The Promise and Process

Today we are kicking off a series about the life of Joseph, called Meant for Good. How many of you have had someone do something to you? Yea… all of us. But what they meant for evil, our God meant for good.

In this series, we will look at 7 Christian principles for living that we can draw from the life of Joseph. There are at least 11 chapters in the Bible about Joseph’s life… that’s a lot. So Joseph is a big character in the Bible.

The principles we will learn all begin with “P”s.

Promise, Process, Perfection, Procession, Penitence, Provision, and Peace.

Today we will talk about the Christian walk or life and we will challenge some preconceived ideas that many people have about Christianity, especially here in America. I think we will learn some amazing truths about life from this first story about Joseph.

Let’s look at some common ideas about God that we need to challenge. Maybe you have had these kinds of feelings too. Feelings like…

If God loves me, He will make my life easy and comfortable.

If I give money to the Lord, I will get back 100 times…

God’s primary goal for me in life is to make me feel good or happy.

If I’m suffering, it means God doesn’t love me.

If I’m good, God will love me.

Those are just a few. Now you may look at those assertions, and say to yourself “of course those are not true.” But our human nature defaults to selfish ways of thinking, even in matters of faith. We have all fallen victim to this kind of thinking at one time or another.

Can you think of a time when you were disappointed with or even angry with God for letting bad things happen to you?

All of us have…

Our culture has exposed us to a worldview that says things should be easy for us, especially after we become a Christian. We are more addicted to convenience than any generation before us. If we are hungry we go to the store. If we are thirsty, we turn on the faucet. If we need something, we make a few clicks and it’s on the way to our doorstep. We pay at the pump for gasoline.

In some ways this is awesome. But a sense of entitlement for things to be easy and convenient can put us into conflict with God’s ways of dealing with us… which often involves suffering and waiting. Most people don’t like that.

The idea that God’s love means convenience for us is not what the Bible teaches.

God is way more interested in our growth and character development than He is our comfort. The tribulations that Joseph, a faithful servant of God, experienced are an incredible case study of how God works in our lives.

The Promise, Process, Perfection, Procession, Provision, and the Peace… the 6 P’s explain God’s intentions towards us. The (Promise); His work in our lives including suffering (Process); and what that work is producing (perfection). They also explain our destination (Procession), How God provides along the way (Provision); and our ultimate reconciliation (Peace).

Today, we will be talking about the Promise and the Process.

Let’s read through the text and highlight some themes about God’s real work in our lives. We will spend some time in Gen 37:1-36.

1. Joseph had a messed up family

Genesis 37:1–4 NLT

1 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner. 2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. 3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

You think your family is messed up. Joseph has a very troubled family dynamic. His father shows obvious favoritism towards Joseph over all the other brothers. This cause a lot of conflict and bitterness with his brothers.

On top of that, Joseph was a tattle tale. Anyone ever had a younger sibling who loved to tattle on you? This really mad them angry.

This family was a powder keg ready to explode. All they needed was a match to set it off which will soon come as a result of God’s promise to Joseph. That promise comes to Joseph in two dreams.

2. Joseph has a couple of dreams.

Genesis 37:5–11 NLT

5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” 8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

In the Bible,

Dreams are often understood to be prophetic.

Many people in the Bible had dreams that God sent them messages through. From Abraham to Jacob and on … all had dreams from God. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, had a dream from God about Mary. So it’s not strange for Jacob and Joseph’s brothers to hear him tell them about the dream and think that he is talking about the future.

What’s Joseph’s attitude in all of this? Well, Joseph knows he is the favorite over his brothers. They hated him for that. Joseph probably didn’t know how much they hated him. Now he decides to tell his brothers, who already hate him, that one day they will bow to him. He told them that twice.

I think it’s fair to say Joseph was pretty excited and proud enough of this dream … and about the prospect of his brothers bowing to him that he felt compelled to tell them. You may have had a little brother like this. I am sure he sounded pretty braggadocious. Even Jacob, his father told him to stop talking.

