Joseph

I want to begin with a question. Are we having some difficult times? Are we going through difficult situations? If you look around your present life, maybe it's yourself, maybe it's some loved ones, but I'm sure people around you are going through difficult situations, maybe health or economic trials. The point is that as long as we live, we are going to be tested. We're going to go through difficult times. And so I'd like to speak to you about someone that God wrote down the story to encourage us to not let us give up or give in, because He is there. He is our Father. He takes care of us. But there are lessons to be learned, situations to overcome, challenges to succeed, to have success. And that person is Joseph in the Bible.

Joseph's life is one way God helps us to understand when things go wrong, He is still there. He is working in the background. He has not abandoned or left us. He is still in charge and working things out. We just need the patience and the trust that He is behind. He knows what we're going through. And just like it tells us in Romans chapter 15 and verse 4, I'd like to read it from the New Living Bible version. Romans 15 verse 4, it says, such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us, and the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.

If you look at Joseph's life, the first 30 years, they were just one tragedy and one catastrophe after another. For the first 30 years of his life, things could not have gone worse. At the age of 17, he was a happy-go-lucky fellow. He had 11 brothers that were older. He had several sisters. Jacob was his father, Rachel his mother, and it was a happy family.

But then he had a dream that got his attention, where he saw that these spigs of wheat were all bending toward him. And then he saw the other one, like the sun, the moon, and the stars that were all around him as well. And so he thought, boy, this looks like someday this is going to happen. And he told his brothers and his parents, and his brothers were very upset. And they had envy, and they were jealous of him. His father and mother didn't appreciate it either.

How can a son be elevated to such prominence that the father and mother would bow down before him? And so there was a beginning of jealousy and envy with his brothers, and it got worse over time. And so when he was 17, his father dispatched him. His father always trusted him more. He was more effective, more efficient, to see what his brothers were doing. And before that time, he had sent Joseph, and Joseph had given him a bad report.

The brothers were not doing what they should. And of course, the brothers detested this. There was this sibling rivalry. And so when they saw him coming to them, instead of being happy, they thought, this is our chance to get rid of this bur in the saddle, this thorn in the side. Now we can just get rid of him.

Our parents are not going to ever know what happened. And so they wanted to kill him. And yet, Reuben was the one that stopped him and said, well, let's not have bloodshed, but let's throw him into this pit, this empty cistern that there was, and just leave him there. So he'll eventually starve.

Eventually we'll see what to do. And so they threw him into this dry pit where it used to be water. And of course, this place, it was just like a big pit. He couldn't get out. And the brothers listened to him plead with his anguish, and they didn't pay any attention. They just went and had a merry time and joy. Oh, we finally got rid of him. That's how terrible this sibling rivalry and hatred can get to the point.

And we saw that with the first two sons of Adam and Eve, how Cain just had so much envy and jealousy that eventually killed Abel. Well, this is repeated now. And so before they could do anything else to him, they noticed that this caravan of Ishmaelites had come and they were heading down toward Egypt. And they thought, well, why kill him? Why not make some money off of him? And so they went ahead and sold them to these Ishmaelites as a slave.

They paid 20 pieces of silver for him. And so they took him down to Egypt. And then the brothers who had taken his beautiful coat of many colors off him and they said, well, let's tell our parents that he was killed by some wild animals. And so they mixed some blood and they took it to the parents and Jacob identified it. And of course, he went into a depression because this was his favorite son. He had had it from his favorite wife, Rachel. And so this was a very tough time in the family, but the brothers kept the secret.

In the meantime, young Joseph's life just turned in the worst way from a free and happy-go-lucky fellow. Now, he had descended to slavery, where you don't have any rights. He was taken down to Egypt and he was sold as a slave to Potiphar. And at 17 years old, he lost everything. He could not escape. And he lived under slavery. And of course, he worked there in the household. And pretty soon, because he was a very diligent person, and one thing, as we will see, he never lost his faith.

No matter what happened to him, he never lost his faith in God. And so it was that he spent around 10 years in Potiphar's home, from around 17 to 27. Well, by that time, he had risen as the manager of this household. He was trusted. And he had risen in his position. And then Potiphar's wife started lusting after him and giving him innuendos. And because many times these officials' wives were quite frivolous, that's the way Egyptian history portrays them.

And so she wanted to seduce Joseph. And one moment when they were alone, while she came and she just hugged him and tried to kiss him, and he just rejected her. And he fled, but his coat was left there. She grabbed onto that. And so then, of course, in the panic that she was in, how am I going to explain this to my husband? She lied. And she said that it was Joseph who had tried to seduce her.

And, of course, him being a foreigner, a stranger in the land, Potiphar believed his wife. And so he had Joseph locked up with the charge of attempted adultery. And so this was a very serious charge. And so again, now 10 years later, Joseph could say, well, what else can happen to me? I went from a decent home. Now I went into slavery. I finally kind of rose a bit on this. And now I'm even worse than a slave. Now I'm a prisoner. Where is God? What's happened?

