Overcoming Resentment: Joseph's Example of Grace

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to

the Bible Guys. My name is Chris and I'm Quinn, and we today

are the Bible Guys because Jeff is out and by the way, last week

I was out, which is two weeks in a row where you're gonna only

get one of us. But however, this week is kind of fun because

I have Quinn today and somebody different tomorrow, and then I think you're coming

back on what Thursday? Be back on Thursday? Yeah, And so that's

fun. We're gonna bounce around. And these are staff members of the church

that we work out, which is Heritage Church. Yeah. Yeah, pretty

cool. And I'm the new guy, so that'll be fun. Yeah.

And you've been on staff at Heritage how long since the end of February,

so about three and a half months. Format And what do you do?

I'm the Connections Director. I oversee HC groups, our connect classes, our

connect Growth Serve share class one on one, two one three oh one,

four oh one. I also oversee young adults and a lot of our connect

events that we do like sisterhood. Yeah, and if anybody does not attend

Heritage, they're boared out of their mind. And that explanation right, So

what does that mean? Yeah? What does that even mean? Sorry about

that, fellas. Hey, listen, we have been given a show sheet

from Desiree and today's all about Joseph forgiving his brothers after his father passes away.

So in light of that, she decided to pose a question that has

nothing to do with the topic. So here it is. It is Quinn

is the new guy on campus. So here's today's question. If the office

meeting our workplace we're a reality TV show, which cast member would you be?

The comic relief, the drama queen, or the undercover boss. Which

cast member would I be? If our office here at Heritage was a TV

show? Which role would you play? Oh? I could play them all.

I'm a man of many hats. The drama queen, probably not,

the comedy relief probably most of the time. I've always been a funny guy.

We have this argument, this friendly disagreement in my family of who's the

funniest. I think it's the two year old, but my wife thinks it's

her. I think it's I think it's me. The seven year old thinks

it's him, but probably the comedy. Really, now, you're a pretty

funny guy. Wait a minute, you think it's you, You think it's

you, but nobody else thinks it's you. That's probably a good sign right

there. You know, he does some pretty wild things. He bounces back

a lot quicker, and I can't run into walls anymore like he does.

Okay, yeah, well that's true. You're a little bit older, little

bit, so you should you be? The comic relief is what you think?

So yeah, okay, all right, you know what, I don't

really know what I would be. In the past. I could have done

comic relief. I could probably still do that today. Drama queen, I

don't think so. I mean, I mean, yeah, I've been a

part of drama before. But but there are drama queens. I think as

a person who revels in drama, right, they're always around drama. That's

definitely not me. I avoided at all costs. And then but I would.

I would definitely like to say I love the idea of undercover Boss,

So I'm gonna cheo that one, even if it's not true that was a

great show. Yeah, it was a great show. But like the idea

that like, I think I've done that before. I remember one time I

was hired at a really big church down the street and I was one of

their pastors, and nobody on the staff knew it. And I was checking

my kids into, you know, into the kids program, and I was

giving the worker a hard time and then saying some inside information, and the

entire time I just never told them that I was the new pastor and staff.

Right, So I did that. I loved it. And so I

think I'd like to walk around undercover and see how that would be fun.

The office really is I think I could do that. Yeah, that'd be

great. I read a story one time about a pastor and you probably read

this on the internet, where a pastor dressed up like a homeless man.

Yes, do you remember that. I saw how people he sat outside on

his first Sunday, saw how people treated him right, yes, as they

were coming. Yes. That. And then and then he walked in from

the back door. And then he walked straight down the middle aisle and then

get up and said, hey, my name is so, and so I'm

read new pastor. And then actually talked about the good and the bad,

experienced who was kind to him and who even look at him. Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, that's pretty amazing. So that's then undercover Boss

Pastor right there. You wouldn't be that, You wouldn't want to be that

one person who was like, you know, rude to the homeless person.

And then that you're slumping in your seat as the pastor gets up right right

right, yeah, be kind to people. Here you go. Point of

the day. Yeah, okay. So, by the way, that reminds

me of the scene from Liar Liar with Jim Carrey where he can't tell why,

and the guy says, can you spare some spare change? And he

says yes, and then he walks faster and he says, will you give

to me? And he goes no, and he goes why. He goes

because I believe you will buy booze with it. I just want to get

from my car to work without being confronted by the Western decay of society just

airing it all out on the Bible. That's a terrible, terrible scene.

