Joseph's Blessing

Genuine Spiritual Living

(Joseph’s Blessing)

Text: GE 37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

GE 37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

GE 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

GE 37:5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

GE 37:8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

GE 37:9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

GE 37:10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Introduction

(Build Rapport)

How many of you call where you live, “home”? Why do you choose to live here?

Do you love your community?

(take responses from the congregation, affirm those who make this their home)

I’ve only lived in this city for a little more than 2 years. It isn’t my hometown, but it is my boys home town. They will go to school here, play sports here, they will impact their youth group here. They may get married here. They may settle here.

It is with that understanding that I carry about my ministry to my family and through this congregation. I am here by calling.

So are you. Whether you are here by birth, job relocation, retirement, or were kidnapped, dragged by your thumbs, and forced to live here. This is home, and we are neighbors.

I speak to you who love your neighbors. You dream of a place where people fear God, live in peace, and raise children who are prepared to change their world.

(persuade the mind)

I can think of no greater example of someone who demonstrates what it is to grow spiritually and impact the world than Joseph. There are examples of greater leaders in the Bible. However, we don’t get to know about the details of their growth as well.

He was seventeen years old when his brothers, driven mad with jealousy, sold him into slavery. He was sent far away from home. He had no rights. He had no family. He was utterly alone.

The boy was hated for telling the truth. The brothers were in the field to tend the flocks. Apparently, they were doing something other than be responsible for the animals. Instead of working the fields, they were playing in the fields. When their sin was uncovered, their arrogance caused them to hate the boy instead of repent of the sin.

The brothers were furthered enraged at the little tattle-tale being loved by his father. A hypocrite will always cast judgment upon those he/she disapproves of, then go insane with anger when God favors them.

Then, Joseph began to tell the dreams God gave him. He would rise to a position of influence. He would become responsible for his brothers. That did it.

That tattle tale,

That apple polisher,

That cocky brat will never rise

above me.

So they sold him into slavery and told his father that he was dead.

(persuade the emotion)

Jacob’s sorrow cut deep into the heart. I am sure he would lay awake at night trying to hold on to the memory of the boy with the bright smile and the coat to match.

I imagine he called out to God in bitter protest. Perhaps he called out, “If I am living in your blessing, why is the son I love dead?”

If you were to have walked up to Jacob and said,” It must have been God’s will,” He may have punched you in the mouth. Yet, that is exactly why God arranged for this. He was fulfilling His promise to Jacob that through Him all the world would be blessed.