Gotta Love the Ugly

Joseph

Good morning. First before we get started let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Father we thank you for what you are doing in this church. We know that you are faithful and that when you begin a work you see it through. We ask for comfort for those who are hurting, strength for those who are weak, and peace for those who are frazzled. God speak to us through your Word this morning. Amen.

We are going to continue in our series the Good, the Bad and the Ugly this morning and my sermon title this morning is the same thing that my wife’s parents said to her about 10 minutes before we got married. Gotta Love the Ugly.

We are looking at Joseph this morning. Not Joseph the earthly father of Jesus but Joseph and his coat of many colors, the dreamer, the slave, the prisoner, the second in command. That Joseph.

So before we dive into the sermon today there are some things that I need to clarify before we get started. The first thing is up to the this point the bad and the ugly have been direct results of decisions made. Anybody in here every made a dumb decision? I know I have. And if you follow me around today odds are you’ll see me make another one.

Another thing is that the good always comes from God. Whether you choose to believe that or not I can tell you that I can’t count one good thing in my life that isn’t God. He is for you. He wants the very best for you. God did not create you to harm you.

Ok now lets dig in and see what we can learn about the good the bad and the ugly from the life of Joseph.

Now I’m going to read some of the Scripture and summarize some of the story because it covers a lot of ground. We are basically going from boyhood to death and that could take us a while. Let’s begin in Genesis chapter 37 starting in verse 5 and going down through verse 11.

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.” 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.

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.

Now if you look at this it can really depend on a lot of variables how you take Joseph telling his dreams to his family. Some of us will be like there’s nothing wrong here. His family should support him. Some of us will say he’s just throwing stuff in their face. He’s already the favorite. No wonder they hated him.

Now how many of us throw our dreams out there. Posting everything we have in our hearts on social media and giving people the opportunity to take shots at our dreams. To hate us because God put something inside of us? I’m not saying its right or wrong but this is definitely a cautionary tale right.

This brings me to my first point and that is this:

Point #1 – There will always be someone or something ready to tear down the dreams that God gives you.

Now this is going to go backwards from the last couple weeks of the series because this is the bad right here. And spoiler alert it gets ugly and uglier from here on out before we get to the good.

So Joseph brothers hate him so much they plot to kill him. I mean wow it’s getting real ugly real fast. I mean they even plotted how to make it look like an attack from a wild animal. His brother Reuben talked the rest out of killing him so they sell him into slavery.

Let’s see what it says in verse 25 through 28

25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 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.

I mean that’s cold right. That’s ugly. You might be saying well it can’t get any worse than this right. Well just hang on because we are about to see it get uglier.

Joseph is in Egypt and the Lord moves to get Potiphar who is an officer of the Pharoah to purchase him. It is clear to Potiphar that the Lord is with Joseph. He puts Joseph in charge of his entire household everythings great right?

Yall ever get in a spot where everything is going good and you are looking around. When is the shoe going to drop right? When is the disaster gonna happen. When is the bottom going to fall out.

Watch what happens next. The Lord blesses Potiphars household because of Joseph. Potiphars wife tries to convince Joseph to as the ESV Translation says “lie with her”. Joseph refuses not once but twice. I mean he is doing the right thing. He’s not compromising he’s not wavering, he is honoring God and honoring Potiphar.

Potiphars wife gets angry with his refusal and accuses him of trying to force himself on her. As he was running away he left his garment behind and she uses that as evidence.

And here is some more ugly....in chapter 39 verses 20 through 23 it says

20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.

After going through and reading all that ugly here is what sticks out to me and I hope it does to you. In verse 23 it says because the Lord was with him and then it says the Lord made it succeed. This leads me to my next point.

Point #2- The Ugly isn’t always something we bring on ourselves. Sometimes the ugly shows up as a weapon to destroy our faith and trust in God.

You see Joseph followed the Lord even through the ugly. It doesn’t say whether or not he asked the Lord why. Or what was going on. But he followed and kept his faith. The ugly shows up as a weapon to rob our faith and our peace and our joy. It happened with Joseph and it happens in our lives too.

The ugly tries to take us down and trip us up. Right. Bank account gets overdrawn. Layoff notice shows up. People talking behind your back. People hating you and tearing down your dreams. Health failing. Loss of a loved one. The ugly shows up and attacks. But here is what I know...

In Isaiah chapter 54 it says:

17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute

every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the

servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”

– Isaiah 54:17

He doesn’t say that the weapon or the ugly won’t be formed. He doesn’t say that the weapon won’t be fired. The arrows won’t be thrown but here it what I want to tell you this morning. You have hope when the ugly hits. You can look out and say go ahead fire that weapon because my vindication comes for the Lord.

You can shoot all the arrows you want you can line up outside these doors and throw out the best you got but I’m gonna brush it off me. No WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME WILL PROSPER. YOU GOTTA LOVE THE UGLY BECAUSE HE MAKES BEAUTY FROM ASHES. WHEN IT’S UGLY I KNOW THE GOOD IS COMING.

You want some hope this morning when the bad and ugly hits and the world turns upside down. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ he says Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world. Gotta love the ugly cause that’s when I know that God is fixing to move. When you can’t see the way out when all you have left is prayer and tears and a faith that says I don’t how your gonna do it God but I know your gonna do it YOU STAND BACK AND WATCH HIM WORK.

Now watch what he does with Joseph…Brings him up from the prison and puts him as the right hand man of the Pharoah. Set him over all of Egypt. Worked through Joseph to save the nation from starvation.

Now I feel like one of those infomercial guys…BUT THAT’S NOT ALL....He restores Joseph to his family. He brings Joseph’s family to him.

Here’s what it says In Genesis Chapter 45 verses 3 through 15

3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

I mean talk about the Good right. After all that bad and all that ugly God used all of that and worked through all of that to do some amazing things.

And then look at chapter 50 verses 22 through 26

22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

You may say well what’s good about Joseph dying. I mean look. He lived 110 years. He was reunited and restored with his family. He was blessed beyond comprehension. And when we look at death for those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ it is only the beginning not the end.

My last point is this...

Final Point – When we are in the middle of the bad and ugly it’s hard to see God’s plan. God can fix the bad and the ugly and bring about the good that was planned all along.

Now you see when you are only focusing on the bad things sound like this....well bad....and when you can only focus on the ugly this sound ugly.....but let me tell you that when the storms are raging and the bad and the ugly are chasing you and attacking you but your focus and faith remains in Jesus it all sounds good.