Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : September 11, 2005

Theme: Christ Breaks the Vicious Circle

Church year occasion: Pentecost 17

I recently heard a story about a little boy named Jimmy who wanted to play soccer more than anything else in the whole world. But he was a little slower than the rest of the kids, so he always ended up being picked last and didn't get to play much. And even when he did get to play, he was never passed the ball because all the other boys thought he would mess up. Every once in a great while, though, a ball would come his way -- probably by accident. And wouldn't it have been great if at that one time he would show everyone how good he was, maybe even score a goal. But that's for the movies. No, when Jimmy was passed the ball, he was so excited and nervous that he ended up tripping over the ball or his feet. Jimmy began to doubt his own ability. "I must be worthless," he said to himself. Jimmy had found himself in the place where no one wants to be -- he was in the vicious circle. He wasn't as good as the other players, so no one picked him. Because no one picked him, he never played. Because he didn't play, he didn't get any better. So certainly no one would pick him. And the circle would go on until Jimmy never wanted to play soccer ever again -- he finally just gave up.

It's a sad thing to be in the vicious circle. Even though you know you're there, you can't do anything about it. It's almost like a spider's web -- the more you struggle to get free, the more tangled you become and freedom is pushed further away. It's an even sadder thing if the struggle is a spiritual one. That's what we see in Genesis this morning -- Joseph's brothers were caught in the vicious circle and there was nothing they could do to free themselves. But they did break free of the vicious circle. Let's see if we can find out how it happened.

We find ourselves back in the time of the patriarchs, the twelve sons of Jacob, after whom the twelve tribes of Israel would be named. But just as the twelve tribes of Israel had good and bad times, so did the sons of Jacob. And it usually centered around one of the youngest sons, Joseph. Their father Jacob loved Joseph more than any of the other sons -- gave him a special coat which Joseph had no trouble wearing in front of his brothers. The brothers were jealous of Joseph. They resented him because God had shown him in dreams that they would one day bow down to him. So they did a despicable thing. They sold him into slavery. Could you think of one of your brothers or sisters doing that to you when you were young? How terrible! But that's exactly what they had done. But Joseph forgave them. God turned what they did into good. Even though he started in Egypt as a slave, God was with Joseph and allowed his gift of interpreting dreams to be noticed by the Pharaoh -- the king of Egypt. And when Joseph correctly interpreted the Pharaoh's dream, the Pharaoh made Joseph the second most powerful man in all of Egypt -- second only to himself. Joseph was then able to help his family in that capacity by giving them a place to live when a famine hit which otherwise would have made them starve.

But then Jacob, their father, died. Then the brothers said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" What vicious circle were Joseph's brothers in? They thought that when their father died, Joseph would get revenge.

Have you ever felt the way the brothers of Joseph felt? They suffered from doubt and a burdened conscience. They had sinned and Joseph had forgiven them, but they thought that their sin was too great to be forgiven.

Maybe you can think of a situation that makes you feel like that -- trapped and helpless and little, so very little. I remember thinking when I took the call to be your pastor that I would change the world here. The strongholds of the devil would topple one by one as I fearlessly proclaimed the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. But after almost three years, I find myself instead thinking, "Someone else would have done a much better job. Even when I have a success in someone's life being changed by the gospel, I can count 5 or 10 times as many times at least when what I share with them doesn't make a bit of difference." I begin to feel very, very little. "I'm not making a difference," is a thought that has come back to me at times. "Nobody listens anyway. Why even try any more?" I feel very little.

Maybe you can sympathize. What vicious circle are you in? You always wanted to be a good son or daughter. You wanted to make your parents proud. But you find that you're getting bad grades or aren't making any friends, so you act out at school by getting into trouble all the time. You feel like a failure, a nobody, you don't fit anywhere. Why even try anymore since you will fail no matter what you do. You're failing your parents. You feel very little.

Or look at the flip-side: As a parent you want the best for your child, but nothing seems to work. Your child is growing up and doing the opposite of what you want, and you can only blame yourself. You're failing as a parent. You feel very little.

