A man named Fred inherited a huge land grant, but the will provided that he could choose land in either Chile or Brazil. He chose Brazil. Unhappily, if he had chosen Chile, he would have received his inheritance in land on which they had recently discovered uranium, gold and silver. But he chose Brazil.
When he arrived in Brazil he had to choose between receiving his inheritance in a coffee plantation or land with Brazil nut trees. He chose the nut trees, and immediately the bottom fell out of the nut market, but coffee futures went up two dollars a pound. The government took control of the nut farm for back taxes, and Fred was left destitute.
Fred pawned his Rolex watch for the money he needed to fly either to New York or Boston. He chose Boston. When the plane for New York taxied up, he noticed it was a brand new super Concorde with red carpets. After several hours delay, the plane for Boston arrived. It was a 1928 twin engine plane held together with bailing wire, and it was filled with cigar smokers and unattended crying babies.
Over the mountains one of the engines fell off, and Fred, frightened by his earlier bad choices and fearing for his life, asked for two parachutes. He jumped. As he fell through the air, he tried to make up his mind which ripcord to pull. He pulled the cord on the left, but nothing happened. He pulled the cord on his right, but it broke.
In desperation the poor fellow cried out, “St. Francis, save me!” A great hand from heaven reached down, seized him by the wrist, and left him dangling in mid-air. Then a gentle but inquisitive voice asked, “St. Francis, Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?” (Dick Meyer, "An Anchor in a Sea of Change," Faith@Work, Spring 2000, p.23; www.PreachingToday.com)
Life is full of choices, some of which look better than others; but looks can be deceiving. That’s especially true when it comes to the choice of serving Christ or the ways of this world.
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money” (Matthew 6:24, ESV).
You have to make a choice, but which is the right choice: serving God or money? One looks better than the other, but is it the right choice? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 46, Genesis 46, where those two choices stand in stark contrast to one another as God’s people come to live in Egypt under Joseph’s rule.
Genesis 46:31-34 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” (ESV)
The people of this world often despise the people of God.
Genesis 47:1-4 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” (ESV)
They only want to “sojourn in the land.” That is, they only 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 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” (ESV)
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 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. (ESV)
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 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents. (ESV)
Can you believe it? These despised strangers end up with property “in the best 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 them 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 His people 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.
But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever… And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him (Daniel 7:18, 27).
The people of God, get “the kingdoms under the whole heaven” someday! They will rule and reign with Christ, so let the world take what it wants today. When someone asks for a coat, give them two. When another seizes your assets, let them, because one day you will have it all as a follower of Christ.
Hebrews 10:34 says, “You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” God gives His people the best property of all.
More than that, God gives His people the provision of everything they need. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
God gives His people property, provision, and power! Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul says, “I pray… that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion…” (Ephesians 1:18-21).
God’s resurrection power is available to every believer! All you have to do is ask, because Ephesians 3:20 says, “[He] is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power 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.
Tim Keller, in his book on prayer, asks us to imagine an eight-year-old boy playing with a toy truck and then it breaks. He is disconsolate and cries out to his parents to fix it. Yet as he is crying, his father says to him, “A distant relative you've never met has just died and left you one hundred million dollars.” What will the child's reaction be? He will just cry louder until his truck is fixed. He is not able to understand his true condition and be consoled. (Tim Keller, Prayer, Penguin Books, 2016, pages 86-87; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the way it is with some Christians. They don’t realize all that they have in Christ, so they’re sometimes inconsolable. If only they could realize that they are spiritual millionaires! Though they 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 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” (ESV)
They lost all their money!
Genesis 47:16-17 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. (ESV)
Now, even their livestock is gone! It all belongs to Pharaoh under the care of Joseph’s brothers.
Genesis 47:18-21 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. (ESV)
They have lost their money and their livestock. Now, they lose their property and their freedom.
Genesis 47:22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. (ESV)
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 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s. (ESV)
The Egyptians lost everything. Contrast that with the people of God.
Genesis 47:27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. (ESV)
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 latest version (2011), 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 the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides 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 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed. (ESV)
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 you must do if you want to experience the best God has to offer. Depend on God to keep His Word to you. Trust Him with your life. It’s really the only choice you 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.
When Steve Jobs the founder of Apple Computers, passed away a few years ago (2011), there was 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.
