The world is made up of two kinds of people. The dreamers and the detractors. Dreamers and detractors.
Dreamers look at the world as it is, and see new possibilities. Detractors look at the world and see nothing but disaster. Dreamers look at the world as it is and know it can be better. Detractors look at that very same world and are weary of it, believing that nothing can ever be different. We are either dreamers or detractors.
Dreamers look at their own lives and imagine what they could become. Detractors count their three-score-and-ten and wonder if they can manage the boredom until it’s all over. As for God, God uses both dreamers and detractors. God sends dreamers into the toughest, most dangerous, most unyielding spots, where often they suffer and get hurt. And God, in His wisdom, sends detractors to places of peace and quiet, for a while. But only for a while.
For it always works out that the detractors need the dreamers to rescue them, not the other way around. The detractors, the negative, nay-saying, play it safe, take no risks, kinds of folks, they are the ones who in the end need the help of the risk-takers and the dreamers.
Thank God our church has a healthy share of dreamers. And if it also includes some detractors, well, then, I hope today to convert you and win you over! I hope to move you out of peace and quiet into the turbulence of danger. I hope to get you away from tending flocks in Canaan’s fair and happy land; I want to send you out into Egypt. Why? Just because there’ll always be an Egypt. That’s enough.
The young man was known as a dreamer. In his visions he often saw himself in a place of leadership. He imagined that others around him would recognize that leadership. He supposed that his brothers would acknowledge his superior gifts, his far-ranging intellect, his courageous heart. This young man was a dreamer; he thought thoughts and dreamed dreams that seemed too large by half. They were dreams of leadership and visions of making a difference.
But he was surrounded by detractors. One day his dreams became too much. They were offended by his vision of leadership. And so they plotted against him, to destroy this dreamer. Listen to the story of Joseph:
Genesis 37:1-14, 18-20,28; 45:4-8a; 50:20
I
Everything worth doing begins as a dream in someone’s heart. And if to ordinary folks that dream seems immature, if that dream seems misdirected, if the more cautious of us wish the dreamers would be just a little less enthusiastic, well, I suspect that that is just the price dreamers have to pay.
Everything worth doing begins as a dream in someone’s heart. Joseph dreamed that he would lead his brothers. He had a vision of his father, his mother and all of his eleven brothers acknowledging his ability. And the Bible minces no words when it says that "They hated him and could not speak peaceably of him."
You see, the world is afraid of dreamers and visionaries. The detractors of this world are profoundly threatened by folks who approach life with drive and ambition. The detractors of this world, mired in their own plodding everydayness, cannot stand those who want to go somewhere and be somebody. Detractors don’t care for "uppity" people! So it is no surprise to me that when Joseph’s brothers have finally had their fill of all his youthful visions, they plan to kill him. "They said to one another, ’Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.’" The world is afraid of dreamers and would love to squash them.
In April of 1968 a gunshot rang out at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. Its target was a young and visionary preacher, who had marched across this land, refusing to accept what was in order to affirm what could be. A few days later, when Dr. Abernathy preached the funeral sermon for Martin Luther King, his text was this one, "Here comes this dreamer; come now, let us kill him." Dr. King was one of those Josephs who had a dream. But the world fears such dreamers. The world is much more comfortable with detractors.
Takoma Park Baptist Church began, nearly eighty years ago, with a dream. Its vision was rather similar to the one we have used today.
Eighty years ago, they dreamed of an inclusive church. I learned not long ago that the very first sermon preached in this building, given by Pastor William Larue in 1924, was based on the text, "My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples." Oh, that was long before Dr. King, and long before anyone had mounted a successful challenge to America’s racial habits. But the dream of including everybody was here from the beginning, and when social change came to Washington, and lots of churches were either closing or moving, this church responded out of its dream, and stayed right here. Even though that dream had its detractors.
Second, our founders had a dream of being evangelistic. If you read some of those old documents they tell us that Petworth Baptist Church wanted to establish a preaching point in the Takoma neighborhood, because there was no Baptist witness here. There was no effective evangelical witness, to reach people. The dream of our church has always included reaching people for Christ.
