The God of Providence
Notes
Transcript
Joseph - Week 1
Joseph - Week 1
INTRO:
last sunday was fun wasn’t it????
so good to look back at all that God has done
so many things over the last 15 years where the only explanation for them.... is “ONLY GOD”
and we are trusting Him to keep doing things that only He can do as move forward
we’re going to take that idea of “ONLY GOD” into this next sermon series.... 6 weeks leading us up to Palm Sunday and Easter
but before we get started today....
i want to read a lyric to you that a friend of mine wrote
he’s a been a professional song writer for more than 30 years now… he’s very good at it
a handful of years ago he went through some really tough stuff in life… life on earth is like that often times isn’t it???
i noticed that more than one of the songs he wrote during and after that time had the theme of redemption…
let me read some of the lines to you from a song called “Everything Can and Will Be Redeemed”
When my sorrow has been heavy
And I'm broken to my knees
I will hold on to Your promise
Everything can and will be redeemed
Lord you found me, in my failure
And your kindness rescued me
Oh the goodness, Oh the Mercy
Everything can and will be redeemed
My God is Faithful, Always beside me
Mover of Mountains, My God is Mighty
Lord You are Able, so I will believe
Everything can and will be redeemed
[talk about redemption]
redemption is one of the most important themes in all the bible. redemption means to “buy back” to “rescue from” usually with some form of payment...
the idea of ransom is often involved when talking about redemption
God’s relationship with his created people has always included redemption starting with his chosen nation the Israelites....
he would redeem individuals or groups from difficulty
he would redeem the whole nation from slavery in egypt
he would redeem them from exile
God wants to be known as Redeemer… he told them early on in Exodus chapter 6...
Exodus 6:6 (ESV)
6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
God is a redeeming God… and can redeem any and all situations in our lives!
Have you ever come through some hurt, pain, loss, broken relationship, tragedy, sin you were stuck in?
Can you look back and see how God has redeemed it? Can you see how He was able to work through it for good? For His glory? for his purposes? for your good in some way?
Or are you in the middle of one of these times? time of sin, or struggle, or loss, or pain???
Trust Him. Rest in His presence. He wants to redeem this.... he’s at work.... even when we can’t see or feel it
See redemption is an action word and it’s God who is doing the action
God did not create the world and then step back and say, “let’s see what happens!” we aren’t robots… only thinking, saying and doing what God controls us to do.... but He is actively involved in what’s going on in His creation.
this is the characteristic of God called PROVIDENCE
the Westminster Shorter Catechism, says this about providence:
"God's work of providence is his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions,"
Our great Creator uses his creative power:
to keep all creation In existence,
to involve himself in all events,
and to direct all things to their appointed end.
over the next 6 weeks, we’re going to be using the story of Joseph to show that God is always at work:
to accomplish his plan,
for his own glory
and for the good of his people
That is why Joseph
would one day say,' "As for you, you meant evil against me. but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive. as they are today" (50:20).
God is at work in all things....
THE STORY OF JOSEPH IS BY FAR THE LONGEST and most incredible narrative in Genesis, if not the entire Bible.... and you know i love good narratives!
even secular authors have recognized the greatness of the story of Joseph...
Agnes E. Meyer, writing in The New York Times Book Review, said,
"... purely as narrative and background there is a magnificent story here which exceeds in drama, opulence, and movement anything that Hollywood has ever dreamed."
theologian Kent Hughes wrote:
Ultimately, and above all, the story of Joseph is about God working
his will through the everyday events of life. There are no miracles here.
God does not suspend his natural laws to make things happen. The story
is about the hidden but sure way of God. God's hidden hand arranges
everything without show or explanation or violating the nature of things.
God is involved in all events and directs all things to their appointed end
BODY:
begin to read Genesis 37:1
1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
{quickly recap God’s chosen people from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob}
If Genesis 1-11 highlights the creation of earth and humanity, then in a very
real sense Genesis 12- 50 highlights God's creation of a special nation. the nation of Israel...
God chose Abraham to be the father of this new nation and this group plays several strategic roles.
First, their (election) is the key to solving the sin problem that is so evident in Genesis 3--11.
Second, they provide a visible symbol to the world of God's forgiving grace of sinful human beings.
Third, they demonstrate the necessity of commitment to the one Creator God.
Fourth, they illustrate the necessity of exercising faith in their relationship to the Lord.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.... Jacob has 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel and one of his youngest sons, Joseph, acts as central figure in Genesis 37:1--50:26,
and verse 2 of our chapter today is our introduction to Joseph..
2 These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
Joseph… not perfect… “bad report” is “evil report” at the least can assume it was a slightly false report and for sure… Joseph was a tattle tale!
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
Joseph was already having problems with his brothers after his bad report of them… now, he’s got a fancy new robe from his dad and the brothers “saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers”
the sin of favoritism is becoming somewhat of a family pattern (Jacob’s father loved Esau more than Jacob, and Jacob’s mother loved Jacob more than Esau, Jacob loved his wife Rachel more than his other wife Leah)
Jacob, more than anyone, should’ve known to love all the kids equally!
Joseph was in charge
Joseph was loved the most and given this beautiful robe… basically being treated as the first born.... not the 11th born
so his brothers loathed him… now you might be wondering at this point, where is God in all this???
well, actually, He’s about to add some fuel to the fire to get the brothers to hate Joseph even more!
The fuel came in the form of two Joseph-exalting (dreams.
Genesis 37:5–11 (ESV)
read vs. 5-7
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
[now, there’s no way any of his brothers missed the point of this dream… Joseph was telling them that ALL of them would one day bow down before him as ruler.... how do you think they took that?]
look at vs. 8....
