Genesis: Seeing Redemption Over Time

So we've arrived at our last story in the book of Genesis.

So this last story in the book of Genesis is a real epic story.

Huge story.

So huge it actually takes up the last quarter quarter of Genesis.

So it takes up a huge bulk of the book.

So it means something, it matters a lot.

And so Joseph is actually Judah's brother.

Last week we talked about Judah.

And so Joseph is Judah's brother, and he's a son of Jacob.

And I want to tell you the whole story.

The reason I want to tell you the whole story of Joseph is you're going to hang with me.

It's a long story, but I want to tell you the whole story because we can't read the whole story because we'd just be here too long.

And you need to hear the whole story at one time in order to get the gist of the story, to get the point of the story.

And along the way, you'll have some thoughts you've had before.

And the thoughts are like this.

Like if God is really in charge, like okay, like something a pastor says, right?

Like God's in charge, have faith, have hope.

Yeah.

So but if God's really in charge, like He must just not care.

I mean, look at my life.

I mean, like, look at the world.

Look at what I've gone through.

Look at what I am going through.

Or maybe he's just incompetent.

Maybe he's handcuffed.

And maybe you're here and you're a non-Christian.

And this is actually the obstacle to belief for you.

Is this issue of suffering?

Or maybe you're here and you're still bitter toward God about that thing.

That happening, that occurrence, that wound.

And I could share stories from my life that would make you weep, and we could just kind of start on one row and work our way across, and we would weep.

You could share stories and we would weep at your stories.

We know that.

And this story doesn't explain away the hurt.

That's what's so great about this story.

It doesn't explain away hurt.

It actually validates hurt and then it shows how God actually works in hurt.

And so let's look at the story.

I'm going to read a little, talk, tell a little bit, read a little, tell a little bit.

So all the passages I will read are in the insert in your bullets so you can read along as I read.

So here's the story.

Genesis chapter 37, 3 through 4.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

Now Israel, who's is Jacob, that's his new name, loved Joseph, loved his son Joseph, more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors.

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

So Jacob, he lavished on Joseph.

I mean, in some way, Joseph was his love and joy and peace.

It was it wasn't healthy.

It actually poisoned the family.

And he lavished money on this guy.

I mean, he was favored to the point that it poisoned the family.

Verse 8.

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

He said to them, Hear this dream that I have have dreamed.

Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field.

And behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright.

And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.

His brothers said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us?

Or are you indeed to rule over us?

So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

And this is like a hierarchical culture.

Older brothers rule over the younger brothers.

And here Joseph is, one of the younger brothers.

And he has this dream, and he goes and he runs his mouth to his older brothers.

Of course they hated him.

This little punk.

Right?

Like I mean, we'd love to make Joseph out to be a hero, but this is a punk.

He has a dream and he goes and he runs his mouth to his brothers in a hierarchical society.

And then again, verse 9, we read, and you don't have it in your passage here, but in verse 9, he has another dream, a second dream.

He does it again.

You're going, what?

Like, is he a moron?

I mean, is he just a punk?

I mean, is he just idealistic?

Then one day all the brothers, except Joseph, right?

That's interesting.

All the brothers are out working, except Joseph.

And they're outworking and they end up in this area called Dothan, which is a remote area.

And then Daddy sends Joseph out to check on the brothers, and you know they gotta love when Joseph comes out to check on them, right?

Like, here comes the spoiled brother to get observe us and write down the report and take it back to dad.

Look, everybody's gonna love that brother.

And so Joseph makes his way.

He finds them when he's on their way.

They can't stand him.

They are over it.

They've had enough.

They've had enough.

And so they group up, all eleven, and they decide it's over.

Let's take them out.

Let's kill him.

They are at that point.

And luckily, there's this eldest brother, Ruben, and he convinces the other brothers.

He says, hey, hey, hey, let's not kill him.

Okay, let's- I found a pit.

I have a pit.

Let's dump him in the pit.

He'll die eventually.

And then we don't actually have to like have to do it.

But he'll be in the pit.

There's no water.

He's gonna die.

And Ruben's thinking, I'm gonna circle back around later and get him out of the pit and he can run off.

But they dump him in the pit, and then all the brothers, all the brothers, they sit down to eat because apparently this is what you do after you basically strip your brother of his coat and his clothes, kind of beat him down, throw him in a pit.

You sit down for a good meal.

And this is what they do.

They're sitting down for a good meal, and a caravan comes along, and then they get the great idea.

Hey, let's just sell him off.

Let's sell them.

We'll sell him off into the caravan, and he'll be taken off, and we just we'll never have to worry about him.

So that's what they do, and then they take this coat, which you know they have to hate this coat.

It's symbolic of all of Jacob's favoritism towards this little punk.

And so they dip it in blood, they go back to dad, they say, hey dad, uh, Joseph must have been eaten by a beast.

He's gone.

Look, here's his coat.

So Joseph ends up in Egypt.

He ends up in this Potiphar's house.

Joseph is smart, he's good looking.

I mean, he could he can flat out get it done, and quickly he rises up in this house.

