Shattered Dreams

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied. 14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” 17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

Pray.

Intro:

In middle school, I had a dream to be the National Junior Honor Society President. NERD! (hang on, it gets worse). So I ran for president: promised ice cream Fridays with reduced prices, another coke machine in the field house, and an extra pep rally. Now I didnt have any authority to deliver any of this....a young politician in the making. I ran a great campaign. I was running against Sarah Rayburn. Everything was guys and girls back then....I couldnt get the guy vote out. Turns out the football team does not care about NJHS. I lost. Dream crushed. I felt so stupid. I was Sarah’s VP.

Fast forward to high school, senior year, and I am nominated to run for NHS president. And I win. But middle school me felt destroyed that this dream did not work out. I couldnt see what lessons I might be learning.

Dysfunction in the family spirals

Joseph is the favorite here. And this is not just some simple child favoritism, this is dynamic. And don’t be too quick to toss dad-Jacob to the wolves here. His sons are a hot mess. And he knows the promise that God has given his family. Who is going to carry on the name? Who is going to live a life that does not perpetuate all of his mistakes. Joseph is the dreamer and the one that is going to make it happen. Jacob puts all his marbles in on Joseph.

The jacket is not just some Technicolor dreamcoat

Jacob is making Joseph heir here.

“In the early 19th century Joseph H. Hertz was chief rabbi of the United Kingdom. He commented on this text that the ornamental robe given to Joseph was a chieftain’s robe, the kind worn by Semitic clan rulers of that time period. The robe itself was an insignia of rulership. It was not just an elegant gift to a favored son. In giving it to Joseph, Jacob was marking out Joseph as his heir apparent to lead the clan…even before Jacob is near death. You would know that this is way outside of custom.

Example of Christmas dinner mom and dad tell you…we are giving everything to your sister. We like her better. And then she reminds you about it every time you see her. Have you ever seen a family fight over an inheritance…?

When God gives you a dream

Then Joseph has these dreams. And I believe the author is being very clear that these dreams are from God. We know from later that there is great truth to them…and only possible by God. The author is very matter of fact here so we don’t need to do a lot of dream research here. I think the one thing that goes incredibly wrong is the 17 year old lacks emotional intelligence to not tell everyone. But hey, he is 17. When I was 17 I wrapped the same house with toilet paper three Fridays in a row.

There is a right way to move forward with our dreams and a wrong way

The dreams are clear that Joseph will have power. He will be in charge and all the brothers will bow before him. Even dad will bow. Bold prayer for sure. This is Jacob’s dream as well…that this son would be the one that accomplishes all he should have. The dream is about political power, it is about ruling the family clan. It means everything.

When Dreams die

This becomes just too much to handle for the brothers. Listen to this carefully, dreams and therefore hope, will always be threatening to other people. Why? Dreams and hopes for things that are not yet means the end of a present order. Breaking free of the way things always have been. Even the most God-given dreams…sometimes especially the most God-given dreams.

Let me use another dream as an example:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

This is our hope,

Think about Martin Luther King. I have a dream speech. Do you think that dream was threatening to other people.

All this to say, there will always be dream-killers. Who are your dream-killers? As the kids say....who are the haters?

When I was preparing for ordination....Gran, “how long do you think this phase will last?

Our dreams:

Let’s talk about our dreams for a few minutes here:

Sometimes our dreams do not line up with what God has for us. I have said this before, especially for any young people in the room…we toss around this language of “calling” in the church. If you are being called to something, make sure it lines up with the character of God. Sometimes our dreams are not reality.

What is the difference in God given dreams and human influenced ones?

Joseph’s dreams are given to him by God but I believe they are also shaped by his own wants, his own context, even by his father. Over and over again he is told who he will be. Family systems.

I think there is some truth to our dreams, especially God-given ones, but there is also some humanity to them. The path that Joseph would go on, looks very different than what his dreams would be.

Example with church planting

What do you do when dreams are shattered?

Joseph is sold into slavery.

Your marriage falls apart

the loss of a child

your business does not make it

The story is desperate in Genesis 37. The author is strategic and precise. The coat that Joseph meant to signify a future throne is brought to his dad covered in blood to symbolize a dethronement. Jacob’s dreams for his family and his son are lost…and he has lost a child. All seems lost here. What do you do when a dream is shattered?

Our dream and God’s dream: First, I think this is a sign that your dream might require something a little different than what you imagined. There might have been some human influence that God is going to refine.

Growth: There might be some growing that God is going to do in you, first.

It isn’t about you. It’s about the kingdom. God’s will for your life is not 2.5 kids, white picket fence, lake conroe, with thriving relationships with your in-laws, successful business, and a pleasent marriage. Jesus didnt die for that. God’s will for your like is always about inviting you back into a Genesis 1-2 relationship.

If you find yourself in this place. When all the circumstances look different, foreign, wrong, like being dragged to a foreign land…do not be overcome by the current circumstances. Hold on. There is something more around the corner.

When dreams are shattered, we turn to waiting

ii. Find perspective. Find what is good around you. Wait on the Lord

4. God did not fail you: when dreams are shattered…God is a God who puts pieces back together and the mosaic is more beautiful than the clean version.

a. Verse 36 is the only hint that the dream is not dead:

Genesis 37:36 NIV

36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Even when it is just a glimmer of hope hold on.

The dream is not over for Joseph, it is just different.

You see, Joseph’s dreams were about authority, power, patriarch political rule…not about decades of slavery, prison, loss, grief, betrayal, tough forgiveness, deep generational healing. But this mosaic is the one that God brings glory to the kingdom and witnesses to the nations.

Promise over your life

“The listening community (of Genesis) is permitted to face the power of uncomforted grief in any time. We are all children of grief—if not of death, then empty failure, of dreams dreamed but unlived. All kinds of tomorrows are crushed for the sake of tough, ruthless todays.

But still, the listening community of Genesis may be led by all of this to wonder.

What dream is still dreamed over us?

What promise is guarded on our behalf?

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