The Father's Favor

All right, well, I thought that was a wonderful opening message, a wonderful prayer, wonderful singing to God. So let's get right into our main message today. The title of our sermon is, The Father's Favor. And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up. And we're going to turn to Genesis chapter 37, where we will pick up the story of young Joseph. And this is the part of the story with Joseph in his beginnings. And we're actually going to see that he was a mere 17 years old. But what Joseph experienced even at this early age, I think we will find will be incredibly spiritually helpful and applicable to us today. And just give us a real good spiritual insight at the study of this point in his life. So let's begin. Genesis 37, we're going to begin in verse one to set the foundation of our story and study today. Now it begins, now Jacob, that is Joseph's father, dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. This was the history of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Belah and the sons of Zilpah and his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them, of his brothers, to his father. Now, Israel loved Joseph, that's Jacob. Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also, he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and they could not speak peacefully to him. Now, Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. So he said to them, Please hear this dream which I've dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And indeed, your sheaves, my dear brothers, stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then Joseph, he dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers and said, Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his fathers and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? And his brothers, indeed him. But his fathers kept the matter in his mind. Let's stop there. Again, quite an interesting moment that we come to. And let me just give you a little bit of context. Let's review what we've read. Again, this is young Joseph. He was only 17 years old. We can't expect him to have it all together. I know I didn't have it all together at age 17. He was involved in the task of shepherding. We see those two facts in verse 2. But even at this early age, we do sense here that somehow God had something special planned for him. And in knowing the story of Joseph, of course, we know that to be the fact. And what I'd like to do today is consider these beginnings of Joseph from three particular angles, we could say.

Number one, we want to consider and view Joseph as it's revealed to us. Number one, as the object of his father's favor. We're going to consider him as that object of his father's favor, of Jacob's favor. Secondly, we want to view Joseph as the object of his brother's jealousy and hatred. That would be number two, to consider the object of his brother's jealousy and hatred. Number three, to consider Joseph as the object of God's providential care. Okay, so that'd be the third thing we will look at today. He certainly was the object of God's providential care. So first, what we see again, very clearly stated here, he was his father's favorite. Verse three again, now Israel, that was the new name given to Joseph's father, Jacob. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other children there. Is this right? No, but it's what we're given here. And the reason is we're given that he was the son of Jacob's old age. That's interesting to think about, you know. You know, I don't know if it was any real dishonor to the other brothers. Perhaps if they thought about it, they might have somehow discovered that, you know, it wasn't really an offense to them.

Everyone loves a puppy, right? We could say, you take a puppy and you take an older dog to the park, which one gets the more affectionate response, you know? So, Joseph garnered that extra attention. Also, by the way, Joseph was born to Jacob's great love of his life, Rachel, as well.

So, there was a unique sense of affection tied up in young Joseph here. I'm sure Joseph spent more time with his father, Jacob. You know, while the older brothers probably were away more often, doing their own thing, Joseph was the one that tagged along with his father to go to the hardware store or to go, you know, go out and do work projects and that kind of thing.

So, just naturally, there would have been an affection created in that way. But while it is natural, we can absolutely say it was wrong. It was wrong, you know. Jacob's great affection for it to be really felt by the brothers, it isn't right in that way. And his favor was even expressed. We read in a gift a tunic or a coat there, and Joseph obviously loved wearing it, and the brothers greatly despised him for that as well. Why would a coat instill such hostility, you know, and gender such hostility in the brothers? If you've ever been in a family, and there's a few here today, if you find out that your dad took one of the siblings to get to go out to get their hair cut, and you found out that they went and got ice cream on the way home, you know, you might be a little perturbed in that.

But very quickly, you can kind of, you can kind of reconcile it knowing, well, you know, I'm sure I'll go out with dad again, and we'll have a treat in that way. So they could establish it in that way. But for it to establish venom like it did in these brothers, that's something different. Because we know the story. In short order, Jacob would send Joseph out to the brothers. The brothers see Joseph coming. They begin to speak about taking Joseph's life. And then only a set of circumstances do they go to a plan B, where they decide just to sell him off.

Sell him off as a slave to some slave traders that came by. And we know the story of Joseph, where he'd be a slave for the next 20-some years from that point. So that's such a treacherous response there. Over a coat? Oh, no, it had to be something deeper than a coat, we could say. There was something deep-seated here. I think, I think probably the coat symbolized something in the brother's heart, that perhaps there was a favor being given to Joseph.

