God's Grace Displayed in the Life of Joseph
Notes
Transcript
Based on Sermon Series SRVCC 77 Four Genesis People Demonstrating God’s Grace #4 Joseph - Genesis 37:1-50:26
Scene 1/ There are some big names in Scripture & Church history.
Noah, who built the ark because God told him to, even though it had never rained before!
Abraham, who believed God and God declared him righteous.
Moses, who obeyed God and lead the people of Israel out of slavery.
David, a shepherd king and a man after God’s own heart.
Isaiah, the prince of prophets, who prophesied the coming of the Messiah as a suffering servant.
Daniel a young man who remained faithful to God in a foreign land and who brought about the restoration of Israel.
Peter, James & John apostles of Christ and founders of the early church.
Paul, persecutor turned missionary of Christ; author of over half of the New Testament.
The theologian Origen, the second great teacher of the church after Paul.
Augustine of Hippo, the great theologian who defended Christianity from early heresy and established the thinking of the church for the next 1000 years.
Francis of Assai, who brought revival to the middle age church.
John Wycliffe who challenged the errors of the church, translated the bible into the language of the people and set the scene for the reformation.
Martin Luther whose work turned the church upside down, lead to the reformation and the beginning of the modern era.
John Wesley, whose preaching set England on fire and brought about the great revival which is credited with saving England from revolution.
William Carey the founder of modern missions.
William Wilberforce who brought about the abolition of slavery in the British Empire as well as numerous other reforms for the poor.
C. S. Lewis the great author.
Billy Graham, the great evangelist whose sermons lead millions to Christ.
Rev Dr Martin Luther King, the famous civil rights leader and preacher.
Scene 2/ Joseph is one of those big names; he is a star of the Old Testament.
The story of Joseph must rate as one of the most compelling and attractive narratives in Scripture if not in all literature.
Callously betrayed, deserted, and sold like a piece of merchandise by his own brothers,
He arrived in Egypt at the age of seventeen without friends and with no visible means of support. (Gen. 39:1).
Lesser men would have sunk into despair and defeat in such circumstances but not Joseph![1]
Joseph knew God and he knew that God intended something great for him.
We read in Genesis 37: 5-9 that he had a number of dreams.
Dreams which indicated that he would rule over his brothers.
Dreams that they would bow down to him.
But telling your older brothers such things isn’t going to win their affection.
That is one reason why they betrayed him.
That is one reason why they set out get rid of him.
The other reason why his brothers wanted to get rid of him is found in
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.
Here we see the dire effects of sin on human behavior.
Jacob’s favoritism turns normal sibling rivalry into deadly hatred, so that Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him.
And Jacob is blind to the effects of his actions on his sons. [2]
Jacob is repeating in his family the same mistake that his parents made.
Favoritism by parents always ends in heartbreak.
So we discover in Genesis 37:18 that it all goes wrong for Joseph.
His brothers conspire to kill him.
The only thing that saves him is his brother Reuben’s attempts to limit the anger of his brothers and the timely arrival of a caravan of traders heading to Egypt.
For more than 20 years this family will suffer heartbreak, a son has been lost because of envy and bitterness within the family.
The first episode in Joseph’s life has been played out.
Meanwhile, we are told that Joseph did reach Egypt;
He is still alive, so his dreams have not been killed, but it is certainly very difficult to see any way in which they could be fulfilled. [3]
Yet God has a plan for Joseph.
We read in Genesis 39:1 that he ends up a slave in the house of the captain of the guard for Pharaoh.
Things go well there for Joseph.
God’s hand is obviously on him for everything he did prospered.
But we also read in verse 6 that Joseph was a very handsome young man and the master’s wife was bored.
She took a fancy to him but he refused her advances.
As fury knows no bounds like a woman scorned it all goes horribly wrong as she accuses Joseph in revenge for rejecting her.
In verse 19 we read that the master is furious and throws Joseph in prison.
But we must ask the question, why didn’t he have Joseph executed.
We know that the rules of the day demanded this.
It has been suggested that maybe the master had some doubts about the story he was being told.
So instead he has Joseph thrown into the royal prison!
God’s hand is on Joseph, protecting him when he would otherwise be dead!
Genesis 39:21 tells us that in the prison, once again, Joseph quickly rises to the top.
Here he meets two men, officials of Pharaoh who have upset him.
These two men would have been living in a state of perpetual fear.
The cupbearer was a high-ranking member of a monarch’s court (see Neh 1:11).
He would have to be a trusted individual, since his primary responsibility was to taste all of his lord’s food and drink and thus prevent his lord from being poisoned.[4]
The baker likewise was entrusted to ensure that the baked foods were safe.
And both were responsible to please the court with quality food.
Perhaps one day the wine was bitter and the bread a bit dry or perhaps they were both suspected of conspiring against Pharaoh.
Whatever the reason for their imprisonment they both had dreams and Joseph was the one to see.
His interpretation are accurate, one is restored the other executed.
But the promise by the cupbearer to remember Joseph so that he can be freed is forgotten.
And so the second episode in Joseph’s life is played out.
In Genesis 41 we discover that once again God’s hand is upon Joseph.
