Taking responsibility (Part 2)

Sunday talk – 30.12.2018 – Taking responsibility

Story of Joseph

Last week we asked the question: Was his key the fact that he instinctively took responsibility?

Was his key the fact that he instinctively took responsibility?

Joseph brought a bad report to his father about his brothers. Taking responsibility.

Shared his dreams - taking responsibility

Was he right to share his dreams?

We know where taking responsibility landed him.

What sort of men were the twelve sons of Jacob who became the forefathers of the Twelve tribes of Israel? We are accustomed to thinking of Joseph’s brothers as a lovable bunch of rascals who indulged in the Old Testament version of ‘laddish’ behaviour. In reality, they were a gang of thugs who indulged in theft, kidnap, grievous bodily harm and attempted murder.

People want you to but they don’t like it when it shows them up or they are on the wrong end of what your taking responsibility looks like.

It is easy to pull them down.

Joseph’s journey

15 years after being sold into slavery, Joseph makes himself known.

He was 17 when he was sold into Egypt

He was 30 when he was made overseer

He was 39 when his brothers first came to Egypt (second year of the famine, or nine years after being made overseer)

He was probably 41 or so when the brothers came a second time and Jacob comes to Egypt

He was 110 when he died

In  we learn that Joseph was 30 when he was made overseer to the king of Egypt.  Since he was 17 when he was sold into Egypt, that means he spent 13 years total in Potiphar's house and prison. We know Joseph was in prison at least 2 years because chapter 40 tells us about the servants of the king whose dreams Joseph interpreted.  The first verse of chapter 41 tells us that 2 years passed after that event before the king had the dreams that Joseph was called to interpret.

Home may have seemed a distant memory for Joseph by now, given the time he had been away and the trouble in which he now found himself. Being in prison, he was a long way from having his family bow down to him—but he continued to make the best of the situation at hand, and God blessed him for his efforts.

It surely was no accident that two high servants of Pharaoh's court were both placed in the same prison as Joseph. If they had been servants of any lesser government official, one may not have been in a place to later tell Pharaoh about Joseph's gift of interpretation. After hearing the prisoners' dreams, Joseph explains their meaning—and the events come to pass just as he foretells. Perhaps after this divine fulfillment, Joseph remembered his own dream, pondering his past and his future.

What does taking responsibility look like?

What is the Lord saying to you?

Own what he says

Take responsibility for it

I am going to ask you to write down what you feel has been said to you and then ask how you are getting on with it.

Be definite – e.g. if the Lord has said don’t go there – then don’t.

What is the other person really trying to say – not how can I deflect this, or avoid it but, why are they saying it in the first place?

One night four college students were out partying late night and didn’t study for the test which was scheduled for the next day. In the morning, they thought of a plan. They made themselves look dirty with grease and dirt. Then they went to the Dean and said they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their way back the tire of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back. So they were in no condition to take the test.

The Dean thought for a minute and said they can have the re-test after 3 days. They thanked him and said they will be ready by that time.

On the third day, they appeared before the Dean. The Dean said that as this was a Special Condition Test, all four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last 3 days.

The Test consisted of only 2 questions with the total of 100 Points.

1) Your Name __________ (1 Points)

2) Which tire burst? __________ (99 Points)

Don’t rationalise

We have to rationalise our disengagement

The extrovert will step in and point the finger, at another person or at circumstances, or

The introvert will retreat and draw attention to how it is feeling.

Don’t excuse

Taking responsibility:

o is a sign of maturity

o a refusal to blame the other person

o won’t expect you to do what they are not prepared to do for themselves

One of the earliest signs of the result of the Fall was passing the buck.

Taking seriously the way we are. Things that have been said to us.

We hear and little bits percolate through – but what about setting that out, looking at it and saying –‘That is going to change.’ How am I going to change it?

Little by little – habits.

Don’t be defined by the view you have of yourself at this point in time

He didn’t allow his past to get in the way.

Who are you? See that innocent child.

Difficult when you are a feeling person and then told not to go with your feelings. It’s knowing whether those feelings are in training.

We have to take responsibility for how we handle what we feel – set our hearts at rest in his presence

Take responsibility for what we do, think and say – being in charge of ourselves, refusing to feel that this is just me in some vague incomprehensible way.

Signs of taking responsibility – always striving to be fully who we are – understanding, thinking through, reaching out.

Take our personal disciplines seriously – Become serious about Bible study.

Joseph – had good standards, told the truth, was going somewhere. Was probably right – he had the character that meant God could entrust him with responsibility.

“Dreams come in a size too big so that we may grow into them.”

—Josie Bisset (b. 1970); Television actress

2. Strong sense of journey

Joseph kept going because he believed he was going somewhere.

Put the 2 together and we get a life-long exploration and practice of what it means to be kind.

What do you need to explore and work with?

What has been your Achilles heel? The thing that keeps cropping up? The consistent theme?

What gifts are you going to develop?

It’s about taking responsibility for those underlying patterns that produce unmet needs and that drive us through life and greatly influence our decisions and perspectives.

We in effect demand that someone else meets those needs

Is it our responsibility to meet those needs or do we have to look to someone else?

Didn’t choose to do a certain thing. Turn it around - but you didn’t choose not to. Goes to heart of taking responsibility. To not do something is to agree with the other course of events

Habits - why do we keep making the same mistakes, drawn into the same negatives

The power of the word, Imagine.

You return to work after celebrating the new year AND the issue is still there, waiting for you!

Can't think of a problem in your world? Allow me to jog your thinking with a few ideas:

Perhaps your reoccurring issue is a technology solution that isn't quite working right. The organization has invested a lot of money, people have spent countless hours, yet it just doesn't work as promised.Maybe it is a performance issue that has yet to be resolved. At times, it seems under control and things are going well, then it flares up in unexpected ways.It could be a customer complaint that comes and goes. Customer have valid concerns, the problem is that your team can't determine the true source of the issue.

Whatever the problem, it persists. Everyone is frustrated with it.

Now imagine that the next time the problem is discussed, you offer a suggestion. Your thought is unique. It causes people to pause. Discussion ensues and everyone agrees that your thought could work. It could change the game.

Imagine that six months later, people are reflecting on the day you made your suggestion and everything changed. What had once seemed impossible, now was a non-issue. In fact, the organization is in a far better place because of your recommendation and you are seen in a completely new light. You are the problem solver. You are the catalyst of the idea that made all the difference. You are destined for amazing things.

Feeling pretty good, eh?

Imagine.

Author and political commentator, Frank Luntz, called the word imagine the most powerful word in the English language.

Nelson Mandela - ‘Those who can't imagine change reveal the deficits of their imaginations, not the difficulty of change.’

Consider saying things like:

‘Imagine if it were illegal for us to not solve this issue; what might we do?’

"Imagine if it were illegal for us to not solve this issue; what might we do?""Imagine what performance might look like if our team members were fully engaged; how might we create that sort of environment?"Imagine if we had our customers' unwavering loyalty; what might we be able to achieve?"

Put the word imagine into your daily lexicon and you will likely achieve unexpected results - all stemming from our collective ability to dream of something better.

Imagine what it would be like to not have anxiety, to simply refuse to carry any negative within.

I wish you all the best in 2019 and beyond!