“Trusted: Lessons from the Life of Joseph”
Week 1: An Overview
INTRO: Panarama plan at FFC (distribute guide)
I’ll not read this to you, but I would encourage you to take a look at it later, maybe even post it for future reference. It describes the “what and the why” of our preaching/teaching philosophy pretty well and walks you through the journey we’re on as a church – a journey to know God better by undestanding the book he left us, the Bible.
TRANSITION: And today we begin a new series from the very first book of the Bible – Genesis! Why don’t we all turn to that book, put a finger on Genesis 37, and let’s play a little “Did You Know.”
GENESIS: Did you know…
• Genesis is all about beginnings? In fact, the very first phrase in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew word for ‘beginnings.’ However, ‘Genesis’ is actually the Greek word used later in the Septuagint, and that’s how we have come to know it as Genesis. It could just as easiy be called ‘Beginnings.’ And no small wonder – in this book we know of the beginning of the earth, the beginning of man and woman, the beginning of marriage, the beginning of family, the beginning of sin, the beginning of redemption, the beginning of law and order, the beginnig of human government – truly it’s a book of beginnings!
• A key word is ‘account’? This word divides the book into ten major sections, with each section giving an account of someone’s beginning or history.
• Moses probably wrote the book during the 40 year wilderness wanderings of the Israelites?
• Faith is a common theme in Genesis as well? No doubt these new beginnings called for great faith on the part of the follower. So it’s not surprising that over half of the people in Hebrews 11 – the hall of faith – are people first mentioned in Genesis.
• Numbers figure prominently in Genesis? Though we’re not sure why, it is intriguing nonetheless. For instance, in addition to the number ten being the number of sections into which the book is divided, it is also the number of names appearing in the genealogies of chapters 5 and 11. The number seven also appears frequently. Genesis 1:1, in the Hebrew text, is actually seven words, and Genesis 1:2 is exactly 14 words. There are seven days of creation, a sevenfold promise to Abraham, seven years of abundance and also seven years of famine. Other numbers such as 12 and 40 also seem important.
• Many of the subjects in the Genesis 1-3 are recycled in Revelation 19-21? Its cool how the first three chapters of the Bible mirror, in many ways, the last three chapters of the Bible.
• There are four main characters in Genesis known as the Patriarchs? They are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. These are the pillars of the Israelites, the ‘four horsemen’ of the Jewish nation. These were the men God elected to start with. Oddly, after Abraham, none were first born. Isaac followed Ishmael, Jacob followed Esau, and Joseph was the 11th of 12. Yet, though they weren’t firstborn humanly, they were selected by God’s providence and given a trust as his first choice – the responsibility of an entire nation. God must have known he could trust them and so he sovereignly chose them as his leaders for a specific time and purpose.
TRANSITION: It is the patriarch Joseph at whom we going to look for the next few weeks. And his story begins right where your finger is placed – in Genesis 37.
JOSEPH: His story, in fact, is one of trust: how he trusted God in the face of great adversity and great success, and how God trusted him with great responsibility. It’s a drama filled with incredible passion and tension, and it is played out on the stage of Genesis 37-50.
Textually, when you look at the progression of Joseph’s life and the things he was trusted with, the drama breaks down into five acts. I won’t say much about these “acts” right now because we’re going to be looking at them in depth in the next few weeks; but I want you to see the progression of his responsibilities and how God trusted him incrementally with more and more year after year.
Act 1: Gen. 37 - “Trusted with a Vision”
Genesis 37:5-11 says, 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. 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. 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." 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.
WOW – two visions from God at 17! Now that’s a load of responsibility. We’ll go into this in more detail next week, but suffice it to say for now that this is where it all started. And no doubt Joseph was not only God’s choice to carry on the heritage, but also his father’s choice – remember the richly ornamented coat, also known as the coat of many colors? While the color aspect is not actually a description found in the text, we do know that it was a coat of significantly greater length and detail, a much nicer tunic than the other brothers had. Why? Because Jacob had decided, after Reuben’s sin against Bilhah in 35:21-22, that his lineage and heritage would be carried on by his firstborn from his first real love – Rachel! It’s a twisted story at best. Yet, in the midst of this story, God reveals the future to Joseph in a way that probably he, not his family, really understood. But he believed and was faithful to obey God in spite of the persecution he received because of it. With Joseph, the vision was safe.
Act 2: Gen. 39:1-20 - “Trusted with a Household”
Genesis 39:1-4 tells us that Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
You see it, don’t you? Joseph was entrusted with everything Potiphar owned. Amazing, eh?
