Prison to Palace

Good morning, River City, you may be seated for a few minutes here as continue in worship. I’ll dismiss KidCity in a few minutes, but first I want us to stay in this posture of worship as we move into Child Dedication. The songs we sang this morning layout such a beautiful blueprint for what Child Dedication is all about, with God being FOR us, Wanting to Know him and his greatness, all the while trusting that he is sovereign over all things.

Child Dedication is one of these moments where we rejoice with these families, and agree with Psalm 127:3 that says children are a gift from the LORD.

And so today we say “Thank you!” to the Lord for the arrival of these precious young ones! Today, we rejoice with those who rejoice. I always say that while marriage is difficult, parenting is much, much harder – because you got to choose your spouse. You went on dates. You had an idea of what you were looking for, and you said no to others before you agreed to marry the one you are with.

But you didn’t get to choose your children. You get what the Lord knew was best for you. For that reason, parenting will test you in ways you didn’t know you could be tested. It will expose your sins, it will expose your motives, parenting will expose the idols of your heart, and when they turn 10, your children will joyfully expose your hypocrisy. But parents, you must know – this is God’s grace to you. It’s how he shapes you into his image. He will use your children to make you holy, if you’ll let him. And that is a gift.

So today, this really isn’t so much about the children. We are dedicating them to the Lord, sure. We call it child dedication. But really, it’s the parents who are dedicating themselves and their parenting to the Lord. And for us, it begins with these three commitments.

Your children don’t belong to you, they belong to God. You will make promises about how you will raise your kids, but you’re also confessing that your children belong to a promise-keeping Father who is infinitely more faithful, more reliable, more loving toward them than you are.

Second, you are committing to love sinners. Nowhere in scripture are we told that we are raising little angels. We ooh and aah over the cuteness of these little ones, but they are born as sinners in need of a Savior. In their sinfulness, they will break your heart. They will hurt you deeply. Probably more than once. About two weeks ago, Jodi and I sat with some old friends we hadn’t seen in a while who were weeping over this very thing. And we told them exactly what these parents are committing to today: As parents who love Jesus, we commit to love prodigals, because Jesus loved us when we were far from him. 1 John 4 says we only know what love is because God first loved us. So we commit to love sinners, just like Jesus does.

And third, these parents today commit to raising their children with the help of the local church. Today these parents are declaring to themselves, to God, and to all of you – we are not strong, independent families. We don’t know everything, and we need help. This is probably the most difficult of the three commitments. It’s pretty common these days, even in the church, if someone criticizes your parenting or offers suggestions or tells you that your child isn’t quite the angel you think he is – even Christian parents can get defensive and combative. How dare you tell me how to raise my kids!? So this commitment requires you as parents to kill your pride. It requires you to accept advice you will not want to hear. It requires humility to ask for help, and then again to receive it.

But we can humble ourselves and receive criticism in love, why? Because you are not acceptable to God based on how you parent. You are not seen as righteous in God’s eyes because our kids turned out well. Even if, God forbid, your children grow up to hate you, hate God, and go on to commit awful atrocities…as painful as that would be, your standing with God is not based on the outcome of your children – your standing with God sits squarely on the shoulders of Jesus Christ who lived for your righteousness, died for your unrighteousness, and rose again to be your Lord and Savior.

So rest in that first. And then faithfully and responsibly raise your children in the Lord.

***VIDEO – as parents come forward.

So parents, I have some weighty and important questions for you today:

Parents, will you entrust your children to God – to his providential plan and care? Will you commit, with the help of this church community, to instruct your children by word and example, in the truth of God’s Word and the presence of the Holy Spirit? Will you commit to love the way Jesus has loved you?

If so, say “With God’s help, we will.”

And now, River City Church, as the people of God I have a weighty and important question for you as well. As these parents have stepped forward in humility and faith, we now have the responsibility to respond in unity and in faith as well.

Do you, the people of God at River City, promise to receive these children in love, pray for them, help instruct them in the faith, and encourage and sustain them in this fellowship of believers?

If so, please read the screen nice and loud together with me.

With joy and thanksgiving, as Christ’s church, with God’s help, we promise to love, encourage, and support you as you follow Christ and train your children in the faith.

Awesome! Janene will hand each of you a gift that we have for you, and once you have your gift, I invite you to spread out across the front of the room here, and then any family members who want to gather around them and lay hands on them are welcome to do that. And then if anyone else wants to gather around one of the families, you can come on up as well.

PRAYER

DISMISS CHILDREN to KIDCITY, refill coffee, say hi to the person sitting next to you, and we’ll all get resettled here in a minute.

