The Lord got me to thinking about the many pitfalls that we go through in life. So I thought for the next few weeks we'll see what instructions the Bible can give us on how to overcome these pitfalls. Today I want to specifically talk about the pitfall of betrayal.
You know trust is a valuable commodity, and it really hurts when that trust disappears. Have you ever had a close friend turn his back on you? I know I have and it really hurts. Have you ever had a sibling file a lawsuit against you? Or a parent that disowned you? The pain of betrayal can crush our soul. When a trusted ally becomes an enemy of sorts, a long season of depression can set in.
Kind of like the guy by the name of Kevin. Kevin was a church planter in the Midwest. At the age of 25, he felt called to start a new church. He gathered a launch team, built a website, and hosted meetings to determine what the interest might be. He knew that he wasn't strong in organizational skills so he wisely surrounded himself with a solid team of strategists. The church took off like a rocket.
But then the unthinkable happened. Behind the scenes, the leaders that Kevin had put in place held a series of secret gatherings. They chose to search for a fresh leader with greater administrative skills, and they fired Kevin from the church that he was led to start. Betrayal. Betrayal hurts.
Maybe you have a story like Kevin's. Betrayal can be devastating. But hopefully the Bible can teach us today that we don't have to face betrayal alone. God still works, as we will see in the life of Joseph. Today I'm going back to the Book of Genesis chapter 37. Prayer.
We are all born into a family, and every family suffers from generational sins, those sinful habits that are passed from one generation to the next. In our story today, Joseph's father, Jacob, was no exception. Jacob was blind to his fault of favoritism. Most of us know the story how he made some huge mistakes that would flow down to his children and deeply affect the whole family. The final chapters of Genesis focus on Joseph, one of Jacob's 12 sons, and his experience of betrayal.
Genesis 37: 1-5 – “Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.
***3 Now Israel (whose name was changed to Jacob) loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe 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.
Even from these first five verses we see that jealousy was a huge factor in this family. Jealousy had been simmering in Jacob's family for quite some time. Because of jealousy, sibling rivalries had the perfect opportunity to raise their ugly heads. By the time Joseph reached the age of 17, jealousy within the family had given birth to hatred that was nourished by resentment.
While Joseph's predicament was mostly his father's fault, it's also important to notice the sovereign will of God that played out in this story. Now God cannot be blamed for evil. But God does allow his children to walk through dark valleys for a reason.
How do we know this? Joseph had a dream in which he got his first glimpse of what God was going to do. God sent the dream and Joseph shared what he saw. Now that may seem to us to be a pretty foolish move, but Joseph essentially told his brothers that they eventually would bow before him. But when he revealed this dream, Joseph set in motion the course of his life and he intensified his brother's hatred toward him.
God had a plan in all of this. This plan eventually would lead to God's glory. Jacob's story begins earlier in the book of Genesis, but here in chapter 37 we see the full extent of his family's conflict. Jacob was the family patriarch, but he wasn't perfect. He showed clear favoritism for Joseph, who was the son of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel. In addition to that, Joseph was born to Jacob in Jacob’s later years, which led to him being especially treasured by his father. Joseph was basically in the proverbial pressure cooker from the start.
What God wants us to see and to remember is that our lives are similar to Joseph's in one way: conflict is inevitable. Joseph’s story helps us to see how each of us can trust the Lord to help us through our everyday problems. That's easily said but not so easily done. But I think you would all agree that relationships will experience tension. Plans for the future will change, leading us to situations we didn’t count on. And no one is exempt; we are all in the same boat.
Ultimately, the story of Joseph is about God using the simple, mundane, everyday events of our life to bring about his great purpose. God was at work, even when it wasn't obvious. In other words, God wants to use every season of our life that we experience for His glory.
Genesis 37:19-24 – “They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert! 20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
***21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.
***23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the long-sleeved robe that he had on. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.
Now we already know that Joseph's brothers had resentment against him. They may not have been looking for an open door to getting rid of Joseph, but when that opportunity presented itself, they jumped on it. They schemed to toss him into a pit and leave him for dead. Game over, or so they thought. What was really happening here? The root of bitterness reaped the fruit of bitterness. Joseph's brothers had resentment and hatred toward him stored up inside, and those hard feelings produced homicidal action.
This is a clear warning that we need to guard our heart against envy and bitterness. The bitterness and hatred that Joseph's brothers had against him ultimately got them to thinking of how they wanted to get rid of their brother. We're repeatedly warned in Scripture not to go down this same road.
-Proverbs 14:30 – “A tranquil heart is life to the body,
but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.”
