Transcript

Good morning, guys. Let’s have the first slide up, if we can. So this morning, we’re continuing
with a series on Genesis, and we’ve arrived at the story of Joseph. You have no slides?
Where’s Pete Edleys? He’s told we’ve got them. So we’ve arrived at the story of Joseph, and
of course, that’s probably one of the best-known stories in the Bible, isn’t it? And I mean,
there are probably a number of reasons why it’s so well-known, and obviously, it’s a
very good story. But also, there’s the musical, isn’t there? And I guess, you know, a lot
of us know that musical well, and it’s a very, very good musical. But if you think about
it, the purpose of a musical, I guess, is to entertain us, to amuse us, to make us laugh,
perhaps to bring some glamour to our lives. And in doing those things well, it misses
something that I see in this chapter, and that is the sheer kind of horror and pain
and messed-upness of this family, because this is a story of a deeply dysfunctional
and messed-up family. So what I want to do this morning, I’m going to walk through the
story step by step, and I’ll just add a few things at various points. And then I’ve got
kind of four points I want to bring, I think, about how the story can apply to us today.
So let’s have the next slide. So this is the account of Jacob and his family. And when
Joseph was 17 years old, he often tended his father’s flock. But Joseph reported to
his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Now, actually, some experts on
the Hebrew text think that the kind of words chosen suggest that Joseph was maybe exaggerating
the stories about his brothers to cause more trouble. I don’t know if that’s true or not.
And actually, when we think about the brothers, what they will do in this chapter and what
they did just a couple of chapters previously in the atrocities committed at Shechem, perhaps
he didn’t need to exaggerate. They probably were doing plenty of things without the need
to over-egg that. But nevertheless, this whole thing is deeply unwise on the part of the
father, Jacob, and his son, Joseph. This is not going to promote harmony within the family.
And we’ll see more of that. Let’s have the next slide. 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. So here’s the picture of a really messed up family. And you know, the tragic
is Jacob is repeating the mistakes and sins of his parents. You remember the whole story
about Jacob’s terrible relationship with his brother Esau was certainly made worse
by the fact that his father’s favorite was Esau and Jacob with his mother’s favorite.
So he’d inherited favoritism. He’d seen the pain and hurt that caused in the family. And
here he is repeating the same mistakes over again. And that doesn’t excuse, of course,
the brother’s reaction to that, their hatred. But it does set the scene for what will happen
next in the story. Next slide. One night Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers
about it. And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked
about them. And of course his dream was about he and his brothers having sheaves of corn
or wheat. And in the dream their sheaves of corn bowed down before his sheaves. So it
was a fairly self-important dream really, wasn’t it? And his brothers hadn’t liked him
before and this dream was definitely not going to make it any better. So it’s kind of, I
mean you’re laughing and I understand that, but you know, this is just terrible what’s
going on here. And Joseph isn’t about to learn from his mistakes either. Next slide.
He has another dream and this time he tells his brothers again, despite their reaction
to the first dream, and tells his father. And it says, but while his brothers were jealous
of Joseph, his father wondered about what the dreams meant. I kind of think in this
slide we kind of see three ways of handling what may be a word from God. And one way is
to reject that angrily and outright because we don’t like the way it makes us feel. And
that’s the brother’s reaction. The next way, which I guess is Joseph doing is, I don’t
know whether they put it in these words, but Joseph is thinking, well, you know, if God
has given me a word and somebody else has got a problem with that and that’s their fault,
isn’t it? It’s not down to me. But, you know, we learn in the New Testament that, you know,
all gifts and words are subject really. Am I loving my neighbor in doing this? And what
did St. Paul said, you know, if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but have not
love, I’m only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy but
have not love, I am nothing. And Joseph, unfortunately, is playing that role. But the
third reaction is actually Jacob’s. And Jacob is kind of horrified about how the word has
been brought, but he doesn’t reject the word. He suspects that God may be up to something
here. And so he stays open and he’s pondering that. This reminds me from a line from the
New Testament of Mary when she saw some of the things that happened around Jesus’ birth.
