Vitor Belfort is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and UFC fighter. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vitor is currently ranked #5 in the Middleweight class, and is the only fighter to beat current champion Luke Rockhold in 2015. Vitor is, by many accounts, a very successful man. Vitor was in a little video -- about five minutes long -- that I’d like to share with you guys tonight.
God wanted to use Vitor and his talents to expand his Kingdom. He tried sending a man with no legs, and Vitor ignored Him. Finally, it took an incredibly traumatic event -- the kidnapping of his sister -- for him to realize that God is there and wants to have a relationship with him. Vitor was that arrogant and stubborn.
There are a lot of people in the Bible who could match this description -- arrogance and stubbornness only improving after a majorly traumatic event changes their lives. Paul is a good example; so is Zaccheus the wee little man, and Moses, and Zechariah the father of John the Baptist. But tonight I want to talk about another man who started life out pretty arrogant -- Joseph.
Turn with me to Genesis 37. Remember, Joseph’s father Jacob had been renamed to “Israel” after he wrestled with an angel. Israel’s 12 sons formed the basis of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. Let’s start with verse 2:
“2This 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 Zilpha, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 2Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he bad been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4When 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. 5Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had: 7We 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.’ 8His 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. 9Then 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.’ 10When 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?’ 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”
Wow, there are some monumentally bad decisions in these few verses, right? First, right from the get-go, Joseph literally tattles on his brothers. “...he brought their father a bad report about them.” I think it’s interesting that the Bible doesn’t go into detail on what specifically these brothers did -- which likely means it was something so minor it really didn’t matter to anybody or anything in the long run. It would be the same as having your younger brother or sister tell your parents that you didn’t put the cap back on the toothpaste tube when you finished brushing your teeth. Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have done that; but it doesn’t really need your parents’ involvement to fix, right?
So, not only did he tattle on his older brothers, he was an obvious favorite of his father’s. This isn’t Joseph’s fault, really -- Israel should have known better than to show obvious favoritism to one child over another. This made Joseph’s brothers hate him even more than they did already -- to the point where they “could not speak a kind word to him.” Yikes.
So Joseph isn’t stupid -- he must be able to see all this happening. But what does he do about it? Does he try to make nice with his brothers, apologize for tattling on them, and do his best to live with his brothers in an uncomfortable situation?
Nope! He rubs it in. He tells them about a dream he had where the rest of his family were bowing down to him like he was in charge. Not only does he share this dream, but he does it twice! You want to talk about arrogance, there it is. Joseph got a sign from God but completely misused it. God didn’t send the dreams to Joseph so he could feel superior to his brothers, or brag about how much better he is than they are. No! God doesn’t work like that.
So Joseph is hated even more by his brothers now -- to the point where they start to do something stupid. Let’s pick it back up at verse 18, where Joseph is travelling to Dothan to help his brothers with the flocks.
“18But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19’Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other. 20‘Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.’ 21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. ‘Let’s not take his life,’ he said. 22’Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.’ Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe -- the richly ornamented robe he was wearing -- 24and they threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26Judah said to his brothers, ‘What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood 27Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.’ His brothers agreed.”
So first they want to kill him, and lie about it. A few of his brothers, though, tell the others to hold back from killing him. At first glance, this sounds like a good thing -- they’re starting to come to their senses! But look a bit more closely -- Reuben, the oldest, decides he’s going to try to make himself look better in this situation by planning to come back later and rescue Joseph. Even though he’s the oldest, he’s lost a lot of favor with his family because he had an affair with Bilhah, one of his father’s wives (not his mother, though). Reuben didn’t care about Joseph, he just wanted to use Joseph to make himself look better and make up for his past mistakes.
Judah also speaks up, saying that they shouldn’t kill Joseph. This is good -- but look at how he phrases it: “What will we gain if we kill our brother”. He’s worried about what they will get out of it! He’s smart enough to realize that if they kill him they’d eventually be found out. But if they sold him -- then they’d get money! It says in verse 28 that they sold him for 20 shekels of silver. That was a lot of money at the time -- almost half of a gold piece. We learn in verse 29 that Reuben wasn’t there when this decision was made, so that means each remaining brother got 2 shekels of silver. If Reuben only wanted to look good in front of his father, Judah just wanted to get some money. The other brothers just went along for the ride.
And poor Joseph, right? One day he’s lording it over his brothers, telling them that God said he would rule over them some day; the next day he’s thrown in a pit and sold into slavery by those very same brothers! Some might say that Joseph had it coming -- he was extremely arrogant and immature, right? He was, but that doesn’t excuse his brothers’ actions. However, God had a plan.
