Transcription
The Word of God, Genesis Chapter 42, Verses 25 to 28.
He commanded them to fill their sacks with grain and to restore each man's silver to his bag, and to give them provisions for their journey. He did as they were commanded. When one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his silver lying in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, "My silver has been put back; indeed, it is in my sack." At this, their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"
Today's message is about this scene. Now, one person, Simeon, was bound, and the remaining brothers departed with the grain. On the way to Canaan, they stopped at an inn. While resting and giving water to their donkeys, one of them opened his sack and found the money they had paid for the grain, the provisions, lying in his sack. As this happened, a terrible nightmare was being replayed for them. When we first went, we initially came as spies, and then we were in prison for three days. After that, only one person was to remain in prison, and the rest were to return. In the end, Simeon was captured, and they were told to return and bring their youngest brother, Benjamin.
But then, suddenly, the money was also there. This meant that now, beyond being suspected as spies, they were on the verge of being accused of being thieves. So, in verse 28, we see the brothers speaking like this. They were beside themselves with fear, meaning they were utterly terrified. Trembling, they looked at each other and said, "What is this that God has done to us?" They are blaming God. "Why is God doing this to us? What did we do so wrong that He would cast us into such a harsh trap?" They are pouring out such complaints.
You know, suddenly, the brothers could have blamed Joseph, the Prime Minister Joseph. "First, he accused us of being spies, then he locked us up in prison, and now what is this? What kind of trap is Prime Minister Joseph setting for us? He's going to accuse us of being thieves." They could have blamed Joseph, but they blame God, right? Why do they point to God and direct their arrows of complaint towards Him? This is the nature of fallen sinners. Forgetting their own sins completely, they interpret this as a cursed trap. Because of their greed, their envy, and their covetousness, they ended up putting their younger brother, Joseph, in a pit twenty years ago and eventually selling him. They don't even think about this at all, forgetting it, and instead, they are the ones suffering. They were in prison, accused of being spies, and now on the verge of being accused of being thieves. What do they do? They blame God. This is the characteristic of fallen sinners who have a fickle and conditional faith. Even though it has the name of faith within our fallen nature, this is what it is. When things go well without any difficulties, they thank God, saying, "Thank you, God." But then, when something they desired doesn't go their way, they immediately turn to shallowness. And then they shoot arrows of complaint at God. "God, why are you doing this? Why are you leaving me in this suffering?" They don't even consider all the good things they have received from God, but they focus on this one thing that God has touched, saying God is harsh. "Why has God done this to me?" This is the shallowness of fallen sinners who have the name of faith.
What is revealed through this kind of behavior is actually seen in the story of Job in the book of Job. Let's look at Job chapter 3, verse 20. In the New Korean Standard Version: "Why does he give light to the one who is in misery and life to those who are bitter in soul? They long for death, but it does not come; they search for it more than for hidden treasures, and rejoice with great joy when they find the grave. Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes as bread, and my groans pour out like water. For the thing I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has befallen me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes."
This is Job's lament, feeling trapped with no way out, experiencing such harshness. "God." In this situation, Job chapter 3 describes his circumstances perfectly: he lost all his wealth, all ten of his children died, he was covered in sores from head to toe, his wife told him to curse God and die and then left him, and his friends came and watched his miserable state for a week. Then, in response to the initial words of his friends, he finally breaks down. This is Job's lament from the ashes. "If only you had killed me! Why did you let me live and open my eyes every morning to this suffocating darkness, to face this hellish reality again?" he laments. "Why did you let me live? Why did you let me survive? If you were going to give me this situation, you should have taken my life too." He says, "If I could find a grave, I would rejoice, but why don't you kill me and make me live in this reality? The reality is harsh, and why do you keep me alive?" That's what he's saying.
The reality of our faith today is no different. Joseph's brothers came down to seek only grain, provisions. Although there were difficulties, they are now going to Canaan with this grain. So, they should just go to Canaan, but why did they put the money back in the sack? Now, even if they bring their youngest brother, they are going to be accused of being thieves. So, the reality has become even more difficult, harsher. Think about us who are living our faith today. We believe in Jesus. We attend church. But our bodies are sick, illness visits us, and although we have lived diligently, our wealth is gradually slipping away from us. Some of us experience bankruptcy, a great sorrow. "How can this happen?" Our children, who were growing up well and were so precious, who didn't leave church in their childhood, are now wandering. They say things like, "If I die now, I'll go to hell." How about that? In the face of such realities, the pain and suffering experienced as believers and parents, seeing such things, is the greatest suffering for oneself. For oneself. We have come into faith, but we cannot live out our faith. We have been held by God's grace, but we don't know the joy and pleasure of being held by God. This is great suffering. It is extremely painful. Our bodies are sitting before God, but our hearts are not with God. This is suffering. "God, if only you hadn't made me believe. You made me believe, but there is no hope or joy within me. This is great suffering." "God, why are you doing this to me? Why do you leave me in such suffocating pain? Why do you leave me in such misery?" This is the reality of us as believers today.
