Joseph

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0:00 We're going through this story together, this unsatisfying synopsis of the story of Scripture. It's like they take the NIV excerpts of the NIV and put it in chronological order. And so we are in week three and we're on the story of Joseph. What's fun about doing this together is that we've been doing this children's version, so they're going through the same thing we're going through. And this is kind of a fun children's Bible, so they're going through this and I have an extra copy

0:33 if somebody wants to take one home and go through it with your kids at home, let me know. But for us, we're looking at the story of Joseph this morning. It's a great story. I mean, it's a long story. Me and Beverly agree. It's not long in the synopsis. It's pretty easy to read. It's very approachable. It's very easy to read. But if you were to read it in here, like the first thing I wrote when I was going through the story of Joseph

1:03 is like we got so much detail about Joseph's life. I mean like maybe Abraham or Moses match the detail we have about Joseph, but Joseph's story is so long and all these little twists and turns. And so we want to think about what do we take away from the story of Joseph? Where are we in the story of Scripture? What role does he play?

1:33 What my God have to say to us in that story this morning? Let's pray that he could help us get there. Hey Lord, thank you for the scriptures this morning and for the testimony about Joseph's life. Lord, would you open our eyes to what you're doing in that life and why that story comes to us this morning with your spirit? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So the plus of like going through a unsatisfactory synopsis of the story of Scripture,

2:07 the plus of going through the story of Scripture chronologically and in an overview kind of way is that we would get this like kind of bird's eye view or a chance to look at the larger narrative. What are each of these pieces apart of? And so just to remind you where we are right now, God, uncreated, unmitigated God makes the world out of his own imagination

2:37 and out of nothing else. Separate from the world he creates it and then the capstone of creation is humanity and puts them in the center of the garden and we have this picture of creation that has these three main characters, God, humanity and earth, all existing in right relationship with one another. And when these three characters work together everything is as it should be. Earth produces the food that humanity needs and provides the right place for them to thrive.

3:09 Humanity represents a represents God to the world. They're the image bearers of God out in the world and they rule and subdue the creation and they are fruitful and multiply in the place. And God exists wherever God exists infinitely blessing and aligning all things to work well. And at a critical point humanity upsets the balance of God, humanity and earth. And using the earth tries to take from the earth and do the things of God.

3:39 And when humanity breaks the kind of symbiosis or the nice relationship between these three characters all three things come crashing down. So earth no longer produces readily, it produces with thorns and thistles and at the sweat of the brow. And the equilibrium between humanity where there is equal vulnerability and no shame or fear or guilt. Those relationships are gone and fraught now. And death enters the picture and God is separated from humanity.

4:10 And from the beginning the thing that launches the plot into existence is how will God restore creation to right order, humanity, earth and God. How will all these things come back together? And last week he began the process of setting up Abraham and aligning with him. Now God will work through one nation, establish relationship with them and through him he says he will give him land offspring and blessing. He will set things right.

4:41 Land will be in right relationship with humanity, humanity will be fruitful and multiply and God will be the God that gives it all. So nice promise but all Abraham got was a cave, right? And he goes down into the cave in hope. And then we have Isaac the one child of the promise and then we have Jacob the chosen of the two and then Jacob has these twelve and the youngest is Joseph.

5:14 Now the story comes up in Genesis 37 first. And I mean if you were to read Genesis 37 it's a good story, it's easy to read, you should read it. One of the things you'll find is it's not just Joseph's brothers that think Joseph is their dad's favorite. Their dad says it, like Joseph is my favorite.

5:45 Crappy. Parents are not supposed to have favorites. Like you know, I mean I guess it's a different situation. Jacob has several wives that he's taking care of as he's building this family. And so maybe he likes one wife better than the other.

6:15 That's crappy as well actually. You know? But the scriptures don't really hide it. It's like this is my favorite kid. Bad situation and maybe not surprisingly Joseph doesn't know how to handle it. He's so much the favorite that he gets the famous Technicolor dream coat, right? He gets the famous coat of many colors. And I don't know why that's cool.

6:46 I mean I guess because it takes a lot of different fabric and it stands out and I don't know. But you know he comes and he's like flashing the coat. He's like look at my coat. The dad gave me. And they're like yeah, great man. And then he has these dreams which God gives him actually the dreams of like all your sheaves of corn. We're bowing down to my sheaves of corn. And then he actually goes to his dad and he's like the sun and the moon were bowing down to me.

7:18 So he's telling this family like I've got this dream that you guys are bowing down to me. Okay, he's saying that in the coat. This is not, he's not tactful like these things may be true but I mean Jacob is making mistakes, having favorites. Joseph is making mistakes, lack of humility and then all the brothers, right? He goes out, he's a part, he comes out in his Technicolor dream coat to check on the brothers who are grazing the herds out far away.