Perhaps they detected it along the way over the years. Not just a favor from their physical father, perhaps. Perhaps they begin to see that the other father, the father God, had plans for young Joseph. And in that created this envy that we read about there. A favor from a different father, perhaps. So much more was wrapped up into this coat here. And Reuben, who would have, it should have been the father, you know, the oldest of brothers, should have been really the affection recipient of the father's favor, was not.

And he would have been the natural transition into leadership, which they were beginning to see being given to Joseph in this way. So it set the brothers off in a rage. Every time Joseph put that coat on, they said, oh man, I hate that coat and I hate that brother. You know, I hate him.

Man, he looks ridiculous in that thing, you know. So before we move on, I just want to re-emphasize this was not right of the father, Jacob. You cannot defend Jacob in this way, showing this favoritism here. And by the way, if you don't know this story, I'll just remind you, Jacob, Joseph's father, was the favor of his mother over Esau, you remember, where Jacob and his brother Esau, the mother favored Jacob, and they, the mother helped put together that scheme of to where it ended up where Jacob got the birthright from their father instead of Esau.

So that's remarkable. So you think, you think, you would think Jacob had a sensitivity to that, but to call out to us, don't let history repeat itself, right? Very often we can fall into that. But he was the object of his father's favor. Secondly, to notice, is the object of his brother's jealousy, and it was a jealous hatred here, and it built and built and built. You know, none of these things are overnight ever. Verse four here, again, when his brother saw him coming, when his brother saw that their father loved him more than all the other brothers, they hated him, could not speak to him. Verse five, they hated him even more. Verse eight, they hated him even more. Verse 11, they envied him, jealous of him. So this is much more than just, ah, does Joseph need to really play in our game? He's too small, he's no good, he ruins the game. Yeah, this is much more than that. This is an absolute dislike. I mean, this is a passionate dislike here, and it translates into the most detestable form of cruelty. Again, they stripped off his coat, cast him in a pit, sold him off to slavery. How do you get to such a level of hatred here?

Was it the bad report, you know, that we read about in verse two? Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father? I don't know. There's nothing here that says that Joseph made it up. I don't think that's the case. Was he a a tell-bearer? You know, I don't know. I think this is pretty typical brother behavior here. I don't think you can infer any more than that from this.

Was it the coat, you know, and their reaction to it? And that's why they just kept hating him so much. They didn't even speak to him there in verse four. You know, just put yourself here. This would have been remarkable sitting amongst the brothers here. You know, Reuben, could you tell Joseph to pass the salt? You know, could you tell Joseph that the donkey got out of the gate? You know, they just weren't talked to him, right? So this was building, building, building to the point of just absolute extreme jealousy.

If you have this, those families that are here, if you have any of this in your families, snuff it out quickly. It will tear up a family. It'll fracture a family. The root of all this is jealousy. Jealousy. It's a monster. It's been said, the happiness and success of other men and women is poison to the bloodstream of the jealous. Right? So, you know, all throughout this, the reason we're giving these stories is to really make personal application for us today.

It's so interesting when you think of jealousy. It's really important to know where you're vulnerable to it. If you think about it, typically we're not jealous of those who are in a different space than us. So, doctors aren't jealous of professional athletes, let's say. You know, it's just so on a different realm. Let's see. Pastors aren't jealous of professional golfers, right? I am not jealous of not winning the axe throwing. I'm not an axe thrower, you know. But, and this is the personal application. I'll bring it personal to me.

Pastors are prone to be jealous of other pastors, you see.

Teens are jealous of other teens that they compare themselves to as being, I'm like them, I'm in the same space, but wow, they're better at this, and they get this, and they seem to be more successful in this way. There's something to be careful about. It does enter into fellowships.

I, you know, know that in the heart of even God's men and women, you can have someone that you have an issue with, and there are, there don't, I'm not speaking of anybody, but there are two rows up, on the right or on the left, and you can't even listen to the sermon because you can't take your mind off of the way they fix their hair or the coat they're wearing or whatever it may be, right? So we got to acknowledge the possibility of jealousy and know that it can bring us down if we if we let it get too far out of control, and this certainly was occurring in Joseph's life. Here's another quote, it takes more grace than I can tell to play the second fiddle, well, right? What's the hardest part on the team? The second spot. And even the biblical greats were potentially tested, and it could have been susceptible to this. Take John the Baptist.

