Presentation 54

Presentation 54

Introduction
The story of Joseph reveals God's remarkable control over
circumstances and his ability to bring good out of what, on
the surface, appears to be far from good for us. We find it
hard to believe that God can take the dark threads of
circumstance and from them weave something of eternal
value and glory. The story of Joseph encourages us to believe
that he can!
Further encouragement can be drawn from the fact that
Josephs story unfolds within the context of family
tension and conflict. We often mistakenly think that
our faith would be stronger, or the quality of our
service for God more thoroughgoing, if only our
family circumstances were different.
The life of Joseph encourage
us to think otherwise.
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Introduction
The life of Joseph is remarkable. He is hardly mentioned in the
N.T. and yet more has been written about him than about any
other O.T. character. He is one of a few men in scripture about
whom nothing bad is written. Whenever Joseph speaks, he
almost always makes some reference to God. Joseph's life
experience spanned the social spectrum of the ancient world.
In his 110 years he had known what it was to be; a future
heir of a wealthy Jewish Patriarch, a slave in an Egyptian
household, a prisoner in a notorious dungeon and the
prime minister of a world superpower. He was abused
and he was exalted. But in whatever state we find
Joseph, God is always uppermost in his thoughts
and his confidence in God's goodness and
faithfulness remains unshaken.
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Introduction
As we consider Josephs life, there are a number of areas that
repay careful examination. The first is in the field of typology.
There are in the O.T. black and white pictures, which
foreshadow the Technicolor revelation found in the N.T.
Josephs life has been viewed as a character, who
foreshadows the person of Christ. One commentator has
traced 101 parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of
Jesus. One suggests that the life of Joseph is a type of the
pathway of Christ and his work, from lowliness to exaltation,
from slavery to liberty, from suffering to glory!

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Introduction
Joseph is also an encouragement to those, who have enrolled
in Christs school of discipleship. His steadfast trust in God
and determination to do what is right is an example to us all.
Joseph did not subscribe to the dictum, 'When in Rome do
what the Romans do'. He did not camouflage his faith in order
to embrace an alien worship system. He never compromised.
He never complained. God was always the chief
and determining reality in his life.
One commentator writes,
From the example of this dreamer, who became a
doer we may learn how: To overcome envy, To face
adversity, To resist illicit sexual advances, To plan for
the future, To forgive those who wrong us, To dispel
doubts about forgiveness, To have faith in God's
promises, To recognise the sovereignty of God,
even in the wrongs done to us by others.
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Introduction
A study of Josephs life provides an illuminating glimpse into
the marvellous providence of God. Joseph's story, perhaps
more than any other in the Bible, demonstrates God's
remarkable control over every circumstance of our lives. We
see Gods ability to order good out of, what on the surface
appears to be, evil. There are times in our lives, when all we
appear to be able
to see are dark threatening threads!
We find it hard to believe that God really can take
those threads in his hands and from them
produce something glorious. The story of
Joseph encourages us to believe in
the astonishing and beneficial
providence of God.
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The Significance of Joseph

The words 'this is the account of Jacob in 37.2 introduce a
new division in the Genesis story. Chap 36 traces the family
development of Jacobs brother Esau. It describes the great
Edomite nation. And only
after this account of great wealth, status and power
do we find the story of a young 17 year old, who
was having a rough time at home.
Given the choice, where would you choose to live?
In the palaces of great kings or in a family marked
by great tensions?
Before you answer, 'Give me a palace any day,'
note that it was not in the palaces of the
Edomites but in a dysfunctional family
that Gods purpose of redemption
was to take a great leap forward.
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The Significance of Joseph

God does not normally work through the great and the mighty
cf 1 Cor. 1.26: Brothers, think of what you were when you
more called. Not many of you were wise by human standards;
not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised
things and the things that are not to nullify the things that
are, so that no one may boast before him.
God works through the most ordinary and unlikely individuals,
for then, both they and others, are more likely to recognise
the hand of God at work.

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The Significance of Joseph

Why did Joseph possess a greater spirituality than his
brothers? Did he ask his father to recount his own spiritual
experiences with God? Think of what Jacob could have
shared; the story of Gods ladder, the special covenant
promises God had made, Gods protection in situations of
real danger, and of course the momentous evening at the
River Jabbok, when God wrestled Jacob into submission.
Did hearing of these experiences help shape Josephs
life of faith?
In the final analysis of course it was God,
who opened Joseph's heart and drew
him to himself. But God uses means
like the faith experiences of others
to impress young formative lives.
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The Significance of Joseph

This should encourage parents to talk openly and
unashamedly of their experience of God. Tell your children
how God has been at work in your life. Too often parents
neglect to do so and instead hope that something will
happen to their children in Sunday school, church or at a
Christian youth camp. It is as we share our hearts with our
children that they can begin to understand, what motivates
our love for God.
Jacob was far from being a perfect parent. He had favourites,
'Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons v3.
What made Joseph special? He was Rachel's child. Jacob had
children by four women, only one of whom he loved. Rachael
was that woman and that made Joseph, her son, special.

