Sunday, July 7th, 2002
Sermon Text: Genesis 37:25-36
Today we begin a series of sermons based on the life of Joseph. Our first text in this series does not have what we’d call a very “positive tone,”as you may have gathered while listening to it. In fact, it describes a series of sins on the part of Joseph’s own brothers that leads from one evil deed to another. Along with those evil deeds come tragedy and heartbreak. If we didn’t already know the entire Joseph story and that it ends up with a happy ending for him, we might be left to question why we are having a series of sermons on the life of Joseph in the first place.
What happened in our text, however, is a situation that is not unfamiliar to us and the world in which we live today. Evil is all around us, it is within us, and it often seems to be coming out on top, so to speak. How, then, can we stay positive as Christians who continue to live out our lives in this world? How can we find strength to be positive influences in the world? How can we maintain a positive attitude as we continue with our mission as a church?
The first installment of our Joseph series invites us to take a good, hard look at such questions because in all honesty it is hard to avoid them. It is honestly hard, at times, to stay positive when we see the influence of all the evil in the world. But we can indeed answer these questions and learn some valuable lessons as we face evil in our world and in our lives today, just as Joseph did. Let’s begin our study then by asking this question:
WHAT CAN WE SAY WHEN EVIL SEEMS TO BE WINNING?
1–Sin’s progress must be stopped!
2–God’s plan cannot be stopped!
Joseph’s brothers must have thought that they had won a major victory. They got rid of the brother that they had grown to hate, and they did so without going too far (or so they thought). But what they had done was truly evil. It went far enough to be labeled nothing else. To grasp just how evil their actions were we need to back up a bit to see what led to their evil deeds. As we do so we will notice that there was a progression of sin in their hearts that gradually got worse.
Joseph was the son born to Jacob in old age and therefore a “favorite” son. Jacob showed this special love of his for Joseph by giving him that famous “richly ornament coat.” But Joseph’s brothers did not handle this special relationship well at all. They hated Joseph for it, to the point where they could not speak a kind word to him. And when Joseph revealed to his brothers the dreams that he had in which they were pictured as bowing down to him, it only infuriated them all the more. Little did they realize that Joseph was being given a prophecy of what was to come. For all they knew he was “milking” his father’s special love for himself for all it was worth!
Jealousy and hatred led them to plot further evil. They plotted to kill Joseph. If not for brother Reuben’s persuasion to throw Joseph into the cistern they may indeed have ended his life. Later on brother Judah comes up with the plan to sell Joseph to some traders on their way to Egypt, justifying that act by saying that at least they weren’t shedding the blood of their own flesh and blood. The other brothers, of course, agreed.
But the progression doesn’t stop there. After selling their brother to the traders they now plot to hide their evil by making it look as though a wild animal had attacked and killed Joseph. How deceptive they were in front of their own father as they led him to believe that his precious child had been brutally killed by an animal. How could they stand there and let their father be so overcome with grief that he refused even to be comforted? How could they stand to watch their father be so stricken with sadness when they knew all along it was the result of a lie?
That’s how sin had progressed in the hearts and minds of these brothers! It had gone too far, and they had let it happen. Just look at all the damage this progression of sin caused. It damaged their father by inflicting him with extreme sadness. It deprived their father of spending more days on earth with his beloved son. It damaged their own souls as they allowed evil to get the better of them. They lived out the future days and years with a dark cloud over their heads. If they weren’t bothered in their consciences about this, then they had become sons of the devil. If they were bothered, then they had to suffer from that guilt. Meanwhile, a young man who had grown up in the home of one of the great patriarchs of the Old Testament and had tried to serve his dear father in all sincerity is now on his way to a far-off land to live as a slave. For all he knew, he would never see home again. It seems like evil had won, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s what Joseph was thinking.
Do you ever feel that evil is winning in the world around us today? Do you sometimes feel like Joseph must have felt and wonder why evil things are happening in your world? We often refer to the terrorist threats that have already afflicted our nation as evil. President Bush called it that immediately after it happened. And we have discovered that these evil acts were carefully planned, that there had been a progression that went from hatred to making the plans to carrying them out. Now there may be even more to come. It makes us wonder if that evil force is winning, at least to some degree.
We don’t need to look any farther than our own country’s borders, however, to see evil at work. On the one hand we can truly celebrate our nation’s birth with thanks to God for all the blessings he’s given to us, and the world, through this great land of ours. At the same time we can’t help noticing all the evil that has corrupted our nation and makes it a stench before our gracious God. Human beings are ruthlessly slaughtered in our country–millions every year. And those are just the people that have been slaughtered in the womb. Our country has set up false gods in the form of sex, money, fame, drugs, and the like. Many of our public institutions teach the evil of evolution. Evil has even infiltrated the religious scene in our country as many are led to believe in myths and false doctrine that make a mockery of God’s truth. These and many other examples make us wonder if evil is winning, at least to some degree.
Let’s bring that question one big step closer to home. Do we need to look any further than our own hearts to find evil? God’s law says “no,” we do not. What God said long ago about man since the fall, that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” still applies to us who have become heirs of Adam’s sin. Look at how sin progressed in the hearts of our first parents. They had been given God’s command, but it wasn’t good enough for them. They didn’t trust God enough to take him at his word, did they? Instead, they took matters into their own hands when tempted to do so by the Devil. Then, when they realized they had done wrong, they tried to cover it up and hide from God. When God found them, they tried to pass the blame on to someone else. What a progression of evil that was! And that sinful nature is what produces evil in each of us today.
