God has called us to love and forgiveness, just as Jesus loves and forgives us. His death is the ultimate manifestation of his love and forgiveness of the sin of the humanity. In order to successfully run the Christian race and arrive at the finish line (heaven), we must live out this life of love and forgiveness through and through, because God’s grace is sufficient for us.

In the light of this, I’ll be taking you on a prophetic allegory, a parallel that we need to understand, not only in terms of where we are in God’s programme, but in terms of the way our lives should be and how we ought to live with one another.

The dual purpose of this message is to lay before us, a matter requiring individual attention and caution; and to provide guidance for our walk within the body of Christ first in our local assemblies, and then in the larger congregation.

This is a call to make a decision today that would assuredly confront each of us in the future and at a time that there may be no opportunity to change the consequences of neglecting this call. I would like to teach on the story of Joseph, as a parallel to a type of Jesus, the soon coming King.

The Bible tells us “Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.  “Listen to this dream,” he said.  “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.” (Genesis 37:3-11).

The fact that Jacob choose to love Joseph more than all his other sons was not Joseph’s making, but the hatred that followed that singular act became a snare for Joseph; who was not even the author of his own dreams. Translating this scenario to ourselves, we find that there are certain graces and favour that are uniquely put on someone, and the natural tendency of others who are not regenerated and on whom that favour is not upon, is to become envious; to resent the favoured one.

Joseph did not understand the calling of God upon his life, neither did his father, nor his brethren, but the calling was real. He was sleeping like any other human when God gave him the dreams. Why then should he be hated for it?

Are you like Joseph’s brothers—incensed  against a brother or sister, a neighbour or colleague, over a favour, or blessing or anointing they have which might not even be their own making? What has been the reason for the resentment, the hatred and fighting among God’s people? Why would children of God take up rage and anger or resentment over something that the resented person has no control over? We must rid ourselves of such tendencies and attitudes if we are ever going to fulfill purpose.

At the center of this, is a matter of relationship within a family, chosen of God, but with each member having a destiny to fulfill or to lose. How would you as a member of one family, of one same father, respond to a brother on whom there is genuine calling, that neither he nor your parents understand? Or how have you responded to one another, when you see another servant of God demonstrate something that you don’t understand but not contrary to the word of God? The place of wisdom is in what Jacob did (to wonder what they meant), or in what Mary the mother of Jesus did (to keep the things in her heart) after the angel spoke to her concerning the birth of Jesus.

The instinctive response of any man to another who is separated by favour is resentment. When you come to the point of understanding that the anointing or blessings and favour on someone else is not his making and you feel envious about it, then watch it! When you look at the relationship between Jesus and the disciples, you’d wonder why the Pharisees hated Jesus and separated themselves from Him. They were separated by the call of Jesus which they did not understand. This goes on to say that “calling separates”.

Jesus said it also to His own disciples, that the world would hate them because they came to Jesus. The disciples of Jesus were also hated because people never understood the calling of God upon their lives. These things are crucial for us to understand and come to terms with, so that as we begin a new year, we can run faster and stronger than ever before, that nothing should be a hindrance to us.

What is resentment? Resentment is bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly. The brothers of Joseph thought that their father had treated them unfairly. Resentment is also known as bitterness, and is the basic foundation for hatred. So if we don’t deal with it, then we must await the dire consequences.

The products of resentment are: disgust, sadness, and surprise in the sense of a perception of injustice, or wrongdoing from an individual. The answer to resentmentas King David dealt with it is recorded in Psalm 55. Read and find solutions there. Take note: Resentment is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Jesus, speaking to His disciples in John 15:18-21, told them:“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”

The calling upon your life separates you and you need to be careful that you don’t get envious of the calling on the life of another. What we don’t understand is the fact that in retrospect, God was speaking about the preservation of the life for Israel through Joseph’s dreams, although they did not understand it. The purpose of Joseph’s calling was to save lives. If you understand the purpose of the calling on your brother or sister, then do not look at the elevation. Allow the purpose of God to prevail.The purpose of calling is to save lives.

