In the book of Genesis we have an account of a favoured son of a man named Jacob, Jacob had twelve sons to four different women, one of these ladies died in childbirth her name was Rachel, now we also have this extensive depiction of the life of her oldest son a man by the name of Joseph.
Joseph was the favoured son, his dear old dad Jacob didn’t have the benefit of parenting courses or reports from leading psychologists on how treating your children with different degrees of favour could cause issues within the family. So we find that young Joseph got the best of everything, up until his dad took him out and brought him a truly flash and by all accounts really colourful jacket. Joseph being the lad that he was, showed it off to his brothers and just to add a bit of fuel to the fires of their jealousy and hate, told them that one day they would all bow down to him. You can probably see where this is going.
I’m picking that we all know the story, but to cut it short, Joseph was killed by a wild animal. Now you’re going to say “no he wasn’t.” Well I’m taking his old dads perspective and if I’m to do this right, I need to adjust the story just a bit.
Imagine this; Jacob at the barbers:
Barber “How’s the family?”
Jacob “I wish you hadn’t asked, I’m still getting over a huge tragedy”
Barber “Gulp, sorry about that. What happened”
Jacob “My boy Joseph was ripped to bits and eaten by a wild animal, I know you’re not meant to have favourites but he was a great kid, a bit of a dreamer but…I’m devastated, the only other boy I’ve got with my late wife Rachael is Benjamin, and having lost her and Joseph if I lost young Ben it would kill me.”
Barber “Crikey that’s not flash; how does that look, a little more off the sides?”
Jacob “No, that looks good”
Barber “A little spray? And that will be half a shekel!”
So to cut a very long story short Joseph ends up in probably the most powerful position at the time as what can be described as Prime Minister of Egypt. We join Joseph’s history at the point where his brothers have been sent by Jacob their dear old dad to get provisions from this Egyptian Prime Minster, who tricks them and tells them he’s going to hold onto young Benjamin his youngest brother and the only surviving son so Jacob believes of Rachael, as a slave.
Then Judah his brother by another mother says this in chapter 44:18-20
Because of the love Judah has for his father he himself asks if he can remain as a slave instead of Benjamin at which time Joseph is overcome and losses control. Let’s have a look at what happens in chapter 45:1-11.
Now being that it is Father’s Day, I’m heading down a track in the sermon of talking about Father’s.
Instantly this might be a hard thing because some have had Fathers who were for the want of a better term, dreadful. With that in mind let’s take a look at the fathers in this passage.
Now to all the men in the congregation, I want you to listen in here as this relates not just to physical fathers, I want you ladies to pay extra special attention, so you can discuss this with the blokes who you share conversations with, it might just be useful ear bending material. This involves three fathers.
Father One: Jacob, the bloke who cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance, the same bloke who wrestled with God and walked with a limp, and had a name change because of it, after he wrestled with God he was given the name Israel. Jacob was the Father of twelve sons’, the founder of the nation and the tribes of Israel, he was blessed by God, given the land that God had given his father Isaac and his Grandfather Abraham before him. Like them he was a shepherd, he loved his children but his family were about as dysfunctional as they get.
Twelve boys.
Father Two: Judah, now the story of Judah I believe is important to his reaction to Benjamin being taken as slave by Joseph. He was once a widowed, he’d been married to a lady by the name of Shua with whom he had three sons. Two of his sons died, and then his wife died. So here is this man who has one remaining son, mourning his losses. He promises his eldest son’s widow his youngest sons hand in marriage when the boy is of age. A strange turn of events however and he ends up fathering twins with this lady his eldest sons widow Tamar. This is one dysfunctional family.
But remember Judah understood loss, he understood what grief might do to his Father Jacob.
Father Three: Joseph, Joseph is the Father I’m going to concentrate on here as there is something that comes out of the passage that we have just looked at about Joseph. Joseph had a sense of understanding God that his brothers didn’t have.
When Joseph declared to his brothers who he was “they were terrified at his presence”, is what the scriptures say. “At his presence” this means Joseph was a man of prestige, status, a powerful ruler and not the boy they had sold into slavery. His presence was something to feast your eyes on; he held the power of life and death in his hands. They were terrified.
But what was his reaction? Chain them up, have them tortured, beaten, power corrupts doesn’t it and he had plenty of power!
How did he react? Well the first thing he does is to ask after his own Father, but then he says to his terrified brothers “Come close to me, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here.” The next statement shows an understanding that Joseph had that is fascinating, using his own words he says, “Because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
Joseph understood that the whole turn of events in his life were part of a divine plan, which God had instigated. The shame, the imprisonment, the false accusations, it was all so that lives would be saved. He had forecast the famine that was coming by interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams and they were now two years into this seven year drought.
Joseph knew that God had allowed this to happen! To “preserve [them, his family] a remnant on earth and to save [their] lives by a great deliverance. He knew this was a key point in history, he knew that he was living part of God’s divine plan!
