Is Revenge Really Sweet?

Well, God and His providence caused us to forget a very important announcement, but in fact it's kind of good because me, trying to catch up in technology, I've got to boot up my sermon in the process. So, oh my. What we forgot to mention is that yesterday we did not have our walk for life. And so it has been postponed until this coming Saturday. Okay?

And we will, instead of meeting at Marmon Valley Farms, we're going to meet in Marysville at the New Path Pregnancy Resource Center there. and that's where we will walk. Now, if you've ordered shirts, they are here today. You need to see Kara about those shirts, okay? So, however that works out, see Kara, you'll get your shirt, all that will be taken care of.

But Saturday, Emily, 9.30, right? 9.30 is when the walk will start in Marysville at the New Path Center there. All right? So are we still going to have the walk? Still want to help New Path? I just got to ask.

Are we still number one? Oh, man. We're second. Okay. All right. Still the most walkers, though.

Yeah. All right. That's what counts. All right. OK, so we've taken care of that. And now we want to look to the word of God.

So before we open the word of God, let's pray together. Our God and our father, we are thankful for your goodness and your grace. we are thankful that you have called us to yourself now fathers we open the word of God we pray that this would be more than just a story to us but we would see it as it is the living word of God intended for your people living at this time in this age in this period of the age of redemption we pray father that this would speak to us We pray Father that you would change us and transform us by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God as He brings His Word to bear on our hearts. Open up hearts, Father.

Help us to know ourselves better. Help us to know our straying hearts. And Lord, help us to know Jesus even more. that we would flee to him for forgiveness and for power to obey what you command. So now open the text of scripture to us for our good and your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been in the engineering department now for about five years and the new boss seems hard to get along with.

It's evident that he cares very little for you because of some of the comments you've picked up here and there. He grew up in a Bible-believing family, but after college he chucked it all and went his own way. And he thinks you're a silly, sheltered, closed-minded Bible thumper. One day he says to you, Hey, Bible man, what do you think about gays? Now, you know, no matter what you're going to say now, to be faithful to God, it's not going to go well. and so your reply is well joe um the bible says that homosexuality is a sin but the same bible also says that god sent jesus to save sinners sinners like you and like me he replies you bigot that kind of hate speech is counterproductive and I will not allow it in this work environment.

Well, Joe can't fire you, but now it seems he's never satisfied with your work. The road to promotion seems even more distant every day as every day passes. And it's funny how all your co-workers now are suddenly, it seems, kind of cold towards you. Those frustrations lead you to thoughts of revenge. One day you're talking to another friend who's a retired police officer and Joe's name comes up in the conversation, he lets you know, well, if we're talking about the same Joe, this is a guy who had an incredible amount of DUIs in the days that I knew him Wow now you got some ammunition What are you going to do with that What are you going to do now Or does the Bible say something about that situation?

Let's say you're the new girl at school. You've just arrived and it's hard to make friends, but you've made friends with Dakota, who even invites you to sit with her and her friends at their lunch table, which is all right. things are going well and you've been invited to Dakota's place for a party of some kind and you're looking forward to it. Things are going well and you're looking forward to getting to know her and the other girls a little bit better.

But the afternoon of the party, Dakota says to you, hey, we have a certain tradition. Every time we get together, we have a little bit of weed. And we take turns about who brings it. And since you're the new girl, right, it's time for you to bring the devil's lettuce. You know what I'm saying? And she says, and you say, what?

What? No. No. I'm not going to do that. Well, she says, fine. Then don't bother even to show up.

And of course by Monday you're excluded from the table. Right? And it seems like boys are showing kind of an interest in you, and some of them are starting to make inappropriate suggestions to you, and you're going, this is gross, what's going on? Well, you find out that Dakota's been spreading some rumors about the new girl and her availability. You have a mind to start spreading some rumors yourself, because revenge seems so sweet, and not only does it seem sweet, It just seems right at that moment.

Well, in the narrative that we're going to look at this morning, we see a similar situation. Joseph has suffered in ways that are beyond our imagining. You remember, because of his brother's hatred, there was the loss of his family. He was a slave. He was convicted of a crime he never committed, and he spent nearly a decade in prison for a crime. He never committed.

His whole life had been turned upside down by his brothers wicked hatred and their actions And those brothers have not forgotten their wicked ways either And they're scared of revenge coming their way. Let's pick up the story in Genesis chapter 50, beginning in verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.

