Ep 130 | Cover to Cover 9 | Pastor Chris Ryan | March 1, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praises in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, it's hard to believe, but it has been nearly a dozen years since I moved here from the great state of Michigan, my home land, all the way here to this fine state of Minnesota.

And I'll tell you, a lot of things have changed during that time period.

When I moved here, my marital status was single.

Now, happily married.

She's sitting right out there.

Smile at the camera, Catherine.

When I moved here, I had no children.

Now I have three dependents on my taxes this year.

When I moved here, I was a youth director.

Now I am a Pastor.

Some people even say I've developed a Minnesotan accent over the time I've been here.

Okay, sure, you bet you I have.

But one thing has absolutely not changed in the time I've been here, and that is this.

I still root for all the same exact Michigan sports teams, those Wolverines, the Detroit Lions.

Last night, someone actually booed when I put that slide up there.

I'll tell you, a lot of people predicted that that would change if I lived here long enough.

Pastor Meyer actually said, don't worry, we'll make a Vikings fan out of you.

Pastor Clark, when he found out I was a Lions fan, actually said something along the lines of this, don't worry, you can overcome that, like it was some sort of disease or character flaw.

It's not always easy representing these teams in this here foreign land, when they're doing well, plenty of people will roll their eyes at me, or mutter behind my back when they see me wearing that gear.

On the very off chance, these teams are doing poorly, plenty of people will laugh at me openly when they see me wearing this gear.

I even had one person at the store once I was wearing a Detroit Lions shirt, and they stopped me and said, are you really a Lions fan? And I said, yeah.

And they simply said, okay.

And they walked away.

A very strange interaction to have with another human being.

Like I said, it's not always easy representing these Michigan sports team is in this here foreign land.

But the truth is I'm still gonna rep the same teams no matter where God places me, and that is not gonna change.

And because of that, maybe in just the teensiest of ways, I can relate to one of the main characters in our two year Bible read through over the last two weeks.

Of course, I'm talking about Joseph.

In our story today, Joseph is a man on the move.

He has moved away from his homeland to a foreign land, and he moves within that foreign land several times over.

And what we're gonna see is we watch Joseph, is that he is a man who represented God well no matter where God placed him.

And oh, by the way, we are called to do the same exact thing.

So let's dig into his story today and see what we can learn about representing God well no matter where he places us.

Joseph's story begins all the way back in Genesis 37, where we read that Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, and he made an ornate robe for him.

When his brother saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him.

Just like Jacob's mom and dad played, favorites, so does Jacob, and young Joseph is his favorite.

He makes him a robe of many colors, and this robe of many colors causes many troubles for young Joseph.

It makes his brothers incredibly envious of him.

They become all the more irate when Joseph walks up to them in that same robe and he tells them about these dreams he's been having dreams that show that Joseph believes at least.

That all his brothers will be subservient to him one day.

Well, the brothers look for an opportunity to put Joseph in his place, and that happens one day.

Joseph walks up to them in the field.

He's wearing that same robe.

It's just them and him, and they say, look, here comes that dreamer.

Now let's take care of business.

And they take their little brother, they strip that robe off him.

They throw him down in a pit, and then they commit the evil of selling him into slavery for a handful of silver coins.

And that slavery takes Joseph far from his homeland, that land of Canaan.

And it takes him all the way to Egypt, where Potiphar an Egyptian, who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

St.

John's family.

How you feeling if you're Joseph now? You have just been sold into slavery by your own family.

You've gone from favored son to lowly slave in this foreign land where you probably don't even speak the language.

It would be pretty easy to have your faith shaken if you were Joseph, but it appears his faith was not shaken at all.

In fact, in Genesis 39, we read that the Lord was with Joseph, so that he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.

Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care Everything he owned.

Joseph didn't mope, right? He doesn't give up hope.

No, he sees that God is with him.

He digs deeper into his relationship with God and then he represents God so well that Potiphar, his master, sees that the Lord was with him.

Don't underestimate how big of a deal this is.

Potiphar is a high-ranking Egyptian official who would've known nothing about the God of Israel, and yet he watches Joseph.

He sees Joseph's work ethic.

He sees the way he lives his life, even as a slave, and Potiphar comes to the conclusion that God is real.

Total pagan, that is a big deal.

Unfortunately, Potiphar is not the only one who notices Joseph, right? His wife does as well.

And to make a long story very short, she attempts to seduce Joseph.

Joseph spurs her advances and she gets pretty upset and then accuses Joseph of something that he didn't do.

And unfortunately it appears, at least in part, that Potiphar believes her.

And Potiphar in his rage, takes Joseph and he casts him down in another pit.

Joseph finds himself in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

St.

John's family, how you feeling now if you are Joseph? The truth is it would be tough to represent God well, in this situation.

You might say to yourself, what's the point? Look where it's gotten me.

I've gone from favored son to lowly slave.

To favored slave, to lowly prisoner.

But once again, it appears Joseph's faith is not shaken.

From Genesis 39, But while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him.

I feel like I've heard that before, right? He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison.

