Years ago, there was a near-sighted professor who was an expert in entomology. His office walls were covered with pinned and framed insects. One day his students decided to play a practical joke. They took the body of one bug, the legs of another, and the head of yet another and glued them all together.
The students then brought the specimen to the professor for identification. “What kind of bug is this?” they asked.
The professor eyed the bug closely and finally replied, “Gentlemen, this is a humbug!” (Ben Patterson, “Noble Volunteer,” Leadership, Summer 1982, p.29; www.Preaching Today.com)
Unfortunately, that “humbug” describes some Christians I know. They say they’ve given their hearts to Jesus, but their heads seem to be run by the world and their hands by the devil himself, at times. This is not something that God created. It’s “humbug!”
And we must make a choice. We must choose to either follow Christ or the ways of this world. We cannot do both. Jesus made it very clear, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).
So what will it be for you? What will it be for me? Will we serve God? Or will we serve money and the other things this world has to offer? There is a clear choice before us this morning. But before we make that choice, I want us to explore the benefits of serving God in contrast to the benefits of serving this world.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 46, Genesis 46, where we see those benefits in stark contrast to one another as God’s people come to live in Egypt under Joseph’s rule.
Genesis 46:31-34 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” (NIV)
Literally, shepherds are an abomination to the Egyptians. You see, the people of this world often despise the people of God.
Genesis 47:1-4 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?” “Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” They also said to him, “We have come to live here awhile, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.” (NIV)
They only want to stay there “awhile.” Literally, they want to dwell as guests or strangers in Egypt. You see, this earth is not home for the people of God. We’re only here as guests or strangers for a little while.
Genesis 47:5-9 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.” Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” (NIV)
Jacob’s father lived to be 180, and his grandfather lived to be 175, much older than Jacob is at this point.
Genesis 47:10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. (NIV)
Here, we have the patriarch blessing the politician, the greater blessing the lesser. You see, even though God’s people are despised strangers in this world, they are greater in God’s eyes than any ruler on the planet.
Genesis 47:11-12 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children. (NIV)
Can you believe it? These despised strangers end up with “property in the best part of the land” (vs.11), the provision of all the food they need (vs.12), and power! Joseph, their brother, is a ruler in Egypt, and Pharaoh has put them in charge of his own livestock (vs.6).
And that’s the way it is for God’s people in any age. Even though they are often despised strangers in this world, God gives them property, provision and power beyond anything this world has to offer. You see, God takes care of His people better than the world takes care of its own.
GOD GIVES HIS PEOPLE THE BEST.
He gives us wealth greater than this world can give. His benefits far outshine anything in this world. For like He did to His people of old, God still gives us the best property of all.
Daniel 7 describes four great world powers that are to arise and fall on this earth. Then it talks about what will happen to God’s people at the end. The saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever – yes, for ever and ever… Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him (Daniel 7:18,27).
We, the people of God, get “the kingdoms under the whole heaven” someday! We will rule and reign with Christ, so let the world take what it wants today. When they ask for a coat, give them two. When they seize our assets, let them, because one day we will have it all. Hebrews 10:34 says, “You…joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” God gives us the best property of all.
More than that, God gives us the provision of everything we need. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
God gives us property, provision, and power! Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul says, “I pray…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great POWER for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion…” (Ephesians 1:18-21).
God’s resurrection power is available to every believer! All we have to do is ask, because Ephesians 3:20 says, “[He] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
God gives his people property, provision and power far beyond anything this world could ever give. He gives his best to those who choose to serve Him.
In his book, What Good Is God, Philip Yancey talks about the 2004 Ukraine election in which the reformer Victor Yushchenko challenged the entrenched party and nearly died for it. On election-day the exit polls showed Yushchenko with a comfortable lead, but through outright fraud, the government had reversed those results. Yancey writes:
That evening the state-run television reported, “Ladies and gentlemen, we announce that the challenger Victor Yushchenko has been decisively defeated.” However, government authorities had not taken into account one feature of Ukrainian television, the translation it provides for the hearing-impaired. On the small screen insert in the lower right-hand corner of the television screen a brave woman raised by deaf-mute parents gave a different message in sign language. “I am addressing all the deaf citizens of Ukraine. Don't believe what they say. They are lying, and I am ashamed to translate these lies. Yushchnko is our President!” No one in the studio understood her radical sign-language message.
Inspired by that courageous translator, deaf people led what became known as the Orange Revolution. Yancey continues:
They text-messaged their friends on mobile phones about the fraudulent elections, and soon other journalists took courage… and likewise refused to broadcast the party line. Over the next few weeks as many as a million people wearing orange flooded the capital city of Kiev to demand new elections. The government finally buckled under the pressure, consenting to new elections, and this time Yushchenko emerged as the undisputed winner.
Yancey makes the following point: Our society is hardly unique… Like the sign language translator in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, along comes a person named Jesus who says in effect, “Don't believe the big screen—they're lying. It's the poor who are blessed, not the rich. Mourners are blessed too, as well as those who hunger and thirst, and the persecuted. Those who go through life thinking they're on top will end up on the bottom. And those who go through life feeling they're at the very bottom will end up on top. After all, what does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Philip Yancey, What Good Is God?: In Search of a Faith That Matters, Faith Words, 2010, pp. 184-186; www. PreachingToday.com)
Though God’s people are despised strangers in this world, God gives his people the best. On the other hand, compared to what God gives His people…
THE WORLD GIVES ITS PEOPLE JUNK.
