Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Sunday's Message - The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (Joseph and His Brothers)

We're going to spend the summer of 2023 with the Patriarchs. During eleven worship services, beginning on Father's Day, we'll use passages from the book of Genesis to look at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, focusing on how the Lord was consistently and actively involved in their lives. And by the end of the summer, we should have a better understanding of the one whom they followed and on how that same God can lead us. During this series, we'll look at the stories and passages below:

On Sunday, the message focused on what we can learn from the story of Joseph and his brothers, Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28. A recording and copy of the sermon are below. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel at 10:00 a.m.


You know, I’m not sure there’s anything better than having something great happen when you don’t expect it. You know what I mean, like when you’re waiting in line at a wedding reception and they bring out a new tray of rigatoni or when you get a notice about a church meeting and read that there’s a Zoom option or when you wake up in the morning and see that you’ve got ninety minutes before the alarm goes off. I’ll tell you, at those times, man, you just know that God exists and that there’s justice in the universe. 

And that’s kind of what I experienced yesterday as I was starting to work on this sermon. You see, we’re getting close to the end of the series we started in June entitled The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And since we’ve already talked about God and Abraham, and God and Isaac, and God and Jacob, we’re now looking at what we might learn about God in these last two stories about Jacob’s son, Joseph. Now that’s where we are. And as I’ve done for almost every Saturday for the last thirty-six years, yesterday, I was trying to figure out how I might introduce this particular message. And after considering and then rejecting some possibilities, it suddenly hit me like a pan of rigatoni; this afternoon, the Brunch Bunch is going up to Franklin to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream for crying out loud! Hallelujah. God is good always. And God is always good. And so, if you want to learn about what happens with Joseph and his brothers, talk to Paula right after the service and go to the show. And remember, as a bonus, you’ll also be eating at Primo Barone's.

Of course, as you’ll see in the musical and we’ll talk about here this morning, what happens in our first story about Joseph, well, I think I’m safe in saying that it’s actually the opposite of having something great happen when you least expect it. As a matter of fact, we’re going to see that, thanks to his father’s gift and his brother’s reaction, Joseph had to deal with some stuff that he didn’t expect and certainly didn’t choose. In other words, in this story, he ended up facing the same kind of adversity we all have to endure from time-to-time when things just plain happen and our lives take a dark turn. 

And so, with that in mind, we’re going to look at the story of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis 37. We’ll read the entire passage and then we’ll apply it to ourselves by discussing how we might be able to identify with him and then what we can do about it. Now that’s the plan.

And it begins with the story itself. This is what it says in Genesis:

Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived, and this is the story of his family.

When Jacob’s son Joseph was 17 years old, he took care of the sheep with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. But he was always telling his father all sorts of bad things about his brothers.

Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was very old. Jacob had even given Joseph a fancy coat which showed that Joseph was his favorite son, and so Joseph’s brothers hated him and would not be friendly to him.

One day when Joseph’s brothers had taken the sheep to a pasture near Shechem, his father Jacob said to him, “I want you to go to your brothers. They are with the sheep near Shechem.”

“Yes, sir,” Joseph answered.

His father said, “Go and find out how your brothers and the sheep are doing. Then come back and let me know.” So he sent him from Hebron Valley.

Joseph was near Shechem and wandering through the fields, when a man asked, “What are you looking for?”

Joseph answered, “I’m looking for my brothers who are watching the sheep. Can you tell me where they are?”

“They’re not here anymore,” the man replied. “I overheard them say they were going to Dothan.”

Joseph left and found his brothers in Dothan. But before he got there, they saw him coming and made plans to kill him. They said to one another, “Look, here comes the hero of those dreams! Let’s kill him and throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see what happens to those dreams.”

Reuben heard this and tried to protect Joseph from them. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. “Don’t murder him or even harm him. Just throw him into a well out here in the desert.” Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.

When Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his fancy coat and threw him into a dry well.

As Joseph’s brothers sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with all kinds of spices that they were taking to Egypt. So Judah said, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his body? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not harm him. After all, he is our brother.” And the others agreed.

When the Midianite merchants came by, Joseph’s brothers took him out of the well, and for 20 pieces of silver they sold him to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. [Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28, CEV]

Now that’s what it says in Genesis. 

And you know, if we take this story and apply it to ourselves, well, I think I’m safe in saying that, like Joseph, we all face adversity every now and then, don’t we? My goodness, what did Longfellow say and the Ink Spots sing: “Into every life some rain must fall”? Sure it does; we all know that, because we all know about troubles and trials. And we all know about difficulties and disappointments. And we all know about problems and pain. This stuff we know. Of course, I think we also know that these adversities aren’t exactly “one size fits all.” I mean, they may be absolutely huge and permanent or relatively small and temporary. They might affect us personally or vicariously. And I’ll tell you they might even be understandable, even predictable or mysterious and confusing. You see, just like the people they affect, adversity can come in all kinds of sizes and shapes and forms. 