This dream had something else in it. This dream included Christian education. The church began as a Sunday School. One of our classes, the Pearce-Martha Class, traces its beginning to before the founding of the church. They take pride in being older than the church. Note, ladies, I did not say that you personally are older than the church! I said that your class is older than the church! There was always a dream of teaching disciples.
More than that, there was an element in that dream which wanted excellence in worship. I have always been challenged by the fact that my predecessors were good pulpit men, preachers of discipline and excellence. You have always expected and wanted that. And, as for other aspects of worship, I remember listening at length to the oldest member still alive when I came here, Mrs. Royle. At the age of 106, she liked to talk about putting on spaghetti suppers to raise money to build a pipe organ. There has always been a dream for excellence in worship.
But there is one more aspect of our vision that goes back to those early years too. And that is the vision for comprehensive compassion, the vision for missions and for ministry. If you read the history of this church, you find that from its earliest days its members got involved in missions and in ministry. They sent the gospel around the world, and they served the needs of people in this community. Never in our history have we shrunk back from meeting a human need. Time and again we have sent money and materials overseas, and we have invested in people, whether they live across the street or whether they live across the ocean. Missions and ministry has been part of our dream. It has been a constant theme. Another of our members, now deceased, Sadie Simmons, used to tell me how she learned of a church that was tutoring children and teaching literacy classes, and just had to come and be with folks who would do that for their neighbors. They had dreams, sturdy dreams, of missions and ministry, these folks in Takoma Park Baptist Church, years past.
And if we are thriving at all today, if there is any health in us, I believe it is because we have not let this part of our vision die. I can take you to many a church in this city where only a few still gather, where only a bare minimum is done, where no one lives but the detractors. Everything that matters begins with a dream; but it will be a costly dream, a controversial dream. "Here comes this dreamer. Come, let us kill him."
II
But, you know, dreamers outlive detractors. Dreamers outlive detractors. And dreamers find out that they have been protected in the hands of God, so they turn around and help the detractors.
Wow, that was hard to say! Let me just tell the story! Joseph survived the worst his brothers could throw at him. They almost killed him, but in the end, decided to turn a tidy profit by selling him into slavery. They thought, when Joseph went to Egypt, that they had got rid of him. Egypt was a place of danger, toils, and snares. Egypt was a tough battleground. They never expected to see Joseph again, and they never expected to go to Egypt for anything. They thought they could retreat to the green suburbs of Canaan and be done with Egypt!
Little could they knew, these conniving brothers, that over the years Joseph would not only survive, but would take on leadership down there in Egypt. And even less could they know that one day they would be in trouble, and off they would go, to Egypt, of all places, to the land of the enemy, and that it would be Joseph who would help them out.
But that’s how it turned out. Famine wasted the land of Canaan. Jacob and his sons had nothing to eat, and looked about for grain to buy. They heard that down in Egypt there was a man, a governor, Pharaoh’s first lieutenant, who had been smart enough to buy up grain while it was plentiful, a man who could supply everyone who needed it. Who it was they did not know. They only knew they needed help.
What a wonderful drama the Bible lays out as these men trudge into the granary hall and confront Joseph! They don’t even recognize him, because they didn’t expect to see him. The story is spun out over several chapters, but its point is this: that again the world is made up of dreamers and detractors. The dreamers see what people are going to need and plan for it, deliver it. The detractors, who thought they could play it safe and take care of things on their own, thank you, end up in trouble and come looking for help.
Oh, listen to Joseph when he finally reveals himself to his brothers. Listen and remember what our church is all about: "Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." God sent me here before you to preserve life.
I want you to understand that there are folks out there who have tremendous needs, needs they do not even understand. They do not think that the church really has the answer; they do not understand what Christ can do for them. But they know they have needs, and sooner or later they will turn to God’s people for help. I hope we will be ready to give it. God has sent us here to preserve life.
Out there, out in Egypt, there are families which are broken or breaking or which never had a foundation in the first place. God’s people can teach them how to enrich their marriages, how to parent their children. They may not know that yet. But we have it, if we’ll learn how to give it.
