LESSONS FROM THE JACOB LEGACY Genesis February 15, Dr. Howard Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas

Transcription

1 LESSONS FROM THE JACOB LEGACY Genesis February 15, 2015 Dr. Howard Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas We conclude our Beginnings sermon series, our series from the book of Genesis, today. We have learned about Abraham, his son Isaac, his son Jacob, and, finally, Jacob s son Joseph. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. And Joseph. The immediate context of the closing chapters is the Joseph saga. You remember that Joseph was the favorite of Jacob s twelve boys. Unfortunately, Jacob didn t hesitate to show his favoritism. He bought Joseph a brand-new sport coat and left the other boys to wear hand-me-downs. He gave Joseph the easiest jobs around the house naturally the other boys became resentful. On top of that, Joseph was a dreamer. In his dreams, he always saw himself as superior, ruling over his brothers. The biggest problem with dreamers is that they are like joggers or people who get up early they have to tell everybody about it. Joseph was no exception. Hey, I had a dream last night, guys. We were all a bundle of wheat. My bundle of wheat stood tall, and yours bowed down to mine. You remember, his brothers pushed him into a pit. Were scheming to kill him but, instead, sold him off into slavery. Took his new sport coat, covered it in goat s blood, showed it to their father, Jacob, and inquired, Is this Joseph s coat? Jacob declared, I will never be comforted. I will go to my grave in grief over my son, Joseph. But Joseph prospers in Egypt. Everything that he manages makes money. But he is falsely accused of trying to have his way with Potiphar s wife. The reality was that when Mr. Potiphar was off attending to the state of affairs, Mrs. Potiphar fantasized about affairs of her own. Circumstantial evidence puts Joseph in prison. Who could blame him if he became bitter down in the pit of a dry well, then down in the dungeon of Egypt.

2 But his confidence in God was unshakable. He interprets the dreams of the baker and the cupbearer correctly and asks the cupbearer to remember him when he is released from prison. Oh, yea. I ve got you covered, Joseph only to have the cupbearer totally forget his new friend. His life might be summed up at this point as rejected, suspected, and neglected. Rejected by his brothers. Suspected by his employer. And now neglected by the cupbearer who was to remember him. Finally, when Pharaoh had the dream about the fat cows and the gaunt cows down by the river, no one could interpret the dream. And the cupbearer had the a-ha moment where he said, You know, there was a guy in prison, and he could interpret dreams. Do you want me to go get him? Joseph told Pharaoh that the seven fat cows meant a time of fantastic crops, and the seven gaunt cows meant famine would follow, and that a wise man ought to be selected to store grain during the surplus crops so there would be something to eat during the lean years. You re that guy, Pharaoh said to Joseph. And he was promoted to the equivalent of vice-president of Egypt. So much time has passed now double decades. Twenty years have passed. In chapters 46-50, we have the reunion, after so many years, of Jacob with his long-lost son Joseph. Look at Genesis 46:1-6. The first thing I want you to learn through the Jacob legacy is I. Faith should be passed through the family from father to son. A father, Jacob, on the way to see his long-lost son, Joseph, pauses to worship God the God of his own father, Isaac. This is the same sight where God appeared to Isaac and reminded him that He was the God of his father, Abraham (Genesis 26:23-25). Abraham gave the faith to Isaac. Isaac gave the faith to Jacob. Jacob gave the faith to Joseph.

3 I like God s identification of Himself. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said to him, Jacob. Jacob. And he said, Here I am (Genesis 46:2). God identifies Himself by saying in verse 3, I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. Are you and I imparting our faith to our children? Vern Bengtson, University of Southern California sociology professor, noted scholar on the dynamics of aging, spent eight years studying how faith is passed one generation to the next. He studied 360 families, stretching across four generations. Don t be alarmed, the professor says. In most cases, children do continue the faith tradition of their family. In fact, although we often have some prodigal years during college, the good professor actually has a hypothesis that in the next decade we will see a resurgence in church attendance as baby boomers return to the church. Caring and concerned parents who allow honest dialogue and open questions about the faith of the family actually foster a sincere growth in religious traditions. Parents need to model how to practice one s faith by attending and serving in the church in meaningful and important ways. (Matthew Brown, Faith in the family: How belief passes from one generation to the next, 12/26/13) I actually read one account of a gentleman who was angry at his parents because they did not take him to church, because they claimed that they did not want to over-influence his faith choices. Their boy didn t have a chance. He didn t even know the stories of faith that he might reject them. He had no basis, no foundation, no familiarity with the things of faith in order to accept, reject, or be otherwise indifferent to the faith formation in his own life. He felt robbed of religion. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. When God wants to tell you who He is, He ll tell you, I am the God of your father or grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5). Maybe you re here this morning and you don t come from a family with a faith tradition. Maybe you re the patriarch. Maybe you re the founding father of faith in your family. Maybe you re beginning the first generation so that your greatgrandkids will know that they follow the God of their great-grandfather or greatgrandmother. II. The joy of Jacob s reunion.