The world gives its people unsatisfying scrap. The world gives its people stuff that cannot last. That’s what happened to the Egyptians in Joseph’s day. They ended up losing everything the world had given them.
Genesis 47:13-15 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is used up.” (NIV)
They lost all their money!
Genesis 47:16-17 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock. (NIV)
Now, even their livestock is gone! It all belongs to Pharaoh under the care of Joseph’s brothers.
Genesis 47:18-21 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other. (NIV)
They had lost their money and their livestock. Now, they lose their property and their freedom.
Genesis 47:22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. (NIV)
The Egyptian priests didn’t do too bad, because Pharaoh himself took care of them, but the rest of the people lost everything.
Genesis 47:23-26 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.” “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.” So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s. (NIV)
The Egyptians lost everything. Contrast that with the people of God.
Genesis 47:27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. (NIV)
God’s people get the best. The world’s people lose everything. It not only happened to the Egyptians in ancient Egypt, it happens to anyone who chooses to live for money or anything else the world has to offer. If you choose to live for this world’s goods, then expect to lose it all someday.
Over the years, Milton Bradley’s hugely popular game, The Game of Life, has gone through several variations, all of which have reflected the changing values of our culture.
In 1798, before Milton Bradley was born, a popular board game came to the United States from England. It was called The New Game of Human Life, in which acquiring virtues sped you through the game while vices slowed you down. Parents were encouraged to play this game with their children. The game's main point was, “Life is a voyage that begins at birth and ends at death. God is at the helm, fate is cruel, and your reward lies beyond the grave.”
In 1860, Milton Bradley invented a simple board game and called it The Checkered Game of Life. The good path included Honesty and Bravery. The difficult path included Idleness and Disgrace. Industry and Perseverance led to Wealth and Success. Bradley described it as “A highly moral game… that encourages children to lead exemplary lives and entertains both old and young with the spirit of friendly competition.”
In 1960, Milton Bradley Company released a commemorative edition and called it simply The Game of Life. It sold 35 million copies. In this game you earn money, buy furniture, and have babies. Vices and virtues are non-existent. The winner of the game is the one who at “Life's Day of Reckoning” makes the most money and retires to Millionaire Acres.
In the 1990s Milton Bradley game designers tried to make the game less about money. They emphasized good deeds like saving an endangered species or solving a pollution problem. However, the only reward for these good deeds is cash. You can earn the same amount by winning on a reality TV show.
In the 2011 version, players can attend school, travel, start a family, or whatever they want. If they earn enough points, they can reward themselves with a sports car. There is no end or last square to the game. You can stop any time. The box says, “A Thousand Ways to Live Your Life! You Choose.” Values are up-for-grabs – you get as many points scuba diving as you get donating a kidney. The description on the website says: “Do whatever it takes to retire in style with the most wealth at the end of the game.” (Jill Lepore, “The Meaning of Life,” The New Yorker, 5-21-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
Doesn’t that describe our culture today? A lot of people are trying to “retire in style with the most wealth at the end of the game” called life. But even if they do, they still lose it all – if not at the end of life, then some stock market crash or other disaster can take it all.
1 John 2 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
God gives his people the best – wealth that no one can take away. The world gives its people cheap junk that cannot last. So who will you choose to serve? God or the world? I urge you: Choose to serve the Lord
TRUST GOD IN THE TEST, because He really does give his people the best.
Trust the Lord with your life, and depend on Him to keep His Word to you. That’s what Jacob did.
Genesis 47:28-31 Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” “I will do as you say,” he said. “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. (NIV)
Even in his weakened condition, Jacob worshipped the Lord. That’s because Jacob trusted God with his life. He depended on God to keep His Word! That’s why Jacob asked Joseph to bury him with his fathers. God had promised him, “I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again” (Genesis 46:4). He knew that one day his whole family would return to their homeland again. God had promised it, so that’s where Jacob wants to be buried.
In a strange and foreign land, Jacob trusted God with his life, and that’s what we must do if we want to experience the best God has to offer. We must depend on God to keep His Word to us. We must trust Him with our lives. It’s really the only choice we have.
Jim Elliot put it well when he said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what He cannot lose.”
The world gives you stuff you cannot keep. God gives you riches you cannot lose if you live for Him. So trust Him. Trust Him with your life today. Tell Him that from now on you want to live for Him and not the things of this world. Trust God in the test, because God gives His people the best. He gives us things that last, while the world can only give us things that pass.
Since Steve Jobs passed away last month, the genius behind Apple Computers, there has been a lot written and said about his life. Perhaps the most poignant comments came from his friend, Steve Lohr, who wrote the following in the New York Times:
Mr. Jobs made a lot of money over the years, for himself and for Apple shareholders. But money never seemed to be his principal motivation. One day in the late 1990s, Mr. Jobs and I were walking near his home in Palo Alto. Internet stocks were getting bubbly at the time, and Mr. Jobs spoke of the proliferation of start-ups, with so many young entrepreneurs focused on an “exit strategy,” selling their companies for a quick and hefty profit.
“It's such a small ambition and sad really,” Mr. Jobs said. “They should want to build something, something that lasts.” (Steve Lohr, “The Power of Taking the Big Chance,” N.Y. Times, 10-8-11; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you want to build something that lasts with your life? Then give it to God, not to the things of this world. Live your life for Him. Do His will and you will indeed live forever.