It said, and Mary pondered these things in her heart. So she’s storing it up and thinking
it over and wondering what God may be up to. Next slide. Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers
went to pastor the father’s flocks at Shechem. And when they’d been gone for some time, Jacob
said to Joseph, your brothers are pastoring the sheep at Shechem. Get ready and I will
send you to them. There’s something about Jacob has not understood where his other sons
are. He’s not understood how they’ve been feeling. He’s not understood how dangerous
they are, even though to some extent there’s been ample warning. You know, the terrible
things that happened in Shechem show that these were violent, angry men. And he’s sending
Joseph to them without having thought of the consequences. Next slide. And when he
arrived there, so this is Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man from the area noticed him wandering
around the countryside. What are you looking for? He asked. I’m looking for my brothers,
Joseph replied. Do you know where they’re pastoring their sheep? Now this is interdenial.
It’s part of a slightly longer section in the chapter. And one thing that’s interesting
about this is that it’s definitely not mentioned in the musical. But there’s a reason why it’s
not mentioned in the musical. It just feels like kind of padding. It’s not central to
the story in any way at all. It’s just kind of extra. Well, why do we need to know we
have this conversation about where to find them? It doesn’t appear later in the story.
It’s just extra material in the chapter. But you know, this to me is one of the signs of
the authenticity of the story. You know, if you were making this up as a good story,
you wouldn’t put this in. It doesn’t add anything. But it has to do with the way that our memories
work in the real world. You know, on the day of Anne’s funeral, I can remember what the
weather was like. I couldn’t tell you what the weather was like the day before or the
day after. I can remember the weather. Now the weather was not important to what happened
that day. I remember it. Because that’s the way that memories work. You know, when something
important has happened in your life, you remember details around that that really seem kind
of irrelevant. And so this is a mark of the authenticity of the story. The only thing
to think about is this. This is a conversation between Joseph and an unnamed man out in the
countryside somewhere. So how did the writer of Genesis know this? Well, the most likely
reason, surely, is that this was a story that Joseph used to tell, probably told many times.
In later life, he’s telling the story about what happened to him. Joseph would tell the
story. The brothers didn’t know about this. But you know, Genesis said something of the
mark of drawing on kind of first person testimony of Joseph. Joseph’s fingerprints are on this
chapter. Next verse. When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the
distance. And as he approached, they made plans to kill him. No mistake of it. This
is what we call in British law first degree murder. This is premeditated murder. So they
are intending to kill him. This is not a heat of the moment thing. They are intending his
death. But it may also remind us of something in the New Testament, of Jesus arriving in
Jerusalem in the last week of his life and the authorities planning how they were going
to arrest and kill him. Next slide. His brothers ripped off the beautiful coat he was wearing,
and then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now, the cistern was empty. There
was no water in it. Just think about the violence of the language there. Ripped off,
grabbed through. I mean, Joseph is being beaten up. And this is kind of shocking language.
In fact, I’m told that the Hebrew word that is translated as ripped off was the word they
used for skinning an animal. You know, they ripped off the hated coat that he was wearing
and then threw him into the cistern. It’s a violent thing. In this chapter, we’re not
told how Joseph felt or what he was doing, but we can probably imagine it. And actually,
if you kind of fast forward to chapter 42, the brothers are talking about what happened.
And they said, we heard his cries for anguish, but we ignored them. And this would have been
a terrifying experience for Joseph. You know, he’s pleading for his life, and they’re not
caring. But in the kind of horror of that, you may not also see something of God’s mercy,
because the cistern that’s there to hold water is empty. You know, presumably the brothers
would have been very happy if it had been full of water, because then Jacob would have
drowned, and that would have been it. But the cistern’s empty, and so Joseph remains
alive. Next slide. Then just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw
a caravan of camels in the distance coming towards them. It was a group of Ishmaelite
traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt. Joseph’s
brothers pulled them out of the cistern and sold them to them for 20 pieces of silver.