4 Look at Genesis 46:28-30 Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive. You remember when Jacob had been told lied to by his other sons Your son Jacob has been brutalized by beasts. Here s the coat; it s all that remains. Isn t this his coat, Dad? I will go to my grave grieving over Joseph, he responded. Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son. So his father wept for him (Genesis 37:35). What a reunion that must have been between Jacob and Joseph. The joy of reunion. Do you see some familiarity here? Do you remember when Jacob had stolen Esau s blessing, and his mother sent him to live with his uncle, Laban. And how, after twenty years, he was returning to the land of God. He was afraid as Esau, accompanied by 400 men, was approaching. How he sent wave after wave of men ahead to meet Esau. There it was Esau (32:4). Here it is Joseph. Twenty years had separated brother from brother, Jacob from Esau. And now twenty years has separated father from son. In both instances, Jacob sends a party ahead of him to meet the relative. What a life of estrangement and reunion Jacob lived. You notice something interesting in the story? There are no words spoken. There is weeping, hugging, touching conversation can wait. Joseph has had more than one weeping spell in this saga (22:24; 43:30; 45:14, 15), and others are still ahead (50;1, 17). When Jacob had been told by the boys that Jacob was dead, he wept (37:35). And now it is Joseph s turn to weep, not because Jacob is dead but because he is alive. Tears of sorrow (chapter 37) are replaced by tears of joy (chapter 46).

5 You cannot read the story of this reunion without thinking about Jesus most popular parable the man who had two sons. The prodigal son ran away and spent his inheritance on wine, women, and song. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him (Luke 15:20). In many ways, Jacob s words upon seeing Joseph parallel those of Simeon in the temple. Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. Jacob is saying, I can accept death knowing that I will no longer go to my grave with unanswered questions about my beloved boy s circumstances. Jacob may feel ready to die, but have you ever done the calculation? He gets to spend 17 years reunited with Joseph before he died. I like that he gets to know Joseph s boys, his grandsons, whom he takes and treats as his own sons. He had 17 years with Joseph before he was he was told Joseph was dead. Then 20 years away from Joseph. And now 17 more years with Joseph. I actually found the story of Marvin Shimel, a father who spent most of his life searching for his son. His 61-year-old son, Gary Anderson, didn t even know his father was still alive. As a child, when he asked his mother about his dad, his mother informed him that his father died in Vietnam. Shimel made eight attempts to find his son, and made his final attempt in The problem was after a divorce from Anderson s mom, the boy s name was changed over and over again, each time his mother had one of her multiple marriages, making it almost impossible for Shimel to trace his son. The last thing the boy could remember about his daddy was on his fifth birthday. There is a picture of the boy on his bicycle a picture that the daddy carried with him for 56 years. Finally, with the help of the Davenport, Iowa, police chief, Shimel finally found his son, Gary Anderson. And the two were reunited in California in August 2013, after nearly 60 years apart. After that many years, what do you say? What do you do? So we just walked up and gave each other a hug. ( Father and son reunited after nearly 60 years, 11/29/2013) Sounds just like Jacob and Joseph. What do you say? In their case it was just 20 years but 60 years. Anderson said, Well, we re both too old to throw the football around, now that he s 85 and I m 60. But at last they were reunited. This whole Jacob Genesis saga is about reunion. Reunion of broken relationships brothers to brothers, father to son. The embracing and weeping of reunion.

6 III. Once the recipient, now the source Look at Genesis 47:7-12 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh (v. 7). Look at v. 10, Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence. This is a book about blessing, right? Jacob steals Esau s blessing. Old, blind, Isaac puts out his hand and feels the goat hair. He s fooled by the folly of his wife and son and blesses the wrong boy. Jacob receives the blessing from Isaac. Oh, I ve blessed him, and he will be blessed, Isaac said, even knowing of the ruse. And God had blessed Jacob. Look at Genesis 48:3. The Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession. Now, having once been the recipient of Isaac s and God s blessing, now Jacob is giving the blessing to Pharaoh. And, look at 48:8. Jacob, now called Israel, saw Joseph s sons and said, Whose boys are these? And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. So he said, Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. Then Israel said in verse 11, I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well. He takes his hands, and he blesses the younger over the elder a repeated theme as he, the younger of the twins, got blessed over his older brother Esau. Once the recipient of the blessing now the source of blessing. Perhaps you have once been the recipient of the blessing of others of God, and it s your time to now be the source. IV. Wickedness fails, but God prevails (50:19-21) The story circulates about two women, school teachers, who met back on their college campus. The first lady said to her friend, I ve gotten married since we met last. The second replied, Oh, that s good.

