Silver in Their Sacks - Tuesday evening, 6.16.2009

Genesis 42:27-28 - At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack.  “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers.  “Here it is in my sack.”  Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” 

In this story, Joseph’s brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food during the famine.  They did not realize that the official in charge of the food there was Joseph, whom they had beaten and sold into slavery many years before.  They did not recognize him, but he recognized them immediately.  

They bought their grain and started to return to their land; all they wanted was a simple business transaction.  Joseph, in contrast, knew that God wanted to reunite the family there in Egypt.  He especially wanted them to bring Benjamin (with whom he shared the closest blood relationship), and eventually Jacob his father as well.  Joseph used a three-part strategy to get his brothers to return with Benjamin on the next trip.  First, he told them they could not buy any more grain unless Benjamin was with them. (Genesis 42:16-20; 43:3).  Second, he arrested the second oldest, Simeon, and kept him in custody there so they would have extra incentive to return.  (Genesis 42:24).  Third, he ordered his assistants to hide the brothers’ money in the sacks of grain they had bought, so that they would realize they received food without payment and would have a duty to return with the money they owed.  (Genesis 25-26). 

The brothers were in a hurry to get what they wanted and leave, never to have anything to do with this man again.  This is like unbelievers who want to get their material blessing and not return to serve the Lord.  Many people come to church at first to solve some problem - either in their family, or with their finances, health, or career.  They live their lives focused on the things of this world, and they turn to God only when they need help with some material need.  

God does indeed give us blessings.  All through the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles prayed for healings, resurrections, deliverances, blessings on children, etc.  Even so, God’s real purpose in doing such things is to draw men into a permanent relationship with Him.  God sees that our material needs are only temporary, for the short term.  Man’s greatest need is for eternity.  Man is under judgment, lost in sin, destined to spend eternity separated from God.  The Lord’s plan - indeed the very reason He sent his only Son to this world - is to redeem us, to transform our lives so that we can have eternal life.  We will leave behind the things of this world, both the good and the bad, because eternity lasts forever.  This lifetime is just for a few years.  (See Psalm 90:1-10).  God wants us to have a real relationship with Christ, where we seek his face every day, walk in the light of his revelation, live in obedience, receive his direction and guidance, and serve him so that we produce spiritual fruit, fruit that will last.  (See John 15:16).  

Unbelievers want none of this, of course.  They would prefer a simple transaction where they could get what they want and have no lasting commitment.  They make promises to the Lord, but they avoid honoring their commitments to Him. They would prefer purchasing their blessings like they purchase goods at a store.  

For example, in a certain city we have a church located in a shopping center.  Across the street is another shopping center, which has another church, from a controversial Pentecostal group.  Occasionally visitors would get the churches mixed up because of their proximity to one another.  One day, before a service began at our church, a woman entered and informed the deacon at the door that she wanted to buy a healing for $50.  The deacon was shocked, of course, because we do not even collect offerings in our churches, much less pretend to sell God’s blessings.  The idea of selling blessings is blasphemous and contradicts the Gospel of Grace.  So he tried to tell her that they would pray for her for free, without charge, and that perhaps God would heal her.  She insisted that she was looking for that “church in the shopping center where she could pay $50 to receive a healing.”  The deacon slowly realized that she meant the church across the street, in the other shopping center.  He tried to plead with her to receive prayer in our church there, because it would clearly be better for her to receive a healing and keep her money; he explained that we could NOT accept any money in exchange for praying, because this would displease the Lord.  The woman refused to receive prayer and left; she did not want prayer if she could not pay for it.  The deacon was amazed.

The reason she left is that she did not want an ongoing commitment with the Lord.  Once she had her healing and paid her $50, she would be done.  She could feel that she did not owe God anything.  Charging people for prayers destroys their opportunity for eternal life. They end their relationship with Christ and the time of payment.  God gives us blessings - more than we deserve - so that we will serve Him in gratitude, seeking his face, knowing his grace.  We sometimes see people who receive amazing miracles from the Lord - healing of blindness, rescue from death, etc. - but then return to the world and never serve the Lord after that.  A recent study by economists in the United States found that church attendance goes down as giving goes up - people prefer to give money instead of their time to the Lord.  They want a simple business transaction, not a relationship. 

