Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide CSB, Unit 4, Session 1

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God Redeems Betrayal

Summary and Goal

In this session, we will see that Jacob’s favoritism did not stop with his love for Rachel over Leah; he also loved Joseph more than his other sons.

And once again, we will see that favoritism never ends well for anyone.

However, we will also see that God continued His plan to use this family shattered by sin and strife.

What are ways people play favorites with others?

Big Idea: God is willing and able to redeem His people from the most adverse situations, even those His people create for themselves

or

Family strife can shatter a family, but God works even through the sinful choices of humanity to bring about good.

The life of Joseph is an example of God’s pattern of redemptive reversal, where He permits what appears to be detrimental or destructive and reverses it to accomplish His redemptive purposes.

Session Outline:

1. Favoritism leads to hatred and strife (Gen.

37:3-8).

++2.

Jealousy leads to an opportunity for sin (Gen.

37:18-22).

++3.

Bitterness leads to betrayal (Gen.

37:23-28).

++4.

God Redeems through it all

Christ Connection

Joseph was his father’s beloved son who was betrayed by his own brothers and sold into slavery in order to rescue his brothers from the famine.

Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son who was betrayed by His own and died on the cross to rescue us from our sin.

Introduction

Søren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Christian philosopher, said, “Life must be understood backwards … it must be lived—forwards.” 1 Time offers us a better perspective, a clearer lens, from which to understand what we experience today, whether good or bad.

But while tomorrow can give us the gift of understanding, it cannot give us the gift of healing; that only comes from God.

God continued His plan to use the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though shattered by sin and strife.

God is willing and able to redeem His people from the most adverse situations, even those His people create for themselves.

The life of Joseph is an example of God’s pattern of redemptive reversal, where He permits what appears to be detrimental or destructive and reverses it to accomplish His redemptive purposes.

Point 1: Favoritism leads to hatred and strife (Gen.

37:3-8).

“Favoritism.”

The word produces such great joy and great sorrow.

For the favored, the word prompts memories of advantages and perks: special gifts from a parent; special treatment from a teacher; special outings with a friend.

For those not favored, its fruit is jealousy, anger, bitterness, and heartache.

Jacob had played favorites with his wives.

He favored Rachel over Leah.

As Genesis 37 opens, we now read of Jacob playing favorites with his sons, favoring Joseph over his brothers.

Joseph seemed to bask in his favored position, oblivious to the resentment festering in his brothers.

Read: Ask a volunteer to read Genesis 37:3-8 (DDG p. 12).

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.

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.

Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph strained the relationships within his family.

· The multi-colored robe was a symbol of Jacob’s special love for Joseph for all to see.

It may have signified Jacob’s choice of Joseph—the firstborn son of his beloved wife, Rachel—to lead the family after him, 2 being the firstborn who really counted in his mind.

Jacob’s placing Joseph in the role of a supervisor over his brothers as they shepherded the flocks supports this possibility (see Gen. 37:12-17).

· Joseph’s brothers hated him and hated him more because of Joseph’s dream about their sheaves of grain bowing to his.

The meaning of the dream was not lost on the brothers: they would one day bow to Joseph.

His brothers did not respond with great joy at the thought that he was a seer in their midst.

· Joseph recounted a second dream in Genesis 37:9-11

“Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had?

Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”

The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him.

This time, Jacob himself rebuked Joseph for implying that the family would bow to him.

The brothers were jealous of Joseph, but Jacob continued to ponder what the dream could mean.

DDG (p.

12).

Favoritism, hatred, and strife plagued Abraham’s family for generations.

Isaac favored Esau while Rebekah favored Jacob.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.

Jacob favored Joseph, the firstborn son God gave his beloved Rachel.

Because of favoritism, Jacob struggled to have peace in his family.

What kind of damage can such favoritism cause for you or others at home, at work, or in some other setting?

We aren’t all that unlike our biblical ancestors.

Our penchant to play favorites can lead us to try to help God accomplish His plans through our methods, but God does not need our interference.

Favoritism can never be justified because God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34; Rom.

2:11; Gal.

2:6; Eph 6:9).

When we sin through favoritism, on any level, we perpetuate hatred and strife instead of love and peace.

Fill in the Blanks: Provide group members with the answers for the call-out in their DDG (p.

12).

Family Relationships: God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.

The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people.

Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth.

Children are to honor and obey their parents.

DDG (p.

12)

“Family Relationships”: God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society to most clearly reflect the image of God, just like He has ordained the church as the primary witness of His salvation during this present age.

The family is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.

It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church, and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of intimacy according to biblical standards Heb.

13:4, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created to reflect together God’s image.

The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people.

A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church.

He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family.

A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.

She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him (interdependence), has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation (Eph.

5:22-33; 1 Pet.

3:1-7).

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.

Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage.

Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth (Deut.

6:4-9).

Children are to honor and obey their parents (Eph.

6:1-3).

Favoritism is never productive; it is always destructive…but it cannot stop God from doing good despite it.

Point 2: Jealousy leads to an opportunity for sin (Gen.

37:18-22).

At some point after Joseph shared his dreams with his family, his brothers went into the fields with their father’s flocks.

Jacob then sent Joseph to his other sons so he could report back on them (never a good idea).

But when his brothers saw Joseph in the distance, they recognized an opportunity to rid themselves of the one they hated so much.