Why Should I Care?

Intro

Series

We live in a world of mixed messages - like growing up is easy...

Sermon

Jesus tells us to “love our neighbor”...Make Disciples. However, it’s often hard to think about putting our attention on the needs of others with what we have gone through in life. Many of us have wronged by others more than we would like to remember. Life have thrown me so many curve balls that I just can’t hit. If we had a dollar for every disappointment and dashed hope we’ve experienced we could retire early.

Question: Why should I care about others?

You might be saying, what do you mean “why should I care about others?” because it’s the right thing to do.

But I’m not looking for simple platitudes

What I am not talking about is paying if forward in the Dunkin’s drive-thru line.

What I am talking about is whether or not you are living a life that it outward focused? A life that has at least one eye on the needs of others.

Transition: To give you a little background into the life of Joseph:

Prestigious Family: Son of Jacob and the great grandson of Abraham (father of Israel)

Parents Loved Him: Favorite son of Jacob b/c he was his first son with Rachel

Fine Possessions: Coat of many colors ($) to show his favoritism

From that description it sounds like Joseph had everything going for him. Yet this is just the beginning of a...

I. Our Life Is One Struggle After Another

A. Inward Struggles - Pride

Two prophetic dreams showed himself

He used his close relationship with his father not for the benefit of others but for himself, to make himself feel better

Transition: Joseph’s pride is going to quickly come back to bite him. Joseph’s father Israel told him to go check on his brothers who were tending their sheep. After a bit of an extensive search Joseph finds them miles away from home near the town of Dothan. Listen to what ensues next:

Genesis 37:23–24 TNIV

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Kind of crazy, right. There must have been some deep-seeded resentment towards Joseph for all of the brothers to want to kill him. It makes one wonder just how bad Joseph was to them.

Genesis 37:25 TNIV

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

Genesis 37:28 TNIV

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

B. People Betray Us

“20 sheckles of silver” =

Brother’s faked Joseph’s death and lied to their father

Transition: There we have it, Joseph’s life as he knows it is over. From them on out he would be the property of another person. All the freedoms he once enjoyed as a boy were gone forever. We have recorded for us Joseph’s life as a slave in...

Genesis 39:1 TNIV

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

Potiphar = Man of authority (Pharaoh’s official)

Genesis 39:4 TNIV

Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

Genesis 39:6 TNIV

So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,

After a bit of bad luck with his brothers it looks like things are starting to take shape for this young man.

Ah, but we know how life goes? Good luck only lasts so long.

Genesis 39:6–10 TNIV

So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Some of you are thinking to yourself, “I don’t see where Joseph’s back luck is running out Jon?” Why would I say that you might ask? Well, our culture would read this and say, “man, if I were only so lucky to have that happen to me.”

However, Joseph did what was right and refused this woman’s advancements.

Naturally you would think that God would bless that, right? Let’s see what happens next -

C. People Say Horrible Things About Us

Genesis 39:11–16 TNIV

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.

You can only guess what happens next. Potiphar gets home, hears the story from his wife and in a rage throws Joseph into prison.

Transition: There is Joseph again, locked in prison.

Genesis 40:1–5 TNIV

Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

Genesis 40:6–8 TNIV

When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

Cupbearer - Three days and Pharoah restore him to power (vs. 9-13)

Knowing what would happen, Joseph requests that the cupbearer reminder his kindness to him and put in a good word for him to Pharoah

Baker - Three days and Pharoah would kill him at a celebration - that’s exactly what happened.

D. People Don’t Seem To Care

Genesis 40:23 TNIV

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Well, it sounds to me like Joseph has continued to run into a string of bad luck. Many of you can relate to what Joseph has gone through and I bet your thinking, I can totally relate. This is why I don’t care much about other people or even if I do, I don’t do much because people don’t really appreciate it anyways.

Transition: I have a confession to make. As I read through the account of this story, those of you that know the story might have noticed that I left out quite a bit of the details. One detail in particular I left out, what God was up to during all of this. Let’s go back through this story and look at it how God wanted us to read the story. As we do this I want you to notice how, in each instance...