But if we look more closely at the passage, Job's cry, his actual cry, and his cry from deeper suffering, is actually about something else. Let's look at Job chapter 3, verse 20 again. The most terrible suffering Job cries out about is this: "Why does God give light to the one who is in misery and life to those who are bitter in soul?" And in verse 23: "Why does God hedge in a man whose path is hidden?" Yet, he says, he gives light. What Job is saying is not a complaint that this harsh reality is too painful. The reality is painful, but he is not complaining or grumbling because it is so painful. If you listen to Job's words, he asks, "Why do you give light?" And "Why have you granted me life?" This life is being extended. What does this mean? In the face of this harsh reality, he could just give up and end it all. But he is not given the will to do that. He is given the will to endure, to move forward, to see the light. He is given life. He says he cannot endure it. If the reality is so harsh, why doesn't God let him end it all in death, in the grave, or make him commit suicide? But God doesn't do that. God keeps giving him light, breathing life into him, enabling him to endure, to persevere, and to live. This is what is agonizing. This is Job's actual cry.
This is the reality that God has allowed for believers, and it is the lament of believers who bleed tears in the face of this harsh reality. "Why do you give light to me, whose path is so obscure, and why do you prolong my life and let me continue in faith?" It would be easier to cry out and end it all, to turn away from God. But He doesn't let us turn away from God, and He makes us live through this reality, gives us light to endure, and this is agonizing. This is Job's actual pain, lament, and cry. Through the book of Job, and through Joseph's brothers in Genesis today, what God is telling us is this: there is grace behind the scenes. This is what we are to see. The brothers did not see Joseph's tears, but Joseph, who put the money in the sack, is the one with those tears. He has those tears. There are Joseph's tears. There is grace behind this reality. Job being refined like gold is not something else. Job being refined like gold does not mean he is given a stronger heart to endure reality. It was about Job saying, "I am living faithfully before God. I am righteous. I am blameless. I have good faith." This suffering is for the sake of salvation, for the sake of redemption through Jesus Christ. This suffering is hidden behind the scenes so that we can meet Jesus. So, Job, and likewise Joseph's brothers, because they cannot see God's hidden tears of Joseph, God's grace behind this harsh reality, they cry out. Naturally. God uses this harsh reality until we meet Jesus Christ, until we personally meet Christ and experience freedom, happiness, and overflowing joy. God has no intention of removing this harsh reality. Through it, He allows Jesus Christ to fully enter our fallen nature. This is grace. This is what God does. It is not a trap to destroy us, but grace behind the scenes to save us. It is God's great grace to truly have Jesus Christ within us, to unite us with Jesus Christ. It is His love for us. The reason He allows us to experience this agonizing pain, from which the complaint "Why?" erupts, is because He loves us. What kind of love is that? It is a love that places us on the operating table of the cross. The greatest pain and suffering in our faith lives, yours and mine, is this: the terrible self that will not die within us. It is placed on the operating table of the cross to be thoroughly dismantled so that we can be saved forever. This is the silver and gold that comes out of the sacks of Joseph's brothers today. It is the money. Job could not understand it at all. But the grace behind the scenes places Job on the operating table of the cross, and it places Joseph's brothers on this operating table of grace. It is the same for you and me. Let's turn to Hosea chapter 6. "Come, let us return to the LORD. For he has torn us, but he will heal us; he has wounded us, but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." The certainty and hope that we must return to the LORD is because the LORD has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds. How is this promised? Why did God tear us and strike us? That is the meaning of verse 2. "After two days he will revive us." What does "after two days" and "on the third day" mean? It means placing us within the death of the cross. And on the third day, just as Jesus Christ was resurrected, we enter the death of the cross, and He does the work of reviving us within it. And as it says, on the third day, we are raised up. That is why God tears us. And He strikes us. When things don't go our way even a little bit, we get angry at God, complain, turn away, and try to live as we please. Our fallen old self, the nature of sinners, is so sticky and persistent. Many people believe in Jesus too easily. And they carry the cross of Jesus within them too easily. They carry the cross without removing the cancerous tumor that is still alive within them. But the cross must tear us apart and remove the cancerous tumor within us. That is true life. So, He makes us go through this surgical process. In this process, although there is grace behind the scenes, there is a truth hidden within this grace of striking us and tearing us apart to restore us. Here lies God's unending love, His unceasing love. Why does this agonizing pain not stop, as Job cried out in this reality? Why is the strength to endure this pain granted? This is God's holding onto us until the end, and it is because of the immeasurable, crucifying love of Christ. Let's turn to