What’s on your Bucket List?
Genesis 37:15-19
In 2007 a film was released titled The Bucket List. The movie featured Jack Nicholson as a billionaire and Morgan Freeman as a car mechanic. They were complete strangers until they met by sharing the same hospital room. Both of them discovered they had a terminal illness. They quickly realized they had to come to terms with this fact. They took a hard look at what they had done with their lives up to that point. And against the advice of the doctors, they both checked themselves out of the hospital and began to carry out what they called their bucket list. The movie created a bit of a movement across America as many people decided to create their own bucket list-which is simply a list of things you have never done, but have always wanted to do and then do them before you kick the bucket. I will be honest. While I was studying this week I started one. I now have eight things on my list and I am setting a goal of actually completing these in the next 18 months.
I don’t know what you would put on your list but I do encourage you to dream a dream and stop putting things off. Men and women alike have been dreaming dreams for centuries. In the Old Testament Joseph was called the dreamer way back 700 years before Christ came on the scene.
It is very interesting to note that in the book of Genesis there only two chapters that deal with the creation of the universe. Just two. Genesis begins by simply saying, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then it simply says “he made the stars also.” Think about the number of stars… scientists estimate there are 100 billion, trillion stars; (21 zeros btw) yet in five words it simply says “He made the stars also.”
Then we come to the life of this young man named Joseph, the Bible dedicates 14 chapters to this young man’s life and the dreams that he held. Now why do you think that is? Is Joseph more important than the creation of the universe? Clearly God is interested in our dreams. He is interested in helping you become the best possible version of you that you can be. God is much more interested in you and me that He is in His creation.
The brothers of Joseph make a statement about him in verse 19 and I think that in many ways it gives us a summary of the life of Joseph. When they saw their brother coming they said, “Behold this dreamer cometh.” Now this was not intended to be a compliment. In fact it was a complaint. But God often takes the complaints of others and turns them into something positive. Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. I can imagine his response was simply “thank you very much.”
This morning I am hoping that for those of you who feel that you have lost your dream or that your dream has for some reason turned into a nightmare, I am hoping you can find it again. Let’s look at the life of Joseph.
First of all notice that Joseph had some very special dreams. Verses 1-4. Sounds like a typical family. They had their good times but they also had some tough times. We do know that they were a family of faith. Some of you are perhaps like me-you came from a family that was very dysfunctional-you never knew what might happen on a day-to-day basis and before I got married I dreamed….and I determined that the family I would have would look nothing like the one I was raised in. I would encourage you to dream a new dream for your family and if necessary determine that you will break the cycle of abuse, addiction or dysfunction. And instead create a godly family.
Now Joseph’s family loved God but they still had their troubles. Joseph’s mother, Rachel died when he was just a boy. His father, seemed partial to Joseph and he made a coat of many colors for him-this caused his brothers to become very jealous. They hated Joseph. Verse 4 says “they could not speak a kind word to him.” The Bible says in verse two that Joseph told on them and that just made him more unpopular. So there was turmoil. Problems in this God-fearing family. Hear this if you don’t already know it-your family troubles will do one of two things for you. They will either DRAW you TO God or they will DRIVE you FROM God. And guess what? You are the one who has to decide which one will happen.
So we see in verse 5 that Joseph had a dream. This dream was about sheaves of grain; bundles of grain and in his dreams he saw his bundle was standing up and the others representing his brothers were bowing down and they weren’t bowing down to God… they were bowing down to Joseph. Joseph then made the mistake of telling his brothers about it. Then he had another dream. He dreamed about the stars and the moon and the sun all bowing down to him. Also he made a second mistake of telling his brothers about this one also. These were special dreams. Dreams can be good.
When I was very young I didn’t realize it really but I was dreaming dreams. God was actually preparing me for the future. My sister had a pet goldfish named Guppy. She was very creative like that and the goldfish died so we put the fish in an empty matchbox and marched into the backyard and buried him. I read some Scripture and preached that goldfish right into fish heaven. I was dreaming.
Here is Joseph dreaming some big dreams. And his brothers make fun of him. You see there are some people who don’t dream big dreams and then I want you to dream any either. They don’t intend to amount to anything they don’t want you to be anything either. Listen, you and I need to learn to dream big dreams.
As you move through the 37th chapter of there are problems that arise. The brothers of Joseph had been sent off with some of their father’s flock. After a while, they didn’t return so their father became concerned and sent Joseph out wearing his coat of many colors to find them.
It says in verse 15 that a certain man found Joseph and said to him, hey, I know where your brothers are, they are over in Dothan. So Joseph makes his way now to Dothan and his brothers see him coming. They see his coat of many colors. And just as Joseph had dreams for his life, they had dreams too. They pounced on him, tore the coat from his body and proceeded to rip it into shreds. They threw him to the ground and they spotted a deep pit and they tossed him in. Later some slave traders who were on their way to Egypt came by. They pulled Joseph up out of the pit and started bargaining for his life. They haggled over a price and verse 28 says they sold him for 20 pieces of silver and then brought him to Egypt.
Now we moved to chapter 39 and what we find here is that those special dreams have turned into shattered dreams.
Chapter 39 v. 1 says and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Joseph is going into a strange land; no longer with his father-all of his dreams are shattered.
I suspect this morning that I am speaking to more than one person who has had their dreams shattered-and more than once. Things didn’t turn out the way you intended. Your life was shattered, your dreams are gone and you are standing here today holding the pieces. And there’s just not much left. Listen. God has a way of putting them back together. Notice in Genesis 39 in the first three verses, two times it says the Lord was with Joseph. Then the last three verses of chapter, again it says two more times the Lord was with him. When we move to the New Testament, to the 7th chapter of Acts v. 9 God gives us a one sentence statement of the life of Joseph. The Bible simply says, God was with him. God summed up his life in 4 words. God was with him.