7 The first one responded, Oh, I don t know about that. My husband is twice as old as I am. The second replied, Oh, that s bad. The first responded, Oh, I don t know about that. He s worth $10 million. The second replied, Oh, that s good. The first one said, Oh, I don t know about that. He won t give me a cent. The second responded, Oh, that s bad. The first said, Oh, I don t know about that. He built me a million dollar house. The second said, Oh, that s good. The first said, Well, I don t know about that. It burned last week. The second said, Oh, that s bad. The first said, Well, I don t know about that. He was in it. We can t say that a thing is good or bad until God is finished with it. His working in our lives is progressive, gradual, and continuous, so we must not evaluate a thing as good or bad as an isolated event. Is it bad that Joseph was thrown in the pit? Was it bad that he was falsely accused? Was it bad that he was sent to prison? No, that s good, for he saved all the people of God during the famine. Wickedness fails. God prevails. At the turn of the 20th century, the storm clouds that had long been gathering in South Africa suddenly broke loose. Britain and the English-speaking South Africans went to war with the Dutch-descended Boers. The Morning Post offered Winston Churchill a job as Chief War Correspondent. He jumped at the chance. Once at the front, he was on a troop train when it was captured and he was taken prisoner.

8 After three weeks he escaped. The first night of his freedom, he slept among the empty coal bags of a train. He hid during the day and then the second night, as he traveled, he saw the lights of a mining town in the distance. He decided to chance his luck. He knocked on a door and a tall man eyes him with suspicion until he gave his name. Thank God you have come here, the man said. It is the only house in twenty miles where you would not have been handed over. Now I ask you, was it an accident, was it sheer luck, that Churchill knocked on the only door in twenty miles where he could find help? Did it just happen or was he guided there, led there by an unseen hand? Was God at work in this situation to bring Churchill to exactly the one house where he could be saved, knowing what he would mean to England and to the whole free-world during the crucial days of World War II? Those who know the contribution Churchill made to history have to believe that God was working early in his life to preserve his life and to bring him to a place of prominence in world affairs. Providence is the belief that God has a plan for the world and for our lives and that He is working in the affairs of men every day fitting things together to accomplish His glorious purpose. Providence refers to His guidance, protection, control and preservation in our lives to bring His will to pass. Churchill s experience is not an isolated example. History, both sacred and secular, is full of examples of divine providence. (Paul Powell, Providence of God: Joseph, ww.preaching.com) Wickedness fails, and God prevails. It would have been hard to see the hand of God working from the bottom of an abandoned well in Canaan or to feel the presence of God in the desert heat as he walked in the chains with slave traders. It must have been hard to believe in God. God was with him when he stood falsely condemned before Potiphar and no one would testify for him. The silence of God must have been deafening as he sat two full years in an Egyptian dungeon, forgotten by a friend. But wickedness fails, and God prevails.

9 Someone found scribbled on a wall of a basement in Germany at the close of World War II these words: I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God, even when He is silent. In the midst of the moment of wickedness, you need to know it eventually will fail and God will prevail. V. Both Jacob and Joseph die with hope for the future (Genesis 49:29-50:26) This last section of the book reports both the death of Jacob and Joseph each to be buried in his ancestral home and not in Egypt. Jacob died, as 147 years of struggle came to an end. His infirmities were many and sins not a few. But throughout, Jacob retained that unquenchable desire for the blessing of God. He continually and habitually relied on God, in spite of everything else. He learned in his life the true source of blessings, and he fought with God and man to be privileged to hand that blessing on to his sons. Genesis 50:22-26 Joseph died in Egypt after a long and fruitful life and service to God. Like his father before him, he requested that his bones be taken out of the land of Egypt at the great deliverance. When God intervened to fulfill the promises to the fathers, they were to carry Joseph out of Egypt and back to the land of God. There was faith in future deliverance. All God s people die that way. We re not afraid of death. We re the only people of a living Lord. We re not frozen in the grief of the grave, for we know Whom we have believed, and we are persuaded that He is able to keep that which is committed to Him against that day. God s people die as the people of hope. Lessons from the Jacob legacy: Pass your faith on to your children Embrace the joy of reunion Receive blessings, but also give blessings Remember that wickedness fails, but God always prevails The people of God are the ones who die with hope for the future.