When such favour or grace happens to be a calling from God, it becomes more damning if we let emotions triggered by whatever, blind us from prayerfully weighing the situation to reach a mature response, and we risk ending up with regrets. In retrospect, there was no reason for the sons of Jacob to resent or hate their brother Joseph.

I ask you, have you considered what it is that has separated you into groups, cliques, or the class that you think is your right class? Questions whether what you feel is jealousy or entitlement, coveting or feeling that you should possess what another has, whether superficial or innate, can all generate inner bitterness.

In between the events in Genesis chapters 32 and 41, the famine had begun and Joseph had seen and recognized his brothers in Egypt, but he continued to demonstrate extraordinary self-control. And until he showed this extraordinary self-control, the grace to deliver to purpose and calling would not have burst open from him.

God had taken Joseph through that stage of training against resentment and bitterness. His experiences with Potiphar and his wife, and the butler in prison, all brought him face to face with resentment, bitterness and hatred. But he chose to never allow that to have a root in him by demonstrating extraordinary self control and found grace to hold himself from vengeance. By this time, his brothers had begun to recant their wrongdoings (See Genesis 42:21-28).

In trying to determine whether his brethren still walked in their evil ways, Joseph chose to detain Simeon because he was the spearhead of all their plots, and he had a character for being impulsively judgmental, and many of us are like that. We are quick to reach a decision, we are quick to get to a conclusion, watch it! How many of your brethren are you taking angst against, for something for which they may not even be aware of?

Beware which groups you belong to, some groups consist of murderers! Reuben could have rescued Joseph, but he had long lost the leadership of the family because he defiled his father’s bed. The principles that destroyed Reuben were lack of self-control. He could not contain the emotional rush he had to go and sleep with his father’s wife. And from that day he destroyed his destiny.

Destiny is given and destiny can be lost. Reuben had actually told his brothers not to kill Joseph, because he planned to rescue him from the pit, but he was not where he ought to be at the right time, so they sold him off. May God not move you away from where you should be when He is completing His work. May He help every single one of us that our passions will not cause us to cut short our destinies.

Even Jacob their father, suffered much emotional trauma on the loss of Joseph, and temporarily, Reuben and Benjamin. What he did not know was that he was also paying the price of favoritism, because he loved Rachael more than Leah and that was the root of all the strife in the family. There is nothing we do that does not have consequences.

My role in dealing with a brother whose ways I do not fully understand, and that I respond to out of envy may well determine my placement in the body of Christ. This was the centre of the treatise when Jesus was speaking to his disciples in Matthew 20:20-28:“Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked.She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”

When you think someone is superior or inferior to you, you are thinking like the world. Such things do not exist in the body of Christ. How does God want us to live amongst ourselves? He laid out the structure for us in Deuteronomy 3:18,“At that time I gave this command to the tribes that would live east of the Jordan: ‘Although the Lord your God has given you this land as your property, all your fighting men must cross the Jordan ahead of your Israelite relatives, armed and ready to assist them.”

Until we all get to the place of rest, there is no rest. We have to walk together and ensure that our brethren get to the place of perfection. For us as leaders and parents, our work is not finished until the weakest amongst us is also standing strong. And that is going to demand extraordinary grace to forgive and to forbear.

Husband and wives, the years of quarrellings and striving have come to an end. You need to know that you cannot change anybody, only God can. So if you want your husband or wife to be changed, then go to God together, understanding that you need to possess your land together, and you will see God working with you, until you get to the point where you can see with the same eyes, speak with the same voice, and see Revelation 22:17 fulfilled in your lives—the song of the spirit and the one of the bride becoming one—that is where God is taking us to.

The solidarity of Israel was vitally important—all Israelites were one! Those who had received their inheritance in the trans-gorgonian region (Reuben, Gadand Manasseh) were to affirm the solidarity and the unity of all. And God killed the possibility of an early division in Israel’s unique community by ensuring that the obeyed that commandment.

Talking about unity, what brings about unity? We are being taught just as they were, not to look on our own things only, but on the things of others (Philippians 2:4). It will become completely contrary to the Spirit of Israel, to be selfish and to prefer any private interest before the common interest.