He could have had the lot of them thrown in jail to rot, like others in power he could have removed their names from history, he could have engineered things so that he was his father’s only son and heir, like others he could have looked to self and what he would do and could do and what he could gain out of the situation. But he knew that this was all part of a divine plan, a plan to save! A plan for salvation.
Not only had that he known that the plan extended beyond just his family, what it is he says in verse eight, “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of Egypt.”
Now where I want to go with this is that Joseph uses these words “father to Pharaoh”, he had two sons of his own Manasseh and Ephraim, but he sees his role of Prime Minister as father to Pharaoh. Why? Trusted advisor, Governor of Pharaoh’s domains, the one who put in place plans for the future of the nation and also plan Pharaoh’s future, he was the go between for those coming before Pharaoh, the one who made the important decisions about what came to Pharaohs attention.
In his role he acted as a buffer between Pharaoh and the things of life that could harm or cause harm to the nation, he planned for the future of Egypt and Pharaoh, he was a servant to Pharaoh, but he also gave discerned correction as required. Joseph did all of this, acknowledging God, he was straight up with Pharaoh. He knew his time was a key point in history, he knew that he was living part of God’s divine plan!
Now!
Given that this is Father’s Day, I’m going discuss a few things here that may or may not be of interest to you men. If you are of the other half of the species it might be of interest also.
1) This whole thing about Joseph life was it was not how he would have planned it, the whole record that we have of scripture is what Dr Harry Wendy refers to as a Divine Drama, Joseph knew he was part of it and you are part of it also. God had a plan for Joseph to bless the nations of Israel and Egypt alike, to save many lives! Ask yourself what is it that God has in plan for me? You may be thinking this is not how I would go about planning my life.
2) Joseph knew that the plan God had for his life had not been about Joseph, it was about the good of others, to preserve his brothers, to be ruler of Egypt, to bring about a great deliverance. What is it that you are to do, what is the good you are called to do, what role do you have in bringing others to salvation? Are you living and leaving a legacy that influences others for their eternal good and brings them closer or into the kingdom of God? How will your actions today reflect on coming generations?
3) Joseph knew that there were two roles that he was carrying out as a father:
a) He was a physical Father, the parent of his children, he had the heart of a Father like his brother Judah, he was concerned for his old dad. His brother Judah on the other hand learnt to be concerned because he himself had encountered the loss of his son’s and he knew that his father Jacob’s age, to lose another son would probably kill Jacob.
For those of you who are dads as physical Fathers, where is your concern? In this depiction of the family of Israel, Joseph’s dysfunctional family we see that his concern is multi-generational. Joseph tells his brothers, “You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me – you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there…”
Fatherhood is not a single generational when it suits role, it is for natural fathers to leave a legacy, an inheritance of good, not just physical good but most importantly a spiritual inheritance of right relationships with God through Jesus Christ, as they are lead by the Holy Spirit through generations. I’ve previously heard people groan on about how their parents made them go to church up until a certain age, Good on the parents I say! I too am concerned for the spiritual welfare of my children, I want to spend time with them in eternity, I want to see them in a right relationship with God.
So Joseph is a Physical Father, now I said he carried out two roles as a father what was the other? I touched on this before.
b) This was the role he took as father to Pharaoh, the position of mentor and advisor. For those men who don’t have descendants of their own and for those who do there are people who can always do with another father figure, I’d go as far as to say in fact all of us could occasionally do with that. It may be that you have skills or a hobby that you would like to pass on, there’s plenty of people in the community who could do with gaining some additional life skills. I understand that there are men in the congregation who can understand accounts and how to add a list of numbers together not everyone can do that, it’s worth passing on. Some find the scriptures a bit of a puzzle; instruction in biblical understanding is worth passing on. We also live in a rapidly changing world where all people do not have great father figures and occasionally excellent fatherly advice is worth hearing, some of you older gents might like to consider the idea of mentoring some of the younger men in the congregation.
Where I’m going is that like Joseph we can all leave a legacy. Is it a legacy that does not endure? Is it a going to be a legacy of regret? Or is it going to be a legacy that influences others for good and for God, an enduring legacy? A legacy that is without a doubt a key part of God’s plan!
It might be that some of you are sitting on this knife edge where it could go either way. Joseph hit his brothers with a line about following the line of God and his final word on the matter went like this, “otherwise you and your whole household and all who belong to you will become destitute.”
In the world we live in many are spiritually destitute; fathers – men, young men, are you going to leave a legacy, a spiritual legacy and an example of living that influences others for God?
Over the weekend our household has been a bit of an auto shop Rochelle and I have manufactured a few legacies’ Cardboard cut-out Subaru’s. If you are a man who wants to leave a legacy for others and for God’s kingdom here on earth, please come and take one as a reminder of your resolve to do just that, put it somewhere prominent to remind you that this is your ambition and decision before God and this congregation.
Thank You.