So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servant of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold we are your servants but Joseph said to them do not fear for am I in the place of God as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Now this narrative puts before you two ways of handling personal injustice. It puts before you two ways of dealing with unjust suffering. The first is the normal way of handling injustice. We find that in verses 15 through 18. the second is the supernatural way of dealing with injustice which we find then in verses 19-21 so let's look at this story let's see what God has to say to us this day the first thing he says is discard the normal way of dealing with injustice discard the normal way of handling injustice alright? verses 15-18 let's look at them again And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.

So they sent the message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brother. Brothers, end their sin because they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants.

Imagine Joseph and his brothers trudging wearily back to Egypt from Canaan after their dad's funeral. after they have taken his body, as we saw last week, to Canaan, to the family burial plot, in a sign of faith that this belonged, as promised, to these people. They've carried the body of their beloved father to the grave, and now they're on the way down the road that leads to Egypt. But all is not well in this family.

I imagine maybe that Joseph takes the preeminent place at the head of the caravan, because, after all, he is the prime minister of Egypt and his brothers engage in conversation what do you think? now that dad's gone what do you think is going to happen? I don't know but it doesn't appear that Joseph is holding anything against us I mean you know he's treated us pretty well over all these years oh come on are you serious? what we did was wicked and unforgivable and the only reason he hasn't taken revenge was because he didn't want to break dad's heart. That's the only reason.

Well, maybe you're right. You know, the only thing really that stood between us and death was dad. What are we going to do? That may have been the conversations they had as they made their way back to Egypt after the funeral. And so they hatch a plan, right? They hatch a plan.

First, they send a message to Joseph. a fictitious command from their father Jacob. They're lying. They're making this up. Jacob never said that. But they're sending this lie, this fiction to Joseph. And it says, hey, before Dad died, he gave us this command to communicate to you.

And it says, please forgive the transgressions and sins of your brothers because they did evil to you. That's what Dad said. Dad said please forgive us because of what we did So would you please forgive us the servants of your Father God And when they gained an audience with Joseph they repeated this request Please forgive us, begging him to forgive them.

And they also bowed before him once more in fulfillment of that dream from long ago in chapter 37. Here they are, bowing down before him again. But here they promise that they're going to serve him from now on. In light of all this, Joseph weeps. Now why did these men respond that way? Why did they act this way?

Why did they approach Joseph this way? Because they only knew the normal way of dealing with injustice. That's the only way they knew. That's the only way they knew as to how anybody would handle injustice against him. They feared for their lives because handling unjust suffering was normal to them in what they describe. That's just the normal way you deal with someone who has treated you badly.

What is the normal way? Obviously, the first thing is this. What? Revenge. Revenge. Now we all have a sense of justice.

Okay? We all have a sense of justice. It comes from God. We're born with it. It's part of the, as Romans 2 says, it's part of the law of God that's written on every person's heart. No matter where we live, no matter how sophisticated the culture, everyone has a sense of justice from God.

But our sin has corrupted and twisted and warped that sense of justice. You see, we care little for justice, that we care little for the justice required for dishonoring the name of God. But boy, we will make someone pay if they hurt us. Right? Do you get really, really bent out of shape when people dishonor God? or do you really get bent out of shape when someone dishonors you?

Let's face it. Most of our emotions are behind the ladder. Right? Sin has corrupted and twisted our sense of justice. And it can take many forms This kind of revenge can take many forms It can be from killing someone for what he done to you to words that just tear someone apart Right? Someone's treated you badly, and so you're going to go after them with your tongue.

You're going to tell them what you think. You're going to give them a piece of your mind. Right? You're going to tear them limb to limb with your words. Revenge may even take the form of avoidance. You treated me badly, you're out of my sphere.

I'm just going to avoid you. It can even take the form of the cold shoulder. Your husband has said something to you that hurt, and now you're just going to ignore him for the next two days. That's revenge. That's the normal way. Someone treats me badly, then I'm going to make sure that you pay in some fashion.

And this in turn leads to what? Fear. Fear. These men are afraid for their lives. The normal way says, we've done him bad, he's going to get us now. He's going to make sure that we pay for what we did to him.

They are afraid. The normal way of handling personal injustice inevitably produces fear. It produces lying and manipulation. Do you see that here? Since you expect revenge, one way to escape that kind of judgment is to lie and to manipulate. So they tell lies about their father.

