God’s Providence, Purposes, & His Plan

Family Sin Produces Fruit

Effects take time and last long.

God is faithful in the midst of pain.

Realities

Pain

Hope

The world's evil and Joseph's good.

I. Introduction

A. The Ripple Effect of Mistakes

[Begin with a story about someone who spilled something or did something that caused an accident that ruined another moment for someone else.]

We’ve all had those moments when we have spilled something, or did something, or said something and couldn't get it back.

But we also, more than likely, have had moments when someone else said something, spilled something, or did something that inhibited our plans, hurt us emotionally, or had a devastating effect on our lives.

B. Scriptural Precedent

If we were to go throughout scripture, we could find countless examples of ways, times, places, and people who caused messes because of their mistakes—and just as many whose lives were hurt by the sins and mistakes of other people.

Nowhere in scripture is it more clear than in the life of Joseph.

C. The Family Context

Joseph was an important part of the most significant family in the history of the world.

His great-grandfather was Abraham, to whom God made a promise that He would bless him, give him a land, and give him a family so large it couldn't be numbered. He blessed those who blessed him and cursed those who cursed him. Most significantly, through him, all the peoples of the world would be blessed.

Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had Joseph.

Joseph's mother was Rachel, who was Jacob's favorite wife. You can imagine how this went wrong. "Sister wives" was a disaster then; I haven't watched it, but if it's a reality television show, that means it's a disaster now.

He was Rachel's oldest son and, it seems pretty apparent, the favorite.

II. The Coat and the Conflict

A. The Significance of the Robe

Most people know something of the story of Joseph, if for no other reason than because of the Broadway play, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. That birthday gift became the most iconic of all time.

"Technicolor" is not a word in the Bible; there is no Hebrew word for it.

However, the Hebrew phrase ketonet passim was extremely significant. It wasn't just that it had color, but the word passim refers to the hands or the soles of the feet, meaning that this was a long robe.

Most tunics were short so that you could get work done. Put it this way: This was not a Carhartt. This was more like giving all of your other sons work gloves and Carhartt jackets, and giving him a three-piece suit.

The implications were that they would work for him—or at the very least, that they would do the hard stuff. You even see this at different times when Joseph was sent to check on his brothers while they were shepherding the flocks.

B. Modern Parallels

I don't think it would be hard to find someone even here today that would say they dealt with this kind of thing in their life. Maybe you felt like in your family you weren't loved, encouraged, or affirmed. Maybe there was "another one."

Maybe, like Joseph's family, when blended families came together, it didn't always go according to plan.

Even though Joseph was on the winning side of this, it did not make his life as easy as his father had hoped. Acts 7:9 says that his brothers were moved with envy, so they sold Joseph into Egypt. That phrase "moved with envy" means that they boiled fiercely. They hated him.

Genesis 37:3–4"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."

C. A History of Dysfunction

We’d be remiss if we didn't identify the fact that this was not the first time in this family that this problem came up.

Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael: one was his favorite, and one was cast out.

Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau: one was his mother's favorite, and one became fiercely jealous and angry.

"I am boiled over."

Now here we are with Jacob, and he has 11 sons at this point: one who is his favorite and 10 who hate him so much that some even conspired to kill him.

That is a serious family drama. That news story is definitely getting shared on Facebook a few hundred times.

III. The Betrayal

A. Fueling the Fire

It did not help that Joseph gave a bad report about his brothers, or that sometimes he over-shared. God had used dreams in this family multiple times, and Joseph shared about the dreams that he had.

Genesis 37:5–8"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, when you thought it could not get any worse, he tells them another dream about the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to him.

Maybe he was naïve; maybe he really wanted input. We do know this: He was annoying. Or we could at least say that he was annoying to his brothers.

B. The Sale of Joseph

Genesis 37:26–28"Then Judah said to his brothers, 'What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.' And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt."

Note that Judah was helping to lead the charge.

