son. Remember, there's four moms in the story, brothers from different moms, all with the same father. This is the special. This is his close one. It's from it's from his mother. Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me. He says, God, be gracious to you. My son, Joseph, greets him with a blessing. How did Joseph greet the 10 harshly, severe words, accusing words, your spies, your liars. I'm going to put you in jail. Benjamin shows up. Oh, this is, this is Benjamin. May God be gracious to you. May God bless you, my son. This term of fatherly affection,
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we notice this other part of the cake, Jacob's prayer is being answered. Verse 30, then Joseph hurried out for his compassion grew warm. It's the same word for mercy. Joseph's moved with compassion. God's answering Jacob's prayer because Joseph's compassion is growing warm. For his brother. He saw his brothers suffering all these years without me around, all these years, thinking I was gone, all these years living with them. Poor kid. He sought a place to weep. Couldn't control himself. He entered his chamber, wept there, Jacob's prayer of mercy is being answered. Benjamin is now receiving favor, and he's even being treated like a son. What do you think Joseph felt weeping in his room, relief, love, amazement, possibility I might have my brother's back. He washed his face. He came out and doing box breathing. You know what box breathing is trying to control yourself. You know your anxiety, your emotions, whatever it is, breathe in four seconds. Hold it for four seconds. Breathe out for four seconds. Hold it for four seconds. Breathe in for four seconds. Like controlling your breathing like, I am sure Joseph's coming in. I don't know what it really looked like, but he's controlling himself in some way. He says, serve the food. It's time to eat. There's an interesting cultural insert. They served him by himself and them by themselves. And the Egyptians who ate by themselves. There was an Egyptian protocol. There was a yeah, there were there was some racism here. There's some racism here. The Egyptians thought it was an abomination to eat with Canaanites. So Joseph separated himself because he wasn't really a Canaanite. He had to separate himself from the Egyptians because he wasn't really an Egyptian. Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews For that is an abomination to the Egyptians, but it served Joseph's purposes perfectly, because Joseph arranged the seating chart and left them alone. They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest one according to his youth. So around a table, I don't know what kind of table it was, but around the table, Reuben and Benjamin, first born, last born, and they're like, how did he know they're all a lot older with a lot of gray. Remember, they're all born in a bunch too. Was it take seven years to have 12 kids with four wives like they all look the same age, except for Benjamin, who was obviously born much later. What is going on? Portions were taken to them from John. Joseph's table, Joseph's very own table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as theirs. I mean, his, his pile of babes fried chicken. This is what I would want if there was a five portion from just outside of Dallas, Texas, his best fried chicken in the world, five times this big, massive pile of meat and food set before Him. That is, that is the privileged position he is getting, five times portion he this is now going to be the exalted one. How would the 10 respond to the kind and good treatment of Benjamin, to the exalted treatment of Benjamin. This is clearly the one favored by Joseph. They're all treated like dignitaries, which is surprising. But then this guy is treated like Prime Minister of his own home.
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And the turn has happened because of the grace that flowed to them through Benjamin. How could they be anything but happy? Benjamin saved our life. Having Benjamin here saves our life, and gone is the hatred, the envy, the youngest is exalted in their presence in Egypt, this is a deliverance from the threat of death the very end, the last verse, and they drank and were merry with him. I mean, they had free drinking, free eating. They rejoiced with their brother, Joseph, could step back. The Envy is gone. The Envy is gone. They can trust the God, Almighty God, the all sufficient one was a sufficient portion for them, even though someone in the world was exalted above them. And isn't that the key when you fear somebody else being elevated, or you want to be elevated, and you're not elevated or not in this world, God's power and sufficiency is all the portion that We need, and we have our third redemptive theme because of Benjamin, the Exalted son, the rest of the family is saved and blessed.
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Previewing again rich in preparation for Jesus for us is this blessing through Benjamin. How do you overcome greed? I see something that somebody has. I would like to have it, but I can't afford it, or it's not what I really need right now. How can you say no to something you might like to have that might be a normal you might say no because your soul's joy and satisfaction is stable in having the God who makes all the things and sustains all the things, and who has provided his son to deliver You back into the relationship with the Father. How do you overcome jealousy, being upset that somebody else has something that you want? It is because with Jesus, Christ, who has been provided for you, you have the full portion that you need. All that you need is in Jesus. So if somebody else has something that I might like I don't. I mean, compared to having Jesus, I don't really need that. How do you overcome that hatred, that deep they have something, I hate them that they have it. It's because you have everything you need in the sufficiency of God, His fullness, his power. It's ultimately satisfying. I mean, you see it in Jacob, who finally could surrender. How could Jacob say, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved because he has put his faith and trust again in God, Almighty God, all sufficient. I can submit to God. If I have God, almighty, God all sufficient, that is all I need. What more could you possibly need if you have all of God and we all have different roles, we all have different abilities, we all have different amounts of things than others. Do you. There are only different stewardships, not different satisfactions. One all sufficient God, all powerful. The most practical thing that you should get out of this chapter is to step ahead of the things that you fear, losing a loved one, a situation, a job, to a prayerful trust of God all sufficient. Where has this been in Jacob's life for all these years? We could say that of you, we could say that of me over various things, but the all sufficient, All Merciful One is here now for you to turn to Him as you survey what you could possibly lose in your life. The brothers could have turned in confession to God and to their father, trusting the all sufficient one might have mercy and grace to forgive them instead of hiding and positioning and jockeying. What did it take to pry their hands from the lie? Well, it's going to take one more chapter of grace. We're going to see that next week. Or see it next week. Let's pray, Father, thank you for what you have given us in Christ. As we turn now to celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are reminded of the all sufficient gift of your very life given to forgive, restore and bless and promise us a future. Christ's name.
51:44
Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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