But what the account tells us is that he never lost his faith in God. It was unpleasant. It was scary at times. But he put God first, a young man. And he had this dream that God had revealed to him. And that his great-great grandfather, Abraham, had been given these promises. And he was part of that. Now it takes a lot of prayer, takes a lot of faith to stay close to God when you go through the most difficult times. And so at around the age of 27, he was stuck in this jail. And yet he was still positive. He was working, and pretty soon he was put in charge as one of the prisoners in charge of the others. Because he was so diligent and dynamic. And that the guard could trust him, the jailkeeper. And so probably about a year ensued, and Joseph was doing the best he could. And then two of Pharaoh's men were put in jail. One was a baker, and the other one was a cupbearer. And they had fallen from grace. They had not done a good job. Pharaoh had gotten mad because they had not fulfilled their functions, and so he sent them to jail. And Joseph, who was managing the place, although he was still a prisoner, so he went up to them and he said, Why are you so sad? And they told them their story. And then they had a dream, which they came to Joseph, and they said, We had this dream. And the cupbearer said, I had this dream that in three days Pharaoh was going to be pressing wine, and that he would be drinking from it. And the baker said, Well, that's interesting because with me, it had to do with the Pharaoh eating the bread and going through these steps. And so it was that finally those prophecies, he interpreted them, and he told the baker that he would in three days be let out of jail. But with the cupbearer, he said, No, in three days you will be executed. Let me go to that scripture real quickly here. When he goes through this, he says, verse 18 of Genesis 40, he says, So Joseph answered and said, This is interpretation. The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you. And this happened. And then it says here in verse 21, then he restored the chief butler to his butler ship again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker, and Joseph had interpreted to them as Joseph. And yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. He told Joseph, Well, that's a great thing you told me. And as soon as I get back, I'm going to talk to Pharaoh about your situation. And so you can be innocent. Well, as soon as a baker was freed, he forgot about it. And so Joseph could have said, Well, where is God? Here I'm still faithful. I'm serving him. I don't see the response. Why doesn't God act? And yet Joseph continued serving faithfully. So it was two years later. And it says in Genesis 41, 46, that Joseph was 30 years of age when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream, and he was elevated to the second position because Pharaoh feared Joseph and his God. And so from being in the prison one day, he's in the palace and the next day. But it took 13 long years of suffering, of being tested.

God could ask him, Well, are you going to give up on me with what you have had to go through?

And Joseph never did. He said, No, Lord, I'm going to continue through thick and thin to follow you.

And so it would be nine years later after he was exalted. Remember the seven years of plenty? And then there would be seven years of famine. Well, it was in the second year of famine that his brothers arrived. So he was 39 years old at that time. More than 20 years had passed since his brothers had attempted to assassinate him and sold him into slavery. And so here, the 39-year-old, second in command, sees his brothers come before him and bow. And he remembered the dream and how God was working things out. Well, after he told his brothers, Go back and bring your other brother, little Benjamin, then you can free your other brother that I'm going to hold as a ransom. And so it took two more years. Joseph was 41 years old when finally his brothers came back and then they brought Jacob. And of course, it talks about how Joseph cried. And by the way, there in that account, it was seven times that Joseph cried after he saw his brothers to the time he wept for his father. And then they were brought to Egypt to some of the best land in Goshen. And there they were settled down and protected for the next five years of famine. And the summary of it, we can see what Joseph mentions in Genesis 50, verse 20. It says, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. In order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive, God's promises to Abraham were going to be fulfilled. His descendants would continue to thrive. And God had told Abraham in Genesis 15 that after this 400 year period, that his descendants would be brought back to the Promised Land. And Joseph was part of that fulfillment. God used Joseph to protect his people during all this time of famine, and how he worked it out. And Joseph realized that he was an agent being used by God, being tested and tried, but that there was something much bigger than just Joseph involved here. So here are two points that we can relate to, that we can learn about Joseph's life. One is, Joseph walked with God through thick and thin. He wasn't just a fair-weather Christian. Oh, and things are great and going well. Oh, yeah, I love God. And oh, I'm going to be very faithful. And then things go bad. Oh, well, then things get sour. Then God gets blamed many times, or people just drift. That wasn't the case with Joseph. In Hebrews 11, verse 22, it tells us the last act of faith that Joseph had. He had faith through his entire life, through thick and thin. And it says, By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones. Now, that might not sound very important here. He's dying. He says, please don't leave my bones here in Egypt. I want you to take them to the Promised Land, back to Canaan. But it was a great example.

He knew God's promises to his great-grandfather, Abraham, would be fulfilled.

How? By having faith, by seeing the invisible, God working things out behind the scenes.

He was in the background, and he's working in the background if we want to see it as well.

Do we have that invisible God working things out in our lives? We can if we have that living faith.

In Hebrews 11, 27, it talks about seeing the invisible. How can you see something invisible?