7:51 And they're like let's just kill the student, be done. No, I don't know. That sounds brutal. Like I mean it's a brutal time I suppose, you know? And Ruben's voices is concerned. He's like let's don't kill him. Let's just throw him in the pit. And then the brothers are like well we can like pretend he's dead and we're going to sell him into slavery and then put blood on the Technicolor dream coat. Take it back to dad and tell him he's dead and everybody's sure he's dead. This is terrible, this is a terrible situation.

8:23 Now when I like, you know, he goes into slavery, he's very good at being a slave. This is an interesting thing about Joseph. He's the Midianite Selamidist slavery, he goes into Potiphar's house, he starts like taking care of things and Potiphar's like a big Joseph fan. Jacob was a big Joseph fan, Potiphar's a big Joseph fan. Potiphar's like dude why don't you just run everything.

8:53 And I'll just be the guy who doesn't have to work because I've got you on my team. Joseph's like deal man, done, done, I'll do it. And Joseph runs Potiphar's house very well. And then he has the weird thing with Potiphar's wife where Potiphar's wife likes Joseph. Everybody likes Joseph, it's one of the things I want you to see. He might have been cocky as a kid but when your brother's trying to kill you and throw you in the pit and then you're sold into slavery, it beats some of the pride out of you.

9:26 Now he's just like a guy people like but he won't cross the line and so the dishonesty bad situation, not his fault. He ends up in prison. Now he's in jail and like the Pharaoh's cup bearer and baker come to him and they have a dream and he interprets their dreams for him. And they go on and to one to death and one to success and then they forget about Joseph. Until Pharaoh has a dream that he can't interpret Joseph, all this is in the story, you can read it, I'm not making it up.

10:01 Joseph goes to the Pharaoh, interprets the dream, gives God the credit and predicts seven years of famine after seven years of plenty. And the Pharaoh has one interaction with this dude, it does say that Joseph shaved and took a shower before he went to meet with the Pharaoh. So he got clean but it did not take long and the Pharaoh is a big Joseph fan. Like Joseph had like this one weird situation where he's like the youngest of twelve and clearly his dad's favorite

10:36 and God's giving him dreams that he's going to be great and he's getting a coat that says he's great and he doesn't know how to handle it. But after that everybody loves him. And like you know then when the years of famine come then his brothers come back looking for food and this is like the payoff, right? Where Joseph recognizes them, they don't recognize him, he's probably very well healed.

11:07 He's like second only to the Pharaoh in the strongest military kingdom of the day, like he's a big shot, they don't recognize him. He recognizes them. Once it all comes down they're afraid he provides for his dad and his brothers and they all are able to come back and settle in the finest land in Egypt, in Goshen the bread basket of Egypt. And so in the story God has protected his growing nation and brought them into wealth and rest through the person of Joseph which is great.

11:44 And how I always learned the story of Joseph. It's great. God protects Israel from famine in Egypt. This is kind of a theme if you were to go back through the story of scripture where Israel gets protected in Egypt. Remember when Jesus comes down and hides in Egypt when Herod wants to kill people like this idea that Abraham went in there and was protected by Egypt.

12:15 So they go down and get protected by Egypt. But today we're not today but this week when I was looking through the story of Joseph because it's long it takes a minute and I'm going through all these details. I'm like this is a really, this is a really ridiculous way to get Israel into Egypt protected from the famine. Like there are much easier ways than faking the death of a brother, selling him into slavery, having the slave master be unjust and then going into prison and then living in prison for a while.

12:51 Like a lot of bad things happen to Joseph. And I don't know why except for that people are jerks. I don't know if you've encountered any. It's a weird thing for there to be a God in the world and for people to be jerks.

13:25 It's a hard thing to kind of square sometimes. Like if there is a God, why are there jerks? If God is for Joseph, why do the brothers sell him into slavery? If God is for Joseph, why does Potiphar's wife convince Potiphar that something nefarious is going on when nothing nefarious is going on?

13:58 If God is for Joseph, why does he have to spend the years in prison before he gets to be Pharaoh's right hand guy? Why not just go straight to be Pharaoh's right hand guy? If God is, if there is a God, why are there jerks in the world? Why do bad things happen? If God is for me, why is it hard still?

14:28 I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I think it would have been way easier if that coat was like, oh wow. And Joseph walks out with his coat and his brother is like, dude, that is a great coat. And he's like, I know, it's a great coat. And then he's like, guys, on top of the great coat, I had these dreams. They're like, amazing dream. Let's go tell the Pharaoh. Then they go to the Pharaoh with the coat.