The incredible thing is that this dream is actually a message or a prophecy from God about Jospeh’s future. It was a Promise from God. One day they would bow before him. But that is one day and not this day.

Here is one of Joseph’s problems. He only sees the coolness of this promise from God. But he has no idea of what it will cost him to bring these events to pass. He doesn’t know it yet, but it will cost him everything he loves.

We do the same thing. We often get excited about God’s promises but have no idea about the process God will use to bring us to the fruition of that promise. The process often involves suffering.

We want the promise without the process… the blessing without the suffering. When it doesn’t happen that way, we want to blame God and some people will turn away from God.

Genesis 37:12–16 NLT

12 Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.” “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied. 14 “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron. 15 When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked. 16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”

Jacob basically sent Joseph, his favorite, the one his brothers hated to go and spy on them. This pattern of favoritism and tattle tailing is about to turn into a murder plot.

3. Joseph’s brothers decide to murder Joseph.

Genesis 37:18–24 NLT

18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. 23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

This is a perfect example of what happens when we meditate and ruminate on negative emotions, like hatred and jealousy. Eventually,

What we ruminate about will come out in our actions.

The battle is in our minds and hearts. Joseph’s brothers had talked and ruminated about Joseph until it got to the point they made a plan to kill him. If it had not been for the Grace of God through Rueben’s intervention, Joseph would have been murdered.

For all of Joseph’s faults, he has done nothing to deserve the cruelty that his brothers are now treating him with. In a way, he represents a type of Christ, unjustly harmed by his kinsmen, he will undergo horrible torment, only to later save the very people who condemned and abused him. In other words, his suffering lead to the redemption of many.

This is the beginning of a road of suffering and exile that will last for decades. This is God’s process for Joseph, in order to bring blessings to the nation of Israel that will endure for generations.

When I think about God’s process, I am referring to the reality that we, like Jacob, must endure suffering and hardship in order to receive the character that makes us more and more able to authentically serve the people around us and fulfill God’s calling in each of our lives.

When we became Christians, we signed up to be conformed to the image of Christ.

This process takes a lifetime and includes suffering along the way. Jesus had to suffer and so will we.

Let’s keep reading the story….

4. Joseph is sold as a slave.

Genesis 37:25–28 NLT

25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. 28 So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

Think about this. Joseph is in a deep pit that he cannot get out of. He is most likely pleading for his life, and then pleading for his brothers to not sell him as a slave. But they did it anyway.

God had given Joseph a promise, through a dream, of a glorious destiny, but this is the beginning of the drama to get there. Joseph will eventually become 2nd in command of Egypt, and be one of the most powerful men in the world, and his brothers and his father will eventually bow down to him.

With that promise in mind, I am sure that Joseph never imagined that this would be the road to getting there. He was hated and nearly murdered by his brothers, thrown into a dark pit, and ultimately sold into slavery to strangers who in turn sold him to a commander of Pharaoh’s army in Egypt… a long way away from home.

Sometimes the distance and tension between God’s promise and and his process can be jarring and feel contradictory.

We have to remember that God’s plans are not our plans and his ways are not our ways. As Christians, we have wonderful promises … just like Joseph.

We are more than conquerers through Christ.

All things work together for the good fo those who love God.

God will one day exalt us and we will rule over angels.

God will crush Satan under our feet.

No weapon formed against us will prosper…

That all is good but we have to remember that God has a process to get us there. There will be times when the process is painful, and it will be difficult to trust him in those times.

If we think we can have the promise without the process, we will be disappointed & angry with God all the time.

We will begin to think that God doesn’t love us or that he is cruel.

That’s why many people have walked away from their faith. We can receive the promise with joy and eager expectation, but be totally unprepared for the process which often includes suffering. We begin to think wrongly about God and like Adam in the garden, we run away from him. Jospeh’s story is a powerful testimony of God’s power to hold us through the worst of circumstances.

Are you in a process right now?

Are you feeling the impossibility that a loving God could possible let things happen that have happened in your life? We all will face this tension. My prayer is that the HS will prepare and equip each of us and comfort us as we go through the process. No words can explain away our suffering… Only God can give you the power to embrace His process. But rest assured, God has a plan, just as he had a plan for Joseph all along. We just have to go through the process.

