Sermon preached by Penny Wheble on the 16th February 2014 at St Martin's Church in Walsall
A police officer pulls over
a speeding car.
The officer says, ‘I clocked you at 80 miles
per hour, sir.’
The driver says, ' sorry sir, I had
it on cruise control at 60; perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating.’
Not looking up from her
knitting the wife says, ‘Now don’t be silly dear, you know
this car doesn’t have cruise control!
As the officer writes out
the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife and growls, ‘Can’t you please keep quiet for once??!!’
The wife smiles demurely and
says, ‘You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did.’
As the officer makes out the
second ticket for the illegal radar detector unit, the man looks at his wife
again and says through clenched teeth, ‘Woman, can’t you keep quiet?!!!!!!’
The officer frowns and says,
‘And I notice that you’re not wearing your seat
belt, sir. That’s an automatic £80 fine.’
The driver says, ‘Yes, well, you see officer, I
had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my licence out of my back pocket.’
The wife says, ‘Now, dear, you know very
well that you didn’t have your seat belt on.
You never wear your seat belt when you’re driving.’
And as the police officer is
writing out the third ticket the driver turns to his wife and barks,
‘WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET!!!!!’
The officer looks over at
the woman and asks, ‘Does your husband always talk to you this way,
Ma’am?’ and she said, ‘Only when he’s been drinking’.
You’ve heard the saying, “honesty is the best policy!”
In the story of Joseph in
Egypt, God taught this lesson to Joseph’s brothers; and I believe it's a lesson for us
as well today.
God used Joseph to reconcile
the family of Israel. The reconciliation of Israel’s family was only possible with complete honesty and humility!
And looking back at our text
this morning, there are a few important things we need to note:
Remember, the Sons of Israel
sold Joseph and told their father that Joseph was killed by a wild animal.
But God was with Joseph and
Joseph continued to worship God even as a slave in Egypt.
Because God blessed him,
Joseph became Pharaoh’s second hand man.
When his brothers came to
Egypt to get food, Joseph recognized his brothers but his brothers didn’t
recognize Joseph.
Now, as we look at Genesis
44…..
Joseph planned to trap his
brothers with a lie!
Joseph secretly placed his
silver cup in Benjamin’s sack and then accused the
brothers of stealing.
Why would Joseph do that??
First of all, how did the brothers respond?
The brothers knew they were
innocent and so they were willing to pay the penalty if found guilty.
The brothers thought they
were as clean as can be; they were so confident about their innocence almost to
the point of arrogance! They were saying, “Bring it on!”
But when they found out that
their youngest brother Benjamin had the stolen goods, how did they respond?
Verse 13 –‘And so, they all grieved and
tore their clothes and they had no choice but to go back to Egypt’.
The brothers were found
guilty even though they thought they were completely innocent!
Hear again what the brothers
said to Joseph in v16……
The brothers were willing to
pay the penalty but what did Joseph do? V17 tells us that Joseph focused on
Benjamin!
Why did Joseph try to “trick” his brothers?
The answer is in v18-34 isn’t
it? ‘Judah, representing all the brothers, honestly confessed everything to
Joseph and willingly sacrificed himself’!
Was that what Joseph was
looking for?
If we jump forward to
Genesis 45:1-6 we see that God used Joseph to reconcile
the family of Israel. The reconciliation of Israel’s family was only possible with complete honesty and humility!
The application to our lives
is simple isn’t it?
You see, we can be partially
honest with God and think we are alright.
But God is looking for complete
reconciliation with us! In other words, it
is possible for us to think we are alright when we are actually keeping God out in many
areas of our lives! God’s desire is to be with us
always, full-time not part-time!
A shoplifter wrote to a
Department Store which said “I’ve just become a Christian and I can’t sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here’s £100 that I owe you” and signs his name. But he also wrote in the bottom of the letter, “P.S. If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send
you the rest.”
I ask this question, are we completely honest with God or only
partially honest?
Joseph had power to do
whatever he wanted with his brothers who were guilty of sinning
against him.
Does God have the power to
do whatever He wants with us sinners?? God has the power to judge us!
As hard as it may have been
for Joseph, he planned a way to get the brothers to be completely honest with
him.
And hard as it may be for God (God hurts when we ignore Him), God can set up
a way for us to be completely honest with Him! God’s desire is for us to be in fellowship with Him all the time!
So I ask
again - Are we completely
honest with God? God
will work on us till we are completely honest with Him! Are we hiding things
from God? Let's not fool ourselves, God knows everything and He desires complete honesty
from us!
Paul gives us some guidance in
his letter to the Corinthians
‘Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course,
you fail the test? And I
trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God that you will not do
anything wrong – not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so
that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the
truth, but only for the truth’. (2 Corinthians 13: 5-8)
Is Jesus Christ truly in us?
Your heart is the control
room of your life; and in your control room is a throne. Always check your
heart; is Jesus Christ, who we call Lord, really sitting on the throne of our
hearts with every situation? Or are you or someone else or the world actually
sitting on that throne and Jesus just at the side?
We must be truly honest with God about
everything!
And let us not forget the GREAT NEWS that in spite of our
sinfulness, God still loves us! Jesus Christ died for all
our sins once and for all; there is no need to hide anything from God!
Does God know everything??
Absolutely!
Is there anything that can
separate us from the love of God??
Absolutely nothing!
Why do we try and hide
things from God?
Our dishonesty with God is
like a veil between us and the light, we can interfere with God’s love although God’s love is always there!
And to be completely honest
with God, we must Know the truth and
live the truth!
The truth of course is God’s Word, the Bible!
Are we really knowing God’s Word on a daily basis?
Let us be honest, how much
of God’s Word actually goes into our brains on a
daily basis compared to other stuff like entertainment, man’s wisdom, or simply the news? Do we read our Bibles regularly? Do we
spend time with God?
To live honestly and
truthfully, we must be knowledgeable of God’s Word more than anything else!
How can we truly live out
the truth when we don’t know it?
Please take a moment now to
examine your hearts…….
Prayer
Lord, you are the Word of
God
and you have the word of
life for us all.
You are the source of hope,
joy and life for us,
Speak to our hearts those
words we need to hear,
That our words and our deeds
may find new life in you. Amen
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