They come up with this crazy story. Dad said, forgive us. Right? Before he died, you weren't in the room when Dad said it, but he said, tell Joseph that I want him to forgive you. They lie and they manipulate. They lie and they manipulate.

They grovel at Joseph's feet all to manipulate him to show mercy and they attempt to make up for their sin. Right? We will be your servants. We will be your slave. We'll pay for our transgressions by serving you. That's the way the normal way of handling injustice plays out.

Right? Revenge producing fear lying and manipulation and the attempt to make up for your sin now as the story progresses as we see joseph's reaction it becomes obvious that god calls you to another way and that you must discard the normal way of handling injustice You got to get rid of it You can handle personal hurt personal injustice unjust suffering in the way that everyone else does. God has called us to something different.

And that's obvious in what Joseph says here. And what Joseph says here is to embrace the supernatural way of handling injustice. embrace the supernatural way of handling injustice against you here's what he says beginning in verse 19 but joseph said to them do not fear for i am i in the place of god as for you you meant evil against me but god meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so do not fear i will provide for you and for your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Embrace the supernatural way of handling injustice. What is that? Here's the first. Get the right view of your enemies. Get the right view of your enemies. I want you to notice that in verse 17, the last part of verse 17, it says, Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Did that ever strike you? Joseph wept. Why did Joseph weep? He wept because after all these years of kindness, by my calculations, if I remember right, 17 years of kindness to them. And they think it's fake. It's a sham.

Now, I don't know about you, I think I might have been angry. I think I might have been mad when they did this. and I know they're lying, right? I think I might be mad. What? Are you kidding me? After acquiring for you the best land of Egypt, after saving you from starvation, after exempting you from all the royal taxes that everyone else had to pay, after providing you with the best of everything for all these years, you think my kindness was fake?

You think my kindness was a sham? I think I'd be mad. But He sees them with the eyes of mercy. He sees them with the eyes of mercy. They had not, for all those years, they had not seen God. never enjoyed the freedom of knowing that He was not angry with them. They had never enjoyed the freedom of knowing that they had been forgiven.

I think there's personal hurt here. You think this all was a sham. And I think there's a hurt for them because they just don't get it. Do you look at your enemies with the eyes of mercy? Do you look at them as people who do not know the joy that you have? As people who don't know what it's like to have their sins forgiven?

As people who enslave to their sins and the misery it always brings? How do you see your enemies? They're treating you the way they are because they are enslaved to their desires, to their sin, to Satan himself. You've been freed. Do you have the right view of your enemies? If you're going to handle this in a supernatural way, it begins with this.

You've got to have the right view of your enemies. Verse 19. Get the right view of God. Get the right view of God. Taking vengeance is the prerogative of God and God alone. And Joseph will not usurp that position.

The moment you decide to spread a rumor to get your vengeance, or as you would say to yourself, to see justice done. The moment you give the cold shoulder to someone. The moment you take vengeance by your explosive anger, you have just acted in the place of God. You have usurped the position that belongs only to God. You are playing God. Yes, even that cold shoulder is playing God.

You're taking His place. It's His place to see that vengeance is done. Not yours. Look over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. hint, hint this will be part of your assignment for our afternoon discussion Romans 12 beginning in verse 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. That is, instead of repaying evil for evil, what you do is do something that everyone around you will see as good. if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all that is if someone were looking at the problem they would say you've done everything you could to make things right with your enemy beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if He's thirsty.

Give him something to drink. For by so doing, you'll heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Please note, verse 19, never avenge yourselves. Leave room for the wrath of God. That is, don't you take God's place.

It is His job to wreak vengeance, not yours. And what you see here then is, vengeance belongs to God, and He will execute vengeance. He will see that it's done. You don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about a personal injustice. Someone's hurt you, and now you need to see justice done.

Don't worry about that. God's got it covered. That's not your place. It's His place to bring vengeance, not yours. God alone is capable of taking vengeance, because He alone is wise. and he alone knows exactly how much vengeance to mete out and exactly who deserves it. Not you.

You're not that wise. You don't know enough. Someone once pointed this out and it has stuck with me. Who would you punish more severely? Teenage boys making fun of a bald preacher or someone who denies Jesus three times. Who should be punished?

The teenage boys making fun of the prophet Elisha were killed by a bear that God sent from the woods He sent a bear that tore those teenage boys apart for making fun of a bald preacher And that what they were saying Oh bald head bald head ha ha Dead Peter denies Jesus three times. And what happens to him? He's restored. Don't think that you're wise enough to determine where vengeance ought to be exercised.