In fact, in Joseph’s case, God planned this all ahead of time so for the rescue and deliverance of Israel on a grand scale.

Psalm 105:16–19 NLT

16 He called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply. 17 Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them— Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. 19 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.

Joseph’s story was about much more than just his own life. It was about the rescue of his entire family, and the preservation of an entire nation. This verse says that the Lord tested him until the time to fulfill his dreams.

What does it mean to be tested? It means to be refined, like metals that are smelted in a furnace. The Lord tested Joseph and forged him into the man who would rescue two nations. The process changed him into a new man.

Maybe God is forging you right now, through whatever suffering you are going through. Maybe he is forging you into someone amazing in a way that would not achieve without the suffering.

We have to understand what it means to be tested by a promise. It means that we must live inside the tension between the promise of God and the process of God; and if we can recognize that tension, by the Grace of God, the we will be ready to ultimately accept God’s ways of dealing with us, even if His ways sometimes hurt and are uncomfortable.

Conclusion

This is the story of the brother who became a pariah, and the pariah who became a slave, and the slave who became a convict, and the convict who became a ruler, and the ruler who became a savior of the very people who destroyed his life. This is the story of staggering betrayal, forgiveness and redemption.

As I said, Joseph is a type of Christ, and he is also a type of the Christian. Over the next 4 weeks will have incredible applications for how to understand and cooperate with God's dealings with us.

For now, I want you to think of some promises. I want you to think of some of the positive promises that Scripture actually guarantees to the Christian.

Promise of Salvation

Promise of God’s Presence in your life

Promise of Peace

Promise of Strength

Promise of Provision

Promise of Guidance

Promise of Forgiveness

Promise of Wisdom

Promise of Victory over Temptation

Promise of being a New Creation

Promise of Gods Faithfulness

Applications:

Now think specifically about your life. Chances some of these promises we read in God’s Word don’t feel true for you. In fact they probably sound the opposite to your experiences. How can both be true? You may be asking, How can a loving God take this away from me? How can a loving God withhold this from us?

That’s the tension between the promise and the process. This tension is normal and it’s as much of a promise as any of the promises you would ever list out. Listen to this promise.

John 16:33 NLT

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

There is a tension in that verse… can you feel it? Jesus says that we are going to suffer… a lot. But cheer up and have peace. Why? Because I won the ballgame already… you just can’t see it.

We are becoming people, like Joseph, with the actual ability to be cheered up and illuminated by a Promise, by the very words of God, in the midst of an utterly contradictory experience. This is what it means for your faith to be purified and strengthened.

What refined Joseph during the decades of his humiliation, terror, and torment? It was the word of God. That's all he had in the pit, that's all he had in the slave line, and it's all he had in the prison: The very word of God.

How do we endure the unendurable Process? By holding fast to the Promise. And by extension, this means holding fast to the very Word of God.

And some of you will say, "That ship sailed a long time ago. I've lost hope."

Do you think Joseph never lost hope? I think he did, many times. Sometimes I lose hope. But I come back to this verse:

Proverbs 24:16 NLT

16 The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

I fall. But I get back up. That is the mark of the righteous. We fall, but we rise again through Christ.

What verses do you come back to? Hold them tight, they are precious! Pastor Kathy shared one with you Wednesday when she talked about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the Wall of Jerusalem.

Just because you lost hope yesterday, doesn't disqualify you from grabbing hope today.

And just because you lose hope tomorrow, doesn't disqualify you from gaining hope the next day.

That is the very essence of the Process! You are daily being tested and refined by the word of God. You are holding Him, but the greater reality is that He is holding you. Find your Promise, and speak it to your soul to get back in the saddle of life when you realize you've fallen out of it.

I pray that, instead of discouraging you, this sermon will help you make sense of your Christian walk, the ups and the downs, and remember that God knows exactly what He’s doing with your life. He has a plan. He will fulfill his PROMISE, and He will hold you through the PROCESS. Hold fast to Him!