There’s something of the callousness there. They’ve just beaten up Joseph and thrown him
into the cistern, probably bloodied and in terrible distress. And they sit down and get
their sandwiches out while he’s in suffering. But doesn’t that remind us of another story
from the New Testament of the soldiers who crucified Jesus then sitting down to play
poker over his clothes? And then it’s another one of those little details that you think
add nothing to the story. Apparently the Ishmaelite traders are taking gum, balm, and aromatic
resin. Well, I mean, but who would have known that? Possibly not the brothers. I don’t
suppose that traders were advertising that they were carrying valuable product with them.
But the new slave who accompanied them all the way from Canaan to Egypt over many weeks
would have known what they were carrying. There’s another detail from Joseph’s recollections,
really. And we also start to see God’s grace that he is being delivered from death, that
God is at work. And the brothers pull him out of the cistern and they sell him for 20
pieces of silver. And that apparently was the kind of standard price for a slave of
that age. It was probably more than double of what a shepherd could earn in a year. So
they were going to do very nicely out of this. And again, that reminds us of Jesus, isn’t
it? Betrayed for, in Jesus’ case, for 30 pieces of silver. Next slide. Then the brothers
killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe
to their father with this message. Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to
your son? Another kind of terrible kind of callousness and cruelty to this, isn’t there?
Because not only has Joseph been assaulted, but in a sense Jacob is about to be assaulted.
They’re about to tell him that his son has died. And my elder sister Fiona was killed
in a car accident when she was 19. And you remember my parents’ pain, my pain. And they’re
going to inflict that on their father. And also see how often one sin leads to another.
You know, they do this terrible thing to Joseph. And then they’re immediately following it
with a lie as part of the cover-up. And with, you know, in a sense further violence towards
their father. But there’s also a kind of irony in the use of a goat in this. Remember Jacob
himself had, you know, a goat had been involved in his deception of his own father. His mother,
this goat stew is part of tricking his father into giving the birthright. And it’s about,
you know, maybe something about what he’s reaped. He’s also sowing. He’s taken in by
this. Next slide. Jacob mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried
to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted. I will go to my grave mourning for my son,
he would say. And then he would weep. And it’s kind of a pitiful scene in many ways,
but also a horrid scene. I mean, his family tried to comfort him. What, hypocrites? You
know, they knew he’d been sold into slavery. They had been responsible for it. And they
were saying, oh, dad, we feel so sorry for you. You know, terrible hypocrisy. And were
they trying to comfort him because they wanted to comfort him? Or because their own consciences
were nagging and they wanted him to move on so that they could kind of move on themselves
from the terrible thing they had done to their brother. But Jacob’s definitely, Jacob is
heartbroken. And are you tempted to criticize Jacob and think maybe, you know, would we
not have expected a bit more faith or hope from you? Don’t go there. Don’t go there.
Because the book of Job tells us, you know, that at the end of the book of Job, the man
who was at the end of his tether is told by God to pray for those who tried to give
him good advice. So judge not lest you be judged. Next slide. Meanwhile, the Midian
traders arrived in Egypt where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king
of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard. And you know, one of the interesting
things in the context of the Bible about Genesis 37 is that God is not mentioned anywhere
in the chapter. But though God might be not visible, nevertheless God is still at work
in the background. And if you go back to Genesis 15, that probably was around about 190 years
previously, God is already foreseeing the exodus. God is at work even if he is not visible
in the story. But we’ve walked through the story. Let’s think about some of the things
the story, I think, can speak to us. Next slide, please. God loves deeply flawed people.
