God Redeems Betrayal/Adversity

Introduction

Open up to and as you do I want to ask you...

What are some of your favorite childhood memories? What triggers those memories?

Uncle Tom’s BBQ - Worthers

We are about to embark on this episode with Joseph (Jacob’s favorite son) and see all these roadblocks and hurdles that set themselves a distinctly memorable events, and the more and more we wade into the story we see how God crafts all of this mess, as he has all along, into his intended purposes and will.

CIT

Despite circumstance or season, you can rest assured that God is Sovereign, He is working out His Will, and that is for our good and for His glory.

Despite circumstance or season, you can rest assured that God is Sovereign, He is working out His Will, and that is for our good and for His glory.

Exposition

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 37

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age,f and he made a robe of many colorsE for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”a

8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

f

E Or robe with long sleeves; see ,

a ,; ;

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Explanation

Once more Jacob/Israel is playing favorites. We saw this in his favoritism of Rachel over Leah. We saw this in his parents as Jacob’s mother, Rebecca, preferred him to his brother Esau and through so much of this messy family dynamic that has played out throughout our teachings over the past long while.

Joseph is being oblivious to how he is inciting jealousy amongst his brothers… I sooo identify with that.

Being a pest to Brett…

We will see that Joseph has a gift for dreams and interpretation. And we see that here but you have to ask, could you not tone it down a bit? Because he says without hesitation… “you will one day bow to me...” Not exactly a message that fosters a calm household. Can you imagine saying such things to your siblings? “Bow to me...” you might be sitting there and thinking, “yeah… and that’s how it should be.”

Explanation

What we see playing out here and in so many episodes before is how this sin of favoritism unravels the dealings between God’s people. Jacob—Esau, Rachel—Leah, Joseph—his brothers, we have seen rivalry and deceit unhinge and diminish these people.

Favoritism as we see it here and as I’m sure you’ve seen play out in some context of your own says, this person is more valuable than this person. This person is not worth my time or effort. This person doesn’t belong here.

Maybe you’ve been the neglected one from time to time, but I’m sure that if we are honest with ourselves we can imagine a time where we’ve been the one devaluing others more often than we care to admit.

Illustration

Interrogation

How has favoritism harmed you or others in a family, at school, or somewhere else?

Why is it important that we affirm the value that God places on all people? Who all does that include?

We can see even from these handful of verses that something bad is about to happen and that’s exactly what unfolds in the following verses.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 37

18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.f 19 They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!A 20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits.B We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them.C He said, “Let’s not take his life.”g 22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

25 They sat down to eat a meal,h and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.i Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.j

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. 28 When Midianitek traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.l

Exposition

18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert! 20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

Joseph’s brothers were blinded by hate and hate. How many of y’all have acted out in anger to later look back and see, “man, what I was thinking really didn’t make sense.” We don’t act rationally when we allow sin to cloud our judgement.

I think we can all see ourselves in Reuben as well. Reuben played the roll of that nervous friend you have when your doing something that you really shouldn’t. He was the one doing these half measures to try and be responsible. “No, let’s not kill him. Let’s leave him in a pit instead.”

I think we can all see ourselves in Reuben as well. Reuben played the roll of that nervous friend you have when your doing something that you really shouldn’t. He was the one doing these half measures to try and be responsible. “No, let’s not kill him. Let’s leave him in a pit instead.”

Illustration

Illustration

Becca Rolling

Becca Rolling

We go on to see what happens when we become overcome with our sin.

23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

25 They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. 28 When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

f ; ,; ; ;

A Lit comes the lord of the dreams

B Or cisterns

C Lit their hands

g

h

i

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 37

18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.f 19 They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!A 20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits.B We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them.C He said, “Let’s not take his life.”g 22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

25 They sat down to eat a meal,h and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.i Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.j

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. 28 When Midianitek traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.l

j ; ;

k ,; ; ; ;

l ; ;

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Explanation

So the reaction from Joseph’s brothers were completely logical and rational… “Let’s kill him.” We all know you’ve thought it about your sibling once or twice… or several hundred times.

We see Reuben playing the “half-hero,” but in him we see that him standing against his brother’s murder is not the same as standing up for true justice.

Illustration

Where’s Burd at? Burd where were you Friday night? There was one point in the night where you looked at me and just shook your head, why was that so?

We had I think somewhere around 70 kids here on Friday and they were running CRAZZZY. One of the conclusions on the night was that we were going to watch a Charlie Brown Christmas in the Big Back Yard and we laid down a bunch of bean bags for them to lay on and what do you think all those little boys did when they saw a whole bucnch of bean bags? They started whacking each other upside the head.

