Suffering

Introduction

What up Guys! Great to see all of tonight.

Tonight we are going to talk about something that I’m sure everyone in here loves. We are going to talk about Suffering!!! Just Kidding…

When we think of suffering there are generally not a lot of good things associated with it.

Illustration

One of my best friends from high school is one that is definitely not a stranger to suffering. Evan grew up in the home of a High School football coach. Growing up he always excelled in sports and always had a good iq of the game. He was a leader.

To set the scene, it was Evan’s Junior year of high school. He was projected to break the school record for tackles in one season. The first game he had a hard hit to the head. From that time on for the next 5 weeks he just didn’t feel right. After the game on week 5 when he went to bed, he woke up in a hospital bed. The doctors told him that he had a brain bleed.

Fast forward to his senior year. He has had time to heal and recover from his brain bleed and so he decides he will play football his senior year. Evan was playing like he had never gotten hurt. Flying around the field. We get all the way to homecoming. We are doing solid that season and we had Evan leading us. In the 4th quarter Evan had a hard hit to the head. He got up and began to walk over to his dad on the sideline. Before he could get there, he colapsed to the ground. Another brain bleed. He was rushed to the hospital as he was getting taken care of by a ton of medical professionals.

I mean here you have this kid that had the highest expectation on his life to become this amazing football player and to go on to the next level and yet he was faced with the reality that he would never get to play the sport he loved ever again. After Evan healed up he went on to become a trauma nurse so that he could meet and help people when they are in a time severe.

God can use suffering to accomplish His plans through us.

Context

Tonight we will continue to walk through Genesis. Last week Nick walked us through the story of how Jacob recieved a new name from God. His old name meant “deceiver” and reflected his life in a real way.

We saw that like Jacob, we are flawed and sinful, in need of an encounter with God that will transform our identity and give us a new mission in life.

Intro into story

Today we are going to walk through a story about a man named Joseph. Joseph was a son of Jacob. We see countless times through the life of Joseph how God uses Joseph’s hardships and suffering to carry out God’s Plan. and his plan for his life. We have a lot scripture to cover, so here is a spark notes version of what is going on in this story.

Narrative

Joseph was the favorite son of his father, Jacob, and everyone knew it. Jacob even gave him this fancy coat of many colors, which made his older brothers super jealous. To make things worse, Joseph started sharing his dreams about ruling over them someday. Which he finds out was not a great idea. Imagine your younger sibling telling you you’re going to bow down to them. Not cool, right? The anger was building within his older brothers.

One day, they saw their chance to get rid of him. They yeeted him into a pit and they’re plan was to kill him. Instead, one of the brothers named Judah had the bright idea that instead of Killing him, they should just sell him to the caravan of Ishmaelites that were making through. So that is exactly what they did. They sold Joseph as a slave to these traders and he was off to Egypt. Can you imagine? One minute you’re wearing your favorite jacket, the next, you're on your way to a foreign country as a slave. But here’s the thing—Joseph didn’t give up. Even when life knocked him down, he kept trusting God.

In Egypt, Joseph ended up working for a guy named Potiphar, a high-ranking official. Joseph worked so hard and stayed so faithful that Potiphar put him in charge of his entire household. Things were looking up! But then trouble hit again. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of trying to have sexual relations with her, after Joseph denied to sleep with her because he was being faithful to God and his Master, Potiphar. These false accusations got Joseph thrown into jail.

Talk about unfair! But even in jail, Joseph stayed true to God and kept working hard. He earned the trust of the prison warden and became a leader there too. Through all the ups and downs—betrayal, slavery, and false accusations—Joseph stayed faithful, trusting that God had a bigger plan for his life.

Alright, that was a lot of information but yall are rockstars and you were tracking.

So we see from the very beginning of this story that Joseph was going through it. When he recieved the Coat of Many Colors, it says in Genesis 37:4

Genesis 37:4 ESV

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.

You see it is not really Joseph’s fault that Jacob shows favor to him. It is out of his control. The brothers were Jealous. Can you imagine how Joseph felt. Like, his brothers HATED him because of their dad’s favoritism. That really is a lonely place to be, in Joseph’s shoes.

In middle school I had a super close friend group of guys. We did everything together. And looking back now, it is some what comical, but back then, I hated when this happen to me. Every couple of weeks it seemed that someone from the friend group did something the others didn’t like so then they would ignore that person. Act like they never existed. It was like a game to them. The problem with that is when you are the person that is being ignored, left out, and hated on. When I was the one the friend group had a problem with, I dreaded going to school, I dreaded sitting in class with them, I dreaded going to recess. It was not an enjoyable time.

So then we go down a little further. Joseph is already hated by his brothers, but now we will see how he looks death right into the face. Joseph was on his way to find his brothers, who were with the herd. Genesis 37:18-20

Genesis 37:18–20 ESV

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”

Joseph can’t catch a break! matter a fact, it just keeps getting worse for him. His brothers were so angry and jealous with Joseph that they planned to kill him. What it doesn’t share in the passage is just how terrified Joseph was. Later in Genesis 42:21 the brothers speak on the state of Joseph.

Genesis 42:21 ESV

Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

Finally we will look at Josephs time as a slave in the house of Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife tried and tried to have Joseph sleep with her. Joseph responded to her saying this in Genesis 39:7-10

Genesis 39:7–10 ESV

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 Said, “How then can i do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

Joseph is getting put through the blender!

First he is hated by his brothers.

They throw him into a pit to try and kill him.

then they say SIKE lets just sell him into slavery instead. He is faithful to God and his through out his time as a slave. He then gets tempted, in which he does right and rejects the temptation.

But now he gets false accusations brought apon him about trying to sleep with Potiphar’s wife. He then gets thrown in Jail.

Application

Like, you may be looking at this story going, “how could this guy find any happiness through any of this?”

The reality is that he probably was not happy very much when he was going through these events in his life.

But do you know what kept him going?

He had a Joy that surpasses all understanding because he served a God that was greater then the suffering.

James 1:2–3 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Matter a fact, he served a God that was so Sovereign, that he used Joseph’s suffering for his plan.

I am here to tell you today that, that same God is alive, and well. And better yet, he desires to have a relationship with you.

He has a plan for you.

He has a purpose for you.

He cares for you.

and He is madly in love with you.

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You are not guaranteed to have an easy life after giving your life to christ. Trials, tests, and suffering will come your way. The difference is that you do not root your joy in worldly pleasures because they will let you down every time.

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Your Joy is rooted in the fact that you serve a God that is a personable God. Who loves you and cares for you so much so that he gave his only sons life so that you can be saved.

If you have not given your life to Christ, and you are here today ready to wave the white flag and say “God I’m tired of doing this on my own, take this life and do what you will with it”. I encourage you to talk to your small group leader tonight. they would love to help answer and questions you have.