Actually, that’s one of the most consistent messages in the whole book of Genesis. You
know, if you can open Genesis that you’re going to find great examples of people to
follow, you’re quickly disappointed because actually there’s all these people who are
messed up in all sorts of ways. And they’re, you know, they’re supposed to be the people
of God, but actually they’re often behaving terribly. And I mean, somebody in the church
said to me, you know, I’ve actually found that quite encouraging when I think about
the shame of my own life. It’s encouraging me to see how God used people who were deeply
flawed. And this does bring me to two truths or two truths contained within that statement
that I think are fundamental to thinking clearly about ourselves. And the first truth
is that I am a deeply flawed person. And that both the things I’ve done, the things I’ve
not done, and my very character itself are deeply flawed. And, you know, unless we kind
of face the truth about ourselves, we are missing a fundamental fact. But the second
truth is that the God who knows all about us nevertheless loves us more than we can
possibly imagine. I would say those two truths are fundamental to all clear thinking about
ourselves. Perhaps you’re thinking, listen, Chris, I, you know, I know I’m not perfect,
I know I’ve got, you know, my issues, but I’m not sure I would kind of identify with
the phrase deeply flawed. So what’s my answer to that? I think my answer to that is in two
parts. I think the first part I would say, do something risky. Ask God to show you the
true nature of your heart. That’s my first answer. The second answer is this, watch out.
Jesus himself said, I haven’t come for people who think they’re righteous, I’ve come for
sinners. God loves deeply flawed people. Next one. God is at work in the middle of all this
mess. And again, that’s emphatically clear. You might think that, if you go back to the
beginning of Genesis, God makes a perfect world, and then the world goes wrong. And
God chooses to continue to be involved in this thoroughly messed up world. You know,
wouldn’t a holy God want to go off and start anew somewhere else, find another planet,
and start again with a new person? But God stays involved in the middle of this deeply
messed up world. And God is working out his purposes. And we certainly see that in, you
know, in the chapters to come in the life of Joseph and in the life of the people of
Israel that God is at work in the middle of all this mess. In fact, you know, the big
story, and it’s a story that involves us, is that, you know, God made a world that was
good. It went bad. And God is dealing with that by calling out a people of his own. God
is calling a people. You know, as Jesus put it in the New Testament, I will build my church
and the gates of hell will not stand against it. That is the business that God is in. And
he’s patient, and he’s long suffering, and his love continues. That was in Roland’s prayer
earlier. You know, God continues. Jacob is now an old man. He’s been making terrible
mistakes all his life, and God is still involved in it. God is at work in the middle of all
this mess. And, you know, that’s great news for us, you know, that God is at work in the
middle of the mess of my life. I don’t know if you’ve thought of yourself as a building
site. I want you to have that picture. And actually, you know, I think it’s so important
that we’re asking God. We’re saying yes to God’s work in our lives. And in the lives
of this very broken world that we’re in, God do things. God fix the overgrown garden. God
deal with the leaky roof and the toilet that doesn’t flush properly and the central heating
system that’s broken. God be at work in my life. And it’s interesting, you know, I talked
to some Muslim friends recently, and they were describing some people they knew. And
for some Muslims at least, you know, God’s will is almost like fate. So, you know, something
happens. Well, that’s the will of Allah, and that’s what happens. But in the New Testament,
you know, God’s will and his work in our lives feels much more like a cooperation.
You know, God wants our involvement in what he’s up to in this world, but God is at work.
A couple of things that Paul said in Philippians, he said, I am confident that God who began
the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day
when Christ Jesus returns. And then later he said about God is working in us. Work hard
to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God
is working in you, giving you the power and the desire to do what pleases him. So I think
there’s a huge bit for us to say yes to God’s work in our world. You know, that should be
part of our daily prayer for the work of God in our lives and in the lives of this broken
world. And this point in the previous one, I think they’re also relevant to the church’s
whole mission to a broken world. Tim Keller is a very well-known Bible teacher and the
author of many books. And Tim had a brother called Billy. And Billy was a practicing homosexual
who contracted AIDS and actually was later to die of AIDS. And Tim and his wife cared
for Billy extensively in the latter days of his life when his friends were no longer interested.