God alone handles that. So instead of taking vengeance, you trust God. You trust God. Do you have the right view of God? If you're going to handle things in a supernatural way, you need to get the right view of providence. Verse 20.

Get the right view of providence. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. Joseph always knew, I believe, that Joseph always knew that God was up to something good. I think he knew that from the day he crossed the threshold at Potiphar's house as a slave.

I think he knew that God was up to something good. He had the right view of providence. It was this attitude that God is up to something good that kept him from bitterness, that certainly would have destroyed his soul. I think that is what kept him. I think this verse, Genesis 50-20, gives us the key to understanding all of Joseph's life. From the very beginning, he knew God was up to something good. it was this view of providence that motivates his gracious treatment of his brothers certainly you intended it for evil you intended to do the worst things you could think of to be but you know what god intended to do good and the good he did was to save your lives and with that view of providence he could be gracious to them.

Do you believe these words? Do you really believe these? And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good For those who are called according to His purpose for those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called.

And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. Do you believe that God works all things, even the actions of evil people against you? Do you believe that God even uses that for your good? Do you believe that? Do you believe that that good is that those evil people are in your life so that God will make you like Jesus?

Do you believe that? Do you believe that when people hurt you, When people perpetrate sin against you, when they are wicked and are unjust to you, do you believe at that moment that they are there so that you become like Jesus? Do you believe that after all the suffering He intends to glorify you? Do you believe that? All the evil that people perpetrate against you serves God's gracious and good providence.

And you too can say to any evildoer that comes your way, you meant evil against me, but God means it for good. You meant evil against me, but God is using you for my good. Joseph looks at those who acted wickedly and saw them in a different light. He saw them as God's instruments. Do you see those who mistreat you as God's instruments? Many times, I said this this morning already, but many times is I sit down with couples who are struggling and couples are sitting there and it's like, it's her fault!

It's his fault! If he would change, everything would be great! This is what she does. If you had a woman like this, then you would understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. You know what I can say to them? I can say, did you know that you have the perfect wife?

This was the woman that God thought you needed. What? That's right. this was the one person that God picked for you because you needed her. Because she's an instrument of God to help you be like Jesus. You see? Can you look at those who perpetrate evil against you and say, he or she is in my life to make me like Christ?

If you haven't said that, you need to start saying that. Do you have the right view of providence? Get the right view of kindness. Verse 21. Get the right view of kindness. So, do not fear.

Isn't that interesting? Do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Isn't that great? I'll provide for you and your children. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

What a marvelous statement. Joseph tells them not to fear. He makes promise of provision and he comforts them with kind words. What is the right view of kindness? Here it is. Kindness is necessary in your battle against personal injustice. kindness is necessary is absolutely required in your battle against personal injustice that is it is not good enough just to refrain from vengeance now hear me out it's not enough to refrain from vengeance you also the job is not done until you're showing love and kindness to your enemy if you thinking I take my revenge you stinking snake but I a Christian and so I'll wait for God to get the job done.

You haven't got the right picture yet. Okay? You haven't got it yet. It's not harboring hard feelings and biting your tongue and refraining from vengeance. That's not. What Joseph shows us here is that kindness to your enemy is absolutely required.

1 Peter 3.9 says this, Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. I've had people come to me and say this, Oh, pastor, you'd be proud of me. So tell me about that. Oh, you'd be proud of me because my co-worker cussed me out the other day. And you know what?

I just, I bit my tongue and I didn't say anything back. And my response is, then you haven't done what God tells you to do. What does he say? He says, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but bless. That is, if that guy cusses you out, listen up now. if that co-worker of yours cusses you out, you are now responsible before your shift ends to bless him.

You must bless him before the end of your shift. You must be kind to him. You must say something nice to him. Anytime anybody rips you apart, it is your duty now to bless that person. That kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? I remember some young lady I was counseling years ago, years and years ago.

She was in a position where her husband was just a failure. Her boss hated her. So I took the easy one first. I took the thing at work. And she's saying, this is what he says to me. He does this and this and this.

And I said, okay, here's your homework. Here's your counseling homework. If he says anything to you during your time at work, then you have to make it your goal that before your shift ends you're going to bless your boss somehow. With your mouth. You going to bless him somehow And that your assignment Okay And she started doing that It was amazing Not necessarily the changes at work, but the changes in her.