The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Joseph doesn't mope, right? He doesn't give up hope.

He sees that God is with him.

He digs deeper into his relationship with God, and then he represents God so well that the prison warden saw that the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

It's a big deal, by the way.

This prison warden probably would've known nothing about the God of Israel, and yet he watches the way that Joseph conducts himself as a lowly prisoner, and he comes to conclusion that God is real.

And he gives Joseph quite the promotion, right? Puts him in charge over all the prisoners.

And that's a really important promotion because it gives Joseph access to two other prisoners, the Cupbearer and the Baker.

Two of Pharaoh's high ranking servants, they're in prison alongside Joseph.

They both have dreams they don't understand.

They hear that Joseph is a man of God, and so they go to Joseph to have those dreams interpreted.

Joseph gives them both a very correct interpretation, and these dreams, by the way, mean something very good for that chief Cupbearer.

They mean he's gonna be restored to his position in short order in Pharaoh's court.

And Joseph says to that Chief Cupbearer, but when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness.

Mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.

Get me out of this pit.

Tell Pharaoh I have been falsely accused.

Share my story with him.

And the Chief Cupbearer says, sure, you betcha.

Absolutely I will do that.

But the Chief Cupbearer did not remember Joseph.

He forgot him.

And Joseph spends two more years.

In that pit of a prison, St.

John's family, how you feeling now if you are Joseph? Well, we know what happens next, right? We already heard this story once this morning.

A couple years more in prison, and a certain Pharaoh of the land has himself a couple of dreams he doesn't understand.

Seven fat cows gobbling up seven are being gobbled up by seven thin cows and seven fat stalks of wheat being gobbled up by seven thin stalks of wheat.

We know what those dreams mean, right? There's gonna be seven years of plenty in Egypt, followed by seven years of famine, but Pharaoh has no idea what these dreams mean.

He calls in all sorts of people to interpret these dreams for him, and no one can.

Well, a certain Chief Cupbearer overhears this problem and he says, Pharaoh, sir, I know someone who can interpret these dreams for you.

Someone that I forgot about for the last couple of years here, he's down in the prison.

He's a Hebrew named Joseph.

Pharaoh drags Joseph out of that prison, and Joseph is before the Pharaoh of the land being told to interpret these dreams.

And I'll tell you, it'd probably be tough to represent God well in this situation.

It'd be tough to share with Pharaoh an accurate version of these dreams to show God's grace and mercy to him.

After all, like I said, Joseph has experienced going from favored son to lowly prisoner, to favorite, to lowly slave, to favorite slave to lowly prisoner.

And he might think to himself, how much worse can this get? I don't wanna see this get even worse.

But once again, his faith isn't shaken and he represents God so well in front of Pharaoh that a total Pagan and Pharaoh sees that God is real.

He shares with Pharaoh an accurate version of what those dreams mean, and he conducts himself so well that Pharaoh looks at Joseph and says these amazing words, Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God? That's a big deal.

Pharaoh would've probably known nothing about the God of Israel, and yet he looks at the way that Joseph conducts himself and he says, this man has the spirit of God within him.

And recognizing that Pharaoh puts Joseph second in command overall of Egypt.

And as you're well aware, this new promotion is gonna lead to a little family reunion.

His brothers experienced famine in the land of Canaan.

They hear there's a little food in Egypt, so they make their way over to Egypt and who do they find, but Joseph.

They don't recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognizes them.

They're pleading with Joseph for food.

And I'll tell you something, Saint John's family, it would probably be pretty tough to represent God well in this situation.

When he looks at his brothers, what does he have to be thinking about? That pit, that prison, how they took him away from his father in the prime years of his life, his homeland, all the bad experiences he's gone through.

It'd be easy to think God has placed them in my hand time for a little revenge.

But once again, he conducts himself oh, so well.

He reveals to his brothers who he is, he takes them in, he feeds them.

When they're worried one day that Joseph is gonna ultimately get revenge on them he says, don't be afraid.

Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

So then don't be afraid.

I will provide for you and your children.

And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

He shares God's love and grace and mercy with his brothers who didn't deserve that at all.

Boy does Joseph represent God well.

No matter where God placed him, no matter whom God placed him around, whether it be his brothers or other slaves, or Potiphar or prisoners or Pharaoh, he shows who God is.

And as I said, we are called to do the same thing in the various places where God places us.

In fact, the Bible is very, very clear about this.

If you have your Bibles, open them to 2 Corinthians 5:20.

2 Corinthians 5:20

It's our highlighted verse of the day.

Well worth highlighting, well worth remembering.

It says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us.

That little verse is saying something very, very important.

It's saying that people are going to look at our actions and make judgements about who God is as followers of Jesus.

That's exactly what people are gonna do.

They're gonna look at the way we conduct ourselves and answer these questions.

Is God real? Is he worthy of my love and respect? And they're gonna answer those questions when we are at our best and when we are at our worst.

No pressure right.

With that in mind, we should be answering this question.