I know due to Child Dedications, we have quite a few guests with us, and so I want to again welcome you to River City, thank you for being here to support your family. But at the same time I want to offer you a bit of a warning about the text that we are headed into today. We are studying the book of Genesis, and have already noted that there are some PG-13 and even R-rated scenes in this book that will definitely make us uncomfortable. We’ve had a few of those already, and there’s another one ahead of us today that’s a little more graphic than most of us will be comfortable with. It’s one of those “there’s no way that’s in the Bible” kind of things.

But here’s what we believe – 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

This is why we go verse-by-verse through books of the Bible. It forces you to deal with the uncomfortable stuff. The story we’ll read today I’ve only seen preached in church one time in all my life, obviously because it’s very awkward. But it’s not awkward to God, and as 2 Timothy says – it’s here for a reason. So we’re going there. On Mother’s Day.

Last week, Steve walked us through Genesis 37, where we are introduced to Joseph, the 17 year old great-grandson of Abraham, and where we left things, Joseph had been sold by some of his brothers to a slave caravan that was headed for Egypt.

But where we are headed today has three very important questions we will answer together:

What is wrong with these people? And a close follow up question is, “are they stupid?”

The second question is more in the “what is God thinking?” category. Did he know this is what he was getting in for when he chose this family? How are they still considered the people of God if they are acting like this?

And then question three is the one that will be answered over the next two weeks as we look at Joseph’s life is this: Have we finally arrived at someone who isn’t a complete disaster? After so much dysfunction, do we have some hope? Could this be the guy we’ve been looking for?

We’ll trust the Lord to answer these questions for us as we go along, but as always, as we go through the stories today, keep your eyes on Yahweh. Look for anything God is doing in the story, and anchor yourself there.

SHORT PRAYER

We left Joseph (son number 11 out of 12) in the slave caravan, and chapter 38 is one of those “meanwhile back in Canaan” kind of things, focused on the fourth son of the family, named Judah. 38 At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah. And verse 2 says that, away from the wisdom and protection of his family, Judah spotted a good-looking Canaanite girl, and married her.

This is a great point to make on Child Dedication Sunday, right? Bad things happen when you abandon the people of God, and life is much more difficult when you marry someone who doesn’t worship the same God you do. But here we are.

Verse 3 this woman ends up having three boys. Er, Onan, and Shelah. Now we’ve seen this before, but in those days, birth order was a lot more important than it is today, especially the firstborn. He’s getting double the inheritance, he’s going to take over the family business (farm). Now if the older brother got married, and then died before having a son, there was a custom in place that said the next unmarried brother in line would be highly recommended to marry his brother’s wife, get her pregnant, and their children would count toward the older brother’s name…not his actual dad’s name. You tracking? It’s a very sacrificial custom.

So 6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD put him to death.

Evil in the LORD’s sight – that’s the key phrase right there. Many of the people living around him might not have thought he was evil at all. They might have thought he was the nicest, most respectable, head on his shoulders kind of guys around. In people’s eyes, he might have been a good man, but in the Lord’s eyes, Er was wicked. There is a way that seems right to people, Proverbs 14 says, but in the end it leads to death.

So, with the older brother dead, verse 8, Judah goes to the next brother in line, Onan, and reminds him of the custom. He can refuse this, but he should do the right thing and marry Tamar, and try to produce a son to continue the family name of his older brother. Onan – take one for the team here. This is about the family, not about you. And now, here is where things get a little uncomfortable.

9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was evil in the LORD’s sight, so he put him to death also.

Let’s close in prayer. I mean this is one of those moments where you’re like, WHAT? What is happening right now? This is the Bible? But this is yet another place in scripture where God values and defends women, especially in areas where men mistreat them. Er’s wife Tamar is fully dependent on Onan doing what he’s supposed to do to take one for the team and carry on the name of her dead husband.

The law gives Onan the opportunity to refuse. He’s not required to marry Tamar. He would be looked down on by the community, but he has the option to say no. But he doesn’t. He agrees to perform his duty, and yet time after time, Onan keeps coming to her for his own sexual gratification (Evans, 91), leading her on, teasing her with the possibility – but at the last second, abandons her and leaves her heartbroken.

God considered it evil that Onan would treat Tamar like this, and killed him for it. So, men, know this – God does not consider it a small thing when men mistreat, misuse, or neglect the women in their lives. God created sexual pleasure for our mutual enjoyment. When a man thinks only of himself during intercourse, and leaves his wife hanging, God is not amused.

This is turning into a very memorable Mother’s Day sermon, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Judah, the dad is like, well, shoot. 3 boys, two of them have married this girl Tamar and they both died. Maybe it’s her! So in verse 11, he sends her back home to her parents and said wait there until my third son, Shelah, grows up, then I’ll call for you to come and be his wife. But really Judah sent her home because he didn’t want to lose all three boys to the same woman.

