Denying the Past's Impact on the Present

Distorted Spirituality
Denying the Past's Impact on the Present

Elephant in the Room
Phil. 3:14-15:
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. But this one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I press on toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Story of Joseph, Gen. 30-50

Why Joseph?
• This is the Joseph who was Jacob’s 11th son. The eleventh of twelve sons by his second wife, Rachel.
• He was not the son who was in the messianic line: that was his brother Judah.
• The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh came from him, but they were not the most significant or influential tribes.
• But, Joseph was instrumental in saving his estranged family during a time of terrible famine.
• And this family became a great people. One-fourth of the Book of Genesis is dedicated to the story of this great and godly man.

Joseph’s family
• Lie, lies, lies. Father, grandfather, and great-grandfather and brothers all lied regularly. Dad’s name meant “deceiver.” Ten brothers colluded to lie about Joseph’s death, fake a funeral, and keep a tightly guarded family secret.
• Father and uncle didn’t speak to each other for years. Grandfather and great-uncle were cut off from each other.
• His brothers hated him and were jealous of him; colluded in his kidnapping and cover-up.
• Great-grandfather had a child out of wedlock, grandfather and grandmother had an awful marriage, father a bigamist and had two concubines, mother turned to Joseph for understanding about father.
• Brothers murdered all the men in a town to avenge sister’s rape.
• Brother caught soliciting a prostitute; Brother got Joseph’s nephew’s wife pregnant.
• Father was cheated by, and cheated his father-in-law. Mother a thief.

Going backward to move forward
1. Joseph faced honestly the pain and losses of his past.
2. Joseph rewrote his life’s script to reflect God’s blessing more than his family’s curse.
3. Because Joseph knew himself (including his past—his story) he knew God in a way that went deeper than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Joseph faced honestly the pain and losses of his past.
• Gen 42:24He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes.
• Gen 43:30Joseph hurried out, for he was overcome by affection for his brother and was at the point of tears. So he went to his room and wept there.
• Gen 45:2He wept loudly; the Egyptians heard it and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
• Gen 45:14Then he threw himself on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
• Gen 45:15He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After this his brothers talked with him.
• Gen 46:29Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him, he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.
• Gen 50:1Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. He wept over him and kissed him.
• Gen 50:17‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.

Joseph rewrote his life’s script…
• … to reflect God’s blessing more than his family’s curse.
• What messages roll around in your head that you believe?
• Joseph first had to know the truth of his past (it’s preserved for us in Genesis).
• Joseph had plenty of time in jail to fight the pain and the negative messages.

Because Joseph knew himself… (including his past—his story)
• He knew God in a way that went deeper than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “We must know ourselves to know God.”—John Calvin
• He was able to see God’s hand in the midst of a painful situation.
• He met God at the painful places where he thought God was absent: The 10/40 window of the heart.
• He was able to stand in the Jesus Story.