They sold him for 20 shekels. This is an important historical marker because it was an accurate amount of money that would have been paid during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt for a slave. This is significant because this helps to ensure our confidence in this story and how God worked through it.

C. Deception and Generational Patterns

When the brothers did just that—sold him into slavery to Midianite traders who eventually took him to Egypt—they went back and told their father that all they could find was his torn-up robe covered in the blood of a goat. They took that to the father and told him that's all they found. He assumed he must have been eaten by an animal. They deceived him with the blood of a goat.

That is significant because Jacob also deceived his father with the blood of a goat. If you remember the story, Jacob wanted a blessing from his father, and so he killed a goat with his mother's help, covered himself in the fur, and told his father that he was his brother Esau. He stole Esau's blessing.

Once again: family deception, family sins carried on down to another generation.

IV. Breaking the Cycle

A. The Warning

This is a great warning for all of us that sin does not get cleaned up; it gets carried on.

There are things that might be the norm for you or for me. There might be parts of things that we are used to, that we are desensitized from—ways that sin has had a way in our families, and quite possibly might have had a way in our families for generations.

If we do not clean it up, it will be carried on.

B. The Statistics

Children of alcoholics are four times more likely than others to become alcoholics themselves.

Children of people who have been incarcerated are 43% more likely to be incarcerated at some point in their lifetime.

Children of divorced families are 35 to 60% more likely to become divorced themselves at some point, based on gender.

Children who have parents with a diagnosis of a mental health condition are three times more likely to experience that themselves at some point.

C. The Choice

This is not to say that there may not be some genetic conditions and disorders, or that the circumstances of life may not have left people in circumstances beyond their control. No doubt.

This is also not to say that you are a percentage. The likelihood of you carrying on generational sins is not based upon a percentage, but based upon decisions.

One thing you will find is that Joseph broke some generational sins of the family.

V. Providence in the Pit (Potiphar’s House)

A. From Brokenness to Success

Joseph experienced jealousy, deceit, and family dysfunction. It left him in a pit. It took him into slavery. It left him alone, betrayed, without any hope. The masses of generations and the messes of his own household messed up all of his hopes and dreams.

Scripture tells us that he was sold into the house of Potiphar. Potiphar was known as an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard; he was like a royal bodyguard or the head of the Secret Service for Pharaoh (which is why he had a prison in his own house). And there was Joseph, a servant of Potiphar.

Here we come to an important point: up to this moment, there was absolutely no record of God mentioned in the story.

Genesis 39:2–3"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."

Where was God? He was with Joseph.

Even in the midst of enslavement, the Bible says that he prospered. He was a successful man.

B. God is With You in the Mess

There are people here today living in the consequences of the sins of other people. It has had a real effect on your life: you’ve moved, you’ve lost friends, you’ve had to be in circumstances you have never chosen.

But can I remind you that God was with Joseph, and even in his enslavement, caused him to prosper.

There are over 200 stories in this room here, and I couldn’t begin to presume what each of your circumstances are. But I do need to let you know that with God, even in the middle of the mess, you can have success.

Even Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him and caused him to have success in his hands.

Maybe your job isn’t the one with the biggest title.

Maybe your home isn’t on the cover of any magazine.

Maybe your relationship status is a little bit muddy.

With God. With His presence.

C. Illustration: Mount St. Helens

The story of the lupine flower at Mount St. Helens after the 1980 volcanic eruption is a remarkable tale of nature’s resilience and renewal.

On May 18, 1980, a massive eruption devastated the landscape, flattening forests and blanketing the area in volcanic ash, leaving an apparently lifeless terrain. Scientists initially thought it would take decades for plant life to return.

However, by the early 1980s, small signs of recovery began. In particular, lupine flowers were among the very first plants to recolonize the barren Pumice Plain near the volcano. These prairie lupines have a unique ability to take nitrogen directly from the air rather than relying on soil nutrients, which enabled them to grow in the nutrient-poor volcanic deposits.

When two ecologists, Charlie Crisafulli and Jim MacMahon, discovered a small patch of these lupines in 1982, they were astonished because the area appeared lifeless and devoid of soil.