The Ishmaelites (or Midianites in some translations) sold him to Potiphar, an official in Pharaoh’s palace. Potiphar, as captain of the guard, was in charge of the soldiers stationed in the palace, and was ordered to protect the Pharaoh and his family at all times. To put things in a modern perspective, Potiphar was the Director of the Secret Service. Potiphar was a fair man, and saw that the Lord had blessed Joseph in everything he did. Eventually, Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his entire household! Things are finally looking up for Joseph!
Until they’re not.
The end of Genesis 29:6 says that Joseph was a well-built and handsome man. It doesn’t take any great feat of imagination to figure out what comes next -- you have a well-built, handsome man who is forced to obey the commands of his master, whose wife just happens to be alone all day. It sounds like the type of movie I’d fuss at you guys for going to see! But this really happened -- Potiphar’s wife decided she liked Joseph a bit too much and wanted him to sleep with her. Over and over again she asked him, and over and over again he refused. Eventually it got to be too much for her and she grabbed him by his cloak when he tried to leave -- she literally tried to rape him! He managed to get away, but not without leaving his cloak behind.
Potiphar’s wife decided to tell her husband that it went the other way around -- that Joseph tried to rape her. So, as any husband would in that situation, Potiphar threw Joseph in prison. Again, when Joseph’s life starts going well, something comes along and pops his bubble. Joseph was in prison for two years.
During that time, he demonstrated his faithfulness to God in such a profound way that the warden put him in charge of the prison! Imagine if that had been done today -- a prison warden puts an inmate in charge. Can you imagine the reaction? Since I work for the county, I know the man in charge of the Lowndes County Jail. He would never do such a thing -- but this was only possible because Joseph was faithful, and the Lord was with him.
For the first time, while Joseph was in prison, he discovered that the Lord gave him the ability to interpret dreams. Two men came to him, saying that they’d had strange dreams and didn’t know what they meant. Joseph was able to interpret those dreams -- one with a good outcome, the other with a poor outcome. Eventually his reputation made its way to Pharaoh himself, who had recurring dreams that he could not understand. Joseph was called up to Pharaoh and explained the dreams. Egypt would have 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of extreme famine. Joseph recommended that Pharaoh store one fifth of the grain during the 7 years of plenty to hold over for the 7 years of famine. Genesis 41:37-42:
“37The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 38So Pharaoh asked them, ‘Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’ 39Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40You 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.’ 41So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’”
Joseph became the number two man in all of Egypt -- arguably the most powerful nation on earth at the time. Then, the famine hit. The famine stretched far beyond Egypt’s borders, to the point where even Joseph’s family was affected. The remaining brothers go to Egypt to purchase grain, and Joseph -- as the governor -- was the one obligated to give out the grain. Joseph pretended that he didn’t know them and accused them of being spies -- not to get revenge, but to see if their character had changed. Remember, the last time he saw them he was begging for his life! In Genesis 42:21, his brothers realize why this is happening, even though they don’t yet know who they’re speaking with: “They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us.’” After testing his brothers again and again, Joseph is finally convinced that they had changed and reveals himself to them. Chapter 45:3-8:
“3Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still living?’ But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 4Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8So 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 all Egypt.’”
This convinced Jacob and the rest of his family to join Joseph in Egypt -- eventually starting 400 years of slavery by the Egyptians.
Joseph realized that the bad things that happened in his life were still able to be used by God. I’m ending this series with Joseph because I feel it’s important to recognize that what Joseph went through is very much like what we all go through on a regular basis. We ride that emotional roller-coaster -- things are really good, then they go downhill fast. We are at the top of the world, then we get enslaved; we rise up from that, we get imprisoned; we rise up from that, and we get enslaved yet again. But in Joseph’s life, for every person who did him badly, there was one who rescued him. For his brother’s bad actions, Potiphar respected him and gave him responsibility. For Potiphar’s wife’s bad actions, the prison warden respected Joseph and gave him responsibility. Finally, for Egypt’s bad actions in enslaving the Israelites, Moses came and brought them out of slavery.
The same is true for us. For every person who tempts us to sin, Jesus is there to bring us back out. For every person who treats us badly, Jesus is there to remind us that He loves us. And, for every bad thing that happens in our lives, there is a testimony waiting to be told about how God used that season for His glory. That is the message in the story of Joseph.
