By Faith: Joseph
By Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We have been following the stories of the people in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith
Like Abel who’s faith drove him to give his best,
And Enoch, who walked with God and was spared from death
Noah, who’s faith started with fear of the Lord, and led him to Obey God when God told him destruction was coming
Abraham, who’s faith and trust in God’s promises led to extreme obedience, to the point where he was not afraid to sacrifice the child that God told him would carry the blessing forward, because he knew that God would fulfill his promises.
Jacob who knew the value of God’s blessing and God’s promises, and through trickery, guile, and fighting tooth and nail with man and with God so that he could make sure his children and grandchildren inherited that promise.
Now we get one verse speaking of the next champion of Faith
By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
Joseph, like Jacob has quite the life, but the focus in Hebrews is his acts in faith, and we see Joseph, who lived 400 years before the exodus, looks forward to the exodus.
Joseph had a gift from God, he could dream and interpret dreams that God gave to warn of future events.
Now just because he had the gifts of dreams and visions, does not always mean that things were easy for him.
Quite the opposite.
Joseph’s early dreams got him into trouble.
Though it didn’t help that he was his father’s favorite son.
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. 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.
He was Jacob’s favorite, why? because he was Rachel’s son, and Jacob originally only wanted to marry Rachel, so he treats Joseph, the second youngest, as though he is the firstborn, giving him an expensive coat, made with expensive colors, that signifies his rank of Firstborn.
Jacob intended Joseph to receive the blessing from God.
and of course none of Joseph’s 10 older sons like this idea.
And then Joseph tells them about his God-given dreams.
Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 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.” 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.
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.” 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?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Joseph has dreams that his brothers are going to bow down before him, and that his parents the sun and moon will bow down before him.
Now this vision was given to him by God to let him know that he will end up in a powerful position, but he just recieved the coat that marks him as the “firstborn son” and his brothers think the authority is getting to his head,
to be fair, it probably is.
Church I believe that God gives us various gifts to help us spread his word, but I want to be careful that we do not abuse the gifts of God, or use them for our own purposes.
Joseph was given dreams where he is given authority, and he goes and tells his brothers, “Hey - one day you are all going to bow down to me” instead of “okay God, i see you are going to put me into a position of leadership, what can i do to start fostering that, how can i start to help lead my brothers?”
Church I have seen and heard too many stories of someone recieiving a wonderful gift from God, be it prophecy, or tongues, or healing, or knowledge, and they take off running with it, not thinking about how best to use the gift and then others get hurt.
Remember what Jesus says in the Sermon on the mount
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Joseph’s careless use of his gift leads to his jealous brothers selling him into slavery. - and Joesph gets sent to Egypt
But God stays with Joseph, and Joseph start to grow in Character
Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
Joseph quickly rises from lowest slave to overseer of his master’s house.
He starts growing in authority.
and then, once he has had a taste of what is to come, he is tested in his character.
He is handsome
And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.
Joseph does not commit adultery with his Master’s wife,
Even though as a slave, she can command him to, and she tries to
But he refuses, not because of his master, but because of God.
Joseph knows that his gifts come from God, and that in order to properly exercise the gifts God has given him, he cannot take authroity for himself, he has to allow God to give it to him.
He cannot take something that isn’t his to take.
When he was younger, he tried to exercise authority over his brothers prematurely.
Now he is wating, and trusting God to see him throug.
Now eventualy Potiphars wife, in her anger at joseph accuses him of raping her and has him thrown in prison.
And there he meets 2 people having dreams.
they are pharaoh’s closest attendants, the one who drinks from his cup to make sure it isn’t poisoned, and the one who bakes his food.
And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”
So they tell him his dreams, and there is a lot of symbolism, but in the end the cupbearer dreams that he returns to serving pharaoh, and the baker dreams he is eaten by crows.
And Joseph sees that God is trying to let them know what will happen, so he interprets their dreams.
And what he says will happen happens.
So when Pharaoh himself starts having disturbing dreams, his cupbearer tells him about the guy in the prison who could interpret dreams.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
and Now we see Joseph who no longer even takes his gift as his own, he clearly says “it is not my power, it is Gods.”
See church when we have a gift, God wants us to use it, but we need to recognize that the gift does not belong to us, It is from God.
Joseph does interpret pharaohs dream, and sees that God is warning pharaoh of what is to come, seven years of bountiful harvest, followed by seven years of famine.
And in aiding Pharaoh Joseph is promoted to second in command of all egypt.
And they make stockpiles during the seven years of plently
and they are prepared when the seven years of famine come
And then Joseph’s brothers return
Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.
Joseph’s borther’s fulfill Joseph’s first dream without even realizing it.
Now Joseph wants to make sure his brothers have grown and changed like he has, that they have matured a bit,
So he challenges them and tests them, seeing if they have learned from their mistakes, and they did
and then he welcomes them to Egypt, to make sure they are cared for during the famine.
And Joseph forgives his brothers, because if they had not sold him into slavery, he would not have been able to save Egypt and them.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 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. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
And Joseph and his family stay in Egypt, but God gives him one final vision before he dies, and he brings his family to him and says
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.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph saw the exodus, and he knowing what God was planning on doing, asked his family to carry his bones back to the promised land with them.
and when the Exodus came 400 years later, they remembered and they did.
Jospeh lived a life of gifts, and at times he relied on the gifts for himself, and that got him into trouble, but when he learned to use his gifts to help others, that is when good things started to happen.
Church, i know i do not talk about this much, but God has gifts for the church, they are not always a flashy as visions, dreams, prophecy, but he does give us gifts. But Joseph learned to live not by his gifts, but by faith that God would give him opportunities to use his gifts, and by recognizing that no power he had came from himself.
Church we need to have faith that if God has given us a gift, that he will also guide us on when to properly use it.
and that, when used in the best way, it will lead to the salvation of others, it will give others hope.
we also need to recognize that out gifts are most likely not for when times are good, but when things are hard.
Josephs gifts were most important when he was in prison, and when Egpyt was about to enter a famine,
Joseph foresaw the exodus, which means that his promise that God said he would bring them through is what was needed when the Israelites were enslaved.
Church the gifts of God are to be used to help guide people in hard times, and to bring salvation to others.