THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Christmas period. As we look to the new year, I wanted to share this message I shared at my church at the beginning of the year about reconciliation. Forgiveness can be very hard to do but as Christians it’s a very important part of our walk. So I thought I would share this message with hopes that as we go into 2023 we can go with forgiveness in our hearts. God bless you all, see you in 2023!

If we think about the relationships in our lives, I am sure if we are honest we might see there are relationships in need of repair, relationships in need of reconciliation. Now I know we can all feel justified in our reasonings for these relationships breaking down, we can have our reason for placing the blame on others for their wrong doing, and we may feel that things are beyond repair. God teaches us in the bible the importance of reconciliation because ultimately God’s sovereign plan is for us to be reconciled to Him! One of the stories I want to draw from in the bible is the story of Joseph in Genesis. Now, the story of Joseph is very long and I don’t think I could go through it all in detail right now, but I will do my best to summarise it to the best of my ability. There is so much teaching to be had from it, but what I want to focus on is the story of a family being restored. If you come from a big family, I am sure the family dynamics will be familiar to some, I know I see a parallel when I look into my family history.

Joseph was one of twelve brothers. Joseph was what we would call the golden child, he was his fathers favourite. GENESIS 37:3-4 “NOW ISRAEL LOVED JOSEPH MORE THAN ANY OF HIS OTHER SONS, BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN BORN TO HIM IN HIS OLD AGE; AND HE MADE AN ORNATE ROBE FOR HIM. WHEN HIS BROTHERS SAW THAT THEIR FATHER LOVED HIM MORE THAN ANY OF THEM, THEY HATED HIM AND COULD NOT SPEAK A KIND WORD TO HIM.” This story is all too familiar for some of us. This is a cautionary tale to parents. Joseph was resented by his brothers because of his fathers behaviour. Having a big family can be a blessing, but not for Joseph. He experienced rejection from the people that were meant to love him. Just like Joseph we can experience the same rejection from our family, even our friends who are often like family to us.

God gives us spiritual gifts, and we see Joseph’s spiritual gift of interpreting dreams given to him at the young age of 17 years old. He was given two prophetic dreams from God which were a foretelling of his rulership. In his immaturity he told these dreams to his brothers, some may argue in a prideful way without humility. GENESIS 37:5 “JOSEPH HAD A DREAM, AND WHEN HE TOLD IT TO HIS BROTHERS, THEY HATED HIM ALL THE MORE.” I think when God shows us something we have to be careful how we share it with others, because this is what led to Joseph’s brothers conspiring to kill him. Sometimes we have to use wisdom when giving a word, not everyone is able to receive what God is saying.

Now we see what the relationship was like with his brothers, lets fast forward to his brothers conspiring to kill him and a summary of what Joseph’s life is like afterwards. When his brothers plot to kill him and throw him in a cistern, it’s his brother Reuben that tries to rescue him, suggesting that they leave him in the cistern and not harm him. But later it’s his brother Judah that decides to make some money by selling him into slavery where he is taken to Egypt. Joseph goes through a lot and there are parts of his story that we can all relate to. Firstly being betrayed by the people closest to him, feeling alone, treated like an outcast. He was accused of something he didn’t do, lied about, even we he was living the right way. He was imprisoned, he was overlooked and forgotten, all these things we experience in our relationships today. But through it all God was faithful to his word and everything that happened led him to be in a position to fulfil God’s ultimate plan of saving a nation. Joseph was sold into slavery at 17; remember he was 17 when God gave him the prophetic dreams. The dreams didn’t come into fruition until over 20 years later! God can give us a vision of where He see’s us, and in our excitement and impatience we want to see God’s plan for us immediately. We question God when we feel it’s taking too long, but the thing about our Father is nothing happens before it’s time. During the waiting period He is always preparing us to be able to handle where He intends to take us! It’s important to note that during all of this we never see Joseph crying about his situation or cursing the brothers for his predicament, instead you see him honouring God in everything he does, something we can all learn from. Even in his darkest moments, God is always with him! Something we all need to remember in life when we are going through our difficult seasons, God is always with us, even in the silence. God doesn’t forget us!

It’s over 20 years until Joseph see’s his brothers again. When they do come face to face, Joseph is in charge of all things in Egypt, a position given to him by the Pharaoh because of his spiritual gift which saw them well prepared for the famine that would last for 7 years throughout the country. All of the country would have to come to Egypt and deal with Joseph for food supplies, this is what brings the brothers face to face with Joseph. Joseph’s brothers do not recognise him, so Joseph uses that to put them through a series of tests. Being in the position he was in, when he accuses the brothers of having ulterior motives for coming to Egypt; possible spies, the brothers are fearful of Joseph. The tests he puts them through shows a side we haven’t seen of the brothers, it’s the first time they show regret for what they did to Joseph, believing that this bad turn they find themselves in is God’s punishment for what they did to Joseph. Even though Joseph really puts them through it, it’s never in a malicious way, it’s God working through him to bring the brothers to repentance. Remember we need to repent before we can be restored!