He's running the house as a servant.

And we sort of think at this point in the story, we sort of think like, oh, he's okay.

Like he's gonna be okay.

Like you kind of get this point where, like, okay, like all this horrible stuff happened, but he he's okay, and then do you remember the wife, Potiphar's wife, makes a move on him, and Joseph turns her down, and he starts to run out of the room, and she she actually strips some clothing off of him, which is interesting because that kind of happened round one with the brothers, and now it's happening round two with the the lady, and he runs out, and then she she blames him, maybe all of her insecurity.

She got rejected, and so she blames Joseph that he tried to put a move on her.

And so he ends up in prison.

You're going, okay, well, it didn't quite work out.

And so now he's in prison.

I mean, at this point, he has no status, no favoritism, he has no power to maintain, he has nothing.

And what's interesting here is in a strange way, this is the turning point in the story for Joseph.

It's sort of the first time he's free.

See, it's in his nothingness that he begins to receive from God.

This is always the place that we find freedom.

This is always the place we begin to receive, is in our nothingness, because we get to the end of ourselves, the end of our effort, the end of our striving, the end of our control, right?

Like to control the environment, control the situation, control all of it, and all the anxiety and the fear that comes along with trying to control all of it, and then suffering comes along and strips you of all of that, and you realize, you realize, oh, I don't have supreme control over my life.

This is why God uses suffering to get us to the end of ourselves that we might be free.

Now, Joseph's in prison for like two years.

Figures out he's pretty good at interpreting dreams.

He interprets a couple guys' dreams, still in prison.

That's two years, long time.

Long time to think about what could God possibly be doing.

I mean, in prison.

And then Pharaoh has a dream.

The guy who runs all of Egypt has a dream, and nobody can interpret it.

And it's like, oh yeah, by the way, there's this prisoner.

Like down in a pit.

He's pretty good at it.

He gets called up out of prison and he talks to Pharaoh and he says, Oh, yeah, that dream, seven plump cows come out of the Nile and feed on reed grass.

And then after that, seven ugly, thin cows come out of the Nile.

Um, Pharaoh, what this is, is this is gonna be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.

You better stock up in those first seven years.

Joseph puts out a plan for him.

And then I want to read this in Genesis 41, 37 through 45.

And the reason I want to read this is because we have to remember at this point, Joseph has been abused by his brothers, rejected, sold into slavery, not knowing where he would go.

He ruled in a house, and then he was sexually assaulted, and then he was falsely accused, and he was in prison for two years.

And so maybe you can associate with any of that, like any of the feeling of being in a pit, of being rejected, of being afraid, being alone, being confused, of it, having no idea.

How could any of this be working toward any good?

Or is there any way out of this?

Then we read this: this proposal, so he's put out in front of Pharaoh this plan of how we can get through this famine coming.

This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.

And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God?

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.

You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.

Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and he put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.

I mean, this is the guy who was just in prison.

He was in a pit.

He was in a caravan, not knowing where he was going to go into slavery.

Verse 43, and he made him ride in his second chariot, and they called out before him, bow the knees.

So all the people were bowing.

Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.

Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

So Joseph has all of a sudden this new role.

He serves his role, he starts a family, but he never forgets his home.

He never forgets his family, he never forgets his dad.

The famine begins, and everyone's coming to Egypt for grain.

And so finally, Jacob and the brothers, they run out of food.

And so Jacob sends the brothers, he keeps Benjamin back.

But Jacob sends all the other brothers, sends them, says, Hey, go to Egypt.

There's food in Egypt.

Go and buy food and bring it back.

And so the brothers show up and Joseph recognizes them.

They don't recognize him because they think he's long gone.

No way would he be in this position.

And you sort of think it, like you think, oh, here's the moment.

Like he's going to really get them.

Like, and there's this part of me that reads this and goes, I would really stick it to them at this point.

Like, don't, by the way, don't cross me.

Like, don't put me in a pit.

Like, I'll come at you.

Like, I mean, you kind of feel like, do you feel that when you read it?

You're like, oh, this is the moment.

And at first you sort of think Joseph is going to get his revenge.

You sort of test them, he blames them as spies, and the brothers are freaking out.

I mean, it'd be like being questioned by the CIA.

I mean, you're so in over your head in this situation.

Joseph orchestrates away to get his brother Benjamin to come.

And we catch up finally as Joseph reveals himself to his brothers in Genesis 45, verses 4 and 5.

Genesis 45:4

So Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please.

And they came near.

And these brothers are so scared.

I mean, Joseph has such a position of power.

He can ruin them.

They come near and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt, and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.

Can you imagine giving that freedom to somebody who's done that to you?

For God sent me before you to preserve life.

I mean, I read that and I just go, what?

Like, who has this attitude?

Well, somebody who's been made nothing has this attitude.

Somebody who probably realizes on some level, like, there's situations that he would do the same thing.

Somebody who's come to terms with the fact that he doesn't have supreme control over his life.

He sends them back to get dad.

He says, I'm going to take care of all of you.

And then in verse 14, then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and he wept.

