YOU CANNOT KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN
Text: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
"Ida Eisenhower, mother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was asked in an interview if she was proud of her son. She answered, "Yes, I am very proud. Which son?" (Robert H. Spain. How To Stay alive As Long As You Live. Nashville: Dimensions For Living, 1992, p. 29). Based upon her answer to that question, we can conclude that Ida Eisenhower, it seems, loved all of her sons equally. She had six sons in all. Dwight was her third son.
Jacob was the father of twelve sons. He loved them all, but he favored his son Joseph. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren; and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more" (Genesis 37:3-5 ASV). It is obvious that Jacob's favoring his son Joseph among all the other sons caused them to be jealous of Joseph. Perhaps they felt like they never measured up. Nevertheless, it caused friction among the other sons and how they treated Joseph.
Joseph's brothers conspired together against him to get him out of the picture. One brother wanted to kill him. Another brother came up with another idea. Eventually, they agreed to sell their brother into slavery. Joseph took this obstacle and turned it into an opportunity. He had every reason to be bitter and resentful. His attitude made all the difference.
BETRAYAL
We are our brother's keeper (Genesis 4:9). After Cain had killed his brother Abel and God asked what happened to Abel, Cain asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?" A keeper in this context is a watchman or a guard. Cain's question implies ignorance. Even though Cain did not openly confess to God he could not hide his sin any better than his parents who tried to hide from God after they had messed with the forbidden fruit.
There is a degree to which we are the keepers of our brothers and sisters whether they siblings by blood or siblings in the Body of Christ because they are our neighbors. Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves which makes us our brother's keepers.
A traitor is one who betrays a brother. Joseph's brothers were supposed to be his keepers and yet they betrayed him. They were not concerned with what was going to happen to him after they sold him as a slave. They just wanted him out of the picture. Clovis G. Chappel once said, "You are responsible for the life that you live and for its influence upon those that you touch. … You can be just as cruel in your selfish neglect as Cain was in his deadly blow". (Clovis G. Chappell. The Village Tragedy. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1925, p. 76). No one can argue that although Joseph's brothers did not kill him as did Cain Abel, they were irresponsible as "keepers" and neglectful as brothers all because of their jealousy. We do not have to throw a brother or a sister in a ditch, sell them into slavery, takes sides with another against him or her or kill them to fail as "keepers of our brothers and sisters" when it comes to betrayal. We can betray a brother or a sister by being unfaithful by failing to live a life that is a good influence which might cause another to stumble.
HONOR
One of the qualities that we associate with honor is nobility. By nobility, I do not mean "high society" or "royalty". I am referring to nobility as morality and values. There are times when we misplace our values. Sometimes we misplace and displace the value of things. I read the story about some clever pranksters. They entered a department after hours and escaped unnoticed. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “So what did the steal?” Well, the truth be known they did not steal anything. Puzzling isn’t it? Listen to what they did next. They re-arranged some prices. “These clever pranksters took the tag off a $395.00 camera and stuck it on a $5.00 box of stationary. The $5.95 sticker on a paperback book was removed and placed on an outboard motor. They repriced everything in the store. … The craziest part of the story took place the next morning. … The store opened as usual. Employees went to work. Customers began to shop. The place functioned for hours before anyone noticed what happened. Four hours! Some got some great bargains. Others got fleeced”. (Quoted and paraphrased from: Max Lucado. No Wonder They Call Him Savior. Sisters: Multnomah Press, 1986, pp. 31-32). Sometimes we misplace our values in our relationships with others as well.
Another one of the qualities that we associate with honor is integrity.
I once heard the story about a lady who went to the meat section of a small grocery store. She wanted to buy some chicken. The butcher reached behind his counter and pulled out a chicken, the only chicken he had left. The lady asked if he had a bigger chicken. The butcher reached behind the counter and pulled out this same chicken. The butcher thought he would finally sell his last chicken and fool the lady. It took him by surprise when she said, "I'll take them both." Integrity was not one of his qualities that day. Integrity is a quality of being sincere and honest.
When Joseph's brothers told Jacob that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal they were not telling the truth. It broke Jacob's heart to think that his favorite son was dead. Had he known the truth at that moment, Jacob would have even been more heartbroken.
OUTLOOK
An outlook is an attitude. I once read some very profound advice as to how we need to look at life and how to live it. The advice was this: "Make past experience a guidepost and not a hitching post. Life can only be lived by looking backward, but it must be lived by looking forward". (Frank Morgan, Jr. Keys To Unlock Yourself. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985, p. 155). To look back but live forward is to use the "guidepost approach". To look back and be hindered by our past is to use the "hitch post" approach. The attitude that we will have is based upon which approach we will use.
John Wesley was one day walking along the road with a friend who, sore vexed and troubled, expressed his doubts of God's goodness. `I don't know what I shall do with all my worries and troubles," said he. Wesley noticed a cow looking over a stone wall, and put the question, "Why does a cow look over the wall?
"Because it can't see through it I suppose," replied his friend. "Precisely!" said Wesley. "So if you can't see through your troubles, try looking over them: and look up to God." (A. Naismith 1200 Notes, Quotes And Anecdotes. Great Britain: Pickering Paperbacks, 1988, p. 197). That is precisely what Joseph did. He looked over his problems and looked up to God.
Our attitude will determine our outcome. Another handy way of looking at and examining our attitudes is to ask ourselves whether we are like a thermostat or thermometer. (Frank Morgan, Jr. Keys To Unlock Yourself. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985, p. 149). The difference between the two is this, a thermostat regulates the temperature whereas a thermometer measures the temperature. To have a thermometer type attitude is to watch things happen. To have a thermostat type attitude is to make things happen.
Although Joseph was a dreamer in his youth, it was his positive attitude that made the difference in his ability to succeed in spite of all the setbacks that he had in life.
From Genesis 37 through Genesis 50 we see Joseph’s true colors and character. We know from the rest of the story when Joseph became a key leader who saved his own family from starvation because he had been put in charge preparing for hard times.
Joseph could been vengeful when his brothers came to him in need but instead he forgave them and reconciled with them. From Genesis 37 through Genesis 50 we see Joseph’s true colors and character. In Genesis 50:20
Joseph said his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”(ESV). Do you hear a hint of Romans 8:28 in this story?