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The Significance of Joseph

The fact that Jacob had a favourite is all the more disturbing
given that Jacob had himself felt isolated, devalued and
unloved by his father Isaac. You will remember that Isaac had
loved Esau and had little time for Jacob. Had Jacob forgotten
the personal heartache, which that had caused him? He of all
people should have decided, "I will never place any of my
children in that position.
But Jacob, like so many of us, failed to learn from past
personal experience. Some have suggested that
Jacob's favouritism was justifiable in the light
of the behaviour of his other sons towards
the Shechemites. But the text makes it
clear that this was not the reason
for his discrimination.
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The Significance of Joseph

Jacob made the situation worse by making Joseph, what is
described as 'a richly ornamented robe.' The Hebrew allows
for the possibility of a robe that extended down to the ankles
and wrists unlike those worn by working men. Does this
adequately explain the intensity of the brothers anger?
It was not simply that Josephs clothes came from Harrods.
That would have been bad enough but this robe gave
Joseph manager status over his brothers. A position
normally reserved for the eldest son! Reubens
behaviour, sleeping with his fathers concubine,
Gen. 35v22, had deprived him not only his
father's favour but of his birthright.
These rights had been transferred to Joseph, and
his robe was a constant reminder of that fact!
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The Significance of Joseph

From Jn. 4v5, which records the famous meeting between
Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, we learn that the
well was situated near a plot of ground that Jacob gifted to his
son Joseph. This was the only piece of land Jacob ever owned!
Giving it to Joseph was another way of saying that he intended
Joseph to be his heir with all of the associated blessings. This
in turn throws a somewhat different light upon Gen. 37v2,
which is sometimes used to criticise Joseph as a talebearer.
But if he had been given a managerial role in the
family, then one of his responsibilities would
have been to report back to his father.
And so he was not so much a talebearer
as a truth teller.

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The Momentum of Sin

Josephs brothers were jealous. Jealousy is closely allied to
resentment and envy. James tells us: 'For where you have
envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every
evil practice Jas. 3.16.
The root of the brothers envy is an angry resistance to the
decrees of God. For ultimately it is God who is responsible for
the circumstances that surround our lives, though he is not
always
the author of them.
The brothers envy reflects their resentment
towards God as their reaction to Joseph's
dreams make clear. Josephs dreams of brothers
sheaves in the field bowing down to his sheaf
and of the stars, sun and moon bowing
down to Joseph, needed little interpretation.
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The Momentum of Sin

For all their spiritual immaturity the brothers recognised the
significance of these dreams. They believed that Joseph had
done no more than reveal his God-given destiny to rule over
them. This is seen even more clearly in v20 "Come now, let's
kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that
a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we see what comes
of his dreams." This reasoning showed they were not only
attempting to alter Joseph's destiny but that ultimately they
were opposed to the purpose of God.
This has searching application.
Whenever we are covetous or
envious of others we are in fact
saying to God, 'You have failed to
satisfy me you have not given me
all that I want'.
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The Momentum of Sin

Jacob's response to Joseph's dreams was quite different in v
11 we read that, 'he kept the matter in his mind'. Jacob knew
that God often worked in ways that cut across the grain of
natural expectation. Had God not done so in choosing him
instead of his elder brother? Was it really then so difficult to
believe that God might indeed have some significant
purpose for his young son?
That is the reaction of faith, which
results from a growing comprehension
of God's method of working.

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The Momentum of Sin

Some have questioned the wisdom of Joseph in sharing his
dreams with his family. Might it not have been better to have
hidden these things in his heart rather than provide additional
fuel for his brothers resentment. He may have been nave but
others believe that it was a God-given compunction that
caused him to make this divine revelation known. The
brothers hated the dreams as much as they hated Joseph for
reporting them. This passage reveals the frightening
conflagration of sin. Smouldering jealousy, when it is
unchecked flames into hatred. Joseph, because he had been
chosen by God and secondly because he was different from
his brothers [his godliness of life] was fuel to their hatred.

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The Momentum of Sin

What does Jesus say in Jn. 15v18-19? If the world hates you,
keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the
world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong
to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is
why the world hates you.
You will see that Jesus gives precisely the same
two reasons for the hatred that the church will
experience at the hands of others. Hatred for
being different and hatred for being chosen.
If you are different from the ungodly
men and women around you in the
workplace or in your neighbourhood and only God's grace can make you
different - then expect to be objects
of hatred!
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Conclusion
The brothers failed to deal with jealousy and envy and so it
grew into hatred before developing into attempted murder.
There is an awful momentum in the out of control rollercoaster
of sin. If the brakes are not applied, then it can propel us into
behaviour that later causes us to ask,
'Was I really responsible for that?'
If you react to Josephs brothers behaviour by
raising your hands in horror asking,
'How could Josephs brother's treat him
in this way?'
then remember that the same
potential lies in all our hearts.

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Conclusion
That knowledge alone should cause us to cry to God for the
grace of contentment and for a willingness to run the race
that he has marked out for us rather than look enviously
around at what he asks of others.
This is the antidote to much of the misery experienced by so
many. We need Christian blinkers that will enable us to keep
in the lane that God has marked out for us and so complete
the race to the best of our ability.

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