John chapter 13. Here, before the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end. Verse 2: "The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." Let me ask you: Did Jesus kneel down and wash the feet of his disciples one by one? Did he wash Judas's feet? Yes or no? He washed Judas's feet. He loved them to the end. Even Judas, into whose heart the devil had put the thought of betraying Jesus. As he washed Judas's feet, the Lord prayed. "Even though the devil has done that in you, repent and turn back." He loved him to the end. At the Passover, who betrayed Jesus? It was the one who dipped his hand in the dish with him. He warned him until the very end, helped him until the very end, and loved him to the end. This is the truth behind the scenes. Even as he washed the feet of Judas Iscariot, he embraced him to the end. He knew the knife of betrayal, but he embraced him with love to the end. How could God not know you and me? Some people are like a person without a gallbladder, willing to give everything, but then if just one thing doesn't go their way, they get angry at God. "God, I'm fine with giving money and my husband is fine, and my wife should be beautiful, and my children should all succeed. Everything should be fine just because I believe in Jesus. But then, if I suddenly get cancer, all my faith and my thoughts about God disappear." Where does all that go? But why does God give us that cancer? Why does He cause bankruptcy? Why does He allow our children to wander? Why does He do that? Because God loves us to the end. He places us on the operating table of the cross, behind the scenes of His grace, to truly save us. Truly save us. We will live forever, revived on the third day, with Christ, after being in the despair of the death of the cross for two days. We are not people whose lives end in 100 years. We will live forever in heaven, in the glory of the Triune God, in a glory that angels cannot enter, receiving the service of angels, and worshipping and praising and enjoying God forever. For this purpose, God will not compromise, negotiate, or give up on this one thing: uniting us with Jesus Christ on the operating table of the cross. Even if He gives us cancer, confiscates all our wealth, or causes ten children to die as Job experienced, He gives us life, light, endurance, hope, and faith to live, and He accomplishes this one thing. Our salvation is in this God who loves us to the end, in the love of Jesus Christ. As such, what we must remember is this: the purpose for which Joseph's brothers were driven into hardship is the same. Job was the same. And we, too, are being dealt with by God on the operating table of the cross, where He tears us apart and heals us. It is the same. The purpose is the same. You are in a lot of pain, aren't you? Is it difficult to live out your faith? Reformed theology is even more lonely. Evangelical theology promises practical answers if you pray a lot, give a lot of money, and serve a lot. However, reformed theology does not make such promises. Even if you serve a lot, your body might be damaged and you might experience difficulties because of that service. In those difficulties, we realize, "Ah, my service was for my own righteousness. All these things I do before God were for my honor, my desires, and my pride, done for my own glory." Instead, it leads us to repentance and strips us bare before the cross. Therefore, it is not about earthly things, but about clothing us with eternal heavenly things and transforming us. So, in living out our faith as believers, you must quickly realize that the faith you desire and the faith God wants to accomplish in you are different. God is shaping us beautifully to be worthy of heavenly things.
Let's share Philippians chapter 3 together. "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." This refers to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. "that somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." This is the confession of the Apostle Paul. His own confession. And look: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." What is "it"? Yes, as I mentioned before, it is revealed in verse 10: "the power of his resurrection." To participate in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in that eternal life, and to obtain it. He is confessing that he will enter that terrible death of the cross to obtain eternal life. "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." What is "behind"? What is Paul talking about when he says, "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead"? As we know, in Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul said, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" He was always struggling with guilt, a sense of sin, and his own inadequacy. Even though he loved God, he was always troubled and distressed because his love was not pure and perfect. But this is something that lies behind. Paul himself agonized over himself. His self-centered faith that would not die. But this is something that lies behind. Not being dragged along by being caught up in that, but straining forward to what lies ahead. "God is making me live my faith now so that I can participate in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ eternally. He is leading me to go with Jesus Christ." He focuses on this goal. The goal is there. The goal of faith is not to commit sins, repent, and remain in the past, constantly trying to resolve these issues. Rather, it is: "God does not give up on me. God does not abandon me. Even with this sinful old self, God is still leading me so that I can participate in the glory of Christ." My goal is there. "I press on toward the prize of the upward call of God."