-Hebrews 12:15 – “Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.”
-James 3:16 – “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.”
You see envy is like a poison, and we see that clearly in Joseph's toxic brothers. We need to check our own hearts from time to time. Pause and consider the people that you're tempted to be jealous of. Deal with any of those feelings of bitterness and jealousy before they have a chance to grow out of control.
Do you even realize that one of the largest instigators of envy in our life is social media? Social media can be a great tool. But social media can fuel envy and jealousy. If you want to test yourself to see if you are caught up in that trap, then think about taking a break from social media for a week. When that week is over, evaluate how that affected your attitude. You might be surprised to find that things said on social media have really stirred up the poison of envy in your life.
Philippians 2:3-5 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.”
This verse tells us that we should pursue humility and a Christ-like attitude. Let me tell you about the example of Patricia. People in Patricia's Church knew her as the best Bible teacher in town. For years ladies packed into her room on Wednesday nights to soak up her excellent teaching and insights.
But pride started to creep in. Subconsciously Patricia took pride in her position and enjoyed the attention. But the winds of change began to blow, as Samantha joined the church and launched a new class that became a hit. Suddenly dozens of ladies were rushing into this new woman's class, leaving half the seats empty in Patricia's class. Patricia felt jealous, betrayed, and angry. But thankfully she was also convicted by the Lord for feeling this way.
The struggle with envy is real for all of us. At some point, we may cave in to this temptation and maybe even resent God for giving to others what we want for ourselves. To guard against this, we need to put on the mind of Christ as Paul wrote and adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.
Genesis 37:26-27 – “Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.”
If we didn't know the rest of the story, we would think that Joseph's story had come to a screeching halt in this pit. But his brothers made a last-minute decision to sell him into slavery instead of leaving him in the pit to die. Their last-minute decision would impact their family, and ultimately the entire nation of Israel, in ways they couldn't imagine.
Years later, Joseph would look those guilty brothers in the eyes and tell them, “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result, the survival of many people.” You see, it was a masterful plan from the master.
Many of you have heard my story about when I was in college. I always wanted to be a dentist. I made it my destiny to work at becoming a dentist. In order to get there, I knew I would have to compete against people that were far more intelligent than I. It was crazy competition. I studied into the wee hours most nights. I skipped social events to be extra prepared for the exams. I was determined to succeed.
I took the dental aptitude test. When the results came in, the truth came crashing home. My GPA had always been solid but my test scores on this exam were just average. With the competition being what it was in that day it didn't look like I had a really good chance of getting into dental school. But the Lord begin to take hold of my life and send me in another direction.
Over the years, I've looked back on that moment and wondered why the Lord didn't open the door for me. He could have done it. And I had worked so hard to get to the threshold. Yet, He had other things in store for me, and in time, I would praise Him for it. This has taught me to keep trusting Christ through any situation.
God wants to work in and through every season of our life. Life is going to deal us our share of disappointments, but the key is to keep moving forward and trusting Christ. God is always at work, even when we can't see clearly how things are going to work out.
Proverbs 16:9 tells us that “A person's heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.” You see, I had planned my way in life, but God determined my steps because He had something even better planned for me to do.
Let me share with you something that was revealed to me as I was studying for this message. Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers and sold for 20 pieces of silver. Doesn't that sound familiar to what happened to Jesus? A lot of scholars make the point that Joseph's story is kind of a foreshadowing of the greatest story of Jesus Christ. The similarities are striking.
Joseph was the treasured son of his father (so was Jesus), sent off to a land to check on his brothers (so was Jesus), and sold for pieces of silver (so was Jesus). Through his unjust suffering, Joseph became the savior of his people and ruler over them. It got my attention when I read that. Even in the Old Testament, God was pointing to what He would do through His Son, Jesus, to seek and to save the lost.
Joseph experienced a lot of suffering as he walked through life. Being sold as a slave was bad enough, but Joseph would face more setbacks and roadblocks. But God was still at work.
God is still at work in our lives too. While Joseph surely must have felt like God had given up on him at that time(and by the way, so did Jesus at one point), the truth of the matter was that God was planning to raise him up to a high seat of power. God is always up to something bigger than we can see. Just like with the children’s sermon this morning, we shouldn’t have to see things before we believe them.
? Believe in God’s plan.
? When betrayal brings you down, God will life you up.
? Even when others count us out, God is counting us in.
I have learned that when betrayal comes my way, to look at the bigger picture that God has planned. As I said God is always at work, even when we can't see clearly how things will work out.
But we can be assured that when we trust in God, He has His best in store for us.