There were those around John the Baptist who were saying, you know, Jesus Christ is garnering bigger crowds than you. If you want to keep your marker here, let's just look at that real quick. John the Baptist is a great example of withstanding the monster of envy or jealousy. John chapter 3, if you want to turn there, John chapter 3, in verse 26. I will come right back to Genesis John 3 verse 26.

Look at what they come and report to John the Baptist. John 3 verse 26. And they came to John and said, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. Stop there. So John the Baptist could have had envy well up in his heart. You're losing your appeal. John the Baptist replies, though, verse 27. Verse 27, John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it's given to him from heaven. There it is. This is a voice given from God. I'm just a forerunner. I am the herald. I am not the king. John the Baptist said, you know, I am a appointing to the one, the true one, you see. So think about this in your life. Think about where you might be susceptible to this in those who are in your space and just keep guard about it there. So going back to Genesis 37 now, back to Genesis 37 there. They hated him perhaps because he brought a bad report. They hated him because of that coat, and they certainly hated him because of these dreams. Man, these dreams. Genesis 37 verse 5. Joseph told them a dream, and they hated him even more. Genesis 37 verse 5 there, you know. And again, I think this is where the real jealousy began to grow. God, a different father is putting favor on Joseph, God the father, and it should have been me. Should have been me. You know, and they have these projections of them bowing down to Joseph.

Should have Joseph told the brothers? I don't know. Perhaps not.

And perhaps he really shouldn't have told the second one. I don't know. You know, verse 5 and 6 there, there it is. They hated him even more. Verse 5.

You know, verse 8. Shall we indeed, shall you indeed reign over us, here he says?

I don't know. Well, that was, yeah, yeah, shall we, shall we, shall we indeed raise it? You know, they might have just been able to put that off a little bit, but then hang on, hang on. I have another dream. Verse 9 there. Looked out, dreamed another dream. You won't believe this one. You know, it's astronomical. Here's sun, moon's stars there. Did you tell dad this one? Yeah, dad told me and he rebuked me. You know, he goes on to say, and Aaron in verse 11, the brothers envied him and his father kept this in mind. I think his father was also beginning to see that God the father was now beginning to show a favor toward and bestow his favor onto young Joseph. And I think this would have been really difficult if you've ever been 17 years old. There are some here in this room are close to it. Boy, having people like you, that's like number one in the whole desire at the head of age, you know, so this would have been very difficult. And he would have been tempted to just turn away from it all, recore from it all. But what we find is in the end, he stays faithful through it all. And in the end, the brothers do end up bowing down to him. It's a remarkable story. He stayed focused, clear, ready to obey.

In the end, he becomes second in command in Egypt. And because of a famine, the brothers come and this dream comes true. This dream comes true. So how was Joseph able to keep going amongst all this treatment and again, being thrown into a pit and sold and all of this? How was he able to keep going? What he realized was our third point. And that is the fact that Joseph was not only extended favor from his human father, but in fact, he was given favor from his father, God. That's the third. God's providential care. All right? Through it all, God's providence. What that means is God bestowed grace and kindness, preserved Joseph, had plans for him, allowed him to go through difficulties to make him whom Joseph was to be, to fulfill the dream. Joseph persevered through it all. And I got to tell you, young and old, that's the key. Nothing is happenstance in your life. The good, the bad, the ugly. God is with you through it all. And if you will stay faithful in the end, he will fulfill what he looks to fulfill in you and do great things.

So somehow and at all, all of this, Joseph was able to acknowledge that God was sovereign over it all. So there in verse 13, when his father says, go to your brothers, he says, I'll go. I'll go in obedience. I will go to those who hate me. I will go to those who won't speak to me. I don't know if Jacob understood the animosity that had built, the absolute hatred that had built at this point. I don't believe so. And from this point where his father, Jacob, sends Joseph out to his brothers, the father, Joseph, would not see his son. The father, Jacob, would not see his son, Joseph, for the next 20-some years from that point forward. Over 20 years later, over 20 years would pass, over 20 years past that Joseph wouldn't see his father. From that moment forward, we could have never expected that. So we find ourselves saying today, I could have never imagined in hindsight being taken into those circumstances, those difficult circumstances. But God was taking them through it all, the highs and the lows. So we recognize God's providential care. God was with him through it all, in the pit, with the slaveholders, all that Joseph experienced until the day he had victory in the end.

