Joseph's Obedience to his Father
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Introduction
Introduction
Last week we talked about Kindness, and I mentioned how when I was a teenager and I heard that the preacher was going to talk about such a basic topic like kindness I would usually tune them out, cause I was prideful really. Because I already know the why, I should be kind, and I know the how, I should be kind. And tonight’s message is a similar basic topic, we’re going to talk about obedience, specifically obedience to parents. We all know we should be obedient to parents and most of us know how, even though we don’t always do it. But don’t tune this lesson out, remember find one thing in this message you can apply. Hopefully there is some sort of biblical principle you hear tonight that will encourage you as well as challenge you.
God has a lot to say about teenagers in the Bible. There are over 2,000 references to the child and children in the Bible. Here is just a couple:
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
My son, keep thy father’s commandment,
And forsake not the law of thy mother:
My son, hear the instruction of thy father,
And forsake not the law of thy mother:
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Were going to look at a couple principles from the life of Joseph. Turn to Genesis 37
And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
**Tell the story of Joseph
1. Joseph was Available (v. 13)
1. Joseph was Available (v. 13)
And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
“Here am I”
I love that phrase “Here am I” because it represents My Attitude, or my posture towards whoever I’m speaking to. Attitude is a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior. Having a right attitude is having a mental and spiritual posture of bowing myself to someone else, that is my posture, it is utmost respect.
This phrase is all over the Bible too, listen:
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
Here am I just means I’m right here, I’m ready, whatever you need me to do I’m right here and ready to do immediately.
When your parents or other authority figures ask you to do something or require something of you, your response should be an attitude of “Here am I”. We should have an attitude or spiritual posture of love and respect for our parents.
PREACH **I’m just gonna be brutally honest with you because I love you. And right now you need to be brutally honest with yourself. I say these things cause I love you. Some of y’alls attitude towards your parents is of the devil. Some of yall’s attitude to other authority is of the devil. You say brother Zain, that’s a little dramatic, just cause I’m a little sarcastic or rude sometimes doesn’t mean I have a devilish attitude. Oh yes it does. Anything that is sinful is not of God, it is of the devil. When you have a bad attitude and youre rude and sarcastic and snarky toward your parents, you are doing exactly what the devil wants you to do and doing the opposite of what God wants you to do. Our purpose in life is to glorify God and that does not bring glory to Him.
And the sad thing is is that you don’t care. You’ve grown comfortable with the sin of a wrong attitude. Your heart is hardened toward it. And it’s cause you don’t see any immediate consequences from it usually. Sometimes a bad attitude can come out in the way we talk or act and that can have consequences. But when this bad attitude is completely internal, just inside your head, you don’t see any consequences from it so you don’t stop it. That’s how secret sins work. Usually when we talk about secret sins we talk about serious things like having some sort of addiction or having an affair, but your secret sin can be that of a bad attitude. You keep on indulging in these secret sins because you don’t have any consequences, but eventually, eventually you will.
But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.
Your sin will find you out, it will come out in the open and there will be consequences.
Sin (especially a bad attitude) will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
All that sounds kind of harsh, but it is the truth and you need to know it.
Your attitude will affect your actions.
If you have a bad attitude, you will have bad actions.
**ILLUSTRATION - bad attitude hang up chore last whippin story
So If you have a bad attitude, you will have bad actions.
But the opposite is also true, if you have a good attitude, you will have good actions.
Look at verse 14 in our text.
2. Joseph Obeyed (v. 14)
2. Joseph Obeyed (v. 14)
And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
“He came to Shechem”
So because Joseph was available, he had the right attitude, he obeyed, he had the correct action.
Jacob said go, so Joseph went. He didn’t delay or make any sort of excuses or ask any sort of questions, he simply obeyed. Joseph could have said I’m the favorite child, I’m the chosen one, the miracle baby, I don’t need to go check up on my brothers. No he simply obeyed.