Now look at how verse 12 begins…After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. The key phrase there is – “after a long time” – meaning, Judah never kept his word to Tamar. She’s been waiting, hoping, excited that Shelah might be old enough to get her pregnant now. But no news from Judah. So someone let her know, verse 13, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” She hatched a plan, and put it into action. 14 So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

We already know that Judah is a bit lustful. We learned that back in verse 2, he sees what he likes and takes it. His best friend is not a God-fearing man, he doesn’t have any accountability at all, so here in verse 14, she disguises herself in such a way that he might act on those urges again. And it worked, because in verse 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

So he stops by and proposes that they should hook up. She asks for payment up front. He promises to send her a young goat, which would be some good food to take care of her for a while, and she basically says “prove it.” Leave something important with me, and when you bring the goat, I’ll give the stuff back to you. He’s like, okay, what do you want? Verse 18 She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.”

Basically this boils down to, give me your passport. Your most accurate forms of identification. So, he agreed, handed her the items, they found a place to go and he got his own daughter-in-law pregnant without knowing it. Verse 19, she got up and went back home.

24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been involved in illicit sexual immorality, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out,” Judah said, “and let her be burned to death!” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”

Take a look at this passport. This is the father of my baby. He opens it up and sees his own face, name, age, height, weight, home address. Oof. That’s when he confesses, yeah, I can’t hold this against her – I didn’t keep my word to her.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.” 29 But then he pulled his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breakout you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez., 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.

Sexual immorality all over the place, right? I want you to hang on to that story in the back of your mind, because we’ll come back to it at the end, and we’ll see how it fits. But now we swing back to Joseph and watch what happened to him in Egypt.

39 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did successful, 4 Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. 5 From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The LORD’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields. 6 He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Do you get the point yet? The author repeats himself over and over and over – the Lord was with him, the Lord made him successful, and Potiphar put him in charge of all that he owned, all that he owned, all that he owned, all that he owned.

Verse 6 says Joseph was a handsome guy himself, and after some time, his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

Now we’re coming out of a story with lustful Judah, and before that his dad Jacob wasn’t exactly trying to keep things neat and tidy – he’s got four women he’s working with. Great-grandpa Abraham took his moment with the servant girl Hagar, so family records would say, given the opportunity, Joseph is probably going to go for this. So it almost comes as a surprise when in verse 8….

8 But he refused. He said to her listen, my master (your husband, in case you forgot), has put me in charge of everything except you. So, how (verse 9) could I do this immense evil, and more importantly, how could I sin against God?” 10 Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.” The promise is this: That you will never be tempted by something you cannot say no to, and with every temptation, God has provided a way out. There is no temptation where you can say, “I didn’t have a choice.”

Every sin is a choice to reject the way out, and choose the sin instead. Every time. The temptation is here, but Joseph continues to choose the way out, choosing to not sin against God by giving in.

And after the mess of chapter 38, this is wildly refreshing, isn’t it? It’s like, finally! Finally a good guy in the story. Finally someone who isn’t a complete dumpster fire! Could it be that this is the one we’ve been waiting for?

11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there. No way that is by accident. This is a setup. A trap devised by a lustful woman. 12 She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

No doubt this is very frustrating to her, so she works up a story she tells the servants and eventually her husband, that this Hebrew came here to rape me, and I’m the one who escaped. Now most men in Potiphar’s position would not waste time on this – he would kill Joseph in a minute. But in God’s merciful protection, verse 20, he only threw him into prison.

Now this is the first time the bible talks about prison. It’s probably a deeply dug out basement or cold cellar in the warden’s house. And now, the author uses familiar language:

21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. (and this is the kindness:) He granted him favor with the prison warden. 22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there. 23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, and here it is again, because the LORD was with him, and the LORD made everything that he did successful.

Same language – whether he’s second in command to the captain of the guard, or second in command to the prison warden, it’s the same two details:

The Lord was with him, and

the Lord made everything that he did successful.

Let’s hang out there for a minute, because this tells us a POWERFUL truth about Yahweh. The same two statements made about Joseph, no matter where he was.

Psalm 139:7–10 “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.”

One of my favorite authors is AW Tozer read that scripture, and then said this: If God is present at every point of the universe, if we cannot go where He is not, if we cannot even conceive of a place where He is not, then why hasn’t the Presence of God become the most celebrated fact of the world?!

We saw a few weeks ago where Joseph’s father Jacob had a dream where angels were going up and down a stairway to heaven. He woke up and said, “surely God was in this place and I didn’t know it!” And Tozer says – THAT’S THE PROBLEM! God is everywhere, and we don’t know it! Or maybe we agree to the presence of God as a doctrine, but don’t live like it really matters.