And he would be raised again to second in command in Egypt. So let's fast forward to the moment, to the conclusion, the fulfillment of that dream. Genesis 45 here. Look at Genesis 45, verse 1 through 5. So here it is, 20-some years later, the brothers would now come back in contact with Joseph again. And they couldn't believe it, that it was Joseph. And the brothers are now before Joseph. Joseph has been raised from the pit, from slavery, to second in command in Egypt. God was with Joseph. And here it is. Genesis 45, verse 1. Then Joseph couldn't restrain himself before all those who stood by, and he cried out, Make everyone go out from me. So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. They didn't even recognize him at first. And Joseph wept in the Egyptians of the house of Pharaoh, heard it. That's how loud he was weeping. And Joseph says to his brothers, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? But the brothers could not answer him. They were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near to me. So they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. And these two years of famine has been in the land. And there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. And as he has made me the father to Pharaoh and Lord of all the house and ruler throughout all the land, hurry, brothers, and go to my father and say to him, Thus, your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt, come down to me and do not tarry. So that's the perspective.

And if you young people, and I'll speak to you, and I'll remind you older people, if you get the fact that God has called you and he has you in his care through the good, through the bad, through it all, all that he's asking for you is to remain faithful and obedient to him, this will be your end result. And God will do great purposes through you. And you can have this wonderful perspective. No doubt God had plans for young Joseph because he had this perspective. And going forward to chapter 46 verse 29 and 30, Genesis 46 verses 29 and 30.

So Joseph made ready his chariot and went down to Goshen to meet his father Israel, and he presented himself to him. This is the long awaited reunion and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face because you are still alive. It's been over 20 years here and father or son are coming back together. I'm sure Jacob just said, Oh, Joseph, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know, you know, will you forgive me? He would have said.

Well, this was a wonderful blessing for Jacob and Joseph. Most agree that they were able to spend about 15 to 17 years together from this time forward until the death of Jacob. Let's pick up that moment going forward. Genesis 50 verses 15 through 21. Joseph's father Jacob does die here and look at his one of his last requests here. Genesis 50 verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us and make it may actually repay us all the evil which we did to him. So they sent messengers to Joseph saying, Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus ye shall say to Joseph, I beg you, Joseph, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now please forgive the trespass of your servants, of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, bowing down. Here it is. Behold, we are your servants, Joseph. But Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, brothers, for you brothers, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people. Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. So being in second command in Egypt, Joseph was able to save many lives during the famine. It was a God used him to do that. And this wonderful perspective here, you know, absolutely wonderful. God was intimately involved in Joseph's life through it all, his providential care. So let me just make one, just a couple of final points, observations here in the end, as we think about God being with us through it all, as long as we will respond in the proper way through the good and the bad. First of all, we want to acknowledge that God is in control in our trauma, in the hatred, in the difficulty.

And just as he is in the fulfillment of the dreams, raising Joseph up to the position of unique usefulness, we must understand that if we respond in the same way, God will do the same in our lives. It's not easy. It's not easy. But even in the suffering, if we will overcome, it will lead to blessing. Blessings in the end. And I don't know if it's already triggered in your mind already. Do you find yourself propelled forward from Joseph to Jesus? Have you thought that? Do you see Jesus in this story? Do you see how the experience of Joseph, there was a far shadowing of a far greater one to come? It was on the account of envy and jealousy that Joseph ended up being in slavery and near death, the prospect of death. Fast forward. When Pilate recorded in Matthew 27, when Pilate asked the crowd, who do you want me to release to you? Who do you want me to release? Barabbas? Or would you like me to release Jesus? And the crowd says, release Barabbas. Crucify Jesus. And Matthew records Pilate understood that it was on the account of envy, jealousy, that Jesus had been delivered over to crucifixion. So we see Jesus here. Also, Joseph travels across the country in search of his brothers, and he goes to the ones who will reject him. And he goes to the ones who will seek to kill him. Jesus Christ diligently went to those to do the same. He knew those were coming after him. And they said, let's kill him.

He knew, Jesus knew, he was going to the ones who were going to say, like Joseph's brothers, do you think you're going to reign over us? Do you think we're going to bow down to you?

Nevertheless, Jesus went forward looking for the individuals. He's searching for you, and he wants to see you. And just as Joseph held in his hands the answer to the famine and their deepest needs, Jesus Christ holds the power and answer for us. So as we conclude, let me just remind you, God is sovereign over it all. All of it.

And despite what comes into your experience, the difficulty in trial, just know that you are under the Father's providential care. And so may we respond and overcome to the end as Joseph did. And by doing so, we will ultimately receive the Father's favor.