Perfection - Week 2

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Scripture Reading by Lady Pepper

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Sermon Bumper Video

Title of the message this Morning

Perfection

PRAYER

“Lord, we take a moment to quiet our minds and hearts before you.

We know that you have created us for your glory, to be ambassadors of your goodness in the world.

Teach our hearts to embrace your Process, so that we can grow towards maturity.

Make us people of substance and character -- people who accept your dealings with us as good, praising your name in the good times and the hard times.

Use the testimony of your servant Joseph to give our hearts a new perspective today.”

SCRIPTURE

Genesis 39 and 40. We are covering a lot of ground, so this will be a higher level view, concerned with some key events in Joseph’s development towards Biblical Perfection.

Hebrews 10:32-39

Lamentations 3:25-33

CRUCIAL QUESTIONS

Let’s start with the three crucial questions we’ll be answering in this sermon:

What is Biblical Perfection? How is God’s goal of Perfecting us tied to His Process? How can we accept God’s goal of Perfection, when it feels cruel?

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we talked about the Promise and the Process.

Like Joseph, we have precious Promises from God, and they are true.

However, we can’t have the Promises without the Process, and God’s Process includes suffering.

If we misunderstand God’s Process, we will be discouraged when the Promise and the Process seem to be in contradiction.

In our text, Joseph received the Promise, and now he has entered God's Process.

Today we’re going to talk about Perfection, which is the goal of God’s Process in our lives.

We know that God is “conforming us into the image of Christ,” but what does that actually look like?

In the story of Joseph, we get an amazing example.

But first, I want to change your perspective on what Perfection is.

STRONGS "Perfection:" 5046 téleios (an adjective, derived from 5056 /télos, "consummated goal") – mature (consummated) from going through the necessary stages to reach the end-goal, i.e. developed into a consummating completion by fulfilling the necessary process (spiritual journey). See 5056 (telos).

Biblical perfection is not “doing everything right.”

It has more to do with a mature character.

It means to be fully grown, developed into your final form, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Man's idea of Perfection brings stress, comparison, and disappointment.

"The letter kills" because the goal is behavior modification and success hinges on willpower.

God's idea of Perfection brings transformation, humility, and gratitude.

"The Spirit brings life" because the goal is heart transformation and success hinges on faith.

Let's unpack these principles in the life of Joseph, and watch how the Process of suffering, betrayal, and false accusation are leading him towards heart transformation.

SUMMARY

Genesis 39

After the horrific betrayal of his brothers, Joseph goes to Egypt as part of a slave train.

He ends up being sold to a wealthy official in Egypt named Potiphar.

Potiphar recognizes Joseph's excellence, and promotes him to overseer.

(Genesis 39:5) 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.

(Genesis 39:6) 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.

After Joseph's promotion, Potiphar's wife takes notice of him, and tries to lure him into an affair.

Joseph adamantly refuses her advances many times.

She frames Joseph out of spite, falsely claiming that he has assaulted her.

Potiphar, in a rage, sends Joseph to prison for a crime he didn't commit.

Joseph's only crime, as with his brothers, is being good at what he does, and being highly favored by the leader of the household.

Joseph suffers, not for wrongdoing, but for virtue and effectiveness.

What is God doing? Shouldn't Joseph be rewarded for his virtue, instead of being punished for it?

REFLECTIONS:

As discussed last week, God's Process involves suffering.

God promised to exalt Joseph and make him great, and adversity is the vehicle in which his character is being forged into greatness.

God is creating a man who does what is good, not only when life smiles upon him, but also when life is unfair and brutal.

God is creating a Perfect man.

Lamentations 3:25-33

(25)The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

(26)It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

(27)It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (28)Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;

(29)let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope; (30)let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.

(31)For the Lord will not cast off forever,

(32)but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

(33)for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

This is Joseph's consistent response to injustice, betrayal, and adversity.

He is patient.

He does not blame God.

He resigns himself to God's will, and commits himself into God's hands.

He does not strive against his captors or his assailants.

He "waits quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

He is being Perfected.

He is becoming a man of incredible resilience, humility, and faith.

One day, Joseph will have the power to treat others the way they have treated him.

And we will see him miraculously forsake revenge in favor of radical grace and forgiveness.

That miraculous ability is being forged in these moments.

APPLICATIONS

We can have a variety of responses to adversity, but our responses will generally fall into one of two categories.

One is Striving, and the other is Holy Resignation.

One is an immature response, and the other is a mature response.

Striving is when we buck against God's limitations in our lives with a heart of entitlement or offense.

This can look like complaining, blaming, running away, or reckless efforts to escape our circumstances.

This comes from a fearful, agitated heart in a state of unbelief towards God.

It comes from a need to control our circumstances.

Holy Resignation is a supernatural response, empowered by God.