Okay, So hey, we're gonna move on because we are continuing. Actually

we're wrapping up our last uh, sort of segment of Joseph's story. Joseph

story, you know, covers a big chunk of Genesis. Yeah, we're

finishing Genesis today. Yeah. Yeah, we're finishing and wrapping up all Genesis,

finishing with Joseph. And just as a recap before Quinn reads the verses,

is that, you know, Joseph started out, you know, one

of the youngest, actually he was the youngest at the time of his brothers.

He had a dream that his brothers and his mother and his father would

bow down to him. His brothers got jealous and they sold him in a

slavery, and they were going to kill him, but they sold him in

a slavery. He goes down to Egypt. He finds favor with the guard

in prison. Everything that he touched prospered. God was with him. He

was faithful. Eventually he makes it to Pharaoh's or not Pharaoh, but the

governor Potiphar. And he was under Potiphar's rule, and he had so much

favor that Potiphar made him first in command in his house, second in command

under him. And then he got wrongfully accused. He get thrown in jail

forgotten for years. You know, he had an incident with a acre and

a cupbearer, and then finally, after years, seven years just being forgotten

and abandoned in prison, the pharaoh has a dream and the cup bearer remembers

one time, years ago, there was this guy in prison, so they

called for Joseph. He interprets Pharaoh's dream, and to everyone's delight, you

know, he makes Joseph, and especially to Joseph's delight, he makes them

second in command of all of Egypt. They go through seven years of plenty

seven years of famine, and finally his brothers come before him and bow down,

and then and eventually there's a I mean, there's just a whole,

big, long story. And then Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers.

And he had the position, he was in the position to kill them or

to punish them at least right, but he didn't, but or at least

turn them away and say no, I'm not going to help you there for

food. Yeah, he could have done anything, right, but instead he

showed them with grace and kindness and mercy. And then he moved the Jacob

down to to Egypt, and so all of the nation is now sort of

transferred from Israel down to Egypt. And this is by the way where we

see you know, eventually, hundreds of years later the nation of Israel is

going to grow in Egypt and then they're going to eventually get enslaved and Moses

is going to have to deliver them. But anyway, for right now,

Jacob blesses Pharaoh. We didn't read that, but that's in there. We're

skipping over that part, but he blesses Pharaoh, and Jacob basically lives out

his days. But then Jacob passes away, and this is where we pick

up today. Yep. So let's read Genesis fifty, starting in verse fourteen.

After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who

had accompanied him to his father's burial. But now that their father was dead,

joseph brothers became fearful. Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us

back for all the wrong we did to him, they said. So they

sent this message to Joseph before your father died, us to say to you,

please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you, for

their sin entreating you so cruelly. So we the servants of the God of

your father beg you to forgive our sin. When Joseph received the message,

he broke down and wept. Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before

Joseph. Look, we are your slaves, they said. But Joseph replied,

don't be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish you.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.

He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you

and your children. So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them. Wow.

Yeah, and these are people that were trying to kill him years earlier.

Oh yeah, for sure. And they just realized, you know,

Joseph wouldn't harm them for the sake of you know, his father, That's

what they were thinking. And then now the father's gone, they're like,

Joseph is now free because Dad's gone on there's nobody to protect us. And

yeah, so Joseph actually extends forgiveness twice, doesn't he. Yeah, I

mean it's peppered all throughout Joseph's story. You know, he forgives his brothers

I'm assuming he forgives Potiphar. He probably forgives the guy the cupbearer who says

he's going to come get him out of prison after he in herberts the dream,

and he doesn't. And so Joseph's story is just peppered with forgiveness,

even in a few verses few chapters earlier. In verse in chapter forty five,

it says, don't be upset, don't be angry with yourselves for selling

me into slavery. It was God who sent me to you. And then

in verse fifteen, then Joseph kissed his brothers and wept over them, and

then he began talking freely. That's when he first revealed himself. So even

a few chapters earlier, he's forgiven them. So he already in his heart

forgave them. So they're thinking, oh, maybe maybe something else came up,

or maybe he's going to treat us the way we would treat him.