Sometimes time can have no affect on a person, but sometimes time can change a persons heart completely. Joseph wept when he heard their regret. After a few more tests he puts the brothers through, he finally reveals his identity to all of them. What you see is a family who was once broken coming back together, being restored after 20 years of separation! You do not see blame being cast out, all you see are hearts being mended. Joseph says this to the brothers when he reveals himself, GENESIS 45:5-8 “AND NOW, DO NOT BE DISTRESSED AND DO NOT BE ANGRY WITH YOURSELVES FOR SELLING ME HERE, BECAUSE IT WAS TO SAVE LIVES THAT GOD SENT ME AHEAD OF YOU. FOR TWO YEARS NOW THERE HAS BEEN FAMINE IN THE LAND, AND FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS THERE WILL BE NO PLOWING AND REAPING. BUT GOD SENT ME AHEAD OF YOU TO PRESERVE FOR YOU A REMNANT ON EARTH AND TO SAVE YOUR LIVES BY A GREAT DELIVERANCE. SO THEN, IT WAS NOT YOU WHO SENT ME HERE, BUT GOD. HE MADE ME FATHER TO PHARAOH, LORD OF HIS ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD AND RULER OF ALL EGYPT.” Joseph doesn’t send his brothers away, he doesn’t blame them for the hard times in his life, he doesn’t even have hate in his heart for them. Instead he shows them love and forgiveness, and he recognises God’s divine plan in it all. He says come, you and your families come here where I will cover you, keep you and provide for you. He kisses them and cries tears of joy that he has his family back!

This is what God wants, He wants us to be reconciled back to him. He says I know you have done wrong, but I want you still, I forgive you! He says I want to cover you, keep you, provide for you, you are my family! This is the ministry we are called to. This is why Christ died on that cross. This is why our sins are washed clean by His blood! God knew that was the only way He could be back in relationship with us. He planned this from the beginning, when Eve took the forbidden fruit. He planned for a way to bring us back to Him so that we could have the opportunity to be restored, to be brought back to our Father, our sins wiped clean, made into a new creation! This is the message we have been charged to share; this is the message of the Gospel! 2 CORINTHIANS 5:18-20 “ALL THIS IS FROM GOD, WHO RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF THROUGH CHRIST AND GAVE US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION: THAT GOD WAS RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF IN CHRIST, NOT COUNTING PEOPLE’S SINS AGAINST THEM. AND HE HAS COMMITTED TO US THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION. WE ARE THEREFORE CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS, AS THOUGH GOD WAS MAKING HIS APPEAL THROUGH US. WE IMPLORE YOU ON CHRIST’S BEHALF: BE ROCONCILED TO GOD.”

God doesn’t count our sins against us, instead He shows us grace when we don’t even deserve it. Even when we fall from grace time and time again, He doesn’t hold it against us, keeping score. He asks us to do the same of others, to show grace and forgiveness, even when they don’t seem deserving! But if we have a God that can forgive us of so much, then surely we can begin to do the same for others! MATTHEW 5:23-24 “THEREFORE, IF YOU ARE OFFERING YOUR GIFT AT THE ALTER AND THERE REMEMBER THAT YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER HAS SOMETHING AGAINST YOU, LEAVE YOUR GIFT THERE INFRONT OF THE ALTER. FIRST GO AND BE RECONCILED TO THEM; THEN COME AND OFFER YOUR GIFT.” It doesn’t matter if its you that has something against your brother or sister, or if they have something against you! We have to learn to own up to our sins and we have to learn to forgive. Remember we have a God who searches our hearts! We can not come to the alter if we can not reconcile in our own lives. How can we be ambassadors of Christ if we do not do what we proclaim!?! If you don’t feel convicted to address any relationships that need reconciliation today, I pray that this message will act like a stone in your shoe. It might be uncomfortable at first, but the longer you walk with it, it starts to hurt and you can’t ignore it any longer, you got to stop and take your shoe off; get rid of that stone!

My prayer for you reading this today, is for your hearts to be softened, for peace and harmony in your relationships, for families to be restored, for forgiveness! Like God forgives us and shows us grace, I pray that you can forgive and extend that same grace to others, so that when you approach the alter, you can approach with boldness! In Jesus name, AMEN.