Kid at kids night out. Bean bags.

I pulled one kid aside and told him to shape up and he looked at me and said, I’m not even the worst one! You should be yelling at those crazy kids over there.

Couple of things...

this kid can’t be trusted

We can’t halfway play things like truth and honesty and expect it to be right. Reuben and Judah

Connection

Couple of things...

Couple of things...

this kid can’t be trusted

We can’t halfway play things like truth and honesty and expect it to be right. Reuben and even Judah persuaded the rest to not kill their brother, but still traded away Joseph as if he were some meaningless thing.

We can’t halfway play things like truth and honesty and expect it to be right. Reuben and even Judah persuaded the rest to not kill their brother, but still traded away Joseph as if he were some meaningless thing.

Guys if I can encourage you towards something today be firm in your conviction and in your belief. Many of you have walked faithful lives for many years now and you have grown up here. You’ve heard the Gospel faithfully preached to you. You’ve received grace from the Lord of All. Stand firm in faith! Don’t just settle for a lukewarm or passive stance at all of this. It is worth so much more!

With that in mind I want y’all to discuss a couple of things...

Interrogation

How does Joseph’s story so far challenge our understanding of suffering in the Christian life?

Which is better: to never have to suffer or to know and experience the presence of God in life, through the good times and bad? Why?

What makes it challenging for us as God’s people to take a stand against sin in our culture?

Transition

As is the case with many of the stories that we’ve poured over, things look rather bleak for Joseph. But once more we see God sovereignly moving the pieces so that he might save His people, despite hopeless circumstance.

Exposition

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.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

k ,,;

l ,,;

H Lit and he was

m

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 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 Ishmaelitesk who had brought him there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph,l and he became a successful man, servingH 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,m 4 Joseph found favorn 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.A 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.a 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;B he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome

n ; ;

A Lit owned in his hand

a

B Lit owned in Joseph’s hand

b ;

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Explanation

That’s an interesting last note, but that’s included because things are going to go from bad to worse. While in captivity and everything seems to shape up a bit, the wife of Potipher, Joseph’s new master, is about to come onto Joseph, and once Joseph runs away, she will accuse him of her own misdeed. She will say that He came onto her. He will be cast back down into the dungeons and it’ll be once step forward, two steps back for Joseph.

For Joseph this was such a crazy season, such a crazy turn of events and Im sure that you’ve been there yourself, maybe not the specifics of Joseph’s story, but I’m sure there has been a time or two where you have been left to question “why?” “Why is all of this happening to me? God, what on earth could you be doing? God, are you listening to me?

Interrogation

For Joseph this was such a crazy season, such a crazy turn of events and Im sure that you’ve been there yourself, maybe not the specifics of Joseph’s story, but I’m sure there has been a time or two where you have been left to question “why?” “Why is all of this happening to me? God, what on earth could you be doing? God, are you listening to me?

We will go on to see that even despite slavery, despite imprisonment that God is not done with Joseph, not by along shot.

Pharoah himself will hear of Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams and it just so happens that Pharoah is plagued with these dreams that he himself cannot interpret, so he hears of this man under his own rule who can. And just as we see time and time again that Joseph has favor with the Lord and he sustains him and even prospers him through trial and struggle, that God will redeem Joseph’s betrayal, his adversity and everything that has happened to him so that God may sustain his people in the face of a famine that is coming to the land.

Illustration

Francis Chan video

Connection

Guys I am as guilty as anyone in this room when we talk about being short-sighted. We have only a glimpse of what God is doing, or what he is accomplishing through us and we question his character because we don’t like how he is doing things in our lives.

But whether in good times or in bad, just as with Joseph, God remains with us. He is faithful to us, and even when it doesn’t feel like it, God is working things out for our good and better yet, for His glory.

Interrogation

What is the advantage of looking at all of Joseph’s trials through the big picture? How can we do the same for our own?

Why do we assume that God is with us when times are good and gone with times are bad?

What do you need encouragement with this week? Where do you need to be assured of his presence?

Illustration

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 39

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious 20 and had him thrown into prison,d where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.

JOSEPH IN PRISON

21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.e He granted him favor with the prison warden.f 22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority,I and he was responsible for everything that was done there. 23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority,J because the LORD was with him, and the LORD made everything that he did successful.g

Explanation

Illustration

Exposition

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 41

14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon.F,i He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh.j

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.”k

16 “I am not able to,”l Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”G,m

Explanation

Illustration

Interrogation

Summation