Having refrained from vengeance, you repay evil with good. Are you getting the picture here? It's not enough to bite your tongue. It's not enough to go, okay, I'm not going to do anything. It's not good enough. You've got to repay that evil with good.

And that's what Joseph did. And like Joseph, you have to pour it on. Do you see what the commitment he's making here? He's committing himself to doing good for the rest of his life. And not just for his brothers, right? For their children.

I will provide for you and your children. And I will do it for as long as I'm alive. He pours it on. By the way, notice that Joseph says, do not fear. Repaying evil with good will defeat fear. It also will defeat lying and manipulation.

Do you have the right view of kindness? Well, you might want to say to me at this point, Pastor Tim, I'm glad for Joseph's example. It's really inspiring. But I don't need to be inspired. I need to be empowered. Right?

If you're not asking that question, then maybe you haven't heard me. Because what I've just said is impossible. Boy, that's a great... You've inspired me, but I need to be empowered, not just inspired. How are we empowered to do that thing? I will tell you that you will find the power to embrace the supernatural and discard the normal at one place and it is the cross of Jesus.

That's the only place that will give you the power to do this. Why? There you see the expression of God's love and kindness for His enemies. Why did Jesus die on the cross? Because God in love sought to reconcile His people to Himself. He sought to reconcile His enemies. and so he loved us by sacrificing his son 1 John not that we loved God but that he loved us right we weren looking for God he sought us out and he sent His Son to die You want to love your enemy Look at God loving His enemies at the cross You were His enemy.

You shook your fist at God from the day you were born. You compounded that with actual sin. You did not want to do things God's way. And He loved you, his enemy, by sending Jesus to the cross. God loves his enemies daily by giving them all good things. He gives them good things every day.

All the rebels against God enjoy life. They enjoy good food. They enjoy their grandchildren. They enjoy their children. They enjoy nature. They enjoy all these things.

God keeps them with gifts every day. He loves them daily, but he loves his enemies supremely. At the cross, you see. At the cross. That cross also breaks the tyranny of your anger and rage and desire for revenge. Before Christ, there was nothing that could stop you.

Maybe what could stop you was a threat of some kind, but in your heart you still hated. the cross can even break the hatred of your heart and the tyranny of that hatred by jesus dying on the cross he broke the enslaving power of those kinds of emotions and there he bought the freedom to live a life of love you are now free to live a life of love as you step out in obedient faith saying lord god i don't know if i'm gonna do this but i'm gonna step out in faith and i'm gonna love that guy, he'll give you the power to do it. He will give you the power to do it. He will give you the desire to do it because at the cross he broke the enslaving, powerful power of sin.

Some of you here today are seething cauldrons of anger and hostility and revenge. Remember that when you give expression to your vengeance, you are playing God and God does not take that lightly. He does not take that lightly. You may say to yourself, well, this is justice. I can... No, no.

When you play God, God gets angry. He does not like anyone else taking Him. place. But know this, Jesus dies so that one who would be God can be forgiven by God. Know this, that God does not take it lightly. You know how serious it is to play God? He had to kill his own son to save you from that sin.

That's how serious it is. But he did and if you want to be freed from the kind of vengeance and hostility that has a control of your heart, then you just need to come to Christ. You'll come to Jesus and He will not turn you away, but He will save you not only from the guilt of that sin so that you don't have to pay for it, He will save you from the power of that sin.

He will save you from that sin itself. That's how powerful He is. now this morning you certainly must know that you're going to suffer at the hands of other people if you're anywhere close to 20 years old you know that you know that by the time you're 8 you know that by the time you're 5 right? people are going to treat you badly people will hate you and do wicked things against you and the question is will you take the normal course of action or will you discard it for a better way? will you embrace the supernatural way the way commanded by Jesus and the way empowered by his death and resurrection which way will you take and you can take the supernatural way trusting in Christ and what He done And He will give you the power to do it What has God said to you this morning? What has He said to you this morning?

What sort of kindness will you show Joe when he ruins your career? What kind of kindness will you show him? How will you repay Dakota when she attempts to ruin your reputation? What are you going to do? Which way will you choose? Will you follow Jesus?

Father, thank you for your word. Father, it is powerful. There's no way of saying it other than, wow, this is just unbelievably incredible. How could anyone do it? But Father, You've called Your people to do that. You've called the disciples of Jesus to do this very thing.

So that we would shine in this dark world of vengeance with the light of love and grace and mercy. Father, help us to be those lights. Help us to be those lights. empower us we pray through Jesus Amen