To understand the sequence of events here, let’s go back to Genesis 43 where we read that the famine continued to ravage the land of Canaan and Joseph’s brothers had to compel their father to send Benjamin with them so that they could be allowed to buy food from Egypt. Here again, we see Judah taken the place of a surety for the safe return of Benjamin to his father. Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will be on our way. Otherwise we will all die of starvation—and not only we, but you and our little ones. I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if I don’t bring him back to you. Then let me bear the blame forever. If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have gone and returned twice by now.”(Genesis 43:8-10).

Even though Ruebenwas present, he could not take responsibility for the leadership because hehad lost his place. Judah took the place of leadership because somebody needs to take responsibility to ensure that God’s purpose and counsel is fulfilled.

Genesis 43:24-28 “The manager then led the men into Joseph’s palace. He gave them water to wash their feet and provided food for their donkeys. They were told they would be eating there, so they prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon. When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought him, then bowed low to the ground before him. After greeting them, he asked, “How is your father, the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?”“Yes,” they replied. “Our father, your servant, is alive and well.” And they bowed low again.”

At the end of the day, Joseph’s dreams and visions were fulfilled as they bowed before him in his palace. This goes to say, “Don’t kick against a stone; you cannot stop what God wants to do through a brother or a sister; you would only have hurt yourself along the way.”

The story continued as Joseph made a feast for them. Even when Joseph made them to sit down according to their age, it still did not strike them that Joseph might have known them. The terror of their past wrongdoing had blinded their eyes. Have you been offended and a victim of resentment? What would well up in your heart in the day of reconciliation? Is it vengeance? Anger? Or an outpouring of love and grace? The original love feast began with reconciliation, and it was a feast of embracing, a feast of letting go. In getting reconciliation, complete transparency and honesty must take hold; there are no half-measures in these things that God is calling for.  

The greatest test comes after the feast

Genesis 44: 1-10 “When his brothers were ready to leave, Joseph gave these instructions to his palace manager: “Fill each of their sacks with as much grain as they can carry, and put each man’s money back into his sack. Then put my personal silver cup at the top of the youngest brother’s sack, along with the money for his grain.” So the manager did as Joseph instructed him. The brothers were up at dawn and were sent on their journey with their loaded donkeys. But when they had gone only a short distance and were barely out of the city, Joseph said to his palace manager, “Chase after them and stop them. When you catch up with them, ask them, ‘Why have you repaid my kindness with such evil?  Why have you stolen my master’s silver cup,which he uses to predict the future? What a wicked thing you have done!’” When the palace manager caught up with the men, he spoke to them as he had been instructed. “What are you talking about?” the brothers responded. “We are your servants and would never do such a thing! Didn’t we return the money we found in our sacks? We brought it back all the way from the land of Canaan.Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?  If you find his cup with any one of us, let that man die. And all the rest of us, my lord, will be your slaves.” “That’s fair,” the man replied. “But only the one who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go free.”

Here we see the brothers passing the test of unity. There was no pointing of fingers anymore—no more children of Leah on one hand, and children of Rachael on the other hand. They now recognised a one-for-all and all-for-one. Even an unbeliever would recognize that they were one.Again, we see Judah taking the place of leadership, and Reuben the first born been relegated. Don’t lose your destiny.

The subsequent verses from 18 to 32 shows how that beyond the test of unity, is the test of the love of father, which for us stands as the love of God, and they also passed this test. So in passing the test of unity and the test of the love of God is the mark by which all men will know that you are God’s disciples. Do you truly know your heavenly Father? These two tests are the demonstration of whether we have truly come across the Rubicon when the fullness of the Godhead can dwell upon us a people.

The process of reconciliation and breaking down the walls of division should take place. Whether between brethren, or spouses, or families; wherever the dividing walls of hostility have stood, this is the day to break them down. This is the day to kill the spirit of resentment that has built up things in the body of Christ. Reflect upon yourself and your life, and the relationship that you have with others, and make the necessary amends. Have a Blessed year!