Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

‌Good morning, Chapel!

This morning we pick up where we left off three weeks ago!

While I’m sure CH’s Koeman and Herring had great messages, and we, along with you, are always eager to have a variety of voices and perspectives delivering reflections on God’s word, I hope you’re all excited to dive back into our series, The Story, which will take us on a journey through the Bible, with the exception for a few occasional guest preachers, through September.

At last we departed our series CH Hornbaker presented, “God Builds a Nation.”

Today, we resume with the story of Joseph, “From Slavery to Deputy Pharoah.”

Scripture:

I want to start with Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Illustration:

At the age of 23, with 6 years invested in the Army, I decided to hang it up.

I had joined the Army in the first place to gain experience and training to become a member of the Anchorage Fire Department, my childhood dream.

As a metropolitan-size fire department, no easy feat.

First, they only considered people for their department with emergency medical training, not just fire science.

Second, there were several hundred applicants from the local Fire Science program competing.

And third, they only hired about once every 5 years.

This was a dream come true.

Not only had I distinguished myself as a combat medic, but I also had flight medic training, regarded by many as the varsity of that career field.

I had also begun discerning a call to ministry, at least in some capacity, and I was trying to be obedient.

Now, discernment in itself is a tumultuous time in anyone’s life, especially when it’s at a time when everyone else your age seems to be years ahead of you, college graduates, starting their own families.

I, especially at this point in life, thought I had God on my side.

So, I took the exam with 500+ others and awaited a callback.

As I waited and waited, it never came.

There’s a lot more to that story—I assure you—but in the interest of time, I’m going to fast forward a couple weeks to a point when I had become pretty sure that God had laid on my heart that I was going to be in vocational ministry.

I had packed my car, for the second time in 6 months, with all my worldly belongings and headed across the country to start school.

I was miles to the Canadian border, about a whole day’s drive from Anchorage when I received a call back to take the physical fitness test, the last gate, before being admitted to the fire academy and becoming a probational firefighter.

I had been 6 months out of the Army and had no doubt in my mind it was anything but a sure thing.

After a brief session of self-pity, I continued on, determined that if I’d let all my certifications expire, they would not serve as a temptation, and began the long track that was in itself fraught with more discernment, frustration, and mixed messages from God, ultimately leading me here.

Transition:

That’s an oversimplification, for sure, but what I am trying to emphasize is that my childhood dream; not just that, but what I had, up to that point, invested my whole adult life into pursuing, preparing, and training for, began to challenge my decision to follow God.

“Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

Points:

1. Through the story of Joseph and his brothers, we discover that God’s plans are alwaysbrought to pass.

2. God remains faithful to his covenant promises, saving his chosen people from famine and using Joseph to save all of Egypt.

Application:

I chose that experience to share because there was real grief; maybe some of you can relate.

I had given up something that wasn’t bad.

I felt something akin to affliction for my decision to follow God, perceiving even some semblance of betrayal.

I was relying on God’s promise (Prov 3:5,6) “trust[ing] in the LORD with all [my] heart and lean[ing] not on [my] own understanding; in all [my] ways acknowledging him, [that] he [would] make straight my paths.

To be fair, He had not promised me anything, but I had felt like he had through discerning my call to ministry.

Surely, He was with me.

And He is, right?

But what does that even mean?

Do we not stumble, fall on our faces even?

Though Abraham, Issac, and Jacob had received God’s promise, none of them would live to see it fulfilled.

Transition:

That portion of my story illustrates the point of our series.

That in the Bible, there are two storylines.

The upper story—God’s story, where the narrative is His fulfilled purpose, and the lower story; the human characters’ story with all of its complexities and details of life, afflicted with the fall.

God calls us to capture the upper story and its effects on our lives.

God calls us to have faith in his promise, the redemptive act, and dedicate ourselves to the reconciliation work of the Kingdom, establishing on earth communities of support and worship, bringing fulfillment in an otherwise poor and destitute excuse for existence.

The story of Joseph is a crystal-clear example of the intertwining of the two storylines in the Bible.

Think of it like the poorly dubbed translations in Kung Fu Movies—God’s portion is the point, the translation; our story is much lengthier—the original recorded language, especially when we’re telling it.

Though the words are never synced, the points match.

Connection:

Though temptation was never far, and it sometimes felt even as if God were testing me, God’s calling upon my life was brought to pass.

Though I sometimes perceived betrayal, God was—and is—never far.

Transition:

Leading up to where we are today in our series, God gave Abraham this “promised land,” right?

Then, there’s a famine almost immediately, and he has to go into Egypt.

Now, I’m sure that Abraham had some heartache about that.

He probably didn’t like that and perhaps even felt a little betrayed.

I mean, he was obedient, right?

What are you doing here, God?

And the dubbed translation was thus, but Abraham’s still moving his mouth.

We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Rom 8:28

Spoiler, God’s plan continued, and that brings us to this morning, where the stage is set for Joseph.

Exposition:

Now, I know that many of us know the story of Joseph; if you don’t, I encourage you to read it.

It takes up the last 13 chapters of Genesis 37-50.

But I’ll tell you what, the word of God is living and active (Heb 4:12).

What many of us, when we simply look at the big picture, his morality, or the Character of Joseph; we miss what’s going on below the surface, his story.

So, this morning we look at longsuffering because it’s a choice to be patient in your suffering.

It’s a virtue because if you weren’t virtuous, you probably wouldn’t suffer; you’d give in.

The lower story today is about clothes and dreams, and perhaps if you’re familiar with the story of Joseph, that’s what you focused on.

The upper story, though, is about bloodlines and blessings.

Now Joseph was a young man, and he was a little brother, and I’m a little brother.

My point is that we all have criticisms; what I mean is that we bring our perspectives, they come from our predispositions; socio-economic, age, gender, and so on, and it’s important to be aware of them so as to not project them onto Scripture.

Still, they also help us understand the world around us and to better appreciate how others fit into the Kingdom.

Because the Bible isn’t meant to be interpreted alone but in fellowship.

Again, because the word of God is living and active, we can’t put it in a box, and we do a great disservice to say that we grasp all that is within it.

Scripture/Exposition:

Beginning in Genesis 37: 1Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

2These are the family records of Jacob.

So here we have the called people of God; they’re in the Promised Land, they’re going to build a nation, they’re supposed to increase in number.

3Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

He’s a tattle-tale.

It doesn’t say that.

I’m sorry.

I’m a counselor, so I’m just going to call it what it is.

The picture painted here of this family is textbook dysfunction.

There are 2 wives, 12 sons with 4 different women; lots of conflict.

Conflict between the wives, conflict between the sons.

3Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe for him.

Do you think this helps or hurts the conflict?

Right, this favoritism causes additional disputes in the family.

Picture a military family with a couple mirages and huge age gaps between the kids.

The father is still serving; let’s say he’s a field grade, and several of the older ones have already enlisted.

Now you’ve got this baby, daddy’s dependent, who’s still young enough to be cute with the little kids’ uniforms, you know, dress-up, and what’s he wearing, private rank?

No, he’s daddy’s baby.