Related to this, there is also a danger of emphasizing signs and wonders in the church without giving the revealed Word or any form of evangelistic assistance.  People come for the wrong reason, and leave without understanding God’s project of salvation.  They think Christianity is like magic - just a source of spiritual power to get the material things they want.  It is not surprising that in such a context many people start to mix Christianity with mysticism, because their focus is solely on manipulating spiritual forces to fulfill their selfish desires.  This is not the project of God.  God’s project brings people to eternity; the things of this world are passing away and have no lasting value.  (See 1 John 2:15-17).  When people focus only on material things, they end up focusing on the gift instead of the Giver.  They avoid commitment. 

The gospels give us examples of this as well.  Luke tells us about ten lepers who came to Jesus for a healing (just like the ten brothers came to Joseph for food in Genesis).  Jesus told them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” (Luke 17:14 - The Law of Moses required that the priests inspect and certify that someone had been healed of leprosy, see Lev. 14:3-11).  As they went, their leprosy disappeared.  Only one of them went back to thank Jesus.  “He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan.”  (Luke 17:16)  Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed?  Where are the other nine?  Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”  (Lk. 17:17).  Jesus also told a parable about a servant who owed a debt he could never pay (Matthew 8:24) as an illustration of our debt toward God. 

Joseph put his brother’s silver back in their sacks.  Silver is a prophetic symbol of redemption by the Blood of Jesus.  (Matthew 26:15; Zechariah 11:12; Psalm 68:13).  The Lord does not accept trades or business arrangements with us.  He always gives freely.  In return, He wants our hearts and lives.  He gives back what we try to give him.  The Lord is indebted to no man.  Man is indebted to God.   On the second trip to Egypt, Joseph puts the silver in their sacks again, but this time also places his own silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.  The silver cup was for wine and somehow foretelling the future.  This speaks of the blood of Jesus (the cup of the New Covenant) and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18-19), which brings revelation and prophecy.  As unspiritual men, the brothers could not distinguish true revelation from the world’s “divination,” but we know the difference is the source.  Revelation comes only from the wine of the Holy Spirit, which we obtain through the Blood of Jesus.  We do not need the world’s wine any more. 

Joseph is a prophetic type of Jesus (see John 5:39).  People come to Jesus today seeking a blessing, but they do not want a commitment.  Often they receive the blessing they needed when they visit a service or evangelistic event.  They do not realize that the Lord also puts the blessing of his Blood in their hearts so that they will return.  The Blood of Jesus draws people back to his presence.  Joseph returned the silver secretly so that his brothers were unaware at first.  The first brother did not discover it until he was getting grain for his donkey.  Many discover that the Lord has placed his silver in their hearts (the Blood of Jesus) only when they begin to partake of the benefit they received from that blessing they sought originally.  The other brothers discovered the silver only when they returned home and opened their sacks (Gen. 42:35); some people take longer to realize that they should return and seek the Lord.  We should continue to pray for those who have visited the church and received an answer to prayer. 

The Lord places his blessing from eternity in people’s hearts, even without their realizing it at first.  Only later do they sense that they need to return to the Lord to seek His face.  The brothers realized that they needed to return with a different attitude, as people who had received something without payment.  The Lord draws us back so that we will approach him in humility, recognizing our position as debtors, sinners who need his mercy and grace.  

For many, this is an unpleasant feeling at first.  We see that Joseph’s brothers were upset - “their hearts sank.”  Some of the great revivalists, like Charles Finney, called this experience “conviction of sin” - the unpleasant pressure that an unbeliever feels when confronted with their own sin, their own need of God’s mercy, and their spiritual obligation to yield their lives to the Lord.  People become upset, depressed, or sometimes even angry - some start to persecute the church or the preacher because of their own aching conscience.  In response to such conviction, people either surrender to the Lord, resulting in a complete, profound conversion; or they harden their hearts until the feeling subsides, resisting the Word of God, the seed that was placed there.  

The Lord freely gives us the spiritual food that our souls really need (milk is the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2; see also Isaiah 55:1-2), and the “wine” is the Holy Spirit.)  We come as sinners wanting to purchase a blessing.  The Lord returns the silver to our sacks.  He gives us salvation through his grace.  He marks our lives for eternity with the blood of His Son.  He calls us to return to Him, to seek His face, and to live in His presence.