Life can grow from decimated places.

VI. Integrity in Temptation

A. The Next Challenge

Joseph's life did not just continue to flourish from that point. If you know the story, his success did not just catch the eye of Potiphar, but also Potiphar's wife.

Genesis chapter 39 says that she sent Joseph away and made advances on him.

Genesis 39:7-10 (ESV)"7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, 'Lie with me.'8 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.9 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?'10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to lie beside her or to be with her."

B. Sin Against God

Of course, there are family messes that become our messes, but the whole world was made a wreck because of sin. Everything became unglued!

Joseph made the right decision. He made it for the right reason. He could not have done anything any better from anything we can tell.

God gives mercy that we do not deserve. None of us have the right to demand anything from God. But we do have one indication that God may have shown favor and given reward to Joseph because of what is said in verse nine.

Joseph knew this: Ultimately everything is from God, and it is God alone who we answer to. He said, "How can I do this wickedness and sin against God?"

Remember last week we said that all sin is ultimately against God. Joseph knew that though others could affect his life and their sin could bring hurt to his life, God holds his life. God can sustain his life, and God can bless his life, no matter what anyone else does!

So many people find themselves in hard circumstances where other people and their sin have caused them great harm, and they feel stuck because they believe that they have a captor, and they know the captor’s name. Can I remind you that you have a God and He knows your name!

C. Unfair Consequences

No, God did not instantaneously or quickly remove him from the consequences of others' sins, but God was with him, and God blessed him where he was!

It goes on to say that he was thrown in prison! But he was not alone.

Genesis 39:20–21"And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison."

He did the right thing and somehow found himself in prison again.

Some scholars note that in ancient civilizations, this would have typically been a punishment of death. However, some note that maybe Potiphar had a layer of distrust in his wife and a layer of confidence in Joseph that gave him favor so that he went to prison instead of the gallows.

"But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison."

VII. Three Truths to Conclude

Once again, it shows that the Lord was with Joseph, showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

1. The Lord was with Joseph.

If the Lord is with Joseph, why was Joseph in a prison? Again! There was no record of something he did wrong. In fact, he did what was right. But even in the midst of the worst situation, the Bible says that the Lord was with him.

We have an expectation that if God is with us, He will keep hard things from us—and even evil things from us.

Jesus told his disciples in the book of John that He was going away and that things were going to get hard—that they were going to be too hard for them—so He would send the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, to them. That was a need.

Life, sin, and its consequences are too much for us, but we are not alone. Remember what Jesus told them: He was not going to take them out of the world, but He would never leave them or forsake them.

Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II for hiding Jews, famously declared through her ordeal that: “You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”

His faith became a sustaining source in prison, and he famously reflected on his suffering with words like “Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life," indicating that the hardship led to spiritual awakening and growth. His writings, including The Gulag Archipelago...

Romans 8:31-39"31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

2. The Lord showed him steadfast love.

Joseph found out once again that people will disappoint. People will fail you. People hurt you deep inside your soul. But he also learned the Lord’s steadfast love.

I don’t know exactly what all God did in the prison for Joseph, but I know that He showed it to him. He showed him His love.

The Word doesn't tell us every detail of the story, but it does assure us that God did not just give him strength; He also gave him His love.

Romans tells us that God showed His love in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ showed His love; the Lord showed His love for Joseph.

I believe God will show His love for you in the middle of life’s worst moments when you realize that He is the source—the ultimate source.

We’ll find another way as long as we have another way to be independent and self-reliant. But when we find ourselves with nothing else, we find the only thing we can possibly find, and that’s a Savior in Jesus Christ.

3. The Lord gave him favor in the sight of the prison guard.

Once again, you see God bringing success to Joseph. Just when he thought all hope was lost, God gave him favor. Just when he thought there was no hope, that this was truly the end.

He had gone from the pit to enslavement, and now to the prison.

No matter what this world brings, with God, there is hope. With God, there is a future.