But in all the places God is present, he always wants to reveal Himself to us. He isn’t satisfied for us to simply agree that he exists – he wants us to know him in experience. And for that to happen, it begins with surrender to the Spirit of God. His work is to show us the Father and the Son, and if we cooperate with him in loving obedience, he will manifest himself to us. And that, Tozer said, will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life that is radiant with the light of the face of Jesus (Tozer, 272).

Today, if you are in Christ, you have the very presence of the living God, not just with you, like Joseph, but IN you. When you go to work in the morning, the Holy Spirit, the very presence of the living God, fully alive, goes with you. When you go to the gym, the Holy Spirit, the very presence of the living God, fully alive, fully active, fully ready to lead you, guide you, help you, convict you, put off sin and put on Jesus, goes with you. When you go to the bathroom or take a shower, he’s with you. When you are in the heat of the moment with your spouse or your children or the heat of road rage on the way to church or you are in the pressure packed moment of temptation where you’re not sure you can hang on – the Holy Spirit of Jesus, the very flame of the presence of God that sat in the tabernacle, is not just with you but IN you.

Whether Joseph is second in command to the captain of the guard, or second in command to the prison warden, the Lord is with him, making him successful in everything he does.

He was in prison for a little while, and the Lord manifested his presence to Joseph by allowing him to interpret the dreams of two fellow prisoners. One of the prisoners had a dream about a vine that blossomed and became clusters of grapes. In the dream, he saw himself squeezing the grapes into a cup and giving it to Pharaoh. The Lord gave Joseph the interpretation, that in three days this guy would be back in Pharaoh’s kitchen, and that when he was, verse 14, Joseph said, please put in a good word for me. I shouldn’t be here.

In verse 16, when the other prison saw the interpretation was a good one, he told Joseph about a dream he had as well, where baskets of bread were on his head and birds were eating the bread. The Lord again gave Joseph the interpretation, and he had the unfortunate situation of telling this poor guy that in three days he would die. And in verse 22, that’s exactly what happened.

And for the next two years, Joseph served in that prison successfully. Faithfully waiting. Trusting. Believing. Praying. Working. Until, chapter 41:1 At the end of two years Pharaoh had a dream …8 When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Verse 9, that’s when the first guy remembered Joseph! OH YEAH! Oh man. When I was in prison, verse 12, a  young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation. 13 It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”

That was good enough for Pharaoh, so he sent for Joseph, they got him all cleaned up, and he went to Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.” And here is where you see the true character of Joseph on display: 16 “I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

So Pharoah tells Joseph the dream and God immediately gave the interpretation. 28 “… God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt. 30 After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land. 31 The abundance in the land will not be remembered because of the famine that follows it, for the famine will be very severe. 32 Since the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.

And not only did God give the interpretation of the dream to Joseph, he also gave him the discernment to know what to do!

Now, let’s not forget – Joseph is a prisoner who was brought out of the pit to talk to the king. It’s one thing to interpret the dream. But it’s a little bold that Joseph also starts offering suggestions. The king could have said, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. Stay in your lane. I got what I wanted from you – now back to the pit.

But in verse 33, Joseph goes straight from interpretation to a detailed action plan. What you need, Mr Pharaoh, is a discerning and wise man to put in charge of all of this. Then appoint overseers for the whole country, and gather the excess food that will come in over the first 7 years that are abundant. Store it up, preserve it, and then when the 7 years of famine are here, you’ll not be wiped out by it.

37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants, 38 and he said to them, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?” 39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. 40 You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, as king, will be greater than you.” 41 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.” And where Joseph has removed his signet ring and given it to what he thought was a prostitute, in verse 42…42 Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Make way!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh and no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.”

Then, 13 years after Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, Pharaoh gave him an Egyptian name and an Egyptian wife, and full control over the entire kingdom. And just like the two dreams Joseph interpreted in prison, the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream came true exactly as God told Joseph they would. In those first 7 years, verse 49, Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure. But everyone knew it was going to come to an end, and it did.

The bumper crop years ended and verse 54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. Once the people ran out of their own storehouses, they started crying out to Pharaoh for food. He just pointed at Joseph and said, do whatever he tells you to do.

So Joseph opened the silos and sold grain to not only the Egyptians, but, verse 57, every land came to him to buy grain because this famine was severe in every land… including the promised land of Canaan where Joseph’s family still lived. And naturally, chapter 42, when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent them there to buy grain, and the first thing that happens when they show up is that, verse 6, his brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground… the perfect fulfillment of the dreams Joseph had as a boy.

Now, I have a few minutes to wrap this up.

Matthew 1:2–4 “Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram, Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,”

SOURCES

Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019)

AW Tozer, Three Spiritual Classics in One Volume, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2018)