Let me ask you a question. If the Lord were to sum up your life in a just a few words what would they say?
Look with me at how God took these shattered dreams of Joseph and began to shape them into something very special. In chapter 39, Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar bought him. They then put Joseph on the slave market. If you don’t know, that is exactly what Satan wants to do with each of us today. Sell us off to the highest bidder ….addictions, slavery. That’s what Satan wants to do with you. Put you on the slave market of life. And unfortunately he has been very successful. There are currently in Pasco County so many teens who have gone into the sex slave market that Eckerd family resources has hired a full-time person to intervene on their behalf. Minors being sold into sex trafficking right here in Pasco County.
So when all the bids were in, Potiphar’s bid was the highest. He was captain of the guard so things look bad now for Joseph. So what can he do? Notice v. 2. “And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man.” In verse three Potiphar notices Joseph’s success. V. 4 says Joseph found grace in his sight and served him.
Joseph did exactly what you and I need to do with our shattered dreams. He decided he would make the best of his circumstances and do the best he could. You can let the circumstances of life make you bitter or you can let them make you better. It’s not so important WHAT happens to you … what matters is HOW you respond to WHAT happens. These difficulties can be a stumbling block or they can be a stepping stone. Joseph chose to step up. Remember he was dreamer.
Now the Bible says that Joseph was well-built and handsome. And verse seven says Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. Day after day in v. 7 she says, lie with me. Come and be with me Joseph. Remember Joseph is a slave. Far from home. As far as he knows, nobody will even know about it. I can hear Satan now, “go ahead Joseph, look at all that has happened. Nobody will even know. Go right ahead.”
In verse 8, it simply says, “but he refused.” He said no. Look at v. 9. Joseph knew it would be a sin-against her-and of course ultimately against God. She continued to make the offer and the Scripture says he did a very simple thing. He ran. When temptation comes sometimes that is the best thing we can do. Just run… you don’t know what to say…… just run away. When Satan’s crowd wants you to go with them, run.
He did the right thing. So if you do right, everything turns out right. Right? Nope. She lies. Accuses him of rape. Potiphar gets angry and Joseph ends up in prison. Now we don’t know how long he was in there. In jail. But then we see a third phase and I would call this one sweet dreams. Chpt. 39:21. Here it says “the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Joseph is suddenly lifted to a place of responsibility. I imagine there were many days that his life was filled with despair and discouragement. It is estimated that Joseph spend anywhere from 8 to 10 years in this prison. I can imagine the thoughts that must’ve gone through his head as he looked at his life and he thought about his dreams that were over and were shattered.
Then we come into chapter 40 and we are told that one day the Butler and the Baker who worked for Pharaoh were placed in prison also. After a few days they came to Joseph and said, Joseph, have you ever had a dream? Joseph gets a faraway look on his face and says oh yes, I used to dream dreams. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had any dreams now.
After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men the cupbearer/Butler and the Baker had a dream the same night. They both told Joseph about their dreams and Joseph interpreted them. Joseph told the cupbearer that his dream meant that he was going to be restored to his position. So Joseph said to him, please remember me when you are released and please come and get me out of this prison.
When the Baker saw that Joseph had given a good interpretation, he said to Joseph I too had a dream and he then describes it. Joseph interpreted the dream but told him the dream would not turn out well and that he actually would die a tragic death. Several days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday and what Joseph had predicted happened. One man was released from prison and the other one was killed.
So now the cupbearer was released from prison and remembered Joseph had said remember to come back for me and have me released, but the scripture says he completely forgot about him. It happens. We do something for someone and they show no gratitude at all. You try to help. You’ve been there for them. They can count on you. And they can’t even give you a simple thank you. Ever wonder how God feels? All that he is done for us, all the blessings that we enjoy but we don’t stop to say thank you. We don’t know how long it went but months and months went by and then we come to chapter 41. And we learned that Pharaoh began to dream some dreams too.
So Pharaoh pulls in all of his cabinet and tells them the dreams to see if they can do anything about it. Then in v. 9 we see that the Butler suddenly remembers his promise to Joseph. To come back and get him out of prison. And he says to Pharaoh I remember when I was imprisoned, there was a young man there who could interpret dreams. I was not supposed to forget about him but I did. Pharaoh said, what’s his name? He said his name was Joseph. Pharaoh says send to the prison and get Joseph.
And that morning for Joseph may have been like any other. Joseph was going about his responsibilities there in prison. But Pharaoh sends someone who calls for Joseph and so they dragged him out of the dungeon, out of the jail and they tell him, Pharaoh wants to see you. Pharaoh says, I have heard about you. I have heard that you give the meaning of dreams. In v. 16 Joseph answers and says it’s not in me it’s God. I can’t do it, God does it. He gives the Lord the credit. So to quickly summarize, the King puts his ring on Joseph’s hand and puts fine linen on him. He puts a gold chain around his neck and gives him a nice, new chariot to drive. He made him Prime Minister; ruler over all Egypt. So there were sweet dreams now for Joseph. We’re told that Joseph lived a good life and when he died they took him out of Egypt and actually buried him in the Promised Land.
From a pit to a prison to a good life to the Promised land. God took a shattered dream and turned it into a sweet dream. He did it for Joseph and He will do it for you as well. What are you dreaming about? What does your future hold for you? I suspect that some of you have given up. Some of you have decided all that is for somebody else. Well it is but it is also for you! Never give up dreaming your dreams, never give up on HOPE, never give up on your family, and never, ever, ever give up on Jesus. Learn to dream again!