II. God Is At Work As We Struggle

A. He Is Always Working Behind The Scenes

Joseph’s brothers had gotten tired of his pride and big mouth, leaving him in a bit with his brothers wanting to kill him. Notice with me again what the author tells us happens next:

Genesis 37:25 TNIV

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

Caravan of Ishmaelites happened to be passing by at just the right moment

Judah’s heart suddenly softened and the plans were changed

Genesis 37:26–27 TNIV

Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

Why? Because God wanted Joseph in Egypt!

What we are going to see is that God was willing to turn Joseph’s brother’s actions into a chain of events that would save their own lives!

B. He Blesses Our Faithfulness

Joseph actively applied himself to serving and God prospered Joseph

Genesis 39:2–5 TNIV

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

Joseph knew this and is shown in the humility he demonstrated

Genesis 39:9 TNIV

No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

C. He Never Looses Heart

Again, Joseph might have lost heart but he didn’t

Genesis 39:20–23 TNIV

Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Transition: Each of these trials and roles gained Joseph the experience that he would need for the next step in his journey. Two years after Joseph interpreted the baker’s dream this happened, Joseph was ready for something great...

D. He Is Doing Something Great

Pharaoh’s Dreams

(7) fat cows and (7) sickly cows that ate the (7) fat cows

(7) heads of healthy and good grain and (7) thin and scorched heads of grain that ate (7) healthy grains

Chief cupbearer remembers Joseph (cf. 41:9-13)

Joseph’s Interpretation

Called before Pharaoh (vs. 14)

Pharaoh tells Joseph the dream and everyone’s inability to interpret it.

Genesis 41:16 TNIV

“I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Interpretation = (7) years of plenty followed by (7) years of famine

Joseph’s advice

Genesis 41:33 TNIV

“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:37–40 TNIV

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

Joseph’s Life Comes Full Circle

During the (7) years of plenty Joseph collects grain from throughout Egypt to prepare for the famine

During these (7) years the famine reaches Canaan and Joseph’s father + brothers

They come down to purchase grain from Pharaoh and who was in charge of this? Yup, Joseph

Eventually Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and says these words

Genesis 45:4–8 TNIV

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Joseph has his entire family, some 76 persons, come to live in Egypt, and he set aside a fertile area for them.

Primary message of these chapters of Genesis is this: God is a Person who is in control of circumstances, who works providentially to accomplish His good purposes.

Conclusion:

It’s important that we grasp this truth about God as firmly as Joseph did. Elsewhere Genesis we’ve seen God act in direct interventions.

He created all things, he spoke directly to people, he acted supernaturally to provide for His people.

But there is no record that God spoke directly to Joseph. Joseph had heard stories of the covenant from his father. Joseph had dreamed dreams. But God did not meet with Joseph or confront him.

God blessed Joseph’s efforts in Potiphar’s house, in prison, and in his position as a ruler of Egypt. But it was through Joseph’s own honesty and efforts that the Lord worked. In the unfolding of circumstances, Joseph saw the hand of God. But certainly others would have seen only luck—both good and bad.

But Joseph’s view is the true one.

As we trace through the rest of the Bible, we’ll see that God does sometimes intervene directly. But in most cases God works through the ordering of circumstances: through the natural progress of events whose sequence nonetheless is patterned to shape history according to God’s plan and will.

It is important for us to see that this same will is active in our own circumstances of life. Not because we have a task as great as Joseph’s, but because we are just as precious to the Lord. Thus we have that great New Testament affirmation of God’s control of circumstance for our benefit:

Romans 8:28 TNIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Even tragedies such as Joseph experienced are meant for good. True, they may not lead us to a place of blessing in some earthly Egypt. But one day we will find our place as kings and priests to reign with the triumphant Christ.

In that day the pattern of our individual lives will be seen, woven into the great tapestry of the overall plan of our God: a plan that has in sharp focus the preservation of human beings for a life that extends far beyond the short span allotted you and me on earth. A plan that involves, with eternity, the full restoration in our personalities of the purified image of our God.

If we really believe this, we would want to show others the same tender mercy that God shows us. We won’t feel the need to throw others into the pit when they hurt us, nor ourselves in the midst of guilt and regret over our own personal brokenness.

To go back to our original question: Why should we care about others? Because God cares for us!

God blessed Joseph so that Joseph could be a constant blessing to others! I have no doubt God has blessed you in more ways than you realize. The only question is, how are you blessing others?