- Sermon series: “Character Amid Crisis.”
- Joseph is not necessary the most important of the OT characters. That would probably go to Abraham or Moses or David. But I think Joseph stands as the greatest saint of the OT in his behavior. He doesn’t have the major lapses in his behavior like most of the OT saints. You could also include Job in the same category, but I’m going to side with Joseph because his struggles took so long and had multiple stages, yet throughout he stays faithful to God. In that sense, he is one of the greatest Bible characters and one we should look up to.
- The problems that came into his life were huge, yet he stayed faithful to God.
- Joseph occupies the final chapters of Genesis. Let’s be honest, Genesis at times reads like a Jerry Springer script. There is some egregious behavior in there. With that in mind, the first book of the Bible ends on a high note with Joseph. He is a man of character and trust in God, even amid crisis.
- A second note as we begin: Joseph’s father does some terrible parenting to open our story. Verse 3 tells us that it was obvious to the whole family that he loved Joseph more than his other children. In the next sermon we’re going to get into the story where Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery because of their jealousy of him and we need to say that his father did some lousy parenting to help make that happen.
- In the part of the story of Joseph we are looking at this morning, we are looking at the dreams he had and what they tell us about the way God works and how we can be a part of God’s story.
HOW GOD WORKS:
1. GOD HAS A LARGER PLAN.
- Genesis 37:5-11.
- It’s important to distinguish up front for our purposes this morning that we are talking about a plan from God, not simply things we would like to see happen or visions that we’ve made up.
- This is a small group of things that fall under this category.
- In our passage for this morning, Joseph has a pair of dreams, but these are from God. We cannot say, “Well, any dream I have falls under the same category.” Not true. In the Bible there are times when someone gets a vision from God through a dream. It happened to the other Joseph in Matthew 1:20 when an angel tells him to marry Mary.
- Most of our dreams happen because of unresolved anxiety or because you shouldn’t have eaten that pizza right before bed.
- God still speaks today but we have to careful to make sure we are hearing from Him and not just wishing.
- First and foremost, God is never going to give us a vision for our lives that contradicts the Bible. So we can evaluate things we think God might have said against the Scripture.
- Second, this is just a rare thing. For most people, it might happen once in a lifetime. For myself, I do think that I have heard from God concerning “fire from heaven.”
- Where we want to focus this morning, though, is where we have plans from God that we know are from Him.
- The biggest and most obvious is this: God desires for people to be saved through Jesus, the church is His vehicle for bringing that message to the world, and therefore He desires the success of the church.
- This is important for us to keep in mind. Sometimes the world just seems to be going nowhere or seems to be completely out of control. Certainly there are scary things going on today.
- However, in the larger scheme of things, God has a plan and He is working to bring it about.
- Here, even though it’s not evident in this passage all by itself, we know that as we fast-forward to the end of the story and Joseph in Egypt ruling there, that the end of the plan will be for saving Israel from a horrible famine. The plan is bigger than anyone anticipates, even Joseph.
2. GOD CHOOSES THE VESSELS HE WANTS TO USE.
- Genesis 37:5-11.
- Another thing we see in this passage: everyone wasn’t happy about the way that God was going to bring His plan.
- Joseph’s brothers object to the idea that youngest sibling would end up reigning over them. Even his father objects to the idea that Joseph would rule over his parents and his brothers.
- But, again, it’s essential to remember that this is not a vision of Joseph’s creation. Instead, it originated with God and is ordained by Him.
- Which leads us to this second point: God can choose whoever He wants to use to bring about His plan.
- When we look at the Biblical record on this, we see a couple patterns:
a. God often chooses those overlooked or disrespected by others.
- The most obvious example of this is the famous story of David.
- When the prophet was looking through the sons of Jesse to find the next king of Israel, they didn’t even bother to bring David in from the field. But we are told that God doesn’t look at the outward things but what’s inside.
- This is so important today as we think of who God may want to work through. It may not be who you think! It may be those that we’ve overlooked. It may be those disrespected by others.
- Additionally, with regard to “fire from heaven,” it’s worth noting that God also does this with regard to places as well.
- Probably the most famous example of this is Jesus being raised in Nazareth. When people heard that, their response was not, “Of course, the distinguished city of Nazareth,” but “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” Similarly, it’s not a surprise to anyone here that southern WV is a disrespected area to many. That makes it a prime place for God to move in a powerful new move of the Spirit!
b. God often chooses those who were the farthest from Him.
- With the advent of grace through Jesus, we see lives radically changed by the idea of grace.
- Talk about how grace works and how it is most attractive to those farthest from Him.
- The radical change that grace can bring means that those who were the farthest from Him suddenly can become the greatest witnesses for Him.
- The first example who comes to mind is the apostle Paul. He was the guy leading the stoning of Stephen early in the book of Acts. And yet after encountering Jesus he became the greatest missionary in history and the author of the majority of the New Testament.
- Adding these two points up: you never know who God is going to use and it’s usually not who you would expect.
- Another piece of this is that God chooses who goes where and does what in His larger plan.
- Often, we want to be the ones choosing, but it’s His prerogative.
- In the NT we read Paul explaining that the Spirit chooses the spiritual gift that each Christian gets. Not us, but Him. Now, of course, God knows us better than we know ourselves and so wants to use in the way that will maximize our effectiveness and joy, but that’s still often a truth we dislike. Why? Because we are used to calling the shots.
- This can be an issue for us in a number of directions.
- Maybe we want to be up front and God puts us serving in the background.
- Maybe we want to be in the background and God puts us serving up front.
- Maybe we comfortable in one area but God points us toward another.
- Maybe we want to do what we’ve done before and God points us toward something new.
- But, again, God is in charge and we are to do what He’s asked us to do.
- One example of all this is me. If you’d known me when I was in middle school (well, we called it junior high back then) you never would have thought, “That kid should be up in front of people talking for a living.” I was too quiet, too shy. But God does the choosing and I guess He knows what He’s doing.
- A final point here: God wants to use you for His kingdom.
- The NT makes it clear that He wants every believer to use their spiritual gift to serve in the Kingdom of God. If you’re a believer, that means you!
- Now, again, it may not be that God wants to use you in the way you would choose, but He does want to use you.
3. IT'S EASY TO LOSE SIGHT OF THE LARGER PLAN.
- Genesis 37:5-11.
- We have several weeks of sermons coming up where we will detail the numerous turns and twists that the story of Joseph takes. Most of you know the general outline of the story.
- There are some dramatic moments, which we will examine. There are some discouraging moments, which we will examine.
- Within all that, it would be easy to lose sight of the larger plan that God has. We get discouraged, distracted, disgruntled, disenchanted. Our attention gets diverted.
- We settle for secondary things. We forsake the plan God started us on.
- An example:
- I shared earlier about our part of the Kingdom of God.
- Yet many of us get diverted by the American Dream. Jesus hasn’t come back and we don’t see “fire from heaven” yet, but we get caught up in what everyone around us says is important.
- To put it starkly, we start living for money instead of souls.
- We start off with a vision of impacting lives, transforming souls. We know that people and the Kingdom are the only two things outlasting this world. But then we start to think about possessions, prosperity, power, and property. Soon we’re in the rat race just like everyone else.
- Don’t lose sight of the larger plan and why you’re here on this earth!
GOD'S PLAN AND US: Do we want to be part of God’s story?
- Looking at what we’ve talked about as a whole this morning, the central question is simple: do we want to participate?
- It’s great if God has given you a specific vision, but we all have the vision of the Kingdom.
- This, of course, is a really easy question to answer: look at your life. Are you serving? Are you seeking His direction for your service? Are you eager to see the Kingdom grow?