You know how it goes–so do I. It starts with the evil intent, grows to an actual sin, and leads to the conflict with our guilt over that sin. Oftentimes that conflict itself produces further sinning. Think of the use of filthy language for instance. It often starts small, with using a few off-color words. Then there comes the need to use stronger language until it becomes part of everyday conversation. Or how about gossip? Doesn’t it spread and grow from what one might think is an innocent beginning? Think of how many people have become hooked on some chemical substance after just experimenting in the first place. Anger, rage, violence, hurtful words, breakups in relationships–don’t they all progress from bad to worse? Even neglect of God’s word can get out of control. As the old saying goes, “The devil climbs in where the fence is lowest.”
Sin, if unchecked, makes progress. Our Savior himself once said, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” James described the life-cycle of a sin by saying that “every man is tempted when by his own evil desires he is dragged away and enticed; then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” That’s why sin’s progress must be stopped. If it isn’t, it will lead to further sin and to greater damage. That’s what happened to Joseph’s brothers. That’s what can happen to us.
God’s law guides us in the fight against sin. It tells us clearly what is right and wrong. God has also placed in every one of us a voice that tells us whether we are acting according to what we believe is right or not. It’s called our conscience. We can certainly use these God-given tools to stop the progression of sin. But the real power that provides the means to stop sin’s progression comes from the means of grace–the gospel in word and sacrament. The gospel tells us what God has done and will do in this fight against sin. That’s where real power is to be found. What God has done for us through Jesus and what he promises to do for us through the Holy Spirit is more powerful than anything that we could ever come up with on our own. That is why we will want to make use of these means of grace often! That is the power that has made little, powerless Michelle a child of God, whose evil heart has been cleansed and will renounce the devil and all his wicked works and ways in the days to come! Evil will not win out in her heart, or in the heart of any child of God. We know that sin’s progress must be stopped. And we know how it can be stopped. We know how it will be stopped.
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God knows that sin is serious, too, and that its consequences are likewise serious. He doesn’t want evil to come out on top, either. That’s why He came up with a plan to win the victory over sin. It’s a plan that could never be stopped. It’s a plan that we see already being carried out in this episode of Joseph’s life. It’s a plan that Jesus carried out perfectly. It’s a plan that involves you and me, too.
Knowing what we do about the outcome of Joseph’s life, we know that God had a plan for him that would become a blessing to his people down the road. We know that Joseph would end up in a position of authority that would allow him to bring aid to his family and others. We get a preview of that outcome in the closing words of our text where it simply says, “Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.” Soon we will hear how Potiphar grew to trust Joseph with his entire house. When Joseph became the victim of a lie and was thrown into prison, we’ll hear how he earned his way out of prison and rose to the position of authority over all the land of Egypt. That was God’s plan all along for his instrument Joseph.
God had a plan not only for Joseph and his family, but a plan for all of Israel and for the whole world, his plan of salvation. Joseph himself acknowledged this plan later on when he would say to his brothers at a future meeting: “It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you...God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” That deliverance really had a double fulfillment. The people of Israel would be delivered from the threats to come against their very existence. All people would be delivered from sin by the one who would come from this remnant, namely Jesus. And so, the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers could not stop God’s plan. The evil actions of the Egyptians later on could not stop that plan. The evil actions of all of God’s enemies could not stop his plan. The evil in the world today cannot stop what God has planned for the world until his Son comes again.
Whenever evil seems to be winning, we can say with all confidence that God’s plan cannot be stopped! That’s a great comfort to us as we continue to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We can say with the Psalmist, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” That’s part of God’s plan. We can say in response to the terrorist attacks that it has not stopped God’s plan of salvation for us. In fact, we can use this occasion to become all the more committed to the task of spreading the good news of salvation to those in our own country and abroad. Our world has been shaken. It searches for peace. The gospel gives us the real peace we need, that our country and world needs. It is God’s plan that everyone know that peace in Jesus.
Whenever something evil comes into our lives, something that brings us harm or sadness, it is not always easy to find comfort or to see the purpose of this event. That requires faith, for the promises of God are not subject to change or to disproof. If he says “all things work for our good” then they must. If Jesus said to pray, “Deliver us from evil” then we will, with confidence. Even if the deliverance that the Lord provides is taking us or a loved one home to heaven, then we can still say to that, “It is good.”
I am so thankful that the good Lord has spared my own family and me of what we might call tragedies. Certainly we have had setbacks to deal with. But when I think about what others have had to go through, I can only be thankful. But then I think, do we ever really know how it’s going with someone else? Those we think might not have a care in the world may be truly hurting on the inside. Those we would think would be hurting might be as strong as, well, Joseph. You just never know. But what we do know for sure is that no matter how any of us are handling the evils of life that come our way, faith in the promises of God, like the promise that “he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,” will see us through. Faith in the plans he has for us, like the plans “not to harm you but to prosper you” will see us through. Faith that God hears our prayers and answers them will see us through. Jesus, the object of our faith, the “author and perfecter of our faith,” will see us through! Evil won’t win.
And when it comes to our struggle with the evil inside of us, the knowledge that God’s plan cannot be stopped gives us the comfort and strength to carry on. It’s the same comfort and strength that the Apostle Paul derived when he faced his own struggle with evil. He admitted that this struggle was fierce. He called it a “war.” He found himself doing the very evil that he didn’t want to do. He felt sin’s terror. He cried out for help. He found his help in the victory of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ rescued him from the body of death that otherwise would be Paul’s fate and the fate of everyone. It is Jesus Christ who rescues us from the evil around us and in us by conquering it on the cross and by the empty tomb.
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Things didn’t look very positive for Joseph and his family–at least not for a while. It seems like evil had won. But what a happy ending there will be in this family’s story when all is said and done. There always is a happy ending when God’s will is done and his plan is carried out. For each of us who are gathered here today, a happy–even glorious–ending awaits us all. With God at our side and with the cross of Christ as our trophy, this is what we can all say to evil: “Christ has defeated you! We win!”
Amen.
