Texts: Genesis 37:1-28
Date: Sunday, August 11, 2002
Author: Rev. Jonathan K. Twitchell
If ever there was someone destined for greatness, it was Joseph. Born the eldest son of the favorite wife of Jacob, Joseph was born to a position of privilege. He was Jacob’s favorite because he had been born to Jacob in his old age. Even though he was younger than most of his brothers, he was given leadership positions over them because he would tattle on them to his father. Because of his privileged status, he was adorned with rich robes and held in higher esteem by his father than any other sibling. Add to all this the divine dreams that Joseph received, and you have a recipe for greatness. Jacob expected great things for his son, and it appears as though God expected greatness as well.
And yet, our scripture narrative this morning ends on a bleak note. Because of his status and his dreams, Joseph is hated by his brothers, to the point where they began plotting to kill him. Joseph is nearly killed, but is rescued by one of his brothers who convinced the others to sell him to slave traders who happened to be passing through the area. As we hear the story unfold, we wonder if Joseph will ever accomplish the dreams that God has given him. Hear our scripture text from Genesis 37:
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hand. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe--the richly ornamented robe he was wearing--24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Dreams. Visions. Hopes. Goals. Sometimes, we have a clear sense of what God has in store for us. Within us, our spirit has awakened to the dreams that God has for our lives. As you know; a week ago, I was in Hillsboro, New Hampshire for Teen Camp with more than eighty Nazarene teens from all over the state of Maine. Rev. Fred Fullerton challenged us morning and evening to “Dream Big” for our lives. The spiritual emphasis of the week was that God has bigger dreams for our lives than we could ever imagine dreaming ourselves. Teens were challenged not to sell themselves short in the areas of education, career, dating or marriage. The challenge went forth to make decisions based on what God is dreaming for us, not on our own human desires. We were exhorted to let God break through the barriers in our lives, in order that He might use us for His Divine purposes.
I know that the lives of teenagers were changed. I know that teens made new commitments to let nothing come between them and God’s will for their lives. The gates of Heaven were thrown open and the red carpet was rolled out as our teens experienced a taste of Heaven on Thursday night. Teens gathered around the altar and prayed, confessed sins, worshipped, and challenged to “dream big.” I believe that some teens went home with a sense that God was going to use them for great things.
Many of you prayed for our teens during the week of teen camp. I believe those prayers made a difference in the lives of teenagers all across the state. I also know that those teens need as much prayer this week as they received during the week of camp. For you see, they left camp and returned home. Some may have had their dreams of a different life shattered by the ongoing reality of life in their hometown. Some may have been confronted by family problems or financial hardship that would seem to frustrate the realization of their dreams. Without our prayers, these teens may despair of the dream ever coming true.
For you see, between the dream dreamed and the dream realized, life goes on. Between the time of the dream and the reality of the dream come true, life happens. This is exactly what has happened in the life of Joseph. Between his dream and the realization of his dream, Joseph’s dreams were continually challenged. If we were to read on in Genesis, we would find that after Joseph was sold into slavery he lived his life faithfully and became the head servant in Potiphar’s household. But then, he was falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar’s wife, and was thrown into prison. He lived his life faithfully in the prison, and earned the respect of the prison warden, who put Joseph in charge of the affairs of the prison. During his stay there, Joseph was able to give two other prisoners interpretations of their dreams, on the promise that they would remember him to Pharaoh when they got out, in an effort to have Joseph freed from prison. The days must have been lengthy, as Joseph waited, looking up every time the door opened, in hopes that the cupbearer had spoken well of him to Pharaoh. And yet, the cupbearer had forgotten his promise to Joseph, and Joseph waited for two long years perhaps wondering if he would ever be freed from the prison.
What happens between the dream dreamed and the dream realized? Life. Between the dream and the reality of the dream come true we patiently wait, living our lives, remaining faithful to God and His calling, trusting Him to bring about what He would have us to do. We don’t stop being faithful, and we can’t stop living, but we must be patient. Joseph could have given up on the dream and sunk into a pit of despair and despondency, but he didn’t. He remained righteous and faithful in the foreign land, believing that God was with him.
We have dreamed big dreams. Every one of us has at some point dreamed a dream that was beyond us, perhaps even a Divinely initiated dream. For some, God has given the dream of personal evangelism. For others, He has given the dream of supporting the Kingdom with their finances. God has given dreams to be pastors, missionaries, evangelists, musicians, artists, and more, all for His glory. Some hear those dreams and drop everything to follow God’s calling. Others find ways to ignore the God-sized dream, often pursuing a more manageable people-sized dream instead.
Thirty-five years ago, a group of faithful disciples dreamed a dream about invading the cultural and religious landscape of Cape Elizabeth with a Church of the Nazarene. They dreamed about how the world would be changed because of the faithful preaching of the Word of God. They dreamed about the redemption of a community because God was going to use them to change people’s lives. God gave them a vision and a dream to set out on uncharted territory, beginning a new holiness work in a community that would later prove desperate for the truth of God’s Word.