We see past the visible hardship with eyes of faith, and trust that God is "working all things together for good."

This response often feels impossible, especially in the face of injustice.

But it comes from orienting our eyes on God and seeing Him as sovereign and good.

It is the byproduct of trust.

It is the byproduct of

casting our cares upon God, because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

It is the peace that surpasses understanding that comes from actively bringing our anxious petitions before God, and leaving them at His feet

Found in the book of (Philippians 4:6,7).

This is one of the great disciplines of maturity, and if you've tried this, you understand how impossibly hard this feels.

It's so hard when your thoughts are a whirlwind of discouragement, and your negative thoughts and feelings keep circling back, even when you address them over and over again with scripture.

My only advice is to actively recognize that this is all part of the Process of your Perfection.

The reps are not wasted.

The failed attempts are not wasted.

You are in Process.

Don’t give up --

God is building into you disciplines of maturity.

Say it out loud, even if you don't feel it.

Rehearse the truth.

Preach to your soul.

God is not punishing you, or abandoning you, or being cruel to you. God is forging you into the very image of Christ.

God is Perf In the next chapter, the same pattern begins again. Jacob is promoted by the jail-keeper, and becomes the COO of the prison. Later on, Pharaoh sends two of his servants to prison, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

Both have vivid dreams, and Joseph interprets their dreams by the power of God.

He prophesies that the Cupbearer will be released from prison and restored to his position in three days, but that the Baker will be executed by Pharaoh in three days. Joseph was in jail two more years before being released from jail

Joseph pleads with the Cupbearer, who he knows is about to be restored to a position of influence, to remember him and to advocate for him to be released from prison, where he has been unjustly incarcerated.

Can it be that Joseph’s fortune is about to change?

Is he close to the moment when the Lord will release him from his horrific fate?

The chapter ends with this chilling verse, after the Cupbearer is restored, and the Baker is hanged:

(Genesis 40:23) Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Joseph was in jail two more years before being released from jail

REFLECTIONS

Have you ever felt like God is piling things on top of you to the crushing point?

Has a series of unfortunate events caused you to question God’s goodness?

Look at the track record of Joseph’s life so far:

● Hated by his brothers.

● Thrown into a pit, where he was screaming and pleading for his life.

● Sold by his brothers to slave traders and kidnapped to Egypt.

● Sold to an Egyptian official as a slave.

● Falsely accused of sexual assault by the wife of that official.

● Thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

● Abandoned and forgotten by a man he helped in prison, who had the power to return the favor.

What is the Lord doing?

What is the Lord allowing?

How can this possibly represent the actions of a just, compassionate God?

APPLICATIONS

We must come to the conclusion that God’s economy is radically different from ours.

God values the internal development of a person’s character, and uses the painful events of our fallen lives to create internal treasures of maturity.

Lamentations 3:31-33 -- (31)For the Lord will not cast off forever, (32)but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; (33)for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

God’s heart is not to afflict you or grieve you.

His heart is compassion and steadfast love.

Affliction and grief are the necessary materials for the forging of Perfection.

God’s love is shown to us, not only by the lavish blessings that he pours out upon us, but also by the lengths he is willing to go to to transform our suffering into our Perfection.

He does not afflict from his heart.

His heart is ALWAYS a heart of love and compassion.

CONCLUSION: SUMMARY

How can we possibly understand this?

How can we understand God’s painful Process of Perfection as an act of His love?

Some of us are parents, and we desperately want to keep our children from suffering.

The idea that God could love us, and allow us to suffer terrible things, can be very foreign to our concept of parental love.

I think this is the place where God becomes most foreign to us -- and it’s the place where we are most likely to misunderstand Him and stumble at Him.

I also believe this is more a matter of the heart than of the mind.

We can perhaps understand, on a basic level, that God allows suffering as an act of love and investment in our transformation into the image of Christ.

But understanding is not acceptance.

Understanding happens in the mind.

Acceptance happens in the heart.

I believe that it takes a miracle of faith to reach a place of Holy Resignation with God -- a real trust that He is perfect in all of His ways, and that his intention to Perfect us is worthy and loving.

CONCLUSION: APPLICATIONS

Are you suffering beneath the mighty hand of God today? Are things piling up in a way that causes you to say in your heart, “Really, God?!”

God takes no pleasure in your pain.

He does not afflict from His heart.

Your story is not a tragedy.

It will seem like that sometimes -- just look at the life of Joseph so far!

But that's not the end of your story.

Your story is a story of redemption.

Let’s pray together.

Salvation:

The Word of God says in: John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you’d would like to receive Jesus today, please pray this prayer with all of us:

Lord I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died On the cross for my sins and His resurrection from the dead gives me eternal life. I ask forgiveness of my sins, and I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

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Benediction

casting our cares upon God, because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” -Madeliene L’Engle (Lang ill)

Have a Great Week! Goodbye!