That perplexed me when I read it the first time. It's kind of a contradiction of terms. Seeing the invisible. It says in Hebrews 11, 27, faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger.

Moses didn't give up, but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God.

That's the New Living version, if I'm not mistaken. But it talks about how Moses is a good example.

What he did was because he was looking at the spiritual. He knew there was a spiritual God that he could please, that he could worship, that he could walk day by day, as Joseph did.

Paul said the same thing. This is 2 Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18, the contemporary English version.

It says, these little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing. Things that are seen don't last forever. Physical things disappear. They disintegrate. But things that are not seen are eternal. The living spiritual world that is operating. See, we are just physical beings, but there's a spiritual world surrounding us. And if we have faith, we rely on that, we believe it, and we act accordingly. It says, that's why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen.

That's an important concept. Faith, then, is walking the walk. It is a gift from God, but we have to respond to it. We have to accept it. Do we want to see the invisible, or do we just want to go around in our physical, material world, depending on ourselves, depending on others that we can see physically, depending on our money, depending on our status?

But there's something more important than that. Walking with God, as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, all of these men and women of faith, they all followed the same path. They did not walk alone.

They had God on their side. Joseph had God in that dungeon. He had that God in Egypt, and he refused to follow Egypt's gods.

Just think, when was it when you decided to accept that gift of faith?

Some are not too dramatic. You grow up in the church. You eventually take that step.

You follow your parents. And then some are quite dramatic, where a person comes from outside, from the world, just like we heard in the sermonette here, Bill Wozner's experience.

For him, it was very alive, that moment, that awareness being called and accepting that calling. I know just a way of example. I am nothing, but with God I am something.

And mine was quite dramatic, too, at 17 years old. Also, a Catholic background. I wasn't looking for God. I wasn't looking for truth. I wasn't interested in reading about it, but I stumbled upon it through a classmate in high school. And two weeks of studying into it, getting a Bible, starting to examine, compare things. And I actually tried to refute it. I thought, well, this can't be true. And yet I was the one that was wrong. I had to admit I was wrong.

And so after two weeks, I wanted to attend church. And the minister came by our area, had an interview with me. I asked him about it, and he allowed me to start attending at the tender age of 17. We had to go an hour and a half drive to Chattanooga, Tennessee to start attending.

And well, I then experienced some persecution. At home, my parents didn't want me to start keeping the Sabbath day. And at school, my classmates thought that was foolish of me to do something like that and to change my way of life. But I had to come to a decision.

I had to see what I was going to do. I had found the truth. I had proved it to myself.

And I looked at the mirror and said, what am I going to do at this tender age?

Am I going to abandon it and then just turn my back on it and follow my life like I never had stumbled on it? Or am I going to accept it? No matter what the consequences would be, am I going to accept following this truth through hell and high water?

Well, to me, as I looked in the mirror, I said, if I turn my back on this, I will never be able to look at myself in the eye. I will consider myself a coward. I preferred a soup of lentils than to have that firstborn privilege, that blessing of the firstborns. And so I accepted it. I couldn't reject it, decided to follow it the rest of my life.

And here, this walk has taken now 47 years since that time.

And I had to fear God more than man. And I'm still being tested in that way.

I had to face my parents, my friends, my former beliefs. I had to face the government.

I had to face whatever price all the way unto death if necessary.

So faith is seen invisible. You can't convince someone else, but you can convince yourself.

God is there. He is waiting to enter our lives, just like He did with Joseph. He will not do it unless a person accepts, responds to the calling. The second lesson, if Joseph could talk to us today, if Joseph was right here speaking to you and to us, what would he say as he looked back on his life? Well, it's interesting because we do have that scripture where he told his brothers that he knew.

It says here in Genesis 5020, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about. And it is this day to save many people alive.

He knew God is working things out. He never faltered. He never failed. It's a tough road to hope. Not easy, but we have two choices. Either we walk with God or we walk alone.

He would say, trust in God no matter how tough it can be, and God will see you through.

I want to thank Cheryl Nakashima. She recommended a book by the title, You'll Get Through This, which was helpful, which dealt with some of these topics of Joseph at the time by Max Lucado. And so Joseph never forgot the promises God made to his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who was Abraham. He saw in a dream what would happen in the future and held on to it until it became a reality. We also have great promises given to us.

We also must go through many trials and difficulties, but in the end, God is working out his purposes in us.

Two last scriptures, Galatians chapter 3.

Just as Joseph held on to his spiritual birthright, we need to hold on to ours. It mentions here in verse 26 of chapter 3, it says, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So it wasn't just for Joseph. We can become Abraham's spiritual descendants and enjoy his blessings, his help now and in the future. And so based on that scripture of Genesis 50 verse 20, the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verse 28, Romans chapter 8 verse 28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. That's what we are being called to do the purpose of God according to his promises. So God is working things out. Let's remember Joseph's faith as an encouragement to all of us.