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WELCOME: eMember Reflections Group Tuesdays @ 7:00 pm
Reflections Church Service
Purple Sunday - Domestic Violence Awareness
“The Color Purple”
Psalm 55:1 - 3, 12 - 16
The statistics are staggering
1 in 4 women
1 in 7 men
Men, women, and children suffer terribly. It’s a spirit of violence that affects them long term, and warps all their lives if not treated.
The movie: “The Color Purple” There comes a time when you have to stop someone from beating on you.
ICEBREAKER:
Last Week’s Closing Question: What steps can we take to recover from past harms, so we can live fully functional, and productive lives representing the King?
Genesis 44 & 45 Joseph’s Final Test and Identity Reveal
Opening Question: When someone who has wronged you tries to get back into your good graces, how hard do you make it for them?
Genesis 44:1 - 17
1 Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ” 6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city. 14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
What are some possible reasons Joseph could have for putting together such a scheme?
Lesson: In this move, he was framing Benjamin for the theft to see whether his brothers would defend him unlike they did to him many years ago. The immediate response of Benjamin’s brothers indicates that they were no longer the heartless, cruel, deceitful min they had once been. When Benjamin was identified as the thief, they tore their clothes (44:13), showing intense grief. They also, refused to abandon Benjamin to his plight. Even when Joseph repeated his intentions to imprison only Benjamin, they offered themselves as willing slaves in solidarity (44:16).
Question #1: When have you felt accountable for the well-being of another person? What are the burdens that come with that kind of responsibility? What are the benefits?
Genesis 44:18 - 34
18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’ 24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’ 30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Joseph kept up his poker face for a while, insisting that Benjamin must stay as his slave (44:17). Judah once again moved to the forefront. He had already stepped up to lead his brothers by promising their father to bring Benjamin back alive (44:32). At this point he led them by giving an impassioned plea for Joseph to show mercy, both for Benjamin’s sake and their father Jacob (44:34).
The pinnacle of Judah’s appeal - the proof that he had truly experienced a change of heart - was the staggering offer he made to remain here as [his] lord’s slave, in place of the boy (44:33). Remember, Judah had once been so bereft of virtue that he thought nothing of sacrificing his brother’s life for his own convenience; now he was willing to lay down his own life so another brother could be free. The character transformation was complete.
[Note: this is a foreshadowing of what Jesus, who came from the lineage of Judah, would do for all of mankind, sacrificing Himself for all of mankind]
Genesis Chapter 45 Opening Question: Do you tend to wear your emotions on your sleeve, or are you more reserved? Would you change how you express your emotions?
Genesis 45:1 - 15
1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. 4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.
Lesson: Joseph displayed a superior level of maturity. Though treated wrongfully by his brothers so many years ago, instead of harboring anger and resentment, he was able to see the hand of God in that evil thing the brothers had done (45:5).
Think about it: had Joseph gotten his way at any point along this journey, he might have stopped God’s plan. Had he not been sold into slavery, he would not have been in Egypt.
Had he not bee falsely accused in Potiphar’s house, he would not have been in jail. Had he not been in jail he would not have met Pharaoh’s servants. Had the cupbearer remembered him earlier he would not have been in place to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. If one of those links in the chain of events are broken, famine would have overtaken the land, killing countless people, including Joseph and the rest of the family. All of the promises of God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and even Jacob would have come to nothing. Joseph’s entire life demonstrates the truth that Paul declared in
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
When God does not intervene in your life the way you want and in the moment you want, it may be that he is working, behind the scenes, to accomplish in His perfect timing something so much bigger and so much greater than you could ever imagine.
[Note: I say it all the time, “What happens to you is not always about you”]
Genesis 45:16 - 28
16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ” 21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.” 25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Question #2: What were some reasons Joseph had to be especially generous to Benjamin? Is there ever a time when showing favoritism is justified?
Lesson: Full of emotion Joseph and his brothers were reunified. Both Joseph and Benjamin wept (45:4), and Joseph proved his renewed intimacy with his brothers by offering each one a kiss (45:15). It had taken twenty-two years, but Joseph and his brothers were finally reconciled.
Joseph is the picture of God’s grace and forgiveness. He returned good for evil, because he focused on the good he had received from God (45:18).
In verse 22, once again Benjamin received five times that of his brothers. (in 43:34) Benjamin had received five times the normal portion of food. Joseph had special love for his only full brother.
Just before their journey back to Caanan, Joseph gave his brothers one command: Do not argue on the way. He had the wisdom to know that on the long ride home his brothers could easily turn on each other. The unity they had just achieved that had taken decades to accomplish, Joseph did not want to see it undone by quarrels over who was most responsible for the negative events of the past. He encouraged his brothers to move forward in their new found unity rather than looking back into the sins of the past.
Closing: God speaks to us a bold word of encouragement through this story: we are all fellow travelers and fellow sinners; do not argue on the way through life. God’s plan, when hidden from our eyes can often lead us to despair: But if we can hold on until God is prepared to reveal, or we are prepared to receive what He is doing, our spirits will be revived. Who knows what reunions, reconciliations, and renewals God has in store for those who trust Him?
Application: What are some of the ways to maintain your trust in God even when circumstances are bleak? Think about the ways in which God has blessed you, your family even in the midst of trying times. Stop, and spend some time thanking and praising Him for those blessings.