And Benjamin wept upon his neck.

And he kissed all his brothers and he wept upon them.

After that, his brothers talked with him.

So there's the story.

I have two points, really, really basic observations to be honest.

The first one is this is that people make decisions, but God works in and beyond those decisions.

People make decisions.

We know people make decisions.

You make decisions, people make good decisions, make bad decisions.

People make decisions, but God works in and beyond those decisions.

This is called God's sovereignty.

Now you shouldn't expect to understand it.

I mean, we can debate it, we can be frustrated with it, we can on, but at some level, we we should be in awe of it.

And we should be in awe of the God who can redeem horrible things.

Because he sees all things.

This is like a classic sermon illustration.

Maybe you've been in a sermon.

Like if you've been around, you're like, I already know where this one's going.

It's just, I think I saw this sermon illustration maybe 15 years ago and I still think about it.

And this is what we see.

That's what we see.

We are limited.

We do not see the whole picture.

We don't see what's in the upper right corner.

We don't see what's in the lower right corner.

We do not see the whole picture.

You are limited by time.

I am limited by time.

I am limited by ignorance.

I am limited by my own depravity, my selfishness.

God's different, right?

And here's the great thing about the sermon illustration is that God's different.

And he sees not one little part.

He sees the whole picture.

He sees 20 years from now, 30 years from now.

He didn't even think of it that way because he's outside of time.

So he doesn't even think about it that way.

I mean, you I mean that's what should blow your mind.

But he sees the whole thing.

Isn't it interesting in the story, God's pretty much not mentioned in the story of Joseph until Joseph declares to his brothers who he is?

Do you get that?

See, the reason why is because it took time for Joseph to see it.

And that's sort of point number two.

Point number two is we recognize suffering quickly, right?

Like we recognize it as soon as the comfort's gone, as soon as the pain is felt.

We recognize suffering very quickly, but it usually takes much longer to see redemption.

And Joseph's story is full of difficult happenings, and he doesn't get the whole picture, and it takes for him ten years.

And then he can say to his brothers, hey, don't blame yourselves.

You're free.

God's done something through this.

This week our family was walking to breakfast.

So Christy and I are behind.

The two older girls are riding their bikes, little helmets on, little pigtails flopping around, little pedaling going, right?

Just cute as can be, right?

Like you can't love little people more like watching them.

And like you watch something like that with little people that you love or big people that you love, and you watch something like that, and then you read this story, and you go, I sort of just like maybe want to rip this story and maybe the book of Job just out of the Bible.

Like that would be convenient just to kind of rip them out.

Because we'd like to pretend that there's no possibility of something horrible happening to people we love.

I'd like to pretend like I'm not gonna get a phone call and then be in my friend Stuart's house two days after he killed himself, and myself and his family members have to rotate leaving the room because we are weeping so hard.

I'd like to pretend I won't have to walk with you through cancer, or you walk with me through cancer, or divorce, or addiction.

But here's my point.

We have to wrap our hearts around Joseph so that when our Joseph moment comes in a small little way or a big way, that the suffering doesn't end us.

But we can endure it in faith and hope in a God who loves us.

We love to put this on t-shirts in the Christian world.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

See, nothing is for nothing in God's economy.

You may not know the why of your difficulty, but that's because you only see, you only see part of the picture.

You don't see the whole thing.

You can't see the whole thing.

Don't even expect to be able to see the whole thing.

And in all the moments we wonder and we don't understand, we have the cross to cling to.

It's a statement in history that God loves you.

Though you're imperfect, though you're flawed, though you're sinful, though you respond to suffering imperfectly, it's a statement in history for us to be able to grab hold of.

When God's silent, when it's dark.

We live in an imperfect world and we are imperfect people and we react to suffering imperfectly, but we are perfectly loved.

And he's not waiting to love us when we have a better version of ourselves until we respond to suffering in a better way.

Let me close with this quote.

Pastor and author John Piper.

Not only is all your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful.

Every millisecond of your pain from the fallen nature or fallen man, every millisecond of your misery and the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that.

I don't care if it was cancer or criticism.

I don't care if it was slander or sickness, it wasn't meaningless.

It's doing something, it's not meaningless.

When your mom dies, when your kid dies, when you've got cancer at 40, when a car careens into the sidewalk and takes her out, don't say that's meaningless.

It's not.

It's working for you an eternal weight of glory.

Therefore, do not lose heart.

But take these truths and day by day focus on them.

Preach them to yourself every morning.

Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind until your heart sings with confidence that you are new and cared for.

Let's pray to God.

God, we thank you that you care for us in the midst of our own decisions that cause suffering.

In the midst of decisions made around us that cause suffering.

Thank you that you work in them, you work beyond them.

Help us in the midst of darkness to know you're still there.

In the midst of silence to know that we're never alone.

In the midst of only seeing a a a tiny small part of the picture.

Would you help us?

Would you increase our faith in you who who sees the the picture?

Who sees it all?

Forgive us for all of our lack of faith when it comes to how we walk through suffering.

And we thank you for your grace.

That's more than enough.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.