14:58 They're like, Pharaoh, look at that coat. He's like, that's a great coat. And we're like, I know. Listen to the dreams he had. And Pharaoh's like, you should be in charge. And then everything goes fine. That would be great. Do you know Jacob thought Joseph was dead for years? He didn't believe it that Joseph was alive. He could have saved him. All of that. I don't know.

15:29 I don't know. I don't know why he doesn't, God doesn't do things my way. I mean, I can't see everything, but I'm usually right. How about you? I mean, you're probably usually right, too.

16:03 There's a cool little spot here in, let's see here. I'm paging through the story of Joseph. Oh, Genesis chapter 46. Now, remember that God changed Jacob's name to Israel. And that's kind of funny.

16:33 When he's acting sensibly and faithfully, he's called Israel in the story of Scripture. Sometimes when he's acting, obstinately, he's called Jacob. So they call him both Jacob and Israel after God's changed his name to Israel. But in Genesis chapter 46 starting in verse 1, they call him Israel. So Israel took his journey to Egypt with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to God, the God of his father, Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.

17:08 And he said, here am I. Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt. For then I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt. And I will also bring you up again. And Joseph's hand shall close your eyes. I underlined that line. And Joseph's hand shall close your eyes. They didn't want to bring Jacob up at this point to Egypt because he was so old.

17:41 But Joseph said, bring him anyway. So he's on a cart. And they're like wheeling him on a cart from the fields where they were living in Israel down into Egypt, into Goshen. And he's nervous about going because he doesn't want to leave his homeland where his fathers are buried, the cave of MacPella, the promise of God where their children will inherit the earth and they'll become kings through whom all the world is blessed. Jacob doesn't want to leave that. And so in a moment when food is requiring him to leave, God gives him a vision and says,

18:16 I know it's weird dude, but I will go with you. And here's the punchline for me with Joseph. Is everywhere he found himself yet God was there with him. His brothers wanted to kill him and God was there with him. That is evil. I don't know why the evil existed. It's confounding. But I know in the evil is the God.

18:49 And then Potiphar and his wife and the family evil unjust. I don't know why Joseph has to endure the injustice, but I know that God goes with him because he is there in the prison with him as well. So much so that when it finally turns around for Joseph and he's standing there as the emblem bearer of the Pharaoh to the ones who perpetrated the evil against him, God is with

19:22 him yet such that he doesn't go, I made it. I did it. I win. You lose. He tells his brothers, God is good, bring the family and we'll all celebrate in his provision. The only way Joseph has that viewpoint is he's actually been with God the whole time. In good and in bad.

19:52 In blessing and in evil. He finds both and God goes with him through the whole thing. Conspicuously through the story of scripture we never get an answer to why there are jerks. In seminary they have a Latin phrase for the question why are there jerks. It's the crux tale legorum.

20:25 Crux tale legorum. The cross of the theologian. The question you cannot answer. I don't know man. The story of scripture does not tell us why there are jerks. It does say God goes through the jerks with us. Does not answer why injustice persists. It says God experiences injustice alongside you. It does not say why evil will find us but it does say God has endured the evil alongside

21:00 of you. The great characteristic of Joseph worth emulating is he continued though it looked like the world had gone crazy. He continued to believe God was in charge. Though it looked like his brothers had all the power God was in charge. Though it looked like potterford could do whatever he wanted God was in charge. Though it looked like Pharaoh had all the answers Joseph knew God was in charge.

21:34 Though it probably felt like he could do it all Joseph knew he could not. God was in charge. Such that when his dad died Joseph closed his eyes. When he goes down to die at the end of Genesis he tells his brothers. Hey guys God is going to come back and take us out of here and bring us to the promised land. So remember these bones and bring them with you when you go. So that they do. When they leave they take Joseph and Jacob's bones and walk them to the cave of MacPella

22:11 man. Put them down in the cave and wait for the provision of God. And this is like it you guys. You can too. You got jerks all around you I'm sure of it. There is evil enough to go around in the world today. I don't know why the jerks are there. I don't know why the injustice persists. I don't know why the evil keeps finding us.

22:43 I do know God is in charge yet. And the one who endured the cross endures your jerks. Your evil. Your injustice with you. And just as he came through for Joseph the day is coming when he will come through for you. We just wait. I pray today that we could have the patience of Joseph as we wait. Hey Lord thank you for this room.

23:15 Teach us how to wait on you in all circumstances. To wait on you in evil and to trust you in plenty in blessing. To wait on you in hardship and to trust you in ease. To wait on you in confusion and to trust you with clarity and certainty. Are we believe you are in charge? Help our unbelief today until the day that you call us home. In Jesus name we pray.

23:47 Amen.