8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
vs. 4 they hated him
vs. 5 they hated him
vs. 8 they hated him
and if that wasn’t bad enough, God gives him a second dream!
read vs. 9-11
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
[what do you think Joseph expected??? We don’t know his motive for sharing the dreams, but we at least know he sometimes likes to stir the pot, right?
he’s already tattling on his brothers
he’s strutting around in this new robe he got from daddy
now he’s going to tell them about these dreams where he’s in charge and they’re all bowing down to him
one interesting thing is that All dreams in the Joseph narrative come in pairs, because the pairing of dreams meant there was a certainty of fulfillment. later on in chapter 41, when Joseph is interpreting dreams for Pharoah he tells says this in vs 32:
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
So Joseph's second dream now sealed the deal.® God would sovereignly, providentially.. bring to pass the fulfillment of these dreams
so by giving him these dreams… (and knowing young Joseph couldn’t help himself but to share them....) God essentially ensured the rejection of Joseph by his brothers...
why would He do that?
isn’t that the question we all want the answer to from time to time in our lives?????
why would God do that?
why would God allow that?
why would God make me walk through that?
we almost never get that answer in a timely fashion do we???
but even when we can’t see it or feel it… God is at work
Go back to our definition of Providence: "God's work of providence is his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions,"
Do you see what that tells us? It reveals that any of us who follow God will live a life that
will sometimes become very tangled. At times complications will rise from our own sin (as
with Joseph), and even from the sin of those around us.
We live in a world caught in a
web of sin, and it is constantly casting new webs.
But we know even in the middle of life's
complexities the creative power of God
is at work to do us good.
This is true when we are sick, when we have trouble with our
children or grandchildren, when work problems surround us. Truly we have a God of
providence.... a God who sustains us in all of life, always working for good.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
This is a
truth to learn now, because life is not going to get easier. In fact, the more you follow God,
the more complicated life will become because your life's course will go against the
currents of this world. But you can trust that God is at work to do you good, and find rest
in that. even when you’re in the middle of the struggle..
Submit to him. Follow him. Trust him.
so the scene is set…
and if you know the story, the plan would soon be set into motion by Joseph’s brothers,
sending Joseph into slavery in Egypt.
We also know, if you’ve read, that God's
plan was in full motion, though no human could see it.
see… a famine was coming… and Israel's human savor, the future governor of Egypt, was
being put in place.
God’s hidden providence is at work… even in and through the evil of man
So let’s jump ahead..
one day, Joseph gets sent out by his father, Jacob, to go check on his brothers who were out working with the flock in another town.. Jacob probably sent him with food for his brothers and wanted Joseph to come back and let him know how they were doing
look at vs 18.....
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.
they hated him
they hated him
they hated him
and now they decided to kill him
the evil in the hearts of men is super scary isn’t it???
this was their brother!
but the progression of hatred had led them to this point
now as Joseph was getting closer, you can imagine the brothers chiming in with ideas to complete the plan..
let’s throw him in a pit
yeah, and then we’ll say an animal ate him
they’re getting their story straight… what they’re going to tell their father and others when they get home
Genesis 37:23–25 (ESV)
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat...
Joseph's brothers laughed and joked and ate while they listened
to Joseph's cries and pleadings. They acted as if they didn’t even hear him. but they did… in fact, years later those cries still haunted them
21 Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
but they weren’t concerned about the consequences of their sin on this day....
we often aren’t concerned with the consequences of our sin while we’re committing the sin are we????
The brothers' plan was to eat, move on, and leave
Joseph to wild animals. But the hidden hand of God’s providence shows up as a caravan unexpectedly appeared, and the plan changed...
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
the brothers went home
they took Joseph’s robe and dipped it in blood and showed it to their father
ironic… Jacob himself once tricked his father, by taking his brother’s cloak… and dipping it in blood
Jacob’s deceit had come full circle...
Jacob assumed that Joseph must have been torn to pieces and that his precious, favorite son was dead
Jacob mourned and mourned and refused to be comforted.... in fact he committed to mourn for Joseph until he himself died
but Joseph wasn’t dead…
providence
God is at work to accomplish His plan
for His glory
and for the good of His people
CONCLUSION:
Last verse is not a throw away (meanwhile….)
36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
don’t miss this glimmer of hope....
God’s hand of protection was on Joseph.... being sold as a slave could have gone very badly for him.... notice… Joseph never whines or exemplifies an attitude of victimhood in all that happened to him.
it won’t be until later chapters that we read about it… but Joseph had faith in the God of his father, grandfather and great grandfather....
Joseph had a deep seeded trust in the covenant-making God
and if that God had made promises, if that God had given dreams… then that God would fulfill all of it
and in all of this, favoritism, lying, anger, violence, being sold into slavery,
God is working in all of this to his end,
he’s paving the path to take his people OUT of Canaan and into slavery in Egpyt
so that.... he can introduce himself to his people as redeemer… as rescuer.... as savior...
As deliverer,
and He wants us to know Him like that as well
that he will pass over all of our sins,
that he will rescue and deliver us not only from difficult things here on earth.... but
from the curse of sin and eternal death through his son, Jesus Christ.
We can trust God in all these things, because we know of his great and deep love for us.
Do you know God today as rescuer?
Have you met the one true deliverer that can save you from your sin?
are you on the path to the eternal promise land because of your faith in Jesus...
or are you still bound in slavery to your own sin?
Today could be the day of rescue!
INVITATION
we’re going to sing a song as we finish today… it’s the song that i read to you in the beginning of this message.... there is hope for redemption in whatever situation you are in....
while we sing there will be some men and women down front here for you.... these are men and women you can trust....
if you want to pray… to talk.... or especially if you want one of them to help you meet Jesus today for the very first time, i want to encourage you to come during this song...
PRAY
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