Act 3: Gen. 39:20-40:23 - “Trusted with a Prison”
Genesis 39:22-23 indicates that the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Joseph was so trustworthy that this text says the warden “paid no attention.” He must have really trusted Joseph, who was an actual prisoner himself. Incredible!
Act 4: Gen. 41 - “Trusted with a Country”
Genesis 41:39-43 reports that Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you." So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
Josephs’ rise to power in the land of Egypt was directly related to his ability to be faithful in prison and to his ability to interpret dreams. Truly, his faithfulness paid off, for he was now Egypt’s VP!
Act 5: Gen. 42-47 - “Trusted with a Heritage”
Genesis 45:7 lays out the real reason behind everything when it tells us what Joseph said to his brothers once the truth was out: “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
With all his position and power, Joseph was able to see that God was actually trusting him was something far greater than a country; he was trusting him with a heritage, the saving of lives – his own people, the Jews!
Even a scant reading of these chapters shows the reader that faithfulness and trustworthiness were a major part of Joseph’s character. He was a “man for all seasons,” as James Montgomery Boice said. He further noted that “adversity did not harden his character. Prosperity did not ruin him. He was the same in private as in public. He was truly a great man.”
In fact, when it comes to Joseph,
• There is more written about Joseph in Genesis than there is Abraham. They both have 14 chapters, but Joseph has 25% more words – his story is longer in length.
• Yet, there are only four references to him in the New Testament, and Jesus doesn’t refer to him even once.
• When Joseph is mentioned, it is always positive. Scripture never records anything negative about Joseph and has no report of anything wrong that he did.
• He is one of only a few teenagers mentioned in the Bible – he was 17 when his story begins.
• He is the best Old Testament picture of our Savior. Technically, this is called a ‘type,’ and a type is an Old Testament foreshadowing of a New Testament reality. For instance, Joseph was sold by his brothers just as Jesus was sold by a friend; Joseph was sentenced with two prisoners just as Jesus was sentenced to die between two thieves; and Joseph went from humiliation to exaltation, just like Jesus. Believe it or not, Arthur Pink, well-known author and Bible teacher, lists 101 parallels between Joseph and Jesus in his book, Gleanings in Genesis.
Yet, why did God trust Joseph so much? What was it that grabbed Gods attention and caused him to sovereignly lay so much on his shoulders and in his path? In a nutshell, God could trust Joseph because he knew Joseph trusted Him!
You see, here is the bottom line of trustworthiness: “As I trust him, he trusts me.” Remember – God is faithful, and as he watches his character being deployed in us, God responds back to us in the same way, only in an increasing manner – by trusting us more! In fact, Joseph is a living example of two New Testament verses: Luke 16:10 and 1 Corinthians 4:2, respectively: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” and “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
[The TAPESTRY illustration…one side looks awful, but the other is actually beautiful. Trusting the hand of the maker is critical if we’re going to end up with a beautiful design!]
TRANSITION: No doubt we all would like to be able to say that about ourselves, wouldn’t we? After all, who wouldn’t want to end up with a life that looks like a beautiful tapestry, woven and intricately designed by the skilled hand of its maker? Of course we all would love that! But a lifestyle of trust doesn’t just happen without first a litany of temptations. You guessed it – the faithful one journeys through a battlefield where the enemies of trust are just waiting secretly to devour our best intentions.
APPLICATION: The road to becoming a trusted person is no easy path. And Joseph’s story shows us some of these traps. So before we get too deep into his life, hoping we can have one that ends as well as his did, let’s take a minute and see what he had to resist along the way. I suspect we will discover we have similar traps waiting for us. I see three enemies of trustworthiness from Joseph’s life.
1. The Trap of Impatience. The temptation here is to run ahead.
Gen. 37:1-11 is the story of Joseph and his dreams, or visions. And while the text gives no indication he was unwise or wrong in sharing his vision, it is very evident from the passage that he paid a price for speaking up about what he had dreamed – he was hated!
When our words fall on unreceptive ears, the tendency is to force them through anyway; to run ahead and make sure our voice is heard. And that’s exactly what Satan would have liked for Joseph to do as his words seemed to hit a hard surface – forge on ahead of God! But he didn’t! instead, he held his peace, even though he paid a price. He waited. Good move, Joe!
Be aware, friend – Dream sharing can be costly. And it may bring to the surface timing issues. When that happens, do we have the maturity to wait – to trust God even when the timetable is different than we imagined? If not, we’ll find the enemy of impatience lurking, hoping our unwillingness to wit will be our undoing.
