The Reset of Forgiveness

9-9-20 Sermon Notes“The Reset of Forgiveness”
Most of us have grown up saying “The Apostles’ Creed.” We can start out saying the Creed, and then put our minds in “neutral” as the words automatically fall from our lips. On one hand, it’s good that the core beliefs of our Christian faith are embedded into our brains. On the other hand, we should not take any of the words and phrases in this historic confession of the Christian faith for granted. Join me in saying the Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
**(catholic means “universal”)
We could spend a long time talking about each phrase of the Creed. In fact, I’ve done whole six-week-long studies on the Creed. Maybe I’ll do that again soon…but for this week, I want to just focus on the phrase, “the forgiveness of sins.” We confess that we believe in the forgiveness of sins. Why this phrase? Because in the month of August, our theme is RESET. Last week, Pastor Andy talked about resetting our priorities. This week, I’m talking about the reset of forgiveness. We need forgiveness ourselves, and we need to offer forgiveness to others. Even if they have hurt us? Yes.
Is there any better story of forgiveness in the Old Testament than the story of Joseph and his brothers?
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the story of the family of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, 15 and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves[b] that he wore; 24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. 28 When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. (Ex. 37: 1-4, 12-28 NRSV)
What a horrible thing for one person to do to another person! Beaten, betrayed and sold into slavery by his own brothers! How in the world could Joseph ever forgive his brothers for doing this to him? Why would he even consider forgiving, and resetting that relationship? We will look at these questions and others this Sunday. Join us Thursday evening at 5:30 for in-person worship in the sanctuary, or online worship at 9:00 and 11:00 am on Sunday through Facebook Live or Youtube.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Sam