How can we represent God well in the locations that he places us? And he places us all over the place, doesn't he? Even within our day, we might find ourselves at work or school in our neighborhood, around our families and friends, or everyday living; in the car, running errands at the store.

If you're actually asking me that question, I've got all sorts of advice for you.

You wanna represent God well at work or school.

You can do that by speaking well of others, even your boss or teacher, and it can be tough to do that sometimes.

You can represent God at that place by handling conflicts with forgiveness and grace, by being the first person to extend the olive branch by being the first person to ask for forgiveness.

We represent God well at work or school when we truly see our coworkers or classmates, and we get to know those who are left out or ignored.

When we spend time with the least of these, I feel like there was someone who was known for doing that, right? We represent God well in our neighborhoods when we are the kind of neighbor that people want to have; when we're hospitable, welcoming, and we show kindness to even our most difficult of neighbors.

And at some point we will all encounter a difficult neighbor.

We represent God well in our families when we model his grace and forgiveness and disagreements, and when we look for opportunities to serve one another and to sacrifice for one another.

When we actively do those things, we are representing God well in our families.

We represent God well in everyday tasks when we forgive others who slight us.

Or we show God's joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness to people who don't deserve it.

When we're going about our business, when we're in the car, when we're struggling in traffic, or at the store with the cashier.

Now doing those things, they're not always going to be easy.

So with that in mind, there are three things I want you to remember as you attempt to represent God well as we close out this message today.

First, we can learn to better represent God by remembering the reason Joseph represented him so well, because God was with Him and he was with God.

He spent a whole lot of time with God.

That is a theme throughout the story.

If you want to give a more accurate representation of who Jesus is, you need to spend regular time with him.

You wanna be the light in the world.

Spend time with the light of the world.

Spend time with him regularly in his word.

In prayer and worship, we become like the people we spend the most time around.

As you spend time with Jesus, you will give a more accurate representation of who he is to the world.

Second, we can learn to better represent God by remembering that things won't always go well, even if we represent God well.

Don't let it cause you to give up if this happens to you.

Joseph represented God pretty well for the majority of the story, and sometimes from an earthly standpoint, he ended up worse for the wear, didn't he? He represented God well and he ended up in a pit and he ended up in prison.

Jesus, by the way, represents God perfectly and they hang him on a cross, don't they? There will be times when we represent God well as we go about our business.

And it might not result in nice things for us from an earthly standpoint.

People might roll their eyes at you.

They might mutter behind your back.

They might laugh at you.

They might stop you at the store and say, are you really a Christian? And you're gonna say, yeah.

And they'll say, okay, and walk away.

When things like that, or unfortunately, far worse than that happen as you represent God, well, I want you to remember a couple of things: That just like Joseph.

God is with you.

Genesis 39, by the way, it says that line three times alone in that chapter that God was with Joseph and he is with you as you go about your business.

He never leaves you nor forsakes you.

And by the way, he is using your positive representation of him.

Like Joseph.

You might have to wait a dozen years or more to see the fruit.

You might never see the fruit, but he is using you, I promise that.

So we can learn to better represent God by remembering the reason Joseph represented him well, because he spent a lot of time with him and God was with him.

Second, we can do this by remembering that things won't always go well.

Even if we represent God well, don't give up when that happens.

God is with you.

He is using you.

And finally, we can learn to better represent God by remembering there will be times ultimately when we represent him very poorly.

And when that happens, we shouldn't hesitate for a second to go to Jesus as fast as we can and receive the forgiveness he wants us to have.

I know I painted the picture that Joseph was a perfect little angel throughout this story, but to be honest, he didn't always represent God well.

He was kind of a punk when he shared those dreams with his brothers and the way that he did it.

He certainly made his brothers jump through some unnecessary hoops to get the aid that he offered to them in Egypt.

Just like Joseph, there will be times when we represent God poorly when we show the world a sinner.

When that happens, God wants us to look to the cross of Jesus Christ.

And what he did on there and see a perfect representation and reflection of his love for us.

After all, Jesus says in John 14:9, Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.

John 14:9

When we look at Jesus on the cross, you know what we're gonna see? We're gonna see how God feels about us, even when we represent him poorly, that he still loves you and that he dies for you knowing every sin that you'd ever commit, every single time that you would represent him poorly.

So when we sin and are poor ambassadors of God, God doesn't want us to sit around and mope or give up hope.

He wants us to look to Jesus.

He wants us to go to him, receive his forgiveness, and then get up and do our best to show the world who God is once again.

And by the way, last thought here.

Past representation, failures do not mean that God won't use you as a great ambassador of His in the future.

As we look at our two year Bible read through, we're gonna come across all kinds of people who failed at representing God well, and then God still uses them, still works through them in incredibly powerful ways in the future.

And God can and will do the same exact thing for you.

With all that in mind, St.

John's family, my prayer for you this week is this.

May you be drawn deeper into your relationship with God.

May you become more and more like Him as you spend regular time with him, and then may you show the world an accurate representation of who God is.

May you show the world God's love, grace, mercy, peace and forgiveness, and may people look at God working through you and receive Jesus gladly.

In Jesus name, Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.