This is the faith that you and I are living out in our current reality. So, look at verse 15: "Let those of us who are mature be of this mind, and if in anything you are of a different mind, God will reveal that also to you." We are mature in that we have received eternal salvation through Christ, through the cross and resurrection. We are complete. And within that, "if in anything you are of a different mind, God will reveal that also to you." Ah, I am complete, but I am not like that. However, God will reveal this issue to us as well, as we sanctify ourselves and are disciplined in our faith. He reveals how far we have come and how much we have grown before God. So, verse 16: "Only let us hold true to what we have attained." We have entered into complete salvation because of Jesus. But each one of us, no matter what stage we are at, should live according to that stage, forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead. Do not stop. If you are in pain, there is grace behind the scenes in that pain. Therefore, God gives trials that are bearable to the young. And when He gives trials, He also provides a way of escape. "I can bear this situation, so God has given me bankruptcy. I can bear this, so God has given me illness. I can bear this, so God has given me this problem." I can bear it. I can overcome it abundantly. Why? Because we are complete. Therefore, God is not killing us in this harsh reality, but He is bringing us to life so that He can give us the eternal resurrection life of Jesus Christ through the death of the cross. This is truly bringing us to life. Our fickle faith, which used to sway and change with the circumstances, is truly changing. Instead of changing with the circumstances, we are moving forward with unwavering strength and steadfastness until the day the glorious Lord comes. The command given to Adam before his fall was: "If you eat of it, you will surely die." That is, if you sin, you will die. This is the command of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But look, now you and I are complete through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. And like Paul, we are straining forward to what lies ahead, forgetting what is behind, to participate in the resurrection life of Christ. For us who are running, the command of the cross is this: "Listen carefully. You are to die so that you do not sin." The command of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was "if you sin, you will die," but the command of the cross is "die so that you do not sin." This reality is a reality of grace that God has bestowed upon you and me. And in the face of this reality, the devil tempts us with sin through the command of the cross. He constantly urges us to blame God, to get annoyed, and to escape this situation. It is not so. This situation is given by God. It is a situation permitted by God. In this situation, live by faith so that you do not sin, taste the hidden glory of God, and overcome. No matter what your reality is, others may say, "No one understands my situation. The pastor says that because he hasn't been in my situation." No. God has allowed that situation for you, precisely fitting for the operating table of the cross. In that situation, it is God's terrible love and fierce grace to unite you with Jesus and give you eternal life.
May you who live by this grace be blessed. I pray in the name of the Lord.
Let us pray. God, thank you for your grace. We are people who, in the face of circumstances and reality, first shoot arrows of complaint at God, rather than seeing our own sin and inadequacy. God, grant us heavenly eyes to see this grace, this truth hidden behind the scenes, which You have given us in this reality to deal with this fallen and sinful nature within us, and to become one body with the most precious and holy Christ. So that, no matter what my situation is, I can overcome and live through this reality, or rather, through this, I can enjoy and taste something more eternal, and live by God's terrible love and fierce grace that has given me this. So that your precious children, who can overcome this situation given by God, can praise, give thanks, and glorify Him, and receive healing, solace, and answers from heaven, and be restored by heavenly things, experiencing grace upon grace. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
It is not something to be taken for granted. It is not natural that we are here in this land of America and are able to maintain ourselves like this. It is God's holding onto the life He has given us for one day. It is God who has granted us grace during those difficult times, enabling us to endure. Nothing is natural. Some of us came from Korea during the IMF crisis with only a few hundred dollars in hand, and some people, because of difficulties here, wanted to return to Korea but couldn't because they didn't have the money for a plane ticket. But now, what has God not done for us? To get angry and complain to God because that one thing we desired selfishly didn't happen? No. Repent of this heart. No. Nothing is natural. And this reality we have now is a great gift and grace from God, who loves us terribly and is making us into His children, worthy of being called His children.
Regarding your reality, it is harsh. Yes, it is harsh. It is cursed. However, Jesus Christ received this curse with joy and gave us eternal heavenly life. As you consider this, in 50 years, who will be here? There might be prophecies. I don't think the rest of us will be here. In 50 years, or even before that, we may not be here. When we meet in eternal heaven, let us remember that it was not natural, but grace. I hope we can all meet in heaven.
Let us pray together today. Joseph's brothers, not knowing what to do, shot arrows of complaint at God, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" Behind that reality, there were Joseph's tears. And behind Job's tragic situation, where he lost all his wealth and ten children, there were the tears of Jesus Christ, who would die on the cross for Job. God, we face the tears of God that You are shedding in the desperate and harsh reality of Your precious beloved saints today. And in those tears, we encounter God's fervent love, who desires to thoroughly tear apart our filthy, ugly, and deceitful sinful nature, pull out that deceitful old self from within, and give us the beautiful eternal life of Christ. God, thank you. And God, we also know Your fierce grace, which relentlessly shines brighter, giving us light and life without stopping, so that Your precious children can overcome. God, hold onto our saints, and until the day you come, as heavenly children, help us to live out the mission given to us on this earth, to rejoice in Your grace, give thanks, glorify You, and receive blessings upon blessings. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.