Any yet, I think they all have a few things in common. For example, if we’re not careful these troubles and these trials can absolutely dominate our thoughts, can’t they? Man, they can control what we think about during the day and keep us awake at night. As a matter of fact, they can sort of squeeze out or shove aside all those plans we should be making and all those dreams we could be reaching. You see, adversity can sort of take control of our minds. And that’s one thing it can do.

But that’s not all, because let’s get really, difficulties and disappointments can also control our lives, and now I’m talking about the stuff we actually do. For example, instead of living, we end up sitting. And instead of working, we end up worrying. And instead of enjoying those things and people God is continually sending into our lives, outside of some complaining, we end up doing nothing at all. You know, if we’re not careful, adversity can cause us to feel paralyzed and powerless, and that’s something else it can do.

But I’ll tell you, maybe worst of all, these problems and pain that we all face from time-to-time, man, they can sure shake our faith, and I’m talking about our trust in the one who loved us before he created the universe and who’ll continue to love us long after the world we know has been reborn. And I’ll tell you, I think this is particularly true for all those who were taught that believing in God and accepting Christ and claiming the Spirit will lead to health and wealth and happiness. My gosh, if that’s what I expect, how’s it going to affect me when my father gets sick or my friend gets laid off or I just feel sad. You see, although the specifics may be different, adversity can not only dominate our thoughts and control our lives, it can also shake our faith.

But here’s the good news, it doesn’t have to. You see, when we can identify with Joseph and when we feel as though the adversity we face is about to dominate and control and shake, I believe we have the power to do something about it. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, when faced with troubles and problems and difficulties, I think we can make three decisions that will change everything. And let me briefly share with you what they are.

You see, first, we can decide to trust God. In other words, we can decide to believe that God loves us; he always has and always will. And we can decide to have faith that, regardless of what’s going on in and around us, we’re never alone. You see, we can decide to trust God, because, I’ll tell you, trust is always a decision. And you know, I think the Apostle Paul understood how this kind of trust could get folks through tough times. Just listen to what he wrote to the Philippians:

I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have. I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything. [Philippians 4:11-13, CEV]

Now, that’s what he wrote. You see, as he struggled with all the troubles and all the trials he was enduring in his life, he decided to believe that Christ was his source of strength and that faith could enable him to face anything. And you know, it can do the same for us. As we deal with our own adversity, we can decide to trust God; that’s the first thing we can do.

And second, we can also decide to be active, and I’m talking about living as best we can right now. In other words, we can decide to use what we have to do what we’ve been created and called and equipped to do. And I’ll tell you why that’s important; we’re not really living when we’re sitting around and thinking about the hand we’ve been dealt. And we’re not really living when we’re worrying about all the problems and pain that’s crept into our lives. And we’re not really living when we end up doing nothing because we feel paralyzed and powerless. That’s not living. Instead, living is about being active and involved. And I’ll tell you, I think that applies to everyone, because even if we’re no longer able to do what we once did, like I’ve said before, we can all do something: something to make the lives of those around us better and something that reflects the compassion and mercy of God. And you know, I think this was exactly what the Apostle Peter was getting at when he wrote this in his first letter:

Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. If you have the gift of speaking, preach God’s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen. [1 Peter 4:10-11, CEV]

You see, we can all do something, but you know, if we don’t know what it is or if we don’t know how we might be able to do it, well, that’s when we really need to help one another, because, as the Body of Christ (and that’s what we are), we have the opportunity to help our fellow church members identify all the different gifts they might have and to give our brothers and sisters the opportunity to use them. But before the Body can do much of anything, a decision must be made. You see, as we deal with our own adversity, we can decide to be active; and that’s the second thing we can do.

And third, having already decided to trust God and to be active, we can decide to move forward. In other words, instead of obsessing on our trials and our disappointment and pain, we can pull up our socks and focus our attention on the future. You see, we can actively and intentionally move forward, trusting that God will be with us every step of the way and adopting the same kind of vision that Jeremiah encouraged the people of Jerusalem to have as they tried to move beyond the worst political and military crisis Judah had faced as a nation, and I’m talking about defeat and conquest and exile. You see, speaking for God, the prophet wrote,

I will bless you with a future filled with hope – a future of success, not of suffering. You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you and accept your worship. [Jeremiah 29:11-14a, CEV]

You see, Jeremiah didn’t tell his people to deny that their actions had consequences nor to pretend that the reality they were facing didn’t exist. Instead, he challenged them to look beyond the past and the present so that they could see a glorious future that was already in God’s hands, one that, if we share that same vision, can give us all kinds of hope as we struggle through the troubles and the difficulties and the problems. You see, as we deal with our own adversity, we can decide to move forward; and that’s the third thing we can do.

Of course, based on the story we read from Genesis this morning, we don’t know if that’s what Joseph did. All the passage tells us is that he suffered adversity, something with which we can identify from time to time. But you know, it’s interesting, for everybody who goes to the performance this afternoon or who reads the next few chapters of Genesis, I think y’all will see that Joseph actually did what we can do as well. You see, in the face of adversity, like him, we can decide to trust God and to be active and to move forward. And this we can understand because we’ve read the story of Joseph and his brothers.
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