ILL – When God planted the vision of a church birth in Ankeny in my heart, it was not well received. Some advised to forge ahead anyway. We decided, however, to wait. And wait we did – six years! That’s right – we waited six years for God to plant FFC. But I’m glad! God obviously knew what he was doing!
If you weren’t around when all that took place, you might not be aware of the history of First Family and what it took to birth this body. But as way to thank our church plant team, and to encourage the many of you who now call FFC your church home, could I have all those stand who were here when we planted FFC – that initial body of believers who started with us in the summer of 2004? Look around and be glad that we waited. Look what God has done! Hallelujah!
You see, when we run ahead, we show God we can’t be trusted. Remember Moses in Exodus 2? His first plan of deliverance was to take out the Egyptians one by one – bad idea! 40 years later God had a better way, eh? But he had to put Moses in the desert first, where Moses could wait and God could work.
2. The Pull of Enticement. The temptation here is to stray away.
Gen. 39:6-12 shows me that Satan was trying to bring Joseph down through immorality. No doubt had he collapsed under this pressure, he would have been killed, and thus the apparent end of God’s people would have been accomplished. Instead, he knew this was a sin against God, and against Potiphar, so he fled the scene. In doing so he preserved his physical life and his moral integrity and character, namely his trustworthiness.
Think about it – what if he had slept with Potiphar’s wife? Can you imagine the response of Potiphar, even if he hadn’t killed him? Would you allow a man like that to rule over your home? Of course not! Truth is, at that point everything is off limits; there can be no trust when there has been a violation of that degree. Joseph was a manager – a steward of another’s possessions and property. He valued that entrustment more than the enticement of personal and temporary satisfaction. He no doubt knew what was at stake, and getting out of there was the best – and only – option. Thank God he ran!
Take note, men – the pull of lust can be strong. It is a killer! And nothing will undermine your wife’s – and others – ability to trust you more than sexual sin. It is almost irreparable.
What’s happening here is this – Satan attacked Joseph’s entrustments by showing him an enticement. That’s right – lust destroys trust.
And the same thing can happen to us, for we, too, are managers of what God has entrusted to us! An enticement will come your way, ladies and gentlemen. When it does, run!
Remember David? He was king, and was entrusted with the nation of Israel. Sure enough, his enticement came -- Bathsheba! When he should have been at war, instead he was lusting after a married woman. The end result? Loss of life, family rebellion, and sibling dysfunction for years to come.
3. The Lure of Revenge. The temptation here is to look behind.
Gen . 42:8 was the moment Joseph should have been waiting for – revenge! No doubt he remembered what had happened, even specifically the dreams he had at 17 (Genesis 42:9). But instead of “settling the score,” Joseph developed plan whereby he could save his brothers and the rest of the Jews under the famine in that region. He was a rescuer, not a retaliator.
You see, Joseph fought the urge to vindicate himself too early. Interestingly, God did vindicate him, but not in a harmful way or an ugly manner. That’s the way spiritual vindication works – in God’s time!
Often our selfish desire to “settle the score” and “get even” can cause us to get sidetracked, and we lose our trustworthiness. Someone who is always looking in their past and trying to “get even” simply can’t be trusted to guard what is in the present or protect what may be in store for the future. Those are who are so preoccupied with the past are never afforded the privilege of leading into the future. Why? Because trust needs two eyes forward, not one eye backwards.
TRANSITION: Do you see it? At every turn, Joseph’s trustworthiness was assaulted; his integrity attacked. But he didn’t succumb to the trap of impatience, the pull of enticement, or the lure of revenge. Instead, he trusted God! And God, in turn, trusted Joseph. No doubt Joseph shows us that the pathway to trust is through the fire of temptation. And in the fire, God’s question is always, “Do you trust me?” [Ex- Job and Abraham]
CLOSING: So before we get into six weeks of learning about becoming a trustworthy person – asking the question “Can God trust me?” – I want to first ask you a more fundamental question: Will you trust God? When you’re struggling to wait, will you trust God? When you’re tempted to sin, will you trust God? When you’re wanting to strike back, will you trust God?
I don’t know all the battles you’re facing, but I bet many here are fighting the very things Satan used against Joseph – impatience, enticements, and revenge. I suspect many here are battling lust, greed, and envy. You are considering actions that will get someone back or settle the score. You are thinking about doing something to show you spouse just how bad they really hurt you years ago. I ask you to think twice. To run from temptation. To stand all and not give in. To trust in God, the faithful Creator who is our everlasting refuge. He knows, and he cares. And he is aware. Say yes to trusting him and watch him say yes to trusting you!