This time in the form of dreams given to Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt.
These dreams mean that there will be seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine.
But no one can interpret the dreams.
Until the cupbearer remembers Joseph.
So Joseph is brought into the court of Pharaoh ruler of Egypt.
So impressed is Pharaoh with Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams and the advice he offers that Joseph is made governor of all of Egypt.
His task is simple; save the land of Egypt from the coming famine.
So Joseph sets to work, storing enormous amounts of grain in the seven prosperous years in preparation for the seven years of famine that will follow.
Joseph is given great prestige, a wife from the nobility, they have two sons.
But Genesis 41:51-52 tell us that the grief of being separated from his family remains.
Because of the famine Joseph’s family is forced to seek food in Egypt.
Eventually his brothers must journey to Egypt to buy grain.
And through a dramatic series of encounters we discover in Genesis chapters 42 to 45 that Joseph tests his brothers.
Slowly but surely steering them to bring his youngest brother Benjamin to Egypt.
Then he reveals his identity.
The one they had meant to kill is the one who is giving them life.
Finally Joseph is reunited with his Father who is brought to Egypt as an honoured guest of the Pharaoh.
In Genesis 50:20 Joseph tells his brothers what they had intended to harm him, the Lord had intended for good.
The cycle is complete
An amazing life, an incredible story.
A man of outstanding ability and faith
Joseph a star of the Old Testament was used by God.
But exciting as Joseph’s story is, it is actually a side story.
Joseph’s story sets up the history of the nation of Israel.
Joseph’s story sets up the story of the captivity in Egypt, the Exodus and the story of Moses.
Joseph’s story sets up the conquest of the Promised Land.
But all of this, important as it is, simply sets the scene on which the main act is played out.
Scene 3/ Often God’s focus is on the unknown.
When the Lord promised Eve at the time of the Fall that her seed would bruise the serpent’s head.
He promptly set in motion a series of events which would continue until the final victory of Messiah in the eternal future.
Abraham became a major link in the chain of the Lord’s activity.
As we have seen the next link was Isaac, not Ishmael, followed by Jacob, not Esau.
It would be natural to assume that either Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob, or Joseph, his outstanding son, would be the next link in the chain of divine succession.
But that was not to be the case.
Judah was the Lord’s choice and like some of His other choices it was surprising to say the least![5]
When Jacob was dying and he passed his blessing onto his sons, here is what he said, Genesis 49:8–10
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you. 9 Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.
Joseph was the star of the story
Judah was the chosen line of the Messiah.
Joseph set the scene.
Judah sets out the path to salvation.
Their Father Jacob’s life story takes up one half of the whole book of Genesis.
And Joseph is the star son.
His life story spans 20 of the 25 chapters devoted to his Father’s life.
But right at the end we find that the main act is not Joseph.
The main act is the line of salvation which passes through Judah.
The primary focus of God is the story of salvation.
Often the stars role is simply to set the scene for what God is doing.
Scene 4/ So when we feel like we haven’t achieved much by comparison; Remember God often uses the secondary characters to achieve his ultimate purposes.
Max Lucado tells this story.
When we all get to heaven I know what I want to do. There’s someone I want to get to know. You go ahead and swap stories with Mary or talk doctrine with Paul. I’ll catch up with you soon. But first, I want to meet the guy with the donkey.
I don’t know his name or what he looks like. I only know one thing: what he gave. He gave a donkey to Jesus on the Sunday he entered Jerusalem.
All of us have a donkey. You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the donkey, move Jesus and his story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check.
Whichever, that’s your donkey. Whichever, your donkey belongs to him.
A nineteenth-century Sunday school teacher led a Boston shoe clerk to Christ. The teacher’s name you’ve never heard: Kimball. The name of the shoe clerk he converted you have: Dwight Moody.
Moody became an evangelist and had a major influence on a young preacher named Frederick B. Meyer. Meyer began to preach on college campuses and while doing so, he converted. J. Wilbur Chapman.
Chapman became involved in the YMCA and arranged for a former baseball player named Billy Sunday to come to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a revival.
A group of Charlotte community leaders were so enthusiastic afterward that they planned another campaign and brought Mordecai Hamm to town to preach. In that revival a young man named Billy Graham yielded his life to Christ.
Did the Boston school teacher have any idea what would become of his conversation with the shoe salesman? No, he, like the owner of the donkey, had a chance to help Jesus journey into another heart, so he did[6]
Joseph’s life was amazing and God used it to build the nation of Israel, however Joseph wasn’t God’s primary long term focus!
So when you think you haven’t achieved much; remember God often uses the secondary characters to achieve his ultimate purposes.
[1]Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1987). Genesis (Vol. 1, p. 307). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[2]Wenham, G. J. (1998). Genesis 16–50(Vol. 2, pp. 358–360). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[3]Wenham, G. J. (1998). Genesis 16–50(Vol. 2, pp. 358–360). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[4]Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Ge 40:4). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[5]Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1987). Genesis (Vol. 1, p. 301). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[6]Lucado, M. (1992). And the angels were silent (pp. 53–56). Portland, OR: Multnomah.