But Tim spoke at his brother’s funeral and he said, Billy tended to avoid kind of orthodox
believing Christians, not only because he disagreed with them, but because he felt kind
of beat up and condemned by them. And Tim had written a book about the Prodigal Son,
but when we behave like that, we’re behaving more like the older brother in the story of
the Prodigal Son than about the father. Jesus had them coming in. We keep them away. So
this is fundamental for how we want the church to be seen. God loves deeply blue people and
we’re called to share that. God is at work in this mess and we’re called to share that.
Number three, please. You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. And
that’s Joseph speaking much later in his life, but nevertheless, that’s a very significant
statement. And because you can absolutely see that in Joseph’s case is that your brother’s
motives towards him and their actions towards him were definitely for harm and only for
harm. But God is able to turn that around and use it for the salvation of many people.
He actually uses it to save the very brothers themselves who are saved because of this,
because of God’s action in this. And indeed, the saving of many Egyptians who would otherwise
have died of famine. We’ll read about that later. Supremely, of course, we see that in
the death of Jesus Christ. The authorities and the Romans who were complicit in the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ intended only harm from that. But God used that, used that more than anything
else ever before or since to bring good to this world, to bring salvation and freedom
for all of us. And Romans 8.28, it says that God can take the pain and suffering in our
lives and work that for good. He can work it for good. And that’s so important. I want
to say there’s a but with this that I think is worth just talking about briefly. And that
is that this is Joseph speaking later in life, looking backwards. This is not Joseph at the
time. I don’t get any sense that Joseph or Jacob could see that when it was happening.
In the midst of the pain and the suffering, that’s what they see. Only later do they see
the bigger picture. And I think that’s true. I think it’s corritempo, but I might be wrong.
Sometimes our lives, it’s a bit like looking at a tapestry from the wrong side. And all
we can see is kind of knots and threads and a mess. And it’s only when the tapestry is
turned around that we can see the beautiful picture. And I think when we’re going through
hard times, the why question is often quite unhelpful. We may not know the answer. In
fact, we may not even know the answer in this world, but we trust that God will work out
the mess and the pain for his good and for his purpose. And probably something in a verse
that’s not often preached about and maybe because it’s difficult to understand, he said,
for you have been given the privilege not only of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege
of suffering for him. And it’s the way when Christians suffer, and probably particularly
when they suffer from being Christians, that they’re part of that bigger story of the suffering
of the saints through all the generations and of Jesus himself. Next one. How does it
end? And I think we can summarize this very clearly in just two words. Christ wins. Christ
wins. And whatever difficulties we face in our life, the answer to that is I know the
ending. I’ve seen the final page of the book. I know how this finished. Christ wins. And
because I belong to Christ, I am caught up in his victory. He has rescued us from the
kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son, who pardoned
our sin, who purchased our freedom and pardoned our sins. So it ends with Christ winning.
But let’s—how are we doing for time? We’re okay for time. Let’s just spend a minute
or two praying, and let’s just really invite God to come. Lord, we thank you for your
word, Lord, and we thank you that your word can speak to us afresh today. And Lord, we
do want to take from your word every morsel of nourishment for our very selves, Lord.
Lord, we stand before you needy and hungry. We need your touch, Lord, and we invite you
by your Holy Spirit. Lord, work in us. Lord, we thank you that you’re already at work in
us. And perhaps your plans for us are different from the ones that we’ve got for ourselves,
but we want to say yes to the will of God in our lives. Yes to the will of God in Medihead
Christian Fellowship. Yes to the will of God in this broken world. So Lord, give us the
grace to cooperate with your spirit, Father, to welcome you. More than that, to insist,
Lord, to insist, God, work in me. Do not pass me by, Lord. Work in me. Do marvelous things,
Lord. Lord, I do not want to mess up on any good thing you have for me. Lord Jesus, today
I want to say a resounding yes to you and to your son. And I do this confident that
I will remain in your arms and in your loving care. Whatever happens in my life, you will
always hold me tight. And one day, I will stand with you in glory. Amen.