Shechem was 50 miles to the north. **MAP SLIDE** Joseph was probably around the age of 17 at this point. He is 17 years old traveling 50 miles by foot. And then we read that his brothers have gone on to Dothan which is another 15 miles north. So this wasn’t just a one day trip. This was a long, tiring, even dangerous journey for a 17 year old kid, but still Joseph obeyed. He didn’t wait a couple days to get ready for this long journey. It says he came to shechem. He may have been tempted to try to get a good nights rest before hand or eat a big meal, but no he did not delay.
Delayed obedience, is still disobedience. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
**ILLUSTRATION We’ve all been there right. We’re in our room playing video games or on our phones or something and mom comes in and tells you to clean your room or go do some chores, and you say....
When the Lord asks us to do something, He expects us to obey without delay. And because God has sovereignly put you under the authority of your parents, when they tell you to do something, God expects you to obey them without delay. It is pleasing and glorifying to God when you obey your parents because by doing so you are also obeying God. Delayed obedience is just disobedience.
By obeying his earthly father, Joseph was really obeying his Heavenly Father as well.
I’d imagine during that long journey that there would have been a lot of temptations for Joseph. He had to pass through big cities like Jerusalem, Bethel, and others. He was probably tempted give up, grab a hotel and some food. He was probably tempted by women in these cities. He was probably tempted by drinking halls in these towns. He was probably tempted to be prideful and just think he doesn’t deserve this and just go back home. But Joseph knew he needed to obey his father and honor him, so he kept on going to Shechem and eventually on to Dothan.
Joseph had the right attitude and the right actions.
Examine your own actions to determine if your attitudes are of God.
Skip down to verse 31
3. Joseph was Saved (v. 31)
3. Joseph was Saved (v. 31)
And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
So if we’re being honest, Joseph wasn’t perfect. He was a good guy, a lot better than me and you probably but he still messed up, he still sinned. He probably should have cooled it with his brothers and not bragged about his dreams so much. Once he saw how offended they were by his dreams it would have been wise for him to just stop and maybe try to mend those relationships.
But because he didn’t, his brothers still hated him and wanted him to kill him. But at the last moment, Joseph was able to go free. They killed an animal instead. An innocent goat had to sacrifice his life so that Joseph could live.
And I bet Joseph was grateful for that goat. I bet he was extremely thankful that that goat was being killed instead of him. An innocent sacrifice was killed instead of him.
And you know what, an innocent sacrifice was killed for us too, was killed so that we may live. Jesus Christ the perfect lamb of God died so that we may live.
We deserve death, we deserved to die but Christ took it instead even though he was innocent. He lived the perfect life. He had a perfect attitude and had perfect obedience, yet he died and we live, even though we have sinful attitudes and sinful disobedience.
Too often we compare ourselves to our friends and the people around us to try to gauge how well were doing. We see that man our friend has a terrible attitude toward his parents and never listens to them or obeys them so really I’m doing alright.
Stop. the sin. of comparison. You are not to compare yourself to the people around you. You are to compare yourself to Jesus, and Jesus alone.
I don’t care how well you measure up to the person sitting beside you, that doesn’t matter. How well do you measure up to Jesus and what he has commanded you and called you to do.
Listen to these verses talking about Christ’s attitude and actions:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
**Explain verses
In some translations verse 5 literally says “You must have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had”
Christ’s Action because of His Attitude
Christ was obedient to His Father.
Stop comparing yourself to other Christians and compare yourself to Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
1. Joseph was available
— He had the right attitude
2. Joseph was obedient
— He had the right action
3. Joseph was saved (because of a sacrificed life)
— We are saved because of Christ’s sacrificed life
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Even when it seems like God has abandoned us and life is beating us down, God uses evil for good in our lives. The New Testament equivalent of verse for Christians is Romans 8:28 you hear me quote it all the time
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
1. Joseph was available
— He had the right attitude
2. Joseph was obedient
— He had the right action
3. Joseph was saved (because of a sacrificed life)
— We are saved because of Christ’s sacrificed life