And yet, some might say that the dream hasn’t been realized, at least not in full. We are planted in the midst of an affluent community where many don’t acknowledge the need for God’s Salvation. Our efforts at programming and evangelism don’t always succeed. And yet, we’ve made great strides over the last 35 years. Lives have been changed and transformed by the power of God’s Word. Indeed, there have been obstacles and hurdles to be crossed. There have been times when the dream has been frustrated. But that doesn’t change the reality of God’s presence with us.
Joseph’s dream was frustrated many times, but that didn’t change the reality of God’s presence with him. That didn’t change the fact that ultimately the dream was realized. After two years of waiting in that prison, turning his head every time the door opened, Joseph was finally remembered by the cupbearer. Pharaoh had been troubled by a dream in his sleep and couldn’t find anyone to interpret the dream. The cupbearer remembered Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams and so Pharaoh called for Joseph. After Joseph cleaned up and shaved, he was ushered before Pharaoh, who told him of the troubling dreams. Seven ugly, thin cows came and gobbled up seven healthy, fat cows. And in the second dream, seven scorched, thin heads of grain ate up seven healthy, full heads of grain. Joseph told Pharaoh the meaning of the dream, that there would be seven years of plenty during which time it would be important to save grain and food, because that would be followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh recognized Joseph’s abilities, and not only freed him from prison, but put him in charge of the food saving and distribution program. However, it would be another seven years before Joseph saw the reality of his dream come true.
Between the dream dreamed and the dream realized, life goes on. Between the time of the dream and the reality of the dream come true, life happens. Like Joseph, during the in-between time, we have the choice to sink into the pit of despair and despondency or to remain righteous, faithfully following God’s leading. It is tempting to forget that the dream ever happened. It is tempting to ignore God’s call, instead pursuing the dreams that can only be achieved by human accomplishment.
Perhaps we prefer the human dreams for our lives because they are safer. We prefer the small people-sized dreams because we dare tackle them. We find the God-sized dreams overwhelming, and so we find ways to set them aside for fear of failure. Instead, we must pursue the God-sized dreams. We must not settle for anything less that what He intends to accomplish with us. We must not allow ourselves to become sidetracked from the dreams He has given us, but to pursue those dreams, faithfully awaiting their realization.
I’d encourage you today to think back over your life. Is there a dream that comes to mind? Is there a Divine plan for your life that hasn’t yet been realized? Have you been faithful to that calling? Or, have you turned away from God’s dreams for you? Has the reality of life overcome the potential reality of a dream come true?
If that is the case for you, I’d encourage you that it’s not too late. Between the dream dreamed and the dream realized, life happens. That doesn’t mean that God stops working, or that the dream can no longer come true. It simply means that we must patiently remain faithful to His calling on our lives. If a dream has been frustrated in your life, I’d encourage you to ask God to rekindle the passion for that dream, to re-light the fire in your soul.
Joseph spent at least 10 years between the time of his dream and the realization of his dream. Part of that time, he spent in slavery. At least two years of that time, he spent in prison. But the dream still came true. God positioned Joseph in a place where he would be able to save his entire family, and all of Egypt as well. Joseph could have given up on the dream. He could have given up on God and committed adultery with Potiphar’s wife. He could have taken glory for himself upon the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream instead of giving it to God. But, instead, Joseph remained faithful, believing that God’s guiding hand was at work.
And one day, probably when he least expected it, while he was attending to the affairs of the kingdom, in walked ten men from away, bowing low to the ground in hopes of purchasing food during the famine. Joseph immediately recognized the ten men as his brothers, the same ones who forever changed the course of Joseph’s life by selling him into slavery. As the brother’s bowed down there in Joseph’s court, he must have immediately remembered the dream about the sheaves of grain bowing down, and he realized that the God-sized dream was coming true. Because of Joseph’s faithfulness, he was used of God to provide salvation for his own family during a time of need.
Between the dream dreamed and the dream realized, life happens. The question is, what will we do with that time? Will we give up on the dream? Will we despair of the dream ever coming true? Will we sink into a depression, allowing our faith to be overwhelmed by the passage of time? Or, will we remain faithful to His call, living our lives righteously, remaining in hopeful expectancy of the dream that God has given us?
And one day, perhaps when we least expect it, our faithfulness to God’s leading may land us in a place where we are reminded of that dream He gave us long ago. We may wake up some morning, with our eyes opened to the reality of God’s leading in even the mundane aspects of life. Even though life happens, God still works His purposes out in our lives. Our responsibility is to be faithful, asking Him to guide us and teach us the way He wants us to live.
Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Let us remain faithful to His call, living our life in hopeful expectancy of the reality of the dream come true.