But he's saying, I already forgave a few chapters earlier. I don't have

to do that again, which I just think is so cool. You know,

something has always bothered me about story of Joseph. I'm just confessing here,

and that is the man doesn't seem to have any weakness whatsoever. He

seems like an unattainable person to me. And a lot of the Old a

lot of the Old Testament characters, they're very human. Right, So we

know Noah screws up big time. We know David screws up big time.

And only that. But not only did David sin big time, but David

even wrestles with his own emotions. You know, David gets angry with God,

he gets frustrated, he worries about his enemies. You know, he

expresses all of his humanness on paper. You know, it's recorded in scripture,

and Joseph shows no sign of weakness whatsoever. And I don't know,

to be honest with you, I'm just confessing here. But I don't know

if it's because you know, Genesis tell us his story in such broad strokes

that like it doesn't really allow time to dig into the nuances of Joseph's feelings

because it really doesn't talk about you know, Joseph was frustrated, he was

alone. He you know, he tried to be patient, He pottered these

things in his heart, Like it gives no indication whatsoever about how he's feeling

the only thing we at least I think this is true. I'm pretty sure

this is true. The only indication that we're given are the things that he

says right, right, and he says the perfect thing every time. Well,

I think if you had to nitpick right at the very beginning when he

tells his dreams, it could almost come off a little prideful, like you're

gonna bow down. Oh yeah, you're right in front of me, and

the dad gets upset, and then that's it. That's the last time you

hear something negative about Joseph. And then he has to grow up real fast,

being in the pit, being sold to slavery, being wrongfully done by

Potiphar, and then in the prison, and he ends up serving so well

and loving so well in the prison that they elevate him. And so I

mean, yeah, I mean almost perfect right. Yeah. Well, you

know, I know that I've heard sermons about Joseph my whole life, and

well, my whole Christian life, and I've definitely heard that angle, which

is, you know, bragging, prideful things like that. But here's what's

interesting. I'm not normally a person to give somebody the benefit of the doubt.

You know, like Jeff always gives the benefit of doubt to the Pharisees,

and I'm like, no, the Pharisees were terrible, right, But

with Joseph, it never says. It never says he was prideful or boasting

or bragging. So could it be and I'm just throwing this out there,

Devil's advocate, right or hey, hang on, Angel's advocate. I'm gonna

do Angel's advocate? Okay? I like, yeah, So could it be

that Joseph was just seventeen years old and he just didn't know any better?

Right? So maybe he didn't really know that, Joseph, this isn't something

you should do. You should not you know, tell this dream because they're

gonna get jealous. Yeah, you know, he wore his Code of many

Colors. I didn't know that was going to tack him off, that was

going to frustrate it. That was ultimately the thing that set him over the

late. So could it be that we all get to heaven and we're all

wrong. Maybe maybe he wasn't prideful at all. Maybe he was young and

maybe just a kid who didn't know what he was doing. Yeah, right,

Like when he wore his Code of many colors. I've heard sermons that

said, oh, he walked around flaunting that code. It doesn't say that.

It just says he wore it. And the thing that it does say

is it says that Joseph was Jacob's favorite. So the fault lies in Jacob,

right, the favoritism, the coda, minic colors, the babying.

Right that that that's the indication of the scriptures. But it never says that

Joseph had any pride at all. And again, do I believe he was

probably prideful, probably because any person who's baby like that and favored like that,

I mean, it'd be a miracle if he wasn't. And we know

he's not perfect, right, Jesus was the only one who was perfect,

so there had to be something wrong with him. But you're right, it's

amazing how he was able to forgive. He was able to serve God through

it all, and I think forgiveness this is a great topic for me because

this is something I've struggled with. I've never really been a hot head.

I've never been addicted to drugs. I've never wanted to put my fist through

a wall. So I've got friends who struggle with things that I don't,

but forgiveness is something I've struggled with a lot over the years. When I

was eight years old, my mom left. My mom and dad got a

divorce, and mom left and my truck driver dad had to figure out how

to raise me and my two little sisters. And so when I started struggling,

and I didn't see my mom for a few years, and I ended

up getting older and forgiving her. Now she's a Christian and we're friends,

which is great, But there was a few years where I really hated my

mom and I struggled with hatred and I struggled with forgiveness, and I blamed

my mom for all the things I was going through, for the drinking,

for the porn addiction, for the overeating, for all these things in my

life. I'm like, well, it's my mom's fault. She never would

have left. And you don't see any of that with Joseph