You went into your marriage thinking that you would serve God first and love and honor your spouse for as long as you live. But then it got tougher. Your spouse didn't see things your way, and then you found yourself having trouble doing all those good things. You end up resenting your spouse for the littlest things. You're getting nowhere in your marriage. Maybe you should even end it. You're failing in your marriage. You feel very little.

You thought that retiring would be the best time of your life, but instead it has turned out to be the most difficult. No one seems to care. No one visits. Everyone is so busy with their own lives maybe they have forgotten that you even exist. God used to be the only one you could count on, but maybe even he has forgotten about you. You're failing to trust God when you're older. You feel very alone, and very little.

Where do we get those thoughts? From our "good ol' friend" the devil. Whenever we find ourselves in the vicious circle, the devil just sits back and laughs. Whenever we think that we are worthless and little, the devil laughs and laughs. Why? Because that's exactly what he wants us to think -- that we're nothing and can do nothing. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy -- the more we feel like we are nothing, we more we do nothing. Why even try to do God's will? We will certainly fail at it just as we have been doing for years and years. We're in the vicious circle of sin and a burdened conscience. And in the vicious circle we can do nothing about it.

Why can't we do anything about it? Because it was our reliance on ourselves that gets us into the vicious circle in the first place. But always remember: There is a way out of the vicious circle. No, we can't do anything to get out of it. Only Jesus can. Only our reliance on Jesus can get us out. And it all has to do with our forgiveness.

First, Jesus wants us to see that it is not just any forgiveness. It is God's forgiveness. God wrought that forgiveness in eternity. When he saw the sinner you would be, he still loved you. Loved you so much, in fact, that he sent his Son to pay for your sins.

Is there any sin that has you in a vicious circle? Does that sin tell you that you have failed God and he will punish you for it? You got part of it right -- you have failed God, every single time you've sinned you've failed him. But he won't punish you. That's because he already punished every sin of all time, big sins and little sins, sins of thought, word and deed. He punished those sins in Christ. Every time you find your life failing to live up to God's demands of you, look to the one place that can help -- the cross of Christ.

For whom did Jesus carry his cross on his way to Golgotha? For whom did Jesus endure insult and blasphemy before he even got to the cross? For whom did Jesus endure the nails as they were pounded into his flesh. All that was nothing, though, compared to the words Jesus spoke when he was on that tree: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" For whom did Jesus suffer the torments of hell so they would never have to suffer them? Jesus did it all for you. That day when Jesus died marked something very different for us. No longer do we have to live in the vicious circle of sin; no longer do we have to feel worthless and little because we can't serve God as we know we should. Why? Because through his death Jesus broke the vicious circle. We know that because John tells us: "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) Think about that -- every single one of your sins gone forever because God laid them on Jesus who paid for them with his holy blood. Christ has broken the vicious circle with that full forgiveness for every one of your sins. Instead of being little and of no consequence, Paul says that we are co-heirs with Christ of heaven; we are Christ's brothers and sisters who have been "buried with Christ through baptism into death so that we can live a new life." Jesus took all your failures and gave you his success.

That assurance of forgiveness is exactly what Joseph's brothers needed. Notice that Joseph "reassured them" of his forgiveness. God does the same with us. Every time we think that we are little and find ourselves in the vicious circle, look to the cross. Read Scripture for yourself and find out in passage after passage that God took you from being a nobody and declared that you are somebody by declaring that you are as righteous as his own Son because of what his Son did for you. You need that reassurance every day so that you don't fall back into the vicious circle.

That assurance of forgiveness also then motivates you to stop thinking of yourself as little, but instead as what you are -- one of Christ's ambassadors telling others about Christ, and it leads you in a life of faith as you strive to do God's will in your life as a thank you for what he has done for you. And remember Paul's words, the same Paul who was forgiven after murdering many Christians, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Jimmy's father discovered that something was wrong with Jimmy, so he spent day after day with Jimmy playing soccer. His father broke Jimmy's vicious circle, and Jimmy became a professional soccer player. Your heavenly Father has broken your vicious circle of sin as well. By Jesus' life and sacrifice, he made you his child. So go now and live your life as God's child, in the power of your living and victorious Savior.