Out there, out in Egypt, there are children and teenagers who are getting into some very destructive things. Drugs and crime, failure and pain. But we have some answers! We have resources! They just don’t know it yet, and, like Joseph, we haven’t quite found out how to reveal ourselves. We have after-school enrichment and scouting, we have a youth group and children’s music, we have computers and properties in abundance. How many churches do you know which have been given about thirty computers and which own five homes? How many churches our size do you know with so many capable and talented people? We have been gifted with all of this by God, to preserve life. The only problem is that they don’t know it yet, out in Egypt, and we aren’t completely sure how to give it.
I will be calling you in this coming year to a lifestyle of missions and ministry. Serving needs, going out where the people are, not waiting until they figure it out for themselves and come here, but going where they are. In apartment buildings, on the playground, at the schools, wherever we can go with something that helps somebody and bears a witness.
"Do not be distressed," said Joseph, "for God sent me … to preserve life." Just as Joseph in Egypt revealed himself to his brothers in need, and they responded, I know that this year we will come out from behind these walls and we will get involved in this community, and, indeed with the world: to preserve life. Families, children, youth, senior adults, substance abusers, the unemployed, whoever it is. We will preserve life and bear our witness to the God who sent us here.
III
For, you see, wherever we are, there’ll always be an Egypt. There’ll always be some hurt to heal, some itch to scratch, some frustration to satisfy. There’ll always be an Egypt, for there’ll always be sin.
There’ll always be an Egypt, for there’ll always be costs: dollars, time, energy, emotion. Maybe, like Joseph, there will be years of faithful labor before we see any payoff. How long was it between the time they sold him into slavery and the day they knelt before him? Quite a few years. But Joseph, knowing that God had sent him to Egypt to preserve life, Joseph did his work and waited. Joseph kept on dreaming, and waited.
Joseph told his brothers his outlook when they broke down and wept before him: "Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today." You meant it for harm, but God meant it and shaped it for good. I want to say to you this morning, member or friend of Takoma Park Baptist Church: you may be a dreamer or you may be a detractor; you may be a Joseph or you may be one of those unhappy elder brothers, but there is a place for you in God’s plan. There is something God intends for good, for you. Right here in Egypt. I want no one to feel left out, no one to be excluded. I want no one left behind. We are going ahead in missions and ministry. I hope you can come along. It’s going to be a beautiful ride!
It may be that during this coming year, as we work at creating ministries and supporting missions ... it may be that you will wish you were back in the pasture lands of Canaan. But if you are tempted to go back there, just remember, there’ll always be an Egypt. An Egypt where God wants to send you to do good, and not harm.
Dreamers see Egypt and ask, "Why". Detractors shrug their shoulders and whine, "Just because that’s the way it is."
Dreamers see a need and ask, "Why not?", but detractors cry out, ’’I’m scared", not yet hearing Joseph’s word, "Do not be distressed or frightened."
Dreamers look at crime and violence, poverty and ignorance, and see that God has given them leadership. Detractors see these things and hope they will go away, forgetting that there’ll always be an Egypt.
Dreamers feel the hurts of humanity all around them, and in those hurts hear God’s call. Detractors think of those hurts as a duty and burden at best, more likely as somebody else’s problem. Egypt is over there, out there. They haven’t seen that Egypt is right here, right now.
Dreamers say now, detractors tomorrow. Dreamers sing to the Lord a new song, detractors remind us that their fathers have been churchmen for a hundred years or so, and to every new proposal they have always answered, "No." Dreamers, like missionary William Carey, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Detractors, bless their souls, are seized in the seven last words of the church, "We’ve never done it that way before."
Dreamers find ideas and pursue them. Detractors think they cost too much. Dreamers plan the work and work the plan; detractors tell us been there, done that.
But God loves and has a plan for both the dreamers and the detractors. I tell you, there’ll always be an Egypt. There will always be a hurt to heal and a pain to assuage. There will always be a mind to teach and a child to guide. There will always be a soul to win and a nation to lead.
There’ll always be an Egypt, and God sends us there to preserve life.
Whoever you are, whatever you feel about missions and ministry ... you may think going to Egypt means harm. But God means it for good. There’ll always be an Egypt.
